Guild Wars 2

Thanks to Dulfy and that_shaman for getting the skill calc updated so quickly, i got to play around with a few ideas and i have a good idea what i’ll run when the patch hits.

pve build s/wh + gs melee ranger

pvp build bird/bird + a/t + s/d – , i’ll probably wait till i can test it to decide between Wilting Strikes and Natural Regeneration

feel free to post your build ideas!

Not really a creative build. Just putting together what seems to be the a logical set up for a condition build. Runes and sigils are a matter of preference.

http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgUCdAOYBNg~
Dire gear (grenth runes)
ST AD (geomancy/hydromancy, geomancy/ice)

Quickdraw allows you to Splitblade twice
Bleeds do 241/s

If you do the regular bleed burst rotation with double Splitblade. Bleeds alone will theoretically tick for a total of 6265/s.

There might be a disruptor bunker build.
With so much defensive traits and evades we got I believe there has to be one.

Probably a Hound + Hyena BM, with Spike and Ice Traps, Signet of Renewal, entangle, Celestial stats, Healing Spring (you can basically have 2) and SA / AD

I don’t know… But Path of Scars on 5 second cooldown with 3 knockdowns from pets and taunts that fit into it, as well as spike trap and perma chill, not to mention blindness and weakness permanently applied…

It’s just a swift idea, I don’t have a clue if it works yet. No numbers made. Just an idea.

Prophet.1584:

Thanks to Dulfy and that_shaman for getting the skill calc updated so quickly, i got to play around with a few ideas and i have a good idea what i’ll run when the patch hits.

pve build s/wh + gs melee ranger

pvp build bird/bird + a/t + s/d – , i’ll probably wait till i can test it to decide between Wilting Strikes and Natural Regeneration

I’m still not convinced about gs as secondary weap for PvE, predator’s onslaught + LB + sword should still be superior. The big deal about the traits as far as PvE is concerned is the removal of damage modifier from hunter’s tactics. Either the reliable quickness out of beast mastery is enough and they decided having another +10% would be too much, or they did balancing with the idea that went into engie firearms as the “guiding light”.

EDIT:
Sharpened edges doesn’t have an ICD as of now, so if that remains it will be a damage increase, especially in properly might stacked groups. Vigor is nice but every bit of damage you can squeeze out is more important in PvE.

sword will still most likely be superior in terms of dps. I tend to use gs because it’s easier to manage and i like the evades. It’s a bonus for me that there’s so much synergy with gs + two handed training + remorseless.

I use predator’s onslaught now for the modifier but the refresh on remorseless seems too good to pass up. it refreshes on call of the wild from traits, from wh, from furious grip, from gs and from party members buffing with fury. that’s going to add up to a lot of crits and a lot of vulnerability.

edit: crit + a 25% dmg buff

Dunno how the stat spread will look like after the patch, but I have a fairly easy 100% crit chance right now with food+runes+spotter+banner, so getting a high crit rate shouldn’t be a problem, making the auto crit of opening strikes pointless (the new hunter’s tactics is an easily achieved 10% crit too). But it does remain to be seen how remorseless can be paired up with quick draw/path of scars/maul and if various fury applications can be used reliably to make weapon swapping possible. Altho with the increase in quickness uptime I doubt moving away from sword and its autottack will be advisable… I’ll leave all that to ppl actually good with math, just that my hunch makes me fairly certain even the full potential of weapon swapping mauls, etc. won’t reach the sword aa. And if you just use the other weapon as a start of fight thing for maul and swoop, then the LB should still be the better choice cause of AoE cripple and more spike vuln.

i’ll most likely run it as full melee ranger and take advantage of the sword aa but also have the evades and fury on gs as needed. I pug dungeons and fractals most of the time so the more often I can provide my own boons, other than might sometimes, the better.

the rotation I envision for that pve build would be
1.call of the wild
2.swap
3.swoop
4.hilt bash
5.maul
6.swap
7.sword aa until maul is off cooldown

as I look at the traits I have a feeling the Quickdraw effect is going to get eaten by aa’s more often than not so i may go with LoYF for the damage buffs. It also synergizes very well with the gs and sword evades.

Ah ok then I was slightly misunderstanding your intention. I thought we were talking mostly about somewhat organized groups. Not necessarily guild groups but at least something to the point of people being expected to bring might if you’re a war, spotter if you’re a ranger, fury if you’re an ele, etc.

I call this horrifyingly bad build the Turnabout Ranger. You hit 50% health and then you hit your opponent with a pair of stupidly buffed mauls, hopefully downing them. I’d build around most dangerous game, but until that trait gets synergy with the other 50% health traits I’ll pass. The build I guess would be suited to PvP roaming as it’s suited for offensive support so I’ll try and work in stuff that helps with that role.

Traits
Amulet: Valkyrie (super secret tech for better burst with instinctive reaction)
Weapons: Axe/Axe + Greatsword
Runes: Strength
Sigils: Strength/optional + Fire/Air (possibly replace fire or air with impact)
Pets: optional + Red Moa
Heal: Healing Spring
Utilities: Signet of the Hunt / Signet of Stone / optional
Elite: Optional (probably entangle)

Tactics:
Camp axe and harrass with autos building might until you near 50%. As soon as you’re about to hit 50%: Path of Scars > Signet of the Hunt > Furious Grip to Greatsword > Maul > Slash > Slice > Hiltbash from behind > Time the Moa’s furious screech to land now > Maul. If your target goes down and you’re 1v1, unless you’re against another Ranger you’ve won the fight even if your left leg’s been replaced by condi stacks since it’s now a downstate fight. If you’re in a teamfight, you need to be sure you’re in position when you’re at half health to burst a key target. Catch ‘em with a path of scars and they’re screwed.
Use GS and signet of the hunt’s passive for mobility around the map, but avoid opening fights with GS. The burst can be increased maybe, but I’m not really sure how.

Hilarious for a super squishy PvP meta.

Quickdraw is just so bullkitten, Beastly Warden lets us use pets other than wolf, Wilderness survival is our only source of condi removal traits (besides evasive purity). So naturally I make a trapper build that almost incorporates all three.

Don’t get into my zone
Axe/Torch and Shortbow (possibly dagger or warhorn)
Birds.
Healing Spring, Spike Trap, Flame Trap, Poison Trap, Entangle
Tons of condi damage, maybe Settler

Step one: Capture home point.
Step two: Drop Circles.
Step three: Invite unsuspecting far point roamer into your point.
Step four: Get backstabbed on circles > Poison Volley > Splitblade > Splitblade

If people aren’t going to your home point, run mid and suicide bomb it.

6/0/0/6/6
Marks: Clarion Bond, Brutish Seals, Remorseless
Nature: Allies Aid, Windborne Notes, Nature’s Vengeance
BM: Resounding Timbre, 2 Handed Training, Zephyr’s Speed
Valkyrie Amulet, Altruism Runes
GS-Battle/Intel, S-Battle, WH-Energy
“HaO”, Stone Spirit, SoTW, SoR, Entangle
Owl/Wolf for bulk damage/CC
I’m assuming (!) Stone Spirit gets a decent boon from NV and also retains its protection proc. You can place it in LoS away from a point while you are defending, I think they will be usable if the boons are good from NV and the spirit has a decent range. If they are forced off the point to kill your spirit, you trigger it. It has served its purpose imo. If the boons turn out to be garbage, then I’d drop NM for WS and take a couple of different utilities for WK.
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Jg-F-0-sEkv-g2ZDF-0;9k-E;1Yab;0237256247;4SkG6U;94s

0/6/6/0/6
I’m also thinking that a Sinister armor w/ Celestial trinkets, Mad King LB [/url]build could be nice;
Sharpened Edges, Hidden Barbs, Quick Draw
Oakheart Salve, Refined Toxins, Wilderness Knowledge
Go For The Eyes, Wilting Strike, Beastly Warden
Hawk/Owl (extra 600 toughness!)
LB-Air/Fire, S-Hydromancy, D-Geomancy
TU, MT, LR, QZ, Entangle

I’m thinking mostly the same as it is now except:

6/6/0/0/6

Your pet should do more damage, you and your team should have perma fury and swiftness, you should be able to throw Barrage twice before swapping back to sword with the 66% cooldown reduction on swap, you should have more blast finishers, you can get more quickness related might out of Rampage as One.

this jumps out at me as a pve build
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgUB5AKUBGQ~ Zerker S/A-LB (depends on the boon for Frost spirit)

WvW front line melee
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgUEWAO4Bew~ PvT GS/A-W

PvP/Roming – Lots of things to try

We have yet to see how the conditions/boons really scale.
The problem i see now with the regen provided in traits is that it scales very poorly.
Some helpfull healing should be around the numbers of the moa healing streech (3k).
500 hp in 10 secs of regen is not an amount to have in mind.

First idea for a roaming build
http://dulfy.net/gw2traits#build=AgUB3AS4A5g~
gear mix of zerk/Knight and Cleric
TU – SotW – LR – MT/QZ – RaO/Entangle

Edit: there seems to be a bug with the links, you’ll always get the Basic elementalist trait setup