Guild Wars 2

Not gonna turn this into an argument (especially as this is not the forum for it) but atm if you’re using a shortbow, you’re getting screwed because of all the none viable skills (QZ being a big example). Not saying the build I posted is the best but using a SB atm is something you may want to rethink. For the math of it, you know what thread to visit. And yes you can still kill things with SB. However, if you really care about how fast and how efficiently you’re killing, it’s something to rethink.

Favorite thus far ~
20/30/20/0/0
Avoidance build, it seems obvious rangers are designed like rogues same armor.
Rangers cannot melee like a tank however or match the aoe dps of an elementalist.
Rangers must dodge and weave to survive

The key is this if I can be somewhere else I win.

I run sword/horn w/ shortbow I stacked in 20% bow cooldown and every hit lands. it’s imeperative for the class, 1 so you can get the buffs that max dps 2 so you can get away to shoot another day.

rangers are almost always the first to be targeted in WvW which is the other reason.
Shortbow for cripples and dodge. sword/horn for buffs speed and avoidance. The horn also plays a role for large group dps .. when your enemy is dead you aren’t

weapon mods superior stones for max stamina on weapon switches. If you get 1 or 2 more rolls in a fight you can win.

Keep longbow on hand for assaulting large groups.

Use your long bw for concentrated group fire an rain + horn boost + any other dps boost = dead group with very little help.

Pet ~ Wolf always no expects the spanish inquisition.
I use a ranged pet for back up sometimes positioning of your pet is just as critical, and the dps is unexpected when it’s not sitting in front of them. Which means more badges.

You’re losing a ton of haste by not having 5 in BM and switching pets.

Sword horn is what I use for buffs then I do sword torch which you should try for the ae. It’s pretty nice.

Pet you can use anything you want really. About playstyle. I use 2 cats as they r the most dps but they do die fast. I switch for bears in dungeons.

alot of fun played right

just have to copy and paste the link

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARTjIVR2JWGWs2Bg1DC9bwmiM50pAVPvYpmkA;ToAA2CooqxUjoGbNuak1sGZMC

I’ve just created this build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQNAV3fjAVF2ZWSWo2BglCBDszgTJ5MMkxJsD;TsAgyCuogxAjAGrPOfk+sEYEwWAA

I am wondering if it’ll be viable for PvP. I’t all about stacking bleeds from SB, and burning from Torch. Look at the insane ammount of damage from conditions. You can change Signet of Stone for whatever you like, cause it’s just filler. You have also a lot of survivability. Feel free to post a comment.

EDIT: I’ve just tested it, and it’s great for sPVP, damage from conditions is great, survivability is great, control is great. This will be my second favourite build for PvP

@sterblich: i tried your build yesterday and it was a lot of fun! but i made a small adjustment, i took 5 points out of wilderness survival an put them into beastmastery for the haste buff on pet switch. and im using sigil of superior geomany on my axe for more direct bleeds + its aoe. shortbow works perfect, stacking like 15 stacks of bleed is no problem.

@misterpanda: glad that you enjoy it You can change 5 from wilderness to beastmastery if you plan to swap pets, but I personally focus on fury buff from moa. Also I prefer burning duration due to rune of smoldering instead of geomancy, but it’s more personal preferences

okay, but istn the cooldown of that moa buff round about 30 seconds? if you swap your pet its a 20 second cooldown, but you can use the moa buff directly after the swap. dont know it for sure, but then you could swap to another pet, activate his skill, swap back after 20 seconds and use a second moa buff without the whole cooldown time.

So far, this is my latest build and it has worked quite well in sPvP (haven’t tested in much in WvWvW). Quite effective at weakening the target before they are able to reach you, then swapping to GS to finish them.

I really like to use the GS on my ranger, really fits my playstyle.
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/power-precision-ranger-ranger-pvp-power-precision-3817.html

I use the Superior Sigil of Ice the in longbow and Superior Sigil of Battle in the GS.

Indoles.1467:

So far, this is my latest build and it has worked quite well in sPvP (haven’t tested in much in WvWvW). Quite effective at weakening the target before they are able to reach you, then swapping to GS to finish them.

I really like to use the GS on my ranger, really fits my playstyle.
http://www.gw2build.com/builds/power-precision-ranger-ranger-pvp-power-precision-3817.html

I use the Superior Sigil of Ice the in longbow and Superior Sigil of Battle in the GS.

Signet of renewal over Signet of the Wild? Why that? Wouldn’t you be getting more conditions if you used it?

30/25/15 OH MY GOD!! That’s my build too Indoles! I use a longbow and a greatsword. Longbow takes out far away to medium distance, then switch to gs when and if they get close. Plus the gs also has the “swoop” run and leap aoe which is wicked. Finally someone else who can see the logic of my build. http://www.gw2build.com/builds/aislin-akkadian-aislin-power-precision-crit-8484.html

Trap / Condition / crit build, use it pve and wvw with same runes and rampagers and carrion weapons, just starting out spvp have different short bows depending on situation purity if against condition folks, nullification for boon removal and rage for general the build crits a lot and all those fire at 60% on crit well apart from rage 10% which would be op at 60% swap to undead runes and rabid if I can’t kite so much. will never be any good at sPVP but having fun in team with this.

its a fun build always something to do great roaming and team support and pretty tough i’m crap at working out which the correct mesmer is so just spam traps instead also seems good against thief if I can dodge initial burst, stuns a bit weak to but have transferal to pet in traits and you can’t have everything, all at a very low level in the wvw and spvp part but it’s playable for me.

you’ll have to cut and paste the link GW2 double escaping it and breaking it, schoolboy error, I’d be after my developers for that one!

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMUQNBlODbkoKuuuSvC1OA0ekpkUyeYojP+K0aJrIK;TsAg1CqoKyAjAGrPuik+sCYMyuCA

short vid showing ideal burst obviously it never happens like that in reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdxczWIQ-zU

New build For structured PvP. Condition/Pet Damage ranger
6 in Rune of the Undead
shamans amulet and jewel
10 in skirmishing-pet prowess
30 in beastmastery-speed training-rending attacks-nature’s healing
30 in toughness-shared anguish-hide in plain sight-bark skin
extra spells-Sick em-signet of the wild——3rd one i am torn between signet of renewel and either getting sharpening or spiked trap.
your ultimate should be roots or rampage as one-your preference the pet will benifit from you immobilizing them or will benifit from the fury-might-swiftness.
sword-dagger—-on either u can put either but i would use doom and geomancy since your moving in close-increase some tics as soon as you start fighting.
axe-warhorn—-on axe using sigil of hydromancy. and warhorn Sigil of energy for more roll dodges——this is to put some distance and to move around more freely in battle
This build should give great survivability and great strengths to the Ranger in PvP. I can’t record my playing this build but i have had alot of fun playing it and I hope you will too!

Umii.3204:

Trap / Condition / crit build, use it pve and wvw with same runes and rampagers and carrion weapons, just starting out spvp have different short bows depending on situation purity if against condition folks, nullification for boon removal and rage for general the build crits a lot and all those fire at 60% on crit well apart from rage 10% which would be op at 60% swap to undead runes and rabid if I can’t kite so much. will never be any good at sPVP but having fun in team with this.

its a fun build always something to do great roaming and team support and pretty tough i’m crap at working out which the correct mesmer is so just spam traps instead also seems good against thief if I can dodge initial burst, stuns a bit weak to but have transferal to pet in traits and you can’t have everything, all at a very low level in the wvw and spvp part but it’s playable for me.

you’ll have to cut and paste the link GW2 double escaping it and breaking it, schoolboy error, I’d be after my developers for that one!

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMUQNBlODbkoKuuuSvC1OA0ekpkUyeYojP+K0aJrIK;TsAg1CqoKyAjAGrPuik+sCYMyuCA

short vid showing ideal burst obviously it never happens like that in reality
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdxczWIQ-zU

bad link, can you check it?

My Build here: http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mmoM0VmMzobLTombLTo9MGxGmackq0M8kii707kii7khs7kii70z7kIM70V7ofF70m8ofy

Wanted to see what all the negative fuss was bout the great sword so I rolled a second ranger… I simply don’t buy into the gripe.

Yeah, its not a face roll weapon but man oh man can it wreak havoc on multiple enemies with really good survivability, and the animations are a lot of fun.

Main premise of the build is to stack insane regen and healing to keep both your pet and you alive. The faster pet swaps will lessen the chance of getting a pet wiped. Also, since your are specced higher in survivability, your pet will be rocking a good chunk of the damage. Since you are sticking in melee range this won’t be a problem since your pet doesn’t have to move as much.

I roll alpine wolf and fern hound for greater crowd control and the fern hounds howl adds you guess it, even more regen.

I also have Beast master IV improved healing (won’t select), to keep the pets up even better. And I rock water runes to proc opportunities for even more area healing.

It is pretty tanky with the constant healing. I’ve managed to solo several champs so far with this build.

Also wanted to spec outside of my trap condition build so I thought I would run spirits (fingers crossed for buff). yeah they are kinda kittened, but they do buff and allows my build to be more supportive in parties. So feel free to make fun of my spirits, I still think they are entertaining and hopefully in a week decent/good.

I posted this on another forum, and I wanted to re-post it here:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBlYDbkoqyuvSxi1SQ0ekp+feWB+/KQLniR5/Ke7B;TsAgzCto2xsjYH7Oudk7sKYUw+DA

I actually just started playing Ranger for the first time yesterday, and while running this build in both pick-up and tourny’s I was doing quite well (works a bit better in Spvp). Plenty of surviability as long as you are good at using the evades properly and pet skills – make good use of the bringing out the hound at the right time for his knockdown. I can still do enough damage to even down some bunkers (they can’t even begin to kill me anyway) – glass cannon’s can go down quickly enough but you best be using the evade skills and dodges right. I try running with as much condition removal as I can, but it still isn’t enough against good Necro’s (just dodge as much as you can).

What I like best about the build is the ability to roam, hold points, buff self/allies, and still down ppl. It’s the first true hybrid that I feel happy with in my 2 months of playing. Others I have tried seemed to lack in at least one area. I’m sure there is a variation of this build somewhere and others have run and/or are running it, but I just wanted to share my experience as I was plesanlty surprised at how much I loved it seeing as I would venure a guess that Rnager is the class I see/fear the least in most Spvp situations.

Have fun if you choose to try it! I know there are a lot of subpar traits around the ranger, but this is one of the builds I think that is pretty optimal.

• I did change out Oakheart Salve for Offhand Training (warhorn), but either can work *

your link is crap, doesnt work.

I copied it back in again, but you are right it doesn’t appear to work. However, you can copy/paste it into your browser.

Reworked my Build so that it is more pet focused. So far have had amazing results.

Link to the Build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQJARTnEVUYZVQKWwaZgopQTW69A90q9OFjKUF8ZC;TEBA1ymEMJZS1kiJqbM3Iuxej7G5NrJGbc2YTwbCA (Copy and Paste Link)

Premise of the build is to laugh as your pet chews the face off of everything around you. Your primary job is to keep the pet up, and if the enemy is kiting too much, lock it down. Since you are wading into battle melee style anyways, your enemies won’t be moving as much either.

With as many points as you have in Beast Master and the constant regen from runes, signets, and springs (huge regen up time through traits and runes), it takes a huge hit or complete dog pile to take a pet out before you get the chance to switch (which you can do fairly often if you have to; that said, I rarely have too, usually only on champ fights). Another boost is it takes just as long to take you out with your free evades, high endurance regen for dodges, stun, and block/knock back.

Equipment:
Great Sword: great all around fun weapon, when they buff soon, the only thing I hope they change are numbers, if they touch the skill bar itself I will freak. It is by far my favorite weapon (save the swoop for when you lay down healing spring for extra healing)
Long Bow: Rarely take it out, its there for those few fights that melee absolutely gets ground into the dirt in or for its utility.
Armor: Soldier’s, super tanky with some base dps with vitality tough and power. Jewelry is Clerics to buff healing up and make it even more tanky while boosting base dps. Runes of Dwayna to boost healing even more. Sigil of water on GS for more healing, sigil of speed on LB because typically when I have it out I am kiting like hell anyway.

Pros:
1) This build doesn’t ignore the pet and hate on the pet as our profession mechanic. Instead it utilizes it and fairly well. It does require paying attention to the pet and calling it back when it gets too hot to fast if you need to wait for swap.
2) Pet rarely gets one shotted except to uber leet bosses, those instances I should have either waited for back up and swapped to a ranged pet (we have 20 pets, bring the one that fits the job, it is okay to switch).
3) You rarely get one shotted with all the armor, healing, and regen… except facing those gimicky builds that one shot anything, nothing will survive those if you don’t prep to evade.
3) huge party support, you are the only class that can rez all the silly glass cannons AND do dps all at the same time via your super buffed up pet. Also all your healing doesn’t hurt either.
4) feel like yoda as you swoop from victim to victim in your spinning whirl of doom/evasion.

Cons:
1) requires you to focus on two health bars to stay optimal, with pet buffed up as is he won’t hurt as much when hit but you WILL suffer if you let your pet go down (even more so if it happens twice before the pet down penalty expires)
2) You will not see crazy numbers! but… ranger never sees those numbers anyways, so what the hell do you care for. Pet sees some nice ones though.
3) lack of stun break, countered best by saving your block to counter it and knowing your enemies. Your free evade is also awesome at randomly dodging the bullet from time to time. You will also with all the vigor and base endurance regen be able to dodge roll more anyway over your standard build. It is more pre-emptive thinking (can be more free with dodges since you get them back alot) versus re-active.

My Ranger (used in WvW):

Used Skills:
Sword/Horn, Longbow (Sometimes i prefer Sword/Axe, but speedbuff is necessary and 10% Signet is crap)
Conditions work nice in PvP, but not in WvW, that’s the reason why is use longbow.
Other Skills:
Healing Spring, , Zephyr, Signet of Stone, Lightning Reflexes (or Muddy Terrain in zergs)
Entangle

Traits:

30 Marksman
Signet Mastery, Piercing Arrows, Signet of Beastmaster (for 6 sec unv…. opening strikes are crap)
20 Skirmishing
Sharpened Edges (no better Trait at this Lvl), Quick Draw (more often Rapid Fire)
20
Wilderness Knowledge (self-explaining… i’m using 3 Survivalskills), Hide in Plain Sight
(maybe Shared Anguish, but i prefer the possibility to break enemie’s targeting)

Used Pets: Raven, Owl (Nice Dmg, kinda-useful skills)

With this Build i can get most classes in WvW (even thiefes), IF the guys don’t use their classes at limit.
I think i’m a quite good ranger (not the best), but i have no chance against thieves, guardians, mesmers playing their class excellent.

Ranger only becomes effective, when you use all your weapon skills in the right moment.
To make your skills effective you have to use a lot of traits (for instance signet of stone… 30 points in Marksman with crap standart trait opening attack)
You have to know, when you need to give up a fight and escape
(hornet sting, turn, monarch’s leap are awesome at this), and when to go in close fight (thieves).
You have to decide if you use your quickness for your bow or your sword (also fine damage).

Summary: You have to play your ranger at the limit to fight other classes, but if the other classes do the same, you have no chance. My advantage in WvW until now is,
that most of the others can’t play their classes effective.

PS: Forgot my equipment: Knight’s armor (Toughness, Prec, Power), berserc accessory/weapons, Precision-Bufffood, Rune of the Pack-Set

Hi guys,
I normaly play a Guardian but have been leveling up a Ranger (currently 66) since I really find the Guard boring while farming and his lack of range beyond frustrating (scepter works in WvW/sPvP but not in PvE). Can anyone suggest a PvE Orr farming build?
Right now I’m using sb/axewarhorn, 30/26/0/0/0 simply because it seemed logical…but being amateur to the class I’m sure I’m missing a lot with my generic build.
Based on other builds I’ve been reading it seems to be Power > Prec > Crit Dmg > Rest so I’ve been trying to follow that so far.
Any help is much appreciated guys, thanks

Figured i should put my build down here, because its laughable how much it pisses off people in sPvP and absolutely ROCKS in dungeons.
Traits- 20/20/20/0/10
marksman- adept trait this is really what suits you and what seems to happen in your fights. does ur enemy run at low health then get the cripple otherwise it doesnt make a big difference, i run with pet 25%hp=might fury, because i can. Master trait- 20% signet recharge, its kind 100% same thing as the adept one, whatever rocks your boat. however be careful with choosing something impractical such as longbow range, because this means you are going to lose damage faster the quicker your opponent gets closer to you, so unless you’re sitting on a cliff and sniping then i wont stop you, otherwise go for something else.
skirmishing- adept 30% extra damage on critical for pets [hint wink nudge this is whats killing your enemy here] master trait is 20% reduction on longbow/short bow cool down however i only use the longbow, because i disagree with SB being 1200 range thus i boycott it even if it disadvantages me.
wilderness survival- adept survival skills recharge 20% faster [hint my elite and 2 utilities are survival, so yeah i want it.] master 20% reduction in recharge for great sword/sword skills. the skills on either weapons are amazing especially the variety on GS. fits my play style like a glove. so im not complaining.
Beast mastery – adept reduction on F2 skills. its because its my source of unavoidable CC unless they have stability, in which case well. kitten

weapons LB +GS.
LB=nullification.-remove a boon at 60% chance on crit, its useful and i like it you can take whatever you want. i just find i can use this and not feel like its a waste
GS= purity. because its pretty much guaranteed you will eat some sort of condition while in melee range, just face it getting rid of it is a good thing.
armor= full melandru, i purely picked those because i love melandru, shes cool, and her sigils are amazing apparently, but yeah i picked them because of the name.
jewels= so far i just have a pendant which is a knight amulet with a rampager jewel. i like it, still dont know if i should change rampage to something else. meh

heal- troll unugent, because i absolutely despise every other heal.
utilities- lightning reflexes my lord is this useful, not to mention extra dodge but also a stun breaker at a relatively low cooldown. win!
Quickening zephyr-also on a low cooldown and just a kitten skill when needing to rez in a team fight and you are racing a finish move, which you should be able to stop with the amount of freaking CC. also because your pet gets the effect. TAKE CARE when using this. during the 6 seconds of quickness you cannot be healed by anything so dont be a smart kitten and pop ur troll unugent before using this under any circumstances you should not do it. just NO.
Signet of renewal- because its a 2nd stun breaker and the most freaking useful condition removal which is on par with the necro. its amazing to pull of just ludicrous amount of conditions and then swap out pets canceling the conditions altogether. do take note the conditions will not be pulled if the pet is not alive.
elite- entangle, because its a Survival skill and its kind of amazing. huge stacks of bleeds if they are stuck for long enough and i just like it, not much to go on really.

Pets- you absolute 95% of dps source the ludicrous Jaguar who can go invisible for 6 seconds and crit from that state. just all the damage is ridiculous!
backup- a normal wolf, because they have fear and a knockdown. not much else, decent balance of stats but im not looking for that in them just the knockdown and fear.
so a few situational things to deal with. nr1- make it look like you are hellbent on doing the most dps you can and look like any other glass cannon ranger,[because they freaking awful and should be exiled and hanged]
nr2- keep your pet alive. this is the most important thing to focus on. now why is this on nr2 and not nr1? because ppl who just read nr1 and move on are not who im trying to show my build to.
nr3- learn to piss off your enemy, by being a colossal troll and just cc’ing them out of whatever they are winding up for and evading, if they are popping their signets and coming at you to 100 blade you just pop lightning reflexes and then jump on them since they probably used frenzy

All good suggestions indeed.
My own rule is: Dead man cant do dmg!! So I personally never go full glass canon. Ranger is squishy enough as it is! Also you are a ranger. At least 10 points in Beastmastery. Imho, one of the best contribution the ranger offers in dungeons / groups, is our TRAPS! Therefore my build is a condition trapper. Also this build can easily be converted to a pve build without the need to re-spec the traits.
Overall traits: 10 / 30 / 20 / 0 / 10
Dungeon oriented:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQNBHhVakoKvuuSuC1SQsKAomiMZe2DD5oH9KQrUuVWYLF;TQArKGQsrYKC
Compassion training is great in dungeons (pet heals more).
Weapons: SB & Axe + WH
SB keep the distance and condition dmg, WH party boon
Skills: traps. always spike trap. the other 2 traps can be swapped according to surroundings.
Elite. Entangle
Pets: Bear family
pve oriented:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQNAnYVjEVF21VyVsWCiVBA1UQJzzeYIH9oXB0nypyCbpA;TQArKGQsrYKC
Master’s bond make the pet a killing machine (or/and mother of tanks)
Weapons: SB & Axe + dagger
SB keep the distance and condition dmg, dagger for the poison evade and bleed cripple.
Skills: spike + flame trap and signet of stone.
Elite. rampage as one
Pets: Polar bear (best vit and higher dmg then other bears) & murrelow (high vit and poison + he looks gr8!)
Its essential to keep pets alive and not swap (unless pets is dead) because of master’s bond.

Armor and weapon all carrion (condition vit power). jewls : chrysocola jewls (cond power vit)
rune: elementalist
sry for the missing link function. I couldnt make them right! you have to copy/paste.

I play this build and for me its great for pve / wvw:
30 marksmanship – IV / X / XI – in pve second rune change for VIII
20 skirmishing – IV / X
20 wilderness survival – VI / XI
armor set: Berserker armor – 5x rune of ranger / 1x Ruby Orb
jewelery set: Emerald set with ruby jewel
back: Ascendet +56 Tougness +35 power +5% crit damage
weapons: long bow – sigil of fire, axe + warhorn – both Sigil of Perception, short bow – sigil of blood, sword – sigil of blood
food: oil for + precision, 66% chance for life steal (PvE), 100 power / 70 preci or 100 preci + 10% crit damage (WvW)
with long bow my stats r:
3200 power, 54 crit chance, 75 crit damage, 2600 armor, 15082 hp
skills: Zephyr, Signet of Renewal, Signet of Stone

Hello guys,
What i use in pve and found quite convinient is (for me at least)
Traits 30/20/20/0/0
*steady focus/piercing arrows/signet of the beastmaster
*sharpened edges/trappers expertise
*shared anguish and hide in plain site

I mostly use longbow (aoe+range) and axe-warhorn (also range+boons)
apply conditions from traps and take root as elite skill.
basically i do everything i can to loose the attention and get myself some extra seconds till i can heal again.
I mostly use 1 spider for poison and immobilizing also coz of ranged attacks (scorpios also nice) and the other i change depending on situation

(Usually i tend to apply different conditions than stack them. Though i do stack bleeds coz i combine the axe+spike trap+ my trait)The last one i really dont know if it preferable, its just a habit of mine).

THE MOST COMMON BUILD
use longbow
complain on forums

My build for Ranger is this
Traits:
Increase Nature Magic to 30, Beastmastery to 25, and Wilderness Survival to 15. In Nature Magic choose Circle of Life, Nature’s Bounty, and Shared Restoration. In Beastmastery get, Speed Training, and Instinctual Bond. In Wilderness Survival get Hide in Plain Sight
Skill Points:
For healing get Healing Spring, for utilities get Signet of the Hunt, Signet of Renewal, and Search and Rescue and for your elite get Rampage as One.

Oh and Weapon sets are: main Longbow, secondary Dual Axes

This is the build I use on WvW and been able to roam the map alone with it. It’s limited to asuran rangers though, but if you find it interesting to try, you could always change “Pain Inverter” to “Protect Me”. Pets I use are: Owl and Wolf.
In this build, I sometimes use torch instead of warhorn for more AoE condition damage.

Playstyle:
While at a distance, hit RaO and spam foe with SB skill 1 and 2 for conditions, when they get close, switch to axe and horn/torch and with the geo sigil, inflict more bleed on opponent. The heart of this build is in the timing of the Pain Inverter. With good timing, taking down 3 opponents is a breeze especially with the AoE conditions granted by axe skill 2 , geomancy and torch if you choose to use it over horn. I use the owl pet because it’s the best pet at hitting moving targets and could chill running opponents and also cast swiftness from time to time, while the wolf I use only to fear thieves who cloak messing up their stealth combo.

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mzom0zmzMMaokMMaokMafxaVcMcoRo08kiT707khd7kiO7070z7kGW70V7owY70M7ow170z8ofj

For pve (only traits listed):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQBggY9YP95PdBvHxS9t3LA

Since they fixed opening strikes, I find this build a good combination for both high damage through vulnerability, and good survival through passive regen (with signet, dolyak runes and natural healing). Weapons I tend to use the most are longbow and sword/horn, axe/horn or shortbow.

Natural vigor – do any ranger ever play without this trait, lol?

Turning of autoattack on sword 1 makes for much more fun gameplay with that weapon btw!

Ok figured I’d put my build in for critiquing :
Sword(Sig of Fire 30%)/Axe(Sig of Accuracy 5%) + Longbow

Skills:
Healing Spring / Sharpen Blades / Zephyr / Sig of Wild // Mistfire Wolf/Rampage

Traits:
10/10/20/5/25
Marksmanship: III / VII / XII
Wilderness Surv: VI / VII
Beast: II

The only reason I added 5 into Nature Magic was for the regen @ 75%. I’ve found this does come in very handy in a tough fight and procs ever so often while under 75% HP. As for the skills I’ve tried multiple build types from spirits to traps. I found both quite lacking to my taste. This build I find allows me to add various forms of damage to my enemies, including burning from my FDS and bleeding. Also the skills work great with bow dmg & piercing arrows.

The downside to my current build is I chose Knights gear (Pow/Pre/Tough). As such my condition dmg is lacking, but my abiltity to crit is at a decent level (around 35%).

(link to build will be uploaded later)

Alternate build:
Traits:
10/10/20/5/25
Marksmanship: III
Skirmishing: II
Wilderness Surv: VI / VII
Beast: II / VII

Heavy on bleeds. The cat bleeds ’em, the crits bleed ’em, and under 75% regular hits bleed ’em. Might work out a few kinks to make it a little better as than this.

moonstarmac.4603:

Traits:
10/10/20/5/25
Marksmanship: III / VII / XII
Wilderness Surv: VI / VII
Beast: II

The only reason I added 5 into Nature Magic was for the regen @ 75%. I’ve found this does come in very handy in a tough fight and procs ever so often while under 75% HP.

Afaik, it triggers once when you get below 75%??

I’d drop the 5 i nature magic, and put them into BM for natural healing. Constant ‘regen’ for both you and your pet.

OGDeadHead.8326:

moonstarmac.4603:

Traits:
10/10/20/5/25
Marksmanship: III / VII / XII
Wilderness Surv: VI / VII
Beast: II

The only reason I added 5 into Nature Magic was for the regen @ 75%. I’ve found this does come in very handy in a tough fight and procs ever so often while under 75% HP.

Afaik, it triggers once when you get below 75%??

I’d drop the 5 i nature magic, and put them into BM for natural healing. Constant ‘regen’ for both you and your pet.

Took your advice here and reworked a bit. Found the opening strike wasn’t all that much to my liking. Current build:

0/20/20/0/30
Skirmishing: II / VI
Wilderness Surv: VI / VII
Beast: II / IV / XII

Skills are still the same, so with this I can keep bleeding going easy, pets heal themselves when they crit, plus they heal more with the trait spec from both natural and crit heals. Now just to test it out in Frostgorge and see what happens.

My PVE Build:

http://www.gw2db.com/skills/calc/ranger#8|0|1242|463|1156|352|4461|30|2344|826|2342|20|1307|1301|0|10|kitten0|0|10|2392|0|0|0|0|0|0|11|15|5|28032|28032|49964|49964|49964|49964|49964|25790|21080|21080|21080|21080|21080|

I was using a condition damage build for a very long time, then switched over to a power oriented build. I am much happier with the power oriented build. Condition damage in this game seems to have lots of problems.

Heres my build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAT8YnIVEZZgFaBxahgYpQP9ppITSiz4Q8/LogVNA;TQAinWGMMYDC
This build works with lvl 80 exotic gear on. Anything less and you won’t hit hard enough.
Weapons: Bow is for the damage. You have great burst at max range to start with 15% vulnerability. Once they close blast them with rapid fire + pet swap.
Sword is when you get melee on you and you are taking too much damage (AKA you can’t evade around them and keep using the bow.) You have 3 evade abilities and a snare. Also any quickness with the sword #1 (I don’t use autoattack because its imperitive to dodge when you need to) will dominate a caster.
Pets: Wolf is godly for cc. Melee on you? press f2 and evade near the pet, wooo aoe fear. Hound is just as good, but roots instead. They have decent toughness so they won’t die to a gust of wind as long as you are not fighting zerg vs zerg. Use the pet CC and you will be so much better as a player. Don’t be afraid to swap these guys either. The quickness is awesome and so is when the pet comes out and pounces right on somebody. Stuns are rare, you have 2. Awesome. Don’t complain about their speed, with Signet of the hunt and hunters shot, they’ll get to the players unless its a thief full speed running away. In which case your 3k bow shots will finish him off.
Skills: QZ is amazing. Don’t be afraid to blow it for a finisher. Dead opponent is always better than an alive one. Short cooldown = USE IT.
Signet of the hunt: What can i say, its amazing now. So easy to catch up to people, easier to get away, and easier to get around map.
Protect Me: Who cares if your pets alive if you are dead? Sometimes you get rooted and you have people beating on you. Sometimes you need to finish a guy off but he’s kittenstorm of damage. Sometimes a thief is about to pop on you and you don’t want to take any damage. Swap the pet once he’s low. Really though, it kills the pet but you don’t die. Alive you > alive pet, EVERY TIME.
RaO: Stability, swiftness, fury. For a long time. Yes please, a lot of roaming fights are decided before RaO wears off. Fury gives me 55% crit chance. Crits are an extra 2k on my long range shots.
Traits: Marks for the plus to power. Range on longbow is nice, fury and might when the pet gets to 50% is also nice. Opening strike is awesome in roaming fights and keep defense for blasting one guy down super quick with a partner.
Skirmish is for the crit. Flanking is great for when they run away and your hitting them for stupid amounts of damage. Pets critting harder helps make the pet worth more than just CC. I see my dogs critting for 1.5-2k regularly. Vigor always helps rangers. Evading is good, remember that. Learning how and when to evade is the single greatest thing you can learn in GW2. I’m not kidding.
Wilderness: This boosts your survival. End regen, protection when you roll are self explanatory, see above comments on evading. The traits are for defense. Stealth is marginally useful. When coupled with shared anguish it becomes great. Also great for finishing since that first CC is ignored so you can finish stomping.
Sigils/Runes are too your taste. I run Knights gear, Valk jewelry, and a couple zerkers added in. I was a little bit short on health and wanted a higher crit damage, so I went Wurm. Chilling on weapons is always good especially as a bow ranger. Plus people run away all the time in WvWvW, chilling them ends that quickly.

racta.4250:

Heres my build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAT8YnIVEZZgFaBxahgYpQP9ppITSiz4Q8/LogVNA;TQAinWGMMYDC
This build works with lvl 80 exotic gear on. Anything less and you won’t hit hard enough.
Weapons: Bow is for the damage. You have great burst at max range to start with 15% vulnerability. Once they close blast them with rapid fire + pet swap.
Sword is when you get melee on you and you are taking too much damage (AKA you can’t evade around them and keep using the bow.) You have 3 evade abilities and a snare. Also any quickness with the sword #1 (I don’t use autoattack because its imperitive to dodge when you need to) will dominate a caster.
Pets: Wolf is godly for cc. Melee on you? press f2 and evade near the pet, wooo aoe fear. Hound is just as good, but roots instead. They have decent toughness so they won’t die to a gust of wind as long as you are not fighting zerg vs zerg. Use the pet CC and you will be so much better as a player. Don’t be afraid to swap these guys either. The quickness is awesome and so is when the pet comes out and pounces right on somebody. Stuns are rare, you have 2. Awesome. Don’t complain about their speed, with Signet of the hunt and hunters shot, they’ll get to the players unless its a thief full speed running away. In which case your 3k bow shots will finish him off.
Skills: QZ is amazing. Don’t be afraid to blow it for a finisher. Dead opponent is always better than an alive one. Short cooldown = USE IT.
Signet of the hunt: What can i say, its amazing now. So easy to catch up to people, easier to get away, and easier to get around map.
Protect Me: Who cares if your pets alive if you are dead? Sometimes you get rooted and you have people beating on you. Sometimes you need to finish a guy off but he’s kittenstorm of damage. Sometimes a thief is about to pop on you and you don’t want to take any damage. Swap the pet once he’s low. Really though, it kills the pet but you don’t die. Alive you > alive pet, EVERY TIME.
RaO: Stability, swiftness, fury. For a long time. Yes please, a lot of roaming fights are decided before RaO wears off. Fury gives me 55% crit chance. Crits are an extra 2k on my long range shots.
Traits: Marks for the plus to power. Range on longbow is nice, fury and might when the pet gets to 50% is also nice. Opening strike is awesome in roaming fights and keep defense for blasting one guy down super quick with a partner.
Skirmish is for the crit. Flanking is great for when they run away and your hitting them for stupid amounts of damage. Pets critting harder helps make the pet worth more than just CC. I see my dogs critting for 1.5-2k regularly. Vigor always helps rangers. Evading is good, remember that. Learning how and when to evade is the single greatest thing you can learn in GW2. I’m not kidding.
Wilderness: This boosts your survival. End regen, protection when you roll are self explanatory, see above comments on evading. The traits are for defense. Stealth is marginally useful. When coupled with shared anguish it becomes great. Also great for finishing since that first CC is ignored so you can finish stomping.
Sigils/Runes are too your taste. I run Knights gear, Valk jewelry, and a couple zerkers added in. I was a little bit short on health and wanted a higher crit damage, so I went Wurm. Chilling on weapons is always good especially as a bow ranger. Plus people run away all the time in WvWvW, chilling them ends that quickly.

Bad link.

thrice.9184:

racta.4250:

Heres my build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAT8YnIVEZZgFaBxahgYpQP9ppITSiz4Q8/LogVNA;TQAinWGMMYDC

Bad link.

works fine if you copy and paste it into your browser address bar.

Hey there!

I tryed a lot of different builds recently, especially with the now better working pet in mind.
I had a great deal of fun and success with both builds!
They focus on Power+Crits with a good deal of survivability. In fact, you can easily fight 2 enemies at once, shred bunker builds into pieces and show those almighty thiefs who’s the real king of the jungle!

SW/Axe + Axe/WH
The Bunker Breaker, or: “How to send guardians to dust”
http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=-FF77-0-wEFx-r2NEV-0;9k23;19OT-40;030-52B;45BW0U;1PcW5PcW55BW

(copy paste to watch the build)

Focuses on heavy crits and evades while also being a forgivable build due to high survivability.
Axe in the offhand is an awesome weapon and can be used defensively for blocking arrows or agressively by stacking vulnerability like a mad lumberjack!

The wolve is your best friend with his super CC abilities and his decent damage output.
Since pets better hit moving targets quickening zephyr lets your pet also rampage like it should.
Muddy terain and a lot of cripple/freeze from your weapon sets result in great synergy between you and your pet.
Try it – love it.

SB + SW/Axe
Hybrid Survivability Powerbuild with Petfocus aka the “1vX Build” (tested ^^)
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-FV-F7;0wEFx-r2VDV-0;9;5ETJ4;10;058A45;2I-k3U;1LNW4LNW46gc

(copy paste to watch the build)

This build offers even more survivability and movement while utilising the pet even more.
You can kite your enemies while dealing loads of damage from attacks, bleeds and your pet.
Again, Wolve is your main pet, but switching to jaguar with QZ+ Sick’em while constantly crippling your enemy will melt their faces in seconds.

I tryed both builds in sPvP and tPvP aswell as WvWvW.
They are really fun to play in every situation.

Note: there is no perfect build, so these builds will have some enemies being stronger against you. While encountering different players in WvWvW i often switched the last wilderness survival trait for condition removal or damage reduction under 30% and also sometimes using Signet of Renewal as 3rd utility skill.

If you don’t switch utilites in matches, dont blame the build for being melted by either condition or powerbuilds.
It’s your responsibility to analyse the enemy team and take countermeasures!

I’d love to read your critics after you tested those builds!

Hi, like these builds. Any chance you can go into more details about using the axe as offhand. It’s something I’ve wanted to try myself but always stayed clear of due to being locked in place.

It’s all about skill 5, 4offers no utility at all with no outstanding damage.
Skill 5 let’s you stack vulnerability kitten fast on crippled targets or when you are cc’ed anyways a lot of fun after dodging through 100Blades or in a invisible field of a thief

As defensive skill it works wonders against kill shot or rapidfire skills. The immobility is not an actual problem when you stand in your own regeneration field or a combo field of an ally.

Just don’t use it to deal damage, sword 1 has higher dps.

ps: there seemed to be 2 minor mistakes in both builds, I changed 1 trait in each build. updated links above.

Aeri.5738:

Hey there!

I tryed a lot of different builds recently, especially with the now better working pet in mind.
I had a great deal of fun and success with both builds!
They focus on Power+Crits with a good deal of survivability. In fact, you can easily fight 2 enemies at once, shred bunker builds into pieces and show those almighty thiefs who’s the real king of the jungle!

SW/Axe + Axe/WH
The Bunker Breaker, or: “How to send guardians to dust”
http://www.intothemists.com/calc/index.php?build=-FF77-0-wEFx-r2NEV-0;9k23;19OT-40;030-52B;45BW0U;1PcW5PcW55BW

(copy paste to watch the build)

Focuses on heavy crits and evades while also being a forgivable build due to high survivability.
Axe in the offhand is an awesome weapon and can be used defensively for blocking arrows or agressively by stacking vulnerability like a mad lumberjack!

The wolve is your best friend with his super CC abilities and his decent damage output.
Since pets better hit moving targets quickening zephyr lets your pet also rampage like it should.
Muddy terain and a lot of cripple/freeze from your weapon sets result in great synergy between you and your pet.
Try it – love it.

SB + SW/Axe
Hybrid Survivability Powerbuild with Petfocus aka the “1vX Build” (tested ^^)
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-FV-F7;0wEFx-r2VDV-0;9;5ETJ4;10;058A45;2I-k3U;1LNW4LNW46gc

(copy paste to watch the build)

This build offers even more survivability and movement while utilising the pet even more.
You can kite your enemies while dealing loads of damage from attacks, bleeds and your pet.
Again, Wolve is your main pet, but switching to jaguar with QZ+ Sick’em while constantly crippling your enemy will melt their faces in seconds.

I tryed both builds in sPvP and tPvP aswell as WvWvW.
They are really fun to play in every situation.

Note: there is no perfect build, so these builds will have some enemies being stronger against you. While encountering different players in WvWvW i often switched the last wilderness survival trait for condition removal or damage reduction under 30% and also sometimes using Signet of Renewal as 3rd utility skill.

If you don’t switch utilites in matches, dont blame the build for being melted by either condition or powerbuilds.
It’s your responsibility to analyse the enemy team and take countermeasures!

I’d love to read your critics after you tested those builds!

Love these builds! Keep up the good work buddy.

Papaganoosh (SPvP Officer, The Unnamed EU)

http://www.the-unnamed.com/spvpapp – recruiting skilled players for TPvP

This is the build i am working with right now. I tryed to not use any race skills in the build so anyone can use it.
<script>var guildhead_skillcalc = { "hash": "mVoc0VmzMMhGgMMohGMxG9MGzabzkmz" }</script><script src="http://static.guildhead.com/skill-calc-embed.js"></script>

http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVoc0VmzMMhGgMMohGMxG9MGzabzkmz

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJAVTjEVR2VWCWsWCitgmiM1f2DDxoE9Pk+LWqKJ;T8Ag1ynEOJdS9kyJKqMUJoySljKJVrKGasBB

this is is what i am going for when i hit 80. please give me your feedback.

hello everyone. this might be off the topic, however could you please give me some advice on my ranger (Archer).

My main focus now is to level fast and reach lvl 80 (currently level 67) and after reaching 80 i will be doing dungeons to hunt for better armours.. could you please help me which build should i make, which armour (like armour with power-precision-crit damage – condition [which should i focus on this 4]) and accessories as well..

My weapon now is a longbow for Rapid Fire – Point Blank then switch to Short bow for crippling shot. casting traps first before attacking.

i am still very new to the game, i levelled up just by doing Maw, Story quest and Map Exploration… i still got to learn a lot of things.. your advice will greatly help me.. thank you very much for those who will reply..

For those leveling rangers and wondering about builds and equipment, I suggest that you spend a lot of time in sPvP before you spend a lot of money on lvl 80 gear. It is invaluable to see what really works and suits your playstyle.
Mine is similar to Mog’s signet build except I have 20 in WS in lieu of NM. It gives me a great 6s invulnerable, stability and resistance to movement impairing abilities which is important in WvW. I use skills that provide Fury and try to keep it up most of the time. Consequently, I picked traits and other things that trigger off crit because I crit a lot.
The main thing though is to find something that works for you. Good luck with your rangers!

Here is the build I’m currently using in PVE. It’s an hybrid build that gives some support/heals with pets to party and it can deal quite good damage. I use longbow for aoe situation and on bosses that require to stay ranged, for others I go with sword that deals high amount of damage and allow u to have a good mobility in melee range. Pets must be switched asap to get the qickness bonus and to keep the buff they provide refreshed constantly; with red moa and warhorn I can have fury up almost all the time. Blue Moa should be drop for Jungle stalker that gives 5 stack of might to party, it’s all up to u.
Utility skills are switched based on fight, except for quickening Zehyr that is a must imo. Traits are still under test but actually i’m lvl 25 fractal and they works pretty good.
The gear i went for is Full Zerk armor with Ruby Orbs in all slots and Knight’s Jewels. If u go for fractal i suggest u Sights Be True as backpack, Rurik’s Royal Signet and Adelrben’s Royal Signet.
As consumables the food u need to use mandatory are Omnomberry Pies that helps alot on survive, and the tool i suggest u is Master Maintenance Oils.
I hope u enjoy this build, advices are always welcome. ^^

Link: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQNBjYDbkoqwOySxi1OQ0UwJzzecIExoniWFrKu7G;TMALLGWsLA

PvE dmg build (maximum dmg)
Going for maximum dmg/crit chance(90-100%), including might stacking of 8-10 permanent might stacks. It’s a glass canon build that cleared all dungeon paths aswell as fractals lvl 30+.

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/78402-100-crit-pve-ranger-work-in-progress/#entry2131673

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMUQNAV3fjEVR2xV2VoWCgNj9CsVgS2DDd8RvgTWVqUB;T8AAzypESJlSNlSKqmMNJay2krJZTrKGBsFA

So, what about this build for a high survivability (due to the toughness) and a good deal of condition damage? I finally decided on this after realizing that I feel so very squishy specced as a more glass cannon type.

Oh, and this is PvE, mainly solo.

My proposed Spirit Ranger:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQJARTjEVl1VVeVs2BilCB1nni0TL3jSZqTVwnD

Thoughts?

Kellnor.5428:

Ohhhhh snap.

FANTASTIC TRAP BUILD WITH MASSIVE HEALTH POOL

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Fantastic-Trap-build/first#post1260556

no, this is bad