Post-patch: Which build?

Post-patch: Which build?

in Ranger

Posted by: Doxir.1459

Doxir.1459

Hi everyone,

First of all, thanks for your answers. I’m currently running a berserker build with my ranger (30-30-5-0-5). My main weapon is a Shortbow. My offhand is sometimes a longbow, sometimes an axe+warhorn. I love my build and everything around it.

Since the patch, i dont feel like playing with shortbow anymore (and for many reasons, not only the downgrade). My heart is with the ranger class, so i dont want to roll to a warrior or something else. I am now looking at which build/gameplay/weapons i could use instead of SBĀ­.

I’m taking any propositions, but i would like to know if playing with axe/warhorn is good. I find the axe pretty decent, but i dont feel like playing it with condition damage. I wanna keep my berserker build. Is it possible to play it like a was playing my shortbow? I’m open to move some of my traits tho.

So… waiting for your answers/suggestions/comments people

Sincerely,

Doxir

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: kharza.3974

kharza.3974

This is what I’m playing post-patch:

Spider Venom, Devourer Venom, Signet of Shadows, Thieves Guild

30 Shadow Arts (Cloaked in Shadow, Leeching Venoms, Venomous Aura)
20 Deadly Arts (Mug, Quick Venoms)
20 Acrobatics (Vigorous Recovery, Pain Response)

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Dredj.4025

Dredj.4025

I’m playing my Necro post-patch.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Doxir.1459

Doxir.1459

Thanks for answers, but almost everyone have already told their point of view about this nerf. I don’t care what you guys are playing now. They are aware of whats happening right now and if you can’t control your rage, dont spam someone else thread please.

I’ll now ask you to respect the post and keep it clean. I’m looking forward to find solutions and see if there is any build viable with Axe and warhorn!

Thanks!

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: kiranslee.4829

kiranslee.4829

Friend, dont get ppl wrong but if you think of our builds, we were forced into SBs as only viable build. So as you answer, no there is none.

Post-patch: Which build?

in Ranger

Posted by: Vizual.3504

Vizual.3504

The only really viable option for spvp is still the shortbow (even after the nerf, mixed with condi dmg obviously, not power/critbuild). Longbow is complete trash. and Greatsword was nerfed to the ground during betas.

You can still try to play a condition axe/torch & sword/warhorn (traps utilities) if you really want to get rid of the shortbow but its really really not that great.

Honestly ranger is kinda bad atm.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Klazmaunt.2591

Klazmaunt.2591

I’m playing Elementalist. It’s just my luck that at the start of this game I pick the two classes that are the most underpowered and get nerfed the most.

Kitten.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Doxir.1459

Doxir.1459

Thanks.

And Vizual, Axe/Warhorn isn’t that great un sPvP Only, or PvE too?

Post-patch: Which build?

in Ranger

Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

Warrior Rifle/Longbow. Its better at ranged damage than Rangers ever were anyways. I started mine today.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Vizual.3504

Vizual.3504

Thanks.

And Vizual, Axe/Warhorn isn’t that great un sPvP Only, or PvE too?

Never tried pve so i cant tell

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Doxir.1459

Doxir.1459

I feel that i would cheat my ranger if i do another char. I’m the kind of person that clear everything with a character before starting another. I just can’t understand that the way of correcting a bug is to downgrade DPS. Doesn’t make sense to me, so i’m pretty sure (i hope), they will do something about this!

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

I feel that i would cheat my ranger if i do another char. I’m the kind of person that clear everything with a character before starting another. I just can’t understand that the way of correcting a bug is to downgrade DPS. Doesn’t make sense to me, so i’m pretty sure (i hope), they will do something about this!

Like they did with Rangers in GW1? Hah.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: takatsu.9416

takatsu.9416

Myself as well, I am dedicated to my ranger But before the patch i’ve already been running pure melee in PvE because its fun and it works with my build, I clear things out faster than with any bow. So I run sword / torch and greatsword. tons of AoE, havoc and such. Once ur within melee range, survivability for me actualy increased interestingly enough because of all the evasions in the sword sets, the jumping around and the speed at which you can aoe everything around you. That said, my build is 25 – 25 – 5 – 15 – 0 , so the vit really helps with staying alive, i’ve noticed toughness players with no vit still go down easily in pve. different in pvp.

Skills i run for survivability – signet of renewal, signet of the wild (switch it out if you don’t need it), quickening zephyr, (add a trap if you’d like for extra aoe and some slow down/cripple). i usually just stay with heal as one and entangle for swarms and tougher things you need for extra aoe or immobilize to get away.

I only switch to longbow/shortbow dual set if i’m facing down a champ, dungeons or something that needs long stand offs. Although I am disheartened by what Anet is doing, I don’t think it’ll affect my gameplay as much because I don’t use the shortbow for dps. I use it for long stand offs anyway, so if its slightly weaker it’s not going to make a difference for me – it’s a long stand off after all LOL

(edited by takatsu.9416)

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

So you run in a PvE build that would never exists in PvP or in dungeons, utilizing one of our weakest weapons, so your ok with the SB nerf. Kk.

Post-patch: Which build?

in Ranger

Posted by: Doxir.1459

Doxir.1459

Be clear faytte. Why you telling that using axe/warhorn in Pve dungeons isn’t good? Do you prefer longbow over axe?

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Duckzor.4327

Duckzor.4327

Running greatsword post-patch in place of shortbow. Too bad greatsword is trash too just like longbow, axe, and now shortbow. So basically all our weapons are trash now.

Running thief soon.

Thief WvW Solo Roam Video

http://youtu.be/MHEU8oCFxrE

(edited by Duckzor.4327)

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

For DPS in dungeons i do SB + axe/warhorn but lets be clear

I use axe/warhorn cause of the warhorn. The only thing axe gives me is the 2 at point blank to stack some bleeds. Its 1 is weaker than a traited (arrow piercing) sb or lb and some good positioning.

Ideally I would use maybe a sword or a gs, but both are trash weapons that do little damage.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Bohun Martell.8963

Bohun Martell.8963

LB and GS for PvE and WvW, LB and SB for SPvP.
20-20 -15-0-15
Runes of the Centaur for increased mobility.

Honestly, I’ve had a lot of laugh today thanks to all this cool drama on this forum.
Seriously, If someone plays ranger only becouse of 1 ability of 1 weapon, he/she should change his class. Not becouse it was nerfed by 5%. Becouse it have to be boring to run around only shooting people with autoattack.
And yes, it is 5%, not 30% or 30%. Strange behavior on QZ is a bug and will be fixed.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: takatsu.9416

takatsu.9416

Great sword and swords arent that bad, they have more dps than shortbow imo, but that isn’t accurate testing but rather from experience and how fast i take down a specific mob. I’m faster with swords. But greatswords are too weak for sure tho, it’s the same as a sword.

I agree tho, I get annoyed by ppl who are just going pew pew pew on auto and don’t even use the other sb skills, I’ve seen that before,.. So boring lol

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

Issue is that other Sb skills are actually damage decreases so they are only used when needed. Thats not the fault of SB auto attack, its the fault of the rest of the SB suite of skills just doing poor damage and our other ranged option (LB) just sucking.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: ilJumperMT.4871

ilJumperMT.4871

Axe MH sucks for sPVP too..

You’re better off using 1h Sword. Learn to use that weapon and you will love it.

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Posted by: Apophis.8561

Apophis.8561

SB ranger was by far the best build available for rangers. whether crit or condi it was still the best choice. now it is equally as bad as everything else we have available to us. so my answer to you is that it doesn’t matter what build you run anymore, rangers have just been dealt a massive blow to their repertoire.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Roger Smithee.4730

Roger Smithee.4730

I’m doing a warrior now TBH.

I’ve logged 400 hours on my ranger, and I’m enjoying rifle warrior quite immensely.

It’s so amazing to have frontloaded damage and no clunky requirements to bleeds whatnot. Half my damage isn’t focused on a pet with no attack-move animations, and I have the defensive and utility options that rangers can only dream of.

I’m notably faster at killing mobs, better defensively at range AND melee, throw in more utility to a group than any ranger could with shouts and banners. Really, why did I roll a ranger again?

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

NO IDEA. I think if they allowed rangers and warriors right now the ability to swap their mains you would see very few rangers left in the game.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: ShinraGuardian.8053

ShinraGuardian.8053

.040 additional seconds to attack is hardly noticeable. I don’t see why everyone is whining and crying that it was some huge nerf. All it did was sync the attack to the sound/animation so it wouldn’t be bugged. The animation and sounds were triggering at the correct time, and the attack was going faster than it should have.

Dragonbrand
Elementalist
The Dragonfly Effect [Phi]

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: faytte.1057

faytte.1057

.040 additional seconds to attack is hardly noticeable. I don’t see why everyone is whining and crying that it was some huge nerf. All it did was sync the attack to the sound/animation so it wouldn’t be bugged. The animation and sounds were triggering at the correct time, and the attack was going faster than it should have.

Except it wasnt that. If you actually test it in game like lots of rangers are doing now compared to videos pre patch you can see that the actual changes are actually far more significant, especially noticeable under the effects of QZ. There are a zillion posts about this, go do some research. The issue isnt the change, its that the change had a MUCH larger effect than what was advertised.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Kerri Knight.3168

Kerri Knight.3168

.04 / .5 = .08 or 8%
Losing 1 stack of bleed out of 8 is 12.5%

So there’s a 20% reduction in damage right there.

That’s without even getting into the quickness issues.

Math is hard.

Post-patch: Which build?

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Posted by: Shiren.9532

Shiren.9532

Be clear faytte. Why you telling that using axe/warhorn in Pve dungeons isn’t good? Do you prefer longbow over axe?

Axe/warhorn isn’t a DPS set. Even if you want to do damage to multiple targets you are far better off going with a shortbow and bringing the piercing arrows traits from marksmanship. I still run axe/warhorn in dungeons as my secondary set, but only because I need a mainhand weapon if I bring warhorn and sword auto-attack/self stun-lock is a deal breaker in dungeons where positioning is important and the issues with sword skill 1 aren’t fixed. I bring out warhorn for 5, usually to run somewhere in the dungeon, sometimes to buff people (the slow attacks speed and low damage of the axe compared with the shortbow makes me feel like every second I spend using it is wasted) and then I change back to shortbow when the cooldown is finished.

As an AoE weapon the axe sucks for dungeons, it does weak damage, it’s slow and it doesn’t hit enough targets. When you need an AoE in dungeons it’s usually because there are a large number of easy to kill mobs (nightmare pups, graveling hatchlings) and the axe only hits three of them. It’s really painful. The shortbow with piercing arrows can hit multiple targets if you are positioned correctly and will do a lot more damage. It also has better positioning skills on it, which are very important in dungeons.

Post patch I still run shortbow. I have 20 in marksmanship taking the piercing arrows (the first tier of power traits is shockingly awful and I don’t care for any of them, it’s either fury and might when pets die – it never seems to work at the stated , I always end up either swapping them with no buff or having to wait for them to be downed to get the buff, or I bring sharpening stone at 75), 15 in skirmishing for crit chance and bleeds on crit, 20 in wilderness survival for toughness for dungeons and hide in plain site, with a 30 second cool down it can save your life multiple times in dungeons when you would otherwise be stunned/immobilised, I also bring the 20% cooldown on survival skills – with quickening zephyr and entangle this can be the most valuable trait in the build. I also swap this out for the regeneration trait for fights like Vevina where conditions are common and regen is important. I really want to bring nature magic for the vitality but the traits are so terrible in my experience I can’t justify investing in it. I’d love for these to get a look at, for as long as spirits suck I can’t support this line – the other traits are boring or simply not worth it. I put 15 in beast mastery for the pet swap cooldown (important in dungeons where the pet will lose health often, it’s utility can save lives) and I alternate between pet F2 cooldowns and shout cooldowns – despite being buggy, search and rescue is actually pretty good.

I run full precision/power/condition damage armour. I get a little bit of toughness from my traits and I tried to focus my jewellery on vitality healing and toughness because that’s what I’m lacking everywhere else. My runes are of the pack but the shared internal cooldown which is invisible and a mystery to me atm seems to be kittening up any value I might get from my sigils and runes.

I alternate with my utilities. If I run TA I bring search and rescue, signet of renewal (even with purity sigils this is invaluable) and quickening zephyr or the charr battle roar. My elite almost always changes based on the situation. I get a lot of use out of entangle, especially on the tough melee mobs, but I also bring out the spirit when I know we will need more healing and roots will be useless (so Vevina and usually the tree fight). In AC I will flame trap sometimes, but without the ranged trap skill, traps are a lot harder to work with in some cases.