Guild Wars 2

I’ve been running this build without much trouble in PvE. What are your own thoughts on it?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBhOD7koiugzCyvCWLDINFailwUwfFi7xo4JhYK36Kr1C-jwyAYrkROgJKAkGMaDEFCJ5VEN2OQR0Y1LYqSioavRR0qBA-e

Now, before we begin, a word on “Guard”. This skill is stupid. Really. The build uses it only for triggering permanent regeneration and near-permanent swiftness. It provides two bonuses for the pet: stealth and protection. These two have absolutely no synergy between them. Why are they here? I don’t know. Also, for some inexplicable reason, the skill is an area-targeted shout. Yes, it makes no sense. Yes, it’s clunky as hell to use. And finally, the skill roots the pet for three minutes, during which the pet becomes an aggromonsterfiendhoundthing that attacks everything within 2000 or so units. Thanks to the regen, you can survive it in PvE, no problem, unless you aggro something ridiculous like a Veteran Risen Abomination. I can not even begin to explain how tedious pet management becomes with this skill used frequently.
But hey, it works, so…

Advantages: This is a full berzerker build with an insane amount of survivability. Endurance regen, vigor, greatsword autoevade, block, daze, regeneration, protection, two stun breakers, 20k health, 2200 armor, etc. You are really, REALLY hard to kill, especially for a zerker. Also, you move fast, if you want to bother with it.

Disadvantages: You are a ranger. Your damage in melee is nowhere near the damage of a warrior, guardian, etc. That’s because your pet deals damage as well. Is that a lie? Yes it is. DPS pets were gutted, their damage is maybe 10% greater than tank pets. That’s why you use tank pets. Bears. Rawr, baby, yeah.

Gameplay: Have huge sword in hand. Find enemy. Throw sword at enemy’s face. Throw self to take sword back. Proceed to murder said enemy. If enemy is challenging, use Guard a lot. Dodge a lot. If you ever run out of endurance, please send me a detailed replay explaining how you managed that. When things get hairy, pull out your axe and begin kiting swiftly and furiously and mightily.

Alternatives: In dungeons, instead of Rampage as One take Spirit of Nature. Instead of Protect Me take Search and Rescue. Never, ever replace Healing Spring. It is ridiculously strong. Consider Soften the Fall instead of Vigorous Renewal. Replace Honed Axes with Quick Draw when the situation calls for some 1500-range poking. Remember that longbows have an effective range of 1500 on a flat surface.

These are only my own thoughts, but I have less than a hundred hours on my ranger, so I’m less than experienced. Any advice?

Hi, your build is fine. However, “DPS pets were gutted” is a rampant misconception. Get some cats or a lightning Drake in there, with protection from guard they will be fine. I think you can reserve “protect me” for special situations unless you really want to face tank enemies (in that case consider traited signet of stone.) If you want to kill things faster pull out a 1h sword, and don’t forget to use warhorn 5 in your healing spring for the blast. Have fun.

Thanks for the feedback!
The axe+horn is almost strictly for the finisher, forgot to write that in. And yes, “Protect Me” is a panic button only. However, I will try the build with some cats, see what kind of damage I get from that.
Also, I really, really, really hate the sword autoattack root-leap thing. I don’t think I’ll ever use that weapon again until they change that.

I optimized your build into this http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBhOD7koiqKjswKIWLDAdGcaJnRiH6UUKqp8kSsWL-jwyAYLioZyCEpBjChQEgpCAJviox2GKiGreBTVSEV7NKiWNA-e. Forget the two-handed training trait in Nature Magic entirely. It´s just complety useless and in the wrong tree. Strength of sprit provides a better damage buff to your GS and all other weapons you use even with only your base vitality+the 200 from traits(That´s the Ranger traits for ya :/). Next we lose the guard trait and the10 spec to it. As you said the guard skill is stupid and trating Nature Magic to 30 to make it usefull is not effective either. You want to use a GS here which is a defensive weapon (Has a built in evade ,block 4, intertupt 5) so you don´t need to trait for that defense especially in PVE. Now you may ask what´s this frost spirit doing there? With the trait in Nature Magic it provides a 7% damage buff to you and your party. Thats a great bonus. You need to plan a little were to place it. It wont attract agro to itself on its own and will be killed only by aoe skills by mobs if they use them close to it so place it a bit out of the way. The ten points I took out of Nature magic got put into the 2 10% damage buff´s which are active when a you have over 90% health and are flaking your target(really easy to do with GS since no root). You can swap Pets Prowess to something else if you want but there isn´t much worth taking there since the Axe bonus only aplies if you are using a main hand axe and have it active. When you want to use S/H for more DPS switch the Martial Mastery trait for Off-Hand Traning. Lastly remember to switch utilities when needed. (Mostly on skipping parts in a Dungeon like TA Stability from Rampage as One is great here)