Guild Wars 2

Hi I figured I would post the build I used in ESL, I didn’t play greatest no warmup and random pug team, but it was fun. I’m sure other rangers use similar trait-line, there fair amount of different versions you can use, my version is just fitted to my play style. I know players dislike the fact I use LB but there is reason behind that.

The build offers.

• Strong team support heals.
• Decent pressure and burst damage.
• Mobility and escape.
• Good survival vs burst and conditions when skills are off cd.
• Does well in 1v1, 2v2 and team fights.
• Decap power with the longbow.
• Traited for faster resurrecting, if you do the combo.

Has hard time vs the new Reaper setup, if your skills are on cd you will most likely lose and the build sometimes lacks cleave when skills are on cd. But it has good decap ability, if you can land the longbow combo.

Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWnUqAVsi9rAOsActglOBDelOT3pOBuAQh7pFk4WYlMs0A-TZBFABNcIAYf/hFeCAQVGAgLAAA

Yeah I’ve been playing something similar pretty heavily the past couple days. I play it a bit more offensively, opting for hoelbrak runes, might stacking sigils, and Glyph of the tides for my second utility. Overall I find the set up to be fairly well rounded. There are some very real advantages to taking Longbow over Greatsword or even the very popular (why??) choice of Sword/Torch.

I agree with everything you listed except the third point. The LB build tends to be weaker I find to persistent melee harassment, whereas the GS offers a few more tools to combat that. That said, with the LB you should be able to skirt around the fringes of fights for longer, so maybe that’s a break even in the end.

I find condis much less threatening when running the LB as well. Having projectile finishers for your light fields is a big part of it. Also just having the range advantage is huge as well. In a 1v1 you can definitely keep the reaper at bay, and then just cc them to death when their stab runs out.

Pvp right now is a really strange mash up of builds I think. Most classes have a few different builds that COULD be viable, Druid included. I’ll have a couple matches where a build feels really strong, followed by a few where I feel maybe completely out classed. We’ve got a few weeks here before things really solidify, maybe longer if there’s a balance patch tuesday. This template is definitely one of the front runners though for meta, in my opinion.

jewishjoyride.4693:

Yeah I’ve been playing something similar pretty heavily the past couple days. I play it a bit more offensively, opting for hoelbrak runes, might stacking sigils, and Glyph of the tides for my second utility. Overall I find the set up to be fairly well rounded. There are some very real advantages to taking Longbow over Greatsword or even the very popular (why??) choice of Sword/Torch.

I agree with everything you listed except the third point. The LB build tends to be weaker I find to persistent melee harassment, whereas the GS offers a few more tools to combat that. That said, with the LB you should be able to skirt around the fringes of fights for longer, so maybe that’s a break even in the end.

I find condis much less threatening when running the LB as well. Having projectile finishers for your light fields is a big part of it. Also just having the range advantage is huge as well. In a 1v1 you can definitely keep the reaper at bay, and then just cc them to death when their stab runs out.

Pvp right now is a really strange mash up of builds I think. Most classes have a few different builds that COULD be viable, Druid included. I’ll have a couple matches where a build feels really strong, followed by a few where I feel maybe completely out classed. We’ve got a few weeks here before things really solidify, maybe longer if there’s a balance patch tuesday. This template is definitely one of the front runners though for meta, in my opinion.

I was running 2x Glyph but after recent update to Reaper I required Renewal to handle the condition pressure but you can’t give up Stone Signet it’s one of the most useful skill a Ranger has, also Tide doesn’t have any synergy with Ancient Seeds. I found dropping Tide gave me much better control over Ancient Seeds.

Longbow is just too useful, has much better team synergy. Maybe if you’re pushing far solo all game Greatsword would be decent option, due to how defensive and mobile it is.

But like everything there are Pro’s and Con’s, just matter figuring out what your planning to do for your team.

Tide has a ton of synergy with AS. you just have to use it in avatar to pull people in. It procs aoe AS instantly where they land. the proc is out of place when knocking people back though. Tide into Natural Convergence is a pretty nasty combo. Each to their own, but I feel using any signets other than SoS to be inefficient.

the other trick to proccing aoe AS instantly is Primal Echoes with hydromancy sigil. for some reason, it registers the daze first then the sigil’s damage. Running PE over DC is actually doable with GS, because of the extra survivability from GS and reduced staff cd’s.

GS is also much better for hunkering down on point, and actually holding it. you have the evades, the bash, and the block. if youre actually gonna hold a point under a ton of focus fire, it’s a no-brainer. it’s also why ROM uses it very effectively.

I also like your choice of Smoke + Tiger. Tiger’s leap is super reliable and does a ton of damage.

@mistsim.2748, Tiger is more reliable in 1v1 over Bristleback, that’s why I’ve gone back to using Tiger. Bristleback in 1v1 if you can land that F2 is really nice as well.

ROM’s is one of my favorite players I enjoy watching, but I dislike his build. Everyone turns blind eye to his major weakness to conditions just because it’s ROM running the build.

oh I for sure don’t turn the blind eye to it. without WK (or SoR in your case), relying on Verdant Etching can be pretty rough.

Tiger is awesome. especially with Remorseless

Personally, for LB/GS and Cele, I landed somewhere around this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAVWjEqQLLWyCOsAXLWMEM4s6YNtyEAWXNgm31JoFUy0qA-TZBFwAEuAALOCAt2fAaZAAPCAA

Though I’m still not settled in on it yet (I’ve been having a hard time dropping Marauders but the benefit of cele over it is clear since the it doesn’t seem like you gain enough meaningful killing power with Marauder to justify using it).

Other builds would be:
Point standing: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8fnEqAFsiVsCOsActglMBDemuTHqOJuEQjrJZFAOAlMtKA-TZRHABB8QAE4IAAwFAg89HOqMAA

Cele Damage: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8fjUqQLLWyCOsAVLWyEM4ZaPdo+UDicTsmkVA4AUy0qA-TZRHwABeIACOCAAuAAo3f4YZAA

The last 2 are still works in progress. The first is pretty set in stone.

gw2skills.net doesn´t seem to be displayed correctly. Am I the only one?

I don’t think you can say 100% that LB is the better choice for your team. As you said later in your reply it will depend on what will support your teams needs better.

GS Brings more mobility. Higher sustain thanks to the leap finisher. A 3 second block, which paired with staff 5 makes it very difficult for ranged opponents to pressure you. More up front damage. More evades.

LB has the obvious range advantage. PBS is a real swiss army skill, decap, interrupt heals, rez attempts, etc. Rapid Fire is still a lot of pressure for people to deal with. More stealth for disengaging, re positioning in through the fight, etc. Barrage can be good pressure on a point as well.

In my experience LB builds work really well when you have team mates that can stand on point. GS builds work well when you can jump in to the middle of a fight and clear out room for team mates. Both builds are weak to condis when you run double glyphs, even if you take Druidic Clarity. The utility of double glyphs is still really great though and I feel valuable enough to make that trade off.

I have yet to come across a better LB/S build than this one.

I’m a fan of LB/S as well but prefer Marauder over Celestial. I haven’t tried your build yet, but I definitely will later today so I can see how it feels compared to mine

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTnEqAVsitsAOsActglMBDem2THqOJuEQjrJZFAOAlMtKA-TpBFABiXGggDBwCXAgEeAAtv/AAHBAA

Edit: Ok so after testing, I’m with jcbroe here, dropping Marauder for Celestial is worth it. You do see the loss in damage but the Celestial just offers more. And the might stacking reduces the gap in dmg.

My only gripe with running a Celestial build is the need to spam heal for mobility. That may be a part of why I can’t maintain might stacks that well, I don’t want to use my heal at 20k hp…