Guild Wars 2

Greetings, Ranger community.

I have been long-thinking how to make my favorite utility ability work in practice and I spent days and days of trying things out, yet, I finally came up with the most amazing and most creative build that I ever have. It might not be the “meta” people are talking about but it’s definitely the build suitable for Ranked matches.

For all those players who love to adapt according to situation and have an answer to every ambush or every class facing you – this build proved extremely satisfying and effective at all of it’s possible outcomes.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBMhN6kSFoiVseFwlFgrFskIYwT1s6Y150t6adPBgY3MrkpdG-TZBFABCcIAEvMwCnAAAeCAuv/AA

This build combines much more than any other build I played so far. Keep in mind that this build is a high skill-capped one and might take a minute or two to get a grasp of what’s it’s main role.

• Pros:
  ~ Huge damage spike
  ~ Very Good sustain
  ~ High Access to Stealth and AoE stealth
  ~ Good Mobility and escape mechanics
  ~ A lot of Crowd Control.
  ~ 2 stun breakers
  ~ 12 seconds of AoE chill to debilitate enemy fighting possibilities (a friend who helped me test the build with duels said it’s somehow a counter to eles)

• Cons:
  ~ Vulnerable to constant ranged Condi Pressure (Reapers)
  ~ Are easily shut down by Rampage Warriors if stealth and escape access are out of CD
  ~ This build is much more difficult to play correctly because a lot of potential comes from combos – which requires chain sequences that might eat a CD for another combo
  ~ CAF builds longer than on other builds. You do not use this form for healing, though.

NOTE:

• Useful combinations with the build:
  ~ Group Stealth Ganking: Smokescale F2 > Warhorn Blast > CAF #3 > Leave form = 9 seconds of stealth and 3 seconds of Super Speed for all of you
  ~ Disrupting Nuke: SotP > Ice Trap > CAF #3 > Swap Pets for Quickness > CAF #5 > Leave Form = 12 sec Chill, AoE Daze, AoE root for 5 and another 5 seconds (Ancient Seeds synergy), AoE Slow, dangerous damage spike
  ~ Escape: Sword #2 > Lightning Reflexes > 180° > Monarch’s Leap
  ~ Damage Spikes: SotP > Warhorn #5 > Warhorn #4 > Longbow #5 > Swap Pet to Bristle + Quickness, F2 > WHaO > Rapid Fire = rapid 25 might burst with quickness nuke.

Please, do not think of the build as a God’s set way but rather a template for players who might enjoy this play-style. Thank you for your consideration.
Any feedback is, of course, welcome.

I wish warhorn was truly viable

I like the build although in the current meta I find it hard not to take WS, there’s so much condi spam from so many sources -.-

also while I like the ice trap cc it just doesn’t do enough of anything to really justify bringing it. Why not spike trap for the CC+dmg+a few bleeds or poison trap to hurt healing.

Prophet.1584:

I like the build although in the current meta I find it hard not to take WS, there’s so much condi spam from so many sources -.-

also while I like the ice trap cc it just doesn’t do enough of anything to really justify bringing it. Why not spike trap for the CC+dmg+a few bleeds or poison trap to hurt healing.

I use frost trap mostly because of what it does. It’s an AoE debilitating condition that can be blasted for Frost Aura (that is amazing with this build).
And it cannot be 1-step-evaded just like spike trap failing to do anything at all. Spike trap has way too many counters unlike Ice Trap that deals nice amount of damage over 3 seconds (that’s more than 2 evades) and allows you to win most of 1v1s, or shake your opponent if you fail, making rotates more efficient.

You are actually quite right about the Condition Cleanse. However, I haven’t met an opponent except Reaper that I couldn’t win against, him being conditions or not. This build is way too offensive to die to conditions. If conditions are what you die to – Wilderness Knowledge wouldn’t help you win regardless.

This build has way too many ways to avoid damage, rather than focusing on recuperating from it.

@Pvt Frosty
Warhorn is not that bad of weapon. #4 deals 75% of Path of Scars damage and with this build results in roughly 8 might if paired with WHaO.
And allows your team to stealth-gank.

I’ve gotten a very positive feedback on this build so I decided to polish some possibilities further.

For players fond of more defensive playstyle – the build can have a variation of swapping:
BM: Companion’s Might → Resounding Timbre
NM: Windborne Notes → Evasive Purity

I’ve had players who didn’t like the idea of stealthing. With these changes it’s possible to swap Warhorn for Axe or potentially Dagger.

Happy Hunting everybody.