Guild Wars 2

Does anyone currently use Thorn Runes rather than the 4 Nightmare/2 Trapper set up for the condi Ranger build issued by [qT]? I am curious in the DPS comparisons, and don’t have the currency in-game yet to buy a full set of Thorn Runes to test it myself. I appreciate any feedback.

Thorns runes are better for Condi Ranger in raids. At 3 thorns stacks their dps is about the same. At 4/5 stacks thorns does higher dps.

Erocy.3869:

Thorns runes are better for Condi Ranger in raids. At 3 thorns stacks their dps is about the same. At 4/5 stacks thorns does higher dps.

any video/ charts or something to proof you are right? Also what was the exact build you were using?

Erocy.3869:

Thorns runes are better for Condi Ranger in raids. At 3 thorns stacks their dps is about the same. At 4/5 stacks thorns does higher dps.

I am going to assume you mis-read it as necro. Since they will gain from running thorns runes in raids. Ranger/druid on the other hand loose alot from running thorn.

Why? simple, thorn only provide poison duration, and ranger/druid is not able to get close to 100% condi duration without help from runes. With thorns you will get the poison duration to over 100%, but both bleeding and burning (your 2 main dmg conditions in a ranger/druid build) will only be at 72%, or at 92% if you sacrifise geo AND eath sigils for smoldering and agony. Both choises are HUGE dmg loss. I dont have the math atm, but I will guess at about 5-8k less dmg then with the normal Nightmare/Trapper settup.

Erocy.3869:

Thorns runes are better for Condi Ranger in raids. At 3 thorns stacks their dps is about the same. At 4/5 stacks thorns does higher dps.

I appreciate your response, but I am interested in the actual DPS comparisons, rather than just taking word for it.

When I tested it, there was a 20% dps loss. Might have increased after recent patches

There was a reddit post on this recently. Someone was making the claim that once you hit 3 stacks thorn runes pulled even and at 4 or more it pulled ahead in dps.

I haven’t personally tested, nor have I seen tests posted from anyone else.

Regardless of that 4 nightmare 2 trapper still seems more optimal to me. the bonus is always on. You sit at 97% condi duration, so that’s bigger burns, bleeds and poison. Plus you don’t have to sacrifice your sigils, Geomancy and Earth, which contribute a large amount of damage.

IF Thorns is better, then it’s not by much, and you’re sacrificing consistency.

I haven’t seen anyone run the numbers yet but even with poison master poison ticks don’t equal burn ticks and ranger can put out far more burning and bleeding stacks than poison. It’s nice to have but my opinion based on playing a lot of condi ranger would be that nightmare/trapper would still be the winner. Also, for PvE maxing duration tends to result in more dps than maxing condition damage.

Here is a screenshot http://puu.sh/saUr8/efe64be87e.jpg. I dont have full infusions so the actual dps is even a bit higher.

The dps difference of thorns runes with 0 stacks and the nightmare/trapper setup is about 1,3k. As i said bevore 3 thorns stacks will push it to the same dmg as nightmare/trapper(32k) and every additional stack will make it better then the nightmaree/trapper variant.

The sigils in the thorns setup are: agony/geomancy. Smoldering isn’t worth taking.

how did you test this? does the pulsing area in the training area trigger the rune or something?

MrTJpwnz.4710:

how did you test this? does the pulsing area in the training area trigger the rune or something?

No it doesn’t. You either have to calculate the thorns stacks dps, or what i did is:
I just removed 150 condi dmg from the nightmare/trapper variant and the result i got was about the same dps as thorns runes with 0 stacks. As a conclusion thorns stacks with 3 stacks should do the same dps as normal nightmare/trapper.

Erocy.3869:

Here is a screenshot http://puu.sh/saUr8/efe64be87e.jpg. I dont have full infusions so the actual dps is even a bit higher.

The dps difference of thorns runes with 0 stacks and the nightmare/trapper setup is about 1,3k. As i said bevore 3 thorns stacks will push it to the same dmg as nightmare/trapper(32k) and every additional stack will make it better then the nightmaree/trapper variant.

The sigils in the thorns setup are: agony/geomancy. Smoldering isn’t worth taking.

okay.. here you are comparing ALL buffs (your link) with 32k realistic buffs. If you want to do the comparison, then you need to have the same conditions

The ranger dps with all buffs is 35,7k. However I will recommend to do a run with realistic buffs, either with or without alacrity.

Sigfodr.9576:

Erocy.3869:

Here is a screenshot http://puu.sh/saUr8/efe64be87e.jpg. I dont have full infusions so the actual dps is even a bit higher.

The dps difference of thorns runes with 0 stacks and the nightmare/trapper setup is about 1,3k. As i said bevore 3 thorns stacks will push it to the same dmg as nightmare/trapper(32k) and every additional stack will make it better then the nightmaree/trapper variant.

The sigils in the thorns setup are: agony/geomancy. Smoldering isn’t worth taking.

okay.. here you are comparing ALL buffs (your link) with 32k realistic buffs. If you want to do the comparison, then you need to have the same conditions

The ranger dps with all buffs is 35,7k. However I will recommend to do a run with realistic buffs, either with or without alacrity.

Do you even know the difference between realistic and all buffs?
I used realistic buffs, the same ones as here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ89GAQD320&feature=youtu.be&t=124

Erocy.3869:

MrTJpwnz.4710:

how did you test this? does the pulsing area in the training area trigger the rune or something?

No it doesn’t. You either have to calculate the thorns stacks dps, or what i did is:
I just removed 150 condi dmg from the nightmare/trapper variant and the result i got was about the same dps as thorns runes with 0 stacks. As a conclusion thorns stacks with 3 stacks should do the same dps as normal nightmare/trapper.

Did you also check how much the difference is with max thorns stacks? that is the most interesting part ^^