Guild Wars 2

Guys need some sugestions for the best builds for a Ranger playing as commander in front line, can some one help, please include info about traits, sigils, etc.

Best build for a Ranger in the front lines is…

Roll a Guardian

Honestly, go with a trapper build preferably, or a BM bunker build secondary. Being a Ranger and a Commander at the same time, showing people not to be scared to push in through the kill box into inner SM or anything similar gets people to cooperate a lot more than it does to stand back and yell for a push.

If anyone wants to give him specific builds, please do so. I’m on my phone and can’t really give links that efficiently.

Hmmz, my ranger is being rebuilt to a pure zerker ranger, and still wearing the commander tag from time to time.. :p Ok, I will not be front-lining (I have guildies for that)..

But indeed, when you actually plan on being in the front line (with all the guardians and warrs), I’d go for some more thoughness/vitality.. A commander that needs to be rezzed every few seconds will lose credibility..

go soliders with investments into BM and Nature Magic. Use the new shout trait, along with runes of the Monk (hard to get) or Rune of Alturism. sword + warhorn and axe + torch.

Take a look at my Re-Port331 it sounds like its just what your looking for.

1) I can stand in AC’s for a long time without taking much damage
2) Burst Mitigation is amazing with evades and such
3) you can boon up and place wicked regens on the way in to lords rooms ect

give it a go i think you will like it.

This is my set-up and it allows me to charge in and stay up for a fair amount of time in the mix. It is funny because the zerg sees a lowly ranger charging into the middle and the go oh S***, we can not let a Ranger show us up and they will be right on you.

30/0/30/10/0

Signet Mastery, Piercing Arrows, Signet of the Beastmaster

Wilderness Knowledge, Martial Mastery, Empathic Bond

Circle of Life

Weapons: Greatsword/Shortsword (Superior Sigils of Force)
Pets: Devourer/Devourer
Armor: Rabid Gear with Melandru Runes
Equipment: Power/Toughness/Vitality

Skills: Signet of Stone, Signet of the Wild, Lightning Reflexes, and Rampage as One

Pop Rampage when you want to charge in, Stone a second later, Wild a second after that and go swinging like you are an R-kitten with the Greatsword. Lots of evade. Lightning Reflexes when you are too far in and need to break stun. All of a sudden you are back in the middle of the lines and they are charging in. Hopefully not wiping

@Talmor why piercing arrows?

Durzlla.6295:

@Talmor why piercing arrows?

Bags. Need dem bags. And badges too! Spiders and axe are good for this too.

Prysin.8542:

go soliders with investments into BM and Nature Magic. Use the new shout trait, along with runes of the Monk (hard to get) or Rune of Alturism. sword + warhorn and axe + torch.

+1 to this if you’re not going to listen to the guy who was right about rolling Guardian instead.

Though you might need some Keyboard Macros to keep a single “voice” interaction Shout firing right (IE: if you’re front lining, then the ONLY shout you’ll have room for next to your tough/regen Sigs will be “Guard”) … in which case you have to be really careful how you set them up b/c Anet DOES MONITOR for automation and too much of it will get misinterpreted as Botting.

That’s not really on us by the the way… that’s 95% on THEM for their clunky AI and complete lack of custom User Interface support… (IE: we shouldn’t have to verge on the edge of botting just use their newest Traits without getting Carpal Tunnel)

Chopps.5047:

Durzlla.6295:

@Talmor why piercing arrows?

Bags. Need dem bags. And badges too! Spiders and axe are good for this too.

But you’re running 2 swords….

I’ll just give some general suggestions. So a commander’s primary job is to be the last one to die. As a ranger you’re best defensive tools are weapon set evades (greatsword 1, sword 3, dagger 4), lots of vigor/endurance regeneration for dodge rolls, high protection uptime, and large amounts of sustain (signet of wild). I’d recommend 15 points into nature magic picking up Nature’s Protection for the 5s of protection and since area boons are the name of the game in WvW, boons you give you’re pet can really boost it’s survivability. Also of course 15 points into Wilderness Survival for the protection on dodge and endurance regen buff.

Some good traits you might also want to pick up are vigor on bird petswap in BM or vigor on heal (and works per pulse on healing spring as a nice bonus). Some grandmaster traits you want to consider are Empathic Bond for the condi removal and Zephyr’s speed for haste res’s, and even Signet of the Beastmaster.

The problem rangers run into is the lack of active condi removal, though you get alot of passive removal. In WvW when running with 15+ groups, the condi problems you should have are when you get hit by a large burst of condis (like all of them at once with multiple stacks of bleed large); otherwise passive removal such as Empathic bond and you’re zerg can take care of the condi clears. To help with this I’d recommend doing at least of the following: Signet of Renewal active, Melandru/Hoelbrak runes, Bowl of Lemongrass Poultry Soup or similar foods.

Current WvW meta for organized groups is to run melee trains that CC forever and deal large amounts of power damage (since power is what scales to large fights due to condi caps). The defense against this when you get caught by the train are stun breaks, stun duration reduction (food/runes), maxing out toughness, and protection. Rangers get lots of protection and you should always run a stun break on your utilities.

In terms of offense, I really wouldn’t worry about damage and instead go for what CC you can provide, so traps if you feel you have enough defense. You’re job isn’t to do damage, it’s to survive and provide a focus point. While typical WvW larger group builds want to be as much about group buffing as possible, as a commander you can be a bit more selfish as you want to invest as much as you can into your own survivability.

So to conclude, I’d recommend 15 into WS for IV and 15 into NM for VI as sorta of a base to go off of. Have at least one probably two stun breaks, and at least one means of mitigating conditions (runes/food/signet of renewal active). You’d probably want to run greatsword/sword+dagger or greatsword/sword+warhorn. Pretty much get as much toughness as possible. This is of course when you’re expecting to be leading groups of like 15+. Smaller group situations are different of course.