Guild Wars 2

Hello Folks,

This is the resident obsessive experimentalist speaking. Recently, I did several tests trying out the melee weapons a Ranger has (Sword, GS) and seeing how their DPSs stacked up against each other.

As always, I shall explain the methodology and post the results and my thoughts. The methodology is pretty simple, and I used a very similar method to my War Rifle vs Ranger Shortbow tests I did previously.

Methodology

I took a total of 7 weapon combinations, and used a specific attack pattern on one heavy golem in the Mists, and recorded the time it took to kill the golem. 3 runs were done for each combination, and the results posted are the average of the runs. All the combinations were done with PvP Berserker’s, and PvP Rampagers. My ranger had full set of Divinity Runes, and no traits at all.

The combinations used were:

Sword
Sword/Horn
Sword/Torch
Sword/Dagger
Greatsword
Shortbow, behind
Shortbow, front

The reason why I threw in the SB is because since I use SB 90% of the time, I just wanted some numbers as reference.

Listed below are the attack patterns I used.

Sword: Slash
Sword/Horn: Call of the Wild -> Hunter’s Call -> Slash
Sword/Torch: Bonfire -> Throw Torch -> Slash
Sword/Dagger: Crippling Talon -> Stalker’s Strike -> Slash
Greatsword: Swoop -> Maul -> Slash -> Swoop/Maul as CD goes up.
Shortbow (Both): Crossfire

Results

Berserkers
Sword: 14.0s
Sword/Horn: 13.5s
Sword/Torch: 11.6s
Sword/Dagger: 12.7s
Greatsword: 17.8s
Shortbow, Back: 14.3s
Shortbow, Front: 19.5s

Rampagers
Sword: 21.4s
Sword/Horn: 20.2s
Sword/Torch: 12.4s
Sword/Dagger: 16.9s
Greatsword: 23.9s
Shortbow, Back: 15.7s
Shortbow, Front: 28.7s

Thoughts

1. Greatsword damage is pretty lackluster. Its defensive utility is real handy though. I personally keep it in my inventory and use it solely for its block. But its damage is nothing to brag about.

2. Sword seems to be our biggest DPS weapon. But it’s so unfortunate that it has the rooting problem. With the cripple/might stacking on autoattack, imagine how great this weapon can be if not for the…rooting…

3. In terms of the offhand, it goes Torch -> Dagger -> Horn in terms of damage. But of course, Dagger has its evasive utility and Warhorn has the amazing buff as its #5.

Previous Research

Rifle War vs Shortbow Ranger DPS tests:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Ranger-Shortbow-vs-Warrior-Rifle-DPS-tests/first

Shortbow vs Longbow DPS calculations:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Shortbow-vs-Longbow-Damage-Calculations/first

You might consider making another test for sword/torch for PvP without bonfire. No player would stand inside for more than 2 ticks…

Bohun Martell.8963:

You might consider making another test for sword/torch for PvP without bonfire. No player would stand inside for more than 2 ticks…

Of course. These tests goes with the usual disclaimers like moving targets, obstruction problems, traits, etc. etc. But these aren’t meant solely for PvP though. More of a snapshot of what each weapon combos are capable of.

For your suggestion specifically though, it actually doesn’t make too much of a difference. Since burning only stacks in duration, just Throw Torch applies burning for pretty much most of the test.

GS get a lowest DPS but a really better burst than Sword, it’s pretty logical.

But, I don’t think the better way to calculate weapons DPS is with the duration of only 3 fights, except if you have 100% or 0% critical chance.

In term of pure DPS, with tooltip, you can see GS #1 is equal to ~75% of Sword #1, and with GS #2, #3 and #4, 85% of Sword DPS.

EDIT: For GS DPS, you can use Crippling Throw too, same damage/cast as Swoop
EDIT2: You should use Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap for Sword, damage/cast ratio is better than #1.

This might have been what I was looking for; Doesn’t this basically say that

Berserkers > Rampagers

(Crit damage > Condition damage) There’s your hard numbers + the fact that conditions can be removed, although a good amount of toughness of course also increases (but not removes) crit damage.

I’ve been trying to justify going for Twilight Arbor dungeon armor because it has power, precision and condition damage, but it just doesn’t add up to me.

Well, these test are based in sPvP, people also has to realize that conditions are on their full potential there, critical damage is not

Sleepy.2647:

Well, these test are based in sPvP, people also has to realize that conditions are on their full potential there, critical damage is not

Care to elaborate on that?

Treeline.3865:

Sleepy.2647:

Well, these test are based in sPvP, people also has to realize that conditions are on their full potential there, critical damage is not

Care to elaborate on that?

On mists and sPvP players have 50-60% critical damage to balance it out, in WvW or PvE players can have well above 100% critical damage which makes critical damage builds much superior DPS wise.

Thank you for that!

Treeline.3865:

This might have been what I was looking for; Doesn’t this basically say that

Berserkers > Rampagers

(Crit damage > Condition damage) There’s your hard numbers + the fact that conditions can be removed, although a good amount of toughness of course also increases (but not removes) crit damage.

I’ve been trying to justify going for Twilight Arbor dungeon armor because it has power, precision and condition damage, but it just doesn’t add up to me.

What weapons are you using?

For Sword/GS, the answer is a definite “YES” for Berserkers > Rampagers, since most of the damage done by those weapons is direct damage, not cond damage.

But remember, this doesn’t take into account things like if you use traps. I know some builds use traps to supplement their damage. In those cases, cond damage will be very useful.

By the way, if you want TA armor just for the look, remember you can always transmute the look onto different armor with the stats you want.

Nice job. I still love my GS, though.