Guild Wars 2

Just a list of Ranger/Druid pvp build that I’ve tried in the past months.
If you guys want to share an opinion about these builds or you simply want to contribute with your own build for the upcoming Season 5, this is the right place to do it

Meta Leadership-Variant Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8YnUqA1CiNsA+rActglZB7JAUn+WOVt5UWD+fWQbolI9zA-TpBFAB9XGggLAQDHBAAeAAtv/wCHEAA
Just a rune change. Nothing else.
PRO & CONS:

• higher boon duration;
• 2 Condi removal AoE on the Elite skill;
• slightly lower AF regeneration;
• lower defensive stats.

Allmighty Bunker Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8YnUqA1Ci9CCOsActglZB7JAUn+WOVt5UWD+fWQbolI9zA-TpRGABIcBAA4BAA0+DGcQAS4IAgfZAA
Might-stacking build with a lot of damage reduction. Basically, it’s a Shoutbow build…but without the bow
PRO & CONS:

• more might than the meta build;
• pet hurts really hard;
• really good against power-type builds;
• heavy condi pressure can be a problem;
• works good with lb aswell.

ConditionHealer Druid Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8fnUqAVsiFsCOsActgFMBrZZV4CAw10daR95GsqqYl8s0A-TpRHAB3eBAuvMAAHBAy3fQgDCABPAAA
A condi-hybrid build that can heal aswell. Verdant Etching instead of Celestial Shadow for better cooldowns on gliphs/more condi removal. You can take sigil of geomancy if you do this. I still prefer stealth.
PRO & CONS:

• good AoE cleave with gliphs and torch;
• almost perma poison on enemies;
• less healing and less rezzing potential;
• suffers heavy condi pressure/chain cc.

Zerker Druid Build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBjYD7kSFoWQsfFwhFgrFs8HYLvuMQA4JN0tOawn126dtEpfG-TpBFABA8AAa4IAQwFAQ8yAtv/wCHEAA
Something new from the last patch (warhorn changes). Strenght or Pack runes works good aswell.
PRO & CONS:

• really good single-target damage/cc ’s;
• unblockable pet;
• really dependant on good positioning.

Survival Healer Druid Build:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTjEqQLLWyCOsAXLWyEMnE3pqxBPTzpD1mkVA4AUyzSD-TpBFABAfBAA4IA0wDAggDBQ/lBaf/BA
Perma-protection build with high hp regen and support abilities. Can work also with Marauder/Seeker/Diviner amulet if you want to go damage.
PRO & CONS:

• solid against power/condi damage;
• really tanky pointholder if running sword/dagger instead of longbow;
• no beastmastery so > no permaspeed/regen/pet heavy burst.

I hope this can be helpful if you want to try something new
Any new build/comment is appreciated, good season everyone

Now that the season is underway it would be interesting to see what everyone is running. All of you I have on my friend’s list are well above average MMR, and then there is jcbroe who is ranked as would be expected. I’m sure several of the other forum regulars I don’t have my list are ranked as well.

Anyway, I swore I’d run condi survival traps, but I just couldn’t get used to TU or HS so switched back to a more standard build. Here’s what I’m using. Slightly different but I wanted to change at least something this season.

LB/Staff
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTnUqA1CiVsC+rActgFMBDum2TLqNLrBQA45GsqiclsizA-TJBFABns/ABXCAAeCAiXGAA

I get obliterated against good condi berserkers, just erased from existence. But it does well against the other meta builds.

You can add me Fluff – I’m a scrub and have a below average MMR. I can only go up!

I haven’t settled on a “one build fits all scenarios” sort of build that I typically like to find, but I’m close, and I was going to make a forum post about it but it would seem too forward to me, like it would come off as one of those “hey, I’m at x tier, so I want to share these tips” that always feels more like a bragging post than a helpful post.

Anyhow, I have a skeleton build, and I’ll go over some of the options I’ve tried/run so far: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8IjUqY/K4wCctYZWweCA1pvF8/sg+QdqazpsWJT7M-TZBFABE8AAA4CAswRAo/yANcQAAA

(Funfact: Energy Sigil’s description isn’t up to date still/yet, it returns flat out 25% energy on swap now; not give vigor)

• Currently, I have myself slotted with Protect Me in the optional slot and Soldier Runes. I ran into a condi wall earlier today when I was queuing and got really frustrated and went “all in” within the constraints of the build I’m most comfortable with. I lost to some more offbeat versions of builds that I wasn’t expecting, like a condi warrior that was using all of their useful lockdown utilities instead of stances, and a condi hybrid thief, in 1v1s that I really shouldn’t be losing as a Druid, and this is where I ended up out of frustration. However, before that, I was running what Paul (from PZ) was running, which is the next bullet point.

• Before I waged an all out, frustration fueled war against condi, I was running what Paul on PZ was, which was Protect Me, Glyph of Equality and SoS on the bar, same setup everything else, and Leadership Runes. This build’s key perk is high protection uptime, which was really useful against a lot of people running their power builds. Not to mention it sort of makes up for some of the condi cleanse potential and if you play with a really kite oriented, off point playstyle, it was still really effective.

• Before that, I was running Glyph of Equality in the the optional slot and Dolyak Runes. I want to come back to this build actually. I’ll explain with another point on why, because it revolves all around how good Glyph of Equality is, but I think I was hitting the AF generation gate without needing Dolyak Runes and wasting some of the potential of the build, which is probably why I felt like it was lacking something.

Glyph of Equality on this build can make or break 1v1s. It’s insane how useful it is at catching the thieves/DDs in the vulnerable animation of their dodges (rip staff DD), or catching the Reaper who dropped Shroud and is trying to chain their heal, or the mesmer/chrono coming out of their Shield or Sword 2, or the Warrior/Zerker leaping at you with their burst skill, or etc etc etc. Not to mention being able to use it while rezzing or stomping to clutch situations out. I’m going to come up with a build that allows me to utilize this utility AND not rip my hair out because of the massive condi bombs that swing teamfights this season.

Some options I’m considering and thoughts and etc:

• Metabattle has Rune of the Revenant listed; seems like it has potential

• Rune of Leadership still seems like a strong pick; I haven’t tried it at the same time as Signet of Renewal yet, but that’s the next thing I intend to do

• Trooper Runes don’t really feel like they are doing all that much for me, but I don’t know if that’s just because of how condis are being bombed on as opposed to gradually put on this season, or if it’s just because I can’t micromanage to the degree that I understand where all of the damage is coming from in teamfights when I’m in the heat of the moment (I see a bar filled with badness and my HP dropping and people smacking my face and my brain goes “I need to solve all 3 of these things” without recognizing the immediate cause until hindsight after the fight)

Anyhow, this has been my collective experience so far. It’s a process, so I don’t know if what I’m posting now will be the same come the end of the season, but I’m expecting it to look 99% the same.

If anybody has any questions/comments or ideas or anything, let me know, I’ll be watching this thread, available by forum mail, ingame, etc (if I’m appearing online, appearing offline means no whisper salt and I can focus better on the match and what I need to be doing instead of getting tempted into body hopping on people rage whispering me).

I stole some of your ideas jcbroe, now depending on the comp I’m up against I either go the more meta-y route or my lb/staff route.

Switched Earth rune to Leadership, probably permanently. Earth would be absolutely perfect if it weren’t for the mediocre 6 rune bonus. Leadership and NM % bonuses + PW give less protection than WS + earth if I’ve added it all up right, but leadership is a better runeset beyond that. Both traitlines certinainly have their perks. I may have actually just convinced myself to go back to Earth because WS adds on some passive condi removal.

I tried running both signets instead of GoE. I have the exact same thoughts you do about GoE, it’s just so clutch…. stopping stomps while simultaneously rezzing, stopping rezzes while simultaneously stomping, getting that perfect final interrupt to down someone… It’s good to have all 3 skills as options at least. Maybe I’ll try running all 3 instead of PM.

Anyway, since I suck at multi-classing, swapping between the point holder and my old LB QD roamer is working well. I “feel” I should finish the season around mid platinum now that the ring rust is wearing off and I’ve got some good build thoughts (he said as he puts a curse on himself.)

Anyone try a sb build with deadshot and lynx?

FrownyClown.8402:

Anyone try a sb build with deadshot and lynx?

Lynx shouldn’t be needed with the perma swiftness from the SB.

isnt this build any good?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7kSFoWQsiVwkFgrFsMLYw/zC6D9JA012aOTtrWWrkpdG-TpBFABFt/wCHEAAuAAPcEA6vMQBPAAA

i use something similar in wvw (with less healing, more armor and boon duration) and goes fine. the rest of the builds i tried they all fall short because lack of something essential.

@ anduriell
Very similar to the Allmighty Build that i’ve posted above. Nice build but personally, i wouldn’t run it without Signet of Stone. In wvw roaming Quickening Zephyr instead of SoS works because you don’t need to contest a point, but in pvp that signet makes the difference. Without it you can be spiked easily.

Btw guys, just another build:
Tanky Druid: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW3YjUqQLLWyCOsAXLWyEMnD3pqxBPTzpB1mkVA4AUyzSD-TpBFABqfEAEZ/hFOIAEcBA6vMAAPAAA
Perma dodge build with high protection uptime and perma weakness through axe #3 and Protective Ward. Pick Alli’es Aid if you want to go more supportive.
PRO & CONS:

• perma vigor + 20% endurance regeneration + energy sigil will make you dodge everything;
• 25 stacks of Might are reachable (axe auto, Smokescale assault, SotP + Bristle F2);
• not much condi cleanses but you can dodge/evade a lot while CA is on cooldown;
• less damage than the meta build;
• less mobility than the meta build since you are not using sword;
• less swiftness/regen AoE than the meta build but really selfsustainable and many defensive boons uptime.

Keep up these nice suggestions guys, thanks to those who contributed to the post

kappa.2036:

@ anduriell
Very similar to the Allmighty Build that i’ve posted above. Nice build but personally, i wouldn’t run it without Signet of Stone. In wvw roaming Quickening Zephyr instead of SoS works because you don’t need to contest a point, but in pvp that signet makes the difference. Without it you can be spiked easily.

Keep in mind with the condi spam is going on SoS is not very effective. i’ve been watching quickcry twich and absolute everyone and their mother is going with condi meta necros, mesmer, thieves and DH.

I don’t think after the nerfs in healing and self sustain (on WHaO) the druid can play much as a tank point holder. Now as i see it can do better as the ele, needs other team member to role as a healbot.

This is what I am running since I got back in the game a couple days ago with good success: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRjUqQLL2vCOsAXLW+DslXXGIA8kG+BDP4zabtuWi0DD-TpBFABA8AAEvMwCHBACuAA6s/QDHCAA

Instead of using sword + warhorn, I use greatsword and use Tiger instead of Bristleback, because there is more burst potential with Moment of Clarity and Remorsless.

Thought: Riffing off my earth rune/wilderness survival concept I posted earlier, instead of shared anguish, I could take ambidexterity and leadership runes to use staff + s/t with menders amulet… hear me out.

S/D feels a litle lackluster especially since the massive rev damage nerf, and when I use it I often find myself just camping staff which is a waste. You aren’t guaranteed a competent ele, and stacking might at the start of a match pretty much makes or breaks the mid fight and thus the game. With bonfire and staff you can get at least a light might stack, others hopefully contribute if you let them know what you’re going to do. Also burning is a good enough condition that even with no condi on the amulet you can do decent damage, perhaps a sigil of battle or smoldering on the torch? Bonfire is pretty much an unavoidable damage tick when you’re fighting on point, and it doubles as a might stack if you’re so inclined to do that over a water field.

I think I will give it a whirl this evening. Do the leadership runes affect might you blast onto others? They give a minor condi damage increase at least.

Edit: Or someone talk some sense into me.

Why not warhorn if you don’t like dagger? AOE might, fury, swiftness, stealth, heal, … dmg/vuln, unblockable pet – it can be used for a lot more useful stuff than torch imo.

Yup I thought about WH. It definitely does a lot of good stuff, I just got sick of people not stacking might (or even swiftness!) when there are people with combo fields available. There is no excuse for not stacking might as a tempest.

I often use Axe/WH with a strength sigil with standard NM/BM/Druid traits this means that you and your pet have 20-25 stack of might permanently, works real well with cele gear in WvW roaming

Might is not too big of a deal between the option for smokescale/WHaO and SotP and a couple other niche options. If you want might you can get it. But having all 5 team members at 25 stacks for the first encounter breaks the game open vs teams that don’t stack.

I wound up not having time to play more than 1 game tonight* and the comp called for LB, but I am still going to try torch at some point.

*Well I have time now, but I’m not going to play after having a couple glasses of wine since I’d like to see what my actual MMR is for the first time ever. Playing PvP sober is super weird. Although I’m seeing people say the placement matches are really important and I personally was responsible via stupid rust mistake of causing the loss of 3 out of 4 of my placement losses. I hope this isn’t screwing me over.

I haven’t been able to play for the last 4-5 months and I’m finally trying to get back into the swing of things.

Is the Mender’s Staff/Sword & Dagger still the defacto spec to run or are there more options now?

This is the build ive been playing around with. Its really squishy BOON stacking is the only way for u to do burst and swap pets.
Demo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXvWHwT4MWc

build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYDbkSFKZx+VwhF4axSngBvSjp7Un+WAow90CScLsSm2ZA-TpBFQBFZ/hCWGAAPAACcQAWwRA4BXAAA

Starbreaker.6507:

I haven’t been able to play for the last 4-5 months and I’m finally trying to get back into the swing of things.

Is the Mender’s Staff/Sword & Dagger still the defacto spec to run or are there more options now?

Staff/LB is meta. ROM uses it, and he’s top 5 on the EU charts. Metabattle has both versions up.

There is a lot of variety in amulets too, paladins, mauraders, and berserker are all totally viable. You can probably do very well with sage and SB but I don’t know of anyone specifically running that at a high level.

Fluffball.8307:

Starbreaker.6507:

I haven’t been able to play for the last 4-5 months and I’m finally trying to get back into the swing of things.

Is the Mender’s Staff/Sword & Dagger still the defacto spec to run or are there more options now?

Staff/LB is meta. ROM uses it, and he’s top 5 on the EU charts. Metabattle has both versions up.

There is a lot of variety in amulets too, paladins, mauraders, and berserker are all totally viable. You can probably do very well with sage and SB but I don’t know of anyone specifically running that at a high level.

He dies a lot thou, can not duel or keep point against almost anything, not even 1v1. For the stream it feels he is being carried by the others. Not saying than he is bad, on the contrary this class is in so bad state that not even a champion as R.O.M. can deal with it.
Quickcry is also a amazing druid player, neither he can deal with this crap anymore.

but well.. balance guys we already know the excuses.

I started with druid pvp just a few days before the season started and since then haven’t played anything else in ranked.
Despite a positive win ratio I got placed in low silver and (very) slowly climbing my way up using something close to jcbroe’s core build.
I know there’s lots of things to improve on, however I feel quite comfortable with the class and I do think I outperform most of the teammates/enemies.

Despite that I feel like the ‘carry’ potential could be higher compared to the destruction some other classes can cause. I can handle holding a point 2v1 or stalling, but if my team doesn’t cap anything I’m stuck in that fight while the enemy team is racking up points.

I’ve had games where I healed for 70% compared to the enemy, 600k+ damage total, with top revives, etc…(It’s not something to brag about in silver, I know) and we still lost…and I often wonder why. Could I have done something different to turn the table?

Is that just the curse of a druid/low elo right now? Did anyone have more success with a different build that works better in low elo?
I WISH there was a viable Condi build simply because I like the feel ob sb+axe/torch, then again I don’t want to rely solely on traps, any suggestions?

Survival / heal druid – not climbing much to say the least but it is a combination of luck, comp, and in some cases just being out played. Low silver. Win a few, go up, lose a few go down. Like a penny falling off a 10 story building. The fall is faster or so it seems.

One of the keys seems to know the right time to swap weapons and burst. Other times it is like camping staff to build up AF which seems to lag. Conditions are tough. Then you are bum rushed by 2 guardians and a warrior, well, not much you can do no matter how well you bunker. SoS at times doesn’t seem to work but could be lag. I don’t know, maybe it will all work out but may have to mix in a round of replacing LB for sword / dagger and maybe glyph of equality.

Athix.3460:

Despite that I feel like the ‘carry’ potential could be higher compared to the destruction some other classes can cause. I can handle holding a point 2v1 or stalling, but if my team doesn’t cap anything I’m stuck in that fight while the enemy team is racking up points.

Is that just the curse of a druid/low elo right now? Did anyone have more success with a different build that works better in low elo?
I WISH there was a viable Condi build simply because I like the feel ob sb+axe/torch, then again I don’t want to rely solely on traps, any suggestions?

Ele and bunker druid have low carry potential, but if you don’t have them it’s tough to win. That’s part of the reason I prefer a glassier build most of the time, and LB can cover two points at the same time. Like on forest I tend to park myself in the courtyard area and it gives me vision on both mid and the beach to home.

The meta build with staff/GS could probably carry silver pretty well. With the super high mobility you can basically play as a thief, which has is definitely the highest carry profession.

Also check out the WvW trapper thread, Justine theory crafted a build that is not 100% trapper. 100% trapper is not a good build, but survival+traps can work. I was screwing around with a very similar build before the season started and it works. I just didn’t have time to get used to the awkwardness of the new healing spring.

anduriell.6280:

Fluffball.8307:

Starbreaker.6507:

I haven’t been able to play for the last 4-5 months and I’m finally trying to get back into the swing of things.

Is the Mender’s Staff/Sword & Dagger still the defacto spec to run or are there more options now?

Staff/LB is meta. ROM uses it, and he’s top 5 on the EU charts. Metabattle has both versions up.

There is a lot of variety in amulets too, paladins, mauraders, and berserker are all totally viable. You can probably do very well with sage and SB but I don’t know of anyone specifically running that at a high level.

He dies a lot thou, can not duel or keep point against almost anything, not even 1v1. For the stream it feels he is being carried by the others. Not saying than he is bad, on the contrary this class is in so bad state that not even a champion as R.O.M. can deal with it.
Quickcry is also a amazing druid player, neither he can deal with this crap anymore.

but well.. balance guys we already know the excuses.

ROM is a mechanically amazing player, but he isn’t playing an “optimized” build, he’s playing his version of a damage build that can actually kill things, which, while he’s amazing in his own right, he’s limiting himself with his build because he’s playing the build he has the most fun with.

If you’re looking to watch really good Druid gameplay and at a competitive tier, watch Paul from PZ stream/play.

jcbroe.4329:

ROM is a mechanically amazing player

Dude has the reflexes of a mongoose after a fifth of vodka. I genuinely believe he has some sort of genetic predisposition towards excelling at video games, which would be the most useless genetic trait of all time except he’s earning money from it.

I’ve been in martial arts and boxing for over 20 years and have sparred with lots of professional fighters; ROM has a reaction speed and soft-focus awareness I don’t think I’ve ever seen in person. He’s a freak. It weirds me out to watch him play sometimes because I am literally physically incapable of seeing what he sees.

Anywho, enough fanboi-ing.

Fluffball.8307:

Athix.3460:

Despite that I feel like the ‘carry’ potential could be higher compared to the destruction some other classes can cause. I can handle holding a point 2v1 or stalling, but if my team doesn’t cap anything I’m stuck in that fight while the enemy team is racking up points.

Is that just the curse of a druid/low elo right now? Did anyone have more success with a different build that works better in low elo?
I WISH there was a viable Condi build simply because I like the feel ob sb+axe/torch, then again I don’t want to rely solely on traps, any suggestions?

Ele and bunker druid have low carry potential, but if you don’t have them it’s tough to win. That’s part of the reason I prefer a glassier build most of the time, and LB can cover two points at the same time. Like on forest I tend to park myself in the courtyard area and it gives me vision on both mid and the beach to home.

The meta build with staff/GS could probably carry silver pretty well. With the super high mobility you can basically play as a thief, which has is definitely the highest carry profession.

Also check out the WvW trapper thread, Justine theory crafted a build that is not 100% trapper. 100% trapper is not a good build, but survival+traps can work. I was screwing around with a very similar build before the season started and it works. I just didn’t have time to get used to the awkwardness of the new healing spring.

I tried out the staff/LB last night and I had mixed results with it.

I’m sure it’s due to rust for not playing in almost 5 months combined that I’m not a top tier player. I went back to the “old” bunker and I seemed to have a better go at it. Especially given that ranked this season is now solo/duo Q.

I can see the potential in Staff/LB on a coordinated team though, especially against condi-heavy teams solider’s rune really got work done.

Just a P.S. – Having said all that though, the 10 placement matches I did yesterday were about some of the most rage-inducing things I have ever done in this game (and dare I say any video game I’ve ever played). I ended up at the very top of Silver 3 where it literally looks like maybe 1 win (or 2 at the most) to get into gold, but painful nonetheless…

I think with this patch we have received an indirect “buff”. The 2 important news are definitely the removal of daze on dh traps and the big nerf to rev damage. Without perma-dazes on point we can ress people without being interrupted everytime (and ranger is really good at this), and also i’m seeing less revenants than the other season, which means less powercreep (that is still high but nevermind), encouraging bunker builds. So in my opinion Ele and ranger seems to be the best supporter right now, i think we will see them together in ESL teams since their support combined is really strong. Maybe. We will see.
Btw i’m back to Gliph of Equality and personally, i prefer it to “Protect Me!”. The istant interrupt + damage, combined to Ancient Seeds is really powerful and can interrupt enemies’s focus, rezzes and stomps.

This is the generalized build I ended up settling on to use this season: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8YnUqA1Ci9rAOsActglZBzpqNnyaPBg603C+fWQfolMtzA-TpBFABE8AAW4IA0wBBAgLAQ/lBaf/BA

Now if only my MMR hadn’t tanked from mid 1700s to mid 1600s cuz I wanted to queue with friends so I could get some proper testing done…. but oh well, the climb is the most addictive part.

anduriell.6280:

Fluffball.8307:

Starbreaker.6507:

I haven’t been able to play for the last 4-5 months and I’m finally trying to get back into the swing of things.

Is the Mender’s Staff/Sword & Dagger still the defacto spec to run or are there more options now?

Staff/LB is meta. ROM uses it, and he’s top 5 on the EU charts. Metabattle has both versions up.

There is a lot of variety in amulets too, paladins, mauraders, and berserker are all totally viable. You can probably do very well with sage and SB but I don’t know of anyone specifically running that at a high level.

He dies a lot thou, can not duel or keep point against almost anything, not even 1v1. For the stream it feels he is being carried by the others. Not saying than he is bad, on the contrary this class is in so bad state that not even a champion as R.O.M. can deal with it.
Quickcry is also a amazing druid player, neither he can deal with this crap anymore.

but well.. balance guys we already know the excuses.

Druids fine dude, and staff/lb is pretty wack, its only good for stick and moving, id rather have melee as my offhand.