Guild Wars 2

Have you guys tried a ranger shout build already ?
I’m thinking of trying one in wvw and would like some input on its effectiveness.

When traited right, shouts can grant swiftness/regen and also remove conditions with soldiers rune. The question being, can the pet survive long enough to make the rest of the effects worth it…
Especially in wvw, where pets die very very fast.
However, the swiftness/regen/condi removal part stays true even if the pet is dead so it could be somewhat effective (even if it doesn’t instant heal like the warriors shout)…

What do you guys think ? Can it be made ?
I’m going to test anyway but i want some input ^^

I got the same idea too, and my ranger is building that way, just didn’t buy soldier runes yet, quite expensive by the way. For PvE it is great, as every boon you got you pet got them too, so it is perma swiftness and regen on you and your pet if traited with shout mastery too.

By the way in WvW, i will change my trait a bit , take spirit unbound and 70% spirit buff, bring sun / stone spirit with natural spirit for more team support.

Spirits in wvw are a bit lackluster, mainly due to the fact they die so fast…
Depends what your focus is though, if it’s roaming, might be worth it, dunno.

I’m trying a build right now, signet/shout build with protect me, sick em, signet of the wild and entangle. GS / Sword warhorn…
Seems pretty fun, does a bit less damage than my previous build (30/20/20/0/0) but more help to the the zerg/group with condi removal and regen/swiftness.
Sick em + signet of the wild also does pretty good damage with the pet…

I’m running a shout build based on clerics. It is definitly not a damage-build, but you have massive support options and I am hard to be downed. As healing-power also affects your regeneration it has much more use in a shout build than in any other build.
This would maybe be maximum support build (just an example of possibilities):
support build

It is a bit exaggerated, but it shows the possibilities of support a ranger has.
You can also go for condition damage, beastmastery, more crit or anything else.

With x|x|x|30|10 and “Guard” you can permanently give swiftness and regeneration to your whole group.

Yup i want to try a healing/support build as well…thanks for your post Oak da Vite !
The build i’m using right now is pretty fun as well… 30/0/0/30/10 with signet of the wild.

This build is for WvW zerging.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJARVnAV0FcjFKWwaZAp9gTskz7VYWcP8vOJEPZFfYF-j0CBYfDRjcAgsAKLqIasFhFRjVNLy6aYqXCp2dAWzp2iORSB0vyI-w
This is with gear identical to what I use, so the zerker gs/bow/backpiece can be replaced.
Anyway, this is kinda like Oaks build. Constant regen, normally ~450hp/s (will reach 1500 hp/s in combat when using heal) and a bit over 1500 hp when killing an enemy (quite often as you tag foes). This build also has Muddy Terrain, so you can immob foes. I think every Ranger in WvW should take Muddy Terrain, to be atleast somewhat useful in zergs.

Weapons:
Greatsword. Just swing it and you’ll be fine. Third attack evades and you can get pretty quickly out of the middle of everything with Swoop. Also GS4 blocks all ranged dmg <3. Shortbow can be swapped to Longbow, just a matter of taste, because you won’t be using it much. Sigil of Fire helps with AoE when ranged.

With this build:
-You are hard to kill
-You are in the frontlines giving Regen+Swiftness(+Fury+Might with heal) to your allies
-You are being a ’’meatshield’’ to the AoE cap so squishies don’t necessarily need to take hits
-You can stop some of the enemy zerg from moving with Muddy Terrain

3 questions concerning your build:
.Troll unguent ? Really ? When we have one of the best waterfields in game ?
.Why RaO and not Entangle for more immobilize ?
.Why do you use rune of altruism ?

With a signet build, you can have all your advantages and actually do more damage. (30/20/20/0/0) and have stability+invul as well as muddy terrain and entangle. But maybe i’m wrong…

The shout build is one of about 3 builds people typically run in WvW. It’s generally a roaming build. Keep in mind the regen and swiftness is only applied to 5 targets.

But the condi removal with soldier’s rune is still good enough to make me want to try making a competitive one for zerg/guild raids ^^
Thanks for the heads up on the 5 targets thing though it is similar to the heal on the warriors shouts as well.

Fenrir.6183:

3 questions concerning your build:
.Troll unguent ? Really ? When we have one of the best waterfields in game ?
.Why RaO and not Entangle for more immobilize ?
.Why do you use rune of altruism ?

With a signet build, you can have all your advantages and actually do more damage. (30/20/20/0/0) and have stability+invul as well as muddy terrain and entangle. But maybe i’m wrong…

1.Because it gives highest healing if I’m right, and waterfields are provided by eles. I don’t want to lose my heal to give a waterfield, when eles can do it.
2.RaO because 29 seconds stability is nice and Entangle roots get instantly destroyed in a zerg.
3.Runes can be changed, they’re just something to give boons and boon duration.

Conserning Signet build, you’ll die more easily, when you’re glassier. Also the invuln is only 6 seconds, when you can get a constant high protection (not the boon) with regen and toughness. I use the signet build more in smaller scale and the shout build in large scale.

Depending on your healing power, it should be pretty much the same and it heals your allies as well. Troll unguent does have 5 sec less cd thouh.
Yeah RaO is pretty much must have since you don’t have the signet trait in that build.

Wouldn’t runes of the soldier be better with the build ? Since they provide condi removal ? It’s true that the boon duration is pretty cool but in hard fights having lots of AoE condition removal seems a must. Might be situational but better be prepared for the harder fights imo.

Do you feel you could do without signet of the wild or not ? It has great passive with a lot of healing power but it’s also a skill slot you could use for something else (like another shout).

I’m going to try a full support shout build in the near future as well so all advice are appreciated…
Thanks again to everyone participating in this thread !

As one of the pioneers who used shout build as a ranger very long ago, I can give you some suggestions:
Solder rune+shout is good in imagination but crucial in real life. The most effective shout(so called on-demand condition-removal) with relatively short CD(still 12 sec traited) — guard — need 1 sec to cast. Especially in zerg fight, if you are relying on this to remove condition, you will feel the pain — when you need it, it’s not appearing, when it appeared you already died.
And for other shouts, most useful one is protect me, but you definitely need it for stun breaker but not just simply cast it for a condition removal.

Fenrir.6183:

But the condi removal with soldier’s rune is still good enough to make me want to try making a competitive one for zerg/guild raids ^^
Thanks for the heads up on the 5 targets thing though it is similar to the heal on the warriors shouts as well.

I would advise against shouts for everything.

Regen can be maintained with dwayna runes.
SoR removes more condis than shouts.

Guard’s cast time renders it worthless.
Sic’em has some use but cancels pet f2/quickness.
Protect me is good except for zergs.

It’s true that regen isn’t as useful as a plain heal sadly. I wish they would change it (no reason not to after all, warrior has a heal on his shouts).
But i’m still going to give full support a go because i like testing things myself ^^