Guild Wars 2

I’ve just finished leveling my Ranger to 80, and I’m looking to do something with him that I haven’t done with any of my other characters: “Zerg” Supporter. Could anyone offer some critique on this build I’ve (probably horribly) theorycrafted?

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-F;4wEFy-e2kDV-0;9k3A;14-JJO;406-12-40-RF16Z;1UydbTitaDFGLcHN0H0;0VPV_WZXjYjZv_5B-2F0J-9ck1Ag;9;9;9;9;9;54-6J

Here’s my thought process:
Weapons:
Offhands will be Warhorn (for the Blast Finisher and Fury/Might/Swiftness) and Torch (for the Might stacking from the Fire Field). Mainhands will be axes for the 3 hits and it’s a ranged attack so I can still help with things like cannons, oil, etc. Plus, I have trouble with the Sword so I won’t be using it.

Skills:
6: Healing Skill is Healing Spring for the water Combo Field and the regeneration.
7: Fire trap for another fire field (but is this too redundant?) Perhaps signet of the hunt for the increased movement speed?
8: Signet of Stone (for the survivability from the toughness)
9: Signet of the Wild (regeneration for a bit of self-preservation)
0: Rampage As One (mostly as my only source of stability and more self-preservation)

Pets:
Fern Hound (F2 = Regeneration to nearby allies)
Red Moa (F2 = 15s fury to nearby allies)
Why I didn’t pick Drake for the tail blast finisher: Too unpredicatable and I’m not sure if it can be used outside of combat. (I.E. no prebuffing might, etc)

Skills: 5/0/20/20/25
Marksmanship: 5 (because I had 5 leftovers and thought the extra power would be helpful)
Skirmishing: 0
Wilderness Survival: 20 I (Soften the Fall because Cliff is OP), VII (Recharge my offhand blast finisher and fire field faster)
Nature Magic: 20 II (Regeneration and Fury from pets F2 will last longer on allies), III (Regeneration I apply from my Healing Spring will last 33% longer)
Beastmastery: 25 V (Recharge my pets regen and fury F2 skills faster), I (Recharge all my pet skills, including the F2, even faster), Then I went to 25 because the 10% healing = power was better than just putting the 5 into Marksmanship for 50 power.

Buffs:
No clue really, but I selected Lemongrass Poultry soup for reduced condition time since I have no condition removal. (Does Healing Spring cure conditions on me or just allies?) I also selected Sharpening Stones since I have a decent amount of Toughness and Vitality. Would I need to worry much about conditions if I am in the midst of a zerg? In other words, would the skills of others cleanse me enough?

Armor:
Cleric’s head, chest, and legs (for healing, power, toughness)
Invader’s shoulders, hands, feet (for power, toughness, vitality)
Runes are 2 Water (healing power and 15% boon duration), 2 Monk (healing power and 15% boon duration), and 2 Dwayna (healing power and 20% regen duration)

Trinkets:
Cleric’s (for healing, power, toughness)
Cavalier’s back (for lack of something better)
3x Exquisite Sapphire Jewels (for Healing, power, toughness)
3x Exquisite Azurite Jewels (for Vitality, Power, toughness)

Weapon Sigils:
Sigil of Intelligence on axes (next attack is 100% chance of crit) in order to take advantage of my Power. Would I need two axes to effectively “switch” to take advantage of this? Or could I use one axe and two offhands?
Sigil of Superior Water (30% chance to heal allies on a critical hit) would take advantage of that first hit and my higher heal stat.

Overall stats (a few of them) according to the calculator:
Health: 20532 Armor: 3064 Attack: 3004 Boon Duration: +50% Healing Power: 949

Is this just completely horrible or might it work? Could anyone please offer any suggestions on how to make this more effective? If it’s at least so-so, I’d like to give it a try as easly as tonight for reset.

Thanks in advance!

One of the things that the Ranger does better then other professions, is AoE snare stacking. So if you want to be a real benefit in a zerg, you need to equip skills like Muddy Terrain, Entangle, Frost Trap, and so on.

the fire trap will be set off by any random critter (white NPC, like rabbits, armadillos, birds, hawks, deer). allowing for easy application and use. The torch could be swapped for another axe, giving you access to a powerful reflection skill (it simply destroy other rangers and grenade engies.

@Kasama.8941 I’ll take a look at the snare skills. If I toss them on the skill bar, then I’d be looking at something like this:
6: Healing Spring
7: Fire Trap or Muddy Terrain (depends on Prysin’s suggestion)
8: Frost Trap
9: Signet of the Wild
0: Entangle (Tough to give up the stability though from Rampage as One)

@Prysin.8542 That still seems overly situational to me. It is food for thought, though. I initially thought that the fire trap was redundant and had never considered that it may be the torch instead! Since I love the looks of dual axes, I’m going to have to seriously give it a try and see if I can get the fire trap to work (mostly) when I want it too.

Regardless, since these are skill choices it’ll be relatively easy to test them. Thanks for the ideas so far!

Shademehr, just so you understand... Fire Trap only has a fire field when it is activated. Throwing down Fire Trap at a tower door your zerg is knocking down will not create a fire field for might stacking. I’ve learned that the whole notion of a ranger zerg support build is very situational, like you eluded to in your last post.

You should only need one axe if you’re only swapping off hand weapons. Definitely keep Healing Spring and blast with your horn. Take Entangle if you’re in ZvZ open field combat to hold some still... or take RaO for stability to run through (open field or tower doors) and set things like Frost Trap and Muddy Terrain. Hopefully your group is cleaning conditions enough that you can keep SotW and not have to rely on SoR.

We just do not have the tools to be effective in large groups . Traps? Use 30 traits and all your utility. Spirits? In the same boat. Need signets to live? Give me another 30 trait points please.

Please read this thread. It’s aimed at giving the Ranger unique, and valued team play options.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Pointless-Ranger-Suggestions/first#post2550550