Guild Wars 2

Just checking in with the Ranger community.

Are you playing in Ranked?

How are you doing so far? Do you run solo or duo?

What are you running?

Curious!

Personally, I’m at about 50% win. 12wins, 20 played.
I duo que with a Mesmer Fraynd.

Menders
Dolyak
Staff (courage/battle) S/d (Energy/Cleansing)
Nature 3 1 2
Beast 3 3 2
Druid 1 1 2
WHao, protect me, sor, sos, sop

Protect me is amazing.

Tried my hand at running magis, with seed of life and 3 glyphs (not a fan at all)

Mid/low gold atm, 20played, 12wins(2loss as engi and 1 as thief).
Solo que.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV3fnUqA1Ci9CCOsAUtgFMBDumuTLqNLrBQA45GsqqYlI8zA-TJRWABE/EAg+iAIcZAA2fAA

New to Ranger/Druid here.

Work’s been busy lately, doing placements 1-2 games a day. 6/2 w/l so far (nothing to judge by though).

Staff (Escape/Revocation)
S/D (Energy/Revocation)
Nature 3 × 2
BM 3 3 x
Druid 1 1 2
WHaO!/Protect Me!/Stone/x/SotP

For Nature Magic line, if I see Mesmer/Necro and there’s 2 or more of them, I use Evasive Purity. Otherwise Vigor is very nice. Warhorn regen (it has BIRDS) can be pretty funny if they don’t expect it, and it’s better in a teamfight with the boons and water blast (though it’s not your focus).

For Beast Mastery, Quickness is a great pick for everything, but if I see stacking Warrior/Guards or a Thief that worries me Beastly Warden can screw with them a bit more.

If it’s an extreme Condi heavy comp we’re against, Signet of Renewal + Pet Swap will of course save your behind. Search and Rescue! can have some lolrez moments, I sometimes put down Staff 5 (kitten you Deflecting Shot! well played) to stop ranged interrupts. If it’s a Thief I fought before and I can make good guesses, Sic ’Em! can make them waste all their initiative trying to BP + HS (and maybe get my pet to mess them up).

I still haven’t tried out Guard! and Daze Glyph. Are they nice? Any other utilities we can mix and match with?

Longbow/Staff kiting is something I’ll have to get better at.

Staff/LB
Mender
Rune of the Water
Standard traits but with Ancients seeds
WHaO, SotW, SoS, Protect Me, SotP

played only like 15 to 20 matches, got placed at platinum and still there. Quite a lot more damage output with longbow, but if your team heavily depends on your support you should switch to s/d though. In condi enemy team comp I also use dolyak and SoR.

I’m running something similar to the staff and s/d but instead I have been running warhorn and its trait. Gives me a tad more offense and an unexpected burst pet attack. Can’t carry on this build though, if your team is sub par you can’t really save them.

Solo, sometimes Duo. Gold T3-Plat T1, keeps moving up and down.

Staff + LB. Assassin or Mender (Depends of the team combination. If too support oriented (Tempest and another Druid), I move to Assassin). Rune of the Soldier.

Utilities : WHaO, SoR, SotW or Protect me, SoS, SotP.

Staff : Annulment, Escape.
LB : Seperation, Opportunity.

Smokescale and Wolf.

Marksmanship : 3-1-3
Beastmastery : 3-1(or 3)-1
Druid : 1-1-3

Beastly Warden + Clarion Bond is the way to secure a rez or stomp.

Krispera.5087:

Solo, sometimes Duo. Gold T3-Plat T1, keeps moving up and down.

Staff + LB. Assassin or Mender (Depends of the team combination. If too support oriented (Tempest and another Druid), I move to Assassin). Rune of the Soldier.

Utilities : WHaO, SoR, SotW or Protect me, SoS, SotP.

Staff : Annulment, Escape.
LB : Seperation, Opportunity.

Smokescale and Wolf.

Marksmanship : 3-1-3
Beastmastery : 3-1(or 3)-1
Druid : 1-1-3

Beastly Warden + Clarion Bond is the way to secure a rez or stomp.

The last part—- Beastly Warden and Clarion Bond securing a rez or a stomp.

I understand why Beastly Warden would help, but why Clarion Bond?

Why assassins signet over berserkers?

Zorpi.5904:

Mid/low gold atm, 20played, 12wins(2loss as engi and 1 as thief).
Solo que.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV3fnUqA1Ci9CCOsAUtgFMBDumuTLqNLrBQA45GsqqYlI8zA-TJRWABE/EAg+iAIcZAA2fAA

Condi. Ew. Trader :P

Why no condi pets?

EnderzShadow.2506:

Krispera.5087:

snip

Beastly Warden + Clarion Bond is the way to secure a rez or stomp.

The last part—- Beastly Warden and Clarion Bond securing a rez or a stomp.

I understand why Beastly Warden would help, but why Clarion Bond?

Why assassins signet over berserkers?

Clarion Bond is just Call of the Wild on Swap and it makes the pet unblockable for 4 seconds. Sometimes people have Aegis or other stuff on. It’s just to be sure to land it.

It also helps in other situations and not just rez/stomp. You don’t need to use both either. Sending an unblockable Smokescale with Smoke Assault (it uses Takedown after, all in those 4 secs) or Wolf with Brutal Charge (which are skills they will use right after swapping). Then chain with a F2’d Beastly Warden, then PBS… lol

Blasting Sublime Conversion or Rejuvenating Tides (It’s the only way for the Ranger to self blast it, not counting unreliable pet skills). Trying to run away ? Getting chased and need that extra heal ? Pop F5, Rejuvenating Tides, Swap Pet -> Healing Blast, send the unblockable pet to Knockdown or Beastly Warden the chaser.

Terrifying Howl has a radius of 600 and Beastly Warden only of 240, so it helps a lot in a team fight to have an unblockable Terrifying Howl with Clarion Bond.

Assassin is just a personal decision. It just gives more Precisions, so Critical Chance. Nothing wrong with Berserker, I just like seeing crits. The difference is not that big between them. Also, I use Marauder. It’s really about how I feel, but Marauder is more balanced. I love playing with Assassin, but I know very well that Marauder will give me more breathing room.

Depending on my team comp, I’ll run staff & s/wh or a/wh with wh trait for team buffs. If I need to go DPS, Imma run LB &a/wh. Spike trap for unblockable interupts (good for rez)
Also, smokescale F2 + staff 3 or wh 5 = area stealth

EnderzShadow.2506:

Zorpi.5904:

Mid/low gold atm, 20played, 12wins(2loss as engi and 1 as thief).
Solo que.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV3fnUqA1Ci9CCOsAUtgFMBDumuTLqNLrBQA45GsqqYlI8zA-TJRWABE/EAg+iAIcZAA2fAA

Condi. Ew. Trader :P

Why no condi pets?

Tiger and bristle have great burst.

A few more games in and I’m just floating around Gold.

I now run basically the meta.
Staff (Energy/Escape)
S/D (Energy/Cleansing)
Signet of Renewal saved my bacon especially against Mesmer Condi burst.
Celestial Shadow is too useful to pass up in a solo queue environment since it has the best chance to secure rez/stomps.

I can definitely manage pet burst, swap quickness, evades and my dodges better.
I just need to settle into keybinds that work and be familiar enough with the class to stop looking at the HUD all the time and hesitating on skills.

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

Pvt Frosty.6973:

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

Why do you think druid and ele are currently the hardest to play?

Pvt Frosty.6973:

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

I see, so a change of sigils to on-hit will be a better use of the slots.

I’ll be trying my hardest to contribute as Druid, although I do find my impact on the game isn’t sufficient at times. I think I still have much to improve in terms of familiarity with the class until I can really see what limits the build.

Ralkuth.1456:

Pvt Frosty.6973:

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

I see, so a change of sigils to on-hit will be a better use of the slots.

I’ll be trying my hardest to contribute as Druid, although I do find my impact on the game isn’t sufficient at times. I think I still have much to improve in terms of familiarity with the class until I can really see what limits the build.

that’s because you pewpew the wrong classes at the wrong time.

you are welcome,

At the time of this post, plat3 ranked 125 in NA (always subject to change of course, 90 more games before rank truly “matters”).

Metabattle build with Soldier Runes instead of Water; Courage/Purging on Staff, Energy/Cleansing on S/D.

Only solo queue, and I only play Druid.

anduriell.6280:

that’s because you pewpew the wrong classes at the wrong time.

you are welcome,

No worries I’ll take that to heart.

o_o)b

HeadCrowned.6834:

Pvt Frosty.6973:

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

Why do you think druid and ele are currently the hardest to play?

Because the meta right now favors momentum. And eles and druids main purpose is to stall momentum, which got nerfed even more with the recent patch.

Assume you are the best player on both teams. All it takes is for an enemy druid/engi /ele to fight you 1v1. To be able to kill, they need to be REALLY bad. And suddenly you are in a situation where the match is decided without you. On top of that druid is the worst classes to plus for a thief/rev/chrono, because it’s mostly defensive loadout. Longbow and ancient seeds got nerfed with the patch too, which makes the menders longbow build rather frustrating to play

Pvt Frosty.6973:

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

That is interesting. Thanks for the info.

Currently Platinum 2.

Playing Shoutbow Druid. Always solo queue.

Matches have been going good. Be interesting to see where I wind up finishing at this season.

Pvt Frosty.6973:

HeadCrowned.6834:

Pvt Frosty.6973:

Currently legend 1,

Running different menders variants. Druid and ele are the hardest classes to play currently in ranked (solo or duo).

One thing you all should try to do though, is to move away from escape/cleansing Sigils. Druid does not mesh well with them because their cool down gets procced by celestial avatar use(which already removes all conditions). Especially 18second cooldown sigils will suffer hard from this

Why do you think druid and ele are currently the hardest to play?

Because the meta right now favors momentum. And eles and druids main purpose is to stall momentum, which got nerfed even more with the recent patch.

Assume you are the best player on both teams. All it takes is for an enemy druid/engi /ele to fight you 1v1. To be able to kill, they need to be REALLY bad. And suddenly you are in a situation where the match is decided without you. On top of that druid is the worst classes to plus for a thief/rev/chrono, because it’s mostly defensive loadout. Longbow and ancient seeds got nerfed with the patch too, which makes the menders longbow build rather frustrating to play

Interresting, when i think about the games i played on druid in soloQ, it mostly depends on the enemy overcommiting on a fight by 2v1ing me for long time without result, or by sending the wrong person/class to fight me.

I had a match today where a dragonhunter kept pushing me and dieing, then he and a rev came, i survived and got a +1 from thief and we killed them both, they kept on repeating this until i managed to have there close capped or neutral and keeping 2 guys on me while our thief could be useful somewhere else and just pop up once in a while when i forced renewed focus. Its very dependend on the enemy being bad.

I’m rank ~130. Ranger only. Shoutbow, my sigil and pet choices differ, but solid build.

Currently bouncing around btwn top 25-50 NA. Druid only. Basically run shoutbow with gs instead of longbow.

In EU I’m floating around 150-250 atm on my alt account, soloQ only as a core ranger, f2p account.

Currently stuck in plat as I’m Soloq and I’m finding it rather hard to make good carry plays this season

Playing Menders bunker but have taken Warhorn and swapped to VT over EP in nature due to the loss of the dodge. reason for this is to provide the unblockable to pets which adds some decent dps over engi/mesmer in the home point 1v1 (Cant reflect unblockable). ofc depending on if i know the thief on the enemy team is decent or not ill switch back to oh dagger. also provides fury to pet outside of of ult.

Plat. Metabattle mender’s shout druid build. LB/Staff. Solo q. – Boring Part
Fun part – Had to make sure to start at bronze (sorry to those placement matches teams) and do the bronze to plat ranger challenge as a condi-survival build just for lols. It took around 140 games to reach plat this way.