Guild Wars 2

First, I want to state that I’m among the many who believe the Ranger profession is in need of serious improvement. I recognize that the class is subpar in Ranged damage compared to Warriors, Mesmers and even Thieves. However, unless absolutely necessary (or until name changes are allowed) I’d prefer to stick to my Ranger.

With that said, I’ve been working on a Longbow/Short bow build and I wanted some feedback.

The Build (Guildhead):
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVom0c0zMmvaGMmvaGMGpp9MzRMaos08khT707khs

The Armor:
Berserker stats (Power/Precision/Crit%) w/ Ruby Orbs

The Jewelry:
Knight stats (Power/Precision/Toughness)

The Weapons:
(Primary) Short Bow – Knight stats (Power/Precision/Toughness) w/ Superior Sigil of Accuracy
(Secondary) Longbow – Berserker stats (Power/Precision/Crit%) w/ Superior Sigil of Battle

The Gameplay:
Because of the slow attack and low damage per second of the Longbow, I’ve opted to utilize it as a secondary weapon – namely for its knockback, AoE and Rapid Fire. I’ve opted to take the Short Bow as my primary weapon because of its versatility and consistent damage at any range.

My theory is that the condition aspects of the Short Bow are secondary to its frequent and quick critical strikes (averaging between 900-1000+ damage). The Longbow is utilized as a swap while the Short Bow’s abilities are on cooldown and used for a massive burst or utility (knockback, AoE) then switching back to Short Bow.

I’ve originally played with full Berserker and a 30/30/10 but, after three rounds in the Fractal of the Mists, found I was in dire need of some defensive stats – namely Toughness.

If you can provide any feedback to the build, sigils/runes/orbs or stats, then please post below. Thank you!

The suggestions I’m gonna make depend on how you play on your ranger so they might be wrong or not directly applied to your game play but here we go:

-I see that you basically ignored condition damage as a stat. This means that you depend on direct hits, both from short bow and longbow, therefor you don’t need to flank people to get high dps, as opposed to a short bow ranger that would need high condition damage. This makes flanking not that useful. This leads me to the point that you don’t need 25 points on skirmishing to get 10% damage increase in flanking. That’s 5 points you can use to something else.

-Peak strength is rarely gonna help you since you did not invest in vitality at all. This means that a couple of hits and you go below 90% hp. Then that trait is useless. That’s another 5 points I would personally not use.

-You use the signet of stone but you do not have the signet of the beastmaster trait so I’m not sure if spending a utility skill just to make your pet not taking any damage for a couple of seconds worth it. An alternative to that skill would be Grasping Vines. I’ve never personally used it since I never played a Sylvari but it sounds similar to entangle. Which sounds good enough for me to CC your opponents.

-Why steady focus? While fighting I rarely have 100% endurance unless you got it to get the effect during the first few seconds of the fight. Again, up to you, but i would personally change it to something else since I dodge a lot.

These are my suggestions. Other than these, your build looks good. Hope I helped.

As a double bow ranger doing pve, his goal should be to stay at range and away from damage. Play him like a protected quarterback in the pocket.

This makes the extra damage boosts for being healthy, having full endurance and flanking all very good choices in my opinion.

Thank you both for your insightful and valid points.

I generally find myself safely away from harms way as a double bow ranger in PvE. When and if I do need to dodge its never long before I have a full Endurance bar.

Despite the fact I do not prioritize condition damage, I’ll never turn my nose up to free damage, in this case Bleeds. 10% flanking from the trait also applies to my direct damage.

My logic for using the Signet of Stone is for the 35 extra Toughness and to keep my pet alive during clutch moments where I can’t get them out or swap them safely. I suppose its a carry-over from running with Beastmaster but I find the other choices lackluster.

Lastly, the sylvari racial Entangle has a 900 foot range. I’d prefer to maximize myself by staying at 1200 feet but I have considered swapping that in (just glad it works on moving targets now).

Again, thank you for the constructive feedback!

This is my build full zerg gear
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mVoc0m0zMoRvhMMRvhMxxa9MzRazMao8kir707kir7070M7kGL70V

If i have Longbow i first use Skill hunter then QZ+sharping stone with barrage followed by rapid fire and point blank for i try to run behind a mob because i will do more damage and bleed them

I can do fine in Fractals lvl 10 w/o agony res..i just run a round a lot and stay as far as possible shooting with both weapons

-i think that you could take 10 points from survival trait and use them on some other trait…hide in plain sight is a useless skill because if you auto attack something then you’re not hiding no more and the cooldown sucks.

- Signet of stone is not a great skill to choose because having more speed could be a matter of life or death in Fractals and that extra i believe 25 toughness you get won’t save you from much unless you use it so you’re pet can tank for a while..but i still find it less useful than Signet of Hunt in both wvw and pve.

-I use Superior Sigil of Fire in both weapons although i might switch the on in my longbow for Superior Sigil of Accuracy so that i’ll have a better crit chance at 54% atm.
this sigil packs a punch when it activates and has saved me a bunch of times because it will also work when you are downed and throwing rock or whatever. My Short bow gives me 57% crit chance because it is a condition bow that works great if you shoot a mob from behind with QZ+ sharping stong…the bleed stacks can range from 10-25 although it’s only 55-kittenage per sec.

-I have 6 Superior Runes of Divinity on my gear so +60 stats to everything and my total Crit damage% on longbow is 103% and short is 97% might try out Superior Rune of Ranger to get more crit chance. If u want to survive more then you might want to get 5 or 6 Superior Rune of Dolyak +165 toughness and +50 vit…sixth on gives you health regen but i don’t know how much….might be bassed on how much vit or hp you have i would just put in something different for the sixth Rune.

Hello all,
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcom0zmzMovaNMMvhGMGxG9MzRzmaos8khT707kiQ70z
I have Berserk stat gear with ruby orbs on(one of the best for crit builds) and bersrk stat weapon. I have sigil of accuracy @ shortbow and 2xperception on axe/horn. My jewels are a mix of beryl,emerald and karka(event).
I have full stack from perception in 2-3mins and my stats are:
Attack: 3140 Crit R: 72%(full perception) Crit D : 90% Armor: 2300 HP: 17.400
I use my build for Pve/WvW and i play around with major traits and 3rd skill slot( muddy terrain) according the needs.I do good dmg ,but i also have plenty survivability
Hope it helped

Hello again.
Many ppl are intresting about my trinket mix , so i thought it will be better to add them right here. Ofc any pm/question, its always welcome:)
I use Beryl amulet and 2xBeryl rings all with exquisite beryl jewels and 1xemerald accessory, 1xancient karka shell(Lost shore event) both with emerald jewels.The 72% is with full stacks of perception(50% without it) and my build is 20-30-20-0-0.

Why don’t you guys invest 5 points in beastmastery? That gets you 2 seconds of quickness every 20 seconds, giving you 6 seconds of 100% weapon speed.
That’s a 10% steady damage increase. And you can use that to heal faster, or finish an enemy with style.

@OP

This is my PvE ranger.

The Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQFATjEVR21VGWs2Bg1DC7bwWhMZPMkxHLwlF;TsAZUCvkQp+S5FFVGqEUZpyRlkKA

The Armor:
Berserker stats (Power/Precision/Crit%) with full set of Superior Rune of the Ranger (Precision/Crit Damage%/+5% damage with pet)

The Jewelry:
2 rings Knight stats (Power/Precision/Toughness)
2 earrings Valkyrie stats (Power/Crit damage/Vitality)
1 amulet Valkyrie stats (Power/Crit damage/Vitality

The Weapons:
(Primary) Longbow – Berserker stats (Power/Precision/Crit Damage%) with Superior Sigil of Perception (stacks 250 precision for increased crit chance%)

(Secondary 1)
Short Bow – Bow of the Pale Stag Rampager stats (Precision/Condition/Power) with Superior Sigil of Force

(Secondary 2)
Main hand: Axe – Carrion stats (Condition/Power/Vitality) with Superior Sigil of Corruption (stacks 250 condition damage)
Other hand: Warhorn – Adder’s Hiss (Condition/Precision/Toughness) with Superior Sigil of Earth

(Secondary 3)
Greatsword – Berserker stats (Power/Precision/Crit Damage%) with Superior Sigil of Battle

The Gameplay:
I swap secondary weapons around a lot, depending on situations. My main is usually a longbow. I might use a shortbow primary with axe/warhorn secondary for more close quarter engagements like in dungeons. In this case I will drop Eagle Eye for Piercing Arrows. and drop Trap Expertise for Honed Axes. I will also swap out the trap utility for Signet of Renewal to help deal with those nasty conditions ..

With 2 stacking sigils, and being allowed to build/use only 1 stack at a time, I need to think before hand which type of stack I want to use. I usually go with the precision stack, cos higher crit chance helps all weapons. The condition stack is good for the dungeon set-up, since both shortbow and axe/warhorn can benefit from this.

Regarding Toughness & Vitality.
I try to maintain a balance between both through accessories and some of the weapons I use. Having said that, for a ranger I find Vitality more useful than Toughness, since rangers have crap condition removals, you need Vitality to help mitigate condition damage. With a power/precision/ crit build, you should be able kill off things quickly enough to avoid relying on a high defense to see you through.

bri.2359:

@OP

This is my PvE ranger.

The Build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQFATjEVR21VGWs2Bg1DC7bwWhMZPMkxHLwlF;TsAZUCvkQp+S5FFVGqEUZpyRlkKA

Yes the traditional 30/30/20 build. I’ve used this before, as stated in my original post, but swapped to my current build (also listed above) for the Toughness. The 30/30/20 build is extremely glass cannon and is not suited for my intentions.

To reiterate, I find that Toughness is a critical stat in the new Fractals dungeon. Many of the fractals are close quarters with lots of damage going out a considerable distance and plenty of movement required. I do not see a 1500 trait for our slowest and arguably one our lowest DPS weapons (the Longbow) as viable, much less to use as a primary weapon.

Nevertheless, I appreciate your post, Bri.

@AlexRD The swap quickness is good , but according to my play style its very situational. In many cases you lose dps when you swap your full health pet in both pve/wvw

Here’s the build you want for a direct damage build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAV3fjEVV2RWKWsWCgli9CspgTN5MOkxvgEmVZjB;TsAZUCvkQp+S5FFVGqEUZpyRlkKA

For more pet survivability, either change Quick Draw to Carnivorous Appetite or take 10 out of WS to invest in BM.

For condition heavy fights, replace Sig of Wild for Sig of Renewal and for more CC, replace it with Muddy Terrain. Slot skills are nogotiable aside from QZ.

Elite skill is negotiable as well.

I tried to look at the OP’s build, but the link goes to a blank Guildhead talent calculator page.

Dahkeus.8243:

I tried to look at the OP’s build, but the link goes to a blank Guildhead talent calculator page.

Hi Dahkeus. I’m sorry that you’re not able to view the build I linked in the original post. I’ve checked the link and found that it works on multiple computers. Try refreshing the page or clearing your browser’s cache.

I also took a look at your build and, with the axe/torch secondary, it doesn’t appear to be a “direct damage” build – rather, its appears to be a condition based one. The torch provides no significant direct damage and the Axe is one of our lowest DPS weapons. It’s been stated in another thread by (by you, as a matter of fact) that, despite the Axe’s ability to bounce between targets (even hitting one of two targets twice) it still under performs. In addition, its second and third abilities provide no significant direct damage.

deepwinter.9015:

Dahkeus.8243:

I tried to look at the OP’s build, but the link goes to a blank Guildhead talent calculator page.

Hi Dahkeus. I’m sorry that you’re not able to view the build I linked in the original post. I’ve checked the link and found that it works on multiple computers. Try refreshing the page or clearing your browser’s cache.

I also took a look at your build and, with the axe/torch secondary, it doesn’t appear to be a “direct damage” build – rather, its appears to be a condition based one. The torch provides no significant direct damage and the Axe is one of our lowest DPS weapons. It’s been stated in another thread by (by you, as a matter of fact) that, despite the Axe’s ability to bounce between targets (even hitting one of two targets twice) it still under performs. In addition, its second and third abilities provide no significant direct damage.

Yea, but don’t get caught up in that. If you prefer, use a different secondary set. Either way, you’ll want to use your short bow the majority of the time. I just have the axe/torch because it’s handy to light a fire combo field before fights. A longbow works with this build just as well if you prefer.

As for viewing the link, I’ll just check later when I’m at home. I’m at work at the moment and we have an old version of IE, lol.

Luffy.9365:

Hello all,
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#mcom0zmzMovaNMMvhGMGxG9MzRzmaos8khT707kiQ70z
I have Berserk stat gear with ruby orbs on(one of the best for crit builds) and bersrk stat weapon. I have sigil of accuracy @ shortbow and 2xperception on axe/horn. My jewels are a mix of beryl,emerald and karka(event).
I have full stack from perception in 2-3mins and my stats are:
Attack: 3140 Crit R: 72%(full perception) Crit D : 90% Armor: 2300 HP: 17.400
I use my build for Pve/WvW and i play around with major traits and 3rd skill slot( muddy terrain) according the needs.I do good dmg ,but i also have plenty survivability
Hope it helped

hi again,

why: 2xperception on axe/horn.

is it really possible to get double-stacks??

ellayne.4082:

why: 2xperception on axe/horn.

is it really possible to get double-stacks??

One can only get a maximum of 25 stacks, but having two sigils on duel-wielded weapons allows the player to get to 25 stacks quicker.

So for each kill, Luffy get’s 2 stacks of precision boons – up to 25.

Hello Ellayne(and Deepwinter)
Exactly what Deepwinter said:) I use 2xperception to have 2stacks—→per kill. When you travel and on downed state you lose them……so with 2x of them is a matter of 2-4mins to get them back.