Guild Wars 2

Skip to the second post if you’re aware of the 7 ways we can remove conditions at the moment and the general arguments against passive play.

Its no secret that we’re a very passive class in SPvP, if you disagree with me pick up an Engi/Elementalist/Mesmer, frankly pretty much anything else, no one gets as much done without having to do anything as the Ranger can.

Now if Anet want to have some builds that get a bit done without any skill thats fine, all well and good to get the beginners involved, but this shouldnt be limited to one profession, nor should it limit any particular profession to be more effective with more active builds, I hope this is a philosophy that they already share.

Specifically, I’m going to talk about Condition Removal. We don’t have many options as it is in this area, I’ll list everything we could possibly use ignoring Runes and Sigils:

Active
Healing Spring – 1 Condition every pulse
By far our most effective active condition cleanse, removes 6 conditions every 30 seconds, provided you can stay in the tiny field and aren’t being hit by the dangerous aoes that most condi classes put out (think engis/necros/trap rangers)

Signet of Renewal – Full Condition Cleanse
Also a stun breaker, hence this becomes very situational, removes some of our passive condition removal if used for the 60 (48) second cd. Can kill the pet if needed and pet swap on cd which removes even more of our passive condi removal, largely not a viable choice

Shake it Off – 2 conditions removed in AoE
AoE clearing on a 25 second cooldown, would be useful if you didnt have to take a terrible damage pet as a result. Simple fact is we’re so reliant on our pet damage we can’t take such a low damage pet, and they get a full health bar every 20 seconds so you’re very rarely worried about them dying. Also effectively at least a 30 second cooldown due to pet swapping.

Nature’s Renewal – 5 Conditions removed in AoE
An excellent active condi cleanse, people often don’t actually realise this is on the active of the elite spirit, but the active is too useful for resses and has far far too long a cooldown counting the spirits cd itself to be used for this purpose. Perhaps giving another spirit an active that clears condis would be a potential solution?

Evasive Purity – Blind and Poison removed on dodge
I’ve put these last two in basically to avoid complaints. With the amount rangers can dodge and the lack of ability to track the 10 second cooldown this is basically a passive.

Passive:
Empathic Bond – 3 conditions transferred to pet every 10 seconds
Fantastic condition removal, pretty much a must for any high level builds as we don’t have many other viable options

Signet of Renewal – 1 condition transferred to pet every 10 seconds
Problems with the active as previously described, other than with heavy traiting this effect is removed when signet is used

I might have listed all these, but basically the only active viable condi clear is healing spring. Its the main reason we take healing spring over other heals at the moment, we dont get that vigor/regen combo anymore which was so good, and the water field is reduced, but we need some form of active condi cleanse to be at all effective in the high level meta. Even that one isn’t great as you often have to sacrifice being hit by things that give you condis to stay in it, hopefully ANet sees this problem.

We also suffer from having 3 long elite cooldowns, meaning Lyssa runes, a major source of condi cleanse for many classes, are not really an option.

I believe this is the major flaw that leads to a severe lack of build diversity in Rangers. Either you are Glass Cannon and going for broke, or you have to take Empathic Bond, at which point you are pigeon holed into a bunkery supporty spec, or simply a pretty ineffective damage dealer.

I looked at other traits that remove conditions passively, the only real comparable one to Empathic Bond is Purity, which removes 1 condition every 10 seconds as an Adept trait. Empathic Bond being a grandmaster removes 3. I think a huge number of builds would open up by moving Empathic Bond down the tiers in the Survival line, and improving active condition removal elsewhere.

But I’ve looked for other conditional removal options that are active and I’m struggling a bit for ideas. Try not to be too critical as these are just a few of the very rudimentary ideas I have, I’d be keen to see other peoples suggestions. Bear in mind these go in line with reducing the passive removal from Empathic Bond
1. A new pet bar skill that transfers condis, potentially a measley amount before traiting it to prevent it being OP
2. Certain weapon skills removing a condition (Serpent strike? Winters bite? Crippling Talon?)
3. Heal as One removes 2-3 Conditions, just a flat buff, this heal is pretty ineffective in SPvP unless theres loads of stuff proccing off your heal, but there are shorter heal cds on other classes for that
4. Sun Spirit active – if its the blinding light from the sun it would be nice if at least cleared chill on people in the area, I’d like to see it remove condis in general but probably a bit OP given that its already in the meta, perhaps with the burning reduction coming up?

The only way to have active condition removal is if its one of the 10 things on your bar, part of a dodge (even this is dodgy…), or as part of a pet skill, so its hard to see where else they might put it in. Does any have any suggestions for revamping our condition removal?

Just add 2-3 conditions removed to the functionality of Heal as One. Its the only pure healing skill in the game (class specific) and frankly is so underwhelming I have never seen an opportunity where it was better than either Spring or Troll’s.

Honestly, Heal as One and protect me seem the best candidates for condition removal . Also , lightning reflexes would seem good for removing cripple, immob and chilled . Perhaps even torch 5 .

I agree with Chokolata for lightning reflexes removing cripple, chill and immobilize, just like warrior’s Restorative strength, tho that’s a trait, but with the same idea.

I would suggest something but realized the potential OP-ness of it: rangers with Mobile Strikes. Would it be Op? I mean, assuming you use sword and just spam 1, you never worry about immobilize, though you can still be crippled and chilled.