Guild Wars 2

Hello all,

This post is too help me get answers to a number of questions I have been asking myself recently.

Despite insane hours of playtime, I only ever bothered upgrading my LB and Armor stats, but now I’m planning on re-vamping a lot of my runes, sigils, traits, etc… and I have a few questions in order to help me understand and decide on things.

For starters, here’s my current build:

30,20,10,10,0
LB main, axe/warhorn second
6x Superior Runes of the traveler
HS, SotH, SoN, Spike trap, Hounds of Balthazar
Pets: Snowwolf mostly, and white moa, sometimes snowleopard, and water would be shark

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Now just for those of you who love to tell other people what to do and how to play

I have used LB since the start, I have used longbows during all my PvE time while doing map completion, and I have been using them since I began WvW months ago, and I WILL NOT switch out my LB for any other weapon type. I use my LB for everything, including close range, and only switch to warhorn for the speed buff.
And before you ask, yes I did try out the warrior LB: can’t compare to the fun of the ranger LB.
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for information, I have 4 alts apart from my main Ranger: a Mesmer (I like it, but suck at it), an Elementalist (favorite after Ranger, but too fragile), a Thief (to understand how I can never win against them… Still doesn’t understand and still can’t win, I suck at thief too I guess), and a Warrior (to test out the war LB: nope, not as fun as ranger LB, and too big and clunky)

Just so you can understand what I’m looking for:
-I don’t play for kills and stats, I play for the fun factor. I don’t really care too much about all the numbers and the maths behind.
-After being done with PvE, I went to WvW, and that’s what I do 90% of the time now. I try to stay on the edges of the bus, but have to get close every now and then, and also do roaming solo or in groups.
-Although I’m mostly a solo player, I’m the kind that like to give a hand when I can: I support groups/bus with my barrage, traps, healing springs, speed buff, …
-I do love to roam around by myself though, just for the fun of it (which usually ends as soon as I encounter a thief -_-‘)
What I’d really like to be able to do is solo camps without too much trouble:
I’ve done it a few times, but most of the time I have to stop short due to thieves or respawning npc (takes too long)
-I’m pretty resistant: I don’t do a lot of damage, but I like being one of the last ones standing (even better if I’m the last and my pet rez me and I rez everyone else :$ ) and surprising players by not being the usual one-shot one kill they usually get.

In short, I guess what I’d like to focus on are: LB damages (dps?), staying alive (toughness/vitality?), and speed (you can’t go without SotH speed buff once you’ve gotten used to it :P )

Here are the actual things I’d like you guys advice on

1) I love playing LB (Dwayna’s Wing, crafted, not bought, thank you very much, and currently crafting Dwayna’s Light) but I never really paid attention to the sigil on it:
what would you recommend? I’m thinking Precision or Power since I seem to want higher dps, and don’t really care about condi and all that stuff, but there are other things besides stats. but I guess I don’t know all of the sigil so I’m listening for your opinions

2) LB-related traits: Eagle Eye is a must, the 1500 range isn’t negociable for me. QuickDraw isn’t negociable either. my third favorite one is Soften the Fall, although I guess that one as more to do with roaming, so I guess I could change this one if really necessary. The other ones I changed a few times, but can’t seem to figure out if there really is one more suited than another. Suggestion on those are welcome.

3) I like my Healing Spring, and so do the people around me No reason to change it…is there?

4) Currently using 6x Superior runes of the Traveler (originally for both speed and MF) + SotH …I hear having both is meaningless since speed doesn’t stack, but +30 to all stats doesn’t seem neglectable? Am I better off with another set of runes (I was thinking Divinity seemed nice) or keep the runes and swap SotH for another thing?

5) (related to 4 I guess) I remember doing all of PvE and some WvW with full traps for number 7,8,9 for a long time before switching to a more speed-oriented setup and loved it: would I be able to re-claim some of my traps without messing my LB build?

6) I’m gonna upgrade most of my accessories to ascended, what should I focus on for LB? I was thinking Power Precision Toughness Vitality, maybe Crit? (doesn’t seem crit does much in the end)

7) My current life is about 20000 something since I modified some of my stats at some point because 17000 something was getting downed too fast to my taste. My current vitality/toughness is pretty good, I can usually withstand long enough to actually kill/escape, or at the very least give that kitten ed thief a tougher fight than what he was expecting (I actually managed to kill a few thieves, but I’m thinking those were noobs o_o’). Could I keep that level of resistance AND increase my damage, or am I gonna have to chose between the 2?

8) Pets… Those are so useless in WvW I wish I could get rid of them. They’re awesome in PvE and against WvW NPCs to keep the enemy distracted and away from me, but against humans… The only pet I’ve ever found useful against real players is the shark underwater. I did all of PvE with my trusty Snowleopard, but in WvW now I usually use my snow wolf and white moa, but I’ve never given much tough about pets since anyone with half a brain can just avoid them altogether…

9) Second weapon set: suggestions welcome if you want. I tested out all the weapons extensively, but seeing as I always ends up using my LB anyway, I just put a warhorn there for the speed buff…

Phew…That turned out to be longer than I though it would !

Now for some constructive answers

I feel ya on wanting to use Ranger LB a lot — It’s by far my favorite weapon in the game. Very tactical, you gotta play smart and use spacing to your advantage more so than any other weapon in the game. I dig that. Unfortunately, using it all the time is gonna get ya bopped, it’s pretty awful up close.

But I’m not here to tell you how to play.

I came up with this build to accommodate what you asked in your little novella up there:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQJATTnEVUZZWQ+VAYbgYpAQ9p9YSZCTMF8nRlsioA-j0BB4fBiEJQZnFRjtMsIasabYaXLqWFDQGAmJA-w

- Dual LB set-up with Sigils of Battle. There you go, Longbow forever and always, just swap when your 10 second timer is up and you’re going to sit at 6 or 9 stacks of Might for an entire fight. Nifty. (By the way, I don’t condone dual anything, but I let myself have a little fun with this one.)

- Eagle Eye is in, Quick Draw is in, Soften the Fall is in; As are Healing Spring and Hounds of Balth. Hoorah.

- I agree that once you get used to 25% bonus movement speed, there’s no going back. Traveler runes are here (I use them as well.) It frees up a utility slot for more survivability.

- Speaking of survivability, this build is about as anti-condition as a Ranger can get. Empathic Bond, Healing Spring, Signet of Renewal and condition duration reduction food. We’ve also got three stun breaks, four if you count Shared Anguish (Which I included because you hate your pet, you meanie.) Over 1.7K toughness and 18K health, so you’re rather beefy.

- Malicious Training + Jungle Spider is about the most important thing any longbow Ranger can do for themselves (really any Ranger, but that’s for another conversation.) The Wolf is also great for creating space when somebody gets in. I highly recommend sticking with these pets, but if you have to switch then Snow Leopard or Alpine Wolf can work in place of regular Wolf, because chill is pretty cool.

- Just gonna go ahead and say that there is… no team support in this build beyond healing spring and signet of renewal. Sadly, Rangers just aren’t good at team support unless we spec spirits, which we haven’t done here.

You shouldn’t have too many problems capping camps with this. Barrage first, ask questions later. Focus down Scouts because blind is lame. Should do okay when roaming, but the dual longbow is gonna be a problem. Of course if you’re used to longbow only gameplay then it won’t be a big change.

Hopefully this helps a bit. Feel free to add me in game for more in-depth insights and strats. I love Ranger talk.

@ Sevans

Thanks for the detailed answer!

I didn’t use it exactly as is, but your information allowed me to pinpoint much better what I was looking for and what to modify.
I was already on my way to craft full ascended gear, but it will take a while due to crafting time and mat prices.

But with just a few accessories and better placed traits, I have already gotten a great improvement in damage output.
I feel slightly less resistant than before, but I’ll have to wait on my full gear before adjusting.
Keeping Runes of the Traveler and taking out SotH didn’t change my speed at all, so they really don’t stack, and I have a free utility slot.
I’m currently trying the utility skills from your build, but They don’t “feel” quite right to me, so I’ll have to work on those a bit more to figure out the best set (my finger keep going to my number 7 (previously trap skill) even though it’s not there anymore ^^’)

I don’t know about 2 LB though… I’ll try it out anyway and see for myself.
Weapon-swap sigils have never been attracting to me: does sigil of battle really help?
I’ve been testing sigil of fire recently and like it a lot.

Anyway, thanks for your answer: it pointed me in the right direction!

Well, you mentioned that you never really used anything other than longbow so I figured I’d take advantage of that by having some on-swap sigils between two longbows. I use Sigil of Battle on my build (Longbow, Sword/Dagger) and I definitely notice a difference when I have six or nine stacks of might. You gotta think about what that translates to in stats — The answer is, I think, 315 power and condition damage.

If you aren’t feeling the dual LB idea (It was just a for fun thing,) then give sword/dagger a try! The permanent poison uptime and the built in evades are great for dueling and roaming in WvW.

If you’re feeling less resistant, consider doing what I do and switch food to mango pie and one utility to Signet of the Wild. Even with 30 healing power (Traveler runes,) you’re still getting 150 hp/s, which is kind of a big deal in a prolonged fight.

If you don’t feel like you want or need a bunch of stun breaks then absolutely throw something that you enjoy using in there. Maybe throw in a Spike Trap and switch Primal Reflexes trait with Sharpened Edges. That combined with Sword/Dagger on swap can stack up a few bleeds to keep up a little damage pressure.

Here’s a revised build! Maybe it’ll be more fun for you.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQNAT8YlEVirWZRxCg9AwSBg91eMZmYyUYIjlsioA-jECB4fCyEEwkIBK7sIaslhFRjVbDT7aR1qYAyAYOBA-w

I see the above build more for roaming, but it can be changed easily for bus…

Sword is good for roaming, but if you go in a bus, I’d advise you take greatsword instead (evade on third AA, block on GS#3), and, for bus, that you take X and XII in Wilderness survival…
The pet dies fast in a bus setting (with AoE’s), so anything resting on the pet is not so good, (shared anguish will trigger if needed, but will not work if pet is dead, but will still go on 90 seconds CD…) I’d also replace II in Marksmanship for V or VI.
Same with hounds, they will die too fast in bus, so I’d either go with entangle (CC) or Rampage as one (stability), in a bus…

Since the proposed build has some condis damage, you can also choose to go with shortbow instead of greatsword, so you can stay somewhat away form fight, then, I would take VIII in wilderness survval (Oakheart salve)

Still for bus setting, i’d get at least two acessories in sentinel, or one sentinel + one soldier, with azurite jewels, because I feel 20k vitality is too squishy for bus – most important point in bus is not “support/cc/deal damage” it is to not die (to not raise ennemies)
Exotic soldier + sentinel with azurite gives more vitality/toughness than pink stuff.

Last remark, for the pet to hace a chance to survive in bus, distance are better (spiders + devourers)
But I feel, as a distance roamer, more close combat pets would be better.
In bus, if you stay mostly away from the fight (2 bows setting) I’d see the wolf and the kritian drakehoud, on passive, so that you can use their F2.
Spider’s F2 immobilise one foe, drakehound, more than one…
Dogs or felines are often dueller’s favorites, Though I tend to take birds when travelling, because they are so annoying for my foes :p,
For taking camp, I mostly switch to drakes, cause they get aggro, deal some damage and can tank NPC’s for a while if needed…

I know it’s not well-written, just a mix of thoughts on the proposed build, and I hope you can sort though it, and have fun :p…

Engel Angel.9076:

snip

1. Sigil is up to you. Some use fire for added AE damage. Some use air because they focus more on roaming and want higher single target damage. You could try sigil of blood for the heal, but I prefer that on the shortbow. 5% dmg is fine too. Considering there’s no real burst I’d say fire or 5% dmg is best.

2. You can do whatever build you want. I prefer signets and piercing arrows because signet of stone is amazing.

3. Right, HS is fine.

4. Drop SotH. It’s awful and you don’t have any burst anyway so increased damage on a single shot isn’t going to change anything. People tend to only activate it when they swap weapons to GS and maul someone. Without any burst skills it will do nothing for you. You don’t need the movement due to traveller.

5. Traps and condi and LB is power. On top of that, traps require a lot of investment to really use offensively. I’d say just use Muddy Terrain and call it a day unless you’re planning to invest more completely into a trap build.

6. You need to decide this on your own. If you decide on how much armor and how much health you want we can suggest other things for you. I tend to want a minimum of 2.8k armor and 17k hp (with SoS). You may want more or less armor, no idea. Let us know what your goals are and we can go from there.

7. See above. DPS is a trade off for survivability. You need to decide how much health and armor you feel comfortable playing with and we can go from there.

8. Pets suck, you’re right. I run with hound/wolf on passive solely for defense. The fear or immob is very helpful. You can run double spiders for the same thing with tons of immob.

9. Go greatsword. Especially with trav runes. You can get 33% from someone else if you need to move quickly. Greatsword gives you some measure of burst (it’s highly unreliable though) and tons of defense.

If you want to be the last one standing. This is the way to go

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMEQJATRjEVV2BWKWs2BimiMZJmiExo3j0v+2XyKiC-jECBofBigAgABKJtIaslRFRjVNTQWXDT5KpCBMaCA-w

I used a similar build to this but I was completely in Melee weapons only. It might be a bit tricky with a LB but your overall survivability is outstanding and you are more familiar with LB, so you will make better use of it than I would have.

You have 2.9K armor which is no slouch in any terms and have 3k attack and 3.25K with full stacks of bloodlust. Crit chance passive is 32% and goes up to 52% upon use of your elite skill Rampage as One. Because of the overwhelming use of conditions in this meta, I switched out traveler runes for Runes of Melandru for added toughness and condition duration (you can use Bowl of Lemongrass poultry soup for additional condition duration removal if you want).

With clerics armor, you’ll have a lower base health, but you’ll also have a much better passive regeneration on yourself at all time. From signet, you’ll get roughly 150hp/sec and with 30pts in BM you also get 127HP/sec added (you can alternate food with Mango Pies and get an additonal 85HP/sec) from signet and BM trait you get a passive 280hp/sec full time.

You can still be bursted down by Berserker warriors or berserker thieves if you’re not careful, but your overall defensive capabilities on LB/GS is pretty good so you should be able to counter most if not all of they’re burst. SoTH is placed in for movement speed and GS#3 swoop is also great for disengaging and getting away.

Try it out and see how you like it.