Guild Wars 2

It seems like Condition Power is 100% the way to go with a Shortbow build….i have been trying out the Power/Precision glass cannon build and it is kind of sucking.

If i get more than three things on me, aka risen in Orr who run faster than the zombies in 28 days later, they take me down pretty easy simply because I am constantly evading rather than dishing justice.

Also…they just completely ignore my pet….i’ll send my pet in to attack them before i even touch them, my brown bear will swipe at it, it instantly runs for me sending me into evade mode rather than justice mode.

I am currently 75 though, running with merchant gear on, so maybe the build gets better with full Berserker gear on.

So would building defensive + condition be better, or stick it out with til i get berserker gear?

I go with condition and do well, so perhaps you give it a go, maybe in sPvP or something to get the feel of it if you’ve never used it before

I sought out massive calculations for the highest possible DPS build for a shorbow ranger some months ago. In short power always beats precision which beats condition damage. As such berserker is the way to go for highest DPS. You should have no problem with mobs in Orr. If they ignore your pet, swap it (Will sometimes help). Use Shortbow #3 if still chased. Use shortbow #4 if still chased, walk backwards maintaining DPS. If still chased use #5. At this point you’ll have to dodge once or take a bit of damage. #3 should be up soon again. At this point the mob should be dead a while ago.

What you must understand is that while Berserker’s is potentially the best damage dealer, it comes down to your skill. You WILL be squishy. And you WILL have to think about your positioning.

Edit: Furthermore, in dungeons.. Well lets just say 25 limit.

So damage from power falls to precision on average if your critical damage is greater than 50 and you have more than 2100 attack.

For 1% more damage from power you must add Attack/100 more power. At 50 critical damage each 21 points of precision adds 1% more damage (over time)¹.

All that said previous poster is still correct that Power, Precision, Crit Dmg gives you the highest DPS. Looking at SB you can get bleeds if flanking on #1 and you get a 6s bleed on #4. You are probably also taking the trait that gives you a chance to bleed on crits. Looking just at SB there isn’t enough conditions floating around (unless you think you can flank for most of every fight) that condition damage is going to be a good return. — If you throw in the Spike and Flame trap I believe it could (depending on playstyle) become worth loading up on conditions but not just for SB.

Here’s a good power build involving the SB (and longbow but sword+warhorn for PvE should be fine.) with the only real drawback being lack of ability to clear conditions. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Video-Team-Roaming-WvW/first#post1643101

For Orr I would suggest wolf + drakehound for the knockdowns and at a guess you aren’t moving and dodging enough while still keeping on target.

¹ Thought experiment. Crit chance of 100%. Each attack with 0 critical damage does 50% more than a normal attack so each 1% of crit is 0.5% more damage. With a critical damage of 50 each attack does 100% more than a normal attack so each 1% of crit is 1% more damage.

While power/precision might deal more dps theoretically, the build leaves you awfully squishy, while condi builds tend to leave you very tanky. Another thing to note is that direct damage based builds are heavily effected by enemy boons (retaliation and protection) whereas condi builds deal “pure” damage regardless of boons. The downside to condi builds is cleansing, but we know most npcs don’t cleanse and when you are fighting players, as long as you have enough ways to reapply the conditions, their cleansing won’t matter.

Orr can be a pain in the kitten with both how fast and how many the risen are, I found the easiest way is to use drakes and greatsword get some power crit and toughness and you’ll have undead limbs flying left and right you get fantastic aoe with a greatsword and drakes, if you try to kite them it just takes longer to kill them and you’re like to pull even more of them since they are freaking everywhere.

Indoles.1467:

While power/precision might deal more dps theoretically, the build leaves you awfully squishy, while condi builds tend to leave you very tanky. Another thing to note is that direct damage based builds are heavily effected by enemy boons (retaliation and protection) whereas condi builds deal “pure” damage regardless of boons. The downside to condi builds is cleansing, but we know most npcs don’t cleanse and when you are fighting players, as long as you have enough ways to reapply the conditions, their cleansing won’t matter.

You don’t have to be a squishie berzerker to go with power/precision, knights armor has the highest toughness of all I believe.