Guild Wars 2

In pve I use a zerk LB/GS build and have been using it decently in spvp. I was looking to swap to a heavy condition build using maybe SB and axe/torch. Since I haven’t ever played a condition ranger I’m not sure if using traps or maybe investing in our survival abilities. Any advise would help greatly appreciated. Thanks.

• Can switch offhand to Torch but the extra evade on dagger is amazing
• Lot of Vigor up time for more dodges
• Double Fear with pets – Fear + SB = Enemy back exposed to stack ‘dem’ AA bleeds
• High poison to kill the heals
• Low CD of Entangle means applying more torment and bleeds through Krait Runes
• Can change the 2 points in Marksman for 2 points in Nature to take the Nature’s Protection Trait

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjMq0ya3KurQ1aABhaVA0uGS2umd9WBbQBbqA-TJxBABL/EAA4iA8VZgb2fAA

This is a quick template, condi builds are fairly versatile with Ranger imo, just focus on the condi damage along with good defense

Krait runes are seriously under rated, know one expects Rangers to deal torment, and with reduced CD on Entangle through the “Wilderness Knowledge” trait = an AoE Elite on a 48 second cool down, who’s complaining?
(also immobilize for yet another flank access for ‘dem’ bleeds :P)

Enjoy

Note: I dislike Quickening Zephr, but in this build if used effectively it can stack a ton of bleed with Auto Attack

1. Land Fear with Pet
2. Pop Quickening Zephr
3. Bleed away while their back is exposed

Thanks for the reply. I really like the torch for the high uptime on burning. Think I’m going to try to work that into the mix.

The opportunity cost of traps is too high to make them a stronger choice than the alternatives. You will probably wind up focusing on one of three different paths:

1) Spirits
2) BM
3) Precision (shortbow/rabid)

No reason to advise which is better/worse. Pick a path and build towards it. Don’t mix if you want to be fully effective. E.g. Don’t run sharpened edges and spirits/BM with immobile sun spirit/etc.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8YjEqUzaLLOsQ1aADhqdLEslArAwd8+CXdJXqC-TJRAwAAeBAdOKAlLD0b/BA

Been using this build for quite awhile now. Basically its a bleed build, with good survivability. I keep sharpening stone on autoattack, and it is not uncommon for me to keep 19 – 25 stacks of bleed on an enemy. With Runes of Agony going, those bleeds last for a while, even after they cleanse conditions, I stack them back up quickly, which causes quite a few people to run, and or just accept death.

Elementalist, with tons of condition, removal are probably my biggest weakness. not that they kill me, but they do keep me busy enough until more enemies arrive. My nest weakness I have noticed is Engineers running high condition builds with turrets. Only when fighting on points though, in the open, I just run from turrets and kill them elsewhere.

Give it a try, let me know if it works.

Recluse.6740:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAnY8YjEqUzaLLOsQ1aADhqdLEslArAwd8+CXdJXqC-TJRAwAAeBAdOKAlLD0b/BA

You do realize that sigils can’t stack? (having 2 geomancy on 1 set won’t work).

On the topic, this is the strongest condi build in PvP atm: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Condition_Survival

And in general if you wanna browse some viable builds use metabattle

witcher.3197:

On the topic, this is the strongest condi build in PvP atm: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Condition_Survival

Strongest is debatable. Many (most?) rangers prefer s/t + a/d.

Fluffball.8307:

witcher.3197:

On the topic, this is the strongest condi build in PvP atm: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Condition_Survival

Strongest is debatable. Many (most?) rangers prefer s/t + a/d.

Where is your evidence for that? As one of the first rangers to play survival sb s/d I can say it is one of the strongest condi builds and most condition rangers I meet play it now.

No you are not one of the first to play a survival condi ranger. The build has been around in some form for more than 2 years. The SotF was added to the build the second it was added to the game.

My evidence for this is the fact that I read the forums, and almost everyone here plays a condi ranger in sPvP.

As for the shortbow, it was obviously the default weapon when spirits were big. Now new people are using it because that build got added to meta battle.

Just to reiterate Fluffball’s point, “strongest” is absolutely debatable.

I would also suggest that for anything but really organised team q’s (where shortbow focus can become useful), s/t a/d is unquestionably better. Even then it’s a question of whether you are being used for team fights (so want shortbow) or more of a side point role (so you want s/t a/d).

Additionally the same applies to signet of renewal over muddy terrain. Muddy terrain is fantastic for setting up bursts, and is a very useful utility for decaps etc., no question. However the full team condi clear that signet of renewal provides is almost always more important in NA meta, IMO. You can save your teammate from that nasty necro/engi burst or similar. It’s a different decision if you have a bunker guardian, particularly if you play with double burst thief/mesmer or something.

I think your personal condi clear is sufficient, so would take poison master instead for extra damage (and healing lockdown, again important for all the ele’s you’ll face taking a side point role). Empathetic bond is a bit RNG for my tastes.

With the s/t, a/d weapon set you will then swap oak heart salve for offhand training, because it’s amazing for torch and dagger, and circle of life (or natures protection if no-one ever rezzes you) instead of the increased regen duration trait ’Nature’s Bounty’. I’m pretty horrified they suggest that trait instead of circle of life to be honest.

tl:dr The metabattle build witcher posted is most effective in team fights with double burst comp and bunker guardian or staff Ele. For 99% of ranger players on NA I would recommend sword/torch, axe/dagger and signet of renewal instead of muddy terrain. You then would take offhand training and circle of life instead of the regen traits.

Always keen to hear your thoughts!

This is why you don’t post builds when people ask for help.

these are the two different builds that i use

Sotf/Rabid/krait; and
Settlers BM

I have a tendency to make slight adjustment pending on opposition comp (especially WS Grandmaster trait). I also vary my weapon sets as well depending on my mood and how i feel like playing, i use all combinations of SB, at, ad, st, sd (i’m a short bow fan-boy)

Ryan.9387:

This is why you don’t post builds when people ask for help.

No one has criticized any posted builds in this thread. They all look pretty reasonable to me.

[/quote]

Where is your evidence for that? As one of the first rangers to play survival sb s/d I can say it is one of the strongest condi builds and most condition rangers I meet play it now.[/quote]
I agree. I run SB- S/D and love it. I tried axe/dagger but didn’t like the playstyle. It takes some adjustment but you get a great poison from the dagger along with your GM trait poison master. My build is similar to metabattles but prefer sword. Metabattle is a good base but tinker it to suit your playstyle

Siroso.2769:

snip

I’m running s/t a/d for some time already and I can agree with most you said. I have some questions, though. I find myself roaming between points very often (unorganized teams seem to forget side points most of the time), using sword for its great mobility. How useful would a 25% movement speed bonus be for me? So far I’ve been using traveler runes only for a dedicated Spirit Watch orb runner build. And what about Rune of the Afflicted? The 6th bonus seems to synergize well with both poison master and circle of life.

I definitely know what you mean about mobility being super important when teammates don’t know how to rotate. While your in combat movement is good, you lack out of combat swiftness. Personally I find the sword leap keeps me about even with swiftness, and so I would rather sacrifice the out of combat swiftness for better fighting potential. However I get that perhaps it’s not enough for everyone, and to make up for a lack of mobility from your team, in which case I guess travellers runes would be a pretty decent call? It’s definitely a sacrifice. You should experiment with a beastmastery sword/dagger + greatsword build for carrying low level solo and team queues too!

Rune of the afflicted is an interesting one =D
I haven’t run it personally, so I don’t know what kind of damage it does from the death nova, how long the field lasts etc. I think it would be tough to take it over krait, nightmare, privateer, or traveller runes. Another fun set to play around with is runes of rata sum – but again, you’ve probably already got enough poison!

S/T A/D’s also really good but IMO that’s mostly for smaller skirmishes, while with a shortbow you’ll do well in every situation (both teamfights and smaller encounters). But sword offers better mobility which is a big plus.

I do well with a hybrid build axe/dagger sword/axe with entangle and krait runes. Offhand torch is great too, but I find the offhand axe indespensable.

Fluffball.8307:

No you are not one of the first to play a survival condi ranger. The build has been around in some form for more than 2 years. The SotF was added to the build the second it was added to the game.

My evidence for this is the fact that I read the forums, and almost everyone here plays a condi ranger in sPvP.

As for the shortbow, it was obviously the default weapon when spirits were big. Now new people are using it because that build got added to meta battle.

I don’t want to start an argument but I have played ranger since launch, and the survival build more extensively since the Sotf patch. Either way people aren’t playing shortbow because it is here from the survival meta, they use it because it is more effective than axe. The Sb axe/dagger build has more survivability and is more viable for pvp play, as the OP asked, and it will also beat an axe/dagger sword/torch ranger due to the bleed stacks/kiting. The double weapon build works great in an apothecary set up but it isn’t meta for pvp anymore.

One thing I will argue is that on the metabattle site axe is a waste. It doesn’t contribute to the build as much as sword does, I believe axe is only on there since the build was posted the night rom used it in a tournament, most use sword.

Benjamin.8237:

I don’t want to start an argument but I have played ranger since launch, and the survival build more extensively since the Sotf patch. Either way people aren’t playing shortbow because it is here from the survival meta, they use it because it is more effective than axe. The Sb axe/dagger build has more survivability and is more viable for pvp play, as the OP asked, and it will also beat an axe/dagger sword/torch ranger due to the bleed stacks/kiting. The double weapon build works great in an apothecary set up but it isn’t meta for pvp anymore.

One thing I will argue is that on the metabattle site axe is a waste. It doesn’t contribute to the build as much as sword does, I believe axe is only on there since the build was posted the night rom used it in a tournament, most use sword.

Well who knows why people play SB. I imagine almost all the ranger weapons are seeing roughly equal play because they’re all reasonably good.

SB clearly doesn’t have more survivability than the usual s/t a/d combo, although it’s probably close enough that it is more up to the player than the weapons. As siroso said that’s very situational. I.e. it’s inarguable a SB + MT is inferior in 1v1 but that’s not the point of it. In the end I’m going to be pretty happy if I see a condi ranger on my team running SB and …. let’s say sword torch? Whatevs.

I find it is generally better to build for more team support, which means SoR and in my case natures voice.