Guild Wars 2

So I recently hit 80, did the first map of Orr, and am struggling. First off, I don’t really like either of the bow options. Pets don’t hold aggro well enough for me to get the flanking shots with shortbow, and while longbow hits pretty hard the auto attack is painfully slow. What I’m looking for is advice on a melee build, and/or an axe/warhorn build (since axe is the only other ranged weapon). Specifically where should I be putting my talent points, and what skills I should be using to make these builds work. Gear advice would also be welcome, but keep in mind I can only afford cheap karam gear (not the 40k stuff obviously) or masterwork crafted (I make it myself but can’t afford ecto for higher tier crafted). Thanks

Also, should I be selling the rares and exotics I get that I can’t use for profit or salvage for ecto?

Gojak.8395:

So I recently hit 80, did the first map of Orr, and am struggling. First off, I don’t really like either of the bow options. Pets don’t hold aggro well enough for me to get the flanking shots with shortbow, and while longbow hits pretty hard the auto attack is painfully slow. What I’m looking for is advice on a melee build, and/or an axe/warhorn build (since axe is the only other ranged weapon). Specifically where should I be putting my talent points, and what skills I should be using to make these builds work. Gear advice would also be welcome, but keep in mind I can only afford cheap karam gear (not the 40k stuff obviously) or masterwork crafted (I make it myself but can’t afford ecto for higher tier crafted). Thanks

Also, should I be selling the rares and exotics I get that I can’t use for profit or salvage for ecto?

1st NEVER sell rares/exotics unless you really need the money, use the best salvage kit and you’ll almost always get an ecto (if not 3) from the item.

That being said if you want to get all the weapon traits you’d wanna get martial training from WS, off hand training from WS, great sword mastery from NM and honed axes from Skirmish, if you don’t care about those you can pretty much build as you want, so it goes more into a “How do I want to play?” Scenario.

Hmm, are you using the correct ‘tanky’ pets? I don’t have an issue with pets holding aggro atleast for the start of a fight, once I ramp up DPS I may lose it, but the pve thing is usually dead or near it by then. Send your pet in, then circle around before you actually “hit it” as a thought.

Do wvwvw and hearts for the Karma to buy Karma gear, think it took me a couple months for a full set of high end Karma gear, probably played a few hours a day (on ave) to doing that.

For skills I’m guessing you go with either a traps build or a signet build. I literally have never seen a ranger use a spirit beyond the starter zones, and I don’t know enough about shouts to judge. For land I have been using traps and for water signets. The thing is I think I do better in water so should I be running signet build? I doubt signets a bit just because the activate abilities don’t look that great. I also wonder how much the 90 stat points from the toughness signet matter when you’re dealing with a 1000 point stat.

Also, trait advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Gojak.8395:

For skills I’m guessing you go with either a traps build or a signet build. I literally have never seen a ranger use a spirit beyond the starter zones, and I don’t know enough about shouts to judge. For land I have been using traps and for water signets. The thing is I think I do better in water so should I be running signet build? I doubt signets a bit just because the activate abilities don’t look that great. I also wonder how much the 90 stat points from the toughness signet matter when you’re dealing with a 1000 point stat.

Also, trait advice would be helpful. Thanks.

Well, toughness scales 1:1 for armor (armor is the stat that matters despite when people say), so depending on where you are armor wise, that could be quite a big boost! I personally am fairly infamous for using spirits (although i’ve grown to like my shouts more now that they’ve been buffed…), and i’d have to say they’re pretty good, they can use some love though because they’re not even close to being as awesome as they were in the first game…

EDIT: traps are a very popular build choice, so are signets, and wilderness survival, shouts are growing in popularity a bit atm, but not as much as sigs and traps (sigs and traps can be focused on more where shouts and wilderness not so much).

As you probably know, if you wanna go with a signet build go for marksmanship, if you wanna go with traps, go with skirmishing, if you don’t really care about either of those, there’s a lot more options.

Is there a post or guide for rangers on where to put the points and what skills to use according to spec ? ..I’m still low (36) and I have not put many skills to use because I don’t want to use them and then regret the decision. I love using the short bow I need a spec for short bow …and 2xaxes or sword and horn ..combo ..

rglaredo.9467:

Is there a post or guide for rangers on where to put the points and what skills to use according to spec ? ..I’m still low (36) and I have not put many skills to use because I don’t want to use them and then regret the decision. I love using the short bow I need a spec for short bow …and 2xaxes or sword and horn ..combo ..

I second this if someone has a link to a good/accurate website or guide for ranger please post it.

Well, I guess I’ll try a bunker type build. That seems to be the default build in this game when in doubt. Although I’m worried such a build won’t have enough condition damage since this class is heavy on the condition damage.

Go sword/x, use jaguar/whatever, spec BM (x x x x 30), up toughness and to some degree healing power (comes “free” when going BM-spec), use Signet of the Wild.

With high dps pets like the jaguar, in combination with quickness on pet swap, you’ll burn mobs down really fast, and can take on several at once with no major issues.

Lately, I’ve mostly used 20 0 5 15 30 or 0 20 5 15 30.

Pets sharing boons with you is great for both survival and to up their damage. Mighty Roar from the Jungle Stalker grants 10 stacks of might for the stalker if you’re within range from it when activating that skill, combine that with the leap attack in sword #1 chain, and the might stack will go up fast (also consider Sigil of Strength to up might even more).