Guild Wars 2

Would love to hear ideas from the veterans/pro ranger users out there considering different types of a berserker builds.

Why berserker? It is simply the best and ideal build in terms of PvE(correct me on that if you may)

Please also consider the following:
-What do i have to bring
-How is it possible not to get kicked

This topic is to provide help for other fellow rangers making them at least 1 step ahead giving them ideas on what to do and could probably make rangers shine out of all other classes. Please try to avoid arguments and conflicts such as; my build is better than yours

If you’re puging I wish you luck, but you’ll almost without a doubt be pidgeon holed into frost spirit + spotter and sword/warhorn

/endthread

I never mind having spirit rangers with me, and I do see them occasionally in fractals. You could go like 30/10/0/30/0 or something.

Fluffball.8307:

I never mind having spirit rangers with me, and I do see them occasionally in fractals. You could go like 30/10/0/30/0 or something.

helps but you lose dmg on yourself and that hurt´s the group more than it help

Yea sword zerk is the only real build, others are for kittens

suggest you find a good guild to join, and don’t fract lvl jump. If you are lvl 9, dont go into a lvl 28 one and drag those people down. Do your own level, so you can learn how to play your class properly. But, if you have guild mate that insist on taking you, so then go for it.

I can’t tell you how to play your ranger. but I always have warhorn and healing spring in fotm. Changing pets for different uses on fotm is good too, alot of pets have useful buffs/ heals/aoe.

I use to run 30/30/0/10/0 but I might consider 30/20/0/20/0 because of the change in master traits of nature magic.

I only run fractals with my Ranger and I’ve been running Fractals 48 for a long while now, and I find the old Brazil’s berserker build still very effective.

I use Frost Spirit and sometimes Stone Spirit, as long as I know I can protect them. The problem is that high lvl Fractals are sometimes full of hard hitting AoEs that just one-shot them, so sometimes it’s just better to take a skill with more utility, like Signet of Renewal for condition removal or Search and Rescue for party support. I always run QZ tho.

For Elite Skills, switch depending on the situation, sometimes the Spirit or Entangle are very useful, but most of the time you can stick with Rampage as One.

Always try to use Healing Spring, specially if you’re using Warhorn or another person on the party has a lot of Blast Finishers. If you need heavy healing in specific fights or you’re not stacked in one place, use Troll Unguent.

I’m running 20/25/5/20/0, a variation of old Brazil’s build, but the new one posted by Taku seems good too.

I use Berserker gear and “Berserker with vitality” accessories (Bud of the Pale Tree, etc…). I find the vitality helpful in Fractals, where everything just hits too hard, and you don’t really lose too much damage (you actually just lose a little bit of precision).

Regarding the “how do I not get kicked question”. Just know what you need to do in each Fractal, learn the attacks of the enemies to dodge them. Don’t always try to go melee on bosses at high lvl fractals, they just hit too hard, and it’s very difficult to dodge when using a sword. Be ready to switch weapons, skills, pets and traits when needed (A ground targeted spike trap can be very helpful even if you’re not traited for traps or condition damage, for example).

Also, as pho says, don’t skip levels. Level up at your own pace, you’ll learn the fight a lot better this way.

I usually just create my own entry in LFG and wait for people with not prejudices against rangers to show up. Shockingly, there are a lot, I haven’t had any problems with getting a good party in a long time now.

Appreciate the tips everyone have provided and thank you very much for those info.

I would also like to ask for more advice regarding on how to survive higher level fractals such as moss backstab or whatever it is that wrecks havoc specially to those with high damage but low on toughness. I am somehow aware that dodging is the key to success but would be very enlightened if there are other few ways to survive depending on any scenario.

Is staying on range on fractal a bad thing or not?

Sorry for bad english

Bambula.3649:

Fluffball.8307:

I never mind having spirit rangers with me, and I do see them occasionally in fractals. You could go like 30/10/0/30/0 or something.

helps but you lose dmg on yourself and that hurt´s the group more than it help

Well the guy wanted other possible builds. Unlike dungeons, fractal PUGs are not about pure damage. I ran a level 60 something fractal with four rangers and a necro (probably the smoothest group I’ve ever had, oddly) and that spirit of stone was very welcome indeed.

F I R S T, you just need to get used to the fights, then you’ll know when to go range and when to melee, when to dodge, and what skills and pets to change for each fight. Using a ranger is fine, knowing the fractals is way more important than your profession.

Glad to hear that. Thank you

I run a rampager armor+madking runes + celestial weapons and trinkets build for PvE as ranger , and even though my DPS is not the maximum i manage ok with my group .

20 10 30 10 0 trait distribution , with keen edge , spotter , sharpened edges , vigorous renewal , off hand training , bark skin and vigorous spirits .

Sword + horn and axe +torch (mostly for fire field and some added AOE ) . Healing spring , frost and stone spirit , Signet of the Wild , Elite spirit .

As for pets it is either dual drakes for AOE and blast finishers or dual spiders if thats the sort of boss or its harpies .

When on maw i switch out my spirits for zephyr , sick em and sharpened stones , and my pets to dual cats

Chokolata.1870:

I run a rampager armor+madking runes + celestial weapons and trinkets build for PvE as ranger , and even though my DPS is not the maximum i manage ok with my group .

20 10 30 10 0 trait distribution , with keen edge , spotter , sharpened edges , vigorous renewal , off hand training , bark skin and vigorous spirits .

Sword + horn and axe +torch (mostly for fire field and some added AOE ) . Healing spring , frost and stone spirit , Signet of the Wild , Elite spirit .

As for pets it is either dual drakes for AOE and blast finishers or dual spiders if thats the sort of boss or its harpies .

When on maw i switch out my spirits for zephyr , sick em and sharpened stones , and my pets to dual cats

Love the idea of your build and believe me when i say i would love to try out different types of build but it wouldnt feel like high level fractals is the right place for trials. For so long i’ve noticed that most of the groups would rather have someone with zerk gears. For now i cant say anything about this or what anet is planning to do in terms of changes to FOTM.

Im aware that your build is quite flexible but im not that impress with the trait distribution together with the utility skills of choice. Are you trying to focus more on support and condition or something?

Durzlla.6295:

If you’re puging I wish you luck, but you’ll almost without a doubt be pidgeon holed into frost spirit + spotter and sword/warhorn

You got that right. guess that leaves me with no choice but to stick with my support tools.

Condition damage is a wasted stat in PvE. Too often bosses get capped with different conditions and leave you sitting there with your subpar direct damage. For soloing stuff conditions are acceptable but running with a group they are more of a burden.

Taku.6352:

Condition damage is a wasted stat in PvE. Too often bosses get capped with different conditions and leave you sitting there with your subpar direct damage. For soloing stuff conditions are acceptable but running with a group they are more of a burden.

It would still depend on what type of builds other member has but i agree with you on that condition being a waste.

Just like someone once suggested to Brazil, instead of berserker take assassin stats. The rest it’s a pretty standard ranger build. Max dmg output, with frost spirit at times. Generally speaking, at very high fractal levels, you want to stick to RaO.

PS I do occasionally have a shortbow in my bag.

Why 30 in Marksman? Jaguar´s don´t get opening strikes back with their stealth.
An he don´t have 100% critical change while stealthed.
Testet it a lot of times in HotM, so this 10 Points are wasted in my opinion.

25 in NM should be stronger and u´re more flexible what could be important in future fotms.

The old version from brazil is much better for high frac than the new one, most time you need sustained dps and with the 20/25/0/25 version its stronger

Than is one point i dont understand, for what you need assasins eq?
With full zerker+spotter and more than 50% fury uptime i think its more dps lose than you get

And, opening striks are 100% crit anyway, why assasin? I still can´t the point why 30 MM is better, even for “Burstdps”.

Bambula.3649:

The old version from brazil is much better for high frac than the new one, most time you need sustained dps and with the 20/25/0/25 version its stronger

Than is one point i dont understand, for what you need assasins eq?
With full zerker+spotter and more than 50% fury uptime i think its more dps lose than you get

It’s been calcualated in one of the other topics, and Brazil mentions this in the video above. 3 pieces of zerk and 3 pieces of assassin give you the highest dmg output. I’ll try to find the link to the calculations once I have some time.

Best regards

y i know the video and i tested / calculate it and i came to an other result, and thats why i dont understand for waht this small amount of prezi would help to deal more dmg

@Norenja it nice for mob groups cause you get it back on every kill, but i dont rly mind cause more than 90% of my attacks are crits

Mobgruops are irrelevant most times so i see no reasopn to pick this. 2 LH Ele and Trash is history before u engaged the fight.

Possibel 10% more critchance vs trash (unrealistic best case) and more then 5% lower dps vs bosses? I will never recommand this build, especially it´s unlogic.
To make a build with 100% critchance vs trash and lower boss dps. And then picking items that are lowering the trash benefit lol.

Oh and Trash often dies at the same time. So there is no trash benefit often.

I’ll be running as zerk as possible (trinkets and weapons at a minimum) with 20-30 points in nature magic for frost spirit, stone spirit and guard or signet of the wild. If I went through every fractal I’d use each weapon except mainhand axe, torch and dagger.

20-20-0-30-0 traits.
You should have exotic gear if you are higher than fractals level 10.
Bring a: Longbow, shortbow, greatsword, sword, warhorn and axe.

It’s very easy to not get kicked: when the other players are all meleeing in a stack, pull out greatsword and hack away.

Dorian Teal.1203:

I’ll be running as zerk as possible (trinkets and weapons at a minimum) with 20-30 points in nature magic for frost spirit, stone spirit and guard or signet of the wild. If I went through every fractal I’d use each weapon except mainhand axe, torch and dagger.

20-20-0-30-0 traits.
You should have exotic gear if you are higher than fractals level 10.
Bring a: Longbow, shortbow, greatsword, sword, warhorn and axe.

It’s very easy to not get kicked: when the other players are all meleeing in a stack, pull out greatsword and hack away.

Wold you recommend greatsword better than a sword(1hand)?

GS is useless in PvE, better then Bows or axe, but worse then nearly everything else. Good for skipping or if u can´t handle sword. But a GS ranger is never “good” for the gruop.

DPS is just to low. 15% worse then sword if u interuppt AA3 always if u can, and more then 20% if use the “evade”.
If u can´t handle the sword, most other classes will be more useful for the gruop.

Bring all weapons. Bring food. Bring sufficient AR.

Forget all the only full zerker, must use a sword despite the suicide animation, must use spotter, etc. That stuff that does work well for elite speed runners in well organized groups. It might work for you but you can use all the tools in the bag for fractals and most PUG groups will be happier if you stay alive than risk all in search of dps, especially if they struggle to stay alive themselves. Any zerker flavored build is fine to start with. PUGs will typically kick you if you don’t have experience, don’t have sufficient AR, right away when you join, or if you’re a second ranger, so anything competent is generally still ok.

A lot of the boss difficulty is essentially dodging and you can do that on any class. It’s easier to learn the dodges when you don’t have to manage the sword as well. Specific utilities come into play in different fractals and you really just need to see the fractals and work out what to do. They are all different. Traps for instance are very useful in specific fights, and only those fights. You will also need to learn some of the tactics that groups use and play to those, particularly when it comes to controlling the position and movement of mobs (where rangers can foul up badly).

Stooperdale.3560:

Bring all weapons. Bring food. Bring sufficient AR.

Forget all the only full zerker, must use a sword despite the suicide animation, must use spotter, etc. That stuff that does work well for elite speed runners in well organized groups. It might work for you but you can use all the tools in the bag for fractals and most PUG groups will be happier if you stay alive than risk all in search of dps, especially if they struggle to stay alive themselves. Any zerker flavored build is fine to start with. PUGs will typically kick you if you don’t have experience, don’t have sufficient AR, right away when you join, or if you’re a second ranger, so anything competent is generally still ok.

A lot of the boss difficulty is essentially dodging and you can do that on any class. It’s easier to learn the dodges when you don’t have to manage the sword as well. Specific utilities come into play in different fractals and you really just need to see the fractals and work out what to do. They are all different. Traps for instance are very useful in specific fights, and only those fights. You will also need to learn some of the tactics that groups use and play to those, particularly when it comes to controlling the position and movement of mobs (where rangers can foul up badly).

Quite impressive. You really did your homework. This is by far the best suggestion i’ve read. Kudos to you

U will not come far with “play what u want” builds. Lvl 70+ everything not Zerk was useless and 1 or 2 hit anyway.
This kind of rangers is the reason why so many people don´t want ranger´s in their gruops.
Sad but true.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBHhN6koiALrCSxCWLEEdBMFHKRvH0S9t3fYUpskqomE-jACBEEAkILaM5pIaslhBpNYas6aYKXER12bFRrGA-e

Based on the ability to spam critical strikes and give permanant fury to both you and your pet. This build is designed to be both durable and dps effective

basicaly… its all about critical damage there

dont know why the edit option isnt there but i think altrougtht sword has exelent dps Ranger was meant for ranged damage and as such a longbow and an axe/horn weapon set with battle sigil as well as a bloodlust sigil on horn is actualy way better for skirmishing specialist especialy when it comes to stacking multihit

and before you ask yea this thing is runned with berserker equipment

kyubi.3620:

dont know why the edit option isnt there but i think altrougtht sword has exelent dps Ranger was meant for ranged damage and as such a longbow and an axe/horn weapon set with battle sigil as well as a bloodlust sigil on horn is actualy way better for skirmishing specialist especialy when it comes to stacking multihit

nope he isn´t..you just want that or get it in mind but your wrong.
and know one needs soth in frac, its just a wasted slot ><

Bambula.3649:

kyubi.3620:

dont know why the edit option isnt there but i think altrougtht sword has exelent dps Ranger was meant for ranged damage and as such a longbow and an axe/horn weapon set with battle sigil as well as a bloodlust sigil on horn is actualy way better for skirmishing specialist especialy when it comes to stacking multihit

nope he isn´t..you just want that or get it in mind but your wrong.
and know one needs soth in frac, its just a wasted slot ><

soth can be extremely useful in some locations, such as Thamunova, AR (dose traps…), swamp and that one section of the asura one.

can be..but no need ><
swiftness is easy to buff, horn 5, ele, warri banner and guard

horn actual purpose in this build is the multi hit bird strike not the buffing shout altrought i guess having swiftness might stack aoe heal on spring and fury is actualy nice

Anyone build a spirit based support build now that we can use spirits and nature’s voice? Would love to see it for wvw.

kyubi.3620:

horn actual purpose in this build is the multi hit bird strike not the buffing shout altrought i guess having swiftness might stack aoe heal on spring and fury is actualy nice

y nothing against the horn, but the axe ><

to start with lb and do barrage/rapidfire is nice for the dps but than you need the melee dmg and the forstspirit is needed for higher frac / group dmg support