Guild Wars 2

So here’s the loadout I currently use, give or take minor changes based on what I’m doing: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNBhODbkoKyOwSxC1OQ0ewJLd+3j0Hr27KgqDelaB;T4A5TCnkOpaS5E1NmuEdZdydj0pVDDM2EA
(copy & paste the link please)

I’ve played a ranger 80% of the time since second BWE. I used to have only 15 in BM and had the other points in Nature Magic, but because of the more reliable pets hitting moving targets, I’d thought I’d give this a whirl- and I really dig it!

Also keep in mind: I haven’t ONCE touched sPvP. I primarily do PvE and WvW.

All my armor is exotic Knights with Berserker rings, Berserker amulet, 1 Berserker accessory and 1 Cleric accessory (just couldn’t dish out the extra cash for another Berserker trinket).

The idea is to be a tanky, health-regenerating (Signet of the Wild + Natural Healing [yes NH affects YOU as well]) scrapper with respectable personal damage and great pet damage.

My main hand ax has +healing sigil, and my greatsword has Sigil of Blood (I have a natural 33% crit chance. Plenty for getting it to trigger consistently)

I generally play melee with this setup, but my question is: What runes do you fellas think would be best to benefit this play style? Currently I have a hodgepodge of leftover runes equipped: 2x Superior runes of Water, 2x Superior runes of Dwayna, 2x Superior runes of Vampirism.

I can only afford about one set of cheap to moderately priced runes at the moment. I’d buy full Dolyak if I could! But I’d love to hear ideas. For cost effectiveness, I’d like to try to choose the best rune set for both PvE and WvW for this build.

Safe hunting!

The clear choice is Dolyak.

I’d go for full dwayna set, someone told me that signet of the wild procs the 5 second regen from it, not sure though, going to double check this.
Still. Even without that, i think dwayna would be best.

AlexRD.7914:

I’d go for full dwayna set, someone told me that signet of the wild procs the 5 second regen from it, not sure though, going to double check this.
Still. Even without that, i think dwayna would be best.

would love to know more about this!

I am also in full dwayna armor, not sure about the SotW, but it does proc often and will help those around you as well. I feel like I survive well enough with it in wvwvw, obviously pve isn’t an issue once you acquire a full set, you really shouldn’t be having pve issues.

Can’t speak for sPvP.

Less then 1300 toughness on a melee build in wvw= dead ranger. Health regen basically fails as every hit you take is way over any regen you can muster making it a bit of a waste of space- unless you spend most of the time out of the fight. I’m at 1600 toughness and for me that is just about enough to enable me to not die straightaway when hit in a group fight.

I can’t imagine the build being much use in a group fight- might be ok for capping camps.

I’m just not feeling it- but then i’m a RANGE r, my emphasis in wvw is to keep the enemy away from me and pepper them from a distance with help from my (sometimes alive) pet.

I don’t know enough about spvp to comment on it’s viability there.

If you want to go full survival, I’d recommend using Sword/Dagger instead of Axe/Warhorn. The latter provides no means to continue “tanking,” but the former means you may want to turn off auto attack and spam 1.

Also, I’d recommend changing out QZ for either Lighting Reflexes or Protect Me. Likewise, swap in Shared Anguish and Shout Master (if you go Protect Me). This should up your survivability, especially in WvW.

Finally, regarding runes, Dwayna only procs from a healing skill (whatever your 6 ability is) not signets or utilities. For survivability, I would consider Toughness runes, such as Undead (condition/toughness/power) or Soldier (power/toughness/vitality).

Remember that Toughness is the counter to burst damage and Vitality is the counter to condition damage. Hope this helps!

Thanks for the replies!

@Victory: I’ve had pretty GREAT success with this hp regen build. The regen by itself is not good, but with the added timed damage avoidance via dodging, protection, and pet cc utility, it definitely makes a difference (especially with longer fights). With group fights, I basically aim at supporting my allies with Healing Spring, quick revive with QZ, and buffing with the horn. It’s not necessarily a key role, but it definitely has saved from several wipes (especially since I’d be the last or one of the last still alive).

@deepwinter: If I’m solo roaming or solo dpsing, I usually do have a Sword/Dagger as a secondary set. I usually only go with the Axe just to stack up the +healing and then I’d switch it out, but I do definitely use the Warhorn the most for an offhand for group buffing. And as much as I’ve tried, I simply cannot bring myself to NOT have QZ! It’s an addiction! I’ve used it more times for quick rezzes for my group than I can count. Often, though, in anticipation of lengthier, more stationary fights, I’ll switch out SoH for LR. And I haven’t considered Undead rune set before…I may give that a go!

Sure, this build isn’t the most optimized ranger build out there, but after trying all of the different popular builds since beta and on, this one seems to be the most fun and interesting for me. Thanks again for the input! Ranger4Lyfe!

Signet of the Wild doesn’t proc it

i tested to make sure

deepwinter.9015:

Finally, regarding runes, Dwayna only procs from a healing skill (whatever your 6 ability is) not signets or utilities. For survivability, I would consider Toughness runes, such as Undead (condition/toughness/power) or Soldier (power/toughness/vitality).

Remember that Toughness is the counter to burst damage and Vitality is the counter to condition damage. Hope this helps!

Not exactly true on the Dwayna proc…. there is a 5% chance to gain regen on a hit, for 10sec’s and that will then proc the heal all allies automatically. Yes it does work this way. I guess, what I’m saying is, the heal all allies proc works off of a hit, I’m not having to do anything to get healed or heal allies.

I went Dwayna (at least that is what I think I’ve got going) the bonus regen duration ontop of the one from nature magic means I can keep regen up 100% with healing spring. Combine with Signet of the Wild and you have a brilliant attrition build that takes hard core burst to take out or constant stacking poisons, which are pretty easy to clear for ranger.