Guild Wars 2

as much as I see people posting about using sword torch, I would really like to keep that evasion from the off hand dagger skill #5.

I’ve been trying to do it myself, but I have been getting my butt handed to me by just about every class… maybe I suck shrug or my build is off.

any build suggestions on traits/gear/strategy for Sword/Dagger?

Sword/Dagger is very versatile. For dueling (at least in WvW) I’d argue that it’s the best weapon set you can get for a power Ranger. The evades, cripples, and poisons are such great tools for making sure you maintain the life lead in a fight. The bleeds from Crippling Talon aren’t too shabby either.

I have used it in bunker specs as well, but you get a lot more mileage from splitting the set up or using torch over dagger.

What’s your current build?

Sevans is pretty good with s/d, saw it first hand this afternoon

I run s/d as my main set specifically to counter warriors and thieves with the poison pressure and evades, as they are the most common enemy. confusion stackers can cause a lot of problems though because of the high attack speed of 1h sword, and mesmers/engies end up being tough fights because of it. (http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAR8YnAV0FclFKWwaZAp9YSsEM5VI9cP8vOJELYVC-jkCBoNCykIBiIAOLqIaslhht6KIlXRTvATdiIq2boIa1yAYOGA-w). Not shown: i have an s/d set for bloodlust. tomorrow 2h training might be a better choice than purity.

s/d works very well with all power based specs, with just about any sigil choice.

with condi based specs, i like to have at least one weapon that can apply good pressure on each swap, and neither sword nor dagger do that for condis, so generally the set gets split up (ie s/t + a/d) but thats by no means a hard rule (Xsorus for example often runs a s/d set on his natures tank condi videos; some rangers running celestial may have good output regardless, etc).

Sevans.4619:

What’s your current build?

I just put down my traits and skills, didn’t bother putting down armor. What i have now for armor is precision/condition/toughness which is not exactly what I need; you both are mentioning power so, I left it blank.

Edit: What armor set should I be going for though. I went on to do some research and found “aidan’s” armor which has power/precision/condition but I am going to be pretty squishy if I dont go with something that has vitality or toughness
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAV8YjIVB2VWyVo2BilCBFo2DNZJzzUYIGdyKuyK-jUgAYrgMA-w

I am trying to play my build above on duel servers… but I keep getting my butt handed to me by every class except thieves who only win if they perma stealth. Are there any videos out there that can tell me how to play S/D ranger?

I use a mix of (mostly) knights and berserker gear. Respectable toughness combined with a ton of evasion and potentially permanent poison uptime means that I outlast most other builds that I come across. I absolutely do not recommend power/precision/condition gear with S/D, you’re going to get shredded, especially if you don’t have the hang of the sword’s auto-chain.

It’s okay to use Sword 3 and Dagger 4 to simply evade things, but nailing that poison is huge. Especially against Warriors, Eles, Guards, and some Thieves. Hornet Sting/Monarch Leap is used primarily as a disengage in dueling and gives you some breathing room to heal and let your mind process what’s going down. Just make sure you drop target before you do your leap.

You can’t always go toe-to-toe with classes, so just mashing sword 1 is going to get you killed more often than not, because those classes have big, bursty skills that we rangers hardly get access to. You have to dance around with it and the weapon set is complimented very well by either bow because you can maintain pressure after a Sting/Leap disengage.

Feel free to whisper me in game and I’ll guest over and try to explain things in greater detail.

Sevans.4619:

IIt’s okay to use Sword 3 and Dagger 4 to simply evade things, but nailing that poison is huge. Especially against Warriors, Eles, Guards, and some Thieves. Hornet Sting/Monarch Leap is used primarily as a disengage in dueling and gives you some breathing room to heal and let your mind process what’s going down. Just make sure you drop target before you do your leap.

I see I was playing too aggressively and that I needed to work them as much as they tried to power me down.
The quote above helped a lot especially in times when I get immobilized. Evasions still work during immobilization so I can use 4+5 to come out with no damage. I still wish lighting reflexes removed immobilization though :\

I’m not winning every fight, but its much more success with this insight.