Guild Wars 2

I’ve been roaming WvW on my engie for quite awhile now and needed a change. A couple weeks ago I dusted off the ranger I made at launch and have been having a lot of fun with him. I have no problem flipping camps fairly quickly and I win most of the fights I come across but I’m sure there are more tweaks to be made that would improve my build. I’d love to hear suggestions.
The 2 builds I’ve been using are
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQvg2vCusAVLGYPoWHAFwZ/KOcvFHRTnyKSwaqA-TlSBwA7U/xsSwrK/i8AA6cEAIu/AedAo0Es4QAA4CAQKA9EGB-w and

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRnMqQvg2vCusAVLGYPoWGAFAzOYEcvFHRTnyKSwaqA-TlSBwA7U/xsSwrK/i8AA6cEAIu/AedAo0Es4QAA4CAQKA9EGB-w

If I’m running into someone like a stealth spamming thief or a bunker guardian I will usually switch signet of renewal for quickening zephyr to help burst them down, and I usually swap the raven for a black moa when flipping camps because the moa is ridiculously tanky right now and has that nice daze. /let me know what you all think.

I like the first one better, gives you nice perma regen and uses the new trait for good dmg from max distance. I think you can beat power warrs and thieves with this setup. Your biggest weakness will be conditions, necro engi or thief will eat you alive. Healing spring/signet of renewal wont be enough on their own. You can consider survival of the fittest new trait but then you lose sustain from guard/natures voice and the perma regen. Tough choices but maybe stick with what you have in first build and just add melandru runes, you could use the toughness too, 2.3k armor is pretty low.

I see three things to talk about. First your vulnerability towards condition damage will far surpass the benefits you get from regeneration, condition damage will eat you alive and you have no way to cleanse it on demand when healing spring is not available; also that 10 second window for sigil of renewal cleansing 1 condition is just not a guaranteed net of safety, especially in wvw.

Second, your utilities are spread out. I get why since I have played the same setup myself in the past; but with the introduction of survival of the fittest, not only are you using your survival skills to stay alive, you’re also using them to cleanse conditions and throw the enemy off and this is key. It even allows you to use troll unguent for a more frequent heal which is what you’ll be needing in wvw.

Third, your toughness is low very low, you may attribute this to needing big damage spikes but in reality you’re sacrificing toughness alone. You can use a mix of cavalier, berserker and knight in a better way (like so): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjMq0xaLLmsQ1ag9gadAUAndrhw9WcEtdKrIBrpC-TVSEABZq+zCPAAnU+p0+DAcIAi4CAwmuAHOCAFqEkUA6JMC-w

I’m surprised you all think this is that weak against condition damage, maybe it’s just because I’ve spent so much time playing as a condition engie and necro but I’ve had no problem dealing with them. Both of those classes really need to be in close range to be effective, I know engies can have 1500 range on their grenades but those things are slow as hell. The perma swiftness allows me to kite them around while annoying them with the longbow until I get an opening like my wolf knocking them down or fearing them, then it’s swoop in with the long sword, daze, maul, if their not close to done I entangle and back off to finish them with the bow. 2 condition cleanses has been more than enough so far.

I just can’t see myself taking survival of the fittest over nature’s voice. Not only would I be sacrificing speed which is essential for roaming, I’d also be losing the perma +5 damage from bountiful hunter for me and my pet. Really it ends up replacing several traits that are needed to make the pet useful like natural healing, agility training (which lets them actually hit people), and it makes them invisible so players are suddenly being hit out of nowhere.

I do like the stats you are getting with that mixed set of cavalier, zerk, and knight armor though. Really wish you could just adjust the stats instead of having to haul around ten different sets of armor.

It’s not bad for a 1v1 situation. However, roaming is not only 1v1, actually in most of time roaming means 1vx and you need to either win 1vx or successfully escape the 1vx. I can’t see a big chance you can handle either of these cases

CRrabbit.1284:

It’s not bad for a 1v1 situation. However, roaming is not only 1v1, actually in most of time roaming means 1vx and you need to either win 1vx or successfully escape the 1vx. I can’t see a big chance you can handle either of these cases

That wasn’t really constructive criticism, do you care to elaborate why you think that?

I feel with 2 stun breaks, the stealth from long bow, the perma swiftness, the swoop from great sword and then blocking projectiles with sword 4 while running, I haven’t had to much trouble escaping when I need to.

Forgot to mention entangle does a darn good job of distracting people if I need to run. Seems to work even better against condition players, I’m guessing the roots are only affected by direct damage?

Yea that was a dumb comment LOL. Ranger in general wont be able to disengage and roam properly like Thief/Warr/Mes but you can roam. My thing is in small encounters I believe condi/tank setups with 2/0/6/6/0 is the best way to go. Does that mean you can not roam power Ranger and longbow.. obviously you can. But again with your not so amazing condi removal and sub-2500 armor… once that 1v1 turns into a 1v2 you are pretty much insta-gibbed. What server are you on? I can duel you with my necro to show you that you do not have sufficient condi-removal. Take it from me since roaming is all I do on 5 classes Ranger/Thief/Warr/Necro/Mes. The only classes that can reliably roam for hours with no deaths are Thief/Warr/Mes. That is not because they are OP. It is because they have reliable disengages and stealth. Happy Hunting!

Jim Hunter.6821:

CRrabbit.1284:

It’s not bad for a 1v1 situation. However, roaming is not only 1v1, actually in most of time roaming means 1vx and you need to either win 1vx or successfully escape the 1vx. I can’t see a big chance you can handle either of these cases

That wasn’t really constructive criticism, do you care to elaborate why you think that?

I feel with 2 stun breaks, the stealth from long bow, the perma swiftness, the swoop from great sword and then blocking projectiles with sword 4 while running, I haven’t had to much trouble escaping when I need to.

Forgot to mention entangle does a darn good job of distracting people if I need to run. Seems to work even better against condition players, I’m guessing the roots are only affected by direct damage?

From what I gather I can tell that you have plenty of successful combat experience, especially with the setup that you discuss. That aside, what about the unsuccessful attempts at fighting, in all scenarios, against enemies of all ranges of proficiency and under all circumstances? If you take time to think of what weaknesses you possess using that build, then you’d be able to more clearly compare between the suggestions and the things you have failed at as a ranger with your own build.

The real dilemma is whether or not its worth it for you to take in the suggestions given your current build. I suppose that it could take sometime but you can give it a try and see for yourself. I cannot deny that what you propose is a good build, but that is under the assumption that you can use it right under all scenarios and circumstances, in comparison with the build suggestions that we’ve given you. As it happens not 1 build will work well for everything, but I am sure that improvement can occur and even if it is small its worth it (for example the gear choice is a clear example of what I am trying to say).

Not many classes can run a power based build in roaming. A ranger isn’t one of these classes because Long Bow is just that bad. Condi is king in smaller pvp for rangers.

Only thing I can say is the drakehound immobilize > any bird by far for roaming.

If you can make it work picking off zerglings that got lost, good for you. Never have to look for fights as a ranger at least. I look forward to seeing a video or 2 if you do that sort of thing.

Omnitek.3876:

Only thing I can say is the drakehound immobilize > any bird by far for roaming.

THIS.

As an average/bad player that roams a lot, I can tell you all that I NEED dual dogs to survive (dog and wolf): 2x cripple, 2x knockdown, fear and inmobilize. Priceless.

Sadly, I need to spend two traits to make all that CC really usefull (faster movement and longer condition duration).

Abrilete.1439:

Omnitek.3876:

Only thing I can say is the drakehound immobilize > any bird by far for roaming.

THIS.

As an average/bad player that roams a lot, I can tell you all that I NEED dual dogs to survive (dog and wolf): 2x cripple, 2x knockdown, fear and inmobilize. Priceless.

Sadly, I need to spend two traits to make all that CC really usefull (faster movement and longer condition duration).

I ran the drakehound in place of the wolf for a couple days, I prefer the wolf’s fear. When encountering other roamers I like having 1 pet for control and 1 for damage, so far the bird seems to do the best damage on a moving target. I know cats are supposed to be better but they seem to hit less often. Has anyone done the math on that vs. a player? I don’t care what the golems show, golems don’t move.

@Awge The trouble I have had so far is against a good PU mesmer or thief. Rangers lack of aoe can make those fights a nightmare. I’ve also run into a couple bunker guardians that I just couldn’t finish off because I don’t have enough burst.

Usually in those situations I switch over to my condi necro or engie and harass them until they leave the bl lol

Jim Hunter.6821:

Abrilete.1439:

Omnitek.3876:

Only thing I can say is the drakehound immobilize > any bird by far for roaming.

THIS.

As an average/bad player that roams a lot, I can tell you all that I NEED dual dogs to survive (dog and wolf): 2x cripple, 2x knockdown, fear and inmobilize. Priceless.

Sadly, I need to spend two traits to make all that CC really usefull (faster movement and longer condition duration).

I ran the drakehound in place of the wolf for a couple days, I prefer the wolf’s fear. When encountering other roamers I like having 1 pet for control and 1 for damage, so far the bird seems to do the best damage on a moving target. I know cats are supposed to be better but they seem to hit less often. Has anyone done the math on that vs. a player? I don’t care what the golems show, golems don’t move.

I remember that someone made the tests with both static and moving golems and, thanks to the cripple and short attack animation, the canines had the best DPS against moving targets.

Abrilete.1439:

Jim Hunter.6821:

Abrilete.1439:

Omnitek.3876:

Only thing I can say is the drakehound immobilize > any bird by far for roaming.

THIS.

As an average/bad player that roams a lot, I can tell you all that I NEED dual dogs to survive (dog and wolf): 2x cripple, 2x knockdown, fear and inmobilize. Priceless.

Sadly, I need to spend two traits to make all that CC really usefull (faster movement and longer condition duration).

I ran the drakehound in place of the wolf for a couple days, I prefer the wolf’s fear. When encountering other roamers I like having 1 pet for control and 1 for damage, so far the bird seems to do the best damage on a moving target. I know cats are supposed to be better but they seem to hit less often. Has anyone done the math on that vs. a player? I don’t care what the golems show, golems don’t move.

I remember that someone made the tests with both static and moving golems and, thanks to the cripple and short attack animation, the canines had the best DPS against moving targets.

That’s really surprising. I wonder if the speed buff is making up the difference because my bird does way more damage than the wolf.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Abrilete.1439:

Jim Hunter.6821:

Abrilete.1439:

Omnitek.3876:

Only thing I can say is the drakehound immobilize > any bird by far for roaming.

THIS.

As an average/bad player that roams a lot, I can tell you all that I NEED dual dogs to survive (dog and wolf): 2x cripple, 2x knockdown, fear and inmobilize. Priceless.

Sadly, I need to spend two traits to make all that CC really usefull (faster movement and longer condition duration).

I ran the drakehound in place of the wolf for a couple days, I prefer the wolf’s fear. When encountering other roamers I like having 1 pet for control and 1 for damage, so far the bird seems to do the best damage on a moving target. I know cats are supposed to be better but they seem to hit less often. Has anyone done the math on that vs. a player? I don’t care what the golems show, golems don’t move.

I remember that someone made the tests with both static and moving golems and, thanks to the cripple and short attack animation, the canines had the best DPS against moving targets.

That’s really surprising. I wonder if the speed buff is making up the difference because my bird does way more damage than the wolf.

I think so, that’s why I like using the “plus 30% speed” trait, to make pets more reliable.
Also, your build gives 100% swiftness uptime, and that makes birds and cats very reliable.

Jim Hunter.6821:

I’m surprised you all think this is that weak against condition damage, maybe it’s just because I’ve spent so much time playing as a condition engie and necro but I’ve had no problem dealing with them. Both of those classes really need to be in close range to be effective, I know engies can have 1500 range on their grenades but those things are slow as hell. The perma swiftness allows me to kite them around while annoying them with the longbow until I get an opening like my wolf knocking them down or fearing them, then it’s swoop in with the long sword, daze, maul, if their not close to done I entangle and back off to finish them with the bow. 2 condition cleanses has been more than enough so far.

I just can’t see myself taking survival of the fittest over nature’s voice. Not only would I be sacrificing speed which is essential for roaming, I’d also be losing the perma +5 damage from bountiful hunter for me and my pet. Really it ends up replacing several traits that are needed to make the pet useful like natural healing, agility training (which lets them actually hit people), and it makes them invisible so players are suddenly being hit out of nowhere.

I do like the stats you are getting with that mixed set of cavalier, zerk, and knight armor though. Really wish you could just adjust the stats instead of having to haul around ten different sets of armor.

I’d like to compare builds. I had my condi up to 1900+ but somehow lost it.

I don’t understand when people say power ranger (with longbow) is ineffective and bad for roaming… I don’t even use a greatsword as my secondary and I can disengage/take on more than 1 or 2 enemies at once (depending on skill level)

while builds like 0/0/6/6/2 might be better off in terms of overall survivability, perma swiftness, regen, etc. etc., power builds’ effectiveness for rangers comes down to skill, not passive regeneration