Guild Wars 2

The Direct Damage Ranger (DDR)
A Comprehensive Glass Cannon Ranger Guide

Intro

A lot of focus has been given to WvW builds in the forums recently and there aren’t that many PvE/Dungeon builds listed so I thought I should write this more in detail as it was mentioned in the 4th episode of the SOAC podcast. Give it a listen! It has some really good info :D (/shamelessplug). Also, before you continue, this is going to be REALLY in-depth so be prepared read through a massive wall of text!

The DDR Build focuses mainly on power based attacks, hence “direct damage.” A link to a build website seems unnecessary so I’ll skip that. Instead, I’ll discuss in great detail the traits that can be used, along with the utilities that complement them. Afterwards I’ll finish the guide with a few sample builds that I use with DDR.

NOTE: This build was originall called “Dirty Dirty 505”, a slang pronunciation of 30/30/5/0/5. The June 25 Patch changed Zepyhr’s Speed, so the build had to be renamed since the 505 part won’t make sense anymore.

What can this build bring?

• Lots of crits, lots of single target damage, some AoE.
• Long lasting conditions.
• Rewards smart positioning.
• Rewards great timing.
• Permanent +50% endurance gain.
• More focus on the player, less focus on pets. Traits can be moved around to increase or decrease pet effectiveness while still maintaining good DPS.

What are the disadvantages?

• This is a glass build. It’s squishy.
• It relies on smart positioning to stay alive.
• It relies even more on dodging than when using tankier setups.

As you can see, most of the disadvantages are about survivability. This can be considered an “advanced” build since it requires the player to be familiar with a lot of the mechanics of the game, specifically which skills are absolutely crucial to dodge and when to dodge these deadly attacks.

I think these are fair trade-offs for the amount of damage that is picked up. I’ve played BM Bunker, Hybrid BeastMaster, Trapper and RRR, and while those are effective builds themselves, they can’t compare to the kill speed of a DDR in PvE/Dungeons.

Traits

Traits really make or break a build. Picking traits that synergize well with each other makes the character more interesting and fun to play. I’ll go through all the traits that I think are worth using and give my thoughts on their effectiveness and how/when you should use that trait.

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Marksmanship Adept Traits
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• Steady Focus (I) – Damage increases by 10% when endurance is full.
  This trait is the most effective at either the start of the fight, or when you are using bows. +10% damage is nothing to scoff at when we’re using a power build and this is one of my favored traits when running DDR.

• Malicious Training (II) – Increases duration for conditions applied by your pets. (Gives +50% condition duration to pets)
  Pets give the ranger so many choices for CC, ranging from the incredibly powerful Immobilize from spiders, to the long lasting Chill from Snow Owl and Snow Leopard to name a few. Using this trait will make their CC +50% more effective and that is always a good thing. This is the trait I usually go with whenever I roam solo in WvW, because more control is more valuable when fighting 1v1.

• Keen Edge (III) – Use Sharpening Stone when your foes health reaches 50%. Can only be triggered once every 45 seconds.
  I once listed this as a undesirable trait because of the unknown cooldown. The June 25 patch added the cooldown and changed the activation mechanic! With the it triggering off of enemy hp, instead of your own, you can now stay at max range with your bow and get the benefits from this trait. More on this in the Sharpening Stone section of the guide.

• Signet Mastery (IV) – Signets recharge 20% faster.
  This used to be a mandatory trait for Signet of the BeastMaster builds before they buffed the cooldowns. After that, this trait became a “nice to have” rather than mandatory. This is also nice to keep your burst options closer to each other if you use a DPS pet and Sic ’Em (40s cd) since it will lower the cooldown of SotW to 48s cd.

• Predator’s Instinct (V) – Apply cripple to foes you hit when they are below 25% health (15-second cooldown).
  This is more of a PvP/WvW trait than a PvE/Dungeon trait so it’s not really that used. And even in PvP/WvW, we have much better options than a 2 second cripple. This trait is designed for ranged weapons so they can hinder fleeing enemies as they try escape. It feels a bit unreliable though as sometimes the enemies that I’ve crippled with this healed up instead. I hope ANet can find a way to make this trait activate at the right time (like when a warrior is charging at me) as having a passive cripple is really nice for longbows.

• Beastmaster’s Bond (VI) – Gain fury and [3 stacks of] might [for 9 seconds] when your pet’s health reaches 50%. This trait is recharged when a pet is swapped or 90 seconds pass.
  Like the former Keen Edge, I listed this as undesirable because of the unknown cooldown. The wiki was updated to show when it is refreshed. The duration of the boons are pretty decent considering the pet swap timer is 20 seconds. However, the activation for it is a bit tricky. If you want to use this as a source of fury and might, it will be a very tough balancing act to get them damaged enough without getting them killed, especially for the low hp ones. It requires a lot of situational awareness and you have to keep track of the pet’s location at all times. Seems like a bit too much for an average pay off. Alternatively, you can just forget about this trait and just play normally, enjoying the stacks of might and fury as they come. Personally, I consider this trait as an underperformer when compared to the first 4 adept traits.

These are the rough HP thresholds to activate the trait:

1. Bear – 15k
2. Drake, Spider, Porcine, Moa, Armor Fish, Jellyfish, Shark – 11k
3. Canine, Feline, Devourer, Bird – 7.4k

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Marksmanship Master Traits
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• Spotter (VII) – Increases precision of nearby allies by up to 150 points.
  This is the only supportive trait in the entire traitline and it is the only useful master trait for non-bow-based builds. This equates to roughly 7% more crit chance. This may or may not be good, depending on what weapon you use and/or if you’re running with a group that would like extra crit chance. (Spoiler: no one says no to more crit chance :P) Personally, when I’m using Axe/Axe + GS, this is what I roll with. This was buffed from 70 precision from the June 25 patch

• Piercing Arrows (VIII) – All arrow attacks pierce targets.
  An almost mandatory trait when using a Shortbow or a Longbow as it makes ALL of your attacks line-AoE. This makes your DPS skyrocket depending on enemy placement (links back to “rewards smart positioning” in the advantages). As mentioned in the SOAC podcast, arrows retain their secondary effects after piercing through targets. That means you can bleed multiple targets with Sharpening Stone up, stun multiple targets with Concussion Shot, or you can knockback multiple targets with Point Blank Shot.

• Beastmaster’s Might (IX) – Activating a signet grants 3 stacks of might (15 seconds).
  A once useless trait, now it’s actually interesting. It adds a bit more damage for the GS ranger burst combo, or 3 stacks of might every 24 seconds with Signet of the Hunt. That would be 62.5% might uptime from SotH alone. A really great improvement over what it was originally. This was buffed from 1 stack of might for 5 seconds.

• Eagle Eye (X) – Increases longbow and harpoon gun range. Increases longbow and harpoon gun damage by 5%.
  This trait makes the max range of the Longbow go up to 1500 and adds another +5% damage. That is amazing for staying out of range of nearly all the bad AoEs that you want to avoid as a squishy glass cannon. With this trait, I’ve never been hit by the Agony Flame Burst from Captain Ashym of the Urban Battlegrounds (Charr) Fractal or the Agony Light Burst by the Archdiviner in the Cliffside Fractal. In dungeons, this will keep you out of nearly all PBAoE of any dungeon boss. And most importantly, this is the trait you want to run with when defending towers and keeps in WvW. The only bad thing about this trait is that you can’t use it with Piercing Arrows without giving up your Grandmaster Trait slot. Alternatively, when you know you’re going to fight a boss that has no adds, switch Piercing Arrows with this so you get more range and a bit more damage.

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Marksmanship Grand Master Traits
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• Signet of the Beastmaster (XI) – Active effects of signets also affect you.
  This is arguably the best to go this deep into the Marksmanship tree. We have 3 signets that have amazing actives with really good passives and one signet that is unaffected by this trait. Being affected by Signet of Stone or Signet of the Wild greatly boosts ranger performance while they are active and it’s nice to have +50% boost on one attack when available (8k Maul, anyone?).

• Remorseless (XII) – Regain Opening Strikes when you kill a foe.
  One of the biggest complaints about the Marksmanship traitline is that Opening Strikes is a bad mechanic. It’s only active during the start of the fight, and it only refreshes when you go out of combat. This trait somewhat alleviates that as it restores Opening Strikes whenever you kill something. This is mostly useful for farming in Orr, or when you’re ZergVsZerg-ing in WvW. I’m still not a big fan of this trait outside of those though.

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Marksmanship Minor Traits
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The minor traits focus on Opening Strikes and it activates on the first hit (and it disappears even if the attack was reflected/blocked). What it does is it applies 5 stacks of vulnerability. With 15 points, your pet also has Opening Strike, and 25 points guarantees that Opening Strike is a crit.

In PvE/Dungeons, this is a decent trait for about 5 seconds, after which it becomes useless. In PvP, the main issue I have with it, is that against Guardians, this is a wasted trait as the first attack will just be shrugged off by Aegis. I hope ArenaNet takes another look at this because right now, I think it’s very lackluster.

But that’s a topic for a different thread! Instead, we can maximize its effects by firing off our biggest hitting attacks right off the bat, or telling our allies to use their big skills from the start so they can take advantage of the Vulnerability stacks. Not really a difficult task because people already do that.

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Skirmishing Adept Traits
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• Pet’s Prowess (I) – Pet do 30% more damage on critical hits.
  This trait’s effectiveness is dependent on what pets you’re running. Felines and Birds are the optimal pets to run with this, but there are certain setups that can allow Canines and Drakes to make the most out of this as well. A neat little combo in PvE is opening up a fight with a drake that has Opening Strikes active. That along with this trait, it’s fairly common to see a cleaving 3k~4k hit from Tail Swipe. (With a full BM build, I’ve seen it cleave for 6.5k on Risen)

• Sharpened Edges (II) – Chance to cause bleeding on critical hits. (wiki says 66% chance on crit)
  Since we have a really good base crit chance with this build, putting added pressure with on-crit effects is a greatly welcome. Ok, so its just a 1 second bleed, but since it has no cooldown, you can use it with Barrage to spread a lot of 1s bleeds on several targets. If you’re running CC pets, you have no need for extra crit damage from them. It’s better to improve your damage even if by a tiny amount using this trait instead. If used with the 100% Bleed Duration Build (listed at the bottom), this will have 2 ticks of bleeding!

• Trapper’s Defense (III) – Create a spike trap while reviving an ally.
  This is good for builds that splashes on a bit of condition damage in their build. Having a little safety for resurrecting allies is nice. This utility is good if you’re expecting to rez your allies quite often and need a little defense. However, this trait suffers from the unknown cooldown problem so it’s a little hard to gauge it’s usefulness.

• Primal Reflexes (IV) – You gain 5s of vigor when you are struck by a critical hit. This can only trigger once every 15 seconds.
  I’m on the fence on this trait. I think it might be useful for melee rangers, but since we already take Natural Vigor from the WS line, Vigor only gives half the effect since they don’t stack. This would tie nicely with Steady Focus since it will refill your Endurance faster, but generally, you want to avoid damage completely, specially critical hits.

• Companion’s Might (V) – Critical hits grant 5 seconds of might to your pet.
  Once oh so useless, now really amazing! This trait works really well with this build as we have high crit chance with this build. Using Barrage in a clumped up group of enemies will usually result in a lot of crits and a lot of potential Might for the pet. This is big for both power based pets, and condition based pets! Take this trait if you want your pet to do damage along side you. This was buffed from 1 second of might on crits.

• Agility Training (VI) – Pets move 30% faster.
  Another situational trait. This would need only be a good pick if you’re not using Signet of the Hunt since they don’t stack. Personally, I remove SotH when I’m in dungeons as movement isn’t as important in most of instances (excluding CoE). Lastly, ranged pets don’t need this trait as much as melee pets. For more info, check this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Agility-Training-Better-than-it-seems

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Skirmishing Master Traits
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• Carnivorous Appetite (VII) – Pets gain health on critical hits.
  Since we’re not going BM, pets should get as much survivability as they can. This trait is one of the few that makes DPS pets more survivable. As mentioned earlier, Felines and Birds are the highest crit chance pets and incidentally, they’re the squishiest and would be the best pets to fully utilize this trait. Unfortunately, this trait won’t get as much use because the other traits are more useful.

• Trapper’s Expertise (VIII) – Trap skills use ground targeting and are 50% larger.
  Skirmishing is known as the improve-traps-traitline and this is one of the 2 traits that make traps good. Getting larger traps and being able to throw them are very good for keeping out of melee. For this build, however, we’re focusing on direct damage. This is still usable with Frost Trap or Spike Trap the control though!

• Honed Axes (IX) – You do 10% more critical damage when wielding an axe in your main hand.
  With the recent patches and the more recent discovery that Axes are great for Power Rangers, this trait became much more appealing. If you’re using the Main Hand Axe and not using a bow, I would recommend picking up this trait.

• Quick Draw (X) – Shortbow and longbow skills recharge 20% faster.
  This is an absolutely mandatory trait if you’re using a Longbow. Longbows have really good skills, except for the auto-attack and the faster you can use Longbow 2 to 5, the better. It’s not as mandatory for Shortbows, but you get so much out of it that it’s worth picking up anyway. I almost always use this trait because I love using my Longbow. The only time I change it is when I’m farming in Orr and use Axes more than bows.

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Grandmaster Skirmishing Traits
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• Trap Potency (XI) – Conditions caused by traps last twice as long and traps recharge 20% faster.
  If you already took Trapper’s Expertise, might as well go all the way and pick up this trait too! This improves the traps by a lot both in duration and cooldown so it’s definitely worth picking up if you took traps.

• Moment of Clarity (XII) – Gain an attack of opportunity for you and your pet on interrupting a foe. This effect can only trigger once every 5 seconds. Daze and stun durations you inflict are also increased by 50%.
  This is what I was referring to when I mentioned “rewards great timing” in the introduction. Whenever you interrupt an enemy (even if it has defiant stacks), you still get an Attack of Opportunity which makes your next attack do 50% more damage (basically the same as activating SotH). The other effect is it makes stuns and dazes last longer, which is really powerful when timed right. The ideal weapon set for this trait is Shortbow/Greatsword.

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Other options for GrandMaster Traits
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The problem with Skirmishing GM Traits is that both of them are only useful in certain setups. If none of them suit your build, you can opt to take another Adept or Master trait, or just take 5 points out of this traitline and add it to a different one. Personally, I like being able to switch to a trapper on the fly without having to respec from the skill trainer.

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Skirmishing Minor Traits
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Tail Wind and Furious Grip are triggered when in combat and you weapon swap. Fortunately, it also triggers when you pick up environmental weapons and, as mentioned in the SOAC podcast, synergizes well with Pig pet’s F2 skills. Hunter’s Tactics is another trait that rewards players for good positioning because flanking an enemy means more damage. Can’t really say anything else about them except they are nice traits to have (especially Hunter’s Tactics!).

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Wilderness Survival Minor Trait
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• Natural Vigor – Increases endurance regeneration by 50%.
  This is arguably one of the best minor traits in the game because it only costs 5 trait points, and it is in the Toughness tree. Getting another dodge every 8 seconds instead of 10 is really good as that 2 seconds can mean the difference between surviving or dying.

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Beastmastery Minor Trait The Remaining 5 Points.
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With Zephyr’s Speed being moved up to a Grandmaster Trait, we no longer have access to pet swap quickness. While it does hurt our burst a bit, it does open up quite a bit of options. I’d go into detail, but I’m running out of text space (curse you 5k char limit per post!) So instead, I’ll just lightly touch on the alternatives.

1. Put the 5 points into Wilderness Survival to access WS Adept Traits. This is what I did personally. Wilderness survival has the best selection of traits out of all ranger traitlines. Pick what you want from these:

• Soften The Fall (I) – the fall damage reduction trait. Works really well in WvW to survive falling while watching people who case you fall to their deaths!
• Healer’s Celerity (II) – Resurrect your allies 10% faster and give them swiftness. Like Trapper’s Defense, this is useful when you know you’ll be rezzing your allies often.
• Shared Anguish (III) – Disables are transferred to your pet every 90 seconds. This is useful if you’re not relying on your pet too much, as it acts as a psuedo-stun breaker. Great for full trapper specs.
• Vigorous Renewal (IV) – Gain vigor when you use a heal skill. This is an amazing support skill as vigor really adds survivability via more dodging.
• Expertise Training – Adds 350 Condition Damage to your pet when it’s in combat. This is one of the two reasons that I put the 5 points into this traitline. Pet power damage was nerfed but the conditions are untouched! There are a lot of long lasting pet based conditions that would benefit from this. Works really well with Malicious Training in the MM traitline!
• Wilderness Survival – The second reason that I put points into WS. This makes Quickening Zephyr recharge faster so we can regain quickness earlier! Since we don’t have pet swap quickness, this is the next best thing.

2. Put the 5 points into Nature Magic. This will net you 500 HP, +5% boon duration and the Rejuvenation trait. The Rejuv trait gives 5 seconds of Regeneration when your hp reaches 75% on a 30 seconds cooldown. Not really groundbreaking or anything, but this is a glass build after all, and we want to keep at full hp as much as possible.

3. The Alternative: 30/25/x/x/x
Alternatively, you can take out 5 points from Skirmishing so you can have 15 points to play around with. This opens up even more options, but I feel that this would be out of the scope of the guide since we are focusing on damage and not survivability.

Utilities

Next up, I will write about the utilities that I’ve found effective with DDR. Some of them will be fairly obvious (like signets), but I’ll include some that I’ve found a situational use for and other players might want to explore. Others will be strange (traps on a power build, wut?), but I found them to be useful anyway. I’ll discuss complete builds after this section.

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Signets
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Signet of Renewal
Passive: Cures a condition every ten seconds.
Active: Your pet pulls all conditions from nearby allies to itself.
Additional effects: Stun Breaker

A decent passive, a great active and it’s a stun breaker! The only drawback to it is it has a 1 minute cooldown. The passive works on both the pet and ranger too, so that’s something to consider as well. This is highly recommended if you know you’re going to face a lot of conditions. One thing I dislike about this utility, is that the active effect is centered on the pet. I’m usually at the backline with a melee pet in the front so I’m usually out of the AoE of the active effect.

Signet of Stone
Passive: Improves toughness for you and your pet. (gives 180 toughness)
Active: Your pet takes no damage from attacks. (6 second duration)

The panic button for Signet Builds! Makes you immune to all direct attacks for 6 seconds which is amazing to negate burst, or use it just as you’re going to charge into a zerg with your Greatsword. The passive is pretty good itself and it’s toughness is equal to 18 points from Wilderness Survival.

Signet of the Hunt
Passive: Grants 25% increased movement speed to you and your pet.
Active: Your pet’s next attack deals more damage. (+50% damage)

The next best thing to permanent swiftness! This makes travelling so much more faster and it makes your pet stick to their targets a lot more too. The active itself requires timing (again ties to “rewards” part in the intro) so you can boost your hard hitting attacks. Also, it should be noted that when activated, it gives you 16 minutes to land your boosted attack, which is a crazy long duration. It’s strongly suggested to pop it as soon as you spawn, or just use it if you’re not going to travel far. I always have this on my bar when I’m in WvW or just running around in PvE. As mentioned in the traits section, this is the best trait to constantly get 3 stacks of might with Beastmaster’s Might due to it’s low cooldown.

Signet of the Wild
Passive: Grants health regeneration to you and your pet. (Can be boosted by Healing Power)
Active: Your pet grows larger, dealing more damage and gaining stability. (+25% damage and stability for 8 seconds)

The one utility that makes bunkering as a Ranger so viable. For the Ranger, It uses 6% of the his Healing Power on top of a base 62 hp/s regen. For the pet, it uses 25% Healing Power on top of 125 hp/s regen. The active is nothing to scoff at as well. Stability and +25% damage for 8 seconds is incredible for a class that has very limited access to Might. The only problem with using SotW with a SotBM build is that it is considered a transformation so it will prevent you from stomping and interacting with environmental objects (a shame really, since this is our only non-elite utility that gives stability).

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Shouts
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Guard!
Command your pet to aggressively guard an area. Your pet gains stealth and protection for the duration of the skill.(Stealth and Protection lasts 10 seconds, 15 second cooldown)

I used to only use this to keep my pets stay at certain locations (or so I can tag a lot more during events in Orr :P), but lately I’ve been using it offensively at bosses. Stealth and Protection help the pets survive a whole lot longer since they’re not actively targeted, but you can’t use them as tanks this way because of the stealth. The duration and cooldown gives it 66% uptime which is amazing for pet survivability. This can also be used to make pets GTFO out of red circles, and incase they fail to get out, they take reduced damage because of the protection. Overall, a good skill for pet survivability and we want our pets to survive so they can assist us.

Protect Me!
Instead of attacking, your pet will protect you by absorbing all damage you would take. Stun Breaker!

This shout is now a stun breaker! This adds a whole new depth into the skill as it allows for more defensive uses. If this is paired with Signet of Stone, rangers can have a potential 12 seconds of immunity from direct damage! For a glass build like this, that could mean all the difference. The only problem with this, is you have to use a tanky pet to make sure it lasts the full duration and/or for your pet to survive taking hits for you. The June 25 patch made this into a stun breaker.

Search and Rescue
Your pet will seek out and revive a downed ally.

I haven’t used this skill in a while because of the little quirks it has. It’s amazing when it works since it allows you to do other stuff while the pet is rezzing, but most of the time, it fails. I’ve posted some suggestions it being a targeted rez instead of letting the AI pick the target, but I’ve yet to see if ANet will do anything to make this more reliable. I’m still hoping they will.

Sic ’Em!
Your pet runs faster and does more damage. (10s duration, +40% damage and speed)

This is one of Ranger’s burst tools, and it’s on a 40s cooldown! This alone with a Jaguar pet already does really impressive damage, but used in conjunction with Signet of the Wild and Quickening Zephyr it becomes the backbone of Ranger burst! I really like this skill when I know I have a window to attack uninterrupted (like a boss or enemy focusing on something else) to make the most out of it’s duration. Consider putting this on your bar when using a DPS pet. Also, there is a bug with shouts wherein pressing any F-commands will make this buff disappear prematurely. In the case of Jaguar bursting, do it in this order:

1. F1 – To make the pet start chasing/attacking the target
2. SotW – for the stability and it has a cast time
3. F2 – To make the pet activate Stealth
4. Sic ’Em – To boost damage
5. Quickening Zephyr – To maximize the 8 second window given by SotW + Sic’Em

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Spirit
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Frost Spirit
Summon a frost spirit that has a chance to grant bonus damage to nearby allies. (Increases damage by 10% on a 35% chance, has 0 internal cooldown)

This is the only Spirit that boosts direct damage and as such the only one we will consider. I usually switch my SotH with this when I don’t the mobility and summon it on a spot where I know it won’t get hit by random AoE. This is also one of the few spirits I use when I’m defending keeps/towers in WvW. I usually summon it just at door of the tower/keep as I get the buff when I get on top of the wall and shoot people from there. They’re still incredibly squishy despite the buff though so smart positioning will help you make the most out of it. Another bonus is if it doesn’t die, you can switch back to SotH even while it’s out! This will kill the spirit, but you can have your mobility back without having to wait for the cooldown.

I won’t go into detail with the other Spirits because I haven’t really found much use for them.

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Survival
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Lightning Reflexes
Evade back with a crack of lightning, dealing damage and gaining vigor. (Also a Stun breaker)

One of the skills to slot in for survival. Makes the Ranger dodge backwards and gives him Vigor. Absolutely amazing for DDR because its an evade that doesn’t use Endurance (so we get to keep Steady Focus active), or in case you did dodge a few times, the Vigor will make the Steady Focus active again faster. It being a stun breaker is icing on an already awesome cake as it is arguably one of the best skills in the ranger’s arsenal. The only issue with this is that it doesn’t remove Immobilize, so you’ll just roll in place.

Muddy Terrain
Use mud to cripple and immobilize foes. (30s cd, 10s duration, 2s cripple every second)

Our longest lasting area denial tool. The immobilize only works on cast, but the pulsing cripple is amazing. This allows kiting mobs so easy because they can’t dodge and have to go through the entire area to reach you, while against players, this will make them waste a dodge just to get out. Really good stuff. The June 25 patch reduced the duration to 10 seconds and buffed the cripple duration to 2 seconds. This is good because most smart players will never walk back into a Muddy terrain anyway, and it’s still the same net cripple.

Quickening Zephyr
You and your pet gain quickness. Reduces healing on you by 50%. (60s cd, 6 second duration, Stun Breaker)

Once one of our best skills, then Quickness got nerfed which made it bad. Then it became a Stun Breaker and now allows 50% healing which made it decent again! I really like this skill because Quickness has so many applications outside of just damage. When I’m running with the zerg, I use this as my Stun Breaker because there will be opportunities to down a low health target a fleeing, and getting 6 seconds of Quickness might be what’s needed to get him down. As mentioned in the Sic ’Em section, this utility is one of 3 combo burst utilities that Rangers have. It also helps a lot when you have to quick rez an ally and you just swapped pets. I always have this on my bar when I go in dungeons.

Sharpening Stone
Bleed foes with your next five attacks.

I once considered this as a subpar skill for DD505, but with the new DDR, it looks more viable when players splash on condition damage into their builds. The reason being it applies bleeds from multihit skills. This works best with Barrage as it applies bleeds to all of the enemies hit by the waves of arrows every 0.6 seconds, and it’ll only eat one charge per wave! Same goes for cleaving attacks from the Greatsword and 1hand sword, as well as bounces from Ricochet. Rangers can really apply a lot of bleeds really easily, and the 100% Bleed Duration build just melts stuff with this skill.

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Traps
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Fire Trap
Set a trap that burns foes.

This trap provides a decent duration burn as well as a fire field. The burning duration might add up a lot though because of the +30% Condition Duration from Marksmanship. Fire Fields are greatly welcome in dungeons because when it’s Blast Finished, it gives out AoE might. Everyone loves might in Dungeons.

Frost Trap
Set a trap that chills foes.

This skill is great for area denial, but it has the longest cooldown out of all the traps so that’s something to consider. I really like this in dungeons just because I can constantly chill the boss and it works well with all of the projectile finishers available to rangers.

Spike Trap
Set a trap that bleeds and cripples foes.

One of the staples of the Trapper Ranger, but for DDR, this is used more for the cripple/immobilize more than for the bleeds, except when using Rampagers gear. I don’t really use this in dungeons because if I want cripples/immobilize, I’d pick Muddy Terrain instead as it lasts longer and has bigger AoE. This is more useful for sieging towers and keeps because you can throw this trap at the wall and it will hit the defenders up there (this can also apply to Fire Trap).

Viper’s Nest
Set a trap that poisons foes.

Viper’s nest is the odd man out of all the traps. It has no combo field and it just does what it says without any secondary effects. That said, it has the second lowest cooldown out of all the traps which is it’s saving grace. Personally, I don’t really use this much because we have a lot of other sources for poison, with Spider pets having this a skill almost like this.

Equipment

I’m not really gonna go too indepth with this as I feel that gear is more of a personal preference thing. I’ll just go with saying that Knights is the more defensive set while still retaining a lot of offense (recommended for WvW), and going full Berserker is viable in PvE/Dungeons provided you know how to position yourself well and know how to dodge. Personally, I run a mix of Knights and Berserkers gear, then full Celestial Trinkets since I like being able to switch from my Power Equipment to my Condition Equipment without having to bother with the trinkets.

However, with the change to Keen Edge, I’ve been considering using Rampagers as an alternate set for splashing condition damage into the build, in exchange for crit damage. Not a bad trade considering all of the bleed sources that we have.

Bringing it All Together

There are several variations of the DD505 and I will list down the variations I’ve used and found effective. There might be more variations out there, but I’m only human and I’m not gonna try out every possible permutation of the traits :P

The Signet DD505 (WvW, Dungeons, PvE)
Weapons – Shortbow/Greatsword or Longbow/Greatsword
Marksmanship – Signet Mastery, Piercing Arrows, Signet of the Beastmaster
Skirmishing – Sharpened Edges, Quick Draw, Moment of Clarity
Utilities – Signet of Stone, Signet of the Hunt, Signet of the Wild, Rampage As One
Pet: Any

This is my favorite setup because of it’s simplicity and I think this represents the entire philosophy of the DD505. It has movement, a defensive cooldown, and an offensive cooldown. It only lacks a stun breaker in which case you’d want to consider removing your defensive cooldown (SoS) or your offensive cooldown (SotW). I mix and match the signets quite often depending on the situation. In dungeons, I give up SotH since mobility isn’t as important there.

The Farming Setup (PvE, World Events, Farming in Orr)
Weapons – Axe/Axe + Sword/Warhorn
Marksmanship – Steady Focus, Spotter, Remorseless
Skirmishing – Agility Training, Honed Axes, Carnivorous Appetite
Utilities – Guard!, Flame Trap, Quickening Zephyr, Rampage As One
Pet: Felines/Drakes/Devourers

This is what I use whenever I farm events. Everything is designed for maximum tagging to get as much loot as possible. I set my pet to guard the middle of the farming area and I leave it there. I then drop a Flame Trap to tag few enemies on one side, then move to a different side and start auto-attacking with my Axe. The Sword/Warhorn is there for the mobility it gives with Swiftness from warhorn, then Hornet’s Sting-180 degree camera turn-Monarch’s Leap for “burst movement”. This also good for general PvE exploration as it has good AoE damage from axes, and good single target damage with sword.

The Burst Build (WvW, Dungeons)
Weapons – Shortbow + Axe/Warhorn or Longbow + Greatsword
Marksmanship – Steady Focus, Beastmaster’s Might, Signet of the Beastmaster
Skirmishing – Pet’s Prowess, Quick Draw, Agility Training
Utilities – Signet of the Wild, Sic ’Em, Quickening Zephyr, Rampage As One
Pet: Jaguar + another Feline, Bird, Drake

As mentioned above, this is the strongest Ranger Burst possible, popping all 4 utilities to do as much as damage as possible within a 6-10 second window. It is highly recommended to use a DPS pet (like a Jaguar/Bird) with this to maximize damage. Also, I would suggest using RaO first, build up a few stacks of Might then popping SotW, Sic ’Em and QZ in that order. This burst can be repeated either every 48 seconds with SotW and Sic ’Em, or at 60 seconds adding in QZ to the mix, and 120 seconds to include RaO. In addition to this, you can also perform the GS Swoop-Hilt Bash-Maul Combo for max damage from yourself.

The Tower Sieger/Defender (WvW)
Weapons – Longbow/Greatsword
Marksmanship – Malicious Training, Piercing Arrows, Eagle Eye
Skirmishing – Sharpened Edges, Trapper’s Expertise, Trap Potency
Utilities – Fire Trap, Spike Trap, Signet of the Hunt/Frost Spirit, Entangle
Pets – Devourer/Spider

This build is designed to be as annoying to Wall Defenders as possible. Throwing traps up a wall is incredibly annoying to most people and if you get lucky, you might be able to immobilize/cripple them long enough to setup a spike with Barrage + Pet Swap Quickness while they’re burning and bleeding. The Devourer and Spider are there since they might be able to shoot up the wall, or if you’re really lucky, the spider might be able to web an enemy to make them stay in your trap/barrage/rapid fire longer. This can also be used during tower/keep defense as well by throwing traps at the door or using barrage from up the wall.

Bleeding Rampager (Dungeons/WvW)
Weapons – Longbow + Axe/Warhorn
Marksmanship – Keen Edge, Eagle Eye, Spotter/Remorseless
Skirmishing – Sharpened Edges, Companion’s Might, Quick Draw
Wilderness Survival – Wilderness Knowledge
Utilities – Protect Me, Sharpening Stone, Quickening Zephyr

This build is based on the the passive bleeds brought by our traits, as well as additional bleeds via utilities. Protect Me is put in there because we have no room for Signets because we need all the crit chance we can gather. Works best with full Rampagers and the 100% Bleed Duration Build.

100% bleed duration build
The 100% bleed duration bleed is:

• +30% condition duration from MM traitline
• +40% condition duration from Rare Veggie Pizza
• +15% bleed duration from 2 Krait Runes
• +15% bleed duration from 2 Runes of the Afflicted.

For an even better effect, use 3 of each of those runes for an additional 110 condition damage!

Closing

The DDR is the solution I have found to answer the “lack of DPS” that Rangers have been known for. I’ve never been criticized for “not bringing enough DPS” to a dungeon group when using this build. I really enjoy playing this in both PvE and WvW and I’ve never had to respec ever since I went with it. I hope you found something useful in this guide and I hope you try out the DD505 It’s fun!

EDIT: Sorry for the inconsistent formatting, I wrote this on notepad and courier new. The font used by this forum just breaks my pretty monospaced formatting.

Thanks Jubs! I enjoyed it and it’s actually similar to what I run now. I think the one thing you left out is healing and condition removal. Any thoughts on those? Since you run knight’s gear, I think You’re better off switching to Sentinel trinkets slotted with Beryl/Ruby jewels for that extra vitality to mitigate condition damage.

Good catch, yeah I wasn’t able to mention that. I haven’t really had that much trouble with conditions in dungeons, because Healing Spring is just really good for healing and condition removal. My Knight gear has Lyssa runes in them and that takes care of mass conditions that I get when I get zerged in WvW or I have too many stacks of bleed on me in dungeons.

As for trinkets, Celestial trinkets is really enough for me. I have 18k hp with them and I get a little bit of everything, including Condition Damage which is nice when I’m using Sharpened Edges. Thanks for the suggestion though and I’ll consider that when I want to get new trinkets

jubskie.3152:

Good catch, yeah I wasn’t able to mention that. I haven’t really had that much trouble with conditions in dungeons, because Healing Spring is just really good for healing and condition removal. My Knight gear has Lyssa runes in them and that takes care of mass conditions that I get when I get zerged in WvW or I have too many stacks of bleed on me in dungeons.

As for trinkets, Celestial trinkets is really enough for me. I have 18k hp with them and I get a little bit of everything, including Condition Damage which is nice when I’m using Sharpened Edges. Thanks for the suggestion though and I’ll consider that when I want to get new trinkets

When you say celestial, are those the ascended kind?

Yeah, ascended celestial trinkets. I’d take a celestial back piece as well if/when ANet releases them. I just like having rounded stats since I’ve never really been a big fan of stacking just 1 stat.

I listened to the cast the other night and just specced this today. In PvE and WvW it’s pretty fun. I’ve never got full Marksman until now.

Also, it’s not as squishy as I imagined, even in Full Berserker. I’ve only got Cleric’s to alternate it with, but I was going to play with Valk or Knights when I had the gold.

TBH, 30/30/5/0/5 is a well know spec in the Ranger community which only brings great offense and burst at the expense of defense.

When I started playing my ranger at 80, I messed around with this spec for a bit and I loved the burst and damage output with the longbow and axes in PvE but I mainly focus on WvW and this spec is just too glass cannon for most aspects of WvW (even if you have 2500+ armor with the same damage output). This spec will down a single player fast, but once you get focused—see you at spawn.

AydenStar.4216:

TBH, 30/30/5/0/5 is a well know spec in the Ranger community which only brings great offense and burst at the expense of defense.

It is, but it doesn’t have a comprehensive guide so I wrote one since it was already in the podcast anyway I think I saw one guide with this, and Xsorus made a video using DD505, and one guide with 30/25/10/0/5

AydenStar.4216:

When I started playing my ranger at 80, I messed around with this spec for a bit and I loved the burst and damage output with the longbow and axes in PvE but I mainly focus on WvW and this spec is just too glass cannon for most aspects of WvW (even if you have 2500+ armor with the same damage output). This spec will down a single player fast, but once you get focused—see you at spawn.

Agreed, I use the Signet build in WvW and atmost, I can survive for 6 seconds with SoS + Lyssa Runes condition removal via RaO. If I’m able to shake off my attackers I’ll have enough time to rejoin my group or find a safe spot. If not, I die :P This is designed to be backline artillery support with a longbow and it works really well as one. It’s not as good for drawn-out 1v1 fights though, RRR builds are better for that!

I ran this kind of build for quite a while, heck, I pretty much leveled my ranger from 1 to 80 using it. I was lucky to have been doing my leveling before Zephyr was nerfed, so I knew the joy of a SB/crit build amped up with Zephyr. Now there was a burst!

Some great tips here regarding traits and utilit skills as well as some pet things I had never thought of. I will definitely recommend this post to new Rangers.

My only question for you is why Axe instead of sword. To me sword looks to do way more damage, and if you can learn to play around the auto-attack movement restrictions, very survivalble. Why do you choose Axe over sword?

The downside to this build is pets die like flies when you don’t max out BM, so while your personal damage goes up, your total damage output, takes a hit from pets being less effective.

The other downside is extreme combat situations like dungeons and WvW become much more binary, you either win or die quickly, this is not a forgiving build or one for long drawn out encounters. It depends hugely on positioning which the longer a fight is, the more likely chance there is for you to get cornered or stuck in a bad position, at which point it is game over.

The main reason I left this build was it is totally dependent on your damage avoidance skills, which I am very bad/awful at. They say the only way to overcome that is to stick to a glass build and overtime learn how to survive using only your positioning and dodging. I tried that, but my progress is so slow, I die way too often to the point that it even annoys guild mates. I just don’t have the reflexes and hand eye coordination to pull it off, so if I want to run with groups and not be a constantly dieing liability, I have to gear extra vitality and toughness.

That said it’s still a very effective build that I may switch back to if I can make better progress on my dodging skills.

I still keep all my gear for this build for when I get tired/bored with my current BM/Soldiers build which features very strong pets, good melee damage, and high survivability in long drawn out combat situations.

PsionicDingo.2065:

I listened to the cast the other night and just specced this today. In PvE and WvW it’s pretty fun. I’ve never got full Marksman until now.

Also, it’s not as squishy as I imagined, even in Full Berserker. I’ve only got Cleric’s to alternate it with, but I was going to play with Valk or Knights when I had the gold.

Ooops! Sorry for the late reply! Yeah, it’s not as bad as people make it seem to be, but you still have to be conservative in terms of taking risks. At most, you can take 2 hits before you have to hit your panic button or dodge out. This requires a lot of situational awareness to stay alive compared to more forgiving T/V builds.

Jalad Lantana.3027:

I ran this kind of build for quite a while, heck, I pretty much leveled my ranger from 1 to 80 using it. I was lucky to have been doing my leveling before Zephyr was nerfed, so I knew the joy of a SB/crit build amped up with Zephyr. Now there was a burst!

Yeah, I miss being able to pull off a complete Barrage + Rapid Fire in one QZ. Those were fun times.

Jalad Lantana.3027:

Some great tips here regarding traits and utilit skills as well as some pet things I had never thought of. I will definitely recommend this post to new Rangers.

Thanks! With the incoming pet nerf, we might be seeing more of this build.

Jalad Lantana.3027:

My only question for you is why Axe instead of sword. To me sword looks to do way more damage, and if you can learn to play around the auto-attack movement restrictions, very survivalble. Why do you choose Axe over sword?

Because going in melee with a glass cannon build is really risky. The sword is definitely our top DPS weapon, but when you’re at most 2 hits away from getting downed, it’s not a risk I would endorse.

Jalad Lantana.3027:

The downside to this build is pets die like flies when you don’t max out BM, so while your personal damage goes up, your total damage output, takes a hit from pets being less effective.

Actually, with the April patch that boosted T/V on pets, this is not as big a deal as it was before. Drakes are now as tough as Bears were before the patch and can do so much more than the bears. Bears are almost immortal in PvE now, even with 0/5 in BM. (I exaggerate of course :P)

Jalad Lantana.3027:

The other downside is extreme combat situations like dungeons and WvW become much more binary, you either win or die quickly, this is not a forgiving build or one for long drawn out encounters. It depends hugely on positioning which the longer a fight is, the more likely chance there is for you to get cornered or stuck in a bad position, at which point it is game over.

Agreed, and that’s why I noted at the very start that it rewards smart positioning. Also, considering the gains, I think thats a good trade off

Jalad Lantana.3027:

The main reason I left this build was it is totally dependent on your damage avoidance skills, which I am very bad/awful at. They say the only way to overcome that is to stick to a glass build and overtime learn how to survive using only your positioning and dodging. I tried that, but my progress is so slow, I die way too often to the point that it even annoys guild mates. I just don’t have the reflexes and hand eye coordination to pull it off, so if I want to run with groups and not be a constantly dieing liability, I have to gear extra vitality and toughness.

That said it’s still a very effective build that I may switch back to if I can make better progress on my dodging skills.

I still keep all my gear for this build for when I get tired/bored with my current BM/Soldiers build which features very strong pets, good melee damage, and high survivability in long drawn out combat situations.

GW2 is action oriented and this build can be considered as living life on the edge. One mistake can cause you to fall. That said, You should start with wearing full P/T/V, and as you get more familiar with content, you can slowly switch over each piece to berserker. That’s what I did, and it worked great for me! I still have a full P/T/V set on my ranger at all times, but I only use those in 30+ fractals, and on certain Arah paths that I haven’t really mastered yet.

Thanks for the post jubskie, while as mentioned by others that this build is well known in the ranger community, have it documented the way you did will help players. How you say? Because not everyone enjoys or can handle the intense action and reflexes that other builds require you to have. I know some of these rangers in my guild and they really enjoy wvw zerg support as a ranger; which I think it’s a role every ranger should consider being a part of from time to time, so I’ll link this to them.

awge.3852:

Thanks for the post jubskie, while as mentioned by others that this build is well known in the ranger community, have it documented the way you did will help players.

Glad to do it I noticed that there were a recent surge of people asking for PvE/Dungeon builds and I felt that DD505 is one of the best builds for it. Also, this guide was made with newer Rangers in mind, so that’s why it’s so detailed (but I think I went overboard a bit… it spanned across 8 posts _)

awge.3852:

How you say? Because not everyone enjoys or can handle the intense action and reflexes that other builds require you to have.

Yeah, and I think thats a problem newer players will have regardless of gear. Getting more survival gear at first then coming back to this build is a good approach to bringing more DPS from your Ranger But take note that this is really designed for PvE/Dungeons more than WvW. I’m not really sure if this build will work in tPvP. It works in sPvP because sPvP is really just zerging around the map and a ranger in a zerg is hard to single out.

awge.3852:

I know some of these rangers in my guild and they really enjoy wvw zerg support as a ranger; which I think it’s a role every ranger should consider being a part of from time to time, so I’ll link this to them.

Please do It’s a nice change of pace from all the 1v1 guides and vids we have here. I’d upload a vid if my internet wasn’t so crappy XD

As a power ranger, thnx for this lovely guide, must be a sticky

Otanikun.8701:

As a power ranger, thnx for this lovely guide, must be a sticky

You’re welcome! But please, don’t get me started on getting stuff stickied… I’ve been trying to get the compilation thread stickied for MONTHS and nothing’s happened XD

what sigils do you use??

I like a 30/30/5/0/5 or 30/30/10/0/0 build with knights gear w/superior runes of the dolyak (I think — I ain’t at home to have a look). Running that with a the sword+warhorn and a shortbow is really enjoyable. I also run either entangle or rampage as one with a feline/drake or feline/hyena. Lightning Reflexes, SotH (the speed signet whichever it is), QZ.

jubskie.3152:

AydenStar.4216:

TBH, 30/30/5/0/5 is a well know spec in the Ranger community which only brings great offense and burst at the expense of defense.

It is, but it doesn’t have a comprehensive guide so I wrote one since it was already in the podcast anyway I think I saw one guide with this, and Xsorus made a video using DD505, and one guide with 30/25/10/0/5

AydenStar.4216:

When I started playing my ranger at 80, I messed around with this spec for a bit and I loved the burst and damage output with the longbow and axes in PvE but I mainly focus on WvW and this spec is just too glass cannon for most aspects of WvW (even if you have 2500+ armor with the same damage output). This spec will down a single player fast, but once you get focused—see you at spawn.

Agreed, I use the Signet build in WvW and atmost, I can survive for 6 seconds with SoS + Lyssa Runes condition removal via RaO. If I’m able to shake off my attackers I’ll have enough time to rejoin my group or find a safe spot. If not, I die :P This is designed to be backline artillery support with a longbow and it works really well as one. It’s not as good for drawn-out 1v1 fights though, RRR builds are better for that!

In WvW, 30/30/5/0/5 is just not a reliable spec when it comes to zerging. Don’t get me wrong, your build has uses in WvW like small team havoc squads or trolling inexperienced WvW roamers but when I comes to zerging, this spec is only sub-par compared to other ranged classes such as: Elementalist, Necromancers and even the nerfed Mesmer Confusion spec. I hope Anet would at least make the #3 longbow skill a speadshot hitting up to 5 targets or more because we need a second AoE on that weapon.

TBH, I love the Zephyr Speed. Even after the nerf, its still a useful skill for Rapid Fire, Barrage and finishing off players. I find no interest running around the zerg as a full Beastmaster but that 5 point BM trait tree is so needed for the longbow.

Doug.9628:

what sigils do you use??

Good question! This one I left out of the guide on purpose because I haven’t found the best sigil. Fire and Air being obvious choices for more damage and we have the crit chance to make use of them with this build. Although I can’t really say that they’re the ones that I want to use permanently. I’m actually using major versions at the moment because I’m still experimenting

thefantasticg.3984:

I like a 30/30/5/0/5 or 30/30/10/0/0 build with knights gear w/superior runes of the dolyak (I think — I ain’t at home to have a look). Running that with a the sword+warhorn and a shortbow is really enjoyable. I also run either entangle or rampage as one with a feline/drake or feline/hyena. Lightning Reflexes, SotH (the speed signet whichever it is), QZ.

Dolyak is the Regen on the 6th rune. It’s not really a good 6th effect because the regen is so low Also, the last 10 points can be put anywhere, I just really like Natural Vigor and Zephyr’s Speed

AydenStar.4216:

In WvW, 30/30/5/0/5 is just not a reliable spec when it comes to zerging. Don’t get me wrong, your build has uses in WvW like small team havoc squads or trolling inexperienced WvW roamers but when I comes to zerging, this spec is only sub-par compared to other ranged classes such as: Elementalist, Necromancers and even the nerfed Mesmer Confusion spec.

On the contrary, DD505 is better while zerging than any other spec because of the safety provided by the zerg. You can afford to lose the tankiness of an RRR build because you have a lot of other players to back you up. If you’re in a small group and you fight a group that outnumbers you, each member of your group has to pull his own weight and once 1 of you goes down, the rest of the team will follow (and with the squishiness of this build it would likely be you).

Eles and necros are obviously more preferred because of their numerous fields, there’s no contesting that. But rangers can brings fields themselves with poison (via pets) and water (via healing spring) being the easiest.

AydenStar.4216:

I hope Anet would at least make the #3 longbow skill a speadshot hitting up to 5 targets or more because we need a second AoE on that weapon.

TBH, I love the Zephyr Speed. Even after the nerf, its still a useful skill for Rapid Fire, Barrage and finishing off players. I find no interest running around the zerg as a full Beastmaster but that 5 point BM trait tree is so needed for the longbow.

Making Hunter’s Shot a cone would make it OP :P But that would make it a very interesting skill indeed XD

Agreed Zephyr’s Speed is really a helpful tool, one that I miss greatly when running on my alts XD (I keep pressing F4 to get quickness on my guardian to no avail :P)

@ Jubskie: from my experience being in one of the finest WvW guilds on tier 1 US, in the current meta no one really can find a use for 30/30/5/0/5 rangers. They don’t bring anything to the battlefield but a 25/30 sec barrage and the dirty 505 is just to glass cannon if u get stuck any where near the hammer train or AoE kill zone. Ele’s and nercos bring range fields that are super useful; whereas, rangers fields r all melee range.

My ranger specs r all a basic forms of bunker no matter if its traps, power or condition builds and no matter the weapon either. Im a WvWer mainly and IMO, survival>damage.

AydenStar.4216:

@ Jubskie: from my experience being in one of the finest WvW guilds on tier 1 US, in the current meta no one really can find a use for 30/30/5/0/5 rangers. They don’t bring anything to the battlefield but a 25/30 sec barrage and the dirty 505 is just to glass cannon if u get stuck any where near the hammer train or AoE kill zone. Ele’s and nercos bring range fields that are super useful; whereas, rangers fields r all melee range.

My ranger specs r all a basic forms of bunker no matter if its traps, power or condition builds and no matter the weapon either. Im a WvWer mainly and IMO, survival>damage.

Bunkers are tried and tested, no doubt about that, but I’ve had better success with a DD505 Signet build in WvW than with a bunker one. This build’s place with the zerg is 1200-1500 range at the back of the main force. If someone using this build is right at the front with the warriors and guardians, he’s gonna go down fast. That’s no place for a glass cannon. Instead, he should be on top of the wall maximizing the range he has, or on top of a hill, or from the side of the enemy force, never in the front. (Again, ties back to smart positioning! )

Otherwise, we can agree to disagree :P I’ve run bunker builds and it’s really not my style for WvW. I only use that in tPvP.

jubskie.3152:

thefantasticg.3984:

I like a 30/30/5/0/5 or 30/30/10/0/0 build with knights gear w/superior runes of the dolyak (I think — I ain’t at home to have a look). Running that with a the sword+warhorn and a shortbow is really enjoyable. I also run either entangle or rampage as one with a feline/drake or feline/hyena. Lightning Reflexes, SotH (the speed signet whichever it is), QZ.

Dolyak is the Regen on the 6th rune. It’s not really a good 6th effect because the regen is so low Also, the last 10 points can be put anywhere, I just really like Natural Vigor and Zephyr’s Speed

Yeah, I got home and had a look, I run different runes.. not the Dolyak. I forgot what it is I run. I guess I pretty much run 30/30/5/0/5 or 30/30/5/5/0 or 30/30/10/0/0. I think I’m running 30/30/5/5/0 at this moment. I’ll have to look again and update the thread with what I’m running.

Thanks for the guide. So what runes are you using on yours?

Its a ‘fun’ entry point for T4 players just coming into WvW and PvP…Against better ‘tier’ of opponents, sorry not gonna hold water.

Weggie.3215:

Thanks for the guide. So what runes are you using on yours?

Glad you read it! I use Ranger runes for dungeons/pve and Lyssa Runes for WvW.

Cempa.5619:

Its a ‘fun’ entry point for T4 players just coming into WvW and PvP…Against better ‘tier’ of opponents, sorry not gonna hold water.

I don’t know why people keep bringing up tiers to shoot down this build. Desolation has been T1 for 3 months and dropped to tier2 because of frustration with blobbing and lack of coverage. I’ve been using this build for 2 months and I’ve done both solo roaming (as a scout), small group roaming (camp snipers), and zerg surfing with this build and didn’t encounter any issues. The times I did die was because I was out of position. As long as minded my positioning and my group wasn’t losing, I was safe. If things went south and the commander ordered a retreat, I was usually far enough from the fight to back off or WP back to regroup.

This isn’t a build for rambo or leeroy types that like to be in the front. This build is for the artillery support that likes to hang back and pick off their targets from relative safety. That’s what a glass cannon is all about.

Do you feel this build drops the significance of the pet below the usually quote 30-40% damage? I generally have been running BM hybrid and the like but starting to get a bit worn of so much pet reliance. So wondering if this build will drop that percentage enough to where when aoe’s go off like crazy I won’t want to punch the computer screen because of running pets back on recalls, etc, since they aren’t doing any damage when running like scared kitty cats.

Zhauric.1879:

Do you feel this build drops the significance of the pet below the usually quote 30-40% damage? I generally have been running BM hybrid and the like but starting to get a bit worn of so much pet reliance. So wondering if this build will drop that percentage enough to where when aoe’s go off like crazy I won’t want to punch the computer screen because of running pets back on recalls, etc, since they aren’t doing any damage when running like scared kitty cats.

A full BM build will always have a better pet, both damage and survivability wise. I stick to pets that have pretty good survivability in places I know they can die. In dungeons, I usually stick to the tankier Drakes/Pigs when I know its safe to melee, and Spiders/Devourers where ranged combat is preferred. I stay away from Felines and Birds unless I’m on easy PvE (this should help prevent you from punching your monitor!)

Having a signet build somewhat alleviates the squishiness. Putting on Signet of Stone adds 180 toughness, and Signet of the Wild adds regen to the pet which adds to it’s survivability as well.

Damage wise, pet damage isn’t that bad. Drakes usually hit between 2k-3k with Tail Swipe unbuffed which is still pretty strong for a cleaving attack. Lightning Breath is still 800-1k damage (around 5k if all attacks hit)

Lastly, a small note about pet micro. Your pet’s survivability depends a lot on your ability to call him back to avoid dangerous 1 shot AoE skills. As soon as you see a boss channeling, either swap or call your pet back immediately. Don’t wait for your pet to die before you swap it!

jubskie.3152:

Otherwise, we can agree to disagree :P I’ve run bunker builds and it’s really not my style for WvW. I only use that in tPvP.

Absolutely!
You wrote great guide on 5/0/5 in general. I mainly focus on WvW builds and I just have some problems making this spec work for me.

Jub,
I tried this in WvW today and DANG! Going from a BM Bunker, what I leveled with, to full out downing people with LB#2 and a few regular shots just blew my mind. An interesting side effect of having low health is I am more cognizant of my location on the battle field. I disengage sooner and survive longer. In addition, I’ve done so much damage I can reset potion and finish the job or usually a fellow server member has already done it.

I’ve never played a power build but after reading your guide I tried it and I’m loving it. I’m going to keep it for now and see what else it can do.

Thanks again for the write up.

Expiatus.4210:

Jub,
I tried this in WvW today and DANG! Going from a BM Bunker, what I leveled with, to full out downing people with LB#2 and a few regular shots just blew my mind. An interesting side effect of having low health is I am more cognizant of my location on the battle field. I disengage sooner and survive longer. In addition, I’ve done so much damage I can reset potion and finish the job or usually a fellow server member has already done it.

I’ve never played a power build but after reading your guide I tried it and I’m loving it. I’m going to keep it for now and see what else it can do.

Thanks again for the write up.

Glad you liked it It definitely is a big change of pace from BM Bunker builds As they say in business, “location, location, location”

Btw, what do you mean by “reset potion”?

jubskie.3152:

Glad you liked it It definitely is a big change of pace from BM Bunker builds As they say in business, “location, location, location”

Btw, what do you mean by “reset potion”?

It means I can’t spell. Lol. I meant to type reset position.

Guide updated for the June 25 patch!

• Changed name from Dirty Dirty 505 (DD505) to Direct Damage Ranger (DDR)
• Updated information for traits and utilities
• Added section for where to put the 5 points from BM
• Added information for 100% Bleed Duration
• Added Bleeding Rampager Build

Thanks for the guide, I was playing a 30/30/50/5 build before patch too, and decide to go with 10 in WS, and this guide gave me some good ideas.
Just one thing about Vigorous Renewal, it’s not so amazing imo, agree that vigor is quite amazing, but with Natural Vigor you got with the minor trait, vigor will still bring endurance regeneration to 200%, but we already have 150% endurance regeneration, and since Vigorous Renewal and Natural Vigor don’t stack (and correct me if I’m wrong, maybe I am) we just take +50% with this trait, still good yea, but I think we don’t take full advantage of that, but as you said, Wilderness Knowledge is also really a great trait.

Yes, you’re correct, they don’t stack. But the vigor is not just for you, it’s for your allies as well

Updated the guide again, but just minor fixes

If I were to make a video with this, which game type should it be of? WvW or Dungeons? PvE even?

Dungeons? Aetherblade Retreat? It’d be timely.

Add PvP to the The Burst Build (WvW, Dungeons) build.
I ran about 20 matches yesterday. Lost only 2 of them and got the top 3 player in all of them. (Note that the score that I got came from kills not capturing points). This prove that ranger is still very good in PvP.

Note to new player. Please remember the name of the people who will stun you in PvP. If they do, keep your stun breaker for later. If they don’t, pop everything can kill them faster.

I ran 30/30/10 with no condition at all. Using SB and S/D(I iwll try GS today). Utility is Sick, Wind, Quicken and As One. I run jaguar and eagle as my pet while using jaguar most of the time.

Note that lots of player will say that I will die the thief in one hit. That’s I choose SB as my weapon.

Vida.1894:

Add PvP to the The Burst Build (WvW, Dungeons) build.
I ran about 20 matches yesterday. Lost only 2 of them and got the top 3 player in all of them. (Note that the score that I got came from kills not capturing points). This prove that ranger is still very good in PvP.

Note to new player. Please remember the name of the people who will stun you in PvP. If they do, keep your stun breaker for later. If they don’t, pop everything can kill them faster.

I ran 30/30/10 with no condition at all. Using SB and S/D(I iwll try GS today). Utility is Sick, Wind, Quicken and As One. I run jaguar and eagle as my pet while using jaguar most of the time.

Note that lots of player will say that I will die the thief in one hit. That’s I choose SB as my weapon.

Interesting! I’ve tried this before in sPvP, but thieves almost always found a way to get to me. I’ll try this again and see how it fares

Tierce.5370:

Dungeons? Aetherblade Retreat? It’d be timely.

Good idea! I’ll post one as soon as I get some good footage

“The Signet DD505 (WvW, Dungeons, PvE)
Weapons – Shortbow/Greatsword or Longbow/Greatsword
Marksmanship – Signet Mastery, Piercing Arrows, Signet of the Beastmaster
Skirmishing – Sharpened Edges, Quick Draw, Moment of Clarity
Utilities – Signet of Stone, Signet of the Hunt, Signet of the Wild, Rampage As One
Pet: Any

This is my favorite setup because of it’s simplicity and I think this represents the entire philosophy of the DD505. It has movement, a defensive cooldown, and an offensive cooldown. It only lacks a stun breaker in which case you’d want to consider removing your defensive cooldown (SoS) or your offensive cooldown (SotW). I mix and match the signets quite often depending on the situation. In dungeons, I give up SotH since mobility isn’t as important there."

My question with this when is the best time to switch to GS from bow? When enemy closes in or is there times when you rather use GS? Great guide though.

Paladin Jeff.9210:

“The Signet DD505 (WvW, Dungeons, PvE)
Weapons – Shortbow/Greatsword or Longbow/Greatsword
Marksmanship – Signet Mastery, Piercing Arrows, Signet of the Beastmaster
Skirmishing – Sharpened Edges, Quick Draw, Moment of Clarity
Utilities – Signet of Stone, Signet of the Hunt, Signet of the Wild, Rampage As One
Pet: Any

This is my favorite setup because of it’s simplicity and I think this represents the entire philosophy of the DD505. It has movement, a defensive cooldown, and an offensive cooldown. It only lacks a stun breaker in which case you’d want to consider removing your defensive cooldown (SoS) or your offensive cooldown (SotW). I mix and match the signets quite often depending on the situation. In dungeons, I give up SotH since mobility isn’t as important there."

My question with this when is the best time to switch to GS from bow? When enemy closes in or is there times when you rather use GS? Great guide though.

Yes, when they are too close and you can no longer maintain distance (you used up your Point Blank Shot/got immobilized). Another possible situation is when you’re taking too much damage, switch to GS, use Swoop away from your enemies to gain distance, then use the GS#4 to block incoming CC as you run away.

It’s gonna be awkward at first, but you’ll get a feel for when to switch weapons!

jubskie.3152:

Tierce.5370:

Dungeons? Aetherblade Retreat? It’d be timely.

Good idea! I’ll post one as soon as I get some good footage

I failed I wasn’t able to get the footage. However, the vids from the 10k autoattack longbow thread is the DDR build cranked up to 11.

Also, the first version of that guide is part of the inspiration of the DD505 build! So give it a read, it’s much more concise than this monstrous wall of text.

I take it you prefer longbow over shortbow then? I’m still testing both out to see which I like better.

Paladin Jeff.9210:

I take it you prefer longbow over shortbow then? I’m still testing both out to see which I like better.

Yep, longbow pretty much all the time. Only time I use shortbow is when I need the extra dodge (like for Subject Alpha on CoE P2). Also, I feel that 10 stacks of vulnerability provided by LB#3 is much more useful in a boss fight than bleed/poison.

I’m still trying both and seeing which works better for me.