Guild Wars 2

I know this is not going to be the most efficient damage build, but my favorite weapons on the ranger are the Greatsword and Shortbow. I love playing with both and the ability to move in and out of range with the #3 skill on each.

From what I understand, GS relies on power, and SB on condition damage. I’ve mostly specced for conditions before, and maxing the SB (so traits like piercing arrows, sharpened edges etc)

I got my first Exotic armor set the other day, but think i’ve made a mistake in buying a full Armageddon set from the Balthazar temple, as it’s stats are quite varied and has quite a bit of Toughness/Vitality.

Anyway, I’d appreciate any thoughts on traits/runes/sigils/trinkets etc to help strengthen the build around the two weapons.

For PvE? Read this: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Guide-PvE-Meta-Ranger/first

If it’s for WvW, it’s not a terrible combo. I would ignore the condition damage and use the SB as a power weapon. Adding condi damage will be a waste when you swap to GS. You can get “free” PVT exotic armor from the armor NPC if you have a few badges of honor, although you probably want at least some berserker gear from the TP or your damage will be quite low.

I almost always take lightning reflexes and muddy terrain in WvW, regardless of my build. 6 in nature magic could also get you nature’s voice + guard, for perma regen and swiftness, which is handy since you won’t have a warhorn equipped. And that would let you take two-handed training for your GS. “Protect me!” is another good WvW skill. So is Signet of Renewal.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVRjEq0ya/K2sw1aABhYVQ760W2JVTFsqB-TlyCABxp+TFHCAAOQARcEA2b/h30FcoSwEuAAL8AA+S5HpA2aZE-w

Not my build but a fun one to play with, you need to know your ranger to do good

u can create a funny gimmick build with this weaponset
u use moment of clarity and boar as main pet.
MoC increases stun durations 100%. with boar u can find a bone and a skull head. with that two weapons every 35s u can create surprisingly long disables.
with sigil of para and mesmer runes u can increase the time

PvE at the moment, but might give WvW a go once one finished the personal story and world exploration.

Thanks for the build suggestion shadowpass, I hadn’t thought of using the celestial stat pieces.

For PvE, you definitely want to go berserker. Even if you’re not playing with other people, there is no advantage to having any stats other than damage.

djsarcher.9263:

I know this is not going to be the most efficient damage build, but my favorite weapons on the ranger are the Greatsword and Shortbow. I love playing with both and the ability to move in and out of range with the #3 skill on each.

From what I understand, GS relies on power, and SB on condition damage. I’ve mostly specced for conditions before, and maxing the SB (so traits like piercing arrows, sharpened edges etc)

I got my first Exotic armor set the other day, but think i’ve made a mistake in buying a full Armageddon set from the Balthazar temple, as it’s stats are quite varied and has quite a bit of Toughness/Vitality.

Anyway, I’d appreciate any thoughts on traits/runes/sigils/trinkets etc to help strengthen the build around the two weapons.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking weapons are designed for power or condition builds exclusively. It’s not true. Any weapon can be used effectively in power or condition builds. You can steer your damage output with traits, sigils, utilities, and pets. Furthermore, your damage output is a cumulative total from conditions, power, and pet. You don’t have to be all condition or all damage. Try to use both.

Fluffball.8307:

For PvE, you definitely want to go berserker. Even if you’re not playing with other people, there is no advantage to having any stats other than damage.

Full zerker is one option but under performs in many end game situations. There are advantages and trade offs with other stat combinations, depending on your play style. You won’t be balling up groups of vets and champions in zerker gear with a sword, for sure.

@OP you will find that WvW is an entirely different universe to PvE.
In WvW, if you intend on engaging in ‘duels’ alone against 1 to 3 players, as opposed to running with the Zerg, you’re going to need to have gear and a trait set-up specifically designed for that. Otherwise, you’ll be eaten alive.

As for weapons,
SB/GS is very good for said small duels, but LB/GS is better for engaging larger groups when running with the Zerg.

Got to agree with Archon regarding the open world case with zerker gear. I would say zerker gear is a detriment if you plan on soloing tough fights, but of course it’s always a balancing act. As long as you can kill stuff with zerker without dying, it’s obviously going to be a great contender.

So get more than one set, but start somewhere. :P The stuff you (OP) got at the temples is a solid core for WvW and open world pve, with the power/vit/toughness pieces. I think i would get zerker trinkets if i was just starting out, so that you can use them both for your current armour and that future zerker set without overspending. Then you can go from there.

Amethyst Lure.5624:

Got to agree with Archon regarding the open world case with zerker gear. I would say zerker gear is a detriment if you plan on soloing tough fights, but of course it’s always a balancing act. As long as you can kill stuff with zerker without dying, it’s obviously going to be a great contender.

So get more than one set, but start somewhere. :P The stuff you (OP) got at the temples is a solid core for WvW and open world pve, with the power/vit/toughness pieces. I think i would get zerker trinkets if i was just starting out, so that you can use them both for your current armour and that future zerker set without overspending. Then you can go from there.

Great advice! A full set of zerker trinkets is a nice place to start. It will mix in nicely with a variety of Armour sets. I combine them with celestial, PVT, and also zerker Armour (for the max zerker build). You’ll wanna eventually have a set of this in your Armour for a variety of things.

Thanks for the tips guys, really helpful to get some other ideas.

I’ll reiterate for clarity that I’m looking to improve my gearing for my chosen play style. I know it’s not the meta, but its fun for me. I’m looking to maximise my potential within those parameters.

Thanks for the advice on zerker trinkets. Would people recommend picking up ascended trinkets with laurels, or is there a better use for the laurels?

I think my starting point will be to craft myself some Exotic weapons, as I’m currently using rares, and from the wiki it seems quite a jump in weapon damage with exotics.

Theres really no better use for laurels if you arent into FotM. Just make sure you buy them at the WvW vendor for Laurels + WvW Badges

You really should look over the PvE guide I posted if you haven’t. Your weapon combo is barely off meta if you went berserker with it, and honestly I think it will make your solo open world more enjoyable if you can easily kill things.

Also, by the time you want to get in to playing with other people, you will have slowly acquired the equipment and build familiarity to do so.

Edit: Here, I plopped together something that is relatively meta using your choosen weapons. If you decided to do a dungeon run, you would just need to take frost spirit and the trait Vigorous Spirits and you would be 90% meta.

I used the PvP amulet for simplicity, and the open world utilities are anything you want. There are several that could bump up your survivability or damage.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJARViMqGYPoWHABcDwsDGBnbxRkxPnM7B-TpAVQAg9HqlBAA

Cufufalating.8479:

Theres really no better use for laurels if you arent into FotM. Just make sure you buy them at the WvW vendor for Laurels + WvW Badges

Thanks for the tip! I’ve got a few hundred badges just from achievement chests, so good way to use them up too.

Fluffball.8307:

You really should look over the PvE guide I posted if you haven’t. Your weapon combo is barely off meta if you went berserker with it, and honestly I think it will make your solo open world more enjoyable if you can easily kill things.

Thanks for the guide Fluffball, I’ll probably try a beserker build, though I’m thinking something my presonal preference will be for something a little more rounded. We’ll see, for now I’ve got the temple armor exotics, so I’m gonna work on getting some exotic weapons, and probably get some ascended trinkets with laurels, then might try experimenting with different armor stats.

Hi, I feel the same way regarding the GS/SB combo. I used this build for a long time, its still my “1v1” favorit build(i dont like full condi builds). The thing is, becuse the stats are so spread out in this build, it realy shines in wvw with the “defence against guard” and “sigil of bloodlust” bonus. The MinMax orientation of this build balance between good damage and good survivebility.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNMQJARVjEq0ya/KGsw1aAAhYVQ782Y2NZXlMqKA-TVCEABQ8AAi7QAgp6PEcEA2SJITK/Me/h+0FAwFAIAACwO3Z6cnBG6QH6QH6Qbn7coDdn7sUAPNMC-w
About the build stats:
2600+ thoughness( the “heavy armor” sweet spot)
2000+ power with bloodlust sigil( exacly when power start to have “diminishing returns”)
20k hp with defence against guard(enough to handle brust damage, more then that its hard to sustain anyway for non healing build)
60% critical chance(and you do get 60% and not 59% like the editor sugests) with fury -80%
211% critical damage – ouch!
720 condi damage to deliver the finishing blow.
About the build mechanics:
great physical damage with stuns, poison, bleeds and confusion to overwhelm the opponent. The jnugle spider as secondary pet with Malicious Training realy good vs heavy tanks like warriors and gurdians and realy help your conditions to stack.
The fast shooting rate of the sort bow with 60-80% crit chance with your life steal food and sigil of air will bring nice addition to brust and sustain.
With SoR, Empathic Bond and sigil of generosity, you can stand against most heavy condi damge builds without fear.
As an average player with average skills i do have some issues vs good thieves(even if i can get them low they reset or run away) and good mesmers(hard to target the real one and land your combo due to the lack of aoe damage).
You can change the sigils for might sgils on strike(for sb) or on swap(for gs) becuse you make use on both types of damage, you get much value from might.

LughLongArm.5460:

Hi, I feel the same way regarding the GS/SB combo. I used this build for a long time, its still my “1v1” favorit build(i dont like full condi builds). The thing is, becuse the stats are so spread out in this build, it realy shines in wvw with the “defence against guard” and “sigil of bloodlust” bonus. The MinMax orientation of this build balance between good damage and good survivebility.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNMQJARVjEq0ya/KGsw1aAAhYVQ782Y2NZXlMqKA-TVCEABQ8AAi7QAgp6PEcEA2SJITK/Me/h+0FAwFAIAACwO3Z6cnBG6QH6QH6Qbn7coDdn7sUAPNMC-w
About the build stats:
2600+ thoughness( the “heavy armor” sweet spot)
2000+ power with bloodlust sigil( exacly when power start to have “diminishing returns”)
20k hp with defence against guard(enough to handle brust damage, more then that its hard to sustain anyway for non healing build)
60% critical chance(and you do get 60% and not 59% like the editor sugests) with fury -80%
211% critical damage – ouch!
720 condi damage to deliver the finishing blow.
About the build mechanics:
great physical damage with stuns, poison, bleeds and confusion to overwhelm the opponent. The jnugle spider as secondary pet with Malicious Training realy good vs heavy tanks like warriors and gurdians and realy help your conditions to stack.
The fast shooting rate of the sort bow with 60-80% crit chance with your life steal food and sigil of air will bring nice addition to brust and sustain.
With SoR, Empathic Bond and sigil of generosity, you can stand against most heavy condi damge builds without fear.
As an average player with average skills i do have some issues vs good thieves(even if i can get them low they reset or run away) and good mesmers(hard to target the real one and land your combo due to the lack of aoe damage).
You can change the sigils for might sgils on strike(for sb) or on swap(for gs) becuse you make use on both types of damage, you get much value from might.

Very interesting build, I run something similar but don’t really focus on condi damage at all. Mine is more of a burst damage spec. I like the inclusion of confusion in the build, which rangers don’t really have access to. I might have to give this a try.

Here is my build
The Wolf Fear —> Sb#5 --> GS#3 —> Swap to Jag --> F2 —> Sic’Em --> QZ —> GS#5 --> GS#2 combo if you can pull it off is devastating.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVRnEqQJL2KIusAXLGYPQWFo9wb7YnZUoMWqCZSA-TVSBABXcEACc/hHeAARcBAwS53iKBxTXAmq/AwhAIAACwNvZ28mBO6RP6RP6R7oH9mH9mHtQAmXAA-w

Looks solid the Sic’Em QZ combo must be alot of fun vs thieves . How do you do vs super tanky classes? Do you have enough burst to pressure them? The confusion with the spider combo realy catches ppl by suprise, tons of fun. Sigil of earth is a good replacment for sigil of generosity, i bought it when it was cheap, now its costs like 45g on TP.

LughLongArm.5460:

Looks solid the Sic’Em QZ combo must be alot of fun vs thieves . How do you do vs super tanky classes? Do you have enough burst to pressure them? The confusion with the spider combo realy catches ppl by suprise, tons of fun. Sigil of earth is a good replacment for sigil of generosity, i bought it when it was cheap, now its costs like 45g on TP.

Yeah its fun against thieves if they aren’t the evade/blind spamming kind, the class struggles against many evades/blinds when you are in GS. Mesmers also give me trouble since there isn’t much AoE, and its hard to target em. Tanky classes aren’t really an issue, the SB with the air/fire sigils and QZ puts a lot of pressure on them, people are generally surprised by how much DPS it can put out.