Guild Wars 2

I’ve wanted to incorporate traps more into my ranger play. So, I decided to throw convention to the wind and just “try out some builds” and see what works. My first stab at it was modifying Xsorus’ BM bunker build, found here http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRAnf8YnAVkYZlFWBxaZgYVAQtHTy8Y69I9rv9lMqmA-j0BBoODimkO0kHBKTqIasFTFRjVPjIqWvETKgFlGB-w.

To this -http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQRAnf8YjAV51xVuVs2BiVBA1ekJzjJ2D+7oHdyRiWE-j0BBoODimkO0kHBKTqIasFTFRjVPjIqWvETKgFlGB-w

I moved the BM traits into Skirmishing for the trap enhancement traits and kept everything else the same. Result – It actually was pretty interesting. I can lay down a dolyack load of conditions. Typical Axe/Torch start, opponent enters melee, drop traps, swap to sword-keep you opponent crippled with sword AA, opponent freaks out and looks for the necro who just condi bombed them, pet helps eat opponent, opponent runs away or dies and realizes there was no necro and thinks “WTH was that?”

Armor and health are high enough to endure burst and coni bombs. Empathic Bond keeps conditions off rather well though I sometimes augment it with Lemon Grass/Poultry Leek soup depending on the situation (SM zerg fest). I can 1v2 and even took on 4 opponents, thanks to the traps, but had to run in and out of the tower to juke around with them. I miss the healing but it isn’t too bad, I just can’t use it as a crutch any more. I cannot pursue.

Traits:
Adjust adept traits to your liking. Swap Empathic bond and Bark Skin as needed.

Skills:
Traps. Mix and match as you like. Fire Trap is good in small group fight when using warhorn blast finisher to gain some might.

Signet of Renewal – I haven’t really needed it and I prefer a trap over it. However, I do revisit its use on occasion.

Master Skills:
Use RAO against opponents that will lock you down i.e. Hammer Time warriors. Entangle is a great AoE and lockdown. I don’t have the Mistfire Wolf but I hear its chill is pretty amazing.

Buffs:
Rare Veggie Pizza/Koi Cakes for condition duration. Lemon Grass/Poultry Leek soup for condition reduction. Tuning Crystals for condition damage increase or Toxic Fusing Crystal for a 10% increase in condition duration while only losing 68 condition damage.

Use and separate weapon set to build corruption stacks.

Pets
Since the BM traits where removed I picked pets that have more inherent survivability. Spiders work great with a 6 second immobilize and they stay back. Canines are not bad with the knock downs and 4 second fear or cripple they can apply. Lynx has a nasty bleed and snow leopard’s Icy Pounce can drop a 4 sec chill, BUT they are squishy. Marsh drakes…oh those green stinkers. With Malicious Training they belch out a 6 second, 7K, target tracking poison field. (TY to Durzlla & Fox’s podcast for pointing that out.) Regen warriors will hate you and sob for their mommas.

Traps and bunker add a different dimension of play. I can still roam quickly thanks to the runes. I can still solo camps and if I’m in a small group I’ll swap to war horn to make use of the blast fields the traps make. I really enjoy being able to constantly keep up conditions if a weapon skill is on cool down. It has a flavor of a grenade/bomb engineer, since you can “throw” traps 600 units or drop them at your feet while fighting around opponents, yet still plays like a tough rascal.

Final weird though – LB rangers annoy me with this build ‘cause I have to gap close. Ironic huh?

Thoughts, improvements, good jokes, please let them be known and enjoy the build.

Links are the same. There is nothing different in the traits in both links

The only dangerous thing about not running Signet of Renewal is you run a high risk of getting stunned and eating massive damage. Also my current issue with traps is you either take Signet of Hunt or Signet of Stone, or you are down to one trap which hurts.

I look forward to seeing this later, but as Aevis said, you’ve just posted the same link to Xsorus’ build twice ^^

SNIPFU!!!! Apologize for the double link, it is now fixed.
@ Gotejjeken You are correct that I have to watch out for hammer warriors. I will swap to RaO if I see a hammer warrior incoming and pop it before they get to me. I can also use the spider immob on them with axe to lock them down first, but my timing has to be pretty good. Sometimes it works, sometimes I’m too slow but hey I’m 40 so I’m allowed a few mistakes Also, Shared Anguish gives me another safety net in case I get jumped.
The adventurer runes allow me to drop the SoH since the 25% speed bonus is permanent. But you can run with SoH and swap it before you engage in combat. Also with 3K armor I don’t really need SoS. It does help the pet but I swap my pets when they hit about 40% health so I can keep them alive.

Lastly, remember you can swap to different traits before you get into a fight. Always take a moment to investigate the situation before you engage and adjust accordingly.