Guild Wars 2

I think this is as good a spec for WvWvW as you will find. It may not be obvious that this should be so…

Skirmishing +30, pet’s prowess,carnivorous appetite, quick draw
Wilderness Survival +10, wilderness knowledge
Beastmastery +30,speed training, mighty swap, rending attacks.

Pets: Jaguar, Snow Leopard

Skills: heal as one,quickening zephyr,signet of wild,signet of stone,entangling roots
Weapons: shortbow+longbow

Armor:toughness first! precision second [try exotic whispering armor from arah dungeon karma vendor]

Key tactics: always re-summon your pet before it dies. This is rule number one! If you do this, the pet re-summon cool-down is only 15 seconds. You get quickness every pet swap.

Pretty much use everything on cool-down; when one bow is done, switch to the other, pet functions f1 and f2 on spam. Use either longbow rapid-shot or short-bow crossfire when quickness is activated. Longbow “point blank shot” is your knockdown and mastering it is key when fighting melee. Use it to knock people out of siege weapons, use it to knock them off cliffs, use it to knock npcs out of convert circles. Knowing how to pause when using rapid shot is imporant too, let it finish! Entangling roots is important, knock down, wait a beat, then entangle. Don’t knock them down while they are entangled!

This spec requires you to use feline pets! You are spec’d into them, and it matters big time. The ‘carnivorous appetite’ trait makes them heal on critical hits; this allows them to ‘tank’ a little even though they are DPS! Don’t use bears! They suck!

I would suggest using birds instead, since they have the same precision as felines, but more vitality and also swiftness on top. I would also go with Shared Anguish (control effects are transfered to your pet) for some control protection, as control skills are used a lot in Worlds PvP. And use Compassion Training (pets heal for more) to make Carnivorous Appetite even better. This should make your birds nearly impossible to kill.

Other then that it seems like a fun build =)

I’m interested in this build. I’m running a condition build using toughness, precision, condition armor with Undead Runes. How would this gear fare with this type of build? ie I’m too cheap to buy new gear. lol

We did some tests with birds a while back, and although on paper they should be good, there were some serious issues with animations and movement that made them much worse than the cats. It is possible this has been fixed recently, but I am unaware of it.

Compassion training could be a choice, but then mighty swap would have to be removed, and those might stacks make a huge difference! I tried shared anguish, and proc’ing every 90 seconds just isn’t good enough I think. Wilderness Knowledge increases how often you can use Quickening Zephyr by 20%, which is really really huge.

I think this would work fine with undead runes.

OP: I am not a fan of the Signets, even if you make a Signet optimize build, they are just not good enough. I would use Lightning Reflexes to break stuns/get some distance and Protect me, probably the best survival skill Rangers have.

Since you are doing a Pet build i do not understand why you are using Roots instead of Rampage As One which boosts your pet and yourself. A key element in damage and getting away (stability).
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Shared Anguish: Possibly the worst Ranger trait. It has a 90sec cool down. Rater use Lightning Reflexes and/or Hide in Plain sight.

I agree that signets suck. However, signet of stone making your pet invulnerable is very useful as it ensures your pet will survive long enough to dump his damage; this is especially useful when taking out ballistas and arrow carts. Also the passive seems to make a bigger difference than the math suggests.
Signet of the wild is much more questionable, I mainly use it for the passive heal. Replacing that with lighting reflexes might be a good idea if you like the way that skill works!
I found that protect me doesn’t work so well with cats because they are squishier, and I have lot harder time keeping my pet alive than myself! I also don’t like the long cooldown.
I used to use rampage as one, but after a lot of play I have determined that properly used entangle is just better.

Curious as to why you pick the jaguar and not a lynx.

Chasan.3521:

Curious as to why you pick the jaguar and not a lynx.

I would guess it is because the Jaguar stealths, making it more likely that it can get close. Also, if I am not mistaken, attacking doesn’t break stealth, so it can get in a few attacks before it becomes visible and attackable by anything other than AoE.

Not bad, although I agree with using Lightning Reflexes instead of Signet of the Wild.

Jaguar’s stealth should break on first attack, although there’s various reports of it getting higher crit rates/damage on the first attack or two.

Also I like this because for defending (where your pet derps around on the wall), it’s very easy to switch to a trap build and toss those down on the doors.

You might also play with Sic ’Em! instead of SotW to give your pet more damage and sticking power. Hitting QZ, Sic ’Em!, RaO, and maybe even Signet of the Hunt all at once is some ridiculous spike damage when you need it.

Might have to try this build, if only because you can substitute a lot of different utilities and traits in for different situations and still have an effective WvW build.

Pets are so useless in WvW, and you have 30 points into it.

Yes, it’s the ultimate WvW build, for failing really hard.

Hint: You only need 5 points for quickness.

Skyrant Kangaroomouse.7458:

OP: I am not a fan of the Signets, even if you make a Signet optimize build, they are just not good enough. I would use Lightning Reflexes to break stuns/get some distance and Protect me, probably the best survival skill Rangers have.

Since you are doing a Pet build i do not understand why you are using Roots instead of Rampage As One which boosts your pet and yourself. A key element in damage and getting away (stability).
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Shared Anguish: Possibly the worst Ranger trait. It has a 90sec cool down. Rater use Lightning Reflexes and/or Hide in Plain sight.

As far as an escape tool goes, Stability only “Ignore[s] control effects (stun, knockback, launch, knockdown, sink, float, fear, daze).” Notably absent from that list is roots and slows. I believe pulls are also unaffected by it. In my experience, those effects are far more likely to keep you from getting away than the effects that Stability does prevent.

Therefore, I find that a PBAoE (Point Blank Area of Effect) root that doesn’t require you to be facing your target(s), doesn’t require you to have a target, can be cast on the move, and can root multiple targets is far more useful as an escape tactic than is Stability. Rampage as One’s swiftness boost is good for extra speed, which is good for escape, but I find the Warhorn’s swiftness boost more useful and on a much shorter cooldown.

Additionally, Entangle does damage to those it has trapped, and it can prevent targets from getting away from you as well, including those who were pursuing you. The latter means you can use it to escape, or you can turn the hunter(s) into prey.

Stability is more useful as an offensive buff in that it keeps you from being interrupted by those control effects. That means that, coupled with the other boosts Rampage as One gives, Rampage is a great way of ensuring you do a lot of damage with some minor help if you need to escape. Entangle, however, is a much stronger escape tool, and can be used offensively as well (to keep targets from getting away).

Playstyle, the situation you will face, and your weapon choices greatly affect which is more useful. Personally, I use them both, switching in the one I think is most likely to be useful in a given situation.

Sotaudi.1265:

Skyrant Kangaroomouse.7458:

OP: I am not a fan of the Signets, even if you make a Signet optimize build, they are just not good enough. I would use Lightning Reflexes to break stuns/get some distance and Protect me, probably the best survival skill Rangers have.

Since you are doing a Pet build i do not understand why you are using Roots instead of Rampage As One which boosts your pet and yourself. A key element in damage and getting away (stability).
__________________________________________________________________

Shared Anguish: Possibly the worst Ranger trait. It has a 90sec cool down. Rater use Lightning Reflexes and/or Hide in Plain sight.

As far as an escape tool goes, Stability only “Ignore[s] control effects (stun, knockback, launch, knockdown, sink, float, fear, daze).” Notably absent from that list is roots and slows. I believe pulls are also unaffected by it. In my experience, those effects are far more likely to keep you from getting away than the effects that Stability does prevent.

Therefore, I find that a PBAoE (Point Blank Area of Effect) root that doesn’t require you to be facing your target(s), doesn’t require you to have a target, can be cast on the move, and can root multiple targets is far more useful as an escape tactic than is Stability. Rampage as One’s swiftness boost is good for extra speed, which is good for escape, but I find the Warhorn’s swiftness boost more useful and on a much shorter cooldown.

Additionally, Entangle does damage to those it has trapped, and it can prevent targets from getting away from you as well, including those who were pursuing you. The latter means you can use it to escape, or you can turn the hunter(s) into prey.

Stability is more useful as an offensive buff in that it keeps you from being interrupted by those control effects. That means that, coupled with the other boosts Rampage as One gives, Rampage is a great way of ensuring you do a lot of damage with some minor help if you need to escape. Entangle, however, is a much stronger escape tool, and can be used offensively as well (to keep targets from getting away).

Playstyle, the situation you will face, and your weapon choices greatly affect which is more useful. Personally, I use them both, switching in the one I think is most likely to be useful in a given situation.

Rangers do not have a 100% uptime speed boost, and RaO helps with that. That being said, you are probably not going to get a lot of might stacks from your pet attacks so this skill is essentially half useless.

Entangle is situationally better, but requires you to be pretty much in melee range. If it’s a zerg, you are going to die and it’s not going to even come close to saving you.

Pikafan.3792:

Pets are so useless in WvW, and you have 30 points into it.

Yes, it’s the ultimate WvW build, for failing really hard.

Hint: You only need 5 points for quickness.

While I don’t know that it is worth 30 points into Beast Mastery, your suggestion that pets are worthless in WvW is simply incorrect. Spiders have ranged attacks and can layout a poison field, which helps you and your team mates get poison combos. The species also has a root, and you can get a second one if you pick the right spider. Wolves have an AoE fear and canines in general can do a knockdown. Pets may be overly squishy, requiring careful pet management to be effective, but they are far from useless in WvW.

It should also be noted that that particular trait line is the only way to boost healing. Again, I don’t know that it is worth 30 points, but pets are not the only reason to choose to invest points there.

Pikafan.3792:

Rangers do not have a 100% uptime speed boost, and RaO helps with that. That being said, you are probably not going to get a lot of might stacks from your pet attacks so this skill is essentially half useless.

Entangle is situationally better, but requires you to be pretty much in melee range. If it’s a zerg, you are going to die and it’s not going to even come close to saving you.

Rampage is on a long enough cooldown that it is far less useful as a speed boost than is the Warhorn, which many Rangers carry anyway. Rampage helps for a speed boost, but using an Elite slot just for a speed boost is not particularly a good idea. If you are slotting it for other reasons, yeah, it is a good fall back speed boost, but I would not waste the slot if that was the only reason to choose it.

As to the latter comment, your argument is somewhat self-defeating. The Warhorn’s speed boost, dodge, a quick turn around followed by Quick Shot, Lightning Reflexes, or Crippling Shot, traps, or other tricks can often create enough separation to survive pursuit by ranged attackers when your pursuers are out of Entangle’s range.

And if it is a zerg, then, you are likely being overrun, in which case you are going to be in melee range, and you are going to likely root a number of pursues. And if you are going to die because you couldn’t get away with Entangle + the Warhorn’s speed boost from Call of the Wild, you are not getting away with Rampage, either.

Again, if you have Rampage slotted, then, by all means, use it’s speed boost in an emergency, but there are far better ways to use that slot if all you are looking at is a speed boost.

Pikafan.3792:

Pets are so useless in WvW, and you have 30 points into it.

Pets are idiomatic ranger; if you don’t like them another class might suit you better. I suspect you did not actually try out this build since the spec’d jaguar is pretty good.

A big mistake people are making is going marksman ranger as a glass cannon. This is actually lame. If you choose to do it that way, you are way better off going elementalist as they have superior burst and are not shackled by pet management.

But, do what thou wilt. Pearls before swine I say.

Pikafan.3792:

Entangle is situationally better, but requires you to be pretty much in melee range. If it’s a zerg, you are going to die and it’s not going to even come close to saving you.

Not quite so. The vines stay on the ground and capture people who walk into them. If a zerg is chasing you and you drop vines, it roots when people step into it letting you escape.
For fun, try using entangle from behind a gate.

Is this the thread to post our WvW builds in?

This is the one I use:
http://www.guildhead.com/skill-calc#MVozcc0z9qxx0aoaqcksV

Note: Hide in Plain Sight+Shared Anguish is the best trait combo you can have in WvW, in my opinion. People want you dead and control is how they will do it. Free negation+stealth for escapes or repositioning is just wonderful.

Pets are Hyena and Raven, though the Raven is mostly a placeholder, if I could dual Hyenas I would.

Skills: Heal as One, Protect Me, Spike Trap, Frost Trap, Entangle

also HIGHLY recommend putting a Major/Superior Sigil of Energy on your bow, and on one of your mainhand weapons. The reason for this is, if you need to get OUT of somewhere, you can use 2 dodge rolls, swap weapons, and get swiftness + an extra dodge roll on top of it. In many cases, you will need it.

Your main stat should be condition damage. as much of it as possible.

Strategy is simple, you want to chill people with Axe#3, and load as much bleeding and burning as possible. Remember that Bonfire is a combo field, you don’t have to try to drop it on your opponent—just use it to light your Axe spammable on fire.

Stay as close to your target as possible, and keep them locked down. You want to be close enough so that you can drop your traps and have them instantly trigger them, which keeps them slow. Build works very well against melee but does have trouble catching ranged if they decide to run, since all your chills/cripples are trap/melee range/pet based.

Alright, let me explain where Hyena comes in. You should ALWAYS strive to pre-pop its F2. Don’t use it when you’re already in the fight, use it as you are approaching your opponent. It has the same annoying animation delay that all dog howls have, and while you’re in combat you don’t have time to waste. Unlike other howls though, this one summons something that will follow you—meaning pre-popping it is viable and should be done. But only right before entering combat.. it WILL despawn if there are no attack targets for it.

Another, even more important reason to pre-pop F2 is, if your target is the kind of class that will try to burst you in melee, you will need to use Protect Me, which turns off your pet’s attacks, and your pet will likely die, leaving you to swap to the next one. If you already have Hyena Ally out when you pop Protect Me and kill Hyena, it will do 2 things:

1. keep attacking during protect me when hyena isn’t
2. still be there after you swap

As SOON as you hit Protect Me, and your melee opponent is going to town trying to kill you and only killing your pet, you need to:

1. Drop all your traps on their feet
2. Drop Bonfire
3. Splitblade through Bonfire and proceed with whatever until dead

If you find yourself taking too much damage and you don’t have heals or both pets are dead or you’re in any situation which is unfavorable, you need to Entangle and get out. With the weaponswap swiftness trait, and energy sigils on both sets, this should be fairly easy. A big thing that will help you a lot is getting a sense of Entangle’s range. I used to only use it when enemies were right on top of me, but now I actually mix in using it to stop incoming enemies. It’s a very good defensive skill, same with traps. Learn how to use them both offensively (keep someone there to kill) and defensively (keep people away from you).

I don’t offer a lot about longbow here because it’s really only a backup weapon I use to plink into backs of people running or to AOE walls when it’s called for at keep takes. I’m a melee ranger mostly, that’s where I put my combat focus.

Oh, and last thing. Don’t use the ground target trap trait. YES, the bigger size of the traps is lovely. I used it for a while. But all it did was make me realize that 99.999% of the time, the place I wanted my traps down was.. right at my feet, and using the trait puts an extra step between pushing the button, and that happening. If you aren’t hyper-aware all the time, that trait can, and will get you killed.