Guild Wars 2

I’ve tried these playstyles and I am not having much success.

I understand it’s unreasonable to think that I should be able to do what a Warrior or Guardian does with a Greatsword!

But if that’s the case, how then do I use Greatsword effectively as a ranger? I am trying to make a melee-support-healer character, using Greatsword and Sword/Dagger(or Sword/Warhorn) and I am not having much luck. Any tips?

Are you doing W3 or arena PvP?

You can’t beat sword/warhorn IMO. Use the evades well and after 2, you can use warhorn 4 (or 5) before hitting 2 again to leap back in. QZ + sword autoattack is also one hell of a burst especially if your pet is sandwiching and you are both booned up.

Obsidian.1328:

Are you doing W3 or arena PvP?

PvE and dungeons!

GS is used for movment and defense mainly, and I find it highly useful in dungeons.

1. is a good way to block a heavy boss hit and then interrupt (on some).

Swoop can get you places quickly, and somtimes in behind powerful ranged mobs. Doing this can be high risk if you don’t know exctly what’s down that hallway, but it has its uses.

For GS, I like to use healing spring and two drakes in dungeons. Swoop and tail swipe from the drakes will all trigger area helaing in the spring, and since the drakes almost always use tail strike first when sent to attack an enemy or switched in, you can chain 3 area heals fairly reliably. Have drake F3, drop spring, f1, swoop, wait for drake to tail swipe and then switch to drake 2 for another tail swipe.

Running both GS and sword/horn in a dungeon can be rough however, as you have no skirmishing weapon. Sometimes in dungeons, you just cannot face the enemy down face to face, no matter how tough your build is.

for overall dungeon/pve/wvw/soloing/group support,

how about a Greatsword/bow(short or long?) setup focused on spirit healing? would that work? perhaps with a ranged pet specced to take your conditions and damage?

Sad Swordfish.9743:

Obsidian.1328:

Are you doing W3 or arena PvP?

PvE and dungeons!

Oh lol, well dungeon groups really appreciate the horn buffs. As for a bow I’m gonna say shortbow just for the free bleeds. Longbow is a bit too cramped in dungeons but I would use it outside prolly.

Axe does a little better multiple target damage, and since you want to be support and not front line I would recommend that in place of sword. The sword is pretty wicked on single targets though. :P

Sad Swordfish.9743:

Obsidian.1328:

Are you doing W3 or arena PvP?

PvE and dungeons!

Ah, there-in lies your problem. GS & S/D really shine in PvP imo. GS is key for mobility and bunker defense, S/D are great for control & mobility.

For PvE & dungeons, you’ll be better of with Horn or Torch offhand, depending on if you’re power or condition focused. GS is ok for PvE, but for dungeons you’re better off with 1hSword for any melee. I’d recommend sticking to your bows or axe.

Unless you know what you’re doing, best bet in dungeons is not use anything that puts you beside the boss. Much better to stay the heck away, let folks with 1billion armor stand there, take your ity bity 1064 armor and get 1700 units away. Fight from there.

With auto-attack off you can easily evade big attacks but your damage output will drop. You can wait like 3 seconds before you have to use the last skills of your chains, so you can hit twice… wait… evade boss’s big attack… repeat. Or hit with sword twice… wait… dodge the big attack (or simply walk out of the way)… then pounce back in immediately afterward. Most of the time it is easier on your keyboard to leave auto-attack on but there will probably be times you want to turn it off.

I use Greatsword/Sword most of the time in most game modes. Its a combination of dodges, evades, block, interrupt, boons, very frequent cross-profession combos with myself or my pet, keeping the pet alive, Signet of the Wild, Healing Spring, Martial Mastery, Empathic Bond, Clerics Gear, and usually pets that can offer boons to allies or debuffs to enemies. Underwater, using a Jellyfish and a Spear plays very much the same way… sharking through its light colored healing cloud for extra heals. On land I’m constantly swapping in different elites, offhand, and 2 utilities depending on what kind of support I want to offer, or how tanky I want to be.

To practice your skills and test your build, I recommend meleeing the level 79 champions in northwest Frostgorge Sound. They are usually up, there is a waypoint very close by if you fail, and you don’t get interrupted by people eager to help very often. I’ve solo’d the two on land with Greatsword/Sword and different offhands, and the fish with Spear.

What can a Ranger do with GS and S/D?

Dodge all of the things forever!

CETheLucid.3964:

What can a Ranger do with GS and S/D?

Dodge all of the things forever!

This. Really.

and if you wuvwuv you are officially the straggler hunter par excellence. Your mobility is ele class, and all you have to do is sneeze and the enemy is crippled. Try

0/20/30/0/20

use w/e traits. I went for lots of vigor so I can dodge all of the things for infinite. Got 20k hp, 36% crit, 3000 power and 3100 armor. You can eat 2 Hundred blades to the face. But thats only if you forgot to DOOODGE!

you can bunker and have some of the best mobility in the game. That’s about it. GS/sword / dagger is a tpvp combo

I have recently started to use GS in some fractals and dungeons, and Simply LOVE it! The evade is awesome. But currently my build is condition oriented so I don’t benefit so much, but nevertheless it’s a good alt weapon.

I used to run S/D and GS in dungeons often. GS was great during Subject Alpha fights (path 2), where if our auto attack starts just after he lays down the AoEs, we get the evade slash just as they deal damage. While the other four members of my team ran or dodge-rolled out of the AoEs, I just stood in them to smack SA some more. xD

But I’ve grown to dislike the dagger since I find it rare I use either of its skills. As nice as an extra evade is, I already have two on the sword alone, plus the other defenses my own dodge roll and GS bring. I am currently trying out a S/Axe combo, since the #5 skill is a wonderful whirl finisher inside of Healing Spring. Direct damage, support through vuln stacks, and healing bolts. What’s not to like about that?!?

im running GS and S/A bunker/bm build with a lot of regen….so far its been mostly roaming and have had very good results.

GS swoop to downed target.
Quick stomp
Sword/x evade out

Lorelei.3918:

CETheLucid.3964:

What can a Ranger do with GS and S/D?

Dodge all of the things forever!

This. Really.

and if you wuvwuv you are officially the straggler hunter par excellence. Your mobility is ele class, and all you have to do is sneeze and the enemy is crippled. Try

0/20/30/0/20

use w/e traits. I went for lots of vigor so I can dodge all of the things for infinite. Got 20k hp, 36% crit, 3000 power and 3100 armor. You can eat 2 Hundred blades to the face. But thats only if you forgot to DOOODGE!

Ha yes, this. Plus LR tends to help with 100B if you get caught out.

Nice stats you have there as well, 3000 with that much armour is very nice, I sit with high condition and higher crit chance but I run with a shortbow mostly, over the GS.

Lorelei.3918:

Got 20k hp, 36% crit, 3000 power and 3100 armor.

What armor and jewelry are you using for those stats? Looks very interesting, so if you’d like to share I’d appreciate it!

OGDeadHead.8326:

Lorelei.3918:

Got 20k hp, 36% crit, 3000 power and 3100 armor.

What armor and jewelry are you using for those stats? Looks very interesting, so if you’d like to share I’d appreciate it!

I´m pretty curious too…

Ok, I’m using Soldier Armor and weapons, Pack Runes, the aforementioned trait layout, Knight’s jewelry and sharpening stone plus vitality/tough food.

Really? Toughness food and not Omnomberry Pies? That would put your crit up to 40% and give you a 300 point heal constantly on crits, I love it so much I even run a sigil of blood with it to up the chances of it and even double it because one is food and the other a sigil.

o0 well idk, I’ve always been a fan of raw stats. heres pic proof. (okok I rounded up on the HP)

Lorelei.3918:

o0 well idk, I’ve always been a fan of raw stats. heres pic proof. (okok I rounded up on the HP)

Oh no, I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I was just thinking with your high toughness you’d get a lot from it with a little more crit chance. I use both the sigil of blood and omnomberry pie and the amount of healing I get with a 50% crit is pretty impressive.

Very useful given I took a large hit to my healing when I added crit chance to my condition/toughness build.