Guild Wars 2

Hi. I’m kinda newish to the game, and very new to the Ranger class. May I ask what the ‘staple’ Ranger/Druid build for general pve use? And should my build change to someyhing else when I unlock my elite spec? I usually do HoT maps, some dungeons with friends, and world events most of the time. Do I just go for straight up full Berserkers? And how about pets? Is there like a ‘go to’ kind of pet or it depends on something?

General rule is that for open-world PvE anything goes. That said, since GW2 is a game all about avoiding damage through evasion and movement, you shouldn’t really need defensive stats (Toughness, vitality etc). This is especially true for ranger, as your pet can do quite a lot of tanking for you. I would recommend focusing on high power DPS through stats like power, precision and ferocity.

Staple power ranger build is currently using berserker’s armour with sword/axe & longbow as weapons. Superior rune of the Scholar is always a nice option for armour and will remain best in slot if you ever move on to fractals or raids. Same goes for sigil of force / sigil of air on the weapons.

Trait-wise the Marksmanship (3-2-1) and Skirmishing (2-1-1) traitlines are always good choices as they contain powerful damage modifiers and buffs for the group (Also quickdraw which is a super overpowered trait for ranger usage!). The final traitline is up to you, but generally Druid is a very good choice once you have the elite-specialisation fully unlocked.

The go-to pet right now is pretty much the tiger, as it offers high damage and constant fury application. Other pets have fun applications in organised content, such as using the smokescale to provide group stealth. Tankier pets like the bears can also be used to “cheese” certain open world champions by letting the pet take all of the hits.

Hope that all makes sense!

Is the condition build no longer on top?

Anarii gave a great answer. Condi is excellent, but for open world HoT bonfire can be a pain to land because the enemies tend to be very mobile and have strong anti-melee range capabilities (think the hylek that will kite you and drop lethal poison in melee range). You’ll figure it out if you want to use it though.