Guild Wars 2

I recently started dinking around in EotM with my condition damage (and presumably non-meta) ranger. For those of you who spend a lot of time in WvW, what are the general characteristics of your build? I’m looking for the essential aspects of the WvW meta to see if I can work any of those into my build without ruining my original concept for the guy.

For ranger condition is the meta for WvW, since you’ll pretty much just roam and join small scale fights.
In zerg fights you won’t want to bring your ranger, pretty much any other class will preform better in a zerg battle.

Potatoe fries = Meta

according to the doom and gloom users on these forums; re roll warrior is the meta.

current ranger meta – make your own, nobody can tell you how to build the ranger because nobody will back up the players that know what they are doing.

Play to a rangers strengths. Rangers are good at roaming and conditions are the most effective way to do that. BM or trapper builds are both good builds. If you want to be a front line type of soldier running in the big blobs, then ranger may not be your best bet. It is doable and can be effective, but is generally much harder to do than another class.

So it sounds like the WvW meta is not so much a build as a play-style: small group skirmishes and conditions. That suits me just fine since that’s what I already do with this guy.

I’m not interested in toe-to-toe combat; I like to hang back and be pesky.

There are three parts to WvW;

1. Zerg, where you “must” be traited and geared and even play a certain way inline with your guild.

2. Small group, this is where you will have some personalization with your build, not focusing on group support but handy if you have it.

3. Solo roamer, this is the most amount of customization and “I carry a big stick” style of play in WvW.

Littlefeather.8623:

There are three parts to WvW;

1. Zerg, where you “must” be traited and geared and even play a certain way inline with your guild.

2. Small group, this is where you will have some personalization with your build, not focusing on group support but handy if you have it.

3. Solo roamer, this is the most amount of customization and “I carry a big stick” style of play in WvW.

Thanks Littlefeather, the “small group” sounds like my cup of tea, considering my build and playstyle.

Like others have suggested, try out different setups on your own and see what works best for you.

I personally prefer LB and Axe/X along with Zerker weapons/jewels and Valk armor. I’m able to hit almost as hard as a pure zerker build, but have about 500 more toughness, and 4K more HP…basically a little more survivability.

Take Honed Axes, Piercing Arrows and Eagle Eye. The rest is up to you.

The reason I take Longbow is simply because I’m a Ranger…not a Warrior or a Guardian. Warrior’s and Guardians shine when the train runs into another train in open fields. But, when the train gets to a Keep, Fort, Castle etc, that’s where Ranger can shine with LB. Knocking people off ledges, being able to stealth when things get heated, Barrage for the AOE damage and cripple, Piercing Arrows through 15+ people for 2k each at a choke point is priceless.

Axe main hand is simply for the AOE damage. With Honed Axes traited you can get 1K-2.5K per bounce, totaling 3K-7.5K AOE damage every half a second. Throw on Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Strength and you are hitting 20+ stacks of constant Might.

WvW zerging a power ranger with zerker gear does a great job at picking players off.. position is key if it gets rough learn to retreat always move around..

WvW roaming and small scale I will say condo shout regen is great
experienced players can get away with mixed zerker gear

ItIsFinished.9462:

Like others have suggested, try out different setups on your own and see what works best for you.

I personally prefer LB and Axe/X along with Zerker weapons/jewels and Valk armor. I’m able to hit almost as hard as a pure zerker build, but have about 500 more toughness, and 4K more HP…basically a little more survivability.

Take Honed Axes, Piercing Arrows and Eagle Eye. The rest is up to you.

The reason I take Longbow is simply because I’m a Ranger…not a Warrior or a Guardian. Warrior’s and Guardians shine when the train runs into another train in open fields. But, when the train gets to a Keep, Fort, Castle etc, that’s where Ranger can shine with LB. Knocking people off ledges, being able to stealth when things get heated, Barrage for the AOE damage and cripple, Piercing Arrows through 15+ people for 2k each at a choke point is priceless.

Axe main hand is simply for the AOE damage. With Honed Axes traited you can get 1K-2.5K per bounce, totaling 3K-7.5K AOE damage every half a second. Throw on Sigil of Battle and Sigil of Strength and you are hitting 20+ stacks of constant Might.

Haha, I run something very similar and love it. I sometimes swap out eagle eye for signets (stone can save you from random Zerg spike and SotW gives nice dmg boost, but you loose the range). Badge collector.

that baby stealing dingo.7216:

I recently started dinking around in EotM with my condition damage (and presumably non-meta) ranger. For those of you who spend a lot of time in WvW, what are the general characteristics of your build? I’m looking for the essential aspects of the WvW meta to see if I can work any of those into my build without ruining my original concept for the guy.

Oh the horror! If you tell the wrong people you are using conditions they will go nuts on you!!! All joking aside, conditions work great. I use swords condition build for smaller fights and love it. For solo roaming, any PvP build will work (the “meta” PvP builds are deadly to everyone). Fell free to go mid-zerk or full-zerk with LB, as well.