Guild Wars 2

I have always loved the animation on the greatsword on the ranger, however im not sure if its worth leveling if it wont be used later on in Dungeons and fractals. Is there any build around GS and LB or anything cool?

For GS, it’s like an easier version of Sword. The built in evade is very nice, as well as a block (Can block all ranged attacks), a stun, leap, and vul nuke. Very strong, and easy to come by too. Would for sure recommend it for leveling. If you like it of course!
For LB, again, strong. Figure out some sweet combos with it such as #3, #2, #1 or something else. Ranger is based around sustained damage, so you won’t see huge numbers, but you will have a very easy time staying alive and in large groups you can be lazy and just sit there and spam #1.

okey! cause i was thinking that i might get kicked for using gs in dungeon :/

Gs in dungeon, nah, no kick.
Lb, possibly.
Bear, possibly.
Lb + bear, well you could always try soloing dungeon ;-)

Gs is viable, elitists swear by sword mainhand so avoid those arguments.

You won’t get kicked, but you won’t get any love either. Gs is easier than sword but offer no team support ability like any offhand does, nor does it have the sustained dps of sword/x. For most fights, you’ll use longbow/greatsword as a secondary weapon ( either longbow for additional burst or greatsword for safety) and try to stay in sword/x as much as possible. In fractals and a few encounters where max meleeing is required, using greatsword is the way to go.

oxtred.7658:

You won’t get kicked, but you won’t get any love either..

As long as you bring spotter, frost spirit and keep your feline alive, most pugs won’t care wether you’re using greatsword or sword.

Avipt.9632:

I have always loved the animation on the greatsword on the ranger, however im not sure if its worth leveling if it wont be used later on in Dungeons and fractals. Is there any build around GS and LB or anything cool?

While sword is highly recommended, with its higher dps and off-hand options, you will do just fine with this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJARTjMqUyarKWsw1ag9gaZAEwczgOwbVcEZs0JykA-ThRBABPt/wVK/y7SAAwTAgS1fMTJIA-e

Justine.6351:

Gs is viable, elitists swear by sword mainhand so avoid those arguments.

People throwing around “elitists” again like that means something bad. Man, people like to use sword for a variety of reasons just like people like to use GS for a variety of reasons. Main reason for sword over gs is damage output per second is higher. And if you’re playing in a coordinated group the offhand axe or warhorn is nice for reflects or blasts. It’s not just “elitists” that use main hand sword as it seems you’re void of this knowledge. Many use main hand sword… but let’s be honest with ourselves, the vast majority of Rangers in the game roll it because 1) they like the pet 2) they like the pew-pew 3) they like to pew-pew with pet. I rolled because I like the archer, but I spend the vast majority of my time in melee because I don’t want to wait eons for HP sponges to die and I like buffs that make things die faster (cause I’ve already killed it 1000x).

oxtred.7658:

You won’t get kicked, but you won’t get any love either. Gs is easier than sword but offer no team support ability like any offhand does, nor does it have the sustained dps of sword/x. For most fights, you’ll use longbow/greatsword as a secondary weapon ( either longbow for additional burst or greatsword for safety) and try to stay in sword/x as much as possible. In fractals and a few encounters where max meleeing is required, using greatsword is the way to go.

This guy here, he gets it.

For PVE, if you’re not used to how a particular boss-fight plays, go with the GS ‘til you learn. Once you know what’s going on, use sword/x instead. Sword is not a reactionary weapon, when you need to get out of the way NOW, sword is unfortunately too slow.

thefantasticg.3984:

Justine.6351:

Gs is viable, elitists swear by sword mainhand so avoid those arguments.

People throwing around “elitists” again like that means something bad.

It is bad when someone insists you play a certain weapon or you are trash. I didn’t say everyone who uses sword was an elitist.

You confuse toxic people with people who want to run things efficiently therefore quickly. They are not one in the same although you paint them with the same brush… That being said… The solution is simple then: join “I Don’t Care” groups. You know, the groups that don’t care about being efficient or how long it takes to run a dungeon or how you play or any of that.

Besides, it’s 2+ year old content that really matters anyway, right?

Greatsword is really useful in PVE content as a traveling weapon XD.
1100 range leap and 4 seconds range block is really useful.

The place where you want to move quickly and think you might need the block. Works nice with mismatched dungeon pugs. Also woks well in more difficult PvE content, where enemy actually has a chance to down you (silverwastes).

thefantasticg.3984:

Justine.6351:

Gs is viable, elitists swear by sword mainhand so avoid those arguments.

People throwing around “elitists” again like that means something bad.

It’s elitist and bad because even if you use the commonly quoted 17% higher DPS figure for sword, if you assume the 5 party members have the same DPS, then the difference in time to kill a boss is only 3.4% between using sword and GS. A 30 second kill becomes a 31 second kill. More likely, a 12 second kill becomes becomes a 12.4 sec kill.

0.4 seconds. That’s a difference only “elitists” (i.e. people obsessed with minimizing dungeon clear time) would care about.

To answer OP, here’s a list of scenarios where GS beats swordt:

• Fighting anywhere near cliffs and high walkways. It’s just way too easy to go leaping off a cliff if a target dies just as you push 1.
• Any place you need to stay in a small area. The cauldrons in CoF are a good example. Leave the bubble and your 5th member can’t do damage.
• Any time you need to move while in combat (e.g. avoid frontal AOEs). Moving with GS doesn’t change its autoattack DPS. Moving with sword drops its autoattack DPS to zero.
• The block on GS is good for running past trash mobs.
• Any time you need an instant evade. Block is instant. The evades on sword and dagger take a fraction of a second to kick in.
• I believe GS still has better DPS against 3+ targets (2 is close to a toss-up).
• If your party wants to have fun chain-stunning/dazing mobs. That’s assuming you don’t believe it’s blasphemy to want to have fun in a game.

But you’ll never hear “elitists” mention these things because they’re hyper-obsessed with single-target DPS to the exclusion of anything else. That’s why they tell you the answer is to always use sword. Different weapons have different advantages (and disadvantages). A single weapon may on average be the best, but there will be lots of non-average situations where other weapons have their chance to shine. If the game were designed so that a single weapon were the best choice in all situations, it’d be a terribly boring game that deserves to fail.

(I carry every single weapon type in my inventory if you’re curious. Which I use depends as much on my mood as it does on the scenario and party. Heck, sometimes I even use sword with autoattack on.)

Solandri.9640:

It’s elitist and bad because even if you use the commonly quoted 17% higher DPS figure for sword, if you assume the 5 party members have the same DPS, then the difference in time to kill a boss is only 3.4% between using sword and GS. A 30 second kill becomes a 31 second kill. More likely, a 12 second kill becomes becomes a 12.4 sec kill.

0.4 seconds. That’s a difference only “elitists” (i.e. people obsessed with minimizing dungeon clear time) would care about.

You know what is funny is I’ve been called elitist in game a few times because after the failed 3rd attempt, I see what we’re doing wrong, I tell them, I automatically become elitist because I don’t want to spend 3 hours at Lupi or Grawl Shaman fractal. I’ve been called elitist for telling other Rangers in party to run sword/X (and not bear, moa, pig, or devourer) because it’s higher DPS and that was on easy-to-dodge-highly-telegraphed-mechnic fights -coughbloomhungercough- even though they died trying to range it or failed at GS melee even though I told them where to stand. Regardless, I carry all the weapons as well, because I use what’s best (read: highest dps) for the particular fight I’m going into. Anyone who is “obsessed” with doing things as fast as humanly possible don’t pug-run. In 2+ years I haven’t pugged with anyone who was “obsessed” with speed clears, but I’ve run into hundreds of people that want to finish things in a timely manner not wanting to waste hours when they don’t have to. On the same token, I’ve pugged with plenty of bad rangers… so many bad rangers that pew-pew from 1000+ units for all fights… I just pretty much kick them (within 20 seconds – I give them a chance to change or to say they’re changing, I’m not heartless) now if they don’t have a melee equipped and/or using cats/birds/drakes.

Justine.6351:

Gs is viable, elitists swear by sword mainhand so avoid those arguments.

“elitists”

By that do you mean people who using their class to the max potential and not going for the eazy-mode because they are too lazy?

Or do you feel that you should be carried by other people who are doing part of your work, just because you can’t spend some time learning how to use sword?

Yeah, better throw the word “elitists” and and spare yourself the trouble.

Well at least the part where I said avoid those arguments was quoted.

Justine.6351:

Well at least the part where I said avoid those arguments was quoted.

Yeah, of course you can avoid them. But then don’t cry about getting called scrub and kicked out of decent groups. Or wondering why the class reputation is so awesome.

Yeah, of course you can avoid them. But then don’t cry about getting called scrub and kicked out of decent groups. Or wondering why the class reputation is so awesome.[/quote]

Let’s be reasonable. I doubt anyone will ever get kicked from a decent group for using a greatsword. Even a somewhat optimized one so long as you’re running spotter and frost spirit.

Full on hardcore might be an issue but it’s very easy to avoid those groups. The vast majority of players/groups won’t care. I’ve never been called a scrub or kicked when I decide to roll greatsword in a random pug.

To the OP, this is still a GAME. Play it to have fun and if you enjoy whatever weapon, use it. Avoid groups that don’t mesh with your style of play. Even when I run sword/x I never run in the “hardcore” groups because I loathe mentality. I’m just here for loot, a good time, and to be a cool looking plant guy

I do personally prefer the way the Greatsword functions over the sword/x and couldn’t care less about whatever dps difference exists. I don’t know if its factored into the touted numbers for SwordVSGreatsword but if you’re in a pug that can’t reach cap Vulnerabilities and you’re greatsword keeps 5 up on its on consistently, that’s a damage increase for the whole party.

Plus its a friggen BEAR avatar mauling the enemy. That’s just cool. … oh and I had Sunrise from my Guardian so … you know … that’s a bias >_>

Honestly I use GS at fractals 40+ simply because the dps isn’t that different and it’s just safer. Even if you have the Sword animation down occasionally you’ll end up going some random direction. Also the GS slams 5 stacks of vulnerability every 6 seconds so it’s not entirely selfish. You already bring spotter/frost spirit forgoing the warhorn means little with the might nerf and most of the time you have fury anyways from other classes.

The Greatsword is viable mostly at encounters that requires you to move or dodge abilities. Greatsword will always be better at these fights since you can’t attack on the move. If you stop attacking – you stop dealing damage, and at that point Greatsword just blasts a sword anyday.

Anywhere else, Sword offers better utilization such as a bonus blast finisher, AoE swiftness, Reflect… But that has already been mentioned.

GS also has better burst, cleave, travel speed, and provides a reliable interrupt. When you consider travelling through the dungeon takes generally longer than actually fighting bosses, GS wins out overall.

Sword 2 makes the ranger faster then GS 3. There is no need for the GS todo less dps. It should just get buffed by another 10-15%.

Sword outshines GS because of the utility anyway.