Guild Wars 2

I got my ranger to level 80 and I am thinking on what set of equipment to get! My ranger will primarily be in WvW since that’s what I find the most fun, I like to be able to take a few hits and escape but also do respectable damage at the same time. Berzerkers will not give me any survivability but soldiers is a little overkill. I was thinking knights or valkyrie or maybe a mix of both? Imo a mix of both valkyrie and knights is a good balance of defensive and offensive stats, but im not sure how to aquire the armour, is it available in karma vendors?

The gear depends entirely on the build you would want to run. As for where to get it; there are many options. Your best bet would be to look at the wiki and pick the easiest option for you to get the armor.

Having said that; look around for builds you would find fun. It would help if you would list the weapons you want to use…

It also depends how you want to play: roaming alone? roaming with 4/5 other people? Support role (heal) in a guild (20+ people)? CC role (entangle/traps) in a guild? Or maybe you prefer a more DPS oriented thing, maybe also more melee than ranged…
Those choices determine the build you will run with.

Thanks for the replies, well for what I normally do in WvW is either roam in a group of 4-5 people or join the zerg and run around for a bit, condition damage isn’t my thing so i can rule out rabid which i know people like to run. So far I have been using either LB/GS or one of those two with axe/WH. I don’t mind using melee or ranged but if i’m not mistaken sword’s self-root is not a good thing in WvW… so that leaves the GS which i’m comfortable using

For direct damage a good approach would be Knight’s armor with Berserker’s trinkets/amulets etc. *The ascended versions of those have the best critical damage % stat conversion…
Another good option for a more bunker-type playstyle is cleric’s armor instead of knight’s.

Remember that toughness is better than vitality in zerg runs as the water fields will be what heals you; the less damage you get, the less finishers you need to get back to full health. Vitality works against that somewhat…

As for the sword; it’s my favorite weapon in WvW! As long as you know how to use it without enabling the auto-attack it is one of your best options. Just make sure you have some alternative weapons on the side and switch around as you encounter different situations.

Imho, in wvw you just can’t go wrong with full Soldier. Survival is really critical if you’re involved in medium/large battles. Soldier armour will give you the survival you need, as well as a reasonable amount of power. It’s also exceedingly easy to get through karma (various orr temples should give you 4 out of 6 armour pieces, and temple of grenth has the jewellry), badges or AC tokens. That should be your starting place.

From there, just start mixing up slowly until you find a mix you like, starting with the jewellry. Green jewellry is dead cheap and a great way to experiment. For power builds, experiment with green knight or zerker jewellry and you should quickly reach your own sweet spot between survival/prec/critdmg.

I wouldn’t worry about changing the armour until after enough time in wvw with various jewellry. By then, you’ll have a better feel of what you like or not (prec? critdmg? healing? conditions?), and can decide you want to specialize even further. Until then, your Soldier set will have done the job more than adequately.

Thanks Jorne and cafard for the response since grinding isn’t an issue for me I think I will start with soldiers armour since I have a butt load of karma already! maybe soldiers armour with berzerkers jewellery?

Good luck!
If you want to find out more about the whole critical damage stat conversion;.. (It is good to keep in mind anyway.)

http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/69773-mixing-berserker-and-other-gear-how-to-do-it-right/