Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, this is my build for anyone that likes running around taking camps and even towers solo during quiet times on any particular zone. It’s not bad at 1v1/2v1 during roaming but it can take some work to stay alive. It’s very simple but I hope some of the subtle parts of the build are useful to some.

Weapons:

Set 1 – Sword/Axe.

This is the best Power weapon combination I personally decided on, it has some really good burst potential and some extent of control. Of course Longbow is a great power weapon and better for group play, but trying to take camps with it is like pulling teeth..

Auto-attack: Try and turn this off and control application of the cripple, especially when fighting other players. Paired with some quickness in this build, the pure output from this can be devastating.

Hornet’s Sting/Monarch’s Leap: A crit will do decent damage, but use for evasive and combo purposes in Healing Spring. The first part of the ability can also be a fairly useful disengage to give you some breathing room when you switch to Set 2.

Serpent’s Strike: On NPCs, apply at around 40% to ensure their heals are nerfed. On players, focus more on using it for the evade.

Path of Scars: The base damage of this ability is very high, for me, doing up to 3500×2 if both boomerang hits connect, even more dangerous when you can line a few enemies up.

Whirling Defense: Not bad for the combo possibilities and vulnerability. Most NPCs will happily crowd around you and some players too. If not, the reflect projectiles portion of this ability can give you some damage while giving you a bit of breathing room. Surprisingly few ranged players will turn off their auto attack when they see you doing this.

Set 2: Axe/Warhorn

This set gives you some range, group damage and utility, which is important on a melee focused set.

Auto attack: Unfortunately, on single targets, damage is very lackluster and slow compared to sword. However, on at least two enemies, the damage is nice, and better than nothing against enemies you can’t reach, or can’t afford to be in their face, such as a pack of lv82 guards.

Splitblade: Very weak in a power build, but use on cooldown if you like, or when up in someone’s face.

Winter’s Bite: Cripples many enemies’ damage output and escape capabilities, use sensibly. Rangers don’t have native boon removal, but kiting and chilling is the closest parallel we have.

Hunter’s Call: Decent damage, follows people around, use on cooldown. Just be sure you don’t waste it by being slightly out of range.

Call of the Wild: Also use on cooldown, the buffs are very important. Swiftness helps you get along between objectives.

Slot Skills:

Healing Spring: Placement of this so that the field still affects your pet can be important, especially in a levelled camp, where you need your pet to stay alive. Be very aware of all the combos you can make with this field, the best of which I like using are;leaps (sword 2), projectile (axe 4, 100%, axe 1 and 2 20%), whirl (axe 5), and pets, of course, whichever you like.

Signet of Renewal: Very important for the passive effect and stun break. Knowing when to use it is difficult and requires close attention to the damage numbers flying around your head and your pet switching cooldown. Removal of at least 6 conditions is good, but take care to make sure that those conditions are worth removing.

Signet of the Hunt: Movement Speed bonus, plain and simple. I’ll mainly switch to this for walking, and switch to Signet of the Wild for combat. But movement speed is by no means awful in combat.

Signet of the Wild: Passive regen is good, and damage bonus and stability on use is good, but stops you interacting with objects or stomping, so only prevents control effects.

Signet of Stone: With the new passive buff and CD reduction, I like this alot. When taking camps, it’s important to use this if your pet’s about to die and you can’t switch it yet. Otherwise, use it to prevent burst damage and give yourself some breathing room. Combining it with Renewal can be nice for a temporary reset.

Others:

I mainly really like the Survival traits besides the Signets, so I’ll cover them here. If you want their CD reduced you would have to either lose quickness of pet swap, a significant amount of damage (2.5% crit / 5% crit dmg from Skirmishing) or the signets, so be careful.

Lightning Reflexes – Nice as an extra disengage and stun break, with some vigor thrown in. I would probably use it in place of Renewal if you feel you have conditions covered or Hunt/Wild.

Quickening Zephyr – This and a pet switch gives you 8 seconds of swiftness, which can be really cool. Also a stun breaker, use it wherever you wish, probably the same as above.

Muddy Terrain – Nice control skill, decent cooldown, use to give yourself breathing room while you kite with axe/warhorn.

Elite:

Rampage as One: Great DPS cooldown, usable stability, very nice combined with some quickness.

Traits:

These traits are very focused on damage and the utility of your signets so that you can bulk out a bit with your gear and still be fairly fierce.

Marksmanship: 30pts

I, IV, XI

Damage at full endurance is very nice, when combined with the ability to regen endurance at a fairly rapid rate, even if you feel like you dodge alot. The last two are fairly obvious for a signet build. If switching for group play and using a longbow, you can drop IV/XI for the two longbow traits, and switch slot skills, or just slot one in while retaining signets, depending on what you want to do. The Power stat from this line is what is most satisfying, but the condition duration on the vulnerability/chills isn’t half bad.

The minor traits get you some burst, opening with a Path of Scars crit is very nice.

Skirmishing: 30pts

I, IV, IX

Some might feel that crit damage is wasted on a non-BM build, but 30% critical damage is very significant, and there isn’t alot else in skirmishing for this type of power build. Vigor regen on crit is great, as most builds have some element of it in there, keeping your dodging going, and your meter full in between for extra damage. Critical Damage for the axe helps it be a little less wet noodle on single target. Crit and Critical Damage are the main reasons to go so far into this tree, as traits are one of the few places 10 precision = 1% critical damage. Again, you can swap into Longbow traits if you like with this setup.

Minor traits are very important, keeping fury and swiftness up. The flanking damage bonus is great, especially given that some of our abilities even position us there.

Wilderness Survival: 5pts

Wholly for the endurance regen.

Beastmastery: 5pts

For the quickness on pet swap.

Gear/Consumables:

Armor: Power/Toughness/Vitality slotted with Ruby Orbs
Weapons: Berserkers, slot Blood/5% Crit sigil on Sword/Axe and Blood/Perception or 5% crit on Axe/Warhorn.
Accessories: Berserker’s Earrings, Exquiste Rubies // Power Toughness Vitality rings, Exquisite Rubies // Berserker’s Amulet Exquisite Ruby // Cavalier’s Cape Exquisite Ruby
Buffs: Omnomberry Ghost & Maintenance Oil or Sharpening Stone

With this kind of gear, you’re looking the following stats, approx. :

2300 Power
1800 Precision (45-50% Crit, 80-90% Crit Damage)
1500 Toughness (2.5k armor)
1250 Vitality (19-20k HP)

This gives you around a 33% proc on the Omnomberry, together with the Blood procs and Signet of the Wild gives you a very nice passive regen you don’t have to think about, and goes a long way with your slight bulkiness. When fury is up, this gets even better, even with the internal cooldowns.

Hope this is useful for some people May not be helpful for all servers, I usually play very late, but contributing 5-6 camp’s worth of points to your team with solo play is quite nice during quiet periods.