Guild Wars 2

I just came back and have read every thread on here w/ the rage/QQ/suggestion etc. That aside, what builds are you guys playing in WvW at the moment. Please post them and explain why it’s working for you.

No need to come in here and tell me to roll another class because ain’t nobody got time for that.

I’m in the same boat as you. I am currently running a trap/condition build ranger but I’ve been running that…..forever…..and just want a change. I saw this:

Lepew.7890

Axe based build(s)

20 Marksmanship (I, VII)
30 Skirmishing (II, IX, pick what you like for the remaining)
20 Wilderness Survival (III, VII)

The reasoning here is 20 in WS to get the offhand cooldown reduction, 30 in skirmishing to max crit chance, and the remaining 20 in Marksmanship for power.
Healing Spring, Signet of Renewal, Signet of Hunt, Signet of Wild, Rampage as One

Two Variants
1. axe/axe + axe/torch “Combo Field Build” – run around with spider for poison combo field, lay down bonfire for fire combo field, drop healing spring for water combo field. Axe 1, 2, 4 are projectile finish, and 5 is a whirl finish. Gear power/precision/condition damage. Typical AoE pull is run in gathering with axe1, drop bonfire on cluster, swap to axe offhand, and use Whirling Defense- stuff melts fast. If your spider does the AOE poison move, add that too. Drake works well for this too. This build is more about AoE.

2. axe/axe + axe/warhorn “crit damage build”- gear power/precision/crit damage, use whatever pet you like (I prefer arctic wolf). Use Warhorn 5 to apply fury, swap and WD from axe offhand. This build is more about dropping stuff fast with big crits, and maintaining the 20% crit from fury.

Axe is nice because Axe 1 tracks strafing targets, and works well on smaller clusters. Many dislike Axe 4, but if you line it up so it pierces and returns through the cluster, damage is fine. The main target, off target, main target bounce pattern can rapidly kill 2 guys.

Utilities are picked for minimal downtime and max speed, stripping conditions and regenerating you between fights. Rampage as one helps with veterans.

Overall I have had the most fun with the combo field variant, as you always seem to have a 5 skill up.

…And I thought I’d try it. Has anyone done the above builds? Does it work in small group WVW? The guild I run with mainly takes camps, and joins the occasional zerg to take big stuff.

Can’t post specifics cause I’m away from the computer, but I run a GC SB/LB ranger spec. Recently switched over and it’s working really well for me. If anyone wants more info just PM and I’ll pass it along tomorrow when I get home.

I run sword/dagger and shortbow. It doesn’t hit like a truck but with 2000 power, 50% critical chance and 50% critical damage I hit like a lot of small cars over and over again. I can still hold 2000 toughness.

0/30/30/10/0 right now.

LOVE my build. Lots of videos of it in actions that I’ve yet to upload.

Thanks for the quick replies guys! Keep them coming, can’t wait to try some of these builds out.

Probably the only new build you can really run right now (and its not really new, but with the increase with Maul its more viable) is the GS Signet build that a few people on the forums came up with.

Basically 30/30/5/0/5

Use Greatsword/shortbow

Use Greatsword with Preloaded Signet of the Hunt (pop Signet of Wild going into the fight) and use the Talent that gives you Signets buffs from the first line and Maul the person when they attack, You’ll pop them from 8000-10000 damage depending on the toughness they got.

If you want to use Longbow, simply swap out greatsword and equip the Range Increase for it.

I was thinking of a build around chills with 30 in Marksmanship (prolly 30/0/20/0/20), and pvt gear. The idea would be to keep the enemy under constant dps, so not a gc build, but not a condi build either. The main weapon would of course be shortbow, and in offhand I would prolly use axe/dagger. Didn’t come up with a fleshed out build yet, but I will be looking into trying this out. Was thinking about utilizing things that I don’t see on the forums, like longer condition duration from pets with polar bear/alpine wolf, or maybe polar bear and some porcine and going with stability from these pets, but didn’t figure it all out yet. I was thinking of chills cause stability doesn’t stop that, and with pets, axe, and trap you can apply them when cleansed.

Edit: Put this together with birds for aoe vigor http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAV3YjEV51NWCWs2Bi1j9Ao80UkJJ9UEL2XxD9A;TsAA1CtoEyAlAK7POhk/sMY8xGEA

Had a go with this in pvp, apart from being annoying 1v1 didn’t have the desired effect. Met a warrior and a guardian, they pretty much rushed to me regardless of the chill. Didn’t notice a spectecular slow (maybe they saw things differently). Also PVT didn’t give enough damage for it to be worth while, felt durable though. Extended duration of conditions applied by pets was pretty nice, 6 sec chills from birds, and vigor from swapping them around. Needs more work, had a try with 30/25/15 with knight gear, that was much better. Also it seems that the 3 set of 2 runes either don’t stack, or Freeze duration does not equal chill duration. Gonna try some condition duration runes (prolly Lyssa). Having Superior rune of Energy in both axe and sb was great though. Wonder how much those cost…

http://tinyurl.com/d4aowt7 This is the build I’m currently playing. Basically; snare foes with vines, activate Signet of the Wild, switch to greatsword for boons, and use the F2 skill from the River Drake. The build shares my boons with the pet, so it will get all my regeneration, might, and fury. The Forest Spider is just for ranged attacks, with the poison helping to prevent foes from healing.

The build works because a lot of players don’t realize they have vines on them, until they are downed. It works especially well on professions that doesn’t have any real condition removal, like other Rangers..

I really don’t like the Ranger in PvP that much, though. It makes it feel like a very limited profession, as we are pretty much forced to use snare skills, so our pets can hit.

I switch between running the build capuchinseven posted (although he plays it much better than I) and a modified Ikira power ranger damage spec:
20/30/20/0/0—I mainly go the 20 in MM for piercing arrow which works amazingly well when running with a large group. With sigil of fire you can rip apart a large group of enemy, especially if you can flank.

I’m actually quite satisfied with our AOE/damage, although you need a pretty specific build for it to work.

The only “problems” I see are 1) that the skill requirement for effectively playing a ranger seems to be much higher than for most other classes, and 2) we sort of have to chose between builds for small group/roaming fights or large zergs. There aren’t great universal builds (at least that I’ve been able to make work).

Xsorus.2507:

Probably the only new build you can really run right now (and its not really new, but with the increase with Maul its more viable) is the GS Signet build that a few people on the forums came up with.

Basically 30/30/5/0/5

Use Greatsword/shortbow

Use Greatsword with Preloaded Signet of the Hunt (pop Signet of Wild going into the fight) and use the Talent that gives you Signets buffs from the first line and Maul the person when they attack, You’ll pop them from 8000-10000 damage depending on the toughness they got.

If you want to use Longbow, simply swap out greatsword and equip the Range Increase for it.

That’s what I’m doing for now in PvE, shelved my longbow for shortbow and run a 30/30/5/0/5 with 2 sigils and QZ + moment of clarity. I spend more time in melee than at range now as maul hits like a truck, but I don’t see it working in WvW to be honest. If I was gonna skirmish with the shortbow I’d go trapper rather than glass cannon.

Daemon.4295:

Xsorus.2507:

Probably the only new build you can really run right now (and its not really new, but with the increase with Maul its more viable) is the GS Signet build that a few people on the forums came up with.

Basically 30/30/5/0/5

Use Greatsword/shortbow

Use Greatsword with Preloaded Signet of the Hunt (pop Signet of Wild going into the fight) and use the Talent that gives you Signets buffs from the first line and Maul the person when they attack, You’ll pop them from 8000-10000 damage depending on the toughness they got.

If you want to use Longbow, simply swap out greatsword and equip the Range Increase for it.

That’s what I’m doing for now in PvE, shelved my longbow for shortbow and run a 30/30/5/0/5 with 2 sigils and QZ + moment of clarity. I spend more time in melee than at range now as maul hits like a truck, but I don’t see it working in WvW to be honest. If I was gonna skirmish with the shortbow I’d go trapper rather than glass cannon.

you can kill other glass cannons with it…thing is you can do that easily with our other builds..

its niche..

It is funny though

My build here – https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Capuchin-monkey-evasion-power-precision-video/first#post1733412

I do the same thing xsorus does but I use GS/LB in wvw and GS, sword/dagger in pvp. I use sig of stone as well and not QZ

Still using my old 30/30/5/0/5, Shortbow /sword-horn.

Piercing arrow is just too good to pass if you go against more than 3-4 opponents, survival is mostly based upon a single lightning reflex and 1200 range so it’s not too good on 1v1 (unless the other one is glass too).

I’ll try a similar build soon (20/30/20/0/0) now that 5 points in beastmastery are less tempting.

Been using 20/30/20 – SB + GS. Works really well for me against any target. As ever mesmers are the biggest pest but GS is amazingly powerful now. Even with a GC build its great if/when people manage to get up close to you. Warriors and even thiefs or guardians who try to get close get cut to pieces.. just evade backwards, stun, cripple, lightning relexes, grasping vines (sylvari racial skill) as long as you can and if they do manage to get up close switch to GS and use counter attack. You’ll block whatever they do and knock them down.. follow that with hilt bash and maul (which should be hitting 5k+ with a GC build). They really should be easy to finish at this point, but if not you can always use swoop to distance yourself again, switch back to SB and continue evading.

Enjoying it more than any ranger setup I have tried actually, including using QZ pre-nerf. Its a lot of fun and so very effective.

The only thing my build misses is Piercing Arrows and it annoys me. Honestly I think that should be a class feature or a very low rank trait for us.