Guild Wars 2

I purchased a full lvl 80 rare set of Berserker armor, weapons, and jewelry (slotted armor with ruby crystals), and 30/30/10/0/0 traits with longbow and sword/axe.

with the longbow i’m quite ok, but when trying with the sword i hardly do any good damage, and the evade is basically useless since it has a relatively long cooldown when matched with the evade duration.

i wanna know how to make the most use of my setup (full burst dps) without having my enemy run with a sliver of health.

Replace your sword/axe with a shortbow and stay on range, shortbow is very good also with power/prec/crit combo .As a glass cannon melee ranger you most likely have the shortest live expentancy of all classes.

Boomstin.3460:

Replace your sword/axe with a shortbow and stay on range, shortbow is very good also with power/prec/crit combo .As a glass cannon melee ranger you most likely have the shortest live expentancy of all classes.

Agreed with this. You can do good damage with a 1h sword, but you need a lot more defense to pull it off than you do with a bow build. Because of this, I really don’t recommend mixing melee and ranged for dungeons.

Also, the short bow and longbow work well together. Use the longbow for knockbacks, AoE, and putting up weakness, then swap to your short bow to use as your main dps weapon (short bow does more dps than longbow).

Get your pet involved!

OGDeadHead.8326:

Get your pet involved!

You know, if burst is really the goal, this is a good idea. A might stacked, BM traited pet will do more burst, especially if you know how to stack your abilities well.

I’ve found that going 30 in either skirmishing or marksman (your choice) and 20 in the other one and 20 in BM results with MUCH better damage than 30/30/10/0/0

Durzlla.6295:

I’ve found that going 30 in either skirmishing or marksman (your choice) and 20 in the other one and 20 in BM results with MUCH better damage than 30/30/10/0/0

Yea, agreed. I played with bow-based builds a lot and I now consistently run with 15 in BM for loud whistle along with the additional pet survivability. Not only does this make it reasonable to keep your pet up without using something like a bear, but it also allows gives you more uptime on quickness by allowing you to swap pets more frequently.

30/20/5/0/15

Run this

don’t ever run without 5 in Wilderness, you’ll hate it trust me.

30 skirmishing brings absolutely nothing useful as a glass cannon build, its much better for traps.

If you’re not going to invest the 5 points in wilderness, put it in Skirmishing for the 10% damage on flanking.

otherwise follow a build like that.

You can also consider running 30/0/10/0/30 traited for signets. Take Signet of Stone for the invulnerability and Signet of the Wild stacked with Natural Healing for passive regen.

hmm i dont know for what 30 in marksman?
25/25/5/0/15 makes more sense for me cause of the 10% flanking, with this you get much extra dmg in the most situations

Bambula.3649:

hmm i dont know for what 30 in marksman?
25/25/5/0/15 makes more sense for me cause of the 10% flanking, with this you get much extra dmg in the most situations

You can do that, It honestly depends on your utilities and if you’re using Longbow or not.

the bonus range on Longbow is nice (i know you can get it at 20, but you want pierce arrows, unless you’re not using Bows at all, then you can take the build multiple ways)

It’s really up to you

25/25/5/0/15 would be a good spec either way.

Bambula.3649:

hmm i dont know for what 30 in marksman?
25/25/5/0/15 makes more sense for me cause of the 10% flanking, with this you get much extra dmg in the most situations

Yea, I honestly don’t think there are any really good traits worth taking 30 in Marks. The extra distance on LB is nice, but really the shortbow is where the damage is anyways.

Because of this, I really think 20/25/10/0/15 is the way to go. The 5 in WS is great, but QZ is really big behind any glass cannon build and an extra 5 in WS will reduce the cd by 20%. Considering how good Lightning Reflexes and Muddy Terrain are for utility slots, it’s a solid investment all around, but even if you don’t take those, the 20% off of QZ alone makes it worthwhile.

Dahkeus.8243:

Bambula.3649:

hmm i dont know for what 30 in marksman?
25/25/5/0/15 makes more sense for me cause of the 10% flanking, with this you get much extra dmg in the most situations

Yea, I honestly don’t think there are any really good traits worth taking 30 in Marks. The extra distance on LB is nice, but really the shortbow is where the damage is anyways.

Because of this, I really think 20/25/10/0/15 is the way to go. The 5 in WS is great, but QZ is really big behind any glass cannon build and an extra 5 in WS will reduce the cd by 20%. Considering how good Lightning Reflexes and Muddy Terrain are for utility slots, it’s a solid investment all around, but even if you don’t take those, the 20% off of QZ alone makes it worthwhile.

Signet of the beastmaster with signet of stone can be a lifesaver for glass cannons, or you can swap it out for eagle eye, which is useful in pvp. At OP: I also keep 30 in marksmanship and skirmishing, but without 5 in Bm for quickness on pet swap you’re gimping your damage output. It’s a must-have trait for glasscannon, even more so than piercing arrows. Move 5 points from WS, I promise you won’t regret it!

y eagle eye is nice, but with sb you still do more dmg so you dont need it Oo

Bambula.3649:

y eagle eye is nice, but with sb you still do more dmg so you dont need it Oo

In WvW LB is way better for siege and defense, and eagle eye is really handy there.

its a nice tool for that, but not more.
if you want to defent a tower or keep you need arrowcarts, balista and cata´s.

its a bit overrated with the 1500 range

so what about surviving tools?

lightning reflexes doesn’t always yield great results, and there isn’t exactly a blink or hard CC removed (immobilize, daze, stun) other than Lightning reflexes and healing spring, which aren’t always available on demand.

is it better for a glass cannon to take traited signet of stone or is it better to take Signet of the hunt and QZ and LF with 10 in WS?

I don’t think glass cannon works on Rangers since half of the cannon is the pet. So to get full potential you need to go deep into power or precision and deep into beastmaster and try to compensate the lack of power or prec with jewelry and warhorn.
I never tested this, just a starter idea i guess:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=VGF-W;1sE-u-f2REV-0;9-0a;19T;0T3;004B;4254;6m7YBm7YB4kC

RapidSausage.4620:

so what about surviving tools?

lightning reflexes doesn’t always yield great results, and there isn’t exactly a blink or hard CC removed (immobilize, daze, stun) other than Lightning reflexes and healing spring, which aren’t always available on demand.

is it better for a glass cannon to take traited signet of stone or is it better to take Signet of the hunt and QZ and LF with 10 in WS?

Signet of the Stone is pretty terrible right now. Yes, it can save you once in a blue moon, but the cooldown is insanely long and when you’re not using it (and it’s not on cooldown), you’re only gaining 40 toughness, which is nothing.

Lightning Reflexes may not seem like much at first, but if you use it right, it will save your life a hell of a lot more. Since you’re getting an evade and extra dodges from the vigor on a 36 second cd (45 without traits), you’re getting about the same amount of invulnerability, just not all at once. At the same time you get a stun break that also works on fear.

Personally, for my third slot, I run a shout, which is either “Search and Rescue” or “Sick ’Em”, depending on the difficulty of the run. With the change that keeps people from using a waypoint in combat, skills that help rez teammates are even more beneficial because in the end, having an extra teammate alive is always better than having an extra defensive slot skill. When you’re not running difficult combat,
Sick ’Em" is a solid ability that synergizes well with Rampage as One.

i should point out that i’m almost strictly playing WvW.

The build i run is 30 20 20. Im using the exact armor and stones but i avoid melee so I use LB SB. I want to point out this is my wvw setup. All my utility abilities are in survival, SS, QZ, LR and entainglement so reduced survival cooldowns are important to trait. I have all the bow traits traited. I kill very fast, and i use my skills to stay at range.

RapidSausage.4620:

so what about surviving tools?

lightning reflexes doesn’t always yield great results, and there isn’t exactly a blink or hard CC removed (immobilize, daze, stun) other than Lightning reflexes and healing spring, which aren’t always available on demand.

is it better for a glass cannon to take traited signet of stone or is it better to take Signet of the hunt and QZ and LF with 10 in WS?

Lightning Reflexes gives you 1 evade but it breaks stun, Traited SoS and Protect Me give you total invulnerability for 6 seconds, although the latter depends on your pet being alive. In WvW the problem is getting ganked by multiple enemies so SoS or Protect Me are probably preferable. Are you using a GS as secondary? Rampage as One (stability) + Traited SoS + GS swoop will make you very hard to kill.

Again though, if you don’t have quickness on pet swap you do not have a functional glass cannon build. It’s hard to pull off ranger glass cannon and quickness is the biggest thing you’ve got going for you, particularly in WvW with barrage and rapid fire.

Do the math, QZ gives you 4s of quickness every 60s (48 if traited). Zephyr’s Speed gives you 2s of quickness every 20s (16s if traited). So putting 10 points in WS for Wilderness Knowledge will give you 4 seconds of quickness (i.e. 1 barrage + rapid fire chain) every 48 seconds, whereas 5 points in BM will give you 10 seconds of quickness every 60 secs on 4 separate attacks (i.e. 1 Barrage + RF chain, 3 x Rapid Fire or Barrage).

EDIT: actually, if you cast at second 0 and second 48/60, you’re actually getting 8 secs quickness every 48 seconds, or 16 secs every 60. Roughly

How about 30/30/5/0/5? I feel that I need the stats from Marks/Skirmishing and more endurance from WildSurvival and 2s quickness from Beastmastery. Or then 20/30/5/0/15. I would take 10% crit dmg over 100power (so not 30/20/…). This would buff the pet quite a bit and give more often quickness.
Main weapon Sb, ofcourse, secondary sword/horn.
Are these “viable” glasscannon specs?

Oh and nobody has said anything about which pet to take. Cats/birds… I believe in Jaguar. With RaO, Sick ’Em and QZ, while the Jaguar is stealthed and critting is amazing.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

How about 30/30/5/0/5? I feel that I need the stats from Marks/Skirmishing and more endurance from WildSurvival and 2s quickness from Beastmastery. Or then 20/30/5/0/15. I would take 10% crit dmg over 100power (so not 30/20/…). This would buff the pet quite a bit and give more often quickness.
Main weapon Sb, ofcourse, secondary sword/horn.
Are these “viable” glasscannon specs?

Oh and nobody has said anything about which pet to take. Cats/birds… I believe in Jaguar. With RaO, Sick ’Em and QZ, while the Jaguar is stealthed and critting is amazing.

If you’re going for total glass i’d take 2 cats and take RaO, Sick’Em, QZ and SotH/Muddy Terrain (roots them so they stay nice and still like for your kitty to eat them). If you want more -burst- then go with 2 birds, cats have a lot better sustained damage than birds, but bird burst trumps everything but a drake breathe attack, but those things are so easy to get out of they may as well not count!

PS: If you are doing WvW and want some heavy AoE drakes can do that better than the other pets, but i’m assuming you want single target nuking so you’d want a bird/cat. In WvW Guard should be taken over SotH and Muddy Terrain while defending/attacking a keep because it allows your pet to get into/out of the keep and into the fray.

RapidSausage.4620:

i should point out that i’m almost strictly playing WvW.

Consider Muddy Terrain for sure then. If you’re talenting Wilderness Knowledge for more QZ (to enhance the glass cannon side of things), you can benefit from the lowered cooldown on Lightning Reflexes AND Muddy Terrain as well.

Muddy Terrain won’t directly reduce damage you take of course, but by keeping enemies snared and at range you protect yourself while giving you more distance to deal damage at the same time, which is even more important if you’re using a longbow.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

How about 30/30/5/0/5? I feel that I need the stats from Marks/Skirmishing and more endurance from WildSurvival and 2s quickness from Beastmastery. Or then 20/30/5/0/15. I would take 10% crit dmg over 100power (so not 30/20/…). This would buff the pet quite a bit and give more often quickness.
Main weapon Sb, ofcourse, secondary sword/horn.
Are these “viable” glasscannon specs?

Oh and nobody has said anything about which pet to take. Cats/birds… I believe in Jaguar. With RaO, Sick ’Em and QZ, while the Jaguar is stealthed and critting is amazing.

You can run either of those builds, reduced pet swap is very nice but you lose one of the Marksmanship majors, it’s up to you really. Two other good options are 20/30/15/0/5 and 20/30/10/0/10, depending on whether you’d rather have fury on weapon swap, 20% lower F2 cooldowns, or some other trait that might appeal to you. Both options give you Wilderness Knowledge and Zephyr’s Speed. WK is great in WvW because some of your most useful skills there are Survival skills (QZ, LR if you end up picking it, Muddy Terrain, Entangle). Muddy Terrain and Entangle are both excellent for snaring people, your allies will drop them in seconds. Personally I run WvW as a glass cannon with LB/GS, Healing Spring, Muddy Terrain, Signet of Hunt, QZ, and Entangle. I swap SoH out for other skills as soon as I enter combat, and I often swap Entangle for RaO in the open field.

Weapons are of course a question of preference, but I personally would never run melee with a glass cannon (I only use GS defensively to block and escape). Longbow is really great for attacking and defending towers and keeps, and along with SB is probably the hardest hitting weapon for a power/precision build. Sword hits pretty hard too, it’s just that it’s tough to stay alive with this build in melee range. Just my two cents

Daemon.4295:

Do the math, QZ gives you 4s of quickness every 60s (48 if traited). Zephyr’s Speed gives you 2s of quickness every 20s (16s if traited). So putting 10 points in WS for Wilderness Knowledge will give you 4 seconds of quickness (i.e. 1 barrage + rapid fire chain) every 48 seconds, whereas 5 points in BM will give you 10 seconds of quickness every 60 secs on 4 separate attacks (i.e. 1 Barrage + RF chain, 3 x Rapid Fire or Barrage).

The proper way to compare is what percentage of the time they give you quickness.

QZ (60 sec) = quickness 6.7% of the time
QZ (48 sec) = quickness 8.3% of the time
pet swap (20 sec) = quickness 10% of the time
pet swap (16 sec) = quickness 12.5% of the time

QZ is really more for when you or your pet need a burst longer than 2 sec (either damage or reviving).

For me, the compelling reason to go for the trait which reduces WS cooldown 20% is not QZ but Muddy Terrain. Normally MT is 20 sec on a 30 sec cooldown. With the trait it’s 20 sec on a 24 sec cooldown. Pretty close to a permanent cripple for any player or mob who is trying to close to melee range.