Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, I’ve been experimenting with Survival of the Fittest condi variants in sPvP for a while now. This build is what I personally find to be the most well rounded condition based Ranger build which is capable of winning 1v1s as well as doing well in small skirmishes, while maintaining high mobility and decent survivability when focused.

SotF Condition

So, why is this build better?

Carrion vs Rabid vs Celestial

Carrion = 25k starting health when approaching a fight coupled with multiple sources of condi clear makes you almost immune to conditions. Shortbow 3 + Dagger 4 + your regular dodges + Lightning Reflexes is enough to dodge all big hitting power based attacks in a 1v1 engagement.

Rabid: Low initial health and higher toughness is better against some specs, but ultimately relies also more heavily on bleed stacking, which is cleansed very easily by eles and shout warriors. Thieves will dodge your heavy bleed stacking moves (weapon swap, Split blade). Mesmers will kite them. Overall Rabid is a decent choice, but not as good as Carrion for the majority of matchups.

Celestial: Low condition damage, slightly better toughness and marginally better healing power. Overall neither shortbow or axe scales that well with power/crit. This amulet is definitely decent/almost strong on Ranger, but Carrion has more overall damage and the sustain isn’t different enough to be worth running Celestial without Might stacking.

Why Sun Spirit?

First of all, the typical SotF Ranger builds I’m seeing are either a/d s/t or a/d sb. The melee variant is a very effective 1v1 node assaulter, but it lacks focus in team fights. The a/d sb variant relies almost entirely on bleed stacking in skirmishes, which is cleared too easily, and you ultimately end up with very little damage.
Sun Spirit attempts to fix the problem of the a/d sb build by giving it an additional burn, which makes it far stronger vs squishies in a skirmish, and also giving it an extra high damage condition in 1v1s.

Usage of Sun Spirit

Given the fact that I’m not running Healing Spring, my Sun Spirit dies very quickly if I’m being attacked with AoE attacks (think d/d ele or grenades). Therefore, I intentionally do not take Spirits Unbound, and take Evasive Purity (great trait when paired with Troll Unguent). Spirits passive effects have a range of 1,000 so in any engagement I find a place to put my Sun Spirit which is off node, and preferably out of line of sight. This means that it will not die unless the enemy specifically seeks it out and focuses it down.

Traveler’s Runes

Unlike Spirit Ranger, which can stack over 30 seconds of swiftness with Storm Spirit + Tail Wind, Survival Ranger can either choose Traveler’s Runes or Tail Wind. Tail Wind is a decent trait, but as a node defender and duelist, I need to be able to move quickly between points. Traveler’s Runes also allow me to go into Marksmanship, which is a stronger traitline for condition ranger.

Why Marksmanship is good

The first marksmanship trait is decent in skirmishes and cover condi when entering 1v1s. It also proccs Transmute on Engineers so that you can immediately hit them with a more valuable condition. Keen Edge gives you another Survival Skill which can be used to burst with Splitblade if you are paying attention to your opponents health. It also by default gives you more condi clear and fury with SotF.

Owl vs Dog vs Spider

Given that part of the role of this spec is 1v1 oriented, I consider Owl to possibly be the strongest 1v1 pet Ranger has access to. The chill is very strong vs Eles and Engies and allows the owl to land additional attacks as well. Owl is also extremely strong vs both D/P and S/D thieves. The attacks are unpredictable and hard to dodge, and the fast double strike of the Owl means it still does damage if the Thief is standing in Blinding Powder.

If anyone has any match up questions or other questions about how to play this build, feel free to message me in game. I also may add more to this thread later and turn it into a guide.

where does the “high mobility” come from? my major issue with condi rangers is their utter lack of mobility. 25% run speed =/= high mobility.

but it seems really tanky which is nice.

Your reasoning sounds a lot like what I put into my build, and looks quite similar. Though I’m personally not a fan of shortbow and use s/d a/t setup. The mobility sword offers is really handy. Lightning Reflexes + Hornet Sting gets you out of a fight quickly.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAsY3fjMq0yaHL2sQ1aABhaVA0uGu3u29QcDf9JrIVsA-TJhHwAPLDI4kAge/BAPBAA

I’ve been having good luck with the settler’s amulet. The sustain gained seems to outweigh the damage that the power/precision of carrion/rabid would give. 18500 hp with 3300 armor is more than enough with the amount of condition removal I have.

I took healing spring over troll unguent in this particular build for a few reasons. It scales much better with the healing power/regen +duration, works well for team fights and it removes conditions. Along with a water field to leap through with sword. If I wasn’t so heavily invested in healing power and regen +duration I’d probably take TU.

I really like the condition ranger though. Plenty of room for small tweaks that fit how you want to play. Your build looks solid and well rounded.

+1

Solid build. Solid ranger. :]

Personally, I’ve been running this in team que:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV3YjEq0yaFL2sQ1aADhqdLEslArAwdN8CXdBraA-TZRFwAAuAAJeCARLDo4gAka/BA

I used to use s/d a/t myself, but over time I’ve gotten used to the playstyle of a/d s/t. This is the only thing I’d change with the build, but, overall, the build is well thought out and a very good build to use in fights. :]

@infantrydiv.1620, Nice build I take it you mainly run that build with Carrion. Just an idea wouldn’t it be worth taking Sigil of Ice over Hydromancy seen as your not might stacking, I would find myself in weapon sets longer then 10 second rotations. Would really help with keeping your target at range.

Other then that it’s a solid design, not fan running Signet of Stone without Signet Mastery but I can see it working with this build.

Carrion + bark skin anyone? High health pool is hard too bring down if condi! You dont really need that much condi clear imo. It is just my tought tough.

Thanks for the responses guys.

@mistsim, It’s true 25% movement speed doesnt equal high mobility, but it’s a hell of a lot faster than not having that buff. Overall I feel that 25% makes the mobility passable, and at least you don’t feel like you are crawling from node to node…

@Shanks, Overall I like your build, but I would really not consider taking Poison Master over either of the other two Wilderness Survival traits which are just too strong comparatively. Your version of the build probably is just as strong or stronger than mine is against sustain classes like Ele/Engi, but I feel like it could be focused down very easily with a well executed chain cc from thief/warrior/mesmer.

@Shadowfall, I like your build and I find that iteration of Survival Ranger extremely strong for dueling. The main problem I have with it is that bleed stacking is wiped too
easily by other meta classes in any fight larger than a 1v1. With stuff like warhorn shouts warrior and d/d ele out there, getting bleed stacks to stick is an increasingly rare phenomenon for me. It’s one of the reasons why I ended up taking Sun Spirit in my build, because I found that the extra burn really helps vs these celestial tanks with condi clear out the kitten.

@Sol, I actually am a big fan of Sigil of Ice in duels. It’s pretty amazing vs some classes, and especially if you are running a big damage pet like bird or cat (allows them to get to the target very well). However, I do like the fact that Sigil of Hydro is AoE and had a damage stat. A lot of the times on this build I’m in outnumbered situations and hydro allows me to affect both opponents at once. Signet of Stone is an “Oh kitten” button for when I come under heavy power burst or CC. I find its almost necessary for running Troll Unguent in a team queue environment where the burst will usually be coming from a thief or mesmer or power ranger jumping on me in the middle of a 1v1.

@Klonko, Overall I still think Empathic Bond gets more mileage in fights. Bark Skin is exceedingly strong in 1v1 vs power based classes, but 2 people are still going to kill you even with Bark Skin, and Bark Skin doesn’t make that much of a difference in team fights.

I tested this out for a bit today. I have to say the burn uptime from the spirit was disappointing…to me, definitely not worth it over, say, SoR. also not taking Nature’s Protection + Evasive Purity hurts quite a bit.

mistsim.2748:

I tested this out for a bit today. I have to say the burn uptime from the spirit was disappointing…to me, definitely not worth it over, say, SoR. also not taking Nature’s Protection + Evasive Purity hurts quite a bit.

I do take Evasive Purity.