Guild Wars 2

Thanks for all the answers on my questions and feedback. I’m having a lot of fun trying out ranger with this traps and conditions build. The build I’m using is like this but with worse gear.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNQQNAnfVjMq0ua5K2rQ1aABhYVQ73wW2RZbpsiG82D-TVyCABAcCAO+QAAo+gw3fwT1fSUJYWK/k4BAM9RAIAACgje0je0je0m5Mn5Mn5MLEwi1A-w

I recorded a couple of video clips of how I’m playing this build because I would like feedback on what concepts I’m getting right and where I’m not really thinking about the class correctly. (I’m a pretty average player, so I make lots of mistakes. But I’m looking for places where I’m getting the concepts wrong.)

In this first fight, I’m trying to kick a mesmer out of a north camp he has taken. I never could beat him by myself. In this fight, I’m trying to use the traps a lot for their stealth effects.

http://youtu.be/Ir4gQSE4gOI

In this second fight, my friend and I get into a chaotic 2 v 2 v 1 with two thieves and a necro. My friend is also playing a condi ranger, but with a focus on chilling. We end up doing okay, but it’s pretty much a madhouse. (I often roam with Signet of the Hunt equipped and try to swap it out before a fight. This is one of the cases where I forget to swap it out…)

I’d love any feedback or suggestions on the concepts that I should be using. Thx again!

There are some basic things I think you could improve on, for sure. Firstly, if you want to maximize your damage output, you’ll want to use Poison Volley on shortbow and Split Blade at when you’re as close as possible to your target. Because of their cone-shaped telegraphs, the only way to make all five hits land is at melee range. It’s one of those things you’ll want to learn when running shortbow and axe mainhand to get the most out of them.

Skills like Entangle are a good way to set that up. Entangle > Get close > Splitblade/Poison Volley > Swap weapons > Poison Volley/Splitblade

This can help you deliver a huge condi spike (primairily bleeds), especially when running things like Geomany and Doom sigils, as well as the Sharpened Edges trait.

Secondly, you’ll want to stay moving at all times when in combat. It was particularly during the second video that I noticed that you were randomly stopping and remaining stationairy for a second or two for no obvious reason, as if you were looking for something or at something else. Positioning and movement is key in a game like GW2, so you’ll always want to be on the move — unless you’re trying to purposely lure out a certain move, like a Steal from a thief that you then quickly evade with a dodge, block, or evade skill.

Edit: said “sore sure” instead of “for sure” lol wut.

Like Kreed said, the big thing you need to be mindful of is getting used to using Poison Volley and Splitblade at point blank range. You’re wasting the skill using it at range.

A few other things.

• You might want to think about Troll Unguent as a heal. With the amount of movement you should be (and for the most part are) doing you won’t be getting as much out of Healing Spring as you would in PvP where you’re fighting on points.
• You should also consider swapping out your Sigil of Torment. At 23% crit chance you might get better mileage out of Geomancy. I tried to see how often you were applying torment and it didn’t appear to be much. Geomancy would also incentivize you to get in close for Poison Volley/Splitblade.
• It doesn’t happen often, but once in a while you appear to be throwing traps in a location where they won’t be triggered just to gain stealth/speed when the stealth and/or speed may not be necessary.

Entangle doesn’t work on stealthed targets. So wait until they come out of stealth.

Change frost trap to poisen

Thx very much for all the help! It’s a lot faster to have other people point out where I’m missing the concepts.

I had no idea that entangle doesn’t work on stealthed targets. That makes no sense.

I could definitely switch frost to poison. I had frost in there to have a trap that I knew would give me stealth even if it hit, but I think the poison is probably more valuable

Thx again!

Tricare.2946:

Entangle doesn’t work on stealthed targets. So wait until they come out of stealth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6tpq0Z3PtQ

Are you sure that’s still how it works? I’ve used it loads of times on stealthed targets and it applied just fine. The only issue was that the roots were, likely due to a bug, stealthed as well, and thus didn’t become visible until after roughly a second, becoming “revealed” by applying damage. Here is a video of me using Entangle on a mesmer back in October after he went into stealth. He got hit by it, despite being in stealth.

I can confirm, I pvp errday, it works on stealthed targets

Just wanted to say thanks again for all the feedback and help.

This is how the build has evolved based on your guidance.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNQQNAnfVjEq0ua3KmrQ1aABhYVQ73wW2RZbpsiG82D-TFyCABA8AAO+QAAo+gw3fwT1fm4MAkoSwsU+FAABwRP6RP6RPazcmzcmzcmFCYxaA-w

I’m concentrating on swapping close to the opponent and using the 2 skill right away. I’ve put on 15 bleed stacks like that (when keen edge trait procs right when I use split blade, that’s 10). With the poison trap and making sure I’m close for poison volley, I don’t feel like I need either a spider or a doom sigil (we’ll see over time if that’s correct).
Troll ungent is keeping the dogs alive longer.

Still making tons of mistakes, but having lots of fun learning. Thx again for the help!

Just thought I’d make a new Entangle test for you guys. It still doesn’t “work” on stealthed targets.

Tricare.2946:

Just thought I’d make a new Entangle test for you guys. It still doesn’t “work” on stealthed targets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROKv3MM1_8w

Well, technically, it did work because you see the roots and the immobilize procced. It just didn’t proc in time again to keep the Mesmer there. Any chance the Mesmer has condi reduction going on via runes/traits?

Your video does warrant enough info though for Anet to take a look at this.

Oh, I’ve known entangle doesn’t work on stealthed targets for a long time.

I blow it when a thief is in stealth because you can see the vines for 1 tick before they go away. It just helps to see where they are but if anet fixed it, that would be amazing.
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As for the OP:

Keybinding instead of clicking would help.

Also, you need to learn how to manage your pet better. If it dies, you lose a lot of damage and survivability.

This is my trapper build if you want to give it a try:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRAsf3YjEq0ya7KerQ1aAAhaVA0OHa2YgdD0BfQJrIK-TVyAABYoEEhHAAQq/Ij+BAMBl++DQfSA24IAEmyvAAIAM0hO0je0kCAmlVA-w

One thing I’d point out (besides the good points which have already been made) is make sure your stratagy suits who you are fighting. You seem to naturally have a defensive playstyle which is no bad thing, infact with traps it’s often a great way to go, but it doesn’t always work which is what you saw with the Mesmer.

Against a Warrior or any other melee fighter, you can play defensively / passively and let them do most of the work since they will always be coming at you, and thats the perfect situation. But against a GS Mesmer.. he’s more than happy to sit at 1200 range (or even further if he already has phantasms up). He’s never going to coming to you as he has nothing to gain from doing so, which means the jobs is on you to be the one chasing and pressuring him. Playing passively against someone who clearly outranges you will never work, you need to either properly back off out of the fight or properly commit and go at them. Hovering around in range of them but not close enough to effectively use your traps / split blade / flank for SB will only get you killed, and thats exactly what we see happen in your video.

So that’s my advice. Make sure you’re playing in the correct way to get the best out of your build depending on what build your opponent is using, because your playstyle will need to change.