Guild Wars 2

hey all.

i made a thread a week or two ago asking for the “cookie cutter” trap/bunker builds. i tried both out but ended up going back to my glass cannon zerker/scholar build for spvp. now, however, with the quickness nerf, i’m finding it much harder to burst even with glass gear equipped.

so i decided to give traps another shot last night. i went with a rabid amulet and the undead set for toughness/condi dmg. went with spike trap, flame trap, healing spring, quickening zephyr and entangling vines. (i usually use rampage as one but haven’t found it to be very synergistic with a trap build).

so in pvp i’ve been trying to play point defense. that entails laying down my two traps and sitting on the point. when an enemy triggers them, i try to kite them with shortbow (flanking when possible) and reapply traps when their cooldowns are up. when i blow my shortbow skills or they close the gap i switch to sword/torch or sword/dagger or greatsword (haven’t decided on a secondary set yet).

now, my problems: first of all, i don’t feel ANY more durable, even with all of the toughness granted through traits and the undead set, than i did running a fully offensive gear/trait setup. at least with a burst build i could often outburst the thieves/100nades engis/other burst classes before they could do the same to me. now that I’ve sacrificed that damage for some on-paper durability i can no longer seem to kill them first.

my second problem, apart from the fact that i still feel like a wet paper bag, is that i don’t feel like i’m doing very much damage. it seems to me that a major factor in playing a trap build successfully is playing keepaway with the enemy player(s). and i’m trying to do that with shortbow 4+5, the spike trap cripple, and entangling roots. but when they inevitably get to me or attack me from range i just melt and i seem to barely tickle them.

i’ve heard the advantage of a trap build is to force someone to engage you on a point on your terms since they start the fight hurt from your traps. but the traps don’t seem to hurt them that much so they only start the fight with like 90% health instead of 100% and then proceed to kick my *.

however i keep hearing that trap rangers are soooooooooo good so i’d like to figure this out. what am i doing wrong? can anyone help?

thanks for your input

I don’t know what this “cookie cutter” trap build is but I prefer to play with more conditions and use the MM tree instead of Skirmishing.

I use axe/torch and sword/dagger with sigils of corruption.
Undead runes and carrion amulet.
Utilities are Sharpening stone, QZ, and SoS traited with Signet of the Beastmaster.
Traits are 30/5/30/0/5
For pets I use dual birds

Basically the idea is to apply burning as much as possible and stand in fire field so melee takes damage when they are close to you and dodge around and use evades from sword/dagger while bird and fire does dmg.

What’s your build and traits? You could consider dropping qz in favor of a third trap or LR.

um, use 3 traps .

Trait build…what is it?

Qz wasn’t that great for trap builds even before the nerf, I’d drop it. I personally run 3 traps in sPvP.

Same here Daemon. Outside of sPvP, I usually keep Signet of the Hunt on exclusively (it’s nice to run that fast everywhere).

in response to people asking about my traits:

I’m running 0/30/15/10/15.

i was running 0/30/30/something but i specced further into healing and vit in an effort to improve my tankiness.

my major traits are:

skirmishing: sharpened edges, 50% larger ground targeting, trap cooldown reduction
wilderness survival: vigor on heal
nature magic: 33% longer regen
beastmastery: pet might on swap

i am just really struggling with this build. i took your advice and swapped out QZ for another trap. i went with viper’s nest for the healing reduction and increased damage. but i am still getting rocked by nearly everyone. it’s ridiculous. i know glass cannon is supposed to be a “noob”/“bad” build but i seemed to have at least a fighting chance against everyone (bunker, burst, etc) using it. with this build i am just consistently getting my kitten whooped.

would appreciate more input now that i’ve posted my traits. thanks

What… gear are you using? Like, what are the stats on your armor apart from the runes? How much toughness and condition damage does your character actually have?

I see the problem already…your wilderness survival is lower than most trap rangers I know. Most stick with 20-30 points in that field (mostly leaning on the 30 for Bark Skin), which helps quite a bit with the survivability.

first of all i want to thank everyone for their input and for helping me to figure out this problem.

re: my stats/gear/etc, it’s sPvP. so, no stats apart from the runes and the rabid amulet. pretty much all toughness /conditioin damage

re: traiting 30 into wilderness survival, i will give it another shot, specifically with barkskin. (i was using emphathetic bond before.) however i did mention earlier that i was originally traited 0/30/30/x/x and it didn’t seem to make a difference.

I personally think as a trap ranger with undead runes and a rabid amulet, empathic bond will help more than barkskin. You stack toughness and have a low health pool, ripe for death by condition.

If you were going for point defense, I would go with sword or axe with torch off-hand as your second set.

What kind of pet are you using? Immobilize is your friend so spiders and krytan dog may be good choices.

Before a fight starts, set up your traps in some logical order. Flame trap and spike trap on top of each other for instance. Don’t set up traps on the point if you’re doing point defense, it has to be towards where the enemy will likely come (or alternatively, hide in some LOS position so that the enemy has to run by your traps. This allows you to hit the guy with 5-6 traps just as the fight starts. I don’t specifically try to flank most opponents 1v1. I try to los them so they have to chase me and get hit by more traps.

I’ve had a lot of fun using the treb in khylo. Trap up the choke point. You can see them coming from far away, so abandon the treb when they pass the arch, greet them with some arrows, watch them walk into 6 traps, then finish them off.

As others have said 3 traps is the way to go. If you are on a point you should be able to reapply your traps as soon as they are triggered, giving a huge amount of cc and condition damage. Your pet is very important too, you can use dogs for cc or cats/bird for burst. You probably just have to get used to the playstyle, it is quite different to a burst build.

Your traps should be doing most of the damage, followed by pet, and then you. Your job is basically to avoid getting hit while the condition damage and pet do their work. Try energy glyphs on weapon swap for more dodges if that is a problem- also hydromancy can be good against thieves if you swap just after they try and start to burst you. I don’t think torch is needed if you have fire trap btw, but u can try it out- I prefer the extra dodge and cc from dagger or horn for the speed/fury buff. Remember any cc/speed boost gives your pet time to do its magic.

Also note that this is not a tank build- you should be able to win nearly any 1vs1 if you start on a point with traps down, but in a 2vs1 you should lose (if enemy are decent).

Also- try and fit in natures protection if burst is a problem for you and increased pet speed (will help pet stay on target).

One more thing-entangle is great, but RAO is your I win button against guards and engis, and helps with eles a lot too if you havn’t got adept at doging their knockdown yet.

Oh nearly forgot, when you use healing spring use you sword’s monarchs leap to roll out of the spring and then jump back in for a free 1500 or so heal ( u can double click the screen to deslect you target before jumping back in if you don’t want to jump right on your enemy.

i almost want to FRAPS one of my fights and post it here…

the point about setting the traps near the entryway rather than on the point is a good one. by setting them on the point i’m forcing myself to get in melee range or else give them a possible neutralization.

another thing is that i have never liked healing spring. i’m using it now because it “makes sense” with this build but whenever i put it down i can never outheal any incoming damage. i usually die much faster using the spring than i do with heal as one.

spiders, yes, i’m using those. although i’m not quite used to using their F2 yet.

i get what you’re saying about letting the traps do the work. i’m used to my weapons themselves being my main source of damage. so i think there are possibly scenarios where i’m trading blows when i should be more focused on trying to control the fight. so i’ll keep that in mind. however, like i mentioned previously, even though i grasp that the idea is to play keepaway and keep them chasing you through trap territory, fights usually end up with them in my face and me on the ground.

idk. this is all good advice, and i’ll try speccing 30 deep in wilderness again and really try to keep people away i guess. but tbh i’m not all that optimistic. i don’t know what it is with me and this build but we don’t mesh very well at all :P

perhaps i’ll try a bunker regen build next..?

so i just had a good tournament game. i tried to keep them away as much as possible. in a 2v1 situation i’m pretty screwed but then again who isn’t, apart from bunkers. i think barkskin is helping me a lot.

That’s why I like it. Feel like you’re about to die? Bark Skin usually gives you those few extra seconds to survive with. Also, if you are unsure where to put the last of the points, either put 10 in marksman for the increased power and condition duration, or 10 in Nature Magic for the extra health and healing power. Either one will work.