Guild Wars 2

Salutations fellow rangers! We all know the meta builds and the ones commonly seen. But during my hours of creation for the popular re-port build and now since my return,the revamping of the build ive taken a great interest in small skirmish synergy within the class and between groups mates.

So having said that I’m interested in seeing some builds that aren’t usually seen..but more so in interested in WHY you chose it.

I’m not looking for the next great build,just the next great thinker in the ranger community.so lets keep things civil.

Cant wait to hear all the great ideas!

Jaxx.

Rangers put out a severely underrated amount of group heals and buffs. Whenever I feel like running a weird build I take some combo of Invigorating Bond, spirits, HS, moa, or guard. Or all of the above even. Back when spirits were meta in PvP I would use guard + spirits + HS + warhorn. It’s not that different from a shout warrior.

Moas heal for an almost shocking amount as well.

For sure. The amount of buffs we toss out is insane. What I really enjoy about the class is the synergy. Ie all the amazing things we can do on dodge roll with traits then finding ways to add tons of vigor ECT.

The possibility for amazing ranger builds is everywhere people just need the fire under their kitten to try to make something outside the meta.

I put this build together a while back and have had a lot of fun with it. It’s a melee zerker that works best in 1v1 or 2v2 scenarios.

My rotation starts with casting SotW. Then I’ll throw a Path of Scars (hopefully interrupting them to proc MoC) and while the axe is in the air, swap to GS and cast a Maul. By the time the pull reaches you, the Maul is coming down on them. Before SotW is over I’ll try to get one more MoC in either with either Counterattack or Hilt Bash. It’s possible to get 3 MoC Mauls in on rotation before swapping back over to sword for air/fire damage and dancing around. Whirling Defense is a decent cleave on a downed target to bring their hp down and avoid projectile damage.

As for the trait spread, it’s a 2/6/6/0/0. Two stunbreaks, decent stability (tied in with damage and elite though), and good condition cleansing. Between Empathetic Bond and Signet or Renewal there are 4 conditions cleared every 10 seconds and a full cleanse (or pull to pet) on a 48s cooldown. Okay access to soft CC with cripples and a hydromancy sigil, and good endurance with some vigor and energy sigil.

The build’s biggest weakness is OOC movement speed. Both forms of swiftness are tied to combat (Tail Wind and Pack runes). It’s not terrible though with both sword and greatsword leaps to help move you around. The warhorn would alleviate that, but then you lose Path of Scars pull to Maul which I really like.

Here is an untraditional build I’ve been playing around with since 2 days ago for PvP.

I basically just love the mobility I get from having Nature’s Voice trait with a shout on (which is the Guard utility skill). I used to roam a lot with shouts 2 years ago in WvW, so I wanted to give it a spin again just for the heck of it, but in PvP instead.

I know some people don’t like playing with Guard as you constantly have to reset your pet when you are running, but I got used to it after a while.

I still don’t know about which amulet I prefer, but I kinda like celestial at the moment. I also like how Guard hides my Owl, takes the enemies by surprise!

Yeah guard is super common for Condi Gen builds. One thing that Alot of people don’t know is guard is a great way to activate your pets secondary abilities on command. As soon as they come out of guard while in combat they open with their secondary which is pretty handy!

I use to run a shortbow/sword+horn zerker beastmaster build in wvw, with Quickness on pet swap, might for pet on crit and ghost pepper poppers. I was running owl with wolf. Petswap to wolf was kinda neat. +3 might, quickness, knockdown on leap was sweet. Wasn’t viable, but was fun. I’ll try and dig up the build.

Edit: Found it.
http://de.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNIQNBlYDbkRlOWbZxfFuWDkIUsCg3RRwOzuX3UIqTY1hNG-TFTDwAMeAA9U6N5IAwSHwTlBvU/pyBBAkmBMXAAFKBBY653+DBAOAY6AhAYPBA-w

Weird trait setup anyway. LB/GS Falconer

New take on an old favourite, the CripShot

Hybrid GS/SB build I’ve been running: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJARVjEqUwaDLusQ1aADBpdrQlYHoxCXFHQB-TFTAABbcBAya/BsV6ljmgJeAAbpMAgDBwOq/0xRA4Clg8pDgBTQkCAm5AA-w

Mainly focusses on the short cooldown stuns you have with GS and SB #5
Moment of Clarity is the main focus of the build, with Maul being your spike damage.
The 1k condition dmg and 60% bleed duration allows for some heavy pressure with bleeds (Easily maintains 10 stacks permanently which is about 1020 dmg a tick)

The stuns from weapons and imob from elite make locking down your enemy easy and since its an uncommon build people don’t usually know how to counter everything it deals out (CC, Spike and condi) and it also has decent toughness so you won’t be decimated by thieves, burst eles etc.
All in all I love running this build because its great fun and I love the playstyle and I’m thinking of doing a video on it soon since I have a few good fights recorded. I play it for fun, not because it’s the most viable etc.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEq0vaLLesw1aAGhqZIUrMD3AwdOUuLdJrIK-TFEEABLqGQc6A2SJoBPAAy3fAgjAQjqQ8kSCnUCFlShEVJggLAATKTYRVlQ0M8wBBgQAl3CA-w
My current set up for solo roaming, although it’s kinda slow ooc, the in fight mobility is great and the Defender runes are an incredible boost to sustain. (I know that GS would probably work better, but it just feels so slow and a good amount of Block heals just go to nowhere because you block for defensive purposes at max health, for example rapidfire or BS so i found my self to be better off with good old s/d).
Thanks to SotF and SoR it offers enough Condi removal, and thanks to Nature’s Protection and Protection at Dodge (and the sheer amount of dodges of course) power builds are not too much of a problem as well.

Traits and gear are pretty much optimized for my playstyle though, gave it to a couple friends and they didn’t have much success with it because they just copy pasted but have a different view on how to play ranger

I made a build focused on dodging when rune of evasion came out, which is lots of fun to play at WvW roaming:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAR8YjMq0ya/KOsw1igDhqZJ8B8CgfVhz3tFyYiFmJB-TBCFABAcEAKU9nrUCikyv00Nc9+DJ8AAW4iAEA4A43fz3+Gc+5nf+5n3v/+7v/+bpAqSoF-e

Each dodge will give you:
-protection
-might
-fury(10 sec cd)
-swiftness(10 sec cd)
-removes blind + poison(10 sec cd)
-cripples nearby foes(9 sec cd)

A base endurance regeneration of +65% plus energy sigills guarantees LOTS of dodges combined with the weapon skill evades, and both weapon skill leaps(both with reduced CD) provide mobility thats simply over the top. Keybind your 180° turn and you will compete with fiery greatswords mobility. You can even add in signet of the hunt if youre a lazy one, i however prefer some more “Oh kitten”-buttons on this. Infight you will have perma swiftness anyway, due to dodge/weaponswap effects and the birds screech.

3 points in beast mastery is another personal preference, i simply love running that combo with 2 birds. They hit like a truck with this great fury uptime(fortifying bond) and pets prowess. Good protection uptime plus the reduced pet swap CD will keep them alive easiely. I just think the choosen pet traits simply synergize really really well with this build, but feel free to adjust them to your personal preference. However i recommend using both birds, for dealing the max. pressure while dodging around.

For sure my build has weaknesses too, its full zerk without too much condiremove(healing spring, signet of renewal, dodge effect), so better dodge all hard hitters. If you get used to, the defense really isnt that bad like the full zerk equip looks like. Also remember that 12 sec cd block on greatsword and your superior mobility for disengaging.

Anyway, its a fun build, but a descent one.

I don’t think the food stacks with the trait for +65% endurance regen, mate.

This is what I have been running on my spvp ranger since the march update. Truthfully I don’t play a whole lot of ranger, but when I do this is normally what I run.

I forgot to mention that the combo field:water from your healing skill and the blast/leap/projectile finisher can heal for a surprising amount.

Additionally this build has very good uptime on fury giving a total of 70% crit chance.

4 pts in Skirmishing

• I : Pet’s Prowess
• V: Companion’s Might

3 pts in Nature Magic

Main-hand Axe w/ Sigil of Superior Strength.

I very quickly get my pet to 25 stacks of Might and keep him there. As a bonus, I have several stacks of Might on myself from this as well.

Allocate rest of your Trait points however you wish.

2pts in Marksmanship

• II: Malicious Training

4pts in Beastmastery

• IX: Intimidation Training

Eagle + Hawk as pets.

8s cripple on 6s cooldown with a 0.5s cast time.

I posted those 2 gems a while ago, its time for an update
****
The Medic ranger(first line WvW Zerg build) you think ranger cant bring anything special to a zerg? think again. This ranger build will bring his betters back to shape in no time.
build –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBHPxG2IjK9sWyiFLctIoRoaFBsCg3NROsyObhUIlbdl1SB-TFSDAB/q+jO7P8lSwe1P0syvjfCAGcCAA4gAIKAvC-w

Utility nourishment – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pumpkin_Prowess

Both you and your pet will use stability uptime to revive without iteruptions, QZ (uitilty and on pet swap) for even faster revive. You have like 4k armor while eviving, let’s c them bring you down.

The Zoomaster ranger(cus beastmaster is just not enough, Raoming WvW build)
*
Hi hey dawg, i heard you like beasts ….
build-
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQRBMhd+1JjK0LoNrgFLQgoBEEqlBw82sGSW3HxS8zVcXE-T1BIABppfAgTCAtPBADV/5Ilfnt/wbKBJFAErtA-w

Its basicly a condi healng build with a twist, in combat you have 2 hyenas, parrot and misfire wolf( or Hounds of Balthazar) with swiftness, fury, spotter and fire sprit aura to deal extra damage and apply multy burns(and healing support to keep them alive).

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBHhFakRlOWbZxZFqWDcIUMDgC4ZVksu7hgoqzYqPeNB-TpxFwACeAAFOCAAOBAIOEANLDAf/BA

This is something I run a fair bit in SPVP when I don’t feel like running a meta build. I keep in axe/warhorn more often than not and maintain around 10-15 might stacks on myself and 20-25 on my pet, which combined with 4 points in beastmastery and Pet’s Prowess means my pets tend to hit like a truck. Celestial amulet for well rounded stats. All the might makes the burning from the Sun Spirit do fairly consistent damage to keep up the pressure, plus bleeds from Splitblade. I have permanent fury uptime on myself and my pets as well, which just increases the damage. Pirate runes for the parrot who helps keep up additional pressure. Entangle is for a burst of bleeds and to keep the enemy in place long enough to set up a solid burst from my pet. Between Muddy Terrain, Intimidation Training, and Winter’s Bite my enemy is slowed down more often than not. The greatsword also gives Crippling Throw and Hilt Bash, though I mostly have it for the mobility and the block. Lining up for a sudden guaranteed Maul crit with 15 might stacks on me also isn’t too bad, usually hits for a 3K cleave.

Healing Spring provides a ton of condi removal and great healing, especially when combined with Call of the Wild and the River Drake’s Tail Swipe. If I time it all right I can usually get three AoE heals out of one skill, plus the regen and the AoE fury for myself, my pets, and my team. The Sun Spirit further provides team support by giving everyone a chance to proc burning, including my pets. Between Call of the Wild and Swoop I also have really good out of combat mobility.

Not all traits are set in stone. I’ve been playing around with Agility Training over Companion’s Might to see how much more consistently my pets can hit the enemy. So far I’m not sure it’s worth sacrificing the speed that I stack might on my pet, though. I may also try playing around with taking Nature’s Bounty over Spirits Unbound. It means I won’t be able to bounce from fight to fight with my spirit active like I usually do, but it’d give me access to much longer regen and improve my survivability.

I may also see about taking Spirit of Nature over Entangle and see how effective that is. I have my doubts though. Entangle is a pretty strong move to keep an enemy in place long enough for my pets to kill them. I also sometimes run with Rampage as One when I feel I’ll need stability, plus it’s a damage boost for my pet.

So far it’s an acceptable dueling build and I’ve been able to put out decent support in team fights. It doesn’t have the same offense as say, Read the Wind builds do, but I’m able to fight on point effectively and don’t have to give it up to the first warrior that comes along.

This is my WvW duo roaming build when am feeling adventurous:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVTjMq0yaDLesQ1ag9gadA0And7eog3BXRRBraA-TxyCABA8AAcWZGy6AW4IAcxhAQONBLr+TDXAgqUaMz+DjpEMAACwMnZ28mBczbe0be0bWIA2jBA-e

It is a very odd power/condi build with no traits for utilities. Because of that I only keep Lightning Reflexes as a permanent, the others I switch on the go, depending on which classes will fight.

Despite the trait Empathic Bond and Healing Spring, the build is still weak against condition. The catch is to try to always be the first striker while the players are unaware of their surrounding and then time and land properly the cc’s to have a chance against condition.

I found this build great for roaming with a balanced hammer/gs shout heal warrior using rune of the trooper. The warrior supports by providing heal, condition cleanse and AoE heal by blasting the Healing Spring and cc’ing, giving me room to dps the targets down.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNBHhFakRlKW7XxlFuWDUIUNThRg97GANgzjYGKYUD-TpBFwAPOBACeAAIOEAt2foaZAAHBAA

-Greatsword for obvious heavy damage and defense
-Axe/WH for focus firing a target. Call hawks works well against those who stealth or use LoS as it will continue to track them.
-Elite and signet combo I can get over 1k auto attack on axe which single target is ok but if an enemy has any sort of companion to bounce off it starts to really hurt.
-WH blast and GS leap with healing spring making the most of my heals however often I use it only when I get really low because of the long cooldown.

Overall I enjoy the build since it works really well in some instances. It just isn’t that great of a 1v1 spec and has a hard time dealing with conditions.

Idk if it is untradtional but I run 30/10/0/0/30 Longbow Beastmaster build

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATRjEq0vaFLOsw1ag+ga9DEAjNrK4da0trdBreA-TJBBABScJAA4JAI4+DlVGAA

Thats the gist of it there. In WvW I run mostly zerker with a little soldiers.

Pretty straigtforward build. I fight from a mile away while my pet provides point support.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Stun-Build-Stacking-Damage/first#post4957387

LughLongArm.5460:

I posted those 2 gems a while ago, its time for an update
****
The Medic ranger(first line WvW Zerg build) you think ranger cant bring anything special to a zerg? think again. This ranger build will bring his betters back to shape in no time.
build –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBHPxG2IjK9sWyiFLctIoRoaFBsCg3NROsyObhUIlbdl1SB-TFSDAB/q+jO7P8lSwe1P0syvjfCAGcCAA4gAIKAvC-w

Utility nourishment – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pumpkin_Prowess

Both you and your pet will use stability uptime to revive without iteruptions, QZ (uitilty and on pet swap) for even faster revive. You have like 4k armor while eviving, let’s c them bring you down.

The Zoomaster ranger(cus beastmaster is just not enough, Raoming WvW build)
*
Hi hey dawg, i heard you like beasts ….
build-
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQRBMhd+1JjK0LoNrgFLQgoBEEqlBw82sGSW3HxS8zVcXE-T1BIABppfAgTCAtPBADV/5Ilfnt/wbKBJFAErtA-w

Its basicly a condi healng build with a twist, in combat you have 2 hyenas, parrot and misfire wolf( or Hounds of Balthazar) with swiftness, fury, spotter and fire sprit aura to deal extra damage and apply multy burns(and healing support to keep them alive).

I really like the zoomaster It looks fun for giggles and kitten. Maybe could use Superior Sigil of Demon Summoning if going with a zerg… works even with other stacking sigils on the other weapon too.

This is strictly Theory Crafting, but it’s an edition of an idea I have had. It’s all about melee hybrid damage/pressure with an enormous amount of immobilization/control. It’s planned around me, so it’s a Sylvari high Silver Ranked so full stacks/grasping vines. I may build it exotic and give it a whirl as I think it has incredible Troll Value =)

I’d like your thoughts.

http://tinyurl.com/pzfalwl

My main concern is condition control but if pressed I could use Empathic Bond to bolster but I hate gimping the pet.

I was able to 1v2 against a DD Zerker thief and shatter Mez in WvW last night with this build….
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATVjEqUva7KusQ1ag8gaVA0+IS4fg9GcCtQJbIK-TlTDABzpJAhjAw37P4kSkDeAAJcBAATJ4LqmAlSouUeAnOAeUzAATERfIAIEgitA-w

Treeoflife.4031:

I was able to 1v2 against a DD Zerker thief and shatter Mez in WvW last night with this build….
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATVjEqUva7KusQ1ag8gaVA0+IS4fg9GcCtQJbIK-TlTDABzpJAhjAw37P4kSkDeAAJcBAATJ4LqmAlSouUeAnOAeUzAATERfIAIEgitA-w

Your build kinda popular atm(so not so “untraditional”), this was posted like a week ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja82voSUMxk

Kolisch.4691:

LughLongArm.5460:

I posted those 2 gems a while ago, its time for an update
****
The Medic ranger(first line WvW Zerg build) you think ranger cant bring anything special to a zerg? think again. This ranger build will bring his betters back to shape in no time.
build –
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBHPxG2IjK9sWyiFLctIoRoaFBsCg3NROsyObhUIlbdl1SB-TFSDAB/q+jO7P8lSwe1P0syvjfCAGcCAA4gAIKAvC-w

Utility nourishment – https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Pumpkin_Prowess

Both you and your pet will use stability uptime to revive without iteruptions, QZ (uitilty and on pet swap) for even faster revive. You have like 4k armor while eviving, let’s c them bring you down.

The Zoomaster ranger(cus beastmaster is just not enough, Raoming WvW build)
*
Hi hey dawg, i heard you like beasts ….
build-
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQRBMhd+1JjK0LoNrgFLQgoBEEqlBw82sGSW3HxS8zVcXE-T1BIABppfAgTCAtPBADV/5Ilfnt/wbKBJFAErtA-w

Its basicly a condi healng build with a twist, in combat you have 2 hyenas, parrot and misfire wolf( or Hounds of Balthazar) with swiftness, fury, spotter and fire sprit aura to deal extra damage and apply multy burns(and healing support to keep them alive).

I really like the zoomaster It looks fun for giggles and kitten. Maybe could use Superior Sigil of Demon Summoning if going with a zerg… works even with other stacking sigils on the other weapon too.

I dont think you’ll be able to keep your minions alive more than 5 sec in zerg fight
(hyenas and parrot are very fragile).
But definitely fun for giggles and kitten while roaming.

for roaming only
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQNAR8XjMq0yaDLWsw1agJhqdAUtLw7eYW/YXhwB/O9A-T1CHABjpb4PVXA4hA48RAQt9HUSJSUKBNSZ0SKNQUNiAuAABAQAu5NzmtZwP/5P/5P/Z38m38m38mlCwMtWA-w

Nado.8324:

for roaming only
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQNAR8XjMq0yaDLWsw1agJhqdAUtLw7eYW/YXhwB/O9A-T1CHABjpb4PVXA4hA48RAQt9HUSJSUKBNSZ0SKNQUNiAuAABAQAu5NzmtZwP/5P/5P/Z38m38m38mlCwMtWA-w

I used to run a nearly identical spec except I used berserker gear and natural healing. Very effective for 1v1s and if you get outnumbered, not many can catch you.

LughLongArm.5460:

Treeoflife.4031:

I was able to 1v2 against a DD Zerker thief and shatter Mez in WvW last night with this build….
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJATVjEqUva7KusQ1ag8gaVA0+IS4fg9GcCtQJbIK-TlTDABzpJAhjAw37P4kSkDeAAJcBAATJ4LqmAlSouUeAnOAeUzAATERfIAIEgitA-w

Your build kinda popular atm(so not so “untraditional”), this was posted like a week ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja82voSUMxk

Well its not meta and still pretty new….so i consider it to be rather nontraditional. But that’s just my opinion i guess

I had a couple roaming thieves after I killed them thank me for not running that stealth trap build yesterday. Apparently it’s shutting them down so badly they appreciate being stomped by different ranger builds.

Poor guys, we now have 4 popular builds that completely destroy the average backstab thief.

Fluffball.8307:

I had a couple roaming thieves after I killed them thank me for not running that stealth trap build yesterday…

Haha, how the tables turn!

I don’t feel that it’s an antraditonal build that much but a custom one, yep. A kind of hybrid bunker i would say but with a great damage potential when full stacked in WvW compared to the amount of sustain. The one am curently using for few days :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YnEqEqoflfltssswXwgFUtctMghQ1uFC2SgVA4uIehbOlVUk3IB-TFFEABh/AAsSZQcaC2SJ4BXAAAOCCNqChbaEgTHQCHggsPYAPpUIKlMJqSATKh6UdlQ0Qkz+D0pB5hDIQAAEgZuzsZbGZOzJ0CN3coDdoDdolC4utWA-w

Quiet funny to play :