Guild Wars 2

Mcrocha.3891:

Dojo.1867:

Mcrocha.3891:

Dojo.1867:

Dave Pare.2069:

I think everything depends on the actual percentage of damage trasformed in asrtal form… I hope that with very offensive stats (Berserk/Marauder) the damage dealt would be enough to give you astral force but I don’t think staff would be viable in this offensive druid builds: a standard LB/GS combo has the potential to work fine imo even if I’m not thrilled about it… My hopes are directed towards more hybrid builds with the use both of damage and healing power with staff (something like Celestial/Crusader or even Settler with a staff paired with SB or Sword/Dagger with Skirmishing-Wilderness Survival-Druid split taking advantage of bleed and poison)

Anyway, it is too soon to give a definitive answer even though the potential of this specialization seems amazing…the best out of all the Elite Specialization imo, maybe not the most original but definitely the one that opens more build combination possibilities, both offensive, supportive or hybrid orientated.

I also first thought it would be a conversion of damage dealt/healing done but with the numbers they showed that would mean you only have to deal 400 damage (400 * 0.25% = 100%).

The common understanding is that you actually have to deal damage (no matter how much) 400 times (400 single instances). Thus the effectiveness of skills like Barrage that I mentioned.

It’s not 25% it’s 2.5% btw.

2.5% for the healing, 0.25% (1/4%) for the damage.

Correct, which means your calculation is incorrect because it would be 400 × 0.025 not 0.25.

Ok but let’s not be too pessimistic here guys!!! Let’s wait for the first druid beta week-end to conclude and see the feedbacks of both community and devs… there will be reworks and retweets to do for sure about the actual numbers. I have hope this time!!!

Dojo.1867:

Dave Pare.2069:

I think everything depends on the actual percentage of damage trasformed in asrtal form… I hope that with very offensive stats (Berserk/Marauder) the damage dealt would be enough to give you astral force but I don’t think staff would be viable in this offensive druid builds: a standard LB/GS combo has the potential to work fine imo even if I’m not thrilled about it… My hopes are directed towards more hybrid builds with the use both of damage and healing power with staff (something like Celestial/Crusader or even Settler with a staff paired with SB or Sword/Dagger with Skirmishing-Wilderness Survival-Druid split taking advantage of bleed and poison)

Anyway, it is too soon to give a definitive answer even though the potential of this specialization seems amazing…the best out of all the Elite Specialization imo, maybe not the most original but definitely the one that opens more build combination possibilities, both offensive, supportive or hybrid orientated.

I also first thought it would be a conversion of damage dealt/healing done but with the numbers they showed that would mean you only have to deal 400 damage (400 * 0.25% = 100%).

The common understanding is that you actually have to deal damage (no matter how much) 400 times (400 single instances). Thus the effectiveness of skills like Barrage that I mentioned.

Awww!!! I get it, so it would be more related to the atual number of hits rather than the damage dealt (wich means that to charge you astral form faster it would be better to use skills like Rapid fire and Barrage rather than a single 8k on hit skill like Maul for example).

I was hoping it would have been something more similar to Death Shroud in terms of how to build up astral force…. …. I’m very sad now

I think everything depends on the actual percentage of damage trasformed in asrtal form… I hope that with very offensive stats (Berserk/Marauder) the damage dealt would be enough to give you astral force but I don’t think staff would be viable in this offensive druid builds: a standard LB/GS combo has the potential to work fine imo even if I’m not thrilled about it… My hopes are directed towards more hybrid builds with the use both of damage and healing power with staff (something like Celestial/Crusader or even Settler with a staff paired with SB or Sword/Dagger with Skirmishing-Wilderness Survival-Druid split taking advantage of bleed and poison)

Anyway, it is too soon to give a definitive answer even though the potential of this specialization seems amazing…the best out of all the Elite Specialization imo, maybe not the most original but definitely the one that opens more build combination possibilities, both offensive, supportive or hybrid orientated.

I agree, base heal on druid is very good as it is even with no healing power even if i think a bit of Healing power wouldn’t hurt (something between 600 and 900).

The only thing I don’t think is going to work is the combination of longbow and staff… first of all these are both ranged weapons and duble ranged is almost never the way to go. On the other hand something like staff paired with GS or Sword Dagger/Wh could work better in my opinion; or even longbow with whatever other than Staff and druid trait line with offensive stats like zerk/valkyre/knight ecc ecc. A zerker druid with Lb and no staff seems pretty legit on paper but my hopes are higher for hybrid builds like Celestial/Crusader or a mix of condi-healing power or even power/healing power: this because Ranger has never had good team support potential but very good skirmish capability (1v1s, 2v2s) and the druid will provide good support for teammates as well as good sustain and damage needed in smaller scale fights.

I kinda agree with all of you guys but I think there are a few very good pros and a few very bad cons about druid.

First of all the Druid specialization introdce something unique not only for the ranger but for Gw2 as a game, which is fantastic. The healing aspect is very interesting and seems veeeeery strong. The only thing I see as a weak spot is the lack of versatility, I mean the only thing staff and glyphs do is healing, it lacks everything else: there are no boons, a little bit of CC, no stability, only one reflection (if I stand correct), only 1 break stun and very little damage.

Anyway we should consider every aspect of the game as a separate matter in my opinion:

1- it is very likely that druids will be almost necessary for the new Raids content, that’s almost certain.
2- Pve events or “farming” will have no use for healers (maybe druids will be useful in the new jungle zones? I doubt it anyway); simply because 0 dps = 0 reward and the whole concept of events and farming is loot.
3- Dungeons: what good can come from a dedicated healer in Gw2 if dungeons stay the same as right now? I think none.
4- Wvw: in a roaming situation I can see a hybrid druid build put to good use, considering that the numbers on the heals are great as they are even with low healing power. In a Zerg situation I can see a full healing power druid being played, especially in organized groups or guilds
5- Finally, as for PvP (that’s what I’m most interested in): there is a lot of potential here but not as you guys may think; I really don’t think full healers druid will ever be a thing simply because the druid as it has been presented to us would be a too easy target. As it is right now Druid has amazing heals but nothing else, that means absolutely no stability, no blocks, no invulns, 1 break stun on a 40 sec Cd only in avatar form and super low damage: this means that a coordinated group (2 people would be enough) could simply stunlock a druid to death even before he has the chance to start healing which is very bad; just imagine a cleric guardian, triple the healing output he has and take from him all the stability, invulns, blocks and stun brakers he has…he would die in about 3 seconds every team fight.
Hybrids builds on the other hand (something like settler or crusader or even celestial with both survivals and glyphs) would be very strong in my opinion, providing not only great team support via healing but also good sustain and amazing 1v1/2v2 potential.

As for WoodenPotatos thought about healing power…. He basically only plays PvE and yes, healing power is useless in PvE. As for PvP and WvW it is clear that he has no clue what he’s talking about, healing power is underrated but far from useless.

Sebrent.3625:

I just want to point out that if you don’t actually give details about what you think is wrong with the given patch … you aren’t providing anything more than “I don’t like it” … which isn’t really helpful to anyone and isn’t something that can really even be discussed … the “why” is a rather essential part of this topic.

I just didn’t want to waste time on something no one from Anet will ever read…I already did that multiple times but you’re right I basically said “I don’t like it” so let me clarify:

1. Increasng the CD of spirits to 30 sec, removing the possibility to have them moving and the fact that they will die after the activated skill is enough to annihilate the spirit build for a simple reason: their duration is only 60 seconds and this does not allow you to position them strategically before a fight like you would do with engis turrets; moreover their health will be the same which means spirits will be easely killed by any AOE like they do now; plus, even if the boons they will share are going to be good, 1 sec of them every 3 is a joke unless the boons are something like stability, resistance, quickness, fury and protection.

2. Not being able to throw traps anymore will allow high moblity classes (thief, mesmer for example) to kite you around while they attack you safely from ranged. The point is that ranger moblity is not that good anyway so traps could be the most OP 1 shot kill skills of all…but you need to be able to land them: all that your opponent has to do is simply not to step on them and kill you from a distance.

3. Predator’s Onslought on the same line of Remorseless is not fair considering the lack of damage modifiers that ranger already has

4. Same for Emphatic Bond and Wilderness Knowledge. First of all, considering all the buffs condition damage gets in this patch forcing us to chose one between the ONLY two ways ranger has to cleanse conditions is a terrible idea. Second, have you ever tried to face 1v1 a full condi perplexity Mesmer/thief/necro/engi? It’s already hard to do right now as a ranger with both of those tratis on…I cannot imagine how it will be after the patch.

5. Giving us a damage reduction when we have regeneration sounds good (Oakheart Salve) but in reality 5% isn’t going to do much even if the core idea is good: something like a 10% would be acceptable, not less, even with perma regen via shouts.

6. Light on Your Feet is garbage, a joke compared to what they initially presented us. The 5% condition damage and duration increse after a dodge (for 4 sec only) is ridiculously weak: give us back the 10% while moving and this trait would be worth consdering to take instead of Quick Draw or Most Dangerous Game.

7. Honed Axe: this trait clearly demonstrate devs knowledge about ranger (even if they created it). The main hand axe IS a condi weapon and the only stat you cannot include in a condi build is ferocity; even power would be more useful than that.

That’s what I came up at the moment and I hope I gave you at least an idea of why I’m displeased. Anyway these are just my thoughts and even if I hope I’m wrong and ranger will be actually very good after the patch, I don’t believe it right now.

Just wanted to add my voice to the discontent about the future changes. With the last patch ranger was going in the right direction but now…

There are so many things wrong in this patch I don’t even know where to start but at this point I just don’t care: after 3 years the devs kept to do what they wanted even when the whole community was displeased; I’m just going to say that I despise the work they’ve done for the next patch and I’m saying this as a customer who bought a product that no longer resembles the thing paid for.

I’m tired of being asked to reroll for dungeons, tired of playing other classes with my guild mates in WvW (both raiding and roaming) and in PvP.

Loyo.8526:

The ranger dream is over. Warrior freedom is that way.

Thief freedom is that way imo… We’ll see loooooooots of thieves in the near future…..

anduriell.6280:

CETheLucid.3964:

anduriell.6280:

That about massive up to five targets so not that massive.

Most every other class has to worry about getting enemies within a certain point to effectively use their AoE.

Easier in PvE, in PvP it’s more correct to call it AoD since no one with two brain cells to rub together will willingly sit in an AoE if they don’t have too.

Ranger spirits have no such issue. Five targets within the effect radius will be chilled, or dazed, or burned, etc, with little to no tell unless you’re watching the spirit.

It’s a pretty nice mechanical change compared to having to hope and pray your enemy is right on top of your spirit, not having killed it, to use your relatively useless active.

A lot of them still aren’t fairly game changing but again, if you use them right before the spirit naturally expires, you add a little extra something for nothing.

It’s pretty great.

anduriell.6280:

Is the passive is still be the same, maybe that spirit will be yet the only one that keeps being used. But the nerf that dies when used the active and the +10 sec CD makes that even worst.

I’m gonna need a citation for that +10 sec CD bit. I’m not seeing it in the notes.

anduriell.6280:

Also don’t forget that now if you trait the spirits they cast the active effect when dead and after the changes they wont
So there you have another nerf on the useless spirits.

In exchange that trait now lets your spirits constantly buff your party with a 1s boon, every 3s, for a total downtime of 2s without a buff for the duration of the spirit.

Increases the spirits health, and further increases the spirits range for it’s passive and active effects.

Like turrets, but not.
.

Ok how you put it out sounds good. Now let me show you how the spirits works right now:
We stated same passive effects. No boons 1 sec ever 3secs but however, 1 sec every 3? is that a joke? Seriusly please.
Same amount of life before and after traited. They didn’t point nothing about that so i guess it doesn’t change.

Now:

• spririts follow you.
• 70% chance to trigger.
• if dead they will cast the active effect one last time.

After the change:

• spirits do not follow.
• 75% chance trigger. (+5% not much really).
• spirits will not trigger when dead.
• gives 1 boon of 1 second every 3, 2 seconds you get nothing. That’s the same as having nothing.

So forgive me but i still telling you with data you are not right.
The spirits are nerfed again and after this Anet better get rid off them.
So please read the notes because it seems you have expended too much time playing with your ele. I don’t judge you ele is a very OP profession easy to use and rewarding.
I don’t like that one either although i tried hard.

I’m sorry but I have to agree with anduriell.6280 on this: spirits will be useless in a pvp scenario. The fact that they don’t move anymore and that the CD has been incresed to 30 sec is enough in my opinion, considering that spirit aren’t all that good even right now.

Spirits will die almost instantly against opponents with some sort of AOE (every class basically) as it is right now and the fact that they last for a limited period of time (60 sec) does not allow you to place them strategically before the fight as you could do with engis turrets.

The so called “buffs” to the active skills are jokes too: 3 sec of chill on frost spirit compared to the current 1 sec is nothing; 3 sec daze on storm spirit active is good if you don’t consider the terrible active that it gives (9 sec of swiftness, that’s all); 2 stacks of burning for 3 sec on sun spirit passive is pretty poor as well considering that I can use the active (3 stacks of burning for 5 sec and blindness for 8 wow!!) just one time since the spirit will die after that…. And the active skill will no longer trigger when the spirit dies.

It’s a series of poor balance decisions for ranger overall that demonstrates, once again, the lack of creativity and common sense of the people in charge with the profession balance.

Hi everyone, I would like to report this sort of issue that I noticed just a couple of days ago.

I noticed the II trait in Marksmanship does not work, specifically I noticed with the Jungle Spider; the base duration for immobilize and poison is 3 seconds but, even with the trait equipped, the condition duration does not go up at all, it stays at 3 seconds.

I tested it in the Heart of the Mist against some practice golems but I didn’t take any screenshots. I also noticed that the description of the skill does not updates as well (with the trait equipped the condition duration for the immobilize and poison is written in blue as it should be but it remains at 3 seconds).

I’m not sure if this occurs only with jungle spider or with other pets as well but if someone could take a look at this and fix it, it would be very nice.

I hope devs will look at this issue if they have time.

Thanks.

I think the number of games needed to start to learn rotations depends on the player. A general tip I give to people new to tPvP is this: Start with a close point build, park yourself at close to defend it and during the downtimes, when noone is pushing your node, look at how better players rotate and what they do or say in chat. The best would be ofc to be on TS with them and ask questions on what to do.

As a general focus you should be able to understand the mechanics of a game after you achieved rank 40-50 (assuming you didn’t spend all the time in Hot Join).

If you only want to master a certain build or class then Hot Join is by far the best choice you can make: you can focus on fights and there is basically no time queue for games to start.

Arantheal.7396:

Not enough QQ in this thread…
I guess I pack out my old turreteer build and hang-glide in khylo for a bit…
Or I could go to sleep…
Hard decissions.

With your turret engi you can do both at the same time, sleep well my prince.

Lordrosicky.5813:

+1 for seperate queue, seems like a no brainer.

The reason they probably don’t want to do it is because then nobody will play conquest and anet screw over normal players just to give their 40 esports buddys some people to play against (see removing solo queue). Fun for us players is secondary to their pet project of shoving “esports” down our throats.

Why people will stop playing conquest? I’m looking forward to play Stronghold as well but I will not stop to play Conquest. If nobody will play conquest it’s not the players fault. It’s up to Anet to find a way to stimulate us to paly it and forcing players to play something they don’t want in order to maybe have the chance to do Stronghold is definetely not the way (Courtyard in the rotation? Ring a bell?).

Loboling.5293:

Yes a separate queue, but please include build templates for pvp with this new map. So players can switch between different builds.

This would simply be amazingly handy; just having the opportunity to jump into a game, take a quick look at the other team composition and modify your build by a simple click of the mouse. I would pay money just for that. It is so annoying to have to adjust your build or change it entirely every time before the match starts (with only 1 min to do that).

TOTALLY AGREE

Merging stronghold with the other maps is just stupid, so stupid I didn’t even thought about that possibility. And if anyone is wondering I am very kittened with this decision. I’ve never been so kittened by an Anet decision, never once; I disagreed sometimes but this is pure laziness from the developers. Unbelivable. Not to mention the actual gameplay of Stronghold but that’s a topic for another thread.

First of all is already stupid to have Courtyard in the rotation, Death match should be already separate from Conquest in order to avoid players to go for the usual “jack-of-all-trades builds” we are seeing right now. If we want to see some changes to the builds and team compositions and have the variety Anet claims to want (LOL) we simply must have a separate queue system for the new game mode, that must happen, period.

I’m posting just to let you know that there is a variation for the spirit build that works amazingly with an organized team:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjMq0yavKOrQ0aADBp9pPlYFw9vh9KZFRB-TJhHwAp2fAwVAIwDBwYZAA

You’re basically the Ress Bot of the team still having decent damage output and survivability.

If you want to try something different just for defending the close point, something more like a duelist build this other build is actually very strong against almost every class:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEq0yaHLOsQ1aADhq9JEslArAwd8+CXdBrOA-TJhHwAAuCAILDE4hAAa/BA

If there are questions about how to use these builds or anything about traits, runes, role of the build etc… I would be glad to answer and help if I can.

I started using a supportive ranger build lately since ranger is by far my favourite class even though I played mostly warrior and mesmer in the last months. I’m currently using the build Red Tamyr from Made in Meta uses.

It’s basically a celestial spirit build but the strong point are the runes of mercy making you the perfect “Ress Bot”. It’s a very versatile build: you can bunker points for quite a while if you know what you’re doing; you’re great for resses of course and you bring a lot of poison pressure against warrs/eles/engis which is always a good thing; the proper use of jungle spider, wolf and stone spirit gives you a decent amount of cc to support your team spikes on targets.

In conclusion: is this build better than Warrs/Eles/Engis at the moment? NO but it is viable. It’s much more difficoult to make a difference with ranger than with other classes but it is definetely possible so….go go support ranger.

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjMq0yavKOrQ0aADBp9pPlYFw9vh9KZFRB-TJhHwAp2fAwVAIwDBwYZAA

DeceiverX.8361:

Dave Pare.2069:

……………………………….

There are a lot of counters to this, though. You’re looking at maybe having three different conditions on you maximum at a given time, depending on the pet. Every class should be using some kind of condition purge. Just by looking at the classes, here’s what we can assume:
………………………………………………..
(sorry for cutting but message was too long)

I assume you’re talking from a “hot join” prospective because all the counters you listed for each class will never be seen in a single build in a tPvP match and for some classes (ele for example) is just impossible to have all the benefits you listed in only one build.

Warrior: no one uses GS in tPvP for good reasons, it offers you great mobility but it is very underperforming in comparison to other class weapons. Bull charge is another skill never used, telegraphed, easy to dodge and hard to land. Immunity to condis lasts 10 sec and do not include all forms of CC and if you spam your immobilizes on a warrior in berserker stance you just deserve to be killed; warrior can cleanse condis too but you don’t need anymore all your immobilize duration, now you just need 1-2 sec so I don’t care if someone cleanse my immobilize after 1 sec if that is all I need for my entire RF. Projectile reflection on block? Can surprise you the first time if you don’t know warrior is running that trait but the second time you face him you simply stop shooting when warrior blocks or swap weapon.

Thief: hard to defeat as a power ranger but not impossible at all. Everyone knows that a good way to counter thieves is through soft cc due to the fact that they have very little condi cleanse and are really squishy. As i said early i don’t care anymore if my immobilize or stun lasts only for 30% of its duration due to cleansing: all i need is 1 sec to land 90% of my entire RF (and on a thief that’s 8-9 k). I’m not saying that’s easy, I still think that in a Power Ranger vs Thief matchup thief is most likely the winner; from my prospevtive it will be easier to deal with bursty opponent now that I have a burst too.

Mesmer: this is the class that scares me the most: it’s very hard to counter with a single target damage build. At least now I would be able to deal a good amount of damage in the 2 seconds the mesmer is not stealthed, dodging, teleporting or using a clone to body-block.

Engi: another tough opponent but not unbeatable: he has lots of tools to use but is very susceptible to CC, at least with the current builds used in tPvP. The only build that could bother a Power Ranger is the turret build, which is a super overrated build: hard to beat in a 1v1 scenario for most classes but easely bursted down in every other situation.

Necromancer: no, this is not hard. With a bit of intelligence is not impossible at all: usually necros has 1 or no brak stun, 1 condi cleanse, no stability other than elites. If you find yourself agaist a lich form you do as all other classes do: you burst him down in 10 sec, you pop your invul/stealth/block and run or you die.

Guardian: a bunker is just long to kill as it is for everyone; a dps guardian is another story: it is hard to defeat due to his gap closing tools but if you can evade or just survive the first burst you’re in a good position to claim your victory, as it is for most other zerker characters, without counting the fact that a dps guardian has no stab.

Ele: the only problem here is the fact that eles nowadays do deacent damage but are practically unkillable in the short period; this means that a bursty and squishy character like Power Ranger after patch (thieves and mesmers too) will always have a hard time against them.

Anyway, all said so far is from a 1v1 prospective but there is a team with you playing. If you’re playing the zerker/roamer/damage dealer whatever and you find yourself 1v1 often then you’re playing it wrong: the only character that should mostly 1v1 people is the back point defender or at least the person that covers your close point (warriors and eles excel in this role); you as a power character should be where the damage is needed which means teamfights or helping teammates in fights to the sidepoints. There are very few cases that force you to 1v1 people and if you put yourself in that situation willingly you’re not doing what’s best for your team.

in a PvE scenario this trait is fantastic: use sword and trait for pet cripple on crit and you already have a perma cripple build, and you are not considering that even in dungeons you are with other 4 people and almost everyone has some sort of soft cc to help you take advantage of the new trait. If we talk about PvP or WvW, well I agree with you: I would not invest 6 points for a 10% boost to damage, not even it it was reliable all the time.

DeceiverX.8361:

Absolutely the case. Thus why I also mentioned the phrase “current state,” as the RF burst potential has been on my mind constantly since the anouncement. This will push aggressive builds in the right direction and will yield burst damage comparable to most other classes. One also has to remember that in a reduced channel comes in fact some more risk; one dodge can now pretty much negate an entire ranger’s combo if QZ is applied, which I have a feeling many will do.

The sustained damage model really doesn’t work in PvP scenarios, so this upcoming change to RF will give longbow rangers enough punch to take down some more sustained tanking/mitigation characters and really capitalize on short CC windows from pets and PBS.

I’m not very concerned about the possibility that your opponent will dodge your entire RF: it will work just like other burst skills, for ex wrrior’s eviscerate, it is all about using the skill at the right time. The difference will be that you will be able to burst from a 1500 range, without counting the fact that ranger has a lot of cc to help you land your RF. Think for example at a LB/GS build: only with the weapons you have a stun/daze and a knockback on GS and another knockback on LB; all this without counting that you have pets like the Krytan Drakehound that has 1 immobilize and a knockdown or jungle spider with 2 immobilize or skills like Muddy terrain which is another immobilize or even Entangle (now with the CD reduced)! The opportunities to land your entire RF are there and there are a lot of them (remember that with the new stuff from the patch RF will have the potential to be a 1and1/2 sec cast time skill).

Nova Stiker.8396:

Zuik.7158:

DeceiverX.8361:

Zuik.7158:

Nova Stiker.8396:

Rangers don’t lack damage, they lack *BURST

liek necro lacks cond and warr needs more cc this gaem so unbalanced

Im going to assume youve never played signet berserker ranger.

I’m going to assume you haven’t, either. If you think 3-4k autos on a full berserker build which is oh so easily negated by sidestepping is burst, you probably have never been killed by anyone running a real burst build.

I broke this record yesterday on a necro, because the screenshot is of a guardian which as heavies take less damage. Neither were uplevels as usually those die on the 12-16k CnD damage alone when factoring in the ~8k mugs.

I’d also like to point out that a lich form necro does more damage in auto-attacking than my backstab. 20k auto-attacks versus 4k’s… hmm… something about burst or even sustained damage? I’m sorry, rangers in their current state have neither.

Unfortunately I cannot respond with pictures of record number crits in WvW but tbh looking at your numbers in relation to a viable spvp thief zerker output that doesnt matter.

This is posted within the sPvP forums for an obvious reason. Most of the balance changes are aimed towards this and not the completely unbalanced other areas. When comparing viable or soon to be viable builds, signet ranger has a large burst potential.

I’ve fought plenty of zerker longbows with my ele, no matter the rank, it all ends the same. They get stomped. They have no burst.

They have good sustain but the problem is they must sacrifice so much offensive utilities where other classes can go full damage and yet carry defensive utilities.

That is the reason why they cannot sustain compared to other classes. As for bursting? None, 0, ziltch. I’ll rethink rangers might having some burst when a zerker ranger beats me. So far, that day has never came.

The problem with the longbow ranger has always been the cast time of skills (especially rapid fire which is 5sec currently). With the new patch you’ll have the potential to throw your entire rapid fire in 1-1,5 sec (assuming you trait the right things and maybe you use quickness as well). Now being hit by a Ranger zerker rapid fire in pvp deals between 6-9 K damage (depending on the armour rate of your opponent) or even more against a glass cannon builded character like thieves for example. having a 9k damage potential in just 1 sec is a hell of a “burst” if you think that you can throw that from a 1500 range. In conclusion you’re right when you say rangers have no burst potential right now but if the upcoming patch will go the way it’s planned this is gonna change entirely!

(i’ll throw in the link of the upcoming patch note for ranger as well)

http://dulfy.net/2014/07/25/gw2-upcoming-changes-to-engineer-and-ranger/

The build I’m about to post is not mine, and sice you asked for someone on the leaderboard, this is Nìah’s build (32nd on EU leaderboard right now, 8th 3 days ago).

I had the pleasure to face his team once last week but, unfortunately I haven’t got the chance to 1v1 him so I can’t give you any tip on strenght and weaknesses of the build (I haven’t tried this build either). Anyway, even if I would probably make a couple of changes, this is the exact build Nìah’s used when his team (BYOB) faced team “Legendary No Names” on the ESL Weekly cup #32; I’ll link the video as well.

This is the build:
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAsfVjMq0xaLL+rQ0agAha5AEANjhbwdSkDhdBrOA-TJhHwACODAo3fAwjAwYZAA

And this is the recording of the match:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAXa5l56cDM

Just want to mention that during the first match Nìah made a mistake and went for GS instead of SB; he also used warhorn instead of torch at the beginning just for the initial swiftness.
I hope this will help you, even if I think that Ranger is a bit out of the meta right now, as it is for Mesmer (but I also hope that this will change soon since Ranger is definetely my favourite class).

I came up by not using it because it is a troll trait.

well compare this trait to the trait of guardian is wrong. First of all this is not the same role, a beastmaster build with this trait could be a good back-point defender with way more offensive potential then a guardian. For example with the settler amulet and a condi spec this trait would add a good survivability (2k aoe healing with settler amulet). I’m not saying this is the best trait of all time but I don’t think it is complete garbage either.

excelsior.2168:

Something I’ve been thinking about and since I can play with traits without having to waste money, I tried it tonight and it seems to have potential.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQJATRjMqUxaDLusQ1agBha9AEvBQzZ4EcuE3QKzqKqxC-T1iFwAKOEAGOCAqU/ZpSMkKDsqEM3+DAeAAHVacRXQgLAAhAYtAA-w

The sigils on the gs are what I’m thinking of getting. But the gear and trinkets are what I have now.
Pets are allowed to change, just threw in bears because I could. Traits can be changed to depending on situations. e.g. Spotter for piercing arrows or whatever have you

I would probably use this build in just about whatever I do. I have a sword/axe I can use as well. But I was thinking that this could possibly work in small group roaming (where I tested it) and maybe zerg. Stay on the periphery and then swoop in (see what I did there ) to just do your thing.

Again, just played with it tonight, going to try it out more later after finals.

I would try something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQJATRjMq0xaDLusQ1agBha9AEvBQrZw9S0DddKroBqxC-T1iFwADuAAKOEAGOCAqU/ZpSMkKDsqEM3+DAeAAHVacRXAhAYtAA-w

The oly thing I changed about gear is a sigil on LB (strenght).
As for the traits I would go 6 in Nature Magic for the XIII trait and I would take X trait instead of IX.
I would go with Wolf and Krytan Drakehound for pets.
I would take Muddy Terrain instead of SotW.
I would also consider going with Sword/warhorn instead of GS for the extra fury+swiftness.
Finally I would probably replace Spotter for Eagle Eye or Piercing Arrows.

Filterkat.2143:

It’s fairly subjective honestly, based on your team comp, playstyle and strategy. We already have a spirit ranger, 2 guards and a warrior or mesmer. The benefit of the ranger zerker is that you have the advantage of range and can actually provide significant support in teamfights. The theif does provide more damage this is true, I am not going to argue that, but the theif has to be in melee range to do that damage, and has minimal CC. In teamfights on point there is generally a lot of cleave or AOE going on, meaning it is a very dangerous place for a theif to be regardless of if he is in stealth or not. This limits the theifs role and ability to assist in larger team fights as he will most likely go down if he stays on point and cannot cap or decap while in stealth. While I may not provide as much burst as a theif, I can still apply my damage safely on point with additional control.

This build essentialy allows me to fill a theifs role, addmitedly, not doing quite as much damage, but still getting the job done, while also being able to support in a teamfight.

Having run several variations of condi specs for nearly 2 years, and with the 50% nerf to condition damage in PvP, I can assure you, you wont be doing anywhere near the damage of a full power/crit build. Especially with the condi meta being so prevelant, most well composed tournament players should have a few effective condi cleanses meaning most of your damage will be negated quickly once they realise they have conditions. Lets assume a 700 bleed tic, a 200 poison and a 400 burn (this is being extremely generous considering the nerf). thats 1300 per second damage. A condition cleanse will negate a majority of that damage. You may be able to reapply some of those conditions, but not as much as your initial burst, since most of your skills will be on cooldown. You wont be able to apply that same level of condition damage until your rotation is completely off cooldown. By then, the enemy has most likely saved a second condi cleanse waiting for the second burst if he is smart, and once again, a large portion of your condi damage is completely negated.

Meanwhile, my longbow on average crits between 2-3.8k at 1.5 attacks per second, or 2 attacks per second with quickness. thats (roughly) between 60% and 280% more damage per second than you at peak condition damage without quickness. Add an extra 50% damage when quickness is activated (roughly 110% – 330% damage). All of this being direct damage, which cannot be cleansed or cleared.

There is no point trying to fill roles that other players on a team can already do. This build just gives the ranger another alternative role to fill other than bunker/spirits. I know what other ranger builds do, I ran bunker BM and spirits for nearly 2 years. This is just another alternative role that the ranger can fill without being pidgeonholed into bunkering. Build variety improves the quality of tPvP and MMOs in general. There will never be a build that can fill every role for tPvP, otherwise there would be serious balance issues and QQ. This build just provides an alternative to the current meta ranger builds on the other end of the spectrum, for people who may not like to bunker and enjoy more active gameplay while still serving a purpose in tPvP.

If our spirit ranger is away or cant play, I will gladly play spirit ranger for the team, but if that role is already filled, I would rather fill another role than just add another spirit ranger to the comp and this build has proven to be viable and effective for its purpose.

I tried actually a very similar build but the reason I found it unplayable is basically one: thief.

With this kind of ranged dps build you are the perfect target of any thief with a little bit of experience: first of all (as you already said) a thief cannot stay in the core of the team fight, that’s why a thief usually target people who are leaving the team fight (maybe because their health is going down or whatever reason). Tell me what kind of help can you provide to your team when a thief is bursting you down; if every time you jump into a 2v2 or 3v3 fight, a thief just starts focus you ignoring everything else. Your build is great if you are left alone on top of a peak at 1500 range, but seriously not a single thief will allow you to do that, he’s designed for jump to you in a fraction of a second and keep you buisy until his teammates do their job, then, without your team fighting in the point, you are good as dead cause you are not designed to buker, not even for a few seconds and your build is in a disadvantage in a 1v1 situation against most classes other then, maybe, a warrior.

Tragic Positive.9356:

Filterkat.2143:

This does not mean however that you should expect that you can facetank on point in melee against 2 opponents.

The big advantage of this build is the 1500 range, and increased velocity. This means you can do substantial damage to targets from a great distance while staying at a safe range.

This build also incorporates a good amount of mobility with GS and SOTH, and has a lot of built in active defence, making it a perfect roaming/skirmishing build.

1; That means it isn’t exactly made for tPvP.
2; This also means you are not helping with the objectives. (points > dmg)
3; This build has very nice mobility – that’s for sure. But your skirmishing is only mediocre. You don’t provide enough burst, you are too squishy, you are not able to kill any bunker with this build, it’s easy to LoS your shots away from points, and you are VERY EASILY focused.

What exactly is the point of this build? Steady DPS is not much needed in tPvP unless you are capping a point – which you can’t with this build.
Roaming is not needed if you can’t take a point.
If you are only giving a helping hand to your teammates while providing zero objectives yourself … That’s not a competitive build.

I’m aware of the potential of this build. I used to run a similar one myself. But it’s definitely not made for tPvP … Solo arena – might be a better scenario where people actually rush for levels – which is ideal with this build.

That’s exactly what I think: this is a good build, it deals high damage, is mobile, it has lots of cc….but is there a role for using this build in tPvP? No there’s not. Thieves and mesmers will burst you down in a few seconds, their mobility is far superior then yours, you are forced at max range to deal damage while they don’t and you can’t rely on mechanics such stealth (thief) and clones/stealth (mesmer) to disengage efficently as them; and you don’t have a burst. Thieves and Mesmers are still preferables to Rangers for the “roaming role”, that’s the truth unfortunately.

Well, honestly every team with that mesmer build was in a disadvantage, I mean going shatterer with GS and Staff? Makes little sense to me although I don’t know the class well.

As for Warriors: the build almost every team used is horrible imo; HamBow+Soldier amulet+Runes of strenght for everybody? Really? There’s nothing better at the moment for warriors? You definitely could afford going with the berserk amulet if you use warr.

So far I’ve seen very little new builds and originality and it is at least disappointing. The only team that really put something “new” is, as it was predictable, Car Crash.

I was very surprised not to see any zerker/condi warrior or turret engi or phantasm/condi mesmer; every single class was in most of the cases the exact copy of one another. I almost had the feeling that someone just said to teams before the tourney started: “so here are the builds to use for the tourney, have fun and don’t try something new; bye”.

Anyway the tournament is thrilling and exciting, although Car Crash are still the best imo, both for originality and skills.

ronpierce.2760:

Lol.. kitten A t s e, do we have to go through this every other day? xD
A, Spirit rangers aren’t “afk specs”, spirits have a pretty long cast time and they don’t attack. They’re just buffs. Unless shouts and other boon-related builds are afk specs too, spirit ranger isn’t. They’re just powerful, and suffer from animations all looking alike on short bow. They press buttons to win though, even if you can’t tell that a split-green poison shot, a jump back, a daze shot and a snare are something other than SB #1, doesn’t mean they’re only pressing 1. Not that it matters, thieves are the kings of 1 button combos.

MM, has tons of downsides to its passive damage. It has basically no passive defense (outside of DS, which for any MM build actually weakens you the longer you stay in it because you can’t control pets, apply layers of CC, and you give free time for enemies to kill your pets) . I’d love to have evade on every other attack I have, stability, stealth, etc, I guess not all builds play the same, oh my.

PU Mesmer, don’t care. It can burn in a fire. Literally the only build in the ENTIRE game that I can say I actually “hate”. Condi damage + stealth + ai scaling with stats applying massive condi damage doing actually GOOD damage themselves, weakness spam, perma cripple and the Mesmer never once having to try to engage in the fight themselves is pretty lame. Let alone the actual PU trait itself. At least MM has some sort of relation to their AI (MM ccing so AI isn’t useless).

That’s my two cents, BAI! See you in the duel rooms (lol)

Love you.

people still complaining about MM necro and spirit rangers are a bit boring in my opinion: if you haven’t learn how to deal with them at this point then try change your build or your class or try with another game. Try warr, engi or mesmer: these 3 classes are really good against them.

about PU mesmers: terribly passive, lame, Op build. Phantasms damages are unmanageable for most classes.

This is the build I use with my guild mates for basically any dungeon speed-run:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQRBMhx+0JjKUyitqgrgw1iB2DqlBQAzND6AvbRVcxT7NB-TxBEwAJOJAMV+xS9nU7P0R/AgHAwWlgAA-e

Runes of the ranger or scholar works good as well. You want to switch to GS only in situation where you know you have to dodge proprely (ex some dungeon bosses) or to LB in World Events.

Rather then that you go with Sword/horn + Sword/Axe to mantain your highest DPS possible, which is the auto-attack of the Sword. Pets skills are useful to the party for a little bit of extra might with the stalker (especially if your party lacks of ele) and fury with the red moa. Frost spirit is a must to have along with spotter while Sick’em, Quickening Zephyr and RaO are the best option to boost your DPS (or the one of your pet) through your utilities. Healing Spring is just OP and the best healing skill in the game for group support.

Hope that helped you^^

Actually I think that every class with a proper build is viable even for speed runs in dungeons.

Many people still don’t realize that a full berserk rangers with frost spirit, spotter, sword/warhorn and Feline pets would be a very good choice for any party.

Rym.1469:

To all hyped to bring LB/GS with this build to tPvP – Don’t.
There’s simply no place for something like that. You can have your range or snipe(lol?), but the game is around holding points which have small radius.

If I were to make some build with bow now, it’d be Shortbow+Sword/Axe MH and Dagger/Torch OH.

go something like 2/x/2/6/x and put remaining points somewhere, take standard Carrion amulet. Something like a variation of setup for spirit ranger, but more 1v1 oriented.

Had the same feeling trying out this sniper-build in hot-join.

runeblade.7514:

Instead of maximizing the ranger’s dps, I was wondering if there is a build that maximizes the pet dps?

I really want to play as the beastmaster.

The only problem I found by going beastmaster is that, if you really want to make your pet a killing machine there’s no room for much condi removal and this is very bad in PvP and WvW where almost everyone goes condi builds.

you could try with something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNAV8YnMqQJL2yCuCCVLGAaK0kTmCFP89Y2YBogVLA-TsAg2CrI6S1lrLTXyusdN+Y9xuEA

you go with the new gm trait in Beastmastery (to heal you up when using f2 skill), sigil of energy+purity(now procs on hit and not on crit) on both sets.

Sic’em + Quickening Zephyr will grant your pet a huge DPS, while you try to keep your opponent poisoned to prevent him to heal properely. You can switch Lightning Reflexes with Signet of Renewal for a decent condi cleanse if you feel it.

I chose runes of water just because of the Healing power bonus and the extra condi cleanse on hit (very high cd I know).

All you have to do is hoping your pet will kill your opponent before conditions annihilate you.

I did not try this build yet but if you want to try it out and give a feed back it would be appreciate. ^^

mistsim.2748:

Eurantien, i tested 30.30.10 for a few hours and you gotta sell it to me man…i just dont gain enough from 30 in skirm, and lose so much sustain. MoC is nice, but i feel it needs a much larger bonus. pet crit bonus is decent, but not game changing. Tail Wind is sweet, but i dont need it with Pack Runes. already have vigor. rarely find decreased bow CD’s useful.

the main things id gain are the extra crit chance and 20% crit damage, which i could barely notice in practice.

30 in NM gives me: on-demand cleanses, 30% boon duration, extra vit for dat condi meta, protection, and 100 power.

Totally agree, NM is actually really good for DPS builds!

Rym.1469:

Sorry, with all cooldowns on elites being that long, imo it’s just a waste.

If you play tpvp, you’re most likely to be using Spirit of Nature which has huge cooldown. To even make it most clunky, you want to pop this spirit for teamplay to revive and recuperate your team. It’s not an offensive cooldown used for spikes, at any point or situation.

Entangle is a skill which is good in theory, but in practice it sucks, is quickly cleansed/destroyed/teleported from (Mes, Teef), has that cooldown, hardly ever remains for more than a blink of eye or misses completly.
The only thing you really get from this rune is Torment and in this case, Runes of Tormenting are pretty good and more reliable. You already have multiple sources of poison as Ranger and few bleeding stacks aren’t worth it.

It’s a good runeset for Warriors and Thieves b/c they have low cooldown elites. Isn’t the worst option in the world for Necromancers. But Rangers? Nah

I agree, Krait runes are good for low CD elites but for Ranger? Better than ever Undead imo. The build looks very good, I would just switch Rune of the Krait in favor of Rune of the Undead.

I don’t know: honestly RtW looks like a joke trait to me but if so many players found it so powerful I will give it a try. I tryed out this version of a power build after the patch but I found it too squishy (even if dealing so many damages that could work with high skilled players):

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQJATRjEqUyaLLesQ1aAYpYv+YKSkR3DU9EgTWR0kA-ToAg0CnIUSpkTJjSSlsKNsY9B

(I was using sigil of fire+air on LB and fire+energy on GS)

In a very organized team a ranged power build for ranger could work but it is very hard to win a 1v1 with a build like this.

oshilator.4681:

Godforbid rangers actually do decent damage for once.

Somebody must have accidentally killed a warrior.

How dare somebody kill a warrior?!?!?!?!? This needs to be fix NOW

Wow! With this patch devs created more bugs than fixes. That’s great!

now I get it: so the servers hosted by Anet are considered custom arenas. But I get the exp for the rewards even if I lose the match no? What’s the point of putting a limit in custom? I mean i can just go in solo or team and lose every single match and it would still be exp gained: anyone can still farm exp.

same happened to me, apparently if you play in custom arenas you can only obtain 2 reward per day…the fact is, in my case, that I played ONLY in standard arenas. Hope devs will fix this faster than light because it is preventing the progress.

Alegz.6870:

I have same problem. I unlocked 2 rewards from track and now i can’t progress. Is it supposed to be like that or is it a bug?

EDIT: I found information about this.
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Reward-track-progress-cap/first#post3909022

no no, I played ONLY in standard arenas, not once in a costum arena

I don’t know if this happend to other palyers but today I do not progress in pvp rewards despite I’ve played a dozen of matches. Is there a limit to the chest you can get per day or my progression is just bugged?

You could try with something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQRAnf8YnMqQvK2LIOrARLGQaP0EzDTeFmF3jS5UCxDW95B-TwAg2CrIaS1krJTTymsNN8Y5x+gpAA

It’s a variation of the spirit build.

I suggest the spirit build for sPvP; it is still the best for Rangers

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNAV8YjMq0ranKOrQ0agYVQQtHaq/Yy9oUniUHs6zD-T0AgyCpIATBmDMDYSwsgN8Y5xWgjHPPA

this build is very easy to approach with but really hard to master at 100% (landing finishers via sun spirit’s active skill; deal direct damage with F2 river drake’s skill and storm spirit’s active skill; timing spirit of nature’s active skill to auto-resurrect; just to mention some useful mechanics of this build)

this is my suggestion:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMUQRAsY3fjMq0yaBLesw1agYVQQtHcy8Yy9w/dCApMqKs2E-zQCBYhQINC0k3Bi+I0ZSFRjtaqIasKZCRKlY6YpOAwBQIcAGe4hHe4hLEgiFA-e

I would focus on 4 stats, not more: Toughness, Vitality, Condition Damage and Precision (I would renaunce to this in favor of healing power however)

Try Runes of the Undead.

Sword/Dagger combo is great for staying alive.

Try food with condi duration.

Most of all keep in mind that being a commander means Staying alive, the damage you deal is not actually important, that’s why I would go with at least 600 Healing power, regen traits and maybe even Dwayna runes.

Hope I helped you^^

That’s the trick not everybody saw: the cast time will remain the same.

The only thing influenced by the new trait is arrow flying speed: that means it would be more difficoult to dodge your arrows (probably) but……the DPS is not influenced at all by this trait. Read the Wind is a Troll trait.

So beware, Rangers, of this misleading and pointless trait.

I think you intended this build to be a WvW build, right?
I modified a few things about your build even if I found it very good and accurate overall:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQRAsY3fjEq0yaHLGsQ1agYVQQtHcy8Yy9YUdCAlMqKA-zkyAouBRTLgIPBmOAmHLiGbdrIasadAdDmadR1elioVTKAYmDA-w

• I changed the Krytan Drakehound for Wolf (fear is too useful imo).
• I merged Sword and Dagger in the same set (this is my personal preference, I just find myself confortable in having all the evades in one set), I put a superior sigil of venom on dagger and corruption/geomancy on Axe/Torch set.
• The utilities I would take are: Troll unguent (repalce for Healing spring if in Zerg); Lightning reflexes; Muddy terrein; Signet of the hunt (repalce for Signet of renewal if in Zerg) and Entangle
• As for traits I found your choices perfect even if I would give a try to the new poison trait in WS trait line, maybe replacing the Axe/Torch set for Shortbow and see how it goes!

I reccomend the spirit build (especially for tourney). The classic one with storm spirit is still the best in my opinion. From time to time I go with this power spec:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQNAT8YjMqUyaDLGsw1iAY9gw+GsLgzIRGdFQtiV2B-TsAg0CnIeS9k7JzTynsPNsYZx+DA

it’s very offensive and you will die a lot, but it is very rewarding when played wisely. the 2 utilities I recommend to take are “quickening zephyr” and “signet of stone”, the third one is situational, “sick’em” or any other signet could work depending on your needs (I usually take signet of the hunt just to help me run away like a coward when I’m in trouble!!). I use sword/dagger over GS just for the evades and the poison but with this kind of spec I prefer to stay at max range and use the LB to deal most of the damage.

I am currently going with this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMAQRBMhx+0JjKUyitqgrgw1iBili9sfOjDlIPjShqLeavJ-zwxAYrBRTQAILhO5VEN2iaR0Y11YKXioaA-e

I usually replace the Sword/Axe set for GS when I want to dodge properly, especially agaist some bosses!