Guild Wars 2

Yeah, you´re right, totally forgot about EU / NA.
For the servers, im sure to test stuff in wvw EOTM is not that bad… Making it server-dependend reduces possible meet ups, i feel

This topic was around already, but it got lost somewhere in the depths of this forum.

I thought it would be nice to have a sort of “mentoring” going.
New players that are interested can look into this thread and search for experienced players that want to help them with getting into the game.
What exactly that help would be, depends on these two players.

I´d suggest to introduce your preferred playstyles, times, classes and types (solo pve, raids, fractals, dungeons, worldboss, roleplaying, pvp, wvw, etc) so it is easier to “meet up”.

Any new player that sees a fitting mentor can write them in game or via the forum message and ask for help.

Ill start

Im Joker, playing since launch on an EU server.
I play some dungeons and high fractals
i solo roam and zerg in wvw, i play pvp (Platin lvl atm)
I can help with generell gameplay, world completition, personal story, getting into different classes, getting into pvp.
I play Necromancer, Guardian, Ele and Ranger main and can help with builds, gear, roles and rotations
I have basic knowledge in all classes and can help getting into them, but it is not as vast as with the ones i already named…

Message me ingame or wispre me

*edit: Put information wether im on EU or NA in…. ty to Danikat for pointing that out

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Master_Maintenance_Oil
it converts a percentage of your precision (3%) and healing power (6%) in concentration.
Every 15 points concentration give 1% higher boon duration.

The build i run doesnt really use healing power, i only have a few trinkets in my inventory and swap them in if needed. The 3% that is converted from precision ist useful though, i run precision on every item, so its quite high and it gives round about 4.68% longer boon duration i think

Edit: Calculated the boon duration from the utility i have and corrected it (4,68% )

Druid is another good option. Although its DPS in PVE (Raids/T4 Fractals) is not good, it brings a lot of offensive support and some healing. If specced for it, it can also be played as a pure healer, although you´d need to carry around another set of gear for solo play.
Condition Druid/Ranger is also near top tier dps in Raids/Factals with offensive support.

In pvp it can be a nice Supporter/bunker and also a burster/roamer in wvw or smallscale.

All that can be achieved, not perfectly, but fairly well with only 2 or 3 different builds, so its not thaaaaat expensive…

You will always get a spot in dungeons/fractals/raids with druid, also in pvp and solo roaming. Zerging in WvW can become a bit difficult, because there are other classes better for that (Guard, War, Rev, Ele, Necro)

Hey man.
I had a prepatch build with 67% boon duration (100% after weaponswapping with concentration sigill) that worked without any boon duration runes, so i could use some other.
It “just” used Fried Golden Dumplings for 20% more boon duration, and “normal” utilities.
Every class has a boon duration traitline, make use of that.
I used commanders stats on armour and some weapons (Power/Precision main, Toughness / Concentration minor) and achieved 67%

After patch i was forced to go complete commander stats (all armour, weapons, trinkets) except 1 trinket (Amulett, thats still berzerker) and in addition to that i am using superior maintenaince oil… get to 67.7% boon duration.

Keep in mind though, that this is a personal choice of mine, if you slot boon duration Runs (Durability, water, etc) you can achieve 67% boon duration way easier (100% after weaponswap with superior sigil of concentration)

I like to have free rune choice, so i invested in commander trinkets and armour…

1. Go to metabattle.com.
2. Take ranger/druid shoutbow berzerker build
3. Slot Signet of the Hunt for unblockable combined bristleback/rapid-fire burst
4. Kill DHs while they feel safe with shield of courage
5. Watch them cry about OP rangers
6. Search for that shield blocking warrior…
7. Repeat

I think working with the pet mechanically is great.
What about:
Ignore the next incoming CC, your pet inflicts that cc on its next attack to a foe. Gain Attack of opportunity. CD 40 secs

Check out this Video:

it looks waaaaaay better at night, worthy for a legendary hammer.

night time starts in the middle of that video…

Hey all.
I had lots of fun with a bursty guardian build in unranked, i thought it was worth sharing with you.
It has its weaknesses, for sure, but has awesome AoE burst and it is not completely useless.

This is the build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQNArdRnkIClDhVDBeDB8Dhl7hq6ACg096dLhWQe+v/9H-TphIABcfEA2/QAo/+DA8AA8/EAcUZAA

Use Focus #5 + Judges Intervention + Whirling Wrath and enjoy the show…
10k AoE bursts at least is what you will be getting, i usually get over 12k.

If you get focussed heavily, you wont be able to stay alive for that long, but its a fun burst build for unranked….

Have fun, i know its not perfect

The Joker

Skullface.7293:

If you want to keep the damage from a/t but still keep the mobility from s/d, why not put a/t instead of shortbow? Imo shortbow doesn’t apply enough pressure to be a great condition weapon for ranger, hence why I prefer the a/t + s/d combo when playing conditions. I also tried to use staff in a condition build but it’s really not that great sadly to me. With torch and your traps you can play around that to kite. Where shortbow truly shines tho is when someone tries to escape.

I’ll try streaming my PvP gameplay of condition druid when I have free time

Yeah, i played A/T & S/D Condi Trapper Pre-HoT for ages in WvW and it was awesome. That build was hilarious!

I wanted to give shortbow another try, since its been buffed a couple of times now and i think it is not completely useless.
Also, Light on your Feet harmonizes great with shortbow, improving its attacks while flanking, so it becomes better. Sadly only in situations where you are on the offense. You will mostlikely not hit enemies from behind with shortbow, if you are on the defense (although there maybe exceptions).

Mobility and Survivability are not bad with Shortbow in general, its just S/D´s is better…

I will definitely give it a try, although i feel, like i dont need the survivability (at least in unranked…) that S/D adds, so it has little to no value for me here and i prefer the higher sustained dmg output of shortbow.
It definitely comes down to personal preference as well as the skill level of the opponents you face.
In ranked, S/D might be better, i will definitely give that a try.

Yeah, Spike Trap offers nice utility…
I think taking it over another survival skill in a condition build really comes down to personal preference. Like any other utility skills it’s also stronger against certain classes and team comps and weaker against others…

Hey all.
After some further testing with the builds and improvements you guys left me, im coming back for some more feedback here.

The changes “ShadowPass” made to my build (He started the threat “Ranger Questions? Ask here!”) i went into unranked (so take it with a grain of salt) and tried it.

Here is the the original:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV3fjEqQ7KWuCusAVLWcEsmvVsqDAnUfqZVmAwkryVyxOD-TZRAQB1Y/BOcEA8wFBAAPAANWGAA

Here is the changed build, from ShadowPass:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQHL2uC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFAnV/qpVmAwor0VyxOD-TZxHQBXY/hCeEAAwFBwgPAA+VGAA

ShadowPass Pointed out, that i lack a lot of mobility with this build, so he swapped A/T for S/D.
Although mobility is higher with this build and survivability increases through 3 more evades, i feel like a lot of the sustained condi pressure from A/T is missing. S/D is more melee oriented, meaning to do dmg with this weapon set you have to be up close, standing in point and inside of AoEs. The 3 extra dodges you have access to (one of them being the very situational S #2) will be drained quite quickly in melee range.

Having a bit more sustained condi pressure from range, while your traps are on cd (especially in teamfights where other roles can stay on point) seems to be the better solution for me.

The 3 additional evades and the higher mobility S/D offers, dont make up for the need to be in melee range and the lost sustained condition pressure.
A/T offers a bit more mid ranged combat, meaning you wont be in AoEs that much.

The utility changes ShadowPass made are very good, the extra condi clear with Muddy Terrain having a lower cooldown than Lightning Reflexes is very nice and the escapability stays the same. I thought Spike Trap is better, for proccing Ancient Seeds and because it is AoE, meaning it can proc multiple at once.

I tried taking Shared Anguish instead of Ambidexterity as well, it definitely gives more time against classes with a CC opener (insert any class here).

Ty for reading and pls give feedback

Thank you for your answer, I will definitely give it a try and give feedback

@Fluffball, I see your point, traps are weak, because they require you to get up close and they can be easily avoided. In conquest its a bit different, because it revolves around the point… To play somewhat effective, you will need to be on point sooner or later, making traps a bit better already.
I agree with you, I won’t fight a plain 1v1 with this build, but conquest makes the somewhat viable.
And yes, like you and me said, it’s quite weak against burst damage….
Maybe it works in unranked because it’s unexpected, I will do some further testing in unranked and in ranked off season, to not destroy someones rating…
I’ll update this post regularly.

I have my favorites for HoT pets:

Juvenile Tiger: O P Onehit Kill
Juvenile Smokescale: O P Melee Instakill
Juvenile Bristleback: O P Range Instakill
Juvenile Electric Wyvern: O P Cc Instakill

No Fire Wyvern cause that dude sucks (In my opinion…)

Hey ShadowPass. I just posted a build on the ranger forum, and im curious of what you think about it it is a hell of a lot of text, feel free to not go through if you dont want to, the build is linked at the very beginning I mained ranger since launch as well and i am also quite sure about what i am doing, but it never hurts to get some more things told, i might not saw myself that time

Heres the link to the thread, ty in advance

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Guide-Condition-Druid-PvP/first#post6640682

At last, the teamsupport capabilities this build has are very few. You can stealth rezz some teammates by exiting CA, and you can aoe heal your team a bit with CA #3 and #4, but these are very situational, and might not even be worth it, because the healing is quite small, given this build has no healing power.
I would put it somewhere around the meta guard, thief and warrior, in terms of teamsupport, meaning close to none.

Reflect will luckily not negate your burst condition dmg, but it will cut down your sustained condition pressure quite a bit, because nearly all of your weapons skills are reflectable keep that in mind before happily auto attacking an ele with shortbow…

That is everything i have, please ask me, if you have any further questions, i will be happy to answer them.
And please take it with a grain of salt, i played it in unranked, where a lot of players dont really know what they do.
Please be easy on me, english is not my mother tongue, i will certainly have some grammatical and typign errors somewhere in here

All feedback is welcome.
TheJoker

DEFENSIVE
This build relies heavily on kiting to stay alive, crippling the enemies with your traps thorugh Trappers Expertise or even immobilizing them on the run with Entangle/SpikeTrap. Dropping a Bonfire while kiting also is advised, because even two stacks of burning can hurt and keep the pressure on yourself low.

I run sigill of energy on both weapon sets, meaning i can dodge alot. Through the minor trait in Wilderness Survival, Natural Vigor your endurance also recharges a lot faster, especially with the vigor boon, you will have from using Lightning Reflexes. Your shortbow #3 skill is an evade as well, it also moves you away a bit from the enemy you are targeting. Shortbow #3 gives you 9 seconds of swiftness wether it hits the target or not, its cooldown is 6 1/2 seconds traited, meaning you can maintain permanent swiftness on yourself, in- and outfight, making it harder for your enemies to get you. You can also use this skill to evade big hit attacks if you are immobilized, the evade will still work, even if you wont move. This is a lifesaver a lot of times.

The defenses of this build rely on crippling and kiting the enemy so he cant get to you. In the meanwhile, your heal Troll Unguent can tick, healing you over time, together with the passive ticks from the rune (Dolyak) and some regeneration you might have from Oakheart Salve or teammates.
Troll Unguent and Dolyak Runes charge your CA really good. Neither pets, nor condi dmg charge it, so you healing is the only real good option for charging you have. Thats why i chose Dolyak runes and Troll Unguent.
Traited survival skills remove two conditions when used, making Troll Unguent, Lightning Reflexes and Entangle your go to condi clears WHEN UNDER LIGHT pressure. If you get condi bombed and focussed down it is better to enter CA to remove all conditions, use CA #3 and exit it right away for stealth and superspeed, allowing you to safely cast Troll Unguent to heal. Dont waste three utilities on condi clear, if you dont have to.
Troll Unguent heals over time, so dont cast it if you are already below 25 % health. I usually cast it somewhere between 50% and 75% health, depending on the situation.

Your dodge rolls give you 2 seconds of protection, giving you some defenses against power bursts, like thief, warrrior or guardian.

All in all, your defenses rely on kiting and letting your passive regen tick, while using your aoe conditions to maintain pressure on the enemy.
This also means, if you are under heavy power pressure, without any possibilities of making it out, you will die quite quickly, because you have little to no burst healing, making heavy bursts your biggest weakness. I´d say power bursts even more than condition ones. Also, you have no access to stability and only two stunbreaks, it comes down to evading a lot.

OFFENSIVE
The insane condition burst this build is capable of requires almost always any form of immobilize or hard CC, so that the enemy is forced to stay in your SpikeTrap, FlameTrap and Bonfire. The most reliable way of maintaining immobilize or hard CC are Entangle or any CC combined with Ancient Seeds, proccing another Entangle.
More situational, but also viable are Shortbow #4 from behind (another immoblize) or chaining the 2 CC´s the electric wyvern has, Lightning Assault and Wing Buffet. It is important to use Lightning Assault first, because the Launch has 0 Range, which leads to the enemy standing in your skills one or two seconds longer.
The last way to put some form of CC and immobilize out, is CA #5, channeling it to the end will lead to another immobilize. I only channel it to the end, when i see enemies not going out of its radius. The slow and damage during the channel is a nice addition, but the main goal is to immobilize the enemy with the last pulse. It shines in teamfights, where it can be easily over seen with all the fields and skills flying around. A lot of times i find myself not even using it in a 1v1, if i feel like the enemy is an okaish player, because they will just run or dodge out, making me a sitting duck while i cast it.

Depending on if the enemy has stability or not, the opening burst is a bit different:
Without stability, drop FlameTrap and SpikeTrap. The CC from Spike Trat will proc AncientSeeds for immobilize and even more bleeds, so dont waste your Entangle, if the enemy has no stability. Time to drop bonfire and add covering conditions, use Axe #3 and Shortbow #2 and #4 for that. Using Axe #2 while very close to the enemy will add another 5 stacks of bleeding, same goes for shortbow #2, which will add 5 stacks of poison at close range.

With stability, you wont be able to proc AncientSeeds from any form of CC, so thats when your entangle comes into play. Use it and drop FlameTrap or Bonfire after that. This time safe SpikeTrap and use it as soon as stability runs out. Add covering conditions as well (see above).

A pretty nice way of dropping either form of aoe burst is to double or single dodge on point, drop/use the relevant skills and Lightning Reflexes back out, making sure you´ll get out nice and easy. Because this will put one of your only two stunbreakers (other being CA) on cooldown, make sure you have CA charged, just in case you get 1ed or focussed.
This can lead to a strong teamfight condi burst, with 5-7 burns, 15 bleeds, poison, and cripple. The immobilize also makes it easier for your team to focus fire, and to burst further.

In 1v1 or 2v2 on side nodes, a lot of ppl will get around your big burst, simple because all your condition bursts (Entangle, Bonfire, FlameTrap, SpikeTrap) have fairly obvious casts.
In this situations, Electric Wyvern with the CC and Shorbow #5 can help, as well as pressuring the enemy with shortbow #1 and #2 and axe/torch #2, #3 and #4. As soon as the start to block they feel safe and 90% of the ppl wont dodge anymore. Time to Entangle or SpikeTrap now (both are unblockable), depending on stability or not (look above). Works great against mesmers, warriors and guardians and okaish against engineers, revenants and thiefs.
Your bristlebacks F2 damage is okaish. Not as good as it would be with power druid stacking might and running Beastmastery, but it is enough to panic some low-life professions and is enough to get your condis going against a Diamond Skin ele. This is also more reliable when fighting 1v1/2v2. With minions, pets and gyros flying around in team fights and the amount of blocks and reflects, F2 barely hits its target. Keep that in mind, before using it. In that situation, just use F1, the passive skills bristleback has add more bleeding and some aoe dmg.

If the enemy tries to run away, there are a lot of options you have. Axe #3 with chill is a very nice one, Shortbow #4 (immob from behind/sides, cripple from the front) and #5 (stun from behind, daze from the front) are also very good options. Shortbow #5 can proc AncientSeeds again, if its not on cooldown. Also just auto-attacking with shortbow can easily lead to 12+ stacks of bleeding, so dont underestimate that , especially if the enemy is low health. Axe/Torch #4 has 1200 range which is also useful to add some range pressure.

An essential part of this build, is Light on your Feet, which makes shortbow even more powerful, also in teamfights, because of piercing projectiles. Even stronger are the increased condition damage and duration after dodge for 4 seconds. This only works infight, so if you feel like you can “waste” a dodge to increase your dmg, go for it.

Thats it for the most important offensive rotations, there are a lot of other ones, depending on playstyle, pets and opponents you have.

Hey guys. I want to show you my druid pvp build, that i played in unranked and had quite some fun with it. I will go into it very detailed so prepare for a lot of text. I will also put this into a couple of posts, because it is so long.

I play nekro, ranger, warrior, mesmer and guardian in pvp since launch, im at platin t1 at the moment, though i propably have decay right now, due to playing this in unranked so much and not playing ranked that much during the last week.

Before i might take it into ranked i want to get your feedback. Pls comment and share your thoughts with me, strengths and weaknesses you might see. I hope you can learn something from it and give me good feedback.

Here is the build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV3fjEqQ7KWuCusAVLWcEsmvVsqDAnUfqZVmAwkryVyxOD-TZRAQB1Y/BOcEA8wFBAAPAANWGAA

The idea behind this build was to find a possibilty to pressure even bunkerish/bruiser builds of point, mostly utilizing unblockable condition pressure, mainly Entangle , FlameTrap and SpikeTrap.
In a meta with lots of blocks, passive defenses and immunities, having a skillset that has more than one heavy hitting unblockable skill can be very strong – so far the idea…

I will go over the offensive skills and utilities, the bursty one and the sustained pressure one first and than follow with some defensive rotations i use.

Renewed Focus is an incredible powerfull skill. Making it refreshing the virtuos early on would make it incredible strong. RF is balanced at the moment, because there is a way to counter it with condis. Even that is not a hardcounter, the guard can remove them before popping RF.
Right now, RF is a “pay off” meaning that you need to sacrifice some time, before getting the virtues back.
In addition to that, RF has a 3 second duration, meaning you can LoS, have refilled endurance and propably have some cooldowns back you can use to play defensive.
Really good players will expect the Virtue/Wings of Resolve and try to interrupt, dodge their interrupt and use Virtue/Wings of Resolve. Or use F3 and block it…

I think its not a problem with stacking sigils in general, but only with the new one. With every other sigil you can swap weapons etc

Like i said in my first post, i´d prefer to not use runes for it, because i want to use rune of the trooper for condition remove.
Therefore all my boonduration has to come from stats/traits/bufffood or anything else i dont know yet

Traits and bufffood give me 40%, i need 67% base to get to 100% after weapon swap wit superior sigil of concentration, so im missing on 27%.

I will definitely try the new sigil, thank you guys

Hey all.
I’m working on a build that has 100% Boon duration after weapon swap, making use of the 33% increase with sigil of concentration.
I run 4 shouts and want to use rune if the trooper for condition removal, so I won’t get any boon duration increase through runes.
I figured, if I run a complete (all ascended) commanders armor and weapon set, a commanders backpiece, and an exotic snowflake thingy with a platin doubloon, I’d get to 67% with traits and food. Bountiful sharpening stones are too expensive to craft, so that won’t work…
Ascended commanders trinkets are impossible for me to get, because I do very few pve.
Do you now of any other way I could reach that 67%
Ty

Hey all
I would love to have the fractal condensator, but I don’t have enough gold to buy all the 250 ectoplasmglobs I’d need. So if anyone has some spare ones I’d be sooo happy

In my opinion, carrying in GW2 is only possible if you choose to go for dmg and if you are able to rotate good. Supporting and bunkering won’t help your team if they are not able to kill anything. For mobile and high dmg classes, at the moment id say, thief, power war and longbow ranger are the best. All are quite mobile and can burst fairly well. Maybe power mesmer is another option, but I never tried that. Having that in in mind, it is quite possible if you really are better then the most ppl in that game, your or the enemy team.

Carrying doesn’t need to be easier, the enemy team has the same problems as you, and you can really feel the difference if they have one good thief or war for example.
A lot of players think of themselves as better and look at the mistakes of their teammates and won’t realize their own.

It is possible to carry, even if you have bad teammates.
Tell them what NOT to do and you are good to go. And try not to be unfriendly or salty, there’s no safer way of demotivating your teammates if you do that.

1. Don’t camp a point the whole game if no one is attacking you.
2. Don’t run into a fight where you will be outnumbered and die
3. It’s better to leave a fight and live, instead of stay there and die.
4. If you won a team fight pls dont just leave the point and spread across the map.

If they listen to that, you have a way easier time carrying the game by decapping, +1, and not getting outnumbered yourself.

So I dont think carrying should be made easier in any way! It is possible and it is not as hard, if you really are a better player.
After all it is a teamgame and you should help each other out.

Thoughts?

Yeah, you are right, but because the roots reapply 1 second of immob every second, it won’t apply again after you ported out.
So you have 1 sec min immob + how long you stay in there, you know?

It makes it a bit difficult to balance, because a lot of classes don’t have problems getting of the roots, because they have teleports (thief and mesmer almost always have one, some eles run it), thiefes have their “,remove movement impairing conditions on dodge”, warriors have warriors sprint, that removes immob on movement skills.
Some classes are completely lost, some don’t even care.

Nevertheless, it is far from impossible to get hit by the seeds, because you have a fairly long time to stunbreak out of it.
I run just one stumbreak in my entire build an its possible to avoid it.
After longbow 4, either lb2 or lb1 follow, both have a travel time in which it is possible to stunbreak. Even if the first art or hit you after, you won’t get entangled with the seeds.
I get entangled maybe 1 out of 3 times rangers hit me with a stun.

Even if you get hit, do something about it! I see a lot of ppl not even using any skill, except trying to dodge.
One completed AA chain of almost any classes will destroy the roots/seeds.
Nekro, use shroud 2, it blocks projectiles and the whole dmg will hit the roots. Scrapper, use basically any hammer skill except AA chain of hammer 5.
Eles have auras and invulns, some even run teleports
Rangers run staff a lot of times, they can use staff 5, even if they get entangled, to not get dmg.

I can understand that some classes struggle with it, but there is counterplay to it (imo). And it is too easy for some classes to get out of.
I would not change how the trait works, I would rather change/reduce the health of the seeds/roots, so counterplay would be easier. Maybe 75% of the health it has now.
If a player gets entangled and doesn’t take any action it would hit him/her hard (propably).
But if he/she starts to attack the roots, he shoulf be able to get out. Not immediately but faster than it is possible now.

This would add counterplay on a high level and indirectly would nerf the options Ancient Seeds /Entangle give to the ranger.

Thoughts?

Hey. Like the pre-posters said before, druid longbow counters dh at the moment, especially medi trapper. Symbolic dh soes a bit better in my opinion, though it can have a hard time as well against a skilled druid.

But (there’s always one) longbow druids are incredible bad against scrappers, becuse of the amount of reflection and blocks they have and against wars for the same reason. In group fights with eles it’s also a bit hard because of magnetic aura share, that reflects projectiles, but it is not as bad as a scrapper or warrior/berzerker.

It’s ok that classes have counters, longbow druid gets countered by power scrapper and power warrior, i’d say, although in happy to learn more here

Mender staff/sword+warhorn with pet dmg though should not be a problem for any class in 1v1, i’d say, cause they don’t really do dmg, they have a supporter role.
Main dmg comes from their pets, especially bristlebacks is avoidable.

Hit me up in game (anyone of he/she likes) to play/duel with or against a druid.

Looks nice, Superior Sigill of Concnetration could be helpful as well for a bit more dmg , changing commanders for some more Berserker gear and getting to 100% boon duration after weaponswap.

Maybe im missing something, but what are you doing about conditions? :/

Hey all, i wanted to present my druid build to you, i run doing PvE. I did not find many threats about this, most of them being old or raid/fractal oriented
It fits my playstyle quite well, although im aware that other people may prefer other builds and playstyles. Please give some feedback on what you think can be changed/improved etkitten

il now i never had problems soloing anything with this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNUQNAR8XnUqAVsg9rA2CCctgl/AD+s2WvrLvuFQA4JN8DOal480A-ThCBABnpEELlEVq+DDPAAxUuVz+DecEAq4gAAwFAIPdDBAOAWf9Uv6Brv+6rv+6t+6rv+6rXKgAXGB-e

I dropped longbow and staff in favour of greatsword and sword/axe, because the aoe dmg of this set is just not big enough to clear mobs fast and effective.
Greatsword and sword/axe have excellent AoE/cleave and with a decent amount of evades, some blocks and a lot mobility, a lot of possible threats can be avoided.

On utility im running shouts and signets, the “We heal as One” + “Strength of the pack” is capable of stacking might/quickness/fury and other important boons, signets are traited giving might and offer some more offensive as well as defensive capabilities. Signet of the Wild boosts your damage and gives you and your pet might and makes you unblockable. Double up on those boons with your heal skill.

Celestial Avatar gives another o.k.-ish aoe and some big heals, be it for you or for any allies. It grants stealth leaving it, so its another nice tool for sustaining in fights or resetting one.

Swords auto-attack does nice dmg, you can use it, if your big hits are on cooldown. Axe 4 does nice dmg and can help bullig mops together, as it can hit multiple targets. Axe 5 is nice against some hart hitting ranged mobs and does good dmg if you have multiple enemies around you. It also gives you retaliation, a nice bonus. Greatsword has some nice dmg on Maul (GS2) and a lot of utility, but its auto-attack lacks dmg (in my opinion).

Critical hits with a greatswords grant you fury through two-handed-training, which combines great with Remorseless. Everytime you get fury, you regain opening strike, which puts (together with your pet) another 10 stacks vuln on an enemy. This trait has no internal cooldown, it is easy possible to stack 25 vuln on enemies. Infight 10-15 stacks are normal and without having to much to focus on keeping that vuln up.

Swapping pets grant 4 stacks might, quickness, fury and swiftness, and makes your pet unblockable for a couple of seconds. Use it nearly everytime its on cooldown to trigger remorseless.

All in All you have two stunbreaks, two skills that give you stability, one complete condi remove, if traited another one if you enter CA. You run around with permanent swiftness and regeneration, you have 20 stacks might infight permanently and your enemy has 10-15 stacks vuln.

You can change some skills in order to give more support to allies if needed, but a lot of times using CA if you feel like some guys need healing is enough. Frost Spirit and Glyph of
Empowerment can boost your teams dmg, if they have enough healing.
Keep in mind though, that it will be a dmg loss, if you swap Remorseless or two-handed-training or both.

Please tell me what you think and what could be done better, im happy about any feedback

Hey all.
I noticed an issue with all the pets i use (Bristleback, Wolf, Smokescale, Drakehound)
Its the first time today on all of them except wolf, i have had this issue before as well.
Whenever i use a F2 skill, its cooldown is incresed and its indicating blue instead of white numbers, like my pet is chilled. but it isnt. i double checked it a couple of times, but my pet wasnt chilled when it casted F2 and it wasnt after the cast.
Also, no attacks that could increase a cooldown by interrupting it where anywhere close. even if i just used them without enemies near me, it acted like my pet was chilled
Relogging, swapping pets, renaming them, everything i tried didnt work so far.
I counted it as well, its not just a blue Cooldown-timer, its recharge time is higher and its acting like the pets are chilled, while they cleary are not, neither while casting, nor afterwards.
any tips you might have?

Hey all.
I noticed the same issue with all the pets i use (Bristleback, Wolf, Smokescale, Drakehound) It the first time today on all of them except wolf, i have had this issue before as well.
Relogging, swapping pets, renaming them, everything i tried didnt work so far.
I counted it as well, its not just a blue Cooldown-timer, its recharge time is higher, like BumboJumbo said, its acting like the pets are chilled, while they cleary are not, neither while casting, nor afterwards.

any tips you might have?

Hey all.

With the last expansion a lot of the added Elite utility had a more or less strong CC aspect to them (reaper, dragonhunter, 2 of 5 legends from revenant, berzerker, chronomancer, maybe daredivls, if you count that)
5 out of 9 classes, not counting thief, who have basilisks venom. That is quite a lot, to much, in my opinion…

I hope that the next added Elite utilities WONT have any kind of CC on them. Elites are ment as a game changer.
There are many ways a skill can change a game but overall gw2, especially with HoT, has more than enough CC-elites, that can be made use of.

I think adding more elites with CC would make things more complicated, because the variety of the game would be cut down, meaning the different playstyles classes have, could start to equalize in a way that is not good for the game in any gamemode

Having a high cooldown skill (the Elite) that is, compared to normal utilities, really strong, that it could change the exit of a fight, would animate and promote making good use of your skills, instead of using CC that could be anihilated by using some stunbreaks. I´d rather like to see some elites that promote either risky or thought through play, instead of making easy to land elites. setting an elite up should be something you have to do in order to land it, not the other way around, spamming your elite and then setting up your burst.

A good example, for sure there are more, for a nice Elite skill is, in my opinion, the massinvisibility the mesmer has. Having five seconds of stealth allows you to reset the fight, to get your defenses up or start an unexpected attack. Having a fairly high cooldown, its not spammable during a fight and has group as well as solo uses. Its cast time makes it interruptable, and the animation is obvious.

Before heart of thorns, this is was one of the most used Elite skills on Mesmer, especially in pvp and wvw.

The classes should feel distinctive and

Im not a native speaker so please be easy on me

What do you guys think about it?

At what time will the Personal Wintersday Presents disappear from Blacklionchests?

I´d like to open them with my keys, but i have no interest in recieving any wintersday items. I thought they would be removed with the end of wintersday, but they still are 1 of 3 items inside the blacklionschests.
Ty

To be fair, it’s nearly impossible to kill them if they stay in stealth the whole time. But it is relatively easy to run away from them. I never had any problems on any of my classes (except necro maybe) to just run away. Nearly every roaming or zerg build has a stunbreaker + an effective/big condiremove. Pop it and get the he’ll put of there. The thief would have to give up initiative to follow you with shortbow and have less left to use D/P to stealth him. Just keep running, only very few will chase you long. You can also see and hear where the traps are put down, even when he is in stealth. If you can dodge into them, his opener to condi burst you is often mitigated completely.
You can’t win, that sucks, yep, but you don’t necessarily have to loose. You will definitely die, if you try to fight them. Nevertheless I think they should be needed a bit, adding some direct dmg to the traps or to some of them…

My opinion and what I do if I meet one. I can understand that some ppl hate them.
Sorry for my bad english in advance, it’s not my native language… :/
Feel free to correct me, if I made some serious mistakes

In my opinion, we have two possible options.
1. SotW will be “nerfed”, meaning the bug that makes it unblockable atm will be removed. That would make the Longbow<—>SotW-combination a bit weaker, everything returns to “normal”

or, even better

2. it will change from 8 seconds unblockable towards a number of attacks that will become unblockable, like signet of strength on the Warrior for example. In this combination, a longbow would not be the weapon of choice, because their burst attack (looking at you, rapidfire) is a 10-hit-skill, which would drain all stacks quite fast

I would prefer the second option, as it would not make the signet too strong, but also buffing it up a bit, it could see some use in pup/wvw. 8 seconds unblockable is too long.

That, coming back to the real topic now, would call in for a weapon with some “big hits” that are either highdamage on a low cd, or some kind of stun, immob, etc. THAT would call for the greatsword. It doesnt shine atm, cause its slow and the animations are obvious. With SotW giving it 5 (or any fitting, not OP Number) unblockable attacks, it could be used as a setup for bursting, baiting dodges (only way to mitigate the dmg, cause its unblockable) or running through some of the DH´s, Revs, War’s, Thief´s, Mesmer´s or Engi´s blocks with Hilt Bash for example. It wouldnt be a braindead, easy-to-play skill, but it could also be countered, by not wasting your dodges, etc etc. Also, the ranger could become a more melee orientated class, that would not have to rely on evades and heals to run into group fights without dying so fast. that wouldnt make is support role worse, but ranger could also see some uses as a warlock (im thinking of lot of stuns, soft and hard cc) that, with the right timing, could see some use together with an ele and/or mesmer maybe.

Anyways. That signet is, imo, not op, by being unblockable. BUT with the amount of quickness some ranger/druid builds stack up, 8 seconds are a lot of time. Even if you can evade or interrupt this (its surely possible, if you see a ranger with SotW just safe 1 dodge or any invuln, stealth, etc.) it could still be a bit (NOT OP OR SO SO KITTEN STRONG, just a very tiny bit) to strong. I think a number of attacks will be useful, instead of a fixed amount of seconds.

“Signet of the Wild
Passive: Heals you and your pet every second (I think its 86 per sec, or st)
Active: Receive 5 stacks stability, become lager (this is your "OUHA, hes up to something-button), your pet deals 25% more dmg. (From here its “new”) Your next 5 attacks will deal 25% more dmg and will be unblockable. (Maximum time you stay unblockable and do 25% more dmg: 10 seconds)

What do you think?

DerJoker.9081
Far Shiverpeaks
PvX/WvW

Hey all.
Pre HoT, a trap-condi-ranger with rune of the trapper was pretty kitten strong, if played right.
Seeing the buffs shortbow got, i tried my old condi ranger for roaming in wvw and its amazing.
I have HoT, but the druid traitline is not required for this one and would end up in loosing some dmg for more sustain/healing. Because i felt like my sustain/survivability is high enough, i chose beastmastery instead of druid.

The build im using is pretty self explaining, its all about maximizing your condi dmg:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNUQRAsY3fjMqQ3KWuCurAVLGSEqOd31P4DgY/15Foz/8KWJF-TVyCABScQAMw8HAnAgw3fwH1faS5HEKBp4JA8i+BCBsYNA-w

The condition dmg output is really high, realistic condi dmg outputs infight are somewhere between 2k-4k constantly, burst is way higher than that. In Heart of the mists, 25+ bleed stacks, 13 posion, and 15 burning stacks are possible.
Fire Trap has the lowest cooldown, i am using it to stealth pre fight in order to place my traps without enemies seeing where. Axe2 does the highest dmg, if all 5 blades hit, so you need to be very close. this is not required, dont sacrifice too much health, just for hitting with all 5.
I keep Torch4 and Dagger5 ready for a bit more ranged pressure, because a lot of your skills require you to be close.

Although the condition dmg is really high, you lack defenses a lot.
Dire-Gear gives you the amount of toughness and vitality you need to eat some enemy bursts.
A lot of your survivability comes from avoiding dmg all along. Rune of the trapper provides you with stealth, so you can drop traps without the enemy knowing where they are, so you can lure them in. Axe/Torch will be your offensive weapon set, since axe3 got buffed it provides nice ranged dmg. Sword/Dagger with 3 different evades is your defensive weapon set, although it can sustain some condi pressure through sword3 and dagger4+5.

In fight, running away goes suprisingly well. Runes of the trapper provide you with superspeed, and all your (offensive) traps apply crippled. Weapon switch applies swiftness, so keep your traps on cooldown and keep switching weapons.

Keep in mind, that your offensive traps will do dmg, meaning they will apply revealed to you, if you drop them and endmies are standing inside. Use healing spring to stealth inside enemies.

Pets are kind of a Panik Button, dont waste their F2 mindlessly. If you are being stunned (remember, you dont have stunbreaks) and expect a burst, use their taunt to CC the enemy. The pet will take the dmg and you keep cool. Although you can take a hit, be careful with what you want to dodge and what to tank.
Wolf provides you with a Taunt-Fear combo, that lasts 4 seconds, because taunt is applied at the start of the cast, and fear at the end, which is very nice for classes with low stability uptime, while the Lynx leaps towards the enemy, meaning it is almost everytime a hit.

You can switch Sword/dagger for Shortbow. This is gives you a slight advantage over melee classes, but a bit of a disadvantage over ranged, because their dmg on range will be higher and shortbow is more of a kiting weapon to me.

i hope you have fun with this build, if you want to try it. This is how i like to play it, it is in no way perfect and im happy for feedback.
There might be a lot of grammatical mistakes and unexact sentences, because im not a native english speaker. i still hope you could understand what i wrote and have fun with this.
for more questions feel free to write me ingame or answer to this Tonic

Joker

Thanks for adding that part, i agree in all points, except the part about kling the pet. As far as my experience goes, i never had problems keeping any of my pets alive, even a lot of Aoe dmg didnt do too much, as “We heal as one” also heals the pet and if you watch its lifebar, you can prevent it from dying by changing it before it dies
although, in outnumbered fights or any fight that has more than 3 enemies in it, it can be a bit more difficult.
Thanks for adding the part to what i already said

Hey people.

As a some people seem to find it hard to fight a druid and their pets do a kitten lad of dmg i want to give you some advice, you might find useful when crossing ways with a druid.

A lot of the druids damage is coming from the new pets, especially smokescale and bristleback. Although alone not quite dangerous, the combined dmg of druid AND pet can be devistating. Additionally the unexpected burst will mostlikely put you in a bad situation.

With staff and celestial avatar, a druid has loads of sustain, which makes it even harder to kill them, when their pet continously does damage.

If you face a druid, dont waste your CC´s on him, except you have some really nice and definitely safe burst. If you dont get it done right, the druid will go into the celestial avatar and heal away the damage you just did.
Than you dont have any CC´s left to counter the healing by interrupts and the druid will get on to you again.

The two main things you have to take care of are:

1. The healing a druid does in celestial avatar (or any healing you can foresee and interrupt)

2. The damage the druid does IN ADDITION to his pet. The pet-damage alone can be hard to tank, but its possible to outheal/tank, if you dont have to deal with the druids damage on top of that.

So, dont waste your CC´s on the druid, if he is NOT in celestial avatar. Wait for him to go into celestial avatar and CC him then. Many druids dont combo “Strengt of the Pack” with celestial avatar for stability, as they think of it as an offensive skill.
If you interrupt him while in celestial avatar, you will make it a lot harter for him to keep up HIS damage on you.
As long as you stay close to the ranger, as most of them use a longbow, you can avoid some of his damage and get him into defense.
If the druid is busy kiting you, its harder for him to put damage into you. Everyclass has some mechanics that will allow you to either get to your enemy or slow him down. Use them wisely and dont waste all of them at the start. Bait out the druids kiting abilities if you can, by canceling skills with your “Stow weapon”-button.

Ending that, i want to go over the most important druid mechanics.

“We Heal as One” – Copies boons from the pet to the druid. This can easily lead to riddiculous high boon uptimes, with riddiculous stacks (20+ stability, 20+ might for 10 seconds +)

“Strength of the Pack” – Besides fury and stability, the pet grants the druid might with his attacks and the other way. Bristleback and smokescale hit multiple times during their burst, making 25 stacks of might possible if combined with “Rapidfire” and then using “We Heal as One”.

Signet of Stone – Invulnerable to direct damage. Quite annoying, especially when its used while you want to burst the druid.
Best way is, like mentioned above, to bait it out by starting your burst and then canceling the skills with “Stow weapon”.

Trait “Ancient Seeds” – It will (mostlikely) immobilize you for quite a while, after the druid stuns you. Removing immobilize is often not working, because the still repeatedly applies this condition. Attacking the tangles will destroy them, so they wont reapply immoblize. Or moving out of them with a movement and immobilize ignoring skill.

In the end, i am not perfect and i clearly did not mention every aspect that you have to watch out for. I hope you could learn something and you can whisper me ingame, if you need help with fighting them.
And, sorry for my english, im sure i made some mistakes somewhere.

Same here. Some items have lvl 82, but if posted, lvl 80. Listing the items from cheapest to most expansive works, but the other way around, from most expensive to cheapest, doesnt.

Yes, i can confirm that. The time you have in Stealth gets reduced by Revealed every 3-4 seconds… Really uncomfortable as a thief!!! Please fix it very soon!