Guild Wars 2

Hi.
All professions have been nerfed. Rangers cry for the lack of stability. Necros cry for the nerf on Vital persistance, and so on. Everyone is crying, but if everything is nerfed, then there is no place for your complaints.
I like the change as the berserker spec was a nobrain one. No, seriously, you fill this bar at that speed and you get the same advantages as a full 3 adrenaline bar in normal mode ???? sPvP warrior was spamming berserker mode, getting tons of buffs and then spamming f1.
For what I read for the moment, new spec are not broken ones as it was for HoT. And whatever, we still don’t know what they are made of. At least, the new spec propose a skillful gameplay based on reaction, interruption and boonstrip. That is far more interesting than pressing f1 repeatedly.

Hi,

My opinion is that Jalis is a quite better since 2 paches (2 monthes approximatively). I talk about sPvP as it is what I mainly play. I actually don’t play it with Punition trait line but with devastation. I don’t know now with the patch. Last days, I played a Ventari / jalis build which was more efficient and fun as the current meta in my hands. I would never say it is the new meta, but it is clearly a viable and interesting option in terms of tankiness and support.

Paired with lifesteal, VH gives nice sustain, and I guess more since the 08/08 patch. I think the stunbreak should be moved; where i don’t know. But on the elite, it is clunky to use. On IR or on Taunt, it would be good.

I haven’t tested yet VM since the 08/08 patch which seems to fix them.

I have not tested yet the new trait on taunt but it is very interesting.

I think that stability works well. I don’t want a shout as we would lose the combo zone, which is usefull for swiftness (otherwise you are toooo slow between points). With Enhanced Bullwark, it is very powerful. I would not like a nobrain shout that would give AoE stability without even targeting anything. I like when skill is required.

I haven’t tested yet if Jalis Healing cleans poison before getting healed or not, but it is a very important point. In pvp, a base 5s retaliation rather than 3s/condi cleared may be a nerf, it will depend of what builds will emerge (we could get more with 3 condi cleared and that happen a lot).

I think that RotgD should reduce both condi and direct damage even if not traited, but at a lower amount (e.g. : -30% each). If traited, get the free application on 50% health, and get the bonuses increased to -50%. Another option would be to make it only for the revenant if not traited, the trait allowing you to share it with your mates and get the free application. I like when traits are not just “buffs”, but when they change the playstyle.

I would dream of a Jalis revenant with protection traits. I think of a trait that gives protection you apply reduce condi damages. This would fit the theme. Direct and condi damage reduction is a unique and revenant specific way to play support in this game.

I would tolerate a slight nerf if they reduced a bit energy cost, yeah. Jalis is the only legend where energy management is that much crucial.

Hi,

Please, stop crying. It is not a “balance patch”, it is an update. They have no intention to balance anything right now. We don’t know what the new spec will offer. They just tried to adjust pre-HoF content to what is coming. They launched this changes before extension BECAUSE they expect bugs. So try them, find the bugs, and report them so we can have a clean extansion on september when it will be lauched. I don’t want to buy a full of bugs expansion, so i prefer having them now.

No, seriously, I welcome lots of the changes they made, even if it is still buggy. I am bored of playing this healbot druid and lots of these changes seem to allow more versatile gameplays. I still haven’t tested everything, but little by little, people will report problems and we will have a TRUE balance patch for these new playstyles to be viable.

Thanks for answers!
@orisci: could you share your build?

I also don’t use the metabattle build. The main difference is that I use shiro instead of brill (strange, right), for some reasons Pterikdactyl suggested. I use that:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vlAQNAW8snvNmNS6JzJRVlNlsryoSYW5UJYsMsklZlRNgCawO6q/eNjOKB-TZxHAByXGos9HU+KA4/DAAgDCAA
As a healer, my ventari never surpassed an elem. However, the knockback is pretty strong in teamfights, particularly at the begining. It allows to fight on a caped point and not on a constested point, and that is a big difference when it last long. In order to survive during teamfights, if they load too much damages, I generally don’t stay on point but run around. You can keep the tablet on it to kb, get the energy fragments, then leave. But most of the time, I don’t struggle to survive that much if the team has some support.
I use Mender and Shiro to help finishing targets also. I works most of the time pretty well. I support the mates first, then when a target start losing health clearly, I jump on it and help taking it down definitely.
Shiro brings also some nice utilities: superspeed is great for rotating between points (e.g. far), has great disengaging abilities, and the unblockable has also its uses (staff 2 and 5, healing skill). I rarely use the elite however (too expensive, too predictable). As the stunbreak has no cd and clean a mouvement condi, it may be why I don’t struggle with immobilize that much.
As the team does not get the support from brill, I use the Rune of altruism to give them the most important boons it lacks: power and fury. Not as efficient as brill for support, but it allows more spike damages when needed.
I bunker 1v2 easily, except against necro+thief. There, shiro is the best way to survive. They can decap a little the point as you move, but you can take it back with the knockback. But I don’t last long. I generally stay a bit, then try to disengage to help elsewhere (shiro’s evade, staff 5, superspeed, blocks, and so on). Ventari is extremely usefull to decap bunkered points however, but I still have troubles against guardians (they have more stab). Elems and Druids are free decap as they don’t have much stability if you time it well and not enough damage to be a threat.
I used the shield first, but I wonder if sword offhand is not a better solution: as you can move while blocking, you can get the energy fragments. Moreover, it has a lower energy cost and CD, particularly if under alacrity. I wonder if I should use Mace over sword. I don’t know yet.
The build has more use depending on maps. On skyhammer, revenge of the capricorn and Khylo’s clocktower, it works pretty well as knocking back has a big influence (they fall or they lose a bit the point when it is a stake). Superspeed help also to be on the point before the enemy and then start caping it a bit without using the expensive kb trick.
And yeah, poison is what I fear the most. I had hard time with condis first, but I get better with them with time. If alone, I don’t clean everything. I clean some and manage others through healings.

Ok. I feared that because sometimes in skill’s description “allies” means only other team’s players and sometimes it means other team’s players AND yourself.
Thank you for the confirmation. Jalis really needs an improvement for PvP…

Hi there,

I was interested in the gameplay of the Ventari Bunker and it seems that metabattle’s grade and comments evolved. I guess some people have found how to make it work.
I, too, have tried the thing and was surprised by its good results. Who tried this build (or a variation) ? If yes, do you have any return to do ? What are the variations you tried and why ? Have you found special ways to counter specific classes ?

It could be interesting to share experiences of this new kind of gameplay.

If we are on hammer’s bugs, there is another one: healings does not scale with outgoing healing bonuses.
I don’t know if it is intentionnal or not, but if you use Invoking Harmony, you don’t get more heals.

Hi.
Hum, I ll try to answer to the topic.

I tried this these days :
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsYVnMqAVsiFsCurAEtiFHBjJAM0qcwJ1oaW15z1rGdjIN-TpxHQBib/BAcEAG4DAoelB+2JAwfHCAA

The idea is to benefit from the buffs in sword and sb. The buff in sword is activated on sword evades, dagger evades, dodge rolls. The rune increases boon duration for the quickness.
The bonus of sb trait is applied on any evade (dodge roll, sb, sword, dagger).

Theoretically, if quickness is applied on cd, you have 4.5s quickness every 5s for yourself and 3.5s every five second for your pet.

NM is chosen to share quickness with the pet and increasing boon duration.
Glyphs are chosen for condi cleanses (both clean 2 condi + 1 with trait in Celestial, with short CD). You can combo them with sb and dagger 5 for cleaning more. You can combo it with sword 2 for light aura (but it is hard to land, the combo zone is short). It is generally better to keep glyphs for condi clean.

Signet of nature is chosen for AF generation.

I am still not sure of the healing skill. I am open to suggestions if you have some. I tried something with spirits, but the casting times are too long and you are interrupted too much.

Hi.

I think Anet just wanted to nerf the meta druid. “Balance” patch seems less for balance than change in meta. That is why shouts were nerfed in general. We no more get our easy AF generation and the elite is of few use defensively.

Strangely, I tried to shift with spirits of water and nature to get the regen and the pulsing stab (with traits). It is not as efficient as before, but the pulsing stab for the team is good. You lose WHAO and all the combos you could do with it, but AF regen can be pretty quick… if you can lend them.
I did not play enough to know what it can do. I am just sharing ideas.

“Glint offers much more group damage reduction than Jalis does—while still giving your group might and fury. I get that people want to not take Glint so they can be different, but it’s just too good not to take.”

Explain me that ? How do you get -50% direct and condi damage to your group and weakness in zone with glint ?

All that glint offers is -33% direct damage with protection. You don’t get more than that.

Maybe a new post should be created about revenant bunker builds…

@tuvok : no prob, I did not know it was only spvp.

@Messiah : you stay in Ventari. With staff and ventari, you can clean up easily. Blind on heal / blocks / evades helps you mitigating. You can block and clean at the same time. And you can clean really fast. I added some sigils to proc (one which cleans on strike, one which transfers on crits). I did not have any problem, but I only encountered one condi burst with 6 altérations. You can clean them nearly instantly with staff 4 on light field and ventari’s clean.
It is 5s CD for the 3 alterations clean, more for staff. But don’t forget that you have alacrity which reduces CDs of blocks and skills. Expensive, yes, but it worked this time. You need, again, to anticipate. If you see a condi necro coming, then build some energy to be able to counter the pressure.
I think it is alacrity which makes Ventari more tanky than Jalis. It makes your blocks up more often.

@Narcx : not that much. Or so I feel. If I go shiro / glint, then no bunker. That is not my goal.
Glint Ventari does not deal much damages in my opinion. Impossible odds is good for finishing ennemies when you ally has started a burst.
I fact, I play with the Rune of Altruism. It gives fury and power on healing skill. With Facet of nature activated, it is nearly perma fury. With the traits on staff, I get regen and rapidity with orbs. With bolster fortification, you have perma protection on heal with Facet of Nature. So most of glint’s boons, you can load them. The difference is the radius : the radius of your boons is limited to the point. Just tell your team the support is mainly on the point. So you still go for a decent support, which goes with the healings, and not alternatively with them. I mean, you don’t have 10s healings, 10s boons. You have them at the same time.

In fact I feel that, sometimes, helping to put down an enemy is better support than loading tons of heals and boons. When you fight 2 people, a killing means -50% damages. Strike at the right time, when you have an opening. On one match, I did that with a thief who stayed in the area. We were killing machines. Activate Facet of nature, lauch your shiro heal, go with sword AA on impossible odds, and the ennemy is forced to defend for 10s. Just keep some blocks up in case something is going wrong to let ventari’s CD be up.

If you need to travel fast, you have access to Swiftness with facet of nature and Superspeed with shiro. If you need to disengage, swap shiro and evade back. Staff 5 helps too. You can’t disengage easily with Ventari/glint. So you can support where it is needed, and stay alive.

Jalis Elite is 40 energy since the up.
I have done several games with Jalis and Ventari, and Ventari is far more efficient in term of tankiness. Switching to Jalis reduces your ability to survive compared to Ventari.
It is not necessarily due to stunbreaks, in my opinion. The Elite should be anticipated and not used after the burst has started. It is best used in team fight and not when bunkering alone. It may be good for 2v2. In 1v2 or 1v3, you still take too much damages. Keeping energy for blocks and evades is better.
I have tried Shiro + Ventari, and it is the best I found. Better for disengagement and more spike damage. And the heal is hard to interupt and gives you enought survivability for Ventari to be up.

Thanks ! So you use Jalis + ventari.
I will think about that.

Could people who play Jalis or have ideas about it could post their builds or ideas more precisely ? I don’t talk about meta, but ideas. And it is better to play a build you manage well than playing the meta sadly.

@Narcx :
- What do you mean by reflecting VH ? Do you mean having retaliation ? Don’t forget you can stop it whenever you want it… If you take care of that there is no problem with “reflect”. I use it for unblockable lifestealing, and it gives a pretty regen.
- VH + glint protection gives -53% reduction damage plus -20% reduction on condis (the problem I feel with jalis is the absence of condi cleanses). And I don’t speak about traits that reduces it more. It is easy to stack protection with glint if geared clever. What I fear with Jalis is rather the lack of condi clean and the cost of -50% condi.

@Buran : no one focus on ventari on pvp. There are no revs in pvp. I am talking about forums and people who try to find a way to create builds on an out of meta class.

I understand Druid and Elem are better to keep points, and that would be an explanation. You just do a job others does better.

@Pirrial : I agree with you. But do you have ideas about it ? I personnally feel the same, there are stuff to do, but I still don’t know what and I still struggle with it. I don’t exppect from a bunker to do loads of damage, and I think Jalis can support a lot. Your survivability is based on launching the right skills at the right moments. I also thought of a condi based build to get crits from VH and proc torment. But managing energy is a difficult issue with the elite skill. So conditions are a problem.

@ventari : Ventari is not that much played in pvp, but revenant is not in general. On forums, there are more discussions about it than about Jalis, that is all.

And it is not because people do not play it that there is no issue about it. Meta builds appeared from underused classes.

I understand some of your points, but don’t get others :
- Yeah, 40 energy on elite Dwarf is not completely spamable. But if you gear with high vitality ? If you block between (sword 4 is only 10 energy) ? I you dodge between ? (if you get more dodges from sigils). What class / build can load an unblockable condi burst ? Necro marks are not “that” bursty… I guess you play in a higher rank, so you will get the answer, particularly on necros.
- Stab is not direct. But two possibilities are coming. First, someone is interupting you: in this case, you just lost the first few microseconds and start it again. If the enemy is rezing, so stab is not the emergency in the first second, but on the last ones. And stab may be useless against 1v1 for certain classes (elem in first thought).
- VH against range + melee ? Yeah, you are right, it heals and strikes less. But you still get the -20% against condi and direct damage. And lifesteal if traited for dobble healings with devastation.
- FE while bunkering ? Yeah, I don’t use it that much. I rather use it for allies who get focused to let them breath a bit more. But, however, taunt force you to autoattack, no ? And the ennemy is slowed. So at least, you force your opponent to auto-attack, and not to load its special burst combos. (But yeah, it is energy expensive, i know that). I did not know it could be reflected. Never happened to me. Who would be mad enough to reflect a melee revenant ?
- With retribution x/2/2, retaliation is mainly loaded by dodge rolls (and you proc it for sure), particularly if you have boon duration with glint (with high boon duration, with right amulets, you can get 4s retal on dodge rolls). The healing skill is quite poor compared to a 2-4s retal on 10 or less seconds (depends on hits and sigils).
- Dwarf heal skill is 3 condi clear with 30s cd… but you have another legend with 30s heal skill whatever you spec. So basically, you have a 15s healing skills if you swap legend right. Yeah, I know it can be messy, particularly if you beggin with it like me, but I don’t find it neither broken nor weak. Glint heal can help you manage condi too (and against focus and bursts), so it is rather a 15s cd against condi plus RotgD. What if you add sigils and runes ? (I think of rune of charisma, which synergizes with glint). I thought about staff for 2 more condi cleanses, but the damages are too low if I play a defensive amulet.

I did not get the last paragraph about ventari… sorry, I am not a native english speaker…

I think you are right, I just push you a bit more to get more precise answers…! I hope you don’t take it badly.

I thought about Jalis in order to find a bunker counter against the kitteng necro-thief combo you encounter in solo-Q. Having -50% against direct and condi damage was sexy…

… on the paper, as you said. But as I am not a good revenant player, I don’t know for sure now why I lose and why I win. This is still theory.

Oh ! Thanks for the answer !
So I was not completely wrong. Some people runs Jalis. It seems it is ignored on forums. Do you have nice links in order to understand better how it works ?
By the way, if you could give me some good advices in game to improve my revenant playstyle, I would be really happy ! =)
How do you gear (amu, sigils and runes) ? What “roles” do you mostly play ? What weapon do you play ? I am still struggling against this class which is new for me…

Hi forum !

I am quite new to revenant. I rather play druid, and I am not an experienced player.
I rediscovered it few days ago and tried it for sPvP (what I mainly do). I have read the last patch and it seems it improves both ventari and jalis skills (maybe not the taunt one). I tried to play a ventari bunker and found it rather weak (I think ventari + shiro is the best thing I can do now since otherwise I do no damage or i am too squishy, so I played a kind of raoming healer / +1 dps to be really usefull to my team).

After having found that it did not fit my playstyle (I like bunkering soooo much, even if death is the outcomes), I tried a bit Jalis.

Since I am not a good revenant – and then still play badly -, I would like to understand why lots of people on forums and websites consider that Jalis is not an option on sPvP.

- Vengeful hammer has been improved and has a good synergy with Focused Siphoning (can do pretty sustain damages, and have decent survivability against 2+ enemies).
- Forced Engagement is a 10s interrupt and taunt (ok, still has a huge energy cost),
- Inspiring reinforcement is a good way to get stab if you can’t get it on dodges, or even to give it for teammates for helping them stomp, or even maybe to put weakness,
- Rite of the Great Dwarf has good support ability, nearly spammable, with -50% damage and condi damage on team mates if traited.

I tried to play a sword-shiled / mace-sword (for low cd blocks mainly) rev with glint and jalis trated with devastation, retribution and herald and was pretty impressed by the damage / survivability ratio.

(I traited devastation x/3/3, Retribution 2/2/2, and Herald x/2/3. “x” being a choice between two obvious traits).

I tried several amulets from barbarian to viper (through berserker and lots other). It depends on what you favor most, and what role you want to improve.

So, could I have an experienced revenant explain me why Jalis is not suited for sPvP ? It seems everyone focus on Ventari. I is a sincere question as i am a recent revenant user…

Thanks for replies ! =)

V.

I agree with you. I have a bad connexion because my box is quite old and I don’t have the money to change it yet.

At some hours, it can disconnect and reconnect several times, and you cannot know if it disconnect for few second or if Internet will let leave you for an hour. So sometimes you try it, sometimes you don’t, but results are random. I generally try to rejoin the party, but it is 50/50 it works or not.

It may also happen while queuing. The system does not even put me out when it is queueing so bam, more dishonnor. And as sometimes I have to reload the game (because it does not do it alone), I got again more.

Now, I have loooooong dishonnor times. And I never wanted to leave a match on my own. It seems it stacks days over days…

I feel the same as you : it is dobble punishment. You lose the match because of your connexion so you lose rank, and moreover you cannot play.

I don’t have the solution for that as the game needs a way to regulate volontary disconnexions. But I would prefer by far a “gold” penalty or losing more ranked points for that. I generally try to not queue in ranked match when I have troubles with my connexion (because there are stakes), but in regular matches, it is a bit too much…

Thanks again !
Sorry, I missed. I meant “*” and not “-”…

Thanks!
I struggled with mobs and I got bad results. I ask a question and I have a clear and quick answer (and a potential combo I did not even thought about).
You have all my respect. Next time, I won’t lose my time and I will ask

By the way, do you know how it stacks? Is it 33+5+33 or is it x*0.66-0.95-0.33 ?

Thanks again!

“Move the Swiftness into Primal Reflexes, then have “+10% critical hit chance on bleeding foes” as a new adept trait rather than a change to Hunter’s Tactics.”

Or as a passive adept. This would finally make Splitblade usefull for axe/axe power only builds!

Hi there!

I have a question. Do the different damage reductions stack for ranger? I mean, for example, does Oakheart Salve, Bark Skin and the boon “protection” stack for about 50-60% damage reduction?
Or maybe just the higher boon is taken into account?

I just don’t know how to measure this. I can’t do this whith golems as they do not attack. And with PNJ in the mist, it is quite difficult to measure anything…

By the way, does ondition damage is affected by +x%damage traits, like Predator’s Onslaught? I feel with my measures they aren’t, but i am not that sure at all…

Thanks for answers!

Hi !
Nice imagination. But i am no fan of shapeshifting. Personally, i think they should rather improve EACH basic spec. I mean you can chose 3 specializations and one of this three can be chosen as elite with a specific f5 for the ranger case.
The current elite specs add so much to the class mecanic that everyone take them and just fill the two other slots with basic one. I d like each spec fould add its specific game play.
However, your dagger mh example is interesting. I hope they will add a new mh weapon. It would add much more combinations than a new th weap !

Hi.

I see some people want datas. First, i need to say that I know nothing about axe OH. However, I play axe MH with warhorn.
I recently worked on a build, so I calculated different things. It may be helpful for you :
- The avarage casting time of sword auto-attack is 0.67s. For axe it is 0.87s. However, you have a chain attack on sword that make thing a bit different. (I calculated number of strikes / 1 minute).
- On one target, if the familiar doesn’t fight, axe is slower to kill a heavy golem than sword.
- Axe auto-attaque can strike at 1200, but even if auto-attack is on, it won’t work. So you have to spam it if you want it to strike a foe between 900 and 1200 (the aut-attack wont repeat automatically). Frozen bite strikes also at 1200. Axe 2 strikes at 900 as it is supposed to and I don’t know for axe 4.
- I don’t know without the magic nature fortifying bound. But with it, the familiar gets TWICE the boon you get (and not just once). I don’t know if it is a bug or not, but that is what my screen shows. Notice that you have +20% boon duration with nature magic.
- With this trait, you can have 6-7 power on you and 12-14 power on your pet.
- With quickening zephyr, you can have 10 power on you and 20 on your pet.
- There is no difference in axe’s casting time if you strike at 900 (or 1200) or in contact.

I tried to kill a heavy golem with axe auto and lynx and compared with sword auto and lynx. It needed exactly the same amount of time. I think it is due to the boons to pet.
But your sword cripple your target. Don’t forget it. With sword you can nearly perma cripple your target.

Finally, axe MH is not a condi weapon but dual weapon : you max your damages by raising both power AND condi. That is not the case for sword: there you max damages with power only.

I agree with people who think that axe MH and OH are not compatible. Axe MH is mixed and ranged damages, Axe OH is direct damage and contact (5) or for forcing contact (4). A way of making it work is to fight Axe/something – Sword/axe, and then making a crit build. But ferocity would not be the stat I would max. That is my opinion. And you lose axe 2 and 3 a decent source of condi damages.
The only contact usefull MH axe skill is 2, if you fight only one target. But it is condi.

Oh… and on weapons:
- short bow : +20% bleeding duration ; 30% area healing on strike
- axe : 60% of clearing a condi on strike
- Warhorn : +10% heals I give.

Hi. Thanks for the remarks. Now I am sure I won’t use the staff.

I tried last days short bow, as someone recommanded it. It rocks. I kept however druid spec to get the astral transformation. And no more use sword torch or sword dagger.

Now, that it is :
Axe-Horn / Short Bow.
Heal : healing spring
Utilities : fire trap, lightning reflexes, signet of stone.
Elite : Strenght of the pack.

Specializations :

Skirmishing :
- Trapper’s expertise.
- Hidden barbs
- Light on your feet / Quick draw (I will use the first one as I do not master very weel quick drow on sb)

Magic nature :
- Bountiful hunter
- Windborne notes
- Protective ward.

Druid :
- Druidic clarity
- Celestial shadow
- Ancient seeds (it rocks)

Pets :
- wolf / spider
- Smokescale / spider
- Smokescale / wolf
… I don’t really know in fact. Smokescale is powerful but really ugly…

Equipments :
- Sage Amulet (+1050 power, +1050 condi, +560 healing power, +560 vitality)
- Rune of the trapper (for a 12s cd stealth with fire trap)

What do you think of it ? I lose the ability to go for contact. I don’t clean condi on demand. And other stuffs. But it has pretty good damage and support, correct survivability.

Since I used before Spirit of nature and sometimes Signet of nature, I benefited a lot of a +560 healing power. And my team too with the spirit. But everyone seems to say that spirit are wrong choices (even if few said why), that is why I changed.

But then, you are right. Without spirit of nature, +560 healing power is useless. Do you think I shoudl change survival for druid in order to keep a bit of healing for support ?

I tried today druid. It is not that bad, but I don’t like staff. What trait would you chose ? I feel few are really interesting. Maybe I do not know how to use them well.

Thanks felixdacat and Anduriell !

So I guess I will take the torch, since you all agree on it. You are right, I can start a teem fight with torch => Call of nature for 6 power on team. I won’t play shortbow as I want a CaC weapon.

I knew the combo with WHAO, but I feel it is a bit redundant with magic nature trait. I generally either take one or the other, but rarely both. Moreover, I lose the support part, but if I change to BM specialization. Then I could take both support on shouts and WHAO, but I could only heal my team with regen… a bit short in my opinion.

I think I will take hidden barbs and keep bountiful hunter and windborne notes.

Now here are my dilemas. The best would be to try them :
- Entangle may be more supportive and condi, and give me condi cleaning. But SotP is a f***ing good burst if I do not use WHAO.
- Fire trap or bleeding trap ? With fire trap, I get a 12s stealth 2s cooldown and a better damage/recharge. With spike trap, I get a control and a “combo” with torch fire zone.
- If I take Oakheart salve, I get a 5% damage reduction permanently, but I do not need the regen (with warhorn and healing spring, I am basically on perma regen) so +33% condi duration on pet may be good.

I will tell you what I finally chose. Other advices ?

Varyla
-

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

I know that torch has a combo field… the question is rather if it worth the evades and cripple I get with the dagger.

I won’t let down my warhorn, so for me it would be dagger OR torch.

Thanks justine !

I like your advices. Trapper’s rune is a very strong idea and I will try it !

Why should I take the torch ? For the reasons I gave ? Should I keep the fire trap for more fire damages or chose another one ? It is just about the reason.

Thanks for your answer !

However, I don’t feel comfortable with it. I tried playing this build you present with full survival skill. However I found it too much self-relying and not enough team friendly. I can’t heal allies and I have to change my amu, let my horn away, etc, etc.

You are right, that is not what I like to play. I want to keep my Axe-WarHorn playstyle I presented in intro. I don’t necessary want to play THE build of the moment, I just want to improve my build. I feel more comfortable with it, and I play better when I feel comfortable.

As I told you, 1v1 was not the troubles I had, but for few kind of encounter. Fire trap does miracles when I play a kind of kitting with axe (and not shortbow).
I thought of the wolf and I know lots of people play it. But the CC of the spider is quicker to recharge and it deals condi damages, the wolf doesn’t. By the way, spider has 2 CC, with lesser recharge time. And can attack at distance while I am at CaC. In case of AoE, only one of us take it.

My questions are rather about :
- dagger or torch ?
- which 3rd utility skill ?
- Some precisions about traits I do not really master, particularly 1st tier magic nature and their uses ; the utility of the stability of the Spirit of Nature (does it break or really prevent interrupts ?)

I know lots of people prefere the survival healing troll onguent. However, you just can heal your pet and yourself, and if you need to regen quickly, you are in bad situation. If I use the signet of stone to regen, it will have the same effect as the troll thing.

I generally doesn’t need to avoid that much when holding axe-horn : I have strong regen, i am generally at 900-1200 distance. When I need to protect, I switch sword dagger for evades. And both traited.

However, I think I will try Signet of stone for the invul. Recharge isn’t a bit long compared to other skills ? I ll make some tries. But I fear I will lose a bit of burst, even if I guess I won’t get everything at the same time, right ? ;-)

For traits :

1. I would like to keep trap expertise (better regen on healing spring and reduced recharge time). But do you think Strider’s defense should be changed ? I like to have lots of evades, again, but I only use S-D if the ennemy is close or if I am the target of a burst.

2. Do you have a better choice than quick draw as I do not change often my weapons ? I feel again that « Most dangerous game » is a bit redondant with the power I can have (but less than rampage as one).

3. I would like to keep Wilderness knowledge for cleaning conditions. I like reduce recharge on dagger and bonus in condition damage, but is ambidexterity a bit sub-optimized if I do not have a torch ? As my pets does condition damages, I use expertise training. What do you feel about the other first tier traits ?

4. I would like to keep windborne notes as Axe-Warhorn is my main weapon set. Moreover, I get team regen with decent healing power. I use Nature’s vengeance if I have a second spirit, most of the time Frost spirit. But I take Protective Ward otherwise. What do you think about the pet’s heal ? Is it really useful ? I find it not sufficient enought for team fights with the pets I have. And if I change for a healing pet, lots of traits will change. What do you think about the 1s per 3s stability confered by the Spirit of Nature improved ?

5. What would you chose as first Nature Magic traits ? Is Allie’s Aid really useful ? I can’t say as I can only use it into the fight, which is not a good moment to think really clearly of the effect it has… Is the 1% per boon attack bonus useful as I have 4 boons 75% of the time on me and pet with the warhorn ? Is it better than a +72 in power due to the 13% of healing power converted in power ? Since I do mixed damages, it is hard to really know the effects of this choice.

Another question, larger, is should I take the Beast Master specialization ? I feel I lose something important that is in other specializations : either the copied boon on pet (which is at the base of the build), or survivability due to the survival specialization (particularly the protection on me and pet with the dodge), or good bonuses in traps and sword in skirmishing, plus the +10% of crit in backside (as I lack some crit, even if I have lots of fury).

Last but not least, equipment :

I think I will keep Sage’s amulet because it is balanced. But do you have suggestions for the rune ?
What do you suggest for cachets ? I generally use cleaning conditions and area healing on strike for Axe-Warhorn, and endurance regen and cleaning condition on S-D.

Do you have any general idea, way of playing on general remark about that build ?

Sorry for this long text and thanks for the eventual answers !

Varyla

In 1v1, I can manage my opponent most of the time. It depends on the situation. Most of the time, I guard points, so I use the traps. I control my ennemy with winter’s bite and traps, boost my pet, and kitt the ennemy. It works against about everything, but I have troubles with:
- stealth thiefs that kills fast and are hard to target (each time it stealths I have to target again)
- stealth longbow rangers (for the same reason, but to a lesser extent)
- any kind of berserker build (or any kind of build with very heavy damage in few seconds).
- Obviously, better players than me ;-)

In ranked PvP, I can barely manage 1v2. Sometimes it works, but it is not so often. I may lack skills in this.

In fact, if I succeed in puting Spirit of Nature and healing spring (with some combos in it, and some evades), I can manage a burst that targets me in 1v1 or 1v2. But it is hard to get all the right conditions to have that… (no interrupt, no pushback, no stun…)

In teamfight, my team is generally happy. I focus, control, heal, clean some condi with the spring, boost, revive or burst if necessary. As I mostly play with the Spirit of nature (and sometimes with frost spirit), they have a good regen. However I find it difficult to activate the Spirit of nature for cleaning condi and reviving as it is slow.

In general, I have a pretty good mobility with Call of nature, Rapidity in weapon switch, lightning reflexes and the second skill of the sword (even if it is quite hard to master in the middle of a battle).

I know some would suggest to specialize more. However, I feel that a balanced character is really useful. In team play, if each one is too much specialize, if one falls, everyone fall. And you do not decide what you are fighting against, contrary to PvE, so you have to adapt. I maybe want everything at the same time, survivabilité, DPS, support, condi and direct damages. I know that is not possible, but I think there are good arbitrages.

That is for my playstyle I am comfortable with. Here are the questions.

1. Should I better take greatsword for contact ? I feel the damage output are low so it hard to really take the ennemy down in 1v1. I do not really master it, but I like the swoop and the block.

2. Should I rather take the torch instead of the dagger ? I loose a dodge and a control, but I gain a fire field which is useful against stealth thiefs (I put the field around me when they hide). I loose in survivability against burst, but it is better against groups. With the field, I can change the trap for the bleeding one or the ice one ; but with lots of evades, I can regen better on field and spirit.

3. What would you chose as a third utility skill ? I would like to keep lightning reflexes as I find it really useful to get out of groups or AoE. Moreover, it breaks both stun and immobilization. I put a list of what I use, but I never felt it was the skill that really counter the weacknesses of my build. I have never been really satisfied of these choices.

4. What would you chose as Elite ? I feel that rampage as one is a bit redondant with the power I stack on my pet and is a bit egoist and not team friendly. I usually use Spirit of Nature, but entagle would increase my DPS and add a control that can serve in teamfight. What is your opinion ? Moreover, the spirit is sometimes hard to place and activate. Sometimes, I succed in auto-reviving me with it. But it is a bit random…

Hi there!

I made a new post because I would like to have suggestions before posting my build. I would like to warn you a bit before. I am not a very good player in terms of skill, but I have strategic sense. I mean that I do not do stupid things, but I have difficulty with targeting sometimes, dodging at the right moment and things like that. I am an occasional player, so I don’t think it will change soon, even if I would be happy if advices are given !

So. I post here because I would like to have advices for a build I am working on for my norn ranger. I prefere versatile characters, so please, don’t tell me « that’s not OP, go for LB » or « you’ll never win with that » blabla. I win sometimes, I win my duels, but I feel my build has serious weaknesses and I would like to identify them more clearly and if possible find solutions. Even if I want to play seriously, priority is fun and what I like to play.

I am not a native English speaker, so I am sorry if my words are not very adapted sometimes and if skill’s name are wrong.

But first the build, for discussion. It is for PvP (battle games in 5v5, ranked).

Ranger’s weapon :
Axe / war horn.
Sword / dagger

Utility skills :
Healing spring (the healing trap, for combo field)
Flame trap
Lighting reflexes
? (Signet of the wild, « Sic them », frost spirit, « search and rescue », Quickening Zephyr)

Elite :
Spirit of nature (Entangle?)

Equipment :
Sage’s amulet : +1050 power, +1050 condition damage, +560 healing power, +560 vitality.
Dolyak’s rune : +175 toughness, +100 vitality, regeneration each second

Pets :
Lynx (for direct and condition damages)
Jungle spider (for condition damages and control : two immobilzations and eventually a combo zone but hard to manage with)

Specializations :

Skirmishing :
Trapper’s expertise,
Strider’s defense,
Quick draw

Wilderness survival :
Expertise training,
Ambidexterity,
Wilderness knowledge

Nature Magic :
Instinctive reaction (Allies’ Aid?)
Windborne Notes,
Nature’s vengeance / Protective Ward

So. The idea is to mainly play Axe – Warhorn, and to get some survivability when someone comes to CaC with the evades with S-D. Why ?

With magic nature passive, all boons I have are copied to the pet (to a certain extent). So when I stack 6s power on me, it goes also to the pet. I don’t know if this is a bug or not, but I saw that in fact the pet gets twice the bonus : when I stack 6-7 powers on me, it gets about 14 power on itself.
The same with the warhorn : this is no bug, but if the pet is in range, it gets +6 power and about 20-30 seconds of fury, rapidity and regen.
I strike at mid distance so that I can target easily and I use and abuse of focus to help the team targeting the same ennemy.

When the pet is low in life, I change it to replenish its life, even if sometimes I fail. The pet has between 12 and 19 power everytime (12-13 without call of nature, 18-19 with it). With nature magic trait that grants +20% boon duration, axe’s auto-attack lasts for 6s and it is easier to stack. If the pet is in range of the warhorn, it can get a permanent fury, regen and rapidity.

What I like with the ranger and I can’t find in other classes is that you can be at two places at the same time. Even if the IA of the pet is sometimes problematic, you can revive and let the pet attack, or target two ennemies at different places, or caping a point while your pet assists an ally 2000 meters away. It can slow an ennemy while I flee away from the fight when it goes wrong. Strategically speaking, I find it precious : it can be far away, if I need it close I just have to switch the pet and there it is.

The choice of amu is based on versatility :
+560 vit for some suvival (otherwise I die too fast),
+560 healing for support and self regen (defense again)
+1050 power and condition damage for being able to kill different kind of ennemies : each time I specialized in one kind of damage, I had troubles. So I prefere mixed damages. Moreover, as I play warhorn and axe, I use mixed damages : auto-attack and call of the wild are direct, multiple blades and winter’s bite are condi.

The choice of dolyak rune is based on survivability (more thoughness and vitality), but mainly for the passive regen (as I have decent healing power).

So. In team fight, I am useful thanks to the warhorn and winter’s bite. I generally play with the spider for more control and combo zone, but if the focus is hard to kill, I take the Lynx for more damages. Call of the wild is deadly on team’s focus.