Guild Wars 2

@Scamander
I think it depends a lot on your group’s composition, total numbers, and anyway, both Jalis and Glint are strong options, they just offer different things. I forgot to mention it.

I think many of you have already tried to figure out how the meta will be after the PoF’s release.
After testing the new specializations in WvW during the demo, I want to share my thoughts with you:

• The new meta will be Firebrand – Herald – Scourge. I’m going to explain why.

Firebrand
I found the class a little “clunky” at first, but after understanding what tomes did, I realized that the firebrand is essentially a guardian who can use 15 extra skills. With tomes we can have damage, conditions, cc, cures, boons, each of these things AOE. This spec doesn’t suffer much boon corruptions since it can reapply boons really fast (See Unflinching Charge, 4 seconds of stability and swiftness no cooldown), which makes it perfect against an heavy condi-corrupt boon meta. The beautiful thing of the firebrand is that it maintains the typical support of the normal guardian, so beyond the tomes we will keep foundamental skills like “stand your ground”, purging flames, the support of the staff and the cc’s of the hammer or greatsword. I really enjoyed this specialization because it keeps the guardian’s fundamental role in zerg but at the same time increases its complexity.

Herald
I don’t think Kalla Scorchrazor will bring something interesting in wvw, although it’s still too early to say. Anyway, I believe that the mix of support and damage that the herald brings to the melee party will remain unsurpassed. Glint boonspam and Mallyx resistance mixed with firebrand support will create a very solid combination in melee parties.

Scourge
Many have already mentioned the power of scourge in zerg, I have personally tried it … and i can confirm it. The first reason why the scourge is better than necro/reaper is because besides the damage it can also support through barriers. The second reason is that the scourge never goes into death shroud, so other classes can heal him better. The third reason is … well, you can imagine what can happen inside a Stonemist lord room full of shades, marks and wells that corrupt boons and apply conditions every second. The scourge is the direct counter of the two classes I mentioned earlier, but i think anet will nerf the damage of the spec making it in line with his primary role which is support. In any case, I believe that a celestial build will be able to offer everything, from damage to conditions to support. Meta for sure.

• BARRIERS > HEALS
  In my opinion, the barrier mechanic is stronger than the healing mehcanic. Why? Because barriers will protect our healthpool keeping it intact, while healing actually works if we have already took damage. Scourge will be so appreciated.

• Spellbreaker will become more popular. Ele/Tempest will be less mandatory.

Spellbreaker
What to say, Winds of Disenchantment is formidable. Only this elite skill can push the class not to the level of the other 3 I mentioned, but almost. This spec can also strip a lot of boons, and finally warrior has another role from just doing damage.

Tempest Auramancer
Although I think the class will still be a strong choice, I think it will become less popular. Weaver does not seem to support better than tempest, so I think the main role of the elementalist will remain spamming auras, protection and heals. Nothing special considering how strong is the combination beetween firebrand support and scourge barriers. It will still be a solid choice.

• A sub-meta will arise.
  So far I have spoken about 3 classes + 2 others that will be good, but..what about others? Every other class will cap camps or scout towers? I don’t think so.
  Most of the time, we can see a party full of rangers,thieves, mesmers and engies in the bottom of the squad.
  Soulbeast will be able to offer stability, resistance, condi-immunity and other boons, which can be combined very well with chrono boonshare. I can’t even imagine how much damage deadeyes and holosmiths will be able to pump out when full of boons like that. Will they be able to climb the meta this time? Probably not, but they are about to become much more effective and a lot more useful than you think.

And you? What do you think? How the meta will change with Path of Fire? What you would like to see? How the current roles will transform? Keep the thread constructive bois and girls

In preparation of PoF, i was theorycrafting a Soulbeast build for wvw/gvg and i basically got stuck in the weapon choice. WvW builds run weapons that can do a lot of AoEs, but sadly, ranger doesn’t have many of them. So, let’s see our weapon choices (besides warhorn that is clearly mandatory in a team comp):

Longbow
I think this is our best aoe weapon. We can pick Lead the Wind for piercing arrows, and barrage can hit a lot of enemies. Problem is, the weapon needs to land so many hits and we can take a lot of damage by retaliation. Also, projectiles can be easily reflected and the new spellbreaker elite skill will deny 90% of our longbow damage. Anyway, the weapon is really good at destroying sieges like ac’s on towers (but still subpar to ele staff) and pressuring low health targets, so it isn’t that bad, but not good either.
Shortbow
I can’t see this weapon being viable in a zerg or guild group honestly. Less damage and range than longbow, only projectiles, zero AoE. Not good at all.
Greatsword
I like the idea of being a frontliner. Maul on soulbeast can actually hit very hard and hits up to 5 targets. But what we have outside Maul? Only single target low damage. I really like the concept but i’m not convinced at all.
Axe mainhand
Might stacks, multiple conditions and can hit multiple targets at 900 range, especially with Hnoed axes. Seems good on paper, but you have no mobility, blocks or whatsoever, attacks are slow, and most important, PROJECTILES AGAIN.
Sword & Dagger Mainhand
Maybe we’ll see some use with warhorn.
Torch offhand
Finally an AoE, but i’m really not sure about it. I mean, this is completely useless in a power build, and offers no utility aswell.
Dagger offhand
No AoE’s, good evade. I don’t think i will run it if i have warhorn already.
Axe Offhand
Both #4 and #5 can be good, but being rooted in place is something i don’t like.
Beast abilities
Sadly, we don’t have much aoes except Wordly Impact, Prelude Lash,Primal Cry, and some other skills but honestly, in wvw i would prefer Spiritual Reprieve and Unflinching Fortitude.

I think our best combos are

Sword or Dagger/Warhorn with:

• Longbow
• Greatsword
• Axe/axe or Dagger/axe or Sword/axe

I want my staff lol.

@Pvt Frosty This is my opinion: druid can juke enemies A LOT with stealth and mobility. It’s a solid class, with very good support and also nice 1v1 capabilities. I think both engi and ranger are good in solo/duoq, don’t get me wrong
But, and i repeat, this is MY OPINION, in a 5 v 5 premade, the class can be countered easily. A thief can just remove your stab with 1 skill, engi has reveal. A good player can block/evade your attacks after your stealth so he can get the point. Dps got nerfed hard and now is even more difficult to get a kill since our personal dps is bad and our pet skills are easily dodgeable (or reflectable if we use bristle).
In my perspective, Engi looks more solid and has better impact in the game, atleast at higher levels with coordinated people. But hey, i’m not saying that ranger is bad, absolutely. Let’s say this, if ranger is 9/10, engi is 10/10. If you think the opposite, no problem, everyone has their opinions

The might-stacking nerf is a fact. You need to invest completely on might stacking runes-sigils-weapons (warhorn) to get similar power as we had before. Without them, the dps drop is very noticeable.
Yesterday I was thinking “is We Heal As One mandatory now?” I mean, we used it to get a lot of boons, especially might stacks. But now?

Anyway, the WS traitline is just amazing. So much protection-regen and condi clears. But that Allies Aid on the NM traitline….so much support…and the protection…Also we can’t drop BM cause…cooldowns,regen and swiftness, you know. I think right now ranger is just subpar to engi.

Hahaha glad you have used many forum post titles in your introduction (including mine), hope anet will read them all xD

Anyway. Nice gameplay as always, but let’s be honest, roaming is where the ranger has always been good (and druid aswell). I’m 100% sure you could kill those ppl with core ranger or druid aswell.
I think the majority of the people got frustrated because,let’s be honest, the class has a lot of bugs/clunky mechanics. Most of the old traits/skills can not work without a pet and a lot of the new utilities/traits were bugged or useless. Of course anet is going to fix everything. Personally, i got surprised on how well Spellbreaker, Scourge, Weaver and Holo are made. They are almost a finished product. Numbers need adjustments, yes, but overall the class mechanic works. Soulbeast is faaaaar away to be a finished product and PoF will be released in a month that’s why people got mad.

Actually dagger offhand can be used on many power builds. Dagger mainhand would be nice in a power build aswell, especially with a slightly buffed AA and #3. But yeah, right now the weapon is mostly condi damage based.

I want to share my thoughts on Soulbeast as a pvp/wvw player.

-Dagger-
Let’s start from our new weapon.
The damage on the autoattack is too low. I was critting for about 500 while using a Marauder amulet. Considering that we actually need to be in melee range to land these attacks, I think the damage should be duplicated x 3 atleast. The condi application is fine.
Double Arc base damage is low, considering the hybrid theme of the dagger.
Instinctive Engage really needs 1/4 s evade. The leap also feels clunky without quickness, and in my opinion, it needs to be 600 range, not 400.

-Beastmode-
Everything is so clunky. The majority of the skills have low damage. Smoke Assault, 2k damage with marauder amulet on a golem, also the skill doesnt evade. Sigh. Harmonic Cry heals x3 less than the pet version. Most of the skills root you in place. Beastmode? Feels more like a drunk man trying to headbutt someone.

-Stances-
The only thing that works on Dolyak stance is the stun break effect. No boons or buffs are applied. This ruined my demo experience. One wolf pack last indefinitely on allies. Overall, stance effects are good, but cooldowns are too high in my opinion, especially Bear stance (needs to be 20sec) and Griffon Stance (this skill is so useless sigh).

-Traits-
From a pvp/wvw perspective, there is literally no reason to bring a Soulbeast in a pvp or wvw team. Leader of the Pack should grant the entire stance duration. 2-3 seconds is not enough.
Second Skin is nice, but it would be better if we can share this trait with our allies. Otherwhise, we have no support at all.
Eternal Bond is weak, you die 1 or 2 seconds later, that’s it. 90 sec cooldown for the lolz.
Minor traits have no sinergy.

Final conclusion
The spec has potential, but at the moment, it really needs an hard rework and bug fixes. Completely useless in a zerg, definitely worse than a druid in a pvp team.
Vote: 4/10

The only thing that actually works is the break stun effect. Both boons and effect from this skill are neglected.

My biggest doubt is this, the trait description says: “Stance skills grants
their effects to nearby allies for a reduced duration” but actually, our Stances have multiple effects. Will EVERY effect be shared to our allies?
Example, Dolyak Stance: “Gain stability and retaliation and remove conditions that impede movement. Prevent application of such conditions while in this stance.”
This mean we will share stability and retaliation like a guardian? Or the effect includes only the condi-removal thing?
Another example, Bear Stance: "Heal yourself and your pet. Lose conditions while in this stance, healing for each condition lost. "
This means we will heal allies with our healing skill aswell? Or only the condi removal effect is considered?
Too many doubts, not enough answers.

Let’s make a clear example already. We have a Superior Sigil of Strenght on our beautyful new dagger, and we are running Nature Magic-Beastmastery-Soulbeast traitlines: we hit an enemy few times, gaining about, let’s say, 5 stacks of might. With our minor master trait Fortifying Bond any boon is shared with our pet, so if we have 5 stacks of might, our pet will have 5 stacks of might aswell.
And now come our problems.
Let’s say we merge with our pet after gaining those might stacks. Will pet’s Might be added to our personal stacks? Or we will just lose everything?
Let’s make another example. We use the active effect of Signet of the Wild to gain 20% damage increase, for both us and our pet. If we merge, we will get an additional 20% damage increase (because our pet, you know, is inside us) or we will lose 20% of the damage for free?
We can make a lot of examples here, from “Sic’em” to “Guard!” to a lot of our skills/traits that involve the pet mechanic.
I think this: if pet’s boons will stack to our personal boons, the entire Nature magic-Soulbeast-“We heal as One” combo will be completely useless. That’s why i don’t think this will happen. But, at the same time, if we lose every boon or buff we give to our pet just because we need to merge with them, well…this really sucks.
Druid heavily relies on buffing pets to the limit (25 might stacks, fury, speed,etc) to make his damage ( i’m talking about pvp/wvw here). If we can’t take advantage of this with the Soulbeast, our entire core mechanic is to be thrown into the rubbish.
We don’t know exactly how the merge mechanic will interact to our pet buffs, but in my opinion, this is really difficult to balance.
I hope Anet got some ideas to make it work, otherwise, makes sense to us to drop everything that involve buffing our pet to have, let’s say, 3-6 new skills?

Dagger mainhand with poison and bleeding, pet abilities….looks like Anet saw the old post about my specialization concept
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/New-Ranger-Elite-Specialization-the-Stalker/first#post6476302

Anyway, seems we are gonna obtain the most versatile specialization in the entire game, look how many options we have:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_pet_skills
Relevant skills are:
- Defy Pain: Wiki says the skill last 5 seconds. Also, will this skill be considered as a Stance like is it for warriors? Will be possible to share Defy Pain to our allies with the GM trait Leader of the Pack?
- Devourer Retreat: Retreat by tunneling through the ground. 3 seconds evade. I think this can be a nice survivability option especially for condi soulbeast.
- Harmonic Cry: Well, finally we can use it when we want atleast!
- Smoke Assault: REVENANT 2.0 incoming.

Also, will our trait Lingering Magic stack the pet boon duration to ourselves? We will see. I don’t care much how the Soulbeast GM traits sucks just because probably Anet will balance them multiple times in these months.

Video presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhFrgfUw2c4
Wiki info: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Soulbeast

SUMMARY
New weapon: Dagger mainhand.
New skill type: Stances.
New profession mechanic: Soulbeast will be able to gain the abilities of their pet.

Opinions?

Talking about WvW zerg here -Seriously, commander just kick rangers from squad even if they running healing druid. Sadly they are right. Healinghealinghealinghealing but let’s be real there is too much AoE poison in this game. Also damage is pretty lackluster and mostly single target skills. Our pet is dead 99% of the time and can be Epid when is alive. Two stability with 1 second cast time and incredibly long cooldown. I’m really sad cause i can’t play one of my favourite classes in wvw only because the class is not designed for it. I play guard, war and necro and they do pretty well in zergs. But i really want to play my ranger.
Anet, please, can we have an update with a rework of our skills that can make us viable and not completely useless like the past 4 years?

In my opnion these are our main problems:
1) Pets aren’t reliable in large fights.
- They can’t dodge AoEs.
- Even in passive mode they dont follow properly.
- They have too low HP compared to the pve counterpart.
- Important secondary skills like Harmonic Cry (jouvenile Moas) are wasted because our pet can not know when to activate it.
My suggestions: Pet’s health increases automatically when we have more than 10 enemies in 1200 radius. When pets have increased health, they also have a 60% chance to dodge attacks when affected by Vigor and they also evade attacks when the ranger evades. When pets have increased health, they have 1 more Special skill. (example: Blue Moa – Protecting Screech/Harmonic Cry).

2) Ranger/druid locked into beastmastery-shouts-signets.
- Signet of Stone is mandatory.
- Shouts are the only way to support our allies while granting us some survivability. So beastmastery is mandatory.
- Our beast AoE boons are granted by spirits and our best aoe damage is granted by traps. We actually cant run them in zerg because spirits die in 2 seconds and traps don’t guarantee any way to survive cause no stun-breaks or supportive-boons.
My suggestions: Spirits really need some love outside pve. Make them invulnerable to damage (like warrior banners) in wvw only and let them move if using the trait Nature’s Vengeance. Give traps some love aswell, granting a break stun to one trap (Maybe Frost trap?). Trait Trapper’s Expertise now grants a pulsing boon or condition based on which trap is triggered (Healing Spring – Protection / Flame Trap – Might / Frost Trap – Stability / Spike trap – Cripple / Viper’s Nest – Slow) and reduce the recharge of traps.

3) I don’t understand the class design.
- Ranger should be THE sniper class but the class doesnt have unblockables.
- Druid should be THE healing spec but our cooldowns, especially on CA (15 sec), makes us subpar to other healers.
My suggestions: Adjust cooldowns, cast times and some effects. We have 2 stability with 60 and 75 sec cooldown/1 sec cast time, unreliable in larger fights except if you prevent the stun. Signets have HUGE cooldowns and actually i miss the unblockable bug on Signet of the Wild. CA cooldown in wvw is just stupid cause we cant sustain our group with our healing skills locked to 15 sec cooldown form (maybe revert to 12sec?).

Just some hints, hope you guys agree. I just want to play large scale fights properly with my ranger.

Legendary armor can also save runes

T2 is already an ascended armor set. T3 IS NOT WORTH IT.
2000 rank + a lot of Skirmish Claim Tickets + gold to have a “normal” ascended set with better look? Anet, this armor takes longer than the PvE legendary armor. It has is own prestige, but it’s basically a normal ascended armor.
Atleast make us change the stats whenever we want, PLEASE.

Nice stats combination although the build overall seems pretty vulnerable to conditions (you have 0 condi cleanses outside celestial avatar basically). One good condi spike after CA and you are a walking dead.
Signet of Renewal is good in most situations, and the new Evasive Purity is also a great choice to clean poison from you, just dodge I recommend it instead of Gliph of Alignment, is also another break stun.
“Protect Me” can be a good choice instead of gliph of equality. Protection,aoe stun break,speed, and most important regen that help you to refill your CA.
These are my personal suggestions

I’m just looking for THE BEST solo roaming build ever for Druid/ranger.
Basically, I can’t decide on my equip.

Few hints:
- I’m looking for a power build, so no condition builds since they lack stability, stunbreakers or condi cleanses;
- I’m looking for a build that can survive even in outnumbered situations but at the same time i want some damage to kill people;
- I’m looking for a build that can deal with both power and condi damage opponents;
-Boon duration or healing power to support our damage/sustain?

Help me guys

Nice concept AEFA Although i dont think we will get something like “Major adept: Primal Choice – While wielding a Dagger you gain 150 power. Reduce recharge of dagger skills by 20%.” since:
1) Our dagger offhand is more an utility-condi weapon than a power weapon;
2) We already have a trait that reduce the recharge of dagger skills called Ambidexterity;

Anyway, these are my thoughts on the next E-spec:

• Dagger mainhand = we will get more melee oriented playstyle
• Melee playstyle means that we need more invulnerabilities-blocks-evade-stability on demand. I would say that Stances would fit this perfectly but we will see.
• Our dagger offhand is basically a condi weapon with some utilities, like evade and cripple. I think our dagger mainhand will probably use both power and condi damage, exactly like d/d ele, d/d necro and d/d thief can do (dont forget that our trait Ambidexterity increase our condition damage while wielding a dagger).
• I was hoping for some sort of shapeshifting skills but i dont think we will get those. Why? Because the image shows a big…spirit-pet around the ranger, not a ranger transforming into something else. This might make me think that new “spirit-pet” will be our E-spec mechanic, not a skill, and something that will protect us and fight with us.
• Traits seems really connected to this new spirit-pet. We will get more than 1 spirit-pet, and with different skills/playstyles? Maybe.
• Dagger means that our AoE melee cleave will probably come from the spirit-pet since most of the time dagger hits 2-3 ppl max.

These are my speculations

@jcbroe
I ended up with the same conclusion. Sigil of Revocation is better than Annulment because, as Pvt Frosty said, Annulment effect can be dodged. Sigil of Cleansing is better than Sigil of Battle because we already can stack a lot of might with Sigil of Courage.
Evasive Purity > Vigourous Training.
Metabattle says runes of Water but Dolyak runes are better since they provide constant CA regeneration.
Pretty sure this Staff-Sword/Dagger build will be the next meta build.
I also think Staff/longbow or Staff-S/W can be good in some matchups.
Thanks all for the constructive opinions.

PERSONAL OPINION HERE
Before the patch we could evade with s/d while refulling our CA. After this regen nerf, you can see how our CA bar refill so slowly cuz no perma regen uptime. Investing completely on bunkering maybe allows you to survive a few seconds more, but the impact on the game is not that good since both our damage and sustain got nerfed hard and other classes can simply bunker and do damage at the same time, and better than us (like ele/engi). Running classic staff-s/d would mean that we will be subpar to these classes. Warhorn #4 guarantees some hits so CA regen faster, and #5 gives perma regen and also its a blast finisher that can be used in combination with our smoke/light/water fields. I can escape just blasting my smoke field or the smoke field from my thief mate. Bunkering is not more a thing with druid because other classes can do it better so i prefer to trade a bit of survivability for more damage, but this is just my personal opinion

@Pvt Frosty Permafury and unblockable pet actually hits engineers very hard Same goes for mesmers. I would say is not more a bunker, but a “buffer-support”. Grants a lot of damage in teamfights since boonspam is similar to herald.

I think this can be the future meta build, with few adjustments:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7kSFoWQsfFwhFgrFsMLYw/zCaD1pqd1yaPBg603qEnnG-T5wHABA8EAEf/B5LDAA

Condi removal on hit/Energy sigils on staff; Cleansing/Energy on sword/warhorn.
I’ve took double Energy because with this build i dont have vigor from Vigorous Training – and also i have one less evade since i dont run dagger offhand. Maybe i’m wrong?
With Windborne Notes and runes of Leadership i can maintain fury-regen-might-swiftness permanently.
Unblockable pets is the way to go. A well-timed unblockable smoke assault or bristle f2 can turn the battle. The damage of the build is pretty high and the support is even better than the bunker s/d, although the build requires timing and positioning skills. No might sigils needed since with warhorn we can pump a lot of might. Pretty sure can work with some boon-removal sigil aswell.

This is actually what i’ve tried:

MAGI BUNKER
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8YnUqA1Ci9rAOsActglOBzJwFAKcwr0YaO9pFEqWYlI9zA-TpgNABxWGAg9HAA
Sigil of Courage/Cleansing on staff, and Escape/Energy on sword/dagger.
I’ve took Evasive Purity instead of Vigorous training just because this trait now is so useful (2 conditions removed on dodge 10 sec cd). With Evasive Purity, Signet of Renewal passive effect and cleansing sigil the condi removal is pretty good actually (4 conditions every 10 sec).

SHOUTBOW
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTnUqA1CiVsAOsActglZBzpqNnyaPBg603C+fWQfolI9zA-TpQARAg9HglBAA
Sigil of Cleansing/Escape on staff, sigil of Courage/Energy on longbow.
I’ve took Leadership runes because 50% boon duration feels really good, also dolyak runes are not needed cuz Signet of the Wild passive effect. Solid build, i can remove a lot of conditions only swapping to staff. Also the might stacking on longbow is pretty darn good.

POISONER (still testing)
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQLL2vCOsAXLW4EMmg1dLvB3Snp90mhVfLAUyzSD-TpgNABAs/g3lBAA
Sigil of Annulment/Energy on shortbow, Fallibility/doom on sword/dagger.
The amount of poison that this build can do is ridiculous. It also have a lot of evades and perma swiftness by swapping weapons or shortbow #3. The condition cleansing is good, and the CA regen is solid (The new Troll Unguent is just fantastic).
Really strong fighter build since you use both power (mostly from pet) and condi damage. I don’t run staff now but i’ve alredy tested it instead of sword/dagger and works. I will work on this build these days. Only tested in unranked matches for now

I’ve seen the image. I’ve seen it again. And i don’t see a focus there, really. Seems more a “tribal-bone-weapon”, more similar to a dagger than a focus.
Also, right now, we have 2 main hand and 4 off hand weapons. Focus is tipically an off hand weapon, so, i really doubt we will get another off hand. Focus main hand? Nah. How the hell can be an autoattack from…a focus?
Also the icon is clearly a dagger. But we will see

Core warrior is fine but Berserker is basically a warrior on steroids. Primal burst skills are strong, and i’m fine with this, since they require full adrenaline bar. But let’s be honest, those primal burst skills can be spammed too much (3 seconds cooldown wtf), and also count as tier 3 burst skills.
As the OP mentioned, i think is a good idea to change tier of primal burst skills.
Also YES to the changes @ Arc divider and Skull grinder. Those skills are completely overpowered.
Passives removed and increased build diversity is what i would like to see in the next patch anyway.

Personally, I do not understand why the best buffs we can offer to our team come from a static source, especially considering that our class is designed to be really mobile.
Right now, the effects that our spirits can give are good, but they can be useful only in a pve environment since once you summon them, they will stay in place throughout their lifetime.

So, these are my suggestion for our spirits to make them work in pvp/wvw:
- Instead of summoning a Spirit, our ranger will be surrounded by an “ethereal aura” with the same colour and the form of the spirit we have summoned. These auras will grant the same aoe buffs we have right now, but with less range since we can move while buffing allies;
- Once we are surrounded by these spirits, we can active the second effect exactly like our current Spirits;
- Every “Spirit Aura” can be destroyed. This means, if we take a lot of damage, activated spirits will expire;
- The duration of our spirits in pvp/wvw mode will no longer be 1 minute, but less (like 30 seconds seems reasonable to me). Also cooldowns need to be adjusted;
- Our current Grandmaster Trait “Nature’s Vengeance” will be changed according to these new effects: “Spirits grant a boon to allies around them. Spirit Activating-skills will activate when Spirits are killed. Reduce the recharge of Spirits.”

I think this can be a good option especially if we decide to run with a zerg (this will bring the ranger in meta, for sure).
At the same time, pve will get exactly the same buffs as before and pvp will get more build diversity maybe. Let me know what do you guys think

I kinda agree with this post. Thief is 100% killable, but in my opinion it’s a “design” problem, i mean, seriously, tell me a class that can catch a thief these days. In wvw is even worse. They simply have too much mobility AND also they are basically immune to cripple-chill-immobilize. In a point-capture mode, where rotating is the key to win a match, they are a serious advantage and no one can counter them except another thief. In my opinion they should reduce the amount of space traveled by dodges or just add a cooldown to the movement-impairing condition removal.

@Kumouta.4985
Problem is, necros are more predictable than warriors these days lol.

@Vitali.5039
That’s a post that Anet should read.

Zagerus.8675
Yes noobs for sure. But with my druid i can’t kill people in 2 v 1 so easily. Also, power warriors are really strong in teamfights in my opinion. I mean they can chain-cc the target like no other class can do. Also the greatsword is amazing with those big hits AoE. No team support but they give a serious advantage especially against classes that suffer interrupts like eles/druids.

@Potato.2567
EU is not like NA at all. Don’t get me wrong thief and guardian are really strong right now. The OP mobility on thief is something Anet should looking for, and also the spammable AoE damage on guards with all those blocks. But hey, thieves can’t contest a point. Also they die easily if you can touch them, they don’t facetank the damage like the PassiveGodModeWarrior can do. Guardian is easy to play but not that good i mean they die really fast under focus. Also powerwarrior can pass through guardian blocks like a breadstick into creamcheese.

So, I haven’t played much this season but i’ve reached Plat t2 with my dudu. Bored by this meta, i’ve decided to go sword-axe anstead of the classic sword-dagger. After some nice results, i got bored again so i’ve decided to go back to my warrior. I still had the old build GS/Mace-shield with carrion amulet. So i went to Metabattle.com, copy-pasted the current meta build, and i went Ranked.

I really don’t know why i did not play warrior this season.

It’s all so EASY. With a berserker amulet i have almost better sustain than the mender druid. Conditions? What are conditions? Resistance on-demand, condi clears on weapon swap and 3 condi cleanses spamming f2 every 3 seconds, and hell, that Arc Divider with OVER 9THOUSAND range that can kill enemies that are trying to kite you. Damage? What is damage? Dodges, blocks, evades,endure pain and that always welcommed Defy pain that save my a**s when i don’t remember to dodge anything, wow. In every case, i can Rush away. Perma stab, try to catch me if you can.
I won a 1 v 2 against druid and thief so easily.

Then i went condi.
I was just “what the hell is this”.
Sooo tanky. I went far and no one was able to kill me. The only trouble was playing against guardians cause #NoSignetOfMight but hey, they are beatable aswell. If you have a good ele nothing can kill you: Healing Signet+Adrenal Health+Regeneration for the lolz. Also the amount of interrupts on demand…well, how a necro (that have only 2 dodges with 0 blocks-evades-invuln) is supposed to kill you? Boon corruptions? I can re-apply my boons every 3 seconds, where’s the problem.

So, after this mindblowing experience, i was thinking: i’m not a good war. Not at all. I mean, warrior was my first class and i’ve played it a lot in wvw/pve but not much in pvp.
SO, if i can get this results as a NotGoodAtAllWarrior, how is a good warrior supposed to be killed? Most of the time people say “learn to dodge” or “kite ’em”, when.. let’s say the truth, good warriors can hit you more than what you can dodge. Only ONE f2 and they can remove 3 conditions / mantaining 3 stacks of Adrenal health. With only ONE hit. And those f2 are spammable every few seconds and can hit very easily. Also don’t forget that a good warrior (that is not me) can kite you, or dodge your skills aswell.

What i can say after this? Well…some things must be brought in line.

So you are looking for a build that works in both small and big scale fights? Here you go:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7kSFoWQsXQwhFgrFsMLYPBg603C+fWQfoORt5UWrEpHG-T1SDQBS4IAMKlQQUZB80Nwk9HAwDCIgq/swDCQXUqIvLAQHVCuZQAYCRA///NJJRKA/GaB-w
This is a very versatile setup. You have:
- 2300 power (this build can stack a lot of might so you we have roughly 2.7-2.8k power all the time);
-30% crit chance (permafury with Tiger and warhorn, so you will have 50% crit chance all the time);
-3000 armor, perfect when you fight a lot of opponents;
-2100 vitality, i think is perfect for a ranger;
-190% ferocity (you can also pick Furious Sharpening Stones if you want to have 200% ferocity and more thoughness);
-550 healing power. Now, the amount of healing you can have really depends on you. You can pick Furious Tuning Crystals for a +100 healing instead of power Stones. Then, with 250 healing power from sigil of Life you can have 900 healing power, that is quite good in my opinion if you run with a zerg;
-20% boon duration. I know, is not much. BUT you can drop Healing food for a more consistent Plate of Mussels Gnashblade if you want to reach 35%-40% boon duration.
-AoE condi clears with every shout (this is nice both for you and your allies, but you are forced to run shouts. If you don’t wanna run them, pick Durability instead);

For weapons, you have multiple choices here. Personally, i go Staff/Sword-Warhorn in big groups, but for roaming you can also equip:
-Greatsword/Sword-axe or warhorn if you like the melee playstyle;
-Staff/Longbow if you like to pewpew;
-Staff/Greatsword is a good pick also;

You can also change some skills/pets/traits depending on what are you doing.
As you can see, the build can adapt on what you want to run in that moment. I played with this setup for 2 months and i find myself very confortable

I really like these ideas, so refreshing
Right now I have a lot of unspent points … would be nice to have something like THIS to cover the role that i want in the mist war with each of my characters

One thing I’ve noticed since HoT came out, is the complete lack of build diversity.
Right now we are obliged to play with Specializations, because we got a steroid-version of core classes. We can’t be competitive with a core ranger, or a core thief, and so on.
And this is a big part of the problem.

Anet needs to revamp core classes and nerf specializations.
Basically, that’s it. Look at core warriors, they need to build up adrenaline to land their most powerful skills. Berserkers just need to reach full adrenaline then spamming t3 burst skills for 15 seconds. Same goes for every class.

Anet needs to remove useless traits
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Soften_the_Fall
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Explosive_Descent
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Terrifying_Descent
I mean, traits like these. Why we have still these traits in pvp? Falling damage? In which case they can be useful? Just replace them with something like.. “pvp-exclusive” traits, really.

Anet needs to remove passive traits
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Self-Regulating_Defenses
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Defy_Pain_
We all know how a class can be carried by passive invulnerabilities. Nothing to add here.

Anet needs to add new amulets/runes/sigils
There are a lot of stats-combinations, just give us some new s***t to play with.

Anet needs to give us new roles for every class
What i (personally) would like to see:

-Support Necromancer
Give us a trait that allow us to steal life from our enemies and give it to our allies. Make Signet of Undeath a real support skill. Make (maybe?) dagger a real support weapon through specific traits (like #2 becoming an AoE heal or something like that).

-Spirit Druid
Why spirits cannot move when warrior banners can be transported? Bring back old spirits and give us the real support that every druid is supposed to be. Right now the entire Spirit set can’t be used in pvp.

-A viable core Revenant build
Like Mallyx-Dwarf or Ventary-Shiro or Shiro-Mallyx or…well you got it.

-Condi Ele
Something never seen.

-Point-holder thief (NOT d/d condi)
Not much mobile but that can actually old a point through blocks/evades. Give teef traits that increase though/vitality, add some blocks (on staff maybe), some condi clears, and make sure that they cant run through the map like these days if they choose this setup.

-Hambow 2.0
Just to make people remember how feels an hammerstun in pvp these days.

-Reaper Decapper
Increase the duration of spectral walk (like mesmer portal) ,give it superspeed, and increase wurm reliability. Better than a daredevil. For the lolz.

-Turret engi
After HoT powercreep, i really want to see it viable again.

Do you guys have other ideas to increase build diversity?

Hello guys,
I was just wondering, can someone give me a DH build that can be used in a zerg-frontline? (don’t tell me “go normal guard, its better” pls, currently i’m running normal guardian but i’m bored).
Thanks

I’m in top 150 eu right now, i have almost 6k pvp games and i play since release basically.
I’m not a “competitive” player, I never participated in tournaments, but i try my best at the game when i have time to play.
In my opinion, Season 6 is one of the worst game experience i have ever had:
- Games are so stressful;
- The overall pvp scene is not friendly;
- Team and map chat are always full of insults and complaining;
- Power/condi creep is something unbelivable;
- Every season the same meta;
- 0 build diversity for most of the classes;
- Core classes are not competitive;
- Matchmaking doesn’t work;
- We can’t play with our friends/guildmates because there are no Team queues so teams can’t improve. Give us teamq in addition to solo/duoq please;
- Rewards are poor and cannot compete with PvE. Also ascended equipment in pvp is not needed since pvp players should not be interested on higher stats, and right now pvp is almost more expensive than pve if you want to get ascended items. We need ascended in WvW! And atleast give us some unique skins obtainable only in pvp!;
- 0 new game modes like deathmatch or 10v10 and so on;
- Most of the competitive players have left the game, they are bored aswell;

I have miss something?

Add new skills and traitlines instead of wasting time on things that will not change the meta at all.

Here’s my suggestion:
1. Remove borderlands, both Alpine and Desert. People wants fights. Right now borders are almost empty, especially the red border. Let’s say it, that border is too big. If you are a roamer, you have to run for 30 minutes to find another guy. Also the whole map has too many precipices, bottlenecks, bridges, and too much PVE stuff. Alpine borders are fine, but after 4 years i think we need something refreshing;

2. Replace borderlands with 3 maps like Eternal Battlegrounds, but smaller. Three keeps and a big fortress in the center of the map, with camps, outposts, and small towers all around. These new maps should have a different “theme”, like (examples):
Pirate Island Borderland
Three keeps on the beach, and a big fortress in the middle of a big jungle. Ships and boats all around, navigable rivers. Tons of cannons, of course. YARRR.
Fallen City Borderland
A giant city similar to Divinity’s Reach, with buildings and streets destroyed by war. The King’s castle will be the fortress in the center.
Galactic Wars Borderland
Something like the Jade Maw fractal, with flying Asura’s spaceships all around. Instead of keeps, every server has is own spaceship. The big objective in the center of the map should be a Giant Mothership, and the lord could be a giant Alien.

These are only 3 maps, but every week we should be able to play on other new-themed maps!

3. Every map should have his own currency, so we can step forward to ascended vendors in WvW, maybe with specific skins based on the theme of the borderland.

What do you think guys?

Hey guys, in your opinion what is going to be nerfed / buffed tomorrow?
These are my thoughts based on the classes I play regularly:

Ranger
Ancient Seeds: Increased cooldown of this trait from 10 sec to 15 sec.
Signet of the Wild: Fixed a bug that grants unblockable hits for the duration of the active effect of the skill. Now this skill breaks stun when activated.
Signet of the Hunt: Changed the active effect of this skill. Now this skill grants unblockable attacks for 5 seconds to you and your pet.
Search and Rescue: Increased the radius of this skill from 600 to 900. (now it’s useless.)

Warrior
Defy Pain: Increased cooldown of this trait from 60 sec to 75 sec.
Arc Divider: Reduced the range of this skill from 450 to 250.
Skull Grinder: Reduce the range of this skill from 300 to 130. This skill no longer cause blind.
Adrenal health: The base healing power for this trait has been reduced by 15%. Healing-power contribution has been increased by 25%.
Vigorous Shouts: _Shout base healing increased from 1000 hp to 1300 hp. Every shout grants 5 seconds of regeneration.

Necromancer
Now Regeneration heals you while in death shroud.
Death Spiral (gs #3): Now this skill block attacks for 2 seconds while striking.
Nightfall (gs #4): _Now the column of shadows grows on your feet and follows you for his entire duration. Gain life force (2%) every time a pulse strike an enemy.
Grasping Darkness (gs #5): This skill now is ground targeted (like ranger axe offhand #4). Range increased from 600 to 800.
Epidemic: Now this skill can’t be used on WvW sieges.
Spectral Walk: Reduced the recharge of this skill from 50 to 35 sec. This skill now grants 6 seconds of superspeed and 15 seconds of swiftness. Life force gained and Spectral effect remains the same.
Soul Eater: Now this trait pulse Stability (1 stack for 4 seconds every 4 seconds) while wielding a greatsword. Lifesteal from this trait has been removed.
Transfusion: Now this skill heals you aswell.

Engineer
Self Regulating Defenses: The cooldown of this trait has been increased from 75 sec to 90 sec.

I don’t like passive traits so nerf them all :p
Anyway these are some changes that I thought. What do you think about these and other classes? What are we going to see?

@ Evan Lesh
If YES wins:

• Make sure to create a Build Templates option in the pvp build panel so we can adapt to our team composition without changing class completely;
• Increase build diversity. Right now we still have 1 viable build x class (max 2 with certain classes);

In my opinion this game is not ready for a change like this yet.

I really don’t understand why druid is compared to ele to be honest, since they provide different things. There are different situations where ele is better than druid, and situations where druid is better than ele.
Talking about healing while moving, a druid can jump on the frontline with staff #3 (4k AoE heal), than going CA form, calling “water” and pop CA#4 (2.3k heal per pulse AoE), then CA#3 (8k AoE), then CA#4 again, then Healing Gliph (9k AoE), and exit CA form giving stealth and superspeed aoe. So it’s not true at all that they can’t heal properly if your allies are moving. Also even druid can grant perma might-fury-swiftness-regen-vigor if traited. They can move downed corpses, and last but not least they buff allies damage better than ele (7% crit chance+10-20% damage aoE).

ELE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER THAN DRUID: if you take a 15k damage spike from enemy attacks (cuz protection or not you will take damage anyway), you prefer a druid that can actually refull your hp in 1.5 seconds or an ele that needs to cast every cooldown at your service, and only God know how much time is needed to cast all those skills?

Anyway, ele is certainly better in most scenarios.
I agree that is better to have more eles than druids, like is better to have more guardians than warriors, but hey, in a 50ppl zerg they can all coexist without any problem. Or not?
The difference is that ranger, engie and mesmer are not even considered, they are just left on a party all together without any chance to get a good gameplay experience like other classes can guarantee if you play them.

@Mini Crinny
^Thats the standard mentality bois^
Only 1 waterfield? CA#4 + Staff #5 with the Quick Draw trait + Healing spring (healing skill) grants 7 waterfields in 30 seconds with the right rotation lol.
And scrapper have “mostly” single target damage? lol? With hammer? Not mentioning that a lot of kits if slotted have mostly AoE like mortar kit/bombs/grenades/flamethrower or even elixir gun.

@Pride
I agree completely, but this does not justify the fact that those classes are left without any kind of support. A zerg based on ranger/teef/mesmer/engi is not good at all, yes, on the other side they bring unique utilities if builded correctly so there is nothing wrong if a large group have those classes aswell (of course in less numbers than guards-revs-ele-necros). The fact that they are left in the bottom of the squad, kicked, and blamed even if they are experienced, in TS and with a good build kinda makes me sad.

I play different classes in WvW, mainly guardian, warrior, necro, ranger and engineer.
All of my toons are builded for wvw, and I get on Teamspeak every time I come into the Mist War.
When i play guardian-berserker-reaper, it’s all good. Liutenants put me into a melee party, i have stabs,resistance,boons and so on.
The same thing doesnt happen when i am on my frontline scrapper or with my frontline healer druid. In fact they put me into that “Bottom-of-the-squad-useless-party”, full of thieves, mesmers, engineers and rangers without any kind of support from other classes. A lot of people will understand this.
The fact is, even if you put your efforts on building yourself correctly (i do also gvg’s with my druid and scrapper), even if you bring your food maximizing your performance, even if you come on ts and listening at your commy, people still think that classes that are not rev-guard-war-necro-ele are complete trash.
They don’t mind if you are a boonshare chrono, they will put you into that “useless-bottom of the squad-party” like a normal mesmer with 0 group utilities.
They don’t mind if you are an healing bot druid that can outheal x3 an ele with tons of waterfields, boons and blasts, they will put you into that party because they think you are kitteneless zerker pewpew ranger.
They don’t mind if you are a frontline scrapper with tons and tons of condi cleanses,waterfields and good aoe damage, they will put you into that party because “engi is better at roaming”, you know.
If is full, sometimes you get even kicked from the squad. This is racism against those classes. I played this game for more than 4 years, but if I am on my druid, people still prefer a full signet warrior with 2k ap in the squad, or a minionmaster necro because “Hey, they are warrior and necro”.
The fact is, people’s mentality is locked in the “2 years ago old meta”, when rangers,mesmers and engies were almost useless except few skills. Even with HoT, the mentality persists.
Druid is a fantastic healer that can push with the melees sustaining them with indinite waterfields, scrapper is a very useful frontliner with tons of damage and group utilities, and chrono brings very good utilities to the group like boonsharing, veils and wells.
I think that people should try new team-comps (like most gvg guilds are doing), or atleast give them a chance, because right now World vs World accepts only 5/9 classes.

Like Justine said, if you play ranger and you are looking at large scale encounters, support druid is what are you looking for. Anyway:

• Any good up to date WvW Ranger guide out there? Or any guide at all? (lots of them in the sticky are ~3 years old it seems)
  In my experience, if you want to run in a gvg/zerg, staff and Celestial Avatar are your best friends. Heals, blasts, mobility, aoe stealth, aoe dazes and immobilize, mobile waterfields, aoe condi cleanses, and projectiles converted in healing for you and your mates. Pets are better in passive mode, near you, but you can yolo them for cc or good burst/marks procs if needed. For your secondary weapon, you can run something like sword-warhorn for mobility and more boonz/blast. You can also buff allies damage with Spotter or Grace of the Land (7% free crit chance and 10% increased damage in aoe).
  Right now people are still testing the potential of rangers in zergs, and that’s why is hard to find good zerg guides/builds. However, Metabattle has some examples on how it might be used: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Druid_-_Frontline_Healer
  Keep in mind that build change almost every week, but you can use it as a reference.

I’m still trying various things in gvg’s/zergs, currently i’m running something like this in zergs: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNQQNBmYD7keVoWQsfFwhFgrFswIYwN1paWlJc9tCAOhuS3p7kpZ1VA-TVyHABg/AAaV9nf2fUGAwRAgOlg5fQAQT3QtXAgjU6RKA/GaB-w
I don’t like full minstrel builds since you don’t have enough power to get bags from your enemies. With this setup i have over 2k power, 20k health, 3.3k toughness and 1.3k healing power. Boon duration is not a problem with quick draw + sigil of concentration. Also you can swap the ealing gliph for Healing Spring if you want more waterfields. “Protect me!” is an AoE stunbreak and Signet of Renewal is a really good panic button that cleanse all conditions (from your allies aswell) and is another stunbreak. Quickening Zephyr can be a good choice aswell if you want faster heals under the effect of quickness.

• what ranger build can be most effective in WvW?
  It really depends on what are you looking for. 1v1 builds? Small scale builds? Large scale builds?
• Go Druid?
  Definitely, yes.
• Switchup gear to have more Toughness and Vitality? (mostly running Berserker/Assasin atm)
  The only way you can be useful in a zerg atm is going support. So yeah, you need another type of equipment support based. Anyway there’s nothing wrong if you have also a zerker set, especially when you are running with few people.
• Special Pet recommendations?
  Smokecale/Bristleback in small scale fights are good (the only pets that can actually hit moving enemies lol). Smokescale/Brown Bear/Blue Moa/Red Moa/Electric Wyvern/Fern hound are a good choice if you are facing a lot of people.
• cry, give up and play revenant (got one at 80) or guardian or ele or whatever?
  Just play whatever you want, this is a game
  Try to be useful for your teammates and you will never be kicked from a squad. Just don’t pewpew against a 50men zerg with your longbow dying from reflection and retaliation xD

Pet is our biggest issue in large encounters. They can’t dodge or evade, they just die from AoE damage. Even if you are good at positioning and keeping them alive, they are just sub-optimal compared to other classes mechanics.
But ranger is useless? Nah. I’ve seen a lot of guilds running atleast 1 druid in their comp.
Druid can’t be compared to ele. They just bring different things: eles have auras,heals, tons of boons, combo fields/finishers and AoE damage. Druids have no auras, but hey, they heal a lot more than an ele. Also they have,as already mentioned, superspeed/stealth/Spotter free 7% aoe crit chance/ grace of the land/condi removals/tons of waterfields/blast finishers.
The main disadvantage of druid is the aoe damage, they can’t pressure much on a kill. That’s why is better to have less druids than eles. You dont have much dps if you have tons of druids in your raid or zerg. But let’s be honest they are not useless. They can heal better than every other class.
Also ranger is such a “newborn class” in large scale fights. People are still testing the potential, thats why we don’t have a meta with rangers already.

Hey guys, thanks all for the reply!

@StickerHappy
1) There are 1 stun break on Leopard and 1 on Bison.
2) I know, but I didn’t had time for those sadly.
3) Boons are only given to the stalker, i apologyze if i didn’t specified.

@Dadnir
Why is this spec called “the stalker”?
I didn’t imagine a stalker as a “something almost uncatchable”, like you said. I imagined it as a wild predator with ferocious attacks and high quickness uptime. Have you ever seen when our Smokescale is under the effect of quickness and rush to the enemy? I wanted something like that. About Transformations, i decided to put them over Venom skills just because they fit the “wild theme” better and makes the E-spec more interesting than a condi thief 2.0
What about traits and thematic?
Sadly, I didnt had time to finish the traits. Minor traits are good in my opinion, probably I could do better with Major traits that are just too simplistic and they don’t fit well the E-spec theme.
What’s your opinion about the limits of transform skills?
Right now necro/reaper use transform skills and are totally playable. Same goes for warriors with Rampage and eles with Tornado. And don’t forget that if you play Stalker you can pick only 1 or 2 transformations.
What about balance?
Maybe transformations should have an internal-cooldown?
Anyway, you are completely right. But I am not Anet.
Don’t you think that anet should work on our pet skills instead of introducing 5 new set of skills that will need countless hour of balance when they don’t even have time to make our pet able to even hit properly their target?
Pet is a core ranger question. Personally, i would prefer an E-spec without the pet completely, but i don’t think this will never happen.

“Mid season updates” you said. Yeh.

Since the new pvp system has arrived, you have done nothing in terms of class balance.
We still have ZERO build diversity, except maybe warrior and necro that have 2-3 builds that are working, while there are classes like ranger and ele that are obliged with one amulet.
Necros still relies completely on team support, which can be really frustrating, warriors can hold a point even 2 v 1 with Berserker amulet, Revenants have 0 condi cleanses, Daredevils have too much mobility compared to other classes without mentioning that are basically immune to movement-impeding conditions, Dragonhunters healing is just absurd without healing power stats, and so on…and oh yes, there are classes that are running the same build for about 1 year.
I really hope you are working on future specializations…or atleast adding something new…because once this season will end, pvp will be a dead place.

TRAITS
Minor Adept: Gain access to Transformations.
Minor Master: Steal life every 5 strikes.
Minor Grandmaster: Gain boons when gaining Wild Strikes (fury 6 sec, quickness 3 seconds)
-Major Adept-
Wild Purity: Transforming cleanses 2 conditions on you. (10 sec cooldown)
-Major Master-
Stalker’s Speed: Gain swiftness (5 sec) and quickness (3 sec) when you use a Transformation.
-Major Grandmaster-
Transform Benevolence: Pulse a boon according to the animal in which you have turned. (1 stack for 3 seconds every 3 seconds).
Turtle-regeneration; Leopard-Vigor; Bloodscale-fury; Bison-retaliation; Scorpion-might; Behemoth-stability.

If you’ve read this far, first of all, thanks for your attention. Second, this is just my concept for a possible future specialization of the ranger.
My idea was to have an aggressive and “wild” gameplay through mobility skills, quickness and leaps on your enemies. I’ve tried to make a specialization that doesn’t rely on the pet for damage, but without ignoring it altogether. I’ve also tried to bring a more impactful gameplay in larger fights, through aoe boon application and heavy melee aoe damage with some transformations. What do you think guys? thanks again for the attention

Stalkers are rangers who have adapted to hunt in the forests. They are wild, evasive, and lethal. By gaining access to dagger-mainhand and Transformations, these hunting masters are able to change their form into wild animals to catch their prey with rapidity and efficiency. Since rangers are masters of ranged combat, stalkers prefer heavy melee damage combined with great mobility and ferocious attacks.

Profession mechanic: Gain 1 stack of Ferocity every time you hit an enemy. Max 25 stacks. Once you reach 25 stacks, you have access to Wild Strikes (15% more damage for 8 seconds for you and your pet, 15 sec cooldown).

Weapon skills-Dagger Mainhand
1) Autoattack – Hunter’s Slash: Slash your foe twice, inflicting bleeding. Hunter’s Stab: Hit your foe again, inflicting poison. Hunter’s Bite: Hit your foe and steal health.
2) Shadow Bite: Throw the dagger to hit your target and returns to you. If it hits, you become invisible for 3 seconds.
3) Lethal Strike: Shadowstep to your enemy and strike him. Does more damage if you are in stealth.

Slot Skills – Transformations
Similar to the engineer’s kits, transformations allow the stalker to replace weapon skills with other skills, according in which animal you have turned.

HEALING SKILL. Become the Turtle. Transform into a turtle to gain healing abilities.
1) Chomp: Chomp your foe to gain health.
2) Regeneration: Remove 1 condition from you and nearby allies.
3) Turtle Shield: Block attacks for 2 seconds.
4) Stunning Shell: Roll to your foe and stun them. Combo finisher Whirl.
5) Healing Wave: Heal yourself for a large amount and heal nearby allies for a small amount. Water field.

Become the Leopard. Transform into a leopard to gain faster abilities.
1) Slash: Slash your foe, leaving them vulnerable.
2) Bite: Bite your foe for heavy damage.
3) Rush: Run to your foe and hit them.
4) Speedy Roar: Give swiftness to nearby allies.
5) Evasive Jump: Jump back, dealing damage. If this skill hits, you gain stealth. Breaks stun.

Become the Bloodscale. Transform into a Bloodscale to gain fast bleeding application.
1) Slash: Slash your foe rapidly. Gain quickness after 3 consecutive hits.
2) Bite: Bite your foe, inflicting bleeding. (5 stacks)
3) Assault: Run in a straight line while scratching foes and evading attaks. Gain might every time you hit.
4) Takedown: Knock down your target. If you knock him down, your next attack inflict 4 stacks of bleeding.
5) Sharpen fangs: Next several hits apply extra bleeding stacks.

Become the Bison. Transform into a bison to gain defensive abilities.
1) Jab: Jab your foe with your horns.
2) Goring: Lash out a powerful strike with your head that launches your target. Up to 3 targets in front of you.
3) Heavy Ground: Pulse stability for a short duration in a target area. (6 sec duration)
4) Protection: Apply protection to yourself and nearby allies.
5) Cold Spirit: Give frost aura to yourself and nearby allies. Breaks stun.

Become the Scorpion. Transform into a scorpion to gain fast condition application.
1) Twin Darts: Fire two shots from your tail. 20% chance of poison.
2) Venomous Tail: Hit your foe with you tail, poisoning and burning them.
3) Crippling Blow: Immobilize your target. (2 seconds)
4) Poison cloud: Spit a ball of venom that covers an area with a poisonous cloud. Combo field poison
5) Tormenting Venom: Inflict 2 stacks of torment at first. Additional stacks of torment added over time.(max 5 stacks)

ELITE. Become the Behemoth. Transform into a giant Behemoth to gain powerful AoE abilities.
1) Tail Swipe: Spin around, dealing damage up to 5 targets.
2) Sonic roar: Daze foes around you. Gain 3 stacks of Might for every foe you interrupt. Blast finisher.
3) Assault: Charge into a straight line. Every hit you take while doing this skill heals you instead.
4) Defy Pain: You take no damage for the next few seconds.
5) Earthquake: Hit the ground 5 times, removing 1 stack of stability on nearby foes with every hit. The fifth hit immobilize foes.

@ alemfi
If it’s not a significant problem, let’s give a skill that grants 6 different things pressing one button to every class, and we will see how it goes LOL.