Guild Wars 2

Hanzo.9624:

Mug just really needs to be toned down somehow. Steal is a gap closer that gains an ability, can buff you with traits, can steal boons, can gain stealth, etc. 10 points shouldn’t also slap a 4k-7k damage attack on top of it.

Yeah… mug deals way to much damage for a 10pt trait they really do need to either A) push that further back, or nerf it down.

Same with QZ in the ranger BM tree, i mean kitten, 2s quickness on a 20s CD? how did -that- become a 5pt trait? (i play a ranger mind you)

Dante.3754:

I really only find pigs good as a swap in if you have another cc. If you have your wolf knock an opponent down or you immobilize them you can swap to your pig and they will attempt their charge right off the bat. As for the F2 I would definitely enjoy it if the item just went straight to the ranger’s hands.

Yeah, if this happened i think pigs would be used A LOT more, they’d lose a miniscule amount of their usefulness by allowing allies to use the items, but it’d be a much smoother and less clunky solution that would just be a benefit as a whole.

Othayuni.7369:

It only happens if you have trapper’s expertise. I think this is to make it so it benefits from the large trap zone somehow since it only hits once so it’s not like being larger will help people stand in it more. And yes, it’s one second, and yes, you can see the debuff icon and chains if you look.

Well i know that i -don’t- have trappers expertise and it still stops them in their tracks when they pop it… not for long granted, it’s pretty freaking small, but this may just be a PvE mob thing ( i don’t use spike trap in PvP), and seeing as how a daze = a stun in PvE i’m willing to assume it’s just that.

Zi Yang.5387:

No one mention pig’s kd have cleave yet?
That 6 sec area kd is really useful in some situation.
And using warthug even granted more cc.
Besides pigs are quite tanky.
So I use them a lot in dungeons.

O.o i didn’t know that was a cleave!!

Kishandreth.2798:

nerva.7940:

Both are awful choices. Survival, traps and a few signets are about all I ever slot

care to give a reason that they’re awful? example
Sharpened edges is an awful trait, as it only gives a 50%ish chance on crit to add 1 second of bleeding which means at 128 bleed damage, and 50% crit chance it averages 32 damage per shot added.

SerMahad.4813:

I don’t understand all this hatred towards S.Stones XD I find it perfectly fine with a serious bit of condition damage when those 5 attacks are aoe and hit 5 different mobs/players. Like with Piercing Arrows or Barrage, or just melee with a GS or a trap (not sure S.S. works perfectly fine there applying the conditions, but it should).
Basically if you manage to spam it aoe it’s 25 bleeds on 5 different targets regardless of facing and such.

Again I ask… WHY DONT PEOPLE TELL ME THESE THINGS, I assumed it consumed 1 stack per hit after using it with splitblade (which is bugged and consumes all) so assuming 3 targets you can hit (sword, greatsword, any more then three and you’re probably dead) that takes the bleed up to 4224 per swing for me

It’s a weird thing it’s kinda per hit, but at the same time it’s kinda not… split blade will consume all 5 because it shoots out 5 “hits” where barrage will do the 5 “hits” in the first 5 waves of barrage (assuming you don’t shoot during the time those 5 need to go off). Haven’t tested it with GS, and then piercing attacks all count as the same “hit” which is why they can apply the same effect to an infinite amount of targets (see opening strikes).

Bailey.6892:

Confused on the spike trap, when does it get the immobilize ability?

It immobilizes for like 1s (maybe less) right when it procs, you only notice it when you’re a victim of it.

Kasama.8941:

The burst is fine. The Thief is suppose to be the best 1v1 profession. The only problem is the stealth. Stealth should be toned down for the Thief, and then be replaced with some more protective boons. This would allow for more visual combat, which is a lot more fun to play against. Also, give the Thief some more support skills.

This would also make thieves have a lot more viability in higher tier PvP because they wont have to rely on stealth (thus be more effective at capping/neutralizing points and helping in team fights), and could give a few more options for thief gameplay, all around a good thing.

PS: I still think that super stealthy builds should be possible, just not as baseline.

Ayestes.1273:

I actually mentioned both the Thief and Ranger in the post I talked about underwater Rangers. I think it’s silly to have both situations underwater. Things that feel like constant evasion for over a minute or situations where someone regenerates more health while drowning compared to what most build can output for damage are silly.

The funny thing is the rangers downed state underwater is NO DIFFERENT than it is on land other than the fact it works about 95% of the time instead of 80%. The only reason it’s so much “stronger” underwater is because people can’t just walk over and push “F” to kill them.

Braxxus.2904:

Valkyriez.6578:

WvW isn’t PvP, it’s glorified PvE.

Funny the roamers in WvW going 2-5 vs 8-20 (often winning) are fighting and killing far more players than you guys standing in your colored circles all day long playing games of tag do.

Oh look! You can outgear and out level people to kill them! That’s cute!

@Rest of topic: I love how a lot of people here seem to think that a thief can both be a burst thief AND have 30pts in shadow arts…. because i’ve yet to see that happen.

DarkPenguins.3549:

I was wondering if I should go for the Ascalonian Power/Toughness/Vitality armor for my Ranger, and is it really worth it? I mainly do dungeons and I don’t die much, but I want to know if its worth it for not for higher level Fractals and such

I like to do tons of dps so probably Berserker’s is good for me?

If you like doing fractals and want to be up in lv 89 or w/e people are at now you will need either rampagers or berserkers because at that point defensive stats no longer matter, they become useless, weak and unworthy of even considering.

However if you’re talking about you’re average dungeon/WvW/ lv 30ish and lower fractals it’d be fine, it makes you super sturdy and hard to take down, but you still have quite a bit of bite!

I -really- like Power/Toughness/Vitality armor, but at the same time I’m a beast master through and through and build to hinder my enemies so my beloved drake can end them easily and quickly instead of dealing damage myself.

Arheundel.6451:

Braxxus.2904:

Thieves in SPVP where culling issues are non-existent are absolutely fine.

Thieves in WvW where they can nail you for their burst, render for .5 seconds (if you’re lucky) before stealthing again due to culling issues are insanely broken and stupid.

Please clarify which area of pvp you are talking about, OP.

*inb4 elitists and ‘wvw isn’t pvp dawg’ bullkitten

Ha ty, that’s should explian why these thieves were able to stealth for so long

Ah, WvW thieves are brokenly OP because they literally have perma stealth (something ANET clearly doesn’t want seeing as how they nerfed thieves perma stealth back in beta), only thing I can say is wear soldiers armor and laugh as they bounce off your skin of steel and laugh as you kick them around.

PS: AoE + cripple/chill wreck thieves in WvW.

Rezzet.3614:

Penguin.5197:

If you are alone they can burst you down easily. Even though I main engie I have started trying thief, and if they don’t have defensive utility, they’re screwed.
basilik venom —> steal --> backstab+haste means your dead.

I’ve never been able to kill so easily on an engineer…

and you never will engineer as it stands is the weakest class .

100nades says “hi”

@OP: thieves aren’t bad in sPvP, they only get one good burst that’s easy to ruin if you are paying attention.

Wanderer.5471:

Durzlla.6295:

Wanderer.5471:

I think sick em will benefit you more, as you have good investment in BM line, so you get +40% damage on a higher base damage = profit. Sharpening stones is really only for condition builds, judging by traits and weapons i’d assume you’re not into that, though can’t be sure without knowing your gear.

I think Durzlla gave good advice, especially on the knock-back (hadn’t thought of that) but i did a little research and i’d say compassion training isn’t worth it just for the carnivorous appetite synergy as it works out as only an extra 35 health on every crit – so not worth replacing rending attacks imho.

edit: this is just going by the formulas on the wiki, if in practice it works differently, it wouldn’t be the first time

Only reason i suggested the synergy is because he’s using a jaguar who has a high crit chance and his F2 gives him 100% crit chance for ~6 seconds, which can GREATLY increase his staying power seeing as how there’s no CD on Carnivorous Appetite (at least last i checked).

oh i know it would crit a lot, and carnivorous appetite is good, but the scaling you’d get with 350 healing power (compassion training) is an extra 35 health on hit.

Which adds up fast with cats especially with how horrible their initial staying power is

Walorx.5129:

Underwater has no balance at all. Just look at ranger’s downstate, lol…

Interrupt the pet or be a warrior and do your barrel role to kill the ranger and pet faster than the heal xD.

But yeah, underwater needs some fine tuning.

I fight trap rangers by throwing my pet under the bus to take out the initial barrage of traps, then I dodge the obvious trap throw animation and continue to apply chill endlessly on the ranger as I whittle away his health with my axes, destroy his CDs with perma chill and destroy his dodging and damage with weakness, and if he tries to pet swap burst me I reflect it with WD. I see no problem with trap rangers, now chill rangers (like myself) are kitten holes…

I’d say keep signet of the hunt then and -not- pick up another trap.

I’m a fan of pigs, however i have not used a pig for a while, i don’t know why to be honest, just haven’t.

I do like how well the pet swap trait synergizes with their F2 trait though.

Othayuni.7369:

Sounds like a heavy lean towards spike trap!

I’m mainly focused on s/tpvp, but I love my speed signet. It’d be hard to let go of it. And I run shortbow/sword/dagger. I have a good chunk of physical damage (1650 pow, 30% crit, 43 cr.dam), and 1091 condition damage.

Thanks for the tips, everyone! I welcome more if anyone has them.

Well do you plan on running around the map a lot? If so stick with the signet, if you plan on sitting down and defending an area drop it and pick up another trap.

Wanderer.5471:

I think sick em will benefit you more, as you have good investment in BM line, so you get +40% damage on a higher base damage = profit. Sharpening stones is really only for condition builds, judging by traits and weapons i’d assume you’re not into that, though can’t be sure without knowing your gear.

I think Durzlla gave good advice, especially on the knock-back (hadn’t thought of that) but i did a little research and i’d say compassion training isn’t worth it just for the carnivorous appetite synergy as it works out as only an extra 35 health on every crit – so not worth replacing rending attacks imho.

edit: this is just going by the formulas on the wiki, if in practice it works differently, it wouldn’t be the first time

Only reason i suggested the synergy is because he’s using a jaguar who has a high crit chance and his F2 gives him 100% crit chance for ~6 seconds, which can GREATLY increase his staying power seeing as how there’s no CD on Carnivorous Appetite (at least last i checked).

What’s your weapon combo? I will try to be unbiased in this… but i personally absolutely love the frost trap so it will be hard xD.

If you’re a condi damage build (as i assume you are since you’re using flame trap) then you’d absolutely want to be using spike trap, it’s just too good to pass up and you’d be able to hold them in your flame trap just that much longer.

Ice trap however would favor you much more if you were a power or crit build (like the snake trap would) because it hinders your enemy A LOT, not to mention a chilled enemy is an easy target to hit, and very easy to stay away from. A pet can also hit a chilled target almost as often as a stationary target i’ve noticed, i run a chill + pet build and my pet has not had an issue hitting any victim of my chill.

Unspecified.9142:

Skyrant Kangaroomouse.7458:

Aegis.9724:

With the “horn autoattack” i think he means the fact that, if you use horn 5 with an enemy nearby and autotargeting, you automatically aggro that enemy and start attacking it.

On the good side we are now kings of underwater combat….thats……something, right?

Yeah that is the Horn bug i meant.

Why is that, what did they do with underwater combat?

It’s a joke as much as anything. We had that first patch where nothing happened with ranger (October 22 https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Update-Notes-October-22-2012) and were promised “substantial changes” in the next patch. What we got next patch was 150% more damage on Harpoon auto and some other minor tweaks to greatsword (November 15 https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-November-15-2012). This lead to lots of jokes about the ranger being Aquaman (marvel superhero reference for those who may actually not know). We’re pretty good underwater but once you get us on land we’re not so useful anymore.

December 14 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-December-14-2012) we got a fairly long list of changes but none were really useful changes. They were all ‘nice’ changes but they didn’t make or break any builds except the Lick Wounds change (still buggy but more powerful when it works). Unfortunately most of the changes from this patch can be described as “changing the awful and useless into mediocre and useless.” This really includes the melee pet hitting better and the arrow flight speed changes. What was awful and useless is now mediocre.

January 28 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/Game-Update-Notes-January-28-2013) was just some bug fixes really. Again nothing bad but the only reall changes were condition stats applying to Entangle (finally!) and Drakes actually using Tail Swipe (this is pretty good actually).

And that brings us to today. I don’t have high hopes for the 26th (next balance patch) but I suppose it’s possible something good will happen.

Basically the answer to the OP is since December nothing noteworthy has changed. The ranger plays exactly the same as before. What worked before works now and what didn’t work before still doesn’t work.

You forgot about this one in one of the edits:

Ranger
Spirit health increased by 25%.

As “kittenty” as it sounds, i’ve been able to run my spirits through AoEs (with + health trait, natures vengeance and spirits unbound, hints the “i can run them through”) and they will barely even have a dent in their health bar, also i have ran spirit builds in PvP and it actually has been to great success since that change, i’ve had people literally have to peel off of me to deal with my spirits because their splash AoE just wasn’t cutting it anymore.

Arekai.5698:

Sick em is bugged and sharpening stone is one of the worst skills.
Roll warrior if you want to do PvE.

If you can’t be constructive just leave, you’re not helping anyone.

As this useless post said, yes Sick’Em is bugged, but it’s only bugged if you use it pre combat, once your pet gets a hit in it will work flawlessly. Just remember that ALL shouts prevent you from commanding your pet further until the shout is over or else you end the shouts effect. IE if you use Sick’Em and then hit F2 Sick’Em will be dropped, this is the same with all F1-F4 skills and using another shout.

As for Sharpening Stones, it’s a REALLY strong utility if you’re a condi build, i mean Cmon, 5 stacks of bleed for at least 6 seconds isn’t something to scoff at. However, you are not a condi build so i’d go with Sick’Em especially since you have points in your pet.

I have a Black Bear for swaps in case my cat dies, but that rarely happens

Not sure whether or not you’re new to ranger (assuming you are for sheer helpful hint purposes) try to swap your pet BEFORE it actually dies so you have a shorter swap, swapping pets right before they go down can be the difference between life and death in a lot of situations because that 55s (or w/e it is, it’s long) CD is brutal.

For your 3rd trait in Marks i’d say take up Piercing Arrows, it makes it so your knock back shot can hit an infinite amount of people as can all your other arrow moves.

PS: If you’re using Carnivorous Appetite it synergises REALLY well with Compassion Training in the BM tree because it boosts the healing a little bit, also helps high crit pets (like jag) to stay alive A LOT longer.

Dahkeus.8243:

glock.2089:

Dahkeus.8243:

Ok, I updated with data on moving targets.

@ Methal: Cats look good here, but remember that they have totally inferior numbers for defensive stats and realistically won’t survive a lot of situations. After all, a dead pet does no dps. This is why I tend to choose canines for most all around situations.

Dahkeus incredibly useful info thanks very much; based on your research I think I’m going to compromise: keep Jaguar and pair him with a single Canine.

Questions:

1. Which Canine did you use for the tests?;
2. Which Canine do you recommend or use yourself in WvW (Alpine Wolf, Fern Hound, Krytan Drakehound, or Wolf)?

I’m glad this helped! As for your questions:
1) I used a wolf. I admit that I didn’t think to test canine dps with the Alpine Wolf, but I may do that later.
2) Personally I lik the wolf for most situations where I use a canine. In PvP I often also use a Drakehound, but in PvE I take the wolf since the fear occasionally comes in handy. That being said a fernhound is probably a bit more useful since a fear can be so situational.

Eh Fear and Immob are overrated, now chill, oh god does that make me happy! 66% reduced movement speed and 66% increased recharge time? Yes please!!

As others are saying with your set up you’re going to be lacking significantly on the survivability department, how o you plan on spending your trait points?

Because you could always go with a sort of 0/20/30/0/20 build and take a bear pet + protect me to give you 6 seconds of invulnerability and leave you with one last option for defense, which -i- would choose to use Muddy Terrain because it’s both offensive AND defensive, and as for a heal either Troll Unguent or Heal as One should be your choice because Healing Spring relies on you to not move around much, and with a build as squishy as yours…. not good.

As for the gear… you’d absolutely want Rampagers for the crit power and condi damage.

Seras.5702:

Durzlla.6295:

Actually, sharks kill faster than every other pet underwater if you have rending attacks and the + condi damage trait, they are a very condition oriented pet, another thing I found is that sharks (and drakes) hit players A LOT better than the other pets do due to all their movement, where a totally stationary mob, like the golems, freaks out their AI and makes them perform at a lower lv.

I’ve never tested the dps of my pets, but just playing I’ve always felt that shark burns enemies down faster than any other aquatic pet. Squishier for sure, but a bleeding Shark frenzy is awesome.

Oh, btw the F2 on the shark and QZ stack with each other making him just shred people and put up a TON of bleeding (2 per attack via frenzy + 1 per crit = devastating).

Dahkeus.8243:

Too bad there’s not an moving golem underwater. =(

It is kinda upsetting, there’s plenty of room for one to be down there =(.

Actually, sharks kill faster than every other pet underwater if you have rending attacks and the + condi damage trait, they are a very condition oriented pet, another thing I found is that sharks (and drakes) hit players A LOT better than the other pets do due to all their movement, where a totally stationary mob, like the golems, freaks out their AI and makes them perform at a lower lv.

Dahkeus.8243:

I wouldn’t go so far as to say that you have to put your pet on passive and manually direct it all the time, but you definitely need to keybind your pet command skills since there will be times to pull your pet back or set them against a specific target that may not be the same as what you are attacking.

I keep mine on passive in dungeons because otherwise he goes LULZ lets run into this big AoE my master just told me not to stand in! Oh wait! It hurts!

As the second poster said, YOU tell your pet what and when to attack, if -you- wouldn’t fight in a mob in melee (due to high dmg, dangerous AoE etc) don’t make your pet do it unless it’ll save someone, or you have a 30pt BM bear + fortifying bond and port on dodge rolls, that thing can take apartment complexes to the face and not feel a thing…

Pretty much understand without your pet you’re nothing, so keep him up! But also don’t be afraid to sac the pet if it means survival of a group mate.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

So I use a Jaguar, so would this work:
F2, QZ, Sick ‘Em?
So Sick ’Em shouldn’t go away? I knew about F skills taking it away, so currently I’ve been using F2, Sick ’Em and QZ, but does QZ drop the buff?

I didn’t think it did, but Xsou says it does, if test it out to be sure, because I know you can pop it during Guard and S&R and be fine and then if you -really- want you can do it during “Protect Me!” But idk why you’d wanna waste it then…

Puandro.3245:

I always knew F2 dropped Sic Em buff or if the target dies or if you change targets via telling it to attack another target but this new bug i didnt know. Man i wasted so many sick em buffs.

If you give your pet any command (I can confirm that things such as sig of the hunt, winter’s bite, greatsword #5 etc do NOT count) it’ll cancel Sick’Em, literally any, F1-F4, shouts, QZ, ANY cancels it (this is the same for all shouts, except QZ doesn’t seem to cancel the other shouts).

@Xsou, huh, i didn’t know about this bug, however I don’t think i’ve EVER used sick’em pre-combat, so that’d explain my ignorance to this bug xD.

Xsorus.2507:

Durzlla.6295:

OGDeadHead.8326:

jcbroe.4329:

No problem. The way I understand the choice to go 30 into BM is for the extra healing from Natural Healing and the 300 total points in healing. However, what many people fail to realize is that, along with not gaining much DPS on the pet overall (it is only 300 points total to each of their attributes, is isn’t doing as much as people think. Reference: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/79991-beastmastery-math-breakdown/)

Another thing they don’t realize is that with 0/0/30/25/15 you gain +15% more boon duration and +1500 health. This actually works to directly increase survival better than the 0/0/30/10/30 version.

Just food for though, I’m glad you are enjoying your build and success with everybody. Hope you keep having fun (a lot of the community is jaded right now, it’s good to see people still having fun and success).

I’m not really sure that the 0/0/30/25/15 is hands down better than 0/0/30/10/30 when it comes to survival.

Some things to consider when comparing these two builds:

• How does the Bountiful Hunter trait compare to Nature’s Wrath trait for damage?
• How much survivability/added damage can Fortifying Bond bring to your pet?
• How big of an impact does loosing out on the second major BM trait bring?
• 1500 more health vs 150 more healing power? 1500 more health = a bigger buffer, but loosing out on regen from the signet + lower heals/regeneration
• Survivability/damage of pets?

1) bountiful hunter is flat out better if you’re using any gear with power on it, 5%dmg > 130 power in -most- scenarios.

2) every time he dodge roles his pet gets 6s of protection, if he has perms regen so does his pet, and if he gets might hi pet mirrors that stack of might except each one lasts 10s, which can make the pet better off than the ranger in most scenarios. This -also- makes it so both he and his pet will be dishing out an extra 5% damage constantly since the first trait buffs BOTH parties, not just the ranger.

3) ATM the second major for BM is total garbage unless you’re limiting your pet variability, so he is actually not hurting himself by not avoiding the second master trait as much as he would in another tree.

4) AT MOST that 150 healing power will add 150 extra health to a heal, the 1500 health is a significantly better option if he’s not a support build, and since he doesn’t have the 25pt BM trait, healing power isn’t amazing for his build in large amounts.

5) his pet damage will be lacking big time compared to a full 30pts in BM, however survivability gained from perms port (or borderline perma) and perma regen would make his pets equally sturdy, if not sturdier than a 30pt BM pet.

After looking more closely at your build it looks REALLY solid, you’ve covered a lot of your weak points you’d get from not doing certain popular options by choosing another route. I’m not sure if I agree with your amulet choice, but it is really effective, I’m not going to lie.

The 2nd talent option for BM isn’t to bad if you use Birds, even if ya don’t though, you can use other abilities which aren’t to bad.

mighty swap/compassion training come to mind.

I personally have a harder time going past 15 points in Nature’s, in regards to giving up 10 points in Skirmishing for the 30% crit damage talent for your pet.

15 points in Natures though is viable with Power/Clerics based builds I feel.

Like I said, without limiting himself, compassion training isn’t really worth dropping a constant 5% damage boost for both the ranger and pet though, especially if he’s not using Natural Regen, a Moa, S&R, and plans -not- to be sitting on his kitten all day (downed).

Seeing as how OP is using a cat and canine there’s no trait that’d really synergies so well with the build to be worth dropping 5pts from elsewhere, I could see if he were doubling up on pets, or using 2 of the pets that fall under rending strikes, but he’s not.

Dahkeus.8243:

Yea, in the end, choose what you like. I mean, while there are some performance differences, there’s not really any content that requires you to truly min/max to succeed. I mean, my wife runs a staff ele with a dps-focused because it works and that’s what she enjoys.

If axes are really what you enjoy and you can use them well, then there’s nothing to keep you from really getting ahead. Very high level fractals are really the only place that will restrict you, but honestly even if you run with a perfect min/maxed build, you will never perform as well as something like a mesmer or guardian of equal gear/skill anyways.

Lol the highest I’ve ever gotten was lv 7 in fractals then I got bored of running the same thing over and over again, I was never much of a “raider” for the same reason xD.

My build is more around keeping the enemies from going anywhere by using chills, also have big AoE DPS through my drake and burst through my bird.

PS: what sigils and runes do you run?

OGDeadHead.8326:

jcbroe.4329:

No problem. The way I understand the choice to go 30 into BM is for the extra healing from Natural Healing and the 300 total points in healing. However, what many people fail to realize is that, along with not gaining much DPS on the pet overall (it is only 300 points total to each of their attributes, is isn’t doing as much as people think. Reference: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/79991-beastmastery-math-breakdown/)

Another thing they don’t realize is that with 0/0/30/25/15 you gain +15% more boon duration and +1500 health. This actually works to directly increase survival better than the 0/0/30/10/30 version.

Just food for though, I’m glad you are enjoying your build and success with everybody. Hope you keep having fun (a lot of the community is jaded right now, it’s good to see people still having fun and success).

I’m not really sure that the 0/0/30/25/15 is hands down better than 0/0/30/10/30 when it comes to survival.

Some things to consider when comparing these two builds:

• How does the Bountiful Hunter trait compare to Nature’s Wrath trait for damage?
• How much survivability/added damage can Fortifying Bond bring to your pet?
• How big of an impact does loosing out on the second major BM trait bring?
• 1500 more health vs 150 more healing power? 1500 more health = a bigger buffer, but loosing out on regen from the signet + lower heals/regeneration
• Survivability/damage of pets?

1) bountiful hunter is flat out better if you’re using any gear with power on it, 5%dmg > 130 power in -most- scenarios.

2) every time he dodge roles his pet gets 6s of protection, if he has perms regen so does his pet, and if he gets might hi pet mirrors that stack of might except each one lasts 10s, which can make the pet better off than the ranger in most scenarios. This -also- makes it so both he and his pet will be dishing out an extra 5% damage constantly since the first trait buffs BOTH parties, not just the ranger.

3) ATM the second major for BM is total garbage unless you’re limiting your pet variability, so he is actually not hurting himself by not avoiding the second master trait as much as he would in another tree.

4) AT MOST that 150 healing power will add 150 extra health to a heal, the 1500 health is a significantly better option if he’s not a support build, and since he doesn’t have the 25pt BM trait, healing power isn’t amazing for his build in large amounts.

5) his pet damage will be lacking big time compared to a full 30pts in BM, however survivability gained from perms port (or borderline perma) and perma regen would make his pets equally sturdy, if not sturdier than a 30pt BM pet.

After looking more closely at your build it looks REALLY solid, you’ve covered a lot of your weak points you’d get from not doing certain popular options by choosing another route. I’m not sure if I agree with your amulet choice, but it is really effective, I’m not going to lie.

Yeah chill sucks, that’s why my ranger build used perms chill, silly glass canons, you can’t catch me! And you only get one shot to burst because your CDs will never come off CD if I can do anything about it!

Daemon Hawk.9406:

To the OP, I use axe mainhand almost exclusively, apart from specialty situations like graveling burrows where the axe is bugged and I’m forced to use dreatsword . I normally use warhorn & torch offhands, each with a Sigil of Battle, which gives 20 sec (modified to 30) of 3 stacks of Might on weapon swap, which I do on the 10 second cooldown. I trait Offhand Training to shave the cooldown on Bonfire & Hunter’s Call to 20 seconds, so they don’t interfere with keeping Might up.

Given that setup, there are two PvE situations that I use an axe offhand (with another Battle sigil) rather than the warhorn. In both places, what I’m doing is throwing Bonfire, immediately switching to the axe offhand, then popping Whirling Defense. What this does is serve two helpings of ouch to the mobs on me, as well as throw a dozen or so fire bolts around from the whirl finish. These do no damage, but stack an extra second of burning on whatever they hit. Since I do this move when stuff is up on my face, the bolts are more likely to hit something.

This works nicely when getting overrun by melee mobs, as in CoF when defending Maggs. The other place that it’s handy is on Alpha in CoE. My guild likes to bumrush him into the one of the stacks of crates, both to avoid the red circles (he doesn’t do those at point blank range) and to make it easier to bust people out of crystals. Since he’s just one guy, he catches fewer flaming bolts, but WD will pop crystals, give him some pain, and stack vulnerability.

General PvE, though? Always an axe mainhand with torch & warhorn offhands.

To the comment about axe mainhand being lower DPS than shortbow, this is true only on a single target. The axe is slower, but harder hitting per shot. Against multiple targets, it’s more total direct DPS. They are different tools for different purposes. Shortbow is better at burning down a single target, especially if you can flank. Axe is better at bringing pressure on a group of mobs. What other class has a ranged aoe autoattack?

I thought I was the only person who used almost solely mainland axe xD, and Staff Eles also have a ranged AoE auto attack, which is why my ele uses a staff lol. I’ve always been more of a fan of WDing in my ice trap for chill, but then again I feel our builds fill vastly different roles!

The builds really not all that, i have no idea why you’d be running 2 signets though if you’re going for a condi damage build, why not drop one of them and pick up either spike trap or even better for your build, sharpening stones? I really don’t see what you’re trying to accomplish by taking the wilderness survival reduction trait, and then only taking one of those skills…

0/0/30/10/30 is quite stoppable, that being said, no build is unstoppable.

Dahkeus.8243:

Durzlla.6295:

That would mean they deal equal or greater damage because the axe (both main and off hand) are AoE weapons, if its a messily 4seconds behind the short bow WITHOUT using winters bite (which hits like a truck) then in a situation the axe shines it’ll be doing a lot more overall damage.

As said earlier you have to realize the axe is not an auto attack weapon, you’re supposed to use its skills often, that’s why they have such ridiculously short CDs , it’s also the only non thief weapon that -doesn’t- have a CD reduction trait.

You…do know that Winter’s Bite has the same weapon damage as Ricochet, right?
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Winter's_Bite
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ricochet
It also has double the cast time.

As for the axe not being an auto-attack weapon, go back and read my last post as that was addressed, considered, and tested.

If you’re not even going to read what I post and are going to try to argue that something like Winter’s Bite is a high dps skill, then don’t expect a reply next time…this is getting stupid.

Well I -thought- it was winters bite that was hitting hard…. Now there’s a mystery on my hands on what’s hitting my enemies so hard… Maybe it’s my drakes chomp…

My bad.

Yeah solo capping on my ranger spoiled me, I tried doing that on my engi/ele and let me tell you, that did not work AT ALL, would get a few down, but just not nearly as successful….

My strat is to pull all the scouts, drop a barrage on them so they all get kitten at me, an the WD an lawlz as they kill themselves at the speed of a bad thief.

That would mean they deal equal or greater damage because the axe (both main and off hand) are AoE weapons, if its a messily 4seconds behind the short bow WITHOUT using winters bite (which hits like a truck) then in a situation the axe shines it’ll be doing a lot more overall damage.

As said earlier you have to realize the axe is not an auto attack weapon, you’re supposed to use its skills often, that’s why they have such ridiculously short CDs , it’s also the only non thief weapon that -doesn’t- have a CD reduction trait.

Dahkeus.8243:

Jazenn.7526:

Kasama.8941:

Whirling Defense can be pretty devastating if you snare someone first, forcing them to take all the damage. But since main-hand axe is mainly condition damage, you’re going to be better of with an off-hand torch.

By mainly condition damage you mean one skill?

It’s a 1h weapon. You don’t need to have more than one skill dealing condition damage

Using this logic our sword is a condi weapon as well…

plasmacutter.2709:

Durzlla.6295:

Razor.6392:

Durzlla.6295:

Leuca.5732:

Durzlla.6295:

i’m going to give you this tidbit of info… USE A DAZE OR STUN ON THE PET, it shuts them up instantly and makes them easy pickings, i know i’ve gotten into so many downed ranger vs ranger battles underwater, won every one of them because i’d wait until after they use their lightning flash before using Lick Wounds and then daze their pet so he can’t heal them… so many “Wtf how u outheal? hax!!”

I’ve had my pet be dazed, knocked back, sunk, etc and still had it come back to keep on ressing, at least underwater.

this is underwater, you gotta daze or stun the pet, pulls, knock backs, launches etc WILL NOT STOP HIM.

Ele’s don’t have stuns nor dazes underwater on demand, what do?

(air 5 won’t work)

In fact, I don’t think many classes have stuns or dazes underwater…

Yes you do, Lightning Cage + Air Bubble, do you play underwater?

1 – air bubble won’t stop the pet res, as sink doesn’t either.

2 – lightning cage only stuns if something enters the area, not on something already in the area.

facepalm

1) sinking/floating DELAY the effect of rezzing, the pet will not and can not Rez hike under the effects and must get back to the ranger before continuing, that said it doesn’t interrupt the pet, just delays the inevitable so don’t rely on them unless you have some sick damage (warrior spear burst I’m LOOKING AT YOU!)

2) you cast the cage, which surrounds the pet, then you float (or sink) the pet so he crosses the cage, thus stunning him, if it only works on the way in (I have NEVER had it work that way on my ele) then float him out of the cage, swap to earth and sink him back into it.

EDIT: undercurrent (I believe it’s #4 on water attunement) is another sink, so you have options.

Razor.6392:

Durzlla.6295:

Leuca.5732:

Durzlla.6295:

i’m going to give you this tidbit of info… USE A DAZE OR STUN ON THE PET, it shuts them up instantly and makes them easy pickings, i know i’ve gotten into so many downed ranger vs ranger battles underwater, won every one of them because i’d wait until after they use their lightning flash before using Lick Wounds and then daze their pet so he can’t heal them… so many “Wtf how u outheal? hax!!”

I’ve had my pet be dazed, knocked back, sunk, etc and still had it come back to keep on ressing, at least underwater.

this is underwater, you gotta daze or stun the pet, pulls, knock backs, launches etc WILL NOT STOP HIM.

Ele’s don’t have stuns nor dazes underwater on demand, what do?

(air 5 won’t work)

In fact, I don’t think many classes have stuns or dazes underwater…

Yes you do, Lightning Cage + Air Bubble, do you play underwater?

I do this A LOT because I dance in and out of sPvP (go in and will have w/e buffs I had in PvE) and I can confirm with 100% confidence it does nothing to your PvP stats, the buff stays up though for the full duration, this is for people, like me, who go from PvP —> PvE (and vice versa) a lot so they don’t constantly waste buffs and have to use more.

It’s the same with any boosts you use for sPvP, like glory boosters or finisher skins, you’ll keep them active until you leave but they’re disabled in certain areas of the game.

Eurantien.4632:

@Durzlla

THAT SOUNDS AWESOME. Sounds unviable in tPvP though….. I’m gonna have to try IT!

It’s worked in tPvP for me, the pet is invisible so you just gotta lure them into position, it’s hard to land on thieves due to their naturally high mobility, but everyone else I don’t have much issues with.

Leuca.5732:

Durzlla.6295:

i’m going to give you this tidbit of info… USE A DAZE OR STUN ON THE PET, it shuts them up instantly and makes them easy pickings, i know i’ve gotten into so many downed ranger vs ranger battles underwater, won every one of them because i’d wait until after they use their lightning flash before using Lick Wounds and then daze their pet so he can’t heal them… so many “Wtf how u outheal? hax!!”

I’ve had my pet be dazed, knocked back, sunk, etc and still had it come back to keep on ressing, at least underwater.

this is underwater, you gotta daze or stun the pet, pulls, knock backs, launches etc WILL NOT STOP HIM.

i’m going to give you this tidbit of info… USE A DAZE OR STUN ON THE PET, it shuts them up instantly and makes them easy pickings, i know i’ve gotten into so many downed ranger vs ranger battles underwater, won every one of them because i’d wait until after they use their lightning flash before using Lick Wounds and then daze their pet so he can’t heal them… so many “Wtf how u outheal? hax!!”

Jazenn.7526:

Durzlla.6295:

Why does everyone think Dual axes are bad? Geez, I guess no one knows how good things are until someone bludgeons them in the face with a “pro” player using it…

MH axe is -ok- for conditions but its better for power because its damage is, you know, kinda based in raw damage unless you want to rely solely on a 5stack of bleed for damage that is, I know I don’t…

I agree. Just because condition builds use axe doesn’t mean that is all it’s there for. Explore possibilities and don’t be so close minded, every weapon in the game was designed for some use, combinations take a player’s effort to find and make useful.

Example of a build that doesn’t use conditions (offensive) is my 100% chill ranger build, so OP… i can backpedal away from 100blade warriors and gain distance, and they can’t even bulls rush to close the gap xD… oh yeah, and bunkers just fall over and curl up in a ball because all their CDs get boned horribly… i smell a nerf if this goes viral…