Guild Wars 2

But all your armor is broken. So that type of damage is totally reasonable. You typically hit mesmers for like 5k when they ARE wearing armor.

Wait, are you naked? I’m surprise he didn’t 1-shot you.

Maybe try a soldier amulet with a berserker jewel in hotjoin to get a feel for how evasive the build is.

Edit: Also you going to get a lot of people who aren’t good at using a sword posting things like Tricare did.

I think tanky GS power rangers tend towards 2k toughness? My build has roughly 1k, for reference. There is probably a happy medium if you want to be glassier.

You can always mix and match until you feel comfy with the skills, and then slowly start swapping in more zerker until you find your personal favorite.

Edit: I just screwed around in that build editor switching stuff to soldiers. If all the armor and trinkets get switched you get like 1600 toughness. Someone with more experience running a tanky ranger will have to give you the exact number they like.

Turn your monitor upside down. Boom, left handed.

Take a look at this thread, which is a much more realistic look at the ranger than the ridiculous posts from people who play condi ele in the official CDI thread.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/balance/Ranger-Balance-Post-CDI/first

I thought Anet said they didn’t ever want to add new professions? They said they would add new weapons though, or at least expand the current options (i.e. long bow thief or etc.)

It is recommended by a lot of people!!

Rangers are in a weird place where we don’t technically have much power damage pressure, so a lot of rangers “create” their own by running glassy. The equalizer is once you get use to using all your tools you’re really quite hard to get ahold of, so you can afford to be glassy.

Beware of condi classes though, fight necros from max range and don’t try to melee them.

Here is the glassy build I currently run. I left the last slot in Marksmanship blank because you could use either spotter, piercing arrows, or the new trait that will make your arrows fly faster. I also swap the dagger for a warhorn (or axe rarely) and the signet based on what I need at the time.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vMMQNAT8YjEq0vaLLesQ1agY9YP9BAcG8nR+D+/iVaQC-zUCBYfCyYLJjgAisAgABOzsIasFVFRjVXDT5iIqOAACwNvZ2sNDO6RP6RP6R7o38o38oHtUAUsAA-w

A few notes, 1) there is a steep learning curve 2) I highly recommend getting the guard buffs so you have a bit more margin of error 3) it uses the PvE stat allocations due to simplicity, but soon when you can change at will I might want to put 5 points in WS or make other minor changes 4) you have to make extensive use of your utilities (including weapon utilities) and pets, which makes it fun to play and 5) I don’t “duel” people, my whole goal is to support the zergs by solo roaming or with 1 or a couple temporary PUG companions and be able to effectively defend myself / kill trouble makers.

Edit: I’ve also said before, if you’re going to play glassy ranger in WvW, play a lot of S/D in PvP because you are going to need to not get hit when the 9 foot norn warrior comes flying at you.

red jhon from his last video did the same thing. Same typing style and no other posts than praising the video. Whatevs.

Atherakhia.4086:

Ranger – Wall of Thorns: Anyone that walks through it is immobilized for 1 second and gets 6x bleed. Find some way to balance it so people aren’t perma stuck in it.

This literally is already one of the ranger elites.

I think they’re going to leave birds as they are because I can’t imagine a situation where healing is particularly good. A WvW zerg might be the answer, but your bird will die and there is a 5 person cap anyway. sPvP is the only other place it will work, and I think it will be ok there. I’m also not expecting it to heal for 7k, probably more like 700.

Also, minor point, blue moa is the one that gives protection. Red is fury.

Horst Hortensie.5420:

(and we are wealthy in comparing to common Tyrians).

Not true, many of the peasant NPCs are in full ascended berserker gear with an Eternity, they’re just in their town clothes.

Cufufalating.8479:

Thats kinda my point though.

The point of a video is, usually, to show your skill. If all you do it press QZ then AA thats not showing skill, its showing their lack of it, even if it works on the majority of people in WvW (because lets be honest, most people in WvW are not build for nor experienced at 1v1s). Theres nothing video worthy about bursting down inexperienced players with one rotation.

IMO :P

Not sure if you’re referring to his the condi bunkers or my reference to running berserker, but I assure you berserker is not easy to do. (I do love me some easy kills though!!)

If I were to ever make a WvW video, which I won’t, it would be purely to show that you can roam in berserker which is apparently impossible. I’m not sure why anyone makes WvW vidoes though; I get bored to tears watching people regen for 10 minute duels and I definitely don’t want to watch anybody bearbow.

There was one video someone posted the other day of someone going 1vX in dual melee berserker gear, which was really fun to watch.

Cufufalating.8479:

If you can kill someone in under 20 seconds they werent worth killing / recording, is really what I am saying, but its not a critisism to your play.

Almost all my kills are less than 20 seconds. If I get hit more than once I have to LR/sword 2/sword 2 out of there and try again.

We’re getting a second sigil on our bow. Other zerker builds on other professions typically already use two 1-handed weapons, so we’re actually getting a buff.

Also factor in that our gear has been progressively better and better since release. First ascended weapons, then armor, and WvW infusions. And we all have more money to blow on the most expensive cons.

You’re just being way too dramatic.

Do we need to be so dramatic about this? According to most, running a zerker ranger in WvW is 100% kitten useless, and yet here we are running them with no problems. Worst case scenario I have to drop my crit— sorry ferocity— a little bit and take a piece of knights or something. Life is over.

There is a chance pets will autoattack rather than use their special attack. That’s why it’s only semi-controllable. I’ve seen them use as many as 4ish autoattacks when they had a special attack off cooldown.

I have happy memories of fighting him alone at like 4 in the morning on one of the BWEs, when most people hadn’t gotten up so ‘high’ in level yet.

There is a grandmaster trait Empathic Bond that is not on-demand, but still a very strong condi removal skill. That’s pretty popular in PvP. It moves 3 condis off of you on to your pet, so be aware that it’s possible to kill your pet, or otherwise render it ineffective (blinded, crippled, etc.) Fortunately just swapping your pet will completely cleanse all conditions off it.

There is also a trait coming in the new patch that will be on-demand condi removal.

Ryoki’s point about the drake attack is a good thing to know about all pets. For example you can semi-control the canine knockdown by switching like that. Each pet has a rarer skill like that, and it’s important to control it in PvP.

You’re using offhand training with no offhands.

nagymbear.5280:

Fluffball.8307:

nagymbear.5280:

Wilderness survival: I saw some comments on a new poison ranger being the new meta in Twitch chat, probably trolls though. No bunker ranger will take this skill over empathic bond.

I’m definitely going to try it. Lately I’ve been running a spirit/shout regen build, and I think I have enough sustain to take no condition removal at all other than HS and SoR (or maybe even see what happens with soldiers runes?)

It’s hard to predict what the PvP scene will be like at this point, so I can’t say if it will work or not. Especially as there were a lot of condi changes mentioned.

This will replace your shout trait…

Ah ok, I dunno where the new traits are yet! Your original post said it was competing with EB, which I would be ok with dropping. Definitely won’t drop NV to take this though.

Best way to make sure something is color-blind-ok? Take a screenshot in to Photoshop and grayscale it. There are ALL sorts of colorblindness, but if everything works in grayscale, its good to go.

Realist.5812:

The only thing that truly counters a minion master is moa form. Goodbye minions.

I had a match the other week in SQ, 2 minion masters, 2 mesmers, and a spirit ranger. You better believe I could not see what the crap was going on. Much AI, such PvE, many loot. Wow.

I was running around yelling “What dungeon am I in?” “QUICK GET YOUR CHAMP LOOT” “Where’s the champ train at?” “Farm these mobs before drop rates get nerfed!”

It was the most disgusting game of “player vs player” I’ve ever seen.

It was just AI aka PvE, not PvP.

So, not an inflammatory question, but do you think there is any skill in AI vs Player? Like I said my random PUG slaughtered the 4 MM premade we faced. Because everything we faced was AI.

Evan Lesh.3295:

That’s pretty interesting. So how well can you read the shades of green used for the double healthbar while targeting a necro in deathshroud? The deathshroud color is a more desaturated green.

lol at the wvw colors. That partially an accident because wvw and pvp shared team colors. I quite like the newer blue. (maybe because I was the one that updated it)

I’m actually not sure, I couldn’t find an image on google showing the color difference and it’s not something that I’ve ever noticed.

I thought the WvW colors were directly in response to us color blinders! I even made a post in the suggestion forum thanking you guys and suggesting you take it to the painterly colors below the server names (which to this day are useless to me!)

Evan Lesh.3295:

It shall be done. If I can remember when I’m at my desk on Monday. Maybe.

Fluffball, can you think of some iconic way of showing health state in the UI?
The healthbar is pretty tiny, but it miiight be able to fit some text over it like “Downed”, “Defeated”, or “Deathshroud”. Though for other languages it may not fit. That could also make the actual health value hard to see.

Yup. No matter what type of color blindness people have, we can see shades really well (better than “normal” people.) So if a health bar is 100% white in one case and 40% white in a death shroud case, there is no mistaking it. Edit: White is a bad example, let’s compare dark green vs light green instead.

But pure color like the wurm pheromones or the WvW map is just not readable for many of us (BTW thanks to whoever upped the contrast on WvW colors several months ago.)

I know my reply is anecdotal and someone would respond as such, but it just goes to prove MMs are nothing special. If they were super OP, a PUG would not beat a premade.

Are you and Justin playing games on Anet servers late at night? Your posting suspiciously close together.

Don’t make things in general color coded. I can’t see color!! Has caused me so many problems that you guys eventually fix, but don’t do it to begin with por favor!

I just had a tPvP, PUG against a premade 4 minionmancer team. We kicked the cat out of them.

Bombsaway.7198:

The Beastmaster trait could be hysterically OP. There are two factors that matter. The healing amount (which many say could be low) AND the speed at which you can do a command ability.

Look at birds. Lacerating slash is on a 6 second cooldown. So even if the heal were a base 1500 and could go to 2k, that is pretty amazing because of the speed at least how it reads.

My first thought as well. Most pet cooldowns are THIRTY PLUS seconds and most people don’t use birds, so I think most probably dismissed this immediately. Bird healing could be just absolutely outrageous. This is something to look at for PvP.

Forzani.2584:

Two weapons with a bloodlust on each weapon. 12 mob kills =24 stacks. I have done it that way since forever.

It won’t work anymore.

nagymbear.5280:

Wilderness survival: I saw some comments on a new poison ranger being the new meta in Twitch chat, probably trolls though. No bunker ranger will take this skill over empathic bond.

I’m definitely going to try it. Lately I’ve been running a spirit/shout regen build, and I think I have enough sustain to take no condition removal at all other than HS and SoR (or maybe even see what happens with soldiers runes?)

It’s hard to predict what the PvP scene will be like at this point, so I can’t say if it will work or not. Especially as there were a lot of condi changes mentioned.

Forzani.2584:

Sube Dai.8496:

Forzani.2584:

Good points about switching traits before a fight.

I’m actually quite annoyed about that change. Having to change build immediately before a fight sounds like uneccessary micro management.

You don’t have to change anything if you don’t want to. It’s an option.

It’s as optional as changing your utilities before a new fractal, i.e., not optional if you’re a team player. HOPEFULLY and almost CERTAINLY they will add templates like they did in GW1.

I’m not trying to insult him, I was saying there a lot of good ranger commanders contrary to popular belief.

Also the ONLY difference between JQ and whatever the lowest rank silver server is, is coverage. Both field zergs of 50+ regularly, so commanding T1 is not something you can claim is special.

Eh, maybe middle silver, but it’s irrelevant. Primetime with queues is the same on any server with a queue.

I’ve followed many a good ranger commander. I thiiink I’m in gold league WvW? (Not sure how S2 works?)

I don’t mean to distract from the video, I just wanted to say there are a ton of high level ranger commanders out there doing a good job.

Swagger.1459:

Terravos.4059:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkmR2hv8koY

This is me playing a Backstab Thief

If you don’t have an invul…I will one shot you most likely

awesome! welp, guess it’s officially time to finish leveling and gearing up my thief.

Just to clarify, because swagger never does, he is being VERY sarcastic. This video is horrific.

(clearly working for me now, wish I could have responded to this myself.)

Raiff.6742:

If you’re in a zero wtf do you care about escapes? YOU’RE IN A ZERG! stay with the group and lay waste. Lol, kids these days. Zerg =/= Roaming.

I think the idea is that you stay on the commander rather than floating about.

Edit: Meaning you are potentially hit with anything and everything and need an escape plan. If you want to be just behind the front lines dropping traps, from what I’ve heard that is an ok build.

Omnitek.3876:

The problem with the whole thing is the speed of the arrow is pointless in PvE. Only in WvW and PvP does it matter. Now, how often can you keep someone you are hitting at 1200 range? lol complete garbage.

Sorry, wasn’t clear, I was saying THREE THOUSAND HEALTH was better than us getting a slightly acceptable autoattack, not disagreeing.

Also in zerg WvW the arrow speed doesn’t matter, which denigrates it even further. In PvP, the biggest application would be sitting on top of a cliff in Silent Storm, but you wouldn’t need it there anyway because your team mate is on the point and the opponent can’t sidestep.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Your post (which has nothing to do with mine, anyway) doesn’t change the fact that this isn’t making anything “easier.” “Less often” doesn’t mean “easier.”

It does. You said you don’t understand why it’s simpler. However, having read feedback from the Chinese beta tests, it’s too confusing. You’re coming from a position of knowing how this simple game works. 10 million (or whatever) players that Anet has contact and feedback and in-game stats from are saying something different. It’s human nature to assume people like things exactly as we do, and that’s why internet forums are nothing but rage.

Omnitek.3876:

Guardians get 300 vitality, we get faster longbow arrows… lol.

I mean after a full day of reading this stuff (been checking the phone and computer way too often today) this bears repeating. 3,000 health versus a better chance for autoattack to hit.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Traits are so easy to understand, I had no idea what they were talking about with making them easier for new players. This new system doesn’t seem to make anything simpler, it just means traits start later and you get them a lot less often. Don’t see how that equates to “easier.”

Considering the several million players (it must be in the double digit millions now?) that have played GW2 or beta tested it, it’s understandable if a single item does not relate to you. Anet has the stats.

FTR, I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with you, I’m saying you are less than 1 percent of 1 percent of the GW population.

Guhracie.3419:

Huh. I’ve never seen anyone solo Jormag. Or Tequatl

Those aren’t champs.

Aridia.3042:

Curious how this would feel on all the LB skills. Would it be the same as using the pre nerfed QZ?

There is no stated firing rate increase, so it won’t even feel like the post nerf QZ.

Terravos.4059:

If you don’t have an invul…I will one shot you most likely

Video isn’t working for me, but I don’t see how invulnerability is better than LRs, if this is the typical basilisk venom. I see a ton of ranger roamer videos not using it, and I would never dare to as a berserker. Pure suicide.

Also, I’m a little weird in that I don’t roam for the fights, I roam for the server. So I have cons, stacks, and guard buffs up, and now defensive infusions on all ascended gear. If I can cheap shot someone I will!

Substance E.4852:

15k health isn’t going to cut it. Not when I can still take 6-7k backstabs and 4k heartseekers with 2800-2900 armor.

I roam with almost 23k health in full berserker, but I promise you someone can post a video of them killing a backstab thief in 15k berserker armor. Edit: IIRC it’s actually 17k, but whatever.

Substance E.4852:

pff what? Feel free to show just 1 vid of a zerk ranger taking down a zerk theif 1v1.
Theory crafting hypotheticals is all well and good but show it working in reality.

1 backstab and 1 auto attack chain is all it takes to down a zerk ranger. There’s no contest. Not when steal shadowsteps you 1500 units.

Oh come on now, someone posted a thread of what class you most like to engage in WvW roaming and thief was number 1. They’re one trick ponies. It’s not theorycrafting, it’s how it goes down because thieves have a predictable pattern. I’m sure many will relate.

I have never been able to get TS or video recording to work on my computer, but if no one vouches for me on this I will make a serious effort to video me killing thieves 1v1, because it’s important to me to show LB rangers are roaming-viable.

Edit: And I am talking about the backstab thieves. I refuse to acknowledge the existance of perma stealth thieves. I will even go so far as to WP away from them.

Pyriall.5027:

If you don’t have signet of beastmaster, you’re not beating any thief. This should have been a skirmishing trait.

Totally disagree with this. Typical thief encounter, see thief in distance, he stealths, you estimate time for him to get in backstab or C&D and sword 2 away. Immobilize him and in the same instant you hit him for half his health he breaks out. He shadowsteps to you, you dodge away and knock him down. He gets up and either your pet CCs him a final time and he dies or he stealths and you’ve already started rapid fire. He reappears somewhere downed.

There are like 5 other choose your own adventures I can do with this but you get the idea. It’s always berserker vs berserker and thieves are not good at that vs ranger.

Chrispy.5641:

I would mention that the Engineer can’t take advantage of all its Rifle traits either. Apparently that doesn’t matter, since you and other people on this thread let go of your common sense and let emotion take over.

Engy rifle sucks worse than ranger LB though…

Edit: Full disclosure, I made a rifle engy and my ranger almost always has a LB on switch.

nagymbear.5280:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-CzRt3fbZ0

That full berserker double melee was really fun to watch. Time to ditch my LB/melee for a bit before the 2nd season starts!

Looks quite good to me. Do you use the signet activations much? I feel like you might not get enough use of them to justify spending 3 traits on them? That would open up some other possibilities for both your traits and one of your utilities.

Or on the other hand, take all signets, drop the spirit and take things like 2 hand training and nature’s protection. Or even guard and the regen trait, since you’re weak on condition removal. Actually I don’t think regen would do much with 0 healing power.