Guild Wars 2

Ha! Take your experimentation in to PvP and WvW where you can actually make use of the new traits! All 5 of them are geared towards competitive modes.

I’m going to go ahead and guess they have numbers backing up that people who try new game modes tend to continue playing those game modes. People tend to shy away from PvP, WvW and dungeon running because they’re scared they won’t know what they’re doing and people will scream at them. Once you realize it’s not complicated at all, people stick around. That’s been my experience based on anecdotes, I’m sure Anet has more than enough stats or they wouldn’t have changed it.

Also, it seems they will always offer a selection of dailies that can be completed in any game mode. For example today I played 3 PvP games and finished all 5 dailies. Things like dodger, daily kills, leveler, etc., can be completed in PvP.

ayimera.7028:

I’ll be trying 4/4/0/6/0 with the new SotF trait. I use LB + Axe/WH.

Where do you need heavy condi removal and survival skills in PvE?

In WASD, S moves you backwards.

Hitting the S key.

The PvE meta is still completely alive. Here is a good guide:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Guide-PvE-Meta-Ranger/first#post3885511

PvP meta builds will still work, there are just new options people are experimenting with.

In WvW most thieves use daggers and lots of stealth. In PvP most thieves use swords and SBs and lots of shadowsteps. Or at least they have been, not sure what the PW nerf will do to the thief meta.

I wonder if you ignoring the trap line is counterproductive. If you can’t kill people in a timely manner and aren’t a pure bunker, you’ll eventually die. Is that what is happening?

You might also want to consider roaming instead of bunkering since you aren’t running a bunker build.

RTW is completely pointless for zerg fights, no one is going to be side stepping your arrows there. Take EE and PA if you want to be near a zerg. RTW is only for roaming.

A little more, since maybe you just like bows (I use a longbow as a primary weapon in World vs World.)

In end-game PvE content, people want speed/damage and party support, and a LB offers neither. Bears offer almost zero damage as well.

In competitive play, bears again offer almost nothing, and LB is quite difficult to use against enemy humans. You can use LB against humans, but not in a “hide behind bear” type of way. You have to use every ability rangers have, and with more useful pets.

If you ever decide to do end-game content of any kind on your ranger you need to not run bearbow. Bearbow is the laughing stock of every build of every profession in all of GW2.

However if you really want to use it for levling, LB3 will allow you stealth and leave for a safer location, and LB4 will push enemies away. It would be faster to take one of the swords though. You will hit harder, faster and more enemies.

I’d probably just keep a torch in the inventory (and 2nd axe) for the rare occasion you need a firefield and no one put one down (ele dagger 4 is on a 15 second cooldown) and use a dagger and warhorn then. Meh, whatever, it’s not a big deal.

jmkmay.3257:

Sword/Torch and Axe/Warhorn

While I agree with most everything you wrote, what’s up with those combos? Torch specifically for fire fields in dungeon running? I’d leave that to an ele and use an offhand axe. Axe 4 is colossal damage* and axe 5 is situationally amazing, as it doesn’t just block but also reflects projectiles.

*Someone posted a video of themselves “1 shotting” a karka with axe 4 the other day, although with a slightly different trait requirement than the normal 6/5/0/3 (<— hard to write.)

Rentapest.6503:

Longbow:

• Fire rate needs to be increased by at least double.

This would make LB users massively outdamage ballistas. I’m not going to bother even glancing over your other “suggestions”, that was enough for me.

I noticed in my wardrobe I have several pieces of Strider’s armor unlocked. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before, and google turns up absolutely nothing about it.

Any idea what this stuff is? I must be missing something obvious.

Edit: Gah, nm. It’s new gemstore armor and I don’t have it unlocked. Not used to the interface yet!!

I posted this in the bow sigil thread as well, RtW plus Sigil of Ice (2 seconds of chill on 10 second cooldown) is incredibly powerful. First trip out into WvW I won a 1 v 3 using only a longbow(!!).

RtW solves any long range accuracy problems with the instantaneous hits, and sigil of ice keeps people from moving towards you when combined with lots of normal ranger soft CC. LB may actually be more than a close range utility weapon now. Really excited about this.

I already had a fire on my longbow, and was saving an air for it. Then I saw the 2 seconds of chill with a 10 second cooldown. Hello, kiting on a longbow, nice to meet you.

Edit: Pretty sure that isn’t a new sigil, I just liked the combo.

Edit2: Oh, it was changed from on crit to on hit. That’s why it grabbed my attention.

Edit3: Despite being burnt out on WvW, I had to try Air and Ice in there with RtW. First fight was a 1v3 that I won just by keeping people at range and chilled. Those 2 sigils and RtW, me likey. Improved pet responsiveness definitely makes things easier too.

I burned myself out on WvW so hard during the first couple weeks of the tourney I can’t even bear to think about trying the new trait. Unlocking it was literally the first thing I did when I logged in after the update, but I’ll test it in like 3 weeks, haha.

geogyf.5087:

Try a CoF dungeon with Zerk ranger, and most of the time you will be kicked.

Been doing CoF twice daily for over a year and I’ve never once been kicked. You are probably not up on the current dungeon meta. Do you run a longbow by any chance?

Rangers provide buffs no other class can, and thus are in fairly high demand. Not gonna beat a dead horse here, just read up on dungeon running.

Because it was never broken in the first place, and it’s definitely not a bug. Many of us don’t want them to touch it.

Yamsandjams.3267:

He has two stun breakers on protect me and signet of renewal, though they might not be the most effective in all situations.

Yup, thought I addressed those.

Nm, I deleted that response.

Definitely. It’s just a little slower.

This is not dissimilar to what rangers did in GW1; mass condi spread. And I think there would be a decent amount of skill involved in lining these shots up. There would need to be an ICD, but the ‘lining up’ factor means it’s not as mindless as epidemic.

Might be weird for zerg WvW, but any AoE is sort of mindless there.

I like it.

I’ll send you a PM so it doesn’t clutter up the thread.

izzuedotcom.2498:

How does this build fair in the midst of a large wvw zerg? :P Or perhaps following a commander? I use the frontline sentanal build if I zerg on my ranger but I was wondering if this set up would work too

At one point during the video he shows himself joining the zerg by swapping in — I think it was soldiers armor, but the fight is over by the time he gets there. The toughness and vitality are already there, although protect me becomes pretty much useless and there is no stun breaker. So probably risky.

In his defense, the meta doesn’t improve if people don’t try new things. Unfortunately I don’t think the meta for tPvP can improve until a game mode other than standing in one place without dying is introduced.

Elrond.9486:

Hey Fluffball I always see your quality posts, do you have an public builds/guides?

Well thanks! To answer your question, not really. I’m a hack, haha. I run the typical Brazil dungeon running build in PvE, with constant tweaks depending on the content. For example I think I used frost trap and S&R for the marionette, all sorts of different utilities for various dungeons and fractals, i.e. mainhand axe on switch for TA. For open world content I often take the SotH and flame trap just to speed things up.

In PvP, I am all over the place and have run all sorts of builds, but for serious time, I run a spirit ranger with Nature’s Voice (sun spirit, stone/storm spirit and guard.) I don’t love the build but it is ridiculously effective.

In WvW I run a berserker melee/longbow roamer based around CC, which is admittedly very difficult to play at first. I can link you to the build if it interests you.

Pretty sure they are not moving any traits for rangers. The are for necros, and specifically called that out.

Condition damage was what inspired the question (birds have a crazy low cool down bleed, which I thought might make up for the screech.) However even without the bleeds, the bird still only does 78% of a cat’s damage.

Mostly irrelevant, but cats do more damage, and vulnerability is better than swiftness.

I have an excel chart in my inbox showing a hawk does ~only 73% of the damage of a lynx. I didn’t run the tests, so I can’t say much else about it.

I think someone just ran these tests a few weeks ago and made a thread. I’ll see if I can find it when I get back home.

I like it. Looks like is has pretty good durability. There won’t be much cover for poison being cleansed, but I guess with all the sources you can keep it up when the other guy is about to heal at the very least. Maybe keen edge would work better than malicious training with that in mind. Mighty swap also came to mind since you will be swapping pets on recharge.

Celestial is kind of weird, but I can see why you did it, it really does fit the build. I’m not so hot on runes of the scholar in WvW, especially as a melee fighter, but we’ll have to see what all the new runes do before you can decide.

Ascended celestial seems like a big investment, did you already make some?

TurtleDragon.3108:

Birds do identical DPS to felines if you prefer those.

At first glance they do, but a lot of people have tested it out and birds do significantly less damage than cats. It’s the swiftness shout they use, it messes everything up. Also cats are an added source of vulnerability if that is needed.

Maybe someone who has run the tests will post their results.

You played it and did fine. You do a lot less damage than a spirit ranger, and don’t offer the huge support bonus of a spirit ranger (or even healing spring.) You’re also not nearly as durable.

I really like your build for WvW, but I think you’re gimping your team here. If it’s solo queue I guess that’s fine, I wouldn’t want to have that in team arena though.

It’s the nature of capture points. Until they offer a new format, anything other than a condi bunker is going to be subpar.

That’s how it worked in GW1. More customization is always better.

Elrond.9486:

Oh wow yeah all that sounds great.

Read my response. All the rangers die. Probably without killing anyone.

Oh, I forgot why I came here. I added “Protect me!” to my berserker ranger and good god did I love it. I could play CRAZY aggressive. Like SO aggressive with no fear. I’m never going back, so thank you akallou.

Belzebu.3912:

snip

Meh, I mean I guess you have to assume the ranger is competent at the build they’re playing, and then you’ll beat 9 out of 10 players, no matter what they play. I’m really not seeing any advantages to playing one of — if not the — slowest builds in the entire game (condi ranger).

If you can’t play a power ranger I get that 100%. I can’t play a berserker mesmer even though they’re amazing. I think people should at least try to drift away from regen bunker rangers though; it’s not an efficient build unless you’re on defense.

By the way I’ve been slowly watching the OP video (I’ll finish it next week) and I think it’s convinced me to start taking protect me. The biggest chance of death is when you’ve got everything on cool down and still need to heal, and I notice that’s when you often use it.

Currently I often use the health regen food and health regen signet, because the food is wicked cheap and a lot of fights tend to grind on for a minute or so even as a power ranger. But I’m going to try this out instead.

If I can use it well, I might even switch to power/CD food instead of vitality/regen food with the upcoming CD nerf.

Also lovin the Tupac. I haven’t heard these songs in 20 years.

How do you against humans with traps? Seems like that might be a decent way to deal with thieves as well.

Using traps? I could picture that being viable if not better than power. I send in the pet to cluster them all, barrage it, entangle them, flame trap and blast it, then cleave the leftovers with the sword.

Note, obviously I don’t normally use flame trap as a berserker, it’s just a way to stack as much DPS as possible for the camp.

Belzebu.3912:

If your focus was WvW roaming, power build was never the best option, condition was, and nothing will change after the update.

For defending camps on your home borderland, condi bunker is the better choice. For any other type of roaming, I believe power to be the better choice.

Couple examples: If you followed the surviving thieves thread, I talked about how power rangers are basically the only option to kill thieves that aren’t totally incompetent. We don’t really have any good condi weapons at all. Thieves are basically all you run in to when roaming.

Also being an offensive roamer myself, I just don’t have time to sit around waiting to kill someone with basically only bleeds from a single axe skill. A few weeks ago my server was in a protracted hour long siege of a heavily defended T3 Overlook. I saw a yak passing by T3 Veloka, which was swarming with humans and T3 guards from both structures. There is no way a condi bunker could get in there and take that yak out, let alone survive it. I play a berserker, so I zipped in there, killed the yak, and got out before I could get locked down (condi roamers will have speed on a sword and presumably LR, but the stealth and range on LB also helped me.)

Same thing for taking important camps and etc. It’s all bout the speed and condi rangers are the slowest build in the entire game other than builds that don’t intend to do any damage at all like some guardian bunkers.

All that said, I’m willing to give this nerf a chance. I don’t know for sure, but I assume most WvW players aren’t using ascended armor with infusions and I do know for sure most don’t use consumables. So I may still be in a good place.

If not, I have been saving up for some PVT ascended gear and will just swap to zerg busting. We’ll see.

Er, so almost all of T1, 2, and 3 won’t be able to play?

I demand Pact airships with dragon/SMC-buster cannons. I will not take no for an answer.

law.9410:

just wanted to add that his idea would make underused pets more viable and we’d see more than spiders and wolfs. Maybe bears would give you like aegis or 1 second of invul when stowing it. Maybe there could even be a trait in beastmaster that gave a bonus or effect when you unstowed your pet as well. So combat would be a “flow” of controlling your pet. There would have to cool downs of course but it could be awesome. unstowing your wolf gives you an attack of opportunity, bam greatsword is more viable.

This is literally the only pet-stow idea I’ve ever liked. It would almost be like ele’s switching attunements.

Your trapper ranger isn’t using a single trap.

Again, knowing you aren’t serious, I think it would work maybe 1/15 times. Even with all that damage from range, the enemy frontline will just go invulnerable and leap the distance in 2 seconds or even less.

If you really wanted to make an all ranger zerg, you’d need all sorts of roles.

Just for fun with a 50 man typical zerg, I’m thinking 23 GS signet rangers, 10 cleric’s spirit rangers also using nature’s voice, 12 trap rangers and 5 LB rangers. Everyone except the spirit rangers uses entangle. 35 bears, 5 drakes, 5 drakehounds and 5 wolves as the first pet, 40 wolves, 5 drakes and 5 drakehounds on swap.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

I reckon run them all in full zerk, imagine 25 rangers….

While it would hysterical on some occasions, a few reflects, invulnerabilities/blocks, and condi necros would leave you with a pile of downed rangers. PVT zerg heavies are also so crazy durable. You can kill them easily in a 1v1 but it takes way longer than it would take for their zerg to slam in to you.

Balanced beats a one trick pony.

Anywho, I doubt you were serious.

But the bear animation is a factor.

Your signature still says FA (where ironically we’re having better fights than you guys, it seems.)

Seth.1308:

Not exactly what OP was asking for, but it would be completely awesome to have an elite skill that merged Pet and Ranger… with skills/stat boosts dependent on what pet species was absorbed… Becoming a Ranger that is literally “As One” with the pet.

You could even turn in to a half-man half-bear or wolf or snow leopard or raven, that would be neat.