Guild Wars 2

Manekk.6981:

lLobo.7960:

You only self-root if you dont turn off auto-attack.

You’re still “rooted” during the leap animations though and there’s no way around that, but sure you can cancel the chain much faster of course I’m just wondering how much dps you loose by attacking manually might even be a greatsword or shortbow becomes better? atleast they should close the distance.

No dps loss because you can que attacks.

woeye.2753:

Lots of nice input. Thank you guys.

Puandro and Xsorus, let me ask you: Why do you bother with the Ranger class if you have a thief? Just wondering.

Because its fun. I have 6 80s.
Elementalist for PvP, it was my first 80 and rode the whole “Eles are free kills and D/D sucks” for months until people caught on, it was nice seeing another D/D ele once a blue moon. It is my favorite class. I have almost 800 hours out of my 2,400 hours on him and i stopped doing PvE on him in October.
Made a Guardian right before Fractals so i would have a dedicated dungeon class. Ive never set foot in WvW on him.
Thief was my 3rd 80 and i rolled him for WvW trolling P/D condi before the culling fix.
Warrior was my 4th 80 since i wanted a glass cannon dps for dungeons.
Mesmer is my 5th 80 to complete the dungeon meta trio. Eventually decided to WvW on him and found out mesmers are more silly than i thought in PvP.
I wanted Ranger since the start. Almost rolled one but i decided on Ele at the end. It is my 6th 80.
Ive played all 6 classes in sPvP a good amount with HGH Engi being the most played past 2 months so i guess 7 classes. Necro ive playex a bit to know the basics of the class.

For me ranger is more fun than Thief thats why i play one. Ele is at 100% map completion and Ranger is at 90%+ all 4 other 80s are at 25-35% completion to give you an example. Also i didnt craft on him to hit 80 either. Its a very fun class and i like the pet aspect of it.

I think im rambling now and maybe you are asking why play ranger when thief is a superior pvp class? Other than me liking Ranger more personally i play the thief with a different goal. When i go out on my thief i harras zergs because i know i can get away with it. The risk/reward on a thief is very good. kitten hits the fan and you just get away NP.

Btw IMHO in terms of 1v1 this is my tier list in WvW.

Mesmer
Engi
Ele
Thief
Ranger
Guardian
Necro
Warrior

If i wanted to win every 1v1 i would stick to my mesmer. They are OP atm. I feel bad when i run into a 1v1 because it seems they dont expect 8K-10K phantasm damage.

I pretty sure Xsorus has more than a few alts and returns to the ranger because its fun not because its the best WvW class in his eyes.

I liked the D/P thief fight.

Xsorus.2507:

If you’re thinking of using Raven with Sic’Em remember using the F2 from raven will cancel out Sic’em and you won’t get any benefit from it

Its why I used Cat

Yah im aware of all the problemz with sic em but i still want to try it. My build will have 95%-100% crit chance on a cat or bird so i wont use jaguar. Comes down if i want chill from a owl or leopard or dps from raven or lynx. Cant decide.

Guess ill go all the way and use Raven for lol damage. Gonna put this new build together tomorrow.

Aodh.6418:

Puandro.3245:

I always viewed birds as a burst pet and cats as a consistent pet. Which bird do you think does the most dps if you dont pet swap and use F2 CD reduction? Owl with chill or raven for the big hit? Pets would have perma swiftness btw. I like cats but i think the 130 range auto attack really hurts and birds have a 300 one.

Edit; feel free to PM i dont want to derail the thread.

In my experience with pets (and I’m pretty sure this was tested recently) Canine pets have the most constant/stable dps. They don’t hit as hard but they stick on their targets a lot better than my cats/birds ever have. But to answer your question I was partial to the Snow Owl.

Yes the test showed that the cats needed at least speed of the hunt (25%) to beat canines in dps vs moving target but i plan to be melee so its not an issue for me.

I always viewed birds as a burst pet and cats as a consistent pet. Which bird do you think does the most dps if you dont pet swap and use F2 CD reduction? Owl with chill or raven for the big hit? Pets would have perma swiftness btw. I like cats but i think the 130 range auto attack really hurts and birds have a 300 one.

Edit; feel free to PM i dont want to derail the thread.

Tag for when im home. How do you compare drakes dps vs cats / birds?

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Puandro.3245:

Chopps.5047:

Zenith, why troll? You know I play dungeons and wvw only. You can’t even get apothecary in spvp, I don’t know why you keep derailing this thread.

Apothecary is called Shaman in sPvP.

Eh… it’s close but not quite the same. Shaman in sPvP has the major traits switched. Shaman is toughness major while Apothecary is healing major. I’d use the toughness major if possible in WvW if they had it, but unfortunately it’s restricted to sPvP ;(

Close enough to compare TBH.

Chopps.5047:

Zenith, why troll? You know I play dungeons and wvw only. You can’t even get apothecary in spvp, I don’t know why you keep derailing this thread.

Apothecary is called Shaman in sPvP.

Zenith is correct an Ele brings so much more to a team fight. They do have more Cleaving (even if a ranger uses a Drake) but they have less ST DPS. Also Eles are more easily shut down by a Necro. Ele is good in team fights for dps and healing. I roam on my ele and back up our home point if they go for it and go to team fights. Ranger is really a much better 1v1 though as Rangers have the highest Bunker DPS due to the pet so they will be forced to send someone else to 2v1 you or they lose the point. Depending on what they have on their home point the Ele might or might not be able to 1v1 the class.

Forzani.2584:

Another day with the setup and I still haven’t decided if this works for me ….not because it is a bad build..but because my skill level might not be high enough. It is fun though

I noticed that classes I easily beat before with range, like Necros, can be a problem now since I have to chase them around. Same thing with Rangers. Guardians are also tougher now since you can’t kite. Warriors no difference. Mesmers seems a bit easier. Ele about the same. Thieves I still have a problem with and Engineers I don’t even try without a ranged attack. Taking supply camps solo is a no go for me. I switch to A/T for that….the bad thing is I lose stacks on pets since jag doesn’t last in that fight so I need to load another pet before fight.

I did win a couple of 1v2 quite handily and seemed easier than ranged spec.

To be determined !

You shouldnt need to kite pretty much any class 1v1. Chasing is pretty easy since the sword Auto Attack cripples and you have Dagger #5. If they port ill use my sword #2 or swap to GS and Swoop. When you try to take camps save your F2 on Jag as a “de-aggro” since they wont attack it while your heal is on CD. Also always kill the scouts first since they AoE blind.

If you like it i say keep trying but if you don’t i wouldn’t suggest to try to learn a build you don’t like.

WTB baseball bat weapon line.

Relevant

zerOFive.2359:

Here to drop some props for the build. I’ve always been that ranger focused on my bows and have been looking for something new….and this is fun! I was trying out the sword a week ago but hadnt figured out a good technique quite yet. Just able to melee the end boss of cof p1 the entire time without trouble!

reset my traits similar to yours focusing on bm and oh have i missed sasquatch criting for 1k+. So keep doing what your doing because I’m not one to crunch those numbers, i eat that captain crunch instead!

LOL Captain Crunch.

Leetsaws.2108:

Faux Sheaux.6179:

Leetsaws.2108:

awge.3852:

RyuDragnier.9476:

S/T is Sword/Torch weapon combo, S/H is Sword/Horn weapon combo.

I don’t see how S/T and S/T affect your decision between Power or Condition. I mean, if you are going to use torch you need to know how to use your evades or trust in your toughness. As a ranger you sometimes have to be the melee person for the group, but that is something you can plan for prior to entering dungeon fights and such. In the case you do not then you consider your own play style. I moved away from S/T and S/H a long time ago, I prefer SB and GS for dungeons, switching the GS for A/T since axe has a very good aoe which you can easily combine with a good condition build or a smart power build. In the end Power is always good, but conditions allow you to throw all that extra power into places that benefit you and your party (healing power… etc). The only place where you can go wrong is in choosing the wrong weapon set for your build and keeping your toughness too low if you know you will be dealing with taking heavy damage, which is the case in almost every dungeon run.

Torch is all condition damage. Sword is all power damage, aside from 3 but that’s only used as an evade. Building condition when 99% of your damage is power is stupid.

S/H is the most synergistic weapon combination in the game for rangers. Horn buffs your party, your pet, and your 1 attacks. 4 allows for some off target damage in case of PBAoEs. Sword also grants might to your pet on rotation.

All SB has going for it is its range, which allows for easier dodging. You can use whatever build you want, but it’s not optimal. S/H outdamages all other combinations for the ranger right now. If you disagree, consult spreadsheets.

I disagree, but I will pass on the spreadsheets for now. Here’s why:

• Leap finisher through fire field gives flame aura which gives me several stacks of might each time (35 condition per stack)
• S3 poisons, and condition builds utilize longer poisons
• S1 roots and cripples. Condition builds generally focus on short-range combat, so an enemy that can’t get away is at your mercy
• S2 for the reasons of its awesome mobility, a cripple, and leap finisher as described above

S/T gives a lot to a condition build. It’s not so clear cut as power versus condition damage. Having that kind of tunnel vision really limits your ability as a ranger.

Note: I’m talking about organized PvE. This means dungeons and fractals. You can use whatever build you want in solo PvE, it doesn’t matter. To an extent, this is true of most dungeons as well. In [high level] fractals, each player is expected to perform to a certain degree of ability for the group to succeed.

• S2 is useless aside from PBAoE dodging because you will be off target for too long for it to be of any use for damage. The Leap combo finisher is only useful if you’re taking damage to proc its boon. If you take more than 2 hits (which would begin to make it effective), you will probably die anyway.

• S3 is used for evasion in PvE. The damage is negligible on its own accord; compared to the number of 1s you could have gotten off in the time it takes to execute, it is dwarfed. You mentioned the duration as well: condition duration rounds down, unless you stack +duration very meticulously, you will either have too much or too little. This makes it inefficient to build with gear.

• In dungeons and fractals you will never have any mobs running away from you. Roots and snares are irrelevant. Regardless, how does this make condition builds superior to zerker builds? The highest damage ranger build is zerker S/H, they would have the same snare available.

• Once again, if you’re using S2 at all in combat you’re probably doing less damage than is optimal. S2 isn’t even a condition damage attack. I don’t understand your argument at all; zerker rangers still have a sword, they can still use it if needed.

Pretty much this is true for optimized PvE.

Rascabuches.5914:

Cant i see ur build plz

Its in the youtube description.

I feel that pets should move when they attack but if the pet is able to do that it would lead to nerfs. Atm Rangers have the highest damage of all the classes that can Bunker. Its one of the aspects of having a pet that doesnt scale with your stats.

You’re right that i wouldn’t speak like this in public because after a few minutes i would see that you dont want suggestions to try new things you just want approval of the issues you are having so in that case i would just walk away and do something better with my free time.

Faux Sheaux.6179:

tPvP is different because of the food factor. In tPvP, you should be stalemating d/d eles. They are a broken build.

This thread is about apothecary gear and how it affects our gameplay though. One build from one class that it has issues with shouldn’t be cause to derail the thread into yet another “to kill a d/d ele” discussion :/

Where you guys were going was good before this escalated into argument for whatever reason it did. Swiftness is a huge deal in condition builds since enemies that can kite you are the ones who are most dangerous.

Rangers are better in tournies then in WvW. You are forced to fight on a point making trap spec or Shaman rangers better. WvW with runes not being nerfed (Boon duration) and food makes D/D better. Also they have unerfed heals unlike in tPvP.

Zenith.7301:

Puandro.3245:

Maybe i should go QQ that i cant kill BM Regen rangers when i play Bunker ele on the Ele forum? Nah i think ill just change my build and my tactics if i want to kill a class instead of going to go QQ on the forums.

Do what you will, tough guy. I can’t be bothered with e-thugs.

Bunch of people have suggested things to change and/or try and you keep saying that it doesnt work. Apperently your way is the best way but it doesnt cut it so i dont know why you keep discussing it with us. Do you want us to agree with the problems you are having when have found ways to work around them?

Maybe i should go QQ that i cant kill BM Regen rangers when i play Bunker ele on the Ele forum? Nah i think ill just change my build and my tactics if i want to kill a class instead of going to go QQ on the forums.

Zenith.7301:

I’m going to go on a limb and guess you’re pwning random elementalists in WvW. I love when people like you pretend like it means anything.

@Faux

You can have uptime, but bleeds need to be of enough intensity throughout the fight to be outhealing an ele’s regeneration.

I’m still waiting for people here contesting the idea that our pets aren’t the majority of our damage. Or that they can’t be easily kited by someone with swiftness.

Most people are bad at video games due to not really caring or not be able to improve. Few % of the people are average. Then on few rare cases people are really good at video due to playing games with goal to be better than anyone else or are just naturally good.

I cant count the number of people ive fought at random in WvW that i thought wete really good since release on 1 hand. I usually have to set up “duels” to fight good people. You act like everyone knows how to play perfectly when in reallity if you are actually any good you will faceroll anyone 1v1 with little or no effort in WvW.

Booohooo you couldnt kill a bunker ele. If you are any good then neither will he kill you so its a stalemate. If you are dying then you need to take a look at your tactics.

Yes pet have issues hitting targets but you shouldnt have issues keeping targets perma crippled for your pet with your sword auto attack.

I fought a P/P Nade HGH engi few weeks back. After 5-6 mins he finally got me with his elite Daze then i got imobolized and killed because i was low. I switched my traits for 2nd and 3rd fight and won them. Used Healing Spring, mighty swap, and Empathic Bond.

You can also use food reduction which i wasnt and/or Melandru runes.

If they dont run nades they really dont have enough condis to overwhelm you if you play well but nades are nasty.

You can always play a mesmer and win everytime too :p.

The only engi build that should give you an issue as a BM/Regen build is an HGH Engi with grenades.

Zenith.7301:

Serpent Strike’s damage is low regardless of build….analogies are not your strong suit.

Your autoattack with mainhand sword is stupidly easy to kite, and if you’re talking shortbow please get off the pot, I’ve ran even a knight’s version of the ranger with spikier damage and a power shortbow won’t get close to scratching the classes that roam with the exception of thief.

Good for you that you come across idiots that let you spam your sword auto on them. My main damage is from my shortbow bleeds and with offhand training on a pet people don’t run out soon enough to get a tick.

You also don’t seem to know much apothecary builds if you’re burning your throw torch so early in the fight where opponents have dodges up, let alone from range. It’s on your sword set for a reason.

And TBH I’m kinda tired of taking your claims one by one as this comes from the same guy that says berserker is not good for ranger and just gave bad information on new gear just because you heard about it. If you don’t like what is said on this thread you are free to leave it.

You are right on 1 thing, I should stop wasting my time on people who think they know whats best but are having issues with classes im not.

Xsorus.2507:

Was playing a little while ago, had an epic fight with a Mesmer, only problem is she kept running to he guards when she got low.

Or trying to kill me when others added.

rofl caught her at the end though when she was getting zerged, That is why you pull off in a 1v1 if people from your server add, So you get the same respect when you’re getting zerged.

If you didnt solo in DAoC you probably dont think that way. Last week i was fighting an ele on my thief and he got added by 2 people so i backed off and he killed both. Then he invited me to tell that was the first time since release that someone had done that.

The fact thay you can only see race and guild namd its really hard to tell people apart so all it takes is a bunch of kittens to ruin a guilds image.

Dodging affects condi rangers more than clerics. My damage comes mainly from auto attack so if they dodge it who cares when i can continue auto attacking. If they dodge your torch #4 there goes most of your damage and people can easily step out of your #5.

Anyways it seems you dont know much about ranger power builds by what you posted. I dont have problems with my ranger but you do so maybe the problem you and not the ranger.

Lastly complaining about the axe auto attack while having 0 power to back it up is like me complaining my serpents strike poison damage is too low when im power.

Forzani.2584:

Man, that video left me speechless. You sir are an amazing player. Your movement is unbelievable. My concern with melee has always been chasing runners down. That isn’t a problem for you.

I have used GS and S/D…but neither at the same time. Dunno if I could pull it off

Great job !

You wont know unless you try

wrango.2590:

Hi Puandro,
i tried your build and it’s impressive. Good job indeed

I was just wandering, how about apothecary equipment instead of cleric?

Thanks for sharing this!

Apothecary is an option but you have to use axe/torch instead of GS so you lose mobility. Also you use offhand cooldown reduction instead of sword reduction. You will have an easier time against bunkers like guardians and eles but the good ones are still unkillable. Its also very weak if you run into enemies with lemongrass food and melandru runes even if you run pizza for condition duration. Its a different playstyle with the same idea. Be hard to kill while you wear them down and your pet doing most of the damage.

Zenith.7301:

Against heavy condition cleanse you will.

Not that your cleric is making you hit much harder. I don’t see your ricochets in cleric hitting for more than 300-400 on a bunker ele.

Good luck killing a guardian on a power build.

Power build does 120% more damage then Apothecary. Your 500 damage hits become 1,100 + im giving my pet might and crippling for it.

Bunker guard or Ele wont die to either ranger specs if they are good and if they are bad they will so i see no issue here.

Tag in case i want to watch you get zeeged.

Power builds are useless for rangers? Guess ill go salvage my Cleric gear tonight and buy Apothecary now that its cheaper. Then ill come to the forums and complain how im hitting for 197 damage with our classes weakest Auto Attack with no power to back it up

Ill keep that in mind if i ever want to bore myself to sleep.

Chopps.5047:

So in SSC there’s an npc that sells these fantastic +200 condi for 30s on kill 10 min buffs for a good price of 119 karma. Save your silver! Are you guys aware of similarly powerful karma foods?

I never liked food that gave you buffs on kill, its only good for PvE farming if that. Also 10 mins….. ill take my 30 min food.

Chokolata.1870:

Is it just me , or does ranger get insane utility out of Celestial trinkets . I mean , there is not much difference between 950 and 1000 condition damage or 1300 and 1400 healing power .

No. You need an axe/torch for condi but they are bad with power. Sword dagger are decent. Greatsword is good with power, bad with condis. Rangers also dont make great use of crit damage. I run celestial trinkets on my ele, cavalier backpiece all ascend. Then cleric weapons and knight armor. It works well because i use all the stats on it and the condi is just extra bonus.

TLDR. Rangers dont have 2 weapons sets that can take advantage of power/condi at the same time and crit damage is not that great.

Nerdsaver.6415:

Hey Puandro, big thanks for this thread. I’ve been playing a Ranger since release and never considered a melee build. The game was getting boring for me so I gave your build a shot. Wow what fun things are now. I was at Southsun last night where a lot of folks were getting slapped around by the Vet Karkas. There were a few instances where I got caught in a knock down cycle along with those next to me. The other players would usually all go down, but not me. I could get the downed guys back up, and not have to worry about going down myself in the middle of the fight. The toughness/regen combo is so ridiculous.

I thought my damage out put would suffer with this build, but it didn’t. I seem to kill stuff as fast if not faster than my previous zerk 30/25/10/5/0 setup with LB, Axe/Axe, and traps.

In WvW it was always run with the boring zerg herd, and avoid the individual encounters at all costs. I’ve had a couple of 1v1 and 1v2 encounters with the new setup and no more turning tail for me. Good times.

Thanks again.

Glad you are enjoying it man. I am a big fan of the melee attacks rangers have access to. I almost rolled ranger as my main during headstart but ended up with D/D ele at the end.

swinsk.6410:

Puandro.3245:

swinsk.6410:

Puandro.3245:

I have not ran into 1 trap so far from the enemy while i played my thief for 3 hours after the patch. Although i did use them against thieves and tbe result was hilarious when they drop shadow refuge and it does nothing.

Only because most players are noobs and it takes them weeks or months to figure out what it takes you about 15 minutes to figure out.

As soon as people figure it out, it’s going to be bad.

Probably but the stealth traps is a bandly implemented bandaid “fix”

Agreed. I think you should post video of your Mesmer using this trap in 1vX vs thieves. I bet thieves will be free points to your Mesmer after hitting them with trap. You can also use your stealth to drop it.

I know traps work both ways, but I don’t want to play a game where dropping traps on solo thieves is how you win. I don’t want to waste my time removing supply from a Zerg over and over because it simply kitten es them off.

These traps are literally the worst idea brought to gw2.

They should work more like PN from Daoc. Highly visible to the enemy. This way the will only be useful in large Zerg battles at choke points. More of a defensive skill vs offensive.

Dont need stealth traps to kill thieves.

Zenith.7301:

Phantasm mesmer should be able to kill BM ranger.

It kills everything 1v1.

swinsk.6410:

Puandro.3245:

I have not ran into 1 trap so far from the enemy while i played my thief for 3 hours after the patch. Although i did use them against thieves and tbe result was hilarious when they drop shadow refuge and it does nothing.

Only because most players are noobs and it takes them weeks or months to figure out what it takes you about 15 minutes to figure out.

As soon as people figure it out, it’s going to be bad.

Probably but the stealth traps is a bandly implemented bandaid “fix”

I have not ran into 1 trap so far from the enemy while i played my thief for 3 hours after the patch. Although i did use them against thieves and tbe result was hilarious when they drop shadow refuge and it does nothing.

Xsorus.2507:

Zenith.7301:

You can get an apothecary ascended backpiece now. Do the 25 Southsun achievs and get the exotic version, and then in the mystic forge you use it+250 karka shells, 100 passion flowers, and 50 ectos.

Besides that, use laurels and guild commendations for ascended apothecary gear. There’s no point in getting ascended stat combos that you can get with exotics since the stat difference is not that big.

I just need 1 more week to have full ascended Apothecary.

Glad you said something, i would of never bothered with the Southsun thing, guess i know what i’ll be doing now.

I did it for the flower backpiece. Looks awesome on my ranger. Ascended backpiece doesnt have an infussion slot ive read. Cant confirm atm.

Condition gear is bad in PvE because direct damage is always superior. The condition cap is just another nail in the coffin but not the main culprit.

Manekk.6981:

Zenith.7301:

Xsorus.2507:

Zenith.7301:

I love it in tpvp. It reduces the value of zerging someone down with spike when a sustained damage team can bring you down after and be better at getting the stomp that the other team.

In WvW it’s kinda even necessary in zerg fights, and for PvE several of the encounters are designed with the boss having the capacity to reliably down people (like Mossman at fractal 48).

I’m sure its fine for TPvP

I just don’t believe its fine for WVW, where you can fight while outnumbered and have some kitten get ressed cause some Rabbit died next to him.

Yeah I completely agree in wvw killing critters should not rez you, and you should not be able to cnd off them or gain any benefit from mobs around.

Everyone loves and hates downstate, it really does give an unfair extra advantage to whomever has the numbers on their side though.

I do wonder why you can’t stomp in water though is there a real reason for that or is it just to give variety in downstate?

So rangers can troll people underwater.

Zenith.7301:

I love it in tpvp. It reduces the value of zerging someone down with spike when a sustained damage team can bring you down after and be better at getting the stomp that the other team.

In WvW it’s kinda even necessary in zerg fights, and for PvE several of the encounters are designed with the boss having the capacity to reliably down people (like Mossman at fractal 48).

Down state is fine in TPvP because its fought on points to take. Down state balance between classes is really bad. Glass cannons dealing too much damage while downed is also unbalanced. The rally system is also pure BS. For example you down their mesmer and ele, then your bunker guardian goes down trying to stomp. Mesmer #2 and Ele #2 will be avoided with a stomp while your guardian will get stomped with stability and now their 2 downed persons rally. Not only does this happens due to unbalanced down states between classes but the fact that they rally is dumb. Really downstate should only exist in TPvP and you should only be allowed to use #4 or suicide.

PvE downstate also is bad design. It makes berserker stats even more wanted because if someone goes down no need to use utilities to rez when you can just kill stuff and rally (unless its a boss). My toons wear full berserker for PvE its silly how good it is as long as you don’t suck which isnt hard to do. You should just straight up die and make people decide to bring rez utilities or play tankier.

WvW Downstate is the biggest culprit here. It makes bigger numbers have a bigger advantage than they already have. You down 4-5 of their guys but they get 1 of your guys and dps their body so fast due to greater numbers so you cant rez and their 4-5 people rally its so frustrating. The AoE limit on 5 enemies also doesn’t really help smaller numbers. Lastly nothing like doing a 1vX and somehow a mob adds, you down an enemy and go for an invul/stability stomp and the mob dies while they are trying to kill you with AoE and the guy rallies….. so frustrating.

Assassin.7890:

Do another video please

When i get around to playing my Ranger ill fraps. Its something that i dont really go out of my way to do or rush.

Also WTB “old bridges and ladders” :p.

Make it happen Anet!!!

Xsorus.2507:

I’ve ran into some really really bad thieves….

The Worst ever was the 2 berserker thieves that spammed Heart Seeker (and i mean just spammed that ) at me right after I Pain Invertered them…

That was absolutely hilarious..and sad… very sad..

There are really bad (insert class) in the game. The more popular a class is the more you see them though. I feel this game its pretty easy to see who is bad though due to the lack of passive defense on most classes so you cant get by just having the game block/parry/dodge for you like in many games.

I love GW2 and its pretty kitten balanced TBH from release until now but downstate in WvW just makes me sad

I think the discussion is moving too much into the realm of “paper” PvP so ill stop it here. I will say this though. If you want to kill a thief just play a phantasm mesmer they will kill a thief and anything else 1v1 NP.

Xsorus.2507:

Puandro.3245:

Xsorus.2507:

Puandro.3245:

Xsorus.2507:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s7YW3EZvUA

You can see me fighting a D/P thief in this video

Thief played really bad. He chased you then BP + HS instantly instead of BP as soon as coming out of stealth to force you out of melee then HS for stealth.
Also he kept using Shadow Shot waaay too much from stealth to get a BS off on you causing him to waste too much initiative.

standard “Thief played really bad”

I pointed out what he did wrong, it wasn’t like i just said “he played bad” and left it at that.

You realize the reason he was chasing me was because everytime he did his BP/Stealth I dodged away so i wouldn’t get back stabbed

Fully aware and you play your ranger very well like always but thats even more of a reason to not waste initiative for a gap closer from stealth. He should have just HS 1-2 times more in BP and gotten in BS position.

The thief you fought that was P/D in that other video played much better. If he could handle your condis a D/P should be able to NP since you dont need CnD to stealth.