Guild Wars 2

Prophet.1584:

Thanks! i’ll stick with my zealots/zerker setup for fractals then

Anytime.
Don’t worry about your stats as much. The differences are not that big in our case. I, for example, play literally nothing but Clerics in fractals 77+ (assuming I’m the only healer).
And you have no idea how much time this saved me. DPS? A lie. Strategy is what counts.

Prophet.1584:

same gear, different traits/skills.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTnUqA1siVsAuCCctglEB7JAksedOluj1NAuq2V/qlI9zA-TxDBQBtQDyK0QMFlIA4QKcKdAaUZwVUClK1fkwFAUCygHUQK0EAl9HegJuGcEAwiSjAAIAsxNuxQKgVkZB-e

NM>WS unless your playing condi, you shouldnt need those defensive traits very much at all but more dps ends fights faster. your gear is a bit of a mish-mash of stats, it’s better to focus in on how you want to do your dps(or healing now) and gear yourself that way.

If you read thoroughly you’ll see he’s using that build for soloing champions, too. Having a pet with 50% bonus damage reduction is off the charts compared to NM.

This build looks rather comfortable and active.

But I was almost sure you’d be using Marksmanship Traitline for lead the wind and easier tagging. I can see why you decided for BM over it, though.

Prophet.1584:

why not just slot guard for the might instead?

Depends on whether you/your pet are being hit.
It’s a very bad might steroid for PvE given how slow their attack speeds are.

In short practice:
Mobile fights will always go more favorable in Berserker’s way. Regardless of situation.
Higher Fractals are high on toughness so Condition builds are statistically better. The highest fractals (90-100) don’t let you stack and people tend to kite, though.

For raids – Gorseval and Sebetha are clear Condi choices in terms of DPS.
Vale guardian… Depends. From my testing Zerk Ranger dealt more damage on VG. Mostly because it’s high healing requiring and Quick Draw tends to bug a lot when you can’t afford to use CAF in rotation but you need to enter it prematurely to save somebody. It’s also a very mobile fight.

Mathematically the Condi should deal more damage. But there’s no way to compare the two since Condi depends on a bug and “mobility” that has absolutely no way to be put into numbers.

Hmmmh… Not sure about it. Can’t tell.
Torch is better in DPS if you are 25 mighted and have a banner even in Berserker (if all ticks of torch hit and fights takes long enough).

But for your situation I’m really not sure. My guess is still no but I don’t have that tested. 3 might is way too little trade off for the damage of Axe.

But what you can do is take Torch and use bonfire > Swap to Warhorn and blast #5 > Swap to Axe and engage combat. That will most definitely bring you the most damage output when we are talking about general PvE.
Axe is a burst option and stuff dies too quickly for Torch to take it’s full over-time effect. If we are talking about open world / dungeons / lower fractals.

Mouse.3608:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Depends on what do you want to focus on.
For healer purposes, Staff+LB is the superior option.
For maximizing the DPS – LB+S/A
For roaming and mobility – Staff+GS

Just out of curiosity – why Staff+LB? The skills on longbow don’t really scream “support build” to me.

The main reason is to hold onto staff as much as possible to keep those heals up.
And when it is needed – just swap to that LB, help with that vuln ultime (there’s rarely 25 in fractals) or the most common thing I use LB for is to help with Break Bar (I don’t have to worry about my positioning of melee/range dance).

I usually start with staff – fill the astral bar – swap to LB for the burst > enter CAF and keep the uptime of GotL and heals as much as I can – and when I leave I can swap back to staff immediately. This sequence doesn’t force me to use even a single auto-attack of LB if I don’t want to.

LB is a cooldown based weapon and works the best as a synergy with staff. Positioning wise and it also is the highest spike weapon rangers have. Yes, the perfect rotation of Rapid Fire > Barrage > 1 auto > Rapid Fire beats even sword rotation.
Plus it has on demand CC for break bars while S/A has an awful delay.

EDIT: Naturally, S/Wh may be a viable choice on swap instead of LB with the very same pattern but my parties never really needed the +might/fury.

Cheeksy.2394:

So you would say then for HoT and fractals up to 50 I would be safe with a Great Sword? but beyond that go for support build for sure? Sorry just to be clear

Actually…
It doesn’t really matter what you do if you know what you are doing.

But you need to do it n a way to be helpful and dealing damage is the best thing you can bring. Be it your personal or DPS support (at which we excel up to a point where top DPS theory-craft for raids includes 2 druids).

For speed-clearing Fractal dailies no healing or defensive support is needed. If it is – the healing will be enough in berserker (or viper). Being a healer in daily speed or daily runs is absolutely pointless.
Being a healer in grind of 90-100 is a completely different story. It’s a change as clear as holy water and depths of hell. Focus on Clerics only if you want to babysit your parties up to lvl 100 fractal.

When it comes to raids – it all depends on your composition. I constantly play something different in every squad and every encounter.

Moral of the story:
Greatsword is not that bad. You are completely safe to use it instead of sword. If anyone has problems with it instead of S/A – feel free to block them since those are arrogant kitties.
You want to hear a funny piece of information? People who want you to run S/A are usually arrogant elitists. And those elitists have literally no idea that Torch beats Axe even in full berserker if we assume you are in elitist party and are full mighted and banners are available. If the party doesn’t bring those – they have literally no right to ask you to bring “meta” stuff either.

tl;dr
Meta is a lie. Always trust in your own research or data that make sense.
If Greatsword is what makes you deal more damage or Sword makes you wanna kill yourself because of it’s weird mechanics – get Greatsword. Results are what matters. GS is not that far behind in DPS against sword. Feel free to use it.

HeadCrowned.6834:

So many topics with sugestions and requests to improve the shortbow, and it keeps being ignored by Anet.

Actually, the next patch will be in ~3 months more or less.
And they did a great job on reworking the shouts. In reality, most of what they implemented… no, I believe all of them were the changes proposed here on forums.

They did a sloppy job but you can’t deny that they are listening.
They can’t re-create a whole class in 9 aspects with 1 balance update. 1 step at a time is what I feel like being best myself.
We don’t want them to start listening to childish Ele and Warrior “buff us, Anet servants!” cryout that will never stop, right? Because if they recreate rangers WHOLE and address EVERY QoL or balance pickle with all weapons and utilities – that basically means they have to do the same for other classes, too. People do not see equality in terms of “who needs stuff”. They see it in “who wants stuff”. And they want a whole heck more and those are nothing but buffs.

So let’s give ANet credit and appreciation for they heard us out once. It might make them actually motivated to keep it going if they hear a positive feedback, shall we?

Depends on what do you want to focus on.
For healer purposes, Staff+LB is the superior option.
For maximizing the DPS – LB+S/A
For roaming and mobility – Staff+GS

The difference of GS to S/A was said to be around 17% (not sure now)? In practice it can have more damage than sword because you are not forced to dodge roll often – increasing Steady Focus uptime just like it doesn’t postpone your rotation. It also allows you to focus more on what’s happening around you and not your bloody clunky attacks that will kill you once you stop paying 40% of your attention to them.

If you are not familiar with Sword Mechanics – get Greatsword for sure. The difference of DPS is basically mathematical. Not realistic. There are many fights where you can bring reality to match theoretical maths results but Sebetha is definitely not one of those and I wouldn’t dare exclude Vale Guardian here, either.

HeadCrowned.6834:

Sage amulet might be better indeed. It makes the staff a lot more useful.
Although I tried some poison master builds myself, I never was convinced. Especially the Refined Toxins trait is quite disappointing. The ICD is too high if you ask me. Its fun to play a poison build though, but I question the true effectiveness of it.

Yea… I thought something similar myself about refined toxins.
In a real fight … you’ll proc the trait… twice. Once from you and once from pet, then you never get to full HP again. Too disappointing for a trait if you ask me. Then I thought it might be a PvE trait but then we have Ambidexterity and Toxins fall apart once again.

WilnerGW.3275:

Just a question…

Im not used to use staff for 1v1’s..tbh im kinda new to druid(the specialization itself, cuz i play ranger since 2013), so i dont use staff outside PVE yet.

Is it that good? i know staff#3 and staff#5 plus its auto atack are VERY nice. But in video you wont see him using staff#2 and staff#4 at elast once during all video.

What are you feelings about those staff skills? for 1v1 and group gameplay;

I feel like most Staff skills are just astral bar fillers. The only really useful ability is #3.

1. #4 takes too long to execute and is easily dodged. Even by allies.
2. #2 makes too little difference than just keep the autoattacks. I use it only when I need to fill CAF and allies are standing on the other side of the target. No use in PvP whatsoever.
3. #5 could be nice … But those ticklish heals that go for 200 are for a good laugh. Other classes has reflects that shoot you for whole 100% damage (so DH’s burst for 6K will be reflected too. Ranger will probably heal you for 200 damage for the same ability assuming you’ll stay AFK without moving for 2 seconds till the water drop flies to you.)

It is a nice weapon to use but has QoL flaws.

Current 2 meta builds + 1 optimal build for raids or babysitting higher fractals:

Power: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsXVnMqA1sitqAOrAEtiFGBD+pWVzqOfugVMgpA8tCAl48UA-TJRBwAAOFAkLD84JAcd/BA

Viper: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJA3fnMqA1sitqAOrAUtgFGBjpA8tCAwP1qaWtJCUrSalMlzA-TJhAABA8AAgZ/BoPIA5XGAA

Optimal support build: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTn0rC1sitqAOrAEtgFDBjJAsuaAwb1waZ1Z11s6Bl8hzA-TZRBABAcIA0/CAIWZgs2f4hnAAA
(toughness shall never be above your tank’s so make adjustments of swapping necessary parts of Cleric into Zealot or Magi. Zealot is too expansive so Magi should do. In this build you focus on keeping people alive in case they haven’t mastered the content, Once you play with people who can dodge all deadly attacks this build is not needed)

For Vale guardian in raid – swap glyph of empowerment for Tides.
These are mathematically the highest scoring builds at this moment.

When I saw the headline I formerly thought someone bumped my former poison master thread.

I have been formerly thinking about a build using that particular trait and I brought it to a good effect. This is a nice variation of it, though.
Unlike my build this has much better roaming potential. Less damage but the trade-off is well worth it.

Unfortunately, as I’ve been playing around with Rune of the Thorns before, I have to say I wasn’t persuaded about the choice at all. You might as well be better of with rune of the Nightmare. Also, have you tried this build with Sage Amulet? I’m not sure how much healing scales with so few damage mitigation mechanics but it’s worth a thought.

Depends on “how” you want to replace SoS.

Guard indeed blows the pet in a teamfight. In seconds. So if you want to replace SoS with guard you’ll need a bear for that.
Protect Me can be a way to mitigate damage, is a stunbreak … But most importantly it’s a utility made to slap back.

Overall I had much more success with Guard as a form of damage mitigation than Protect Me. Especially because it stacks with protection. So if you already run NM protective ward or such – you’ll get an incredible damage soak for the duration.

I had a build that made me a diamond skin ele to direct damage for 6 seconds with guard (can be a replacement for SoS). People found it lacking in might even though it had access to 25 might as other builds but… Dunno, maybe if you specify what you are looking for I’ll be able to help you.

Just as Mouse said.

To add a few info:
1. By damaging charging only – it takes long. Roughly 60 seconds if there’s 1 target hit
If 3 allies stand in line between you and the target, the CAF bar is filled in roughly 8 seconds.
If 5 players are being healed by Regeneration from you – CAF bar is filled in roughly 14 seconds
2. Yes, but it has the same “global cooldown” as Engie tools – so you have to wait 1 second before leaving
3/4 Nope, no cooldown. The gate and CD is CAF itself.

Waveguider.6271:

Tragic Positive.9356:

I find it extremely vulnerable to condis.
And it lacks stun-breakers.

And that’s pretty much it. It has everything else.
It would be really appreciated if you post a build when you throw it in here. No one wants to wait for 9 minutes to hope you’ll tell him what he’s searching for, especially when you are just reading the description of the abilities that people can read themselves at the build link.

It’s pretty similar to my Mender build I posted. With better burst, extremely huge overcap of swiftness and regen, worse sustain and a can be hard-countered by condis.

When you get condi bombed you can go into Astral, drop #2 and #3 then isntantly go out. It does lack stunbreaks but has nice stab uptime and stunbreak/stability in Astral form too. The mobility, burst and ability to sustain nearly all power burst classes in the meta makes it a good pick for the team aside from Search and Rescue, with that skill you are the new Rezmer and no one can really stomp downs if you position yourself correctly.

I found it somehow fine with the condi clear as long as you try to stay in CAF as long as possible and with the simple swap of rune to Soldier like mentioned.
It was a nice thing to play this bursty version of the build. I enjoyed it. +1

I might be wrong but the only PvE build that makes sense to bring without druid is Viper Ranger:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJA3PjUqQ7K2sCUtYoQo+EIaDAeAK9Ho/gh9qLZKnB-TJhAABAcQAyvMAM7PA9DAAA

It’s a trade of AoE support for personal damage. The trade may be worth in some situations, especially if your party isn’t made of Zerkers/Vipers.

Druid is a DPS boost to core ranger thanks to Glyphs and GotL.
But maybe the Remorseless GS build with MM/SK/BM could handle without a druid traitline. I never found it worth, though.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsXRnUqAlsgVsAuCCctgh9giH4AeE+44Ie692DgEoEnHG-TpAVQAg9HqlBAA

The 2nd build is a beast-master. I hope you’ll like it.

@Dragonzhunter
I’m not asking for respect. There’s plenty of people who come to me daily and ask for my opinion, feedback, suggestions, heck… most of them just come to say hello and share their love for ranger at this point as an appreciation for what I showed them already.
It’s my own free will to share the knowledge at places where it lacks whether anybody asked for it or not. But we are human beings capable of deals. If you tell me you don’t want to get better or improve your build – I won’t suggest a thing and will leave this thread without a word.
(P.S. nobody will believe your bullheaded attitude that with the same healing traits you heal for more with less healing power. For the sake of your own good – bring Maths to what you do or don’t stick to it if someone proves you wrong with facts)

Prophet.1584:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Healer druid is more than welcome in higher fractals run for achievments.

Everyday dailies and speeds will do without heals (druid actually is one of the best DPS boosts for the party).
But having a healing druid in lvl 93 fractal and not is day and night difference.

Tragic, what are you running in 80+ fractals, condi or power druid? anet said they changed t he toughness scaling in those high fractals so they mobs aren’t such dps sponges but i’m not sure if i should stick with my power ranger once i get that high. I’ve been thinking of gearing a necro for 80+ if condi is the way to go.

It’s hard to say, actually.
For pugging, Condi is definitely better in DPS. If you are organized and have constant 25 might, banners and everything – I’d say Zerk still beats it thank to it’s “safe” pattern. You don’t have to worry that QuickDraw bug will postpone your rotation by 20 seconds in condi builds where Zerk still deals almost it’s finest on sword attacks regardless.

The damage difference really isn’t that high.
Condi is the peak of DPS but has restrictions of movement and you can’t really do the magic in pugs because spotter competes with Hidden Barbs and Trapper’s Expertise competes with Sharpened Edges and might from Axe is wasted regardless.

If the encounter is immobile like Bloomhunger – condi is better for sure regardless of situation; buffed or not.
If you intend to play other fractals as well, Zerk would be as good as condi.

Dragonzhunter.8506:

you realise that with my build I’ll do more damage (power and condi also) then yours? :http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7kQFoXQskFwlFgrFskJYNJrAwBw5wt4acwz0c6QtkjdG-TJBFwAAeCACOIAx2fo9FAAA

Both me and my pets do more damage then you and your pets and still I have more healing, much more healing? your build is better when it’s about crit chance … so I don’t know why you argue so much.
Ofc I accept criticism, but when it’s come from person with good reason and when that person understand when I’m saying that you can change some traits depending on enemies setup. We play sPVP , 5 vs 5 and this means team sinergy, cooperation.

…

Not really because my pets will constantly be 25 mighted unlike yours. Your build deals more damage against a target gollem, not in PvP where people simply walk out of bonfire (that bonfire deals 7K damage if the enemy stands AFK in it for 9 seconds without cleanse or keyboard and you managed to stack 25 might beforehand – thief can kill a target from 100-0 in 4 seconds if given the chance). Unlike you I have sigils that always have been doing 30% of ranger’s power spikes and are 10 times harder to be countered.

and you have “much more healing” with 560 healing power while my build has 1050 (???).
Right over here is the time when I know is the right time to stop.
You still have no idea why running ferocity without crit chance is wrong, you can’t compare obvious stats like healing power, you can’t even compare the DPS… Or maybe it’s just that you don’t want to.

You are misunderstanding a thing from the very beginning. I am not arguing. I’m correcting you. There’s a difference.
Good Luck in PvP, too.

Dragonzhunter.8506:

I will not argue with you, because seems you know only one thing … and if you are not open to something else, then it is no point. Do you want me to put another link with changes that I’ve already written above?! This will satisfy you ?
Bunker build with maximum condi cleaner : http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsfWnUqAFsiVsC2CCctglOB7pFk4WYwv0Z6O1JwFAKclMtzA-TZRHABE8EAA4EAgdZgBOEAjs/AA . I want to remember you that all condi cleaner have 16,20,24 sec CD instead of yours 20,32 and 248sec … Also you know that “Guard” don’t give anymore 12 sec of Protection!

If you read that I already tried so many builds – you’d have realized I probably am open to stuff.
Are you open to criticism, though?

You are still using Power + Ferocity for Torch build without a single piece of precision…
Guard never gave you 12sec of protection. It gave it to the pet. You know that, right? … Right?

And the bunker build with maximum condi cleaner still doesn’t have Druidic Clarity, neither 3 glyphs you proposed nor healing spring you never thought of using.
You want a bunker build? This is how it looks like. http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAnYWnMqAVsilsC+CCEtiFGBzJ0NCOdwN1qaXlpA8tCAn4cRHB-TJxHwAn2fAZZABPBAAnCAA
You know, your build wouldn’t have to be so bad if you knew what do you want from it. In it’s current state it isn’t even bunker, it doesn’t have enough damage and doesn’t bring anything specific that other more versatile or useful builds bring regardless in addition to their core idea.
If I compare the bunker build to yours – I traded stability (that I don’t really need) and swiftness for immortality (yes, it can hold it’s own against 2 players for like eternity and can still send that thief with 20% HP away with mighted bristle or Drake F2 while doing so).

You have been avoiding an explanation of the Amulet with your build for a long while and I believe it’s pretty clear the reason is that “you don’t know”. Why bash away the feedback, then?
If I leave the build and lie to you about how amazing it is when there’s plenty to improve, will that satisfy you?

OGDeadHead.8326:

Hm, isnt there already a way to bind a key to this?

I’m positive there is.

Dragonzhunter.8506:

You can try it and then come with your opinion. I’ve tried many DPS builds on Ranger/Druid, and this one give me the higher survivability. May be this build it’s suit for my style of playing … About condi clear, I told you if I see in opoosite team condi pressure class I can use 3 glyphs, Druidic Clarity and don’t forget that pet take 3 conditions at every 10 sec. With this build (defensive one) I have more condi clear then your build or any druid meta build. At this moment on meta are only 2 builds and both are based on Power … In my opinion Druid/Ranger should use his higher healing ability and his defensive skills then being DPS dealer. There are other classes who suits better in offensive mode. Druid and Engineer (both with bunker builds) won against others classes atm.

By now I’ve already tried over 25 builds (and I came out of ideas).
And I’d like yo to explain how does your build have more condi cleanse than the Mender build I made (6+5 on demand cleanse, Druidic Clarity = 13; your build has 2+2 that make you immobile and 0-3 every 10 seconds that is random).
Because that build not only does much more healing and has the same mobility but has much better defensive skills. The only thing it doesn’t have is S&R which is compensated with safe stealth-ress on exiting CAF.

But let me ask you a question:
“heal and def instead of being a DPS healer”
What meaning does this sentence carry if I can be better healer (more healing power), have better defenses and still deal damage while doing that? How can your build with stats all over the place compete with that? It’s just like playing a Berserker Shortbow build. Fine for hotjoin but far from being competitive.
If you ever wanted to be a bunker – you’d have gone for Cleric without wasting 1 whole stat. And yes, that build is incredibly strong. Not your, though.

Also, your explanation on condi clear is the same thing I hate about metabattle:
“This is the meta build but you can change 2 traitlines, 2 sigils, 1 weapon, a pet, 4 pieces of armor, 3 runes, haircut and your mobile phone if you need it”.
If the build you propose doesn’t already have an answer to most situations you’ll be facing (chain CC/condi bombs/burst/mobility) and you have to sacrifice something of it in order to fill the gap – creating the gap at another place – the build lacks.

The problem is that your build doesn’t bring enough stuff in comparison to how many weaknesses it has. Can you win with it? Sure. Just like I was able to win a few games with PvE traits after I was testing the DPS on gollem. It doesn’t mean that PvE traits became the right choice.

I find it extremely vulnerable to condis.
And it lacks stun-breakers.

And that’s pretty much it. It has everything else.
It would be really appreciated if you post a build when you throw it in here. No one wants to wait for 9 minutes to hope you’ll tell him what he’s searching for, especially when you are just reading the description of the abilities that people can read themselves at the build link.

It’s pretty similar to my Mender build I posted. With better burst, extremely huge overcap of swiftness and regen, worse sustain and a can be hard-countered by condis.

Dragonzhunter.8506:

I have 2 condi clear and if in oposit team are more condi player I can use the 3d glyph. Also I can change Primal Echoes with Druidic Clarity. Like I said first one is offensive but still with survability and second is for defence and survability. My builds are trying to be close to the one with celestial and durability. With this 2 builds I stil can handle vs 2 enemies enough time till an ally come for help. With both of the build in 1 vs 1 usual I don’t have problems. The real damge of druid it is in his pets. This builds are bunker builds even not so powerfull like celestial was.

That’s the problem. The damage comes from pets that you do not keep mighted.
“2 condi clear” against necro or revenant that will blow your head with 10 instantly and let you die waiting is not enough. Not in current meta.

If you really think about having the former celestial wannabe – get yourself a sage or cleric amulet. You won’t be wasting 1 whole stat and 1 whole weapon.

In current meta it’s either kill or be killed. Or be invincible enough in order not to die.
For burst – Remorseless Crusader is far more powerful
For survival – Mender build I made not only deals more damage but survives for longer.
For bunkering – Cleric is a straight answer.
For Pet Damage – Axe in main hand is the answer.

By saying you have no problems against anyone with this build can only mean 2 things. Either your opponents suck or you are a good player. It has nothing to do with the build that clearly lacks a lot.

Plenty of “wrong” here.

You are using crusader stats with a condition based weapon and zero precision.
You do not have enough condi clear (neither use Druidic Clarity).

Also, with no burst weapon on your own, you’d better be off with Axe/Dagger for might stacking with NM/BM on your 1st build. The 2nd well … It doesn’t really have damage with your setup.

Healer druid is more than welcome in higher fractals run for achievments.

Everyday dailies and speeds will do without heals (druid actually is one of the best DPS boosts for the party).
But having a healing druid in lvl 93 fractal and not is day and night difference.

Eval.2371:

Tragic, I get this is your build and your opinion an I respect that… but this build looks terribly disjointed. It is low in damage. All it really has is damage reduction modifiers, stun breaks and regen which frankly I don’t think thats enough with how bursty the current meta is.

I still think that crusader gs/staff, zerker lb/gs and the BM NM druid from last season are superior than this. That said use what ever you feel works for you. I’ll believe it when I see it.

I’m actually thankful to all the feedback, good and bad. Truthfully, I’m more glad to hear negative feedback because it means there’s still room for me to improve my build.

Prophet.1584:

i’ve played something similar and like it, it can be very strong in 1v1 and druid gives good support in team fights. i’ll usually take GoL to provide buffs to my team in teamfights or my pet and self in 1v1s. Why not entangle over SotP? it would give you another condi cleanse and immob. also wolf > wyvern? Lightning Assault is pretty telegraphed as well but i guess so is the wolf.

I decided for SotP because of Stability. It also allows me to go offensive without having to worry I’ll die (might). Personal preference. I felt like I need no more cleanse.
Wolf was my very 1st pet choice I went with with this build. I just came to love the safe-stomp very much. But unlike Wolf, Wyvern’s F2 is instant and affects downed targets. Both are solid choices but for different use.

Most Dangerous Game
If you drop below health threshold you reflect 66% damage taken back to the enemy (conditions do not count).
Health Threshold: 35%

Predator’s Instinct
If you hit an enemy below 50% HP, you gain 2 seconds of Super Speed and apply 3 seconds of Cripple.
15 sec cooldown

Exciton.8942:

For reall? Getting blind every 12 seconds makes it a very strong trait. I have been using this all the time.

Today when I was dueling my friend on reaper, he kept complaining getting a lot of blinds.

Those come from Verdant Etching as well. And more of them per measure of time.
The design of the trait is not bad. The numbers are.
I’d be fine if the trait had CD of 12 seconds. But I want it heal for more. The amount is really low.

Schmir Noff.7953:

Tragic, Why you choose ancient seeds in stead of LLight?

Mostly the synergy with Wyvern. It technically forces the player to blow 1 cleanse ability that each player is limited with.
(edit: a few players asked me directly and it made me realize that I didn’t mention most important use of this trait – CAF #3 > CAF #5 quickness nuke – that I felt was obvious since I mentioned it in thread)
Lingering Light might be a good alternative if you tend to be more of a teamfight support player.

Ehecatl.9172:

The wyvern surprised me. Why did you go with that over the smokescale?

People of my divisions have learned how to avoid burst from Bristle and SmokeScale a long time ago. Not to mention that I have enough pressure from weapons as it is.

And if I was to choose between smokescale (that gets dodged anyways) and a safe-stomp, I chose the other. Personal preference, though. I prefer to be useful even in teamfights (where SmokeScale sucks rock hard).

People constantly think about all those 25 might stacking on ranger … And yet no one can bring it to the full effect in current meta. Rangers have zero burst from themselves, our condi is unreliable (bonfire is immobile) and brings lack of defenses, and the only difference is mighted pet that… gets countered by experienced players anyway.

Celestial is gone – is what the moral of the story of might-stacking is.
I suppose none of you have tried the build yet.

@Lugh
If you break the theory down you’ll see that I have everything you are telling me I’d have with BM tree.
On demand Quickness? Check
High Protection uptime (higher than with WHaO after every dodge roll)? Check
Burst Astral Bar filler with regen (and bonus blast heal)? Check

No might stacking capabilities? I have them on exactly the same cooldown as your build. There’s literally no might stacking outside of SotP either (you need Axe for that).
Moreover, with Guard I get almost 25 might instantly and thanks to NM my pet does as well. (edit – it’s more than on your build)
As I’m reading it – you might just have not realized what actually has the synergy with what. Everything you said I don’t have – I do.

@Lugh
I’ve been thinking about BM for a while and … I realized that in the whole traitline… There’s only 1 trait I need and that would be Resounding Timbre. Since I use only 2 shouts and I have the way to go around Swiftness and regen – I realized NM is the most useful traitline for that matter.
No other line offered me swiftness, regen, fury, Defense and panic Quickness. There’s something useful in every tier unlike BM. Because let’s be frank … Which boons apart from might are you going to share with your pet? That’s right. And heavy might comes only from SotP that I can do exactly the same way. Bristle’s F2 into SotP and my warhorn results in both me and pet with 25 might. The same magic trick.

With this combination there’s defensive playstyle, retreat, offensive game-style, and no clear weakness (neither condi nor burst thanks to Bark Skin + Protective Ward).

There’s one thing that people misunderstand. It’s not BM that brings the damage. It’s NM that gives pet might.

Hey everybody.

So far this looks like the most powerful build in the current meta from what I tested.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBmYD7kQFoXQskFwlFgrFskJYNJrAwBw5wt4acwz0c6QtkjdG-TJBFwAAeCACOIAx2fo9FAAA
Amulet in use: Mender (currently unavailable at given page)

Pros:

• Fast Roaming
• Very useful support of burst healing, Safe Stomps or Stealth-Ress
• Very high Sustain, lots of cleanse and Power DMG mitigation
• Access to disengage

Cons:
<Not sure what to write here… If 4 people nuke you down you run out of HP, I guess?>

This build is a synergy of having close to no weaknesses and having a lot of strengths. For both skirmishing and teamfight uses.
Since Ranger cannot survive for long in the center of teamfight – this build offers that Quickness-buffed burst heals / CAF #5 nuke with still remaining few seconds of super speed to get the hell out of there.

tl;dr
I believe this template has the potential to become one of the the new meta builds for Ranger. Please, leave your feedback. Any is appreciated.

Balance developers have no idea anyways.
After the latest balance patch? Nope, there’s no way.

Hands down, Verdant Etching is more useful than our current GM. And you actually have control over that trait.

Hello everybody.

Since my hardware is limited and I can’t use the DPS calculator that screens all numbers and divides it by time passed due to excessive FPS drop objectively, could I ask anyone for this piece of knowledge?

I need to know how much DPS are rangers capable of as a DPS asset (Berserker or Viper) with pet included – the objective DPS of all buffs, modifiers and boosts available.

Or in case anybody knows the armor values of VG/Gorse/Sebetha for me to run an equation, I’d be extremely thankful.
Thanks to anyone who can give me a helping hand.

FriendlyInvader.3126:

Thanks.

You’re welcome, anytime.

Oh, also, keep in mind that any target is a subject for this trigger. Your allies and your pet and other people’s minions included.

Sadly, since it’s still bugged (I believe), it won’t activate when the field appears when all targets inside of it are at full HP and drop on HP afterwards. They will have to leave the circle and re-enter it to activate the trigger and proc the field.

It doesn’t activate when you are at full HP.
You have to be below in order to activate the field.
Or enter it when below full HP.

Miles Smiles.8951:

yeah, but there are lots of even worse passive afk stuff in this game, why then you’ve been picking on this one petty trait? making it dynamic to the proportion of endurance you currently have (“damage per endurance” idea you have supported) won’t make it less passive.

It will, however, make it more competitive.
You can’t create a game where everything is active. You do need passive or semi-passive traits. And making this trait a mini-game of endurance management rather than 1-0 switch sounds like a good change. Especially when you are stuck at 0 for much more than not.

Most importantly it’s not fair that our class is discriminated in comparison to any other class with +10% modifier. In both efficiency and uptime.
We are the class with the least effect while also being the class with the lowest scaling in the entire game.

Other traits with horrible design have been discussed and explained countless of times. This one, however, was not.

Miles Smiles.8951:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Miles Smiles.8951:

Seems like that trait just doesn’t suit your playstyle or smth. I’ve been using it with my old pre-hot power ranger build and I was quite ok with its unreliable uptime (30-40-ish%, I guess) cause I thought it still was a good modifier; and it also synergized pretty well with WS minor adept trait “Natural Vigor” and good vigor boon uptime through LR…

The only thing it seems for this trait to be is that it’s inferior to the very same kind of modifiers of other classes.

And that’s all there is to it.

Warrior’s one is the one with good Synergy. They even use dodge roll in their DPS rotation because their dodge was made to deal damage and actually results in DPS increase.
Our trait has no synergy with stuff, tbh. Compare the glorious synergy with Light on Your Feet, please. I’ll wait for your argument.

I don’t really want to argue, I just expressed my opinion that this trait is quite alright. It suits ranged playstyle of lb ranger pretty well, while both warrior’s traits suit his melee playstyle more. May be “Steady Focus” should affect pets too, which would be in line with the overall ranger profession theme, but I’m really hesitant to suggest that with all the recent bristleback “hype”.

No one really uses that traitline for damage in PvP.
And your opinion says exactly what is wrong with the trait.

It promotes AFK bearbow playstyle. And that’s a wrong thing to have.
It doesn’t offer almost anything to correct game-play (which includes melee combat on weapon swap, too).

This game should be balanced around competitive environment and this trait is one of those which do not meet the expectations. It’s user-unfriendly.
I’m aware it does the trick at AFK LB “pewpew” builds – but those builds have nothing in common with competitive PvE or PvP at all.

Sultane.9150:

Tragic Positive.9356:

Core Ranger is inferior to druid even when it comes to damage.

I often play the role of DPS booster and not the healer. But sacrificing the option of AoE +15% for … I don’t even know which traitline is not favorable.

You don’t have to heal just because you picked Druid Traitline. The DPS boost of Druid is roughly 38,5% for your party statistically. All in unique modifiers and effects unlike might or fury.

There’s no reason why not to pick druid. For offensive of defensive support.

Can you post a link to/similar to your dps build?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAT8XnMqA1siNrAuqAEtil9ADOueX3rMngA2IYpJEAGdl48wA-TJRBwAPeCAAuIAP3fgcZAA

This is pretty much it.
Some adjustments can be made like swapping Enlargement for Clarion Bond or Tiger for Lynx. Those depend on your taste and composition.
The trick is that with Healing Spring alone you get basically access to CAF on cooldown without using staff at all.

So you go by your standard rotation from LB #2#5> Swap > PoS > CAF #4 > Leave CAF > PoS > …
As long as Quick Draw is bugged you’ll have to endure and try to use it immediately after you used the proc for damaging ability already.

Miles Smiles.8951:

Seems like that trait just doesn’t suit your playstyle or smth. I’ve been using it with my old pre-hot power ranger build and I was quite ok with its unreliable uptime (30-40-ish%, I guess) cause I thought it still was a good modifier; and it also synergized pretty well with WS minor adept trait “Natural Vigor” and good vigor boon uptime through LR…

The only thing it seems for this trait to be is that it’s inferior to the very same kind of modifiers of other classes.

And that’s all there is to it.

Warrior’s one is the one with good Synergy. They even use dodge roll in their DPS rotation because their dodge was made to deal damage and actually results in DPS increase.
Our trait has no synergy with stuff, tbh. Compare the glorious synergy with Light on Your Feet, please. I’ll wait for your argument.

Siwo Sowa.6982:

Well this would change CD for traits and sigils from 9s to 7.2s, nothing game-changing about it. I think this should be easy to implement.

(You might be misunderstanding the problem.
The Weapon Swap cooldown is at 10 seconds. Traits that proc from swaps are at 9 seconds to avoid fail in case delay plays the role that would prevent it from happening on every swap. Traits are not affected by the sigil.

With this sigil you can get a cooldown of 8 second on your weapon swap – failing to proc traits if you cast swap on cooldown.)

Whether this is the way they want it – we don’t know. They might just have forgotten about the sigil and they let it be that way. It would be a nice QoL change to allow more diversity but as I said – I don’t think many of us would use it.
Edit: I’ve reread the message, realized I posted a nice nonsense as a reply. Please bear with me, I’m being ill.

Miles Smiles.8951:

Dojo.1867:

The current implementation even tells people “dont dodge” which is kind of horrible.

Well, I think you can read it in a different way: “Don’t waste your dodges; position yourself better”.

In PvP it says:
Stay at spawn point and never leave it

In PvE it says:
Camp the most overrated weapon we currently have and never attend raids.

“Don’t waste dodge when you clearly need to” is a horrible counter-statement. There isn’t a single environment in GW2 where dodge rolls are not needed.

Most of the swap traits are on 9 sec CD to avoid delay-failing.
Staff is at 8 seconds if I’m correct. Not 100% sure about it though. Too lazy to check now.

Having them synergize with the rune and having all of them on 8 seconds would be a nice improvement.
I still wouldn’t use it or utilize around but well. I don’t see where’s the harm in this change so, why not?

Varezenem.2813:

foste.3098:

There is one issue with the build, it has no stun breakers. Protect me only breaks allies out of stun not the player who cast it, that said you do have good access to stability but none of it is instant cast which can be a pain vs classes such as thief and mesmer who have instant cast cc.

But other than that i love how the build looks and the way traits and skill synergise, and it does not run the druid line!! I adore builds that forgo the elite spec in order to take traits that better synergise.

I’m fairly sure protect me stunbreaks the user too.

I can confirm it does.
Guard doesn’t but it isn’t even supposed to. As an instant cast it can be used while stunned, though.