Guild Wars 2

Alright, another night of testing in the books…and this one was a doozie!

I had changed things up a bit from the OP link and tried out Apoth Armor with Earth runes, trying to take advantage of the magnetic aura, after testing thoroughly ive deducted that it isnt the way to go.

But now i did find an amazing way to keep prot up, and gained a new trick up my sleeve!

I went back to my Original Settlers Armor ,and tried out Rune of the Grove…and WOW! what fun! the protection uptime is nice and the 50% on hit to root is amazing! (cool down is a lil long..but it is super powerful so i get it) people running stood no chance at all! hit em and BANG! root! ..if they got out id hit em with entangle and it was a short evening from there!

Im going to do some more testing with ideas but at this point i think its safe to say that the OP setup with Altruism is amazing for group based play, and im still working on a super viable armor/rune setup for solo roamers.

thanks again for reading!

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

Ahhhh, yeah i forgot to add that I pulled corruption onto a secondary weapon to add stacks then switch to my primary set. I dont die too often so really only need to toss the wep on a few times a night.

Here is a Picture of my Re-Port331 equipped Ranger. By far my favorite toon!

Id like to see this also, with some detailed testing.

i completely agree! its been made a smidge easier since we can now reliably cast pet4 abilities…but thats only if you run guard.

so yes! more blast finisher plx!

MementoMortis.4258:

You’re an idiot.

Conditions get removed by most classes and then you’re left there impotent. You may be alive but you’re not going to cap a point and you won’t be for very long when that (insert ANY class here) calls all his buddies and you go down like a KITTEN.

They ruined Rangers and as long as morons like you keep posting stuff like this, we’ll never get it fixed.

Hey, Bud…this is a wvw build. your nodes to cap are over there —-————>

and also, the updated info is on the first post of the thread..thank you narya!

Sorry Tuluum, i diddnt see your question. I believe i answered you in regards to my group synergy. and who we try to run with to optimize our effectiveness.

as far as telling people what purpose they serve in a group the name of the build does that fairly well, Regen/Support how they choose to fill that role is up to them.

My questions would be the following

- is the pets lack of ability to hit moving targets on purpose or just poor coding?
- Are F2 abilities meant to hit only the players with Helen Keller motor functions?
-Ranger Traits tend to be lack luster and single function, when all other classes have multi function traits. is there a reason for this?

for fans of the Drakes, keep this in mind, pets that open out of stealth (ie guard) open with thier pet4 ability. this allows you to choose what field you want down for that finisher.

being able to have better control of your pet is sexy time for sure!

thank you for all the kind words. one thing to note is this.

My primary Re-Port331 is the way 99% of people should be setting it up. the rest of the stuff in the thread is just me doing nightly testing to find viable changes to evolve the build.

If you run in a group or youre running a Power based Re-Port331 i would still say Altruism is the way to go. Now on the other hand for Solo Roamers and condi based Re-Port331’s These earth Runes seem to be pretty nice.

With the earth Runes and traits the uptime on protection is pretty darn good. and an additional 33% mitigation is amazing.

matter of fact this morning i fought an Engie and a thief at the same time. and the protection/magnetic aura really made the difference. The Engie dropped a field and then himself and the thief opened up with ranged attacks..and they were both downed at the same time. I then sent my drake on them with breath and T5 to seal the deal. Sexy time for sure.

And for anyone who has additional questions please feel free to guest over to darkhaven and say howdy!

and stay tuned for more testing tonight! have some neat crap up my sleeve!

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

jubskie.3152:

can you consolidate your build in the op so its easier to read without going through the whole thread?

I’ll add this to the compilation thread when you’re done.

jubskie, what do you mean exactly? what do you want me to do?

I put the build link in the OP , im guessing thats what you meant?

Ok another evening of testing in the books. and i have to say. I think ive struck gold here.
with these changes ive made. the pros and cons are.

PROS-

-Much more reliable form of protection (6 seconds)
-magnetic Aura is super awesome and gives you time to breath in tight situations
-about 150 more toughness in this configuration
-feels (tougher) overall , allowing confidence in engagements

CONS-
-reduced Boon duration leaves a gap in swiftness and regens.
-small reduction in healing power drops your HPM on your group by quite a bit.

So Im going to do some more testing with this , as id like a set in stone gear/rune set to attach to the Re-Port331.

advice and criticism as always is needed and appreciated , lets keep our community healthy!

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

Take a look at my Re-Port331 it sounds like its just what your looking for.

1) I can stand in AC’s for a long time without taking much damage
2) Burst Mitigation is amazing with evades and such
3) you can boon up and place wicked regens on the way in to lords rooms ect

give it a go i think you will like it.

Alrighty getting ready for some testing tonight, I switched out my settlers gear for Apothecary and went Rune of Earth for protection on hit and mag aura at 20%hp…i put them on apoth instead of settlers to make sure my healing doesnt drop too low..and my Toughness even with droppin the settlers is up to 2200.

im already having the feeling that this is going to be much better for condi type Re-Port331’s . ill let everyone know later tonight how the changes affected things!

dont forget, the f1 is also used to switch targets mid fight. I use f1-f3 constantly to switch targets and get better angles for Pet4’s and f2’s

taking my Re-port331 and running power instead of conditions is a viable path to go. for weps i think i would run GS + A/A in that situation.

And thanks for the praise on the thread. Ive done my best to keep an active thread in our community that is heavy on options and light on BS and drama..so id love to see it keep on cooking!

in finishing , if i was running a power build i would run all clerics, then Altruism runes for the fury, and precision charge sigil to keep the Crit Rate fairly high.

Matter of fact when im done with all my testing on the condition side of things , this is the route ill be trying next.

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

ya know, a couple weeks ago i would have written this off as a silly quip. But since then every bow based ranger ive fought has died in under 12 seconds.

I think the melee portion of rangers is fairly complete, aside from messed up traits/abilities ect.

now bow based rangers on the other hand…holy smokes do they need some help. I cant imagine any wvw ranger player even thinking about using a bow.

Although i will say ..and i could be way off base. That a majority of the games unskilled players tend to fancy the pet class/Archer as a go to because typically they are a fairly brainless way to rack up some dps. So maybe that has something to do with it too.

id be interested in seeing faux and some other rangers that are beacons in the community working with the bow and seeing how bad it really is.

(again, i could be way off base, just from game to game over the past decade its the trend ive seen)

understandable, sometimes things just dont feel comfortable for people. I know people say S/T + A/D is better than S/D +A/T but i just cant get used to it. my survivability goes down just because of my human error with the sets that way.

So i feel ya.

well, in a group roaming around you can get swiftness up to over a min..so its not that bad..and in a fight its so useful , its hard to pass up..

Well I had another full night of testing on my Build, tried lots of new things, new tatics ect a couple interesting things i learned.

1) with the offhand specialization trait, it allows you to use s3+d4+d5 to run a full circle around the target doing huge damage while evading the entire time. for the majority of the time you are behind the mob and they cant get DD abilities off. it works well in conjunction with wep swap(geo) + bonfire for a huge burst of damage/conditions and the evade is good for keeping people off of you for 3 seconds while your heal comes off CD.

2) being able to use Pet 4 ability whenever you want is SUPER NICE now. as a stealthed pet always opens with pet 4 . So now we can chain pet abilities for a series of reliable CC….sexy time.

and something that needs to be tested but i think i might be right…while you have conditions on you…if you are evading , that tick of conditions doesnt seem to hit. ( I am not 100% with this and it needs to be tested)

So all in all , i havent found too many weak spots in my build..but there are some things that im not pleased with and they are.

1) with this setup my healing went from 1350 to 1090 and i wish i could get it up a little higher, but im afraid that dropping my toughness or condi dmg wouldnt be a wise trade.

2) Lack of reliable protection boon. i have the prot on damage trait and the prot on roll trait.. but thats it. i try to keep vigor up all the time for prot rolls…but in all reality if your rolling , your evading that damage anyways..so the prot doesnt serve alot of purpose right then. So im going to keep an eye open for a more reliable application of Prot.

Anyhow. if youre running my build let me know what you think, also feel free to guest on over to darkhaven and say howdy if you wanna chat it up. my rangers name is Whoajaxx.

thanks a ton and keep the advice/criticism coming !

Jaxx Of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

ive been getting the pet is not in range crap a ton since the patch! omg its driving me insane….

Well our base for the group is a Shout/healing guardian and 2 mesmers. what this base allows is The Guardian to pop all his boons..then the mesmers Multiply them so as we charge into battle we have 25 stacks of might,stability,retal,ageis,regen,swiftness,protection. on long timers. this allows us to fight in upgraded camps and still take out more then our numbers.

Then is our usual group we have

Myself (Ranger)
Necro
Thief
engie
Ele.

So we are well rounded and can play off eachothers weakness.

Now when our primary group isnt on. its usually 1 group of

Myself (Ranger)
2 mesmer
guardian
warrior or engie (depending on whos on) and even in this single group we are able to bring a huge amount of diversity to the field.

as a team we are still learning how to synergize off eachother in regards to fields and finishers and our spiking and formation methods. We still have a ton to learn , but more often then not we end up on the North side of the Spike..which is always nice

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

Well , i spend reset Night out in a 8 man skirmish group. and took the opportunity to do some more field testing. The first thing i did after about an hour was go back to my previous wep sets. A/T + S/D i just couldnt flow with it the other way.

I also messed with the 1 trait in wilderness survival a bit. went from sword cooldown to vigor on heal, survival cooldown to the offhand training trait. and in this slot it seems they are all useful depending on the situation. But O.T was nice because it gives you your 1.25 evade (and 3.3k poison) on a 8 second pop.

I also stayed with my hydro sigils and they worked according to plan, id get everyone in a group, Entangle,Bonfire,switch weps (and ltn breath at the same time) and that really softened up the groups.

The only Hiccup in my build ( i feel) right now is Guard and how to properly use it. as of now. Im casting it on the targets and using it to pop my pet4 ability (which it does without fail) but its also useful when i cast a heal to also pop guard(with shout buffs) on top of the heal , so some more testing in that regard.

all in all, a great night. fought just about every class in every form and really learned some soft spots in the build along with some amazingly great spots. so now its time to keep taking suggestions from the community and growing as a whole!

thanks a ton!

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

This plays almost exactly like my Re-port331 . You were very fluid in your motions and if people watching the video keep an eye on targets you laced with Conds. they were dropping pretty fast.

Rangers set up in this manner are so much fun to play, i cant imagine anyone wanting to use a bow..but its all preference i ’spose

I think everyone agrees that every build is going to have issues with the facing of certain builds. with the necros ive faced im able to evade most their attacks or cleanse them with EB or HS. Also with this build i am able to apply conditions quite fast so even if they remove a couple i toss em back on. The conditions that do land on me are off set by my regen signet and my Regen (which ticks for large amounts)

In regards to HGH engies if they are good , it ends up being a long fight and i pray i get em with an entangle,bonfire,ltn breath to sway the battle.

I look forward to these fights as it allows me to find flaws in my build and adapt.

very true, with the necros. it will be interesting to see how it plays out. as of now im using Drake/Wolf or Dog/Wolf if it becomes an issue where necros/torment is too much ill switch to the pets with the immunity in their 4th slot (forget which one it is)

Also as of now, my condition removal has been acceptable…but i think as more and more necros start playing and using torment to it full ability ill need to grab the condi removal signet (ive been holding out as long as i could , as i dont really want this ability)

we have some crazy times ahead of us in regards to builds thats for sure. but as long as we work as a community im sure we can have some fun!

Heya Sol. took a look at your build posted. its very similar to what i used to run pre patch. but i never took anything in marksman.

a couple major differences i see right off the bat, is youre running dwayna runes, where i took mine off to run Alturism runes. which gives Might and Fury AoE every time i heal.

The reason im Running the traited Guard shout is a simple one. Previously i had to use the signet to increase run speed and IMO it was a wasted slot. So now as opposed to that. I have an ability that puts 15 seconds of prot on my pet (which keeps him alive for more CC fun) it also gives me a viable way to heal my group and keep swiftness on them for skirmishing.

with the healing i have the regen on my Healing spring does close to 7k over 4 seconds. add to that the Might , fury, swiftness and more regen and I am really able to control the ebb and flow of a battle .

lastly, the Guard ability allows me to control when my pets use their 4th slot ability. as it seems to be default when they are attacking out of stealth. so being able to KD at will (with dog/wolf) or being able to hit an AoE heal or Might Finisher and the Ranger has now become a viable part of any small man skirmish team.

Jaxx Of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

well good morning folks! lastnight was a blast. 7 of us put together our skirmish group and i got to try to work out a few bugs. and while im not a big fan of losing the bleeds from geo..the hydro sigils really take the wind out of players in conjunction with poison and weakness.

So i think ill be leaving the Hydros in for a bit. Another interesting tid bit. is that i changed up my wep sets to give it another go with s/t a/d im still getting used to it so ill let everyone know in a couple days

lastly, I think im going to take out my corruption sigil and put in another (end fills on kill) so i have one on each set. Without a viable way to apply prot. havin a ton of end for rolls is half an answer. I will then put my corruption on a seperate weapon that ill use to get stacks on my way in to skirmishes.

In the trait department ive been messing with H.I.P.S amongst some other centerline traits. i wasnt pleased with the hide in plain sight so i switched to sword duration and it seems to help in situations when youre in a small group busting an upgraded camp and a bunch of folks stroll in. Ive also messed with the “vigor on heal” . That in conjunction with vigor from ltn Rflx allows me to get 35 seconds of vigor…so having 100% uptime on that might be worth it.

Still lots to learn, lots to try ..So let the battle rage

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

well a few things to Reply to your thoughts on the build.

As far as guard being a PITA to use i agree. for roaming i now use a dog and a wolf. So i start off with the wolf and set guard on top of the person im fighting…it makes them open with their knock down, then i fear. while the fear is going i switch to dog and use guard on top of them again….and again it opens with a knock down followed by the 2 second immob. so i have just tied up a target for atleast 6-8 seconds of Hard CC during this time i have also laid down Entangle,bonfire,poisons,bleeds…..this method kills a large majority of people i fight.

If they are able to get out of 1 or 2 of the CC they still have 2 more from the pet plus the entangle. Between the conditions and the CC they blow all their CD’s which leaves them in a real bad place….in which case im able to finish em off with a couple axes or S1 trifectas.

It really is a rush to play. I love it!

So creating a build that allows a player to be durable and support their group is “training wheels”? I dont get it…So we all have to roll Zerker glass builds to be Epic like you?

Lets keep this thread open for people who are interested in asking questions and trying something out.

Also, for those who inquired earlier, I will be doing comparisons between Geo Sigils and chill sigils in Small man skirmish this evening. Ill try to get some video clips of it both ways so we can all discuss it.

Also, testing out different oil for my training wheels…try to work that squeek out of em!

Jaxx Of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

man…what is wrong with you…lol I never said my build was the best..i said I enjoy it..

when i first saw your post i had you tagged as an elitist with an attitude that i could possibly learn something from.. Now i have you marked as a troll. Good day sir.

well, i think it depends on what youre looking for. I knew from the get go that i diddnt want to use a bow on my ranger. so i wasnt let down by its lack of “viability”

Also what type of fighting are you doin? for large zerg stuff, i dont think it matters . its just mindless swarms following their commanders rules. Now if youre more into small man skirmish then i think you might possibly enjoy the ranger. I think they are alot of fun to play in this style of wvw and can offer a fair amount of utility from HS/Regen ect. especially if you view pets as “mobile utility” rather then “zomg Pwnzors!”

so in short, if you like small skirmish battles and dont mind the bow not being your best choice..then yes ! make one! I love mine!

it does cause a loss of target though correct?

Keysha.2815:

Paken Kai.5970:

They reduced the range of the shortbow because it shouldn’t have the same range as a longbow. They didn’t increase the range of the longbow because it’s already at the maximum range available to any profession.

Do you even know what the difference is IRL between a longbow and a shortbow? It isn’t the distance it shoots. It’s the length of the bow.

This is a nerf. and it is not good for those who liked a 1200 range condition weapon. That has been ripped from them.

The Long bow IRL was made to keep up with the advances in ancient armor. the traditional short bows were unable to penetrate plate armor and chariot rails. and the Long bow had much greater force allowing them to punch through a large variety of materials and reach even greater lengths.

IRL a long bow shoots further then a short bow. ( this is when speaking in traditional bows, not compound bows)

hehe, this reminded me of history channel….now we just need that weird alien dude to tell us UFO’s brought us the Long Bow!

i believe it breaks when you attack, so it really only serves as a target break …which can be useful in its own right.

faux or someone can correct me if im wrong.

its funny you ask this now because faux just made a topic about it. lol..small world!

The answer is this…im a creature of habit! i tried splitting my evades and setting up the fields with A/D +S/T but i just felt out of my element. Ive been using A/T + S/D so long that everything else feels funny. also, in GRIM we almost never run with the zerg, we are in 5-10 man skirmish groups and we can become out numbered fairly quickly. so having a set that I can jump into and have a ton of evades to stay safe and apply poisons/bleeds while we regain the upper hand suits my play style.

To make up for the flat footed feel of A/T i always use Ltn Reflexes for the evade and the vigor for dodges, i also have alot of end regen and end fill on kill sigils to keep me safe when im not in S/D

since the patch ive been having this strange thought in my mind…and i know for 1v1 it wouldnt serve a purpose…but in small man skirmish it would be amazing for focus firing is running S/A A/T Running the Axe off hand in a condition build is kinda dumb but i have a feeling that being able to pull a target into AoE/Focus firing might be useful. and im always willing to tinker around to find the next fancy thing. Also the pull acting as an interrupt isnt a bad idea either.

heya Faux, I agree with you 100% but for some reason i cant get in the mojo with S/T + A/D it just feels strange to me. maybe i just need to give it more time.

btw. in my build im testing the damage and chill sigils rather then geo and i think i like it.

seems like youre just here to bust peoples chops bud. Im here trying to help the community with a fun viable build. as a point of reference though, your number 2. Albeit not extreme i have 1600 condi damage and a ton of Immobs which is where im able to shine.

Secondly…this game isnt about 1 on 1 fighting…its not street fighter. this build does a great job of helping allies and applying pressure in the form of CC and Conditions. with this build you are also able to remove a players ability to sustain via weakness,chill,poison which for a time is able to reduce their viability in a small man skirmish…and that makes all the difference.

if you dont care for my build , you are more then welcome to feel that way as like everyone, im here to learn also.

having said that. if you care to criticize in a positive manner im interested in hearing it. otherwise…quit clogging my thread so others can take a peek.

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

I’ve been destroying every person ive faced,I apply conditions too fast to keep them cleansed and I have heal interrupts on deck. This build has very few weak points to it.

Matter of fact I fought a dd Ele lastnight. And while the fight lasted a while. An interrupted heal followed by a knockdown was all it took to quickly swing things in my favor.

No I’m not worried about them seeing my build and nerfing the class…it seems that only happens when a build is doing good in spvp .

I’ve made some changes for sigals I got rid of my 2 geomancy on swaps and traded em out for the damage and chill ones. And I see a big change! In conjunctions with my poison and weakness the chill really debuffs the target nicely. With the perfect combo of reduced healing,longer cast times,glancing blows and the slowed movement speed. It is most definitely better then just the bleeds.

This build is really turning into something special.

Also I’ve been messing around with fauxs pounce from guard stealth with the wolves and it is sexy time! I’ve been beating up on these silly thieves! Anyhow stay tuned for more testing on my RePort331

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

working on some stuff i think people are going to like. give me till tonight for testing and misc kitten kicking and ill post it up!

S/D + A/T …is the Might on swap Aoe by chance? lol

I understand your frustration. first off ( im not sure why im even addressing this lol) the Bait and switch legality is more about getting what was packaged. if they said hey you!..yeah you over there…here is a Epic MMO..and you got it home and it was pong..thats bait and switch. On the box it says that play experience will change frequently.

now moving on lol. I feel you on the Bow section of the ranger…it could really use some work..i have been singling out every bow ranger i can find since the patch and im able to kill them in under 12 seconds without fail. Im not sure what would help though. I mean…i think from the melee perspective …rangers are pretty kitten decent. sure we need more trait change and skill fixes..but overall its not bad.

The Bows….not so much lol…i really think the devs planned on people to use bows at range then switch to melee when folks got close…and thats why they arent as well rounded as they should be.

jaxx

salutations fellow rangers! while out rackin’ stacks this morning on some raptors something occurred to me , I have so much bleed application that having it on both my swap sets might not be as good as diversifying a little bit.

how is the poison on swap? worth a crap?

maybe faux or someone can tell me , with roughly 1600 condi dmg how much DPS (BPS..whatever lol) id be losing.

also, im working on some really interesting stuff on my Re-Port331 so keep an eye on that thread!

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

haha i was playing with protection lastnight tryin to find a viable way to apply it…but i cant imagine losing my regen signet for the spirit…and here is something else to think about.

now that guard is on your 7.8.9 with a long cast…if you add a second long cast ability like spirit you are really bogging down your rotation times.

I was thinkin about using the protection Moa to see how that works..plus it has a huge heal on it…but then i lose my blast finisher from my drake.

these are exciting times!

Jaxx of GRIM
-Darkhaven-

im not certain how i feel about your point distribution, the 10 up top and 20 in bm i think ( atleast after the patch) is not well spent.

and something that caught my eye. you dont want stat adding sigils on both sets of weps..its a waste of a spot to add ( fill endurance on kill) or something similar. Just put the stat builder on your axe set..you can rack up your 25 stacks in a couple min with the A1 bounce.

i dont think reciting eminem is going to get the devs attention…lol

yeah 30 in BM for a shout build would be sub-optimum at this point. The difference in damage from 10 in bm and 30 for pets isnt much. and the traits (besides the GM regen) arent too super.

i dont know what weps and armor your running. But check out Faux’s BTR or my Re-Port331 build. both are really awesome. and if your a bow kinda person..im sure there is something decent out there.

Jaxx.

lol..no thank you on the Dungeon. this toon is wvw only… although some of those pve only runes are pretty cool..ill have to check em out.

hahah yeah! ive been doin the same thing! you can also use it to place your pet in front of a runner..because the speed they use to get to the guard point is way crazy.

heya Faux. have you had the new condi put on you yet? how are you removing it?