You can try something like this if you’re into power builds for wvw. Its a mix of decent survivability and decent damage. I’ll let someone else suggest something for dungeons, as I don’t run them.
If pets won’t reach the potential they were meant to be in the near future, how about considering more traits that revolve around our pets dying/taking damage? It would help out those that don’t want a pet, and we would receive some positives for having a class mechanic that doesn’t work all the time. I don’t mean a whole trait line, but if our pets get quickness when we get downed, maybe we could get mor stuff out of our pets dying. 1-2 more traits would make it soooo much better. For example how about making heal as one a signet. Passive would be to heal every time our pet takes damage (similar to thief heal signet).
If you’re comfortable with Fire sigils doing AoE damage your setup sounds good. From what I heared Scholar runes are the way to go for max damage. If you don’t have enough precision you can use sigils of accuracy (I do on my soldier/knight ranger).
Its interesting. In the live stream they mention that they promote active play, and than we get reduced endurance regen, and more damage reduction on passive. I just hope the next generation of sPvP bunker rangers won’t generate more QQ resulting in future nerfs.
Anyone running valkyrie builds surely looking forward to 7% vitality to power (especially if its not 3%) though. Enlargement with signet mastery looks better to me than two-handed training. Nice changes as an early christmas gift.
If you’re running anything outside of BM / Spirits / Traps you’re not going to provide a challenge at all against a player who’s good with his class, …
This is what I meant by not being pigeonholed. Even on BM builds there is a variety. Then there are bleeder builds, I ran a pvt/knight setup succesfully, there is glass cannon, which can also be useful in the right hands. Being pigeonholed would mean that everyone would run the same kitten utility skills. Which they do not.
The ranger class might be the most pidgeonholed class in the game at the moment and it’s very sad that players keep coming up here and talking about how they killed some horrid kitten warrior and then claim that wariors are ‘still easy’.
The OP is speaking about wvw where I feel rangers do have options available, so they are not pigeonholed that much. Also he didn’t claim they are easy, he claimed that the number of baddies has gone up.
Unless you get martial mastery and get sword/warhorn, greatsword with lightning reflexes and hidden pistol (if you are a charr) I just don’t see it beating my s/wh, lb support warrior which can stack up to 3 minutes of swiftness. And out of combat can swap LB for GS for extra mobility. A ranger will need significant investments to beat that. I just don’t see other people calling ranger one of the most mobile classes.
I think this hugely depends on the warrior build as well. Unless they run hammer or mace, I don’t see them causing a problem to a condi ranger. Sword dagger has access to a lot of poison. They can run away of course, but so can many other professions.
I wasn’t saying I wanted a build ‘better’ than the mesmer build, I just wanted something where I could feel useful in wvw lol
A full rabid condi ranger with 2 traps and entangle and river drake can clear a camp pretty quick (unless its fully upgraded). It’s not the best roaming build because its not very survivable, but it has good condi damage. You can melt yaks with 1900+ condition damage pretty quick as well. It works against most people 1 on 1 as well just because you have so much access to conditions they cannot clear it all. I didn’t play mesmer so I don’t know your build, but I do enjoy my condi ranger a lot. If by being useful you mean slapping yaks, capping camps you can do that pretty good on a ranger. And with 1900 condition damage you can get some nice bleeds on people with AC mastery as well. I love that “oh kitten” moment when they realize that they bleed for 140+ a tick, and then they scatter like kittenroaches.
Edit: Here’s the build I run. I gotta double check my weapons because I’m just below 2k condition damage with corruption stacks.
What’s your experience with Geomancy in wvw? I did use Geomancy for a while but it bugged out sometime and didn’t proc at all. I had no on crit sigils at the time, so it wasn’t that.
One problem people have with the sigil is they use two different on-swap sigils, and they don’t work at the same time. You’ll only get the proc from one of them.
Well I haven’t thought of that. My torch had Sigil of impact, which is a permanent type, not sure what I hade in my dagger though. It’s been a long time.
The only change you’ll notice is your character moving slower if anything due to the size increase which is compensated by slowing down the movement anymations.
What’s your experience with Geomancy in wvw? I did use Geomancy for a while but it bugged out sometime and didn’t proc at all. I had no on crit sigils at the time, so it wasn’t that.
wow DL are truly pathetic, I just had a group chase me from Stargrove to north camp to Dawn’s for 50 something wxp, best 5 minutes you guys spent this evening I guess. And of course I got laughed at for being smashed to death by 15+ guys. Truly pathetic. Did have a good laugh at you guys though. Oh dear. Almost as funny as people alt+f4-ing when they run into someone they cannot beat. I though germans were good.
Regardless of the current state of thief I would still like to know a nice efficient and effective thief build for wvw if anyone can point me in a direction to work towards.
If you’re new I don’t suggest you run full glass cannon. At lest try knights armor with zerker weapons and trinkets. I use sword/pistol with long reach (1500 distance steal) for the teleports with 30 in shadow arts and critical strikes. It will help if you guys don’t run the exact same build. But others will surely link some builds they run.
Next time you run into a s/t s/d regen ranger, try this. Stand in black powder, dodge axe #4, dagger #5, entangle, which should be easy. If you would run d/p you would have poison on autoattack as well. If you are a condi build and didn’t scratch his HP, stack more conditions. Only attack him and his pet next time when his troll unguent wears off, everything else is a waste of your initiative/cooldown. If you guys were 4 against one, and noone had poison/stun on them maybe change setup. This just shows that it doesn’t matter what guild you are in.
You could alternately make a ranger level it to 80 gear it up, play it for 3 months like all thieves have suggested to others.
I do read the thief forums occasionally, its almost as depressing as the ranger forums. I don’t get this fixation on what build Sanduskel runs. Is it really that important to prove that he’s suffering from the patch? Sounds pathetic. Also I think what he’s trying to say is that only bad thieves rely too much on stealth. Could have a point there, don’t you think?
So, by pointing out my belief that he has never played the thief and doesn’t know what he is talking about I am also saying that permastealth is the only way to have fun….
This is the exact reason people get trolled on thief forums.
Nonsense, I never had trouble against thieves on my ranger!
I know about sword #2 and how to use it, but in my experience without swiftness it covers roughly the same distance as a person running with swiftness. I did use greatsword when it had bleed on maul. It was nice, I could use axe/torch on my other set, both with geomancy runes. I was able to scrap all trap traits, because throwing traps wasn’t a problem anymore. I could close distance with GS #3 and drop traps below my opponent. It certainly caught many people off guard. Nice times….
I use off-hand training, the problem with dagger #5 isn’kittens range, its that it hardly even hits standing targets. Its like shooting the old longbow and getting obstructed/miss.
rangers are not that worthless. even if we are, the reason is not because we can’t catch up to theif/war/ele. as a matter we can catch up to them, you just don’t know how. it does not mean the class itself is worthless, only the player that plays the class.
The problem is catching up, for a class that should cover lots of land we certainly don’t have the best mobility in game.
Uh…hello cripples and such? Not enough time for me to list your options, figure them out.
Or default to doing what warriors in GW1 did, curse them and call them babies for not standing there and fighting.
Shortbow #4,5, only has 900 range, axe 3 only has 900 range, dagger #5, good luck landing that ever, greatsword #4 not sure on its range, but my guess would be its below 901, muddy terrain 900 range. It has become hard to stop someone trying to flee with the shortbow range nerf, although someone who wants to get away, will get away.
I agree on some points, but you realize that being able to defeat another player using a certain profession doesn’t make that profession bad, it just shows that it isn’t as OP as many people claim. I would say stealth has counters, I would also point out that it is the only “class mechanic” (yes I know technically not a thief mechanic, but they are balanced around it) that has been singled out by the dev team for a trap that removes it. If stealth counters continue to pile up, I think it is only fair if we start seeing ways to significantly disadvantage other professions as well. Ways to lock eles in one attunement, ways to prevent clone/illusion production on a mesmer, ways to stop kit use on engies, banishing ranger pets, and heck let’s bring deep wounds back, that would be a good way to counter high health professions.
Understand that I realize thieves have their initiative, and a high amount of mobility without stealth (I have mentioned before that my pvp build doesn’t use any at all and I do alright), but for a profession that wasn’t supposed to be designed around stealth….it is balanced around stealth pretty significantly, so seeing specific counters only popping up against the thief (let’s be honest how often does mesmer stealth play a significant role in combat) it makes people who play thieves feel targeted, singled out, and in turn often makes them hostile.
I think mesmer veil was the main reason for the stealth trap, and not thief stealth. I never actually saw a stealth trap go off since it was introduced, although I play on a rank 21 server. I don’t think sick’em will change anything. Also do remember that thieves shouted untill the whole idea of getting revealed on stealth ending no matter why was dismissed completely. I wouldn’t be surprised if they just scrap that idea. 2 reasons, many people play thieves, and rangers have a history of being kittened by patches, even if some people try to play a martyr quoting patchnotes to show how bad thieves have been nerfed.
Well this explains a lot I came across one of them Altf4 guys as well. Just lol. I also like how they chase you with zerg across half the borderlands for 60 something wxp. Its funny the first 3 times actually.
You’re running the wrong build maybe. I can deal with almost everyone on my full rabid trapper and flip camps as well. If you’re roaming you will come across yaks, camps with noone near them, sentries. I don’t know about you, but I don’t just walk past them.
- Stealth doesn’t have a counter yet (unless you count the wvw trap). It only has workarounds.
- Thieves =/= backstab+permastealth
- “OMG everyone can beat thieves, I play an ele without armor and have an oakheart branch equipped and still can kill them. L2P noob!” Question: if everyone can beat a thief, why are you guys still here on the forum defending the class? Why are people still playing thieves if they are that bad?
- Mitigation… I’d say that totally avoiding damage is lessening in severity or intensity. And although you take damage in stealth, it is a means of avoiding damage.
Stand in Black Powder(if standing still is an option), dodge Hundred Blades and Whirlwind Attack and you should be good. I tried shortbow, but it doesn’t work that good, unless you are with someone.
for wvw its all depends how your game play
if you running alone looking for 1vX go d/p or d/d or even p/d. and it wont change after the new patch
if you roamer with group play s/p is strong set and even s/d and again i dont think it will change
i play s/p in wvw and after practice with this set its really stronger set for group play
+1 I run s/p in wvw as well with shortbow, and its really fun. I don’t think it needs a buff at all. Some poison would be nice, but I can live with getting killed by healing signet warriors when I overcommit.
I don’t do dungeons but since 1 player can apply all the damaging conditions needed the way to go is usually power/precision. If you get more experienced you will manage to stay clear of danger, and you can go full berserker stats.
In WvW its a bit more complicated. If you wan’t to improve your chances of survival you might want to have at least 1 stun break, condition removal, some toughness and vitality. There are a few lonbow builds that you can run in wvw as well. If you just hit 80 I suggest you get some gear from the Temple karma merchants in Orr. Rabid and soldier stats are also available. Just don’t mix the two. You can check out sPvP where you can experiment with stats/builds, and it won’t cost you anything. You can try them out to see what you like. If you run around in wvw and have problem with roamers its because most people that roam have a solid build with good gear. You can improve on that, but it takes some practice as well. Don’t let those mace/shield, greatsword warriors, and thieves take away your fun. The day will come when you can roflstomp them, and it will be all the sweeter. Well not warriors as they are now, but at least some thieves.
I tried longbow on a condi build, but it didn’t feel good for me. When I was playing round with a bleeding build I ran a lynx with rending attacks, might on crit and a shortbow. If I could get shortbow 4 and lynx F2 off in a combo, with sharpening stone most people just crapped their pants right there. Was fun, but didn’t have enough defense. Maybe I’ll give that another try… and get my rabid longbow out. Nice vid.
The charr racials are not the best, although mine is a ranger. And most medium armor doesn’t look that awesome on charr. I use duelist skins, which is nice though. I can’t think of squezing hidden pistol into my utility skills. There is just no room for it IMO.
Rank has nothing to do with judging who is a top player. That is not the point. The point is that is not necessary to start an argument about who you can call top player. It is arguing for the sake of arguing.
The ranger profession is like Al Bundy in real life. The ones who like him will stick with him through thick and thin, the ones who don’t just see a pathetic loser. I’m suspecting this was intended so by ANet. You gotta have someone to look down on. Who would you feel OP compared to, right?
For justice!
