Guild Wars 2

Great change!

LughLongArm.5460:

Cant compare similar abilities/traits between 2 professions. Berserker warrior after taking fatal blow, and gain the heal, will have hard time to go back to full hp. Ranger from 3k hp can get to full hp on several builds in no time.

That 3k hp is honestly nothing though. Most won’t even realize it even triggered.

Let’s say you’re in Soulbeast and are taking a massive amount of spike damage (both physical and condi), that 3k heal and protection won’t save you at all.

If it were something like, “While in Beastmode, if you would be downed you instead negate all incoming damage for 3 seconds, fall out of Beastmode, and recover health.” It would probably be worth it.

If anyone in this thread wants an invite to Favorable Winds [Wind], an all ranger guild, in preparation for the new expansion, let me know here until I can bump the old thread or make a new one.

Best of luck!

Holosmith looks the best out of all of the revealed elite specs imo.

Levetty.1279:

With regards to people upset that Soulbeast is getting rid of the pet, I think we are going to find that the most optimal playstyle, or at least an interesting one is to jump in and out of Beast mode to trigger traits, use pet F2s and swap pets.

Agreed.

I am also somewhat annoyed by the fact that we still don’t have access to the rest of the traits for Soulbeast that some other classes have atm.

Even if Wooden Potatoes or another youtuber didn’t care about ranger, at the very least it would’ve been appreciated if they have just moused over all of the traits so we could see it and talk about it.

If Anet looks at the ranger forums at all to take ideas, they aren’t getting any about 2/3 of the traits we didn’t see.

borya.2964:

shadowpass.4236:

A 4k heal and a small amount of protection on a 90 second cooldown is definitely NOT worth a grandmaster trait. Even a warrior’s is in the master tier.

Berserk last 15 sec, you can stay in Beast Mode the time you want.

You can use your entire health bar to fight while in Beast Mode and wait for the trait to proc to use both your heal and SoS you especially saved and go again in BM 10 sec later to use Defy Pain from your bear skill (you can have two bears) etc…

Come on, don’t ask pure cancer.

I don’t understand what the duration of our Beastmode has compared to Berserk to do with justifying a massively underwhelming trait on a long cooldown.

It’s still reeeaaalllly bad no matter how you put it.

Also, who said anything about getting Defy Pain from bears?

I like it.

It should be a toggle feature for those who want it and those who don’t.

NemesiS.6749:

shadowpass.4236:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

shadowpass.4236:

mistsim.2748:

https://youtu.be/nqj-yOPEudA?t=2120

One of the GM traits literally gives you a second life if you’re in beastmode when you get downed. looks like an incredibly powerful elite spec overall. as per usual ANet antics, there will be no reason to roll with any GM other than Eternal Bond in pvp. maybe that stance sharing one in wvw.

I hope you’re kidding.

And it is NOT a “second life.” It’s a measly -not even 4k- heal on a 90 second cooldown.

It would be one of the worst grandmaster traits in the game if it stays like that.

You could use it with MDG……………………………………………..

Oh you’re right. Top it off with Predator’s Instinct and I think we’ve got a new meta build! :P

are you on drugs? Predator instinct applies when the opponent is low, not you. So doesnt work.

I was being sarcastic lol

NemesiS.6749:

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

shadowpass.4236:

NemesiS.6749:

Also if you notice, the leader of the pack GM trait its just 360 radius, that is total garbage and useless. If i remember correctly the bad thing about venom share thieves was that the venom sharing radius was 360 and people never got buffed lol. They practically need to be hugging you to get the buff, meeeh total kitten, sound good on paper but will end up been useless. Eternal Bond will probably be the most used, best of them all.

Eternal Bond is reeeeeeally crappy.

As a whole, I’d say our grandmaster traits are underwhelming to say the least. The stance sharing trait would be a lot better if they increased the radius to the size of a point in PvP and set priorty for party members and then the people closest to you.

Also, while Oppressive Superiority sounds great on paper, fighting a class with high sustain and constant damage pressure will mean it will rarely take effect. Don’t forget, we don’t have the same amount of sustain by dropping Druid in favor of Soulbeast. If it were something like “When you apply a condition, apply a random condition on the same target.” with a 1 second icd, it might be more interesting.

Leader of the Pack should be 600 radius like Tempest Auras and not half duration, that is just a complete waste.

Yup, Oppressive Superiority could also be completely useless just in PvE if the health is not a , since it will be totally nullified on all bosses except the last 1.

It could be so good but with that radius is not going to be used, just a waste. Even with the 50% reduction in time, if they increase the radius it would kinda be useful but like its now, nope total waste.

Does someone have info on this, i havent seen much people saying this. When you merge with the pet do you get for example if its a dps pet, lets say some buff like +150 power +150 ferocity or something like that. Maybe toughness if is a tanky pet or some buff. If not then what is the point of merging with the pet if you are going to be losing damage, ranger dmg is already not that wow compare to other classes.

I heard somewhere that 1/3 of our damage comes from our pet. (On our mender’s druid builds, its more like 80%). Here’s to hoping we get a 33% damage increase while in Soulbeast to make up for it!

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

shadowpass.4236:

mistsim.2748:

https://youtu.be/nqj-yOPEudA?t=2120

One of the GM traits literally gives you a second life if you’re in beastmode when you get downed. looks like an incredibly powerful elite spec overall. as per usual ANet antics, there will be no reason to roll with any GM other than Eternal Bond in pvp. maybe that stance sharing one in wvw.

I hope you’re kidding.

And it is NOT a “second life.” It’s a measly -not even 4k- heal on a 90 second cooldown.

It would be one of the worst grandmaster traits in the game if it stays like that.

You could use it with MDG……………………………………………..

Oh you’re right. Top it off with Predator’s Instinct and I think we’ve got a new meta build! :P

Substance E.4852:

It’s also worth noting that Oppresive Superiority is basically useless in pve. By the time a boss is at 15k or less health, the fight is over.

It is probably going to be percentage based. If not, its going to be sooooooo bad.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

mistsim.2748:

https://youtu.be/nqj-yOPEudA?t=2120

One of the GM traits literally gives you a second life if you’re in beastmode when you get downed. looks like an incredibly powerful elite spec overall. as per usual ANet antics, there will be no reason to roll with any GM other than Eternal Bond in pvp. maybe that stance sharing one in wvw.

That trait looks good, until you compare it to Dead or Alive on Berzerker.

Also, the Leader of the Pack one, while stance sharing would be awesome, it’s only for half duration, so that’s only 3s….

Oppressive superiorority better be a health % otherwise it is going to also be near useless.

Spot on.

mistsim.2748:

https://youtu.be/nqj-yOPEudA?t=2120

One of the GM traits literally gives you a second life if you’re in beastmode when you get downed. looks like an incredibly powerful elite spec overall. as per usual ANet antics, there will be no reason to roll with any GM other than Eternal Bond in pvp. maybe that stance sharing one in wvw.

I hope you’re kidding.

And it is NOT a “second life.” It’s a measly -not even 4k- heal on a 90 second cooldown.

It would be one of the worst grandmaster traits in the game if it stays like that.

NemesiS.6749:

Also if you notice, the leader of the pack GM trait its just 360 radius, that is total garbage and useless. If i remember correctly the bad thing about venom share thieves was that the venom sharing radius was 360 and people never got buffed lol. They practically need to be hugging you to get the buff, meeeh total kitten, sound good on paper but will end up been useless. Eternal Bond will probably be the most used, best of them all.

Eternal Bond is reeeeeeally crappy.

As a whole, I’d say our grandmaster traits are underwhelming to say the least. The stance sharing trait would be a lot better if they increased the radius to the size of a point in PvP and set priorty for party members and then the people closest to you.

Also, while Oppressive Superiority sounds great on paper, fighting a class with high sustain and constant damage pressure will mean it will rarely take effect. Don’t forget, we don’t have the same amount of sustain by dropping Druid in favor of Soulbeast. If it were something like “When you apply a condition, apply a random condition on the same target.” with a 1 second icd, it might be more interesting.

To be fair, Berserker mode can charge fairly quickly and can be activated every 10 seconds just like our Beastmode.

Although we can stay in Beastmode forever, having the cooldown reduced allows it to flow better in a fight as well.

When skills/traits have too long of a cooldown, they tend to be put aside in favor of abilities that can be activated more frequently. Look at our Spirit of Nature elite for example.

Not to mention, it is a grandmaster trait.

A 4k heal and a small amount of protection on a 90 second cooldown is definitely NOT worth a grandmaster trait. Even a warrior’s is in the master tier.

So we are getting a trait in Soulbeast that says:

“While in Beastmode, if you would be downed you instead fall out of Beastmode and recover health.”

It heals for 3924 and gives 3 seconds of protection.

But its on a 90 second cooldown.
__________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile warriors have Dead or Alive which heals them for 5220 health if they were to take a fatal blow in berserk mode on a 30 second cooldown.
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Wat. Anet u srs?

#unfair

I believe the skill actually worked like that when it first came out, but Anet changed it. Like you could start casting it and cancel it right after and the field would remain. I may be mistaken though, its been a while.

mauried.5608:

Theres lots of things in MMOs that people cant stand, and thats simply because no MMO design will ever please everyone.
But a common type claim thats made a lot is
I want “this” and I want to get it by doing “that.”
If I cant get “this” my way the game is broken and should be fixed.
All this means is that this game is not for you, and you should find another game that meets your requirements.

It’s not the fact that people “want” a PvE specific reward by doing PvP/WvW, its the fact that there aren’t the same level of rewards being offered in the other gamemodes.

No one would complain if they released PvP/WvW specific legendary armor because that gives everyone an equal chance of getting it.

For example, if legendary armor was gated behind an immense amount of PvP/WvW, you’d bet PvE players would complain as well.

I don’t mind grinding if the gear wasn’t restricted heavily to PvE.

I can’t stand PvE, but I play a lot of PvP and WvW. So that essentially means I’ll never be able to acquire legendary armor and the like no matter how successful or skilled I am in the gamemodes I play.

They could introduce a new set of currency to PvP called Balthazar Faction like in GW1 and let us save it up over time to purchase legendary gear from a PvP vendor and I’d be fine with it.

I don’t mind grinding if the gear wasn’t restricted heavily to PvE.

I can’t stand PvE, but I play a lot of PvP and WvW. So that essentially means I’ll never be able to acquire legendary armor and the like no matter how successful or skilled I am in the gamemodes I play.

They could introduce a new set of currency to PvP called Balthazar Faction like in GW1 and let us save it up over time to purchase legendary gear from a PvP vendor and I’d be fine with it.

Falseprophet.1502:

Thanks for doing this thread! I was wondering what the potential of a power/healing build would be? Would it be even worth it? I just started a ranger as my main alt or even possibly my new main depending how much I enjoy the new specialization. My main is a Guardian, but never really could get a good mix between power/healing as one think would fit the theme of a Guardian, but I digress. I do a lot of WVW roaming, Fractals, and open world events.

Thanks for your time

No problem! I’m happy to help!
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A power based ranger build with high healing power is one of the strongest builds in the game atm. (At least from a PvP/WvW standpoint. I don’t PvE at all so I can’t help you there.)
__________________________________________________________________

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

anduriell.6280:

shadowpass.4236:

Fluffball.8307:

Hey man still not trying to be mean to you. And the guy you’re recommending this build to has argued vehemently on these forums that condi druid is unviable in WvW roaming.

Condi druid lacks in 1 area, pick one. You can do reasonable damage and lack mobility, or you can have mobility and lack reasonable damage. You probly shouldn’t solo roam on condi druid, but it’s totally fine if you have friends.

Yeah I know. I meant be nice on this thread lol. A lot of the people here are new to ranger or want to learn more so I don’t want to scare them away.

I definitely prefer power druid as opposed to condi. You are right about the damage vs. mobility problem. Though, if you are interested, glyphs on condi druid is actually very strong in PvP for fighting and supporting on points as it has a lot of mobility, cc, heals, condi clear, damage in an aoe. (haven’t tested in WvW or post ancient seeds nerf).

Problem right now with power setups in wvw you are fighting against traiblazzers tanks which will chew your hp with condis and your LB won’t make a chin in their armor.

Either way i’m starting to seeing my build (or a variants of) within the ranks of Desolation’s druids and i have to say overall is more dangerous than the power setup. Not as strong as an chrono or reaper aids nothing can compare to those, but interesting overall. I dislike the axe clunkiness, with those precast animations of over a second but SB is even worst.

With this i am not saying Druid or ranger is made for condi pvp, or even performing optimally . I agree the destruction of the throwable traps and mobile spirits broke all the condi builds the ranger could have.

But if you are bored of playing for the last 3 years the same\similar power build, this one is more fun as you have to get into combat instead pewpew from afar and more risky as well for the same reasons, you need to be good or better stick to the pewpew LB like fluufy does and expect others to do the kills for you.

I redid the old regen ranger build using Druid rather than Nature Magic for fun.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQRAnY8fnEqAtsg1CC+CCctgFOB75FMqScNDrKVAAulOT7plI9xA-TlyCQBV4gAcSlgT4IAQJ1L4iyvHcCA8j+Bot/wmURBAPAgMDDADhQAm5d35FXcnUA9tsC-w

Ralkuth.1456:

There might be someone who can be beastly on Condi Druid, but recalling my experience facing Trap Rangers back in early core, and some embarrassing games in ranked/unranked with non-glyph Condi Druid, my only conclusion is that it is slightly (massively) outclassed.

Long trap CDs, one-dimensional abilities, way too much risk for the rewards of the shotgun playstyle in the current meta. I mean sure, if you have the reflexes to evade everything with Axe/Dagger, Sword/Torch or SB and win 1v1, I bow to you. But it is very apparent that Druid doesn’t mesh well with Condi Druid/Ranger. Trailblazer/other tanky builds is just covering up the survivability issues.

We need some facelift for the other weaponsets and abilities. Like “Protect Me!”, GS, LB, and maybe Sword. A novice Ranger’s 2 cents.

---

So suppose you encounter a team of Double Condi Necro and Ele, which is just gross with the things they can do. I try my best and sometimes win games against these (they can be wonderful to run with), but I feel like I don’t contribute enough (downed cleave is deadly, sustaining vs them is harder, can only out-rotate or stall 1v2).

Let’s say I’m conscious that I still have a lot of room to improve on Mender Druid. Nevertheless, would running Power Druid with GS/LB be a better choice against them? Or would rotating away from the Necro Ele combo be the correct decision?

I also forgot to switch back to Staff from GS one game (cue shaming), but I shrugged and ran with it. Turns out nobody really expects GS, not even me… good weapon (after the buffs).

GS/LB is a better weapon set to use against those classes individually because of the increased damage and cc. Using greatsword instead of staff helps lock down those classes more, preventing them from getting support from the ele and helping prevent damage pressure from the necros.

A double necro + ele comp can be out-rotated so I’d recommend doing that unless you have a solid team fight comp as well.
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When fighting a double necro + ele comp, try your best to single out and remove one of the players from the group. For example, if you PBS a necro away from the ele, there’s a window where they aren’t getting any support from their healer. This is a good time to get some damage in while their ele has to spend time rotating away from/with their second necro to sustain the one taking damage.

If you cc the ele away, the necros have to rotate to them to continue receiving heals, but eles usually have a higher access to stab/stunbreaks so I’d recommend going after the necros first.
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Using Lightning Wyvern instead of Bristleback is also a very good alternative to fighting necros and eles. If you learn how the pet works, you can chain cc enemies with Smokescale, Lightning Wyvern, greatsword, longbow, and CA for extended periods of time if they lack stab/stunbreaks. Lightning Wyvern is also very good at cleaving downed targets to due its Wing Buffet ability.
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If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

Fluffball.8307:

Hey man still not trying to be mean to you. And the guy you’re recommending this build to has argued vehemently on these forums that condi druid is unviable in WvW roaming.

Condi druid lacks in 1 area, pick one. You can do reasonable damage and lack mobility, or you can have mobility and lack reasonable damage. You probly shouldn’t solo roam on condi druid, but it’s totally fine if you have friends.

Yeah I know. I meant be nice on this thread lol. A lot of the people here are new to ranger or want to learn more so I don’t want to scare them away.

I definitely prefer power druid as opposed to condi. You are right about the damage vs. mobility problem. Though, if you are interested, glyphs on condi druid is actually very strong in PvP for fighting and supporting on points as it has a lot of mobility, cc, heals, condi clear, damage in an aoe. (haven’t tested in WvW or post ancient seeds nerf).

These in particular are fantastic changes:

1. Move Sharpened Edges to Furious Grip position, remove the critical hit condition.
2. Change Hunter’s Tactics to bleeding foes, not positional.
3. Sword#2 and skill Lightning Reflexes to get an directional arrow so the ranger can choose the direction the skills moves the player.
4. Fortifying Bond to become baseline for the core ranger.

I also support a lot of the changes in the OP’s post.

Fluffball.8307:

I’m not trying to rag on you, that’s just not a build you should even casually recommend; it’s not viable.

I’m sure a many of us can come up with a better condi build that that, it’s just totally awful.

No worries mate!

I wouldn’t be able to come up with a build like that on my own. It’s not fluid in terms of gameplay, nor the build choices themselves, but again, I was tweaking Anduriell’s build, not giving one of my own.

I didn’t want to make them feel bad by telling them their build wasn’t that good. I’d rather recommend a better alternative or a new one altogether.

And yes. You would be correct to assume that many of us, (including me), can definitely come up with a better build than that. :P

Be nice please. Haha

Skullface.7293:

If you want to keep the damage from a/t but still keep the mobility from s/d, why not put a/t instead of shortbow? Imo shortbow doesn’t apply enough pressure to be a great condition weapon for ranger, hence why I prefer the a/t + s/d combo when playing conditions. I also tried to use staff in a condition build but it’s really not that great sadly to me. With torch and your traps you can play around that to kite. Where shortbow truly shines tho is when someone tries to escape.

I’ll try streaming my PvP gameplay of condition druid when I have free time

That shameless self promotion tho.

Haha, welcome back mate!

I reinstalled the game about a week ago so we’ll see each other around when I get back from vacation.

Fluffball.8307:

shadowpass.4236:

• I tweaked your build a little bit to cover up/eliminate some of the weaker points:
  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAnYWjEqQLLWyC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFwEAGdNA4s6XNtWi0PD-TVSFQBvU53K1EEJ1fG4TAYd7P0O9AwUJYCOBAA4QAEAABYmlZduzA/8n/8n/8n9zf+zf+zfWKgMXpB-w

You seem like you have some ranger knowledge, shadowpass, but this build is just complete and utter crap. I think you’re out of your expertise on this one. Have you actually played it? Even a necro could walk away from you in open field.

Like I said, I tweaked that person’s build. I never said it was good, nor did I say that I used it myself. I just tweaked the build they linked to cover up some of the weaknesses they had mentioned.
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• The build I had originally given earlier in the thread was this:
  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQLL2xC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFAnV/qpVmAwor0VyxSD-TVyCQBK4BAAgjAg5uAAnUJ4K2fQjK/uk6P6R3AFOIABAQA25OTn1ZwQH6QP6RPa78o78n7cnlC4bpRA-w

Even then, I personally use shouts. In my opinion, survival utilities are much more aggressive and lack sustain compared to shouts. But, someone asked for a decent condition build, not an optimized one, so I gave them what they wanted.
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Also, I don’t recommend fighting a necromancer on an open field with a condition ranger unless you have a significant amount of interrupts and can make amazing use of blinds and the limited stealth you have access to as a condi druid.
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If you have any other questions, feel free to ask! (although a little less harshly next time would be appreciated )

Best of luck!

kiwituatara.6053:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMBGUD16I-Y

Enjoy!

I didn’t enjoy it. I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Great video! Very entertaining

/forumbug

Odokuro.5049:

@Shadowpass

Toyed around with the Power Druid build that you recommended I use and came up with this.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNUQJATWnUqA1Ci9CCOsActglOBDelGT3pPtgQ1CzpvFAKclMtzA-TlSGABkrrpeVCGSZA67PAwlAQKlg//AAISpX0HBA6V3ZzgAwESIJ5//vNJpSBE4OL-w

Key differences between the one you gave me, and the small moderations that I did. Are, I added in a bit more Precision (30% BASE Crit Chance.) and swapped out some Toughness for Power to bring be above the 2300 mark. Do you feel like I changed too much, and that the changes wouldn’t be good? Because I have always heard that 2700 Armor is like a sweet spot for most people. (Build I posted has 2800+)

Main reasons why I changed what I did, was, I was uncomfortable with the amount of Crit chance, even knowing I would get Fury’s 20% added on. (I like 30% base on toons with Fury uptime, anyways, lol.) That and, I won’t be able to get my hands on trinkets from the new maps for a while, since I have done next to no, “Farming”, on those maps outside of what you get from progressing through the living story.

Thanks again, for being a fountain of knowledge for us new rangers/druids wishing to gain wisdom.

Have a great day!

Hi!

I’ve linked you several Druid builds in this thread, which one were you referring to?
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A few things to note:

• The first build I linked had 29.86% critical chance which gets rounded up to 30% base.
• When making ranger builds using Signet of Stone in the build editor, keep in mind that slotting it affects the displayed armor/toughness value. So, if you were on cooldown in your build, you’d actually be sitting at 2650 armor, rather than your desired 2700.
• I personally prefer 2800 armor over 2700. That’s about how tanky warriors are when they use a Demolisher’s Amulet in PvP.
• If you have a stable source of fury, 30% base crit chance is perfectly fine. If not, aim for 50% base.

Your welcome! I’m more than happy to help!

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

anduriell.6280:

beatthedown.2651:

Regarding condi or hybrid roaming builds I want to add some input too since I tried out a lot.

They really forced SB for hybrid builds with the nerf of sharpened edges. But SB is still garbage. You may catch people by surprise a few times, but it still can’t hold up to LB in WvW. Anet also tried to make axe viable, what a joke.
http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATWnUqA1Ci9CCOsActgFDB7ZLEDyZMBgRXDAOr+VTrl480A-TVSFABAcEAIa/h10FgwFA4Q1fY7QAk8DAoPlgVp8jUABO0C-w

This one was great until the SE nerf. Dunno if it still works. Only build that could hurt this one was a niche weakness spam thief. If you want to annoy a certain dh roamer/streamer, give it a shot.

Hi! updating the modified build from @shadowpass. I gave a shot the one i posted, @beatthedown you are right. SB is complete garbage against other players the flanking requirement simply doesn’t happen and the range is too short for the effects. If only we could get the 1500 range in SB i think the weapon would be ok.

Yesterday i’ve tinkering with the modified build i posted and i end up with this one:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAnfWjUqQLLWyC2sAXLW4EsmhVfLA88CWcNM4W6MtnWi0PD-TVSFQBA4QAsSNBrb/BFp+jvOBAJ7JA0O9AvU5HMVCGAABI05OD8zf+zf+zf2P/5P/5P/ZpAyclG-w

In my plays the build did strangely okeish, it has good cleanses for the condi meta and can deal some damage. I do like to roam or go along with the zerg but not in squad thus the builds i play must have good surivavility plus an ok damage.

This one can achieve that and is not expensive to make.
Strong points compared to standard shout ranger:

• Rune of durability gives almost 2 secs of resistance once every 20 secs. That’s a free immob card every once in a while. Kindly keep in mind that condi is the rangers bane as we don’t have cleanses for that (albeit all the other weakness like lack of stab, lack of boon rip, lack of burst damage in general, lack of condi application, pets put ranger in combat, etc…) .
• 22K hp and plenty of cleanses, good for condi meta.
• up 800 heal p. which is good for zergin druid. Also for survival when you need to fill up.
• Regen and mobility with shouts + runes.
• Deal at least 3 conditions on target (poison – torment – bleeds) which is good to make Ancient seeds immob have some covert conditions.
• Axe + bonfire helps to tag for goodies.

Not so strong points:

• Low armor, ridiculous-joke attacks like backstab is going to take at least 15k.
• Very low damage with staff.
• Not possible to kite as it has low range with axe.
• Burst output is completely absent. Broken builds like aids chrono or permastun shield warrior are going to be inmune to this build.

I was really really painfully bored of the power LB/Staff set up. Would be good if this people at Anet would open more the viable builds….

Hi!

Sorry for the delay!
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Great job on the analysis!

• I tweaked your build a little bit to cover up/eliminate some of the weaker points:
  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAnYWjEqQLLWyC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFwEAGdNA4s6XNtWi0PD-TVSFQBvU53K1EEJ1fG4TAYd7P0O9AwUJYCOBAA4QAEAABYmlZduzA/8n/8n/8n9zf+zf+zfWKgMXpB-w

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

GodSpeedFist.8642:

Hello.. I’ve played GW2 since its was released long ago…
And I haven’t played the game in so many years..
I recently saw a ranger video where he uses marksmanship , wilderness survival , and druid and it piqued my interest..
It made me wanna buy the expansion and try out the build..
Is it still viable? Or are there other ranger builds better ATM??.
Thank you all for reading…

Hi!

Sorry for the delay!
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• There are multiple builds using those traitlines, however, I have a general idea of what he/she may have been using. Linking the video you watched would help me get an idea of what you were looking for.
• As for how viable the build is… it probably works, though meta builds are meta for a reason. The strongest builds atm use Nature Magic, Beastmastery, and Druid.

This build is very strong overall and ridiculously good stat-wise:

• http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAT8YjEqQLLWyC+rAVLWIEslSXAoqB3VHrt1m5VxKGUi0PD-TVCEABEcBAaS5Xc6GAUJICPAgJV/BgjAg7HEAi2fYzwAwIIEgZmZmGZkRIFge6sA-w
• Though lacking in stability, it has 4 stunbreaks, through utilities and Astral Form and has a ton of damage and defense.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

anduriell.6280:

shadowpass.4236:

Thank you!
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If you want to go with survival utilities, this is a good condi build with decent AF generation. If you are looking for something different in terms of utilities/traits, let me know.

• http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQLL2xC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFAnV/qpVmAwor0VyxSD-TVyCQBK4BAAgjAg5uAAnUJ4K2fQjK/uk6P6R3AFOIABAQA25OTn1ZwQH6QP6RPa78o78n7cnlC4bpRA-w

---

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

Thanks! I never thought about shaman!

I changed a little bit to accommodate my style. What do you think?
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAVWjUqQLLWyC2sAXLW4EM4W6Mtn2Ms6bBgnXwirhVyzSD-TVSFQBHU5liU3BAPCAKqEslqEARlIrUXQyuCArb/hAAIA7cnpzdG4n/8n/8n/sf+zf+zf+zSBgtKN-w

In this build I see possible problems with lack of damage.

I should be able to apply 3 different conditions every 5 seconds(torment, bleeding and poison) which should make Ancient seeds to work from time to time instead like never.

I hate the absolute lack of damage from the staff but it’s the only weapon with a reliable mobility skill. Sword#2 or GS#3 without ground target at wonky at best. You can use that mobility skill to pass thru the metaball zerg back to your commander for example.

However i’m afraid the build will lack enough dps to kill anything. What do you think?

Hi!

Sorry for the delay!
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Yes, your build does lack damage compared to mine. Using Sharpened Edges in Skirmishing, a Sigil of Earth, and one more cover condition sigil that applies poison, vulnerability, cripple, or chill on your staff is a great way to increase its damage and deal steady dps with the autoattack. Sharpening Stone is also great for applying bleeds this way.
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Sword-Dagger has decent mobility, decent damage, and a ton of evasion. If you’re worried about damage on S-D, you can swap the Sigil of Energy I had in my build for a Sigil of Geomancy.
__________________________________________________________________

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

Hi everyone!

I apologize for the delay. I’ve been packing for vacation the past few days. I will answer everyone once my flight lands in the next day or so.

Thank you!

Pulsing boons and instant activation and stun break is a must-have imo.

Either reduce it back to 48 seconds cd with pulsing boons or give it pulsing boons, instant activation, and stun break and I’ll be happy.

Colly.4073:

anduriell.6280:

i love this thread shadowpass!

Any advise for a condi build for wvw (it doesn’t need to be full condi) roaming with a decent AF generation?

Yes I would love to know of a decent condition build too please, if there is anything viable?

Thank you!
__________________________________________________________________

If you want to go with survival utilities, this is a good condi build with decent AF generation. If you are looking for something different in terms of utilities/traits, let me know.

• http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQLL2xC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFAnV/qpVmAwor0VyxSD-TVyCQBK4BAAgjAg5uAAnUJ4K2fQjK/uk6P6R3AFOIABAQA25OTn1ZwQH6QP6RPa78o78n7cnlC4bpRA-w

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

5. I capped home, got the far assaulter to retreat, but we are losing mid with 1 stomped. What should I be doing? I’m a rotato potato.

• It depends on where their far assaulter is going. If they are doubling back to home, defend it so you don’t lose that cap. If they are going mid and you feel like you could help out there, do it.

6. How do I keep a cap against a LB/SwSh DH in the first 10 seconds of the engagement when he spams all his CDs and traps to block my LB?

• Use Strength of the Pack so you don’t get cc’d off point. If he spams all of his cooldowns and traps, avoid them and he should be fairly easy to kill afterwards.

7. We know they have a Mes Thief far combo and I am defending. Mes engages and Thief is waiting for an opening to backstab. I am on Forest, Henge (home). What do I do to prepare? When I hold on for as long as I can but I die/have to leave and the point is full-capped with a portal, what do I do?

• Okay. There’s a few things you can do.
• First, make sure to remember that thieves cannot teleport to you if there is no direct path to walk to where you are. For example, if you are standing on a pillar/wall, and you had to jump to get there, the thief will be unable to steal to you.
• Second, if they send 2 to fight you, and 1 to cap their home, that means they only have 2 fighting against 4 of your teammates at mid until their home goes mid as well. At which point, it will be a 4v3, with them still being at a numbers disadvantage. So, stall against the mesmer and thief. Use the terrain to your advantage, jumping over ledges to give the clones a hard time shattering against you, and giving the thief a hard time bursting you. If you can keep the point neutral, by all means go for it. If not, that’s fine, just don’t let the mesmer and thief leave until your team won mid.
• If the point is full capped with a portal and the mesmer and thief are still there fighting you, that’s bad on their part. If you can, kill the mesmer to waste his portal.

8. Can I also get an invite to [Wind]? I would love to meet other Rangers + get a pretty tag. I’m not ingame now, but can I whisper you if I see you online for the invite?

• Yes. I will also re-open the guild to the public. I do not currently have time to lead it, so, it will remain as a hub for fellow rangers to meet, discuss, and duel in the meantime. Any organized activities will have to be discussed/prepared in the future.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

Ralkuth.1456:

Hello, thanks to your advice, I’ve been able to utilise my LB with +400% efficiency.

I sometimes get tasty decaps, bristleback + rapid fire Thieves, and sometimes pull the 1v2 we need to get ahead in points. There’s the occasional knockback on rezzes and stomps. Sometimes you even get teammates that react to Ancient Seeds. I am grateful.

I need to work on getting my knockback cancels noticed though. Maybe bristleback mind games as well. And as you said, people do get very nervous when they pop a reflect but you just stow and don’t switch out of LB. They then tend to use more reflects and end up getting knockbacked sooner.

1. What do you think are the priority teamfight focus targets? Any conditionals, like a DH that just blew his RF? Necro with low Shroud? Power Rev? Peel the Thief spiking your team? When would you target the Engi/Ele/Druid?

2. Sometimes you get a full bunker comp and need the +1 spike roamer. Sometimes you just had a bad day and you want to plug people at 1500 range with vicious LB crits. Can you show me a balanced Power Druid setup, and a full out YOLO glass zerker setup for glory (sPvP)?

3. What’s your favourite pet for generating salt?

4. What’s the easiest and most difficult 1v1 matchups assaulting/defending points?

5. I capped home, got the far assaulter to retreat, but we are losing mid with 1 stomped. What should I be doing? I’m a rotato potato.

6. How do I keep a cap against a LB/SwSh DH in the first 10 seconds of the engagement when he spams all his CDs and traps to block my LB?

7. We know they have a Mes Thief far combo and I am defending. Mes engages and Thief is waiting for an opening to backstab. I am on Forest, Henge (home). What do I do to prepare? When I hold on for as long as I can but I die/have to leave and the point is full-capped with a portal, what do I do?

8. Can I also get an invite to [Wind]? I would love to meet other Rangers + get a pretty tag. I’m not ingame now, but can I whisper you if I see you online for the invite?

Hi! Glad to hear it’s been working for you!
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1. What do you think are the priority teamfight focus targets? Any conditionals, like a DH that just blew his RF? Necro with low Shroud? Power Rev? Peel the Thief spiking your team? When would you target the Engi/Ele/Druid?

• Great question. If you want to play druid well, one of the main concerns in a team fight is taking pressure off of your teammates. For example, if a thief opens on one of your teammates, knock him back and rapid fire so he has to pull away. This not only alleviates some of the damage off of your team, but also makes the thief a little more hesitant to leave stealth because he knows you’ll be watching for him. The same goes for a rev teleporting in, etc. etc.
• Another great thing to do is change targets very often. By autoattacking several enemies, swapping targets after each shot, you can make them think they are being focused, forcing them to pop defensive cooldowns such as reflects or blocks when they don’t actually have to.
• If a DH used RF and doesn’t have Shield of Courage up, it is okay to focus him.
• Necro is important to keep cc’d out of range of your teammates. As such, landing your point blank shot is very important. If you force the necro to play defensively, trying to avoid your longbow and pet, it prevents a lot of potential damage and boon corruption on your team.
• All in all, I’d recommend focusing the more mobile, damage dealing classes attacking your teammates over any other target. Of course, if someone else low, help your team out and focus them as well.

2. Sometimes you get a full bunker comp and need the +1 spike roamer. Sometimes you just had a bad day and you want to plug people at 1500 range with vicious LB crits. Can you show me a balanced Power Druid setup, and a full out YOLO glass zerker setup for glory (sPvP)?

• Balanced Power Druid:
  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTnUqAtCi1CC+CCctglOB7pFEqWYO9tAQhDelGT3pA-TZhIABA8AAmvMg/XCgb2fY/jAAA
• YOLO Glass Zerker:
  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqAVsg1CCOsActgFCBbp0FAqaPfhaQPDurOWbrA-TZBVABAs/AzXCAVPCAVUGI5HAAA

3. What’s your favourite pet for generating salt?

• Electric Wyvern

4. What’s the easiest and most difficult 1v1 matchups assaulting/defending points?

• Depends on who you’re fighting. I’d say Dragonhunters are the easiest. Hardest to kill would be Engineers because of their tankiness. Mesmers and Warriors are also difficult to fight on point. Condition evade thieves are hard to fight on point. Though, they have trouble if you back off and out maneuver them.

LanternHTD.5601:

I haven’t played druid in pvp since they nerfed the glyphs.

Now I am using the bunker build from metabattle (I like s/d much more than longbow) but I find that I am not able to neutralize the point fast enough in 1v1 now and lack of cc in teamfights.

Any tips for me? Should I just play the bunker build with two glyphs instead of the build on metabattle?

And sorry for my english.

No worries! If you are going glyphs, use this build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAW8Yn0rCVsilsCGsCEtilEBzJ1lCadPBgk1MDequVHrl8s0A-TZxHAB+/AAkvMA67PAwFB47jAAA

• I played it a lot during one of the PvP seasons and it worked very well. It has high healing, good damage, and a lot of crowd control and mobility.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

RoMee.8502:

Could you recommend me a sPVP build for a Core Ranger without HoT and my tasks as a Ranger without Druid Spec? I tried the one at Metbattle but it feels very squishy and not so mobile to cap Points.

I know i will hinder myself without HoT but i am waiting for a Sale. (I hope it will come soon)

Try this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATRnUqA1Ci9CCOsActgBGhiD3vNA+noEaZ/zHhTvEpfG-TZRWABEfBAAY/BeLDU6hA44nAAA

If you’re going damage, act similar to how a thief would. +1ing fights and decapping would be your best options.

SpellOfIniquity.1780:

K two more questions.

• Can I get an invite to [Wind]?

I tend to rotate my mains (4 characters) every couple months just because I gain a stronger interest in one of them every couple months. At the moment Ranger is my main but it will likely get rotated out eventually. Just letting you know that in case it’s not okay that I may stop playing it for a little while.

• Anyone here care to review this build?

I enjoy trying to min-max and I’m just curious if there’s anything I could do to further improve the damage here.
I have almost exactly 100% Precision with Hunter’s Tactics, Spotter and Fury. 2,821 Power after using a heal skill from the food. +10 damage above 90% health and 237% Ferocity with all Cruelty stacks.

Don’t worry, I’m 100% aware of the risks this kind of build has. Just curious if I’m missing anything that could further boost my damage, or if it would be more effective to go for different rune/food/sigil choices, etc.

Yes you can! I will send an invite the next chance I get. Although, the guild really isn’t active anymore. Most of the leaders quit the game. If you are okay with that, I will send an invitation to [Wind].
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The damage bonus from ranger runes lasts longer than the one from scholar runes. Especially as a glass ranger, you won’t be able to stay above the 90% health threshold often enough for the runes to be worth it.

I would probably use a build like this:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNEQJATRjEqQLL2wCmsAXLG2Dq92DgzmH4AeE6C+3HiSkeFA-TVSBABUq+D5HBAzUC+0+DacIAwTXwVK/A4BAU+FAYzgAwN2A+//7++iUAUuMC-w
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If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

beatthedown.2651:

A more specific question. If you watched ROM streaming you may have noticed that he got really good at “about face staff autoattack”. If anyone of you uses this techniqe, what are your keybinds? I can’t seem to find a good bind for about face that would not disrupt other skills.

Press about face twice as soon as the last ping goes off. This will keep the chain going and won’t affect your run speed that much.
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If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

Alatar.7364:

That might be just a problem with your resolution or something as mine ‘Ready-window’ does not get even close to Chat window. Not even with 20 people on the server

It could be. My resolution is 1360 × 768. Could that be why?

Anet please make it so we can exit out of the “Are you ready” window. This window takes up a large part of the screen and covers the chat window. It is also immovable.

In private dueling servers this window is incredibly inconvenient and annoying.

Would it be possible to add an option to exit out of this?

Thank you!

Welcome Jason!

Malek.7830:

Thank you for offering your experience and knowledge, I think it’s invaluable. My question ; how do you make it so that the ranger’s 3rd great sword skill (swoop) takes you away from opponents when running away, as appears to making you leap towards them. I’ve seen other rangers using it to create distance when kiting, but even with auto targeting off, my ranger will dash towards the fight whenever I pop it.

Malek.7830:

I meant to say ‘as opposed to making you leap towards them’

Thank you for the feedback!

You have to untarget completely in order to Swoop in the direction your character is facing. If you are in combat and have a target selected while using Swoop, it will move in the direction of that enemy.

Just click a blank part of the screen before you use it so you don’t leap directly back into the fray while you’re trying to escape. Even knowing this, there have been times where I’ve accidentally charged right at the person I was trying to get away from! It happens to the best of us, haha.
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If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

Bast Bow.2958:

Ha! awesome shadowpass! You should start hiring employees for this thread.

Thank you! I would but I enjoy responding to these questions too much, haha.
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Thanks for the feedback!

Best of luck!

TwistedFate.8705:

Hi ShadowPass. I would like to pick up a new class and ranger looks like alot of fun but how is it for small / solo scale roaming in the current meta? Would you be able to help me come up with a build that can roam well in the current Condi meta? I can acquire any stat combo so doesn’t matter what gear is needed just aslong as it can fight the other Condi cheese builds lol. Thanks in advance. =)

Hi!

Ranger is one of the strongest roamers in WvW. It performs well in small/solo scale and can fight against the current meta easily.

If you are looking for anything in particular, let me know. If not, this build is very strong:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWTnUqA1Ci9CCOsActglZB7JAUn+WORt5UWD+fWQfolI9zA-T1SEQBA4IAoFlgRRZgd0FcwHBATUyBv9HWiSh+piwkUvZAXAgAAIA38mZzbGYoDdoDdoDtfezfezf+zSBE4OL-w

• This build has cheap stats, strong damage, and strong survivability. If you need more condition clear, take Evasive Purity over Vigorous Training.

However, from what it sounds like, you are having trouble fighting against condition builds in general. As such, I’d recommend going into the dueling servers and practice fighting condition builds with very little to no clears at all. This forces you to play around the class as a whole, rather than focusing on getting rid of the conditions you’ve already been hit by. If you play staff/lb right, using range and stealth correctly, it is entirely possible to not get hit over the entire duration of a fight.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!

It is important to note that condi druids are able to spike up to 15 bleeds in a single skill. They are also able to apply upwards of 4 bleeds per auto attack from a distance. That said, your build focuses much more on smaller bursts on longer cooldowns. If you were to fight a build with significant mass condition clears on shorter cooldowns, you will have a very hard time trying to deal damage while avoiding it yourself.

• An example of a potential hard counter would be a warrior running this build:
  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vJAQNAR5enMdAlhgVhAehAElilrADJAkAKAK5gWXN49zWaftA-TpBHQBlb/BAcEAMwFAAhPAAxdQA8XZAA

• It has mass condi clear on a short cooldown, can maintain near permanent stability and resistance, and deals a lot of damage. Your build will have a hard time utilizing your soft ccs such as chill and cripple to avoid the warrior because of the near permanent uptime of resistance. Furthermore, when the warrior enter Berserk mode in M-Sh, they will be able to use Skull Grinder every 3 ½ seconds. Without sufficient enough movement or evades, you will be unable to avoid all of these, and will not have enough survivability to avoid the rest of the warrior’s damaging skills that will come before/after.

If you want a unique build, this is a fun one to play that works fairly well:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJAWVn0rCVsilsCGsCEtiFDBDOrGWTrMBgRXpz519CmdjIN-TZRHQBH8IAou9H8XZAEeBAAwjAAA

This is my take on your build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQHL2uC2sAVLWMEsm3VwqFAnV/qpVmAwor0VyxOD-TZxHQBXY/hCeEAAwFBwgPAA+VGAA

Core version:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV8YjEqQHL2uC2sAVLGMEq/Au9av7ggtF4AY0L9SeWaA-TJhNABAs/g8PBgyLDM7FBAA

• My builds have higher mobility and survivability while retaining the condition burst application your build has because of Sharpened Edges. Muddy Terrain not only allows for lower cooldown condition clears, but also helps set up shotguns by AoE immobilizing up to 5 people for 4 seconds. This utility alone is exceptionally strong in team fights, as a 4 second immobilize while under focus fire is very strong.

• The core version of my build also has additional condition pressure from the pet as well as the weakness we lost by dropping MH Axe.

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Best of luck!