Guild Wars 2

awesome! What weapon, armor, trinket stats where you running?

I would lean towards LB and GS; classics for a reason. With SB showing good promise for power builds they could be staples.

Personally, I love Twilight (built this little story around it) and its one of the originals!

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Shiren.9532:

I’m guessing most people will combo soulbeast dagger with torch and shortbow. Off-hand dagger still won’t be a thing unless you want the evade in PvP (which you often do and there is evade synergy in at least one soulbeast skill).

It’s only two skills, I am quite hopeful they will tweak OH Dagger because I believe they will want D/D to actually be viable.

I really hope they do :/ I am very much looking forward to a melee D/D ranger but in order for this to come to fruition they would need to revisit what off-hand dagger needs to be.

Noviere.7309:

I’d love a pet griffon. Dolphin would be cool as well.

Griffon pet for daayyyssss. I mean there are so many beautiful options out there – Dolphin is not one that I had taken into consideration since I already have my chomp chomp shark. Behemoth would be cool (could be something to serve a purpose akin to bear), Skale or skelks (condi?), Karka’s possibly down the line when we have something to do with bubbles the underwater elder?

Justine.6351:

That first build looks like one I made and posted vid for. It’s changed since then some.

https://youtu.be/sxokOkIp6Mg
https://youtu.be/8bpfcVVOzQ8

The update build, minor tweaks but all gear stats same except gs which I changed to vigilant:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAndRnMbCVbi90AubC0bilaBLKs9vKBxbxyYaEKBEAaAA-TlCDABGqEEgTAAnq/cxDAwLlf1rJIO9ANt/ABHCgJOCABAQAuZb2m3Mw5Nv5Nv5NP38m38m38mlCAwlRA-w

I really like running this build and do so frequently. It just decimates if you play with a support character or even other people who can capitalize on the vulnerability (both literally and the condition) caused by boon corruption.

Oh and that metabattle build is garbage. It was clearly made by someone looking to make numbers on screen instead of being optimal for the current wvw environment.

I think so – my roaming reaper buddy sent me the link and if I recall she said that she had found it on the GW2 forums and loved it. She made some changes herself but since then I haven’t gotten around to fully investing in it since I am a massive fan of ranger/druid.

Thank you for the updated build though! I do look forward to trying this out.

I love naming my pets after fruits or vegetables (Even in real life; my dogs IRL are called Strawberry and Peanut).

It’s silly and it you get the greatest PM’s from other players commenting back “Why does it say I was dealt 5k damage from ‘Watermelon’???” xD

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Drop Instinctive Reaction for Bountiful Hunter and it’s good, imo, also 15 healing power provided by the infusions is a waste, it will have a negligible effect on healing.

Whoops! I meant to put that into Vitality nice catch, thank you for the advice!

Hello, so I have two builds which I have had saved for a while now till I had accrued the necessary materials to go ahead crafting (minus a few key ones mind you).

I would like to see which of these builds would be more suited for the following purposes:

. WvW roaming/ small party roam (3-5 pax)
. Melee zone/ Mid range
. Not be extremely vulnerable to either Condi, Power, CC [I understand certain areas will be lacking in being able to defend against it but most builds need to cover the bare minimum]
. Which of the two is cheaper [if the more expensive build is worth spending the extra coin then I’ll just have to farm a bit more]
. Not outdated or easily countered or so-old-it-hardly-works

Build #1 Celestial: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNAndRnMbCVbiF3AubC0bilaBDKBEAaARht/VJIeLGGPjA-TlCEABap8j6jAAAnAgk2fAT1fm4BAIoSQ21E0meA3PEABAQAuZb2m3Mw5Nv5Nv5NP38m38m38mlCIwlRA-w

Build #2 ‘Boon Monger’: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQNBhOD7kZTobTsaTwdTgeTsQNYUQKAMAGWxdwSYKE-T1SGQBmR3wdUCmElCl7BAcu9HGwFAogKDAk6PDRJ3BOIAA4IAQKgAHZB-w

Hi!

Right off-the-bat I would like to say that the build I will link below is not anything new but something I wish to share with other Rangers who might be in the same ‘slump’ as me and looking to revisit something old but perhaps never tried out

I have had such a massive rekindling of love for melee core ranger – after having ran LB + GS Druid for ages) it really is just a beast of a build (hyped for ‘Soul-beast’ next expac!).

But, I just felt like I need more gap-closer’s and more surviability if I chose to play melee. That, and having Mesmer’s, Thieve’s, Warrior’s, and Ele’s being able to disengage from fights, and sprint across maps – I was reminded that movement is king in WvW. There is something so disheartening about just being smarter and calmer (not necessarily playing better mind you) than an opponent, getting them on the ropes and then they hit one panic button and just whoosh away. Instantly.

I love GS but I did not want to fall back into pewpew mode as my offhand weapon, so I found that old Staff build and my goodness is it great to have double leaps, healing, stealth, CC break, range damage, projectile block, and Condi Cleanse all from just ONE trait line and something as a simple as a weapon slot!

Couple that with BM to beef your pet and make GS a little more scarier, and Nature Magic for protection and boon duration buff – you can actually stay in melee a lot more comfortably and not have your pets become useless.

Hope someone finds this relatable and useful!

Link to build —> http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?vNIQJARWnUqANsglsA2CCctglOBz5vFAKcPtgBwCDelGT3plMtzA-ThCFQB4TdFBpE8e7P0gHAABuEAKUpHjUpYJKDAwRAwO6CCAgAczbmNvZA38m38n/8nlCIwlRA-e

I appreciate the effort you put into this.
What I like that GW2 does is excel at being different and in that avenue giving unconventional weapons to professions that would not ordinarily use them in other games.

So it’s not too farfetched to say that a defensive ranger with a shield could very well be plausible.

title – does anyone else suffer from this? Its been happening to me for about 4 months now and I keep thinking "ok it must be a bug’ but now its so painful to even go through an alt on those stories ….

my ping is absolutely fine outside of PS so thats what bothers me

Psilence.2859:

The main problem with Hammer is that almost all of it’s moves are too slow and clunky compared to similar options on other classes.

I agree that Hammer #5 doesn’t really need Reflection, it just needs to be castable while moving like they changed Staff #5 to be (and possibly buff it’s cooldown to 30s for PvP like they did with staff as well.)

Hammer #4 needs to have it’s cast speed changed to 1/2s to be in line with similar knockback options from other classes (Staggering Blow on Warrior, Point Blank Shot on Ranger, etc) since it’s currently hugely telegraphed and too slow to be a useful interrupt.

Hammer #3 isn’t completely useless after they buffed it’s projectile speed a while back, but it’s cast speed is still a tad too slow and should be changed to be the same as the very similar, but generally more useful Vine Surge on Druid (3/4s).

Hammer #2 is fine speedwise, but it’s leap is a bit too short (300) compared to most other similar skills (600 Vault, 600 Savage Leap, 1000 Rocket Charge, etc) and should probably be 600, but at the very least 450.

The hammer auto-attack would also be fine if it actually worked like the tooltip said (1/2s first hit, 1/2s 2nd hit, 1 1/4s 3rd hit) but it’s actually closer to 3/4s first hit, 3/4s 2nd hit, 2s 3rd hit… which is a bit too slow and clunky compared to similar chains on other classes. If even just the last hit were fixed to match the tooltip speed it would definitely be a much more viable alternative, especially given the faster paced combat since HoT.

I am kind of okay with Hammer being “a little slower” than the rest of weps as long as it hits hard, and the leap well – have you tried jumping with a sledge hammer xD Either way yes at least 450 units!

Psilence.2859:

The main problem with Hammer is that almost all of it’s moves are too slow and clunky compared to similar options on other classes.

I agree that Hammer #5 doesn’t really need Reflection, it just needs to be castable while moving like they changed Staff #5 to be (and possibly buff it’s cooldown to 30s for PvP like they did with staff as well.)

Hammer #4 needs to have it’s cast speed changed to 1/2s to be in line with similar knockback options from other classes (Staggering Blow on Warrior, Point Blank Shot on Ranger, etc) since it’s currently hugely telegraphed and too slow to be a useful interrupt.

Hammer #3 isn’t completely useless after they buffed it’s projectile speed a while back, but it’s cast speed is still a tad too slow and should be changed to be the same as the very similar, but generally more useful Vine Surge on Druid (3/4s).

Hammer #2 is fine speedwise, but it’s leap is a bit too short (300) compared to most other similar skills (600 Vault, 600 Savage Leap, 1000 Rocket Charge, etc) and should probably be 600, but at the very least 450.

The hammer auto-attack would also be fine if it actually worked like the tooltip said (1/2s first hit, 1/2s 2nd hit, 1 1/4s 3rd hit) but it’s actually closer to 3/4s first hit, 3/4s 2nd hit, 2s 3rd hit… which is a bit too slow and clunky compared to similar chains on other classes. If even just the last hit were fixed to match the tooltip speed it would definitely be a much more viable alternative, especially given the faster paced combat since HoT.

I am kind of okay with Hammer being “a little slower” than the rest of weps as long as it hits hard, and the leap well – have you tried jumping with a sledge hammer xD Either way yes at least 450 units!

Crapgame.6519:

I’d go out on a limb and say double melee builds have a higher skill level than most other Ranger/Druid builds. Pre HoT that was pretty much my go to build along with traps and trapper runes. Solo roaming, small parties like HAVoC, I can see it working. That was a bit more forgiving with trapper runes at 3 seconds of stealth. I’ve gone back a few times since and just do not find it has reliable. Especially the heavy conditions and rate of application solo, small group, or be it Zerg.

But typical run of the mill zerg I would pass but that is just me. I prefer Toughness / Heal for most encounters camping LB and Staff.

I have been using ranger core melee and I have to agree with you that I am truly challenged more in terms of dodge timing being less forgiving and having to really use my taunt and smokescale+leap combos for stealth as a safe means to pop heal as one. Before as a druid I could easily stealth out and safe my taunt for a CC break as well but now I have to think 4 steps ahead and look where I am positioning the fight much more carefully. This is pretty much exactly what I have been looking for – the only downside is now I don’t have swiftness up 24/7 but GS leap and sword leap have compensated wonderfully.

In regards to what you have experienced with small parties and zergs – I can understand how it might not be as reliable and staff/lb + heal/tough is what I run as well actually.
I personally roam solo or with a small group of 2-3 people and it works for me but I gtfo when I see 10+ groups which again forces me to look around for camps to take or abuse the environment.

P.S. Thank you to everyone who posted your builds and have given your 2 cents!
I really have rediscovered my love for ranger core and I feel like I am back to when I was leveling on launch and all I wanted to play something akin to a ranger from LotR. Druid is still great and I use it in PvE/ open world fun times but I spend like 70% of my time in game WvW’ing it up, so having reached out to our ranger community and having legit feedback was really great

I just finished collecting mats for all of my ascended heavy armor set for my DH. I have yet to go ahead and pick stats so I ask the community if there is a build that really works with the GS – I do know that it might not be the most viable and meta but I saw that it got 20% damage buff so running a power build gives it what roughly 2k additional dps? and I did heard it’s slightly better than scepter build so please send me your lovely GS wvw roamer builds!

I’ve seen a few DH roamers that are pretty near invincible with it but it could just be that they had good partners that kept them alive and they also did fight near-ish to the gates of their own towers/ keeps.

Really curious for a DH GS build

borya.2964:

Yes, obviously core ranger is pretty much harder to play in 1 vs X fights. But the OP wants some challenge, so. Melee core ranger have the tools for roaming purpose (cleans, stun breaks, mobility and damage) and i keep thinking that CA is really not that mandatory. And it’s precisely cuz most druids rely too much on ( a very predictable) CA that they are easy to kill.

^ 100% this. Its about the ebb and flow of the meta and what variance of a profession do you encounter as a roamer; as an example nowadays on my server cluster I am seeing more and more ghost thieves and staff Daredevils and less standard D/P Daredevils. I would also see condi rangers sparringly but now its condi druid. Either way I agree that CA is becoming somewhat predictable (which is good because it forces the druids to learn to bait it) and gives early druid players an easy crutch to depend on.

What appeals to me from Druid is the major grandmaster “Ancient Seeds” trait. God I love this thing so much and the stealth from CA is such a great tool I really wish both of these had been available to core ranger from the start somehow.

Fluffball.8307:

The other day I ran into a HoT owner running a core melee ranger build. I didn’t take him seriously and facetanked all his mauls because he wasn’t a druid. Wound up losing a close fight. If I had taken him seriously he would have definitely lost. I just don’t think core ranger can stand up to druid and you’re losing out not having the utility it brings. The stealth, the condi removal, the CC, the heals…. it’s so much to lose for a bit of extra damage.

I actually have better condi removal as a core ranger [wilderness survival – I carry 3 survival uti] and I get hit way less with my 5 dodges (I carry energy on both wep swaps) so I can cycle very well between dodging, keeping pet up and on them, avoiding Condi, and doing damage. My cc is something I don’t really worry about because I carry roots elite and that’s all I need to take someone down, my smokescale knockdown is up when I need it and the electric wyvern as well.

I am a big fan of druid though and I have been playing it since HoT almost religiously – just looking for a challenge because I’m so used to Druid now It’s ridiculous.

borya.2964:

skystorm.9280:

[…]obviously being melee you can’t start a fight from far like you can with LB and instead[…]

Thank you in advance

While the both builds above aren’t bad, you should consider a boon sctaking build cuz the (better) damage (with might stacks) let you bring some toughness and better utilities. The warhorn and the bristleback can help you to keep range pressure. The build is a general idea rather than a real specific one :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBhYD7kSFokFslFwWQgqFMwJU+fPAHePs9dA8vQB0wl8s0A-TVjIABbpTIQ1RA4JAwuKBfv/QSKB/RpweqIwmmg7UhQHlV2fRAASJCpAGbZE-w

Thank you very much for sharing – not a fan of warhorn though : /

Ashkew.6584:

I currently run around with these 2 builds :

First one is a mm/skir/bea :

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsYRnUqANsg1CC+rActgh/gi33weD+04HO691zgAoEhnG-TVRWwAA2fAo6Pk0HIRJ4AlfAA-w

This build is very glassy and will have you end up dead very fast if you dont play it well. Which was kind of the point of this build, you have no passive defense like protective ward/bark skin, no protection on getting hit from dura runes of anything like that.

The defense of this build comes through evading, not getting hit by stuff. You have evades on sword 2/3, dagger 4, gs 1(stowing gs third attack can get you 3 evades in a row), gs 3.

Normally i try to start fight on sword/dagger en tiger pet, i try to bait some blocks/evade/dodges first before i swap to gs and try and land maul. You have fury on weapon swap so you always have openingstrike after swap, the combo maul, auto attack, tiger f2gives fury, openingstrike, maul, hilt-hilt bash, pet swap, maul is a strong one if someone is kind enough to eat it all.
Basicly the gameplay of this build is, evading/kiting until you have a window of oppertunity and then go in for a burst.

pro’s: active defense, good burst, fun, needs brain to keep pets alive, good escape (double quickdraw leaps)
con’s: glassy, not much room for mistakes, conditions

my second build is a more defensive one which uses wildernes instead of skirmish.
This one is better vs condi, and good vs power builds aswell because of the protection on dodge rolls/barkskin 5% damage reduction with regen.
The playstyle is comparable to the first one, only there is less creativity with the weaponswap/quickdraw involved

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAsYRnUqANsg1CC+CCctgh/gq73bfG+04HO691zgAokpFG-TVRWABkoPAg9HoV9nBU+JhSQA-w

both of the builds arent optimal, but more a way of having fun again. Compared to druid the builds require more preventing to get hit instead of getting away after you get hit( as most druids seems to do )

Yes! This both look really great and just what I was looking for. I am tempted to ask if going marauder for the first one would hinder the build because the runes are there to add some meat on the bones and there is a decent access to triple shouts with 2 at short CD’s and good uptime with fury from the tiger. I really like this and the challenge/ actual dependency of risk to pull it off.

Im lucky that I just finished my last piece of my zerker ascended off set last night so I can go and slap this on my kitty ranger and give it some claws.

Thank you for them both happy hunting

EDIT: small adjustments to sentences

Fluffball.8307:

Are you opposed to druid double melee? Druid is going to be superior to core ranger sort of by default.

Druid or core ranger will influence your sword offhand weapon.

Not opposed to druid double melee – I just think it works better as core ranger but always curious to see how builds play out -

I mainly run GS/ LB druid but I really want to explore core ranger melee for roaming purposes.

I have seen S/A + GS as a popular one and S/D + GS floating around that look like they really mess people up – obviously being melee you can’t start a fight from far like you can with LB and instead (or maybe you can and I just need to learn how). It looks fun, ‘new’; because most Rangers and their mother take Druid., and melee core ranger looks challenging.

I have my Sword, axe, dagger, and GS ready to move forward with it if you guys would enlighten to me your favorites or the ones you see to be most effective!

Thank you in advance

Bigpapasmurf.5623:

skystorm.9280:

Could someone please tell me what Ghost Thief is?

Its a thief build that utilizes 100% stealth up time. Mainly using the condi variant,using caltrops/traps and steal, all which inflicts no physical damage…thus never breaking stealth. You could technically kill someone/stomp and they will never see your character.

Its gimmiky and played by those either bored or just want to troll (I play this when im really bored in wvw) or by those that can’t thief (those that play it seriously). Its also typically a vanilla thief due to the traits it needs to sustain 100% stealth uptime.

ah yes. THAT build -.-

Thank you for the reply!

Could someone please tell me what Ghost Thief is?

Ill try and throw my 2 cents in and not say things that have already been said; I would like the ranger to incorporate a bit more stealth and some sort of unique damage mitigate gimmick.

As it stands for stealth they have LB 3, Druid trait in shadow, and combo with sword 2/ GS 3/ staff 3 + smokescale f2 (might be 2 more other ones).

For evades they have standard 2 charges, and sword 2, 3 + dagger 4 and I am happy with that but we look at Mesmers who can slip away dead fast and gain distance, then murder ball you with clones that are just as powerful as our pets – ok.

Daredevils have an extra dodge and blinds and stealths with bursty burst (but once you catch them on a stun they drop and have to run to reset so we can use that time for us as well). I can go on and on but it just seems like Ranger doesn’t get a lot of love and I say this as someone who plays everything BUT ranger.

Players can draw out the pets while running away, jump back on the ranger while the pet is catching up and thats damage lost from the ranger (and spirits are lame now). Now saying to give the ranger more melee dmg is just being lazy and introduces the potential for imbalance so I would argue that instead use the same theory with squishy profs like mes and thief to give them avoids and stealth we could do the same for ranger. After all, lorewise they stalk, hide, camouflage.

I would like to see a very competitive melee weapon (that isn’t a hammer).
GS is a little bit of a let down, just wish it was I dunno just a little sweeter, but hopefully it can reach max potential with the new elite. With that said I am quite hoping to see dagger!

Metabattle is really a very helpful place to come back to and find footing after a break.
I would suggest my best advice is to be open minded with PvE; staff is really just that good and we shine best in raids as support and healers, our condi damage as ranger gets us in groups, or you know see what your local rangers/druids are running around with.
Welcome back!

finished the whole story without dying once while running zerk/marauder GS/LB remorse build. You just really have to be in the habit of going in and out of celestial form as often as you can.

@DGraves yea man defense – damage is great really. It can get me by for a while but if a fight goes for too long im just screwed really.

@Morrolan yup its great in pve.

please post your builds to share with me or anyone who cares to peek – im really curious and would love to see what changes ppl make.

yup pretty much

I tried something like this but its meh really http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdAQFASnUUB1ahtoCWXBEqil7iS8g6hcAcBjwAg+2j9ZH-TlCFQBIRJH72fQhKDUnOgmoUALKBJwDAwQqqoP1KAwFAozgAwEAYbbrtJNSBUxOL-w

Saw someone running flamethrower scrapper power build, was pretty hard to beat as a thief and had to out play a lot to get him down. Thought I would give it a try on my own engi, was wondering if anyone had any similar builds they were running atm in WvW for solo/ roaming?

Thanks for the share!
Had some difficulties opening the build linked in the video but managed – I do like the full trapper build with GS and LB (the pulls and condi cleanse from GS are really useful I’m finding).

Doesn’t fair well against most scrappers once they come back, but then who does these days -.-

Hi there Hunters. Im a WvW soloer – sometimes a buddy up with a friend or two and we mainly roam, I just got my full DH elite spec unlocked and want to start – Im thinking running the pvp trapper rune, marauder armor + weps: is that viable in WvW solo/ small party roam?

Suggestions and very welcome!

+1
this is ridiculous….

Posted on Reddit and was told that the community here is pretty solid so with that said – I’ve been playing around with condi D/D in pvp and loving it. Just a blast to be able to take on +2-3 players and keep them occupied on me long enough for my team to take points.

Really nice to not have to sit in shadows for defense and rely on backstab (which is now not really cutting it) for killing players and the new mentality is a welcome one for me at least.

I focus mainly on WvW solo roaming – sometimes with a buddy. I’m looking to hear from what success people have had with D/D and/or staff. I really like the prospect of condi d/d but not sure how that transitions from small pvp zones into wide space WvW. I have to get used to staff as a weapon, but I like how it functions as well and the sustainable damage it provides.

At the moment im trying out marauder D/D weapons, valk armor, zerker trinks – pretty good but nothing incredible.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

If you purchased the whole package, and find an episode locked, you can contact the CS Team for assistance, using the ‘Support’ link above/below.

Good luck.

Thank you ill give a shot – will update when I get any news in case this happens/happening to anyone else

I bought the season 2 package from the Black Lion Trading Post a while ago – I just realized that it didnt come with every episode and The Dragons Reach, Part 2 is unlocked – I didnt think anything of it (should I have gotten the whole package aka every episode?). I decided to just go ahead and spend 200 gems on the episode but it says that I am unable to connect to the network? wut?

screen shot here attached

Im a thief looking for a mentor for pvp and wvw

EU server Blacktide

Yup! Did that already just in case to save time, was just wondering if anyone else had gone through this since the games been out for about 2 years old or so now

I am currently living overseas in Europe and have a United States issued credit card. My billing information differs from any of the country options given at checkout and I am having trouble purchasing the game – has anyone had this problem, if so, how can I resolve this issue?