21 replies to this topic

[King]

Hello all,

So I just got to level 80 on my Sylvarian Ranger, now I am looking to go mostly into WvW and some PvP. I have been looking at several builds. Basically what would be ideal is for me to be able to deal out damage yet not get squished to easily, this being for mostly roaming not zerging.

Now I'd appreciate help and suggestions on what I should look for in armor, weapons and traits.

I know this is a lot to ask but I want to get a large perspective and viewpoints from different people!

Thanks in advance!

[North]

I'd rather not have to re-copy and paste, but check out the Ranger mega-thread we got going. I've posted a few builds, and others have as well.

[King]

A little outdated if you are talking about
https://www.ehmrybay...ad/page__st__60

But I have been thinking about Knights Emblazoned armour, not sure yet though. I'd most likely be going for Longbow w/ Great Sword but I am open to the idea of axes with war-horn yet the axe can hit multiple targets which can be an issue and handy in some cases.

[Tavvar]

I think the ones posted at the end are a bit more up-to-date (at least I am assuming they are). I was just asking about the same thing on that thread and North was the only one to respond, so if you want something different, you may have to look elsewhere.

I am trying to switch my ranger over to the Apothecary build mentioned in the second to last post. My ranger is my main, but I kinda ran out of things to do with her, so I'm hoping to get her used again.

[Slein Jinn]

Had meant to reply to this a while ago, but I let it slip away from me among all the other things I have going on and kinda forgot about it.  

I'd be happy to put together some builds for you in the near future (probably no later than the coming weekend).  Before I invest the time in that, though, I put to you the same general question I always ask at such requests.  What are your resources like, and in what other areas of the game will you be using this character?  Also, the term "roaming" gets used to mean anything from 1v1 and soloing camps to running with a group of 5-10; the needs of each are rather different, so a bit more specificity on your original statement would be helpful, too.  

For roaming, most classes (really everyone except Elementalist and Guardian) have viable options for both Power builds and Condition builds, and this is true of Rangers, too.  In general, though, I do think the Condition builds are stronger overall for Rangers right now.

[Tavvar]

I am using (most) of that apothecary build posted on another thread. I am only using my ranger in WvW right now because I have World Complete on her, and other characters are more interesting the in the Living story stuff.  For resources I assume you mean gold, karma, etc? I have 123 Gold, 500k Karma and 948 Badges of Honor. I am currently soloing camps and mostly doing 1v1 and trying to learn how to not die quickly or at least easily, I can do a it with a group, but I normally switch characters if I start running with our one of any size.

What other information would you like to know?

Here is the build as I am currently running it: http://gw2skills.net...pkrm9HIFwkSjA-e

Thank you for your help!

[Slein Jinn]

By "resources", I don't just mean what's currently in your wallet, but what avenues of gear acquisition are feasible for you, and how big of a hardship would it be for you to be running builds with radically different gear setups in different settings.  (e.g. Could you run one set of gear with Runes of Melandru in WvW and another with Strength in PvE, or is that out of your reach?)

Some people have practically limitless resources and can carry separate complete sets of gear for every area of the game.  Other people have a hard enough time just getting together one set of optimal gear, and therefore would do better to run builds that have the maximal amount of overlap in their gear requirements.  

In practical terms for a Ranger, that basically means do you want to run a Power build for roaming because you can build it using the gear you'd use in PvE and WvW zergs, or do you want to run a slightly more optimal Condition build that will be quite poor outside of roaming and therefore require swapping basically every single piece of gear when you move to a different part of the game?

[UltraEM]

I will probably be building my ranger for power since I can't afford the stuff required for a more specialized condition build.

[Tavvar]

I have an apothecary set of armor and weapons as well as a PVT set that I used for PvE mapping and such, and the weapons for that. I don't have back up trinkets, but they are not too hard to make/buy. So I really am just looking for some WvW advice, I've finished everything (except the PS) in PvE. I think the optimized condition build would be best, as switching is not a problem. (though since you mentioned runes of strength, I do view those as a tad to expense at 14 g each last time I looked).

Does that clarify things?

[North]

Apothecary is probably the strongest roaming WvW build for Rangers. Up to debate, but conditions are mad strong in solo duels. Zerker is also great in small skirmishes such as 2v2/3v3, but quickly becomes a bit of a burden once more numbers show up, as a Zerker ranger has to be stationary and in prime position to do optimal dps.

PVT Ranger is, in my opinion, the most consistent in organized group fights.

[UltraEM]

Question!! My Ranger is almost 80, and I'm planning to put PVT Armor on him. However, I want to be a little more versatile with my trinkets/accessories. One of the things on my mind is Cleric's, so I have more healing power, or maybe even Berserker's for some extra punch, but my resources are limited and I cannot try everything, so I need a recommendation on what's better overall. Or should I just go full PVT?

[Slein Jinn]

Without saying anything more about what you want it to do, I'm just going to go with the go-to build from HERE:

30/20/20/0/0 Soldier/Zerker...
Or the variation.

[UltraEM]

Wow, it's already very similar to the build I'm running now (that I just put together by myself without looking at anything), sans the trait distribution since I was experimenting with it. It even has the runes that I wanted to put on it (If only I could afford those Melandru runes /cry)

Thanks.

[Tavvar]

Any more advice on the Apothecary set I talked about above?

[Slein Jinn]

UltraEM, on 05 June 2014 - 07:43 PM, said:

Wow, it's already very similar to the build I'm running now (that I just put together by myself without looking at anything), sans the trait distribution since I was experimenting with it. It even has the runes that I wanted to put on it (If only I could afford those Melandru runes /cry)

Thanks.

Don't take this the wrong way, but though your build looks fairly similar to what I recommended on the surface, a deeper look suggests the differences are actually pretty substantial.  You've said you're new to it and still finding your feet, so I'm going to toss you some more in-depth feedback.  

From watching your video from the matchup thread, your build is missing critical elements of my build, and you're not playing it anything like my build is intended to be played.  Not running Muddy Terrain is an absolute sin; it is arguably the most important thing you have to offer as a Ranger.  In general, a midline Power Ranger is mostly there to shit out huge amounts of soft CC to disrupt the enemy stack and leave their scrum more vulnerable to being burned down.  Nothing shits out more soft CC than Muddy Terrain.  In that whole 7:27 video, I don't think I saw you use Barrage even once, either, and that's one of the main reasons for bringing a Longbow at all; not only is it decent damage, but it's also yet another big source of soft CC.  Furthermore, running a runspeed Signet in a zerg environment is a completely wasted utility, and you clearly got caught out a few times by not having the Stability from my build.  And talking of Signets, given that you downed/died with Signet of Stone off cooldown more than once, I'm going to assume that means you're not running Marksmanship XI.  Signet of Stone is in my build for the active effect more than for the relatively minor passive; if you're not going to trait the Signets, then you're better off running the variation with Lightning Reflexes for more reactive survival.  

As far as gameplay, you should be spending the bulk of your time in Greatsword and using the Longbow to pressure backliners after dropping Barrage when you disengage.  Greatsword should be your core weapon with Longbow as the niche tool, not the other way around.  As a midline destroyer, you need to be in the action doing damage, and Ranger Greatsword is a very good weapon to that end.  Even with Piercing Arrows, your Longbow is pretty subpar DPS against the scrum; aside from Barrage, it's really only viable for harassing backliners.  You also need to be using Entangle much more aggressively. Any time the enemy scrum is moving away from yours--even laterally or when both frontlines are pushing past each other--try to hit them with Entangle, allowing your frontline to isolate a few of theirs so you can burn them down.  Finally, the way you're using your Healing Spring, you'd be better off just running Troll Unguent.  Healing Spring is awesome because it's a large 10s Water Field, but you pretty much only ever used it as a reactive personal heal when you were in trouble and away from the scrum; I don't think your Healing Spring got blasted once in that whole video, so it was pretty much a waste.  You should really be using it a lot more proactively--any time it's off cooldown, you've taken basically any damage (it's only going to heal for 20-25% of your health), and your group isn't already on a Water Field--and you should always be calling it so that people know to blast it; Healing Spring is one of the best combat Water Fields around.  

You were away from the support of your frontliners too much to say for sure, but the amount of time you spent in trouble suggests you may need to shift the Soldier/Zerker balance in favour of more Soldier pieces, at least for now while you're getting comfortable--I always look at Soldier gear a little like training wheels--but you may find that spending more time in Greatsword (which offers great damage avoidance) and staying closer to your heavy support resolves your survivability issues on its own without adjusting the build.  

Tavvar, on 05 June 2014 - 11:33 PM, said:

Any more advice on the Apothecary set I talked about above?

Not really.  You hijacked a question intended to enable me to offer advice to the original poster.  There isn't really anything groundbreaking to say about the Apothecary build that hasn't been said elsewhere, such as in thread from which you took it originally.  It's a battle-proven very solid roaming build that sucks in large-scale play, and that's pretty much that.  The main area for customisation is whether to run Shortbow or Axe/Dagger; Shortbow is great when running in a small group, but I much prefer Axe/Dagger 1v1, especially since you're not really going to be flanking.  I'd get rid of the duration Sigils, too; they're kinda pointless, especially compared with such strong alternatives as Bursting, Battle, Geomancy, and Energy.

[UltraEM]

Thanks for all that. I honestly did not know what I was doing half the time since I forgot most of the stuff I read and just jumped into WvW after buying my gear. I'm still in experimental stage, though, so I'm still unsure as to what exactly I want to do. I think the main reason why I played like I did was that I'm so used to being on my Engineer and all I do most of the time is stay as far back as possible and lob grenades into the fight. That clearly didn't work out.  I even forgot to change my skills.

Thanks again for that long analysis. I'm very stubborn ,even when I know I'm wrong, so I was in need of some straightforward criticism of my play-style, since I'm bound to keep doing the wrong thing until someone tells me.

I'm actually not a huge fan of being in the middle of the fight since my high ping (slowest average internet in southeast asia)  keeps me from being as responsive as the people around me. I may end up switching to a roaming build.

At the end of the day, however, I'll still be relatively terrible at every class in this game (including my main Engi) since I don't play as much as everyone else, but your help I think can make me at least decent. lol

[Slein Jinn]

I play from Europe on an archaic machine with mediocre internet, and I do fine on frontline/midline characters.  In large-scale WvW, the demands on reaction time are fairly modest; sPvP and roaming necessitate much narrower margins of reaction time as you dodge specific skills and such.  A little latency isn't really the end of the world; you need to stick with your driver, but beyond that, you're more reacting to Teamspeak than to what actually happens in front of you anyway.  

Rangers are actually really awful in any kind of backline role in GW2.  Despite what the 12-year-old bearbows will bleat at you, "ranger" has nothing to do with fighting "at range"; it's connected with the verb "to range" (as ranging over a territory).  Though many MMO's have reinforced the misconception with building them entirely around bows and whatnot, GW2 Rangers are unquestionably strongest in melee range.  Rangers' Greatsword is a really awesome WvW weapon.

[UltraEM]

Yeah, I'm more than familiar with the actual definition of Ranger. I wanted to run a pure melee roaming build before, but I have problems when roaming solo or small group, so. I just like bows. But I'll definitely take your advice and use the greatsword more.

But I think you may be mistaken about my latency. The internet here is terrible and overpriced. I wasn't exaggerating when I said my country had the worst average internet speed in Southeast Asia. That was a statistic. It's alright in most zerg fights though, since like you said, large-scale WvW reaction time demands are modest, but the problems come in when I am small-group/solo roaming (you need to be faster, and my latency prevents that) and during more-massive-than-normal fights (where I might start rubberbanding everywhere and have my skills activate a second or more after pressing them).

[Slein Jinn]

So you mean it's like American internet?  I don't know about your ISP, but what I know of service in Korea and Japan leaves me thinking "worst ISP in SEA" might be kinda like the dumbest Nobel laureate.  I'm not much of a computer guru, but lag problems with large fights sounds more like it's your machine than your internet...

[UltraEM]

I've been to America.... it's worse than American internet (and more expensive)