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Last night I came to the realization that my Ranger is not spec'd right for WvW. What are some great Ranger WvW specs than can also double for PvE? I am also curious what other Rangers are using for their pets while in WvW. I've been using a bear/fern hound combo but I switched last night to try a devourer. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
http://www.gaiscioch.com/tavern/guildwars_pvp/post_64124.html
Look in this post... I've been experimenting with Bwazo's builds. I really do like the signets - 6 secs of immunity and the other one for stability work out really well.
I tend to use SB/LB though especially since I used the trait for "all arrow attacks piece" and I also have the trait for reducing recharge bow attacks - so both my weapons benefit from both traits. This works really well in both PvE and WvWvW. I know he started running with GS but that isn't my style. So weapons depends a lot on your personal preferences. But I believe SB is a must - damage is too great and it has single target stun and daze when hitting from side/behind - so runners are now fair game. But... I carry SB, LB, Sword, torch, GS, Dagger, and Axe in my inventory to switch it up and as I love sword/torch in PvE.
Pets - well, I use spiders but that is my preference for several reasons. They keep at ranged so they don't die as fast when fighting zergs in open field. They have poison clouds for AE. They have "web" for sticking runnings to the ground and their specials are on short cool downs and affect my attacks so I can work them into my rotations easier.
But Bwazo's posts were a huge help to me.
30 points in Wilderness Survival is a must unless you will never be in melee. Zergs take the 30% dmg reduction, for roaming take the pets take 3 condi's every 10 seconds. From there your options open up quite a bit.
Pets:
Jaguar is your best DPS pet (though all cats are good for dps, dont use birds), while canines have some of the overall best Utility. Solid CC, good F2's, somewhat tanky and somewhat good dps. Fern Hound has an excellent 5 target AoE heal, while there is also a wolf with a Fear and a hound with an Immob. If you will mostly be in Zergs take a look at some of the tankiest pets instead. Also, check out the Drakes. Their ability chain has a blast finisher and their F2's have some good AoE.
Personally I only use Cats (roaming w/BM build), Wolves, and Drakes. Though I've been considering going tankier (like bears) for full blown zergs.
Tagging:
Piercing Arrows and the Greatsword will do you the most good for tagging people in zergs.
Roaming:
Beast Mastery builds (30 in BM and 30 in Wild Surv) roam very very well. The Jaguar with 30 BM and with Sick Em does some pretty impressive dmg. Slap on some healing gear and you have a bunker build that still deals really solid dps. If ever using healing gear use the Fern Hound.
Frontline Support:
You can build just about any way you like excepting 30 Wild Surv (which really is just about mandatory for any frontline/roaming fighting as a Ranger). Slap on some Toughness and use Axe OH with binding roots Elite. Run into front line and pop your number 5 Axe, elite before/after pending zerg, and you will seriously mess up their day.
OK - now I have another build to experiment with :)
I call my wvw ranger spec the Regeneranger. My traits are:
0:
0:
30: III, VIII, XII
10: III
30: IV, VI, XII
Utilities are Troll Ungent, Sig of WIld, Sig of Hunt, Lightning reflexes, and Entangle. Gear is mostly Apothecary to take advantage of the ranger's abundant sources of regen. I have earth runes on armor, but Dwayna is another good choice. Weapons are SB and S/T. I use a sigil of corruption on SB and Bursty/Hydromancy on S/T. Mango pie or lemongrass poultry are both great foods.
This build is super-tanky, has good condition damage, and poor direct dps. The key to this build is all the protection and regen you get passively and through procs. I find I have almost 100% protection uptime when fighting. Both weapon sets will give you evades that proc protection. I can usually outlast most enemies one on one, and it takes 3 persistent enemies to down me.
What are you guys using to get rid of conditions?
One of the things I have noticed is when I stand off to the side at max distance, zergs tend to ignore me since arrows don't really call attention to me like spells from the casters which typically scream "Hey! - I'm over here come and get me!!!"
Also can anyone confirm... someone was saying in chat the other day that nothing above 2500 armor makes a real difference... right now I'm almost at 3000 so if this is true I can readjust some of my trinkets to put bonuses elsewhere.
Thanks.
Healing Spring does, can't recall if I trait Tabitha for condi removal or not, seems like I do. I can post her build if folks want me to. I was going to post it a a few months ago, but I got sidetracked by other things and stopped playing GW2 altogether. I'll be playing again on a limited basis, but once I go over her build again to make sure it still does what I want, I can post it.
Hm, 2500 armor soft cap. Yea, that sounds about right. There's no hard numbers that can be logged, or dev postings to support the claim, but I agree with other's observations on that matter. If you armor up to that amount, you will be good to go for any situation, for any class. Personally, I shoot for 2300-2500 in general when I am making a survival build, it really depends on the class and what traits are going to be in your build.
Thanks Sek - I am usually right around 2500 on my characters but I did have a couple 80's that were close to 3000 until I recently modified them to add more points in other places. I have used healing spring to cure conditions - I just hate to be tied to a small area for my healing and I've ran into some very good players that recognize the ground targeted healing and either pull me (and my friends) out or knock out. But I guess that is all part of the game ;)
Been using this build now in WvW: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQNAV8fjEVN1dVmVg2BiVBB1ekJJhJ3jS5/TdyoqkK-j0BB4iwoOBKTqIasVTFRjV3ATxiIq2joIa1A-w
It's pretty much awesome. Highly tanky, good condi removal, strong condi dmg, support for team, and will upgrade well into Dec 10th buffs when you can pick up the Shout mastery with moving spirits. The pets can change easily depending on needs. Also sometimes I swap the sword for an axe.
