80 replies to this topic

[Nusse95]

Can you please link me your Links one more time?  I can not open them.

[Bakelith]

Links are actually broken (probably out of date since we got BWE3).

[Dimglow]

Bakelith, on 28 July 2012 - 08:05 AM, said:

Links are actually broken (probably out of date since we got BWE3).

This is correct. I don't want to update the guide until release, but here are some examples of how I would spec now:

Shaman:
Would use same pets and weapons/combinations.
http://www.gw2db.com...|1802|1800|0|0|

Druid:
Would change pets to Hawk for DPS and a drake of your choice for tanking. Bears are no longer legitimate tanking options due to their weak toughness. Please note that if the "Sick 'em!" utility skill makes it into the game then a Druid is almost surely going to want it as a utility skill.

When pet DPSing:
http://www.gw2db.com...|1803|1802|0|0|

When pet tanking:
http://www.gw2db.com...|1803|1799|0|0|

Warden:
This build has changed a lot since it is now worth going 30 into Wilderness Survival. Same weapons and everything else though. Also here is hoping evasive purity returns to value. Please note that if the utlity skill "Protect Me!" makes it into the game a Warden will almost certainly want it and would drop their utility spirits. Their utility skills would then be Signet of the Wild / Signet of Stone / "Protect Me!"

http://www.gw2db.com...0|1281|0|0|0|0|

The Wanderer build was gutted pretty bad and there is no real way to spec for it currently. The evasive purity nerf removed the motivations for splicing the build like it was before.

They really need to improve non-spirit options in Nature Magic, polish Beastmastery so more than 5 or so traits are worth taking, and make the middle traits of Wilderness Survival more beneficial. The lack of three pet oriented utility skills also obfuscate things a bit now. "Protect Me!" could become incredibly powerful, as could "Sick 'em!"

[Rhynox]

Sorry to necro an old thread, but wondering if anyone has been having success with support builds in later builds?  Everyone seems to be running damage builds primarily, don't see much support out there

[Rhydian]

Dimglow, on 28 July 2012 - 03:51 PM, said:

This is correct. I don't want to update the guide until release, but here are some examples of how I would spec now:

Shaman:
Would use same pets and weapons/combinations.
http://www.gw2db.com...|1802|1800|0|0|

I am using something VERY similar to this but taking the vitality to power bonus as well.

But I use IV in marksmanship A brown bear and a blue moa bird for protection and shedding conditions, that along with the condition removing skills and elite along with healing spring make you a constant pain in the ass. I do damage by converting 10 percent of vit and healing into power and stacking heals and vit. because with all the life saving buffs you do with my version of it, they tend to want to kill you fast, which makes 25k  health useful when you can heal so fast.

I will probably do a different Ranger build I find pure support boring as all hell, but I like testing them anyway, I did use this on the stress test today just to see, with predictable results.

Rhynox, on 03 August 2012 - 12:01 AM, said:

Sorry to necro an old thread, but wondering if anyone has been having success with support builds in later builds?  Everyone seems to be running damage builds primarily, don't see much support out there

Most of my builds are at least half support, with Necro I run vampire wells one version with staff and blood mark emphasis, Guardian I do a mace shield set up with lots of pushback and with ranger I use something alot like his Shaman set up. It is far more satisfying to go for defense points and revives than to do another Condition build, I have a condition build or two, I can sleepwalk 200+ games with my condition ranger.

[Arkano]

Dimglow, on 24 June 2012 - 02:38 AM, said:

Playstyle:
Your goal will be to place Healing Spring in a place where as many allies will stand in it or combo with it as possible. Due to the high compassion of the build you will be healing for roughly 300 hp/s from regeneration with any combinations set off using your compassion and generating thousands of additional healing. Throwing axes through the water field is a great way to bounce around additional healing as well. If the fight looks bad use your elite skill Spirit of Nature to further pump healing, granting an additional 480 hp/s to nearby allies. Done correctly you should be able to sustain over 1000 hp/s on all of your allies for an entire minute at a time. This level of sustained healing is unapproachable by any other class.

Throwing axes through the water doesnt give you regeneration? You get a water healing too? thats great, some1 tested it?

[addis]

any of these builds work thru the stress test?

[Dimglow]

Arkano, on 07 August 2012 - 05:18 PM, said:

Throwing axes through the water doesnt give you regeneration? You get a water healing too? thats great, some1 tested it?

It gives regeneration. It is just a way to spread it outside of the field.

[Rp40]

Saving this for future reference.

It was easy for me to create a SB axe/WH support spirit build because warhorn such a good boon with boon duration.

But focusing on Longbow was more difficult for WvW.
Also didnt care to take advantage of warhorn fury with not going into skrimish at all.
So I came up with this. Fern hound for more support and Spider for WvW range pet survivability.

http://www.gw2build.....0.20.0.0.30.20

Edited by Rp40, 08 August 2012 - 04:43 AM.

[frettr00]

That is all.

[LUDAK987654]

That WH need to  get nerfed,that skill alone is doing more dmg than eviscerate or back stab and more than any combo i have seen.
Even halfed it would still be op,i dont think any other skill cross professions  can apply 16 stacks of bleeds so fast....
Wonder if norn racial call owl is op as this .

[minbari]

Relax, that build has been nerfed into the ground.

[UmThatOneGuy]

LUDAK987654, on 12 August 2012 - 07:42 AM, said:

That WH need to  get nerfed,that skill alone is doing more dmg than eviscerate or back stab and more than any combo i have seen.
Even halfed it would still be op,i dont think any other skill cross professions  can apply 16 stacks of bleeds so fast....
Wonder if norn racial call owl is op as this .

not only has it been nerfed, the warhorn wasnt what was applying the bleeds.  double sharpening stone did 10 and crits applied the rest with earth signet and sharpened edges trait.

Sharpening stone has been nerfed so you cant apply it again before the duration runs out (no double ss) and earth signet got an internal cooldown.  You can still stack 25 bleeds but you need to push 6 buttons instead of 3.  And have more skill at ranger.

[Arkano]

UmThatOneGuy, on 12 August 2012 - 12:30 PM, said:

  You can still stack 25 bleeds but you need to push 6 buttons instead of 3.  And have more skill at ranger.

How can you stack 25 bleeds?

Thank you.

[UmThatOneGuy]

My spirit/bleed build (based off the vid posted above)

http://gw2skills.net...rkWtqYUxpidFvKA

As a personal preference 10 points can be taken out of wilderness survival and put into marksmanship. This sacrifices some toughness, condition damage, warhorn cooldown reduction, and protection boon on dodge for a free sharpening stone (5 bleeds) at 75% health, Opening Strikes (vulnerability on first attack), and a little power and condition duration.

This build is 0/20/20/30/0 Focusing on getting bleeds on target, and having traits and spirits buff you, your pet, and allies.

Boons
All the boons you get also get applied to your pet.
when you have a boon you and your pet do an extra 5% damage.
Boons last 30% longer.
Stone Spirit has a 35% chance to give you and nearby allies protection
Swapping weapons grant swiftness and fury.
Dodging gives Protection to you and your pet for 2 seconds

Conditions
Crits have a chance to cause bleeds.
Sharpening Stone causes bleed on the next 5 attacks.
Axe (2) causes 5 bleeds.
Axe (3) causes the next pet attack to apply chill
Shortbow (4) causes the next 3 pet attacks to apply bleeds
Shortbow (2) causes 5 poison.
Shortbow (1) can cause bleed if hit from side or back.
Lynx (F2) causes 2 bleeds.
Lynx (maul) causes 4 bleeds.
Lynx (slash) causes vulnerability.
Hyena can knockdown or apply cripple.

Skill Recharge
Shortbow, Warhorn, and Sharpening Stone all have 20% faster cooldown

Damage
Points equal to 10% of your vitality is applied as a bonus to power.
56% crit chance.
20% extra crit damage.
+200 condition damage.
Storm Spirit has a 35% chance to give you and nearby allies 10% more damage.
Swaping weapons and using Warhorn (5) will grant an extra 20% crit chance each.
Hyena (F2) doubles its damage, knockdown and cripple applications by summoning another hyena.

Survivability
+200 toughness.
+300 vitality.
Healing spring will grant regen and remove conditions. Also counts as a water combo field to shoot through.
Spirit of nature will remove conditions and 2sec revive downed players.
Stone Spirit grants protection.
Endurance recharges 50% faster for more dodges.

Playstyle on this build is medium and short range, getting in close (use dodge to gain the protection boon) to make sure all 5 applications of the condition on Shortbow (2) and Axe (2) hit. Stay at medium range otherwise to keep yourself out of trouble. Swap weapons often to gain Swiftness and Fury for you and your pet and keep the 5% damage buff up for you and your pet by always having a boon on you. Keep spirits and sharpening stone up every time they are off cooldown, except for the Elite: Spirit of Renewal. Use the elite when you or an ally is in trouble and if you activate its ability within 2 seconds before you are downed it will instantly revive you.

Optimal rotation is: Spirits and Sharpening Stone active, Warhorn (5), swap weapons, Shortbow (4), Lynx (F2), Shortbow (2), swap weapons, Axe (2), Warhorn (4). This should will put 12 guaranteed bleeds plus usually another 6 to 10 from crits, 5 poison, and 2 vulnerable on your enemy in 7 seconds. I have seen as high as 25 bleeds with this rotation.

Dodging into mele range for Shortbow (2) and Axe (2) will get you in close so you hit the foe with all 5 projectiles from each attack and give you and your pet a 2 second protection boon. Then dodge to the side or through your target to take advantage of Shortbow (1)'s bleed effect on auto shot.

Keep Warhorn (5) up as much as possible for might and fury boons. Swap weapons as much as possible to give yourself another fury boon and swiftness. Warhorn (5) and weapon swapping will give you over 90% crit chance and that means more bleeds.

If you need to go defensive, drop healing spring and kite inside of it to keep getting regeneration for you and your pet and to use it as a combo field for your projectiles. Activating the abilities on Stone Spirit and Storm Spirit will lay down fields that will cripple, immobilize and chill your foes. Worst case scenerio use your Elite: Spirit of Renewal to try to cheat death by timing a self rez right before you die. The spirit's rez ability takes 2 seconds to cast so die within those 2 seconds and you pop right back up at about 1/3 life.

Points in toughness and vitality keep this from being a glass cannon build and lets you survive in a fight. If you need even more survivability you can change some of the cooldown reduction traits to more survival traits, like regen at 75% health, pet regen on crits, disables like stun go to pets instead of you, stealth on disables, and so on.

Edited by UmThatOneGuy, 12 August 2012 - 07:44 PM.

[Arkano]

Very informative post, thx for share your build. Did you try that build after the earth sigil & spirit nerf?

Do you know if frost spirit increases condition damage?
Did you test if putting 2 earth sigil has +120% chance? or 2 chances of 60%?

Edited by Arkano, 12 August 2012 - 08:11 PM.

[UmThatOneGuy]

Yes I tried it after the nerfs.  I played with that exact build on the 8/10 4 hour stress test and tested for number of bleeds I could get on the golems and chieftan npc's in the spvp waiting area before I went into spvp.  I wasnt even using a bleed pet that could have popped it up even more.  I know the lynx typically drops 8 bleeds on first 2 hits if you make it attack with its F2.

I didn't try it with the frost spirit, and anyway its hard to tell about condition damage because it doesn't show up in the combat log, nor does your pet damage.

[Bioluminescent]

I am shocked that most Ranger runners seem to not value the Beastmastery catagory as seen above in the 0/20/20/30/0 set up.  This is common with every one I have reviewed.  Is the Beastmastery Catagory Mute?

[Doomsday Jesus]

Bioluminescent, on 19 August 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

I am shocked that most Ranger runners seem to not value the Beastmastery catagory as seen above in the 0/20/20/30/0 set up.  This is common with every one I have reviewed.  Is the Beastmastery Catagory Mute?

Beast master is somewhat lacking due to the fact that the pets act kinda wonky sometimes. When they work, they work great, but sometimes they just run along behind somebody not attacking or get stuck somewhere. Putting alot of points enhancing a aspect of your class that doesnt always work is a waste in most peoples mind.

That's from a pvp standpoint. I have done very little PvE as I wanted to save that for release, but i imagine pets would work better in PvE than PvP and might warrant a second look at the Beastmaster Line for that reason.

Edited by Doomsday Jesus, 22 August 2012 - 10:51 PM.

[Lackies]

Pet issues aside, the problem with Beastmastery in general is that its hard to get it to synergize.
Some examples:
No traits in beastmastery benefit from increased + healing. I.e. if you wanted to be a better healer, other than your pets healing for more... which isn't dependent on YOUR + healing anyway ( and I'm not sure if empathy gives + healing to pets, never checked).
Minor traits in Beastmastery encourage pet swapping but traits I, II, V, and XII all actively encourage leaving one pet out. To be totally fair VI, and X also encourage but imo are pretty lackluster.
Pet buffing traits effect a limited number of pet types. In general the traits giving pet families certain advantages would be much more appealing if they were merged/combined. After all few rangers are gonna run something like Cat/Cat. Most beast masters might run 1 pet for tanking with a CC f2 and then another pet for DPS, or 1 ranged pet, and 1 tank pet. 1 buff /dps pet and 1 heal pet. etc etc. point is if you want the extra utility from the pet traits odds are it'll only affect one of your pets that you'll only be using part of the time. Stuff like that is okay for weapons, but is a little obnoxious and seems underpowered for pets.
And finally some of the traits are just weak or at least weak seeming. Most have at least some potential use, but on the whole they lose to traits in other lines.

[Elsara]

To the person who said ranger is 4th or 5th in DPS you sir are a bit wrong there.   I am full DPS crit spec with condition damage, and my pets have almost as much power and precision as I do.  Not only do I hit like a truck but so does my pet.  A full DPS spec ranger can hit REALLY hard, and they are by now means bottom of the food chain as far as DPS is concerned.  If you go support spec you will see your damage reduced by at least 50%, but if you are DPS spec, there are not very many classes other than a DPS spec warrior that can beat a ranger.