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[BLU]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

(yep, it needs one... 10000+ words is a big guide)

I: Introduction

II: About Me (skip if you wish)

III: Optimal Mindset/Attitude

IV: Formulating A Build

V: Pets

VI: Weapons

VII: Utilities, Heal Skills, and Elites

VIII: Traits

IX (coming soon): Sigils & Runes

X (coming soon): Combat Tactics

XI: Release Log

  

I: Introduction

Welcome to my “super-duper” meta guide for the ranger class ( don’t ask why I am calling it that). If you are new to the ranger, or even GW2, I gladly invite you to read along. My objective in this guide is not to hand you a build which you will then have no clue how to use, but rather to teach you about the mechanics of the ranger including: weapons, utilities, traits, combo fields, those cute and deadly little pets we all have, and so on; so that you may go on to experiment with your own builds and enjoy the ranger class to the fullest extent.Obviously there is a lot of information to cover, so be ready to sit down for quite some time, and open up some music while you are at it (I suggest the cowboy bebop albums). One major thing to keep in mind while reading this is that this guide is based upon my opinions, so feel free to discuss (calmly) your own opinions below, and if the community agrees I will adjust this guide. A little about me first....

II: About Me

My name is BLU (well, at least here it is). I am a fun loving gamer who loves to help people in the community of whatever games I am playing. I picked up GW2 after finally giving into the hype about 2 months ago, and I have been tirelessly theorycrafting and just generally awaiting for the game (or betas, or stress tests) to launch so that I can test the builds I make and hopefully progress myself towards my dream of Esports. While I do have classes and work to focus on, I will be trying to pump out as much content as possible, both through YouTube, Twitch, and the blog I have created specifically for builds once the game launches. If you are interested in these materials, you can find links right below, but please finish reading the guide first!

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  Twitch.tv Channel: http://www.twitch.tv/blu42

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  Tsunami Youtube Channel (my videos can be found here): http://www.youtube.com/user/TsunamiGW2

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  My Blog (design is still a WIP): http://rangerblugw2.wordpress.com/

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  My Guild’s (Tsunami) Website: http://tsunamigw2.shivtr.com/

III: Attitude/Mindset

Before you even set foot into tournaments or pick up games, you need to be aware of something. Your attitude and mindset will make a huge impact on how you play and how you are perceived by the community. These are all things that, while they are not part of the game, are very crucial to how you will perform in the game, and while a lot of this may seem like a rewording of Lowell’s mindset section, this is one of the most important parts of the guide. Just a few simple pointers will go a long way to reduce stress and make the game and PvP experience that much more fun.

• NEVER, under any circumstances, commit BM: If you are unaware, BM is the abbreviated form of bad manner. Something a lot of people don’t realize is that games are very much a mind game (and not in terms of your knowledge of the game). If your enemy has you pissed off and HE knows it, than he has already won. If you feel the urge to yell a big ol’ “F*** you buddy!” in /y DON’T. Just compose yourself and find out either how to beat your opponent or, if the time has passed, figure out what you did wrong. Plus, you won't look like a total jerk!

• Keep your cool: If you are getting angry, you are going to be playing worse because you will be focusing more on how much you hate the hundred-blades warrior instead of how to approach each combat situation. Find your own way of “cooling down” quickly. Whether it be a deep breath or a scream into a pillow, just find a way to quickly get back into a focused mood.

• Keep your eyes and ears open: This game is going to be huge for theorycrafting with the amount of  combinations a class can pull off, so you should always be on the lookout for new builds, combinations, or just anything that will improve your game. Don't shut someone off because they can’t dodge correctly, because he or she might have one of the best condition stacking tactics in the game! People are good at different things, so always be open to new ideas.

• Communication is key: This is something that a lot of people don’t get. If you are not communicating with your team, then you are going to die. Call targets, give boon/condition updates, and just generally spout every piece of vital info you can onto the team chatter. If you watch any of the videos I am in on Tsunami’s YouTube channel, you will see that I am constantly spouting out updates on my wellbeing, target, and position. This can easily mean the difference between a win and loss between two teams.

• “More GG, More Skill” : This quote, as spoken by Aleksey "White-Ra" Krupnyk, can be applied to any game, and pretty much anything in life. Regardless if you are winning or not, just remember that by playing the game, you are getting better.

IV: Formulating a Build

Over the rest of the guide you are going to see everything the ranger has to offer. I am not going to link any cookie cutter builds because I do not believe it is a good thing to use. In this guide in addition to learning good tactics for a ranger to use, you will be learning how to create your own builds. The first step in creating your own build is to figure out what you want the build to be about. Each build will focus on one main damage stat, with secondary stats being decided by weapon, utility, and trait choices. The three main damaging stats are as follows:

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  Power: Increases attack attribute by one, increasing damage for all abilities

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  Precision: Increases chance to critically hit

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  Condition Damage: Increases damage done from conditions

In addition to these there are defensive stats, as well as some others that will boost your boons, conditions, and increase healing, among other things:

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  Toughness: Each point of this increases the character’s armor by one, decreasing the amount of direct damage he takes.

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  Vitality: Each point of this increases your HP by 10

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  Boon Duration: (gained from traits) Increases Boon duration by 1% per trait point

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  Condition Duration: (gained from traits) Increases condition duration by 1% per trait point

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  Critical Damage (aka Prowess): (gained from traits) Increases critical multiplier by 1% per trait point

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  Healing Power: Increases overall healing output your character is capable of

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  Empathy (ranger specific): (gained from traits) Increases pet attribute bonuses

Here are the main types of builds, that will correspond with each of one of the three damage types, and synergize with some of the secondary and defensive traits

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  Power Builds: This type of build will focus on mainly gaining power in order to maintain consistent damage.The downside to a power builds is that while it creates consistent damage, there may or may not be a lot of burst

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  Crit Builds: Similar to the power build, this one will focus mainly on Precision and critical damage for extra burst. The downside to a Crit build is that it is heavily reliant on cooldowns, as well as the luck of crits going off in the first place.

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  Condition Build: My personal favorite. This type of build revolves around (you guessed it!) stacking massive amounts of conditions on players to overwhelm them with DoTs. The major upside to this is that the damage of conditions cannot be resisted with toughness unlike regular attacks. The downside to going with a condition build, however, is that if your opponent has enough condition removal (and skill to match it), he will be able to negate your damage to nearly nothing. Condition builds also have a considerably higher skill cap in my opinion due to the management of conditions that you are putting out. Secondary stat will be precision to proc more bleeds (explained later)

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  Support Builds: This kind of build can vary a lot. Support builds will be more focused on synergizing with team mate abilities in order to increase AoE healing output, CC, or just boosting team damage output through combo fields and other means. It can be run with any of the three main damage types

Once you have selected one of these templates, it’s time to start forming your build in greater detail! The main thing to remember is synergy. If you are unaware, this generally refers to things that mesh well together i.e., various elements of your build. Make sure that your weapons, utilities, and traits complement all the other parts of your build, and you will have created a working build!

*End of Post 1*

(Having Issues with images, give me a minute for the rest of the build)

Edited by BLU, 10 August 2012 - 09:12 PM.

[BLU]

V: The Pets

Types of Pets

I am going to start the actual ranger part of this build with what makes a ranger a ranger, and that is his/her pets. There are three types of pets:

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  Terrestrial: These Pets can only be summoned on land and thus, cannot be used in underwater combat. This type includes Birds, Boars, Canines, Moas, and Spiders

  
  
  
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  Amphibious: These Pets can be summoned both above and below ground, but their activated ability (F2) will vary sometimes depending on if you are in or out of water. This type includes Bears, Devourers, Drakes, and Felines

  
  
  
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  Aquatic: These pets can only be summoned while the player is underwater. This type includes the Armorfish, Jellyfish, and the shark

Pet Families

Each pet you have belongs to a family. Pet families dictate which 3 AI abilities your pet will have, along with their base stats. Here is a list of the families along with the abilities they have, the base stats, and the F2 abilities for each member. (All information from GW2 wiki)

Terrestrial

Birds
Slash: Slash your foe.
Swoop: Swoop at your foe, making them vulnerable.
Quickening Screech: Grant swiftness to nearby allies.

Power: 1,374
Precision: 2061
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 2061


Eagle/Hawk:

Lacerating Slash: Slash your foes and cause them to bleed.

Owl:

Chilling Slash: Slash your foes and chill them.

Raven/White Raven:

Blinding Slash: Blind your foes with a slash.

Boars

Jab: Jab your foe with your tusks.
Maul: Maul your foes, causing them to bleed.
Brutal Charge: Charge your foes and knock them down.

Power: 1374
Precision: 1030
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 3092

Forage: Search the area for an improvised weapon.


Canines:

Bite: Bite your foe.
Crippling Leap: Leap at your foe and cripple them.
Brutal Charge: Leap at your foe and knock them down.

Power: 1718
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 2061
Vitality: 1718

Alpine Wolf:

Chilling Howl: Howl at foes to chill them.

Fern Hound:

Regenerate: Howl to grant regeneration to nearby allies.

Hyena:

Howl of the Pack: Howl to summon a hyena ally to fight with you.

Krytan Drakehound:

Intimidating Howl: Howl at foes to immobilize them.

Wolf:

Terrifying Howl: Howl at foes to send them running in fear.

Moas

Peck: Peck at your foe.
Harmonic Cry: Heal yourself and nearby allies.
Frenzied Attack: Attack with a pecking frenzy and make your foe vulnerable.

Power: 1374
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 2748


Black/Pink Moa:

Dazing Screech: Create a cone of sound, dazing foes.

Blue Moa:

Protecting Screech: Screech to grant protection to nearby allies.

Red Moa:

Furious Screech: Screech angrily to grant fury to nearby allies.

White Moa:

Icy Screech: Screech to chill nearby enemies.


Spiders

Spit: Spit at your foe.
Entangling Web: Shoot a web, immobilizing your foe.
Poison Gas: Spit a ball of venom that covers an area with a poisonous cloud.

Power: 1374
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 1374

Black Widow/ Jungle Spider:

Paralyzing Venom: Your next attack immobilized [sic] your foe.

Cave Spider:

Weakening Venom: Your next 2 attacks weaken your foes and make them vulnerable.

Forest Spider:

Deadly Venom: Your next three attacks poison your foe.

Amphibious

Bears:

Slash: Slash your foe with your claws.
Bite: Bite your foe and gain regeneration.
Defy Pain: You take no damage for the next few seconds.
Power: 1374
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 4122


Arctodus:

Rending Maul: Make your foe bleed with a fierce mauling.

Black Bear:

Enfeebling Roar: Roar fiercely, weakening nearby enemies.
(underwater) Enfeebling Maul: Maul your foe, weakening them.

Brown Bear:

Shake It Off: Remove a condition from yourself and all nearby allies.
(underwater) Purge Conditions: Purge all conditions from yourself.

Murellow:

Poison Cloud: Emit a noxious cloud that poisons and damages enemies.
(underwater) Poisonous Maul: Maul your foe fiercely and poison them.

Polar Bear:

Icy Roar: Roar fiercely, chilling nearby foes.
(underwater) Icy Maul: Maul your foe fiercely and chill them.

Devourers:

Twin Darts: Fire two shots from your tail that have a 10% chance to poison.
Tail Lash: Push a nearby foe back with your tail.
Devourer Retreat: Retreat by tunnelling through the ground.



Power: 1374
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 2748
Vitality: 1374

Carrion Devourer:

Poisonous Cloud: Spit a ball of venom that covers an area with a poisonous cloud.
(underwater) Regenerate: Gain Regeneration.




Lashtail Devourer:

Rending Barbs: Rapidly launch projectiles that bleed your target.
(underwater) Lashtail Venom: Your next two attacks Stun your victims. (underwater)

Whiptail Devourer:

Poison Barbs: Spray poisonous barbs in an arc in front of you, damaging and poisoning foes.
(underwater) Poison Cloud: Shoot a noxious cloud at your foe, damaging andPoisoning them.

Drakes:

Bite: Bite a foe with your jaws.
Chomp: Bite a foe and gain health.
Tail Swipe: Attack all surrounding foes with a tail swipe.

Power: 1718
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 2061
Vitality: 1718


Ice Drake:

Frost Breath: Breathe a cone of frost, damaging and chilling foes.
(underwater) Frost Nova: Freeze the water around your foe.

Marsh Drake:

Insect Swarm: Exhale a swarm of insects that hits multiple enemies.
(underwater) Poison Cloud: Create Poisonous bubbles. (underwater)

River Drake:

Lightning Breath: Breathe bolts of lightning that bounce to nearby foes.
(underwater) Electrocute: Charge the water around your foe with electricity.

Salamander Drake:

Fire Breath: Breathe a cone of fire that burns foes.
(underwater) Boil: Boil the water around your foe.

Felines

Slash: Slash at your foe, leaving them vulnerable.
Bite: Bite your foe for heavy damage.
Maul: Slash a foe multiple times and make them bleed.

Power: 1374
Precision: 2061
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 1374

Jaguar:

Stalk: Gain stealth.

Jungle Stalker:

Mighty Roar: Give extreme might to nearby allies.

Lynx:

Rending Pounce: Leap at a target foe, causing them to bleed.

Snow Leopard:

Icy Pounce: Leap at your foe, chilling them.
(underwater) Icy Bite: Bite your foe, chilling them.

Aquatic

Armor Fish

Bite: Bite your foe.
Protection: Apply protection to yourself.
Chomp: Chomp your foe to deal damage and heal yourself.

Power: 1030
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 2404
Vitality: 2061

Stunning Rush: Rush at a foe and stun them.

Jellyfish

Tentacle Slash: Slash your foe.
Healing Cloud: Release a cloud of mist that grants regeneration to you and your allies.
Dark Water: Blind foes near your target with a dark cloud.

Power: 1374
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 2748

Blue/Rainbow Jellyfish:

Chilling Whirl: Whirl your tentacles, chilling the foes you strike.

Red Jellyfish:

Immobilizing Whirl: Whirl your tentacles, immobilizing the foes you strike.


Shark

Bite: Bite your foe, causing them to bleed.
Charging Bite: Charge your foe, striking multiple times and causing them to bleed.
Fear: Make your foe flee in fear.

Power: 2404
Precision: 1374
Toughness: 1374
Vitality: 1718

Feeding Frenzy (shark): Enter a frenzy. Attack faster and bleed on each hit.

Picking your two pets

As I stated earlier, synergy will be the deciding factor of whether a build works or not. In order to pick the correct pets, you will want to pick one that matches your build template. For instance, if you are going with a power or crit build, you would want to take something that does a lot of damage like the Hyena. If you were to go with a condition build, you would want a pet that can apply conditions like the Lynx. Your second pet should be a strategical pick. If you are melee, it would be wise to take something that can stun or immobilize like the Black widow Spider. Take a look above until you find the two would synergize (there’s that word again!) well with your build template and the style you plan to play.

Controlling your pet

This is a skill that you MUST learn, as your pet can do a lot of damage, but he won’t be doing it at all if you don’t know how to control him! Follow these easy steps, and remember that you will learn it with repetition

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  Keep your pet on passive: having your pet on aggressive will have it attacking the wrong target too often, so put it on passive so you have full control over it

  
  
  
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  CHANGE THE DAMN KEYBINDS: this one is optional really, but I find F1 and F2 and so on to be terrible buttons to reach for in the midst of combat, so it may be a smart idea to change them to something a little more convenient. I use z, x, and c for control and have e set to swap pets (weapon swap is q)

  
  
  
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  Remember to attack! : If you are going to have your pet on passive, you have to remember to swap its target every time you do as well, or its damage may be going to waste. Don’t ALWAYS do this though, as sometimes keeping the pet on another target (ie a downed thief) can be beneficial and even keep a player out of the game for a little while

  
  
  
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  You can still control your pet in the downed state! : A lot of rangers don't realize that you still have full control over your pet when you are in the downed state. If you are using a pet with some form of interrupt on it’s F2 slot, then it could mean the difference between life and death!

These are just some of the more important things to remember. For a more indepth guide on pets and controlling them, feel free to check out Sycthrex's guide as well: http://www.guildwars...rexs-pet-guide/

VI: Weapons

The two, three, or even four weapons you choose will be a crucial part of your build, as they determine (mainly) what kind of boons, conditions, and general damage you will be able to put out. Remember the build template? This is where a huge part of your build will either sink or swim. If the weapons don’t match right, you could be too squishy, too gimped, or just plain out worthless. If the weapons do match however, then you will be killing your enemies left and right. Let’s quickly run over the benefits of each weapon, and I will tell you how I feel about each one

Greatsword

• Auto Attack: Free Evade as well as decent damage
  
• Maul: 3 stacks of bleed every 6 seconds
  
• Swoop: 1100 range gap closer and leap finisher that does decent damage as well
  
• Counterattack/Crippling Throw: Free Block and high damage counter attack that cripples (or projectile that cripples)
  
• Hilt Bash: 1 second daze and/or stun

The greatsword works great in both a power build, and I believe it has a fair place in condition builds as well due to the constant bleeds that can be applied by Maul. Swoop is great for closing gaps and also engaging into combat once combo fields have been laid down. While it will put out some very nice damage when enhanced with power, a slower attack speed and rather lackluster base damage makes it a somewhat poor choice for crit builds. (Greatsword Damage recently had damage buffs to Sweep, Maul, and Counter-Attack)

Longbow

• Auto Attack: Varying damage auto attack that hits harder the farther someone is away
  
• Rapid Fire:A high VERY high damage burst of arrows
  
• Hunter’s Shot: Vulnerability (5 stacks, CD was recently reduced) and pet swiftness
  
• Point Blank Shot: A push back with varying effectiveness based on distance to target
  
• Barrage: A Killer AoE that cripples anyone hit by it

The longbow is a very disputed weapon in the PvP scene currently. It has a very high effectiveness in WvW because of the sheer base damage it can do, and a few SPvPers have been able to make it work very well in team fights as well.However, the weapon fires VERY slow, making it easily dodgeable. In the way of burst, all that really exists is Rapid Fire, but if interrupted a large portion of your damage will have been nullified. The weapon has some very high damage numbers, but if used against a skilled player you may end up loosing a lot of damage. They key with this weapon is trying to  use it without being noticed (large fights), because then you will be free to shred damage onto your opponent.

Shortbow

• Auto Attack: can stack bleeds if hit from behind or the side
  
• Poison Volley: An Arc of five poisonous arrows
  
• Quick Shot: A utility that can be used to dodge, as well as proc swiftness if the arrow hits
  
• Crippling Shot: A shot the inflicts cripple, in addition to a bleed stack through your pet
  
• Concussion Shot: A stun and/or daze (literal copy of the greatsword ability Hilt Bash that is used from range)

Shortbow is hands down one of the best weapons for bleed builds. The bow has a slightly higher skill cap, because you will need to constantly be trying to get behind your enemy, but in the end it is worth it It can stack up to two bleeds per shot if you are running with bleed crit procs. The second ability, poison volley, is able to put up to five poison stacks at once on a player if fired from point blank range, so if you are using this weapon always try to get as close as possible when using poison volley. Quick shot is a great ability when you need to dodge with no endurance or if you need to make a quick retreat because it will proc swiftness as well. The fourth and fifth abilities are great for slowing down fast moving targets and they work brilliantly against retreating enemies due to the fact that you will stun if hit from a flanking point. It requires some practice to master, but at the moment the shortbow is a great choice as a ranger weapon.

Axe (mainhand)

• Auto Attack: bounces between enemies
  
• Splitblade: Arc of five axes that causes bleeding
  
• Winter’s Bite: Attack that inflicts both chill and can inflict weakness with the next pet attack

The axe is another weapons that works great for condition builds. The auto attack is rather “meh” damage, but splitblade is an amazing utility for stacking bleeds. It works just like poison volley, so if you are able to shoot it close enough to your enemy it will shotgun and inflict him with 5 bleeds at once! Your third ability, Winter’s Bite, is a great ability to use right before swapping weapons as it is going to slow down your enemy and then weaken him for the burst you are about to put out from the weapon swap.

Axe (offhand)

• Path of Scars: A high damage projectile that also acts as a sort of “boomerang”
  
• Whirling Defense: A whirl finisher that blocks projectiles and also does decent damage (and also recently changed to stack 10s of vulnerability per tick) to anyone in the area

The off hand axe is another somewhat “disputed” weapon. Path of scars is a very nice ability as it will go past it’s target to max range, and then retreat back to you striking anyone along the way. This makes for some very nice damage in a situation where enemies are stacked up. The Whirling Defense is a nice ability if targets are close by, but the current problem with this ability is that it is one of the few which you need to be standing still to cast, making it very easy to enemies to dodge it completely, leaving only the defensive uses of it. Defense does make for a very nice whirl finisher however, and can do a lot of damage if your team is able to place a lot of combo fields down in the same spot. The one word you see me using here is situation, and the truth of the matter is that this is a very situational weapon which will only be used to its fullest extent at certain times.

Sword

• Auto Attack: Plants a cripple, a leap finisher, as well as constant might stacking to your pet.
  
• Hornet Sting: High distance backwards evade that can then turn into a leap finisher with a cripple
  
• Serpent Strike: Another free evade that also poisons the target

The sword is probably the most fun weapon at the ranger’s disposal. The sword offers some AMAZING mobility with each of the three abilities offering at least one way to dodge, in addition to the fastest attack speed. The constant might stacking to your pet makes it an excellent weapon to choose for speccing into beast mastery. When combined with Quickening Zephyr in a power build it is able to burst a target down in seconds. This weapon will work with all three of the templates because it has decent ability damage, along with a quick attack speed for stacking bleeds through crits.

Dagger

• Stalker’s Strike: An evading attack that poisons your target as well
  
• Crippling Talon: Applies 3 stacks of bleed in addition to crippling

The dagger is a really underused weapon that has a lot more power than people give it credit for. Stalker’s strike is a good ability to use if you need to quickly get to range or dodge an ability, and crippling talon is great for slowing down retreating enemies as well as for applying some quick bleed stacks.

Torch

• Throw Torch: Applies a powerful burn condition
  
• Bonfire: Small Fire combo field, applies burn to anyone that steps through it

The torch is a great weapon for condition build. As of the recent stress test, Throw Torch’s burn damage was buffed substantially. Bonfire makes a great trap for any melee target or just any player of (lets say) “lesser intelligence” as they can be kited through it, and if you are using a bow or axe, you can keep targets across the combo field, which will apply even more burns.

Warhorn

• Hunter’s Call: A sequence of 16 attacks that do (base) 36 damage each
  
• Call of the Wild: An AoE buff that will grant fury, might, and swiftness to every ally within a 1200 range

The Warhorn is the all around “good guy” offhand, as you simply cannot go wrong in taking this. You are not only given an amazing damage ability (16 chances to crit, deal high damage, or proc bleeds within a very short period of time) but you will get access to a team buff that will prove amazing for tournament gameplay (your whole team will move 33% faster to points, compared to just a few members of the enemy team).

*End of Post 2*

Edited by BLU, 13 August 2012 - 04:27 PM.

[BLU]

VII: Utilities, Heal Skills, and Elites

Utilities

Now that you have chosen your weapons, it is time to pick your utilities. This is an integral part of your build, because it is here you will finalize your play style. Rangers have five main types of utilities. These utilities are traps, spirits, signets, survival charges, and shouts (3 of these still need to be announced). You can select a combination of the types, or mix and match. Generally, however, you will end up focusing on either utilities that support your team, or utilities for personal defense and damage output. I rarely see support and damage utilities being mixed, but it could very well work.For instance, taking Signet of the Hunt (traited) along with Quickening Zephyr will allow you to burst down opponents Let's look them over

Traps

• Flame Trap: 15s CD: Set a trap that burns foes.
  
• Frost Trap: 30s CD: Set a trap that chills foes (duration of combo field recently cut in half)
  
• Spike Trap: 25s CD: Set a trap that bleeds and cripples foes.
  
• Viper's Nest: 20s CD: Set a trap that pulses poison on foes when triggered.

If you choose to go with traps, than more than likely this means you will be a very condition based ranger. Each one of them will put their perspective condition on the player. Frost and Flame traps also count as combo fields, but Fire Trap has a rather short duration (3s). That being said, while Spike trap and Viper’s Nest are a one time activation, Frost and Fire trap will afflict anyone with the same effect so long as they step into it. They take some time to get used to, but if played right can do some serious damage.

Spirits

Frost Spirit: 60s CD: Summon a frost spirit that has a 20% chance to grant bonus damage to nearby allies.

• Cold Snap: 40s CD: Your frost spirit releases a freezing blast of arctic air, chilling nearby foes.

Stone Spirit: 60s CD: Summon a stone spirit that gives nearby allies a 20% chance to gain protection.

• Quicksand: 45s CD: Your stone spirit softens the earth around it, immobilizing and crippling foes.

Storm Spirit: 60s CD: Summon a storm spirit that grants nearby allies a 20% chance to gain swiftness when attacking.

• Call Lightning: 20s CD: Your Storm spirit strikes the area with a powerful blast of electricity.

Sun Spirit: 60s CD: Summon a sun spirit that grants allies a 20% chance to inflict burning.

• Solar Flare: 25s CD: Your sun spirit releases the brilliance of the sun, blinding foes.

Choosing spirits (and getting traits to have them follow you) is great for countering ranged opponents, as well as supporting teammates with procs and various forms of CC’s to the enemy team. I like to call these “super-soaker” builds because of how much damage the spirits will soak up from ranged shots. They require some extra maintenance (constantly having to spawn them), and they take some skill to plant the secondary abilities (the on in bullets) right (they go off of themselves, not you) but as you can see by some of the effects above, when mastered the spirits are a serious force to be reckoned with.

Signets

Signet of Renewal: 60s CD

• Passive: Removes a condition every ten seconds.
  
• Active: Your pet pulls all conditions from nearby allies to itself.

Signet of Stone: 120s CD

• Passive: Improves toughness for you and your pet.
  
• Active: Your pet takes no damage from incoming attacks.

Signet of the Hunt: 30s CD

• Passive: Grants 10% increased movement speed to you and your pet.
  
• Active: Your pet's next attack deals more damage.

Signet of the Wild: 120s CD

• Passive: Grants health regeneration to you and your pet.
  
• Active: Your pet grows larger, dealing more damage and gaining stability.

Signets work as a series of passive and triggered actives. Traiting into these (we will discuss this later) will enable you to be affected by the actives as well as your pet. So that means you will gain invulnerability (from damage) for 6 seconds (Stone), One of only two ways to gain stability for the ranger class (something we will discuss later), as well as some other great effects. If not traited into, signets still work great for pet focused builds in addition to the bonuses from passives.

Shouts

• "Search and Rescue" : 85s CD: Your pet will seek out and revive a downed ally nearby.
  
• "Guard": 30s CD: Your Pet will aggressively protect the area
  
• "Sick 'Em": 60s CD: Your pet will move faster (about 20%) and deal more damage (about 25-30%)
  
• "Protect Me": 60s CD: Instead of attacking, your pet will take all damage you would for 6 seconds or until the pet is dead.

Shouts vary highly in their use as you can see here. Search and Rescue is a good one for tournament play in order to save downed team mates that would otherwise be unreachable. Guard's use is still being discussed, but in theory it can be used for better pet control. Sick 'Em is great if you are running a build that relies heavily on pet damage, and finally Protect me is another choice for an emergency cooldown if you do not have access to the signet.


Survival Charges

These utilities vary highly, and usually at least one or two of these are taken per build.

• Lightning Reflexes: 45s CD: Evade back with a crack of lightning dealing damage and gaining vigor.

Great for bow builds, this is an excellent ability that can be used for both positioning and retreating. Try to use up your dodges before you pop this or you will be wasting the potential endurance regen.

• Muddy Terrain: 30s CD: Use mud to cripple and immobilize foes.

Another great one for bow builds or just team control. Use this ability to stop a foe from chasing you or keeping the enemy slowed in a team fight. It stays in it’s place for 20 seconds, so its a great thing to lay down if a team fight ever occurs at a choke point. It takes some skill to aim it with it’s cast time, so always aim slightly ahead of your target’s path when casting this, and try to predict his moves.

• Quickening Zephyr: 60s CD: You and your pet gain quickness. During this time you and your pet can't be healed.

This ability is great for bursting down opponents with a quick dash of damage. Combining this with the sword will do some killer damage, especially in a power build.

• Sharpening Stone: 45s CD: Bleed foes (6s) with your next five attacks.

Very simply a must have for any condition build. Guarantees an extra five stacks of bleeds. Should be popped whenever possible, as not using this is just wasted damage in a  condition build.

Healing Skills

The ranger has three healing skills that work very differently.

• Heal as One: 20s CD: Heal yourself and your pet.

The basic heal. Gives back 6520 health instantly to you and your pet.

• Troll Unguent: 25s (recently changed from 40) CD: You and your pet regenerate health over time.

In terms of amount healed, this one will win giving back 8560 health. The problem with it, however, is that it is applied very slowly over a lengthy 10 second period. That is nearly 1k health per second, but still. Personally, I feel that this ability is very weak at the moment, but you may find it to your liking.

• Healing Spring: 30s CD: Create a healing spring that heals you and your pet. Once placed, the spring applies constant regeneration and also periodically removes conditions from allies within its vicinity.

At the moment this is the ability you take in tournament play. It will heal for a base of only about 1.5k less than Heal as One (4920 from Healing Spring, 6520 from Heal as Once), but at the same time will give you a stack of regeneration that heals for 1125 health over 3s, bringing the total healing done to just under 500 that Heal as One would do. In addition to all of this, A water field will be placed down for 15 seconds (that is half the CD of the ability). Not only can you reapply the regeneration stack to yourself, but any ally that steps into the field will also gain the stack of regeneration. This water field is not only one of three water fields accessible in the entire game (elementalists have access to the other two), but it is the longest. Powered with blast finishers, this fountain will pump out an extra 1.5-2.5k heals to anyone in the area of the blast finishers, PER BLAST FINISHER. The only downside to this ability is that it cannot be used underwater, but at the moment water is not a crucial part of PvP (I will reevaluate once I play the pirate ship map). In all seriousness, if you are playing in tournaments, TAKE. THIS. ABILITY.


Elites

The Ranger has three different Elites that all have some amazing uses. Each of them will fit into any build, and they can make for some amazing team play. Some of them also classify into the same categories as utilities, so they will benefit from traits aimed at those utilities.

• Entangle: 150s CD: Entangle your foe. They are immobile until the vines are destroyed. Also inflicts bleeding (20 stacks applied while target is immobilized)

Entangle is a great choice for crowd control and absolutely AMAZING for team fights. This ability can be dodged, but if hit correctly everyone within a 600 radius will be immobilized for either 20 seconds or until the vines are destroyed, and it will also inflict constant bleed stacks on anyone afflicted for as long as they are afflicted Essentially with this ability you could immobilize the entire enemy team and pin them down for focusing. Great utility for pinning someone down or helping to push a team fight in your favor.

• Rampage As One: 120s CD: Rampage with your pet, gaining stability, fury, and swiftness. You and your pet also grant might to each other when you attack.

This elite is the second of only two ways for the ranger to gain stability. To make it simple, this elite is a super buff that will increase your speed, make you immobilized to CC, and then increase your damage output with increased crit chance (fury) and increased damage (might). A great choice for all out damage builds.

• Spirit of Nature: 240s CD:Summon a spirit that heals allies. Command the spirit to revive and remove conditions from nearby allies.
  
• Nature's Renewal (active ability): 30s CD: Command your Spirit of Nature to revive and remove conditions from nearby downed allies.

My personal favorite, this elite is easily the most supportive of the three. The Elite has some amazing support possibilities as you are able to rally allies as well as remove conditions on command with the secondary toggle ability. In addition to this, the spirit will constantly pump out AoE heals to your team mates. It is a must have for spirit builds and an excellent choice in general for team support.

Edited by BLU, 16 August 2012 - 06:16 PM.

[BLU]

VIII: Traits

So now that you have your pet, weapons, and utilities set up; it is time to set up your traits. In Guild Wars 2, traits are essentially talents from other MMO’s, but they work quite differently. Each profession has access to five trait lines. Each trait line will give boosts to two different stats, and each line will have three set minor traits, and three major traits chosen from a set of 12. The major traits will be accessible based on how many points you have in the trait line (1-6 unlock at 10 points, 7-10 unlock at 20 points, and 11 and 12 unlock at 30 points). Major traits have a variety of benefits including stats, cooldown reductions, and new passive utilities. This is where synergy becomes huge, because you are going to want to pick traits that benefit your weapons, utilities, and just your general play style. Let's take a look at what the ranger has in his/her trait line.

**Thanks to Dragosani7 for the theory crafting on unlisted values**

Marksmanship

Stats

• +10 Power for each point
  
• +1% condition duration for each point

Minor Traits

• (5) Opening Strike: Place vulnerability with your first strike upon entering combat
  
• (15) Alpha Training: Pets gain opening strike
  
• (25) Precise Strike: Opening Strike always crits

As you can see, the minor traits for Marksmanship revolve around the opening strike mechanic, which can be enhanced further through major traits (explained in a bit). If you go for the full 25 (or 30) points, then remember to pop heavy damaging abilities first when going into combat, as it is a guaranteed critical hit

Major Traits

• (10) I: Steady Focus: Damage increased by 10% when Endurance is full
  
• (10) II: Malice Training: Increases duration of conditions applied by your pets (supposedly 50% increase)
  
• (10) III: Keen Edge: Use Sharpening Stone (Utility) when your health reaches 75%
  
• (10) IV: Signet Mastery: Signet Recharges are reduced by 20%
  
• (10) V: Predator’s Instincts: Apply cripple to an enemy when he/she reaches 25% health (15s CD)(supposedly 2s Duration)
  
• (10) VI: Beastmaster’s Bond: Gain Fury and Might when your pet’s health reaches 25 percent

These are your options for the 10 point traits. Traits I, V, and VI will work great on any build. Trait I is especially useful if you have a lot of extra dodges from weapons and/or utilities. Trait III is very good for condition builds, as it does not trigger the CD of Sharpening Stone. Trait IV is a good choice for full on damage builds with focus on signets, as it reduces the CD’s by 20%

• (20) VII: Spotter: Increases the precision of nearby allies by up to 70
  
• (20) VIII: Piercing Arrows: All arrows pierce their target (will continue to fire until max range)
  
• (20) IX: Beastmaster’s Might: Activating a Signet grants might (supposedly 5s)
  
• (20) X: Eagle Eye: Increases Harpoon and Longbow Range (by 25%). Increases Harpoon and Longbow damage by 5%

Your twenty point talents are all VERY good choices. Spotter will also work on you as well as your allies, so essentially it is a free 70 point precision buff with an AoE buff for your allies. It is disputed how the trait works currently, but assumably the close allies are the more of a buff it gives. Piercing Arrows is a great choice for bow users because it prevents allies of your target from blocking your attacks (arrows will only hit one target unless they pierce, regardless of target), and it also is useful against players with a lot of pets (necros, spirit rangers) to negate the “super-soaker” that is their squad of deadly critters. Beastmaster’s Might is a great choice for signet users as it boosts your damage output for some time after you use a signet. Eagle Eye is quite obviously great for longbow users.

• (30) XI: Signet of the Beastmaster: Active effects of signets also affect you.
  
• (30) XII: Remorseless: Regain Opening Strike when you kill an enemy

Signet of the beastmaster is an amazing trait for those using signets, as it allows players to gain a substantial damage increase, Condition breaker that is not limited by your pet, as well as invulnerability for six seconds! Remorseless is a nice ability for team fights, as it allows you keep your focus target slowed, and then do the same for the next target once you finish off the primary.

Skirmishing

Stats

• +10 precision per point
  
• +1% critical damage per point

Minor Traits

• (5) Tail Wind: Gain Swiftness when swapping weapons in combat
  
• (15) Furious Grip: Gain Fury when swapping weapons in combat
  
• (25) Hunter’s Tactics: Deal 10% more damage while flanking

The 5 and 15 point traits will be an excellent asset to you in fighting. Going into the skirmishing tree will more than likely mean you are going for a crit build, which will mean the bulk of your damage will come from weapon abilities, so you will be swapping weapons as much as possible, refreshing these two buffs. The 25 point talent synergizes excellently with the shortbow as it has a focus on flanking opponents (flanking is a side or back attack), but it could also work well with any weapon that is able to get behind the enemy easily (sword being another example)

Major Traits

• (10) I: Pet’s Prowess: Pet Critical Hit damage is increased by 33%
  
• (10) II: Sharpened Edges: Chance to cause bleeding on critical hits (1s Bleed)
  
• (10) III: Trapper’s Defense: Creates a Spike Trap when reviving an ally.
  
• (10) IV: Primal Reflexes: You gain 5s of vigor when you are struck by a critical hit (15s CD).
  
• (10) V: Companion’s Might: Critical Hits grant might to your pet (1s)
  
• (10) VI: Agility Training: Pets move 30% faster

Traits I, V, and VI are great if going for a pet focused build. Trait VI is especially useful if using melee pets. Sharpened Edges is an absolute must have for condition builds. The percentage to proc is unknown at the moment, but there are sigils for your weapons that will work in unison with the trait and increase your condition output substantially. Traits III and IV are not as useful as the others, but you may find that you like them as defensive and supportive utilities, so give them a shot.

• (20) VII: Carnivorous Appetite: Pets gain health on critical hits (~1457 heal)
  
• (20) VIII: Trapper’s Expertise: Traps are ground targeted and their area is increased by 50%
  
• (20) IX: Honed Axes: Axe critical damage is increased by 10% (recently nerfed)
  
• (20) X: Quick Draw: Shortbow and Longbow skills recharge 20% faster

Carnivorous Appetite is another great trait to choose for a focus on pets, because it dishes out some extra survivability on pets that focus on crit, like felines. Trapper’s Expertise is a near must have for trap focused builds as it not only makes them easier to trigger on enemies, but it also increases the potential to hit multiple enemies. Honed Axes is somewhat disputable in my eyes because in general axes (mainhand, at least) do not work that well in a crit build. If you are using the offhand axe then this is a much more viable trait to take due to the base ability damage and potential crit power of the offhand compared to the main hand. Quick Draw is a great choice for condition builds with a shortbow as well as builds using the longbow, as it increases burst and the mobility as well through lowered cooldowns on Quick Shot, Concussion Shot, Crippling Shot, and Point blank shot on the longbow.

• (30) XI: Trap Potency: Conditions from traps last twice as long and trap recharges are reduced by 20%
  
• (30) XII: Moment of Clarity: Gain Quickening Zephyr at 25% health

Trap Potency is a must have for trap-focused condition builds. You will be doubling the length of bleeds from spike trap as well as increasing the duration of the cripple to 4 seconds (up from 2), poisons from Viper’s Nest, and the burn from Fire Trap. I generally don't agree with taking Moment of Clarity, because if your health is that low (and this is just my opinion) you should be focusing more on trying to survive than trying to get a last burst of damage out. It does, however, have the potential to work well with a sword because as I stated previously Quickening Zephyr and the sword will make for some ridiculous damage regardless of what build type you are running.

Wilderness Survival

Stats

• +10 Toughness per point
  
• +10 Condition Damage per point

Note of preference: These two are an amazing combo for stats. I absolutely recommend going for the full thirty points if you are running a condition build, as this tree also has some nice traits to benefit conditions as well.

Minor Traits

• (5) Natural Vigor: Increases Endurance Regen by 50%

Note of preference: This is an AMAZING trait. you will be able to dodge 33% more than your opponent. In a 21 second period, an average player will have access to about 8 dodges (takes ~7 seconds to fully regen endurance). With this trait in that same time span you will have access to almost 11 dodges (10.95 to be exact). Try to work this into your build!

• (15) Companion’s Defense: You and your pet gain 2 seconds of protection when you dodge roll
  
• (25) Peak Strength: Deal 5% extra damage when your health is above 90%

I explained above how amazing Natural Vigor is, and Companion’s Defense is enhanced by Natural Vigor as well (used more often). If you have some decent vitality, you will also get a pretty nice amount of use out of Peak Strength as well.

Major Traits

• (10) I: Soften the Fall: Create Muddy terrain when you take falling damage. You take 50% less falling damage
  
• (10) II: Healer’s Celerity: You and your ally gain swiftness when you revive them (3s)
  
• (10) III: Master Trapper: Incoming disables are transferred to your pet (90s CD)
  
• (10) IV: Vigorous Renewal: Gain Vigor when using a heal skill (5s for Heal as One and Ungot, 2s per regeneration stack on spring)
  
• (10) V: Expertise Training: Pets deal additional condition damage (~12.5% condition damage)
  
• (10) VI: Wilderness Knowledge: Survival Recharges are reduced by 20%

Lets get the crap out of the way. Unless you are going to be initiating in WvW by diving in on your enemies from the top of a 100 foot cliff (you won’t, unless you are batman), than Soften the Fall is useless. Now onto more pressing matters... Healers Celerity I see as more of a situational trait (ex: 2v3 and your teammate goes down. You just manage to rally him and now you need to run.. now you have swiftness) and I generally tend to avoid those. Master trapper is a very nice trait, but with a minute and a half CD, it may not be worth it just to remove one disable (you cannot control it either). Vigorous Renewal is somewhat useless in my eyes, considering you already have +50% passive regen, this trait becomes more of a situational (bad word) escape utility in my eyes, thus rendering it not as useful as it could be, but you may think differently. As always, give it a try. Expertise Training is obviously a great choice for condition pets (lynx, most spiders, etc). Wilderness knowledge is the most useful out of these six because it can reduce the cooldown on Sharpening Stone, which will in turn increase the amount of bleeds you are putting out, and thus dish out more damage. Decreased CD’s on the other survival charges (I usually run with 2) are nice as well.

• (20) VII: Offhand Training: Offhand Skills have 20% decreased CDs and increased range
  
• (20) VIII: Oakheart Salve: Gain 5s of regeneration when afflicted with bleeding, poison, or burning (20s CD)
  
• (20) IX: Hide in Plain Sight: Apply camouflage when you are Dazed, Knocked Down, Launched, Pushed Back, or Stunned (30s CD)
  
• (20) X: Sword Mastery: Sword, Greatsword, and spear CDs are reduced by 20%

The 20 point traits from survival offer some really nice utilities. You have the option to take the CD reduction from your sword or greatsword as well as another trait that increases the range of offhands and decreases the cooldowns. Personally, however, I like to go for traits VIII and IX. Oakheart Salve is a very good utility for countering condition damage. It will pop once only 20 seconds, but for about 25% of that time frame most condition damage will be replenished through regeneration. Hide in Plain sight is a great choice for those using melee weapons as it allows you to sneak back in on your target and surprise him.

• (30) XI: Empathic Bond: Pets Periodically take conditions from you. (supposedly once every 10s)
  
• (30) XII: Bark Skin: You and your pet take 30% less damage while under 25% health.

Both of these are excellent choices for survivability. Unless running a build that focuses on pet damage I suggest taking Empathetic bond as Condition Removal is an invaluable resource at the moment. At the same time, taking this trait will also encumber your pet with them, so if you don’t want to be constantly suiciding your pet (ie, it takes a 25 bleed stack off of you) than it may be a better choice taking Bark Skin.

Nature Magic

Stats

• +10 Vitality per point
  
• +1% boon duration per point

Minor Traits

• (5) Rejuvenation: Gain Regeneration when your health reaches 75% (5s)
  
• (15) Fortifying Bond: Any Boon you get is shared with your pet
  
• (25) Bountiful Hunter: You and your pet deal 5% more damage when you have a boon

A lot of great damage support here. Rejuvenation trait is sort of ehh, but fortifying bond will increase pet damage output and survivability substantially. Bountiful hunter is great as well because (assuming you have gone this deep into the tree) your spirits will be constantly feeding you boons.

Major Traits

• (10) I: Circle of Life: Create a healing spring on death
  
• (10) II: Concentration Training: Boons applied to your pet last longer (50% increase)
  
• (10) III: Nature’s Bounty: Regeneration you apply lasts 33% longer
  
• (10) IV: Vigorous Spirits: Spirits have twice as much health
  
• (10) V: Strength of Spirit: 10% of Vitality is given as bonus power (ONLY COUNTS FROM TRAITS AND GEAR)
  
• (10) VI: Nature’s Protection: Receive Protection for 5s whenever you are struck for more than 20% of your total life in a single hit (30s CD)

A lot of these talents are disputable. The first trait just seems counter intuitive because by taking this you would be building your build around dying (note: this ability will proc on death, not being downed), and in the reality of things you should not be dying in the first place! Concentration Training is a decent choice for pet builds, but I wouldn't recommend taking it if you plan on going deeper into this trait line (and if you do than it is expected you are running a spirit build). In its stead you have the option to take either Strength of Spirit which would be a good choice if you plan on running a power build, or Vigorous Spirits which will allow your spirits to soak up twice the damage they normally would be able to. Support builds may find Nature’s Bounty useful. Nature’s protection in my eyes is slightly underpowered to be taken over some of the others. Assuming it is being procced constantly (in which case, you may be taking too much damage in the first place), it only has a 15% uptime, and my general thesis with procs is that if it has less than 33% uptime (unless it is REALLY powerful) it generally is not worth taking.

• (20) VII: Nature’s Vengeance: Spirit’s activated skills are larger and toggle on death
  
• (20) VIII: Spiritual Knowledge: Spirits have a 15% better chance of providing their benefits
  
• (20) IX: Two-Handed Training: Greatsword and Spear damage increased by 5%
  
• (20) X: Enlargement: Pets get enlarged when you reach 25% health.

Nature magic is a very “restricted tree” that only has 3 reasons to go down it in my eyes. The first two of these reasons is to gain extra weapon or pet damage, as well as some bonus survivability from the point stats, in which case your stop is here! Greatsword weapon damage at station IX, and pet damage at X. Enlargement is another one of those traits I feel that are weird because once again, if I am at the low of health I will be focusing more on escaping than dealing extra damage (note: I have never taken this trait, so I believe enlargement means increased damage. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, and I will adjust it) but if that is your play style than more power to you.

• (30) XI: Spirits Unbound: Spirits can now move and follow you
  
• (30) XII: Evasive Purity: Dodging removes blind and poisons from you

If in a spirit build, Spirits Unbound is what makes the build. If you are not taking this trait, then the spirit build is not going to work, I can guarantee it 80%. Evasive Purity is another situational ability. In my eyes, poison and Blind are two conditions I rarely ever find on me, so this trait just is not worth it for me, but you might see reason to take it, so feel free to experiment.

Beastmastery

** This is the area I have the least experience in (only slightly experimented) so I am especially open to feedback and criticism here **

Stats

• +10 to healing per point
  
• +1 Pet attribute bonus per point

Minor Traits

• (5) Zephyr’s Speed: You and your pet gain 2 seconds of Quickening Zephyr when you swap pets
  
• (15) Loud Whistle: Pet Swap CD reduced by 20%
  
• (25) Nature’s Wrath: 10% of healing power is given as bonus power (ONLY FROM TRAITS AND GEAR)

This traitline can be summed up in a few words “you support the team while your pet murders people”. But in all seriousness, I have found that if going in the full thirty points, this trait line will work best with a support/power build. More on the minor traits, Zephyr’s Speed seems to only be useful if you are already engaged with a sword or greatsword. Pet Swap CD reduction is very nice, seeing as how the recent stress test reduced the cooldown even more. The bonus power is also a nice touch to help you deal out some additional damage.

Major Traits

• (10) I: Speed Training: Pets have 10% CD reduction on their skills
  
• (10) II: Master’s Bond: pet attributes increase with each kill, the attributes are lost if the pet is defeated or swapped. (+8 to stats per stack, max 200)
  
• (10) III: Shout Mastery: Shout Recharges are reduced by 20%
  
• (10) IV: Compassion Training: Pets Heal for more (assumed bugged)
  
• (10) V: Commanding Voice: Activated Pet Skills (F2) Recharge faster (20%)
  
• (10) VI: Mighty Swap: Pets gain three stacks of might (10s) when activated

Some of these I would avoid taking due to the fact that the numbers for the abilities aren't known yet.Master's bond is more of a PvE trait in my opinion. In SPvP your pet is constantly going to be downed or you are going to be swapping it for another, so at max you are going to be getting +8 or 16 to stats, which is not that much. Shout Mastery is essentially useless until the other three abilities are announced, at which point even then the viability of shouts will still need to be looked at. The only good traits in this set is  Mighty Swap (which is a nice initial damage increase for your pet) and Speed Training because it will increase the amount overall damage done by your pet, as well as increase the amount of CC your pets put out.

• (20) VII: Rending Attack: Drake, Feline, Devourer, and Shark pets cause bleeding when its basic attack crits (5s)
  
• (20) VIII: Stability Training: Ursine, Armor Fish, and Porcine will gain stability (3s) when disabled
  
• (20) IX: Intimidation Training: Active abilities (F2) of Canines and Spiders cause cripple (5s)
  
• (20) X: Vigorous Training: Moa, Bird, and Jellyfish pets grant AoE Vigor when swapped to.

This selection is very easy, as you will be picking the one that most benefits your main pet. The only real tip I have here is that if you do have a spider with an immobilize, do not take the cripple talent as it will be overshadowed by it’s active ability. I only say this because I do not know the duration of the cripple (if someone wants to confirm this I can adjust the guide).

• (30) XI: Instinctual Bond: When you are downed, your pet gains quickness
  
• (30) XII: Natural Healing: Your pets have natural health regeneration

Instictual Bond is the go to talent here, as you will increase your pet’s already ample damage output by doubling your attack speed, thus increasing the chance for you to survive the downed encounter. I would only avoid Natural healing for the time being due to (ONCE AGAIN!) not knowing the actual benefits.

Changelog:

• Aug 10: v1.0 Initial Release
  
• Aug 11: v1.01Added Unkown Trait Values courtesy of Dragosani7
  
• Aug 12: v1.02Added changed leaked from recent beta stress tests and Alpha tests (Source: 4Chan)
  
• Aug 16: v1.03 Changed trait and utility values to reflect the recent stress test. Also added the last 3 utilities and the corresponding guide. **Parts 9 and 10 should be up around monday**

Edited by BLU, 16 August 2012 - 06:18 PM.

[Adrian_R]

BLU, on 10 August 2012 - 10:22 PM, said:

Yes, unfortunately I do not have good photoshop skills (or HTML skills for that matter) so I am unable to do this. I am looking for someone to do that though so hopefully it wont just be a giant wall of text and bullets for long!

Please don't, wide picture mess up the text wrap on a mobile phone.
Thumbs up for the guide.

[Ravi Fireheart]

Nice post!  I really liked playing the ranger during the last BWE, but in sPvP I had no idea what I was doing trait wise.  This really helped me out.  Thanks for posting.

[Streighnt]

Epic guide.
Best (ranger)-guide I've seen so far.

Must have taken you a long time.

Good layout and distinction between facts and your preference.

Very very nice. Thanks a lot!

This guide should be easier to be noticed by the community somehow.

[Alter E]

Nice job BLU.

[Streighnt]

This should be pinned.

[Sycthrex]

Streighnt, on 13 August 2012 - 11:25 AM, said:

This should be pinned.

It is, all Ranger guides are within one pinned thread at the top of the page

[BLU]

Just updated it with the last 3 traits as well as the adjusted values, the last 2parts should be up by monday if all goes well!


Edit: Sorry that parts IX and X are not out yet. I have been having a lot of personal stuff going on that is keeping me from doing it. Once launch rolls around I should be fully focused on GW2 and be able to pump it out. Thanks for your patience!

Edited by BLU, 21 August 2012 - 06:01 PM.

[Yumx]

The shout recharge reduction is actually a viable option now, if going into the beastmastery trait.
If your going full melee (Greatsword - Sword or Axe/Warhorn), with a feline pet for damage, Sick 'Em combined with Signet of the Wild and Rampage as One, makes your feline pet (atleast the Lynx which I tested) doing around 5k crits and insanely fast.
It's like your having another player bursting your target when you pop all your stuff .

[BLU]

Yumx, on 17 August 2012 - 11:22 PM, said:

The shout recharge reduction is actually a viable option now, if going into the beastmastery trait.
If your going full melee (Greatsword - Sword or Axe/Warhorn), with a feline pet for damage, Sick 'Em combined with Signet of the Wild and Rampage as One, makes your feline pet (atleast the Lynx which I tested) doing around 5k crits and insanely fast.
It's like your having another player bursting your target when you pop all your stuff .

Yea lol, a lot of the guide still needs updating from the last 3 traits being added, planning on doing it along with adding parts 9 and 10

[Firstborn12]

BLU, on 16 August 2012 - 06:20 PM, said:

Just updated it with the last 3 traits as well as the adjusted values, the last 2parts should be up by monday if all goes well!

Great Job, very nice

I got one question tho, the Trait..

(30) XI: Signet of the Beastmaster: Active effects of signets also affect you.

does it active only during your signets, or any on your team. Because the the wording of it makes it sound as if a warroir or Theif actives thier Signets ( in a dungeon, lets say), it will affect you as well. have you testing this out in close range with a team member in a Spvp match or dungeon.

edit note: btw the quote has nothing to do with my question ( as you can prolly see) I just didnt what to snip all the stuff you wrote,

Edited by Firstborn12, 18 August 2012 - 03:12 AM.

[BLU]

Firstborn12, on 18 August 2012 - 02:27 AM, said:

Great Job, very nice

I got one question tho, the Trait..

(30) XI: Signet of the Beastmaster: Active effects of signets also affect you.

does it active only during your signets, or any on your team. Because the the wording of it makes it sound as if a warroir or Theif actives thier Signets ( in a dungeon, lets say), it will affect you as well. have you testing this out in close range with a team member in a Spvp match or dungeon.

edit note: btw the quote has nothing to do with my question ( as you can prolly see) I just didnt what to snip all the stuff you wrote,

Its cool And good question! The signets in this trait is referring only to ranger signets unfortunately

[Firstborn12]

BLU, on 18 August 2012 - 03:38 AM, said:

Its cool And good question! The signets in this trait is referring only to ranger signets unfortunately

thanks for getting back to me, and bummer about the signet, since it says "active effects" and not your signets, that kinda implies that you can be under the affect of any allies signets. looking back ay other professiontraits, I see it being simliar with them.

like the Guardians "Voice of Pure" which allows allies affected by shouts to convert one condition to a boon. your shouts or any shouts. Any ways its prolly their shouts like its just the rangers Signets.

[BLU]

Firstborn12, on 18 August 2012 - 04:10 AM, said:

thanks for getting back to me, and bummer about the signet, since it says "active effects" and not your signets, that kinda implies that you can be under the affect of any allies signets. looking back ay other professiontraits, I see it being simliar with them.

like the Guardians "Voice of Pure" which allows allies affected by shouts to convert one condition to a boon. your shouts or any shouts. Any ways its prolly their shouts like its just the rangers Signets.

Yea a lot of the tooltips are somewhat nondescript still, most of the other classes have been fixed though so I expect ours to be working fine soon. For now just assume it is "not as good as you think" unless told or theory crafted otherwise!

[Sylvare]

Great guide Blu.

I don't think I synergized my pets very well. I used a power/melee build (sword+warhorn) and my pets do mostly condition damage. I used eagle and jungle spider for land and brown bear and shark for water. I did take the + condition damage trait for pets though.

[Alex Dimitri]

Great work mate, this shows amazing dedication and hard work on your part.
Cheers mate and keep up the good work.

[Decently_Evil]

Awesome guide!
I'm thinking of making a melee power/crit ranger with S/Wh as the primary weapon set (sword's auto attack doing the primary damage). What would you suggest for a good secondary weapon set? (or i could go with Wh in the secondary weapon set OH and get different OH for the sword)

[Keops]

How much does the signet of stonre increase toughness for?

I've seen somewhere it was 90 toughness.

I hope this is the base value and not what you get at level 80.

Anybody knows?

[BLU]

Decently_Evil, on 20 August 2012 - 05:00 PM, said:

Awesome guide!
I'm thinking of making a melee power/crit ranger with S/Wh as the primary weapon set (sword's auto attack doing the primary damage). What would you suggest for a good secondary weapon set? (or i could go with Wh in the secondary weapon set OH and get different OH for the sword)

There was a really good build out there that used the torch and WH in offhands but kept the same sword in the mainhand from (formerly) ig Valarius. IIRC, the build used the stack sigils as well. Try looking into that

Keops, on 20 August 2012 - 08:50 PM, said:

How much does the signet of stonre increase toughness for?

I've seen somewhere it was 90 toughness.

I hope this is the base value and not what you get at level 80.

Anybody knows?

I think it is too early to tell if this is the correct value, but 90 toughness is actually a lot at level 80. In most builds I run that have heavy toughness, this would be a 5% or more stat boost.

Edited by BLU, 21 August 2012 - 05:59 PM.

[moonsaber]

Hi,

First off i'd like to say great guide, I was getting swamped with all the ranger info on the net and this guide really helped me to break it down and understand it.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to guild wars 2 builds but i gave it a shot after reading through this. I was wondering if you could critique my 2 builds?

Build 1: Crit Pet
http://gw2skills.net...4QIaRvCt6kJskJA

Build 2: Power (trying to make my pet a meat shield while i do damage.)
http://gw2skills.net...FZySOFoyTncprsC

Are these any good? If so which one would be better? If they suck what could i do to improve them?

Also I have a question relating to the marksmanship traits. Does Spotter apply to my pet also?

Thanks in advance for your help,
Moonsaber

Edited by moonsaber, 27 August 2012 - 08:00 AM.

[Jessina]

Nice Guide, but for PvE players you may want to add a tag that tells them it's for PvP before they start reading.

[Maarius]

posted this in another thread, perhaps the OP can answer this:

Q: If you put down a combo-field and someone else is doing the finisher, who’s boon will be applied?

A lot of people see the healing spring for ranger as mandatory to bring in dungeons. Isn’t the regeneration it applies simply too weak if you, as a ranger, never touched the +healing-power stat? Won’t the healing from the leap of a DPS-specced allie into my water field be too weak?

[Ravnodaus]

Maarius, on 29 September 2012 - 08:49 AM, said:

posted this in another thread, perhaps the OP can answer this:

Q: If you put down a combo-field and someone else is doing the finisher, who’s boon will be applied?

A lot of people see the healing spring for ranger as mandatory to bring in dungeons. Isn’t the regeneration it applies simply too weak if you, as a ranger, never touched the +healing-power stat? Won’t the healing from the leap of a DPS-specced allie into my water field be too weak?

The person Finishing a combo is the one who activates the effect, and it is thier stats/traits etc that determine its effectiveness.

The water combo field from healing spring is an amazing utility, simply because it allows for healing. Both direct heals, and regeneration, depending on finisher type used. It's a large area, and it last a full 15 seconds, with only a 30 second cooldown. Thats 50% uptime. (And that isn't even considering what the skill itself does...heals you and pet, removes conditions in an aoe, and also gives regeneration to people in the area)

It is quite simply too amazing of a team support skill to use anything else in group play as a ranger. Especially since the other options are so basic.

[Maarius]

Ravnodaus, on 29 September 2012 - 01:05 PM, said:

The person Finishing a combo is the one who activates the effect, and it is thier stats/traits etc that determine its effectiveness.

The water combo field from healing spring is an amazing utility, simply because it allows for healing. Both direct heals, and regeneration, depending on finisher type used. It's a large area, and it last a full 15 seconds, with only a 30 second cooldown. Thats 50% uptime. (And that isn't even considering what the skill itself does...heals you and pet, removes conditions in an aoe, and also gives regeneration to people in the area)

It is quite simply too amazing of a team support skill to use anything else in group play as a ranger. Especially since the other options are so basic.

well... the regeneration is really weak imo and I'd use it only for condition removal. We have other ways to remove conditions in a group, e.g. Necro. What is it good for? Heal for one heals me + my pet and has a shorter CD. If the heals from the blast/leap finisher depend on the guy who does the finisher (mostly none of them has +healing power) then those would be pretty terrible too... aren't they?

[Ravnodaus]

Maarius, on 29 September 2012 - 01:13 PM, said:

well... the regeneration is really weak imo and I'd use it only for condition removal. We have other ways to remove conditions in a group, e.g. Necro. What is it good for? Heal for one heals me + my pet and has a shorter CD. If the heals from the blast/leap finisher depend on the guy who does the finisher (mostly none of them has +healing power) then those would be pretty terrible too... aren't they?

I'm not trying to convince you to use it. it just seems silly to me not to.

It's not designed to be a "heal everyone to full GG" heal skill. But it's still better than not healing anyone. If you and your group don't get hurt more than what your personal heals can handle, more power to you. Regeneration isn't an I win button either, but neither is fury, or might, or any Boon really. They all supplement. If you don't like using it, that's your call, and I'm not going to go into explaining what is or isn't a good way to play a game, any way you play is how you play.

At 80, regeneration ticks for 130 per second at base I believe. Over the 15 second duration that's 1950 hp. That is to anyone in the area. Any further regeneration from combos stacks duration up, and you can easily keep up regen uptime 100%. If you do have any +heals, it just makes it all that much better. If this doesn't appeal to you at all, don't use it.

The blast and leap heals in the combo aren't trivial either though. Base health is a noticeable chunk, again though, it won't be any Full heal the group GG.

[Fizzgig]

Why is this pvp guide in the pve forums still?