Dahk

This claim was made on the Ranger forum, but I think it would be productive to get some Warrior insight on this discussion.

http://www.guildwars...s/#entry2194921

**Also, if you do post here, let's keep the discussion civil.  There have been threads about DPS comparison closed in the past, but I don't want to see that happen here.**

I've been reading through a lot of PvE thief builds lately and it seems like there are a lot of viable builds for most weapon sets.  However, I have a few questions:

1 ) If you were to build with the purpose of maximizing damage in a dungeon setting, what weapon set would you use?

2) What build would you use with this weapon set?

3) Is there another build you prefer to use in dungeons instead of this?  Why?

Ok, so here's a question.  If you were to have two engineers in the same party, what builds do you think they should use?  

Grenade builds with conditions seem to be the best way to go in PvE, but with two, I'm sure you would run into wasted bleeds and/or vulnerability.  How would you get around this?

Ok, so Guardian is one of the classes I know least about, but I have a friend leveling a guardian alt who could use some build advice.  Here's the catch: They don't like melee and want to stick to ranged options with staff/wand.

What would you suggest to use for PvE/dungeons?

***** Disclaimer: If you have a warrior or mesmer, use those characters for CoF speed runs.  Rangers are not optimal for CoF Speed Runs, but they can perform decently with the right spec, gear, and knowledge of the dungeon. *****


***Edit: The most recent patch has put a pretty brutal nerf to quickness without offsetting it by any buffs outside of a 1 second duration increase to QZ.  This means that the dps potential of this build is substantially lower than what it was at the time I wrote this guide.  Please be aware of this before you continue reading***


Background: What are CoF speed runs?
If you've never heard of CoF speed runs or never tried them, they are clearings of the 1st path of Citadel of Flames on explorable mode.  The dungeon is very short and yeilds about 1g profit per run.  A skilled, geared, full group of 4 warriors and a mesmer can clear the dungeon in as quickly as 6 minutes.  With a ranger in pugs using non-warrior classes, but still bringing 1 mesmer, I clear the dungeon in about 10 minutes.

Build:
http://gw2skills.net...VOqkUtIYkxWkpIA

Gear:
Full berserker gear.  You can get all the survival you need from timing your dodges right and understanding the fights.

Sigils/Runes:
Sigil of Strength on Short Bow
Sigil of Accuracy on Longbow
Runes of Ranger on armor
This will give you the highest dps possible.

Food buffs:
Master Maintenance Oils
Bowl of Curry Butternut Squash Soup (or Omnomberry bars for profit!)

Overall explanation of gear and build:
- The short bow will be your primary dps weapon, but you will swap to your long bow for the occasional knock-back, AoE, and burst from Rapid Fire.  
- Healing Spring is perhaps the one unique ability that a ranger can bring to a dungeon, so use it often and use it on as many allies as possible.
- Lightning Reflexes is useful both as a stun break as well as a means of mobility to make things go faster.
- Quickening Zephyr is the best dps slot skill we have, so this is a no-brainer.  However, it does not stack with Time Warp, so save it for after Time Warp if your mesmer is dropping it (usually at the start of a fight).  This will occur on the first and last boss fights.  Use in conjunction with Rampage as One to maximize might stacking.
- Signet of the Hunt is probably the weakest of the slot skills for this run, but there's not much better to use.  The speed boost is useful to keep you moving at a good pace and you can pop it on cooldown or in tangent with pet F2 abilities to enhance your dps.
- Rampage as One is also a given since it's the only elite that will boost your dps.
- 15 points are put in BM since it makes your glass cannon pets strong enough to work in CoF while also giving you a faster pet swap for more quickness.
- The 10 points in Wilderness Survival are the most flexible if you want to run a variant of this, but they are helpful for the reduced cd of QZ and LR.

Ok, so what do I do in the dungeon itself?
Well, instead of explaining the whole dungeon, I'll post a vid of a mesmer running the group with a warrior stacked group so you can see the fights.  If you've done CoF path 1 before, skip this part. (props to Strife for the awesome video)


Ranger-Specific tips (a.k.a. the good stuff of the guide):
- When the dungeon starts, make your way to the first gate.  Turn your character's back to the gate and wait for the NPCs to open it.  As soon as the NPCs open the gate, pop Lightning Reflexes and target the turret on the left of the room with your longbow out.  While dpsing the turret, line yourset up with the 2 charr and use Point Blank Shot to group them up against the wall if your mesmer hasn't already done so with their offhand ability.

- At the start of the first boss fight, have your longbow and raven out.  As soon as the NPC pops, use Point Blank Shot to knock him against the wall, swap to your jaguar, pop hunter's shot, then swap to your short bow, and finally pop your elite.  Wait for time warp to end before using QZ and of course, stay to the side or behind the boss to get strafing bonus damage.  

- For the Acolyte fight, use piercing arrows to your advantage!  If you know where the Acolytes will spawn, you can pop QZ with rapid fire to quickly take down two acolytes at once.

- If you decide to take the role of dpsing the controls for the door (right before the last boss fight), just pop all your cooldowns like mentioned in the tip for the first boss.  A warrior can probably do this best, but a ranger can take down the controls quickly enough if need be.

- For the last boss, make sure to keep poison up to reduce the healing he receives.  


And that's pretty much it.  Play smart, dodge fast, bring empty bags and plenty of salvage kits.