Bunker ranger or Roamer soulbeast for sPvP?

Which one is better at the current meta for gold-plat gameplay?Bunker core ranger or the roamer soulbeast ?

I see that pros and top players play soulbeast but most of the time I see people complaining about core ranger.What is the current state of ranger builds in sPvP?

Swap depending on your teams comp. I think more people play core. I think soulbeast has more carry potential if you queue and roam with another dps player and 2v1 side noders then snowball the map. I would opt for higher dps variants of soulbeast though. Drop WS for MM or SKirm

Definitely go high dps SB. Core ranger is only played because it's easy for new players and fairly survivable. It's far too weak to pull its weight in an significant matches.

I'm in plat with my off-meta condi trapper SB. Owl heals for 6.4k, can turn fights around. Swoop and stealth to reset fights. It shreds necros, tempests, and guards, but has a hard time against good warriors, revs, and glassbows. Thieves and mesmers are basically collateral damage, I down them by accident.

I've seen a lot of bad condi druid and SB builds, dispatched them all. But I'm glad to see people trying condi builds. You gotta go three traps (with fountain as it allows you to 1v1 FB's and necros), SB/axe/dagger, the right pet for the situation (mostly just owl), and trapper runes. I don't leave Soulbeast mode. 1 Concussive Shot = 1 kill. I like where shortbow is now. Traps are unblockable, immob spam, high condi DPS pressure.

You can play sides or support mid, either way it's high impact if you play carefully. Can hold against 2 for a little while as long as someone rotates to help you win. Can win most 1v1's. Really shines supporting mid fights as well, but you can get dunked on. Its main problem is it's short-med range with only one stunbreaker, two with a black bear. It can be very punishing to be out of position. Stay around the edges in mid fights. However if you bait people into you traps they will melt. Haven't reached the skill ceiling yet, lots to improve on still, so the build isn't holding me back for now.

I didn't come back to play more glassbow, f that garbage. Played it for 2 yrs. You don't have to either. Not saying this is better, but it's def viable.

Bring back druid. F glassbow, f core. can't wait for the pet damage nerf.

Yo mistsim.2748,

What’s your skill tree look like for this build? It sounds incredibly interesting.

@"Albanatorr.7809" said:Yo mistsim.2748,

What’s your skill tree look like for this build? It sounds incredibly interesting.

Especially after today's patch, lol. Here, enjoy:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUdjlVwsYTMP2JWePmP/ScYVA-z5YfIZKF6WBkyIQhDA

I tried a lot of different amulets. I found the sustain from Sage very noticeable so I'm sticking with that.

Sigils, pets, and Soulbeast traits are entirely flexible. So just compensate for what you feel the build is lacking. You'll probably enjoy a second stunbreaker from a stout pet, so you can slot a bird and a bear, swap between fights.

Play side nodes until you learn the build, then you can support mid fights as well.

This build simply isn't very good on core, because you need the Soulbeast's bird for mobility/disengage.

I also tested a hybrid GS/axe/d build, and found it to be very low impact. GS is less mandatory after today's nerfs.

This build also greatly benefits from today's nerfs, because core LB/GS rangers gave me the most trouble. No more 7.5k tiger pounces yay.

Kinda have a similar build (took Unstoppable Union instead of Live Fast). Minor differences but fundamentally rely on to immobilize the enemy. Find it extremely difficult to win or close to impossible to fight with certain classes :confused: .

@Eramonster.2718 said:Kinda have a similar build (took Unstoppable Union instead of Live Fast). Minor differences but fundamentally rely on to immobilize the enemy. Find it extremely difficult to win or close to impossible to fight with certain classes :confused: .

Are you running Sage, and using your evades properly? With Trapper Runes, you can always get the opener. Can also use traps to leave and reset the fight. I could 1v1 prot holos with this build before today's nerfs, it wasn't easily but doable.

Due to no stab and only 1 stunbreaker, the build does greatly suffer against good zerk warriors, and glassbow rangers as I mentioned.

@mistsim.2748 said:Due to no stab and only 1 stunbreaker….Mostly due to this and lack of boons. Works well on opponents that get immobilized or panicking :tongue:. Warriors is one of the hard encounters, difficult to snare. Finding Guardians getting tougher to as well; or getting more exp fighting condi SB.

@mistsim.2748 said:

@"Albanatorr.7809" said:Yo mistsim.2748,

What’s your skill tree look like for this build? It sounds incredibly interesting.

3/3 matches lost with your trap build. Traps are bad, skirmishes line is bad, 1 stun break, no stab. Not going to work in cc wars where you get pingponged around. I tried in gold league with bad players on both enemy and allies. Traps only work vs bad players.

@Abyssisis.3971 said:

@mistsim.2748 said:

@"Albanatorr.7809" said:Yo mistsim.2748,

What’s your skill tree look like for this build? It sounds incredibly interesting.

Whoa, you played an entire 3 matches already? Crazy, that was fast. You must have 200iq, because it took me about a week to get good with the build. I'm in plat 2 and climbing with it.

Traps are unblockable, and with Trapper runes you're resetting fights all the time. Put the traps down, stand on them, and all damage will land if others want to fight you.

I already said it doesn't work with cc wars and that you'll need another stunbreak. Also, rotate around them.

Clearly you are being carried by your team.

@Abyssisis.3971 said:Clearly you are being carried by your team.

I don't have a team you monkey, I've been grinding soloq alone since it came out. You can't get carried every game, matchmaking doesn't allow for that. Top damage, top kills,.top defense almost every game. Off with you.

Soloq still has you as a member of a 5 player team... ?

I can play a tank ranger and get top kills, damage, defence etc, it’s not hard at all, pretty sure I can get some top stats while being asleep. Haha

The fact is, skirmishes is a bad trait line, traps are terrible, and as you said in another thread about dragonhunters traps, they only effect bad players. Nobody is going to sit in your condi traps to fight you, and if they are, they are bad players. Most classes can cleanse, evade or straight up be immune to the conditions rangers can apply since we lack the hard hitting condi bursts other classes can apply. Rangers are good for a sustained evasive fight using shortbow and the few evades we have, but you aren’t equipped to sit on point and fight other classes like other classes can.

But as someone else said to you in another thread, feel free to put up some gameplay videos and show us, I’m quite happy to watch and learn how to improve my gameplay.

If we ever get a skirmishes and trap rework, then yeah, Hopefully it makes them a bit better to use, but atm, they aren’t worth slotting over things like protect me, dolyaks or pretty much anything survival skill ahha

@mistsim.2748

I played your build today and went 4-1 in gold tier three. Not sure what that other guy is talking about but your build works just fine. Takes getting used to, as you can’t just run in and expect to facetank everything. Mostly had crazy survivability and could 1v1 and support. Will keep playing around. Thanks for sharing.

@Albanatorr.7809 said:@mistsim.2748

I played your build today and went 4-1 in gold tier three. Not sure what that other guy is talking about but your build works just fine. Takes getting used to, as you can’t just run in and expect to facetank everything. Mostly had crazy survivability and could 1v1 and support. Will keep playing around. Thanks for sharing.

The 3 matches I played with it, I would win the side nodes without any problems, but I do that running a non trap condi ranger build anyway.

It's close to condi druid variant except its not Druid (pets without penalty). The weakness of this build is the lack of Stunbreak and Boons. It works well on panicking or opponents that are new to it. It crumbles in front of opponents that keep coming right at you triggering traps (Revealing stealth; Trapper Runes). In short, if the opponent is passive, you're allowed to do stuff. But against an aggressive opponent you will be pressured, forced to disengage with difficult or no room to retaliate. Against aggressive opponents with pull/cc spells trouble.

@mistsim.2748 said:

@Abyssisis.3971 said:Clearly you are being carried by your team.

Maybe the build you are using is tailored for your gameplay style and you are able to make use of it . I have to say the build look not optimal for how i play, and in my experience in PvP this build is carried by the team. That's why asked for a video, because i have the suspicion you are being carried.

The one trick pony to plague the point with traps and using Entagle to keep the target in there does work only once (as it did on me) . After that, this build can not contest or defend a point because every time you use stealth you lose it. It does not have enough sustained damage to keep pressure and your only choice is to pester the enemies until a reaper ally comes around to use the spin to win. I play with almost 0 condi clear still your build is pretty inefficient against me.

A long bow is effective enough to keep you outside of the point. Yet don't get me wrong: I would love the ranger to have a viable condi build as i want to pester my enemies with my Dreamer . However i don't think we are there yet.

@anduriell.6280 said:The one trick pony to plague the point with traps and using Entagle to keep the target in there does work only once (as it did on me) .

So don't use them at once? Stagger your cooldowns? This isn't the old trap bomber build. Core has no business running traps. On Soulbeast, you actually have a ton of other things to do, and multiple ways to survive and contribute to team fights.

Traps + trapper runes are a 4-trick pony on their own. Immob spam from pet, shortbow, and Entangling Roots is a whole other topic. Choosing the right pet for the right utilities is another topic.

1. Super speed lets you kite or disengage. Even if your stealth is broken. I don't know how else to say it, but it just works.
2. Traps are unblockable. Put them on a side node and watch people get downed accidentally. If they want the decap, they will eat all the damage. You can also immobilize someone on top of your trap so they eat all the ticks. You can also use them to cleave downed. I land all my trap damage, I don't understand what the problem is.
3. You should always get the first opener. Precast for stealth. This can net you a kill early on if you're calling targets with your friend. Shortbow 4 into Concussive Shot. How many core necros and tempests have I erased with these abilities.
4. Laying down a trap is a target drop. You don't even need the stealth. If you don't see the value in having multiple target drops, then I can't help you. No one can. You may as well be hopeless.

Shortbow 4 and Entangling Roots should be used to guarantee the kill, or to bait cleanses. Shortbow 5 guarantees the kill every time. You wait until they have nothing left, and then you just finish them. A well-timed immob or daze should be a guaranteed kill. You don't use these things willy-nilly bro.

Regarding what pet to merge with, owl gives mobility and a 6.4k heal + Res to any team fight. Black bear gives another stunbreaker and 7s of invuln.

A couple of you guys are either bad, heavily biased, or not comprehending the build due to some cognitive problem. All the while everyone using it is moving way past you in the ranks.

@mistsim.2748 said:A couple of you guys are either bad, heavily biased, or not comprehending the build due to some cognitive problem. All the while everyone using it is moving way past you in the ranks.

Putting some gameplay matches up would go along way to backing up your claims. If you can’t even do that, why bother trying to convince people it works?