Question on Ranger Core Specializations

Hello everyone!

Simple (noob) question... I read that I can have up to 3 Core specializations and that I can switch between them out of combat. Is there a standard / preferred set, or are they all relatively on par with one another and it's all about playstyle choice.

Thanks in advance!

There are preferred builds for some parts of the game, but for general PvE, it's all about your play style. I encourage you to experiment with all of them and see how they interact and what feels good to play, though if you're looking for advice on choosing which one to unlock first, I'd recommend starting with Marksmanship if you use a bow at all. By the time you reach L80, you'll have enough hero points to unlock all the core trait lines. It can be a lot of fun to try unusual combinations.

For the specific game mode builds, you can do a search for "GW2 Ranger meta" or "GW2 Ranger builds" to find various sites that post builds for different purposes. A few of the commonly suggested sites are metabattle, qtfy, and snowcrows.

Each line has its own focuses. I think the most popular choices of the non elites are marksmanship, beast mastery and skirmishing since people generally only care about group buffs and stacking damage. I personally liked leveling with beastmastery, skirmishing and wilderness survival. As taelac said, look through all of the lines, see what trait interactions work for you and what suits your playstyle. I think beastmastery is always good since you always have a pet available. Skirmishing is great for not only condition builds but also for 'Spotter' if youre working with a party.

To add to what Khailyn said, Nature Magic is the support and healing traitline, so unless you're gonna be in a group or doing some punishing content, I wouldn't bother with this one. Skirmishing and Wilderness Survival are standard for Condition builds, Marksmanship, Skirmishing and Beastmastery for Power builds.

Thank you!

You can change them at any time, and open world PvE is ridiculously easy. Just screw around with things.

One thing you can look for is that each specialization tree has bonuses for certain weapon types. Those offer a clue as to which specializations work best with which weapon combos/play styles. If you switch weapons to try a different style, remember to check and see if it makes sense to switch specializations as well.