Ranged class with good sustain other than necromancer for open world ?

I mostly play my necromancer and the healing I get from parasitic contagion is great. I have been thinking about playing a greatsword power chronomancer and was wondering how good the sustain can be and how it matches up to parasitic contagion when traited for it. Does the combination of shatter + restorative illusions heal a lot ?

I know most people would say that I don't need sustain for open world because of dodges, etc but I am the ultimate casual player and am very slow at reacting. For example, I die a lot of times during the Dragon's Stand / Tangled Depths meta events as a condi shortbow ranger because I have no good passive healing.

What other ranged options are there with good healing ? I would prefer something that can do decent dps as well which means that I would not like to try for example a bow thief or a rifle warrior assuming they deal very low dps.

Thief has pretty good sustain with Signet of Malice and Invigorating Precision. You can sacrifice more DPS for sustain by taking Acrobatics and Assassin's Reward, if the situation is right. As for ranged options, Shortbow is mainly for AOE damage, and is their premier ranged DPS option to cleave multiple enemies in Dragon Stand, or Lake Doric. Pistol/Pistol is probably the main mid-ranged DPS option and the numerous attacks and critical hits (with full Berserker gear) gives significant healing throughout the encounter. Rifle is far less mobile, but great for situations that allow you to sit far, far, far back and not worry about certain enemy mechanics (although your DPS suffers due to the likely lack of buffs).

Ranger can have good healing but you have to build for it. Shout/Longbow with the beast mastery talent that gives regen to shouts works well. The elite Spirit gives really good passive healing for about a minute when you really need some. You can also spec druid for more healing access.

Guardian/Dragonhunter can be ranged with lots of healing but the DPS is pretty low.

@Ojimaru.8970 said:Thief has pretty good sustain with Signet of Malice and Invigorating Precision. You can sacrifice more DPS for sustain by taking Acrobatics and Assassin's Reward, if the situation is right. As for ranged options, Shortbow is mainly for AOE damage, and is their premier ranged DPS option to cleave multiple enemies in Dragon Stand, or Lake Doric. Pistol/Pistol is probably the main mid-ranged DPS option and the numerous attacks and critical hits (with full Berserker gear) gives significant healing throughout the encounter. Rifle is far less mobile, but great for situations that allow you to sit far, far, far back and not worry about certain enemy mechanics (although your DPS suffers due to the likely lack of buffs).

Wow thank you. Those on-hit / on-crit abilities look really good for self heals. I will be trying a thief out then :)

Ranger playing Druid with LB and staff is the most survivable build in open world PvE.

@Haziq.3907 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:Thief has pretty good sustain with Signet of Malice and Invigorating Precision. You can sacrifice more DPS for sustain by taking Acrobatics and Assassin's Reward, if the situation is right. As for ranged options, Shortbow is mainly for AOE damage, and is their premier ranged DPS option to cleave multiple enemies in Dragon Stand, or Lake Doric. Pistol/Pistol is probably the main mid-ranged DPS option and the numerous attacks and critical hits (with full Berserker gear) gives significant healing throughout the encounter. Rifle is far less mobile, but great for situations that allow you to sit far, far, far back and not worry about certain enemy mechanics (although your DPS suffers due to the likely lack of buffs).

TBH, this isn't going to do you much good because you're going to have so much lower innate defense; a number of HoT mobs literally one-shot-kill thieves. If you're depending on passive heals while playing shortbow ranger, it means you're getting hit a ton which suggests not kiting much. Unless you intend to dodge a lot, ranger will generally be substantially better. Use Troll Unguent on ranger and it'll heal you constantly. It's on a pretty short cooldown. I'd otherwise suggest melee warrior. Highest base hp, highest base armor, healing signet is a heal that never stops, and you can run the Strength line with Forceful Greatsword and Might Makes Right for pretty constant healing with every attack. Paired with the Defense Line, you also get Adrenal Health which is a pretty large sustained heal, and paired Marauder + Knight's + Cavalier's mix will give you enough damage to kill things while still being pretty durable.

Worth noting on the ranger; initial aggro is based on armor rating. If you're using dire/tb gear, you're going to take aggro instead of your pet. It's frankly beneficial to avoid running these tanky setups on ranger for open-world PvE if you're struggling because you end up taking more damage most of the time.

In all honesty, power/marauder longbow ranger is substantially better for open-world all things considered. It'll kill faster than condi and will retain decent health and low toughness to let a a pet soak aggro, and you can keep your distance well while dealing higher damage for the most part.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vdQQJAqancT5miqrUXZ5VyrwWL7Ww6lNRL3FlYB9D5AYDWABA9q36zOA-jxRFQBKV9Hgqnwd7PQVlfA4BBkVlgE4ECsO4A4oKFMapc0RHd0RH1AGt0QHt0QHd0RLVKAzVWB-eFlamethrower juggernauts

Warrior for everything

ranger is casual proof and has a lot of options for openworld

a set of traits i was using when i was very unsure of the game-mechanics was something similar to the following:http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNMQJATRnEqAlsg1CCOsActghJh6DiL4j9IfWz8OAagJokpdG-enowadays i hardly use any sustain skills/traitlines - pure dmg or meta fractal-raid-style

the traitlines and chosen skills synergize very well... and its a build you can run without expansions if you would like so.(high protecion uptime, high regenration, permanent heals via heal while having protection, one of the strongest sustain heal skills and plenty of condition-cleanses. many boons, high uptime of quickness (the reason markmansship is not "needed", you just lose some pierciong arrows, but your aoe capabilities are good enough anyway))

as for the gear ... use as much berserker as you are comfortable with. your crit chance will be 100% with a lot of power and a lot of. more defensive stats as you need them - vitality, concentration, toughness.

change the greatsword if you dont like it. axe+warhorn can be a choice.

changes in nature magic can be "instinctive reaction" instead of "bountiful hunter"another change can be "invigorating bond" for 2.6k heals on pet f2. ... alternatively change it to "natures vengence" if you would like a more static set on bosses with spirits

in beastmastery a good trait is "potent ally" instaead of "resounding timbre" if you want more might stacks

so you've got a solid idea and a lot of options.change the least supporting traitline if you want an elite specialization (druid/soulbeast)