Share Your Ranger Builds

[Project exa.3204]

Since I'm 100% for ranger superiority, especially in PvP--I wanted to share a few of the builds I switch between. Please critique and/or add your own! 

Power Untamed [p1-p2]

Gs / Hammer

Demolisher / Eagle

[&DQQILyArSBoUG3gAExurARkbvgC7ABsADxvtAC5CAQsAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]

 

Power Survival Soulbeast [g3-p1]

Gs / Longbow

Marauder / Eagle

[&DQQhKSArNzd4AHkAuACWAZYBwgC7ALgAwADtAC45KykAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]

 

Core Power Survival [g3]

Gs / Longbow

Marauder / Eagle

[&DQQILyEpICp4AHgAlgEAALgAAAC7AAAAwAAAAC45ASkAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]

 

 

Hybrid Untamed [<g3]

Axe + Horn / Greatsword

Valkyrie / Eagle

[&DQQePSEpSBqhAAAAGwAAAL8AAAC4AAAAwAAAAC4IAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]'

 

Condibeast [<g3]

Carion / Elementalist

Axe + Horn / Shortbow

[&DQQeNSElNy54AHgA6Ra9AL8AuQCWAbwALhaXAR0mKisAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]

 

-Eros of Ascalon 

 

 

[InsaneQR.7412]

For PvE this is my current Hybrid soulbeast build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POABged/lRweYSsImJWqX+PvS+WaA-zRJYmRPfZUZKERFI+icKA-e

High mobility, huge damage bursts, great sustained damage and survivability. Good CC, and fantastic in handling crowds.

I also have a variant with WS instead of beastmastery. Does less damage but has more CC, stab and survivability.

Overall hybrid beast is really fun atm.

[Rysdude.3824]

Here is what I have been roaming with since the SB Pet Swap update.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PO0Ac+VlVwsYTMP2JWePlPrCOdA-z1IY1oj/UKQBkgEIThQviAFOL0PtBA-w

 

 

[Jonas.2079]

I've been trying to mess around with a condi quickdraw untamed build for PvE: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POABcix/llyUZTML2JW+O3xrS2VcA-zRJYmRPfhUQCkQIUZFYwygjAA-e

Using sword/torch was the starting point of the build, as I wanted to play a Strider-type (think Aragorn at weathertop) build. Originally it was Sw/T + Sw/D as I wanted something different from the axes that have taken over every meta build, but because sword mainhand is really bad for condi (power too these days?), i felt like I had to resort to axe MH in the dagger set. It's a shame that sword's poison isn't better but heres hoping they fix it - honestly they should give sword another mini rework so serpent's strike is no longer a flipover skill, and the damage should reflect the animation time better. I've got a lot of thoughts on how to fix sword but this isn't the place for that, i suppose. 

The build itself is quite fun though! Basically, the idea is as follows: Starting on the axe set,  you spam all your skills, then you weapon swap and quickdraw Bonfire, followed by exploding spores and another bonfire, then unleash pet and use its skills, followed by the sword unleashed ambush to reduce bonfires CD before your weapon swap. I normally quickdraw dagger 4 as this made the most sense when using sword/dagger, but winters bite may be better now that we're using axe. The last CD reduction from the ambush attack should make it so that you can weapon swap off CD back to the torch set and bonfire will be up, so we won't have to wait for the timer on Bonfire's CD like on other torch quickdraw builds. Apart from that, you use your traps whenever available and try to avoid using sword 2/3 for anything but mobility/evasion as the damage just isn't there unfortunately. 

Overall it's fun to play and offers something very different from the current meta. Unfortunately i don't think it is that strong in terms of damage - in my early testing I've only been able to bench about 20k dps (exotic armor). I'm sure a more skilled player than me could improve on it, though. The gear/food is not optimized either, its just something I threw together pretty cheap although it shouldn't be that bad. It seems that the main gear choices are Rune of Thorns vs Krait vs Afflicted, and choosing between sigils of Agony/Venom/Smoldering/Malice/Geomancy/Earth. Food would be between kimchi pancakes, kimchi tofu, or regular expertise/condi foods. It may also be possible that sharpened edges is better than trappers expertise. Sharpening stone and Storm spirit could also be intersting options in the utility slots over the traps. It's tough to say what the best combination is though. 

Unfortunately i don't have leggy gear so it's not that easy for me to test out everything. I'm not a very skilled player either so if anyone is interested in giving it a shot i would LOVE to hear your results and what adjustments you made! As a bonus, if someone can make any ranger condi build work with Sword/Torch I would love to hear how! "Make it work" doesn't mean it has to be a good build btw, just something that can function in strikes without totally griefing. 

[Zyreva.1078]

9 hours ago, InsaneQR.7412 said:

For PvE this is my current Hybrid soulbeast build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POABged/lRweYSsImJWqX+PvS+WaA-zRJYmRPfZUZKERFI+icKA-e

High mobility, huge damage bursts, great sustained damage and survivability. Good CC, and fantastic in handling crowds.

I also have a variant with WS instead of beastmastery. Does less damage but has more CC, stab and survivability.

Overall hybrid beast is really fun atm.

Why not Boar + Wolf? More dmg and way better cc. Smokescale is rather underwhelming in PvE, unless you want to stealth skip something. Prelude Lash in particular can be very handy if grps of mobs aren't quit stacked enough to hit them all with axe 5.

4 hours ago, Jonas.2079 said:

[...] As a bonus, if someone can make any ranger condi build work with Sword/Torch I would love to hear how!

Have you considered going soulbeast, using a large dagger and pretend it is a (short) sword? That's probably the best way to get better results with some sort of melee condi build.

Other things to try out would be using cats or jacaranda (better dmg than birds/iboga), sharpened edges, sharpening stone, spike trap and generally more cc to trigger Fervent Force, like offhand axe instead of dagger, or even shortbow.

20k dps is pretty solid for a sword condi build tho and if you really want to stick with it and are worried about not having enough dmg for grp content, just get some spirits and nature magic and provide alacrity, then other's shouldn't worry too much about your dps and what weapons you are using (might need some cele gear tho for boon duration, since you won't have as much cc as regular alac untamed).

Edit: Ferocious Symbiosis might also be worth testing.

Edited October 12, 2022 by UmbraNoctis.1907

[Valfar.3761]

For group PvE content (meta events or strikes) I am playing a Ferocious Symbiosis Alacrity Untamed. It deals 10-15k DPS, helps other people, and is casual to play. [&DQQePRkdSDclDyUPrAG3ALwAvQC2ALYAlwGXATMtLRMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]. Before entering combat, switch to Unleashed Pet and spawn your spirits. Enter combat, press F1 F2 and F3 so your pet does damage. Activate your spirits. Switch to Unleashed Ranger and press hammer 1 for a burst of ambush damage. Sit in Unleashed Ranger state forever and press hammer 4 and 2 when you can. Use hammer 5 if you get knocked back so you can leap back to the target. Activate spirits when off cooldown as the more spirits you have the more damage you do. In open world I start off with my longbow, which has Sigil of Bloodlust. I tag as many mobs as possible to get my +250 power before switching to my Hammer. If you are only facing a couple normal mobs then don't bother with the spirit setup and just whack the mobs down.

 

For solo PvE, I run a Fervent Force double axe build. [&DQQIGx43SBWhAHkAuwC7AAEbtgC1ALUADxsPGzMtLRMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA=]. Before battle, I activate Forest's Fortification and "Protect Me!" (if playing with other players then replace "Protect Me!" with "Guard!" because that gives a 33% damage reduction that isn't mutually exclusive with protection, which other players can provide). Press 1 to throw an axe at my enemy and enter combat. Press ~ key to weapon swap and gain fury. Press 2 > 4 > 2 > exploding spores > 2 > rinse repeat. Use Frost Trap on cooldown. Weapon swap when possible to gain fury (preferably before using splitblade). Pet swapping also grants fury, if you need it. If you miss exploding spores and you can't use 2 yet, then use 5. Does 10-15k DPS.

 

For both builds I am using berserker gear with superior sigils of strength, superior sigils of impact, and Rune of Fireworks for 25% movement speed. For pets I just like to use the Wyverns and the Reef Drake because I like the way they look, but for strikes I switch to the Lynx (damage) and the Red Moa (heal and fury buff).

Edited October 12, 2022 by Valfar.3761

[InsaneQR.7412]

14 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

Why not Boar + Wolf? More dmg and way better cc. Smokescale is rather underwhelming in PvE, unless you want to stealth skip something. Prelude Lash in particular can be very handy if grps of mobs aren't quit stacked enough to hit them all with axe 5.

 

Pretty simple reason actually. Mobility. SS is fantastic to port to targets and nuke them. I never go out of beastmode so i dont need the stealth. But generally the pets can be switched out. The core of the build is everything else. I also thought about taking raven for the swoop and the lash just to bunch up enemies. But i am still playing arround what feels best.

[Jonas.2079]

17 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

 

Edit: Ferocious Symbiosis might also be worth testing.

Thanks for the feedback 🙂 But one thing I didn't get; why do you think ferocious symbiosis could work on a condi build? 

Other than that, I did have the idea to use dagger MH as my "sword" as well, and even though it works quite nicely it just isn't quite the same. I'll keep experimenting though, and having fun so far! I do hope they rework and buff sword though. Maybe i should make a post about the ideas i have for it and hope someone sees it 🙂 

 

[Jonas.2079]

12 hours ago, Valfar.3761 said:

For group PvE content (meta events or strikes) I am playing a Ferocious Symbiosis Alacrity Untamed. It deals 10-15k DPS, helps other people, and is casual to play. 

 

You'd probably be interested in Mr. Mystic's version of this build, you can bump the damage up quite a bit it seems 🙂 

 

[Valfar.3761]

1 hour ago, Jonas.2079 said:

You'd probably be interested in Mr. Mystic's version of this build, you can bump the damage up quite a bit it seems 🙂 

 

 

That is actually the build I'm using, but I'm not sure how he was able to hit 20k DPS. Seems the only thing different is that he is using Eagle runes and has 90 more power from Fractal infusions, but I don't run Fractals so IDK.

Does the storm spirit alone allow you to reach 25 stacks of might? If so then the sigil of strength could be swapped out for sigil of force but IDK how much of a difference that would cause.

Edited October 13, 2022 by Valfar.3761

[Zyreva.1078]

8 hours ago, Jonas.2079 said:

Thanks for the feedback 🙂 But one thing I didn't get; why do you think ferocious symbiosis could work on a condi build? 

The build you posted only has 2 cc, so you aren't getting THAT much value out of FF and both sword and axe have decent power scaling and viper offers also power. FS also buffs your pet's dmg. Don't get me wrong, with an optimal rotation FF will always outperform FS, especially in a condi build., but FS tends to be more forgiving and not completely useless even in a condi (hybrid) build for reasons stated above.

Btw with a few adjustments to your build (tiger pet, earth/geo on both weapons, Vicious Quarry instead of Quickdraw, We Heal as One) i was able to get up to 24k dps. Just need to make sure to utilize ccs (including sword ambush) to reduce torch cds so you can get 2x torch 5 in whenever you swap to said weapon even without QD. Considering i suck at playing FF untamed and my rotation was far from optimal and i wasn't using any food or stat infusions, the potential dmg should be quite a bit higher.

Funnily enough the best sword/torch build seems to be full power soulbeast tho with 30k+ dps (under optimal "SC benchmark conditions" it should be able to hit at least 34-35k dps i'd guess). Axe/axe sic'em burst carries the spec so hard, it doesn't really matter what your second weapon set is and while sword is outperformed by axe unfortunately, it still isn't a bad dps weapon at all - in a power build. Torch being fairly useless isn't that impactful, because ranger lacks second great power offhand weapon a besides axe anyway and you don't want to slot axe in both offhand slots.

Edited October 13, 2022 by UmbraNoctis.1907

[aymnad.9023]

I said I would play druid in PvP once it becomes a support, while it still heavily relies on cc, I think it became close enough to an off meta off-support (that's a lot of off 😄) I can enjoy. 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POgAYFlNwYYhsFWJWsWbt8SMfaA-zZJsMyMFquC8YAA

If I see another support on my side (like a guard with signet) or think it might be better to go full immob because I have a “burst” comp or cannot keep up with the enemy comp then I swap glyph of the stars for entangle.

While I struggle vs condi heavy builds the protection uptime allows me to survive burst then disengage. I get enough stealth from smokescale and disengage with quickdraw. Another option could be to go trapper’s expertise and healing spring for more condi cleanse.

For runes I went dolyak because I wanted some toughness. I also tried rune of the druid which gives a decent uptime on the bonus.

Another fun option is to go for marksmanship instead of skirmishing. It gives a little more weakness uptime and you can sometimes get a surprise burst with remorseless.

Edited October 13, 2022 by aymnad.9023

[Jonas.2079]

14 hours ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

The build you posted only has 2 cc, so you aren't getting THAT much value out of FF and both sword and axe have decent power scaling and viper offers also power. FS also buffs your pet's dmg. Don't get me wrong, with an optimal rotation FF will always outperform FS, especially in a condi build., but FS tends to be more forgiving and not completely useless even in a condi (hybrid) build for reasons stated above.

Btw with a few adjustments to your build (tiger pet, earth/geo on both weapons, Vicious Quarry instead of Quickdraw, We Heal as One) i was able to get up to 24k dps. Just need to make sure to utilize ccs (including sword ambush) to reduce torch cds so you can get 2x torch 5 in whenever you swap to said weapon even without QD. Considering i suck at playing FF untamed and my rotation was far from optimal and i wasn't using any food or stat infusions, the potential dmg should be quite a bit higher.

Funnily enough the best sword/torch build seems to be full power soulbeast tho with 30k+ dps (under optimal "SC benchmark conditions" it should be able to hit at least 34-35k dps i'd guess). Axe/axe sic'em burst carries the spec so hard, it doesn't really matter what your second weapon set is and while sword is outperformed by axe unfortunately, it still isn't a bad dps weapon at all - in a power build. Torch being fairly useless isn't that impactful, because ranger lacks second great power offhand weapon a besides axe anyway and you don't want to slot axe in both offhand slots.

Nice insights! I half expected Vicious Quarry to be superior on the condi build, I'm just dissapointed that it is as i feel quickdraw should be the go-to for a MH/OH condition ranger. The whole skirmishing traitline kind of sets up for a sword/poison/burning-based ranger that isn't as concerned with bleeding (trapper's expertise vs sharpened edges, Strider's defense vs 33% bleed dmg, dagger 4 and torch offhand being prime candidates for quickdraw), but it does seem like we can't quiiite get it to be strong. 

As far as pets go, why run Tiger over something like Lynx? To be honest I initially thought the Hawk would be the best damaging pet and i couldn't understand why it never was included on any builds. Poison master should give a sizeable poison on Beast skill usage and Lacerating slash is on a 6 second cooldown while doing pretty ok damage itself. But in my testing it doesn't seem like Poison master procs very consistently, so I'm not sure exactly how this works.  

As far as the power build goes, i suppose you could make it work but as you say, Axe/axe is the carry and it's probably better to just camp axes than actually use the sword set as far as DPS is concerned. Could be a nice to have Sword/torch of the off set purely for the roleplay and mobility though, and if you do use it the sword autos shouldn't do that bad dps. 

[Jonas.2079]

21 hours ago, Valfar.3761 said:

 

That is actually the build I'm using, but I'm not sure how he was able to hit 20k DPS. Seems the only thing different is that he is using Eagle runes and has 90 more power from Fractal infusions, but I don't run Fractals so IDK.

Does the storm spirit alone allow you to reach 25 stacks of might? If so then the sigil of strength could be swapped out for sigil of force but IDK how much of a difference that would cause.

Not sure which build you are reading off of, but he's using scholar runes, Force/impact sigils and mostly Zerker gear and a few diviners pieces as well as an assasin accessory to reach 30% Boon duration while staying crit capped.

 

Personally I've adapted the build to use full Zerker, except a Diviner's amulet (i have the Prismatic Champion's Regalia so much easier for me to stat swap the amulet) and the Soul Pastry food: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POQAIlJwQYbsDGJW6Tdx7JcC-zRZYBRBn3WQgwBFUG1mAVUA2eQCjNwbZ3zIA-e

 

This way i get about the same boon duration as Mystic but being a lot more "switchable" from a DPS build. One downside of this build is that you only get to 99% crit chance but it can be fixed with an assasin backpiece. Personally i just use a Marauder's hammer instead, though, as I already had an ascended Berserker hammer from the Catalyst and wanted something differen't for the Untamed's hammer. 

As far as might generation goes  you have: 
Frost spirit, which should slowly ramp up and upkeep 5-6 stacks.
Your Jungle Stalker pet, which upkeeps 5 stacks
You could run Axe + warhorn in the off set for another 6 stacks, but the stacks won't last quite long enough for Warhorn 5 to be off CD. 

For your DPS, it seems like the gear difference might be partially to blame - strength sigil is great for self sufficiency though so I wouldn't call it a bad choice neccessarily. I also think that the Ambush skill is a dps loss (but fun and useful in practice I'd say), Mystic only uses hammer 1,2 and 4 in his build. He also mentions that finishing the auto attack chain is important, so that may be something to work on as well. 

[Zyreva.1078]

53 minutes ago, Jonas.2079 said:

As far as pets go, why run Tiger over something like Lynx?

Personal preference. Tiger is burstier than Lynx and can proc Poison Master more frequently. Aoe fury doesn't hurt either. Overall they end up having fairly similar dps, so pick whichever you like more.

53 minutes ago, Jonas.2079 said:

To be honest I initially thought the Hawk would be the best damaging pet and i couldn't understand why it never was included on any builds. Poison master should give a sizeable poison on Beast skill usage and Lacerating slash is on a 6 second cooldown while doing pretty ok damage itself. But in my testing it doesn't seem like Poison master procs very consistently, so

That's something i noticed too. PM seems to be bugged and does not proc when F2 is set to autocast. It needs to be activated manually. It also does not proc if you open up with F2, you need to be in combat first.

But even with poison procs hawk won't pull ahead, because the long animations reduce their dps too much compared to the faster attacking cats.

Edited October 14, 2022 by UmbraNoctis.1907