Discussing builds

[protobeing.3157]

I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works - http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA - and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

[Leonidrex.5649]

@"protobeing.3157" said:I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works - http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA - and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

https://www.godsofpvp.net/look for ranger herehttps://metabattle.com/wiki/Rangerthose ones might be outdated and less meta, so take it with a grain of salt

[protobeing.3157]

@Leonidrex.5649 thanks

[protobeing.3157]

i should have said the "predators cunning" trait from the soul beast skill line. I looked at those builds and I am still getting pretty good results with my original one. Does anyone know if the the predators cunning skill works on dots or only the intial hit? ---" when you apply poison to a foe, steal some health from them", LIfe siphon dmg 182, life siphon healing 184 --. This would be a pretty weak heal if it wasn't dot based.

[Dantheman.3589]

@Leonidrex.5649 said:

@"protobeing.3157" said:I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA

- and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

https://www.godsofpvp.net/

look for ranger here

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Ranger

those ones might be outdated and less meta, so take it with a grain of salt

The ranger builds on godsofpvp are much worse for the meta than metabattle. Also I don’t think this is necessarily what the person was asking for at all

[Leonidrex.5649]

@Dantheman.3589 said:

@Leonidrex.5649 said:

@"protobeing.3157" said:I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA

- and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

https://www.godsofpvp.net/

look for ranger here

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Ranger

those ones might be outdated and less meta, so take it with a grain of salt

The ranger builds on godsofpvp are much worse for the meta than metabattle. Also I don’t think this is necessarily what the person was asking for at all

good thing we have you to fill in the gap right?

[protobeing.3157]

i was asking for advice on my specific build and ideas about it really - theory crafting actually. I mean go ahead and poop on it even lol. It seems to be holding its own in 1 v 1 situations against almost everyone (except for like god tier players), even a little 1 v 2, definitely good in grps.

[protobeing.3157]

one thing I couldnt do on the build website was use a dagger in my main hand! That is what I'm doing in game (duel daggers), and like 3 out of the 5 skills are poison based, so it just adds more dots, but begs the question - am I waisting my time on too many poison based skills - does one or two poisoning skills provide full uptime for poison on an enemy?

[Leonidrex.5649]

@"protobeing.3157" said:i should have said the "predators cunning" trait from the soul beast skill line. I looked at those builds and I am still getting pretty good results with my original one. Does anyone know if the the predators cunning skill works on dots or only the intial hit? ---" when you apply poison to a foe, steal some health from them", LIfe siphon dmg 182, life siphon healing 184 --. This would be a pretty weak heal if it wasn't dot based.

I didnt test it personally but from the sound of the skill it wont be dot, but only application itself.But its a leech, important part about leeching life is that it ignores enemy toughness, so what you see is what you get and enemy stacking toughness doesnt lower the damage.

[Leonidrex.5649]

@protobeing.3157 said:one thing I couldnt do on the build website was use a dagger in my main hand! That is what I'm doing in game (duel daggers), and like 3 out of the 5 skills are poison based, so it just adds more dots, but begs the question - am I waisting my time on too many poison based skills - does one or two poisoning skills provide full uptime for poison on an enemy?

the poison stacks, the more you apply the more damage the enemy will take.BTW sorry for not giving you specific build advice but im shit at ranger and dont know much about it, all I can do is explain general mechanics and mb point you in the right direction. I will give you invite link to pvp discord, there are much better people to get your questions answeredEdit v2, send you priv msg.

[Dantheman.3589]

@protobeing.3157 said:one thing I couldnt do on the build website was use a dagger in my main hand! That is what I'm doing in game (duel daggers), and like 3 out of the 5 skills are poison based, so it just adds more dots, but begs the question - am I waisting my time on too many poison based skills - does one or two poisoning skills provide full uptime for poison on an enemy?

When making your own build you should make sure it’s efficient. I’ve seen 1v1 builds that do great with predators cunning. Problem with your version rn is that both trait lines are power based and that you take longbow a power weapon and then even rabid amulet which is a precision amulet, so it won’t be efficient with precision and condi base stats with power stuffs. Consider wilderness survival(top,mid,mid)- it adds sustain and some good poison a lot of ppl also take skirmishing for condition builds but you don’t have to if you want something unique. Marksmanship is possible on condi builds, but basically only if you take the traits that help you land crits with an amulet like carrion which will make your build hybrid, but if you don’t plan on that just take beast mastery.Basically the build you closing in on is a small skirmish and/or 1v1er for unblockable damage and maybe lots of dodges, which can work but the changes above should make your build more efficient. It almost there but the more efficient for your role as a small skirmishes ranger the better and a long bow with marks and soulbeast condi build will just do the job slower than if you didn’t take those.Also consider the soulbeast traits bot or top, bot and for the last one mid(if you take stances) or bot. These are the good traits for soulbeast

[TrollingDemigod.3041]

@"protobeing.3157" said:i should have said the "predators cunning" trait from the soul beast skill line. I looked at those builds and I am still getting pretty good results with my original one. Does anyone know if the the predators cunning skill works on dots or only the intial hit? ---" when you apply poison to a foe, steal some health from them", LIfe siphon dmg 182, life siphon healing 184 --. This would be a pretty weak heal if it wasn't dot based.

I'm not ranger main.What do you mean "works on dots" ?That build is akward.Longbow is kinda pointless, since it's power based weapon and doesn't provide any offensive condies. Predator's cunning only benefits from weaponswap sigil and dagger 4, it's not really that much to be worth taking, since I think it only triggers on condi application and not on amount of condi applied in time frame, meaning it doesn't matter if you apply 10 poison stacks or 1 in 1 time frame, it'll only trigger once.Another thing, you'll get eaten alive because no condi cleanses.http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAUhjlFwkYesO2JeSXVv3BcA-zZoOkIVAZKF6VE44B Something like that? IDK One way or another, you should focus on something and think about synergy. Keep in mind you need some defenses as well.

[protobeing.3157]

thank you this all great advice. I did switch to shortbow (i'm not actually sure why I have longbow on the build... fek).

[protobeing.3157]

on a short tangent, I picked longbow because Gw2Skills.Net uses the picture of a recurve (which is a short bow) for the longbow choice, and a pick of a longbow, for the shortbow choice lol. I even see that the game uses a lot of "big" recurve bows in game as longbows. As an archer irl, this is not right. You feked up Gw2.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

@"protobeing.3157" said:I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works - http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA - and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

A lot of Ranger condi builds are great 1v1, out in a field, while not worrying about nodes.

Ranger condi in conquest however, while worrying about being able to decap someone off a node with knockbacks or not being knocked back or just being able to take a neutral node before the opponent does due to knockback, decap, needing kite aspects, is just bad. Ranger condi is also just not great in team fights. It's nothing as potent as the general Scourge or Thief condi +.

So what you're looking at with any build or class, are the 4 job roles: Team Fighter / Team Support / DPS + Roam / Side Noder. If your build is not baller stronk while performing at least one of those job roles, the build is bad. No really. If it isn't outputting equal amounts of AoE DPS pressure & CC in team fights compared to the usual team fight metas, that means it's bad at team fights. If it doesn't have equal comparable amounts of support to current team support metas, the build is ultimately doomed to be less effective than everyone else running those metas. If the build isn't comparably as fast and doesn't deal as much damage as other DPS + Roamers, it will just be outplayed at that job role by the traditional DP Thieves & Power Shatters & LB Rangers. If the build is not amongst one of the top 2 best side node duelists, it'll be outplayed by the builds that are the top 2 contestants. Remember that 1v1ing out in a field while not worrying about nodes and being able to kite endlessly, is a lot different than being able to hold a small circle while not kiting and not stealthing and having lots of knockbacks to keep enemies off nodes.

In other words, in conquest 5v5, you aren't looking to customize a build that is a "jack of all trades that can kill anyone 1v1 if it has enough space to kite and enough time." No, in 5v5 conquest you're looking at needing to be a Team Fighter, Team Support, DPS + Roam, or Side Noder. Believe me when I say that I can 1v1 and beat 98% of the players in NA on my Druid build. There are many players who would vouch this. But you know what? It's absolute garbage in conquest. It doesn't have knockbacks for side nodes, which means that even though I can beat the person in a 1v1 98/100 times, it just isn't worth the time spent doing it due to how node play point ticks work. It also has to stealth too often to be able to be a serious side node and it requires a lot of room to kite things like Holosmith. It's garbage support in team fights and it deals bad damage to boot. And it certainly cannot + a fight to save its life. So even though it is actually one of the strongest possible 1v1 specs in the game, it is a garbage build to run in conquest.

Now 2v2 and 3v3 builds are just different and I'm not going to go all into that right now. But I will say that Ranger/Druid/Soulbeast is also just a poor choice for the 2v2s and 3v3s for many reasons. Right now, if you were to seriously excavate the depths of Ranger/Druid/Soulbeast viability, you will eventually learn that the only two viable builds that can keep up with higher tier meta play in the end, are:

1. DPS Glass Cannon LB/GS Soulbeasts for the DPS + Roam role
2. Scattered Core Ranger setups that are built for tanking & sustaining. The Core Ranger however is no longer a king side node. So the Core Ranger now, must be very selective as to when to side node against builds it can win against, and when it bail the side node and assist a team fight. The better Core Ranger setups lately are more designed for team fights than side node duelist, but it is still a very effective side node presence so long as one of the king side node metas isn't pushing you. These setups can be functional and vary between power & condi. What matters is knowing what you counter and what counters you, and positioning yourself correctly.

But for a more simple response to your question, I advise you try this build:

Skirm: top - top - bottomWild: top - middle - middleBeastm: bottom - middle - bottom

Axe/Axe - Energy/CourageGreatsword - Energy/IntelligenceMarshal/Dolyak Rune

6 - Troll7 - Quick Zeph or Stone Sig depending on if you are against more condi or power8 - Protect Me9 - Light Reflexes0 - Entangle

Tiger / Bristleback "Bristle is mandatory vs. stealthing opponents and for setting him off node so he doesn't take damage in team fights"

Furthermore, try to understand that other builds will always deal more condi damage than you will as a Ranger. Dealing uber condi damage in pvp is just not Ranger's forte, so you will be outplayed by Thief condi as a +. You'll be outplayed by things like Fire Weaver on side nodes or even Necros. You'll definitely be outplayed in team fights by Necros and Burn Guards. What your forte is as a Ranger, is sustaining. So what you really should be doing, is ditching this idea of massive condi damage, and going more towards pushing your sustain factor. 100% guarantee you, that your build will be twice as powerful if you do this for a condi variant as Ranger. This is why I suggested the above build for you to try.

If you really want massive condi damage bursting, just play Thief man.

[protobeing.3157]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

@"protobeing.3157" said:I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA

- and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

A lot of Ranger condi builds are great 1v1, out in a field, while not worrying about nodes.

Ranger condi in conquest however, while worrying about being able to decap someone off a node with knockbacks or not being knocked back or just being able to take a neutral node before the opponent does due to knockback, decap, needing kite aspects, is just bad. Ranger condi is also just not great in team fights. It's nothing as potent as the general Scourge or Thief condi +.

So what you're looking at with any build or class, are the 4 job roles: Team Fighter / Team Support / DPS + Roam / Side Noder. If your build is not baller stronk while performing at least one of those job roles, the build is bad. No really. If it isn't outputting equal amounts of AoE DPS pressure & CC in team fights compared to the usual team fight metas, that means it's bad at team fights. If it doesn't have equal comparable amounts of support to current team support metas, the build is ultimately doomed to be less effective than everyone else running those metas. If the build isn't comparably as fast and doesn't deal as much damage as other DPS + Roamers, it will just be outplayed at that job role by the traditional DP Thieves & Power Shatters & LB Rangers. If the build is not amongst one of the top 2 best side node duelists, it'll be outplayed by the builds that are the top 2 contestants. Remember that 1v1ing out in a field while not worrying about nodes and being able to kite endlessly, is a lot different than being able to hold a small circle while not kiting and not stealthing and having lots of knockbacks to keep enemies off nodes.

In other words, in conquest 5v5, you aren't looking to customize a build that is a "jack of all trades that can kill anyone 1v1 if it has enough space to kite and enough time." No, in 5v5 conquest you're looking at needing to be a Team Fighter, Team Support, DPS + Roam, or Side Noder. Believe me when I say that I can 1v1 and beat 98% of the players in NA on my Druid build. There are many players who would vouch this. But you know what? It's absolute garbage in conquest. It doesn't have knockbacks for side nodes, which means that even though I can beat the person in a 1v1 98/100 times, it just isn't worth the time spent doing it due to how node play point ticks work. It also has to stealth too often to be able to be a serious side node and it requires a lot of room to kite things like Holosmith. It's garbage support in team fights and it deals bad damage to boot. And it certainly cannot + a fight to save its life. So even though it is actually one of the strongest possible 1v1 specs in the game, it is a garbage build to run in conquest.

Now 2v2 and 3v3 builds are just different and I'm not going to go all into that right now. But I will say that Ranger/Druid/Soulbeast is also just a poor choice for the 2v2s and 3v3s for many reasons. Right now, if you were to seriously excavate the depths of Ranger/Druid/Soulbeast viability, you will eventually learn that the only two viable builds that can keep up with higher tier meta play in the end, are:

1. DPS Glass Cannon LB/GS Soulbeasts for the DPS + Roam role
2. Scattered Core Ranger setups that are built for tanking & sustaining. The Core Ranger however is no longer a king side node. So the Core Ranger now, must be very selective as to when to side node against builds it can win against, and when it bail the side node and assist a team fight. The better Core Ranger setups lately are more designed for team fights than side node duelist, but it is still a very effective side node presence so long as one of the king side node metas isn't pushing you. These setups can be functional and vary between power & condi. What matters is knowing what you counter and what counters you, and positioning yourself correctly.

But for a more simple response to your question, I advise you try this build:

Skirm: top - top - bottomWild: top - middle - middleBeastm: bottom - middle - bottom

Axe/Axe - Energy/CourageGreatsword - Energy/IntelligenceMarshal/Dolyak Rune

6 - Troll7 - Quick Zeph or Stone Sig depending on if you are against more condi or power8 - Protect Me9 - Light Reflexes0 - Entangle

Tiger / Bristleback "Bristle is mandatory vs. stealthing opponents and for setting him off node so he doesn't take damage in team fights"

Furthermore, try to understand that other builds will always deal more condi damage than you will as a Ranger. Dealing uber condi damage in pvp is just not Ranger's forte, so you will be outplayed by Thief condi as a +. You'll be outplayed by things like Fire Weaver on side nodes or even Necros. You'll definitely be outplayed in team fights by Necros and Burn Guards. What your forte is as a Ranger, is sustaining. So what you really should be doing, is ditching this idea of massive condi damage, and going more towards pushing your sustain factor. 100% guarantee you, that your build will be twice as powerful if you do this for a condi variant as Ranger. This is why I suggested the above build for you to try.

If you really want massive condi damage bursting, just play Thief man.

Thank you for this, very informative. I have one question left. Is there any room for the bow in the build you shared with me? I really enjoy the range, and as I'm still learning mechanics, I get a little noodle finger-y up close from time to time.

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

@protobeing.3157 said:@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

@protobeing.3157 said:I didn't see a thread for discussing build viability in PVP, so I'm starting one here. If there is already one, could you point me in the right direction? I'm a new player (level 23) and am figuring out the ranger class for open world and PVP. Hope fully this link works -

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?POwAMdjlZwAZfsOGKOyX1vvJcC-zZwOlCEBpoAiUIUyEQUDA

- and if anyone has some advice I would greatly appreciate it. I was thinking I could build around poison and the "predators cunning" trait from the beastmaster skill line to apply a ton of poison dots that would also heal me for susutain with the shortbow and weapon swapping. I have no idea if this is a good idea, but I seem to be getting decent results from it.

A lot of Ranger condi builds are great 1v1, out in a field, while not worrying about nodes.

Ranger condi in conquest however, while worrying about being able to decap someone off a node with knockbacks or not being knocked back or just being able to take a neutral node before the opponent does due to knockback, decap, needing kite aspects, is just bad. Ranger condi is also just not great in team fights. It's nothing as potent as the general Scourge or Thief condi +.

So what you're looking at with any build or class, are the 4 job roles: Team Fighter / Team Support / DPS + Roam / Side Noder. If your build is not baller stronk while performing at least one of those job roles, the build is bad. No really. If it isn't outputting equal amounts of AoE DPS pressure & CC in team fights compared to the usual team fight metas, that means it's bad at team fights. If it doesn't have equal comparable amounts of support to current team support metas, the build is ultimately doomed to be less effective than everyone else running those metas. If the build isn't comparably as fast and doesn't deal as much damage as other DPS + Roamers, it will just be outplayed at that job role by the traditional DP Thieves & Power Shatters & LB Rangers. If the build is not amongst one of the top 2 best side node duelists, it'll be outplayed by the builds that are the top 2 contestants. Remember that 1v1ing out in a field while not worrying about nodes and being able to kite endlessly, is a lot different than being able to hold a small circle while not kiting and not stealthing and having lots of knockbacks to keep enemies off nodes.

In other words, in conquest 5v5, you aren't looking to customize a build that is a "jack of all trades that can kill anyone 1v1 if it has enough space to kite and enough time." No, in 5v5 conquest you're looking at needing to be a Team Fighter, Team Support, DPS + Roam, or Side Noder. Believe me when I say that I can 1v1 and beat 98% of the players in NA on my Druid build. There are many players who would vouch this. But you know what? It's absolute garbage in conquest. It doesn't have knockbacks for side nodes, which means that even though I can beat the person in a 1v1 98/100 times, it just isn't worth the time spent doing it due to how node play point ticks work. It also has to stealth too often to be able to be a serious side node and it requires a lot of room to kite things like Holosmith. It's garbage support in team fights and it deals bad damage to boot. And it certainly cannot + a fight to save its life. So even though it is actually one of the strongest possible 1v1 specs in the game, it is a garbage build to run in conquest.

Now 2v2 and 3v3 builds are just different and I'm not going to go all into that right now. But I will say that Ranger/Druid/Soulbeast is also just a poor choice for the 2v2s and 3v3s for many reasons. Right now, if you were to seriously excavate the depths of Ranger/Druid/Soulbeast viability, you will eventually learn that the only two viable builds that can keep up with higher tier meta play in the end, are:

1. DPS Glass Cannon LB/GS Soulbeasts for the DPS + Roam role
2. Scattered Core Ranger setups that are built for tanking & sustaining. The Core Ranger however is no longer a king side node. So the Core Ranger now, must be very selective as to when to side node against builds it can win against, and when it bail the side node and assist a team fight. The better Core Ranger setups lately are more designed for team fights than side node duelist, but it is still a very effective side node presence so long as one of the king side node metas isn't pushing you. These setups can be functional and vary between power & condi. What matters is knowing what you counter and what counters you, and positioning yourself correctly.

But for a more simple response to your question, I advise you try this build:

Skirm: top - top - bottomWild: top - middle - middleBeastm: bottom - middle - bottom

Axe/Axe - Energy/CourageGreatsword - Energy/IntelligenceMarshal/Dolyak Rune

6 - Troll7 - Quick Zeph or Stone Sig depending on if you are against more condi or power8 - Protect Me9 - Light Reflexes0 - Entangle

Tiger / Bristleback "Bristle is mandatory vs. stealthing opponents and for setting him off node so he doesn't take damage in team fights"

Furthermore, try to understand that other builds will always deal more condi damage than you will as a Ranger. Dealing uber condi damage in pvp is just not Ranger's forte, so you will be outplayed by Thief condi as a +. You'll be outplayed by things like Fire Weaver on side nodes or even Necros. You'll definitely be outplayed in team fights by Necros and Burn Guards. What your forte is as a Ranger, is sustaining. So what you really should be doing, is ditching this idea of massive condi damage, and going more towards pushing your sustain factor. 100% guarantee you, that your build will be twice as powerful if you do this for a condi variant as Ranger. This is why I suggested the above build for you to try.

If you really want massive condi damage bursting, just play Thief man.

Thank you for this, very informative. I have one question left. Is there any room for the bow in the build you shared with me? I really enjoy the range, and as I'm still learning mechanics, I get a little noodle finger-y up close from time to time.

To be honest, the short bow is atrociously bad in 2020. Here is why:

• It is a 2hand weapon that is comparable to Necro Scepter in the aspect that is seriously has no power damage to contribute, but at least the Necro Scepter is a 1hand weapon which allows more diverse options with what offhand goes with it. The Necromancer's trait lines also support a weapon kit like Scepter, that is essentially pumping out only condi damage. The Ranger on the other hand, you get only a few small effects in Skirmishing and Soulbeast to fuel condi damage. Everything on Ranger is largely designed to support power damage and sustain, not condi output. So having a weapon designed around condi damage with very low power output, that doesn't support much survival utility as compared to Longbow #3 #4 or Greatsword #3 #4, is just a bad option to use, in conjunction with the followings points.
• In pvp, the Shortbow can pound out damage in conjunction with condi bolstering utilities but these utilities are not practical to use in pvp. The Shortbow's gimmick is also designed around the idea of "getting behind something" to deal large damage, which also is just not practical in pvp. If you want condi output on a Ranger build that is actually practical to use and viable amongst better players wielding meta, the Ranger first needs to focus adequate sustain options, and then aim at a hybrid power/condi setup, which believe it or not, is just as much damage output as a would-be condi cannon, but grants like triple the sustain factor.
• Arenanet removed the amulets from pvp that actually supported Shortbow builds. So now at this point, with what amulets we have provided, wielding Shortbow is a waste of the power damage stat line on an amulet that you're running. Why waste that? If an amulet is going to make you use +1000 power, why wield a weapon that can't put that to use? If your amulet is granting +1000 precision, why waste that critical chance on a weapon kit power coefficient that's as low as a Necromancer Scepter? It's just bad optimization to try and do so. The current amulets in play which are available in pvp, optimally support Axe/Axe setups for your power/condi hybrid purposes, for putting these amulet's stats to optimal use. In other words, when you try to use Shortbow and aim at condi damage, you're sacrificing so much to result in a build with say "Level 4 damage output, with a level 1 sustain factor", when you could just go power/condi hybrid to be able to have a build with "Level 3 damage output, but with a Level 4 sustain factor." Do you see what I mean here? This is just about optimizing the use of amulet stats.

You know what, I'll edit up some footage real fast of that build so you can see what I mean about the stat optimization. I was planning on doing it soon anyway.

[protobeing.3157]

cool ty. Its a shame though, because I really enjoy the Ranger short bow skills, and the kiting/keep away play that I can use with them.

[protobeing.3157]

I decided to try this build - https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Power_Survival - on metabattle and I'll admit it, it's much better. The only thing I miss is the Soul Beast skill - Spiritual Reprieve- as it was good burst heal for the whole team. I would still like to make a viable poison/ shortbow build for ranger, but it does seem like power/ survival is much stronger.