Ranger crit PvE build.

NOTE: I did not write this build. tough it seems like a solid one for PvE. This guide is made by bebibu a forum members on Guildwars2guru.
Source: http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/78402-100-crit-pve-ranger-work-in-progress/

I will post my own build later this week. wich is a condition based build.
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Hello and welcome to my Ranger guide, have a little teaser first...

... now have some short facts what awaits you with this build...
91%-100% crit chance, depending on your team and your preference of sigils.
Shortbow: 1000-1900 dmg, depending on the enemy and your team/buffs
Longbow: 2500-5000 dmg, depending on enemy and your team/buffs
8-10 permanent Stacks of Might with the Shortbow
DPS ~3000-4000 without bleeds and pet dmg

*Note* This Build maximizes the Benefits a Ranger can contribute to a group setup aswell as maximizing the Dmg output, and therefore it's one of the few ones that let's you keep up with other classes. This Build was tested in all Dungeons including every path aswell as fractals lvl 30+.
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CONTENT

Build without explanations
Theory behind the build
100% Crit Chance
Attacks worth using
Utility Skills worth using and not
Elite Skills
Armor
Sigils/Runes
Traits
Pets
Condition Dmg
My Current Playstyle (last Update: 15.Jan.2013)
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BUILD

http://gw2skills.net...UJoySljKJVLCGZA

*Note* You can swap Sun Spirit with any skill that is worth casting (see Section: Skills)
*Note* Yes you can achieve 91% crit chance but you need buffs/food.
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THEORY

Shortbow: The high attack speed (~0,5 per second) combined with the high crit chance (~95%) combined with the Sigil of Strenght will lead to an amount of 8-10 permanent Might stacks (~+300 power/condition). This combined with your pets (~fury/might buffs) aswell as with your team buffs (guardian stacking might) will lead to 20-25 stacks of might nearly permanent.

*Note* Shortbow is your main weapon. But you can also permanently swap weapons if you want or need.
Longbow: The low attack speed makes any attack dodged/missed or not critted a real pain. Seeing Dmg numbers of 1400 instead of 4500 is a real pain. To avoid this at least a little we aim for a 100% crit chance, using Sigil of Accuracy aswell as attacking from maximum range.
*Note* Only use the 100% Crit longbow if you know you can go max range, because you probably need to change some traits first before you start fighting.
*Note* Always carry Horn/Greatsword with you for extended fury buff, and some rare melee boss/mobs.

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100% CRIT CHANCE

*Note* Due to the high attack speed combined with the sigil of strength i don't recommend going for 100% crit chance with the shortbow.

Longbow:
You need the bufffood (9%-10% more crit chance)
60% crit chance is your basic stats. Here comes the Math:
60% + 20%(fury buff) = 80%
80% + 9%(food) = 89%
89% + 5%(Sigil) = 94%
94% is the chance you can get without traits and a team. Now you have to either skill "Spotter"(3%) and get ~90 precision(4%) from your team or you get 6% from your team without the trait "Spotter". It's up to you!
*Note* If you skill "Spotter" you dont have Piercing arrows, which you dont need in boss fights.
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ATTACKS WORTH USING

Shortbow:
1>4>2>3>5

*Note* Nothing deals more dmg than your Autoattacks(1). Never spam 2/3/4/5! Only use them if you need the side effect of it (poison/stun/slow/pet bleeding/dodge).

Longbow:
Max Range:1>3>5
Low Range:2>3>5>1>4

*Note* At max Range spam 1/3/5. Your Autoattacks(1) will deal more dmg than using 2. 4 is not in range.
*Note* At low Range spam 1/2/3/5. 2 will deal more dmg than your Autoattacks(1). Use 4 to reposition but dont destroy dmg combos of other players.

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UTILITY WORTH USING

*Note* Mine are: Frost Spirit/Quickening Zephyr/Battle Roar(charr only)

Keep in mind autoattacks are your main dmg source. So anything that keeps you from doing these will cripple your own dmg. This list is a basic rule you can do with any Class:
The skill deals more dmg than your main dmg source and preferably has no cast time.(none)

The skill has no cast time and does not keep you from autoattacking.(Quickening Zephyr)

The skill has cast time but helps all 5 of your team. (Spirits)

The skill helps you in a certain situation, you change it just for that fight (pretty much any)
*Note* There is no skill that deals more dmg than your autoattacks, so the only option you have is building buffs/utility.
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UTILITY NOT WORTH USING

Signets of the Hunt: PVP-Signet dont use it.

*Note* You dont need the movement, and you have no attack that deals 15k dmg which would make the active effect worth it for the high cooldown. Aswell as you can't control the active effect on your pet since your pet attacks as he pleases.
Signet of Renewal: Use the Healing Spring + Brown bear, you wont need more in PvE.
Signet of the Wild: Only worth it if you use the trait skill "Signet of the Beastmaster), but we dont, since you also need to skill signet cooldown reduce and all in all you loose too much dmg.
*Note* You can use this with shortbow only. Swap with sun spirit/battle roar. But overall it has a too long cooldown.
Signet of Stone: Never, use this as your "standard build", in any boss fight you can dodge if you need invulnerability! I only use this to plant bombs in Dredge Fractals.
*Note* Don't forget to change the corresponding trait for it before you run into enemies.

Traps: We play ranged and not conditions. Only use the poison/spike trap if you know you need it (e.g. Dwayna)

Shouts: Pets are too often dead, plus other skills benefit the team more and deal more dmg in general.

Sharpening Stone: We dont build Condition dmg, and Sun spirit gives the whole team condition dmg on attacks.

Lightning Reflexes: PvP skill, use it if you need another dodge(never).

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ELITE SKILLS

Use whatever you need for the specific situation, you basically will need all 3. Your default should be rampage as one for the Might stacks + fury buff.
*Note* You can instantly rezz yourself with the rezz pet, it's rezz has a cast time so just press it right before your hp bar rans out (helpful in 40+ fractals).

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ARMORS

Berserker...Power/Precision/Crit-Dmg... I build full dmg so this should be obvious. You can survive if you know when to dodge.

*Note* There pretty much is no reason to take a Ranger with your group at the moment. Your Support is pretty OK but you aren't as good as a guardian (no shields, buffs).
In terms of DMG ,with equal Equipment, the Warrior outdmgs the Ranger by far. So why take a Ranger with your group? The Warrior cant build 100% Dmg since he needs to stay near the Boss in order to deal dmg. Instead the Ranger can go full Dmg and stay behind!
That's why we go full DMG! Guild Wars 2 has some of the easiest boss mechanics especially for ranged Characters, and if you are skilled enough to use dodge, you can beat anything with this build. For anyone skeptical i finished all dungeons with this build, and im currently fractals lvl 31 (but i dont see any point to go further, because i got all the important equipment, and its boring as hell doing the same stuff on and on).

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SIGILS/RUNES

Sigil of Accuracy: Use this with the Longbow, you want to get 100% crit with the longbow
*Note* This will not display in your Stats screen (bug). So once you reach 95% in your Stats you have 100% crit chance.

Sigil of Strength: Use this with the shortbow, i can stack 8-10 stacks with this.
*Note* The best Sigil for any Weapon with a high attack speed + high crit chance.

Sigil of Fragilty: Use if your team lacks vulnerabilty
*Note* Vulnerability is one of the best debuffs in the game, never underestimate 25% more dmg for 5 people.

Sigil of Rage: Use if you want to.
*Note* You can't control when it happens. Which means it can overlap with your own or your mesmers quickness making this not worth it compared to the other ones.

Rune of the Ranger: Is the only rune that gives you the most Precision + has the best t6 bonus.

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TRAITS

You want 30% more crit dmg + precision and you want +300 power for maximum dmg. So there is not much room to vary. Things you could change:
"Eagle Eye":
"Signet of the Beastmaster" to tank in Dredge bomb planting.
"Spotter" Gives you 3% more crit chance. Use especially if you play Shortbow only.
"Companion's Might"
"Sharpened Edges" To deal a little more dmg
*Note* This is not usefull if you already have someone going for bleeding.
"Natural Viggor"
Use whatever you want, i find this to be usefull in order to have less downtime on your +10% dmg buff.
"Piercing Arrows"
If you fight a single target (boss), you can swap this out for anything that deals extra dmg.

*Note* You can potentially play with 2 shortbows (both Sigil of Strength) and swap weapons continually, to keep your fury buff up. Then of course you can trait only for shortbow. My traits are built for both situations, short and longbow, you can swap your traits before you start fighting according to the next situation.

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PETS

Brown bear/red moa + jungle stalker are my choice 90% of time.
Red moa: Fury buff to keep the high crit chance + the might stacking up. + vulnerability
Jungle Stalker: Might stacking + vulnerability
Brown bear: Remove conditions if you need it ( i rarely do)
*Note* These pets are the best ones given the fact pets die very often.They buff the dmg of your whole team! You can use Spiders if you know a range pet can survive the boss, otherwise always go with these.
*Note* I pretty much ignore Pets in this guide because they die very often especially in high lvl fractals. The Pet dmg is a little nice addition to ours in this guide, but we dont focus on it.

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CONDITION DMG

Condition Dmg in its current state (my knowledge) is not worth it in terms of "killing things faster".
Bleeding: Stacks at 25,if anyone of your team applys more bleeding, you loose dmg.
Poison/Fire: Stacks in duration only, which means you can potentially kill a Boss who was a 2-minutes Fire debuff on itself, meaning you lost 2 minutes of dmg. If you can keep the fire/poison debuff 100% of the time up, but not extend it in length, while using all your maximum dmg skills, you got the perfect group setup. And with the "Sun Spirit" alone your group should be able to keep the fire 100% of the time up, so this will probably cripple your team aswell if you got guardians in your team.
If your team has no one dealing Condition Dmg you could potentially go for it, but i believe its not worth it.
*Note* Shortbow can apply 15 stacks of bleed, thats 15 stacks you will steal a condition build class. So anyone going for condition dmg will cripple your team basically. It's a fact accept it.
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CURRENT PLAYSTYLE

This Section covers what i think at the moment (current patch) is the best in my opinion. I will only post the Utility skills + traits, the rest stays the same till arena.net brings up a huge balance patch.
*Last Update* 15.Jan.2013
Shortbow:[BEST]
- 90% of boss fights cuz you can't go max range.
- Utility: Frost Spirit/Battle Roar + Quickening Zephyr + Signet of the Wild
- Traits:"Steady Focus" + "Beastmaster's Might" + "Signet Mastery" (rest stays the same)

*Note* If you are fighting a single target boss go for this. Swap Frost spirit if it dies instantly for something that helps you. In my case battle roar. If you need the piercing arrows (trash mobs,Boss with many adds) you can't skill "Signet Mastery" which is still ok. I'm not 100% sure whether 25% more dmg for 10 sec with a huge cooldown deals more dmg than e.g. traps ( you can go melee with shortbow). This is my personal preference ( i like being huge thats why i choose this one currently).

Longbow:
- Very rarely, the DPS might be higher than shortbow, but most boss fights are in small areas
- Utility: Frost Spirit + Quickening Zephyr + Battle Roar/Sun spirit
- Traits: "Steady Focus" + "Spotter/Beastmaster's Bond" + "Eagle Eye" (rest is the same)

*Note* This is the 100% crit build. Frost/Sun spirit never die on max range. Skill Increased range and increased crit chance. If you do already have 100%, go for "Beastmaster's Bond", its the only one that helps me at least a little. It's a little tricky since you want to swap your pets before they die, so you won't profit from this all the time. But "Keen Edge" wont procc on max range cuz nothing in this game hits you on max range. "Malicious training" could help your pets deal a little more dmg, but pets are rarely alive. The rest deals no extra dmg, or does not help you in any way.

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Last advice:
This build is basically Afk- Autoattacking with shortbow. Going longbow if you need the range and Aoe/vulnerability. BUT at the same time you need to be always aware that everything can potentially onehit you. Every boss in gw2 is easy once you know what they do, and when! The gw2 range mechanics can be either blocked by a guardian shield(afk AA-time), or you need to dodge an visible aoe circle which should be easy for any player. I tanked the mossman with this build from 100%-10% life, aswell as Lupicus in the 2nd phase (3rd phase is a bit hard as a ranger in general if caught inside the aoe). So there really is no range mechanic at all where you need more than your dodge move.


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FAQ:
- The bufffood can be seen in the large picture at the beginning of the guide
- The Build can be used in WvW but is not designed for it. I will not make any further explanations for WvW.
- You can't get 100% crit if you use legendary weapons due to them having toughness.
- In Fractals you don't have to tank just stay behind and deal dmg. Just do your role.
- This is not a PvP guide.
- The Fire-elementals should always be taken with you aswell as some "regenereation trees" for fractals 40+
- You will never deal more dmg with your pets than you deal by yourself. And they die too fast, accept it.
- This playstyle may be boring, but it's the way the Ranger works, i can't change that. Blame Arena.net.