Nederlandse PC Gaming Community

There are four base attributes, each automatically increasing whenever your character gains a level. They may also be increased by item and trait customization.

The four base Attributes are :
•Power - increases attack damage.
•Precision - increases critical strike chance.
•Vitality - increases health.
•Toughness - increases defense / armor.

Depending on the Guild Wars 2 profession you play and how you choose to play it, you can invest in the Power attribute to deal more damage up front or you can invest in the Toughness attribute to survive longer in a battle, dishing out more damage over time. Both strategies are valid and both have definite strengths and weaknesses depending on the situation you're in and the role you want to play with your GW2 character.
Similarly, while Power and Precision both increase your damage output, choosing which one to invest your points in isn't just a matter of making a simple mathematical choice of which will allow your character to do more damage. Precision is a trickier but more combination-friendly attribute which produces more reliable effects and conditional damage.
From a defensive point of view, Vitality and Toughness both reduce damage inflicted on your character, but in different ways.

Power:
This attribute is raw damage, perfect for Guild Wars 2 players who just want to hit hard. A longbow-wielding Ranger who invests in the Power attribute is looking to do more damage with each hit even if his target dodges a few projectiles.

Precision:
Attribute points invested here may mean you deal less raw damage per second, but many triggered effects happen only when you score a critical strike. A longbow-wielding ranger who invests highly in Precision is aiming to use the increased chance of secondary effects to apply pressure to his target.
Same GW2 profession, different set of attributes to suit a playing style, different damage effect.

Vitality:
increases your overall health pool, protects you from armor-ignoring effects such as conditions and allows you to absorb a large blow and still slink away to recover.

Toughness:
Reduces damage from small hits, helping a character deal with pressure by giving him more time to use a defensive skill or to heal but it is less effective than Vitality in absorbing the big blows.

OFFENSIVE ATTRIBUTES :
•Expertise : Improves the duration of all conditions inflicted by your character.
•Malice : Improves the damage done by conditions like bleeding, poison, confusion, and burning.
•Prowess : Improves the damage multiplier on critical strikes.

SUPPORT ATTRIBUTES :
•Compassion : Improves all outgoing heals that your character does, including self heals.
•Concentration : Improves the duration of all boons applied by your character.

Stat Priority ( PvE Damage focused Ranger):

Condition Damage >= Precision > Condition Duration > Critical Damage = Power

Condition Damage boosts the power of your Bleeding conditions and Precision maintains a high uptime on Sharpened Edges. Condition Duration improves the utility of the control conditions (Cripple, Chill, Weakness, etc) applied by this build.

Stat Definitions:

Condition Damage (Malice)Increases the damage dealt by Conditions that are applied by your character.

PrecisionIncreases your chance to score a critical hit. A base critical hit does an additional 50% damage for a minimum of 150% damage on a critical attack. Critical chance is increased by 1% for every 21 points of Precision.

Condition Duration (Concentration)Increases the duration of Conditions that are applied by your character.

Critical Damage (Prowess)Increases the damage done by critical hits by 1% per point of Critical Damage. For example, with +30% Critical Damage a Critical Attack would deal 180% of normal damage (150% base + 30% bonus).

PowerIncreases your Attack statistic which boosts the damage done for all direct damage attacks. Power does not increase condition damage.

Stat Priority (PvE Support focused Ranger):

Boon Duration > Healing Power = Condition Duration > Power

Boon Duration and Healing Power boost the effectiveness of your healing and support boons. Condition Duration boosts utility by making your various Control oriented conditions (Chilled, Weakness, Vulnerability, etc) last longer. Power improves your damage.

Stat Definitions:

Boon DurationIncreases the duration of Boons that are applied by your character.

Healing Power (Compassion)Increases all healing done and received by your character. This includes direct heals as well as healing from the Regeneration Boon.

Condition Duration (Concentration)Increases the duration of Conditions that are applied by your character.

PowerIncreases your Attack statistic which boosts the damage done for all direct damage attacks. Power does not increase condition damage.

Stat Priority PvE Control focused Ranger:

Vitality >= Toughness > Boon Duration > Condition Duration > Power

Vitality and Toughness are your core survivability stats. Boon Duration boosts the effectiveness of Boons from skills like Lightning Reflexes and Rampage as One. Condition Duration improves the utility of your control oriented conditions like Immobilize and Cripple. Power is the preferred damage improving stat for this build.

Stat Definitions:

VitalityIncreases your maximum Health by 10 points per Vitality.

ToughnessIncreases your Armor and reduces incoming direct damage. Armor does not reduce incoming condition damage.

Boon DurationIncreases the duration of Boons that are applied by your character.

Condition Duration (Concentration)Increases the duration of Conditions that are applied by your character.

PowerIncreases your Attack statistic which boosts the damage done for all direct damage attacks. Power does not increase condition damage.

In terms of combat roles, the ranger excels in two important areas: direct damage output, and group support.

For damage output, the ranger uses a fair amount of direct damage skills that can be further augmented by plenty of Condition based attacks. Your choice of focusing on melee or ranged combat will largely help decide which Attributes will be the most vital for your overall build. For example, the necro benefits most from increasing Condition Damage, while the mesmer tends to focus a bit more on increasing the Power attribute. For the ranger, the choice isn't quite so cut and dried.

Both greatsword and longbow attacks tend to focus on direct damage, or conditions that hinder rather than damage foes. As such, builds focused on these two weapons can greatly benefit from increasing Precision for a higher crit chance, and Critical Damage.

On the flip side, the sword and shortbow main-hand weapons rely far more on condition damage to wear enemies down over time, and can greatly benefit from increasing Condition Damage, especially if you utilize traps for your utility skills to deal even more damage through conditions.

www.guildwars2hub.com/guides/professions/ranger