Dragonhunter - Turbo Trapper - MetaBattle

The community gave this build a rating, making it top-tier: Great

Expansions required: Heart of Thorns builds

Difficulty: Normal

This build was last updated on June 05, 2026 and is up to date for the June 2, 2026 patch.

Overview

A PvP Dragonhunter build that can burst targets from any distance, be it 精准射击 on Longbow or various melee combos centered around forcing enemies to cross 信仰试炼.

Skill Bar

Longbow

Utility

Skill Variants

Heal

决心纹章 - better condition cleansing.

Template Code

[&DQEQPy41Gzm8EgMBBAE2Af4SBAGKEi0BNwE3AQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACWgAyAAA=]

Specializations

Variants

毁灭高翔 improves your mobility which allows you to drop 猞猁符文 for something better. This however is going to negatively impact your survivability and removes much of the 防御者古物 synergy, so you should consider taking a different relic too.
重击之光 is an equally viable option. It's a great source of 稳固 and the trait's damage modifier has strong synergy with various burst combos built around CC. This version puts more emphasis on push/pull combos with 信仰试炼.

Equipment

Longbow

Empty slot

Sigil

Sword

Shield

Sigil

Rune

Amulet

Relic

Equipment Variants

Amulets

狂战士项链 - higher risk/reward option. Consider taking 战士符文 to compensate for the lower HP and either 寻路者古物 or 毁灭高翔 to make up for the loss of Lynx's mobility boost. Note: if you pick Soaring Devastation you're losing a bunch of 圣盾 access from the other trait, which makes the Defender relic lose a lot of value, at which point you should also consider taking either Brawler or Dragonhunter for the relic slot.

Relics

争斗者古物 - DPS increase with high uptime and an easy trigger.
猎龙者古物 - while this relic could potentially give you higher uptime of 10% extra damage than Brawler, you need to be in melee to proc this one which makes Brawler more ideal for ranged bursts. Dragonhunter relic works really well with the 信仰试炼 + pull/knockback combos while Brawler is perfect for + Longbow bursts as SoJ gives 决心 via 决心美德.

Usage

General

Try to stay in range, keep your distance whenever possible.
信仰试炼 is a decent defensive skill because it's an instant source of 保护 that can also be used while CC'd.
偏转射击 is unblockable and may even be used to interrupt blocking skills.
决心之翼 removes 2 conditions and provides a substantial amount of healing for you and your teammates. It's also an excellent mobility tool in combat and a good way of repositioning yourself.
勇气之盾 breaks stun and blocks all attacks in front of you, use it to relieve pressure from yourself and your team - for example, you can stand facing foes attempting to cleave downed teammates while you or your team is reviving them.
Try to burn through all of your virtues before resorting to 专注复苏. RF is a great panic button when you're being focused by the enemy team and you don't have any CDs left, but Dragonhunter virtues have cast times so any virtues you didn't use before RF will go to waste.

Damage

The ring created by 信仰试炼 deals more damage than the initial trigger, and a significant portion of your burst damage comes from pulling/pushing foes through it as many times as possible.
You deal extra damage to enemies affected by , so consider using it before hard hitting skills like 精准射击.
决心 increases your critical strike chance via 正义本能. This boon is extremely important to have while unloading your hardest hitting skills! You may obtain it boon from every Virtue skill as well as the 医者决心 enhanced 净化陷阱.
- The F1 Virtue is already a part of many burst combos but the F3's great too. In addition to the 决心, 勇气之盾 also applies 圣盾 for extra damage via 无伤斗魂 while allowing you to tank some damage and safely counterpressure opponents.
- Using any Virtue skill before the burst also applies 美德激励 for even more damage.
There's a delay on 猎人结界, the final strike doesn't go off immediately after you finish channeling the skill. This leaves you enough time to pull targets in with 猎人裁决 to make sure they get hit and can't dodge nor leave before the skill finishes and the rings trap them inside. The final strike of this skill also does heavy damage.
- Tip: when facing another DH it's very important to dodge the final strike of 猎人结界. If you do that the cages won't spawn and you avoid most of the damage.

Burst combo examples

Hunter's Ward + traps from range

Place 利刃狂舞
the target.
猎人结界 on your position.
Immediately pull in the target with 猎人裁决. The goal is to drag them into melee where they'll be hit and caged by the last strike of Hunter's Ward, while preventing them from dodging it. The cage will then force them to tank Procession of Blades and any other AoE skills you decide to throw into the mix.
能量符印
Weapon swap, follow up with 利刃符印 and 狂徒防御.

Test of Faith push/pull

Cast on your target, we'll need its chain skill later. If the spear misses you might want to skip this combo for now, especially if the target was outside melee range.
Drop 信仰试炼 preferably at your target's feet so that they spring it immediately, as ideally CC should be used to make them cross the already active trap, not activate the trap. Consider jumping in with 利刃符印 if they are far away before dropping ToF.
Use either 偏转射击 or 吸收护盾 to push them out of the ring.
Pull them back in with 猎人裁决 (chain skill of ).
If possible, swap weapons and use the remaining knockback skill too that you didn't use at step 3.
Note: if you couldn't start this combo in melee range that's still fine, but you'll only be able to proc ToF once. In that case simply drop ToF, pull them in, push them out and end the chain with 精准射击 if you can.

Ranged burst

猎人结界
immediately (should land before the cages spawn) and keep it attached for extra damage, don't pull the target.
精准射击 - your target should be trapped inside a cage from Hunter's Ward by now.
能量符印

Sword/Shield

This is the defensive set of the build, but still has some hard hitting skills.
The main source of burst damage here comes from 狂徒防御. Note that the projectiles can be very unreliable in anything but melee range.
利刃符印 has many uses: vertical mobility via teleportation, symbol for cleaving, or a combo field which can be used for AoE cleansing by executing a blast finisher in it.
Use 裁决盾击 when you or an ally is about to be focused by the enemy, or if you're already pressured. It also applies boons in a cone, try to aim it at as many allies as possible.
As mentioned above, 吸收护盾 is mainly a combo tool, but you can also use it for general CC (even neutralizing enemy points) or to defend against some ranged attacks. It forms a dome around you for a couple of seconds, blocking projectiles. You can choose to detonate the dome with its chain skill, which will cause a bit of AoE healing.

Fighting a Dragonhunter

This section contains tips that could prove useful vs another DH on any build

Teleports count as crossing for 信仰试炼. Even if you 闪光传送 out you're going to take damage. One way to avoid that is to dodge while blinking.
Usually they burst you right after attaching a so be extra careful and play it safe for a few seconds.
can be avoided, but its chain skill 猎人裁决 could even pull you out of a dodge once the Spear's attached. If you're worried about the pull the easiest way to outplay Hunter's Verdict is to outrange it - beyond 1.2k range the pull can't happen. Get into a safe distance quickly and wait for the tether to expire. 稳固 or a well timed invulnerability could also work. Blocking line of sight by hiding behind a pillar is a good idea too, but depending on the terrain might not always work.
猎人结界 calls down arrows from the sky then spawns a cage around targets struck by the final set of arrows. The only dangerous part here is the very last hit: if you can avoid that the cages don't spawn, and you avoid the bulk of the damage. Don't dodge at the start of the animation, more like 1-2 seconds into it.
- If is attached to you and the DH uses 猎人结界 expect to be pulled soon - pulling a target while the animation of HW is playing denies them the chance to dodge the final hit. Use the methods described earlier to avoid that.
If a DH is sitting on a capture point, just assume that it's full of traps. The first thing you should do is trigger the traps safely. Sending in Ranger pets or Mesmer clones from a safe distance could ruin their plans. Briefly getting into the edge of the node and dodging out of it right away could also proc the traps while avoiding their effects, but you need good timing for that.
精准射击 deals heavy damage but can be easily spotted: the DH has to stand still for 3/4s. Dodge when you see them stop moving.

Top Streamers

Twitch: Azzardome
Twitch: Boyce
Twitch: NotoriousNaru

Related Builds

Dragonhunter - Radiant Trapper - the WvW Roaming version of the build.