This weapon’s damage is nothing to scoff at and nor is it’s design unimaginative. Combined with a high damage build, it makes a very compelling option for strong long-range damage that can hit multiple targets. However, the Long Bow cannot carry anyone to victory alone. I have played at least 300 hours using Long Bow and I would like to share the intimate details about this weapon to people who are interested. It may reveal a strategy to upgrade this weapon to a better state because I believe it is possible to do so.
In order from left to right:
1. The Long Range Shot
This auto attack has a damage multiplier on par with Warrior’s Great Sword, one of the best among all professions. It has a reach of up to 1500 and fires approximately once per second. It look great on first impression, but this skill occasionally suffers from projectile lag at such range (i.e. “out of range” or “obstructed” or simply firing wide when a target rapidly changes direction). Another draw back is that it is very difficult to keep a distance from your foe. Often, every class carries multiple gap closing abilities, whereas rangers have only Lightning Reflexes, Point blank Shot, walking backwards and either a pet spider immobilize or a wolf fear to open gaps. The pet responses and effectiveness is unreliable, and thus it’s very common to have your enemy jump into melee range if they wanted to. When they do that, your damage plunges to roughly 40% less. Look at it like this; every enemy you run across has a special skill called “X” that reduces your DPS by 40% for essentially as long as they want. So, a long bow ranger using Long Range Shot in melee range is fighting with one of the lowest damage multiplier and the highest animation time. It’s always the case that when an enemy is in melee, a skillful ranger must switch to melee weapons or disengage.
2. The Rapid Fire Shot
This skill is usually worse in DPS than Long Range Shot because it’s damage multiplier is one of the lowest on any weapon. It has an unusual and exceptionally long channel time of 4.5 seconds (ironic because the name alludes to a quick attack ). Consider, the time sacrificed to use this skill does not reward greater DPS. This skill has one use that is inherent in all channel skills, the ability to temporarily track and damage stealth opponents. It’s high rate of fire gives a better chance of triggering on-crit sigils, physical projectile, and cleansing blinds. It’s debatable whether applying vulnerability one at a time is better than all at once. On one hand, it gives a better chance of actually applying some sort of vulnerability on the target, on the other, it is mathematically better for DPS if ten stacks apply before Rapid Fire hits.
3. Hunter’s Shot
A quick-firing, fast-moving projectile that deals low damage. The Stealth granted is good for repositioning or escaping. The question is, why doesn’t it trigger either Sic’Em, or Signet of the Hunt as well? The conditional requirement to gain stealth is a hindrance to Ranger because the target will most likely evade, block, or be invulnerable, or blind us; thereby, the skill will not work as intended for the user.
4. Point Blank Shot
Also a quick-firing, fast-moving projectile but this one does surprisingly better damage. It’s utility is really, really amazing. The development and testing team was very wise to bless Rangers with this skill. It’s knock-back is the strongest in the game due to the fact that it’s fast acting and range. Most players cannot detect this skill quickly enough to respond and thus this skill actually works in our favour mostly whenever the target does not have stability. I for one love the speed and explosiveness of this skill and would want all arrows fired from Long Bow to move just as fast while the rate of fire and damage multiplier could be adjusted to balance each skill.
5. Barrage
Firstly, the name is impressive. To think that one girl/guy can fire so many arrows as to literally “barrage” their foes shows mastery of the bow. The skill is only held back by it’s low DPS, small radius, long channel time, and stationary casting requirement. The range of barrage is farther than any AoE skill, and acts as area denial whenever needed. Barrage triggers on-crit sigils very well and provides sustained cripple. It’s a reliable siege killer, much like Elementalists but not as efficient.
The wraps up my experience with long bow. I hope game designers could use my sincere feedback on longbow and upgrade the longbow. Thanks.