Guild Wars 2

Hi. I want to create a good (for PvE & dungeons) archer but there are diffrent classes that can be an archer. I found a similiar topic but it was about a year old so I assume some things changed with patches. What’s now the best archer in game? Maybe you can give me some builds?

Well speaking by anets intention the ranger should be the best archer but people don’t really want them in dungeon cause they assume the ranger sucks (for the record it does not suck, it can easily defeat other players when in the hands of a skilled player who understands how the class can be highly effective) though the ranger is getting some huge buffs in the patch that anet has been advertising their “ready up” episodes for so if you are willing to wait a while you may be able to have a ranger for an archer.

Thief isn’t really an archer kind of class, but they do have a shortbow. Warrior has a longbow but it also doesn’t have much of an archer feel either. Note: this is only my opinion, nothing more.

ranger is the only class that can equip both shortbow and longbow, though those weapons serve very different purposes.

as a rule of thumb, melee damage > ranged damage for optimal runs, but not everyone is obsessed with being optimal, and the upcoming ranger changes might make it quite the powerhouse with the longbow, while the shortbow has remained a solid skirmishing weapon.

warrior has a really strong longbow, and really fun to use too, but it’s the only bow they use, and a lot of its strength comes from synergizing with traits and other weapons.

thief has the shortbow glued to their second weapon slot, but it’s never a thief’s main weapon. it’s full of utility, but not really what they use for actual damage.

so yeah, if you want to focus on archery, you’d have to go ranger.

Be a ranger. Not an archer.

http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-k;4R0FY075NN-Z0;9;499EO91;02;05;035-1;9;7FScFs

Best archer EU.