Guild Wars 2

Hey guys, I’d really like some help with this question I have. I’m about to get my first character on this game to 80 and I want to start a new character when I gear him out in a few weeks. My question for you guys is: What class is most affective with a Bow and Arrow? Ever since I started MMOs my all time favorite weapon has always been a short or longbow and for my next character I’d like to make a build with a bow. I’m very big into dungeons and PvE so idk if that means anything but if you guys would help me pick a class and build for a bow I’d very much appreciate it. Thanks!

Well, it really depends on what you mean by affective (you mean effective btw :3 ).

Rangers by far have the most useful direct damage skills with their longbow, while causing lots of bleed and poison with the shortbow. They are very much the “Bow” class, the only one able to use both types.

Theives can use shortbow but are more inclined towards support, setting up Poison AOE fields and using Trick Shot to damage multiple foes. Against single foes they really have a hard time.

Warriors use Longbow, but it’s outclassed by the Rifle in almost every respect, so don’t use it. :)

Sounds to me like you are wanting a Dual Bow Ranger.

Barrage (AOE Massive Damage and Cripple) into Hunters Shot (10 Stacks of Vulnerablity) into Rapid Fire (10 quick arrows, massive damage) into Point Blank Shot (Knockbacks), Switch to Shortbow, fire off all your skills, flank and cause some bleeds, switch and repeat. :3

A guildmate of mine just rolled a Ranger and has had a great amount of fun with the shortbow. I don’t know much about builds for them, though.

Thanks for the feedback guys I really appreciate it! My answers to you are this: I would love to roll a ranger but I just hate pets… Is there anyway to permenantly remove them? Also, I heard about the thieve shortbow and I don’t mind playing support. How affective are they?

Pets are actually really good. Lots of extra free DPS basically.

Ranger, if you can tolerate dragging a (mainly) dead pet around with you.

If you really don’t want the pet when running around, you can “store” them and they will not be there with you. But you allways will have a pet ready to help out when needed and called for.
For me, Ranger is the best bow user. Have a ton of fun with mine and still learning things

Put 10-15 points in your pet traits and they become pretty darn useful. I use the brown bear and polar bear almost exclusively on my ranger. But you have to manage them…can’t just let hare off wherever they want. Make them work for you…its not hard.

Ok thanks a lot. But still.. I just hate pets. Does anyone know about warrior or theives with bows? I think itd be fun to run a tank bowman for warrior or a stealth bowman for thieves. Thanks for the help everyone!

BaconCatTheGreasy.9542:

Pets are actually really good. Lots of extra free DPS basically.

Pet’s aren’t “extra” DPS.

Ranger + Pet DPS should and mostly does = other classes DPS. Ranger damage/DPS is lower overall because the pet is supposed to make up the difference and equalize you with others, not give you an advantage.

BaconCatTheGreasy.9542:

Pets are actually really good. Lots of extra free DPS basically.

You must work for Anet =). They aren’t extra as they have been balance around. And just remember that they are mostly dead when you run dungeons or fight bosses. Not to mention they pull mobs or trigger penalties like running up the eletric bolts in FoTM.

To the OP, sounds like what you want is a ‘typical’ ranger, however that’s not what the GW2 ranger is.

If you do deicde to go with a ranger, I would at least recommend getting a warrior to level 20 or so and trying out a rifle. That’s pretty much what the ranger should have been. Actually, the scout in the snowball mayhem is what the ranger should have been.

Which is why Rangers tend to be looked down upon… The Ranger’s forum is usually a huge QQ fest. (to be fair its been a while since I have been in there)

I started working on a Dreamer because I Liked the look of the ultra girly bow, but My thief bores me to tears and the pet’s of rangers are very meh imho

Nothing wrong with a Long Bow Warrior.

It does decent single target damage with some support via its blind (#4), immobilize (#5) and fire field shot (F1). Your direct damage comes from its dual shot (#1) and arcing shot (#3) while fan of fire (#2) doesn’t do very much damage unless you hit the target with all 3 projectiles (so, nearly point blank range).

It’s not as much direct damage as a Rifle, but has a lot of utility along with its damage. Using the fire field burst attack + #3 grants 3 stacks of might to nearby party members and yourself, your other attacks act as projectile combos to cause burning and on top of that, these recharge pretty fast so you can nearly always have a fire field up to burn things with.

The only downfall of Longbow compared to rifle is there aren’t much for traits for it. Rifle has innate range of 1200 + the Crackshot trait makes all your shots into line attacks + reduces cooldowns by 20% (also works for speargun). For longbow, its range is only 900 unless you get the Stronger Bowstrings trait that improves range to 1200 (also, makes all your arrows 100% combo finishers instead of just a 20% chance…all except #3 which is always a 100% combo) and then the Burning Arrows trait which improves longbow damage vs burning foes.

All in all, longbow warrior is nice. Probably not something you’d want to only use (pair it at least with the traditional sword/shield and you can get some decent synergy with bleeds + burning as well as your own personal fire shield). It’s a nice support weapon thanks to Arcing Arrow. Use it to blast off your own fire field or use it to give your team chaos armor, area healing, area weakness, etc.

Grazingcattle.1627:

Which is why Rangers tend to be looked down upon… The Ranger’s forum is usually a huge QQ fest. (to be fair its been a while since I have been in there)

I started working on a Dreamer because I Liked the look of the ultra girly bow, but My thief bores me to tears and the pet’s of rangers are very meh imho

Rangers complain a lot for very good reason, the pet is supposed to add a lot of damage, but outside of going 30 points into BM, the pets are anemic at best. Plus the crummy AI means they trigger traps and what not, the extra 300 stats doesn’t help them in the harder fights. What would probably help would be if Rangers got extra Pet Attributes as they leveled up. Not just the pet getting higher stats, but the ranger passively granting more pet attribute bonuses.

Oh, and if stowing the pet gave a passive damage bonus equal to how much dps the pets are supposed to provide.

Rhinzual.7861:

Grazingcattle.1627:

Which is why Rangers tend to be looked down upon… The Ranger’s forum is usually a huge QQ fest. (to be fair its been a while since I have been in there)

I started working on a Dreamer because I Liked the look of the ultra girly bow, but My thief bores me to tears and the pet’s of rangers are very meh imho

Rangers complain a lot for very good reason, the pet is supposed to add a lot of damage, but outside of going 30 points into BM, the pets are anemic at best. Plus the crummy AI means they trigger traps and what not, the extra 300 stats doesn’t help them in the harder fights. What would probably help would be if Rangers got extra Pet Attributes as they leveled up. Not just the pet getting higher stats, but the ranger passively granting more pet attribute bonuses.

Oh, and if stowing the pet gave a passive damage bonus equal to how much dps the pets are supposed to provide.

I agree with this post… I want to play a Robin Hood Type bow man, but there isn’t a gw2 class that matches that…

Thanks everyone for all the post! I’ve read all of what you have to say and it’s all very helpful! I’m now looking into Longbow/Rifle warrior and be a tank as well ^.^ or just a ranger, only a hate the pet. Any new ideas on these 2 classes? And are tanky rifle warriors good? Thanks!

Noppy.1348:

If you really don’t want the pet when running around, you can “store” them and they will not be there with you. But you allways will have a pet ready to help out when needed and called for.
For me, Ranger is the best bow user. Have a ton of fun with mine and still learning things

You cannot store your pet and fight.