Guild Wars 2

Hi I’m new to this game and was wondering for both pve and pvp what is better for rangers, shortbow or the longbow? Thanks.

I as a ranger i use longbow and a greatsword , but shortbow is also nice, only problem is it’s got smaller range than longbow but you can still pwn people with it.

Longbow and Shortbow are both good weapons, main thing is depending how your gonna build up your traits etc.

I found that the shortbow is mobile and works well with a conditional based build, like mrbagamen mentioned it has a smaller range.

Longbow on otherhand has a longer range and gives pretty impressive results when run with a burst type build, although your stuck stationary with few of its skills.
On final note i’ve also heard of ranger builds using both long/short bow, So just stick with what you prefer, there isnt really a wrong choice. :]

I change and swap them depending on the skills I feel like using….. sometimes get bored with the same old skills over and over. Must admit I prefer the GW method of changing to the skills you prefer but I also like the skills change with different weapons in GW2.

I’ve heard someone do the math and find out that shortbow is better than longbow even if you ignore condition damage, simply because the increased shortbow speed means more crits over time, even if you both use the exact same build for both. Don’t just take my word for it though, you can try it on training dummies and see for yourself.

On the other hand, longbow does have barrage and the knockback, which you might prefer.

sPvP the shortbow is the best by far. Amazing attack speed and damage.

For WvWvW the long bow might be a better option

A lot will depend on your play style. I mainly solo, so prefer the additional range of the longbow, kickback and barrage shots.

I sometimes set a shortbow in the 2nd weapon slot. This is a good back-up for when longbow skills are cooling and/or you are in close range and need some quick firing.

As someone mentioned, you cannot go wrong with either, use whatever best suits your play style.

I use Longbow & greatsword combo. They are both great for burst damage 1v1 and also aoe against mobs. I’m going for power and precision right now, but the shortbow is great for condition damage too (lots of bleeding).

As others have said, you can’t go wrong (as long as you don’t use the 1h). I would try out longbow&greatsword combo, then maybe shortbow & axe/warhorn combo and see which one you like better.

do not base your “condition damage build” around bleeds, most of the time yours will just be knocked off or unable to be applied anyways.

I could swear that the longbow and short bow both have a range of 1200 now. I know in the beta weekends the short bow had a shorter range (and still does if you take the trait that extends longbow range), but I thought this weekend when I was playing that they were both at 1200 now.

Level 80 Asura Ranger here. Been 80 for 5-6 days already.

1. The short and long bow have the same range at 1200. While it’s understandable to think the “long bow” shoots longer, it does not. Both bows have identical range.

2. I use both my short and long bow during PvE and PvP. As a ranger (if you don’t use melee weapons) you basically have ten attacks. Depending on the situation you can use short or long, or a combination of both.

3. For PvE my short bow is used the most. For PvP/WvW my long bow is out more often, but I still switch to short depending on situations. Because the short bow does faster damage and bleeds, if you have a pet out (such as a bear to tank) you can DPS the target down very quickly.

4. For straight damage comparison, my experience shows me the short bow is better due to the faster recharge and bleeding. But, it’s very situational. If you’re in WvW and come upon a group of players the long bow is better for its “death from above” attack and rapid fire. But, once I use these two skills I switch to my short bow for bleeds.

Overall, both bows are very viable and the best DPS output is when you use both based on the situation at hand.

PS: Also, something to keep in mind. In your Traits you can make your arrows “pierce” meaning they go through anything that’s in the arrow’s path. So if there are two targets standing behind each other you hit BOTH with every arrow (even if they are not targeted). I do this all the time while farming and in PvP it’s key and also the reason I prefer the short bow in many situations.

Use both. Drop your dots with the short bow then switch to your long bow for combo effects and high damage.

Both long and short bow probably do the same damage in the perfect situation but short bow just “seems” better. I am L80 and have run a short bow and an axe/war horn most of the time.

I switched back to a short bow after using a long bow for a while, and noticed the increased range. This wasn’t always the case – even the wiki still says less damage and range than long bow.

With the range limitation gone, I prefer the short bow after playing 15 levels with a really nice long bow that was a gift. I like the mobility because even with some endurance regeneration, I find myself running out during boss fights. Any ranger skill that says “evade” as part of the description works as a dodge, not just a mobility skill, and those skills have turned out to be really important for me solo.

If you’re playing as part of a regular team or duo, and you trait marksman, long bow would be viable for sniping. I like the vulnerability and pet swiftness on the hunter’s shot, and the AOE arrow rain + sharpening stone is a really great way to bleed a huge group of enemies. I haven’t found the knock back shot to be as effective as the evade back shot on the short bow, mostly because my timing for interrupting needs work.

I don’t like being that far from the action though because if I’m too far from my pet I can’t leverage my combos and some boons effectively. I prefer the speed and mobility you get with the short bow so I can get closer without getting smushed.

I prefer the shortbow the longer I play, I’m starting to get the hang of kiting and the increased firing rate plus the additional escape move makes corner kiting fun.

Thanks for the replies guys

I use both, both good and work well in opossite situations

Shortbow for close range
Longbow for long range

Phisical Power/Crit builds work wonderfull with both weapons

Quick Draw reduces CD on both weapons

PEOPLE BOWS ARE THE WAY TO GO!!!

I also like:

>Greatsword
>Axe
>Warhorn

PS: Longbow has more range then shortbow with the trait Eagles Eye and Shortbow doesn’t work very well at 1200 range, you can’t flank that well and poison skill isnt quite made for that, nor headshot

They’re for completely different modes of play. Longbow is for sniping with some kind of a tank (pet or other player). The damage per shot increases as you get further from the mob out to the maximum range where it’s pretty significant. Example on my 77 ranger, downleveled to 73 this morning as an experiment I sicked my pet on a few 71 ram type mobs.

At close range with the long bow, average damage was about 200ish per round. At max range it was closer to 500 per shot. That’s quite a difference, but you have to stay at range (obviously) to see the real benefit.

Short bow seems to be just the opposite, although I don’t have any clear numbers since I only thought to test it this morning and ran out of time.

I’m fond of both although the “escape” feature of the shortbow is as annoying as the “escape” feature of 1hs. You leap backwards into… who knows what? I prefer the knockback on the longbow so far so at least I can (usually) put the mob where I want it to go instead of the other way around.

The bleed damage is nice and the rapid cycling “seems” to have a slightly better change of proccing/interupting, but overall I still prefer the longbow slightly at this point. More testing needs to be done.

Offhand/second slot is trickier. I love the ability to close rapidly and whomp the stuffing out of things with the great sword, but I find the closer move unreliable. I’ve thrown myself off of cliffs using it. Not funny.

1hs is just worthless imo. The autoattack animation is 3 parts, all of which are overbearing and poorly timed. It makes movement difficult to impossible. The the “escape” move jettisons you backward, again into who knows what (although the second phase to reenter is kind of cool) and the snake bite… what a complete waste of a slot. You leap around like some kind of cracked out ninja but almost never actually end up in a useful spot relative to the mob. It’s comically bad.

Torch… jurie’s still out. I love the fire proc, but can’t tell if it’s actually doing significantly more damage, and the utility of the run speed boost with the horn is very hard to give up.

All in all, I’d like them to tweak most of the offhand stuff a bit, but either bow seems to work pretty well.

Do what you like I guess is the best answer.

I carry a shortbow, longbow, axe, torch, and greatsword. For solo PVE, I have found that the shortbow + axe/torch combo works the best for me and I spec my traits for condition and precision.

My strategy is to try to get three mobs, open with shortbow/1 to get the opening shot vulnerability (which is sometimes bugged), shoot the poison arrow spread (shortbow/2), shoot the bleeding shot (shortbow/4), switch to axe/torch, cast bonfire, throw the axe spread (axe/2, which induces bleeding and gets the burning combo from the bonfire), and then circle strafe switching between arrows and axes.

For most world events I switch to Shortbow/Longbow and rotate through the skills. Burst + AOE/multiple target damage skills + range is a great combination.

Short bow seems to be the norm for tPvP, especially when paired with a condi epidemic necromancer. The ranger and necromancer stack bleeds on a single target, preferably one with a lot of boons; and the necromancer uses corrupt boon followed by epidemic to give any enemy nearby a fast 25 stacks of bleeding plus the condis caused by corrupt boon.

I don’t have a preference. I switch depending on what I plan on doing. I always keep 1 weapon of each type a ranger can use.

Remember, once you’re out-of-combat, you can switch skills and weapons, so it’s good to always have 1 of each weapon type (and unlock all your skins).

Lolz, I even switch my dynamic traits if I have to :p (and if I’m fast enough)