Recently I’ve been thinking about the shortbow and how proper flanking combat should work. Currently, the shortbow’s effectiveness is tied to how well you are able to flank, and that varies greatly from gamemode to gamemode. The shortbow is expecting the player to be perpetually flanking for maximum effectiveness, and I think that’s the main drawback of the weapon.
I think that there are 3 things that need to be considered in order for a flanking playstyle to work better:
1. It is impossible to always be flanking across all gametypes, which means the weapon should have something to do when flanking is impossible.
2. While it is impossible to always be flanking, there are often windows where flanking should be taken advantage of.
3. A flanking weapon should enable flanking.
To apply these ideas to the shortbow, I would rework 3 of the shortbow’s skills. Please note that all numbers are placeholder, and would need a balance pass, also this is not meant to be a buff or a nerf, it is a fundamental change that if focused at enabling flanking combat across multiple gametypes.
1. Crossfire: Changed to a 2 part attack, swiftfire and crossfire. Crossfire no longer has a flanking requirement, so it will bleed on hit. Swiftfire deals damage and gives the ranger swiftness.
I would likely also nerf the bleeding duration to (2) seconds on crossfire as well. This is meant to be a nerf when the ranger would be flanking and a buff to when they wouldn’t be. This skill is not meant to be the main source of damage anymore, but the rapid attack rate gives it a purpose in filling the gaps in combat and still procs sharpened edges well.
2. Crippling Shot: Removed, replaced with a new skill, Blindside Shot. Blindside Shot deals medium damage. If the shot flanks a target, it is guaranteed to crit and applies (5) stacks of bleeding (5s), (3) second cooldown.
This is meant to be the main damage source of the new shortbow, you can use it off cooldown when you would be perpetually flanking with the old shortbow, but now it takes better advantage of the periodic flanking windows that happen naturally during combat against mobile targets. This is where I want most of the damage to be coming from. If I could I would also swap this on the skill bar with poison volley, as I think that is where a secondary attack should go.
3. Quickshot: Removed, replaced with Outmaneuver. Outmaneuver is a (400) range dash that causes your pets next attack to apply cripple. The dash is ground targeted, and causes your character to face your target at the end of the dash. (6) second cooldown.
This is the skill that enables you to get into a flanking position. It is a little different from other dashes, as you are supposed to use it to circle an enemy rather than approach or run away from them, so turning to face the target is important.
With just these changes I think that shortbow would work a lot better across the different game modes. Concussion Shot still works as intended and doesn’t need to change. Poison volley still works too; a flanking weapon should incentivize getting close to your opponent so you can circle them more easily.
If I could change one more thing after this it would be changing up the shortbow trait as well. I would keep the cooldown reduction and the piercing arrows of course. For the buff that it gives, I would keep it, but I would change the way that it is applied. Rather than applying the buff when you dodge, the buff would be applied when you flank a target.
This is obviously a buff to the trait as you can maintain the buff at all times without having to sacrifice your dodges. The thing that I like most about this change though is that it gives you feedback when you land a flanking attack. In situations where there is a lot of bleeding being applied or you can’t clearly see which direction your opponent is facing, this feedback can be quite helpful.
Those are most of the ideas i have for reworking the shortbow, thanks for reading.