Guild Wars 2

I know, LB is where its at. But my shortbow is getting a little dusty. Anyone running an interesting shortbow build with good success?

Edit: To clarify, I am looking to kick my buddies @$% who plays a condi engineer. A bow is really needed to counter his wide aoe bomb kit, as going melee on bomb spam and getting caught by concussion bomb will be the end of me. pry bar at least is predictable. shortbow seemed like an interesting idea since I dont need to get close (like shotgun blasting axe – splitblade) and the engies have very poor condition removal.

Shortbow is great, it can run a condi/crit build and watch people melt!

Here’s a build for shortbow, I use it sometimes in duels. Basically just load the foe with bleeds. Celestial or Rabid amulet.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEq0xaLL+rw1aADhqdLEsDLrAwd8+CXdBXOA-TpRAwAfOIAAuAAUeAAdOCAlLD0b/BA

Right now, shortbow’s damage isn’t that far off from Longbow. Especially once you no longer get the range advantage.

I usually run the same build for LB or SB with my power build and just swap RtW with SotBM. I still prefer SB for solo roaming and LB for group play. Next patch things will be different as ANet is boosting the damage again which means SBow will do less than LB at all ranges.

Really wish they’d allow SBow to work with EE and RtW. Or buff the weapon in other ways.

Take a look over this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwx3KGtfP14&feature=youtu.be , I`m running with Longbow/Shortbow 6/6/2/0/0 build and it works just fine, shortbow is a very good ranger weapon when combined with quickness it can burst a target down very quickly .

I don’t really see much of a reason to use shortbow over axe/dagger when the next balance patch hits.

Yeah shortbow needs something to make it stand out more. It is a difficult weapon to truly use effectively due to the heavy reliance on auto attack. A ‘bleed from anywhere’ or access to another condition(s) could make it a lot more appealing. Even something interesting like an AOE poison attack, since they seem to want to make ranger = poison master.

nearlight.3064:

I don’t really see much of a reason to use shortbow over axe/dagger when the next balance patch hits.

daze/stun, attack rate, using two attack proc sigils, pet buffs, gap increase, swiftness.

there is a little more to the short bow then pressing 1 and going afk you just happen to have the option

I win most 1v1, rarly die in matches(mostly play with pugs).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVRjEq0uaBLWsw1agDhq9J0ujArA4dxusXdBTOA-TpBFwACuAAMOCAIOEAQLDA4BAMa/BA

LughLongArm.5460:

I win most 1v1, rarly die in matches(mostly play with pugs).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVRjEq0uaBLWsw1agDhq9J0ujArA4dxusXdBTOA-TpBFwACuAAMOCAIOEAQLDA4BAMa/BA

why invigorating bond over natural healing? i dont think ive ever seen a build use that trait.

Eggyokeo.9705:

nearlight.3064:

I don’t really see much of a reason to use shortbow over axe/dagger when the next balance patch hits.

daze/stun, attack rate, using two attack proc sigils, pet buffs, gap increase, swiftness.

there is a little more to the short bow then pressing 1 and going afk you just happen to have the option

But but but but. … might spam!

And besides the swiftness on SB is very very short and I’d say that winters bite is at least as useful as the shortbow control skills. I won’t argue about the attack rate but in a condition/hybrid build I don’t see what 2 attack crit proc sigils would be that great to use together, but I tend to prefer swap sigils or passive sigils for most things.

all my builds use shortbow… in my opinion its by far the best weapon the ranger has…
I use it in a power build, the conditions are just an added bonus.

as in I’ve tried it with conditions but its just kinda clunky. It can be effective but still… its clunky.

this is my condi sb build
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAV8YjEqUua7K+rQ1aAAhaVA0OFa2wmdD0BfQGTtStJ-TpRAwAfOIAAuAAUeAAdOCAlLD0b/BA
lots of poison, bleeding, chill , burning ,cripple to keep the enemy away from you while you 20 stacks bleed on him

Shortbow is far better than Longbow imho. Longbow has some good utility and synergizes better with a power build, but Shortbow has plenty of great utility as well if you know how to use it properly. Poison is important to pressure your opponents with to reduce the effectiveness of their healing/regeneration and Poison Volley allows you to do this. There is an evade, a daze which is fantastic for interrupting, cripple to keep your opponent at range, a high rate of fire, good DPS if power spec, amazing condition DPS if condition spec’d, I see no reason for it to be underrated.

Raven.9603:

LughLongArm.5460:

I win most 1v1, rarly die in matches(mostly play with pugs).
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQJAVRjEq0uaBLWsw1agDhq9J0ujArA4dxusXdBTOA-TpBFwACuAAMOCAIOEAQLDA4BAMa/BA

why invigorating bond over natural healing? i dont think ive ever seen a build use that trait.

Hi, 1. Invigorating bond scales nicely with healing power(unlike natural healing which depends on pet healing power) and with birds which have low CD on F2 abilities you can get the max out of it(2000 helath every 20 sec >44*20 -health). 2. most of your heals are “over time” and having litle burst heal is nice. 3. invigorating bond is an aoe, which makes good support for your team.