Guild Wars 2

I know this sounds like a redundant question, but people seem to treat the bleed on shortbow as only an added bonus. That being said, can the short bow be used in power builds since the 3-5 skills are purely for utility?

yes. just use quickening zephyr with crossfire.

Yes, but it will most shine in hybrid build(like Xsorus dazer build) – http://www.youtube.com/user/Xsorus

If you don’t play an asura and want a build that lean a bit more on power you can use somthing like this: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMMQJAVRjAVV29VCWs2BgVBAbPm0SMZPMkxFLZFRB-jEDBofIYjBiCEggAhABK5rIasl1FRjVXDT5aR16XAmzDa1gOxSB80wI-w

You can customize this build, change sigils, play 2 spiders etc… This setup give you everything, Control, damage and survivabilty. upcoming balance update will nerf vigor trait so consider the sigil of energy for greatsword.

Thanks everyone! I’ve been playing around with the SB on a tankier build in sPvP and it’s great! A guardian got mad because he couldn’t get close to me, between 3,4,5 my drake hound and spider. I really enjoyed using the short bow over the longbow this morning! Too bad it isn’t very useful in PvE.
One last question: would you recommend a celestial SB or Rampager SB on a power build?

My brother enjoys his celestial signet Ranger with shortbow, but celestial is quite a pain to get.

I do play with LB/SB as strictly power build (some soldiers mixed with mostly zerkers just to achieve 19k hp and 2600 armor cap) and I find SB working imho better for power than condition builds. Average damage from AA, proccing every 0.5 sec, not counting occassional bleeds is slighty over 1k and SB shots are instant, making it very easy to kite and deal damage with weapon and rarely if not never breaking your skills which is great. Also, awesome design of Quick Shot with retreating aspect which should be shared for all key non-channel shots in our bows.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fMAQJAVTjAV519VCWs2Bi1DBFo+0KoJ2D+zoDVyKiC-ToAg0CnIoSRljKDVSqsUNCZBB

Don’t use melee weapons if you are going to be strictly ranged. Otherwise you will never switch weapons nor will you make full use of the build. If you are going to be melee, then commit to using the melee weapon and then use the ranged weapon when the enemy is out of melee range. The utility on ranger weapons are defensive in nature. Therefore you can get a decent survivability while you damage foes with auto-attack.

In my build, I use frost trap mainly to use as an anti-melee weapon. Without it, you are going to fight face to face which is the weakness of a ranged build. Also, it also provides more utility. You can place it on your feet, you can place it as you run. You can use it on entrances. I prefer traps over lightning reflexes.

runeblade.7514:

Don’t use melee weapons if you are going to be strictly ranged. Otherwise you will never switch weapons nor will you make full use of the build. If you are going to be melee, then commit to using the melee weapon and then use the ranged weapon when the enemy is out of melee range.

Just to emphasize this, most rangers forget the 15 Skirmishing trait which gives 5 sec of fury on weapon swap while in combat. If you’re constantly swapping between two melee weapon sets, or two ranged weapons, not only do you get the benefit of additional skills to use for the same cooldown period, but you get an automatic 50% fury uptime.

A melee/ranged weapon set is nice if you want relaxed, lazy play. But if you want to optimize, you really should be running melee/melee, or ranged/ranged and swapping as often as you can. (Or if you’re a glutton for punishment, melee/ranged and swapping as often as you can while changing ranges.)

e.g. Start with sword/torch equipped. Send pet in to start combat, then immediately switch to sword/horn and hit 5, 4. Swap between the two weapon sets every 10 sec. With zero boon duration, you can get 87% fury uptime (and swiftness). With 15% boon duration you can theoretically hit 100% fury uptime (you won’t because you can’t swap or hit skills instantly). And no you don’t need a second sword to do this. You can use the same 1h weapon in both weapon sets. Leave the main hand weapon slot empty in your second weapon set, and it’ll automatically use the same main hand weapon for both.

Axe MH can be considered as melee weapon too, I suppose…

i find the short bow to be a hybrid weapon, i often use SB/GS for WvW roaming and i think that celestial is the be stat for the short bow (stardust on the TP ~1.5G).

one of the best things about the short bow is its firing rate its great for proc’in things like, companions might, spirits, on crit sigils and food (I’ve been favoring using Ghost poppers, especially at night)

it is also a great weapon for beast master builds for snaring your opponent so your melee pets can get more hits.

I suppose I’m a glutton for punishment, then. :P I’ve been using GS/SB both with Hydromancy sigils to promote active weapon swapping. This way I can keep the pressure on with dazes. I usually start the fight with my spider and Shortbow, using F2 as my opener. I kite as long as I can, once all my SB CD’s are used up, I switch to GS in melee range.