Guild Wars 2

So I love the shortbow, but would like to try the longbow – I have no idea what I will use as a secondary weapon – is there any really super effective combo out there? When leveling up, what are the best traits to go? I was thinking of the +Crit line, but do we need to spec in our pets to have them be effective?

Thanks, I see lots of guides on here, but they are assuming we are already 80, I’m 13 right now, so I needed something a little “Less”… If I have just missed the discussion, I’m sorry and a link would be appreciated.

Thank you!

I started as Shortbow / Longbow but once I got to the Orr zones I really began to love Shortbow / Axe+Warhorn.

The Orr zones no longer have “hearts” and instead are a rolling set of DEs along with much more emphasis on exploration. I believe there are 15/16 Skill Points in each zone.

Having a Warhorn means that you get an incredibly nice buff (Call of the Wild) which includes swiftness at those times when you just want to travel faster to get through mobs. I’m not a huge fan of Axe mainly because solo it can get you into trouble, but it is good for staying ranged. The Axe/WH combo doesn’t give you much in the way of CC and the Axe will bounce to other targets in the area causing you some challenging moments solo.

In effect you run around with shortbow as you explore only swapping to WH for the speed buff, but once you run into a DE and decide to jump in, swap back and forth for buffing everyone, getting the poison cone off the shortbow, and getting bounces off the Axe for nice AoE between Flame Traps. It’s super effective and I find fun to boot.

My “rotation” on a “Veteran” NPC if you want to call it that is typically:

Start in Axe/WH,

Call of the Wild (buff), Hunter’s Call (summons Hawks to take alpha), send in pet (I am 30 BM and my pets do not take much damage at all)

Swap to Shortbow. poison them, stun them, get in close and drop Flame trap, then Swift Shot myself out and cripple them.

Go back to Warhorn when I think the CotW is about back and repeat.

I swap between a Fern Hound and a Jungle Spider for +regen and then Weakness on the target.

I’m currently 10 Skirmish / 30 Nature Magic / 30 Beast Mastery

It’s a build I don’t really see many people doing, but i feel my survivability solo is exceptional and in groups I can swap into a Spirit/Buff build that makes me very helpful in groups as Support. It also allows me to root a little more when I can and not just rely on just Dodging.

Use both the short bow and long bow. They complement each other. Long Bow to knock potential threats away and hunter shot to soften them; short bow lets you make tactical fall backs with daze and cripple to hinder them.

That’s one alternative for you.

At lower levels, it really depends on your playstyle. If you like to move around a lot (as you would with the Shortbow) and you don’t focus much on your pets, Wilderness Survival and Marksmanship are a good choice, to improve on your bleeds and your base damage from your quicker shortbow attacks.
If you find yourself struggling with survivability, or you prefer to not move around so much, go Nature Magic and Beast Mastery, to increase your Vitality and Self-Heals, and your pet’s effectiveness.
Skirmishing is never really a bad choice, but at low levels, crits aren’t the world.

A couple of really good secondaries to the Shortbow are:

-Longbow, because of how the traits overlap
-Axe/Warhorn, because it has better AoE damage, buffs you, and can summon BIRDS
-Sword/Warhorn, because it has strong melee damage, solid evasion, and see above for BIRDS
-Axe/Torn, because see above for AoE damage, and can drop a Fire Field for combos, which is great for a condition build
-Greatsword, because it’s a greatsword

At the moment the only two real weapons I don’t care for are Dagger and offhand Axe (and the 1h Sword is kinda glitchy, but the damage is still great for PvE).

If I had to pick a set for you, I’d narrow it down to either the Longbow or the Axe/Torch as your secondary. Mostly due to how most Rangers are all, “Ermagerd, I love maxing Marskmen and Skirmishing Traitlines!”

Just play around with all of the sets. There will naturally be sets that appeal to your playstyle more than others.

Thank you both for the information! I would like to dabble a bit in WVW as im leveling for something different, so the long bow appeals to me – If I did focus on my pets and want slower, more powerful hits I would do beast mastery + (Whatever the power one is), right?

If I did put some focus on my pets, are they decent tanks if I use a beefy pet like a bear? would I be able to stand there and shoot away (I was never much good at kiting)

Thanks again

Nevets.3267:

Thank you both for the information! I would like to dabble a bit in WVW as im leveling for something different, so the long bow appeals to me – If I did focus on my pets and want slower, more powerful hits I would do beast mastery + (Whatever the power one is), right?

If I did put some focus on my pets, are they decent tanks if I use a beefy pet like a bear? would I be able to stand there and shoot away (I was never much good at kiting)

Thanks again

15 points in BM and Signet of the Wild equipped and my bear can “tank” 98% of the solo content quite handsomely. The occasional hard hitting champion gives him fits. Against dungeon bosses and really nasty dungeon trash you’ll need to make ample use of pet swapping though.

Realistically, 15 points in BM will allow most pets to handle the solo content just fine unless you overwhelm them with multi-pulls. At higher levels, particularly with Risen, the pets will occasionally struggle to hold aggro/peel for you though, especially if you’re opening up and and you’re specced for damage. I highly recommend learning to move and kite, because while the Ranger is arguably the most forgiving class in this respect, there WILL be times that you need to move and kite unless you enjoy repair bills.

Bears are very tanky – they take dmg well, they can regenerate their health, and they hold agro decently, especially with the extra stats from beast mastery. I prefer the Arctodus for the F2 bleed ability. Finally, your “Healing Spring” places a water field at your feet, which your long bow can then use as a finisher to transfer the regen effect across the distance to your pet.

JonnAndCo.7205:

Bears are very tanky – they take dmg well, they can regenerate their health, and they hold agro decently, especially with the extra stats from beast mastery. I prefer the Arctodus for the F2 bleed ability. Finally, your “Healing Spring” places a water field at your feet, which your long bow can then use as a finisher to transfer the regen effect across the distance to your pet.

Thanks, I need to find a good link to the combos, I have never used them (at least on purpose)

Thanks again!

Same here, Nevets! I’ve had a few epic combos, but I can never figure out how to replicate them!

You guys who are missing combos are really missing out on the most important aspect of combat in GW2.

The process is pretty simple… lay down a Combo Field, and then use a Combo Finisher in it or through it. The result is based on what type of field + what type of finisher.

Being able to self-combo gives abilities to your build that you don’t see on a character sheet.

Sky, could you post a couple examples? I’m going to try the one mentioned in this thread, Healing spring + Longbow shot….

I’d also say try Axe & Torch

Great AoE damage. Weapon sets work best when they compliment each other, so having a bow for single-target and axe/torch for AoE will make you capable of any situation.

Bow/bow is fine but you pretty much need the Piercing Arrows trait for it to be valid AoE.

If you don’t like torch, warhorn is a more popular alternative, or even axe/axe

Nevets.3267:

Sky, could you post a couple examples? I’m going to try the one mentioned in this thread, Healing spring + Longbow shot….

Healing Spring is the only combo field you can reliably generate yourself. Freezing and Flame traps create fire and ice fields respectively, but they’re short lived and require a mob/player to trip them, so they’re not exactly “on demand” fields.

EDIT: Oh yeah. And Torch. My bad.

ZenDad.4671:

I started as Shortbow / Longbow but once I got to the Orr zones I really began to love Shortbow / Axe+Warhorn.

The Orr zones no longer have “hearts” and instead are a rolling set of DEs along with much more emphasis on exploration. I believe there are 15/16 Skill Points in each zone.

Having a Warhorn means that you get an incredibly nice buff (Call of the Wild) which includes swiftness at those times when you just want to travel faster to get through mobs. I’m not a huge fan of Axe mainly because solo it can get you into trouble, but it is good for staying ranged. The Axe/WH combo doesn’t give you much in the way of CC and the Axe will bounce to other targets in the area causing you some challenging moments solo.

In effect you run around with shortbow as you explore only swapping to WH for the speed buff, but once you run into a DE and decide to jump in, swap back and forth for buffing everyone, getting the poison cone off the shortbow, and getting bounces off the Axe for nice AoE between Flame Traps. It’s super effective and I find fun to boot.

My “rotation” on a “Veteran” NPC if you want to call it that is typically:

Start in Axe/WH,

Call of the Wild (buff), Hunter’s Call (summons Hawks to take alpha), send in pet (I am 30 BM and my pets do not take much damage at all)

Swap to Shortbow. poison them, stun them, get in close and drop Flame trap, then Swift Shot myself out and cripple them.

Go back to Warhorn when I think the CotW is about back and repeat.

I swap between a Fern Hound and a Jungle Spider for +regen and then Weakness on the target.

I’m currently 10 Skirmish / 30 Nature Magic / 30 Beast Mastery

It’s a build I don’t really see many people doing, but i feel my survivability solo is exceptional and in groups I can swap into a Spirit/Buff build that makes me very helpful in groups as Support. It also allows me to root a little more when I can and not just rely on just Dodging.

Its a powerful survivability build and you may want to try: 0/0/20/20/30!

Wilderness Survival: Shared Anguish / Oakheart Slave

Quick question (don’t think it’s worth starting a new thread over)

I’m looking at traits and trying to map out what I’ll go for. It’ll probably be ?/0/30/?/30.

The two ?s are because I’m not sure which trait to choose from between Steady Focus (10% more damage when endurance is full) or Strength of Spirit (5% of Vitality is a bonus to Power). Which one will work out best for dealing harm? I won’t always have full endurance, but with Natural Vigour in the Survival trait line it will regen a lot faster.

I’m not a Theorycrafter by any means but I believe Marks is going to give you better damage than 10 points in Nature Magic.

I use two shortbows, identical stats/sigil, and two bears. I’ve been using this through the 30s and 40s and mobs 4-5 levels over me still die quickly. It’s poor for multiple mobs, so having axe/horn in your bags is ideal for when you run into a group or event. I lose all benefits to swapping weapon and pet, but with my spec I get 20% crit and swiftness with 50% uptime and between swapping pets and QZ I get a few seconds of god mode here and there, plus there’s a trait for +might to pet when swapped.

It’s a bland strategy with no adaptability but it’s very bursty very often, which is great for grinding hearts. Has worked alright in WvWvW, but there’s way better builds for that.

For my lvl of pve it’s both bows for now. For serious business it will probably be shortbow / axe and warhorn.

I really want a spell where I get into torch though. Like daggers and swords, I always have one, but never use it.