Guild Wars 2

Yes, I know, lolwater combat, but I’m honestly curious to hear from other people as to what they prefer and the reasoning behind it.

So which do you prefer or which do you use more often and why?

I prefer spear when possible for the vulnerability and the evading auto attack, but I’ll bring out the harpoon gun against heavy hitting yet kitable opponents. Honestly for all the talk of Rangers being the new Aquaman after our last patch I can’t say I see it, I don’t feel particularly effective underwater, but that could just be that I don’t do it often enough.

The reason they’re calling them the new aquaman is because the only buffs they received were to underwater combat, ignoring the glaring problems that have been present since day 1.

And to answer the OP, I prefer the harpoon gun, despite mobs constantly resetting.

Spear is essentially our underwater greatsword, except for some reason it misses all the time.

Harpoon all the way, it’s what the shortbow should be.

Harpoon Gun… ehhh

Spear… errr….

JELLYFISH!!!

Personally I use the harpoon gun almost exclusively (spear for mobility) but really it’s my dual Jellyfish (rainbow and blue) that do the heavy lifting. 3,000+ AoE damage and chill twice in the first 10 seconds of combat (with an AoE blind and AoE regen thrown in) and then repeat every 15 or 20 seconds and it really doesn’t matter what you are doing as long as you keep the enemies bunched up in one spot.

I go for Harpoon for the 3 skill that gives my Jellyfish fury and does decent AoE damage and the 1 spam for stacking some bleeds in an AoE. The blind and retreat on 5 is nice in a pinch too.

Mainly the harpoon gun for me as well. This is always my opening attack. I swap to the spear for mobility and aoe damage when surrounded by mobs. For pets, I use an armour fish and jellyfish.

I actually like the underwater environment and combat, plus I always take water short cuts for quicker map travel. Also, lots of harvest nodes down there ..

Harpoon Gun! Start off with Sharpening Stones followed immediately by Feeding Frenzy. Throw QZ up and watch that HP line diminish. Spam FF as and when, then finish off with Mercy Shot.

Unless you’re up against a champion solo, you’re unstoppable.
Frenzy has a nice AOE as well..

Sadly, bodies despawn too quickly as the last shot was supposed to be a “standing on a mountain of corpses” picture.

I definately prefer the Harpoon Gun when underwater. The spear is solid on its own, but does nothing to benefit my pet, and considering I’m running a pet-based build, that makes it less than ideal. Its pretty odd the Spear doesn’t boost the pet at all, off the top of my head its the only mainhand / 2hand Ranger weapon that doesn’t. The other reason I prefer Harpoon Gun is simply because melee underwater is kind of annoying. The added dimension means enemies can be above or below you and you’ll still be hitting them / they’ll be hitting you, but it looks like you’re just stabbing nothing. Very disorienting.

Plus, the Harpoon Gun + Jellyfish is awesome. The Jellyfish’ regen cloud ability is also an unlisted water field, so that along with the Harpoon Gun’s new projectile finishers makes them even more tanky. Really makes me wish there were pets with combo fields on land, having the pet in melee range and making a combo field plus using a bow would be really nice.

i use the spear rarely only because i like the skin

I use the harpoon for the same reasons Unspecified.9142 and Electro.4173 said. The Jellyfish have dual combo fields and the harpoon triggers them constantly.

Also, Electro, there is a pet with a combo field on land. All the spiders create poison combo fields: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Poison_Gas

If I’m fighting one foe, I’ll use the spear. If it’s multiple, I’ll start with the spear and switch to harpoon when I want to maintain distance.

Hmm, I may have to pick up a good harpoon then. I haven’t messed with a harpoon much since the nov 15th patch since I never bothered to invest in an exotic harpoon. I got a good spear as a drop and never worried about it too much, but I’ve been kinda curious to go back lately now that I have a bit more of an expendable income.

Harpoon gun all the way. I hate going into melee range.

Spear mostly – with jelly fish. Jellies are crazy with quickness.