Guild Wars 2

Anyone else?

I am completely and fulled specced for berzerker gear. I have over 100 crit damage and around 60% crit chance with zero food. Power hits near 3k.

I still hit like a wet noodle with my longbow, and even that is shifty because half the arrows are always obstructed by thin air. Meanwhile glass cannon thieves are hitting for 2.5k per arrow with their SHORTBOW which is 2x faster but also bounces and has double the AoE.

Whydidirollaranger

Due to the word —-→ Ranger?
Masters of Long Range Combat?

Its a typo dude. It should be called Beastmaster!

You should use SB instead of LB, if you want max dmg from range. My glass cannon berserker build hits up to 1,3k dmg per arrow with no might with SB. And I rarely see a non-crit hit. And with 20 in BM my cat can hit 5k with Sick ’Em + basic attacks crits bleed.

My Sweet Lily.1952:

You should use SB instead of LB, if you want max dmg from range. My glass cannon berserker build hits up to 1,3k dmg per arrow with no might with SB. And I rarely see a non-crit hit. And with 20 in BM my cat can hit 5k with Sick ’Em + basic attacks crits bleed.

Your SB doesn’t bounce or aoe. Single target is useless in wvw or dungeons where in wvw you’re fighting zergs of 30+ people and in dungeons aoe is king.

SB has a slight single target advantage over thief sb, but thief sb is far superior aoe, defensively, and utilitywise. A SB thief can dodge about 3-4 times and chain a cripple with his #3 skill, or aoe bleed or aoe poison or aoe blind and infiltrator’s arrow teleports them out of roots. Their #2 is also the best blast finisher in game, and they can combo aoe weakness wiht their shortbow.

I was in the same situation Lyndis, I had to drop longbow because it just doesn’t do the damage. After the quickness nerf I took most of the karma I was saving for Kudzu and used it to buy a full set of rabid temple armor for a SB trapper build. I keep seeing devs post that the longbow is a strong weapon, I don’t think they understand that you land around half the damage in PvP that you do in PvE, so I have no hopes for the weapon in the near future. Too bad about Kudzu, would have looked awesome on my sylvari ranger!

Jabronee.9465:

Due to the word —--> Ranger?
Masters of Long Range Combat?

Its a typo dude. It should be called Beastmaster!

Except that’s not what it means in the slighest. Common misconception.

Ranger=/= ranged combat, even though it shares the letters. Ranger means ranging the land, etc.

Example: Aragorn is a ranger of numenor. He does not specialize in ranged combat because he is a ranger, he is a ranger because he ranges.

Legolas on the other hand, may or may not be a ranger, but it is not because he specializes in ranged combat.

If you want to stand there autoattacking with a bow you should indeed go for shortbow. Longbow is an utility option and should never be the main weapon right now.

Writetyper.1985:

Jabronee.9465:

Due to the word —--> Ranger?
Masters of Long Range Combat?

Its a typo dude. It should be called Beastmaster!

Except that’s not what it means in the slighest. Common misconception.

Ranger=/= ranged combat, even though it shares the letters. Ranger means ranging the land, etc.

Example: Aragorn is a ranger of numenor. He does not specialize in ranged combat because he is a ranger, he is a ranger because he ranges.

Legolas on the other hand, may or may not be a ranger, but it is not because he specializes in ranged combat.

That might be true if Anet didnt describe the ranger class as “Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows.”

Cufufalating.8479:

Writetyper.1985:

Jabronee.9465:

Due to the word —--> Ranger?
Masters of Long Range Combat?

Its a typo dude. It should be called Beastmaster!

Except that’s not what it means in the slighest. Common misconception.

Ranger=/= ranged combat, even though it shares the letters. Ranger means ranging the land, etc.

Example: Aragorn is a ranger of numenor. He does not specialize in ranged combat because he is a ranger, he is a ranger because he ranges.

Legolas on the other hand, may or may not be a ranger, but it is not because he specializes in ranged combat.

That might be true if Anet didnt describe the ranger class as “Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows.”

In WvW this is entirely true, I play a log bow ranger with pets who grant me buffs and spirits. Results = me destroying targets from far away along with my front line infantry just like it should be. Damage is quite high, range is stupid and safe, if you position yourself property you never have problems with terrain and the only real problem comes from pets not being able to do damage but then again I can have a short bow a long bow a berret .50 and that won’t make my pet any more useful in WvW, he will charge and die, hence why I use pets that give me buffs on their F1 skill. Or fear in case the enemy comes towards me.

Zenith.7301:

Your SB doesn’t bounce or aoe. Single target is useless in wvw or dungeons where in wvw you’re fighting zergs of 30+ people and in dungeons aoe is king.

I know marksmanship is a bit of a questionable tree (especially in PvE where combat will often last too long to justify the opening strikes without the remorseless trait), however, it is intended to be the tree used by archer type rangers and with 20 points in marksmanship both ranger bows can become ranged AoE weapons. You also get increased condition duration which might be a bit wasteful, but it does make the longbow’s vulnerability much stronger and with 24 points and the right sigil (less points are needed if you use runes) crossfire’s bleed or sun spirit’s burn gets another tick.

You might wanna skip marksmanship and go skirmishing for damage. If you do, there’s the honed axes trait right there, which provides more power to an already AoE longrange weapon. Yes the axe might have only 900 range, but so does the Theif’s shortbow.

I have full zerk ranger 30 30 5 0 5 I run lb axe/warhorn. Autoattacks with lb are from 2.8-3.2k+ without might,number 2 skill on lb highest ending dmg 18k,no3 % more dmg,no5 high dmg aoe with cc and your arrows pierces targets,there is no chance any bow on any proffesion can beat lb on ranger in terms of dps + you have pet lol.Only thing you need to care for max dmg is range from which you fire you need long range for max dmg.

I was extremely disappointed in the ranger’s longbow when I tried it. Rangers really need to be renamed meleenger, or shortranger. Longbow is garbage. They call the AA range limit a damage “bonus” on longbow, but it’s not. It’s really a handicap. If you don’t fight at maximum range, you don’t do full damage. How often do people simply stand there and let you plink away at max range? Rapid fire takes FOREVER to complete. You rarely get half of it off, let alone the whole thing. The channel on barrage is equally as stupid. By the time you finish it people have long since moved out of it. Greatsword and shortbow are the only two decent ranger weapons. Sword is ok, but it’s auto-attack messiness can be extremely irritating. Axe is a good secondary when coupled with warhorn. Longbow is a waste of time, though.

Kiran.2705:

I was extremely disappointed in the ranger’s longbow when I tried it. Rangers really need to be renamed meleenger, or shortranger. Longbow is garbage.

No they don’t, because that’s not what the name means.

On topic, I don’t know why more people don’t realize this, but there is a bug/design oversight causing Longbow #1 to fire much more slowly than it should fire. This bug affects #1 skills on several ranged weapons (Pistols, Scepters, Staffs), but NOT Rifles. It previously affected Shortbow as well until the removed the activation speed to speed it up closer to its intended rate.

It’s utterly astonishing that this doesn’t get discussed more by the player base and why it hasn’t been addressed by devs because it’s single handedly ruining the playability of multiple weapons/builds across all professions.

HotHit.6783:

Zenith.7301:

Your SB doesn’t bounce or aoe. Single target is useless in wvw or dungeons where in wvw you’re fighting zergs of 30+ people and in dungeons aoe is king.

I know marksmanship is a bit of a questionable tree (especially in PvE where combat will often last too long to justify the opening strikes without the remorseless trait), however, it is intended to be the tree used by archer type rangers and with 20 points in marksmanship both ranger bows can become ranged AoE weapons. You also get increased condition duration which might be a bit wasteful, but it does make the longbow’s vulnerability much stronger and with 24 points and the right sigil (less points are needed if you use runes) crossfire’s bleed or sun spirit’s burn gets another tick.

You might wanna skip marksmanship and go skirmishing for damage. If you do, there’s the honed axes trait right there, which provides more power to an already AoE longrange weapon. Yes the axe might have only 900 range, but so does the Theif’s shortbow.

Piercing Arrows is nothing close to AoE. It hits through a line, which is far less efficient than hitting around a perimeter like Fireball.

A berserker ranger will not come close to the damage a staff elementalist is dealing to a group.

I love my longbow/Shortbow Ranger…..just sayin’

Sarlack.4096:

I love my longbow/Shortbow Ranger…..just sayin’

You may love it, that doesn’t mean Longbow is in a good place.

The only thing lacking on it is the Auto attack, the other skills have their uses.

Sarlack.4096:

The only thing lacking on it is the Auto attack, the other skills have their uses.

Yes, pretty much.

Sarlack.4096:

The only thing lacking on it is the Auto attack, the other skills have their uses.

Sorry but this is just flat out wrong.

Yes, the auto attack is bad. Long Range Shot should simply mean it has a greater range than the rest of the skills. It should do the same amount of damage throughout this range.

Something I noticed today was that my dps was actually less by including Rapid Fire. Fighting mobs I was averaging 2k in 5 seconds. By simply auto attacking at optimal range, I was averaging 500 per hit. With my auto attack having a cast time of 3/4 seconds, that is 2k damage in 3 seconds.

400 dps
vs
666 dps

At least the benefit of Barrage is the ability to hit multiple enemies for the same amount each.

Honestly though, if LRS is gonna do less damage at closer ranges, then it should apply cripple to allow for kiting at range. Barrage provides cripple but is on a 30 sec CD and PBS is on a 15 sec CD. These have proven to be inadequate time and time again when trying to keep the enemy at optimal range for LRS.

They need to move cripple from Barrage to LRS, give Barrage fire, and make Rabid Fire stack bleeding.

Einlanzer.1627:

No they don’t, because that’s not what the name means.

Yes they do.

Kiran.2705:

Einlanzer.1627:

No they don’t, because that’s not what the name means.

Yes they do.

How is it that so many people cannot seem to grasp that the name “Ranger” does not in any way, shape, or form derive from someone who fights at range? It derives from someone who ranges land, i.e. a wilderness scout, i.e. a warden.

Hence, the name is fine.

Einlanzer is right. Basically, the “archer” is a subset of “ranger.” In history, rangers, were sometimes the law enforcement for a wilderness. Rangers could also be scouts. Neither role necessitates the use of a bow. Some used them, some didn’t. I suspect that rangers that ranged open land frequently used bows, while those that ranged thick forests were more likely to use swords (or other melee weapon).

In fairly open forests, such as those in England, I am sure there was a mix of both.

Honestly Long-range Shot needs to be faster and streamlined. Keep the damage same and give it bonus damage at range 1000+.

Rapid Fire needs to be compressed to 3 seconds.

Thirdly, I wish Eagle Eye range increase is baked right into longbow itself.

redcomyn.4651:

Einlanzer is right. I suspect that rangers that ranged open land frequently used bows, while those that ranged thick forests were more likely to use swords (or other melee weapon).

Are they being forced to use pets always?

Einlanzer.1627:

How is it that so many people cannot seem to grasp that the name “Ranger” does not in any way, shape, or form derive from someone who fights at range? It derives from someone who ranges land, i.e. a wilderness scout, i.e. a warden.

Hence, the name is fine.

No, it’s not.

Kiran.2705:

Einlanzer.1627:

How is it that so many people cannot seem to grasp that the name “Ranger” does not in any way, shape, or form derive from someone who fights at range? It derives from someone who ranges land, i.e. a wilderness scout, i.e. a warden.

Hence, the name is fine.

No, it’s not.

kittenol

Sarision.6347:

Honestly Long-range Shot needs to be faster and streamlined. Keep the damage same and give it bonus damage at range 1000+.

Rapid Fire needs to be compressed to 3 seconds.

Thirdly, I wish Eagle Eye range increase is baked right into longbow itself.

Most people focus on the projectile speed, and while I wont’ deny that’s something of an issue, it’s the actual attack speed, i.e. the slow rate of fire, that’s causing most of the problem. I believe Long Range Shot was intended to fire about 25-50% faster than it actually does in game. This needs to be fixed first and foremost.

BlackGuard.9602:

I have full zerk ranger 30 30 5 0 5 I run lb axe/warhorn. Autoattacks with lb are from 2.8-3.2k+ without might,number 2 skill on lb highest ending dmg 18k,no3 % more dmg,no5 high dmg aoe with cc and your arrows pierces targets,there is no chance any bow on any proffesion can beat lb on ranger in terms of dps + you have pet lol.Only thing you need to care for max dmg is range from which you fire you need long range for max dmg.

that is what you call dmg?
100b warri 30-40k on 6 3/4 sec cd, sorry man..
i even outdmg you with my shortbow most time.
lb is nice to see some “big” dmg numbers but all in all the sb the lb and that a fact.

the lb makes fun to play, but this weapons feels so wrong in this game. gw2 is fast but this bow ____ come on!?
sometimes i think the devs were drunk when they made this weapon

Einlanzer.1627:

Sarision.6347:

Honestly Long-range Shot needs to be faster and streamlined. Keep the damage same and give it bonus damage at range 1000+.

Rapid Fire needs to be compressed to 3 seconds.

Thirdly, I wish Eagle Eye range increase is baked right into longbow itself.

Most people focus on the projectile speed, and while I wont’ deny that’s something of an issue, it’s the actual attack speed, i.e. the slow rate of fire, that’s causing most of the problem. I believe Long Range Shot was intended to fire about 25-50% faster than it actually does in game. This needs to be fixed first and foremost.

That’s what I meant when I said faster.

Cufufalating.8479:

Writetyper.1985:

Jabronee.9465:

Due to the word —--> Ranger?
Masters of Long Range Combat?

Its a typo dude. It should be called Beastmaster!

Except that’s not what it means in the slighest. Common misconception.

Ranger=/= ranged combat, even though it shares the letters. Ranger means ranging the land, etc.

Example: Aragorn is a ranger of numenor. He does not specialize in ranged combat because he is a ranger, he is a ranger because he ranges.

Legolas on the other hand, may or may not be a ranger, but it is not because he specializes in ranged combat.

That might be true if Anet didnt describe the ranger class as “Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows.”

Rangers in Dungeons and Dragons (basically what everything borrows from) are masters from range. They are also up close fighters that can compete with anyone head to head but wear lighter armor. The difference between them and fighters is usually just their ranged ability, health, and armor. Drizzt Do’Urden can own anyone in hand to hand combat and hes a Ranger.

Einlanzer.1627:

Most people focus on the projectile speed, and while I wont’ deny that’s something of an issue, it’s the actual attack speed, i.e. the slow rate of fire, that’s causing most of the problem. I believe Long Range Shot was intended to fire about 25-50% faster than it actually does in game. This needs to be fixed first and foremost.

While the attack speed is clearly being nerfed by it’s own animation, the projectile speed is 75% responsible for errors like “OBSTRUCTED!!!!!!!!onoenoeneoeleventyone” when shooting at a target over anything but perfectly flat ground and “OUT OF RANGE!” when the target is in motion. The arrows just take way too long to get there. You can’t fix the longbow by fixating on a single problem. There’s a plethora of issues holding it back. The channel time on rapid fire is also ridiculously long. They basically force you to take zephyr just to make use of it, then they nerfed the crap out of zephyr.

Scanners read incoming Ultrapros. Lock and load, Spehhs Rengers!

…I’d suggest just giving up on using the longbow altogether if you seek any sort of efficiency. Or DPS. Or utility. If you haven’t caught on, it’s pretty useless and doesn’t fit many situations.

It’s like bringing a chair to a gunfight with professions. Your opponent, the warrior, is confused for a moment, genuinely pondering what you intend to do with the chair, and then laughs at you. Then his friend thief joins in and Mesmer, polite darling, is turning away and covering her mouth, but you can see her snickering. Guardian is drunk, as usual, so he doesn’t know what they’re laughing about.

I’ve found longbow, especially in a berserker build like yours, is best used in zerg fights.

Other than that, meh.

Honestly, I’m not a fan of full berserker on anything, even my Mesmer.

You’ll probably notice that many of the top players for multiple classes don’t actually go full berserker. There are good reasons for this.

You just listed one of the many reasons why nobody likes ranger OP.

LB has a longer learning curve than SB. You don’t use LB for its auto, but rather ints 2-5 skills starting with the 3rd. I prefer it over the shortbow, really. It has more…more…manipulation.

Love my longbow for WvW and imo those who claim it’s useless simply do not know how to use it effectively. Currently combining it with the greatsword and never enjoyed a build on my Ranger so much. However, do tend to swap it out for the shortbow in most circumstances for PvE.

Longbow isn’t in the best place, but it is far from useless.

I was running Longbow and Greatsword last night. Did quite well. When I wasn’t in the middle of the enemy zerg, I was nailing anyone within 1,500 range with arrows … and they didn’t like it.

Mind providing context as to why you’re reposting this video, Xsorus?

I like your videos, but I’m truly simply not understanding the context of the repost of it. What are you trying to show?

Sebrent.3625:

Mind providing context as to why you’re reposting this video, Xsorus?

I like your videos, but I’m truly simply not understanding the context of the repost of it. What are you trying to show?

He’s using a longbow in a good amount of the video, he’s probably showing off that it’s not worthless? shrugs

Correct, just trying to show you can do Longbow Berserker but it is a huge pain in the kitten

I think I actually did better with Longbow/Shortbow then Greatsword/Shortbow, mainly because you could usually open with shortbow and when the person was half life switch to longbow for the knockback and rapid fire for the kill.

You really need to know when and where to use your longbow in WvW, otherwise it’s just pointless. Stick with short bow if you don’t know better, try to apply the longbow as you go and learn from those experiences because in all honesty, longbow can be quite the hindrance, any ranger can tell you that.

Jackums.3496:

Yes, OP, it was a mistake.

Writetyper.1985:

Jabronee.9465:

Due to the word —--> Ranger?
Masters of Long Range Combat?

Its a typo dude. It should be called Beastmaster!

Except that’s not what it means in the slighest. Common misconception.

Ranger=/= ranged combat, even though it shares the letters. Ranger means ranging the land, etc.

Example: Aragorn is a ranger of numenor. He does not specialize in ranged combat because he is a ranger, he is a ranger because he ranges.

Legolas on the other hand, may or may not be a ranger, but it is not because he specializes in ranged combat.

Semantics. In the case of GW2, the Ranger is most certainly advertised as a ranged class.

“Rangers rely on a keen eye, a steady hand, and the power of nature itself. Unparalleled archers, rangers are capable of bringing down foes from a distance with their bows. With traps, nature spirits, and a stable of loyal pets at their command, rangers can adapt to any situation.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/ranger/

And it’s a common misconception that being good at range = being bad at melee. No, being good at range in most games implies being good at range in addition melee, not instead of it. The balancer for being good at range is almost never being bad in melee, but instead having weaker defenses and having to rely on mobile skirmishing.

In fact, WoW’s rather poorly designed Hunter class with its one-trick-pony game-play and wasted talent trees is the only example I can think of that went against this mantra.

I play 90% WvW and LB is a great weapon when used right, Ranger isn’t your huge DPS class, ranger is about crowd control/support and adding some extra dmg for your group.

LB 5 is great for crippling an area, most likely hits more than 5 people since they are moving, then you have other utilities like muddy terrain or entrangled to keep more people rooted/crippled.

LB 2 works great to keep people out of the edge of towers/keeps/castle since it does a decente amount of dmg, this prevents them spaming too many aoes to your group. Also is a great tool to fight thieves when they come for you, of course since you are a ranger that thinks you will never roam with a berserker build so thieves won’t be able to down you from stealth.

LB 4 works great to push away that warrior that jumps into your group, also is great to shoot someone down from a cliff.

LB 3 gives vulnerability and is faster that the other shots, so works very good to tag people when they are running away.

LB 1 is meh, but not that bad with the right traits or sigils, for example with piercing arrow and sigil of superior fire this attack can become in a very decent aoe hitting up to 9 people at the same time (5 from piercing arrow, first one again with fire and 4 more with the aoe blast).

Against large groups is a great starter, then swap to other weapons like greatsword or sword and jump right into your enemies to finish them all.

awge.3852:

You really need to know when and where to use your longbow in WvW, otherwise it’s just pointless. Stick with short bow if you don’t know better, try to apply the longbow as you go and learn from those experiences because in all honesty, longbow can be quite the hindrance, any ranger can tell you that.

Correct. Virtually no weapon set in the game is totally useless; the way that you can tell the Longbow is underpowered is by how situational it is.

A good weapon set is very usable in general, like the Shortbow is, while a bad one is confined to very specific circumstances to be useful, like the Ranger’s Longbow or the Thief’s Pistol.

Also, as I’ve pointed out multiple times and people still seem to be oblivious about, it’s mostly Long Range Shot that is the problem, and it’s also very likely to be a bug with its animation speed rather than being intentionally weak as it is.

@Xsorus: ah, ok. I wasn’t sure if there was some other bigger point you wanted to make besides, “Here’s me with my longbow”. Darn textual communication.

Really the longbow only suffers from a lack of versatility. I imagine that is going to be fixed soon and then we’ll see it used more often.

Another interesting tidbit. In the latest interview with Jonathan and Jon, they mentioned that they are now focusing on trying to make balancing changes via traits. Seeing as how some of our traits are lackluster, this would greatly benefit us as well. I’m sure most are aware of longbow range, piercing arrows, and cooldowns being 3 traits and requiring 50 trait points.

Razor.9872:

LB has a longer learning curve than SB. You don’t use LB for its auto, but rather ints 2-5 skills starting with the 3rd. I prefer it over the shortbow, really. It has more…more…manipulation.

In pve this actually isn’t true…

You start with 5 until you are done with the cast. The skill continues to go after you finish casting provided you don’t interrupt the cast. You then cast 3 as soon as you are done with casting 5 and follow it up with 2.

The result. You have the damage of both 2 and 5 occurring at the same time on an enemy with 10 stacks of vulnerability.

I found that if you start with three. If you move on to 5 then 2 or 2 then 5, the vulnerability has worn off more or less by the time you are done casting either skill.

If you swap pets (if spec’ed) or use qz before casting 5, you will shorten the cast time but the time the skill is active remains the same. This allows you to get to casting 3 then 2 quicker and get more of skill 5’s tics on a target that is vulnerable.

With the current CD’s, I found that 5→3→2, then 3→2, then back to 5→3→2, repeat…. works out pretty well.

Sebrent.3625:

@Xsorus: ah, ok. I wasn’t sure if there was some other bigger point you wanted to make besides, “Here’s me with my longbow”. Darn textual communication.

Really the longbow only suffers from a lack of versatility. I imagine that is going to be fixed soon and then we’ll see it used more often.

Another interesting tidbit. In the latest interview with Jonathan and Jon, they mentioned that they are now focusing on trying to make balancing changes via traits. Seeing as how some of our traits are lackluster, this would greatly benefit us as well. I’m sure most are aware of longbow range, piercing arrows, and cooldowns being 3 traits and requiring 50 trait points.

They need to clean up most of the talent tree’s for most classes, A lot is just fillers cause they wanted to have a certain number of talents

@Xsorus: I agree with you 100% here. Even my Mesmer has several such traits. Mesmer also suffers from the pretty much “auto-include” trait, Illusionist’s Celerity.

Einlanzer.1627:

Kiran.2705:

I was extremely disappointed in the ranger’s longbow when I tried it. Rangers really need to be renamed meleenger, or shortranger. Longbow is garbage.

No they don’t, because that’s not what the name means.

On topic, I don’t know why more people don’t realize this, but there is a bug/design oversight causing Longbow #1 to fire much more slowly than it should fire. This bug affects #1 skills on several ranged weapons (Pistols, Scepters, Staffs), but NOT Rifles. It previously affected Shortbow as well until the removed the activation speed to speed it up closer to its intended rate.

It’s utterly astonishing that this doesn’t get discussed more by the player base and why it hasn’t been addressed by devs because it’s single handedly ruining the playability of multiple weapons/builds across all professions.

Yeah i don’t understand why such a gamebreaking issue isn’t discussed more than that…if that bug would be fixed LB would be a decent weapon…I even made a post in Bug section but only one person commented