Guild Wars 2

With the changes to damage output, the increased range of LB no longer seems to justify its inclusion in power based play. Am I overlooking something? I’m running traits as close to the original power-bow build as I can to test it out and am having a hell of a time killing condi builds and countering thieves. Prior to the patch I could get some great duels in with both and never felt OP or underpowered… the duel came down to who had the better rotation and reactions.

EDIT: I know that ranger =/= ranged specialist but I always associated the Longbow with being the iconic weapon of the class, especially considering only Warriors and Rangers can use it.

In sPVP the only pewpew ranger I see doing OK are the ones camping in elevated spots hard to reach for most classes and spam quickness LB 2 while eating popcorn.
Glad it’s not any better

One factor imo is that everyone elses dmg output has gone up, so that the moment of oppurtunity is smaller. Having that ranged advantaged is therefore no longer much benefit.

This is a shame. My legendary is the bow but, because of its lack of classes and my distaste for playing hambow, spvp ranger was the only time I really got to use it. :\

Instead of making LB less viable, I wish they had diversified the damage. It was irritating to be laughed at as being a 1-button-spec but, instead of fixing that, anet seems to have just nerfed it to bits.

nacario.9417:

One factor imo is that everyone elses dmg output has gone up, so that the moment of oppurtunity is smaller. Having that ranged advantaged is therefore no longer much benefit.

Yeah, time-to-kill is insanely low at the moment. It was in a good spot before and now it’s one team or the other spending most of their time dead. :\

We also have to factor in that everyone has more survivability now, that would also worl against the dmg potential somehow. Lb was always a fragile wep to begin with; pew pew rangers were never any good solo node defenders, and now its worse. Give it some time tho to see how everything else pans out, if its the same in a month id say reroll or change wep build

nacario.9417:

We also have to factor in that everyone has more survivability now, that would also worl against the dmg potential somehow. Lb was always a fragile wep to begin with; pew pew rangers were never any good solo node defenders, and now its worse. Give it some time tho to see how everything else pans out, if its the same in a month id say reroll or change wep build

Thank you for such the kind feedback. I was expecting people to be all “lol lern2play power-n00b”. Instead, you gave me some great insight while keeping my expectations reasonable.

I do hope they make bows a bit better- make flanking and maybe even elevation give us larger bonuses perhaps.. or make our aoe better or… well, something that both ups the damage and moves it beyond the 1-button-smash. Longbow Ranger was a beautiful and unique playstyle (long-range divebomb harasser) and it’d be a great loss for the game if it becomes utterly nonviable.

If someone is being rude to you for asking simple qjestions then the fault is on their end Thankfully the ranger forum tends to be more friendly, Im also a closet pew pew ranger myself :P While one could argue that pew pew didnt really bring much to the team, it was a unique playstyle, esp for stronghold. For me the winds have shifted and its time to learn another playstyle/class.

Well I just meant glass pewpew is not very versatile.

It requires the right placement and the right map to really benefit the 1500 range

And if you get focused by just 2 youre very likely to go down in a matter of seconds.

But still you can use LB and a melee weapon of your choice.
I don’t see why you shouldn’t use LB having in mind that could output a decent amount of damage (decent is not great thou).
And also you can use it to catch up with those that like to run away when the things get hairy. Ranger does not have any teleport/blink, and our swoop (GS) is only 900 units.
That LB could give you that couple of shots to down’em for good.

I am using LB with sword/axe or GS with full on defensive traits.

LB sigils of fire and air, sword/axe or GS with battle and energy

Oakheart, shared anguish, wilderness knowledge, instinctual reaction, evasive purity, protective ward, GftE, wilting strike or GS mastery, zephyr speed. Wolf and spider. Works great. Marauder amulet, runes of the traveler

anduriell.6280:

But still you can use LB and a melee weapon of your choice.
I don’t see why you shouldn’t use LB having in mind that could output a decent amount of damage (decent is not great thou).
And also you can use it to catch up with those that like to run away when the things get hairy. Ranger does not have any teleport/blink, and our swoop (GS) is only 900 units.
That LB could give you that couple of shots to down’em for good.

With condi-necros pumping out high and fast debuffs and thieves being able to kill within the span of a GCD, the bow- and the builds needed to make bows decent instead of mediocre- offers no real draw. There’s many drawbacks to running LB and no real benefit. “You can hit from a bit further away than any other class” means hardly anything when that damage is lowered and baseline stats are higher than previously. That extra range might have bought us 2-3k burst damage before, now it gets us 1k.

Now I might just be a bit sore, but it seems like they took ranger from 3 viable builds- trapper, condi, powerbow- to two. Condi and traps were already pretty decent (I have three rangers, one of each spec) but LB was the most unique and fun for my style of play and it’s sad to see that longbows, which currently only are used by two classes, are on the out. The melee playstyle of rangers now is no different than any other mid-to-short range class.

Yesterday I watched a streaming ranger on twitch, I think his name was skullforce(he also posts alot on the forum). He was using power build with LB/GS and did an amazing work.

Chokolata.1870:

I am using LB with sword/axe or GS with full on defensive traits.

LB sigils of fire and air, sword/axe or GS with battle and energy

Oakheart, shared anguish, wilderness knowledge, instinctual reaction, evasive purity, protective ward, GftE, wilting strike or GS mastery, zephyr speed. Wolf and spider. Works great. Marauder amulet, runes of the traveler

How is your TTK compared to other classes? Are you finding yourself effed if you miss stacking the buffs from petswap? I was thinking that the whole spec might be finely tuned to needing pet-swap buffs but that seems counter inventive sometimes because like, if my spider is in position for a takedown, I don’t want to swap him out for my secondary wolf who then has to lop over to the target.

LughLongArm.5460:

Yesterday I watched a streaming ranger on twitch, I think his name was skullforce(he also posts alot on the forum). He was using power build with LB/GS and did an amazing work.

Thanks for the tip! Most of the streams I stopped by were people having fun with the healing bug (heh) or trying out the trap changes so I didn’t know if any had returned to LB shenanigans. I’ll def go watch and take note.

Alice.5360:

anduriell.6280:

But still you can use LB and a melee weapon of your choice.
I don’t see why you shouldn’t use LB having in mind that could output a decent amount of damage (decent is not great thou).
And also you can use it to catch up with those that like to run away when the things get hairy. Ranger does not have any teleport/blink, and our swoop (GS) is only 900 units.
That LB could give you that couple of shots to down’em for good.

With condi-necros pumping out high and fast debuffs and thieves being able to kill within the span of a GCD, the bow- and the builds needed to make bows decent instead of mediocre- offers no real draw. There’s many drawbacks to running LB and no real benefit. “You can hit from a bit further away than any other class” means hardly anything when that damage is lowered and baseline stats are higher than previously. That extra range might have bought us 2-3k burst damage before, now it gets us 1k.

Now I might just be a bit sore, but it seems like they took ranger from 3 viable builds- trapper, condi, powerbow- to two. Condi and traps were already pretty decent (I have three rangers, one of each spec) but LB was the most unique and fun for my style of play and it’s sad to see that longbows, which currently only are used by two classes, are on the out. The melee playstyle of rangers now is no different than any other mid-to-short range class.

That’s because they (Anet) nerfed the scaling dmg in the LB and said nothing
kitten move in my opinion, another one.

If the LB would works as it was supposed with the new range and speed LB would be a reliable weapon. Right now is almost useless, just to run maps in pve although you could stop wasting your time and roll another professions.
If your case is like mine and the other classes seems to easy (thief/warrior/ele) or too boring (mesmer/guard) my advise is for you to change games.

In more than 2 years i have yet to see real balance with the ranger and fix all those annoying broken bugs ranger has.
They guy that should be taking care of this class is obviously partying…

I’m kinda bored because in my server 60% sPVP players are ranger pewpew… lol

But yea greatsword is the best option in sPVP for a full power longbow build because maul can finish anyone easily when they try to come close and the block / knockback too.
Not to mention the added mobility and the stun that can be very handy.

Here a super glass pewpew build http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Jo-g;1sEFx-a2REF-0;9k8D;1Yb_;0248247257;44NF7X;1GNW4LNW45V

Longbow ranger is still very viable. But it also seems to require significantly more coordination with the pet. I run a BM WS NM Longbow/GS build. And a VERY significant amount of my damage and control comes from my pet (which is much more easily utilized when using shouts. Guard is like a free 7k crit as long as you set it up right)

More often than not the most effective plays I can manage are a combination of ranged and melee combat while using my utilities to direct me pet into performing certain actions. It’s a bit tricky. But once you get it down you realize you can absolutely destroy certain builds that used to terrify the standard longbow build pre patch.

So far the only “hard counter” build ive encountered so far is the mesmer build with the immobilizaiton on interrupt. Having long cast time skills makes us very easy to interupt (in the sense that if rampage as one is off cooldown I strongly recommend kiting until you can get a reliable stab source back up)

RevanCorana.8942:

I’m kinda bored because in my server 60% sPVP players are ranger pewpew… lol

But yea greatsword is the best option in sPVP for a full power longbow build because maul can finish anyone easily when they try to come close and the block / knockback too.
Not to mention the added mobility and the stun that can be very handy.

Here a super glass pewpew build http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-Jo-g;1sEFx-a2REF-0;9k8D;1Yb_;0248247257;44NF7X;1GNW4LNW45V

You don’t need to be superglass to play pewpew, and now you should be able to output condi with LB as well.
I hate meta builds, too boring and if Anet fix the ranger right would be a very nice class to play survivor.

But right now i only feel to do QQing all over the place.

anduriell.6280:

That’s because they (Anet) nerfed the scaling dmg in the LB and said nothing
kitten move in my opinion, another one.

Any proof on that? And no “I’ve got the feeling that…” please.

Thanks!

Did they nerf the scaling? In PvE i am seeing constant 15-20k rapid fires on bosses with might stack as it was before the patch. The only modifiers that is missing is 5% from eagle eye, but that is like a whatever for me.

No, but for some people complaining is more fun than actually playing the game.

Multiple rangers are having success with power builds that I’m aware of, and afaik, the PvP power build got even stronger with the new remorseless and ability to maintain fury permanently or near-permanently.

Try a 6/0/6/6/0 build or a 6/0/6/0/6 build. Both of those have seen lots of success from a lot more people than just myself.

If anything, it’s our condi-builds that got hurt by the patch, at least in terms of damage output comparatively to what other classes can do, but that sort of thing is being looked at by devs to make changes because conditions are considered to be in too strong of a spot due to certain specific professions since the patch dropped.

LB Power Ranger is still great. It just requires running 6/0/6/0/6 Beastmaster Quickness :

http://intothemists.com/guides/5468-lead_the_zephyr

I am using a 00666 power build with LB and sword/axe or GS. Works wonders. WS and NM are amazing at simply not dying to the new burst Mesmers.

I have written this many times already, but here i go again. I have had amazing success with this build in the last few days.

Ammulet – Marauders
Runes – Travelers
Sigils – Fire and Air on LB, bloodlust and energy on the sword/axe or energy and intelligence on the GS

WS traits – oakheart salve, shared anguish, wilderness knowledge
NM traits – instinctual reaction, evasive purity, protective ward
BM traits – go for the eyes, wilting strike or GS mastery, zephyr speed

So why am i playing this? Well, I am not a fan of burst first or die type of gameplay. And currently, because of stealth openers you are at an inherent disadvantage vs Mesmers and to some extent thieves.

My logic is that, since you used to take the MM line for the eagle eye and read the winds trait there is no need to do so anymore. Furthermore if you look closely, the line is just BAD unless you go for remorseless.

Skirmishing line is equally bad for power builds. Vigor on evade? I don’t need it. Spotter? Who cares. Quickdraw is nice but not necessary.

With the build I am playing i got ample sustain with near permanent regeneration, protection and solid condition removal, good damage and utility due to pet and a lot of quickness. 3 stun breaks. And most importantly I can survive the initial burst with more then 60% HP and promptly heal back up with TU while in stealth or SoS. The funnest part is unloading axe 4 and sword auto attacks while under quickness.

longbow is much more viable in wvw now because of the extra survivability offered through NM and WS, in addition to Lead the Wind which gives our longbow everything it needs to be successful in large scale fights, and I cant help but think that’s what anet wanted out of the longbow buffs.

as for pvp, lb isn’t bad in the right hands, but I don’t think anet really ever wanted LB, and continues to not want to see it succeed.

I did my first (ranked) match after the patch and I see I was perhaps a little overly pessimistic regarding the glasspower LB, if you compare it with its “position” and expectations pre patch in mid tier PvP.
While I did not get to fight all classes, and it was just one match, it did give a decent overview of the traditional power LB/GS standing, and you had more durability (more trait/boon synergy) figthing on point as long as you were ahead of what was happening. This was as a MM/WS/BM zerker ranger, but the variant brings little to the team and could be replaced with another burst build, but still it had its use in mid tier and wasnt the wet noodle I expected it to be. I made a short clip out of the match if interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2207uISeQ8o&feature=youtu.be

Imo the builds got better, not insanely better though like certain other classes.

Also there is still the same old problem of mesmers/thieves just keeping power ranger kind of out of the meta at high level spvp.

What improved:

• more “cheap” defense with traits like bark skin or the nature magic one applying protection/weakness
• somewhat more damage with remorseless
• more swiftness sources

The problem is that for example survivability still is rather cooldown capped. SoS and Protect me obviously are powerful tools but a coordinated team will do the call “he just popped it” and then kill the ranger. Mesmer/thief have much lower cd rotations for their escape/survival mechanisms. The only other out for ranger is hunter’s shot.

I do think there are maps and to lesser extent team comps where ranger gets really close to for example thief efficiency (and also mesmer once those get toned down a bit).

I’ve been taking a longbow as my secondary weapon for my Remorseless BM build. It’s range and sudden spike damage is still very strong when engaging and sticking a fleeing enemy. Its knock back is still an extremely strong tool for stopping stomps, it’s stealth is still valuable for re-positioning (I use it to get behind my opponent, switch to greatsword, and open with a Hilt Bash followed by Maul), and it has a solid AoE that applies cripple for some AoE pressure and to help the pet close on the enemy.

Just the other day I was charging a thief who was standing on point. Point Blank Shot→Hunter’s Shot to disrupt the thief and gain stealth. My river drake got behind him as I used F2, triggering Beastly Warden. Then I popped out of stealth as the thief turned around to stare into the gaping maw of my drake and we hit him with a full Rapid Fire+Lightning Breath combo. Thief went down instantly.

Longbow is a very versatile tool that can be used as a control weapon in addition to a damage weapon. I don’t think anything short of a hard nerf to the weapon itself will destroy it’s viability.

LB got buffed. whats the problem here exactly? LB/GS is our only viable power option.

I’m doing just as well before the patch, with the added survivability etc. I still get 1st or second on my team almost every game, in unranked but still not much has changed for me. The build I’m running is pretty much the same except I’ve swapped healing spring for troll ungent due to the condi clear and fury on survival skill use, which including troll ungent I’m running 3. Then again you will almost never find me anywhere but an elevated position.