Guild Wars 2

Hi. I am quite new to the game. I like bow-style gaming and I am thinking on making a ranger who would use both long and short bow.
Would it be a good idea or not?
I don’t really know what would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing this.
Which class should I choose to play with bow?
What kind of build do we have?
I am really going to appreciate every kind of information. =D

Unfortunately, you won’t find much synergy with these weapons. The longbow is a weapon without any damaging conditions, so it benefits the most from power stats (power and ferocity), whereas the short bow gets most of its damage from the bleeds and poison it causes. Because of this, condition damage stats are best for the weapon (condition damage and expertise). Builds tend to be best when they either focus on power or condition damage.

As for what is best, I would ask what your goals are with the game. If you’re looking to find a class that holds its own for most of the casual content, you’ll do just fine with either bow on a ranger.

However, in the current end game content where players tend to use “meta” builds that maximize performance, you won’t see a lot of use for the ranger longbow because of its lower damage. The short bow, on the other hand, is still utilized along with axe/torch on many PvE focused builds.

If you’re looking to find a class that focuses a lot on the bow, I would suggest:
Ranger
– For reasons mentioned above
Warrior
– There are some good condition builds in PvE
Guardian
– with the Dragonhunter elite spec unlocked in the HoT expansion, this class can use a longbow and performs well in PvP
Revenant
– In the expansion releasing in less than a month, there will be a new elite spec called Renegade that will give the profession the ability to use the short bow.

With all that being said, it’s hard to say exactly what will perform well in the near future since the release of the new elite specs in the PoF expansion will inevitably shake things up. Still, all the options above should be worth considering. Thief is the only bow-wielding class that I would advocate avoiding if you actually want to use a bow. This is because the bow on that class tends to be a secondary, utility weapon that is only swapped to for short periods of time.

Dahkeus.8243:

…you won’t see a lot of use for the ranger longbow because of its lower damage.

Not sure I agree since some top-rated PvE meta builds still use longbow. And you see people in-game all the time using longbow (myself included, although I’m hardly amazing).

Also the trait is contradicting each other if you go LB/SB.

For SB, you need Light on your Foot, while for LB it’s best to grab Quick Draw or Vicious Quarry. You can’t have both at the same time.