Guild Wars 2

I read that short bow has been nerfed. For single-target DPS, which bow is now better, long or short?

Thanks!

Where did you read that? Anet hasn’t mentioned any changes to ranger shortbow in any of their update notes. Sounds like an unsubstantiated rumor from someone who didn’t perform any tests or see any official notes but just “felt like they weren’t doing as well today as they did yesterday” and assumed they must have been nerfed.

Personally I don’t like the skills on the longbow, but I enjoy the mobility of shortbow. It’s really a playstyle choice more than anything, I don’t think one is inherently better than the other.

I am probably never going to number crunch this game, but this is a hard one to call from general play-around. I like the long bow. I like the long bow because your Hunter’s Shot gives venerability which is awesome, Rapid Fire does a ton of burst, Point Blank shot is a nice way to keep them at distance since your auto attack does more damage with how far away they are. Volley does very nice AoE damage as well when you need it.

Short bow on the other hand, it’s skills feel more built around mobility in PvP. Sustained damage with conditions and and CC. Long bow outputs bigger Auto Attack damage and bust, along with giving ALL of you allies and benefit with the venerability. Like I said, I haven’t done any extensive research, I have recently hit 80 on my Ranger, so this is just what I’ve learned while leveling up.

I use short bow when stacked into critical damage. I would imagine Long bow would be better for straight damage.

Short bow by far. The longbow dps is abysmal, the lowest of all the Ranger weapons. The Rapid Fire on the longbow does less damage than the auto attack of the short bow.

Tomkatt.1684:

It’s really a playstyle choice more than anything, I don’t think one is inherently better than the other.

This.

arcaneclarity.5283:

Short bow by far. The longbow dps is abysmal, the lowest of all the Ranger weapons. The Rapid Fire on the longbow does less damage than the auto attack of the short bow.

Not this.

It’s really up to you. Most people who dislike the Longbow never truly studied how to use it. Most people who dislike the Shortbow never truly studied to use it either. They just care about the very first number that pops up when you fire 1 shot of auto attack. Typical nub play, tbh.

I have done both at 80 and like the longbow more simply because the shortbow bleeds are kinda the main aspect, but require you to be behind the target. In questing and grinds, not an issue too much, but in PvP and dungeons, I found it difficult to position yourself. I stacked +condition damage and had over 100 point ticks for my bleeds, which was nice, but it was hard to sustain in most fights. Some dungeons are just too cramped so the shortbow is better since you do not lose any dps from distance, but the positioning can be rough.

I recently switched to a pure power, precision, +crit dmg and really like it. I am grinding dungeons and some WvWvW and it plays to my style; sit in the back and hit hard. I would like to try a healing/support build, but those spirits just cannot survive…but that is another discussion.

The fact is, the short bow out damages the longbow even if you don’t consider the short bow’s bleeds. A short bow will by far out damage the longbow on a power, precision, +crit damage build.

Find the short bow is a lot of fun to play if you like a skirmishing/kiting gameplay style. Just can’t find a good 2nd weapon set that is worth switching to – except to fire off those two offhand warhorn skills and quickly switch back to the shortbow.

I’d suggest it is completely situationally dependent. You cannot say that one is ALWAYS better than the other. Personally, I have both a Longbow and a Shortbow equipped on my Ranger as I level. I find that I am using the Shortbow a lot more though. I find that its sustained dps “feels” as though it is slightly superior to the Longbow.

However, for maximum effect, you should switch between them. In boss fights, I often switch between them as soon as it is off cooldown.

In PvE I generally find it is far too difficult to sustain the use of a Longbow, as maintaining enough distance becomes too much of a hassle for me, and to get the most out of it, you need to remain as far away as possible. So if you can do that, Longbow might be the better option, but if you find yourself regularly getting close, Shortbow is definitely worth a go.

BigCisHere.4076:

I’d suggest it is completely situationally dependent. You cannot say that one is ALWAYS better than the other. Personally, I have both a Longbow and a Shortbow equipped on my Ranger as I level. I find that I am using the Shortbow a lot more though. I find that its sustained dps “feels” as though it is slightly superior to the Longbow.

However, for maximum effect, you should switch between them. In boss fights, I often switch between them as soon as it is off cooldown.

In PvE I generally find it is far too difficult to sustain the use of a Longbow, as maintaining enough distance becomes too much of a hassle for me, and to get the most out of it, you need to remain as far away as possible. So if you can do that, Longbow might be the better option, but if you find yourself regularly getting close, Shortbow is definitely worth a go.

Bid sad to have two ranged weapons equipped tho. Have seen other people doing that too, but would be lot more fun if there were more advantages to be had from using a mixed melee/ranged build. Maybe the melee weapons need to be tweaked a bit to make that more of a good option, rather than a short cut to being dead.

BigCisHere.4076:

I’d suggest it is completely situationally dependent. You cannot say that one is ALWAYS better than the other. Personally, I have both a Longbow and a Shortbow equipped on my Ranger as I level. I find that I am using the Shortbow a lot more though. I find that its sustained dps “feels” as though it is slightly superior to the Longbow.

However, for maximum effect, you should switch between them. In boss fights, I often switch between them as soon as it is off cooldown.

In PvE I generally find it is far too difficult to sustain the use of a Longbow, as maintaining enough distance becomes too much of a hassle for me, and to get the most out of it, you need to remain as far away as possible. So if you can do that, Longbow might be the better option, but if you find yourself regularly getting close, Shortbow is definitely worth a go.

The shortbow does over 100% more dps than the longbow, even at the longbow’s maximum range. The only thing the longbow is really good for is the Barrage against siege weapons and tagging groups for loot. If you are switching between the longbow and the short bow, you are losing DPS.

BigCisHere.4076:

Personally, I have both a Longbow and a Shortbow equipped on my Ranger as I level.

Curious, how does this work out for you? I find for ranged play I’ll alternate between bow and axe+torch depending on if I need damage on multiple mobs or just single target, but I never really considered two single target weapons. For me it’s Longbow OR Shortbow, generally, and usually shortbow due to my playstyle (I prefer to be closer and use dodging and circle kiting, faster play on shortbow works for this for me).

Personal preference. You have pets for melee and keeping some distance between you and the mobs, and for me, the whole Bow thing is kinda what Rangers are about, and that is what I want to feel when I play them.

Also, I’m fairly sure switching to Longbow, using the 3+2 skill will do more damage in the same period of time than you can do with a Shortbow :p Once that skill is over, you’re already most of the way to being able to switch back to Shortbow, I’ll probably throw down the 5 too, and then I’m good to switch back.

Tomkatt.1684:

BigCisHere.4076:

Personally, I have both a Longbow and a Shortbow equipped on my Ranger as I level.

Curious, how does this work out for you? I find for ranged play I’ll alternate between bow and axe+torch depending on if I need damage on multiple mobs or just single target, but I never really considered two single target weapons. For me it’s Longbow OR Shortbow, generally, and usually shortbow due to my playstyle (I prefer to be closer and use dodging and circle kiting, faster play on shortbow works for this for me).

I enjoy it. As I said in the post above, it’s personal preference, and whatever suits your playstyle, that’s what makes a game like this so good, there is no set way you have to play. I find that I can take down the single targets very quickly, as I very rarely find that I’m in a position where I need to fight large groups, usually it will only be 1-2, and I have the arrow pierce trait, so I usually try to line up the enemies so that I am shooting both at the same time anyway.

I’ve considered trying other weapons, especially the melee side of the Ranger. I haven’t even equipped a Greatsword yet since I made the character. I’ve considered trying out 1H Sword + Warhorn/Torch, but I find little reason to so far.

roqoco.4053:

Find the short bow is a lot of fun to play if you like a skirmishing/kiting gameplay style. Just can’t find a good 2nd weapon set that is worth switching to – except to fire off those two offhand warhorn skills and quickly switch back to the shortbow.

Found axe/warhorn best combo with shortbow. Axe will help bleed and slow down and perfect with kiting as it bounces off mobs. And if given trait of Fury when switching weapons, killer for mobs.

I’ve used Longbow for about 25 levels, then decided to see if i liked shortbow and have never looked back. Damage was higher, dps on auto attack was better than Rapid Fire. It was harder to tag with longbow also since all skills were single target besides Barrage (too long of cd) even if you had Piecing Arrow trait since the shots took forever to fire off.

The rate of fire on the shortbow makes it better able to exploit combo fields. If you spec into traps and quickness (for combo fields and projectile finishers respectively), you’ll want a shortbow for maximum synergy.

Himei.5379:

roqoco.4053:

Find the short bow is a lot of fun to play if you like a skirmishing/kiting gameplay style. Just can’t find a good 2nd weapon set that is worth switching to – except to fire off those two offhand warhorn skills and quickly switch back to the shortbow.

Found axe/warhorn best combo with shortbow. Axe will help bleed and slow down and perfect with kiting as it bounces off mobs. And if given trait of Fury when switching weapons, killer for mobs.

I’ve used Longbow for about 25 levels, then decided to see if i liked shortbow and have never looked back. Damage was higher, dps on auto attack was better than Rapid Fire. It was harder to tag with longbow also since all skills were single target besides Barrage (too long of cd) even if you had Piecing Arrow trait since the shots took forever to fire off.

Yes that’s what I have equipped at the moment – would really love to make sword/warhorn work, but can’t. The thing is that one really wants to use the warhorn skills as an opener, but then what would you do afterwards with a sword that doesn’t have a gap closer? With axe on the other hand you can fire of the warhorn skills plus the axe cooldowns, as they are ranged and then switch to shortbow having gained fury might and swiftness and set some conditions on your foes.

Also think the ranger is lacking a bit in AOE – I don’t mind having restricted AOE at range (just the poison cone on shortbow), but if we have a melee option it should be possible to deal with multiple mobs that way – otherwhise why would anyone ever bother switching to a melee weapon?

personaliy i love the shortbow/long bow combo, because it covers the aoe, and short range combate. But I have been working on my sword and warhorn/shortbow combo because it is more reconmemded for WvW. But the two bow combo is the best for running in the open world, shortbow for regular gameplay, and longbow for events with a lot of mobs.

BigCisHere.4076:

I’ve considered trying other weapons, especially the melee side of the Ranger. I haven’t even equipped a Greatsword yet since I made the character. I’ve considered trying out 1H Sword + Warhorn/Torch, but I find little reason to so far.

1H Sword+Warhorn synergize well together. I find Torch is better with Axes due to skill 5 comboing for burning projectile axes, and 4 also being a ranged skill.

Greatsword works well as a melee secondary for any ranged main set, and has a good closer and counterattack skill. Also skill 2 has a nice bleed. I know people say Greatsword is underpowered, but I’ve found as long as you have a green quality one within a few levels of your current level it’s a good option.

I want to love 1H sword, but the 1 skill chain being uncancelable kills it for me a bit so I usually go Greatsword now for melee.

I keep seeing people say that SB auto-attack does more damage than LB Rapid Fire, but I have yet to see any proof. I run both bows and have yet to see my SB crit more than 2k, while my LB regularly crits for 5k and occasionally goes over 6k (6823 on a Veteren Risen a couple of hours ago), this while there is a difference of (I think) about 75 in the max damage between the two weapons. Please explain to me how it is possible for the LB to output 32500 damage (assuming 5x 6k crits and 5x 500 hits) in 10 hits at 50% crit while the SB doesn’t seem able to top 11500 (5x 2k and 5x 300 discounting bleed). The SB most certainly is not firing thirty shots in the time it takes RF to do 10, so how does it outdamage RF?

please. dont tell me that people keep thinking that the number they see when performing Barrage is the damage of 1 hit.
you hit for 6K, and that is the sum of all the hits of barrage, you dont do 5 hits of 6K, that is just stupid.

And you can cry all you want, shortbow outdamages by far the longbow.

Shortbow owns Longbow. Unless you want to trait the long bow range and stand on a wall in WubWub shoring ppl a cuple yards further. Boooring. =D

Both are good in opossite situations

Shortbow is for close combat skirmish
Longbow is for longe range combat

Shortbow benefits alot from condition damage
Longbow does not

Both weapons get the same benefits from Power/Crit while the longbow gets a bit more (vunerability on Hunter shot is a 10% damage boost)

I got 300 hours on my ranger and been playing Shortbow/Longbow since i had 80 hours.

Play the weapons to their strenghts

Most ppl say that Shortbow>Longbow cuz they use the Longbow in close combat.
Typical nubs, of course the shortbow willkittenthe longbow.

The best way to use both weapons is to unload all cd’s> swap to the other> unload all cd’s>swap again, nothing can survive your amazing SPM (Skills per Minute)

Plus with “Quick Draw” trait from skirmishing, makes this combo insanely good, so many tools to pick from.

Its more about the player then the weapon, a good player will be good with any weapon focusing on its strong points

Sneakier.9460:

The best way to use both weapons is to unload all cd’s> swap to the other> unload all cd’s>swap again, nothing can survive your amazing SPM (Skills per Minute)

Yes, Longbow makes a great secondary weapon to Shortbow, but what is when you want e.g. Warhorn for the speed boost? Which bow will you use in the other weapon set?

Visamon.4782:

please. dont tell me that people keep thinking that the number they see when performing Barrage is the damage of 1 hit.
you hit for 6K, and that is the sum of all the hits of barrage, you dont do 5 hits of 6K, that is just stupid.

And you can cry all you want, shortbow outdamages by far the longbow.

That is exactly the problem. People don’t yet understand how channeled abilities show damage in the game. The way they see it is “OMG that last hit did 5k damage, and the one before it 4.5 etc” They want to add them all up and say the skill does huge damage. What they don’t realize is that the 5k they are seeing is for the entire channel time.

i lost about 200 dmg on a crit on shortbow after a patch a couple days ago. the initial hit for the shortbow was nerfed slightly.

the numbers on BARRAGE are per tick. that’s the AOE in longbow. RAPID FIRE in longbow is cumulative damage. my barrage will kill a glass-cannon guardian or elementalist if they just stand in it.

i was obviously talking about rapidfire, but because i dont have the game in english i used other name.
I havent played my ranger for days and maybe i should try if they really nerfed the sb.

Sokar Rostau.7316:

I keep seeing people say that SB auto-attack does more damage than LB Rapid Fire, but I have yet to see any proof. I run both bows and have yet to see my SB crit more than 2k, while my LB regularly crits for 5k and occasionally goes over 6k (6823 on a Veteren Risen a couple of hours ago), this while there is a difference of (I think) about 75 in the max damage between the two weapons. Please explain to me how it is possible for the LB to output 32500 damage (assuming 5x 6k crits and 5x 500 hits) in 10 hits at 50% crit while the SB doesn’t seem able to top 11500 (5x 2k and 5x 300 discounting bleed). The SB most certainly is not firing thirty shots in the time it takes RF to do 10, so how does it outdamage RF?

The high numbers you see on Rapid Fire isn’t the damage of each individual hit, it is the cumulative damage of the hits prior to it added together.

DesertRose.2031
Sneakier.9460:
The best way to use both weapons is to unload all cd’s> swap to the other> unload all cd’s>swap again, nothing can survive your amazing SPM (Skills per Minute)
Yes, Longbow makes a great secondary weapon to Shortbow, but what is when you want e.g. Warhorn for the speed boost? Which bow will you use in the other weapon set?

I just change it asap from any bow while out of combat > get the buff> change it again, no need to keep the warhorn equiped