Guild Wars 2

Ive been lurking these forums for quite a bit since I started leveling my ranger, looking through on different builds and talks about how ranger is bad/decent, weaponry, etc.
However, everytime I seem to come around to power builds, most suggest both longbow and greatsword. Now, ive played power ranger for a bit and recently went hybrid and had success.

However, I still cannot get a grasp of longbow or the GS switch that most builds run. Everytime I switch longbow, all that happens is someone just runs up on me and I cant even hit them for the next 8-9 seconds cause its so slow attack rate compared to shortbow/sword. Is there something I can do besides Point blank shot that will help this? Also, is remorseless worth taking while using said bow?

edit: I should Note that I am speaking in terms of WvW. . .

Rapid Fire is good for when someone is close range. Next patch in December we’ll see the damage on short and mid range shots improved slightly which will help as well. The weapon suffers from an extreme lack of burst which is why many suggest greatsword as maul provides that burst as well as a lot of survivability. Problem is if maul fails to kill you’re stuck in an awful weapon for awhile doing much less damage than you would have with your bow.

Remorseless is an awful trait. It has one use… stealth > swap weapons > maul. You will almost certainly want Signet of the Beastmaster to help with survivability or for eagle eye for slightly more offensive damage.

You have to figure out a way to keep your distance and practice more on how to kite your opponent. You have all the tools in order to do so and learn it by experience.

Longbow main utility is actualy its many cooldown and effect. once they burned out you should switch to your off weapon whataver that may be.

I sympathize. I had this issue for the longest time when I first played too.

One of the keys in PvP and RvR with the longbow is “getting the jump” on the enemy in small situations. You can strike from range sending in the pet (or immobilizing them with a spider) and doing a fair (emphasize only fair) amount of initial damage with rapid fire, long range shots and perhaps a knockback. Rangers are tough to play when we get jumped. That makes thieves hard for a LB type build.

Phase 1 “The Jump”. Do damage and get them to burn condition removals and especially things that will restrict you from keeping him pinned. Even if they see you and you see them, you have a smaller but still critical “jump window” because of range. You need to maximize it and then stealth/reposition to buy yourself just a little more time to extend this period where you are doing damage and they haven’t started yet.

Then, the fight gets interesting because you will not have killed the enemy. . . yet. It can get snotty because some classes are great at just leaving a fight. So I focus everything I can on making them have a hard time getting and staying in range and keeping me as a target (I stealth every chance I get).

Some opt for GS with the signet of beastmaster to provide extra damage and defense. That can work. You knock the opponent’s health down, swoop in and maul.
As the responder above says, if you don’t kill the enemy. . . you will wish you were not carrying the GS. So your phase 2 is a kill or be killed situation.

I tend to then focus on trying to keep the enemy from getting to me. But you can do a lot between your knockback, spiders, secondary weapons etc to keep the enemy from reaching you for a while. I like immobilize. I like pets with immobilize, weakness or anything that keeps them out of melee and/or tickling me v hitting me. This is the buy time to finish off approach.

For me, the key is to have a spec that allows me to QUICKLY make adjustments (typically weapon, pet, trait in that order) to win a fight. The faster you get at making fast adjustments and still having time to get to the enemy, the better.

Here is where I think most rangers miss the one strength I think we have. Give me a couple seconds and I can make a few tweaks to my traits, pets and weapon to give me more of an edge in the particular fight. I suppose it is the one benefit of more or less a “jack of all trades master of none class”.

I tend to run a 30/20/20 spec simply because of the flexibility it adds. You know when you are approaching a camp, playing in a zerg or keep. So you have 5 secs to make adjustments. So, it is all about what you can do in time when you see an enemy to jump. I don’;t go 30 in WS which is controversial for the simple reason that if I need it, I am dead. I need to kill you fast, stay away (groups), or hurt you then keep you from really getting into the fight. 30WS for me works when you are a bit more defensive.

Examples of minor adjustments. If I can see the enemy is squishy and I swap the axe/horn (faster moving around the map) with a GS, flip pets for a damage dealing canine and quickly add signet of the wild. I tend to keep Signet of Beastmaster as default and move to spotter or piercing arrows on a fight by fight basis. You just can’t swap pet, weapon and get into traits in time for a fight.

Some classes, I want the axe/horn and my adjustment is to run another spider that immobilizes. This is going to be a keep away fight. So, my traits are pretty much right as are my weapons. I need a second before starting the fight to move the dog to a second spider.

Sometimes, I need a sword dagger combo because this is going to be an evade/dodge fight. Here I need to swap out the two weapons (fast) AND make my utilities defensive. The later just takes getting used to doing in time. I’ll be darn sure to throw that dagger at range to cripple if I can. I’ll have 2-4 to evade on the hotbar now so a lot of that damage better come from the hound.

Part II

Some things I tend to always try to do in small situations with LB almost always if I get the jump.

1) Hit first
2) Use Rapid Fire/horn is using a horn
3) Use Pet CC while they are more likely to be reacting v thinking (buy a few seconds with a cripple, stun, immobilize)
3) Do it again with the Cripple with Barrage (especially if they burned an ability to break the immobilize) as they start to turn to get in range of you.
4) Stealth to keep them from getting too close or if they got in melee
5) Move in stealth to where they are least likely to see you for a second or two.
6) Knockback to buy more time
7) Swap to second set (unless you were going the GS route in which case after stealth you Swoop, Hilt Bash and Maul).

Mind you the enemy will try to counter all of this.
Then it is up to what weapon set did you haul out.

It gets easier to play longbow in a crowd. It is about staying where the enemy would have to commit too much risk to go after just you (you are the farthest away). Then you want to add damage as well as some utility for the group like barrage, pet group buff, getting in range to throw mud down, getting the pet to make a timely AE cc etc.
Half the time the utility won’t work but I do find it much easier to simply stay out of the way of most damage while doing damage. It isn’t just range. You can stealth and have them lose you as a target and move a little. You still are at range and the hope is the enemy will find something else to target. And the knockback is a good last defense (I tend to then follow it up with a stealth and try to reposition myself).

Longbow + Greatsword is good for being part of a zerg in WvW.

Longbow is useful for picking off targets at a distance while the rest is busy fighting each other. You’ll need Piercing Arrows and Eagle Eye traits and probably also Quick Draw.
Rapid Fire is great for tracking targets and doing damage in short range and increasing your chance to hit.
Hunter’s Shot is good for getting stealth. I usually use it if I get focused on by someone. Switch to Greatsword and Swoop away while in stealth.
Point Blank Shot is nice CC to keep enemies away from you. With Piercing Arrows it can also hit multiple targets. Use it from stealth to be able to position yourself.

Greatsword is good for Swoop primarily. It allows for a lot of mobility. Both to catch up with a zerg and to run away. Greatsword + Signet of the Hunt and I have no trouble with catching up to zergs. Get the cooldown reduction to be even faster, but it’s not really needed. I rather go 30/25/15/0/0 than 30/20/20/0/0.
Maul is good for spike damage.
Counterattack is good for getting out of sticky situations by blocking projectiles as you move.
I tend to run with Drakehound + Wolf on passive, because they both allow me to get away easier.

For roaming I would use another setup, or at least not full Berserker. I find the Longbow lacking in damage without going full Berserker though. I’d go with a Tank/BM/Regen/Condition build with Sword/Dagger + Axe/Torch or something. Maybe dual spider pets or canine or feline.

SB does more damage then LB… you have to accept that! BUT LB brings some AWESOME utilities.

If you use your LB3 just right you can avoid about 30% of all direct damage (3s stealth, 9.5 cooldown). Spam it!

LB4 is awesome! You can interrupt the enemies heal for example what is HUGE.
If he comes near you just use LB4 to knockback followed by Lightning Reflexes and boooom your almost at max range again.

LB2 is not bad/super good… again the damage is not really good but you can track the enemy in stealth.

LB1 and LB5 are the worst skills imo.
LB1 is to slow and you really have to learn to kite to reach enough effectiveness.
LB5 roots you. Almost every skill that roots you is crap because you are a easy target and easy to interrupt. But LB5 can work when casting it in stealth!

Speaking of combos (not combo fields and finishers)… LB got HUGE combo potential if combined with GS.

Here is an example:

If you´re opening the fight LB1 shines!
You have the range advantage and LB1 hits hard (the first second when @max range).
When the enemie gets closer just give him a full rapidfire (don´t kite… just walk straight against him).
When he finally reached you use your LB4 to knock him back… imediatly followed by LB3 (it will hit 99% of the time cause he´s still knocked back) then imediatly swap to GS… swoop in (a stealth swoop… he will not know what happend to him) use GS5 to stun/daze, then Maul then immediatly use GS4 to block (they attack 99% of the time) to interrupt him again.

Just an example.

LB has definitely got some great utility with Hunter’s Shot and Point Blank Shot. Like others have pointed out, I feel like they weapon is a much more about skills 2-4 than anything else (concerning WvW.)

I don’t use GS (despite loving it) so I never use my stealth from Hunter’s Shot to land a swoop or a maul — it’s totally a positioning tool for me on my power build, which I pair with Sword/Dagger. So it doesn’t only allow me to avoid some direct damage, but it puts me in a good place to guarantee my Crippling Talon so that I may begin assaulting with Sword 1-chain and even more importantly, it provides fantastic cover to activate your heal or Rampage as One, as well as any utilities you may be running.

PBS is pretty self-explanatory. It’s an interrupt and it creates some space, if I connect with it, I often follow up with Hunter’s Shot immediately to give myself a few seconds to kitten things. Also really fun to use stealth and then PBS someone off of a cliff in WvW.

Rapid Fire is a mixed bag. Most Rangers know that it does less damage at max range than just auto attacking. The vulnerability is nice, though and it’s an incredible Thief killer in small skirmishes.

Barrage — Be safe… fire into crowds. Solid skill for the AoE cripple but use at your own risk.

What really stinks about power LB is 99% of the time my havoc group wants Spotter. Which means I have to choose between Piercing Arrows and Eagle Eye, can’t have both. Eagle Eye is usually the one I drop, it still sucks though. Also, can’t have the Beastmaster Sig at all with that set up. They put all 4 traits I need for my havoc LB build in 2 slots.

Obsidian.1328:

What really stinks about power LB is 99% of the time my havoc group wants Spotter. Which means I have to choose between Piercing Arrows and Eagle Eye, can’t have both. Eagle Eye is usually the one I drop, it still sucks though. Also, can’t have the Beastmaster Sig at all with that set up. They put all 4 traits I need for my havoc LB build in 2 slots.

Well two of those (Signet affect the ranger aswell, piercing arrows) should be no trait at all… Those should be default to any ranger xD

The signet GM trait would be too powerful to be innate, but I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing all arrows pierce. Even in the Anet ranger intro video Izzy said if you want to use a bow you basically must trait to have your arrows pierce.

I just go ahead and always drop eagle eye if I’m with others as they likely won’t benefit from spotter if I’m at 2100 range. On my own I’d like to have all 3 traits, and considering the difficulty of taking on multiple opponents using a LB I don’t see how that would be game breaking.

Fluffball.8307:

The signet GM trait would be too powerful to be innate, but I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing all arrows pierce. Even in the Anet ranger intro video Izzy said if you want to use a bow you basically must trait to have your arrows pierce.

I just go ahead and always drop eagle eye if I’m with others as they likely won’t benefit from spotter if I’m at 2100 range. On my own I’d like to have all 3 traits, and considering the difficulty of taking on multiple opponents using a LB I don’t see how that would be game breaking.

How could the signets be overpowered if they worked on the Ranger base? In fact, I’ll tell you what… why don’t we just let the signets affect the Ranger and require a 30 pt Beastmastery trait before the pet uses them! Lets see how many choose that option.

To me it just feels like they’re being taken out of context. Ele signets naturally affect them, but they don’t have rampage as one. It’s the total picture, not direct comparisons of utilities.

But really I don’t feel strongly enough about the signets to argue the point.

Ranger in general just need to change weapons a lot, unlike some other classes (such as a thief, who can quite happily use one weapon set in a fight).

You swap to the longbow when its suitable to use it, do your damage, using PBS and HS and then swap back to your other set. Youre right you wont be able to keep people at 1000 range all the time, so you dont. You just using the LB when is right to, but dont try force it onto every situation, which is the mistake I see almost all LB rangers making.