Guild Wars 2

Longbow gameplay is probably the only reason I’m playing Ranger, is it a subpar weapon to use?

Not if you use it right.

It’s not any more subpar than the other options Ranger has (pve), let’s put it that way.

Its the worse weapon rangers have.

I keep hearing this about both Longbow and Greatsword and catching flack because that’s what I use. I’m sold on them both to the point I crafted Kudzu and Vision of the Mists a couple of months ago.

It’s no secret that long bow is great at long range, but it can be awesome for up close skirmishing too if you build for it. I honestly think LB/GS is the best weapon set for PVE, PVP and WVW hands down.

I also hear LB isn’t good for a BM build. I’ll go get some 1v1’s using a LB/GS and a build that’s completely bunker BM and another that’s mostly bunker BM with some skirmishing thown in. Shortbow has a lower learning curve than LB for skirmishing for sure, but get good at LB and it rocks. Never done the video thing so give me a day or two to video and figure out how to get it on Youtube. Watch for it soon.

Aye LB is harder to learn to use for shirmishing. To many people want it easy. Think thats the problem with the class as a whole. It comes down to how you use it. I really never liked the short bow its kind of boring auto attack all day with a cripple here and there.

i’ll give you an objective assessment. ive been using the LB for months. it’s used for two reasons: a deadly burst with quickness, and barrage.

the rapid fire burst is almost always nullified if the opponent has an awareness of you. that being said, with a proper build you can actually flank someone and if you pet is there, burst them down for 20k damage. it’s a very gimmicky build.

the often-flaunted 1500 range is next to useless against moving targets (again, only useful for barrage). LB is not really a skirmishing weapon, but unfortunately it lands its arrows most reliably at about >900 range.

LB builds are weaksauce. they have no sustain and you’ll basically be tied down to a zerg. the low firing rate of LB exclude it from proccing heals on crit with food in an efficient way.

i ran an LB trap build for zerg warfare and it’s very effective. understand its role and you’ll enjoy it. meaning, dont try to skirmish with it.

overall, the SB is a much more powerful power/crit weapon because you can skirmish with it, and it reliably proc heals from food. it also synergizes better with traps.

overall, LB is a very confined, niche weapon in need of some serious changes. hope that helped.

nerva.7940:

i’ll give you an objective assessment. ive been using the LB for months. it’s used for two reasons: a deadly burst with quickness, and barrage.

the rapid fire burst is almost always nullified if the opponent has an awareness of you. that being said, with a proper build you can actually flank someone and if you pet is there, burst them down for 20k damage. it’s a very gimmicky build.

the often-flaunted 1500 range is next to useless against moving targets (again, only useful for barrage). LB is not really a skirmishing weapon, but unfortunately it lands its arrows most reliably at about >900 range.

LB builds are weaksauce. they have no sustain and you’ll basically be tied down to a zerg. the low firing rate of LB exclude it from proccing heals on crit with food in an efficient way.

i ran an LB trap build for zerg warfare and it’s very effective. understand its role and you’ll enjoy it. meaning, dont try to skirmish with it.

overall, the SB is a much more powerful power/crit weapon because you can skirmish with it, and it reliably proc heals from food. it also synergizes better with traps.

overall, LB is a very confined, niche weapon in need of some serious changes. hope that helped.

@ OP – Please note that this is Nerva’s objective opinion. I respect that most would view the LB this way based on it’s obvious strength at range and in zerg warefare. I dissagree, though, that it is a poor skirmishing weapon when used properly. I believe it is superior to SB for skirmishing as well and I’ve put 100’s of hours into SB and well over 1,000 on LB. I don’t even trait into the 1,500 range with it 90% of the time. For some SB will be better. For others…LB. I do have niche situations where I do still use SB but they are few and far between. That said, SB is a fine weapon and very deadly in the right hands.

The longbow can be excellent if used correctly. In World versus World, it really is exceptional, especially if you angle yourself correctly so that avoiding the arrows flight isn’t really a possibility.

Maybe someone can post a video of their exceptional skill with the LB. Calling it a “superior skirmishing” weapon seems remarkably far-fetched given that the auto attack does terrible damage close range and the SB auto attack does more damage than LB’s #2. Also note that the SB offers more control than the LB as well. What, exactly, makes the LB a superior skirmishing weapon, and what does it even mean to say that “the longbow can be excellent if used correctly?” If you build full zerker/glass cannon for WvW the LB can be decent (Barrage is nice – although on a 24 second CD) if you stay at max range and follow a zerg, but “excellent” isn’t a word I’d ever use to describe the LB. It needs some love from the devs for sure.

As far as i know shortbow ist way better than longbow most of the time.
For some rar PvP situations Longbow might be better but if you compare numbers i heard that shotbow autoattack(if the bleet hit) makes the same dps as Longbow if your are on max Range with all attacks hitting the enemy (that means the barrage too).
The one and only thing that is good is barrage even Rapid fire makes less dmg that 1 spamming from the short bow.
So for me its not worth using until it gets a buff.

i would also like a vid demonstrating exceptional skirmishing effectiveness of the LB. it’s a slow, unreliable weapon, but worst of all the builds associated with it dont really hold a candle to SB power/prec or condition builds, which are much more versatile both in larger engagements and skirmishes. the issue with LB is that you have to forgo most of your points in either BM or wilderness survival, or both. as a result you have no sustain, you cant adapt to changing conditions and youre stuck with a zerg. mind you, it’s not a bad zerg weapon.

LB has some nice utility, vulnerability, KB, aoe…

Problem is its damage, where SB outshines it in every way, even at maximum range and not flanking (LB max range does about the same dps as SB with no bleed, except SB works better with crit procs builds/food and keeps that damage on all ranges).

I’ll satisfy your video requests as I stated earlier in this thread I’d make a video. Just downloaded Bandicam last night after reading about how LB is worthless for skirmishing. Let me get a little footage and figure out how to get it on youtube. Don’t expect some God Mode craziness. Just expect a video that shows LB/GS can be great for skirmishing. It allows you to control the fight. Really the key is putting it all together. Use both weapons and your pets to their potential and you can make any weapon work well.

Let me be clear that I’m not discounting SB as it can be great too and I know most Rangers will defend it as the top Ranger weapon to their graves. There are still certain situations where I use SB. All I’m getting at is that you can successfully use LB in skirmishes. Is it perfect…..no…..does it ever miss….sure! It’s not an auto attack weapon at all so you can’t compare it to shortbow that way. If you want to stand back and auto attack then definitely use SB. I’ve used both extensively and they both have strong points. I prefer the dynamic play of LB.

No…..you definitely don’t have to go glass cannon with it. Yes….it has more control than SB. No…you don’t have to give up points in BM or WS to use it.

I love the longbow hate though…..that way people don’t know how to react when skirmishing with me because all they see are SB rangers!

Serraphin Storm.2369:

Aye LB is harder to learn to use for shirmishing. To many people want it easy. Think thats the problem with the class as a whole. .

Balancing a weapon should not be based on someone having ego issues causing them to put down others.

I use a SB/LB weapon combo for the majority of my gaming time, and I can tell you this. Longbow doesn’t do well against opponents if they’re constantly moving. If they’re close up or fixated on another enemy, the LB can do some serious damage, and get enough LB users together and they can take down a bunker quite easily…if they’re not moving or noticing the group. But for those times when you’re dealing with constantly moving targets, the LB does not do well at all…at which point I suggest sticking with the SB.

darb.9231:

. Yes….it has more control than SB. No…you don’t have to give up points in BM or WS to use it.

I love the longbow hate though…..that way people don’t know how to react when skirmishing with me because all they see are SB rangers!

Although I suggested a video, I was hoping you’d at least start to defend these sorts of claims. You keep posting assertions unaccompanied by any argument. How in the world does the LB have more control than the SB, for instance? SB has shorter CDs, an extra evade, poison to mitigate enemy healing, a cripple, and a daze/stun. LB has one knockback (with a long cast time) and a long CD AoE cripple that’s super easy to dodge.

xev.9476:

darb.9231:

. Yes….it has more control than SB. No…you don’t have to give up points in BM or WS to use it.

I love the longbow hate though…..that way people don’t know how to react when skirmishing with me because all they see are SB rangers!

Although I suggested a video, I was hoping you’d at least start to defend these sorts of claims. You keep posting assertions unaccompanied by any argument. How in the world does the LB have more control than the SB, for instance? SB has shorter CDs, an extra evade, poison to mitigate enemy healing, a cripple, and a daze/stun. LB has one knockback (with a long cast time) and a long CD AoE cripple that’s super easy to dodge.

Longbow control isn’t that far off shortbow’s, the real issue is the pitiful LB1 damage at short range. I can’t imagine using the longbow effectively for skirmishing unless you swap it very frequently with a backup weapon set, so I’m curious to see that video if he has time to make it.

xev.9476:

darb.9231:

. Yes….it has more control than SB. No…you don’t have to give up points in BM or WS to use it.

I love the longbow hate though…..that way people don’t know how to react when skirmishing with me because all they see are SB rangers!

Although I suggested a video, I was hoping you’d at least start to defend these sorts of claims. You keep posting assertions unaccompanied by any argument. How in the world does the LB have more control than the SB, for instance? SB has shorter CDs, an extra evade, poison to mitigate enemy healing, a cripple, and a daze/stun. LB has one knockback (with a long cast time) and a long CD AoE cripple that’s super easy to dodge.

Xev – Short bow is great. Many (most) will agree with you that it’s better than long bow. For my playstyle and as a fit with my other weapon (GS) I prefer LB. Using a different off weapon I might prefer SB, but not with GS. I’ll respond to your questions, but I’m only giving my view as everyone will play it/see it differently

LB and SB both have different kinds of control. SB evade, poison, cripple and daze/stun are excellent. However, I already get the evade, cripple and daze/stun from my GS and LB has other kinds of control going for it:

Want to know where that thief went? Rapid fire tracks him for 5 secs on an 8 sec cool down. So handy.

Want to apply 10 stacks of vulnerability and give your pet swiftness? Use Hunter’s shot every 12 secs.

Is that warrior getting to close? Use point blank shot to knock him back 600 distance. Available every 12 secs. Also very entertaining to knock people off high places to their death.

Now that you knocked that warrior back use barrage directly between you and him. I promise he’ll come back at you and he’ll be wading through damage and cripples while he does. I know you say it’s easy to dodge but that’s only if you use it too far away from yourself. Use it near or even right on yourself and stay in it to force them to come into it or to stay at bay. It continues raining arrows after the channel giving you a chance to switch to mele and double up your damage while your pet benefits from easier hits due to the cripple.

Really it’s all playstyle. You like short bow and I like long bow. Neither of us is wrong, we just play it differently.

I use Longbow traited to 1500 range, because I WvW 98% of my time and it is a very useful tool in that context when used correctly. There are some things in WvW that you can only do with the Longbow, so for me personally it’s indispensable.

In terms of specifics, Rapid Fire is excellent for things like finishing off a fleeing target, killing/tracking thieves, killing siege etc…Barrage as well, for taking out point defenses, siege on walls and slowing advances or retreats. Point Blank shot and it’’s knockback are great in WvW, when halting a stomp, dropping someone off a cliff, pushing back a supervisor or getting someone off a piece of siege are important.

It all boils down to context, playstyle and usage however, as others have said. Longbow works exceptionally well with things like ranged traps, and is THE weapon of choice for attacking to or from walls. You haven’t lived till you’ve seen a high crit rate Barrage with a Sigil of Fire into a mass of bodies :P

My option about longbow is…“position”.

If u put yourself in best-position longbow is deadly weapon.
Top of that longbow MUST have someone or somebody to cover your position for full shot smooth shooting.

In WWW 3ranger in choke point use longbow + Piercing Arrows is auto sniper tower.
or Barrage is AC in human form.

But

PvP is not good enough because map scale is small LB can’t get more effect.

-Longbow’s only AoE is limited to 5 hits per second whereas a lot of other aoe skills have many small hits that give them the potential to hit many times.
-Longbow’s damage is only decent when under the effects of high amounts of might and/or quickness. Longbow lacks any decent spike damage without meeting either of these conditions, as it has no specific bursting skill.
-Longbow’s auto attack damage calculator is counterintuitive to basic gameplay because of flight speed.
-Longbow’s only inherent pet synergy is application of swiftness.
-Longbow’s lack of any form of basic condition damage means you are essentially burning an entire weaponset for mediocre utility if you are not using it to burst.

Longbow’s list goes on..

Most max range weapons in this game seem to be intended for team based builds and don’t do great in 1vs1.

That certainly applies to the Longbow. Use it when you are running with a team or a zerg in WvW, if you’re soloing or skirmishing you’ll probably want to look elsewhere.

Videos made…as promised.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Skirmish-With-a-Longbow

Longbow is weaker than it should be mostly on account of Long Range Shot firing significantly more slowly than was probably intended. This is an animation bug disproportionately affecting Longbows and Pistols.

The thing that annoys me about the longbow is that, I’m better off picking up the icebow than I am using my own longbow.

If the longbow had icebow like attacks and damage I’d love it.