(edited by Calysto.7469)
Need a Longbow Burst Build for WvW
Longbow+Greatsword is an inferior approach.
Traited longbow will not hit moving targets at max range, so traiting into that is not as good as it sounds. Greatsword is terrible in WvWvW.
Instead, Shortbow+Longbow is much better. Shortbow is the burst, Longbow is the CC and AOE (with rapid shot and hunters shot filler until you can swap back to shortbow).
Instead of ‘Eagle Eye’ which only affects longbow, take Quickdraw at the top of the skirmishing tree; this affects both longbow and shortbow and has a much bigger impact in combat on both weapons!
BTW the link you gave is 20/25/20/0/5, not 30,25,10,5 like this comment says.
Edited the first post to include the correct build for what I have currently. Thanks for pointing that out Mox. As for yours Reg, thanks for the link, but my biggest problem with that spec is the reliance on very long cooldown abilities to be able to do any extra burst, and that’s over with very quickly.
Mox, after looking at the correct spec, and any others new to this thread, what are some good suggestions?
Nobody else with any ideas on Longbow and how to make it a more viable WvW burst build?
OK, this is very admittedly NOT from a pro-grade WvWvW player, but as a dedicated Longbow-slinger with the Eagle Eye trait, I feel I get pretty good engagement on long-distance targets by being selective. I agree completely that if you wing a shot in a clear sky your opponent will side-step while yawning and watch it thump the grass. But I like to skirt the fringes of the fight and focus on targets “otherwise engaged” – ideally from the flanks, or fire down into the back of the zerg beating on my castle door. If I lead off with a Rapid Shot volley I feel like I can take a pretty big bite before most opponents realize they are being shot at, and that can be a real added edge for the guy punching him face-to-face. Just my two cents.
I run a power/crit Longbow and Shortbow in WvW. I’m around 3200 power, 53% crit chance, and 95 crit damage.
I usually main the Shortbow because the damage is better then the Longbow. The Longbow sees usage with (Fire Sigil) barrage, when I need range, and to follow up a Shortbow rotation with Rapid Fire.
The problem with Rapid Fire is you need to be close (not a problem if you are using Shortbow often) and it is easy to evade negating a lot of damage, even with quickness.
But the Longbow reigns supreme for tower/keep battles and sniping low health, light armor targets. Hitting them with some 3.2K criticals with it’s auto attack while under quickness will catch them off guard before they can react.
My barrage can crit around 1.5k and with Fire Sigil puts out respectable damage clearing people from the area. I always bust a quickness with barrage and use the rest of the buff to rapid Fire into the crowd. With Piercing Arrow I can sometimes take down 2-3 people.
Psisah, what spec are you using currently with that setup?
The longbow skill that increases range/damage is actually very good but only in standoff /keep defense. attackers dont seem to move as much as you can be out of attack range and drop 1500 range shots on them for max damage and alot of target do drop. then someong trying to revive them becomes another good target and its a good time to use barrage. In open field the long range shot will miss tho so for that id recommend, shortbow or axe
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fMAQJATVjIV11RWCWo2Bg1j96LwWBOZPOkxHB;TkAg0UUZoSQllKHVSqWUMsA
Hope that works, did it on my phone. From memory it is around that but I don’t do SPvP and everything I wear is berserker. Straight glass cannon build.
Use to use Lightning Reflexes but I don’t get caught in wrong place anymore.
Flame trap is just too nice to throw down while fighting up close.
There’s no particular trick to making a burst build for a ranger.
Stack as much power, precision and critical damage as you can then activate a quickness ability (Quickening Zephyr or a pet swap with the 5 point Beastmaster trait) and hope for lots of crits during the window of extremely fast attack speed.
Longbow with Eagle Eye is pretty good for WvW. At keep battles and large push-and-pull zerg fights you can frequently just drill people who are either snared or immobilized by your teammates or simply not paying attention to you.
Barrage has a million uses including preventing fleeing enemies from escaping your teammates, pushing enemies back from parapet walls, scattering people trying to revive a downed comrade, killing downed thieves and mesmers who use their invisibility skills, damaging siege engines that out of your line-of-sight on walls and so on.
Long Range Shot doesn’t have very high DPS but its individual hits can be devastatingly hard, so it’s great for assist burst if someone is already at low health or being attacked by your teammates. I run a full berserker setup in WvW (2210 power, 59% critical rate, 99 critical damage) and often see hits over 4500 on light-armor targets. A quickened Rapid Fire can do over 12,000 damage in about 2 seconds. The burst capability is certainly there.
For smaller scale fights, though, such as sniping supply camps with a small group of guildmates, I prefer the shortbow. It’s simply superior for skirmishing, as it should be. The control, defense and sustained DPS on the shortbow are all superior to the longbow.
Guardian, Engineer
[SIC] Strident Iconoclast – BP
[SIC] Strident Iconoclast – BP
WvW build I made up rq.
Copy and paste link if not working.