Guild Wars 2

I recently (like thursday) bought this game, and i havent decided on the class to play. So far my #1 is ranger, but i want to make sure its the type of ranger i like to play. Is it possible to go bow-crit ranger and be effective in PvP? I want to do tons of damage from a range, (if anyone has played Aion thats exactly what im looking for in a ranger). Also whats the diffrence in shortbows and longbows? Thanks in advance!

Short answer, no.

Long answer, if you can take the time to practice every profession to learn their weaknesses and play ranger enough to learn the profession in every aspect, you can defeat other players as a zerker ranger. If you don’t want to dedicate hundreds of hours to that, you will fail miserably as a zerker ranger. Not to mention zerker ranger has 0 burst capability, more like sustained high damage. I guess you can try a zerker ranger and pray this patch in 3 days will be its saving grace, but I wouldn’t get my hopes up.

Note: “zerker” means berserker, which is the type of gear that gives +power (damage), + precision (crit chance), and +crit damage (additive multiplier to critical damage).

And the longbow and shortbow have the same range unless the ranger traits the longbow for more range (which isn’t very good). Shortbow has more utility, offense, defense, and is easier to use. Longbow brings a decent aoe to the fight, but the channel (self cc) really hurts ranger.

Yes and no Naro. In sPvP which is the standardized form of PvP in the game, Rangers aren’t very good with bows, as most teams/setups like more of a ‘beastmaster’ ranger for that, but for WvW (which is better imo) and PvE it is viable to run a Power/crit bow-using ranger. But I would caution against full ‘zerker’ as you are very much a glass cannon and it can be frustrating to learn the when, where and whys to use certain skills as if you go full ’zerker you WILL be learning the hard way (aka death). Valkyrie is a good set to run, as it gives you at least some added health while giving you much less crit chance but the same amount of crit damage as ’zerker. Mix and match and find your playstyle. Here is how I run my Ranger (which is my main) and it IS a Longbow Damage/crit spec → 4k Attack Longbow Ranger

Naro, there are two types of pvp in this game, world vs world and spvp. A power crit ranger can do well in WvW but not so much in sPvP, the combat mechanics are totally different.

You’ll do just fine as a glass cannon as you level in PvE, and will kill most mobs quickly and painlessly. Also, remember that you can reset your traits at any time for a couple of silver (the cost of a waypoint at higher levels), so you’re by no means locked into your choices. Get piercing arrows as soon as you can, you’ll start killing mobs much faster.

The Greatsword is your friiieeeend…!

Unfortunately, there is no true “ranged damage dealer” profession. Since professions are defined more by how they go about doing things. You’re wanting to shoot people from a distance? That’s a simple task, if that’s all you want to do, go Warrior.

Rangers however fight alongside a pet. We might “prefer” ranged combat (it allows us to be useful AND get our pets to dodge red rings of death), but we by no means specialise in it.

The Engineer might be more your style, I mean… Do you want to feel like you have so much random, extremely useful junk and shoot people? If you feel confident in your ability to dodge, there’s the scholar professions. Elementalists are your similar to your standard squishy wizard, but depending on your build they can be very different. Necros… Well the less I say about them the better. I guarantee the Mesmer is like nothing you’ve played before as well, so them and their Greatsword Sniper rifles are worth trying out.

But back to the ranger. If you’re going glass cannon you need to know what you’re doing, but you can change builds and experiment a lot long before you finally have to settle on your PvE gear set. But Rangers in general… They’re not the most effective at bursting down targets, but in a prolonged fight they’re the ones I’d place my bets on. Your ability to regenerate, deal consistent damage and pressure enemies is very strong, you’re also a very effective one on one combatant thanks to you basically being two people.

If you do end up playing a ranger, just remember that proper pet management will drastically improve the impact you make.

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

I’m sure it works fine in WvW, but in PvE, it will be dreadfully boring to play. Not to mention, it’s downright useless in dungeons.

You’ll never die, but once the boss instagibs your pet, you’ll never kill anything either.

Quarktastic.1027:

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

I’m sure it works fine in WvW, but in PvE, it will be dreadfully boring to play. Not to mention, it’s downright useless in dungeons.

You’ll never die, but once the boss instagibs your pet, you’ll never kill anything either.

In open world PvE, the pet will kill fast, but no I wouldn’t use it in dungeons.

Quarktastic.1027:

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

I’m sure it works fine in WvW, but in PvE, it will be dreadfully boring to play. Not to mention, it’s downright useless in dungeons.

You’ll never die, but once the boss instagibs your pet, you’ll never kill anything either.

I can’t comment on dungeons since I don’t do them. Any kind of NPC ? Yea, it can be boring. I just know that killing sentries outside of supply camps on my Warrior I need to bob and weave a bit. Still win easy but I do take damage. On the Ranger I stick to him with sword….take my hands off the control and watch the fight. After it’s over I am still at 100% health.

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

Why would any new player want a tank / healing build?? You have tens of thousands of mobs to slay from lvl 1 to lvl 79 and hardly any of them pose a threat to you, it would be silly to run anything other than a build that kills as many mobs as possible, as quickly as possible. You can always respec once you’re big enough for dungeons or wvw, or if you just get bored and want to try something new. If I was rolling a new ranger, the only debate in my mind would be whether to go Berserker or Rampager.

The thing that separates ranger in this game from other games is that you have no natural evade. Meaning, you can’t go around modifying your stats (like increasing agility) to give you evasion while you sit on the ground and watch people miss all their attacks. You have to evade yourself, get away from danger and stay away from anything that can try to kill you. So you are forced to be much more creative and put a lot more effort into survival vs killing power. Here rangers that have really strong damage per second are very easy to kill, because they put all they have into doing damage, not sustaining damage.

Now, for all your initial 80 levels you can get away with doing the traditional all damage, no survival ranger. That is because ranger excels in world play, it is fairly easy actually until the higher levels. The game will naturally force your hand to switch your play style to incorporate what the GW2 ranger is all about, which is no big deal either. However, once you reach level 80, or if you choose to go straight to WvW/PvP you will find ranger to be one of the most frustrating and toughest professions to play, because with all the balance issues, it does take time to be a master ranger and to stand in equal ground in 1 vs 1 fights with other experienced players.

My recommendation is to really play the story, get a good feel for the ranger. Realize that ranger is not just pew pew pew with your bow from a distance, but it’s high interaction with your pet. The ranger has a ton of utilities that must be learned and used properly, all in check to help support your play style and any situation you find yourself in. Also these forums have tons of help for rangers, but mind you that most of the work you will put into your ranger will come after level 80, anytime before that is really the time you need to take to experiment with the class.

Good luck!

I always enjoy burning through mob groups in pve. Sword/torch main and Longbow alternate. Go with drakes since they are tank and have AoE capability.

Set your pet to passive. Aggro a couple mobs (5 or so if you can) and walk backward a bit to get them all in front of you (this is against melee mobs). Tell your pet to attack, open with barrage, switch to sword/torch and lay down a bombfire and go right to the swords auto attack. Proceed to drop traps at your feet. Use healing spring to heal.

Ranger’s defenses are largely active as opposed to passive.

Passive defenses are things like Guardian’s passive virtues, the protection that Guardian and Elementalist constantly have, etc.. They simply apply and keep it up as much as possible by simply using whatever skill(s) give(s) them protection when those cooldowns are done. Very simple, but it does only mitigate 33% of the damage done to them (not including armor).

Active defenses are dodge rolls, which everyone has, as well as skills that block, evade, etc.. You can’t simply just use them to keep some boon up on yourself. Instead, you have to actually react to your opponent’s actions. See that warrior eviscerate coming? dodge, block, evade, etc.. You will take 0% of the damage from it.

Now, this seems quite nice. Take 66% damage versus take 0% damage. However, with some specs, you can get near, if not complete, 100% up-time on protection. This makes it much easier to make use of. This is why it doesn’t reward you as much per individual attack as dodge, block, evade, etc. which, due to how they work, are much harder to make use of.

This is one of the reasons that you see many people have trouble as Rangers. A large portion of players in GW2 have trouble merely making use of the dodge rolls every class has access to. With the Ranger, now their survival hinges on also making use of the evasions on their various skills.

Combine this with the fact that the ranger is not a class you can simply press “2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2” in order to contribute to fights or even win them 1v1 against bad to average players, and you have even more griping.

Now, some of the other gripes are quite warranted.

Currently, before this upcoming patch which is supposed to fix this, using your pet’s F2 skill was more of a “suggestion” than a command … your pet would do it in their own time. This is even more aggravating because it makes you want to keep hitting F2 till they perform the action, but if they are in the middle of casting it when you do this, you’ll interrupt them and put it on a short cooldown :-/

Additionally, there will be an invisible blade of grass in an open field that makes some of your shots be obstructed at the most random times. That’s frustrating. I’d much rather have my Mesmer’s bug where his beam hits things within a 45 degree cone :-p

Pet survival is aggravating in some areas, mostly large zergs (where melee = dead) and some dungeon bosses that AOE a bit too much for the very limited pet controls to help you deal with it … especially when the bad AI kicks in too.

Spirit survival has been even worse, but that’s suppose to get a “substantial increase” in this upcoming patch.

Daemon.4295:

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

Why would any new player want a tank / healing build?? You have tens of thousands of mobs to slay from lvl 1 to lvl 79 and hardly any of them pose a threat to you, it would be silly to run anything other than a build that kills as many mobs as possible, as quickly as possible. You can always respec once you’re big enough for dungeons or wvw, or if you just get bored and want to try something new. If I was rolling a new ranger, the only debate in my mind would be whether to go Berserker or Rampager.

You do realize any tanky beastmaster build will kill faster, with little to no downtime, far better than any other build in the game, IF you’re fighting in open world PvE, right? Especially if you’re using the drakes.

This will also allow them to be completely familiar with the build once they enter WvW, which is the most important aspect of any game for newer players hoping to one day PvP.

Quarktastic.1027:

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

I’m sure it works fine in WvW, but in PvE, it will be dreadfully boring to play. Not to mention, it’s downright useless in dungeons.

You’ll never die, but once the boss instagibs your pet, you’ll never kill anything either.

Nah, it works fine in dungeons. Pet just stays on passive and runs group boons instead of attacking boss. I like the fern hound and moa (forget which color gives fury) for that setup. I may not do the most damage, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve saved a fractal group or dungeon group from wiping by being the only one who can adequately tank/kite a boss while the another guy revives the rest of the team.

To each his own playstyle. I would only suggest running my build if you really enjoy roaming in WvW or playing the role of a bunker (which is more of situational usefulness). If you want to be squishy for the sake of pure numbers, play something else. In the end, it all just depends on how you like to play.

Bows are bad. Short bow is ok, but just ok. The ranger’s only really good weapons are sword and greatsword. Kiss your dreams of being a longbow marksman goodbye and put them in a tiny vault and throw them into the ocean.

Kiran.2705:

Bows are bad. Short bow is ok, but just ok. The ranger’s only really good weapons are sword and greatsword. Kiss your dreams of being a longbow marksman goodbye and put them in a tiny vault and throw them into the ocean.

Uh, no. I’m afraid you’re wrong there.

The burst potential of the Long Bow is better than anything else that the ranger has, and its sustained DPS isn’t half bad either. Rangers also have one of – if not the – longest effective ranges in the game when traited for it at 1500 units. By using the terrain to your advantage, you can actually extend the range past that point due to the natural arc of an arrow.
Combine that with piercing shots, along with proper shot placement for maximum effect, and you have the ability to put quite a bit of hurt on people quite a distance away.

Due to the way ranged attacks work in general, you’re never going to win a 1v1 fight with someone at extreme range; however, if you’re dealing with zerg tactics (as most WvW fights go), you can sit back and farm your kills up.

Pick your targets and pick your fights; oh and don’t forget your greatsword/sword, you’re going to need it if someone tries to close in on you.

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Kiran.2705:

Bows are bad. Short bow is ok, but just ok. The ranger’s only really good weapons are sword and greatsword. Kiss your dreams of being a longbow marksman goodbye and put them in a tiny vault and throw them into the ocean.

Uh, no. I’m afraid you’re wrong there.

The burst potential of the Long Bow is better than anything else that the ranger has, and its sustained DPS isn’t half bad either. Rangers also have one of – if not the – longest effective ranges in the game when traited for it at 1500 units. By using the terrain to your advantage, you can actually extend the range past that point due to the natural arc of an arrow.
Combine that with piercing shots, along with proper shot placement for maximum effect, and you have the ability to put quite a bit of hurt on people quite a distance away.

Due to the way ranged attacks work in general, you’re never going to win a 1v1 fight with someone at extreme range; however, if you’re dealing with zerg tactics (as most WvW fights go), you can sit back and farm your kills up.

Pick your targets and pick your fights; oh and don’t forget your greatsword/sword, you’re going to need it if someone tries to close in on you.

So much misinformation here. First, and foremost the Engineer’s grenades can reach to 1500 range, if traited as well, and never suffers line of sight issues, like the longbow does. At 1500 range, if I have 25% runspeed, I can dodge, and outrun your arrows 100% of the time, and 60% of the time at 1100 range.

Thieves, HGH Engineers, Warriors, Shatter Mesmers, and even the Necromancer for 30 seconds in Lich Form has a better burst, than the Ranger, so much so some of them burst three times as much damage.

I will not even get into the teleports that move you 1200 range, putting you in the Rangers face, where you have plenty of time to kill them before the pet figures out what happens.

Quit spreading false information, and play the other classes.

jkctmc.8754:

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Kiran.2705:

Bows are bad. Short bow is ok, but just ok. The ranger’s only really good weapons are sword and greatsword. Kiss your dreams of being a longbow marksman goodbye and put them in a tiny vault and throw them into the ocean.

Uh, no. I’m afraid you’re wrong there.

The burst potential of the Long Bow is better than anything else that the ranger has, and its sustained DPS isn’t half bad either. Rangers also have one of – if not the – longest effective ranges in the game when traited for it at 1500 units. By using the terrain to your advantage, you can actually extend the range past that point due to the natural arc of an arrow.
Combine that with piercing shots, along with proper shot placement for maximum effect, and you have the ability to put quite a bit of hurt on people quite a distance away.

Due to the way ranged attacks work in general, you’re never going to win a 1v1 fight with someone at extreme range; however, if you’re dealing with zerg tactics (as most WvW fights go), you can sit back and farm your kills up.

Pick your targets and pick your fights; oh and don’t forget your greatsword/sword, you’re going to need it if someone tries to close in on you.

So much misinformation here. First, and foremost the Engineer’s grenades can reach to 1500 range, if traited as well, and never suffers line of sight issues, like the longbow does. At 1500 range, if I have 25% runspeed, I can dodge, and outrun your arrows 100% of the time, and 60% of the time at 1100 range.

Due to the way ranged attacks work in general, you’re never going to win a 1v1 fight with someone at extreme range; however, if you’re dealing with zerg tactics (as most WvW fights go), you can sit back and farm your kills up.

Thieves, HGH Engineers, Warriors, Shatter Mesmers, and even the Necromancer for 30 seconds in Lich Form has a better burst, than the Ranger, so much so some of them burst three times as much damage.

The burst potential of the Long Bow is better than anything else that the ranger has, and its sustained DPS isn’t half bad either.

I will not even get into the teleports that move you 1200 range, putting you in the Rangers face, where you have plenty of time to kill them before the pet figures out what happens.

By using the terrain to your advantage
if you’re dealing with zerg tactics

Quit spreading false information, and play the other classes.

better than anything else that the ranger has

First off, the fact that you felt the need to PM me this post as well? Rather pathetic.
Secondly, there is no misinformation anywhere in my post. As a matter of fact, I’ll just use my post in response to each of your points.

The OP was questions in regards to the Ranger class.
Again, reading comprehension.

Our Short Sword is our best damage, but…

Methodology:

All tests were done in the Mists on the medium armor practice golem with no sigils on the weapons and full runes of the eagle on my armor. The long bow tests were done at maximum traited range with rapid fire being used after the third autoattack. Pets were placed on passive and no boons were on the player. the build used in all examples was http://gw2skills.net...KyWkrIZRLLGVs/A . The times to kill are an averaged amount of time after 5 kills I realize this was a small data sample, but did not want to invest more time.

Beserkers:

Longbow: Attack: 3,119 Crit: 54% 53 damage•Front: 11.2 seconds

•Flanked: 10.68 seconds
Short bow: Attack: 3,039 Crit: 54% 53 Damage•Front: 11.4 seconds

•Flanked: 9.34 seconds
Longbow at 750 range:•Front: 17.8 seconds

Knights (less dps, 6k more hp):

Longbow: Attack: 2,765 Crit: 54%; 33 damage•Front: 15.16 seconds
Shortbow: Attack: 2,685 Crit: 54%; 33 Damage•Front: 14.8 seconds

Conclusions:1.At the optimal distance the longbow with rapid fire off of cooldown deals essentially the exact same amount of damage as the short bow when the target is not flanked. Flanking pull the short bow ahead because of bleeding ( I maintained a 7 bleed stack from auto-attack.)

2.At a distance of 750 the short bow’s dps is around 75% more than the longbows, again not factoring bleeding or proc on crit abilities.

Short bow condition Vs. Power and Precision

Another debate I hear alot is that shortbow does more DPS when specced for condition and vice versa so I ran some tests for that as well. DPS Calcs for Beserker’s, Rampager’s, and Carrion. All sets include short bow with superior sigil of Earth. For the runs with traps I used spike trap, then fame trap, then AA until target died.

Beserker’s:

Short bow: Attack: 3,039 Crit: 54% 53 Damage•Flanked: 9.34 seconds

•Traps: 8.08
Rampager’s:

Shortbow: Attack: 2,445 Crit: 68%; 33 damage•Flanked: 8.84 seconds

•Traps: 7.72 seconds

•Front: 16.88 seconds (STILL better than longbow at max range!)
Carrion: (for Carrion the crit chance as only 24% so I swapped to runes of undead and sigil of agony)

Short bow: Attack:
•Front: 20.1 seconds (worst dps of any spec I tried.)

•Flanked: 8.68 seconds

•Traps: 7.34 seconds

Conclusions:
When taps are off CD and the enemy is flanked Carrion provides the best dps. However when traps are not off CD and the enemy can not be flanked carrion is the worst DPS of any spec. In my opinion from a purley dps perspective beserkers IS the highest damage for rangers, as it can be reliably applied from any direction and does not rely on CDs. The difference between beserkers and carrion under ideal circumstances in carrion’s favor is 0.74 in favor of Carrion. When those circumstances are not met it is 8.7 seconds in favor of beserker’s. The results, I feel, are self explanatory.

Actual testing to support an opinion is highly discouraged here jkctmc. You should know better than that.

Hyperbole and theorycraft >>actual in game experience …obviously.

Forzani.2584:

Actual testing to support an opinion is highly discouraged here jkctmc. You should know better than that.

Hyperbole and theorycraft >>actual in game experience …obviously.

Since people have yet to seem to understand it, there is a difference in spike (burst) damage, and sustained damage.

As I’ve stated elsewhere, the long bow has the strength in the fact that it delivers more damage in a single shot at range than anything else does; that in and of itself has its uses.

Fighting in a zerg? Find the wounded targets that are preoccupied and have lower health, then pop them with a couple of auto attacks. Chances are high that they’re either going to run away, or they’re going to die.

Either way you’ve removed a body from the fight, further pushing the odds in the favor of your side.

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Forzani.2584:

Actual testing to support an opinion is highly discouraged here jkctmc. You should know better than that.

Hyperbole and theorycraft >>actual in game experience …obviously.

Since people have yet to seem to understand it, there is a difference in spike (burst) damage, and sustained damage.

As I’ve stated elsewhere, the long bow has the strength in the fact that it delivers more damage in a single shot at range than anything else does; that in and of itself has its uses.

If you’re talking Ranger only weapons, you’d be incorrect in the fact that unless you’re attacking a target standing still, virtually every class has access to 25% runspeed, and CAN EASILY AVOID THE LONGBOW SHOT, without dodging. A Beastmaster spec would do much more damage at more range with a stealthed Panther.

If you’re talking all weapons in the game, the Engineer grenade spec does more damage at 1500 range, and does not suffer the issue of obstruction that the Longbow suffers.

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Fighting in a zerg? Find the wounded targets that are preoccupied and have lower health, then pop them with a couple of auto attacks. Chances are high that they’re either going to run away, or they’re going to die.

Either way you’ve removed a body from the fight, further pushing the odds in the favor of your side.

Not only can my Panther with 30 in Beastmastery do this better, and gets through the Zerg stealthed, he can also destroy siege while I’m at a much safer range, while you can not.

30 Beastmastery is by far better than 30 in Marksmanship.

jkctmc.8754:

If you’re talking Ranger only weapons, you’d be incorrect in the fact that unless you’re attacking a target standing still, virtually every class has access to 25% runspeed, and CAN EASILY AVOID THE LONGBOW SHOT, without dodging. A Beastmaster spec would do much more damage at more range with a stealthed Panther.

If you’re talking all weapons in the game, the Engineer grenade spec does more damage at 1500 range, and does not suffer the issue of obstruction that the Longbow suffers.

Naro.6327:

I recently (like thursday) bought this game, and i havent decided on the class to play. So far my #1 is ranger, but i want to make sure its the type of ranger i like to play. Is it possible to go bow-crit ranger and be effective in PvP? I want to do tons of damage from a range, (if anyone has played Aion thats exactly what im looking for in a ranger). Also whats the diffrence in shortbows and longbows? Thanks in advance!

Naro.6327:

Is it possible to go bow-crit ranger and be effective in PvP?

— In sPvP there are some strong Longbow builds, utilizing the pig/wolf pets. These work great under that form of play, which has nerfed many classes, which allows for success with different Ranger builds.
— In WvW any build works in the Zerg, but not every build utilized with Zergs is viable.
— In WvW solo, or in a small group you do not want to be caught with the Longbow, it’s equal to being caught with your pants down. You’ll get destroyed frequently.
— In Dungeons you really need to talk with Chopps or other PvE Rangers. I do not PvE at all.

Naro.6327:

I want to do tons of damage from a range, (if anyone has played Aion thats exactly what im looking for in a ranger).

My wife played the Ranger in Aion, and the Ranger in Guildwars 2 could never survive the Aion Ranger, even, and probably couldn’t ever kill the Aion Ranger. If you want something similar, you need to play the HGH Engineer build.

Naro.6327:

Also whats the diffrence in shortbows and longbows? Thanks in advance!

Shortbow does faster attacks, and if you strafe (you only need to be slightly to the side of your target) the shortbow applies a bleed per attack. This only improves on the shortbows sustained damage. Defensive wise, if five people get in melee of the Longbow, you can knock one back, while the other four destroy you. If you are equipped with a Shortbow, you can jump backwards, which works very well with other utilities, and weapons the Ranger has, that can get you out of trouble.

The biggest issue with the Longbow is getting the “obstructed” text, and that at 1500 range (if traited), can be avoided easily with 25% run speed, which most classes have.

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Forzani.2584:

Actual testing to support an opinion is highly discouraged here jkctmc. You should know better than that.

Hyperbole and theorycraft >>actual in game experience …obviously.

Since people have yet to seem to understand it, there is a difference in spike (burst) damage, and sustained damage.

As I’ve stated elsewhere, the long bow has the strength in the fact that it delivers more damage in a single shot at range than anything else does; that in and of itself has its uses.

Fighting in a zerg? Find the wounded targets that are preoccupied and have lower health, then pop them with a couple of auto attacks. Chances are high that they’re either going to run away, or they’re going to die.

Either way you’ve removed a body from the fight, further pushing the odds in the favor of your side.

This is likely just a different interpretation of the meaning of “burst”. My first class was a Ranger. After playing other classes I now know exactly what “burst” is. No way does LB + Burst belong in the same sentence. This isn’t just a ranged deal either. Many times I have been burned down by Mesmers…Necros…..Engineers…Warrior and thought what the hell just happened as I scroll back to the combat logs to see what truck hit me. That has honestly never happened when facing a Ranger. I might very well lose to the Ranger…especially when I am on my Warrior (who I am still figuring out to play…plus it is a good matchup for Rangers). The loss to the Ranger is never about burst..ranged or melee.

I say that with a pro Ranger point of view.

@ExpiredLifetime

Is that what you wanted to see?

The Ranger does not have Burst really, with any weapon. Only with their pets.

Forzani.2584:

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Forzani.2584:

Actual testing to support an opinion is highly discouraged here jkctmc. You should know better than that.

Hyperbole and theorycraft >>actual in game experience …obviously.

Since people have yet to seem to understand it, there is a difference in spike (burst) damage, and sustained damage.

As I’ve stated elsewhere, the long bow has the strength in the fact that it delivers more damage in a single shot at range than anything else does; that in and of itself has its uses.

Fighting in a zerg? Find the wounded targets that are preoccupied and have lower health, then pop them with a couple of auto attacks. Chances are high that they’re either going to run away, or they’re going to die.

Either way you’ve removed a body from the fight, further pushing the odds in the favor of your side.

This is likely just a different interpretation of the meaning of “burst”. My first class was a Ranger. After playing other classes I now know exactly what “burst” is. No way does LB + Burst belong in the same sentence. This isn’t just a ranged deal either. Many times I have been burned down by Mesmers…Necros…..Engineers…Warrior and thought what the hell just happened as I scroll back to the combat logs to see what truck hit me. That has honestly never happened when facing a Ranger. I might very well lose to the Ranger…especially when I am on my Warrior (who I am still figuring out to play…plus it is a good matchup for Rangers). The loss to the Ranger is never about burst..ranged or melee.

I say that with a pro Ranger point of view.

OP was in regards to the Ranger class, not every one in general. For a Ranger, about as much weapon burst as we get is QZ+Barrage and endless auto attacking.

BM builds are another story, but until we actually see changes in the pet AI that solves my complaints with them, I won’t use one.

jkctmc.8754:

@ExpiredLifetime

Is that what you wanted to see?

The Ranger does not have Burst really, with any weapon. Only with their pets.

Seeing that you finally decided to read the original post, and respond inline with the thread instead of trying to pick a fight via PMs?
Yes, I am relieved now, and I think I might be able to sleep since the angst has subsided.

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

jkctmc.8754:

@ExpiredLifetime

Is that what you wanted to see?

The Ranger does not have Burst really, with any weapon. Only with their pets.

Seeing that you finally decided to read the original post, and respond inline with the thread instead of trying to pick a fight via PMs?
Yes, I am relieved now, and I think I might be able to sleep since the angst has subsided.

The OP also said he doesn’t know what class he wants to play, and wants to match the Aion Ranger. He can not possibly do that with the GW2 Ranger, therefore I was pointing him in the direction he would rather go.

ExpiredLifetime.1083:

Uh, no. I’m afraid you’re wrong there.

The burst potential of the Long Bow is better than anything else that the ranger has, and its sustained DPS isn’t half bad either. Rangers also have one of – if not the – longest effective ranges in the game when traited for it at 1500 units. By using the terrain to your advantage, you can actually extend the range past that point due to the natural arc of an arrow.
Combine that with piercing shots, along with proper shot placement for maximum effect, and you have the ability to put quite a bit of hurt on people quite a distance away.

Due to the way ranged attacks work in general, you’re never going to win a 1v1 fight with someone at extreme range; however, if you’re dealing with zerg tactics (as most WvW fights go), you can sit back and farm your kills up.

Pick your targets and pick your fights; oh and don’t forget your greatsword/sword, you’re going to need it if someone tries to close in on you.

These kind of misinformative posts are what lead noobs to make bad decisions that they end up regretting.

Longbow attacks move too slowly. You can outrun them and thus appear “out of range” 90% of the time. The “arc” you speak of hardly works. In fact, firing over anything but perfectly flat ground will often result in “obstructed”. Longbows are NOT the only weapon that can reach 1500 range, it’s just the only weapon with 1500 range with attack speed that is slower than advertised, attack channels that are excessively long, and really mediocre DPS. Farming a zerg with a long bow isn’t “farming”. It’s just tagging to receive your bags. Your contribution to the fight is negligible. No one would notice your absence, not even your enemies. Longbow “burst” potential is virtually dependent on zephyr, which is a nerfed skill. It also requires that your target be either AFK, brain dead, or a mob. Good luck with that in PvP.

Stick with greatsword and sword/x or axe/x. Greatsword has amazing mobility, good AA DPS, a hard hitting #2 skill, an evade, and a daze. Longbow has… none of the above. Going warhorn on your secondary also gives you a use anytime swiftness buff for traveling.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a single power build that is ACTUALLY good. Sure, you can play power-ranger (:D) but you have to carry that build 110% and I don’t think it’s worth the effort.
Longbow is kitten. I could go into detail as to why it’s kitten, or because you’re new just take my word for it -along the numerous other replies under your post.
Shortbow is OK for power. Your screen basically looks like this when you are playing power shortbow 400 (hit), 400, 400, 700 (crit) , 700, 700. You do OK sustain damage but that’s it.
If you want my advice, as far as pvp is concerned (not referring to WvW), play mesmer or thief. They are always the type of class in ALL MMORPG games that are doing well.
Alternatively, engineer is like a ranger with degree. Power engineer isn’t very viable either but at least it has useful traits – unlike ranger.
Add me in game if you want some help with builds etc

jkctmc.8754:

Daemon.4295:

jkctmc.8754:

In all honesty all new players should run Faux build. He designed an awesome healing/tankish/beastmaster build.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Faux-s-RRR-Build-Detailed/first

Why would any new player want a tank / healing build?? You have tens of thousands of mobs to slay from lvl 1 to lvl 79 and hardly any of them pose a threat to you, it would be silly to run anything other than a build that kills as many mobs as possible, as quickly as possible. You can always respec once you’re big enough for dungeons or wvw, or if you just get bored and want to try something new. If I was rolling a new ranger, the only debate in my mind would be whether to go Berserker or Rampager.

You do realize any tanky beastmaster build will kill faster, with little to no downtime, far better than any other build in the game, IF you’re fighting in open world PvE, right? Especially if you’re using the drakes.

This will also allow them to be completely familiar with the build once they enter WvW, which is the most important aspect of any game for newer players hoping to one day PvP.

I disagree, in open world PvE you can clump mobs together and burn them down with barrage and piercing arrows, I haven’t found a build that kills trash mobs faster than full glass cannon LB, swooping in with GS and moment of clarity to finish the job. Maxing AoE is a lot more useful against open world mobs than maxing single target DPS.

Regarding PvP, by the time the OP or any other new ranger gets to level 80 he’ll have had ample time to experiment with any build he pleases regardless of whatever he starts out with. @OP: remember that in sPvP you are bumped up to level 80 with free maxxed out gear, so you can try any build anytime.

@Everyone discussing burst on LB: I agree that LB’s burst is low in comparison to half the other classes in this game, but it’s good AoE burst in comparison to other ranger options.

@OP again: regarding your initial quesiton of shortbow vs longbow, the shortbow does faster, lower damage attacks and condition damage, with a bleeding bonus for flanking that really stacks up. Longbow does stronger damage from maximum range if you factor in the AoE skill Barrage, and has a useful knockback. If you are running a condition build SB is probably better, if you’re running a power build you can pick either really as their damage is very similar, depending on which weapon ‘feels’ better to you. The best advice I can give you is to play around with both bows and decide for yourself, just keep in mind that the numbers you see on LB2 (RapidFire) are cumulative for all arrows landed during the chain so far. A lot of new players don’t realize this and think rapid fire is doing much more damage than it actually is.