Guild Wars 2

As both a thief and ranger player, I’ve always loved my thief shortbow and thought ranger shortbow was about the dullest weapon in the game.

Thief shortbow has so many uses (mobility, evades, single target DPS, multi target DPS, weakness+ poison, cleave for stomping) and combos with itself excellently. Ranger shortbow has a simple autoattack with basic kiting and an interrupt.

The only real reason shortbow is still taken right now in tPvP is the fact that it has a ranged autoattack and has that interrupt. The middle 3 skills are really underwhelming. Shortbow is good for proccing Sun Spirit burns on specific targets.

One of the things I find rather ridiculous about ranger shortbow is the amount of hate it receives from players of other classes. It in reality is not very good. Spirits are good, yes. Pets can be good, yes. Ranger shortbow is pretty wimpy. A thief can autoattack on a ranger for 2-3k with shortbow with his bouncing autoattack (hits: ranger, pet, ranger). If pumped up with full berserkers, a ranger can hit about 700 single target damage with shortbow.

My first suggestion for ranger shortbow is the autoattack:

Crossfire: This attack now pierces targets. It applies one stack of bleed for 3 seconds if hitting from behind. Fire rate reduced by 10%

Currently, Ranger shortbow applies bleeds from about a 270 degree range around a target. This change would make shortbow only apply its bleed if hitting from a 180 degree angle behind the target. This means you can be positioned pretty lazily and still put a lot of bleed damage on someone really fast. By making the angle of bleed application smaller it forces condition rangers to try and position more smartly. Making the attack pierce again allows for rangers to play with positioning to maximize effectiveness. Note that in non-multitarget scenarios this is a nerf to shortbow.

Acid Rain: This attack would act like a shorter version of Longbow 5 or Icebow 4, where multiple arrows come down inside a ground targeted AoE.

The purpose behind this change would be to make Shortbow again more useful in skirmishing but also to reduce the amount of single target poison a ranger could keep on a target. (Sword 3 and Dagger 4 are already permanent poison, not to mention many pets poison as well).

Acrobatic Shot: Leap backwards firing a shot which grants quickness to you and your pet. This is now a leap finisher instead of a projectile finisher. It now grants swiftness to both you and your pet for 5 seconds. CD has been increased to 10 seconds.

This change seeks to make Quick Shot which is currently just used as a spam evade into a valued leap finisher which can be used from different fields for a more powerful effect. It maintains its evade frame but the cooldown is slightly increased.

This is where my big change for ranger comes into play. I understand some people might not like it. However, in my opinion for smart play & maneuvering and also has a good amount of counterplay.

Wildfire: Fire a smoking arrow which creates a blind field at a target location, pulsing 3 times and then bursting into flame.

How this attack would look: 1/2 cast time, a path like arcing arrow and a radius of 180. It would pulse each second applying 2 seconds of blind and then as it disappeared cause 4 seconds of burning.

Yes, burning on shortbow for rangers. However, it would be extremely easy to dodge this burning in a small fight because the field would pulse for 3 seconds before the burning was applied. Only with a well timed immobilize or axe chill would a ranger be able to get this off on a single target.

The blind field would allow a ranger to combine the blind field with the leap finisher from Acrobatic shot for 3 seconds of stealth which could be used to reposition for landing autoattack bleeds on a target.

Concussion Shot:

I have mixed feelings about Concussion Shot, it is a very, very good interrupt against all heals with long cast times. It also doesn’t have much counterplay. I think that I would either leave this skill unchanged or add a completely different skill. Any suggestions for Shortbow 5?!

I’d also be very interested to see what other people have to suggest about ranger shortbow. Do you like the weapon the way it is? Do you have your own attack ideas? Do you think the kit allows for skilled play? And, what do you think of my suggestions?

I’d take your version of the shortbow anyday over the current one. I like the idea of making it a little more AoE centric by default.

Some tiny changes I would like to see to your list (my opinion): For concussion shot, since you asked, I would make it less position based honestly. I’d like it to apply stun on interrupt, as opposed to just from behind. Not sure about the base function of it not on interrupt. I don’t feel like a player should be rewarded for throwing out an interrupt randomly and hitting nothing, so I would prefer the daze to be removed entirely. I don’t know, maybe just regularly, a higher than autoattack damage 100% projectile finisher that stuns for 1-2 seconds (as balance dictates) on interrupt. That sounds strong enough to me, and it would allow you to setup some good combos with shortbow 2 and 4.

On to 4, I was going to suggest making it a blast finisher, but I then reread and realized it was a blind field, and now no longer have any suggestions for changes

jcbroe.4329:

I’d take your version of the shortbow anyday over the current one. I like the idea of making it a little more AoE centric by default.

Some tiny changes I would like to see to your list (my opinion): For concussion shot, since you asked, I would make it less position based honestly. I’d like it to apply stun on interrupt, as opposed to just from behind. Not sure about the base function of it not on interrupt. I don’t feel like a player should be rewarded for throwing out an interrupt randomly and hitting nothing, so I would prefer the daze to be removed entirely. I don’t know, maybe just regularly, a higher than autoattack damage 100% projectile finisher that stuns for 1-2 seconds (as balance dictates) on interrupt. That sounds strong enough to me, and it would allow you to setup some good combos with shortbow 2 and 4.

On to 4, I was going to suggest making it a blast finisher, but I then reread and realized it was a blind field, and now no longer have any suggestions for changes

Thanks for the feedback!

I’ve also considered the possibility of concussion shot applying confusion. Say, 3-5 stacks. It could have a unique purple swirl animation or something added, although some might say that confusion doesn’t belong on ranger. Confusion would synergize nicely with the interrupt, “I interrupted your heal, now you will take damage when you try to use it again” essentially. Considering that my changes nerf the condition application aspect of the autoattack though, the confusion probably wouldn’t be overpowered.

My conception of shortbow on ranger is kind of influenced by my experience with the thief shortbow, but I feel like the weapon should be ideal for skirmishing (fights consisting of say, 4-8 people. I think these changes would give a better reputation to the shortbow in pvp and also make it more useful for wvwing in small groups at least.

Personally i much more prefer the Rangers SB Before the Thieves…. even as it is right now! The thieves SB is simply wiered and I never use it.

No, I definitely agree with where your changes would take the weapon. I was thinking of confusion on the shortbow too, but like you mentioned, it doesn’t really feel like it belongs on the ranger, so I was hesitant to suggest it.

The reason why I don’t want to see the interrupt removed by the way is mostly due to Moment of Clarity. Not that the trait is the most synergistic with the shortbow since the shortbow doesn’t benefit from the damage aspect of the trait, but ANet has been so hesitant to get rid of the trait (I mean, the community has suggested getting rid of the trait since the game launched) that removing interrupts might make it even more useless than it already basically is.

I don’t see why rangers can’t have torment though. I think that would be a meaningful change, something that evolves from the idea of controlling the opponent the way concussion shot does, but does so by discouraging their movement through a punishing and damaging effect.

This would also synergize well with sword 3 being changed to apply torment as well, which was in one of those “document” threads on the spvp subforums that I actually agreed with.

So maybe torment on the shortbow 5? 3-5 stacks? If you like that idea, since confusion is also appropriate, but probably doesn’t fit the class as well as torment maybe would possibly.

Playing a bleeder build (trapper isn’t our only condition build) in spvp I would not be in favor of the decrease in angle for the bleed. Bleeding is one of the better conditions and is the one we have the most access to. Fighting a target 1v1 it is very hard to get hits from directly behind consistently.

Removing poison from this weapon would make it near useless.

As for the daze it is what makes it possible for me to kill thieves. One well timed daze as the thief tries to enter stealth and its all over.

The short bow work well as a power and condition weapon. This would make it a weaker power weapon and a condition weapon with more condition but in the end still weaker.

Shortbow Ranger don’t just auto attack. Each skill on the bow plays a vital role. They are use to keep the fight in out favor. Eliminate the regen or lower the healing. Evade that backstab. Cripple the foe so our pets can do its job. Daze to stop stealth or prevent a stomp on a teammate.

We need more group utility while a blind field does that we don’t need to step on thieves as they already provided that we need something else.

Serraphin Storm.2369:

Playing a bleeder build in spvp I would not be in favor of the decrease in angle for the bleed. Bleeding is one of the better conditions and is the one we have the most access to. Fighting a target 1v1 it is very hard to get hits from directly behind consistently.

Removing poison from this weapon would make it near useless.

As for the daze it is what makes it possible for me to kill thieves. One well timed daze as the thief tries to enter stealth and its all over.

The short bow work well as a power and condition weapon. This would make it a weaker power weapon and a condition weapon with more condition but in the end still weaker.

Shortbow Ranger don’t just auto attack. Each skill on the bow plays a vital role. They are use to keep the fight in out favor. Eliminate the regen or lower the healing. Evade that backstab. Cripple the foe so our pets can do its job. Daze to stop stealth or prevent a stomp on a teammate.

We need more group utility while a blind field does that we don’t need to step on thieves as they already provided that we need something else.

I do definitely understand what you are saying. And while it is true that all ranger SB attacks serve a unique purpose, the weaponset feels decidedly linear to me. It also feels like the bulk of the gameplay seen with ranger shortbow is autoattacking. To be honest I feel like Thief SB and Warrior LB outclass both ranger bows in terms of the design of the kit, and the overall effectiveness.

However, I think you might be overlooking the possibilities of the changes I’ve included. With the ability to stealth on shortbow for example you could throw a stealthed Axe 2 directly into someones face followed by a dagger 5 for 8+ bleeds with bleed on crit trait. For me at least, gameplay like this is just more satisfying than autoattacking.

Also, I didn’t remove the poison from shortbow 2. I turned it into AoE instead, although I do think that SB 2 is workable and a good attack.

Chrispy.5641:

infantrydiv.1620, Thank you for proving my point with the topic you created here ::: Ranger Shortbow – Suggestions

That’s what I’m talking about, and it is part of the reason why the Ranger forums are in such a mess. All those weapon suggestions that were just had to have a new topic created to justify their existence, could just as easily fit into this thread, which is titled The Weapon Suggestion Thread!

I’m not trying to beat on you Infantry, I’m just saying that it would be almost infinitely better if all of our suggestions for weapons were in a single weapon suggestion thread. It makes it easier to read when everything is in one place, and it prevents smaller threads from fading from view within a day or two.

Weapon idea thread :::
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/The-Weapon-Suggestion-Thread/first#post3474841