Guild Wars 2

Please make the range 1200 again, it would bring this weapon back up in line with the LB (make it a viable choice).

Yasha.5963:

Please make the range 1200 again, it would bring this weapon back up in line with the LB (make it a viable choice).

I think even with the range, sb needs rework. but it’s a start

Good post, this weapon is useless with 900 range. At least, I can’t make it work.

I just read that SB damage or something has been buffed is that true? I haven’t noticed any difference.

Yasha.5963:

I just read that SB damage or something has been buffed is that true? I haven’t noticed any difference.

only 234

A very little buff I’d call it, but not enough to make it good.

I dont think that’s what SB is missing. The SB play style highly insentivise the player to be much closer to the opponent than 900 range. AT 1200 range you cant re flank, or atleast to an active flank(it will be kinda random), you cant use SB 3(it will hit nothing and you want all shots to hit one target) and you cant do combos like SB 5+ SB3.

What SB needs is more/better close combat movmnet+shooting, SB 3 for example is kinda weak, the evade is very short(0.5 sec) so u’ll find yourself getting hit lots of times even when using tis skill correctly. Also the the retreat distance is very short, shorter than a warrior melee attack distance. The swiftness buff is just an ancient relic from times that swiftness was a rare boon, now it stands as a jock.

Another problem with SB is deflect- Unlike LB, inorder to do sufficient amount of damage with SB, you need to shoot all the time, WIth LB you can wait for an opportunity for one good successful rotation but with SB facing an oppnent with lots of deflect and pure blocking uptime, you are just dead in the water. Like i saied, SB insentveise the player to be close to the target and relay on the AA auto(as the attack speed very fast and you need to use it all the time), swaping to SB and than being faced agisnt deflection is very awkward, You face away with camera not to activate SB AA, and you have no tools other than run, giving the oppnent enough time to sustain while putting lots of pressure on you. Deflect is very common now, after HOT release. I think SB needs some sord of an “unblockbale window” inorder to counter this problem.

And ofc SB nees better trait synergie options(ya, the bleed synegie is nice but skrimihsing needs a rework, see the other thread on this subject.

I personally really like the shortbow but each to there own ^^

I still don’t see a reason to use to the SB over the LB.

TheFantasticGman.9451:

I still don’t see a reason to use to the SB over the LB.

If it had 1200 range (like it used to) it would be ok in carrion builds, now the longbow is better even in a condi heavy build which is kind of weird imo. I mean if LB is better even running a condi build just when are we supposed to use SB?

Of course other changes would be great as well, like the flanking bonuses to skills suggested in another thread, but upping the range is just a baseline fix. 900 range is virtually melee range in HoT.

for condi builds sb is still great. in wvw its easy to flank enemies. but yeah would be more great if the range was buffed to 1200 again as it was with the trait.

and yes i agree that sb needs some rework. it may working good now but it was way better at launched

Very happy with sb.

This must all be coming from an sPvP perspective. PvE I’m melting mobs.

Daemonne.5018:

Very happy with sb.

This must all be coming from an sPvP perspective. PvE I’m melting mobs.

Yeah in pvp, I don’t know what issues Rangers face in pve.

I don’t think 1k+ range is really needed for SB, but the skills could use a rework.
Same with the GM trait associated with it.

Keep the flanking mechanics.
Make it so flanking shots have additional effects.

Crossfire
Base 2s bleed per hit.
4s bleed if flanking

Poison Volley
5x 4s Poison
5x 0.5s Weakness + previous effect if flanking

Quickshot
Swiftness from Frontal Shot
Superspeed from Flanking

Crippling Shot
Cripple + Pet Effect from frontal shot
Cripple + Pet Effect + 2 Stacks of 4s Torment from Flanking

Concussion Shot
2s Daze from Frontal Shot
1s Stun + 2 stacks confusion for 4s from flanking

I feel like range is fine,

But I think I’d like to have the old-announced GM trait, where there’d be a FLAT dmg % bonus and condi duration bonus from MOVING – I think it was around 5% dmg bonus when moving and 10% condi duration bonus

Condi Ranger needs mobility.
I think SB 3 should flip forward 900 units and fire a downwards 5 arrow spread of poison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5M53KFzI_0&t=42s
And yes, SB 3 makes the opponent explode in flames while the ranger does a flourish.

SB is my favorite weapon!

LB is one of my least favorite weapons. Stand there and occasionally press 2 and 5. Yay.

With SB A/T, you’re always on the move, and managing enough CDs, skills, abilities, to keep you busy, but not frantic.

Meanwhile, it’s pretty clear most people have no idea just how strong SB is. They see small numbers in the AAs and ability damage and write it off. A lot of small numbers, like a lot-a lot, add up very very quickly. You don’t need raid buffs, or 30s ramp up to get numbers which I don’t see how LB even begins to compete with. You can easily get 10k damage per second in conditions alone rolling before LB’s 2nd Rapid Fire. If you blow all your CDs, 15k. Those are genuinely conservative numbers. Note – these are just the big numbers you can see briefly while kitten ing around, not sustainable DPS (the burst is real though).

Positioning isn’t as big a deal as people think. You just dodge or strafe a bit if you have to. Or not. As I’m sure LB users sometimes find themselves at <1200ft, sometimes you can’t flank. Damage takes a hit, but circumstances are never always-perfect.

Anyway, I <3 SB, and although I’d love for the poor popular opinion of it to change, it’s still fun to be the oddball.