Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I was wondering if condition builds, while scorned in PvE, are any good in WvW roaming? Either playing solo or running in a havoc group. I was thinking Rabid gear with Krait runes but am very open to suggestions. Here is just a sample build I whipped up real quick.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNIQNBlODbkQlWWbYxfFqWDYIUtPh3dYZGANgzd4FK4RF-T1RAABzobAKlfA8AAES9HaVCaxFAon9HAA-w

Thanks!

Condi builds are great in WvW. Most people like to take toughness for a bit of survivabilty, and condis are a great counter to that, as it ignores toughness. And if nothing else, it at least provides a bit of pressure, it’s hard to stay in a fight for very long while you are bleeding heavily.

Shortbow is a great weapon to use in WvW.

I would however suggest to have a disengage weapon set, whether you incorporate GS or Sw + (Your choice of Off-Hand).

You will need either Empathetic Bond, or Survival Of The Fittest if you plan on roaming / Havok’ing in WvW – the condi meta is strong out there.

Check out my youtube channel in my signature, I feature some WvW roaming videos, maybe that’ll help you theory craft some SB builds.

Here are my counter-suggestions for SB:

SB / Sw + WH —> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNIQNBlYD7kQFqZxWWwWQoaxAGCVzW4EYGANg7d4Fu6S2UFA-T1SAABCpWBtKBhw8zM6GgS5BAPAAmUihkqKWcBAewEUP7PQKAYWDA-w

• Engage w/ SB, rotate skills accordingly to maximize your bleed stacks.
• Apply poison with Sword #3, then Hunters call #4 —> Apply swiftnees #5 WH —> #2 Sword, Hornet Sting to maximize distance traveled for repositioning.

SB / Sw + Torch —> http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNIQNAV8fnEqQNL2yC2CCVLGwQoa2CnAzAoBcvDvwVXymqA-T1SAABCpWBtKBhw8zM6CgS5BAPAAmUihkqKWcBAewEUP7PQKAYWDA-w

Closing Notes:

• Exchange Survival Of The Fittest <> Empathetic Bond
• Use Protect Me > Signet Of Stone while utilizing “Survival Of The Fittest”, because your pet doesn’t carry the burden of Empathetic Bond so there is less stress (unless you don’t clear effectively and have to rely on Signet Of Renewal).
• Protect Me helps because it’s also a stun break.

All that said, you’re on the path to success – GL HF out there.

SB’s main strength is in small group fights. If you’re solo roaming, you can do better IMO, because it’s pretty hard to get behind someone. On the other hand, if they’re facing your ally, SB will light them up. It’s like 0 or 100 with the SB and not much in between.

I’m going to disagree with Fluffball on this (the other options are better for solo part any way).

Like all of our weapons short-bows promotes various play styles. Two things that the short bow has going for it are rate of fire and kiting, (also cc opponents but Axe-dagger is probably better for that).

My view on playing short bow is that at all time you must be strafing and circling your opponent just outside of max melee range, and skills such as SB#3, SB#4, MT, LR, Entangle, dogs and spiders can all help you do this, the more you circle strafe the more bleed proc’s you get from the auto-attack.

The rate of fire also means that you will proc more with % on hit/crit over a longer period of time them slower attacking weapons