Guild Wars 2

I leveled my ranger specifically to play melee condi builds for solo roaming, but I am slowly seeing the allure of the pewpew longbow build. Should I try it? Is there any way to play it and feel like I’m doing something difficult?

Play longbow, but dont take any of the damage modifier traits and dont run air and fire sigil. Give your enemies an opportunity to get close. It is really just handicapping yourself. LB ranger is plenty difficult in pvp (easy if no one bothers focusing you) but people can usually be built alot tougher while sacrificing no damage in wvw compared to pvp. My experience is 1v1 it is superior in wvw. The only way people can 2v1 or more though is because they have so much damage.

It has it’s uses…
It also can be fun.

But you’ll find yourself experimenting a bit. To find what suits you and whatnot. I distance myself from Power PvP by far. Power is just a no-no for PvP. But in WvW you have the needed distance and you don’t need to contest a point. So yea – it definitely can be useful and fun.

Go for it.

Since OP was mentioning roaming, it’s clear he/she is talking about WvW..

And from my point of view: Yeah, trust me, “pew pew” ranger works like a charm.. I use LB and SB on my berserker ranger and have tons of fun in WvW..
Just keep in mind that a glass cannon isn’t to be used in 1vX.. You’ll make quick work of a single opponent, but if you get focussed by some, you’ll melt away..

Tribio.8531:

Since OP was mentioning roaming, it’s clear he/she is talking about WvW..

And from my point of view: Yeah, trust me, “pew pew” ranger works like a charm.. I use LB and SB on my berserker ranger and have tons of fun in WvW..
Just keep in mind that a glass cannon isn’t to be used in 1vX.. You’ll make quick work of a single opponent, but if you get focussed by some, you’ll melt away..

That’s because you are running with a shortbow for your second set…

Jim Hunter.6821:

That’s because you are running with a shortbow for your second set…

And how would a GS in that case be any better? Remember: glass!
Or you just wanna use the GS to swoop away from 1vX?

Tribio.8531:

Jim Hunter.6821:

That’s because you are running with a shortbow for your second set…

And how would a GS in that case be any better? Remember: glass!
Or you just wanna use the GS to swoop away from 1vX?

GS or S/x would be a thousand times better. They offer multiple evades, better mobility for repositioning, GS has a nice long block, and they allow you to fight in melee range. If you are fighting a thief, medi guard, or someone else that is constantly porting to you and running through you to break your projectiles you are going to die without a melee weapon.

Jim Hunter.6821:

GS or S/x would be a thousand times better. They offer multiple evades, better mobility for repositioning, GS has a nice long block, and they allow you to fight in melee range. If you are fighting a thief, medi guard, or someone else that is constantly porting to you and running through you to break your projectiles you are going to die without a melee weapon.

Ranger has tons of vigor, SB#3 is natural evade, SB’s autoattack puts bleeds, which in turn triggers the condi removal of the opponent.. I had the pleasure of battling a medi guard earlier this week actually, and I made quick work of him with my ranged weapons.. (he spent most of the time trying to run/teleport to me instead of actually swinging his weapon)..

I do know (so agree there somehow with you) that not having a melee weapon kinda limits my play style.. But it’s not at all a “certain death” setup, trust me..
I have piercing arrows, so that works like a charm with a dual bow setup..

To each his/her own play style, of course!

Like others have said, “Should you try?” ABSOLUTELY! This game is great for experimenting different build. While I wouldn’t run out and make a zerk ascended set, I would grab an exotic set, throw in some cheaper runes (ranger) and see how you like roaming wih it.

Tribio.8531:

Jim Hunter.6821:

GS or S/x would be a thousand times better. They offer multiple evades, better mobility for repositioning, GS has a nice long block, and they allow you to fight in melee range. If you are fighting a thief, medi guard, or someone else that is constantly porting to you and running through you to break your projectiles you are going to die without a melee weapon.

Ranger has tons of vigor, SB#3 is natural evade, SB’s autoattack puts bleeds, which in turn triggers the condi removal of the opponent.. I had the pleasure of battling a medi guard earlier this week actually, and I made quick work of him with my ranged weapons.. (he spent most of the time trying to run/teleport to me instead of actually swinging his weapon)..

I do know (so agree there somehow with you) that not having a melee weapon kinda limits my play style.. But it’s not at all a “certain death” setup, trust me..
I have piercing arrows, so that works like a charm with a dual bow setup..

To each his/her own play style, of course!

Since the longbow buff I have been seeing more and more people running traits and skills to reflect, block, or destroy projectiles and like I said before, smart players will run through you to break your ranged attacks. I just can’t support a full ranged build. It might be okay in a 1v1 but like you said, you melt when you are focused.

I’m not saying you need to change, play however you want, but you probably shouldn’t recommend duel bows to other people.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Tribio.8531:

Jim Hunter.6821:

GS or S/x would be a thousand times better. They offer multiple evades, better mobility for repositioning, GS has a nice long block, and they allow you to fight in melee range. If you are fighting a thief, medi guard, or someone else that is constantly porting to you and running through you to break your projectiles you are going to die without a melee weapon.

Ranger has tons of vigor, SB#3 is natural evade, SB’s autoattack puts bleeds, which in turn triggers the condi removal of the opponent.. I had the pleasure of battling a medi guard earlier this week actually, and I made quick work of him with my ranged weapons.. (he spent most of the time trying to run/teleport to me instead of actually swinging his weapon)..

I do know (so agree there somehow with you) that not having a melee weapon kinda limits my play style.. But it’s not at all a “certain death” setup, trust me..
I have piercing arrows, so that works like a charm with a dual bow setup..

To each his/her own play style, of course!

Since the longbow buff I have been seeing more and more people running traits and skills to reflect, block, or destroy projectiles and like I said before, smart players will run through you to break your ranged attacks. I just can’t support a full ranged build. It might be okay in a 1v1 but like you said, you melt when you are focused.

I’m not saying you need to change, play however you want, but you probably shouldn’t recommend duel bows to other people.

I use LB/SB in pvp and do pretty well with it. I like to Kite, and it’s the best weapon set for it. the other option would be (for me) axe/torch for kiting.

Wintersnight.3061:

Jim Hunter.6821:

Tribio.8531:

Jim Hunter.6821:

GS or S/x would be a thousand times better. They offer multiple evades, better mobility for repositioning, GS has a nice long block, and they allow you to fight in melee range. If you are fighting a thief, medi guard, or someone else that is constantly porting to you and running through you to break your projectiles you are going to die without a melee weapon.

Ranger has tons of vigor, SB#3 is natural evade, SB’s autoattack puts bleeds, which in turn triggers the condi removal of the opponent.. I had the pleasure of battling a medi guard earlier this week actually, and I made quick work of him with my ranged weapons.. (he spent most of the time trying to run/teleport to me instead of actually swinging his weapon)..

I do know (so agree there somehow with you) that not having a melee weapon kinda limits my play style.. But it’s not at all a “certain death” setup, trust me..
I have piercing arrows, so that works like a charm with a dual bow setup..

To each his/her own play style, of course!

Since the longbow buff I have been seeing more and more people running traits and skills to reflect, block, or destroy projectiles and like I said before, smart players will run through you to break your ranged attacks. I just can’t support a full ranged build. It might be okay in a 1v1 but like you said, you melt when you are focused.

I’m not saying you need to change, play however you want, but you probably shouldn’t recommend duel bows to other people.

I use LB/SB in pvp and do pretty well with it. I like to Kite, and it’s the best weapon set for it. the other option would be (for me) axe/torch for kiting.

I find it odd that there is even an argument about this. GS or S/x has way more mobility and kiting ability through evades and leaps. Players going 100% ranged are limiting themselves.

It’s certainly worth trying out if you have the money to spare. Since yesterday I’ve been running LB + S/D (sometimes S/A) and having tons of fun with it. Last night I burst down an unsuspecting engi from full health to zero using Rapid Fire + QZ and a couple autoattacks. I was on top of a cliff so he didn’t even see it coming. I killed the same engi twice more, demolished several thieves, and autoattacked a mesmer to death (each autoattack was hitting him from 2.5k to 2.8k damage and he wasn’t upleveled). I’m not even running full glass; I have Traveler runes and about 2.5k toughness with SoS, so that sort of damage just seems unfair, lol. It’s also pretty easy to run away with LR + sword #2.

In an open field LB rangers are probably one of the toughest to fight 1v1 due to their superior range, high burst damage and ability to reposition themselves, kite and CC.

However in structured, it isn’t so much of an open field, there are lots of obstacles you can hide behind, it is harder to kite and pew pew from max range and the objective is to capture points, not stand 1500 range. Structured isn’t conducive to the Ranger maxing out their full potential.

kaikalii.4198:

I leveled my ranger specifically to play melee condi builds for solo roaming, but I am slowly seeing the allure of the pewpew longbow build. Should I try it? Is there any way to play it and feel like I’m doing something difficult?

Any player who has played 10 mins of WvW, will tell you that melee is the most boring and non-viable thing ever. (That is for roaming, especially on a ranger) 90% of the people you will encounter, will run away from you no matter class or even if you are up-scalled or not.

Playing LB is not as easy as all those l2p n00bs think it is. You need positioning and very good skill management, or you are going to get so rekt, even by average skilled players.

Pewpew can work wonders, just be rdy to be frustrated in the start. You will be a prime target for other burst classes, so you will learn the hard way too evade pressure. Dont let this discourage you tho, since when you get into the flow of the build you can do really well even in 1v2 situations. In small group situations cycle through the targets, nothing better to find someone with 50% hp and just remove them. Oh and remember your pet, it can actually help you a whole lot
This is what i run in WvW both solo and havoc groups:
You can go rune of infiltration instead of travelers, i just love the run speed and works find even with the lower dmg.
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEq0xaLLOsQ1ag+ga9CEAjdrcw9AHEpdJjqC-TliDwA8U+hf/BDXAAAm/Q8AAcp+jiDCwHdDJUCG5IAQIAzLAA-w

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNEQNAT8XnMqQLL2xCuCCXLIIPoWHAJwp3hbHcCu+iCmUB-TVCEwAE3fgwDAYrSQmK/arbAwBBwl6PPOCAuvAAECw8YA-w

Muddy Terrain -> Path Of Scars -> Point Blank Shot -> “Sick ’Em!” -> Rapid Fire = never have to worry about another Thief again.

Notes: Always use “Sick ’Em!” after a Thief/Mesmer has been CC’d. Do not just pop it at random as it can be evaded. Also make sure to apply cripple or immobilize before initiating bursts to get the most out of your damage. Leap through Healing Spring for extra heals. Use Raven F2 often. Swap to wolf if you want a knockdown.

Jim Hunter.6821:

Wintersnight.3061:

Jim Hunter.6821:

Tribio.8531:

Jim Hunter.6821:

GS or S/x would be a thousand times better. They offer multiple evades, better mobility for repositioning, GS has a nice long block, and they allow you to fight in melee range. If you are fighting a thief, medi guard, or someone else that is constantly porting to you and running through you to break your projectiles you are going to die without a melee weapon.

Ranger has tons of vigor, SB#3 is natural evade, SB’s autoattack puts bleeds, which in turn triggers the condi removal of the opponent.. I had the pleasure of battling a medi guard earlier this week actually, and I made quick work of him with my ranged weapons.. (he spent most of the time trying to run/teleport to me instead of actually swinging his weapon)..

I do know (so agree there somehow with you) that not having a melee weapon kinda limits my play style.. But it’s not at all a “certain death” setup, trust me..
I have piercing arrows, so that works like a charm with a dual bow setup..

To each his/her own play style, of course!

Since the longbow buff I have been seeing more and more people running traits and skills to reflect, block, or destroy projectiles and like I said before, smart players will run through you to break your ranged attacks. I just can’t support a full ranged build. It might be okay in a 1v1 but like you said, you melt when you are focused.

I’m not saying you need to change, play however you want, but you probably shouldn’t recommend duel bows to other people.

I use LB/SB in pvp and do pretty well with it. I like to Kite, and it’s the best weapon set for it. the other option would be (for me) axe/torch for kiting.

I find it odd that there is even an argument about this. GS or S/x has way more mobility and kiting ability through evades and leaps. Players going 100% ranged are limiting themselves.

Not sure what to tell you – I do very well with the way I have set up my toon.

I wish you all the best in your gaming adventures!

I use these personally:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEq0yaBLWsQ1ag+ga9DEAjdzfYaZuBfQBraA-TlSBABlq+zT7PsxRA4hLAgCmguS5nN6GW4gAghSQAeAABAQAYoD9oH9oJFATKjA-w

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNAQNAT8YjEq0yaBLWsQ1ag+ga9DEAjdzfYaZuBfQBraA-TlSBABPt/wGHBgdU/JYlgPcBAuS5nN6GW4gA4gJIAeAABAQAYoDdoDdoJFATKjA-w

Tribio.8531:

Jim Hunter.6821:

That’s because you are running with a shortbow for your second set…

And how would a GS in that case be any better? Remember: glass!
Or you just wanna use the GS to swoop away from 1vX?

I kill people every day with my glass sword ranger. You’re not rangering right.

is fun to learn how far you can push the measurements to the digit, it can help you in a massive way know how far is this , or how close am i.

i got bored of the LB as i learned all the distances and when to melee ect, mostly LB, S+D Soft and a bird or i’ll trait 6,2,6,0,0 and have some swiftness on swap plus a spike trap for CC control , in the end i learned that Lb’s great to use at any Range , it also teached me the lesson between Ranged vs melee and how they are so different that it generaly gets you to play a reverse fighting style.

Just dropping this here: Had the pleasure of encountering a glass LB/GS ranger yesterday when roaming.. I can only imagine he is respeccing as we speak for dual bow.. He got trashed..

That’s not how it works, Tribio. I could kill lots of people using only an axe with no offhand at all, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good option. SB doesn’t have enough utility to be paired with the LB. All 5 skills are useful GS or S/D, where most skills on the SB don’t do anything in terms of keeping you alive.

I’m not trying to be like “argh I hate you”, just pointing out you’re needlessly handicapping yourself. You’d probably have more fun and win more 1v1s or 1v2/3s if you learned how to use ranger melee, which is very strong. You’ll find plenty of roaming videos on this forum of people roaming with dual glass melee, even or usually against multiple opponents. If you want, I’ll duel you in HotM with us both using berserker amulets, me using dual melee and you using dual bows just as a proof of concept.

Fluffball.8307:

I’m not trying to be like “argh I hate you”, just pointing out you’re needlessly handicapping yourself.

I understand, and it’s very appreciated.. I like getting feedback, positive or negative..

However, I would like to counter by pointing out the synergy of Piercing Arrows with a dual bow build.. I roam on my ranger, so when the LB-burst is put down, I can switch to my shortbow (fires very quickly) and still do tons of AoE dmg (mostly talking from the perspective of taking camps/towers/keeps).

Rule of thumb: It’s the person behind the keyboard that mashes the buttons.. So one specific build might be terrible when played by one player, while another player will shine with it..

I killed a bunch of people as a naked rifle warrior a couple nights ago. I guess that’s a good build too.

kaikalii.4198:

I leveled my ranger specifically to play melee condi builds for solo roaming, but I am slowly seeing the allure of the pewpew longbow build. Should I try it? Is there any way to play it and feel like I’m doing something difficult?

It’s certainly worth trying. 100%.

As far as “feeling like I am doing something difficult” is concerned, it’s as simple as finding decent opponents and not blindsiding people who don’t even know you’re there. It is probably the easiest build to rek terrible players with, but when you get into a fight with a real opponent it’s got the same risks and skill requirement that comes with any zerker build.

Tribio.8531:

Fluffball.8307:

I’m not trying to be like “argh I hate you”, just pointing out you’re needlessly handicapping yourself.

I understand, and it’s very appreciated.. I like getting feedback, positive or negative..

However, I would like to counter by pointing out the synergy of Piercing Arrows with a dual bow build.. I roam on my ranger, so when the LB-burst is put down, I can switch to my shortbow (fires very quickly) and still do tons of AoE dmg (mostly talking from the perspective of taking camps/towers/keeps).

Rule of thumb: It’s the person behind the keyboard that mashes the buttons.. So one specific build might be terrible when played by one player, while another player will shine with it..

I use offhand axe, you use two bows. Better hope you know how to stop attacking when I use Whirling Defense because it reflects projectiles, which is the only form of offense you’ve got. I’ve also got a lot of cripple with lengthy duration, have fun staying far enough away from me to kite.

Tribio.8531:

However, I would like to counter by pointing out the synergy of Piercing Arrows with a dual bow build.. I roam on my ranger, so when the LB-burst is put down, I can switch to my shortbow (fires very quickly) and still do tons of AoE dmg (mostly talking from the perspective of taking camps/towers/keeps).

For PvE (camp/tower NPCs), we’re talking PvE stats, so a sword autoattack is going to do the most damage, followed by the greatsword autoattack/maul. The defining characteristic of a SB is the fast autoattack, which is surpassed by a sword autoattack even without being traited (PA). What SB offers over melee is range, but that’s not useful when you already have a LB.

For competitive play you have to ignore safety of range against camp NPCs which you don’t need in favor of at least being able to win a 1v1. So while you’re correct it’s mostly about the person behind the keyboard, I don’t see a reason to intentionally cripple yourself with a weapon set that isn’t going to win many encounters versus a single human opponent.

So out of curiosity of what you’re getting at, excluding NPCs, what are you getting out of running a SB swap? Maybe as an example describe how you use the SB swap against a thief that just stealed to you.

try it, but know that once to get to the top 300 or so, the spec becomes extremely difficult to play. a good s/d or d/p thief will always hard counter you unfortunately, no matter what you do. you can do some serious damage if allowed to freecast, but in the higher brackets people wont give you that chance.

mistsim.2748:

try it, but know that once to get to the top 300 or so, the spec becomes extremely difficult to play. a good s/d or d/p thief will always hard counter you unfortunately, no matter what you do. you can do some serious damage if allowed to freecast, but in the higher brackets people wont give you that chance.

Pretty much this. Thieves outshine rangers as a bursting class in pvp. Give it another 6 months for ranger to either be useless again or able to not be hard countered by thieves.

FrownyClown.8402:

mistsim.2748:

try it, but know that once to get to the top 300 or so, the spec becomes extremely difficult to play. a good s/d or d/p thief will always hard counter you unfortunately, no matter what you do. you can do some serious damage if allowed to freecast, but in the higher brackets people wont give you that chance.

Pretty much this. Thieves outshine rangers as a bursting class in pvp. Give it another 6 months for ranger to either be useless again or able to not be hard countered by thieves.

I don’t see how ranger is hard countered by thieves. I shred almost every one of the thieves I come across 1v1 whether I am playing glass longbow or condi. Ranger has plenty of tricks for dealing with thieves if you know what you are doing.

That being said thieves will remain more useful in PvP unless they remove the vertical teleporting. If there were more maps like Foefire rangers would be a lot more competetive.

have other means of dps other then pewpew. Myself, I use 2 traps, entangle+madking runes, sigil of hydromancy on gs and owl.

If all you wanna do is pewpew you are going to get circle strafed in melee range till you drop. Its important for a lb ranger to know how to fight in melee range. Many people think you are free bag if they get into melee range with you. Hence why most will suggest a melee swap. You can kill people in melee range quite fast with zerker melee.

Jim Hunter.6821:

FrownyClown.8402:

mistsim.2748:

try it, but know that once to get to the top 300 or so, the spec becomes extremely difficult to play. a good s/d or d/p thief will always hard counter you unfortunately, no matter what you do. you can do some serious damage if allowed to freecast, but in the higher brackets people wont give you that chance.

Pretty much this. Thieves outshine rangers as a bursting class in pvp. Give it another 6 months for ranger to either be useless again or able to not be hard countered by thieves.

I don’t see how ranger is hard countered by thieves. I shred almost every one of the thieves I come across 1v1 whether I am playing glass longbow or condi. Ranger has plenty of tricks for dealing with thieves if you know what you are doing.

That being said thieves will remain more useful in PvP unless they remove the vertical teleporting. If there were more maps like Foefire rangers would be a lot more competetive.

you don’t shred every thief as a power ranger. sorry. if you do, im simply gonna say youre not facing the ones in the higher brackets. i do okay with s/d/lb, but it’s about 50-50. every tool a d/p thief has is basically made to crush you 1on1: blind spam, unlimited stealth, on-demand engage and burst, interrupts, etc. getting a lucky jump on a thief is a no-brainer, but the good ones will be invis most of the time.

now if you said you shred thieves as a condi bunker, I would totally believe you.

mistsim.2748:

every tool a d/p thief has is basically made to crush you 1on1: blind spam, unlimited stealth, on-demand engage and burst, interrupts, etc. getting a lucky jump on a thief is a no-brainer, but the good ones will be invis most of the time.

Thieves are invincible ! they cannot be vinced !

well except the ones I crush like bugs cause 95% of them suck horribly or are over-confident in thier invincible “blind spam, UNLIMITED stealth, interrupts… invisible most of the time.”

Seriously if you need help vs thief do a search in ranger forums. Lots of advice given ;-)

One does not simply crush thieves as a LB Ranger. Skilled Melee Rangers, traited for remove blind /protection on dodge can hold their own. At that point, it’s skill & position that determines that fight.

With LB – If I see them at ranged first, they’re dead. If they close on me before I see them, if they are skilled – i’m dead as a 662 LB Ranger. If they are not skilled – I can hold my own but not make any mistakes and come out a draw or win depending on how aggressive they are.

Justine.6351:

mistsim.2748:

every tool a d/p thief has is basically made to crush you 1on1: blind spam, unlimited stealth, on-demand engage and burst, interrupts, etc. getting a lucky jump on a thief is a no-brainer, but the good ones will be invis most of the time.

Thieves are invincible ! they cannot be vinced !

well except the ones I crush like bugs cause 95% of them suck horribly or are over-confident in thier invincible “blind spam, UNLIMITED stealth, interrupts… invisible most of the time.”

Seriously if you need help vs thief do a search in ranger forums. Lots of advice given ;-)

really? I put out multiple guides and have over 2500 hours on my ranger alone. youre obviously new around here, and probably new to the game by the way youre talking. it’s very unlikely you’ll convince me of anything. we told you a few things and spoke from experience, do what you want with that info.

To be fair, thieves are the new bearbows because the professions has always attracted some of the least skilled players, and now the LB buff seems to have driven skilled thieves to extinction (in WvW).

The rangers I’m running in to these days are surprisingly decent players. I’d probably target a thief over a ranger now if I’m looking for an easy first kill in a small group skirmish.

If you catch a thief at range you can take out the bulk of their health before they ever land a hit on you. If they do close the gap the GS is a fantastic weapon for fighting a thief. Catch them with counter attack, swoop, hilt bash, maul, wolf fear, swap to bow and pbs, then finish them off with rapid fire.
I rarely see a thief running more than 1 stun break, once you draw that out it’s pretty easy to chain cc and burst them down with maul/rapid fire.

Of course in pvp a thief will rarely engage someone 1v1 and sword/dagger thieves are much harder to lock down, so running condi is a much better choice for ranked matches. Longbow is still plenty of fun in unranked and WvW where thieves think stealth spam makes them immortal.

Jim Hunter.6821:

If you catch a thief at range you can take out the bulk of their health before they ever land a hit on you. If they do close the gap the GS is a fantastic weapon for fighting a thief. Catch them with counter attack, swoop, hilt bash, maul, wolf fear, swap to bow and pbs, then finish them off with rapid fire.
I rarely see a thief running more than 1 stun break, once you draw that out it’s pretty easy to chain cc and burst them down with maul/rapid fire.

Of course in pvp a thief will rarely engage someone 1v1 and sword/dagger thieves are much harder to lock down, so running condi is a much better choice for ranked matches. Longbow is still plenty of fun in unranked and WvW where thieves think stealth spam makes them immortal.

lb can still be very good in ranked. It just relies on your allies coming to your aid whenever you are focused. Longbow gets better when you have good teammates. I use s/d so its a bit harder for my to win vs thieves. I changed up my utility to include lightning reflexes and i can now beat them 50% of the time.

FrownyClown.8402:

Jim Hunter.6821:

If you catch a thief at range you can take out the bulk of their health before they ever land a hit on you. If they do close the gap the GS is a fantastic weapon for fighting a thief. Catch them with counter attack, swoop, hilt bash, maul, wolf fear, swap to bow and pbs, then finish them off with rapid fire.
I rarely see a thief running more than 1 stun break, once you draw that out it’s pretty easy to chain cc and burst them down with maul/rapid fire.

Of course in pvp a thief will rarely engage someone 1v1 and sword/dagger thieves are much harder to lock down, so running condi is a much better choice for ranked matches. Longbow is still plenty of fun in unranked and WvW where thieves think stealth spam makes them immortal.

lb can still be very good in ranked. It just relies on your allies coming to your aid whenever you are focused. Longbow gets better when you have good teammates. I use s/d so its a bit harder for my to win vs thieves. I changed up my utility to include lightning reflexes and i can now beat them 50% of the time.

I’ve run longbow in ranked, I would play the role of the thief, running between points and +1ing fights. On Foefire a ranger is fantastic for this, but other maps where mesmers and thieves can use vertical ports to navigate the map the longbow ranger falls short.

Jim Hunter.6821:

FrownyClown.8402:

Jim Hunter.6821:

If you catch a thief at range you can take out the bulk of their health before they ever land a hit on you. If they do close the gap the GS is a fantastic weapon for fighting a thief. Catch them with counter attack, swoop, hilt bash, maul, wolf fear, swap to bow and pbs, then finish them off with rapid fire.
I rarely see a thief running more than 1 stun break, once you draw that out it’s pretty easy to chain cc and burst them down with maul/rapid fire.

Of course in pvp a thief will rarely engage someone 1v1 and sword/dagger thieves are much harder to lock down, so running condi is a much better choice for ranked matches. Longbow is still plenty of fun in unranked and WvW where thieves think stealth spam makes them immortal.

lb can still be very good in ranked. It just relies on your allies coming to your aid whenever you are focused. Longbow gets better when you have good teammates. I use s/d so its a bit harder for my to win vs thieves. I changed up my utility to include lightning reflexes and i can now beat them 50% of the time.

I’ve run longbow in ranked, I would play the role of the thief, running between points and +1ing fights. On Foefire a ranger is fantastic for this, but other maps where mesmers and thieves can use vertical ports to navigate the map the longbow ranger falls short.

i agree. LB ranger is more of a mid to home roamer. Pushing far puts them in a bad position. Are the blinks and what not working as intended? If not, they shouldn’t be able to port up places.

FrownyClown.8402:

Are the blinks and what not working as intended? If not, they shouldn’t be able to port up places.

It’s been like that forever. Take a look at this video to see how ridiculous it is. http://youtu.be/_pr6gxULn00
Rangers just can’t compete with this type of mobility on certain maps.

If you are running condi, use short bow. I use melee/range on all my characters except warrior.

Jim Hunter.6821:

FrownyClown.8402:

Are the blinks and what not working as intended? If not, they shouldn’t be able to port up places.

It’s been like that forever. Take a look at this video to see how ridiculous it is. http://youtu.be/_pr6gxULn00
Rangers just can’t compete with this type of mobility on certain maps.

Can they still do all that?

It’s a pathing thing, if you can manually walk to a location without going too far out of the way, you can blink there. You can’t for example blink up in to a keep in WvW because you can’t walk there, but you can blink up to the clocktower because it’s a pretty short walk.

FrownyClown.8402:

Jim Hunter.6821:

FrownyClown.8402:

Are the blinks and what not working as intended? If not, they shouldn’t be able to port up places.

It’s been like that forever. Take a look at this video to see how ridiculous it is. http://youtu.be/_pr6gxULn00
Rangers just can’t compete with this type of mobility on certain maps.

Can they still do all that?

Yup.
If the game was just about fighting rangers would be on equal footing but it’s about bunkering and rotating. Rangers don’t have the mobility that a thief does on these maps and we don’t have boon stripping to deal with the celestial cheese builds as quickly.
Now if they would just add boon stripping to warhorn 4 or traps…..

Jim Hunter.6821:

FrownyClown.8402:

Jim Hunter.6821:

If you catch a thief at range you can take out the bulk of their health before they ever land a hit on you. If they do close the gap the GS is a fantastic weapon for fighting a thief. Catch them with counter attack, swoop, hilt bash, maul, wolf fear, swap to bow and pbs, then finish them off with rapid fire.
I rarely see a thief running more than 1 stun break, once you draw that out it’s pretty easy to chain cc and burst them down with maul/rapid fire.

Of course in pvp a thief will rarely engage someone 1v1 and sword/dagger thieves are much harder to lock down, so running condi is a much better choice for ranked matches. Longbow is still plenty of fun in unranked and WvW where thieves think stealth spam makes them immortal.

lb can still be very good in ranked. It just relies on your allies coming to your aid whenever you are focused. Longbow gets better when you have good teammates. I use s/d so its a bit harder for my to win vs thieves. I changed up my utility to include lightning reflexes and i can now beat them 50% of the time.

I’ve run longbow in ranked, I would play the role of the thief, running between points and +1ing fights. On Foefire a ranger is fantastic for this, but other maps where mesmers and thieves can use vertical ports to navigate the map the longbow ranger falls short.

I run LB/SB ( sometimes A/T) in
Legacy – We’re Great
Forrest – Good
Khylo – ok as long as the enemy didn’t treb the side buildings so you can climb to the 2nd story without having to run to the stairs.
Storm – ok

The big issue for me is that I can’t switch out my character if those maps are chosen. It’s an auto-DC and -3 points so…/sadpanda

@op
differently give it a crack, i find it the most fun (not necessarily most effective effective) roaming build.

there are two different RtW build types.

The first is full glass where you use RTW and at least 5 point in skirmishing and the other points in either WS or NM (6/5or6/x/x/0). This is kill fast type of build, and possible the most glassy build in the game, very fun but get use to dying a lot.

The second has a little bit more resilience you put 6 in marks for RtW and put 6 in either WS or NM for a little more defense/condition removal (6/2/6/0/0 or 6/0/2/6/0). This has a bit more survivability. Also very fun I play the NM version a lot.

I can say that i have ever seen any go rtw and a heap of points in BM effectively but i am sure that some one is.

then there is a variety of no so common LB builds the don’t use RtW.

Sadly enough i have even had ok success in fights just rocking our PvE s-x/lb predators onslaught, when i have quickly ducked in to wvw to do some daily’s

Fluffball.8307:

So out of curiosity of what you’re getting at, excluding NPCs, what are you getting out of running a SB swap? Maybe as an example describe how you use the SB swap against a thief that just stealed to you.

My apologies for the late reply, I’m not every day active on the forums..

A rotation where a thief has stealed to me could be:

Switch to SB (gives Fury)
SB#3 (turns my character to the thief, gives swiftness on hit)
SB#4 (cripples the kittener)
dodge around (massive endurance regen on a ranger, of course)
SB#1 / SB#2 (condition appliance – if possible – in case of stealth, run around shooting mid-air)
Switch to LB (Fury again)
LB#4 / LB#2 where needed, LB#3 as escape to get a full LB#5 off..

With a crit chance of 75% (95% with Fury) and bleeds on crit, you do quite some dmg and have some condition pressure (altough it is no condition build, I would rather see the opponent blow his utilities on those condi’s, so that an eventuel KB arrow yields most results – less chance of stunbreakers and so).

Keep in mind that there is no fixed rotation anywhere here.. Act and re-act, of course.. Two thieves are never the same..

To the person mentioning the Whirling Reflexes: If you are dumb enough to get wasted by your own arrows, then I’m almost certain that getting a GS instead of a bow will not make you all of a sudden a good player.. :p A full ranged build is very limiting, yet it is awesome to see how often it decently works against full melee players..

But (yet again): Every profession is played by a player behind his keyboard.. I’m quite fond and not at all terrible at ranger, but boy, you don’t wanna see me on my thief..