Guild Wars 2

As a truly “ranged” weapon for the “ranger” – yes.

The Longbow was fine during beta, and they kept fiddling with it. Then they reduced it’s damage across the board right at the end of beta making it very pathetic due to it’s attack speed. Not to mention moving targets cause “obstructed” on your shots (no joke).

Axe is a shorter range weapon, and is poor in damage against a single target. It bounces to 3 targets when possible, and is where the weapon shines. Its good bleed move requires you to be point blank to get the most out of, so it might as well be a melee weapon.

The shortbow was the number 1 weapon for condition builds, but even then it had it’s problems. Unlike the warrior gun, or engy pistol, we have to be behind the target to get a bleed to stack (they can get it from anywhere).

However, the SB was not without other faults. Yes it fires fast, and with haste was a machine gun for a few seconds – but it hits for very low damage per shot making Confusion and Retaliation the SB-Ranger’s mortal enemy causing us to kill ourselves super quickly if we didn’t notice fast enough or amidst the chaos.

Now with ~10% speed reduction, the shortbow does even worse at it’s main function (flanking weapon). Not only does it’s direct damage do ~10% less, but we now stack bleeds ~10% slower. Shortbow’s main function has been reduced by ~20% damage – and that’s not accounting for the bug with the haste (not firing 2X faster now).

It was the last ranged option that was not sub-par, and now they all are. Rangers are being forced to Melee contradictory to their class title.

Nautika.5376:

I mean seriously!!!!! You all going to say that ONLY SB was viable in pvp?

Throw in dungeon as well and that is exactly right.

If you got thieves and warriors burst dpsing you close range I think it narrows it down to sb pretty much lol, not much u can choose from unless you’re good enough with melee builds to compare up to those melee classes

Nautika.5376:

I mean seriously!!!!! You all going to say that ONLY SB was viable in pvp?

I go longbow and shortsword + warhorn (sometimes dagger) so don’t group all of us together… currently it seems only the really bad rangers (or those that actually like shortbow) are using only the shortbow because it’s the only weapon they seem to grasp, it’s probably because it’s fairly straight forward… stand behind enemy, spam 1, use 2 for aoe poison, 3 for escape, 4 to kite/prevent escape, 5 for control.

The greatsword’s damage was nerfed in the last week of the last beta. The sword’s 1 attack roots players, even when auto-attack is turned off, making it difficult (read: frustrating) to use in dungeons or PvP where dependable mobility is required. The axe is considered the last hope for melee rangers, and even that’s not an ideal weapon of choice. It has no evasion abilities and, as mentioned above, requires the ranger to be point-blank to get the most out of its 2 ability.

As also mentioned before by Strongfort, the Longbow was an incredible weapon – in the beta. It was sequentially tweaked to be the low-impact, negatable weapon it is today. The Ranger’s Longbow, in addition to the Shortbow, are outclassed by other professions’ abilities using the same weapons. The largest issue is the flanking mechanic on the Ranger’s Shortbow 1 ability, Crossfire. Not only was its speed reduced significantly, but to apply its bleeds requires flanking the target – which is not always possible, especially in WvW.

@Druzlla, as opposed to what? The Longbow’s abilities?

1 and 2 to damage
3 to apply increased damage condition
4 for control and
5 for AoE Damage?

Seems even more straightforward and easy to grasp to me.

deepwinter.9015:

@Druzlla, as opposed to what? The Longbow’s abilities?

1 and 2 to damage
3 to apply increased damage condition
4 for control and
5 for AoE Damage?

Seems even more straightforward and easy to grasp to me.

You’d be surprised how a lot of rangers use longbows it makes me question sanity…. fighting other longbow rangers it’s usually Barrage —→ hunters shot --—> Rapid fire —-→ knockback —-→ auto-attack and it’s just like REALLY? You just used all your abilities…

i use 5 for AoE control, not for damage, i put it down to cut off escapes/shut down an area (people with a frontal lobe tend to stay out of barrage because bad things happen to people in barrages), 4 i use for control, 3 i use for AoE vuln and on someone i mark for death (ctrl +T), and then 1 and 2 i feel are fairly straight forward…

But yeah, they’re both straight forward, i just see more possibilities for longbow then shortbow, now this may just be because they’re more group oriented instead of single target oriented, shrugs who knows?

I find that going support and not dps in dungeons is the best thing to do.

Build

I’ve been running dungeons all day and have had the best success ever. Just smack on some clerics gear and get healing accessories and your team will love you. Nearly constant buffs and regen is nearly constant as well. I find it to be fun too.

Honestly, the shortbow was fun for the bleeds and the sheer arrow count it put out with quickness up.

I run a pet based build and was using the short bow for the snare and stun (so my pet could catch up and hit with an attack). I still might since the shortbow isn’t completely bad, its just worse than it was with quickness. I might try longbow again, the punt is nice, but makes my pet have to chase them again. Vulnerability is huge, and I’ll use 5 to act as a nice snare for my pet.

It will be different for me, but not end of the world. You really can’t react to the people on the forums though.

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

nldixon.8514:

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

Not really in pvp, pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw. And pets are supposed to be a mainstay strength of a ranger, with out their pet they are just a weaker version of a warrior that has better ranged tools/dps.

Without a pet let me know what makes a ranger a ranger.

If pets weren’t weak, could attack while moving (because honestly who in pvp stands still for a pet to hit them…. hurdur) and were fast enough to keep up with players it would be different…. but when your leopard cant keep up with someone in heavy kitten armor something just feels wrong does it not lol….. if those things were different and pets were viable then sure it would be different but they are largely worth nothing in pvp and dont really help you especially in the dps area in a fight where there is nonstop movement…. which is pretty much all the time.

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

Not really in pvp, pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw. And pets are supposed to be a mainstay strength of a ranger, with out their pet they are just a weaker version of a warrior that has better ranged tools/dps.

Without a pet let me know what makes a ranger a ranger.

Hogwash. There are PvP viable Ranger specs that DON’T revolve around SB. Second, pets are not useless in PvP despite what everyone says.

Try playing a spec focused around your pet and traps. You’d be surprised how much damage a pet can do to an immobilized/slowed opponent.

nldixon.8514:

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

Not really in pvp, pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw. And pets are supposed to be a mainstay strength of a ranger, with out their pet they are just a weaker version of a warrior that has better ranged tools/dps.

Without a pet let me know what makes a ranger a ranger.

Hogwash. There are PvP viable Ranger specs that DON’T revolve around SB. Second, pets are not useless in PvP despite what everyone says.

Try playing a spec focused around your pet and traps. You’d be surprised how much damage a pet can do to an immobilized/slowed opponent.

Again your assuming the opponent is stupid/bad.

Stun/snare breaks and people that kill/snare your pet.

If your pet cant attack or hit them you got nothing while they beat on you. Again your relying on a broken mechanic that requires someone to be utterly stupid.

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

Not really in pvp, pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw. And pets are supposed to be a mainstay strength of a ranger, with out their pet they are just a weaker version of a warrior that has better ranged tools/dps.

Without a pet let me know what makes a ranger a ranger.

Hogwash. There are PvP viable Ranger specs that DON’T revolve around SB. Second, pets are not useless in PvP despite what everyone says.

Try playing a spec focused around your pet and traps. You’d be surprised how much damage a pet can do to an immobilized/slowed opponent.

Again your assuming the opponent is stupid/bad.

Stun/snare breaks and people that kill/snare your pet.

If your pet cant attack or hit them you got nothing while they beat on you. Again your relying on a broken mechanic that requires someone to be utterly stupid.

You’re wrong on several levels. If you play poorly, yes, you probably won’t get much mileage out of anything but a SB build. If you’re standing around relying on your pet to do all the damage, then maybe the only hope for you WAS a pre-nerf shortbow build.

The strength of the Ranger class is it’s versatility. Not sitting around spamming abilities from one weapon and activating QZ every 45 seconds. That’s bad play.

If you’re playing against skilled players and you use your abilities effectively, you can play one of several abilities, including a pet focused build because your opponent is going to be controlled by YOU. You don’t sit around and wait for your pet to do all the work.

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

Not really in pvp, pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw. And pets are supposed to be a mainstay strength of a ranger, with out their pet they are just a weaker version of a warrior that has better ranged tools/dps.

Without a pet let me know what makes a ranger a ranger.

Hogwash. There are PvP viable Ranger specs that DON’T revolve around SB. Second, pets are not useless in PvP despite what everyone says.

Try playing a spec focused around your pet and traps. You’d be surprised how much damage a pet can do to an immobilized/slowed opponent.

Again your assuming the opponent is stupid/bad.

Stun/snare breaks and people that kill/snare your pet.

If your pet cant attack or hit them you got nothing while they beat on you. Again your relying on a broken mechanic that requires someone to be utterly stupid.

An intelligent post Namu. Good pvprs aren’t going to fall for that. Pets are mostly only useful for any petswap boons and if you catch a bad player unawares for a temporary F2 effect.

Meanwhile a good Thief will kill you in less than 2 seconds flat with up to 20K burst dmg.

nldixon.8514:

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

Namu.5712:

nldixon.8514:

I have no problem with all the FotM SB Rangers rerolling Warriors. Then maybe their forums will be flooded with whining instead of ours.

There are TONS of other Ranger specs that are all viable and fun.

Not really in pvp, pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw. And pets are supposed to be a mainstay strength of a ranger, with out their pet they are just a weaker version of a warrior that has better ranged tools/dps.

Without a pet let me know what makes a ranger a ranger.

Hogwash. There are PvP viable Ranger specs that DON’T revolve around SB. Second, pets are not useless in PvP despite what everyone says.

Try playing a spec focused around your pet and traps. You’d be surprised how much damage a pet can do to an immobilized/slowed opponent.

Again your assuming the opponent is stupid/bad.

Stun/snare breaks and people that kill/snare your pet.

If your pet cant attack or hit them you got nothing while they beat on you. Again your relying on a broken mechanic that requires someone to be utterly stupid.

You’re wrong on several levels. If you play poorly, yes, you probably won’t get much mileage out of anything but a SB build. If you’re standing around relying on your pet to do all the damage, then maybe the only hope for you WAS a pre-nerf shortbow build.

The strength of the Ranger class is it’s versatility. Not sitting around spamming abilities from one weapon and activating QZ every 45 seconds. That’s bad play.

If you’re playing against skilled players and you use your abilities effectively, you can play one of several abilities, including a pet focused build because your opponent is going to be controlled by YOU. You don’t sit around and wait for your pet to do all the work.

Not sure if you play a ranger but pets don’t attack moving targets that well.

inb4 “learn to cc” – not gonna happen with enemy unroots and condition removals.

I’ve played a Ranger as my main since release.

If you guys would rather sit around on the forums and mope about shortbow changes instead of trying to learn a new play style that can be effective (I’m sure you’ve all tried pet/trap builds before for all of 30 minutes), so be it.

Or you could, you know, try to figure out a new way to play an incredibly fun and flexible class.

I’ve seen greatsword Rangers shred people. I’ve seen a sword/torch Ranger going to town. I’ve seen plenty of axe/horn or axe/torch Rangers doing well in PvP. Granted, they’re few and far between, because most people would rather just pick up a shortbow and brainlessly press QZ every now and again.

It’s not the end of the world, all the boohooing on the forums is ridiculous and most of it is probably coming from FotM players.

@ Chesire, lol

For those who havent seen it here is a Thief sPvP vid showing those 1-2 sec kills on almost any class. Watch for the damage numbers. mostly in the 9K range but I think I saw one over 20K.

jump forward to 1.08 if you want to go straight to the action.

nldixon.8514:

I’ve played a Ranger as my main since release.

If you guys would rather sit around on the forums and mope about shortbow changes instead of trying to learn a new play style that can be effective (I’m sure you’ve all tried pet/trap builds before for all of 30 minutes), so be it.

Or you could, you know, try to figure out a new way to play an incredibly fun and flexible class.

I’ve seen greatsword Rangers shred people. I’ve seen a sword/torch Ranger going to town. I’ve seen plenty of axe/horn or axe/torch Rangers doing well in PvP. Granted, they’re few and far between, because most people would rather just pick up a shortbow and brainlessly press QZ every now and again.

It’s not the end of the world, all the boohooing on the forums is ridiculous and most of it is probably coming from FotM players.

Thats fine but your ignoring the fact that any decent pvp’er is going to see your pet and lol at it and burst you down while you try to control them with cc that can easily be avoided or broken.

Sure traps are great if someone is dumb enough to just stand in it or run over it in the first place.

Like I said it would be different if pets were actually good with mobility in other words able to keep up and attack at the same time.

I prefer greatsword with a trait build based on regen and defense if you must know. But the fact that ranged wise rangers are pretty much bottom of the food chain is pretty backwards. A warrior with tougher armor and based around melee shouldn’t be better then us at ranged figthing, its that simple. But they are.

Infact I didn’t say anything about SB or its nerf, I said pets are bad and we should have other tools that don’t rely on them. You are the one that went off about SB stuff. I started a dialog with you about pets and their effectiveness.

I’m not ignoring any “facts”. You’re just kind of pulling stuff out of your rear and presenting it as fact.

You seem to think that everybody has limitless ways to avoid CC. This is simply not true. There are a few CC breakers for each class, but most people aren’t going to slot more than one (sometimes two). There are very few ways to remove immobilize or chilled.

Second, if you’re getting burst down by everybody and their brother, you’re doing it wrong.

Pets need work, I already said that. They can be effectively used in PvP if you’re smart about it. Same with traps.

You keep acting like every single player you run across in PvP is going to know how to counter every single one of your abilities and has a keen eye, noticing every single detail on the battle field and will have the perfect build to counter every single class.

Pets are viable in PvP, traps are viable in PvP, longbow is viable in PvP, shortbow is still viable in PvP. All the people on the forums are crying about how terrible the Ranger class is, but plenty of people, myself included, have been doing just fine with Ranger since release.

nldixon, im done.

You are not even reading and understanding what I was saying. You are probably not reading anything but the first line or two. That’s okay though.

I read everything you wrote. You think pets stink in PvP. I think you’re wrong and do just fine with my pet in PvP.

SB was the only viable build in high lvl pvp……….sure GS and that are fun for pubstomping. but in real tourneys this “glitch fix” really REALLY hurts my game. using a greatsword you might as well roll a war. a sword, well same deal. at least wars have higher armor and WAY more dmg. rangers were a very weak class as it was before this. Everyone is losing it because this just is a nail in the coffin; burying the ranger class

Like I said, moping about game changes and not even trying to adapt get you nowhere. I’m not even sure why I’m trying to explain this to a bunch of people who don’t even know the difference between your and you’re.

Silent.4378:

nldixon.8514 lol if your gunna rely on a pet in pvp , you have already lost the battle , just saying.

Ps i think u need to do abit more research lol if your gunna rely on a broken mechanic.

Well if i were to rely on everything on this forum as fact, then my build wouldn’t work… i rely on my pet, i use 2 spirits, i use a longbow, i use a shortsword, i use traps, i activate sig of the wild… pretty much everything you people declare as “bad” i do, and i’ve been flourishing with success… so, yeah, you guys are just a bunch of idiots.

nldixon.8514:

Like I said, moping about game changes and not even trying to adapt get you nowhere. I’m not even sure why I’m trying to explain this to a bunch of people who don’t even know the difference between your and you’re.

I’d say just give up on these guys and play the game, they think things are broken because they aren’t intelligent enough to use them properly, stop wasting your time and just play how you want, let them suffer QQ about how ranger is under powered and then reroll like just about every other FotM

I go longbow and shortsword + warhorn (sometimes dagger) so don’t group all of us together… currently it seems only the really bad rangers (or those that actually like shortbow) are using only the shortbow

Sure you could use the Longbow over the Shortbow before the nerf… if you don’t mind dealing only 3/4 to 1/3 of its damage.

I use dual fists now. Its viable for my “face palms” build.
On topic, what other build. There is no other build that deal dmg for ranger in fact all i dont know why there is none.
Just compare this : dual swords on ranger and dual axes on war. Its so, same , lolz.

pets are useless in pvp for the most part especially in wvw

This is just plain wrong! Rangers pets dominate in WvWvW if used correctly. A ranger can easily solo supply camps that other classes struggle with. The pet can attack things out of sight and out of range…like siege engines.
You do have to be smart about spec’ing though. You try to play glass cannon you are gim-p.

the pets are decent, but the ranger weapons are kittening kitten now. all were kitten before except for the SB. now all of them are. don’t even say that there are other good builds for ranger. THERE AREN’T → any kitteny build you have made is outdone by another class now (especially greatsword). SB was the heart and soul of rangers; our saving grace. good thing i have been playing with other classes…….this is horsekitten

@Ninjaknight,

That video is ridiculous. I watched a full minute and didn’t see a single person dodge roll. In fact, most of them tried slowly running away from him, or standing still and casting an aoe. Anyone can make a video of killing bad players with a sheer burst spec.

Despite all the people who say spirits are terrible, I think a spirit boon build is viable for spvp. I found it to be pretty much on par with condition trap build-more survivability and healing but less damage. Also brings great group buffs and the elite skill can change the tide of battle.

I guess SB will still be ok for this build, although the damage was terrible before so taking a further step down is a bummer.

Note, I don’t think any Ranger build even before SB nerf was really optimal for tpvp compared to the synergy other classes had, so I’m just talking about a casual spvp build that can do well.

Why is everyone bashing on shortbow users when in fact, you should be bashing on the developer that either (1) made a coding error or (2) stated a flat out lie in the patch notes, or (3) did a combination of both?

It’s supposed to be a “fix” to a “graphic bug”, not an intended nerf. Stop bashing on people that are angry about this, whether they are right (which I think they are) or wrong. If you want to use a different weapon because YOU believe it’s viable, by all means please do so. Just because other builds/weapons can ALSO be effective doesn’t mean the SB should be flushed down the toilet. If you want to promote versatility, defending an ERROR that nerfs the SB’s damage by 20-30 percent won’t help you, because it just means you that’s a(nother) weapon you WON’T be using anymore.

Buttercup.5871:

Why is everyone bashing on shortbow users when in fact, you should be bashing on the developer that either (1) made a coding error or (2) stated a flat out lie in the patch notes, or (3) did a combination of both?

It’s supposed to be a “fix” to a “graphic bug”, not an intended nerf. Stop bashing on people that are angry about this, whether they are right (which I think they are) or wrong. If you want to use a different weapon because YOU believe it’s viable, by all means please do so. Just because other builds/weapons can ALSO be effective doesn’t mean the SB should be flushed down the toilet. If you want to promote versatility, defending an ERROR that nerfs the SB’s damage by 20-30 percent won’t help you, because it just means you that’s a(nother) weapon you WON’T be using anymore.

Thank you for having common sense. Fixing a bug shouldn’t equal to a nerf. If they said they are nerfing the attack speed of SB, then fine, I dont think most will be this angry but no where in their statement did it mention “nerf” so why are we hit with damage reductions? It also broke QZ futher reducing our DPS which should have been tested by Anet before making the patch live.

So it looks like you started making a list of weapon viability, then when you got to shortbow gave up on the list and turned the post into another shortbow QQ thread. Most weapons for ranger are crap. Everyone flocked to shortbow because it was the closest thing to OP a ranger could get, and now all the bandwagon players are crying.

Meanwhile practically every other weapon is a complete joke. I want them to buff other weapons, not the short bow.

Mmmm… Sword and Dagger… /drool

Pipedream, I know, but I have a dream! That one day our 1 ability on Sword will not root a Ranger to the ground! That the Ranger will move around equally to the other professions and not remain at the back with a bow! I have a dream.

@deepwinter
You can turn off auto-attack and manually activate the chain and it works awesome. Just like hammer Guardians get a little extra benefit from turning off auto-attack so they can manually place their glyph on the last strike of the hammer chain.

Back to the subject at hand…

If you guys were relying solely on shortbow and not weapon swapping at all, I’m glad that shortbow got nerfed. Bad and lazy players are going to be forced to either adapt or reroll.

You guys want some viable, non-shortbow Ranger builds? Try longbow and axe/torch with traps. You have tons of control, good damage output, and your pet will be able to put out significant damage with your opponents constantly crippled, immobilized, and chilled. If you need more mobility, go with longbow and sword/warhorn.

I imagine if you spent some time looking at the synergy between certain traits and skills, you’d be able to come up with some awesome builds on your own instead of just googling “best ranger pvp build” and copying whatever comes up.

@nldixon, When auto-attack is disabled on the 1 ability, the chain will still root/snap a player to the ground. Try moving while “spamming” 1 and you’ll notice your character “sticking” to a spot.

The whole point of taking auto-attack off is so that the chain isn’t “spammed”. You use slash and kick, then hold off on the leap until you want to use it. It also allows you to dodge a little easier since you’re not stuck in the animations constantly.

Is it ideal? No. Does it work? Yes. Maybe my statement that’s it “awesome” was a little overzealous. It’s not awesome, but it’s definitely “pretty good” or “better than auto-cast”.