Guild Wars 2

Implying X is either warhorn or dagger.

I plan to pair a melee with a longbow, with knight’s gear.

I wouldn’t use longbow…….as for sword or greatsword it depends…are you running dungeons,spvp,wvw?

Spvp sword is a must have especially once you mastered the techniques

WvWvW greatsword is a definite yes because of the mobility and utility

In dungeons it depends on which type ….although sword does more dmg then greatsword I tend to use greatsword on harder dungeons like coe for the defense.

As for warhorn or dagger…again it depends on the situation/personal preference. I like the warhorn on zerker builds in pve as the #4 skill can deal around 4-5k dmg with sigil of air over time while your dealing massive dps from sword and a pet like jaguar.

Dagger should be used for spvp. Can be used for wvw as the cripple is nice but its really up to you. Dagger is better then warhorn when it comes to strictly pvp.

tip: sword, shortbow, and greatsword are our greatest weapons in that order. Even though I did say greatsword is a must for wvw thats mainly if you like to roam a lot and to get to your targets faster …sword can still be a dominant weapon as you have war horn for speed buff plus all the cripples so your pet can stay on target.

Both are great at what they do . The GS is an utility and defensive weapon with moderate damage , while the Sword is a solid versatile weapon with evades, mobility skills and pet support (autoattack root and might for pet) that can go well with both damage and condition builds , while leaving 2 more slots for offhand weapon skills .

It entirely depends on your play style , although i think the GS is a bit more stable and easier to learn

if you’re planning on longbow;
with a GS you can use swoop to bridge the icky damage distance (a bit tougher to do with hornets sting)
with a sword you can hornets sting>about face>monarchs leap to get back some range

i used to run sword+warhorn/axe in dungeons and the root gets horribly annoying

imo GS pairs well with longbow and sword/x pairs well with shortbow