Guild Wars 2

i am such a moron never thought about the bow rangers tell this post in a thread i started…Hello, I am someone who’s disappointed at the balance of the ranger compared to other classes. I am specifically annoyed that we don’t have that many viable ranged builds with bows.

I noticed that the last few videos/builds you’ve shared are sword and axe.

Do you have any viable ranged builds to share with me? I am particularly interested in dungeons/WvW
I think the bow ranger right now is bad…. ………. i was so blinded by defending the melee ranger .that bow rangers never crossed my mind . yes i can be that stupid some times. considering most rangers are using the bow has there main weapon . and since i have never really bothered with the bow i have no clue what you guys mean when you talk about rangers not being balanced well i will walk away with my head down wondering why i never paid attention to what everyone was talking about… sorry again guys let the hate on me begin

I can understand that, ranger was my first lvl 80, and in the end I had the axe master achievement (5k kills), kinda half way into short bow (~1.8k kills), and very low long bow kills (~150), I had more kills with torch than LB, so make a build around LB never crossed my mind.

I think Shortbow is a fine weapon, maybe a little skilless to use, but a good weapon- If you are not using it for Melee stacking dungeon bosses that is.
Longbow however… shrug

I’ve always played a bow ranger and thought they were fine. I’m just now forcing myself to only play with offhand combinations and find a lot of areas lacking. Being able to dps at range is a huge thing, tracking targets in stealth with rapidfire, stealth on demand, these things can be priceless when you know to use them properly.

People fail to realize that longbow is more a utility than a direct damage weapon. I personally use Sword/X or Greatsword for my primary damage output, and longbow for the knockback, AoE cripple, stealth (easy for disengages/repositioning), vulnerability stacking, and mainly use the longbow autoattack for tracking escaping opponents who try to LoS me.

I’m running something like that to be a bow ranger
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNUQJATVjEqUzaJL+rQ1agAhY5QQ77xXmLXXsyJLA-T1BBABAcJAi4JA4p6Pmp8zRlgBqLQn9HIFAMrBA-w

Is a 4/4/6/0/0 with SB/LB bleed, Krait, passive condition remove, but you can change to 4/2/2/6/0 for active condition remove, plus fury and one sun spirit with Balthazar.

What LB brings to your build that an axe/torch for example wouldnt bring, besides the range?

I know about Axe/Torch, and use this for PVx too. It’s pretty good set and I like a lot of Axe/x.

But LB it’s useful. This is (oblivious) more oriented to who is looking for a long range fight. LB Share two traits with SB (prime condition weapon) and it give to you a good set of utility’s skill in a swap weapon move:
1 burst skill to stack vulnerability and bleed (can shot twice before swap again);
1 stealth chance (to finisher and escape)
1 control effect (useful to save a friend or yourself)
1 AoE (moral effect, cripple and bleeding rain);

I did try this combination on PVP and did like a lot too: LB/SB, same trait, Krait Rune, Celestial/Rampage accessory.

Viking Jorun.5413:

People fail to realize that longbow is more a utility than a direct damage weapon.

LB is the traditional DPS weapon, and short ones are the Ultility. The ninja-combat-tricker. Why you think it is good to “snipe with a pistol”? Longbow, usually, used to be the long range and DPS variant.
Short/Combat bows are more for agile/skirmish way of fighting. Less range, less dps, but fast and have many trick.

And about the right useage…

• Targeting within zergs are bad.
• Autoaim is rubbish…
• Stealth on LB doesn’t working (for me) most of the times. Even have delay on this short stuff…

RoyalPredator.9163:

Viking Jorun.5413:

People fail to realize that longbow is more a utility than a direct damage weapon.

LB is the traditional DPS weapon, and short ones are the Ultility. The ninja-combat-tricker. Why you think it is good to “snipe with a pistol”? Longbow, usually, used to be the long range and DPS variant.
Short/Combat bows are more for agile/skirmish way of fighting. Less range, less dps, but fast and have many trick.

And about the right useage…

• Targeting within zergs are bad.
• Autoaim is rubbish…
• Stealth on LB doesn’t working (for me) most of the times. Even have delay on this short stuff…

Targeting is important within zergs , even though your zergin as a Ranger who has mainly Single target damage. you;ll need to pick your targets Wisely , if your using Piercing arrows you’ll need to target about 5 people deep to get the most out of it.

Agree Auto aim is not very good , but if your just learning to play and still use a clicking method auto aim is a god send, so you don’t have to keep clicking but i’d also suggest try to learn to use your 1,2,3,4,5, and hot key R to the pets f2 or a mouse side button.

stealth on the longbow normaly misses at realy short range it doesn’t seem to pick it up and the auto attack can sometime de-cloak you if you swap weapon (with you melee set on auto making you auto attack loose stealth when you don’t and it to end prematurely.)

the longbow 3 is best used at the 300 yard mark between middle and short range this gives you some kiting space to move behind or to the flank avoiding any spam Aoe Circles.

… I’m far not a beginner.
What mostly uses the stealth and other skills unuseable/failing is the autoaim.
Even if I turn back for a second to not conflict camera angle degree limits of shooting, it can easy send it to CD instead of proccing, so there goes my chance to flee.
The best when I’m cloaked up in end of fort wall, but someone at ~1200 range manages to pull me down to their zerg. lal that.

6/0/2/6/0 wrecks with LB… especially in wvw. You’re rocking 2500 attack with food coupled with air/ fire sigil’s, pin point accuracy (want to LB get read the wind) at 1500 range… and you think our damage is bad? You can roll up on glass cannon in a valley below you and three shot them before they know wtf is going on. Not to mention very short cd on stealth/ kb and a decent aoe cleave.

SB is an amazing wep with the right set up as well, (what i play) Get to flanking with earth/ agony sigils.

Not trying to hate but seems like you didn’t even try… play 2 games get wrecked then come here by chance?

Dolt.2731:

6/0/2/6/0 wrecks with LB… especially in wvw. You’re rocking 2500 attack with food coupled with air/ fire sigil’s, pin point accuracy (want to LB get read the wind) at 1500 range… and you think our damage is bad? You can roll up on glass cannon in a valley below you and three shot them before they know wtf is going on. Not to mention very short cd on stealth/ kb and a decent aoe cleave.

SB is an amazing wep with the right set up as well, (what i play) Get to flanking with earth/ agony sigils.

Not trying to hate but seems like you didn’t even try… play 2 games get wrecked then come here by chance?

Can I hear more about this WvW SB build? I take it you roam? What tips do you have?

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fNQQNAV8fjEq0yaNLGsw1aABhaZAMvtjhUoFYmAVQFrkC-TlyAABWoE85DCAAm/u4CAEjuBjU/ZjjAwO7P8kyvtfAAkCAmpRA-

This build is a build for shortbow focused to crit for bleed stacks. Its really simple to take in hand. The sigil on sb helps covering the bleeds stack you put. Also, i suggest to not blow all your bleed stack at once, the enemy might be able to cleanse it thus lowering your dps alot.

NOTE: you reach 70% crit with fury.

RoyalPredator.9163:

… I’m far not a beginner.
What mostly uses the stealth and other skills unuseable/failing is the autoaim.
Even if I turn back for a second to not conflict camera angle degree limits of shooting, it can easy send it to CD instead of proccing, so there goes my chance to flee.
The best when I’m cloaked up in end of fort wall, but someone at ~1200 range manages to pull me down to their zerg. lal that.

I focus on tPvP, man. As for your issues, you need to learn how game mechanics work. Abilities with cast times such as the Engineer’s Magnet ability will track you into stealth, and you need to be aware of your surroundings. Longbow, at the end of the day, is a utility, while melee will always be a ranger’s main source of DPS. The same rule applies to all ranged weapons with very little exception across every class, not just ranger.

I totally agree with everything you’ve said Viking, except when you’re using condis for damage, we don’t have a good melee condi weapon. Hell, we barely have any condi weapons at all.

When my Hunter’s Shot hits the target but I’m not getting the stealth (not even Revealed), or it just goes CD meanwhile the opponent is straight ahead, I’m not the one who should learn game mechanics. Believe me, I know those.
Including stealth-tracking, which is same bugged when the after-casted spells and clones just go hit u, for undodgeable 8k bursts even.

The scripts not working well enough, thats all.

Fluffball.8307:

I totally agree with everything you’ve said Viking, except when you’re using condis for damage, we don’t have a good melee condi weapon. Hell, we barely have any condi weapons at all.

Ranger is a bit different from other classes as far as Condi goes. Everything about our class, actually, seems to aim to achieve something any other class can do easily in a roundabout way. Sword/Torch is a fantastic condition setup, and the ability to upkeep fire shield makes the burning a more passive application, with torch giving you one active. Don’t devalue the leap finisher on Sword, and learn your combo fields. In all honesty, to be an effective ranger you need a better appreciation for combos than engineers and elementalists.

Oh I definitely don’t devalue the leaps on both swords. But we don’t have condition weapons per se. We have utilities, and then power weapons that apply conditions in specific scenarios. I guess that’s good versatility. Or semantics.

Kilger.5490:

I’ve always played a bow ranger and thought they were fine. I’m just now forcing myself to only play with offhand combinations and find a lot of areas lacking. Being able to dps at range is a huge thing, tracking targets in stealth with rapidfire, stealth on demand, these things can be priceless when you know to use them properly.

If you have a playstyle that works, please show where I can see your playstyle so I can learn.

I only learn anything and I mean anything, by rote – I have to do it over and over.

If I can’t see an action, I can’t usually imagine it or find it on my own – there are many like me ergo that lack of skill in GW2.

I don’t lack skill on what I have finally created but I want not to die as much as I do – and to do that I have to see others like you play on youtube, see the builds and then copy and tweak…