Couple DPS questions
First off, does the sword’s autoattack beat pistol whip for DPS? The windup on that thing is killer.
Secondly, does unload spam with a berserker setup significantly outpace the shortbow in damage against single targets? Logic dictates it should, but I always feel incredibly underwhelmed when I bring out the dual pistols.
Yes, I believe the sword’s autoattack beats pistol whip after the nerf. The utility of the pistol whip of course, is that it has a stun/daze.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Unload
That’s 808 damage in 1 3/4 of a second, compared to
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Trick_Shot
which will hit around 2 times in the time it takes for you to channel unload. Theoretically Unload should do over twice the dps of the shortbow’s autoattack but remember that trick shot bounces the arrow between foes, so you could get 2 hits on a single target with one trick shot in the right situations (such as bounce arrow between ranger and pet). This would make the dps between the two very close.
Unload definitely does more single target damage than just the shortbow auto, but the shortbow also gets cluster bomb, and unload can only keep itself going for so long. I’m curious if anyone has done any math to find out if it’s really worth switching to pistol x2 during boss fights with all those things taken into consideration.
unload has pro’s and cons
1 of the big CON is retaliation :
you basicly do 8 shots in less then 2 seconds : if your target got retailation (guardians /eng /mesm) you will take back 8 × 370-420 = arround 3000 damage /unload chain
meantime shortbow got more damage /hit so retailation efect will be low
Retailation -Damage dealt depends on the level and power of the retaliation’s source. At level 80 this is: 198.45 + (0.075 * Power)