Guild Wars 2

Hi All,

For PVE I was wondering what type of build would use the short bow: power or condi?

What about the same question for pistols?

Thanks!

As far as I can remember…

Short-bow is best kept and used as an alt weapon. But if you have to, condition (?), stacking bleeds off cluster bomb.

P/P again from what i can remember is best ran as power. But it’s not really a good set. Or I don’t know, maybe it’s better now…

P/D can be power, but I used to run it as condition.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZUQNAqYVn8lCtNhlOB+NB0zhFZCTbPNFCAzdwQYK0bLMG+QA-TlyCQBI7IAcQVEQpSwH8AAAwJAoe6Dqoyvwt/gnUvZCHCgAAIAGv4FPxLem5Mn5MnZCBoYNA-w

This is my shortbow P/D condi build, it’s probably my main roaming build atm as it deal with a lot of the cheese on other classes. It’s nothing too fancy, basic idea is to use traps to set up sneak attacks and immob people in caltrops and poison fields. P/D is all about kiting, where sb is more of a chase set here, it provides excellent mobility and it’s amazing to see people die in 4-5 ticks when you get enough poison on them.

Shortbow is still a pretty good swap for power because of infiltrator’s arrow, but honestly the staff D/P acro build is way more potent if you don’t need to worry about being the fastest person in the field.

SB can be run as Power or Condi. Power would focus on Detonating Cluster Bomb which can be spammed for surprisingly high burst. Condi SB would focus on Choking Gas or Detonated Cluster Bomb as desired.

P/P can be run as Power, Condi, or Hybrid and is really quite flexible. Power P/P is the most common, focusing on Unload for ranged power burst and Might stacking. Condi P/P uses Bounding Dodger from Daredevil to gain on demand access to Sneak Attack while Hybrid combines aspects of both.

P/D can also be Power, Condi, or Hybrid, but Condi is seen most often. Cloak and Dagger into Sneak Attack is the bread and butter for any build along with Shadow Strike for gap opening and really good torment/damage coefficients.

Both ranged weapons work as condi or power or both. Thing to remember is pistols are generally single target and shortbow hits multi targets with each strike.

Assuming I go full Condi with D/D and SB, does anyone have a good solo PVE build?

Thanks for the responses thus far!

Sarnax.8357:

Assuming I go full Condi with D/D and SB, does anyone have a good solo PVE build?

Thanks for the responses thus far!

The build I posted earlier can solo champs pretty well, I’d change it to this if I wanted D/D tho;

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZUQNAoYVn8lCFOhlOBOPB0zhFqiaO77+wvLBCgDw7CShtD-T1hHQB0T9n3t/gAV+JO9BB4JAURlgA4UAEAABgZOzycmJEgi1A-w

The basic rotation is to dodge like a loon. Save your ini when on bow, only put down one poison field and dodge through it for the poison stacks. Try to save your signet for when you’re on bow, and remember that weapon swap and steal will both give you back a dodge so don’t use them on full endurance. When on daggers, save your endurance and use 3 more, and remember it’s a whirl finisher like your dodge so it works the same way with poison fields. If you do it properly, you’ll be able to stack condis and dodge pretty much constantly. You can use bandit’s defense instead of caltrops against stun heavy encounters, and take root works better than daggerstorm against bosses.

If money is a problem, full dire also works fine. Runes of the rata sum might be worth a look if you’re not asura, the poison field from that with your whirl finishers will work well and the runes are dirt cheap to boot.

^ The sigils of geomancy are probably a bit redundant, but, yeah, that’s a good build for PvE. With some minor tweaks, it works in WvW as well. Also look into Adventurer runes for an extra endurance gain on heal paired with the Withdraw heal skill (this skill can’t be interrupted). If you want more power, you can start mixing in Rabid and Carrion trinkets to replace trailblazer to build up more precision or power respectively without sacrificing ALL defensive stats. Something like this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vZAQNAoYVl0MhCnYpTwoJw/ELUF1c139hfXPFAHg3FkCbHA-TBiWAB4q+jxKVqTZFenBgsVCiq+g8eEAAs/AA-e

Generally change out the number 8 utility depending on the situation. I.E. shadow refuge if i need a stealth bail or group stealth, slow or torment venoms for mobs, etc. I feel like the extra power really takes advantage of the fact that you are physically hitting a lot with this build, so why not pump those hits up as well as your ticks, as well as opening up the possibility of backstab and heartseeker not being useless.

Shortbow is generally a good utility weapon or a good weapon for combo field with poison (weakness or poison projectiles).

P/D works well with that because it is a strong ranged option for condi.