Guild Wars 2

So after playing my thief for many hours I sit at level 47 and have come to a conclusion that I find every weapon set the thief has pretty kitten boring…..

except for 1…the shortbow

So I ask you guys this, is it possible to make a good PvE/WvW build for the shortbow as its focus with some other supporting weapon set. (more leaning towards PvE)

Please don’t mention other weapon sets that are “better”, I love my shortbow and want to use it as effectively as possible

A bit odd that you find the SB the most exciting…but it’s by far the strongest option we have as a secondary set. Depending on what you were doing with it, you could use it as your main I suppose, it just won’t be anywhere near as effective as anything else…aside for P/P really.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fYAQNAV8alcmCOHdy9E+5Ex2jeKUeqfAn9Mi6VB;TsAg0CnoqxUjoGbNuak1ssYAxGDA

This is pretty much it, focus on kiting with shortbow, dodge a lot to stack mights, for ranged/unkitable mobs pistol whip them, works well in WvW too, where you can pick up 50% falling damage or might on dodge depending how you play. Lots of hit volume leads to quite decent heals, and signet of agility for extra dodges and conditions removal.

Shortbow happens to be my favorite weapon for the thief as well, and I use it almost exclusively in PvE. I’ve messed around with a lot of trait/utility setups, but this happens to be the one that complements my playstyle:

Deadly Arts (0) – N/A
Critical Strikes (30) – Furious Retaliation, Critical Haste, Executioner
Shadow Arts (0) – N/A
Acrobatics (20) – Power of Inertia, Vigorous Recovery
Trickery (20) – Uncatchable, Bountiful Theft

Utilities:
Withdraw, Shadowstep, Shadow Refuge, Signet of Shadows

The build relies heavily on dodging and mobility. You will almost always have swiftness, and when you don’t, the Signet of Shadows will make up for it. Acrobatics line combined with all the vigor will never leave you short of dodge rolls. Caltrops upon dodge ensure your enemies get cluster bombed before they even reach you in melee range. Hide in Shadows works as well, but Withdraw has so much more to offer in this setup. HiS has a decent immobilize which does help, but the instant heal from Withdraw + the evade + vigor every 15 seconds is amazing. Bountiful Theft is a craazeh trait. Steal boons from bosses and give them to yourself and all your allies + more vigor.

Oh, and as alternate weapon, I use a D/P. Blind field is amazing in PvE (not to mention the on demand stealth when you’re getting your kitten beat up or when you need to immobilize your target), Shadow Shot gives you pretty good target uptime, auto-attack obliterates everything Heartseeker hits like a truck combined with Executioner.

I think SB is a great weapon for thief!
It’s probably the hardest to use well imo.

I run a SB/SB setup with a mobile build.
Something like
10
0
10
20
30
I’m still learning to use the short bow as fluid as one can use daggers and pistols.

Thanks Guys! I felt like i was going to get flamed for this but I got some great feedback.

Glad to know im not the only SB lover

SB Thief can easily own in WvW D/D Eles, P/D Thieves and D/D ones + you will be really fast running supplies by using SB and S/D combined ^ ^ in PvE is quite useful… u can tank a lot of bosses, go for it

Shortbow benefits a lot from high initiative regeneration, because you can very easily turn initiative into more damage or more evasion.

Try a build like Invincible Sword Princess, which has a ton of initiative gain.

• Full Zerk gear in PvE; pretty much any kind of offensive runes and sigils are fine (Fire is really good, though).
• You can swap Signet of Shadows or Signet of Agility for other utilities in a group setting.
• Get in the habit of actually activating your signets to get the good active effect or extra init.
• Sword/Pistol is a good second set for bow users because you interrupts and you can “tank” with Black Powder.

I play with SB and S/P running full venoms with all of the traited venom bounses including venom share. I also took a Trickery Trait making steal more useful for the group where it gives fury might and swiftness. wearing full soldiers set for as much resiliance as possible. I have considered using clerics instead of full soldiers but have yet to try it.

Anyone else find it weird that the SB damage trait is in the stealth tree while it has 0 built-in stealth?

And I wish it had some way of doing single target damage. Stacking poison and cluster bombing something in the face is sadly the best damage output.

A little off topic but not completely – what do you think about trying to use SB in a more support type build, especially for the spammable blast finisher

Sepreh.5924:

A little off topic but not completely – what do you think about trying to use SB in a more support type build, especially for the spammable blast finisher

Its the only reason I use a short bow now a days. Don’t get me wrong I’m not knocking the short bow at all, things amazing. I just don’t have it as a second weapon. But it by far has the best blast finisher in the game.

I once saw a SB Thief in WvW who’s really good at using a SB making him hard to catch, shadowstepping everywhere and shooting cluster bombs in stealth. Very annoying and very effective for harrassing but it didn’t really made a lot of damage.

In PvE, shortbow is fun kitting mobs around your Caltrops and Choking Gas.

Yup, SB is about harassment in Wv3 and laying down combo fields. I run
D/D to finish them off.