Seems like everyone has a SB as their 2nd weapon set. Is it only for aoe tagging and escape? Is there something about it I’m missing? Is it only helpful in PvP? The #5 has such a short range it doesn’t seem helpful. And #2 is awkward cuz it’s a weak blast finisher or a stronger bleeding non-blast finisher…that moves slowly. What am I missing? I feel better having P/D as an offset for the #3 > #4 retreat combo that lets me kite and still have stealth access.
It offers a ranged weapon with good utility: built in evade, nice aoe damage and a 30 second poison (if the stay in for the duration) and a shadow step. Its, well, the safer ranged weapon rather than pistols since it offers so much. It lets the thief tag multiple enemies in an event with aoe, get out of dire situations via the evade which is spammable and gives crippled so its a two hit wonder right there, and the infiltrators arrow. It’s only true drawback is the the auto attack, it hits three people, but the scale of its relatively low-power versus its long “cast” leaves something to be desired….personally
Something that was not mentioned above is the OPness of cluster bomb spam, as a blast finisher.
I believe it is one of the only spammable blast finisher, thus you can with i.e. a warrior fire field, stack around 15-20 might on your grp by yourself.
This is a pve godsend!
great uses i have found:
*spam on fire for mass might
*spam on water field to heal your whole group
*spam on shadow field for a good 10 sec on invisibility (use your smoke screen sit on top of it, spam cluster bomb). If done right you can stay invisible a good 30-40 sec, by chaining that + SR etc.
Something that was not mentioned above is the OPness of cluster bomb spam, as a blast finisher.
I believe it is one of the only spammable blast finisher, thus you can with i.e. a warrior fire field, stack around 15-20 might on your grp by yourself.
This is a pve godsend!
great uses i have found:
*spam on fire for mass might
*spam on water field to heal your whole group
*spam on shadow field for a good 10 sec on invisibility (use your smoke screen sit on top of it, spam cluster bomb). If done right you can stay invisible a good 30-40 sec, by chaining that + SR etc.
Pistol/dagger is perfect for kiting a small number of mobs and has a stealth option from cloak and dagger. That’s about it. Shortbow has better aoe damage, a repeatable and versatile evade/retreat, a poison field, a blast finisher, better tagging in zergs, a shadowstep, and can be fired behind you when kiting. It’s way ahead of the ranger shortbow for utility and can support many different play styles. You wouldn’t want to run pistol/dagger with a signet of malice, for example.
Doesn’t P/P with ricochet trait tag better? Unload and those bullets start flying, coupled w/ a sigil of fire and I’m pretty sure it tags more than firing that cluster bomb, waiting, detonating, or the 3 bounce of the regular shot. Especially in zerg speeds when enemies get killed by the time you fire off your 2nd regular attack, or prior to a cluster bomb splitting.
Doesn’t P/P with ricochet trait tag better? Unload and those bullets start flying, coupled w/ a sigil of fire and I’m pretty sure it tags more than firing that cluster bomb, waiting, detonating, or the 3 bounce of the regular shot. Especially in zerg speeds when enemies get killed by the time you fire off your 2nd regular attack, or prior to a cluster bomb splitting.
So you haven’t really tried P/P w/ ricochet? Rate of fire is way higher than the auto attack on SB. You will get bounces and trigger crits at a much more frequent rate, which = better AOE, more tagging.
As for the poster saying tag w/ #4… lol, good luck w/ that low dmg to tag something before it dies from your buddies.
Doesn’t P/P with ricochet trait tag better? Unload and those bullets start flying, coupled w/ a sigil of fire and I’m pretty sure it tags more than firing that cluster bomb, waiting, detonating, or the 3 bounce of the regular shot. Especially in zerg speeds when enemies get killed by the time you fire off your 2nd regular attack, or prior to a cluster bomb splitting.
Yes, P/P might actually deal more damage in certain situations and be better and certain things.
But what makes the Shortbow so popular is that you don’t need to spec for it. It will work well with any build and any weapon set.
It’s also a great source of explosive finishers which is great for zerging.
We have 2 ranged weapons. One is broken, the other is only mildly beatup (because of nerfs). This game has many melee unfriendly situations that requires a ranged weapon so we don’t have many options there. XD
Shortbow also has the best blast combo in the game.
| Fort Aspenwood (NA): Sylvari Daredevil Thief Main: All Classes 80. | Please Remove/Fix Thief Trait: “Last Refuge.” “Hard to Catch” is a Horrible and Useless Trait. Fixed 6/23/15. Praise Dwayna.
well AA has more effective range than #4. if you’re in range to use poison field you’re in range to use cluster bomb….
for tagging I find AA to be safer….i use #4 when someone gets downed sometimes (and there is a chance that he would get res’d).
You don’t really play it like that. Using shortbow #4 does not break stealth so you can run into the enemy zerg and spam 4 before they get wiped. It’s essentially a type of zerg surfer build. Other weapon set can be x/d so that you can surf but I quess d/p could work as well if you are good in abusing the camera bug. Caltrops on dodge is also useful for more tagging as is the caltrops utility.
And yes, using #1 is generally safer. However, during larger blob fights, closing into the enemy zerg and using #4 should yeld more tags should they wipe. It’s a type of high reward, high risk thing, even if I hate that saying.
Seems like everyone has a SB as their 2nd weapon set. Is it only for aoe tagging and escape? Is there something about it I’m missing? Is it only helpful in PvP? The #5 has such a short range it doesn’t seem helpful. And #2 is awkward cuz it’s a weak blast finisher or a stronger bleeding non-blast finisher…that moves slowly. What am I missing? I feel better having P/D as an offset for the #3 > #4 retreat combo that lets me kite and still have stealth access.
Thief shortbow is quite possibly the most useful weapon kit in the game.
1 does relatively high multi-target damage from range – it’s great to start a fight with or to add support DPS to a fight from a protected or hard to reach location. If you have two enemies on a point, you can be dealing 3-5k damage per attack from range. That’s really effective.
2 Is extremely hard hitting. Like, you can hit 6ks on other burst classes with this if you are running assassin’s signet and berserkers. It’s great for dealing with mesmers, spirit rangers, and minion necros as well. Not to mention being a spammable blast finisher.
3 A cheap evade that can get you to a safe distance as well as a cripple. Nothing not to like.
4 Large poison field which can be comboed with Cluster bomb for Area weakness. It can also be fired from stealth without reveal.
5 Adds great mobility especially for PvP maps like Battle of Khylo, and is also very nice for open world/WvW travelling.
Shortbow is probably my favorite weapon in the game.
Thief shortbow is quite possibly the most useful weapon kit in the game.
1 does relatively high multi-target damage from range – it’s great to start a fight with or to add support DPS to a fight from a protected or hard to reach location. If you have two enemies on a point, you can be dealing 3-5k damage per attack from range. That’s really effective.
2 Is extremely hard hitting. Like, you can hit 6ks on other burst classes with this if you are running assassin’s signet and berserkers. It’s great for dealing with mesmers, spirit rangers, and minion necros as well. Not to mention being a spammable blast finisher.
3 A cheap evade that can get you to a safe distance as well as a cripple. Nothing not to like.
4 Large poison field which can be comboed with Cluster bomb for Area weakness. It can also be fired from stealth without reveal.
5 Adds great mobility especially for PvP maps like Battle of Khylo, and is also very nice for open world/WvW travelling.
Shortbow is probably my favorite weapon in the game.
I’ve been trying to use it more as I level and have found its uses lately. It’s a great tool.
The only problem I’m still having is #5. It’s got such a short range and requires a ground-target which makes it slow to use. So I’m guessing its point isn’t retreat so much as brazen attack. Popping into the fray with aoe blindness and then going to work. Yes?
there’s an option that lets you use #5 immediately. i think it’s called fast ground target or something.
Yes. Its very useful, but you sort of need to guess at the max range which can be tricky with bad camera angles. In the new balance patch they’re supposed to be adding release to cast which will hopefully help immensely. @op, once you get used to the ranges of SB, turn it on (or release to cast if it’s available at such time). Sometimes it’ll save you like binding dodge to mouse rather than using double tap to dodge.
I run 25/30/x/x/15, (for the extra initiative, but other than that, heavy power/crit build), and I can spam 6 or 7 cluster bombs that crit upwards of 6.5k on non-upleveled characters.
You are missing a lot, so here comes at short guide to thiefs and the reasons why short bow is obligatory in any group fight.
Permanent poision on a unlimited amout of targets with 4 accompanied by permanent area weakness provided by 4+2 (this is bordeline overpowerded in wvw weakness + healing reduction kills zergs), on demand spammable blast finisher with 2 (just make sure you hit those circles provided by your friends for extra pwnage, priority for this is water fields > poision fields > light fields > chaos fields > rest), on demand chainable evade with repositioning on 3, movement even if imobilized on 5, best sustainable AoE damage in the game with clusterbomb, the ability to shoot around corners with detonating cluster bomb in mid air.
Combo fields, procetile finisher and blast finisher on the same weapon!!!
In short: GET A BOW
Basically the essence of thiefs is that we get tunneled into certain weapon combos because those are way better than all the others, basically you have to take a bow or you will suffer, just as you have to take pistol dagger or you will suffer.
Consider the finisher and field options of your weapons of choice combos ALLWAYS win out in the end (especially cross class combos). I hope this helps.
Something that was not mentioned above is the OPness of cluster bomb spam, as a blast finisher.
I believe it is one of the only spammable blast finisher, thus you can with i.e. a warrior fire field, stack around 15-20 might on your grp by yourself.
This is a pve godsend!
great uses i have found:
*spam on fire for mass might
*spam on water field to heal your whole group
*spam on shadow field for a good 10 sec on invisibility (use your smoke screen sit on top of it, spam cluster bomb). If done right you can stay invisible a good 30-40 sec, by chaining that + SR etc.
*ethereal field for area chaos armor
you realise how weak chaos armour is in pve right? i get so annoyed at mesmers covering up fire fields with ill timed feedbacks/null fields
I main d/d with d/p as my secondary. However I always carry a sb when i decide to zerg, for the reasons listed above, multiple tag, aoe’s mainly, blast finisher, and on occasion the cripple skill.
Team Raven [TR](Dead)
Wu Táng Financial [Táng] – YB
Thief shortbow is quite possibly the most useful weapon kit in the game.
1 does relatively high multi-target damage from range – it’s great to start a fight with or to add support DPS to a fight from a protected or hard to reach location. If you have two enemies on a point, you can be dealing 3-5k damage per attack from range. That’s really effective.
2 Is extremely hard hitting. Like, you can hit 6ks on other burst classes with this if you are running assassin’s signet and berserkers. It’s great for dealing with mesmers, spirit rangers, and minion necros as well. Not to mention being a spammable blast finisher.
3 A cheap evade that can get you to a safe distance as well as a cripple. Nothing not to like.
4 Large poison field which can be comboed with Cluster bomb for Area weakness. It can also be fired from stealth without reveal.
5 Adds great mobility especially for PvP maps like Battle of Khylo, and is also very nice for open world/WvW travelling.
Shortbow is probably my favorite weapon in the game.
I’ve been trying to use it more as I level and have found its uses lately. It’s a great tool.
The only problem I’m still having is #5. It’s got such a short range and requires a ground-target which makes it slow to use. So I’m guessing its point isn’t retreat so much as brazen attack. Popping into the fray with aoe blindness and then going to work. Yes?
No, you would never use SB #5 into the middle of a fight. It would drop your initiative too low. It’s used as an escape or to jump between levels. For example, on Battle of Khylo you can use it to shadowstep up to the clocktower point.
Seems like everyone has a SB as their 2nd weapon set. Is it only for aoe tagging and escape? Is there something about it I’m missing? Is it only helpful in PvP? The #5 has such a short range it doesn’t seem helpful. And #2 is awkward cuz it’s a weak blast finisher or a stronger bleeding non-blast finisher…that moves slowly. What am I missing?
SB#2 is great when used as a point blank blaster and an AoE blast finisher. No other weapon set that is available to the Thief that can do that.
I feel better having P/D as an offset for the #3 > #4 retreat combo that lets me kite and still have stealth access.
IMO, SB#3 is far superior than your P/D escape combo. SB#3 is also excellent for kiting.
The one thing I don’t like about SB is the rate of fire of the auto-attack and the many pre-cast and after-cast delays when using the skills. It also never benefit having a high crit damage because you will crit less often due to these delays. Besides, the weapon set has a lot of access to condition, thus it is a favorable weapon for condition builds.
I’ve seen someone who uses both P/D + SB with condition build. He had a very mobile build and heavy condition damage.
http://sirvincentiii.com ~ In the beginning…there was Tarnished Coast…
Full set of 5 unique skills for both dual-wield weapon sets: P/P and D/D – Make it happen
PvE – DD/CS/AC – If that didn’t work, roll a Reaper or Revenant.
