Guild Wars 2

Hello!

So I’ve been playing around with a build that I like to call the “Armoured Nuker”. Now, I know full well that bow-warriors get a lot of grief. Believe me, I get called on it at least once a day. That said, barring all the negativity, it is a build that I have enjoyed playing immensely, and that I know can be improved further and I am eager to call on the experience and knowledge of this community to do that.

This character is primarily designed for WvW, though I do believe it to be viable in PvE and probably PvP too. It’s WvW role is mostly anti-zerg and siege (defence and offence).

It has heavy armour and high toughness for survivability. This, combined with good power and precision gives a surprisingly good DPS.

It has a number of AoEs, and it absolutely thrives where walls are concerned. The F1 skill, Combustive Shot has a large area of effect when fully charged, and when used, it is great at area denial. I’ve also noticed that the 2nd and 4th Longbow skills can hit people on walls, even when behind the “lip”. You can test this… target an NPC archer on the wall, one you usually cannot hit due to obstruction with the #1 skill. The centre #2 arrow will hit it, as will the #4 arrow.

Here is the link; http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?fJEQNBjODbkpj6O77wxDORDkEUYH9Q46DEAJ7hdA-TVSBABUcAFsa/hHuIAmpE8KlfR8EAwT3Dmq/AwBKIAwBwv/mv9NY5lXe5lXuf/93f/93SBExyI-w

The Rune choice (Brawler) I am not 100% on, though I really like the combination of power and toughness that it provides. Additional feedback on this is requested.

You will notice that it runs with lots of signets – this is to get the most out of the “Deep Strike” trait where you get +40 Precision per unused signet. The crit chance is nice, but I do feel that this could be a lot more group-friendly. Please give advice on this too!

It uses no Grandmaster traits at all. For this build I just didn’t find them that useful. I could be wrong, so please do give me your thoughts on this, and the trait choices as a whole.

Fire and Air sigils on the Bow trigger often thanks to the high crit value, which can be boosted to 89% with Fury.

10% of the Toughness is converted into Power thanks to Armoured Attack trait, hence my choice of a hybrid of Knights and Berserker gear.

Another note on trait choice, I went with Arms over Strength, both for the precision boost but also because it has a 33% chance to cause Bleed on a crit (and you will crit very often), and cause +10% damage to bleeding foes.

The Defence line was chosen for the toughness boost for survivability, which meshes nicely with the Armoured Attack minor trait, and the additional regen depending on adrenaline level.

The two Tactics traits are pretty self explanatory for the two Longbow boosting traits it provides.

The secondary weapon set I am still experimenting with. X + Horn seems to the best way to go, though I am not convinced on the choice for primary. I personally prefer axe as it does more damage, and the vulnerability it’s #2 skill does is a nice boost. This build has very little in the way of condition damage to make the bleeds from a sword worthwhile.

Signet of rage can be switched for the Battle Standard, though I decided that generally the passive adrenaline boost it provides is nice with the F1 skill or additional health regen when saved up.

I also often switch out the Signet of the Dolyak for Balanced Stance, especially if not running with a zerg for swiftness. You can also sub one of the signets for a banner (I tend to choose tactics for the regen and heal). All this swiftness and the boon duration from the Tactics line means you can function handily as a scout and builder / repairer for running supply.

A couple of notes;
My character currently only has exotics, but otherwise the gear is equipped as noted in the build. Please keep that in mind for the below statistics.

1. attack crits for about 600 per arrow, meaning 1200 damage per shot.
2. is a serious shotgun blast, and likely the most undervalued. It fires 3 arrows, each arrow can crit for 1-2k, and they piece AND they cause burn. It is worth bearing in mind that each arrow can hit 5 targets, allowing for 15 hits total.
   #3’s AoE is probably the best skill this build has, frequently critting for 5-8K per target. I have hit for over 10K with full (exotic) berserkers gear.
3. is an AoE blind, and like #2 can sometimes hit people hiding back on the wall.
4. skill is often overlooked, but the immobilise is fantastic for hunting down runners, and the bleed gells nicely with the trait choices for quick burn down.

I’ve only just switched to Sigil of Fire and Air, but I like them so far. Not much data to offer on those just yet. With the high crit values, they do proc often though.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to reading your feedback, and I will see you on the battlefield!

• No condition removal.
• Brawler + Healing Signet is a bad match.
• Longbow really isn’t a ranged weapon, or at least it isn’t most effective at max range.
• Signet build without Signet Mastery probably isn’t all that ideal either.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJEQNAT3ejMd03ZdHOewJiAogCblvAnCAdNRyXoFA-TVTBABUcAFu4IAolSDRVX5hLAAlqUExDA4KlZ4p7ZhDCAP7PEpSQAOQBBAQAu5NzmtZbezbezDdoDdoDdoN0huzduzdWKAmUGB-w

From what i can see, this build would lose out in terms of sheer DPS to LB rangers, staff eles and GS mesmers.

The reason it loses out is that warrior LB only has one good burst, the #3, all other skills are bad. you may also mis-interpret the auto, it is not 2x 738 it is 2x 369 = 738. Meaning in reality, even melee range damage on ranger LB (ranger LB auto does less damage the closer you get, and at close range it is really weak) will be higher.

The axe is your bread and butter in terms of burst, but the axe itself is not a ranged weapon, therefore this is not a ranged nuker. It is a burst build, but it does not have the sheer range, the sustained nor burst damage to be classified as a ranged nuker.

The only ranged nuke you can do as a warrior is rifle setups, as it has long range, and multiple strong bursts (volley + killshot).

Regarding PvE:
IMHO bow is more a condition/ hybrid weapon then it is aDPS weapon.

Rifle will function quite nicely for ranged builds and it only needs 1 trait in the precision line. Not 2 in vitality line where you’d be able to get some nice AOE buffs. (when running bow on my hybrid I do not spec for bow, as it is used mainly for fire&blast and pin down in a hybrid build, skill 1 is quite underwhelming…
The whole defence line is well really not that good in PvE, you’ll only have use for armored attack and most other traits are way to defensive
If you will be at range all the time i’d go scholar for rune
If fighting partly melee “rune of the pack” could be helping your team with an occassional buff next to your FGJ.
I do not understand why you’d need to spec in armor to stay alive at range.

I do agree with this build being usefull in WVW though, but it would be a fringe build
I think your zerg would have more use for you in the front line with hammer or mace..
When close or in the zerrg your damage is less important then staying alive. going 5 points deep for a 10% dmg is well… not too wise.

Generally my warriors run in WvW:
- Rabid /Rampager/Sinister (0/5/5/4/0) SS & LB (roaming) Hybrid
- Cavalier/zerk/Zerk (2/6/6/0/0) Hmr/AM (zerg melee) or Hammer M/M
- PVT/zerk/Zealot (0/3/5/6/0) Hmr/Rifle (zerg, (melee) support) shout heal build
- armor/weapon/trinkets (build) weapons (function) general discription

Awesome responses, thanks guys!

Forgive me, I had meant to call it “Armoured Nuker”, not “Ranged Nuker”. Complete brain fart on my part! I acknowledge that Ranger LB and Elementalist (i’ve had no experience with Mesmers so cannot comment on them) can likely out damage this class at range, but are, comparatively, glass cannons.

Sagramor.7395:

• No condition removal.
• Brawler + Healing Signet is a bad match.
• Longbow really isn’t a ranged weapon, or at least it isn’t most effective at max range.
• Signet build without Signet Mastery probably isn’t all that ideal either.

Granted, some conditions can be a problem, but with the toughness I find that most DoT’s don’t actually hurt that much, and snares / slows are not an issue thanks to the range. Fear is the only condition that can cause issues.

As to the Brawler / Signets – this is where I really needed some more experienced opinions. I chose the signets (without mastery) as you get the +40 precision for each unused one. Is this the best use of these utility slots… very unlikely. Good point to the Brawler / Healing Signet though, Brawler is a left over from when I used to use Healing Surge so it could do with a second look.

shadowpass.4236:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJEQNAT3ejMd03ZdHOewJiAogCblvAnCAdNRyXoFA-TVTBABUcAFu4IAolSDRVX5hLAAlqUExDA4KlZ4p7ZhDCAP7PEpSQAOQBBAQAu5NzmtZbezbezDdoDdoDdoN0huzduzdWKAmUGB-w

This is interesting, less power and toughness for a little more ferocity.

I do have to ask at the use of a shield though? Also I am guessing that you opted for more adrenaline generation and burst recharge for more uses of the F1 LB shot? Am I missing some other nuances to this?

Prysin.8542:

From what i can see, this build would lose out in terms of sheer DPS to LB rangers, staff eles and GS mesmers…

The reason it loses out is that warrior LB only has one good burst, the #3, all other skills are bad. you may also mis-interpret the auto, it is not 2x 738 it is 2x 369 = 738. Meaning in reality, even melee range damage on ranger LB (ranger LB auto does less damage the closer you get, and at close range it is really weak) will be higher.

It was your post that made me realise I had misstitled the topic, again sorry about that! It’s a class archetype I frequently use in games. Deflock on Shadowbane, Dwarf Hunter on WoW, Caldari Battlecruiser on Eve, etc.

As to the auto shot, nope it does average at around 1200 per “use”. 2×600; two arrows, and each arrow definitely strikes for that much. The sheer rate of attack is also fantastic with the two sigils I have chosen, as I said they tend to proc very frequently. Note those stats are criticals though, normal damage is roughly what you estimated but such strikes are rare thanks to the high critical hit rate this build has.

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

Regarding PvE:
IMHO bow is more a condition/ hybrid weapon then it is aDPS weapon.

Funnily, the very first edition of this build was condi rather than power / precision but I found it to be entirely underwhelming. The F1 hit had a really nice DoT (especially with Flame Legion rune), but I find it far more effective as an area denial as people tend to just roll out of it (in WvW), and the #3 skill can hit like an AoE truck with Power.

All that, and your notes about the rifle aside though, I don’t tend to do very much PvE anymore now that I am lvl80. These changes could be useful if other people wanted to use it in such circumstances though!

PaxTheGreatOne.9472:

If you will be at range all the time i’d go scholar for rune

I do not understand why you’d need to spec in armor to stay alive at range.

I do agree with this build being usefull in WVW though, but it would be a fringe build
I think your zerg would have more use for you in the front line with hammer or mace..
When close or in the zerrg your damage is less important then staying alive. going 5 points deep for a 10% dmg is well… not too wise.

Point taken with warriors being good in melee – I do not deny that, it’s just not my personal preference is at range. I like being able to hold my own where walls are concerned, but in a field zerg battle I tend to stick close to the commander. My armour and AoE’s shine then too as I can get a lot of multi-target hits off in quick succession, and remain standing at the end of it.

I did also try a rifle in an earlier build, but its lack of AoE’s made it even less viable. Rifle could be good for roaming, but honestly my 1v1 skills are atrocious! As to being armoured to stay alive at range – that’s because of all the marks, DoT’s, area of effects being thrown around, especially at the top of a wall. I tried a full Zerk build and died All. The. Time. without really contributing much. Now with staying power, I can usually keep people off rams until they are destroyed or reinforcements arrive.

Now that I know the build isn’t a “Range Nuker” but an “Armored Nuker” I’d make some changes. Presumably you’ll be using F1s from both the LB and Axe. That being said I’d drop everything in Tactics (arguably a waste) and max out Discipline for Burst Mastery. Maybe to a spread of 0/3/5/0/6.

As for making a case for Shield, since you’re running full Signets you have no Endure Pain so having the block is nice. Also Shield Bash helps a lot in setting up Eviscerate.

actually. it may “do” 600 pr shot, but the tooltip is calculated using this formulae

weapon strength x power x skill coefficient / 2600 (heavy golem armor)

while ingame damage is done like this:

weapon strength x power x skill coefficient / targets armor

if targets armor is lower then 2600, then you will hit higher.

Weapon strength is the average of the minimum and maximum damage listed on the weapon. So for a warrior longbow the formula would look like this:

Exotic LB damage= 920 to 1080
The median damage is 1000
we will say our warrior got the power listed in your build, 2766
the coefficient for warrior longbow auto is: 0.66

1000 × 2766 × 0.66 / 2600 = 702 damage

however if we assume min and max values, the skill damage would fluctuate between this (every skill use, the game randomly decides the “power” of the weapon within the set limits. for the longbow that means you can get weapon power between 920 and 1080)

920 × 2766 × 0.66/2600 = 645,96
1080 × 2766 × 0-66/2600= 758.30

meaning your actual damage fluctuation PR shot is between 645 amd 758 damage

HOWEVER, i think there is a oversight in how the wiki displays the coefficient. If we go by how normal multi hit attacks works, the actual coefficient would be 0.33

taking that into consideration:
920 × 2766 × 0.33/2600 = 322
1080 × 2766 × 0.33/2600 = 379

which seems more realistic.

however, we shall assume that you do not do critical damage, but however that the target has lower armor, say 1800 (light golem i think)

920 × 2766 × 0.33 / 1800 = 466
1080 × 2766 × 0.33 / 1800 = 547

so there you go. It may be a oversight from anets side that warrior LB have better coefficients then it probably should ( per shot that is), however i think its the wiki that is wrong (if not you get damage that somehow does not rhyme with my experience with LB)

“but with the toughness I find that most DoT’s don’t actually hurt that much”

armor doesnt reduce damage of conditions

for the purpose of your build.. maybe cavalier stats and sigil of intelligence (why not couple it with sigil of fire) would be suited to your taste. you can drop the big bow 3 bomb after switching weapons or get that guaranteed crit on eviscerate and still remain comfortably tanky. i find precision to be a generally bad stat for warrior because of the abundance of fury and things like sigil of intelligence or guaranteed crit on burst trait.