Guild Wars 2

I mean why should i ever switch to my melee weapon in PvP, when i can do everything more effective with Longbow + Rifle? Longbow dmg is great and you can stay at range or jump around your melee opponent. If your opponent is ranged you can easily take him down with your Longbow and/or Rifle. You can also fight in a melee range for a short time with your ranged weapons, if needed.
Only time when i really need a melee equiped is when i play a bunker build with mace + shield. But other than that can some more experience PvPer enlighten me what are pros of other melee weapons in PvP?
PvP only thread, i have no problem beeing a melee in dungeons.

Hard to figure out where to start here.

Let’s start out by saying that the only remote viability Rifle has in pvp is when you have a well coordinated team that allows you to killshot people.

Other then that it is very bad.

You should try dueling competent players with this spec, and you will soon find out that you have zero defense incorporated into this spec other then utilities and traits (which is not enough in pvp).

And what do you do when somebody starts reflecting? I would have the funniest duels ever with you on my mace/shield GS spec, for instance.

Well, Rifle is not that great as Longbow is, I admit, but you can still play semi or full defensive LB/R build with great survivabiltiy and decent dmg. Or LB and whatever other weapon. I stay like 80% of the time on my LB. I have to force myself for a weapon swap. And when i do it, i usualy regret it, if i stay on melee weapon for more then 7 seconds.

But my problem with melee weapons are, that i miss like 50% of the time, if my opponents jumps around me. It’s really hard to stay in a melee and hit your enemy, if you don’t play double Sword with a bit better mobility and some range options :P You may do more dmg with melee weapons on paper, but in reality you don’t have to miss more than 20% of the time, if you want to be as effective as you are with LB.

If somebody starts reflecting i should then switch to my melee or run away for a while, depends on situation. If reflecting projectiles is the only time when i need a melee weapon i can handle that:D
Edit: Oh, i’ve found melee w useful when figting vs another melee, somethimes.

I think you should play another class

Hi Sifu,

As you know, PvP is currently only about Conquest, i.e. node control. Using a fully-ranged build means you’ll stay outside of the node most of the time, hence not directly contributing to the cap/hold/contest/decap of a node.

In fact, there are some “ranged” roles in some team compositions, so your ranged warrior could find its place there. But most players would question its profitability, i.e. the returns of investing in a warrior in a given team composition:

• There’s a lack of returns in terms of ranging, i.e. there are better classes than the warrior at attacking or providing some support from range (the point made by Eiland),
• There’s an opportunity loss in terms of node control, as the warrior excels in this area (hence the success of the hambow, tailored for this very task).

Note that, as Cygnus has pointed out, a fully-ranged warrior may also have combat issues as well. Aside from the projectile reflection (a very good point), many classes can close in on you easily, and you could end up lacking the mobility and active defense needed to deal with their attacks.

Regards.

One melee weapon is recommended, usually a greatsword or else main-hand sword+other (shield, sword, warhorn are typical choices, depending on build)

Both GS and MH Sword offer you mobility to travel faster, leave fights you don’t need to be in (to get to an objective instead of fighting in the road, for example) and can help you kite melee opponents to get the most out of your ranged weapon. While both Longbow and Rifle have damaging ranged skills and some control options, they don’t work together well enough to make up for not having a GS or sword.

Also, Rifle… isn’t all that good in PvP right now. The bleed on auto-attack would be nice, but the rest of it’s skills support a power build over condi, and it’s auto doesn’t do nearly enough sustained damage to fill in the gaps between Volley and Snipe. (I don’t remember what the Rifle Burst skill is actually called, but Snipe seems close enough) Both of those skills have the potential to deal out a LOT of damage… but are unfortunately very easy to interrupt, avoid or mitigate. Since it’s main strength is unreliable at best, it gets overshadowed by pretty much every other weapon a warrior has.

Longbow, on the other hand, is fairly good. It supports Condi and Bunker builds mostly, but has solid enough options to be alright in a power build. But it helps to have a reliable weapon set as backup… and I just mentioned how the Rifle isn’t reliable.

Grab a GS or Sword+x to replace your rifle, or grab a hammer and defend nodes, or Axe+x for some melee burst. You’ll lose the pure-ranged ideal with I admit could be a lot of fun, but you’ll find you’re much more effective in PvP.