Guild Wars 2

As you all know Longbow has been hit with quite a crippling nerf. No more on demand dodges with Combustive Shot/Bursting Momentum, Arcing Arrow damage got nerfed highly, and Pindown now has a lengthy animation. The longer animation honestly as I have been playing it isn’t a huge deal. It is actually advantageous in some cases as it allows you time to pan your camera to your target instead of instantly aiming it behind you awkwardly. However Longbow is still buggy with some of the obstructions and skills missing for no reason as you may notice in the video.

In my opinion it is still a good setup, I use the sigil of energy to somewhat offset the loss of Bursting Momentum. Definitely isn’t as strong though as it was pre-patch.

Here is the video and build. The video is nothing special, just me testing out how my build as weathered the nerf storm as well as trying out new combinations. This isn’t a finalized build of any sorts, more like a preliminary one although it is very close to being finalized with more testing.

http://gw2buildcraft.com/calculator/warrior/?8.0|1.5i.h17.0.0.0|3.5i.hz.d19.0.0|5g.79.5g.79.5g.79.5g.79.5g.79.5g.79.d16.d1c.d1c.d1c.d1c.d1c|3v.d1c.2s.d13.3s.d1d.2s.d19.3s.d1c.2v.d19|0.p6a.u29c.0.f6|16.1|5x.6h.6i.6c.0|e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGoPk9RhqDI

I didn’t really bother min/maxing as I have ferocity on all of my gear.

Traits

I went 0/25/30/0/15 as my trait setup. Other possible setups with this build are 20/0/30/0/20, 0/25/25/0/20. 20 in Strength is honestly still very good. Reckless Dodge is amazing, an extra 1.5-2K HP, Bursting Momentum is OK but obviously not like it used to be and 10% extra GS dmg + % damage per boon. Also you could try out the vigor on stance use, or just have 25% extra flat movement speed instead of DoTE.

However I found the arms variation to be slightly better (although really in the end it is preference). Greatsword CD is great for escaping, stacking alot more might easily (although sporatic and short-lasting at times, however it is easy to get 25 stacks in a zerg vs zerg).

I just cant get rid of Spiked Armor, it is amazing against Thieves, GS Guardians, Mesmers, Rangers and Engineers. However if you don’t like it Last Stand and Defy Pain are excellent choices as well.

I also have higher crit chance as opposed to the Strength variation, which is great for proccing on crit sigils. The condition damage is a nice added bonus. Also you may have noticed I went Furious Reaction instead of Rending Strikes. Rending strikes doesn’t stack a lot of vuln on a target and is hard to keep sustained. I’d much rather have the longer fury uptime and vigor.

Sigils

As for sigils, the combination of Fire + Air on the Greatsword is really nasty. It adds in most cases an extra 2.5-3K damage if both proc simultaneously. It literally makes Bladetrail hit like a truck and the same as Whirling blades. Not to mention the fire sigil is AoE which is great. I could of elected for might stacking sigils, however might is more for increased sustained damage over time where as Fire + Air provides that instantaneous burst that can be the difference between an enemy living and dieing, attacking, or fleeing.

I have not tried Fire + Air on the Longbow, although I would imagine it would be just as deadly and good for putting ranged pressure on certain classes. However I elected to go for the Energy Sigil (this somewhat makes up for the loss of Bursting Momentum) and the Sigil of Perception (an extra 250 precision helps my Air + Fire go off a lot more often). You could replace it with a might on swap sigil, for a perma 6-9 might after the first 20-30 seconds of a fight. The might on crit sigil can give you around a perma 4 stacks of might provided you stay aggressive. However I prefer the extra precision.

Runes

As for runes I elected for Hoelbrak, Strength runes would be a no brainer however I feel that I need to be able to deal with conditions more than ever. So I run Hoelbrak + the Lemongrass for lots of - condition duration. Lyssa runes are still decent, however against condi builds you need to time it more which means you may lose out on swiftness. Melandru runes would also be amazing, and are probably better if using if using the strength trait variation as you have limited might stacking.

Utilities

As for utilities, the usual nothing special. Berserker Stance is awesome, although you could replace it with SoS for extra endurance/condi removal. I keep Endure Pain on my bar, still very useful as a stunbreaker/damage mitigator. I use Dolyak Stance, although Balanced Stance is great for the 8 sec lower cooldown and swiftness. It’s all preference and how you like to use your stability. I like to save it for stomps so Dolyak works better for me.

On another note, I will be testing out the Mace/Greatsword build as it seems enticing, and will be posting a video using that setup sometime within the next month.

Running almost same build..
But i go for 0/30/25/0/15 for furious.. I get so much adrenaline now so i can cleanse more.
Still using lyssa (so in total i have 60crit chance without sigil/buffs)because i can use GS F1 also because i get enough adrenaline, that way i almost crit all the time.

Skill: berserker stance / balance stance / and used to run endure but now bulls, i just like this skill.

Still this build works great. Not the best in pvp but in wvw i have so much gapclosing

Deleted, No comment

i’m sorry but you seem to have a reading issue.

roaming is not “pve”, and oftentimes you’ll be solo on top of that.

been running 0/25/30/0/15 myself when using GS/bow before patch, it works just the way it used to except it’s slightly less effective than it used to be. 1v2 however i really felt the drop in power from arcing arrow and the less dodges.

I am sorry but you seem to have a reading issue.

Why do you think I specific says “PVE”

I am editing this post to add WvW roaming content, and you just jump out without thinking.

If I am you, I will skip the reading issue part and just tell someone that may misunderstand the post. I am sorry but I tried to be nice.

Now I am not saying anything else, cause it is a waste of time showing you something good, and I mean just you adozu.6398.

Havent watched the video. I will tag this for later. But personally, i have noticed The changes but they are not deal breaking. ppl still dont dodge pindown anf still stand in combu field and arcing. However, i have noticed that sometimes aa and cs will sometimes not fire and still go on cooldown. or the animations will go off but the skills do no dmg the fire field on cs doesnt go off either and it doesnt say miss or obstructed either.

Since the patch I’ve been able to do a lot of testing and have came up with a finalized build.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJARTjMdUFaXImhwJagfgC9tXDtgpAQ9bk7dBA-TlCFAB6pLok9HA4BAUo6PZpEEJleCcBAcSZgDHCgFOCABAQAu5Nzm3MwQH6QH6QHaD9mD9mDdolBgZBA-w

I actually went back to a zero arms build. Yes I lose Greatsword CD and some might stacking which hurts, but overall I feel this is the best set up. I can still keep 15+ stacks of might constantly

10 In Strength gives me more raw power, Reckless Dodge which I still love to death and extra HP.

I actually use Last Stand a lot more, I like the fact that in the beginning of a fight I can immediately pressure an opponent and not worry about getting stunned and what not. Plus it is automatic and doesn’t require activation

The 30 in Discipline allows me to keep a permanent 3 stacks of might through Versatile Power. Also Heightened Focus gives me 15% extra crit chance. With fury, WvW buffs and this I can attain crit chance as high as 72-73%. This is perfect because I rarely ever use Greatsword Burst, and allows better proccing on my fire and air sigils for more DPS.

I also use Runes of Strength instead of Hoelbrak. Simply, I like the extra damage and might stacking more than the -20% condition duration.

I also switched Dolyak Stance with Balanced Stance. Simply, I like the 8 seconds of extra swiftness I get (because I don’t have perma swiftness or 25% extra movement speed). Also, the 8 second lesser cooldown doesn’t hurt.