Guild Wars 2

As the title say, it is?
Because every time i’ve some skill lag and i don’t know if my bow really shoot or just the skill button keep blinking doing nothing, the auto attack is poor, so if im not going to be able to use my skill i think is better to switch to something else.

Its useful for blasting combo fields and creating a fire field to stack might for your group. Outside of that I would probably not use one. There are much better choices.

Rifle traited Piercing is a better pick if you want to have ranged capabilities but ranged piercing in general is only effective in zerg fights if the other members in your party also consist of ranged classes and you are focous burning the same targets using call targeting. Then it is really strong. Thus you can put a warrior in a party that has staff eles and rangers and have good synergy.

Bow on the other hand is mroe of a situational weapon in zerg fights and is not good as good a as the rifile becasue it doesn’t pierce. The #1 skill on the bow may be better than the #1 skill on the rifle but its single target only thus it is no good for zerg fights.

Also be aware that if you do chose to use a rifle or a bow you also need to be able to melee so your options are Hambow, Hammer/Rifle, Bow/Rifle (Sword/Mace/Warhorn) Or axe/warhorn on your other set. Out of all of them the sword/warhorn is probably the best followed by a sword/mace for extra CC.

If you want to use a ranged weapon thus don’t expect to be hammer training because it will suck without mobility in WvW.

In a pug vs pug zerg fight where two zergs are fighting on one lane and engage in a range battle. Rifle is a better weapon for killing.

Longbow is a better weapon for pushing because red circle = bad. Plus, people tend to not stay together. They prefer to spread out so that they don’t get hit by AoE.

In organized raids, you want melee weapons.

runeblade.7514:

In a pug vs pug zerg fight where two zergs are fighting on one lane and engage in a range battle. Rifle is a better weapon for killing.

Longbow is a better weapon for pushing because red circle = bad. Plus, people tend to not stay together. They prefer to spread out so that they don’t get hit by AoE.

In organized raids, you want melee weapons.

I would say not really in practice because 900 range is too short, remember the enemy zerg will have a lot of players who can hit you from 1200 or higher, if you have to go 900 you will take a lot of damage or possibly eat the same fields they are putting down that you are attempting to put down. A solution to this is to trait the bow for 1200.

But there are a a few other traits that are better picks than that. Lung capacity is one reduced shout recharge. Empower allies is another and passive shake it off. All in all I would take lung capacity and 1 of the other 2 master traits over a 1200 range bow trait. And now that Rifle piercing as a 10 point adept trait it would be better to but 10 in arms and pick up the other traits in compassion with healing shouts.

So your theory is a good one but in practice not as good of an option. There are other professions like Eles, and Necros that can efficiently already lay down AOE fields it would be better just to leave that to them.

Warlord.9074:

runeblade.7514:

In a pug vs pug zerg fight where two zergs are fighting on one lane and engage in a range battle. Rifle is a better weapon for killing.

Longbow is a better weapon for pushing because red circle = bad. Plus, people tend to not stay together. They prefer to spread out so that they don’t get hit by AoE.

In organized raids, you want melee weapons.

I would say not really in practice because 900 range is too short, remember the enemy zerg will have a lot of players who can hit you from 1200 or higher, if you have to go 900 you will take a lot of damage or possibly eat the same fields they are putting down that you are attempting to put down. A solution to this is to trait the bow for 1200.

But there are a a few other traits that are better picks than that. Lung capacity is one reduced shout recharge. Empower allies is another and passive shake it off. All in all I would take lung capacity and 1 of the other 2 master traits over a 1200 range bow trait. And now that Rifle piercing as a 10 point adept trait it would be better to but 10 in arms and pick up the other traits in compassion with healing shouts.

So your theory is a good one but in practice not as good of an option. There are other professions like Eles, and Necros that can efficiently already lay down AOE fields it would be better just to leave that to them.

To make up the lack of range. You can certainly move 400 range forward, use Combustion shot and safely retreat back with a leap skill or running back manually. You aren’t staying out of the zerg for very long, just enough to shoot one combustion shot that will push the enemy back because red circles = bad. Plus, if you are hiding in the back, no one is going to notice you shooting one combustion shot in a zerg. Combustion shot has one of the largest, if not the largest, aoe radius in a 7-10 second cooldown. By the time an ele readies a second meteor storm, you already have shot 3 Combustion shot. Combustion shot will push enemies back even further because red circles = bad. So all of the flaws you mention do not exist.

I have used both, I have tested it and it works. But remember, this is for the pug vs. pug zerg fighting each other on a lane like a tug of war. Melee weapons, preferably hammer, is best for organized raids.