Guild Wars 2

Discuss ideas here on how to make the rifle viable in PvP. I love the ranged playstyle (easily my favourite) but it needs some tweaks to make it more viable.

RenderBlender.8592 had a terrific idea in another thread: make brutal shot daze instead of applying vulnerability. I would also get rid of the cast time in this case.

Another obvious issue is the lack of damage from rifle attacks. The rifle just doesn’t hit hard enough to justify taking it over a melee weapon. Perhaps the bleed from the auto-attack can be replaced with higher direct damage. The rifle currently has an identity crisis as it’s caught between being a direct damage weapon and a condition weapon, and it falls short at being a viable at either.

What are your thoughts?

i like the rifle, specialy in pvp , when an thief jump in your back. knock back with 5 and hit volley. In WvW i usualy do up to 6-7k damage with volley on medium /light armors

I wasn’t aware there was a problem to fix.

Chi Malady.2015:

Another obvious issue is the lack of damage from rifle attacks. The rifle just doesn’t hit hard enough to justify taking it over a melee weapon.

Hmm, can melee weapons effectively kill things at 1200 range now?

Leo G.4501:

Chi Malady.2015:

Another obvious issue is the lack of damage from rifle attacks. The rifle just doesn’t hit hard enough to justify taking it over a melee weapon.

Hmm, can melee weapons effectively kill things at 1200 range now?

Melee weapons can effectively kill things. Period. rifle is inefficient in that regard right now.

Anyway, another possible fix would be turning the auto-attack into a chained attack like melee weapons, with the third having a short cast time but hitting like a truck.

Don’t get me wrong. Rifle is the only reason I play warrior, which is why I’d like to see it become more effective in tPvP. Right now, the only viable warrior in tPvP is the GS variety.

Ranged weapons should never match or even come close to melee weapon damage. Adding a chain attack to rifle auto attack would be imbalanced.

Melee is all about the risk of putting yourself in greater danger balanced by the fact that you deal considerably more damage.

Upsetting this balance should never happen.

Echo.2087:

Ranged weapons should never match or even come close to melee weapon damage. Adding a chain attack to rifle auto attack would be imbalanced.

Melee is all about the risk of putting yourself in greater danger balanced by the fact that you deal considerably more damage.

Upsetting this balance should never happen.

Yup.

When I mentioned melee weapons effectively taking out targets at 1200 range, I was mainly pointing out utility. If a ranged weapon could give a melee weapon a run for its money, why use the melee? You can just get off your chained auto for nearly the same damage but with continuous fire from wherever you are on the battlefield, even in a position where the melee target cannot reach.

Chi Malady.2015:

Leo G.4501:

Chi Malady.2015:

Another obvious issue is the lack of damage from rifle attacks. The rifle just doesn’t hit hard enough to justify taking it over a melee weapon.

Hmm, can melee weapons effectively kill things at 1200 range now?

Melee weapons can effectively kill things. Period. rifle is inefficient in that regard right now.

Anyway, another possible fix would be turning the auto-attack into a chained attack like melee weapons, with the third having a short cast time but hitting like a truck.

Don’t get me wrong. Rifle is the only reason I play warrior, which is why I’d like to see it become more effective in tPvP. Right now, the only viable warrior in tPvP is the GS variety.

Look up the kill shot videos where a guy hits a target for 30k, yeah really weak there. Granted ideal conditions do make a huge difference, still the riffle is a very deadly weapon on its own. Also I can already tell that your experience is limited by you listing GS as the best weapon for PvP. Most people who know the class know that GS while high in mobility is a very one trick pony and not great for PvP just because how predictable it is and how it most be set up to be of any real use.

Echo.2087:

Ranged weapons should never match or even come close to melee weapon damage. Adding a chain attack to rifle auto attack would be imbalanced.

Melee is all about the risk of putting yourself in greater danger balanced by the fact that you deal considerably more damage.

Upsetting this balance should never happen.

Point made. However, currently there is no reason to pick rifle over GS. I want range to be on equal footing with melee. How you achieve that is what I’m trying to get at with this thread.

Dyroth.5063:

Chi Malady.2015:

Leo G.4501:

Chi Malady.2015:

Another obvious issue is the lack of damage from rifle attacks. The rifle just doesn’t hit hard enough to justify taking it over a melee weapon.

Hmm, can melee weapons effectively kill things at 1200 range now?

Melee weapons can effectively kill things. Period. rifle is inefficient in that regard right now.

Anyway, another possible fix would be turning the auto-attack into a chained attack like melee weapons, with the third having a short cast time but hitting like a truck.

Don’t get me wrong. Rifle is the only reason I play warrior, which is why I’d like to see it become more effective in tPvP. Right now, the only viable warrior in tPvP is the GS variety.

Look up the kill shot videos where a guy hits a target for 30k, yeah really weak there. Granted ideal conditions do make a huge difference, still the riffle is a very deadly weapon on its own. Also I can already tell that your experience is limited by you listing GS as the best weapon for PvP. Most people who know the class know that GS while high in mobility is a very one trick pony and not great for PvP just because how predictable it is and how it most be set up to be of any real use.

The warrior really only has one role in the metagame right now, and that’s melee DPSer with GS. As much as I enjoy playing rifle, it doesn’t provide as much value to the team as swapping to GS.

No. Just no. Saying Melee is the only option for Warriors in frees or paids is the most simple minded BS ever. If anything range helps the Warrior actually deal with AoE while trading hits with AoE itself.

Warrior carries better if you do range + melee DPS. Long Bow + GS works in tPvP frees and paids. Want proof? Sure I’ll give you some.

http://www.twitch.tv/blacktruth009/b/354715505
http://www.twitch.tv/blacktruth009/b/354959878

I even have pics of good games vs. competent players in NA with Long Bow + GS. How would you know if they are competent and trying? Actually try to fight them in-game. I guarantee the people who will try to prove me wrong (such as saying BS like Long Bow isn’t viable) in this thread won’t last a second against the people that I’ve fought.

http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc413/arcfrog619/gw140_zps063fa3eb.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc413/arcfrog619/gw136_zps29ed361a.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc413/arcfrog619/gw148-Copy_zpsd0a32a7c.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc413/arcfrog619/gw131_zps8769dc13.jpg
http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc413/arcfrog619/gw145-Copy_zpsf3abbc4a.jpg

This is besides the point though, Rifle is GOD underpowered compared to Long Bow in tPvP if you actually had the balls to use Rifle and compare. It needs something such as Kill Shot going through Block.

What i would like fixed on Rifle is a stronger auto attack without the random bleed, a new 2 skill or up the dmg so its worth using, and something new on the 4 skill because the dmg is low here again.

For the auto attack the bleed could be removed and the dmg upped.
2 skill up the dmg or make it an immobilize.
4 skill make it like the rangers and make it 10 stacks of vuln and keep the dmg it has now or keep 5 stacks and up the dmg.

Because as of now Rifle is like put on for the moment when someone gets in your face and you rifle butt then volley and finish with killshot and switch to your other weapon to finish the fight cus that auto atk dmg will make you stab your eyes out.

Rifle compared to Long Bow is like..

You have more range and less AoE, but your damage out-put and utility isn’t better either.

The only thing I would even think of buffing is autoshot damage and it would be a very slight buff.

I absolutely wreck people with my rifle in WvW with GS for mobility.

Spvp? It is not good. Go axe shield/gs or a def melee team build.

I also go shield/axe/gs for farming. Put the “next chance will crit on weapon switch” on the shield or axe and enjoy critting every 5 seconds on eviscerate…permanently. I Spvp the gsword is just for mobility/aoe/mobility and to make people use defensive cooldowns, after which you eviscerate their face off.

Best weapon rune in the game for us and it is like 2 silver.

Are you trying to be a “tanky” rifle spec in WvW? Your are doing it wrong. Get scholar runes, go all beserking, take endure pain to escape with gsword from thieves/zergs, go 10 30 0 0 30 and take mobility talents. Get bullrush for one on ones (no you won’t beat exceptional people at some classes 1 v 1 with this spec, but they can’t hit level 80’s for 15 k from range either). Get the adrenaline talent that gives u a full bar, and depending on fights big or small, also use the adrenaline heal (I switch back and forth with the other heal that cures conditions). This gives you even more HEADSHOTS.

Also for those who want the bleed removed? That bleed gives us 10 percent more dmg with a gsword/rifle spec. You lose a whole 100 power to get it, but you gain crazy mobility. Add to that crit isn’t a bad stat and you just use power food instead of crit food.

If you want a tanky range class that does well in WvW this isn’t it. If you want to scream BOOM HEADSHOT like FPS doug? This is the class to do it with. If you aren’t quick on the keyboard with endure pain/gword escapes you will die a lot and this might not be the ranged class for you.

Spec right, learn to use escapes and emulate this guy when you play a rifle warrior in WvW.

Not every spec is going to be spvp viable. This isn’t just a issue with warriors. You play a warrior, you people need to stop whining like a mage.

Mosharn.8357:

2 skill make it an immobilize.

It already does that with the leg specialist trait. It’s an extremely useful skill with that trait.

Deathjester.9841:

Not every spec is going to be spvp viable. This isn’t just a issue with warriors. You play a warrior, you people need to stop whining like a mage.

It really should be though as PvP is the only competitive aspect of the game. If not, then they need to split balance between the game modes like they did in GW1.

Chi Malady.2015:

Point made. However, currently there is no reason to pick rifle over GS. I want range to be on equal footing with melee. How you achieve that is what I’m trying to get at with this thread.

And that’s where you go wrong. Range is not supposed to be on equal footing with melee.

Oglaf.1074:

Chi Malady.2015:

Point made. However, currently there is no reason to pick rifle over GS. I want range to be on equal footing with melee. How you achieve that is what I’m trying to get at with this thread.

And that’s where you go wrong. Range is not supposed to be on equal footing with melee.

You’re misunderstanding me.

I don’t mean in terms of damage, but in terms of usefulness. Right now, a rifle spec can’t provide the same value as a GS one in a PvP match. I want to see the rifle become a viable opton in tPvP.

That can be achieved without neccessarily buffing damage, although I still believe that a small damage buff is neccessary.

As I said, Warriors main feature is melee.

Range is a backup option for those situations where you just can’t melee.

Oglaf.1074:

As I said, Warriors main feature is melee.

Range is a backup option for those situations where you just can’t melee.

There is no “main feature”. Every weapon set is meant to be equally viable. I understand that won’t ever happen because there are simply too many variables to balance, but that’s how the game was designed in theory.

Well, I disagree.

I don’t get it. Rifle 1 with a bleed spec is the highest single target ranged dps in the game. Whats the problem?

With my build and gear I do 3.4k damage per shot. (Direct damage and bleed damage included)

^
Necro says hi. I have both and I say there is no point in doing condition Warrior when the class scales extremely hard and best with Berserker Amulet.

Also if you don’t understand the problem with Rifle, actually try to fight competitive players in tPvP and come back to us. I guarantee you Rifle is ridiculously weak compared to Long Bow right now in tPvP.

Warrior is weak in SPvP is buffing the rifle the way to address this? Not a chance

Rifle scales better then Berserker gear. I cannot achive 3.4k dmg per shot with my rifle with direct damage but I can with condition damage. Your simply wrong saying the class scales better with direct damage.

Once again, going into sPvP and failing with a rifle has nothing to do with the rifle. Warriors are just weak in PvP by design. Thieves are a much better choice then warriors and its not because of the rifle skills. The key issue is their lack of disengage ability. Once a warrior is in, they are in. Can’t reset the fight. Look at the other strong classes, ele, theif, mesmer they are all able to reset a fight quite easily. Unless your suggesting you slap a stealth or leap skill on the rifle it will not fix any of that.

^
You’re not reading the whole thread. Warriors are fine in sPvP as I showed on my videos. HOWEVER, the true problem is Rifle gets out-classed by Long Bow and/or GS. Hell even Axe/Mace is better than Rifle.

And a “nobody” who doesn’t fight good players telling me that Thief is better than Warrior is just sad. Come back to me when you can actually prove jack because the only thing you proved is you’re a low skill casual who gets rolled by Thieves 24/7.

In-fact, I’ll tell you the difference between Warrior and Thief. Warrior plays the “carry” role much harder because Warriors put out team fight DPS better than Thief. This all makes sense if you actually tried to get good at this game, which you didn’t.

And you know why I say this? Warrior has higher AoE damage out-put and HB cleave on downed foes. The moment a Warrior downs you, its hard to get back up. Too bad simple-minded players like you can’t tell the difference between Thief and Warrior though.

And if you’re wondering where’s my proof? Scroll up. Kid. And maybe learn a thing or two from my videos.

I’ve played rifle warrior in WvW for ages. IMO the weapon is very well balanced. The lack of utility is compensated with decent single target range dps. Im using a combination of knights + berserkers/ valkyries. Rifle 1 crits for 1000+ direct dmg. Volley hits for 5-8k on average every 8 secs. Rifle 2 is awesome combined with leg specialist. Brutal shot could be either more dmg or casttime decreased.

Dont except rifle alone to be decent in 1vs1. There’s a reason you can swap between 2 weapon sets.

Schwahrheit.4203:

^
You’re not reading the whole thread. Warriors are fine in sPvP as I showed on my videos. HOWEVER, the true problem is Rifle gets out-classed by Long Bow and/or GS. Hell even Axe/Mace is better than Rifle.

And a “nobody” who doesn’t fight good players telling me that Thief is better than Warrior is just sad. Come back to me when you can actually prove jack because the only thing you proved is you’re a low skill casual who gets rolled by Thieves 24/7.

In-fact, I’ll tell you the difference between Warrior and Thief. Warrior plays the “carry” role much harder because Warriors put out team fight DPS better than Thief. This all makes sense if you actually tried to get good at this game, which you didn’t.

And you know why I say this? Warrior has higher AoE damage out-put and HB cleave on downed foes. The moment a Warrior downs you, its hard to get back up. Too bad simple-minded players like you can’t tell the difference between Thief and Warrior though.

And if you’re wondering where’s my proof? Scroll up. Kid.

Comparing a ranged weapon to melee weapons shows how close minded you are on the topic. If you need to release some nerd rage do it somewhere else please.

Ranged weapons intentionally do less damage than melee weapons because ranged weapons have higher up-time on targets than melee weapons do. Thus, comparing ranged weapon damage to melee weapon damage is pointless.

Ranged weapons should only be compared to ranged weapons, melee weapons should only be compared to melee weapons. We aren’t in WoW anymore, gentleman.

Schwahrheit.4203:

And if you’re wondering where’s my proof? Scroll up. Kid. And maybe learn a thing or two from my videos.

I think you should just accept that all the weapons are designed for different purposes…Kid.

It kind of reflects real life. When you want to quietly slit someone’s throat or take someone down in close quarters when you don’t have the room to swing around a chainsaw, you use a knife.

When you’re an infantry soldier grouped up with other soldiers in a large scale fire-fight, you want a gun.

As is, I don’t think rifle is suppose to be awesome in 1v1 because it’s so straight forward (point and shoot) which is easy to counter. The reason GS is so amazing (as you say) is because of it’s good damage + mobility. Unless you’re suggesting to put some leaps or teleports in rifle, the premise of your thread (make rifle better without buffing its damage) doesn’t make sense.

Now I did like the though of making Kill Shot non-reflectable and non-blockable. If it’s not hax for that cheating NPC Kudu, then it shouldn’t be unbalanced for us. Beyond that, rifle is fine. If you want utility and/or mobility, you picked the wrong weapon.

Leo G.4501:

Now I did like the though of making Kill Shot non-reflectable and non-blockable.

This would make Killshot ridiculously overpowered.

Leo G.4501:

Schwahrheit.4203:

And if you’re wondering where’s my proof? Scroll up. Kid. And maybe learn a thing or two from my videos.

I think you should just accept that all the weapons are designed for different purposes…Kid.

It kind of reflects real life. When you want to quietly slit someone’s throat or take someone down in close quarters when you don’t have the room to swing around a chainsaw, you use a knife.

When you’re an infantry soldier grouped up with other soldiers in a large scale fire-fight, you want a gun.

As is, I don’t think rifle is suppose to be awesome in 1v1 because it’s so straight forward (point and shoot) which is easy to counter. The reason GS is so amazing (as you say) is because of it’s good damage + mobility. Unless you’re suggesting to put some leaps or teleports in rifle, the premise of your thread (make rifle better without buffing its damage) doesn’t make sense.

Now I did like the though of making Kill Shot non-reflectable and non-blockable. If it’s not hax for that cheating NPC Kudu, then it shouldn’t be unbalanced for us. Beyond that, rifle is fine. If you want utility and/or mobility, you picked the wrong weapon.

The current problem with the warrior is that only one weapon set is viable in tPvP, and even that is debatable (I’d rather have a thief fill that role). By making the rifle fill a valuable niche, the warrior playstyle would be diversified.

Another idea:

Have the auto-attack deal the same damage as the ranger longbow. Except instead of basing the damage on range, base it on adrenaline.

1 bar = 176 damage
2 bars = 229
3 bars = 317

The rifle currently does an abysmal 155 with the auto-attack.

Kazin.2073:

I don’t get it. Rifle 1 with a bleed spec is the highest single target ranged dps in the game. Whats the problem?

With my build and gear I do 3.4k damage per shot. (Direct damage and bleed damage included)

Engineer begs to differ.

Aside from said comparison, you’re right in saying that warrior rifle is fine as it is. It hurts big time as it is. I, however, never really saw it as a skillset that “controls”, only huge damage (cheers to Kill Shot).

Chi Malady.2015:

The rifle currently does an abysmal 155 with the auto-attack.

If you’re using warrior rifle, don’t go wishing that it should have come along with more. It already has functions which are similar to CC/Escape (2 and 5) plus a high damage (KS, 3, 4, with the last one as a reason for higher damage than being a source of damage itself). So don’t go relying on your auto-attack. It wasn’t meant to be the main dish anyway.

The rifle is fine. The only thing that needs to be looked at is kill shot which has the highest one button damage in the game.

High bursty damage, quite easy to avoid if you pay attention. Rifle fits warrior’s design
That’s why warrior is so good in pve. Npcs don’t dodge. Quick death is the best form of control and support.

Kinda disagree with OP. Kill Shot alone is worth the rest of the rifle skills put together. In WvW, it just completely wrecks.

In sPvP, it can also do really well. Consider the 1200 range of Kill Shot, combined with surprise factor. You can burst a light or medium target down to 1/4 health, and follow it up with a cripple/immobilize and the rifle volley. Couple that with On My Mark for 10 stacks of vulnerability and the target really doesn’t know what hit him.

And it works out that way in almost every scenario. It turns a rifle warrior into an amazing roamer and effectively the only sniper in the game.

Check out this build called Run and Gun by a player called Taugrim. It’s dated September but still very relevant: http://taugrim.com/2012/05/30/gw2-run-and-gun-warrior-spec/

With regards to Liltaro’s comment, yes the rifle burst is easy to dodge, but playing a rifle warrior intelligently, you MUST learn how to gauge the target’s vigor bar, and only use the burst after it’s been used up.

meh. is every weapon combo supposed to be balanced for every class? no? well then i guess the greatsword should be better for warriors than the rifle.

dylanhamada.2761:

Kinda disagree with OP. Kill Shot alone is worth the rest of the rifle skills put together. In WvW, it just completely wrecks.

In sPvP, it can also do really well. Consider the 1200 range of Kill Shot, combined with surprise factor. You can burst a light or medium target down to 1/4 health, and follow it up with a cripple/immobilize and the rifle volley. Couple that with On My Mark for 10 stacks of vulnerability and the target really doesn’t know what hit him.

And it works out that way in almost every scenario. It turns a rifle warrior into an amazing roamer and effectively the only sniper in the game.

Check out this build called Run and Gun by a player called Taugrim. It’s dated September but still very relevant: http://taugrim.com/2012/05/30/gw2-run-and-gun-warrior-spec/

With regards to Liltaro’s comment, yes the rifle burst is easy to dodge, but playing a rifle warrior intelligently, you MUST learn how to gauge the target’s vigor bar, and only use the burst after it’s been used up.

Killshot is one of the easiest skills ingame to evade,who does not see someone kneel down,aiming his rifle at you…? Unless it’s your first day playing gw you will evade it in most occasions.

rifle sucks, autos are bad, adrenal is bad, 4 is bad.

Caedmon.6798:

dylanhamada.2761:

Kinda disagree with OP. Kill Shot alone is worth the rest of the rifle skills put together. In WvW, it just completely wrecks.

In sPvP, it can also do really well. Consider the 1200 range of Kill Shot, combined with surprise factor. You can burst a light or medium target down to 1/4 health, and follow it up with a cripple/immobilize and the rifle volley. Couple that with On My Mark for 10 stacks of vulnerability and the target really doesn’t know what hit him.

And it works out that way in almost every scenario. It turns a rifle warrior into an amazing roamer and effectively the only sniper in the game.

Check out this build called Run and Gun by a player called Taugrim. It’s dated September but still very relevant: http://taugrim.com/2012/05/30/gw2-run-and-gun-warrior-spec/

With regards to Liltaro’s comment, yes the rifle burst is easy to dodge, but playing a rifle warrior intelligently, you MUST learn how to gauge the target’s vigor bar, and only use the burst after it’s been used up.

Killshot is one of the easiest skills ingame to evade,who does not see someone kneel down,aiming his rifle at you…? Unless it’s your first day playing gw you will evade it in most occasions.

Take advantage of the mayhem in wvw, then plenty of cover.

Caedmon.6798:

dylanhamada.2761:

Kinda disagree with OP. Kill Shot alone is worth the rest of the rifle skills put together. In WvW, it just completely wrecks.

In sPvP, it can also do really well. Consider the 1200 range of Kill Shot, combined with surprise factor. You can burst a light or medium target down to 1/4 health, and follow it up with a cripple/immobilize and the rifle volley. Couple that with On My Mark for 10 stacks of vulnerability and the target really doesn’t know what hit him.

And it works out that way in almost every scenario. It turns a rifle warrior into an amazing roamer and effectively the only sniper in the game.

Check out this build called Run and Gun by a player called Taugrim. It’s dated September but still very relevant: http://taugrim.com/2012/05/30/gw2-run-and-gun-warrior-spec/

With regards to Liltaro’s comment, yes the rifle burst is easy to dodge, but playing a rifle warrior intelligently, you MUST learn how to gauge the target’s vigor bar, and only use the burst after it’s been used up.

Killshot is one of the easiest skills ingame to evade,who does not see someone kneel down,aiming his rifle at you…? Unless it’s your first day playing gw you will evade it in most occasions.

Kill Shot is only an opener if the target doesn’t know you’re aiming at him. Otherwise, in pure skirmish, 1v1 situations, it’s a finisher. Wait for the target to pop both dodge rolls and then use it. Cannot miss then.

Kronosfear.7548:

Kazin.2073:

I don’t get it. Rifle 1 with a bleed spec is the highest single target ranged dps in the game. Whats the problem?

With my build and gear I do 3.4k damage per shot. (Direct damage and bleed damage included)

Engineer begs to differ.

Aside from said comparison, you’re right in saying that warrior rifle is fine as it is. It hurts big time as it is. I, however, never really saw it as a skillset that “controls”, only huge damage (cheers to Kill Shot).

Chi Malady.2015:

The rifle currently does an abysmal 155 with the auto-attack.

If you’re using warrior rifle, don’t go wishing that it should have come along with more. It already has functions which are similar to CC/Escape (2 and 5) plus a high damage (KS, 3, 4, with the last one as a reason for higher damage than being a source of damage itself). So don’t go relying on your auto-attack. It wasn’t meant to be the main dish anyway.

You need to have more than one source of damage. Volley isn’t strong enough to carry all the damage (4-5k on non-glass cannons with a balanced build of your own). Auto hits for about 300-400 damage per hit, and brutal shot for about 1k. These are very low numbers, and the rifle doesn’t have much utility outside of damage. 5 stacks of vulnerability is decent, but not game-changing (I’d much prefer an interrupt). The best ability by far on the rifle is aimed shot with leg specialist. It’s great for slowing fleeing targets.

You can hit a bit harder with glass cannon, but the warrior doesn’t have any escapes so glass cannon builds aren’t an option in tPvP.

There is a reason why no top teams run rifle warrior in tPvP. It simply doesn’t have enough utility to compensate for its lack of damage.

dylanhamada.2761:

Kinda disagree with OP. Kill Shot alone is worth the rest of the rifle skills put together. In WvW, it just completely wrecks.

In sPvP, it can also do really well. Consider the 1200 range of Kill Shot, combined with surprise factor. You can burst a light or medium target down to 1/4 health, and follow it up with a cripple/immobilize and the rifle volley. Couple that with On My Mark for 10 stacks of vulnerability and the target really doesn’t know what hit him.

And it works out that way in almost every scenario. It turns a rifle warrior into an amazing roamer and effectively the only sniper in the game.

Check out this build called Run and Gun by a player called Taugrim. It’s dated September but still very relevant: http://taugrim.com/2012/05/30/gw2-run-and-gun-warrior-spec/

With regards to Liltaro’s comment, yes the rifle burst is easy to dodge, but playing a rifle warrior intelligently, you MUST learn how to gauge the target’s vigor bar, and only use the burst after it’s been used up.

Taugrim got me hooked on the rifle. I’ve long since modified his build to be more effective (IMO). However, rifle builds have disappeared from the tPvP metagame because they don’t provide any value in conquest PvP.

The problem with Kill Shot is that it’s almost impossible to pull off in PvP. And even if you can pull it off, it could still end up being a non-crit for 3k damage. It’s a solid finisher for when an enemy is locked down and/or fleeing, but it’s a seldom used ability.

dylanhamada.2761:

Caedmon.6798:

dylanhamada.2761:

Kinda disagree with OP. Kill Shot alone is worth the rest of the rifle skills put together. In WvW, it just completely wrecks.

In sPvP, it can also do really well. Consider the 1200 range of Kill Shot, combined with surprise factor. You can burst a light or medium target down to 1/4 health, and follow it up with a cripple/immobilize and the rifle volley. Couple that with On My Mark for 10 stacks of vulnerability and the target really doesn’t know what hit him.

And it works out that way in almost every scenario. It turns a rifle warrior into an amazing roamer and effectively the only sniper in the game.

Check out this build called Run and Gun by a player called Taugrim. It’s dated September but still very relevant: http://taugrim.com/2012/05/30/gw2-run-and-gun-warrior-spec/

With regards to Liltaro’s comment, yes the rifle burst is easy to dodge, but playing a rifle warrior intelligently, you MUST learn how to gauge the target’s vigor bar, and only use the burst after it’s been used up.

Killshot is one of the easiest skills ingame to evade,who does not see someone kneel down,aiming his rifle at you…? Unless it’s your first day playing gw you will evade it in most occasions.

Kill Shot is only an opener if the target doesn’t know you’re aiming at him. Otherwise, in pure skirmish, 1v1 situations, it’s a finisher. Wait for the target to pop both dodge rolls and then use it. Cannot miss then.

Unless he has endurance refill and can roll one more time

The problem with rifle is that currently it doesn’t seem to know if it wants to be a damage weapon on a condition weapon. Killshot and Volley would suggest it’s for spiking, however the basic shot deals mediocre damage and applies bleeds. If you are running Berserker gear you find yourself only using it for Brutal Shot, Volley, and sometimes Killshot. The first skill is just incredibly bland as well and could be made a combo where you fire one shot, then 2, then 3 and on the third attack much like the axe but of course dealing less damage.

The cripple could also be re-purposed, so many warrior weapons apply cripple (Axe, Sword, GS, Hammer, Rifle) having a RANGED weapon doing it as well seems fairly worthless. I would LOVE to see it made into a pull, maybe having a grappling hook shoot out and drag the target to you. Giving it a range of 600 would keep it from being to powerful but would allow the warrior to switch weapons and single out a target without having to wade into a group of enemies. I feel like a pull is something that warriors need and may actually make them more desirable in TPvP.

Essentially, I want to see the rifle turned into a weapon that specializes into damage but not so much that it overshadows Axe and GS. Imagine a Brutal shot, Pull,change to Axe/Mace, Use both vulnerability attacks, then finish with Evis. I’m sure some would consider this OP, but I have to ask how is it any different to a thief stealthing and stunning the guy in the back of a team, spiking by spamming with one or 2 skills then stealthing and getting out of there. Not to mention just like all spikes a Stun Breaker or condition removal can take the teeth out of it.

EDIT: Grammar and other such nonsense.

Putting daze instead of vuns is a nerf to pve, I agree it needs to be looked at though. Bow should be 1200 without a trait to make it more suitable for glass

BurrTheKing.8571:

The problem with rifle is that currently it doesn’t seem to know if it wants to be a damage weapon on a condition weapon.

This is a key issue. The bleed on the rifle is completely useless if you aren’t specced for condition damage (which no warrior is in PvP because it gets cleansed too easily).

Seren.6850:

Putting daze instead of vuns is a nerf to pve, I agree it needs to be looked at though. Bow should be 1200 without a trait to make it more suitable for glass

Interesting point, you’re probably right. That’s all the more reason for Anet to split PvP/PvE balance again like they did in GW1.

I’d prefer they made things like stuns and daze more useful in pve, then they wouldn’t need the disparity.

teg.1340:

I’ve played rifle warrior in WvW for ages. IMO the weapon is very well balanced. The lack of utility is compensated with decent single target range dps. Im using a combination of knights + berserkers/ valkyries. Rifle 1 crits for 1000+ direct dmg. Volley hits for 5-8k on average every 8 secs. Rifle 2 is awesome combined with leg specialist. Brutal shot could be either more dmg or casttime decreased.

Dont except rifle alone to be decent in 1vs1. There’s a reason you can swap between 2 weapon sets.

That’s about the build/gear I’m playing…Do you go for Vulnerability stacking for your one two punch?