Guild Wars 2

Whats the general opinion on Longbow and Rifle?
Wich of these is better as a secondary ranged weapon?
Rifle seems to be all about Volley while Longbow seems to be more fun duh

Carry both in your bag and swap when needed, they are situational. If I was you and had to get one before the other, I’d get the rifle first and then the bow.

I personally love the bow. It IS more of a AoE weapon but deals good damage when you are up front with your 2 skill. Also has the only combo field the warrior has.

I prefer the bow, I tried the riffle in beta, but when the game launched I picked up a bow and haven’t gone back.

In most cases you’ll be fighting mobs, in which case the AoE of the bow will be much more useful, and as cloudysan said, it’s the only combo field we have, and can give area might using just the bow itself.

Versus a single target is where the riffle would be more useful as it does a bit more damage, but I’ve heard complains of the burst skill being incredibly easy to dodge because of the crouching animation. Though the bow isn’t completely useless against one target as it does have an immobilize and a blind.

In PvE and WvW the bow will most likely be a lot more useful. I can’t comment on it in sPvP though.

Rifle = single target
Bow = multiple targets

Bow better for WvW, Rifle better for dungeons (specifically bosses)

main character.5460:

Rifle = single target
Bow = multiple targets

Bow better for WvW, Rifle better for dungeons (specifically bosses)

I wouldn’t necessarily say that the rifle is better than the bow in dungeons…at all actually. The bow can set up the fire combo field (which also ticks for a lot of burning damage) not only can you set up the fire combo field but you can maintain it just about permanently on a dungeon boss fight. The combo field will work wonders for your allies and remember that dungeons are a team effort. Get the trait stronger bowstrings by putting 10 points into tactics and every attack from the bow becomes a combo finisher…and the auto-attack shoots two arrows per attack…that’s two combo finishers in your fire field per autoattack…that’s HUGE. The bow is capable of dealing more single target damage than the rifle, especially in dungeons. But a lot of that damage may be coming from your teammates comboing in your fire field. Also, setting down a combo field, then switching to Sword/Axe is amazing. Leap through it, whirl in it, back at full adrenaline, hop out, place another combo field, rinse & repeat. Arcing shot can also hit for pretty big damage too and is on a low cooldown…and grants AoE might in the fire combo field.

But yes, bow is more AoE and rifle is single target damage. Hoewever, in something like a dungeon fight when fights are prolonged and stationary, AoE will start to do more single target damage than a single target damage weapon…wierd huh?

main character.5460:

Bow better for WvW, Rifle better for dungeons

Other way around.

I use Dual Axes and Great Sword , don’t even need a ranged weapon as I can do a AOE damage with both of them. I also can catch my enemy after immobilizing them.

I think it’s largely up to your personal preference. Personally I just like the way my Charr Warrior sounds when he unloads with his Rifle.

Longbow I only find useful in dungeons as a support build with condition damage, and during wvw sieges I guess. Rifle is just a better weapon, especially if you trait for it in Arms.

Argis.7049:

snip

Rifle is flat out more effective for bosses.

1,200 range, Aimed Shot’s 5 second cripple on 10 second cooldown, Brutal Shot’s 5 stacks of vulnerability for 10 seconds on 15 second cooldown, and a conal knockback for additional mobs with Rifle Butt. Versus…

900 range slow projectile, a blind and a (25 second CD) immobilize that are made worthless by Unshakable. Yes, the Adrenaline skill does a combo field, but elementalists are walking Fire Fields and I’d rather save my Adrenaline for +12% damage.

Psybunny.8906:

Carry both in your bag and swap when needed, they are situational. If I was you and had to get one before the other, I’d get the rifle first and then the bow.

^ This. I carry both too. If I need pure damage against my target (when i cant get close enough to use my GS) I use the rifle.

If it’s an AoE fight or a fight that conditions would rock, I go for my bow. I rarely run with elementalists, and when i go, my friend prefers Earth over Fire, so the fire combo field of the bow does wonders in AoE fights.

Longbow for zergs in DEs and Rifle for single target mayhem (Bosses, Champions, WvW, etc.).

rifle is probably one of the best ranged skill sets in the game. bow for sieges or pve for targets that don’t move or are very predictable.

rifle for zerg and roaming around WvW, why because it has great burst and single target damage, AoE are easy to dodge out of and the bow just doesn’t do the burst damage compared to rifle, it might have better conditional damage because burn>bleeds but bleeds are more consistant with rifle compared to a skill on 6 sec cooldown with the bow. in those 6 sec you can apply 8 bleeds auto with rifle compared to 2 sec burn with fan of fire. i also don’t like bow skill arcing arrow is super easy to dodge in WvW. i only use bow to AoE people on walls or siege equipment when defending, other than that it gets out classed by rifle skills which provide better burst and conditions like vuln and bleeds, bonus 15sec knockback skill is gravy.

main character.5460:

Argis.7049:

snip

Rifle is flat out more effective for bosses.

1,200 range, Aimed Shot’s 5 second cripple on 10 second cooldown, Brutal Shot’s 5 stacks of vulnerability for 10 seconds on 15 second cooldown, and a conal knockback for additional mobs with Rifle Butt. Versus…

900 range slow projectile, a blind and a (25 second CD) immobilize that are made worthless by Unshakable. Yes, the Adrenaline skill does a combo field, but elementalists are walking Fire Fields and I’d rather save my Adrenaline for +12% damage.

Longbow has 1200 range and EVERY shot is a combo finisher when traited. 2 combo finishers per autoattack. That is all I have to say.

A multi-projectile finisher has the same effect as a projectile finisher, but only 20% chance of applying the effect.

so its not 2 combo finishes its one at 20% so one every 5 attacks on average. not very impressive when the only field you can apply yourself is your burst.

actually i think what argis refers to is the hidden mechanic in Stronger Bowstrings trait that causes dual shot and fan of fire to become 100% chance projectile finishers.

ah wasn’t aware it was traited that way.

think what OP is trying to say is our ranged weapons suck. Any one can see a kill shot clear as day. Volley is easy to dodge as well since 2nd shot screams volley. Normal shot is pretty crappy bleeds do nothing since fire speed is slow. 7 1/2 second bleed and rifle fires slow so by the time you get 3rd shot off first bleeds ending. cripple shot does same dmg as auto atk but with cripple which is still crappy imo. Vuln shot is ok but dmg is low on it as well. Rifle butt is OG but misses fairly easily.

Bow fires slow with crap dmg on auto. firefan is ok since it does buring but dmg is weak sauce. Arch shot is slow but has great dmg and its aoe. blind shot is ok and so is the immbol. Brust is a fire field which is great. So only good skills on bow are brust and arch. 4/5 skill are utility which isnt really needed but its there. Arch shot also dosent cause burn dmg but it says it does.

War range is terribad. If they removed the bleed on rifle auto and made it 600-700 atk it would be great. criple could go up to 500, and vuln to 500 aswell. Because really no one likes doing 300-1k dmg with rifle at lvl 80 with full zerker gear.

I would pick rifle over LB any day though.

Yeah warrior ranged is totally bad, total lack of dmg etc.

On a more serious note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ru_rXq2LYg0

Yes hes getting some big 21k crits on underleveld… still 21k this translates to 12-16k on avarage glass 80?

kitai.7638:

actually i think what argis refers to is the hidden mechanic in Stronger Bowstrings trait that causes dual shot and fan of fire to become 100% chance projectile finishers.

That is exactly what I’m referring to. Thank you.

Dignity.1389:

Yeah warrior ranged is totally bad, total lack of dmg etc.

On a more serious note: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ru_rXq2LYg0

Yes hes getting some big 21k crits on underleveld… still 21k this translates to 12-16k on avarage glass 80?

Not sure exactly how it works but my level 52 warrior has 3600 defense and 30k health in WvW. Unless there is a damage bonus for attacking lower level people i’d say level has no effect on damage. Just gear.