Guild Wars 2

Given that I am running full berserker’s with 2x Fire, 2x Hoelbrak, 2x Strength as my armor runes in a 10/30/0/30/0 shout build, what would give more single target DPS: A longbow with a superior sigil of strength of a a rifle with a superior sigil of stregth? While people swear by the rifle, I’m kind of wondering how the rifle could out DPS the longbow given that it can give you two stacks of might every 3/4th of a second and a nuke on a ten second CD.

I’m pretty sure the sigil has an internal cooldown, so the rifle should give you more single target damage.

Long Bow all day, whether it be single target or multi-target.

1.) Better auto attack and short bursts (Fan of Fire, Dual Shot)
2.) Better DPS in terms of burst skills
3.) Immobilize that can link into GS combos or w/e
4.) Arcing Arrow is way more reliable DPS than Volley
5.) Might stacking with team mates on top of good damage

These aren’t theories, they’re simply advantages that Long Bow has over Rifle.

@Proven even if the sigil of strength has an internal cooldown (of two seconds according to the wiki) wouldn’t you still get more out of the longbow since you get two attempts at getting a might stack with the longbow as opposed to one attempt with the rifle? Or am I missing something with volley because I think that is where most of the DPS of the rifle will come from…

@Schwahreit, those were the things that lead me to believe the longbow is superior but I see lot of people saying that rifle has superior single target DPS so it made me wonder.

On a related note, if say I’m not going with superior sigil of strength, what sigil(s) should I use to maximize DPS?

One major factor to consider is that the (un-Traited) Longbow merely has 900 Range whereas the Rifle has 1200 Range by default.

Oglaf.1074:

One major factor to consider is that the (un-Traited) Longbow merely has 900 Range whereas the Rifle has 1200 Range by default.

Yeah that is the sad part about the longbow trait for extra range. You have to spec into it unlike Rifle which makes Longbow unappealing to use sometimes.

Brutalistik.6473:

Oglaf.1074:

One major factor to consider is that the (un-Traited) Longbow merely has 900 Range whereas the Rifle has 1200 Range by default.

Yeah that is the sad part about the longbow trait for extra range. You have to spec into it unlike Rifle which makes Longbow unappealing to use sometimes.

The Trait comes with a few hidden bonuses though:

Dual Shot becomes a guaranteed Projectile Finisher instead of the 20% chance by default.

Fan of Fire becomes a Projectile Finisher.

Smoldering Arrow becomes a Projectile Finisher.

Oglaf.1074:

Brutalistik.6473:

Oglaf.1074:

One major factor to consider is that the (un-Traited) Longbow merely has 900 Range whereas the Rifle has 1200 Range by default.

Yeah that is the sad part about the longbow trait for extra range. You have to spec into it unlike Rifle which makes Longbow unappealing to use sometimes.

The Trait comes with a few hidden bonuses though:

Dual Shot becomes a guaranteed Projectile Finisher instead of the 20% chance by default.

Fan of Fire becomes a Projectile Finisher.

Smoldering Arrow becomes a Projectile Finisher.

Still you have to trait for it >.<

It is just a 10 points Trait anyhow. As I run a Shout build, I might as well pick it up. Either that or Empowered.

It makes the Longbow a lot more effective than the Rifle in any form of team setting – having all your basic attacks being some form of Finisher is quite nice.

Longbow it is. Wait, what sigil should I use?

Atreus.5429:

@Proven even if the sigil of strength has an internal cooldown (of two seconds according to the wiki) wouldn’t you still get more out of the longbow since you get two attempts at getting a might stack with the longbow as opposed to one attempt with the rifle? Or am I missing something with volley because I think that is where most of the DPS of the rifle will come from…

Dunno, how many foes can you hit in a line (Crack Shot)? So 2 attempts with a bow vs X attempts (where X is how many foes you can line up) with a rifle.

Personally, I use Sigil of Fire in Rifle since unloading in a huddled group tends to get you 2 guys at least + an AoE that hits the whole herd.

I use both Rifle and Long Bow. I just swap out the weapon/traits when I feel like using one or the other. You get bigger DPS with a Rifle if only because it responds better to power and crit damage. Bow feels like it responds better to condition damage since you can make all your flame arrows into projectile finishers or firing through a poison field for poison bolts (I’m Asura) which means better condition poison/burn tics.

Better to just use Power/Precision/Crit damage for huge burst potential with Arcing Arrow, really.

Atreus.5429:

Longbow it is. Wait, what sigil should I use?

I’ll say sigil of earth to add some bleed damage when you crit.

Atreus.5429:

@Proven even if the sigil of strength has an internal cooldown (of two seconds according to the wiki) wouldn’t you still get more out of the longbow since you get two attempts at getting a might stack with the longbow as opposed to one attempt with the rifle? Or am I missing something with volley because I think that is where most of the DPS of the rifle will come from…

On a related note, if say I’m not going with superior sigil of strength, what sigil(s) should I use to maximize DPS?

Basically, you shouldn’t be depending on Sigil of Strength. It’s an extra bonus, but it’s not something you specifically aim for. You want to blow people up using a high Power build? Take the Rifle. The Longbow is a well rounded weapon with combo finishers for support and two skills dedicated to control. But the Rifle blows people up.

Oglaf.1074:

Better to just use Power/Precision/Crit damage for huge burst potential with Arcing Arrow, really.

OR pretty much all your Rifle skills including the burst.

I know it can certainly come in handy, especially when you just need to shoot a target vs trying to aim at the ground (hey there big event bosses).

both have their place in my heart.
longbow= AOE
Rifle= Single target

Traited rifle with CD reduction and piercing shots all the way.
Superior single target dmg, vulnerability, cripple and knockback (all on short cooldown), instead of one meager immobilize on 30s CD that longbow provides.

If you’re good enough to position yourself in combat to pierce 2 or more enemies, then rifle outshines longbow in AoE also.
I run a 10/20/0/20/20 GS/rifle + axe/warhorn support dps in full berserkers and I rarely go down.
The only time I equip my longbow is to take out the burning oils above a gate in one of the fractals.

^
True.

Rifle shoots faster than longbow. Longbow misses a lot on moving targets. Sure Arcing Arrow is really nice damage, but its slow and misses alot when targets are moving. Volley is far superior damage-wise on single targets.

I played the mentioned 10/20/0/20/20 GS/rifle + axe/warhorn build for month and its awesome.

The best part of the build:

Just swap rifle to longbow for siege battles or large zerg vs zerg fights. All you have to do is swap weapons via inventory + switch tactics trait 1 to longbow.

And when you get bored both from rifle and longbow, just switch your ranged weapon with greatsword + switch crackshot to forceful greatsword.

Its actually 3 builds in 1.

If you are no good at AoE attacks then you just crippled your DPS with longbow and rifle gets the advantage for time (DPS is damage over TIME and wasted TIME kills DPS, obviously).

Which is one of the main reasons i like a rifle backup, because I use it noob-style the same way others use the speargun with spear. Because I overall suck when it comes to the finer points of archery

What trait do you take in the 10 points of the strength trait line?

A traited rifle does alright damage. In my experience any ranged weapon is subpar to melee weapons. My guess is that rifle does more damage than longbow. But the difference is small.

It’s highly recommended to trait into either rifle or longbow, depending on what you use. I chose for longbow because of the utility it offers. I find that more useful in party and WvW while my melee weapon offers me damage.

As for stats, any stat helps you on both weapons to do more damage. I have like no condition damage, and longbow does great. As for sigils, i like the fire sigil in ranged weapons. It’s well worth it if you have a good amount of crit.

Rifle all the way just for those long-range snipes around 13k and up (WvW)

why did you guys necro this thread?

I’ve played both pretty extensively. Honestly Longbow is a infuriating weapon..

1. It all but requires a major trait in a sucky tree. Building traits around it is a nightmare because you either go for a shout build (oh please mister theif kitten me with my own 20 stack of might!! <333) or you ignore it and use it like some kind of melee weapon (lolwtfanet? why arent longbows just 1500 range by default across the board?)

2. Arcing shot and Combustion shot are slow. So slow that if you fire at max range, the zerg fight could be over before the shots even land! Don’t even get me started on trying to solo people with it…

3. Pin down is painfully slow projectile speed too, and if you spec Rampager stats, its a critical must land.

4. You’d think LB would be a condition weapon but its not. o_0

And yet, when everything hits like it should…it is GLORIOUS.

Currently because my gear is Rampager, Im using rifle. If I had the $$$ for zerker I might consider LB…maybe. I’m so done agonizing over this!

Oglaf.1074:

The Trait comes with a few hidden bonuses though:

Dual Shot becomes a guaranteed Projectile Finisher instead of the 20% chance by default.

Fan of Fire becomes a Projectile Finisher.

Smoldering Arrow becomes a Projectile Finisher.

kinda sad though. the wiki states them as “bugs” hopefully these wun be fixed.
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stronger_Bowstrings

Bugs:
Dual Shot’s damage is reduced by 10%.
Dual Shot and Fan of Fire become guaranteed projectile finishers.
Smoldering Arrow’s radius fact becomes hidden.

LB better for overall DPS and area control.
Rifle is really for sniping purposes and singling out people, with highest burst simply because you can lead with killshot for a nice and fast 9k hit and quickly finish them off with a KD → HB or w/e you are running. I did find rifle to be better at killing thieves since u can force a thief to blow all their dodges and killshot them when they stealth. I’ve picked off running thieves stealthed at 1400~ range all the time since the shot follows. It’s the only way to figure out where thieves are hiding, a bow won’t do that.

Zsymon.8457:

What trait do you take in the 10 points of the strength trait line?

Whichever one you feel like. My guess would be III most of the time, unless conditions become a problem then maybe II, or he wants to jump off a cliff, and switches to I.

And seriously…

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You res a 4 month old thread to ask that vague question? I have a feeling you may never find out, especially if you were asking the OP, who hasn’t posted in two months.