Guild Wars 2

Without using their adrenal skills (I keep it at full for extra DPS and precision.) Which is better? To be honest the immobilise on Longbow is brilliant for setting up a non frenzied 100b that’s how long it lasts for. Yet I only see warriors using the rifle, a while ago I quickly compared the numbers and I remember longbow producing greater DPS because of the rifle’s distribution to condition damage. Has this changed recently or what? Responses from people who have field tested both would be great :]

In most situations LB wins in my opinion.
Reasons:
1) Pin down 3++ seconds immob can turn tides many times.
I’m looking at you, Warriors that don’t use LB vs Mossman/Captain.
2) Arcing is immune to projectile reflection and instant cast (which means you can toss it and switch to melee no need to wait channel).
3) AoE blind helps negating dmg.
4) Auto hits 1.2k *2 for me which means 2.4k per shot plus double procs on Precise/Rending Strikes, food, sigils etc.
5) Fan pierces and also applies procs thrice.
6) Bleed on pin down from new patch adds 500 DPS
7) Arcing can be cast “backwards” ie while fleeing in the opposite direction
And I’m not counting combustive+blast since you said you don’t use bursts.

The only times I switch to Rifle are when 900 range isn’t enough (frac final boss).

How about from an open field WvW perspective as a solo roamer ? …and especially vs Thieves ?

Rifle is better Single target Dps (boss/1v1/Champions)
But Longbow Does the best AOE dmg/Aoe Conditon and has a pretty nifty single target Snare.

I always Carry both for different scenarios

I prefer LB for overall play, but…

Rifle with leg specialist gets you an immob on a shorter cooldown

In a single target situation, unspec’d rifle still beats out fully spec’d LB for damage and utility

Also now that on-crit foods are on a 1 sec cooldown, the joys of getting 5+ lifetap procs from a single Fan of Fire are gone.

The only time I would use a Rifle is in a WvWvW build.
Otherwise, I always stick with Long Bow now.
I’ve loved it for a while now, but the latest patch just made it an absolute in my mind.

Rifle for the lol killshot but longbow seems to do everything better. I mean rifle is nice and all but more often than not the aoe of the longbow will beat out the rifle simply because enemies tend not to be solo.

You gotta ask yourself one question:

Do you use a banner?

If the answer is yes, then you must pick Longbow. The ability to stack Might for everyone around you far outweighs any pros of the Rifle to me.

The longbow snare can hold people in place in WvW long enough to get them killed. Especially if they go out on the edge of a wall.