Guild Wars 2

Using Bow and Rifle, you guys think a pure ranged warrior would be viable for pvp?

Nope. Especially because rifle is probably the worst weapon in the entire game.

Short answer: No. Longbow is quite good, but rifle falls behind too much in PvP to help you much.

Long Answer… If you want to try for it? It’s… possible.

Rifle is a burst weapon, it has two skills (It’s #3 channeled skill and it’s Burst Skill) that hit very hard, a melee-ranged knockback (#5 skill) that does decent damage… and that’s it. It’s other skills do very low damage and it’s auto-attack, while good for building adrenaline, doesn’t hit hard enough to warrant continued use most of the time.

On top of that, it’s main damage is easily mitigated/avoided. Volley is channeled and roots you in place, meaning it can be dodged/ranged/blocked/immuned for part or all of it’s duration… or they could simply CC you and ruin your fun that way. Similarly, Kill Shot has a long wind-up time before it fires, telegraphing to the world what you’re about to do.

Some people have had luck running Rifle+axe/shield or something similar in WvW, usually running with a zerg with the express purpose of getting as high crits as possible with their burst skills. Fun in a way, but in the end not very useful.

That being said… Longbow helps Rifle some thanks to Pin Down, which applies a hefty immobilize. Pin Down>Weapon swap>Volley/Kill Shot is a combo that can work, and can lead to some solid burst… provided you land it. It’s worth noting that Longbow’s damage in a power build is somewhat decent, with Arcing Arrow hitting very hard -but can be tricky to land- while Fan of Flames does solid damage at point-blank range on a target.

If you want to try a pure ranged build… run with a group. Support them with Arcing Arrow’s blast finisher and Combustive Shot’s fire field, have them help keep melee off you, and drop your rifle burst when the right target presents itself. Other classes -and indeed, other warrior builds- can do this job better than rifle/longbow… but it ‘can’ be done, and you ‘can’ have some degree of success.

It is viable for soloq some guy called ’The Korean Knight’ plays it very well. Last I check he was consistently hovering at the top end of the leaderboard.

anything can be "viable for solo queue" if played really well so it really isn’t saying much. Double Ranged is far from being the best build for a Warrior in s/tPvP.

Hell, even a P/P thief can be "viable", but it is far from the optimal build

Hi! I am “The Korean Knight” whom vincecontix.1264 above mentioned.

This is my WvW version of duel ranged warrior build that I used in sPvP ranked arena before (I used celestial amulet instead, because anet doesnt release zealot amulet for pvp)

I am pretty sure this is best rifle build if you forcefully push yourself to use the Warrior’s weakest weapon, Rifle. Always like and greet people like you trying to struggle with hardships, just put celestial amulet in PvP mode since there isnt zealot amulet in PvP. Here we go.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJAUTjMdU5ZrHeewJagqgC7iHA6uh0nQXnCA-TFCHAB3pEEgLAAlK/kU9HDOCA9s/QAPAgBOEAAA-w

If you use Rifle/ longbow, you have to go shout line becuase there isn’t a good way to make Killshot hit correctly without Fear me combo. Killshot will be missed mostly if you don’t make any combo with it (it is easiest to be dodged) And also you have to go shout line to supplement endurance by shout heal since duel ranged seem very reckless. And you have to know how to pick out enemy’s critical skill, such as eviscerate and earth quake, and dodge it cuz you have no vigor recharge : you can’t random dodge. This requires Warrior’s the most experience.

I will tell you the trick I used for this build.

Since you are duel ranged, you are not good at close fight.
Therefore, you gotta use Longbow’s elite skill, Combustive shot, to make your protective field that you stay in while you uses rifle. Then your enemy won’t get close to you while you are in rifle mode. And its duration, Combustive shot, is 9 sec. Most of Warrior have -5 sec decreased weapon swap time. So you can cover, or protect, yourself with this burning area for 9 sec, which is enough time to use rifle and get back to longbow. Longbow is kinda strong weapon in close fight even though it is ranged weapon. If enemy doesn’t come to close cuz you stay in burning area? no worry, you are full ranged war ranger, just keep shooting at him lol

Be sure, I have dueled a lot of people with this build. The natural enemy of this build is thief. Frankly, I mostly win thief, they just knock out when my killshot hit and volley followed. However, there is exception. Dodge spam thief like, Magic Toker the one in Abjured The World Champion Level, he did beat me while I used this build, very close though. (I only lost to thief who are at Magic Toker level with this duel ranged build) He kept losing to me at first few rounds, but later, he found the WAY to deal with this rifle / longbow build as world champion-class decent thief, so he won me later rounds. Anyway, I removed this build from my twitch for that weak point but I will re-post it if anet would buff rifle by any chance. (rifle itself as of now is too weak, and Anet even nerfed rifle by removing bleed. every1 want it buffed in the future, right? i hope anet would put back some cond dmg like bleed just like before into rifle to make perfect set with cele amulet and decrease killshot cast time. I don;t think it will happens though) Well, You will mostly win thief with this build anyway unless he is dodge spam thief with many reflection skill.

But I think it is ok. the thief I lost to with this build is world best champion level thief anyway. And also, Arenanet made rifle too sucks and even nerfed. I did my best.

Always don’t waste Rifle’s 2nd and 5th skill. when some1 got close to you, use 5th rifle skill then 2nd skill after pushing him back.

This build is very strong against Engi or necro since it is full ranged, but, very weak against full melee type like thief or meditation gs/sword-focus guardian. But you can still win if you get to master level of this duel ranged build.

Visit my twitch address below, there is video that I uses this build.
http://www.twitch.tv/the_korean_gamer/c/5491666

I also recommend you learn about “Backshot” trick, that is, you have to set key that shows backside of your character while running front. Duel ranged warrior uses this feature a lot cuz you will have to deal with “run and hit” tactics. Luckily, you can use 3th and elite skill of longbow to backside even though you running front but camera looking backside by pressing that key you bound. (watch http://www.twitch.tv/the_korean_gamer/c/5666048 to know how to do this trick) You can use this trick not only with Longbow but with hammer though : make yourself look like running away but hit all of sudden.

hope this helps you.

Kitt.2567:

Hi! I am “The Korean Knight” whom vincecontix.1264 above mentioned.

This is my WvW version of duel ranged warrior build that I used in sPvP ranked arena before (I used celestial amulet instead, because anet doesnt release zealot amulet for pvp)

I am pretty sure this is best rifle build if you forcefully push yourself to use the Warrior’s weakest weapon, Rifle. Always like and greet people like you trying to struggle with hardships, just put celestial amulet in PvP mode since there isnt zealot amulet in PvP. Here we go.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fJAQJAUTjMdU5ZrHeewJagqgC7iHA6uh0nQXnCA-TFCHAB3pEEgLAAlK/kU9HDOCA9s/QAPAgBOEAAA-w

If you use Rifle/ longbow, you have to go shout line becuase there isn’t a good way to make Killshot hit correctly without Fear me combo. Killshot will be missed mostly if you don’t make any combo with it (it is easiest to be dodged) And also you have to go shout line to supplement endurance by shout heal since duel ranged seem very reckless. And you have to know how to pick out enemy’s critical skill, such as eviscerate and earth quake, and dodge it cuz you have no vigor recharge : you can’t random dodge. This requires Warrior’s the most experience.

I will tell you the trick I used for this build.

Since you are duel ranged, you are not good at close fight.
Therefore, you gotta use Longbow’s elite skill, Combustive shot, to make your protective field that you stay in while you uses rifle. Then your enemy won’t get close to you while you are in rifle mode. And its duration, Combustive shot, is 9 sec. Most of Warrior have -5 sec decreased weapon swap time. So you can cover, or protect, yourself with this burning area for 9 sec, which is enough time to use rifle and get back to longbow. Longbow is kinda strong weapon in close fight even though it is ranged weapon. If enemy doesn’t come to close cuz you stay in burning area? no worry, you are full ranged war ranger, just keep shooting at him lol

Be sure, I have dueled a lot of people with this build. The natural enemy of this build is thief. Frankly, I mostly win thief, they just knock out when my killshot hit and volley followed. However, there is exception. Dodge spam thief like, Magic Toker the one in Abjured The World Champion Level, he did beat me while I used this build, very close though. (I only lost to thief who are at Magic Toker level with this duel ranged build) He kept losing to me at first few rounds, but later, he found the WAY to deal with this rifle / longbow build as world champion-class decent thief, so he won me later rounds. Anyway, I removed this build from my twitch for that weak point but I will re-post it if anet would buff rifle by any chance. (rifle itself as of now is too weak, and Anet even nerfed rifle by removing bleed. every1 want it buffed in the future, right? i hope anet would put back some cond dmg like bleed just like before into rifle to make perfect set with cele amulet and decrease killshot cast time. I don;t think it will happens though) Well, You will mostly win thief with this build anyway unless he is dodge spam thief with many reflection skill.

But I think it is ok. the thief I lost to with this build is world best champion level thief anyway. And also, Arenanet made rifle too sucks and even nerfed. I did my best.

Always don’t waste Rifle’s 2nd and 5th skill. when some1 got close to you, use 5th rifle skill then 2nd skill after pushing him back.

This build is very strong against Engi or necro since it is full ranged, but, very weak against full melee type like thief or meditation gs/sword-focus guardian. But you can still win if you get to master level of this duel ranged build.

Visit my twitch address below, there is video that I uses this build.
http://www.twitch.tv/the_korean_gamer/c/5491666

I also recommend you learn about “Backshot” trick, that is, you have to set key that shows backside of your character while running front. Duel ranged warrior uses this feature a lot cuz you will have to deal with “run and hit” tactics. Luckily, you can use 3th and elite skill of longbow to backside even though you running front but camera looking backside by pressing that key you bound. (watch http://www.twitch.tv/the_korean_gamer/c/5666048 to know how to do this trick) You can use this trick not only with Longbow but with hammer though : make yourself look like running away but hit all of sudden.

hope this helps you.

Interesting! Thank you for that!

I played bow/rifle for a while on a warrior to see how it handled. Personally I found it fun and the damage was good enough for my tastes, and I’m a crit addict. The only complaint I have is that Kill Shot fails for no reason half the time. What ends up happening is that sometimes your Kill Shot’s physical projectile will fly off into some random direction away from your target. Until that issue gets fixed, I don’t recommend the rifle.