Guild Wars 2

There may already be several threads about this already, but oh well… So I have heard from a good warrior that longbow is better than the rifle, but is the difference huge, or just small? I do like the 1200 range better than the 900 range longbow have, although I run the popular 20/25/0/10/15 build so i could change trait to 1200 range on longbow, but if those patch leaks are true, the longbow can only go up to 1000 range. So what do you think, rifle or longbow? Im talking about pve!

In PvE the longbow wins hands down. Better AoE and might stacking.

In PvP it’s a whole different ball game with them both having pros and cons.

Longbow all time (PvE, PvP and WvW)

Raw dmg with #1 and #4
Raw aoe dmg with #2, #3 and f1
Raw + condition dmg with #5
Raw aoe dmg + aoe condition dmg with #2 and f1
Burn, bleed, blind, paralise, combo field fire, combo finisher blast and projectle, good agains stealth and bunkers (but no grants victory)
With 25 in arms you deal more burn dmg.

obs¹: If you add bow range, #1 and #2 become 100% projectle finisher (comb with f1 for stack burns).
obs²: I run berserker stance for raise adrenaline and use LB f1, but with new path berserker stance become useless, then i don’t know how i’ll raise my adrenaline

Good Luck!

I see, thanks. I really want to use the rifle though, the longbow clips through my charr when I use it, is it really that much of a difference between rifle and LB?

Neither is clearly better than the other in every situation. Bow is good for aoe and has a nasty immob, rifle has awesome single target (linear aoe if traited) damage and a low CD cripple with channeled skills that can track through stealth.

I roam in full serkers and always come back to the rifle because of 3 and f1 tracking thieves through stealth provided you activate the skill before they disappear.

The bow has good sustained damage with its auto-attack and some aoe burst with its #3 along with a solid f1 and the high duration immob. The rifle has fantastic burst with its f1 and #3. Also, the knockback works well for interupting heals or putting people onto the ground so you can setup something else. If you like the rifle, use it.

So what would a good PvE longbow build look like if every trait and gear was centered around maxing the dps of the longbow?

So what would a good PvE rifle build look like if every trait and gear was centered around maxing the dps of the rifle?

I think it would be really helpful if we could see a comparative set of builds.

Best to play with both and see what you like best. Personally I love Longbow over Rifle. You can set up some nasty combos with longbow which can melt someone just as good as getting that “killshot” off with rifle.

Taran Redleaf.7912:

So what would a good PvE longbow build look like if every trait and gear was centered around maxing the dps of the longbow?

So what would a good PvE rifle build look like if every trait and gear was centered around maxing the dps of the rifle?

I think it would be really helpful if we could see a comparative set of builds.

Currently, you would build them like any other DPS build. 10 Strength V, 10 Discipline V, and the rest to flavor. I think the big difference is that the Longbow can be competitive with rampager gear and the rifle probably does better in serkers despite having a bleed on the auto-attack.

I would recommend the Bow for PvE though. It has really good sustained damage and a great spammable fire field.

I disagree, rifle is awesome sustained DPS in PVE. If you cycle it with a GS and trait crack shot you can use it to hit multiple targets at the same time..hitting 3 to 5 mobs at once with a 15k+ killshot is kinda nice and volley hits real hard if mobs are grouped up too. Rifle spikes more dmg then bow in my experience and i have both the fractal rifle and bow and almost always use my rifle. For PvP i don’t bother with rifle or bow anymore unless i’m attacking or defending a tower.

Because there are so many diverse opinions, it would be helpful to put up comparative builds. Show us an awesome PvE longbow build. Show us an awesome PvE rifle build. Vague descriptions without specifics amount to nothing more than opinions. Details please.

Taran Redleaf.7912:

Because there are so many diverse opinions, it would be helpful to put up comparative builds. Show us an awesome PvE longbow build. Show us an awesome PvE rifle build. Vague descriptions without specifics amount to nothing more than opinions. Details please.

There is no one longbow or rifle build. I could post 10 builds and someone would post something else with their reasoning for liking it better. Look at zeki’s post, I’ll point out a semantical error, he argued that rifle has good sustain because he switches between that and GS. That isn’t sustain, it’s alternating between the burst of each weapon to achieve higher sustained damage through the build which offsets the weakness of the rifle’s poor auto-attack. I play mh axe so I only leave melee if I’m about to die. Therefore, I run bow because it’s more important that I be able to produce steady numbers for long periods at range if necessary. His build works, my build works, but you can’t encapsulate play style into a build site, nor can you anticipate play styles when people say “show me a build”. So you discuss concepts until someone has a more focused question than “show me a build” or until the guy gets enough info to make his own informed decision.

Veritas.6071:

There is no one longbow or rifle build. I could post 10 builds and someone would post something else with their reasoning for liking it better.

That’s fine. If fact, that would very helpful by looking at ALL the strengths and weaknesses between longbows and rifles in a variety of build setups, taking into account differing playstyles. As said previously, details please.