Guild Wars 2

Sef.6918:

The auto attack needs to be like 50% faster to be effective or more damage on it.

The auto attack already hits twice. That’s two chances to crit and two chances at a projectile finisher. Rifle’s auto attack is 100% reliable at stacking bleeds, but a Longbow’s auto attack is twice as reliable at proccing other effects. Since Longbow has a dedicated combo field, the logic behind the damage starts to make more sense (you have the potential to apply two applications of burning with each auto attack).

You’ll get more regeneration from water fields and apply more poison through poison fields. You’ll be more consistent proccing Sigil of Earth or Fire and proccing Bleeds and Vulnerability from the Arms tree.

Granted, this is in evaluating the auto-attack only. Once you consider the combo chances from Volley, Aimed Shot, and Brutal Shot cooldowns versus the consistent AoE chances from the Longbow the math gets too complicated for me.

What I don’t understand is why they don’t add the damage together like all other abilities that hit multiple times.

A high precision longbow with the Sigil of Earth can keep up at least 6 stacks of bleeds while also applying Burning (and traited Crit bleeds) as an AoE. I feel like many groups I join have bleeds stacked to 25, so it is worth diversifying your conditions just in case you wind up in a Bleed heavy group. I’ve never had too much of a problem with Burning because the duration is so short and with might stacks you’ll probably be at the top of the condition damage chart.

I think the justification I’ve read before is that 30% Crit damage is enough of a buff that 3% burst damage is just icing on the cake. It is also the only tree that double-dips in benefit since our bursts can crit. Imagine 30% Burst damage & 30% Crit damage on our hardest hitting abilities?

Equip a Superior Sigil of Earth on the Longbow. Stack Crit and Condition Damage. Make sure you also have the trait that causes bleeding on crit and increases the duration of your bleeds by 50%. I go full arms and full discipline. My auto-attack crits for around 600 × 2 (1200) with ~5 bleeds up ticking for ~100 each. Burning ticks for around 6-700. Arcing Arrow crits for around 4k as an aoe and your burst combo field also pulses direct damage. You never see huge numbers but when layered out it all adds up to respectable damage

If you weapon swap with a Hammer (recommend Sigil of Fire because of the CD) you’ll put out a lot of steady AoE DPS. This is my build (Copy and Paste Link): http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQJATSngOk8YUQ6OwEZg48gKJh8qHwxOyJVoMA;TkAg1U3YuRcj9G3NybWWMqA

In dungeons I’ll usually switch out the Signet of Might to the Banner of Discipline to be less selfish (and switch to the Banner Trait as well).

Golradaer.5934:

In considering weapon sets to pair with the longbow, the desire is for weapons with combo finishers and the limitation becomes the need for defense. The main-hand axe has almost no synergy with combo fields, but the off-hand axe is quite good due to the whirl finisher; the main-hand sword has a leap finisher and the off-hand sword has a block; the main-hand mace has a block but the off-hand mace has no combo-field synergy; the rifle has many projectile finishers, the hammer has a leap finisher and a whirl finisher, and the greatsword also has a whirl finisher; the shield offers a stun that is a leap finisher, and warhorn offers nothing. Assuming you want to maintain some amount of defensive capability, you’ll either need the main-hand mace, off-hand sword, or shield; the best counter-parts for these are the off-hand axe and main-hand sword. Leaving aside all defensive abilities (or ensuring that the lack of defensive abilities is made up for through high toughness/vitality) opens up more options but it’s questionable whether the longbow is the best choice as a second set if one’s build focuses on the rifle or hammer.

Hammer has a blast finisher and not a leap finisher (despite the animation). Combo’ing Hammer with the Longbow’s fire field gives you an extra 3x Might as well as potentially keeping multiple targets inside the field for an extra tick.

Tactics Banner paired with Rune of Dwayna is a great combination. Tactics Banner will make everyone’s personal heal hit for more and all boons last a little longer. Longbow and Hammer bring two reliable blast finishers every 10 seconds and picking up your banner gives you access to a third. You can push out a lot of boons and healing depending on what combo fields your group is dropping. Best part is, this only requires 10 points in Tactics for improved Banners.

Ranger’s Healing Spring with a Longbow/Hammer/Banner warrior is incredibly fun and effective.

Having more than two weapon sets that work with your build helps a lot. If you are in a group that puts up 25 stacks of bleeding before you even auto attack, you may want to switch to axes.

I use Longbow and Hammer for AoE and Rifle and Swords for single target in dungeons. Both sets have gap closers that make consistent leaping in and out of melee possible.

I farm dungeons every night and this build can handle any situation: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fIAQJATSjgOJvNPWQMxBizjkQFyreAH7EnUhwA;T0Ag1yqEUJpS1kiJqbM3Iuxej7G5NLRA

I wear a mix of Cleric and Rampager gear. Switch between Tactics Banner and Discipline Banners to adjust between offensive and defensive support. Rune of Dwayna really shines will a little bit of healing power and toughness (without having to invest heavily in Tactics or Defense).

Against trash you can chain Longbow and Hammer bursts for a ton of AoE damage. This build also works very well with a Rifle and Swords. When you go underwater, swap traits to improve your harpoon gun. PVE is about flexibility. Find builds that you can adjust to meet the needs of your group and the content you are facing.

Crinkles.3786:

It’ll give you a combo for 3 stacks of might to your whole team.

That’s a stretch. The area of effect is rather small. The combo is still great but you’ll probably only be helping out people who are meleeing.

I use hammer and longbow in a full tactics and discipline setup. I focus on offensive support. Banner of tactics and two shouts. Works best in close quarters or melee heavy groups. You’ll often hear “whomever is stacking all that might I love you” or “the dps in this group is great.” You also bring a lot of AoE damage and control, which is great for “protect the npc” bosses.

It triggers multiple blast finishers. Have someone drop a water field on a slope for a slip and slide effect.

I really enjoy the Rune of Balthazar. It says it only burns for 3 seconds, but it actually lasts 6-7 depending on your condition duration. That’s arguably better than the longbow burst for damage because you get the full duration in one application. I also run Longbow/Hammer, which helps me keep burning up when I swap weapons.

Just a observation/PSA. People often complain about longbows being weak, requiring a trait for range, and only viable for WvW for area denial. Longbows, by name, are traditionally long range weapons. Instead, they are this game’s shotgun, weak and inaccurate at a distance but incredibly powerful up close.

It’s actually a really interesting design decision by ArenaNet that isn’t obvious when you first use the weapon.

(@Artaz – You can also trait into having your banners give you regeneration.)

In general, heals effectively scale with toughness excepting conditions (each HP is essentially worth more). Regeneration help survive short duration conditions that stack in duration and are often reapplied (e.g. Burns). Condition removal is strongest against conditions that stack in intensity (e.g. Bleeds). Vitality helps with everything, but you’ll feel like your heals aren’t as strong. Vitality also scales well with abilities that trigger at a certain health percent.

So, when planning your survival loadout, you have to look at more than just raw HPS.

Not literally — but if you are firing from a safe distance, consider the following:

1. Fan of Fire hits a target 3 times when fired at point blank range
2. When standing in your fire, you’ll get incidental might stacks from anyone who drops a blast finisher (including your own Arcing Arrow)
3. Smoldering Arrow is Aegis in reverse with a short duration. Seriously powerful while swarmed.
4. Combustive Shot has a huge radius, making it a great stage for hacking your enemies apart in fire.
5. The range is a luxury. You can circle strafe and dodge around all you’d like in your fire without missing.
6. Untraited, the range isn’t that great anyway.

I’ve been experimenting with full discipline burst builds lately. Weapon swapping is a bit buggy at the moment (often still takes 10 secs), but I enjoy it so much that I put up with it.

Essentially, the top tier discipline trait that causes bursts to cost less allows you to use a burst skill at 2 or 3 levels and immediately swap weapons and use its burst at 1 level. So, from there you can make builds that combo chained bursts.

Some interesting ideas…
- Longbow Burst + Hammer Burst = 3x Might
- Hammer or Mace burst + Sword Burst (with 50% crit on Stun Trait) = Many on Crit Procs
- Mace Burst + Hammer burst = Extra long stun
- Trait that causes you to gain endurance with a burst gives you 2 extra dodges per 10 seconds

My favorite by far is chaining longbow and hammer. So much AoE damage, mobility and control.

I’ve always felt like the one handed sword abilities felt more axe like. Make 2-handed axe a bleed condition setup and make one-handed swords a more evasive fighting style. “Water Dancer” / Fencer.

What I hate about shout healing is that it reduces the usefulness of shouts. Two of the shouts are most effective when used on cooldown (“For Great Justice” and “On My Mark”) and the other two are situational (“Shake it Off” and “Fear Me”).

I either have to waste a cooldown or delay an effect for a small heal. I almost feel it would be more useful if shouts granted regeneration and banners healed.

If you are going through the trouble to pick up your banner, you should be blasting combo fields with its #5 ability. Try using longbow in melee range. Drop and plant (#5) your banners in its fire field You’ll be pushing out much way more than 6 stacks of might that way.

Blast boons and shouts have small ranges, and groups tend to spread out. You are more likely to be in range of others if you are in the center of things.

The trait that increases your vitality by 5% of your power only works with your base power. Vitality doesn’t increase when stacking might.

Kravick.4906:

kandolo:
What stat grouping do you have on your armor/jewelry? The armor category on the build you linked doesn’t show any so I’m not sure what stats you focus on.

Linking jewelry in the build calculator breaks the link on the forums because it adds a semicolon.

Because bursts restore energy, if you love dodging between interrupts you could forego defensive stats. I’ll probably wind up going all celestial as this build really is a jack of all trades and has a solid crit base with fury up.

It also depends on your playstyle. You really only need the 30 points in Discipline. You can also go support by swapping out the stomp with a banner (also comes with a blast finisher when summoned and on its #5) and going full tactics with banner regen. Then you’d want some healing stats. You can actually push out a lot more blasts & might with a banner than you can with stomp… but stomp is a lot more fun.

Think of the Longbow as a Warhorn or Shield. On its own, it’s weak and inconsequential, but paired with other weapons and traits it really shines.

You just can’t use the longbow like a ranger. Use it like a warrior. Rain fire on your enemies while charging in, switch weapons and go to town. Just make sure you have 15 points in discipline so you’ll never have to use the longbow’s terrible auto-attack.

Build adrenaline, Swap to Longbow, Blind, Burst, Blast, Swap back.

Kravick:

The only weak spot I’ve ran into so far is incoming condition damage, so as long as you’ve got a lot of vitality you should be good to go. You’ll want at least one Sigil of Battle. Two is a bit overkill so I use a Sigil of Intelligence on my hammer. I’m using Dolyak runes, but Celestial seems like it could be a better fit. Focusing on condition damage could be interesting too (with 25 stacks of might you’ll probably be at the top of the condition damage list).

Don’t treat longbow like a ranged weapon. Stand inside the fire, use arcing shot at point blank range, then follow up with as many blast finishers as you have time for. You’ll stack a lot of might for yourself and anyone nearby.

I’ve been using this build over the weekend and I’m really loving it:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fIAQJATSjgOJvNP2OMxBCkiqwFjiiIe1D7AH5A

This is an adrenaline management build where you are able to use both bursts back to back on cooldown. With Sigils of Battle (might on weapon swap) you are looking at 100% uptime of fury and a steady 25 stacks of might.

I’m planning on trying out this spec tonight. Sort of a “Die in a fire” spec. Idea is to drop the longbow burst, arcing arrow (combo, 3x might), swap weapons, hammer shock, hammer burst (combo, 3x might), stomp (combo, 3x might) and/or staggering blow (combo, bolts). The group should still be end up knocked down, on fire, and crippled from the hammer shock.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fIAQJASTjgOpuxO2OMxBAMDt4y84niISfwOA

CHunterX.4083:

The banner should be placed upon the Warrior’s back when using ~. You should still have the option to place it on the ground for others to carry with “Plant Standard.”

EDIT: Swapped keys.

Plant standard is a real ability used for triggering blast finishers. It’s one of the most powerful abilities a banner gives a group. Other people in your group should be encouraged to pick up your banners and trigger blasts with it, especially in fire fields.

It’s working for me. Sure you are thinking of the right skill? Smoldering Arrow is the blind, not the blast.

Who says a warrior can’t look good in a dress?

Defektive.7283:

Adds great randomness to your teams dmg output (I’d run it longbow / axe-horn)

I second that. This is the build I’m going for:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fIAQNBjOD7k0hkHbeQKImIDA4DapZA3dpHkxWaA

Well, you can’t really get rid of the auto attack, that would be frustrating. #2 and #3 are both always support skills (even the ones that are attacks apply a knockback or vulnerability). #4 is convenient for quickly repositioning the banner. #5 does no damage, but applies a blast finisher. Maybe that’s what you are looking for? Hit #5 on top of a combo field and reap the rewards.

I wish that was the case. I feel like when I use a shield I wind up wasting my block cooldown because the mob has a short attention span.

Either way, lately I’ve been rocking a warhorn. AoE fumble helps everyone.

The “Powerful Banners” trait doesn’t cause “Plant Standard” to do damage (this may be by design).

Warriors have access to more combo finishers than any other class, but I’m not seeing many conversations about Warriors taking advantage of them in a support role.

Blast finishers tend to help the entire group, so having a handful available is great as support. Banners in particular give you two extra Blast Finishers. Longbows give you another one as well as your only Combo Field.

It can be a mighty combination for your group:

Longbow Burst (Stage 3) -> Arcing Arrow (Blast) -> Summon Banner (Blast) -> Pick Up Banner -> Plant Banner (Blast) > “For Great Justice!” (Shout) results in 12x stacks of Might for your group.

Alternately, if you have a banner already planted:
Longbow Burst (Stage 3) -> Arcing Arrow (Blast) -> Pick Up Banner -> Banner #2 Ability -> Plant Banner (Blast) works as well for 3x less Might but with the bonus of having an excuse to activate Banner #2.

Blasting an Elementalist’s Water field gives group healing. Blasting a Guardian’s light field gives group retaliation. Your banners can also be used by others to blast their own fields, and if their fields last long enough, more cooldowns to spend on Banner #2.

My favorite neglected Banner #2? Banner of Tactics’ “Compassionate Banner” for a heal and regen.

(… however, all of this is moot if someone steals your banner and runs off …)

I wish more people realized you could use a banner’s #5 skill as an extra blast finisher. For example, a mage can use it for an extra AOE heal with their water combo fields.

“Raise Banner” to increase the effect of the banner + a banner specific boon?

A second ability after casting a banner… let’s say, “Call Banner”… to pick it up would be great. Especially if it would let us pick it up at range or even retrieve it when someone else is holding it.