Longbow Ranger Vs Deadeye

New to GW2, used to play a hunter in classic WoW, primarily pvp (open world and structured).

Really loving the gear balance in PVP, I've been running as ranger working on getting soulbeast (because pets don't seem that great in this game) maxed out.

I've been trying to get the major differences between deadeye play vs longbow ranger.All I've really heard is that deadeye has significantly higher burst DPS and it can stealth more often, If this is true then I might need to reroll.

My playstyle is all about kiting and maneuverability, I want to play the profession that can stay far out of reach, get out of cc (stuns, slows, etc), ambush then move on.

1st time posting, help me out please!

FYI, Soulbeast (and other elite specs) doesn't require maxing out via Hero Points--in PVP, all traits are automatically unlocked.

The answer is Deadeye--high stealth, hard to kill, and hits hard. Take Rifle of course coupled with dagger/pistol or sword/pistol.

@Abelisk.4527 said:FYI, Soulbeast (and other elite specs) doesn't require maxing out via Hero Points--in PVP, all traits are automatically unlocked.

The answer is Deadeye--high stealth, hard to kill, and hits hard. Take Rifle of course coupled with dagger/pistol or sword/pistol.

you have to remember that most professions in this game use 2 weapon sets. DE doesn't necessarily need to swap weapons as rifle is usually enough.. but no only if you keep stealthing over and over. soulbeast has the potential to deal far more dmg than DE imo. soulbeast is also hard to kill but for different reasons. if you enjoy being in stealth 90% of the time, DE is the spec for you. if you want a hybrid between ranged and melee offense with high dmg, soulbeast is better.

@bigo.9037 tell me more about how soulbeast can do more damage (is there a certain pet that helps with longbow?) and how it is hard to kill for different reasons.

I like that ranger can hold its own in melee, I prefer to stay where people can't hit me if I can help it though.

I have seen that ranger does actually have the longest range, especially if you use action camera.

@Abelisk.4527 Thankyou, I didn't know you could play elite specs without Hero Points!

@Brendan.1309 said:@bigo.9037 tell me more about how soulbeast can do more damage (is there a certain pet that helps with longbow?) and how it is hard to kill for different reasons.

I like that ranger can hold its own in melee, I prefer to stay where people can't hit me if I can help it though.

I have seen that ranger does actually have the longest range, especially if you use action camera.

if you play the soulbeast elite spec and merge with pet, then use sicem on your target followed by your attack skills you're going to do 40% extra dmg for about 6 seconds. there are builds with easy 1 shot potential.. and you don't have to wait for anything to charge up. DE is most effective if nobody is targeting it imo.. if someone has a target on DE they won't do a lot of dmg because they need to stealth all the time to recover. that's why I like soulbeast. you can fight at a distance.. and if an opponent gets close you can still fight. you don't need to kite/stealth as soon as someone is in melee range.

Ranger (core & soulbeast) is overall more like a hybrid, and it deals usually most of the damage at melee distance - depends bit of a build, but anyways, most often ranger wields longbow not because of damage, but because of the utility it gives - knockback, stealth and such. Deadeye thief can be build for high burst ranged damage, but in general this game favors melee damage dealing, and you can assume to get nerfs to classes that are very powerful with ranged damage.

@Brendan.1309 said:My playstyle is all about kiting and maneuverability, I want to play the profession that can stay far out of reach, get out of cc (stuns, slows, etc), ambush then move on.

In fact, all classes need kiting and maneuverability in this game. It will be hard times to keep out of reach with any class, and people who out-maneuver you, will usually win you no matter what class they are playing. I can think maybe two classes at PvP/WvW side that dont want to be at melee distance (in opposite to try to keep range), and they are deadeye rifle thief builds, and many mesmer builds. Most other classes and builds work great at melee, too, and many of them even prefer close distance.

EDIT: To be bit more clear. Most classes do most of their damage at melee range, but they still have skills to get distance, and gap closers to get near. You use those for your advantage, take distance when other side is stronger at melee (because of buffs, debuffs and skill cooldowns), and gap the distance when you are ready for melee and the other part is not. Rifle deadeye builds can be very vulnerable to this kind of playing, assuming that the other part knows what they are going. Mesmer builds are in general pretty annoying to fight against, but if you are caught at melee distance and your escape skills happen to be at cooldown, you are taken down pretty easily. Most other classes are not that trivial, you need to choose the distance to fight based on your class and the opponent class and the situation, moving in / pulling in and moving out / pushing out according to the situation.

I didn't realize sicem worked for your damage in soulbeast!That makes so much more sense now.

I've been playing less than a week now, I used the level 80 boost too, so I know almost nothing about this game.

So if you have more details let me know.

If you decide to play DE in sPvP be prepared for a ton of insults to be thrown at you. People hate the cheese that is DE right now.

I would say Soulbeast is overall a better choice. To me it's more versatile and well-rounded. With greatsword or sword, combined with a mobility pet like bird or gazelle, you will have fantastic mobility. Not to mention perma swiftness and a fair amount of superspeed if you take Zephyrs Speed and Quickening Zephyr. With longbow and smokescale you will have good stealth access too. Its a SUPER fun spec (my biased opinion) when you get familiar with pet swapping and merging. You also don't need Sic Em to do high damage, but it definitely brings it through the roof. I don't usually slot it personally.

I am not a Deadeye player, but it seems to rely heavily on stealth, and if its stealth access gets nerfed the spec will probably suffer quite a bit.

@"Rufo.3716" I really don't mind insults online. They might actually be the internets way of telling you "good job!"

I'm even more torn now than I was before, thank you all so much for all the details.

If you've got more to say, please keep it coming!

gameplay wise I think DE is very boring tbh. you stay in stealth all the time, attack briefly, then stealth again. you use the same combos over and over again.

like others have pointed out soulbeast is more versatile and fun.

in my personal opinion as a soulbeast main, DE's seem more like mosquitos that you cannot ignore for too long. their fights usually last a while cus they revolve solely on stealth reset combos.

soulbeasts are generally much more lethal. they hurt at range, have a little bit of CC at range, and they are very dangerous in melee. soulbeasts can't be ignored in a fight at all because of their dmg. but they also have good ways of kiting with superspeed and a bit of stealth.

Some quality opinions on deadeye in the thread.OP, you don't need to guess, try both as there's no gear progression.

Yep, sounds like I have to play both...I think I love this game!

@bigo.9037 said:gameplay wise I think DE is very boring tbh. you stay in stealth all the time, attack briefly, then stealth again. you use the same combos over and over again.

I wouldn't say it is boring, but maybe just bit limited. Like pointed in this thread several times, soulbeast ranger offers higher variety in game playing against different classes in different situations, being not that vulnerable to any kind of response, while DE game play is circling much more around the initial burst and trying to escape if the target didnt die.

And I like to point out that if you can nullify your opponents key skills just by manouvering (that is, without using any of your cooldowns, saving them to much better situations), you will anyways win the combat no matter of the class. No matter if you play warrior or thief, mesmer or guard. And any class in PvP will need both gap closers and distance makers, no matter if they deal their damage in melee or ranged.

OP, you should definitely give DE a try as well. It is definitely focused on stealth, but there are other builds/playstyles that it can be used for. Personally, I run a build that let's me melee when it's appropriate to fighting my opponent (ironically thinking Soulbeast here) and have strong mobility while retaining the stealth access and ranged ability that Deadeye offers. Here is a good example of a build that is more skirmisher than stealth sniper: https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/56957/deadeye-s-p-roaming

Glad you like the game man, and welcome!

Deadeye is about high single target damage and maneuverability. Ranger longbow has a mix of AoE and single target.

The main difference is the longbow has piercing while the rifle does not. Piercing means your shot will pass through any enemies in its path to its maximum range. Basically you hit multiple enemies and thus your damage output is multiplied. Deadeye has to get the higher ground to isolate its target if it's in a group as it has no piercing.

@OP Coming from another a long time Hunter main in WoW, its fairly simple. If you enjoyed the control and burst of Marksmanship, go Deadeye. If BM and most variation of Survival were more your cup of tea, go Soulbeast.

Personally as an ex-MM main i've been having a blast with DE.

@bigo.9037 said:you have to remember that most professions in this game use 2 weapon sets. DE doesn't necessarily need to swap weapons as rifle is usually enough..

100% false, Rifle, specially post-nerf, is horrid agains't many matchups in 1v1. S/P is what gives the build any dueling potential at all.

@bigo.9037 said:gameplay wise I think DE is very boring tbh. you stay in stealth all the time, attack briefly, then stealth again. you use the same combos over and over again.

So basically the only variation of DE you ever tried is the perma-stealth SA variation. Of course that's going to be boring, oh and that build isn't even good, its basically just there to allow beginners to get familiar with the DE mechanics.

I mean, it would be the same as judging the fun factor and depth of Ranger from a Bunker Druid perspective.

@"Brendan.1309" said:New to GW2, used to play a hunter in classic WoW, primarily pvp (open world and structured).

Really loving the gear balance in PVP, I've been running as ranger working on getting soulbeast (because pets don't seem that great in this game) maxed out.

I've been trying to get the major differences between deadeye play vs longbow ranger.All I've really heard is that deadeye has significantly higher burst DPS and it can stealth more often, If this is true then I might need to reroll.

My playstyle is all about kiting and maneuverability, I want to play the profession that can stay far out of reach, get out of cc (stuns, slows, etc), ambush then move on.

1st time posting, help me out please!

First of all, Soulbeast is capable of A LOT more damage than Deadeye if the Soulbeast is in melee range. The Deadeye burst will be somewhat equal to a Soulbeast Rapid Fire burst at range. The only advantage the Deadeye has on Soulbeast play is frequent stealthing. The Deadeye is essentially defensiveless if it gets CC'd and caught though, whereas a Soulbeast "even glass cannon Soulbeasts" can actually kill you in 2 hits in melee. It's also important to note that the skill Sic'Em on Soulbeast, is a hard counter to Deadeye play when used correctly. Rapid fire on a DPS Soulbeast will kill a Deadeye before the Deadeye kills the Soulbeast. A good Deadeye can outplay a Soulbeast with wise usage of it's elite and tricky positioning, but in general Soulbeasts counter the hell out of Deadeye "usually".

You're gonna hear a lot of people try to argue this above point ^ but what they are missing is that they only play this Axebeast and Boonbeast. What I am comparing to is not only Axebeast/Boonbeast but also Berserker Soulbeast, and no I don't mean the old Sic'Em Sniper in metabattle, that build is bad. @"Brendan.1309" if you're looking to compare Deadeyes & Soulbeasts as the same type of build/role, you should be checking out a Soulbeast build like this, and not the general builds that others are probably tossing your way:

The build is listed in the beginning of the video. Note to use Pack Rune first, and use Scholar later when you're more experienced on the build.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m4Fm4g7Sfw&feature=youtu.be

Deadeye is about doing crazy damage in a matter of seconds, hoping that you got a kill, and then snowballing from there. It has 0 sustain and you'll spend most of your time looking for an opening before you can do anything.

Soulbeast on the other hand can fight like normal and contribute to the game constantly instead of waiting for a few opportunities. It's much more beginner friendly and less reliant on the team.

Sic 'em is not a 40% boost to the player when merged. It's like 25% or something. Check the wiki.

the main difference is that ranger (soul beast) can do much more than just dps while thief (dead eye) can only do dps, burst damage to be more specific.To me ranger is much more fun to play simply because you have more viable builds for it (you have a viable bruiser, glass cannon, range, melee build, ect you name it), where as a thief in spvp you will have to swap to another character very often if you want to do well since the thief is not good in every team composition not to mention thief is countered by more things.

Also the best way to play a soul beast in pvp/wvw is to rotate between merging and unmerging with the pet, let the pet use his skills then merge for the extra damage and utility then unmerge and let the pet apply pressure, only inexperienced players stay merged 24/7 in pvp modes.

I run a full glass soulbeast - Berserker amulet, with 0 blocks and 0 invulns. I run rage runes, and LB with sword+warhorn on swap. All of my sustain comes from regen, evades, the occasional burst heal from Jacaranda merge, and trying to predict what enemies are trying to drop on me.

I have to play a bit smarter than the meta soulbeast that has a few defensive panic buttons, but on this glass soulbeast build I consistently outdamage Deadeyes. No DE on my team has ever outdamaged me, and if the other side has a DE I'm all over it and generally shut it down whenever I see the opportunity. Many DEs, after I do a longbow 4+2 are either dead or very scared - chasing the scared ones is a lot of fun, involving smokescale spam and sword strikes. I'm usually around 33-40% of my team's total dps output, and I frequently notch top heals and one of top offense/defense as well, when I'm having a good match.

@foste.3098 said:the main difference is that ranger (soul beast) can do much more than just dps while thief (dead eye) can only do dps, burst damage to be more specific.

Not true. It can roam, decap and +1 fights just like any other Thief builds just fine. Is it AS mobile as Daredevil? No, mainly due to not having near infinite on-demand up time on Swiftness. But it can be fairly close if you know what you're doing. Rifle 4 is about just as good as Shortbow 5 if you know how to use it. Its definitively a lot more mobile than Soulbeast.

@foste.3098 said:where as a thief in spvp you will have to swap to another character very often if you want to do well since the thief is not good in every team composition not to mention thief is countered by more things.

If you really care about "min/maxing" your comp, you shouldn't run double Ranger either tbh. Besides, Daredevil + Deadeye works if the DE changes his build just a bit to be more teamfighting oriented.

@voltaicbore.8012 said:I run a full glass soulbeast - Berserker amulet, with 0 blocks and 0 invulns. I run rage runes, and LB with sword+warhorn on swap. All of my sustain comes from regen, evades, the occasional burst heal from Jacaranda merge, and trying to predict what enemies are trying to drop on me.

I have to play a bit smarter than the meta soulbeast that has a few defensive panic buttons, but on this glass soulbeast build I consistently outdamage Deadeyes. No DE on my team has ever outdamaged me, and if the other side has a DE I'm all over it and generally shut it down whenever I see the opportunity. Many DEs, after I do a longbow 4+2 are either dead or very scared - chasing the scared ones is a lot of fun, involving smokescale spam and sword strikes. I'm usually around 33-40% of my team's total dps output, and I frequently notch top heals and one of top offense/defense as well, when I'm having a good match.

And this is why you don't try to out-trade a Ranger on Rifle. If you ever run into a DE that knows how to use his other weapon sets (S/P or DP) you might run into troubles with that build though. Just need to catch you into one Quickness'd Pistol Whip and you're dead.

This discussion helps a lot, thank you all so much (I enjoyed marks/survival in WoWmuch more than beast mastery FYI) !SO it looks like there are a lot of different opinions and each profession has its strengths.

Are there any players/videos out there I should watch?The more current the better.