Help Soulbeast - Build with long and shortbow

Hello guys !

I’ve been playing this game for a bit more than a month now and I’m really enjoying it. My main character is a ranger-soulbeast and I play it with a longbow and a shortbow, this kind of gameplay fits me because I usually don’t like close fights and bow is in general my favorite weapon in games.

Unfortunately, I’ve been constantly told that it’s not effective at all for the end game content. That’s why I wanted to ask for your opinion. Do you think that this weapon combination is useless too ? Is there any build with ranger that I could use to play both bows at the same time without being considered useless and unefficient ?I will be glad to receive any advice, please help me to avoid daggers and swords. :D

Thanks for your attention

Its not good for group content but i could give you some advice how to build it though.Just a general note upfront: Bows (especially LB) are not that great for group content because you have to be close to your friends to get all the buffs. SB is not that bad at it because its somewhat of a skirmishy "in and out" weapon.

If you insist on Bow only, id say go with grieving or vipers stats with sigils and runes build for conditions. LB does not apply dmg conditions but can proc sigils quiet frequently due to high attack pace.Skirmishing is a must pick specialisation line.Maybe take Marsdmanship too.

As an altwrnative there is the possibility of a ranged only build that is a bit more viable with SB and Axe/WH.Axe plays similar to shortbow in the Mainhand and both deal condition dmg and scale with it.WH buffs and can proc condis fast due to high hit rate.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQJATVnE8CVsgl8CmsAs8il8AL/9ef7vMbge3JYJAUAaAA-jBSFQBtTXwIVCuh9HS3FAIBHCAA8EA6n6PNU5HA-e

This is the double bow dirwction i would take (Note this is just an on the fly draft, try to orient on it if you want, but i dont guarantee for performance, and swap some traits to your liking)

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNBHhV6kgXoiFskXwkFglXsUIY5X3vb5lZAU6eAPJgcXAA-jxRFQBNU5HAeCAtTfQCOFAwZ/h+p+zIVCCA-e

This is the SB, Axe/WH suggestion. Same Notification as above, this is an on the fly draft, so try to experoment on your own.

https://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Soulbeast_-_Condi_DPS_Shortbow/Shortbow

There is also this, which counts as a great endgame build for high end group content.

Longbow is a weapon that deals most damage through power, whereas shortbow deals most damage through conditions. By running both, you're either handicapping yourself by using condi stats with a power weapon or vice versa.

Using both condition and damage stats is also a bad decision because power damage relies heavily on Ferocity and condi relies heavily on Condi duration. Any combination is substantial DPS loss. In PvP, this is excusable in some builds, but for PvE, you'll want to avoid this.

If you go power, go with Longbow and Axe/Axe for a pure range build and for condi go with something like the double shortbow build that InsaneQR.7412 linked. Just note that the more you deviate from the top meta builds, the lower DPS you will deal. This doesn't matter for solo stuff much, but it can have a more substantial impact to group content.

Thanks for all your answers, that's really kind! :)

Actually I discovered only yesterday that it's possible to have a double weapon (for example double shortbow). But what is the point, because the cooldown of the skills are shared between them, no? Or is this only to make the trait that divide by 50% the cooldown of the first skill we cast after changing weapon (and other bonuses we get switching weapon) more interesting?

I think I'll go for this build, it seems closer to what I like, hoping that maybe there will soon be some changes on the longbow that will make it viable.

@Athel.1564 said:Thanks for all your answers, that's really kind! :)

Actually I discovered only yesterday that it's possible to have a double weapon (for example double shortbow). But what is the point, because the cooldown of the skills are shared between them, no? Or is this only to make the trait that divide by 50% the cooldown of the first skill we cast after changing weapon (and other bonuses we get switching weapon) more interesting?

I think I'll go for this build, it seems closer to what I like, hoping that maybe there will soon be some changes on the longbow that will make it viable.

Its for weaponswap usage only yes.With only one weapon you can not trigger swap effects.

Quickdraw (the trait you mentioned) is actually quiet substantial in some builds.For example you could make doible shortbow with quickdraw and use higher CD skills after weaponswap to get them down fastwr, than swap again and repeat.

Other good exanple is the dagger/torch build.There you would equip an dagger MH in one set and torch OH in the other. This way you always have a full weaponset but you can swap weapons to trigger traits and sigils.

I love my shortbow. It's a medium-short range weapon and requires a lot of mobility.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vNAQNAV4fnE8C1sgdrAm8Cs8iFDBjJAM6Kd5V3u74tpDEsqal48jA-jRiAQBzUJIAOIACS3A0eAANT5X0uAAfS9Hhs/QCOCAAA-e

That's the build I use. Granted, I'm mostly PVE open-world, but it works great. Things die really quick for a condition build. I mostly just camp in shortbow, but add in dagger/torch when I need to go all out on DPS (switch dagger with axe since you don't want daggers).

It's also easily adaptable. Need more AOE? Switch out Vulture Stance for Flame Trap and use the Entangle elite. In a group? Switch Viper's Nest for Sun/Frost/Stone Spirit or another stance and take Leader of the Pack. As for pets, I like Bristleback as my general-use beast soul. You can also go with Lynx for more single-target DPS or Warthog if you need the CC.