A dps longbow build that’s similar to gs l axe/dagger

[Minty.5371]

My friend loves to play longbow and the idea, that for fractals and raids (dps builds), he has to change into a different weapon, kills him inside. Is there a similar build with longbow that somewhat comes similar to the gs/ axe dagger one (dps)?

[TwiceCookedPorkins.8940]

Unfortunately, not really. Longbow just can't compete at the moment, especially for raw DPS in raids. He should be fine using it in most lower fractals though. (Just remind him to never use the knockback unless on a breakbar.)

Edit: If your friend is like me and just wants a good bow build, I would suggest a Power Shortbow Renegade, Condi Shortbow Ranger or a Condi Longbow Warrior. These are the best bow-builds in the game right now, imo.

[Kajind.6195]

This is not a meta build, but is super fun for me to play. Sounds I would tell your friend to give it a shot. There is a talent in the last row of the Skirmishing tree called Quick Draw, it reduces the cooldown when swapping weapons. Use 2 longbows and this tallent. Swap back and forth lowering the cooldown of barrage or rapid fire. Its a pretty fun build with surprisingly little down time.

[Teratus.2859]

He can play LB he just wont be in the max DPS category.

LB isnt a bad weapon for Ranger, it's a personal favourite of mine and when you play it to it's strength with piercing arrows it can deal a respectable amount of damage so long as you are able to line your shots up to take advantage of it.People mistake LB for a single target damage weapon but it's not ment to be played like that, it's ment to be AoE.. you just have to learn how to make the most of the piercing arrows to get the most damage possible out of it :)

[Krispera.5087]

Your friend could try :

It's LB + A/A.

[voltaicbore.8012]

This is the build I run in pve when I want to stick more consistently with longbow, or when I'm soloing dungeons. It trades several more damage-oriented choices in favor of specifically using longbow at range, as well as a few compromises made for survival purposes. You'll notice of course that I listed a soulbeast build, but if your friend doesn't have PoF and isn't going to buy it, they'd have to stick with core ranger and can't use this build.

As for longbow matching higher damage alternatives, that's just not happening. A melee ranger who knows how to play will pretty much always heavily outperform longbow. But as others have said, if you like longbow and learn how to use it, your output could at least be good enough not to be an active drain on the group.

[Minty.5371]

Thank you all for the replies!