Shortbow Compliments Scrapper Juggernaut FT

[Nate.8146]

So I've come back to the game to try out the new revision of the shortbow. It's certainly not going to win any notice me main character giga chad competitions, but I find it has a place with the solo scrapper juggy FT build. Basically you want to camp FT forever because you want that perma stability, which these days every kitten enemy has frequent access to CC just to annoy you. Drones have a 20s cooldown, which aligns with the cooldown of bow #4, so it's easy to know when to kick your rotation. You pop a well, swap to bow, trigger #4 (fire field + 3 might stacks) -> #2 (blast finisher + 5 might stacks + 3 might stacks) -> #5 (blast finisher + 3*2 might stacks) or #3 if #5 is on cooldown (+3 might stacks), will give you a burst of might to bump you up to 25 stacks, plus some protection since you weren't already invincible enough in this build (Iron Blooded + Backpack Regen). If you got allies nearby, the blast finishers in the well will give them and yourself quickness. You can also use #2 on your FT for one more blast finisher in the well, plus mines if you're rocking the boom booms. Or, if you're a selfish engineer, which I hope you are, then you're rocking the chrono relic for infini-quickness. Now you're just laughing maniacally. In about 2 seconds you now have full might stacks, perma stability, perma quickness, 50% uptime on protection and aegis, and super speed at your command. So the bow gives you that little boost to an already feel good, can't die no matter how hard you try solo build.

[Ravenwulfe.5360]

One thing I am finding about the shortbow... it was not marketed well for its purpose... this thing is a beast in mass mob groups but if you are doing 1v1 fighting it's not very good. It inflicts vulnerability and does a chain shock and in large pools of enemies that shock starts paying off, then throw in the damage from your AoE Chain Reaction effects. Put in a mech on top of that and I been doing surprisingly well clearing groups of mobs where you can bring all the effects to bear.

Basically put, if you are planning to do maps that usually have packs and swarms of mobs to clear I think the shortbow does well for itself. But if you are doing more 1v1 mob fighting, probably stick to the hammer or rifle in that instance, like if you follow the meta train.

Didn't help the weapon was made to look like a pure support tool as well. It still needs tweaks but is far from the bad weapon it's been out to be.

Edited March 2 by Ravenwulfe.5360

[wolfyrik.2017]

7 hours ago, Nate.8146 said:

So I've come back to the game to try out the new revision of the shortbow. It's certainly not going to win any notice me main character giga chad competitions, but I find it has a place with the solo scrapper juggy FT build. Basically you want to camp FT forever because you want that perma stability, which these days every kitten enemy has frequent access to CC just to annoy you. Drones have a 20s cooldown, which aligns with the cooldown of bow #4, so it's easy to know when to kick your rotation. You pop a well, swap to bow, trigger #4 (fire field + 3 might stacks) -> #2 (blast finisher + 5 might stacks + 3 might stacks) -> #5 (blast finisher + 3*2 might stacks) or #3 if #5 is on cooldown (+3 might stacks), will give you a burst of might to bump you up to 25 stacks, plus some protection since you weren't already invincible enough in this build (Iron Blooded + Backpack Regen). If you got allies nearby, the blast finishers in the well will give them and yourself quickness. You can also use #2 on your FT for one more blast finisher in the well, plus mines if you're rocking the boom booms. Or, if you're a selfish engineer, which I hope you are, then you're rocking the chrono relic for infini-quickness. Now you're just laughing maniacally. In about 2 seconds you now have full might stacks, perma stability, perma quickness, 50% uptime on protection and aegis, and super speed at your command. So the bow gives you that little boost to an already feel good, can't die no matter how hard you try solo build.

So it achieves the exact same thing as mace/shield or hammer on the same setup but with none of the damage, meaning you'll take a lot longer to kill things with little to no benefit? I mean, sure you'll have occasional aegis, but at best that will block attacks that you wouldn't have had to deal with on any other build because the mob attacking you would be dead.

I mean it's not great is it?

 

[jason.1083]

4 hours ago, wolfyrik.2017 said:

I mean, sure you'll have occasional aegis, but at best that will block attacks that you wouldn't have had to deal with on any other build because the mob attacking you would be dead.

Aegis is not even useful unless you can spam it, I'd take a block skill over Aegis anytime, it's not like we're Guardians and have a ton of synergies that make it worth it.

[AlPower.2476]

Engineer's shortbow is an awful weapon outside some wvw healer builds

Considering we have 55k dps deadeyes with the new weapons for PvE

Or distusting burst in PvP

Already Mace Shield are kinda good for support; also some hammer builds. Why not improve them with buffing core skills such as elixir gun a little more, etc.

And to make  shortbow anything else but a support weapon.

And I'm in fear of anet nerfing core utilites and buffing shortbow support utilities to forceus to use it 😕

EDIT

Maybe i'm speaking too early; short bow has potential in some pvp builds

EDIT 2

I'm not mad with shortbow being not that good, I know is a new addition and they probly gonna improve it

Is like, for example in PvE; when HOT came out only few specs shined but lately most of 'em were good (except scrapper, revenant and necro xd)

Or PoF; despite that Chrono as the only alac, druid as the only healer, weaver as the only dps and warrior as the bs at the start; over the years we had Holo, Spellbreaker, etc doin' well (yeah, also we had some periods of struggling like when they nerfed holo overheat; weaver, etc; or when meta was literally 1 chrono and 9 dh with feel my breath and shared sigil)

Sadly stll waiting for having good non-afk mech builds aside ham from EoD

I'm worried about the common behavior of nerfing core to buff unused things xD. A core skill rarely comes back from this kind of movements (say hi, core condi, bomb kit (power), flamethrower, turrets, etc)

Edited March 3 by AlPower.2476

[draxynnic.3719]

Hizen's been making shortbow work as an open world solo build, although I'm not sure that build isn't just 'let the mech do the damage while I support the mech'.

[MrForz.1953]

1 hour ago, draxynnic.3719 said:

Hizen's been making shortbow work as an open world solo build, although I'm not sure that build isn't just 'let the mech do the damage while I support the mech'.

Pretty much it. I'd guess a celestial variant of the LI condi mech but with a shortbow instead. You drop all your skills on you and your mech, it does the damage and tada. The shortbow by itself has close to zero dps for the cooldowns it has so if you don't have a mech to carry you around you're better off wielding literally anything else for better overall results even in OW. There's no cooking potential on the buildcrafting aspect for that thing which is the part I deplore for a "core" weapon, it belongs in a boon healer build and nowhere else.

I don't know how well received Warrior staff is but it, at the very least, deals decent damage and has a lot of mobility for something that is meant to be a support weapon, and they can swap. What gives.

Edited March 4 by MrForz.1953

[wolfyrik.2017]

2 hours ago, MrForz.1953 said:

Pretty much it. I'd guess a celestial variant of the LI condi mech but with a shortbow instead. You drop all your skills on you and your mech, it does the damage and tada. The shortbow by itself has close to zero dps for the cooldowns it has so if you don't have a mech to carry you around you're better off wielding literally anything else for better overall results even in OW. There's no cooking potential on the buildcrafting aspect for that thing which is the part I deplore for a "core" weapon, it belongs in a boon healer build and nowhere else.

I don't know how well received Warrior staff is but it, at the very least, deals decent damage and has a lot of mobility for something that is meant to be a support weapon, and they can swap. What gives.

This is exactly it. Exactly as I predicted and Hizen has now twice proven, the shortbow is basically useless on every spec except mechanist where it is toxic. The mech becomes effectively invincibile and fights for you while you sit safely at range. The worst designed espec meets the worst designed weapon and results in the worst type of gameplay that players warned about and Anet claim to be against. I genuinely don't understand how Anet keep doing things like this.

Meh.

Edited March 4 by wolfyrik.2017

[Dirame.8521]

Anyone who thinks Shortbow is weak in PvP doesn't yet understand what PvP is all about. CC rules in PvP (AoE CC especially) and shortbow brings it in spades: Blinds, chain stuns, the aegis, even if it is one aegis, it can still be annoying to that person you see charging up their 1-shot attack only for it to hit an aegis. The amount of times the arrow lands right after I am CC'ed only for the person attacking to hit the aegis instead of finishing me off is uncountable.

I particularly designed my engie build to use what people consider to be the weakest utilities turrets (Rocket & Thumper) and Gadgets (AED & throw mine). The build works with any spec, even core Engie. But the most hilarious set-up that messes with your opponent the most is the Scrapper set-up, 25 stacks of might, infinite fury, infinite protection, Could also get infinite swiftness as well, Supply Crate can give you a good supply of regen, so much barrier.... Literally no one can tell me Shortbow is weak. Been dunking on everything thus far as long as i play with my brain.

Edited March 5 by Dirame.8521

[AlphaReborn.1567]

Can you post the full build please?

On 3/5/2024 at 2:20 AM, Dirame.8521 said:

Anyone who thinks Shortbow is weak in PvP doesn't yet understand what PvP is all about. CC rules in PvP (AoE CC especially) and shortbow brings it in spades: Blinds, chain stuns, the aegis, even if it is one aegis, it can still be annoying to that person you see charging up their 1-shot attack only for it to hit an aegis. The amount of times the arrow lands right after I am CC'ed only for the person attacking to hit the aegis instead of finishing me off is uncountable.

I particularly designed my engie build to use what people consider to be the weakest utilities turrets (Rocket & Thumper) and Gadgets (AED & throw mine). The build works with any spec, even core Engie. But the most hilarious set-up that messes with your opponent the most is the Scrapper set-up, 25 stacks of might, infinite fury, infinite protection, Could also get infinite swiftness as well, Supply Crate can give you a good supply of regen, so much barrier.... Literally no one can tell me Shortbow is weak. Been dunking on everything thus far as long as i play with my brain.

 

[AlPower.2476]

After some mo' days of trying it, I conclude that

* PvP shortbow engi is MEH; maybe not the worst option (hi P/P and mace )

* PvE Shortbow is meh (better mace shield for supporting options, precisely q heal)

*WvW support one is the best option for this weapon, but stills meh since the entire cclass is meh if compared to meta supports, even though including comming patches. Has potentian in WvW. BUT hardly is gonna compete against  firebrand, aurasharer, etc. The only way is gettting back SS or Steatlh (I think the best way of this is, bringing back old duration and CD but to keep dark field; this isn't a problem considering that mesmer can do this pretty well also)

Edited March 11 by AlPower.2476

[Dirame.8521]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:18 PM, AlphaReborn.1567 said:

Can you post the full build please?

 

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PeQAUlJwaYMsFWJOuPlNVA-D6IeGZLBCZBYrvAAA

[Chops.1472]

Why the chronomancer relic though? There's only one well in the build, wouldn't fireworks be better?

[Dirame.8521]

On 3/14/2024 at 12:06 PM, Chops.1472 said:

Why the chronomancer relic though? There's only one well in the build, wouldn't fireworks be better?

I actually use Dolyak relic. You can do whatever you like.