Returning player need advice

[Fyrestorm Rayevnsky.5497]

So returned the other week and have a lvl 80 ranger, however ranger feels a lil cheesy at the moment with its bow and sic em.I love playing from range and being an archer myself in looking for a bow wielding class, but the pet micro management isn't really my thing.Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.Thank you

[Linken.6345]

@Fyrestorm Rayevnsky.5497 said:So returned the other week and have a lvl 80 ranger, however ranger feels a lil cheesy at the moment with its bow and sic em.I love playing from range and being an archer myself in looking for a bow wielding class, but the pet micro management isn't really my thing.Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.Thank you

Get pof level up soulbest and merge with pet.

[Randulf.7614]

Guardians get longbow with heart of thorns if that helps.

[Irensaga.6935]

I'm currently running my Chronomancer Mesmer with a greatsword for open-world roaming and events, with wells and sword/shield on weapon swap for properly buffing other players in group events and AOE damage on mobs. It's been a pretty darn solid ranged build so far in my opinion.

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

If you're dead set on using a bow, your options are: Warrior with longbow, Thief with shortbow, Dragonhunter Guardian with longbow (requires Heart of Thorns), and Renegade Revenant with shortbow (requires Path of Fire). Generally though, because of the weapon swap mechanic, you'll usually find that just sticking with one weapon isn't as effective as switching between two, so you probably won't be using your bow the whole time. For example, for Warriors longbow is a condition weapon, so they typically combine it with their other condition weapons, sword and torch (with the Berserker elite specialisation).

By a similar token, you could follow Linken's suggestion of using Soulbeast and merging with your pet, but you'll get more out of Soulbeast if you know when to merge and when not to merge - using its full potential actually involves more micromanagement than core Ranger.

If you decide you just want a ranged weapon and you're not so bothered about it being a bow, every profession has at least one ranged option - in fact, I think including elite specs, every profession has at least two now - so, take your pick, really.

[Psycoprophet.8107]

Dont use sic em or other skills or traits that make u feel cheesey. Ranger is the better bow user of ur choices. Really rangers the only class which can be good using a bow. DH bow is ok but isn't that great,thief bow is all utility as a secondary weapon,warrior bow kinda sucks save a few skills and lastly renegade which has great animations but very niche uses in my experience.