Curse

Astraeos · Apr 17, 2012, 03:29 PM // 15:29

What is the best bow for a barrage ranger?

If the ranger is an elementalist secondary using the "conjure" line, my thought is that the longbow is the best option. The longer attack interval is irrelevant, because firing rate will be determined by barrage spamming, not the bow's attack interval (is that correct?).

If the barrage ranger is not using the "conjure" line, and is doing physical damage, the hornbow seems like the best option. The hornbow's 10% armor penetration would be helpful in increasing damage, and again, the long attack interval wouldn't be a factor due to barrage spamming.

Given the above, I plan on setting up a zealous hornbow and an icy/fiery longbow combination. Would anyone doing it differently? Any bow grip recommendations for either bow?

Wenspire · Apr 17, 2012, 04:40 PM // 16:40

You may want to take a look at the "Best Bow?" Thread listed a bit further down. Should be plenty of viewpoints in there to help you out.

ultimak719 · Apr 17, 2012, 10:50 PM // 22:50

Bows really are personal preference. Certainly some are better for certain jobs, but as you pointed out before, it really all depends on the barrage recharge. Look at the "Best Bow" thread, and then experiment.

Kunder · Apr 18, 2012, 12:48 AM // 00:48

Bow type should always be Flatbow in PvE (unless interrupting, but you shouldn't be interrupting much in PvE). Barrage still benefits from IAS, though due to the way recharge time works IAS below ~2.3s per shot only gives half the normal benefit. That's still a great reason to use faster shooting bows, and you can always bring Barrage + Volley if you want to seriously spew out arrows under 33% IAS.

Hornbows are always an especially bad idea. 10% armor penetration works out to be only slightly over +1 damage per shot. Not worth an extra half second per shot. Certainly shouldn't be on a zealous bow, the point of zealous is to attack faster to gain back more energy, bad combination.

As for the mods, obviously the elemental mod is needed for Conjure. However, you may consider not running conjure at all. That frees up your secondary to run /W for Save Yourselves, saves attribute points, and lets you use a Vampiric mod for a free +5 bonus to help offset some of the damage you lost.

Wenspire · Apr 18, 2012, 01:39 AM // 01:39

Could run Conjure Flame with Conflaguration spirit if you want to have the benefit of the Vamp bow.

Kunder · Apr 18, 2012, 02:42 AM // 02:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wenspire

Could run Conjure Flame with Conflaguration spirit if you want to have the benefit of the Vamp bow.

If you want to use a spirit +6 from Favourable Winds outweighs +5 from vampiric + Conflagration. Of course you can run both, but I refuse to believe that there is anyone with that much patience to cast them all.

Astraeos · Apr 18, 2012, 03:25 AM // 03:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kunder

If you want to use a spirit +6 from Favourable Winds outweighs +5 from vampiric + Conflagration. Of course you can run both, but I refuse to believe that there is anyone with that much patience to cast them all.

Assuming a build with fire magic 10 (12+1+1 in marksmanship, 8+1 in expertise, 10 in fire magic*), wouldn't the conflagration spirit with conjure flame give you a +15 damage? That would be in addition to the +5 from a vampiric bow, for a total of +20? That would compare to +6 from favorable winds with the +5 vampiric damage, so nearly doubling the bonus. The caveat is that additional damage comes at the cost of an extra skill and the need to sink attribute points into fire magic, so it's not really apples to apples. I like the idea though, and for me, it will all depend on what skills become available when... still working my way through my first run.

I also just bought my first top-end bow: Vampiric 5/1 recurve bow, +15^50, +30 health... by far better than anything I've had before. From the "best bows" thread (thanks for pointing me to that), it seemed like a bow that would be useful to the end, so worth sinking the platinum into (15K... ouch!).

* Edit to add: Of course, you'd need some points in wilderness survival to make conflagration last. A wilderness survival of 4 would make it permanent. I'm not sure what the best attribute set-up would be, but it seems as though it would be workable

Kunder · Apr 18, 2012, 04:16 AM // 04:16

You can use Conjure with both builds, the difference is Favourable Winds + Elemental bow or Conflagration + Vampiric bow.