Curse

Lord Omnipata · Jan 18, 2006, 04:12 PM // 16:12

Ok, I've read a bunch of guides and whatnot but haven't come across anything specific to what I want to know.

Here's my line of thinking on bows to equip for a Ranger (PvE anyway).

1.Vampiric Halfmoon of Defense (15^50, 5/-1, +5) for close up work

2.Vampiric Longbow of Enchanting (15^50, 5/-1, 20%) for pulling and ranged attack. Mods came with the bow, might need to change those out?

3. I'm currently looking for a horn/ivory/shadow bow for barrage/dmg dealing. I know these have a 10/10 armor pen built in. I was thinking of applying a 10/10 string as well plus an enchanting mod or something?

If you apply a 10/10 string to a horn bow, does it basically give you a 20% chance of 10% armor penetration? I guess that would make sense.

Anyway, any comments on my line of thinking are appreciated. Just want to make sure I'm not forgetting anything as this stuff isn't exactly cheap.

Thx all!

Yolanda Kai · Jan 18, 2006, 09:25 PM // 21:25

I vaguely recall something about it NOT just adding them together, but doing some sort of sequential check. So IF the first source fails to trigger AP, THEN it checks the next and so on. If that's right, then basically you have 19% chance instead of 10+10=20 because the second one isn't checked 10% of the time.

I guess it is possible that it would have 20% chance of 10%AP and 1% chance of 20%AP, but I don't think it's done that way. I could be totally off-base, but I'm at university and so my folder of Bookmarks is a few miles away.

In any case, +AL grips are never a bad thing, 5AL can save a couple points of damage per attack, which in a long term confrontation adds up to a lot more than +30HP.

My personal opinion for Vampiric mods is that they're not really all that useful unless you're doing a very rapid fire sort of build. Whether it's Rapid Shot (that's the Elite isn't it?) and some other ones that fire off quicker than usual, or Barrage, or Dual Shot, or a +attack rate stance, you should be okay with Vamp strings in these situations. If not? Then the -1 regen sucks. Obviously you want a weapon switch as well, so you're not low on health before/after confrontations since you won't heal up on your own with a vamp string.

If you don't use those sorts of skills, then personally I would stay away and go for the generic Sundering mod. Works against anybody, where elemental strings and whatnot are situational. Some opponents are built for physical damage, some for elemental. You don't want to use an ice attack against an Ice Imp for example, way less damage than say fire. Poisoner's is nice if you rely on DoT for most of your damage... I often like to go Kindle+Poison Arrow for my main damage dealing, and a few cheap spammers like Penetrating Attack, and let Poison do most of the work. Just hit everybody in the group with Poison Arrow, and keep cycling through once the durations start to run out.

If you want to use Barrage for PvE then vamp and/or zealous bows are really handy to keep your blue and red bars full as much of the time as you can. Depending on your secondary, you might need more Energy than most Rangers. I don't really know at this point

Hopefully my ramblings were somewhat useful. You have really nice bows at the moment, +20% enchant not so much if you're not playing spellcaster secondary, but definitely a good trade/salvage item if it's not customized yet. I don't think you need to throw a bunch of money at a new set of bows, unless you find some juicy ones with the AP hidden in. I want some more of those too, only have 1 of them (an Ivory)

Athis Strider · Jan 19, 2006, 03:34 AM // 03:34

I was going to post the same question. I want to buy a horn ivory or shadow bow. I've read that they are 10% armor penetration but then comes the string mod question. Does it stack? Dunno.
Also give me your opinions. I came about a grip of deathbane +20%. I also have sundering string and fire srting in my inventory. The idea was to build a bow for FOW and using it against the Undead. Wich would be better for this type of application?

Athis

Rajamic · Jan 19, 2006, 06:35 AM // 06:35

Horn bows have a built in 10% always on AP. And Sundering does stack with it.

But Sundering is absolute crap. The overall effect is roughly the same as a 1% always on AP. That's about a 1-1.25% increase in damage. Unless you can consistently hit for 200+ damage every shot, a 5/1 Vampiric vastly outpaces it on damage. Heck, even a Zealous would outpace it damagewise, since it would allow you to spam bow attacks harder and longer.

Kasissia · Jan 19, 2006, 10:16 PM // 22:16

Bow i would use for barrage:
Poisoner string/5:1 vamp/zealous with halfmoon and grip of defense.

Why is sundering worth so much? I rather a 5:1 vamp or poisoner...