Curse

Thom Bangalter · Dec 19, 2006, 01:18 AM // 01:18

You PVE too much, imo.

Running a quickshot build? probably a shortbow.

Ranger spiking? Hornbow is your best option.

Playing a good build? Recurve.

lennymon · Dec 19, 2006, 01:26 AM // 01:26

heehee, only reason I even run a longbow is because they never made a zodiac recurve. thank goodness for the bramble recurves and eternal bows though.

Kijik Oni Hanryuu · Dec 19, 2006, 01:28 AM // 01:28

multi purpose? pfft... only thing they are good for is interrupting casters while they can't hurt you. but unless you are interrupting from long range longbow=suck, if you aren;t interrupting and want range, use a flatbow, it's refire rate is insane providing for marginally better DPS, if you aren't worried about being close or not then use a shortbow or recurve. Sooo, before spouting biggotry and ignorance. try and put a little thought into it. kthxbye

Jeff Highwind · Dec 19, 2006, 01:39 AM // 01:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by lennymon

heehee, only reason I even run a longbow is because they never made a zodiac recurve. thank goodness for the bramble recurves and eternal bows though.

Word man, a Zodiac Recurve would make me farm forever to buy a perfect one.

SnipiousMax · Dec 19, 2006, 04:30 AM // 04:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by .defekt

Longbow is the best type of bow in the game.

Why? It deals less damage than a short/flatbow. It is not as acurate as a recuve bow. When refire doesn't matter, a hornbow has an obvious advantage. If someone was running around with an a weapon that wasn't customized... you'd think they were a noob. So why would you cut 20% of your damage for no gain at all? Recurves/Horns/Shorts/Flats can all fill a purpose, but what does a longbow do any better than the others?

Jeff Highwind · Dec 19, 2006, 04:33 AM // 04:33

Long range f*** you's for stationary units like the Serpents.

I think it's meant for pulling, but it fails there as well.

daky · Dec 19, 2006, 07:14 AM // 07:14

I usually have one zealous, vamp and sundering of each type of bow. Most common being long and flat bow (which one I use depends on the terrain). More often then not I usually stick to zealous (regardless of bow type). I find zealous to be very useful with 13expertise you basically gain back all your energy off a 5 energy skill just by using it/hitting your target.

Unless of course you go the barrage....in which case if your lucky you may get a free skill used + some energy. Not that I recommend barrage.

Blackbear · Dec 19, 2006, 07:43 AM // 07:43

I use a forgotten longbow, also have an ironwing longbow, stinger, and thornbeards shortbow (i think thats his name), usually just use the forgotten longbow cause im too lazy to carry around more than one bow and keep switchin in the middle of a fight, mainly play PvE so it doesnt really matter.

Reason i use the longbow is the range and i prefer the flighttime over the flatbows.

The few times ive played PvP ive used either stinger or a recurve...

Lyphen · Dec 19, 2006, 01:25 PM // 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by daky

I usually have one zealous, vamp and sundering of each type of bow. Most common being long and flat bow (which one I use depends on the terrain). More often then not I usually stick to zealous (regardless of bow type). I find zealous to be very useful with 13expertise you basically gain back all your energy off a 5 energy skill just by using it/hitting your target.

Unless of course you go the barrage....in which case if your lucky you may get a free skill used + some energy. Not that I recommend barrage.

Heh, my full Barage Hero team got my Canthan Ranger through the Ring of Fire for the first time yesterday! When it comes to Barrage, I give my Zealous to Zenmai, since she has energy problems. You normaly regen the 2 pips of energy during a Barrage's downtime anyway (with 13 Exp).

And I've started using the Vampiric! Razortongue Recurve and Vah's Hornbow - both look nice, but I don't like having to switch all the time.

FalconDance · Dec 19, 2006, 03:06 PM // 15:06

My original ranger, Lili, used a variety of longbows (has a collection of them) throughout Prophecies and most of Factions, including a Celestial with an unconditional +5 energy. All with NO trouble whatsoever. Of course, she was almost always running an expert Sniper build. She also has a zealous half moon and a flatbow (vamp) for those special moments.

Sanura, however, has used a recurve nearly all of NF so far. She does have a 5/1 vamp longbow and a flatbow that she switches to at times, but the recurve is her all-purpose.

Sure, when you're just starting out as a ranger, you refer to the charts, other people's opinions, etc. But in the end, you really have to decide what works with the set of skills you're using. Refer to all the advice as just that and then decide for yourself which bow is the "best" for you.

Former Ruling · Dec 19, 2006, 08:04 PM // 20:04

Shortbow - For general PvE I use a Shortbow almost all the time. Theres ALOT of Shortbow hate for some reason...But overall I find that if Range doesn't matter (and alot of the time it doesn't in pve) why use a Recurve and sacrifice refire rate or a flatbow and sacrifice arc when a Shortbow is fine :\

Hornbow - All but useless outside of Ranger Spike IMHO.

Recurve - the "middle line" in all stats bow..I Don't use them as much as I should, but I'm getting used to PvEing with them little by little. If you are going to buy just one bow... buy a Recurve.

Flatbow - If someone is keeping FW up...Use this for most situations. Otherwise its nice for Pulling (better than longbow IMO) or when the enemy isn't moving.

Longbow - I have a friend that only uses Longbows..Don't know why...They aren't useless but...In almost any situation that would call for you being that far from the enemy a flatbow is probably going to outclass the longbow.

the_jos · Dec 19, 2006, 09:08 PM // 21:08

Let's see.
My basic bows are Elswyth's bows (Vamp recurce and Poison longbow).
Don't use the long bow that often, but it's in one of my 4 slots (for pulling).
I have used the Ironwing Flatbow (Zealous) for some time, mostly on Barrage + FW builds. But now it's just in inventory. All those are 15^50.

Furtermore, I have build my own Poison Recurve and Crippling Recurve.
One of those is equipped.
And I have a short bow (Ice with +7 agains elemental, +14 vs hexed) equipped.

Those are the bows I use most.

I don't like the average green bow.
They are somewhat expensive and unless you really need a specific max-stat bow, you probably can craft /collect a comparable bow (probably with an other skill, but same or almost the same stats).

For example, the green 'Bolten's Recurve' (+5e criple, +30hp) is between 10 and 20K according to price check on this site.
Collectors +5e recurve is 5 Skree Wings, Crippling string is easily bought at 1K and you should be able to get +28/29 HP at around 4K.
That's 5K and some effort to get the Skree Wings.
Even with a +30HP you probably save some gold.

For most situations, I prefer a recurve bow (also since I have 1 or 2 interrupts on my skillbar most of the time). I think it's also the best bow for cripple (most accurate, so more chance to hit a moving target).
The rest of the bows depend on the current situation.

R A C · Dec 19, 2006, 10:33 PM // 22:33

Mmm... bows...
I've got too many bows and not enough. My favorite string is definitely vampiric. I've got a few elemental bows for fighting stuff weak to whatever element. And also saying Firey Feathered Flatbow of Fortitude is just cool. I'm working on a 20/20 sundering hornbow of marksmanship, but I never can seem to find the upgrades. Elswyth's recurve is fun. It's my only recurve atm so it's for interrupts. My vamp shortbow of fort is my general all purpose bow for when I'm lazy. my ironwing longbow is nice, but meh. I also have a +15% -5e celestial longbow, haven't decided really what upgrades to put on that though... Bows for the future: crippling recurve and vamp flatbow. After that I'll probably decide some other bow is a must have as well. I may have to toss my extra armor set along with other stuff I've collected to make room. candy bow, random hats.
Bah, enough rambling. IMO, best bow would have to be short or recurve.

Cathode_Reborn · Dec 20, 2006, 10:27 AM // 10:27

I'm obssessed with the Read the wind + Flatbow combo

I rarely use any other preparation or bow. I use Drago's flat, I like the stats and the skin is nice too. I never cared much for sundering (I've tested the damage it adds, and it's not much) and I'm tempted to make a bow like drago's but with Vamp instead just to dish out more damage. I'd try out zealous (I here lots of good about it) but I seriously can't stand the damn energy-gain sounds.......jesus anet, make an option to off it!

Anyways......RtW+Flatbow = range, firespeed, arrows that never miss....it's awesome. It really is the sniper setup. If you've played Fort Aspenwood on the kurzick side and went to the ledges up the stairs, you'll know it's begging for a ranger to camp it

You can easily hit squishies in the 100's with 16marks + a somewhat strong attack skill.

Everytime I use another bow, the firerate kills me. It feels sooo slow and boring. I'm just thinking "gaawwwwd, shoot the damn arrow already".

[QUOTE=R A C]I'm working on a 20/20 sundering hornbow of marksmanship, but I never can seem to find the upgrades. QUOTE]

Sounds like you're going for lots of damage. If you don't mind the -1hp degen, a vamp string will easily out-dmg 20/20. I've tested sundering on many weapons, and it's become very easy to test with bows using the paragon shout "Go for the eyes!" for easy criticals.

Edit: Can someone tell me how to do the fancy-lookin quotes? It looks lame when I do it

Emik · Dec 20, 2006, 12:05 PM // 12:05

If you're using a bow in tombs go for either Chkkr's or Forgotten Flatbow.
Both have zealous mods. Combined with Tigers Fury it's a huge damage dealer.
Turbo Barrage FTW.

Apart from that I've got a bow of each class and i prefer my Storm coz it keeps you out of range.
If you don't fear all that then yeah, a recurve.
Too bad the refire rate is so damn slow

@ Cathode: You need to end your quote same as you started it
In this case

Code:

[quote(=author)][/quote]

Dutch Masterr · Dec 20, 2006, 08:25 PM // 20:25

ill admit that the only mistake i made on the bow stats thing is the refire rate of a shortbow and it was a little opinionated. no one here can say a certain type of bow "sucks" because its purley opinion. what i wrote was from my expiriences. the two bows i hate though are flatbows and shortbows. and flatbows are by no mean the best to interupt...shortbows or recurve bows are. flatbows have a good refire rate but are extremley innacurate unless you use a skill like read the wind. i just think its silly to bring a preperation like read the wind just to use a flatbow, when you could be using something like apply poison or a more worth while preperation. i just hate the short range of shortbows and innacuracy of flatbows..but again thats *my opinion*.. this is the set of bows i carry--

sundering amber longbow of fort for barrage and taking out basses in AB.

zealous zodiac bow or fort for energy gain/barrage

sundering mursaat hornbow of fort for just about anything but mostly pvp.

sundering spiked recurve bow of fort for my main pvp bow

eggs0wn · Dec 20, 2006, 08:33 PM // 20:33

My Bows
Sundering Storm Bow of Fort- Use for pulling and because when I was a noob I thought they were cool
*Forgerunner(fire damage)- Use for a Flaming Barrage Build
*Rotwing Bow- Use for poision build which I used to do ALOT but not too much anymore
Zealous Recurve of Defense- New bow I made recently and have been using alot for most builds.

* = green

And I used to have Vamp bow but I just didnt like the -1hp degen. I know it ends up dealing more dmg but it just didnt work for me at the time. But ironically, I now sort of want a Vamp Shortbow.

XvArchonvX · Dec 20, 2006, 10:48 PM // 22:48

If you only buy one bow, a longbow or recurve isn't a bad choice, but frankly, having a bow to fit every situation is far more effective. If finance is a problem, then get collector bows. A ranger with an unmodded bow of every type is likely to be a stronger all around ranger than one with a perfectly modded single bow, no matter what the mods.

lennymon · Dec 21, 2006, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Last count my bow storage spanned 4 characters because I'm not well organized... basically if I put em in a closet and pretended they were shoes I'd be Imelda Marcos. I've 2 more on 'layaway' now. I think I'll be able to retire some soon with the latest round of upgrades though.

drupal · Dec 21, 2006, 12:29 AM // 00:29

Dragos is really nice and the Ironwing is no bad choice, too.

My prefered mods are Poisonous-, Sundering-, Vampiric-, Zealous Strings and always a Fortitude Grip.