Curse

iofred · Apr 09, 2006, 04:48 PM // 16:48

Hi there,
what types of bows are favoured once??
I at the moment carry a Poisonous Shadow Bow of Fortitude, with following stats: Piercing Dmg: 15 - 28
Dmg 14%
Health + 29
Poisoning: +33% longer
I think it is a very good bow, but is there anything better out there??

Fred

Valerius · Apr 09, 2006, 05:06 PM // 17:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by iofred

Hi there,
what types of bows are favoured once??
I at the moment carry a Poisonous Shadow Bow of Fortitude, with following stats: Piercing Dmg: 15 - 28
Dmg 14%
Health + 29
Poisoning: +33% longer
I think it is a very good bow, but is there anything better out there??

Fred

req? negative?

anyways... if your only gonna carry one bow then i'd go with a Recurve bow class... they seem to have the most uses... i would definately not be carrying a Shadow bow (or any other hornbow class) as they are sloowww and have no use in any builds

iofred · Apr 09, 2006, 05:08 PM // 17:08

Exactly the sort of comments I am looking for, thx,
I did not know there were different speeds on bows, doh

Valerius · Apr 09, 2006, 05:10 PM // 17:10

check this out then...

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/content...ies-id1092.php

iofred · Apr 09, 2006, 05:33 PM // 17:33

Very useful, thanks for that (again)
now if we are talking slow bows and fast bows, are w talking "refire" time, or "flight" time.
I understand that flight times can be influenced by skills, in which case I would look at refire time.
Is this correct or daft??

SnipiousMax · Apr 09, 2006, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by iofred

Very useful, thanks for that (again)
now if we are talking slow bows and fast bows, are w talking "refire" time, or "flight" time.
I understand that flight times can be influenced by skills, in which case I would look at refire time.
Is this correct or daft??

Personally, if your only planning on using one bow, then I'd use either a longbow or a Recurve (like Valerus said.) Flat bows fire quickly (refire rate) but it takes a long time for the arrows to land (flight time), and as such are the least acurate. Shadow bows have inherent Amor Penetration, but are so slow (refire rate) the effect is not worthwhile. Short bows have their uses. But I'd pick Long/Recurve.

iofred · Apr 09, 2006, 05:52 PM // 17:52

Thinking of having at least 2 bows (have to admit, I do like the shadow bow

, emotional git I am), so what would I be looking for in a recurve bow??

Your help (and patience with nitwit) much appreciated.

Jack Valmont · Apr 09, 2006, 06:03 PM // 18:03

I use Elswyth, Gorgash, and Tornak's Recurve Bow.

Elswyth's Recurve Bow is my absolute favorite.

I spent 30k on armor today...I feel so...used by the game.

iofred · Apr 09, 2006, 06:40 PM // 18:40

Got Elswyth for 8k now, hope the price is right.

Thx for your advice on this

Iskrah · Apr 09, 2006, 08:21 PM // 20:21

You could have bought it for around 5K, or even less. It's not too bad of a deal anyway. I agree with the above posters who say Recurve (composite actually) is best if you plan to use only one bow. And Elswyth's Recurve Bow happens to have very popular mods, for a reasonable price.

But let me tell you that if you're serious about being a Ranger, you will have to learn about switching bows during fight. Then, your preference should go as follows.

For pulling monsters to you: a LongBow (a StormBow is a LongBow with a nicer look). Best range of the game, equal to FlatBows, but you get a better chance of actually hitting your target (because the arrow, even tho slow, is still faster than the Flat's).
For interrupting: Composite/Recurve. Their flight time is the shortest, 0.5 being the breaking point where you'll hit your targets with constant accuracy. Note that with speed buffers (such as Favorable Winds or Read the Winds), every bow will be accurate enough anyway.
For close-range fighting, which is the most often encountered situation: ShortBows have it there, hands down. If you use Barrage, grap a pair of Graygore's Short Bows (one Vampiric, the other Zealous), they will make your day. Shouldn't be too expensive.

Have fun with your bows, and don't forget to take Tiger's Fury, RtW or FW... or a combination of them. Up to you.

iofred · Apr 09, 2006, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Lol, I realized that as well from the excellent list Valerius linked.
So I now have a Long bow (blue one) for the luring in F1, composite bow in F2, and want to get a good short bow for F3, I have got RtW and FWas standard, combined with PowerShot and Hunters Shot.
Haven't managed to get TigerFury yet.

Thanks for all the suggestions in here, really really great

Jack Valmont · Apr 09, 2006, 09:04 PM // 21:04

To be honest, I always work with Recurve as much as I can. I just prefer it.

Then again, I don't do PvP.

Iskrah · Apr 10, 2006, 12:24 AM // 00:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Valmont

To be honest, I always work with Recurve as much as I can. I just prefer it.

Then again, I don't do PvP.

Recurve puts you farther from the threat in PvE, so it makes sense to prefer it if you're a backline kind of guy. In PvP, considering the movement and the usual positions of teams in Heroes'Ascent or GvG, not so much. That's why Short Bows comes in handy, as soon as the fight is close enough...

XvArchonvX · Apr 10, 2006, 05:58 PM // 17:58

When in doubt, I tend to prefer longbow class type bows. The refire rate and flight time is good, though not the best, but the range is really the reason I prefer them. I find range to be very important since the more range you have, the more flexibility you have in positioning.

Since rangers are very dependant on positioning and can make use of such to increase effectiveness, this is a very strong factor imo. Higher ground is always a strong advantage as it lessens damage you take from projectiles and increases your damage. If the higher ground is out of range, you miss both of these possibilities and your effectiveness is decreased. Also simply having the ability to stay out of harms way and pull enemies from outside your aggro circle is very helpful in terms of control and survivability.

While flatbows do admittedly have greater refire rate, they are heavily dependant on Fav Winds and Read the Wind. Both of these skills, while giving their own benefits, takes up a skill slot that may be used to better suit your particular build. Given that the very useful skill Barrage {E} cancels all preps, RTW is basically nulified as an option should that skill be chosen to be used.

With this said, I admit that this is solely my opinion and there is really no 'bad' choice in bow since they all depend on how they are used.