Curse

Exhonour · Nov 21, 2007, 02:37 AM // 02:37

k well im trying to get a recurve and all i see thats selling are zealous and vampiric for greens, are these worth getting or?

placebo overdose · Nov 21, 2007, 02:43 AM // 02:43

zealous and vamp are good bow mods you might wanna also look at poisonous and silencing

horseradish · Nov 21, 2007, 02:51 AM // 02:51

I wouldn't go for Zealous or Vampiric upgrades on bows.

Maybe on a shortbow, but not a recurve.

a condition lengthening upgrade with a +armor or +health is what i use.

Exhonour · Nov 21, 2007, 03:04 AM // 03:04

k i got a dead recurve then for 5k with +30 mod and 15^50 and zealous that im changing to poison

Marverick · Nov 21, 2007, 04:00 AM // 04:00

I'd use Poisonous, Silencing, and Crippling on Recurves. Vampiric is fine if you don't need any of the previous upgrades, or as a swap after you just used BHA on some boss or Pin Down on something and you don't need the Silencing/Crippling string anymore.
Zealous, however, just isn't worth it. 1 energy every 2.4 seconds vs 1 energy every 3 seconds, assuming you are constantly attacking. That's really not a noticeable difference, not enough to warrant using your bowstring for.

Pyro maniac · Nov 21, 2007, 10:03 PM // 22:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marverick

I'd use Poisonous, Silencing, and Crippling on Recurves. Vampiric is fine if you don't need any of the previous upgrades, or as a swap after you just used BHA on some boss or Pin Down on something and you don't need the Silencing/Crippling string anymore.
Zealous, however, just isn't worth it. 1 energy every 2.4 seconds vs 1 energy every 3 seconds, assuming you are constantly attacking. That's really not a noticeable difference, not enough to warrant using your bowstring for.

just good for certain builds wich use volley, triple shot, dual shot, forked arrow and energy heavy other skills

Marverick · Nov 22, 2007, 01:43 AM // 01:43

But why would you use a Recurve bow for those?
Take a Zealous Flatbow or Shortbow, faster refire = more damage.

iridescentfyre · Nov 22, 2007, 04:17 AM // 04:17

Personally I don't like Zealous and Vampiric mods for bows. Bows are the slowest weapons in the game, and yet they still use 1/-1 Zealous and 5/-1 Vampiric, giving them the smallest return with each compared to other types of weapons. Even the Short and Flat bows are only fast compared to other bow types. They're extremely good mods for other weapons. For bows, not so much.

Furthermore, and this may just be my own personal playstyle, but in PvP I don't do much auto-attacking as a ranger. Usually each arrow is fired with a very specific intent, usually to stop a skill from activating or to cause a condition. Vampiric and Zealous don't lend themselves well to this playstyle. I could see them being useful in a specific Barrage or Volley build, though.

More relevent to the question though, a Recurve bow is only 4/10s of a second slower than a Shortbow. If it doesn't bother you at 2 seconds, it shouldn't be much worse at 2.4.

malko050987 · Nov 22, 2007, 10:32 AM // 10:32

5/-1 bows giving small return compared to any other? What about the 3/-1 Hammers? o.O

In general, I agree that vamp or zealous only work well when combined with Barrage or Volley and big mobs. But if you do run a barrage build and fight lots of monsters, Zealous string = no energy problems.

Kale Ironfist · Nov 22, 2007, 02:25 PM // 14:25

Quote:

5/-1 bows giving small return compared to any other? What about the 3/-1 Hammers? o.O

How exactly would you get a 3/-1 vamp mod for a Hammer? Ever since vamp mods were relegated to rare items only, you'll only ever see 4/-1 or 5/-1, or a 1/-1 unlocked via PvP.

Marverick · Nov 22, 2007, 04:02 PM // 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by iridescentfyre

Personally I don't like Zealous and Vampiric mods for bows. Bows are the slowest weapons in the game, and yet they still use 1/-1 Zealous and 5/-1 Vampiric, giving them the smallest return with each compared to other types of weapons. Even the Short and Flat bows are only fast compared to other bow types. They're extremely good mods for other weapons. For bows, not so much.

Furthermore, and this may just be my own personal playstyle, but in PvP I don't do much auto-attacking as a ranger. Usually each arrow is fired with a very specific intent, usually to stop a skill from activating or to cause a condition. Vampiric and Zealous don't lend themselves well to this playstyle. I could see them being useful in a specific Barrage or Volley build, though.

More relevent to the question though, a Recurve bow is only 4/10s of a second slower than a Shortbow. If it doesn't bother you at 2 seconds, it shouldn't be much worse at 2.4.

In PvP I'm using Poisonous or Crippling most of the time, but in PvE most of the time I don't run Apply Poison and there's no need to cripple anything really so I end up running Vamp. Sure it's not as great of a benefit as Vamp on a Scythe or Hammer, but it's still +5 damage per hit.

Wakka · Nov 22, 2007, 04:37 PM // 16:37

Quote:

there's no need to cripple

Actually Cripshot can be effective in some melee heavy high end Hard Mode areas

iridescentfyre · Nov 22, 2007, 09:56 PM // 21:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by malko050987

5/-1 bows giving small return compared to any other? What about the 3/-1 Hammers? o.O

Hammers get 5/-1, not 3/-1. In fact are the fastest weapon with 5/-1, resulting in the best hp return of any weapon assuming you auto-attack a lot.

Chthon · Nov 23, 2007, 04:59 AM // 04:59

Even on the 2.4sec bows, vamp keeps up with the -1 degen. And vamp still gives the best damage boost, regardless of speed. Unless my build was dedicated conjure or a particular condition, I'd always have a vamp bow on switch.

Zealous's e/time is low enough that you lose energy over the long run on the slower bows, after you take into account time spent changing targets, moving into range, and using skills. Unless you use multi-arrow skills, which is pretty common in PvE at least.

iridescentfyre · Nov 23, 2007, 05:29 AM // 05:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chthon

Even on the slower bows, vamp keeps up with the -1 degen.

Hornbows require an IAS to keep up with the degen. Everything else at least breaks even.

http://www.wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Vampiric

Chthon · Nov 23, 2007, 07:36 PM // 19:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by iridescentfyre

Hornbows require an IAS to keep up with the degen. Everything else at least breaks even.

http://www.wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Vampiric

Quite right. Sometimes I forget about hornbows because I never use them in any situation. Thanks for the correction.