Curse

1/2_Extreme · May 29, 2005, 04:47 PM // 16:47

which would be more effective on my R/Me (Expertise, Marks., Illusion)

Im focusing on both PvP / PvE, in both im a support character. Im guessing the energy steal will be good in PvP, but in PvE im guessing that the vampiric is better?
My current bow:

Fiery Half moon bow of marks.
Fire DmG. 15-28 (8 requir)
Damage 11% + (While health is above 50%)
Marks +1 (10% chance)

Should i throw in a Zealous bow string or a vampiric +5 on it?

Zeru · May 29, 2005, 05:14 PM // 17:14

Well vampiric +5 is really good but you need to determine how much you're getting hit in pve. If you are taking a fair amount of health loss regularly then yes it's worth it on the other hand if your teams warriors are taking all the beating then zealous is better.

In pvp your initial analysis is right; rangers are generally targeted last and hence a zealous will serve you much better.

Vermilion Okeanos · May 29, 2005, 07:18 PM // 19:18

It really depend on your build... if you going to go around shooting warriors... you going to need your bow to be elemental so they don't have the +20 vs physical against you...

If you going to use energy heavy things.. of course zealous...
Having more energy would let you do more damage in the long run...

Not many people attack ranger right off the bat anyway... so unless you are looking for damage, I wouldn't put on vampiric (unless pve)

Gh0sT · May 30, 2005, 08:37 AM // 08:37

Well at first a vampiric bowstring seems better, i mean +5 compared to +1 seems quite a lot better...

But if you think about it... with Druids armor you have 31 energy... and lets say ur health is around the 500 ...

A zealous string would give you back 1/31st of your energy, whereas vampiric only gives back 5/500th = 1/100th ...

Besides i think that vampiric isnt that good since:

1. on PvP matches you most likely have a monk...

2. if someone is attacking you (warrior bashing in), that 5 extra health every 2 seconds doenst make that much of a difference

3. Troll Ingruent heals better and faster (not saying you use vampiric for healing, just that you can get back the same amount of health from vampiric with 1 troll ungruent)

---

I'd go with either zealous or elemental string, depends on ur class...

Since you are a R/Me (like me) i'd go with zealous... put it on a shortbow use tigers fury and/or barrage ... and there you go lots of extra energy...

...

Especially useful since a lot good mesmer skills cost quite a lot of energy (read: Backfire 15 energy - Conjure Phantasm - 10 energy, etc)

Minwanabi · May 30, 2005, 03:59 PM // 15:59

Ok, on topic, the zealous string is way, way better. The magic number of expertise at 14, and a zealous string on a short bow means you will be spamming your damage skills as fast as you can.

Next, slightly off topic, the vampiric bonus isn't about the HP, 5 HP every hit is NOTHING. The benefit is that since it steals that hp, you're doing an extra 5 damage every shot. That's the benefit.