Check out my bow with +10% AND -2 dmg (both while in stance)!

No I am NOT selling here just discussing this unique.

Has anyone even heard of such a bow? The damage on it is crappy but -2 dmg while in stance on -top- of +% dmg while in stance is really godly!

And, yes, the upgrade slots are empty too, and there are no drawback (eg hp degen or whatever)... its piercing dmg with those 2 mods and no prefix or suffix upgrades

I'm flabberghasted.... IGN Fe Wind to see it if you're curious and I'm available

I'm not trying to rain on your parade here, and I might be entirely off-base, but I was under the impression that "while in stance" items weren't all that great?

depends on the character build, rangers have quite a few different stances (as do warriors) so a character designed around stances can easily take advantage of such a bonus.

Rangers just have 5 second stances. So dmg h>50% is much better than in stance even for a stance-based rangers.

I'm not that deep into rangers (won't be for some time) so i'll take Anarkii's word for it that the stances are short. Warriors with +dmg in stance help because in my case, i often use flurry constantly while attacking. It lasts for 5 seconds and takes 5 seconds to recharge; I maintain it constantly.

Back on topic: Havn't ever seen a bow like that before, but GW does have some rather amazing things. A guy in crystal desert once showed me a AIR STAFF with +% blood magic, some kind of mesmer skill, and some other weird stats. I am not sure if these were the exact stats but i remember it had skill improvements for THREE different classes and had a energy thing on it (I think?). It was gold... I guess there's just occcasionally very funky items, very rare, very weird.

To the contrary... its entierly possible to have a ranger using stances

Tiger's Fury, Serpents Quickness, Lightning Reflexes are very common stances that can be spammed if you alternate between them... (Serpent's Quickness alone stays up indefinitely as long as you're above 50%)

not to mention the other famous one Whirling Defence

Theres also Escape (E), Dodge, Dryder's Defence, Storm Chaser for when you're running (-2 helps here alot)... and then lousy ones like Melandru's Resilience (E) and Practiced Stance (E)....

My anti-caster build uses incendiary arrows/choaking gas with Tigers Fury/Lightning Reflexes to practically make monks run because they can hardly cast any spell at all... recharge times for stances are also short except for sprints and whirling Defence

Also... do not discount the -2 dmg per hit.... Superior Absorption rune gives -3... major is -2.... so thats definitely awesome to have

Only problems:
1. Is there a reduction cap (from armor, runes, shields/bows)?
2. Is it positional (ie you dont get the -2 if hit from behind?

I think I'll test #2 myself with critical hits and tell my results.

I'm positive -2 dmg form an equipped weapon is always-on (at least for melee physical dmg when equipping this bow i have)

MY ranger wore final armor and tested this against Charr which have the Wild Blow skill (automatically does a critical hit) -- this method of testing was lifted from SonofRah who is an expert is damage calculation (although he never did answer my question on whether +armor from shields/foci/staffs were positional )

Facing one Charr I consistently received -9 dmg when he used Wild Blow.

When I equipped the -2 dmg while in stance bow I got the same (no stance yet)... and when I activated stance I received only -7

These results never varied despite changing my orientation relative to the Charr.

However I did not test this with different altitudes... both of us were always on the same level

Extrapolation: shields should behave in the same way.... although SonofRah disagrees (I've read his article stating that shields do not cover your back)

I might test this when I have a warrior

I think this bow is a quest reward now

ahem, whirling defense is easily 20 seconds with a decent ammount of expertise

Aye - Lighting reflexes acvies 11 with a decent amount of Expertise, and Tigers Fury can be pushed past 10 seconds realtivley easlily..

in any case, Stance based rangers are fully Viable. as too crazy stat ite3ms.. ive found any number of them myself.. usually odd combos of Necro and Mesmer stats... usually purples and golds as well.

Why can't R/W's use warrior stances too?

Must have missed that one.

Never tried it, but i'm sure playing a ranger and slapping bonetti's on would be quite nice, especially when throwing out lots of penetrating attacks etc.
Sure way to build up that energy.

As for the weapons with multiple profession stats, i've not seen any myself but i will keep my eyes peeled.

I am using a stance now

....ow medic

Bonetti's ends if you use a skill, and the slower attack speed of a bow compared to a sword or axe would make it difficult to maintain. There would be methods naturally to get it back up, say a Barrage when Bonetti's is about to end to build the last few points it needs to recharge.

Balanced Stance and Disciplined Stance would be easy to maintain (note that Disciplined Stance would also give a 75% chance to evade). Balanced Stance can last quite a while, and with high enough tactics the wait inbetween recharges would be very minimal.

As far as odd items go, got one myself with damage requiring you to be a monk, +% to blood magic, and faster recharge for another class.

I recieved that weapon from a quest. I think it was ment to be something, but failed.

That bow is similar to the Sword you can get in Henge of Denravi. 14-21 dmg +5 energy. I have not seen a max damage one yet with the +5 energy.

I suspect the max damage bow with -2 recieved will not show either. I can understand giving up +5 energy or -2 recieved for +15% additional damage, but not max damage.


ehhh, my 2 cents?

serpents quickness is not indefinate as long as you are above 50%.

+% dmg bows would own with at ranger with tiger fury, as long as you have it last 10 secs, thats an extra % permantly basically.

Or for a damage based, maybe Choking Gas Ranger using Frenzy. Personally, I'd much rather have "In a stance" modifiers than "When hp is above 50%", as I'm always in a stance at any given time. A shame Arena forgot to add that modifier to the pool of collector bows, which is always a nice touch.

I would like to see a picture.

Scrap it. Damage is the most important thing on your bow, by far. What good is +10%dmg while in stance when your damage sucks to begin with?
You can get a collector's bow with max dmg and +%dmg while health>50%, much more valuable.

I dont think the OP is asking if its an effective bow, but rather wishes to discuss the uniqueness of the inherant abilities tied to the bow.

I think its an amazing combo. I've never seen a drop weapon that has a constant damage modifier, let alone coupled with with a damage reduction mod. thats awesome!

lol exactly right. just another player who never played a ranger talking about something he knows nothing about.

but what can you do? there are going to be people who think they know it all. (sigh)