Don't laugh, Wondering about Bows..

[Dyrshin]

Finding a team for Albtraum with MA is brutal. It got me thinking tho, any of you use(d) a bow for PvM and had not-so-laughable results?

Personally, I don't focus on PvP, so I recently threw out my IP in piercing and SA (although I'm fairly certain that soon, since i reset and have one Rskill point left, that SA will be added somewhere valuable). So I decided to put enough IP to wear a ql 300 bow. I forget which one. Not alien one tho.

Compared to a ql 180 Pow Bow, I think i was hitting the shop mob for less with the ql 300. But the ql 300 one could hold 10 arrows and I think is faster.

Anyway, any thoughts on using a Bow for PvM? Not PvP, please don't refer to that aspect. And not as a replacement for fists/shens/Bob/morgan thingy (man i can't remember any names today!). Meant more for where a melee prof is useless (in future patches or present).

[Number317]

I have never thinked about using bow in pvp, well in alba i m usefull enough to kill the 3 bosses (specially the one who stun) but whit keeper ... i grap out my pvp bow and start hitting for ... 3K .... yes better than nothing

The probleme with bow is that u will have like 1,6K Bow skill ... wich too low to put/hotswap a good pvm bow, and the other probleme si if u want to get more skill, u will need 10 AI perk in bow line and some stuff like Surshoot sunglasses ... even with that, i dont think u can OD a fixer/advy/solja .. maybe a MP/doc/crat too wich supposed to dont DD too much with their weapons .. not OD just 50% dmg :P

Last point, there s not a good bow with high critical (should go for 10K critic to be usefull) to worth it, i guess a shooty>bow for someone in CC

I wich to have a new bow for pvp/pvm for MAs as bow is a green skill ...

[borriss]

This is one thing I really shouldnt speak too much of, but I would really strongly think that for your PVM damage to be any good, or good enough to even get teams for alb, only having bow ability wont be enough. You might just want to invest ip in fling if this is something you really want to be doing. Will have to find a bow with high critical damage as thats what your main dmg source will come from. could try training the alien perk "Ranger" aswell. it has some nice ranged dmg perks.

It's actually quite an interesting project you got going on here. but as I said if you want to be serious about it you might need ranger, fling shot, and maybe even heavy/light artillery (???) for added damage. I'm sure if done correctly your damage could become pretty high. I dont know the ammount of conceal needed to AS the mobs in there either, but maybe this could be something you would want to try out aswell?

Shotgun could be fun to try out also, but your IP would probably start getting tight now, eh? Anyways, some of the higher lvl bows has nice added crit damage so shotgun probably wont be nececcary. a supperior sapp bow for pvm tho? No, no way.

[Kari]

Ran around a LE mission looting a few VP on a lowbie with Chapman treat guns on earlier, was hitting for 25 & then critting for 500ish ( well they were OE & no pistol skill :P ). Wonder if it's worth looking at again.

[Dyrshin]

.....snip.....

I wouldn't ask for a serious team wearing a bow to do albtraum Prolly would try it out with org with their knowledge of the fact. Or a team for testing it.

If I could test fling and all that stuff out, without A) gimping myself (B) wasting Reset skills and (C) without going into weeks of reperks, I would love to try it all out. But I just don't have the time to test all this out. The time I have to play I use to enjoy the game. Maxing Bow is just to allocate the IP I have left over (since I don't use piercing and SA).

You're right though, I think a heavily twinked end game MA might find some good DD in Bow. Not compared to his fist, but perhaps compared to other profs.

And same goes for your comment Kari. I have a low ql shotgun with a high crit. I think I was getting something like 2.2k crits constant. But it's low lvl so it prolly won't hit high lvl mobs often. If one were to twink on a high ql, high crit shotgun, well it's been discussed.

One of these days I might jump on a DB cave team and test out my bow, just to see

[Dollcet]

Try this http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=165059 best crit-dmg i could find , no specials , kinda slow , cheaper on ip than other bows i guess.

[Koizumi]

I thought about this aswell, the bow that comes to my mind that would be usefull in alba would be Bow of the Triple Nimbus.
Altho im not sure if thats the best choice for ma's (bcoz of low crit).
U can also try Boosted Bow of Belith (tho its an ip suckage into bow(plus it might need ranger).

Edit: i forgot about this baby, imo the best that fits there, good min-dmg, good critrate and decent speed, AND req's arent skyhigh:
Great Bow of Premonition
Add our dmg adds to this baby, and u got a beautifull BFG
Plus the backstab as, and it aint so hard anymore ^^

Edit2: id try Dollcet's idea too, not sure what would be better tho, the +critrate with lower dmg, w/o as, or the lower critrate, but stable high dmg AND as

[Kari]

Dyr is soli, so no Belith for him. You're not gonna be tanking with a bow so inits aren't so important, so have you considered an Ofab Tiger mk2? ql250 looks reasonable.

[Dyrshin]

Dyr is soli, so no Belith for him. You're not gonna be tanking with a bow so inits aren't so important, so have you considered an Ofab Tiger mk2? ql250 looks reasonable.

I haven't. I'll take a look at it.

[Comi]

Im a full pvp MA but whenever I need to do ranged damage I use this baby ~

http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=212381

It uses phsyc init, so even if its kinda slow you can have it 1/1 without much problem, just cant be full defense.

Given that I for the most part crit every hit, with the damage buffs going I usually hit for about 4k per hit. I use it all the time in s42 and always on alb while doing the keeper.

I say its by far the best pvm bow arround for non 100% bow (theres any?) ma's.

[Koizumi]

Im a full pvp MA but whenever I need to do ranged damage I use this baby ~

http://auno.org/ao/db.php?id=212381

It uses phsyc init, so even if its kinda slow you can have it 1/1 without much problem, just cant be full defense.

Given that I for the most part crit every hit, with the damage buffs going I usually hit for about 4k per hit. I use it all the time in s42 and always on alb while doing the keeper.

I say its by far the best pvm bow arround for non 100% bow (theres any?) ma's.

Yup, i missed that one, guess comi's idea is by far the best.
Altho i would strongly advise to add a shere glyph to it, even tho we dun have enough sneak to hide from mobs like keeper, its always good to know that we have an ability to do a backstabAS

[Alexanderw]

I created a 100% Bow MA after my Main hit 220.

only got her to 33 so far and I use her for RP more than PvM but the results so far are very good. (Tho not as good as a normal MA)

been using sap bows for the most part due to the fact that they are easy to find. When I get a chance to work on her more I'm going to research a few more bows and maybe some of the SL bows.

I've heard there can be some troubles around 150+ but I'll get back to you when I get there.

[Dyrshin]

I created a 100% Bow MA after my Main hit 220.

only got her to 33 so far and I use her for RP more than PvM but the results so far are very good. (Tho not as good as a normal MA)

been using sap bows for the most part due to the fact that they are easy to find. When I get a chance to work on her more I'm going to research a few more bows and maybe some of the SL bows.

I've heard there can be some troubles around 150+ but I'll get back to you when I get there.

Very nice. Actually, the rare times I've started an alt (like my lvl 38 doc, lol), I used a second account with an MA to level him. I've done this a few times, though not past that lvl. So I usually end up with a couple of MA toons I delete after a while. I think I will go your route when I have free time, and level a strict ranged MA (mostly for test), using Bow. With the IP I save not putting in MA, Brawl, or Dimach, I may be able to dump some IP in other ranged things, and perhaps throw in some shotgun for the hell of it. Kill two birds with one stone. But we shall see.

Kari,
I looked into the ql 250 bow you mentioned, at first I thought I didn't have the skills for it. But I realized some items I didn't know about will help, like sureshot glasses. I may get in some pvp soon to get one.

[Whisperwill]

I use a bow for PvM pretty often, a ql295 Bow of Belith. It doesn't require Ranger, just CC armor. Damage varies according to AC but crits are usually around 4-5k. It's not bad compared to fists, and in situations where melee can kill you, it does much more damage. I sometimes add Ranger 1 for an extra damage perk. Being able to switch between ranged and melee is one of the MA's best qualities. Other melee profs can't do anything close. You can also use special arrows from albtraum and tears of oedipus for extra damage. Make sure to get as much +damage gear and buffs as possible when using bows.

[Koizumi]

Hmm..now that i think about it...
Its a choice between 300~ish Bow of Belith and Sancrosanct Bow.

If you got high enough skill to put on BBoB then id go for it (2 sec recharge - faster as?).
bigger clip, bigger ar cap, less equip time
If not, simply go with the Sancrosanct/Inamorata Bow(glyphed).

[Kari]

AS in pvm is probably not going to happen for a MA who reset pvp stuff.

[Koizumi]

AS in pvm is probably not going to happen for a MA who reset pvp stuff.

As in pvm can happen for anyone...weather pvp or pvm...10 or 1000000 conceal.
You can try grabbing a bow for some lvl10 NT and still he'll be able to as i.e LotV

[Kari]

Yeah, but not so often that the recharge matters

[Koizumi]

Yeah, but not so often that the recharge matters

And if ur kiting the keeper? I haven't been to Alb yet so im not sure how it's done, but dont you run in circles with him?
In that case with the lost of hp he has ull b able to do at lest 2 AS's...more dd = no complaining

[Kari]

Fling would probably be a better choice for PvM kiting.

Been using a 200 Bow of Ferocious on a few RK things I don't want to get near, it's actually useful damage. Biggest problem is hitting stuff with low bow AR.