Bow weapon for bowadin?

slothpark

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May 15, 2009
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Bow weapon for bowadin?

What weapon can you suggest that can fit this bowadin build?

RL-20
RC-20
HS-20
HF-20
Sal-20
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

I'm not that familiar with Rangers/Bowadins, but I would think the most important thing is speed, rather than physical damage--since most of your damage will be coming from the elemental auras and you don't have anything to multiply the physical damage. Hell, I'd think even a fast 6os bow stuffed with shaels would work, or maybe 5 shaels and a nef (knockback). :p

Consider unique bows with useful non-damage mods:

Witchwild String comes with +40 resists (nice considering you're shieldless) and 2 sockets.
Riphook has a good base speed, 30% IAS, and 30% slow.
Kuko Shakaku's piercing attack could be helpful against large groups.

If you do want decent physical damage (for leech, perhaps), then Windforce is the obvious choice. An upgraded Witchwild String may be the best overall option--the amplify damage and deadly strike gives it respectable physical damage, it has 2 sockets for shaels (and a faster base speed than Windforce), and it has the aforementioned +40 resists. FWIW, that's my Tesladin's preferred switch weapon for taking down DKs and OKs.

But disregard everything I said if someone who's actually suffer---err played--a Ranger tells you differently. :D
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

I've never played this kind of character either, but the biggest problem would seem to be getting your chance to hit high enough.

How about Eaglehorn for ITD and some scaling AR? Widowmaker for Guided Arrow? A magic/rare bow with Fool's mod? A 4-6 socket bow stuffed to the brim with Eth runes? :p. Just throwing some stranger suggestions out there.
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

I've made a ranger before, but it was a holy fire + kuko/demon machine type. When I made him I read about rangers a little, and Widowmaker was mentioned as a good bow for holy freeze and holy shock, since it fires guided arrows (which always hit). Wizendraw has -% cold res, so that might be a good bow for holy freeze.

If you don't have any of these, then a fast bow or something with piercing would be good.
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

Any elite Bow (Eaglehorn, Widowmaker, Windforce).
Any elite Crossbow (Hellrack, Gut Siphon).
Witchwild String, Cliffkiller, Goldstrike Arch.
Buriza-Do Kyanon, Demon Machine.
'Faith', 'Harmony', 'Brand'.

All are gg.
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

Check out the Storm Ranger guide. It's got a good discussion on bows, and the build it's discussing is exactly the same as what you're mentioning. Storm Ranger
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

The very best is Demon machine combined with razortail and some enchant from obedience/demon limb.
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

The very best is Demon machine combined with razortail and some enchant from obedience/demon limb.
Depends what you're aiming for. Personally, I'd disagree. Demon Machine will put you at 12fpa, or 11 with some ias gear. Paladins can only reach 11fpa with crossbows. On the other hand, they can reach 9fpa with bows. As such, something like Rogue's Bow (yes, a normal unique) is useful due to the huge 50ias on top of a base speed of -10. However, it doesn't have the best other mods, so it's not the best all round.

In regards to other posters saying stuff like windforce, I'd disagree with that too. By the way you seem to be playing, considering the auras, your best bet is to get a bow that applies the elemental damage fast. The physical damage isn't as important. That's why the frame rate is so crucial. Admittedly higher physical damage bows will let you leech a lot more, but that's the main use you'll find. Your holy shock aura will do much more damage than the bow itself, and the holy freeze probably will too once you have all your synergies going.

Really, you should check out that guide. It's got a well-thought out discussion on bows, and how to apply them to the frost and shock auras.

EDIT: On the other hand, Faith is just ridiculous. Put that in a base -10 bow, and you're only 24 ias away from 9 frames, if you roll the lowest fanatacism possible, or 22 ias if you get the highest. Also, you'll have huge physical damage (so you have three types: cold, lightning, and physical) AND it has ignore target defence. So, if you have it, faith would almost certainly be the ultimate weapon for such a paladin. However, assuming you don't have access to such expensive items, I'd check out the guide for alternatives.

Note: I could have numbers wrong for the ias required with fanatacism from faith. The values provided were from a weapon speed calculator that may be out of date for all I know.



 
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Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

@Pijus: I really love the demon machine, but its native damage + non-sorc enchant won't really add much fire damage to the explosions. It would be great with holy fire, though.

@srs0: Demon machine has 66% pierce, razortail has 33%. Add them together and you get 99% pierce, and that means hitting more than one monster per arrow. That's a lot more important than the difference between 11 and 9 frames. 9 frames could be useful on bosses, though.

I definitely agree, though, that leech is worthless on a ranger. What are you going to leech? Mana? Why? You never use it, so your bulb will always be full anyway. Life? If something hits you, you're probably going to need to use a potion anyway, and shooting one arrow at a time isn't going to refill your bulb like strafe or zeal would.
 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

@srs0: Demon machine has 66% pierce, razortail has 33%. Add them together and you get 99% pierce, and that means hitting more than one monster per arrow. That's a lot more important than the difference between 11 and 9 frames. 9 frames could be useful on bosses, though.
I figured out the pierce, but I guess it's a matter of choice. Most problems I have are with boss packs or act bosses, not the normal monsters, so I'm generally happy with 33% pierce alone if it means 9fpa instead of 11. However, Kuko could make a happy medium, with 50% pierce. You'd need a lot of ias for that to work though.

In summary, I agree that Demon Machine is useful there for pierce, and that some may prefer it. My apologies for discounting it - my playstyle just differs! (I'd use Demon Machine before Windforce, that's for sure.)



 
Re: Bow weapon for bowadin?

Enchant is for AR% only. Demon machine+razortail is for 99% pierce, which is pretty much every time. Trust me, there are lots of places where pierce can work it's magic.

My second thought was Rogue's bow.

If you don't fancy a demon machine(it has ~600 AR by the way :thumbup:), IMO the best choice is a Harmony. It should really improve kiting, which is what you'll be doing throughout the entire game, as a ranger.
 
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