[Archery] Help with some bows.

[DJAd]

I've just GM'd fletching and also archery and want to make a decent bow.

I've been using a "magical shortbow" to train as it had a nice bit of swing speed increase and some other mods.

I'm totally new to archery but I did enjoy the ranged ability as an extra skill on my mage. If I get on well with it, I might consider boosting it to 120. Is there a massive benefit in having 120 archery?

I have got GM tactics but might not have room to keep this on the template. Is this stupid to remove, or essential for archer?

Also any advice for making bows would be most helpful. Whats a "good all rounder" weapon?
I'm a PvM player, but would like to one day venture into the PvP world :-D

 

[Lynk]

Yes there is a massive benefit. If you decide to drop tactics, you could probably go mage weapon on the bow.

I've played a mage/archer before, but it was for PvP. I have mixed feelings.. when I did it, there was no imbuing so the suit was a challenge. Might be better now, just seems like there are better builds to go with (imho).

 

[DJAd]

What mods are good to go for on the bow Lynk?

I've seen some item properties that are totally new to me. Velocity and such like.

Also if its "balanced" I can hold another item right?

 

[Lynk]

Balanced means you can drink potions.

For PvM, honestly I would focus on damage increase, a slayer, hit lower defense, mana leech, and swing speed.

I would use reforging to first reforge your bow to the appropriate elemental damage. Assuming no wasted properties come out of that you can actually reforge it again. The other skills you have and stats weigh heavily into what i would recommend after that. I would suggest a composite and reforge to have 40 SSI. Then imbue your slayer, then HLD, and whatever is left into mana leech.

For PvP I would do SSI, Balanced, Hit Spell, Hit Velocity, DI.

 

[DJAd]

I would use reforging to first reforge your bow to the appropriate elemental damage

Thanks for the reply Lynk. I get a bit lost with the quote above. I've not done any reforging yet. Can I also enhance to get SSI somehow? Ash I think right?

 

[Joey Porter]

I've just GM'd fletching and also archery and want to make a decent bow.

I've been using a "magical shortbow" to train as it had a nice bit of swing speed increase and some other mods.

I'm totally new to archery but I did enjoy the ranged ability as an extra skill on my mage. If I get on well with it, I might consider boosting it to 120. Is there a massive benefit in having 120 archery?

I have got GM tactics but might not have room to keep this on the template. Is this stupid to remove, or essential for archer?

Also any advice for making bows would be most helpful. Whats a "good all rounder" weapon?
I'm a PvM player, but would like to one day venture into the PvP world :-D

I play an archer mage and the bump to 120 skill does give good gains in damage but you can easily get the extra 20 points with hunters head dress or if you are wearing the hat of Magi you can imbue the extra 20 pts on some Jewels.

I am currently using a composite bow, 50 lightning, 40 SSI, spell channeling, 40 DI and milk the heck of the armor special.

 

[Joey Porter]

Balanced means you can drink potions.

For PvM, honestly I would focus on damage increase, a slayer, hit lower defense, mana leech, and swing speed.

I would use reforging to first reforge your bow to the appropriate elemental damage. Assuming no wasted properties come out of that you can actually reforge it again. The other skills you have and stats weigh heavily into what i would recommend after that. I would suggest a composite and reforge to have 40 SSI. Then imbue your slayer, then HLD, and whatever is left into mana leech.

For PvP I would do SSI, Balanced, Hit Spell, Hit Velocity, DI.

I gave leeches a shot but it would seem they do basicly nothing on a bow. I would add the appropriate slayer as well like he said.

Here is what I do.

Craft exceptional bow out of regular wood to get your 40 DI
Powder to 255 max durability
Imbue-spell channeling, SSI to 30, Lightning to 40-50, Slayer
Enhance with ash wood to get another 10 SSI and use a reforge tool so you dont lose your bow

 

[Joey Porter]

If money is a concern you should check out the Juka bow thread. Very cheap way to get a pretty good slayer bow of each type.

 

[Mirt]

The mana leech is key. Other then that I like a hit effect and balanced is nice if your going to be pve. Also swing speed increase for most of them is pretty critical.

 

[Joey Porter]

The mana leech is key. Other then that I like a hit effect and balanced is nice if your going to be pve. Also swing speed increase for most of them is pretty critical.

I tired using mana leech on bows and they were worthless. I saw very little to no benefit. After I tried them I saw that they nerfed leeches for bows at some point.

I find it much better to have mana regen on my suit.

 

[Driven Insane]

I play an archer mage and the bump to 120 skill does give good gains in damage but you can easily get the extra 20 points with hunters head dress

Having 120 Archery doesn't increase the damage, only your chance to hit.

As for playing a Mage Archer. I currently have a stealth/mage/archer. Very challenging and to be honest, really nowhere near as good as a straight Archer or Mage. I mostly just use him to scout around, but when it comes to a serious PvP fight I go change to another char.

Really the issue with a mage/archer is that ideally you need 2/6 casting and LRC. Having all of that on your suit really reduces the amount of mods you could have in other areas such as your Stats, MR, MI, SI and HPI.

I have to use bows with no -1 casting in order to maintain 2/6 casting. So all of my bows have the following mods.

10% DI
30% SSI
46% Hit Lightning
Spell Channeling no -1.

That puts my bows right at the 500 cap for Imbuing.

 

[Mirt]

I tired using mana leech on bows and they were worthless. I saw very little to no benefit. After I tried them I saw that they nerfed leeches for bows at some point.

I find it much better to have mana regen on my suit.

Nerfed yes but it still makes a huge difference if your hitting for big damage. It can mean the difference between getting off a special or not.

 

[krilov]

i suggest you to spend some time in making a good game yumi. Double shot+bushido it's something crazy.And if u think of a slayer one.....Well i recognize it's quite hard to make a good one...maybe i wouldn't really smoke an heartwood kit for it..but u know if money &/or time isnt a prob...go for it; otherwise test with a yew kit

 

[DJAd]

Craft exceptional bow out of regular wood to get your 40 DI

I made a few bows this weekend to test some out, I was only getting 36% DI bonus. Is this normal with bows?

 

[Joey Porter]

I made a few bows this weekend to test some out, I was only getting 36% DI bonus. Is this normal with bows?

What is your skill?

 

[DJAd]

100

 

[Petra Fyde]

armslore?

 

[SlobberKnocker]

i burned 7 kits to get 2 yumis with 40 ssi and both had 30 hit mana drain. do it up on the imbue and enhance with ash to get 50ssi. 7 ash kits though so be prepared. not an easy make.