Weapon of choice?

[AnticorRifling]

What is your archer's prefered weapon of choice and why?

I'm trying to decide which weapon I should invest a bit of money on now that I'm going to make a new archer. I'm leaning towards the heavy crossbow but I'd like other insight/opinions.

[Tendarian]

Id try out a couple of them. Its really a personal preferrance i think. I personally love the light crossbow as i get the +50 punch for kneeling you cant get with bows but yet it still hits hard enough to do real damage.

I think most crossbow users tend toward heavy crossbows tho i never understood why. In gs3 anyway i almost always stun or kill on my first shot so it would be pointless for me to upgrade to heavy crossbow. The heavy crossbow for me (+20 Strength bonus) takes 6 seconds to cock and the light takes 3 seconds. I really like having the 3 second cocking,and firing times as it makes it really easy to dance as well.

[Parkbandit]

My archer keeps a loaded heavy crossbow strapped to his back for idiot emergencies.

But his weapon of choice is a silver longbow strung up with puma tendon. 3 second roundtime on firecats=lotta dead firecats.

[Trinitis]

Well, having played with both sides (crossbows and longbows) I tend to lean twords the longbow once I get advanced in levels (15+ or so). At higher levels, the +50 AS is massively overshot by what will happen if your caught kneeling.

Being in a kneeling position gives you -50 DS, as well as a major drop in defense vers Manuver attacks. And being that most older critters have some form of a manuver attack, its best not to get caught down there period.

Playing in plat, you see a lot archers. Zanti prooved to me a few different times that longbows are just as good as crossbows..+50 AS is nice, but by the time your her level, it makes little difference in a hit or miss.

-Adredrin

[Tendarian]

Originally posted by LordAdredrin
At higher levels, the +50 AS is massively overshot by what will happen if your caught kneeling.

Playing in plat, you see a lot archers. Zanti prooved to me a few different times that longbows are just as good as crossbows..+50 AS is nice, but by the time your her level, it makes little difference in a hit or miss.

-Adredrin

Personally at least with kiramon i sweep them,kneel and fire my crossbow and its an almost insta kill everytime. I had my longbow altered so i wanted to play with that and i had to fire several times(with several just bouncing off) each critter which was a pain when i was used to insta kill.

[AnticorRifling]

Basically what I'm gathering is get a few different weapons. Right tool for the right job and all that. My rogue is currently lvl 25 and I think archery will fit him more than the path I have him on now. Guess I'll be looking for a longbow.

Of the bows you use standing up does it go short, composite, long in order of DF?

[sevas]

My archer had one of everything. He would bring out what worked best for each hunt. For example, if you are hunting something that doesnt crit and swarms, go with a shortbow. If your hunting something that crits and swarms go with a longbow. On the other end if they dont crit and dont swarm go with a light crossbow. If they do crit and dont swarm go with a heavy crossbow. The method i use has worked for me since the 'first generation' of archery. Just my 2 cents.

Sevas

[Parkbandit]

Hey Anticor...

With GS4.. have you thought about making Anticor an archer? With all the changes.. I think a wizard archer is better than a typical war mage.

What are your thoughts?

[AnticorRifling]

I haven't looked into it honestly.

Not sure if I could see Anticor as an archer I like to get toe to toe so to speak.

I might try it on the test server and see how it works. Hell I haven't even researched lores and whatnot yet. I'm still waiting to see what spell is affected by what.

A Giantman wizard that is an archer would be alittle different to say the least.

I might have to go crunch some numbers now....

[sevas]

The theory behind it would work well. High DS with spells, 3 second shooting with a longbow, and haste. In the time it takes for an ranger/rogue archer to shoot an aimed shot at a critter you can have released 5 aimed shots. The main difference is that you would not be the 'archer of the shadows' that most people try. Its worth a try at least in the test realm. Im fairly sure Saberwolv was a wizard archer in GSIII. Then again he might be capped so its easy for him.

Sevas

[Wezas]

Originally posted by sevas
Im fairly sure Saberwolv was a wizard archer in GSIII. Then again he might be capped so its easy for him.

Sevas

He's not capped, he's only a few trainings older then myself. He'll likely be in his early 60's in GS4

[Nakiro]

I don't have much experience in GS4 testing, and none in GS3, but I prefer the light crossbow. I'll admit, my hunting style is definately different than most hunting styles, including the war mage. And it also isn't the most effecitve.

But all I try to do is get off a cheap stun, with maybe a fall too if I get lucky and blow up a leg with 1106, and then a well placed shot to the eye finishes the job. In situtations where there are more creatures in the room, this becomes impossible, but because I'm conserving mana using a crossbow anyway than these situtations can generally be handled by just casting a lot, or maybe 1117. I'll have to try that too, once I master fletching of course.

Nak

[DarknessWithin]

My archer has his favorite weapon as his primary: a silver-veined black willow bow. It's a long bow and kicks mighty arse! I also have a heavy crossbow yet I think i'm like the others...I don't like the idea of kneeling. Something's just wrong with being eye level with a shambler's sword

::shudders::

[Soulpieced]

I don't have a favorite bow yet. Give me a few weeks and I'll let you know. But for now, my 0x composite bow seems to be working nicely... with a 1 RT = Lots of dead Ithzir.

[Tendarian]

Heh i dont know what kind of armor they wear,but from my dealings with a composite any real armor and its like shooting spit balls.

[Soulpieced]

PS: You carefully cut a nock into the end of the arrow shaft.

You take a deep breath as you realize with pride that you have mastered the skill of fletching!

Roundtime: 10 sec.

[GuildRat]

Nice....I'm still short about 20 ranks in crafting and 20 ranks in forging ::sigh::

[Kestrel]

Composite bows are extremely underrated. My dark elven ranger uses a 5x composite bow almost exclusively to hunt; with proper armor training, decent ST, and 606 up, she fires unaimed in the open at 3 seconds, and snipes at 5.

I don't often use the 5x longbow, except under the rare circumstance that I have a wizard friend provide some spells. Then the roundtimes are comparible to my usual, which I enjoy immensely. While the slightly increased damage potential from the longbow is nice, I much prefer the speed of the composite.

There is a 4x short bow that I keep in a locker that I rarely ever use; the weak hitting aspect of it compared to the other bows seems almost a waste, even with the roundtime decrease.

One thing that I do like to do is always carry a crossbow with me, be it light or heavy. Each of mine is a 4x, and are usually only reserved for hairy situations where I need to stun or kill something NOW, usually something that is significantly higher level than me. (Say if a shan fogs onto the lake, or a roa'ter shows up. That sort of thing.)

I have hunted quite successfully with only a crossbow (or three). One of the more fun tactics of that is to carry several and swap between the loaded ones to quickly finish off something. Generally, I prefer light crossbows for solid hunting, and heavy for emergency situations.

Different tactics work for different people. If you have a friend who has bows you do not, I highly suggest seeing if you can borrow them for a few hunts, both for a single weapon and for using several bows together. That way you can find out what tactic works best for you.

[Soulpieced]

Composite bows are extremely underrated. My dark elven ranger uses a 5x composite bow almost exclusively to hunt; with proper armor training, decent ST, and 606 up, she fires unaimed in the open at 3 seconds, and snipes at 5.

.

As a giant, I have an aimed RT of 3 with a composite bow. And I can have a 1 RT for near 2 minutes at a time with 1035. Scary aiming at eyes at 1 second a pop.