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Yarxov
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PlasticandRage
reim0027
WyrmHero
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11 posters
Best Bow by Range and Speed
Buggy Virus- Insomniac
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- Post n°1
Best Bow by Range and Speed
Does anyone know the fastest bow, or the one with the most range?
SlakeMoth- Hollowed
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- Post n°2
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Well, I like my Composite Bow which is maxed out and my Divine Avelyn which delivers three bolts in one shot.
WyrmHero- Lordvessel
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- Post n°3
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Black bow of Pharis
SlakeMoth- Hollowed
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- Post n°4
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
WyrmHero wrote:Black bow of Pharis
I have never found that very effective but I'm a klutz when it comes to stats. What does it scale with? Is it intelligence or faith or something else? I'd appreciate it if you could put me right.
WyrmHero- Lordvessel
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- Post n°5
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
'S' Scaling with dexterity, which is pretty high.
reim0027- Moderator
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- Post n°6
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
That is the farthest shooting bow. But, before it becomes effective you really need 40 Dex. The Composite bow is probably the all around best bow for range and power. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Long Bow has the best power, but less range?
Buggy Virus- Insomniac
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- Post n°7
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
reim0027 wrote:That is the farthest shooting bow. But, before it becomes effective you really need 40 Dex. The Composite bow is probably the all around best bow for range and power. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Long Bow has the best power, but less range?
Do you say it only become effective around 4o Dex because you shoot faster or because of the damage. I'm really most interesting if any have an edge when it comes to how fast you can shoot them.
I know dexterity increases it already, but I'm wondering if any are special.
PlasticandRage- Chosen Undead
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- Post n°8
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
The composite bow is good? Really? My understanding was that it had power but the shortest range of any bow. The BB of Pharis is the most powerful and has the most range.
Edit: you're right reim. The Long Bow has slightly more power than the BBoPh
Edit: you're right reim. The Long Bow has slightly more power than the BBoPh
Last edited by PlasticandRage on Sat Apr 14, 2012 8:19 pm; edited 3 times in total
reim0027- Moderator
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- Post n°9
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
The damage only becomes good at around 40. The speed stays the same, as far as I know.Buggy Virus wrote:reim0027 wrote:That is the farthest shooting bow. But, before it becomes effective you really need 40 Dex. The Composite bow is probably the all around best bow for range and power. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the Long Bow has the best power, but less range?
Do you say it only become effective around 4o Dex because you shoot faster or because of the damage. I'm really most interesting if any have an edge when it comes to how fast you can shoot them.
I know dexterity increases it already, but I'm wondering if any are special.
Also, I think all bows have the same shooting speed (except the Dragon Slayer Bow, of course).
Reaperfan- Compulsory Poster
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- Post n°10
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
The Black Bow of Pharis has one of the slowest shot speeds in my experience. It's great for sniping but not for mid-combat use.
All bows except the Composite and Dragonslayer scale mostly with Dex if you go down the +15 path (Composite and Dragonslayer scale evenly with Str and Dex if I remember correctly), however, you can upgrade a bow down the Divine/Magic paths to give them Faith or Intelligence scalings. The only bow I can think of that comes with innate magical scalings is the Darkmoon Bow that scales with Faith (and just fyi, also has one of the fastest shooting times in my experience).
All bows except the Composite and Dragonslayer scale mostly with Dex if you go down the +15 path (Composite and Dragonslayer scale evenly with Str and Dex if I remember correctly), however, you can upgrade a bow down the Divine/Magic paths to give them Faith or Intelligence scalings. The only bow I can think of that comes with innate magical scalings is the Darkmoon Bow that scales with Faith (and just fyi, also has one of the fastest shooting times in my experience).
reim0027- Moderator
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- Post n°11
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Thanks for clarifying that. I've never really noticed any speed differences in bows, but I don't often use them in combat/pvp. I mainly use them to be a sneaky sniper.
Yarxov- Revived
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- Post n°12
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Hmm, what about farming Longbows, upping them to Crystal? Best path with scaling and base damage, and a renewable source.
Buggy Virus- Insomniac
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- Post n°13
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
I thought about that, but for a pvp build I am less worried about damage, and more about hitting people, which means I need range and speed.Yarxov wrote:Hmm, what about farming Longbows, upping them to Crystal? Best path with scaling and base damage, and a renewable source.
I'll probably run some tests and come back to you guys with the results.
sparkly-twinkly-lizard- Compulsory Poster
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- Post n°14
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
composite is defnately best for damage, if you want to snipe use the hawk ring, other wise just account for shot curvature based on distance, i have used this bow on every playthrough of this game and it has made it much easier as i can kill the first titanite demon in around 5 shots with a fully upgraded composite bow. also the bows with the fastest speeds are the short bow ,composite bow and DM bow, these three are equal. next is the longbow and then the bb of pharis than the DS bow.
Buggy Virus- Insomniac
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- Post n°15
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
sparkly-twinkly-lizard wrote:composite is defnately best for damage, if you want to snipe use the hawk ring, other wise just account for shot curvature based on distance, i have used this bow on every playthrough of this game and it has made it much easier as i can kill the first titanite demon in around 5 shots with a fully upgraded composite bow. also the bows with the fastest speeds are the short bow ,composite bow and DM bow, these three are equal. next is the longbow and then the bb of pharis than the DS bow.
I guess a glass composite it is then.
Sulfur- Addicted
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- Post n°16
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
The black bow of pharis is the best if you're going for archery, and the composite bow is good for close quarters, i really just vary between the two depending on the situation.
sparkly-twinkly-lizard- Compulsory Poster
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- Post n°17
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
you only get one composite bow per playthrough however so you may not want to crystal it... i use it at +15
Buggy Virus- Insomniac
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- Post n°18
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
sparkly-twinkly-lizard wrote:you only get one composite bow per playthrough however so you may not want to crystal it... i use it at +15
Well, I'm not planning on doing too many back stabs with my bow, so I think I'll be fine.
BLA1NE- Stat Guru
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- Post n°19
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Composite bow is actually great for PvP. Shoots fast enough that you can bait an opponent into attacking you, then roll back and shoot them. I've been using it quite a bit with my Sen's (troll) invader now, and I absolutely love it. I switch between Fire and Poison arrows, and I've gone through about 2000 of each so far!
The larger bows are not fast enough that you can roll back and shoot your opponent. They have better range, though, so I'd keep them around for PvE, if you like.
The larger bows are not fast enough that you can roll back and shoot your opponent. They have better range, though, so I'd keep them around for PvE, if you like.
SlakeMoth- Hollowed
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- Post n°20
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
sparkly-twinkly-lizard wrote:you only get one composite bow per playthrough however so you may not want to crystal it... i use it at +15
Me too, since I like to take out obstacles from a distance if I can. It's great for offing the Giant guards in Anor Londo from the top of the steps. I always equip the Hawk Ring though and you can buy Feather Arrows for extra range 'till you get it. Also the Dragonslayer Great Bow is the only way I've been able to take out the Hellkite on the bridge.
Tolvo- Town Crier
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- Post n°21
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Composite bow, fastest. BboP, Furtherst shooting. I see others have mentioned this. Something to note though, poison arrows. The build up does not require you to damage. If your arrow hits a person and it does zero damage because you're so far away, it still builds the same amount of poison. meaning with that bow as long as you can hit them you can still harass, you just will be using status instead of damage.
Yarxov- Revived
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- Post n°22
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Shortbows are fast and abundant aswell, Crystal those up for better range and speed.
Buggy Virus- Insomniac
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- Post n°23
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Yarxov wrote:Shortbows are fast and abundant aswell, Crystal those up for better range and speed.
There is no reason not to crystal up the composite bow in my opinion, because I have never noticed bows to sustain damage, so I could just crystal it and it wouldn't be like it would possibly lose all its hit points. And if it did, I could just switch to short bows.
reim0027- Moderator
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- Post n°24
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
Yes, the crystal bow will break. It broke on me, in a relatively short period of time. It is not worth doing crystal composite bow. It'll break, your bow will be worthless, and you have to go to the next NG to get another one.
sparkly-twinkly-lizard- Compulsory Poster
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- Post n°25
Re: Best Bow by Range and Speed
actually continued shots from a bow can wear it down pretty fast, its the piece of equipment i have to repair the most and the crystal version has like 10 durability you'll go through that in around 30-40 shots