Ahh thanks for the info.
I just went and crafted some bone arrows (had no feather because of having been on for…15 min, always running) used them with some basic bow. After having finally reached 50% on that rocknose, I went into melee with my fists.
Guess what, that dealt more dmg. That should not be allowed… 
ok yeah that doesn’t work very well with me either.
Well you are fighting rocknoses with arrows, aren’t you? That’s like shooting arrows into a brick wall. You’re not going to get far that way.
How’s the balance with archery against enemies with lower armor?
I’m excited to get home and start testing it out myself tonight.
Well, how does that compare to fists? To bloody fists?
Even those dealt more damage. That is the whole point which should not be real. And I even already got 10? accuracy while none strenght.
According to your logic, I should not be able to deal even 1 damage by fists.
I think it’s good to be able to deal plenty of unarmed damage. Unarmed is supposed to represent all the grappling / eye-gouging that we can’t see, but which is implied.
I agree it seems weird to do more damage with fists than with bone arrows. What kind of bow are you using? Is it the flimsy starter bow?
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Agreed, there need to be more bows and there will be. And I sincerely hope there will be some rebalancing of how they work. I find it bizarre to be hacking away at NPC bowmen with a sword while they still fire arrows while getting hacked to pieces.
A better solution is to have them draw a melee weapon to fight. And attacking an archer in melee should interrupt them firing an arrow.
I just started on EU2, which keeps to crash every 1-3 minutes.
This means yes, I am using that.
Still. Any weapon should deal more damage than fist fighting, or using weapons til some next tier makes no sense.
Also before archer thralls draw some sword, now they simply keep shooting arrows? (SP, was running around.) I think something went horribly wrong with that patch. (Aside of those huge crashes.)
It works just as you’ve described in TestLive! 
Archers will pull out melee weapons when you come too close, and you can stun-lock them before they have a chance to change weapon if you’re fast enough.
EDIT: Or at least it did before the most recent patch. They’ll probable move back to the better version soon, though. Sometimes there are problems when you compile code branches together.
And the same happened with archers on any other server updated to the current state.
Ugh! Bows is extremely crap atm, I hope FC buff it a little bit, hitting like pillows -_-
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i really hope they un-nerf bows. after seeing videos and snippets of the updates, they have more variety which is amazing but they are harder to use [after being more tedious to craft sometimes] and are becoming less effective. so many people like and love bows, to be honest, i always carry one and almost never use a meelee weapon. that’s how i play, not the most effective, and i never win a pvp, but it would be nice to at least be decent.
make bows viable!!! theyre too amazing, and complex enough already, not to be.
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Yes by all means make bows more powerful.
Muhahahaha
Oops, did I type that?
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hey everyone,
here you can see some more bows that are going to be available in game
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Eh? I can remember some of those bows dealing 12 dmg.
(Like legendary bows dealing 12-14 damage -> Khan bow (which give +5 accu) had 12? Or am I wrong there?)
But if I put that aside…
I think I already went and said something about arrows should not deal half but rather up to 1/3 of damage (maybe even 1/4).
So I got a similar idea, but rather than dealing up to 1/3 of the damage, those arrows should eighter deal none or low damage and instead have different effects.
Temperature “damage”
-> cold “damage” -> lowering temperature (possibly Ymir-arrows?)
-> heat “damage” -> rising temperature (maybe set?)
plain dot (damage over time) (currently set, maybe replaced by some new arrows, made with glands)
Anti-Healing. (star metal?)
Anti-Stamina-regeneration. (probably as some kind of disease, inflicted by bone arrows? but only lowering stam reg by 50%)
Cripple. (Stone only, as those might shiver/split?)
Corruption. (+1% corruption) (dragon arrows?)
Those firearrows should stick as they seem to be meant for lighting tar or such.
Iron (+(1+tx)), Steel (+(2+tx)) and reinforced steel (+(3+tx)) (tx= tier x (1-5)) should be the only arrows actually contribute damage, the other poisoned arrows should grant no damage as their effects might already contribute to killing that target. (Though, if some archer was dumb enough to use heat arrows in north… his bad. Yes. Could be used on allies as well.)
The strenght of those arrows and their effects should be scaling with the strenght of the used bow. While the starterbow should inflict like +1 on heat dmg, a dragonbonebow should probably add 5. Like whatever kind of tier those bows are meant to be. (Maybe crude bow t1, hyrkanian t2, ancient t3, hardened steel+starmetal t4, legendary+dragon bow t5 and so on?)
Also damage would be needed to be adjusted… yet again. (As only bows will really deal damage.)
Though one little sidenote (probably an important one)… Those effects should not stack, but instead refresh. Each effect lasting for 5 to 10 seconds. (I think 5 would be better.)
Some anti-healing poison for melee would be neat as well. This would probably be some kind of lazy route to change healing versus healing pvp to actual pvp. Maybe not just plain damage poison, but all the other kinds of poison should be added to melee as well?
I think religious weapons should come with individual attributes as well.
(Some people already mentioned corruption on targets if they dont share the religion.
Though I could think of:
(strong!) cripple for yog,
cold “damage” for ymir,
eighter heat or current dot on set,
mitra anti healing or anti stamina
and maybe corruption for derketo?)
That being said… I dont have a clue about lore. Sorry.
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About todays… uhm… yesterdays stream:
@Jens_Erik (And to Joel as well)
~1:05:00 about bows.
One saying they got too underpowered (most likely to be testlive opinion) and another one probably from old live version.
Yes, bows have been (and still are) strong/very strong/in some players opinion overpowered in live version.
But right now on testlive?
Playing with bow from lvl 5 onwards is useless.
It consumes much more time and lots of arrows to i.e. kill a crocodile compared to any melee weapon…
As I already said even fistfighting seems to deal more damage than first bow+first arrows.
That should not be the case for ANY weapon. (Went mad when I sat there for an eternity to kill a plain rocknose… and got my fists up after having reached 50% HP.)
Plus shooting arrows now consumes stamina as well, not like before. (I really like that! Maybe a bit much?)
That combined with low damage and higher material cost creates a situation, where two people, being same level, both with lets say 5 points in their main damage stat (strenght or accuracy), are trying to kill something.
(fiber “armor”+stone dagger -> 5 crocs -> easy win with a few insects to nibble on and kiting a little. First bow+bone/stone arrows will use a ton of arrows for one croc. As you spend like 1/4 or 1/5 stamina on each heavy shot, you will need to take a break each 3 or 4 shots. This not only consumes more materials, but way more time as well.)
That being said, I must accept that ranged damage is almost on par with light attack combo of daggers.
(heh. almost.)
The dragon bow deals 18 damage and the dragon arrows deal the same. Plus a dmg+kit (+6 dmg) makes the overall damage go up to 42.
Most of the rather easy to obtain “endgame” bows I have seen dealt 14 ish damage and star metal arrows deal ~13 dmg. (->+6 dmg again=33 dmg; 26 if using set arrows)
Some legendary daggers which are rather easy to obtain already deal up to 43 dmg. (39-43)
I am using the kingslayer daggers which are rather cheap to craft (compared to dragon bow) and I think those got 41 damage on them. (Or “only” 39?) And dont forget: some “heavy” attacks with daggers wont hit once but twice!
Until late game (hitting that 50th perk) and until getting that dragon ranged stuff, archery isnt nearly as viable as melee, while melee wont require to invest in too much strenght even in late game. (I am running around with 30.)
That means archers are put on a disadvantage through the whole game.
If they want to keep up dmgwise, they need to farm dragons for ammunition and kill that undead dragon once. Melees can just go with any legendary (or even crafted) weapon and will be fine…
Archers cant really go for lots of encumbrance which is needed to carry ammunition and they will be worse than melees when it comes to HP/stamina pools:
Even if you think about 50th perk you would end up with those 42, +50% dmg by accuracy, 10% by 30th perk and +50% on headshots - resulting in ~88 damage. While being completely about accuracy, having sacrificed all other possibilities.
In the same time a 30ish strenght dagger guy can probably get a 43 dmg dagger from a chest earlier, while having more stamina, more HP, needing less encumbrance and so on.
i.e. ranged: 50 accuracy, 24 vitality, 10 grit, 15 encumbrance.
i.e. melee: 30 strenght, 40 vitality, 20 grit, 20 encumbrance and 5 agility.
Also with lower bows, its easy for other players to outheal those mosquito-bites. Without using 40th vitality perk. (aloe potion or herbal tea - did not use feasts)
And while I have been writing, I only did so about daggers. Those are rather low as well, are two handed, faster in attacking and can even strike an big enough enemy twice. I have not been talking about polearms which come with more damage.
Well. Since bows felt really, really horrible to me, I fell in love with daggers. I really love those animations and am happy with their damage - and making myself fall off that black galleon is just a plus there. My comrade with whom I play with said it looked hilarious.
(You know, using light combo on some thrall which stands right at the edge of that ship…) 
Even now bow is less fun, though I still need to find the motivation to go and kill that undead dragon to get that horn. The whole chore doesnt seem justified for getting okayish damage.
Oh, and I usually go for looks as well, instead of going for stats only. Accuracy stuff looks bleh. But that is personal taste. My current gear is better suited for melee. Vanir earrings+chest, zamorian thief pants, climbing gloves and shaman shoes. Counting as light armor. Yes, on some female toon.
I think the biggest problem is both how early and mid game archery makes no sense (compared to melee, for materials and time consumption) and how much the damage is spread from 26 to 42 in late/end game. I would really prefer some else perk for 50 accuracy.
Meaning: I dont agree on bows being fine overall. Dragon bone bow+arrows are fine, but the big rest (like 90%?) is NOT fine.
There is no need for You to answer this with a line of argument(s?) but I would like the devs to think about this again. Maybe giving an official statement about weapon damage overall, not only covering bows but all of them, including armor penetration.
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I was wondering, to balance better bow usage separating archers / non archers carrying a bow, they should buff the 3th perk on ACC, from 10% to 30%, and the 5th from 50% to 70% since headshots are hard to land on PvP.
And lets be honest, a player who go that deep on ACC deserves the bow dmg.
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Hello Nuria,
Thank you for all of your testing and for being a strong voice for bow users. I’ve been following and enjoying your related posts. For me, playing on TestLive is a bit too frustrating and the testing of all of the mechanics a bit too much like work currently.
And so, I live “TestLive” vicariously through your posts as you continue your “Adventures in Archery”.
I’ve been a bow, dagger, short spear (javelin) and light armor user since I began playing CE last summer (long before we had dual daggers) and have been a proponent for Equal Rights for Archers (ERA) with cravings for such things as low weight arrow stacks, better/more bows, main hand daggers, dual daggers, dagger/short spear combos, ability to learn hunting bow and stone dagger as soon as you can learn stone sword/club, etc.
I agree with you and am happy for the most part with the current state of using daggers. However, while I love the look, I am not always entirely thrilled often getting locked into the light attack combo animations. I trust and agree with your findings for archery in general. I did play TestLive long enough to experience the comparative eternity in taking down enemies with arrows.
My immediate thoughts were, “Perhaps if arrow weight were reduced by half again from the current, I could possibly get by carrying twice as many arrows.” After a few more hours, I tossed those thoughts aside. Like you, I began feeling rather “salty” and so I hung my bow on a peg by the door as I left my meager hunting hut and focused on using daggers.
Animation locks aside, I can honestly say that I had some great fun using daggers, but keep in mind, I did used to always have fun strafing and dancing around, popping croc eyes with a single stone dagger; I am a bit biased. Great. Hooray! Dagger usage and dual wielding seems to be coming around. However, the longer I played, the deeper my longing for my bow.
I rather enjoy when Joel resorts to the adage, “It’s about choices, options…”, especially when the follow up includes, “for role play” when referencing aspects such as multiple religions (of late). In fact, watching a dev stream with he and Jens showing off CE last year is what initially made me pop into Steam, purchase it and commence to log 1,200 hours over the course of the next two months.
With my eyes alight, my lips stretched wide in a smile and my body infused with the powerful sense of finding a true gaming home, I thought, “He (Joel) truly has a deep-seated passion for this and with such, how could we ever go wrong?”
At the moment, I do not truly feel that those “Joelisms” include archery. I’ve read heavy speculation that nerfing archery is due to PVP balance. I’ve no real love for PVP in general (beyond the idea of it). Neither can I substantiate the speculations, but hope it is not the black stain on archery. If it is, while likely more intensive to manipulate other systems and mechanics, I’d personally still much rather they work on means to defend against archery in PVP rather than crush my long and rich enjoyment of it in PVE and role play.
I leave you with a simple question:
Would Subotai play Conan Exiles with archery in its current state on TestLive?
Hyrkanian Archers are people too.
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hi all, xbox player here, i like the bow gameplay and i was lurking around this forum to see what changes were made to the bow and combat in general. it kinda bothers me that (from what i ve seen on streams, videos and in this forum) it seems to be only viable in late game with a huge status point sink, high maintanance and very little rewarding in damage. so the only viable “build” is a vit,str, grit build ? that is pretty much since day one the way to go.on nearly every stream i see only 2handed sword and spear gameplay. imo they should bind more weapons to accuracy, like daggers, javelins to have at least more option if you have to invest so much points in accuracy. will there be changes or is this it for bow ? just trying to figure out what makes sense to play since i ll play a complete different game from what i m playing now on xbox
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I would absolutely love to see daggers and javelins (I’d also love more types of short spears) tied to accuracy. To me, this seems the way it should always be (dexterity elsewhere). But, I still have this foreboding feeling about the state of bows at launch.
Also, I wonder, are javelin and axe throws tied to accuracy currently? I would have to assume they are, but have not tested or investigated.
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