I know bows & arrows got an upgrade recently (or a change, anyway), and was curious—how’s the gameplay? Note that I’m more interested in PvE than PvP.
I don’t care about thralls. I didn’t ask about thralls. I searched the forums already to see if anyone had any feedback, came up empty-handed, and posted.
Let me be more specific: as a player equipped with bow and arrows, firing said arrows via said bow at NPCs and critters…is it now a viable playstyle? I recall that it was not previously.
I don’t see any difference really. Once you reach level 60 and can full spec to accuracy, throw in flawless epic bow add star metal arrows and its possible to do 120 level damage but that was always true. You still can’t level using a bow. Mobs are all melee and dedicated to getting to melee range any way possible. Including burying themselves in the terrain under you making a bow difficult to use.
The explosive arrows are much lighter than orbs and do work well for cracking star metal but the benefits are tied to encumberance and how it hobbles all builds. Can you force a bow build to work? Yes. Should you? No. I seem to lose more than I gain when I am in bow mode, just like before. That’s my experience.
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That’s good to know, I was wondering that too.
If I remember correctly flawless dlc bows used to deal 17 damage.
Now its 22. I think arrowdamage has not been touched, however I think it has been told that snakearrows are supposed to loose their direct damage ( 6 going down to 1) and “only” keeping their poison. (Which - dear devs - is what makes them this strong.)
I am uncertain about telith 2h damage; if that has been altered. I think it was -2 damage compared to now.
If you use snake and poison arrows and maybe serpentman; 22 damage: iron, feather, branches…
I think archery might be okay. Oh, but dont forget to wear a stormmask… 
So currently a bow, serpent-man arrows and +dmg kit deal 50 damage.
I think best bow+arrows+dmgkit used to deal 42 damage?
With 50 accuracy and 30 strenght, Khan or else +5 acc bow+dmgkit:
+25% if debuffed; +10% if light attacks; +10% using a bow; +50% on headshots; +10% if overencumbered
(and armorpenetration buffed by 50% of weapons value)
Stats say 118 damage.
Melee with telith 2h: 67 + 6 (dmg kit) damage.
Possible bonuses to damage:
+25% if debuffed; +25% if heavy attack OR +10% if light attacks; +50% if player <25% HP; +10% if overenc.
Stats say 146 damage.
To deal the same like melee, bows would require another 25% on top.
Volcano thralls take 4 headshots or 6 normal shots.
In case of melee: 4 heavy attacks. So damagewise melee and archery seem on par - as long as the melee wont go into berserk. (Those 50ish +50%.)
Given that the archer wont use snakearrows as their main ammunition but craft serpent-man instead.
Use in combo with snake for +25% bonus. (Though I guess special poisonarrow should work as well?)
High HP enemies? Stack 10 snake, then keep it up while firing serpentman and keeping the poison aoe up.
That itself may speak in favor of archery but…
Keep in mind that poison arrow and snakearrow deal almost the same damage (probably 95%?) if not investing into accuracy at all.
Suggestions to the devs:
Make the ivoryarrow stay at it’s damage but gain a 50% armor penetration. Then it’s truly a special arrow.
However I have started to use light armored encumbrance builds all the time a few months ago. I’m just too lazy to switch. And the sole times I encountered agressive players were me at lvl 30ish and them at 60 with endgame gear.
Oh and leveling?
Stone 2h sword is at 19 damage, 1h at 13 damage. First bow+arrows: 12 damage. Lvl 20 and archers are good to lvl using bow+snake arrows. But not because of snake arrow direct damage but because of their poison. Impatient players should just level using melee weapons. (Which includes myself.)
I am still looking forward to that old heavy shot coming back.
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