Bow DPS - Not Terrible (PvE)

ryanmjmcevoy_ESO

So, perhaps this is a niche build and won't apply to many boss fights, I'm not sure (I don't have much PvE sustained DPS experience), but I don't think Bow DPS is as poor as some people have been saying, provided one stacks a decent amount of crit.

It will take ~21 more champion points to pull off when 1.6 drops (need 30cp in one of the mage constellations, will only get like 23 to start if you have a v14), but, at least on my DK, pumping 10 CP into the passive for +physical damage, then 10 in physical penetration, then 10 in critical strike damage, you unlock the Champion passive to provide +12% crit.

From there I got 609 crit from ashen grip set, then Sea of Flames (the stamina inferno morph, though I might have the names mixed up) provides a ton of weapon critical. The bow itself provides critical, also running a Khajiit which has the critical passive. All of these combined push me to ~50% crit.

From here I have shadow walker, ashen grip, and red mountain sets all buffing weapon damage, plus flawless dawnbreaker on the bow bar, then igneous weapons* all giving me 2k+ weapon damage together.

Then popping quick cloak (negligible damage really) and spamming Focused Aim, I can sustain 8-9k DPS while hitting bursts of 12K and change.

I initially had lower crit and mroe weapon damage, but then my DPS was hard to push passed the 6k mark with regularity.

It seems the way to get bow dps, at least in pve, is to stack crit like hell and spam snipe.

*Igneous weapons, according to the tooltip, is only supposed to buff heavy attack damage, but currently it is buffing weapon damage stat itself, so this skill may not help so much in the future.

So yeah, these are my findings after not-at-all rigorous testing, in response to some bow DPS complaints I've seen.

What have you guys found?

Alphashado

ryanmjmcevoy_ESO wrote: »

So, perhaps this is a niche build and won't apply to many boss fights, I'm not sure (I don't have much PvE sustained DPS experience), but I don't think Bow DPS is as poor as some people have been saying, provided one stacks a decent amount of crit.

It will take ~7 more champion points to pull off when 1.6 drops (need 30cp in one of the mage constellations), but, at least on my DK, pumping 10 CP into the passive for +physical damage, then 10 in physical penetration, then 10 in critical strike damage, you unlock the Champion passive to provide +12% crit.

From there I got 609 crit from ashen grip set, then Sea of Flames (the stamina inferno morph, though I might have the names mixed up) provides a ton of weapon critical. The bow itself provides critical, also running a Khajiit which has the critical passive. All of these combined push me to ~50% crit.

From here I have shadow walker, ashen grip, and red mountain sets all buffing weapon damage, plus flawless dawnbreaker on the bow bar, then igneous weapons* all giving me 2k+ weapon damage together.

Then popping quick cloak (negligible damage really) and spamming Focused Aim, I can sustain 8-9k DPS while hitting bursts of 12K and change.

I initially had lower crit and mroe weapon damage, but then my DPS was hard to push passed the 6k mark with regularity.

It seems the way to get bow dps, at least in pve, is to stack crit like hell and spam snipe.

*Igneous weapons, according to the tooltip, is only supposed to buff heavy attack damage, but currently it is buffing weapon damage stat itself, so this skill may not help so much in the future.

So yeah, these are my findings after not-at-all rigorous testing, in response to some bow DPS complaints I've seen.

What have you guys found?

Spamming snipe will not be sustainable in long fights.

9K seems to be at the bottom end of acceptable dps. Right now, the issue is that if you switch to DW or 2H using the same gear and buffs, you will crank out 12k-14k

I don't debate that melee should be slightly better than ranged due to boss fight mechanics, but right now it's not even close.

I've been doing several tests myself with a NB and I've been getting roughly the same results. Of course all of this would be much easier to test if we had target dummies instead of bashing our heads against the wall trying to find a group on the PTS in order to test each build.

ryanmjmcevoy_ESO

Alphashado wrote: »

Spamming snipe will not be sustainable in long fights.

9K seems to be at the bottom end of acceptable dps. Right now, the issue is that if you switch to DW or 2H using the same gear and buffs, you will crank out 12k-14k

I don't debate that melee should be slightly better than ranged due to boss fight mechanics, but right now it's not even close.

I've been doing several tests myself with a NB and I've been getting roughly the same results. Of course all of this would be much easier to test if we had target dummies instead of bashing our heads against the wall trying to find a group on the PTS in order to test each build.

I'm not sure how long certain fights go on, but in my limited experience I didn't have too much issue sustaining Snipe. There are definitely downtimes to restore Stam, but idk if it would be extremely hindering.

Recasting igneous weapons or any earthen heart ability restore stamina, and with my build magika isn't used for a ton anyway, so its essentially a mag->stam conversion.

Heavy attacks don't do horrible damage, so those can restore stam. Then there are tri-pots, and battle roar restores a decent amount too.

Snipe itself won't be sustainable in a long fight, sure, but there are certain "workarounds" to keep DPS at least not terrible during the hopefully brief downtime.

I'm inexperienced in most end-game content though, so my words may not hold as much weight.