Thoughts around NB Bow play: The "most effective" build

Nacario · February 2015

Hello fellow sends-arrows-to.your-knees and haters.

Ive been trying out the PTS and theres no new gear amongst AP vendors in cyro, and Ive noticed all popular set bonuses have taken a crit reduction in stats (while our passives/Champion system makes up for it with crit).

As someone who focuses on dishing out as most damage from stealth, which is something NB passives wants us to do when wielding bow/focuses on stamina, what do you think is the most effective stat and gear to aim for?

First of Im considering dropping my vampire since the fighters guild active abilities seem toh ave a higher proc chance, and the 40% fire damage reduction still hurts, among with another reduction in the passive that mitigates damage taken below 50%. The only reason I went this way in the past was due to sneak speed, a great quality of life addition paired with concealed weapon on your "buff weapon bar".

Ive used the dominion bow set bonus but scrapping those since the crit is gone, and I would miss out on good stats. Was thinking Morag tong, archers mind, hawk eye, or shadow walker. They all have accessory right? Anyone know if shadow walker procs when using cloak and standing still? Does Morag Tong increase the base damage of lethal arrow? My reason for dropping vampire is also so that I can start doing endgame PvE raids/DSA for those drops if I cant buy them.

As for main armor sets Hunding Rage still isnt bad, but you also have 2 set bonuses with crit that could've been something elseIdeally I would prefer 2 full 5 set bonuses. I would even consiuder getting a full Night Silence for the sneak speed, but again I lose out on potential weapon power.

What are your thoughts, traits, chants?

Edit: After thinking about it, since the said set bonuses often comes with gear with wrong traits Im thinking about dropping my vampire and then going for 5 Night Silence, 3 Ashen grip, and 3 shadow walker accessory (which will make up for the weapon damage loss from dropping Hundings Rage). Ill miss my 3 extra range on bow with my dominion set but Id rather take the damage increase, stam regen and health.

Lynx7386 · February 2015

I'll be going 5 hunding's, 3 ashen, and 3 two fanged serpent with bow and 2h, personally. Maximum weapon damage potential.

Kartalin · February 2015

I've been working on stacking weapon damage. I had been using 5 Hunding's Rage + 5 Shadow Walker (+whatever bow I want), but then I tried 5 Shadow Walker + 3 Ashen Grip + 3 Oblivion's Edge and got a higher weapon damage however with less crit. The set is still 7 medium which should translate well to 1.6, but right now in live I'm hitting 250 weapon damage (in addition to many points wasted because of soft cap). That include weapon damage enchants on the jewelry which we know won't be quite as effective in 1.6, but I still am eager to test it out. When NA characters were first copied to PTS I didn't yet have my 5th Shadow Walker item.

The drawback is shadow walker and oblivion's edge are well-fitted, and I only have 2 impenetrable pieces right now (no weapons in those other sets). Less of an issue in 1.6 but still a concern.

Spangla · February 2015

Sneak damage will be mitigated by the ridiculously designed impenm trait in 1.6.... massive nb nerf and massive racial nerfs again to those who want to play from sneak.

Kartalin · February 2015

Right, that's why I changed my focus to damage rather than a combination of the two. If people are still stacking impen, don't worry about crit because most of it will be mitigated. Instead, get your base damage up as high as you can, because impen can't do anything about that.

Armor will mitigate the base damage, and impen will mitigate any crit damage added on.

Also, sharpened trait on bows, to bypass the beefier medium and heavy armors, and to absolutely demolish light armor users.

Shields are a different concern, however. Just have to burst them down is all I see right now.

Lynx7386 · February 2015

Dont just focus on stacking weapon or spell damage though, make sure you're throwing in enough armor and spell penetration as well.

Sharpened trait for your weapon will increase armor/spell pen, Maces and mauls both get an armor penetration bonus (20%), and some other abilities like reaper's mark will be able to reduce armor even further. We may even have enough stacking penetration now to get heavy armor down to light armor levels of mitigation.

Panda244 · February 2015

Just a question, by "effective" what do you mean?

NB bow users are squishy and can't hold their own in fights, they hardly ever do more than annoy me, and well yea. Great burst damage, great ability to duck and run after you've lynched someone from 40m away.

As for raising your damage in 1.6, just min/max weapon damage and crit, with armor pen. I'll enjoy reflecting your arrow barrages, or dodge rolling them, maybe I'll get lucky and close the distance so I can casually bash you to death! :disagree:

But they raised the cost of everything to do with your stamina pool so GRRRRR

Nacario · February 2015

Dks are always of a harder match. Also about the impen comment, it was to my understanding that it doesnt affect the first stealthed attack? On PTS it still hits like a truck and i can get a light target similarly low as on live with the first lethal.

If youre a Nb and not a vamp I really feel night silence set is a bit underrated as its a nice movement buff to reposition urself, and also affect the cloak running speed.

On my bars in cyro im thinking: lethal arrow, venom arrow, crippling grasp, magnum shot, reapers mark. #2 surprise attack, dark cloak, summon shade, fear trap, forward momentum. Have had better results with it when standing toe to toe on pts after initial burst. Still shielding and stacking is hard to face

Spangla · February 2015

On pts i doubt people r stacked with inpen

Nacario · February 2015

Could I get some more feedback though on my set choice.

By going 5 Night Silence I lose out on potential weapon power/stamina or stamina regen / other powerful 5 slot effect. But I will get said stats in decent amounts from 3 Ashen Grip and 3 Shadow Walker accessory. As a NB stamina bow i really feel mobility is a factor due to how our passives work, we're about being offensive, and Id like to see a build where I can dish out as much damage in the first seconds from stealth.

Im thinking this gear setup might not be so bad for PvP "picking people from afar play", considering i dropped my vampire.
Then Id go full stamina chants on set pieces, With at least 5 impen traits, either divines (but is bugged atm with mondus stone) or infused. When it comes to trait/chant choice for bow and two hander I am not exactly sure what to go for yet, same goes for chants to put on jewerly.
Weapon bars:

Bow 1. Lethal Arrow, 2. venom Arrow, 3. crippling grasp or Camo hunter, 4. maybe a shadow ability or Blur (used to go With magnum shot but its not a stun only disorient), 5. reapers mark.
Greatsword 1. Surprise attack, 2. Dark Cloak, 3. Ambush, 4. Fear or summon shade, 5. Forward Momentum.

With it I should be able to go toe to toe for short time vs a scales DK by going ambush+surprise attack after burst from stealth with bow.

Surfinginhawaii · February 2015

Reaper's mark with focused aim can do some massive damage and I loved using this with my Nightblade.

Father · February 2015

Wep dmg stacking is the way to go I got 3k wep dmg in pts, my lethal arrow is lethal in every way hitting 10-15k opener. My advice...use 2h as ur back up they work great together.

Nacario · February 2015

Father wrote: »

Wep dmg stacking is the way to go I got 3k wep dmg in pts, my lethal arrow is lethal in every way hitting 10-15k opener. My advice...use 2h as ur back up they work great together.

Any chance u could tell us how u get 3k wep dmg?

Kartalin · February 2015

He said it was in PTS, where the numbers for weapon damage are skewed. They are multiplied by 10, basically, and there is no softcap.

So if you have the addon which lets you see how much damage you're losing to being over the softcap, add that to your weapon damage and multiply by 10 and you'll have a good idea.

If you're at around 250 weapon damage on live server, that will translate to around 3k on PTS/1.6

And 2h as backup is very nice, I agree.

bsmorrowb14_ESO · February 2015

Panda244 wrote: »

As for raising your damage in 1.6, just min/max weapon damage and crit, with armor pen. I'll enjoy reflecting your arrow barrages, or dodge rolling them, maybe I'll get lucky and close the distance so I can casually bash you to death! :disagree:

Yup, this about sums up my experiences with fighting DKs.