NB: DW vs Bow

Hamztein · June 2015

How dual wield and archery are going these days?

1. what the best, if there is such thing, in group pve?
2. what is best in pvp?
3. what has most acceptance from teams in trials?
4. stamina builds are really the best for endgame content?
5. any other input about the comparison between the two?

zachary4828 · June 2015

Dual wield has one of the best AOE abilities in the game, but you can still do respectable damage with the bow. I recommend you check out Deltia's Gaming on YouTube, he has some excellent NB videos and does an awesome job of explaining them.

Here is a link to one video, but check out his page for a lot more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K091DYVmKfk&list=PLAyO5Avdftk1wr_aLTy8cxQtY0QRpTi2-&index=4

Johngo0036 · June 2015

hi,

Here is the major difference,

I see the bow as more of a single target weapon and dual wield as a group weapon,
let me explain,

I use poison injection, magnum shot and snipe on my bow for single target,
can use acid spray for mobs,

However,

If i use Sap essence and steel tornado together for mob grinds/Multi target,
I can do WAY much more damage.

Jeckll · June 2015

Hamztein wrote: »

How dual wield and archery are going these days?

1. what the best, if there is such thing, in group pve?
2. what is best in pvp?
3. what has most acceptance from teams in trials?
4. stamina builds are really the best for endgame content?
5. any other input about the comparison between the two?

Hi mate,
1. For group PvE, Dual Wield gives you more DPS in both AoE and Single Target situations. But Bow compliments DW as a secondary weapon greatly.
2. Bow is a legit primary weapon for PvP, best complimented by a 2h for Heal and Major Brutality buff. DW is more of a group PvP thing. It can be used as primary weapon, I personally just think 2h/bow or bow/2h is way better in solo play.
3. Shameless Selfadvertising My Dual Wield / Bow build gave me and my raid group exellent results in Trials.
4. It gives the higher DPS than our Magicka brothers, but they are more flexible and contribute a ton of off heal with good DPS. Just not "the best" DPS.
5. If you are interested in end game PvE, I suggest reading my guide as our team is one of 3 teams competing for #1 in all leaderboards on the EU Server and the our Nightblades pretty much run my build. For PvP, there are more exprerienced players like Sypher which you can find on youtube.

Seth_Black · June 2015

I've been using DW+Bow for a long time in PvE and PvP
Then DW+2H, 2H+Bow, dual bow, double DW

...it's all about your own skill and creativity with abilities really
There's no ONE good way to play NB

Johngo0036 · June 2015

@Seth_Black - I agree 100%..

You need to try it out and find what works for you,

Stannum · June 2015

I like 2H/DW build, cause of rally on 2H (so you can allway have stamina heal and weapon dmg buff).
And I use DW for ranged attacks (flying blade).

In theory 2H/Bow can be a good build too, but
1) poison dmg and physical dmg uses different CP
2) DW = two set peices, higher wpn dmg and DW passives buff

bowmanz607 · June 2015

I open with bow. I buff with grim focus. I use snipe load heavy attack and then hit poison injection folower by peiring mark.. I then swap to DW and use ambush which gives my next attack 20% more damage. Then use power extraction. For the major weapon damage buff of 20%. Then ambush again and soul harvest which gives u 20% extra damage against that target now. So now u use another ambush. At this point you will have 8% weapon damage from grim focus, 20% weapon damage buff from power extraction , 20% more damage from soul harvest against that player, and 20% more damage from just using ambush and another 10% more damage from DW passive against low health targets not to mention steel tornado will do more damage against lower health targets. Finish with that and u should be good. O and you still have the debut on them with piercing mark.

The problem here is the perma blockers. You will have to fear them before you use soul harvest and probably right before the killing blow. Healers will have the defile debut on them so that's good too.

This is obviously a single target build though. But the power extraction and steel tornado provide some nice dps to groups.
this is also what i do in pvp not pve.
this is great for ganging and most of the time target will by the time u use soul harvest. However, this is also a great single target setup when not ganking too.
throwing 8n blood craze 8s a nice support for the dot and the hot. Or even using the shadow image when you open the fight to activate 8f you need to get out of the action quick.