Level 32 Nightblade - Initially 1h/Shield + Dual Wield - Does the Bow deal great damage?

bruceleroy98

I'm thinking of using bow for a range weapon. I'm trying to decide if I want to go towards being a tank or a DPS. I'm full stamina on the attributes side. Is bow good for PvE or PvP or do I need to start building up something else?

bruceleroy98 - PSN

Sunburnt_Penguin

I use a Bow on my NB in both PvE and PvP and I find it's great. The bow itself rarely gets used but skills compliment those of the NB and having a ranged weapon that draws off stamina is extremely useful. It's good for crowd control (arrow spray) and also single targets by either increasing the distance between you both (magnum shot) or good ranged dps (snipe).

I've never used a staff (no idea if that uses Magicka or Stamina) so I can't say whether it's better/worse. Either way I find it useful having the choice of a ranged weapon.

bruceleroy98

Does the bow have any aggro moves for tanking?

MrTarkanian48

Bow does not have aggro. I am not aware of any tanks that use bow.

Bow is good for DPS stamina builds. Doesn't hit quite as hard as melee attacks (2H or DW), but adds alot of range if you need to back up a little. It has powerful DoTs with Poison Injection(Single Target DoT) and Acid Spray (AoE DoT), and also a great Debuff in Lethal Injection (reduces healing received).

I use it with 2H on my Stamina NB in PVP. Ill buff up my weapon damage with rally, swap to bow, and then open up combat with a Lethal Arrow and Poison Injection for the DoT and Health Debuff. Then get in close with Ambush, and Surprise attack/Wrecking Blow. This used to be deadly before the patch broke PVP. Now I admittedly have trouble bursting players down, but still does good damage. Acid Spray is/was great for PVE as an AoE, but they did some changes to the way poison scales, and I have heard some people say it doesn't seem to hit quite as hard as it used to. I personally have been building a different player since the update, so I can't say for sure.

I haven't attempted tanking yet. I wouldn't think a full stam NB would be the best at it though but I may be wrong. I think most go mackigka or at least partial magicka to get something out of the siphoning abilities like Funnel Health to provide some off healing. I know there are some NB tanks on here that could help you out alot more than be if you decide to go the tank route.

bruceleroy98

Wow bro thanks for the unfiltered and generous advice. I will definitely put this to work.

UrQuan

bruceleroy98 wrote: »

Does the bow have any aggro moves for tanking?

There are only 2 taunts in the game: Puncture (and its morphs) from the sword & shield skill line, and Inner Fire (and its morphs) from the Undaunted skill line. To tank you need to use at least one of those 2 skills. Everything else is down to play style, but you can't tank without using one of those 2 skills (and preferably Puncture, as it's much more efficient).

Now having said that, if you want to try tanking using a bow on one bar, I don't see why that couldn't work, even though the skill line doesn't have a taunt. The nice thing about Inner Fire (and the only real reason to ever consider using it for your taunt instead of Puncture) is that it's a ranged taunt. So you could put that on your bow bar, taunt, use your bow skills (the Bombard morph of Arrow Spray in particular would be good for crowd control), and then when the stuff you taunted gets close you swap to sword & shield to start using Puncture as your bread and butter taunt.

NinjaMyk

The bow is a ranged option for stamina based dps and is a great option for dps from a tanking perspective though you have better options as only bombard (arrow spray morph) really adds to the tanking play style as its good crowd control. As a nightblade you can create a very good tank by using the siphoning strikes skill to keep your magicka and stamina up then block, roll, interrupt ect with stamina and buff your defence and movement speed with magicka. I'm currently running a tank this way and having loads of fun with huge amounts of recorces. Sure I don't do much damage but omg your not killing me quickly.