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Is bow bow build viable for DPS in Vet dungeons?

phontom78kiss
phontom78kiss
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I did a random Vet COA2 as a tank and one of the dps was a bow bow build. I sat back to watch him and the trash mobs felt like it was taking ages to die. I sent a text and put in exclamation “bow-bow build ..lol”, this dps then dropped out of the group by himself after that..maybe he realized his build was in adequate or not..not completely sure..

However, just curious has anyone done a dps text with 6mil or 3mil with a bow bow build and hit 20-30K dps?

Best Answers

  • WrathOfInnos
    WrathOfInnos
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    It is viable if built correctly, but cannot outperform melee on stam DPS. I can personally pull 33k on a solo dummy parse with bow-bow on a fully ranged stam warden, and I have seen others do as well as 38k. The problem is that many bow players do not use the correct skills or rotation and end up mostly light and heavy attacking, maybe mixing in some snipes, so they give all bow builds a bad reputation.
    Answer ✓
  • SodanTok
    SodanTok
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    Jade1986 wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    I use ( all are cheap as bones to buy atm ) 5 piece morag tong, 4 piece marksman and then whatever bow I can find to be honest. I am able to pull 28 k with that setup. And I take the thief stone for dungeons / trials and then warrior ( albeit with a diff setup ) in pvp. And my jewelry is all weapon damage enchants. Weapon I have poison on front bar as enchant, and weapon damage on backbar. I havent really piddled around with the differences when using infused vs sharpened, maybe one day after i finish leveling my other 6 toons. But bow bow warden is mah girl. ^-^ In pvp I can drop ppl in a single shot xD.
    SodanTok wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.

    Not as easy as you think since bow has lower ase damage than pretty much -everything- and it relies on perfect light attack weaving.

    I guess if you struggle to put light attack between every skill it may not be that easy, but learning to do that is pretty much required for endgame anyway and never found it like too big of problem.

    As for damage, it does not really matter. It has lower damage by a lot, thats true (probably like 400 weapon damage fully buffed) but in the end such difference is probably just 8%. Overall everybody with little practice should be able to do at least 75-85% of what are they doing on DW build. So it is easy in terms of changing from DW build. Obviously it is not easy to get 30k if you are struggling to get 30k on normal build.
    Edited by SodanTok on December 12, 2017 1:16AM
    Answer ✓
  • Jade1986
    Jade1986
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    SodanTok wrote: »
    Jade1986 wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    I use ( all are cheap as bones to buy atm ) 5 piece morag tong, 4 piece marksman and then whatever bow I can find to be honest. I am able to pull 28 k with that setup. And I take the thief stone for dungeons / trials and then warrior ( albeit with a diff setup ) in pvp. And my jewelry is all weapon damage enchants. Weapon I have poison on front bar as enchant, and weapon damage on backbar. I havent really piddled around with the differences when using infused vs sharpened, maybe one day after i finish leveling my other 6 toons. But bow bow warden is mah girl. ^-^ In pvp I can drop ppl in a single shot xD.
    SodanTok wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.

    Not as easy as you think since bow has lower ase damage than pretty much -everything- and it relies on perfect light attack weaving.

    I guess if you struggle to put light attack between every skill it may not be that easy, but learning to do that is pretty much required for endgame anyway and never found it like too big of problem.

    As for damage, it does not really matter. It has lower damage by a lot, thats true (probably like 400 weapon damage fully buffed) but in the end such difference is probably just 8%. Overall everybody with little practice should be able to do at least 75-85% of what are they doing on DW build. So it is easy in terms of changing from DW build. Obviously it is not easy to get 30k if you are struggling to get 30k on normal build.

    The only thing that bothers me about bow, and stam in general, is they have such a strict set of abilities to use. Magicka is much more flexible. But I challenge you to do bow bow on warden, getting 30k is not easy. The sets you need to pull off higher than 28 , 1 is easy, the other you can only get in trials. And then getting master and vma bow, thats also another story.
    Answer ✓
  • Bladerunner1
    Bladerunner1
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    Yeah, but more in spite of having a bow bow build since I was using 30% melee class skills.
    Edited by Bladerunner1 on December 11, 2017 3:50PM
  • coop500
    coop500
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    Most builds are viable if in the right hands. Problem is, not many people with the right hands do bow bow, plus it's hard if you get ganged up on
    Wishing for Lilmothiit race still! Or maybe Lilmothiit companion?
  • Nestor
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    A Bow can be an alternative weapon for a Melee Stamina Build, for Ranged work. But I don't see how it can work for both bars.

    Volley followed by Arrow Spray with Magnum Shots to keep the mobs in pain is a great way to take out the trash. But, Snipe and Heavy Bow attacks are just too slow for Boss work.
    Enjoy the game, life is what you really want to be worried about.

    PakKat "Everything was going well, until I died"
    Gary Gravestink "I am glad you died, I needed the help"

  • Narvuntien
    Narvuntien
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    It works for Stamina warden maybe and not much else since its the only class with enough ranged stamina abilities to fill up a bar and it rewards you for stacking them.

    Bow have less weapon damage than other weapons so typically you don't want it as your main weapon.
  • Jade1986
    Jade1986
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    Yes, it works very well, however I only know of Warden and Nightblade being viable bow bow builds.
    Nestor wrote: »
    A Bow can be an alternative weapon for a Melee Stamina Build, for Ranged work. But I don't see how it can work for both bars.

    Volley followed by Arrow Spray with Magnum Shots to keep the mobs in pain is a great way to take out the trash. But, Snipe and Heavy Bow attacks are just too slow for Boss work.

    You need to have bow bow to be effective with those two classes as a bow build.

    Not sure for nightblade, but for Warden you would want
    • Main bar :
    • Weapon - Master Bow
    • Expert Hunter
    • Snipe
    • Poison Injection
    • Lightweight trap
    • Acid Spray
    • Wild Guardian Ulti

    • Back Bar :
    • Weapn - Maelstrom Bow
    • Expert Hunter
    • Falcons Swiftness
    • Bull Netch
    • Endless Hail
    • Razor Caltrops
    • Wild Guardian Ulti

    With this setup, and the proper gear you can get 35 k dps.
    Edited by Jade1986 on December 11, 2017 4:10PM
  • exeeter702
    exeeter702
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    Nestor wrote: »
    A Bow can be an alternative weapon for a Melee Stamina Build, for Ranged work. But I don't see how it can work for both bars.

    Volley followed by Arrow Spray with Magnum Shots to keep the mobs in pain is a great way to take out the trash. But, Snipe and Heavy Bow attacks are just too slow for Boss work.

    This is not entriely true. Bow bow can parse 40k in trials. Snipe and heavy attack speeds are not really the main inhibitors.
  • PlagueSD
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    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
  • Magdalina
    Magdalina
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    I'm not an expert on stam dps but afaik bow bow CAN be perfectly viable. The thing here is that the fact that it can be viable doesn't mean it always is. For whatever reason 99.5% bow-bow builds in groupfinder only ever use light/heavy attacks and maybe Snipe. They also tend to run as far away as possible, out of healer's heals/buffs and tank's taunt range and heroically die there.

    It's not that someone using dw/bow or staff/staff is by default a good player(lol) but for some reason I have literally never seen even a semi decent bow bow pug. I have however run with a friend testing his bow^2 though and that worked fairly well in vet ROM. Perhaps it's just that "sniping ranger" or something attracts a lot of rp love and most people just go with that without stopping to consider a possibility of actual rotation or something.
  • monktoasty
    monktoasty
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    It's viable..just not with min maxxers
  • Arobain
    Arobain
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    yep
  • SodanTok
    SodanTok
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    Yes.

    DPS wise probably for any content in the game (if you arent targeting leaderboards), but survivability is bad for some veteran trials.

    Easily 30+k DPS on any class or race with average gear (well If I consider VMA bow average)
    Edited by SodanTok on December 11, 2017 11:21PM
  • zaria
    zaria
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    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.
    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • SodanTok
    SodanTok
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    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.
    Edited by SodanTok on December 11, 2017 11:46PM
  • zaria
    zaria
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    SodanTok wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.
    Awesome, will try on my stamblade.
    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • PlagueSD
    PlagueSD
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    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    Blender (spin2win) is fine for melee range. There's a trash pull (forget which trial) of mobs that explode into a poison cloud when killed. You don't want to be anywhere NEAR that when they go pop.
  • kargen27
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    I've been playing around with a bow-bow warden build Alcast has on his site. Haven't messed around with it enough to know how viable it might be. Looks interesting though.
    and then the parrot said, "must be the water mines green too."
  • Jade1986
    Jade1986
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    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    I use ( all are cheap as bones to buy atm ) 5 piece morag tong, 4 piece marksman and then whatever bow I can find to be honest. I am able to pull 28 k with that setup. And I take the thief stone for dungeons / trials and then warrior ( albeit with a diff setup ) in pvp. And my jewelry is all weapon damage enchants. Weapon I have poison on front bar as enchant, and weapon damage on backbar. I havent really piddled around with the differences when using infused vs sharpened, maybe one day after i finish leveling my other 6 toons. But bow bow warden is mah girl. ^-^ In pvp I can drop ppl in a single shot xD.
    SodanTok wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.

    Not as easy as you think since bow has lower ase damage than pretty much -everything- and it relies on perfect light attack weaving.
    Edited by Jade1986 on December 12, 2017 1:03AM
  • slicksteezin
    slicksteezin
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    Viable? Yes. Optimal? No.
  • SodanTok
    SodanTok
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    Jade1986 wrote: »
    SodanTok wrote: »
    Jade1986 wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    I use ( all are cheap as bones to buy atm ) 5 piece morag tong, 4 piece marksman and then whatever bow I can find to be honest. I am able to pull 28 k with that setup. And I take the thief stone for dungeons / trials and then warrior ( albeit with a diff setup ) in pvp. And my jewelry is all weapon damage enchants. Weapon I have poison on front bar as enchant, and weapon damage on backbar. I havent really piddled around with the differences when using infused vs sharpened, maybe one day after i finish leveling my other 6 toons. But bow bow warden is mah girl. ^-^ In pvp I can drop ppl in a single shot xD.
    SodanTok wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.

    Not as easy as you think since bow has lower ase damage than pretty much -everything- and it relies on perfect light attack weaving.

    I guess if you struggle to put light attack between every skill it may not be that easy, but learning to do that is pretty much required for endgame anyway and never found it like too big of problem.

    As for damage, it does not really matter. It has lower damage by a lot, thats true (probably like 400 weapon damage fully buffed) but in the end such difference is probably just 8%. Overall everybody with little practice should be able to do at least 75-85% of what are they doing on DW build. So it is easy in terms of changing from DW build. Obviously it is not easy to get 30k if you are struggling to get 30k on normal build.

    The only thing that bothers me about bow, and stam in general, is they have such a strict set of abilities to use. Magicka is much more flexible. But I challenge you to do bow bow on warden, getting 30k is not easy. The sets you need to pull off higher than 28 , 1 is easy, the other you can only get in trials. And then getting master and vma bow, thats also another story.

    VMA is always required, but everything else is just bonus. It all outputs close. Spriggan or TFS? Does not matter, difference is probably less than 1k of DPS. Minor Slayer jewelry or Agility? Matters even less, agility is probably even better (at least by my calculations). Master bow too, adds probably 1k DPS at best.

    But yes, stamina has pretty boring abilities. Before warden bow builds were all just do the 4 classic dots (hail, trap, injection, caltrops) and spam snipe. But with warden and recent changes we use like 8 abilities at once now finally, barely having time to actually use spammable in cutting dive.
    Edited by SodanTok on December 12, 2017 1:52AM
  • Toc de Malsvi
    Toc de Malsvi
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    Jade1986 wrote: »
    SodanTok wrote: »
    Jade1986 wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    @Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    I use ( all are cheap as bones to buy atm ) 5 piece morag tong, 4 piece marksman and then whatever bow I can find to be honest. I am able to pull 28 k with that setup. And I take the thief stone for dungeons / trials and then warrior ( albeit with a diff setup ) in pvp. And my jewelry is all weapon damage enchants. Weapon I have poison on front bar as enchant, and weapon damage on backbar. I havent really piddled around with the differences when using infused vs sharpened, maybe one day after i finish leveling my other 6 toons. But bow bow warden is mah girl. ^-^ In pvp I can drop ppl in a single shot xD.
    SodanTok wrote: »
    zaria wrote: »
    PlagueSD wrote: »
    Most stam builds use Bow/DW. Bow gives us a "ranged" option for those fights that are not very melee friendly. One thing bow excels at is AoE trash...Endless hail and spam acid spray.
    Prefer hail, caltrops and the blender :)
    However its bosses and enemies you want to fight ranged,
    Jade1986 how would that setup work with normal weapons? down to crafted + overland assuming 20K would be plausible?
    So bored with snipers standing way behind me as healer, die and this don't affect group dps.
    Also very relevant on some bosses you want to fight at range.

    @zaria
    It would probably be best if ZoS just removed the range passive, The damage it gives is meh at best and almost nothing when you are standing where you are supposed to.

    Btw 5Spriggan, 2 Monster set, 4 Mother Gaze or 5 Spriggan 5 Hunding, 1 Kragh/Veli easily above 25k I think. WIth VMA bow above 30 definitely.

    Not as easy as you think since bow has lower ase damage than pretty much -everything- and it relies on perfect light attack weaving.

    I guess if you struggle to put light attack between every skill it may not be that easy, but learning to do that is pretty much required for endgame anyway and never found it like too big of problem.

    As for damage, it does not really matter. It has lower damage by a lot, thats true (probably like 400 weapon damage fully buffed) but in the end such difference is probably just 8%. Overall everybody with little practice should be able to do at least 75-85% of what are they doing on DW build. So it is easy in terms of changing from DW build. Obviously it is not easy to get 30k if you are struggling to get 30k on normal build.

    The only thing that bothers me about bow, and stam in general, is they have such a strict set of abilities to use. Magicka is much more flexible. But I challenge you to do bow bow on warden, getting 30k is not easy. The sets you need to pull off higher than 28 , 1 is easy, the other you can only get in trials. And then getting master and vma bow, thats also another story.

    He does that already.

    Legendary Archer of Valenwood
    Bosmer Dragon Knight Archer. XBox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Nightblade Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Sorcerer Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Warden Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Templar's are evil..
  • Toc de Malsvi
    Toc de Malsvi
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    It's perfectly viable, it isn't optimal for max DPS and the advantages aren't very considerable. As such there is a lack of top end streamers with guides and information on it.

    As for trials I have completed vSO, vHRC, VDSA, and VMA on one. I have yet to see a mechanic that would be noticeably harder going bow/bow. Mostly it's simply accepting that your dps is going to be a 10-20% lower than it could with comparable melee setups. You lack deadly cloak which makes some mechanics more risky, but that doesn't mean not doable.

    I do it on a DK in melee. I can go full ranged but it drops my output by 3k. Here's some video's:

    37.1k NMG+Agility+Stormfist+VMA/VDSA: 37.2k NMG+Agility+Velidreth+VMA/VDSA: 36.6k Hundings+Spriggan+VMA/VDSA:
    These are not impressive times for general stamina dps, however they are plenty strong enough to do all content in game. I have run into just as many players trying to play "melee" dps with S&B or WB spam as I have seen bad bow players. It's different than 2H or DW and requires different rotations and gear setups, but it's perfectly viable.
    Legendary Archer of Valenwood
    Bosmer Dragon Knight Archer. XBox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Nightblade Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Sorcerer Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Warden Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Templar's are evil..
  • Toc de Malsvi
    Toc de Malsvi
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    Nestor wrote: »
    A Bow can be an alternative weapon for a Melee Stamina Build, for Ranged work. But I don't see how it can work for both bars.

    Volley followed by Arrow Spray with Magnum Shots to keep the mobs in pain is a great way to take out the trash. But, Snipe and Heavy Bow attacks are just too slow for Boss work.

    The purpose of Bow/Bow is a two part issue:

    Firstly neither 2H or DW offer strong support for bow as back bar weapons.

    -2H can give you a heal+Major Brutality, neither of which is worth an entire back bar weapon for in PVE content. You will get heals from the healer primarily and you will get Major Brutality from potions. The AOE dot on 2H requires melee range and isn't very good to start with.

    -DW can give you some survivability in Deadly Cloak, but you give up all its damage(although not huge) because you are at range. DW also offers a ranged direct damage skill but it doesn't scale extremely well. The rest of DW's kit is melee.

    Secondly the other major factor is the bow passive Hawk Eye.

    -Hawk Eye was changed to its current form to try and improve dps for players that wanted to use a bow main bar. Each light/med/heavy attack from a bow gains a stack of Hawk Eye up to 5 stacks, each bow skill is then increased by 5% per stack. This creates a dilemma, if your back bar weapon is not a bow the likely hood of dropping all stacks is practically 100%. Losing these stacks significantly impacts bow performance, as these stacks were designed to help bow main hand be more comparable with melee. Constantly swapping back and forth between bars has not been proven to produce good results.

    The result is to go Bow/Bow in order to keep Hawk Eye stacked at 5 and maximize dps, this also gives some flexibility to bar setup and allows for full advantage of VMA+VDSA bows. However this inherently limits some options as stamina is designed mostly using multiple weapon's.



    Excessive Sniping is risky, but not killer to dps itself. The heavy attack is very slow I can agree on that, and it hurts bow true. Lacking deadly cloak or a similar form of damage/self mitigation hurts. Lacking additional dots hurts. Lacking what every other stamina dps has in 2 or more skills with execute functions hurts.

    If Snipe didn't snare you it would be an improvement, if heavy attacks had actually had their duration reduced as they were supposed to have been it would be an improvement. If world and guild skill lines offered more viable dps options it would be an improvement.

    Legendary Archer of Valenwood
    Bosmer Dragon Knight Archer. XBox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Nightblade Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Sorcerer Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Bosmer Warden Archer. Xbox One. (Flawless Conqueror Bow/Bow)
    Templar's are evil..
  • Tannus15
    Tannus15
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    My bow/bow stam blade gets by just fine.
    33k solo parse on a 3mil skelly.

    Completed vMA and vAA. I main tank the rest of the trials so I can't vouch for those.

    Have also completed all vet dungeons, no dramas. It's certainly viable if you're doing it right, but there is a world of difference between someone who runs a proper bow/bow setup and knows what they are doing, and someone who is just plinking away or spamming snipe blindly.
  • LeagueTroll
    LeagueTroll
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    If you can parse 30k+ as pure ranged, then yes, else, no.
  • Kanar
    Kanar
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    If you can parse 30k+ as pure ranged, then yes, else, no.

    Implying that any pug damage dealers do 30k solo vs a dummy. Your bar is way too high. 15 - 20k would be "good" for a pug damage dealer.
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