Any classes still viable for bow builds?

Faulgor

I'm thirsting for a little chubby Bosmer, and I thought she could main a bow because I'm getting tired of DW/2h.

It seems that bow builds have gone the way of the dodo, but are there any classes that still make good use of them? I thought about Nightblades, but for some reason even my non-bow NBs suck these days.

Looking mainly for PvE, but PvP input would help, too.

Noctus

warden for pve and sorc for pvp

Faulgor

Noctus wrote: »

warden for pve and sorc for pvp

Any particular reason why those?

dazee

Nightblade works still for bow. Bow builds are still viable on most classes. Not meta but viable yes.

hackdrag0n

Warden and Necro work well for bow builds.

MashmalloMan

Bow Bow Warden will always be my favourite. All their abilities work from range. Major Brutality attached to a sustain tool is awesome for saving money on pots, bar space for flexibility in pvp, less detrimental to your dps when not using expensive pots for anything outside trials, major fracture on your main burst skill, major savagery attached to lotus flower, minor protection attached to your armor buff. Warden is easily the most accessible and flexible Bow class.

Necro is a close second, but they don't have Major Brutality in their kit which really annoyed me. You will have to use a 2H or Pots lowering your flexibility in pvp greatly. In pve, you can just bite the bullet and use more expensive pots. I choose to only use the Major Brutality pots on Bosses or trials, making other content in the game get less DPS out of my Necro Bow Bow setup, but all the skills also work for Bow Bow.

Major Savagery/Minor Berserk can be added through Camo Hunter, so less important, although it should be mentioned that Warden has Wings for Minor Berserk and activating the skill provides some speed utility. Major Savagery is offered through Lotus Flower. Saving the bar spot from Camo Hunter, a pretty uesless skill on activation.

NB/Sorc/Templar can work. They all have ranged burst skills, but none of them have ranged spammables. They lose out on their melee oriented skills making it feel largely like a Bow/Bow weapon skill line class. NB would work the best imo because the Shade is 1 ranged damage abilty the other classes lack.

DK is the least interesting imo, Stone Giant has a cast time, 1/4 attacks will be melee ranged. FoO is only 15m range. Your other damage abilities are melee. Only nice benefit is -25% cost to Poison skills, 3 of which are available to bows. You can also use the undaunted Spider skill that counts for the poison cost reduction.

AcadianPaladin

I run bow/bow on sorc, warden, templar and NB and favor them in that order. I have no experience with bow/bow on the other classes. As PvE soloist, I build for survival, sustain, then damage (in that order). I base my preference on which classes allow me to most comfortably and reliably complete more group content while solo (some normal alliance zone group dungeons and most alliance zone WBs). Ymmv.

For me (again, ymmv), sorc is tops for raw damage and survival but a bit challenged to sustain. Warden is well balanced across survival, sustain and damage and lots of fun to play. Templar is a notch below the others in survival and damage but has a wonderful knockdown vs trash. I find the NB lacking in all areas with the added drawback of being harder and more clunky to play - so my bow/bow NB is basically retired as an unsuccessful experiment.

The gear I use is super simple to get yet, plenty effective for my solo PvE requirements. All run Hundings x5 and Slimecraw x2. Sorc and Warden run Spriggans x5 while Templar runs Dreugh King Slayer for major brutality. I refuse to suck potions for major brutality. Using Dreugh bowsx2, jewelryx2 and cuirass keeps me at 5(medium)/1/1 for the full undaunted mettle passive.

Iskiab

Faulgor wrote: »

Noctus wrote: »

warden for pve and sorc for pvp

Any particular reason why those?

As a guess...

Sorc sustain + streak + dark deal.
Warden is good for shimmering shield so you can hit ranged but they can’t hit you back, but melee are an issue.

From seeing others using bow in BGs, I’d say wardens are the best even in pvp. It’s the only class where I see someone maining a bow and think they contribute a lot.

Grianasteri

Faulgor wrote: »

I'm thirsting for a little chubby Bosmer, and I thought she could main a bow because I'm getting tired of DW/2h.

It seems that bow builds have gone the way of the dodo, but are there any classes that still make good use of them? I thought about Nightblades, but for some reason even my non-bow NBs suck these days.

Looking mainly for PvE, but PvP input would help, too.

Yeah, but you need to build right.

I have a Bosmer Stamblade bow/bow build for pvp. And I have a Dunmer Stamden bow/bow for pve. Both are great fun.

Faulgor

Bit of a necro, but I was wondering how bow Sorcerers were doing now that they have a (ranged) spammable.

It looks good on paper with Crystal Weapon and Bound Armaments both viable at range (CW even feels better to weave with a bow, IMO), although you might lose the full Hurricane ticks in some instances.

Being able to run the classic TES Marksman/Conjuration build would be a dream come true ...

katorga

I use necro bow/bow for pve. It works well enough. All the skills are ranged, poison/disease, and Swamp Raider/Morag Tong is surprisingly strong compared to endgame sets.

Sorc works reasonably well pvp, skills are ranged, and you can place a lot of damage with 1-2 hits from range.Crystal weapon weaves well with bow. I like this setup for pvp. It combines well with sorc speed. Necro works better for pve though.