Is Caltrops essential for Bow/Bow NB

vpy
vpy
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I am trying a solo overland content build for my Stam NB that is Bow/Bow.

I currently have one spot empty as seen below (2)

aWnvvvx.png

Folks have suggested me to go for Caltrops saying it is good damage for Stam.

Is this true ?

The reason I ask I need to do again quite lot of PVP to get that and if that spell sucks then thats too bad
  • GreenSoup2HoT
    GreenSoup2HoT
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    mark target would help you solo pretty much all overland content.
    PS4 NA DC
  • Wreuntzylla
    Wreuntzylla
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    vpy wrote: »
    I am trying a solo overland content build for my Stam NB that is Bow/Bow.

    I currently have one spot empty as seen below (2)

    aWnvvvx.png

    Folks have suggested me to go for Caltrops saying it is good damage for Stam.

    Is this true ?

    The reason I ask I need to do again quite lot of PVP to get that and if that spell sucks then thats too bad

    Since they made the changes to AP, caltrops is a couple hours of playtime in Cyrodiil. Just don't pug.
  • Morgul667
    Morgul667
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    Caltrop is great for min/max

    You can do fine without it, but it is better with it
  • kargen27
    kargen27
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    Razor Caltrops will cause damage and will also keep enemies in your AoE longer. Good for fighting multiple enemies.
    and then the parrot said, "must be the water mines green too."
  • Liofa
    Liofa
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    Does very high damage (usually in first 5 DPS skills in a parse) , can be used from range and AOE . Why not .
  • cjhhickman39
    cjhhickman39
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    One suggestion is to use lightweight beast trap, drop it right next to the nastiness mob member then hit caltrops then endless hail and watch them melt
  • buttaface
    buttaface
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    Fear, LW Beast Trap, Blur morph or Shuffle, Relentless Focus, Drop bone shield. Shadow Image for maim and teleport. You have too many bow skills, drop all but hail and acid spray. Hail-Acid-Trap-shade-rinse repeat while spamming light attacks.
  • Taylor_MB
    Taylor_MB
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    Power Extraction if you are not using pots for Major Brutality.
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  • Slick_007
    Slick_007
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    One suggestion is to use lightweight beast trap, drop it right next to the nastiness mob member then hit caltrops then endless hail and watch them melt

    half the bigger mobs ignore it
  • Integral1900
    Integral1900
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    Probably, but pvp might as well be on mars for me, I have a form of social anxiety, very complex story but suffice to say that pvp could quite litteraly be fatal

    Bow and bow might be doing things the hard way though so you might not have any choice

    My my stamina khajiit gets along fine with a great axe and a bow, never been kicked from a dungeon yet, never had any complaints
  • Tannus15
    Tannus15
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    Caltrops is amazing.

    My bow/bow stamblade doesn't have it yet and I feel the lack.
    buttaface wrote: »
    Fear, LW Beast Trap, Blur morph or Shuffle, Relentless Focus, Drop bone shield. Shadow Image for maim and teleport. You have too many bow skills, drop all but hail and acid spray. Hail-Acid-Trap-shade-rinse repeat while spamming light attacks.

    LW trap beast is a must have. Grab that.

    I'm using shade as well. I'm not certain that's the right call yet, but it seems good. Will probably swap it out with caltrops.

    Keep poison inject, it's amazing.
    I'm also using focused aim as my spammable.

    I'm not using the execute.

    Wait? Where is relentless focus??? Put that on your bar.
  • idk
    idk
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    Caltrops and endless hail are only useful when soloing content as a ranged dps if you can kite the NPCs to keep them in the AoE. Otherwise they are not going to do much. I expect it is challenging to range NPC mobs with a bow unless you have non bow skills to use since the only real spam on the bow has a long activation time.

    In your picture you have acid spray with is a decent ranged AoE, however, the other morph offers a brief root and iirc a snare to follow. Either morph can be spammed and would probably be a better choice for groups of mobs. Just make sure not to walk into another group of mobs.
  • Linaleah
    Linaleah
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    caltrops is amazing. I'm not really a minmaxer per se, but my god, that ability is worth pvping for. there are other options you can use, but if you can get caltrops? HIGHLY recommend (Caltrops and vigor actualy, 2 of the stam pvp skills that are just.. so worth it)
    dirty worthless casual.
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  • geonsocal
    geonsocal
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    that's funny, other than using caltrops for "detecting" other players - caltrops seems pretty underwhelming in pvp...

    at least it has been for me...i think i slotted it once, for a day or two, about a year or so ago...

    although - anything that will help cut my time against dungeon and world boss baddies down sounds promising...
    Edited by geonsocal on September 15, 2017 5:39AM
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  • Stannum
    Stannum
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    You need cultrops, rele focus and i think hunter, you do not need snipe and cloak.
  • Linaleah
    Linaleah
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    geonsocal wrote: »
    that's funny, other than using caltrops for "detecting" other players - caltrops seems pretty underwhelming in pvp...

    at least it has been for me...i think i slotted it once, for a day or two, about a year or so ago...

    although - anything that will help cut my time against dungeon and world boss baddies down sounds promising...

    well.. when I called it a pvp skill its becasue its from pvp skill line. I mainly use it when I solo pve stuff. razor caltrops make kiting so much more pleasurable and they do hit pve mobs pretty darn hard.
    dirty worthless casual.
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  • Flameheart
    Flameheart
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    At least for PvE group dps it's one of the best dot skills you can use as a Stamblade. It's an essential part of any stamblade PvE rota. Not sure if this skill is such essential for a solo PvE build, but useful nevertheless. No idea if the TO meant a PvP build, most people who ask for something seem to forget to mention the (pretty important) difference between PvE/PvP.

    To be honest most stuff I encounter in public dungeon and overland questing stuff I try to AoE down as fast as possible and it works with every class be it magicka or stamina. Power Extraction + Endless Hail + Caltrops -> win. I your case maybe add even Bombard / Acid Spray.
    Sometimes the prey turns and nips us... it's a small thing.

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  • Malmai
    Malmai
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    Caltrops and Hail - must have for PvE...
  • Huyen
    Huyen
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    Relentless focus is a must-have for any dps-build as NB.
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  • Jade1986
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    You should remorph your arrow spray to the one that roots people, then you dont need caltrops. The dot from the poison morph is so low its worthless.
  • Flameheart
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    Huyen wrote: »
    Relentless focus is a must-have for any dps-build as NB.

    Yup, just realized. Even on a bow / bow build, this skill is important. besides the extra dps from the Assassin's Will it gives 8% more dps overall. Get rid of Bone Shield.
    Sometimes the prey turns and nips us... it's a small thing.

    So let the snow flakes and unicorns dance alone until they melt or vanish from existence, we will finish up with those smart enough to stay in the glowing circle of love.

    Selissi - CP 1k+ Redguard Stamina Nightblade (Ebonheart Pact)
    Silmerel - CP 1k+ Breton Magicka Templar (Ebonheart Pact)
    Sunja - CP 1k+ Dunmer Magicka Nightblade (Ebonheart Pact)
    Suldreni - CP 1k+ Dunmer Magicka Dragonknight (Ebonheart Pact)
    Sulhelka - CP 1k+ Altmer Magicka Sorcerer (Ebonheart Pact)
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  • Feanor
    Feanor
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    geonsocal wrote: »
    that's funny, other than using caltrops for "detecting" other players - caltrops seems pretty underwhelming in pvp...

    at least it has been for me...i think i slotted it once, for a day or two, about a year or so ago...

    although - anything that will help cut my time against dungeon and world boss baddies down sounds promising...

    Razor Caltrops are strong when they are used correctly. And that is on tight spaces where you need denial of area such as breaches or a tower defense. The damage is not the part you use it for, but the snare it provides. It's even stronger since rapid manouver was nerfed.
    Edited by Feanor on September 15, 2017 12:18PM
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  • LadyNalcarya
    LadyNalcarya
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    Well, caltrops give a decent dps boost, and it seems like you already have vigor (why not the green morph, though?), so it wont take long to get them.
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  • Demolitionary
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    Well, you would want to slot relentless focus for the extra dps, you don't need Caltrops if you use the other morph of arrow spray as some have said. Sick of hearing Clatrops is a must when it isn't.

    Vigor, use Resolving Vigor morph for the better self heal.

    Also, for better ult generation, you could use the soul harvest ultimate instead of one of either you have slotted.

    it terms of most things, if you are soloing, use what you feel is better for you.
    When on my Stam, for solo I slot a 2H/Bow as Rally provides additional heal and on-demand heal and 20% additional weapon damage. Brawler for mass bleed and a nice damage shield when going for big mobs.

    Each to their own and different things work better for some and not for others and vise versa ;)
  • Toc de Malsvi
    Toc de Malsvi
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    vpy wrote: »
    I am trying a solo overland content build for my Stam NB that is Bow/Bow.

    I currently have one spot empty as seen below (2)

    aWnvvvx.png

    Folks have suggested me to go for Caltrops saying it is good damage for Stam.

    Is this true ?

    The reason I ask I need to do again quite lot of PVP to get that and if that spell sucks then thats too bad

    Caltrops would be a good skill to have, it's not remotely necessary. It's also not hard to get with just a little time in Cyrodiil. Just que in to a campaign where your faction has the most or close to the most people and look for big fights with your alliance, then just try and stay with the big groups. You can get it in one day with several hours of play or a few days of you want to space it out a bit.

    As someone who runs Bow/Bow on everything(even flawless VMA on two different classes), I would recommend you stick with acid spray. The Root from Bomard does not last nearly long enough and you can't root the targets again until they are no longer slowed which is around 6 seconds if you are solo. The additional damage from Acid Spray isn't exciting but it's definitively noticeable compared with bombard.

    However that said, Acid Spray is a weird skill in that it is not a set it and forget it DoT, nor is it a full functioning spammable. It works best in group play where you can set your AOE DoTs then heavy attack weave Acid Spray for damage while also getting resources back. Personally I run Acid Spray in the same spot as Snipe and swap it out for Snipe as needed.

    You should slot Relentless Focus for sure.

    Bone Shield should be dropped, it scales poorly. It may feel like it's helping you, but you will expend more stam trying to keep it up than you would if you just healed and avoided/mitigated damage with block/dodge roll.

    Personally I would drop cloak and the execute, although you could slot Ambush and keep the execute then ambush into the execute. This is only very helpful for single targets, although in solo PVE overland it provides steady healing without needing to actively cast a heal.

    When it comes to fighting multiple opponents you need to make a choice, either attempting to quickly burst one at a time, or damage the whole group stacking up AOE effects to burn them together. Good players will have a mix of both, but trying to mix the two without experience leads to deaths or slow fights that are drawn out.

    For single target burst you can put Surpise attack on one of your bars with Snipe, Poison Injection, Relentless Focus, Ambush, Endless Hail, and killers blade. Choose your first target, healer or caster preferred, Snipe>medium weave>Poison Injection>Ambush>Killers blade(if necessary). Then Either cloak to set up next burst or Endless Hail>Poison Injection(to primary kill target)>Surprise Attack Spam>Killers blade when low.

    For AOE max, drop Snipe for Acid Spray, open with Endless Hail(this takes a second before dealing damage)>Razor caltrops(for 70% snare)>Acid Spray>dodge roll(into group)>Vigor>Power Extraction spam. The Vigor is cast with the dodge roll to get a HoT going before you go into your AOE spam, but after your AOE DoTs have been set so that you have maximum time for Power Extraction Spam before needing to heal or reset DoTs.

    Relentless Focus should be cast before engaging and kept up 24/7 while in combat.
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  • s7732425ub17_ESO
    s7732425ub17_ESO
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    Caltrops provides a significant amount of DPS. Without it, you are missing out on a few thousand DPS.
  • deano469
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    I'm a bow/bow guy and I prefer bombard over poison injection for PvE. I'm cp 552 So it might not work as well for lower level char's.

    If I have lower level baddies in a group 29k to 42k, Bombard will root them long enough that I can kill all of them, with 4 or 5 shots, before they can move. The one or two spells the spell casters can get off, before they die, do very little damage. No chance of dying.

    My favorite is in the public dungeon in Vvardenfel. Go to the Old Baily (I think that's the name), go down several flights of stairs. At the bottom is a group of 8 or 9 NPC's, all tightly packed. Stealth up and hit Bombard. In a matter of seconds, they're all dead.

    Was awesome.
  • Izaki
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    Its the second strongest skill behind Endless Hail in a stamina toon's kit. Of course you have to get it.
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  • Izaki
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    Oh and drop bone shield, its absolutely useless. Use Relentless Focus there instead. Overland things don't hit hard anyway.
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  • firedrgn
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    Drop calltroops, endless hail Acid spray.
    Switch to front bar with 2h. Gap close if u have or brawler if u want a shield.... then reverse slice. All dead your welcome.
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