Warrior or lover for solo bowblade?

Anotherone773 · March 2018

I have a bowblade that is ~cp240. This character is a master crafter, gather, thief, motif farmer( to a degree), etc. What i would call a trash character which is why i went bow( i like bows they just suck as a main weapon here). Im not using him for vet content, serious pvp, trials or anything like that. He is used for delve bosses, world bosses( group not solo) and normal dungeons( including DLCS)

Front bar is pos inj, snipe, draining shot, caltrops( not morphed yet), and endless. Back bar is an assortment of vigor, blood alter, siphon, and blood funnel. I use the back bar as a heal bar in solo play and i havent updated it really. The front bar is what is important as im keeping a simple rotation with only the front bar used.

gear wise:
purple agility jewels, 5 piece hunding's ( gold/purple) with hundings' bow, rest is purple night mothers.

Ive been going partly off an alcast DW/bow stamblade and using a build editor( UESP) for my build. Alcast says go warrior stone. But im wondering if in my situation lover would be better, since i am doing a lot of solo work or random groups. I have minor fracture of course but i feel like my lack of penetration( about 1k from CP) is holding me back on DPS.

Now DPS isnt a huge deal as im not doing any serious end game stuff on this character. Right now im pulling about 8k-10k on a skeleton self buff, no cheese, no pots. Id like to be around 15k parse instead of 8-10k.

My problem is alcast is set up for end game content which im not doing with this character, so im wondering if i should go with lovers because i have to be self reliant. I am also thinking about other gear combinations. I have velidrath monster shoulders. Im thinking about swapping out night mothers using the monster shoulders and go with another set that has weapon damage for 2 items that way i get weapon damage for hunding, monster, and another set. I also considered having TBS as my main set and using warrior and lover.

Opinion on what stone would be best in my situation? also if you have any thoughts on gear( craftable or BoE) that might be better for my situation, by all means share.

DeadlyRecluse · March 2018

One thing to consider, when mainly soloing, is that you'll get a little bit better heals with Warrior stone, even if you get a bit more damage with Lover. So, if you find yourself relying frequently on self-heals, Warrior may be a good choice while still buffing dam.

Anotherone773 · March 2018

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

One thing to consider, when mainly soloing, is that you'll get a little bit better heals with Warrior stone, even if you get a bit more damage with Lover. So, if you find yourself relying frequently on self-heals, Warrior may be a good choice while still buffing dam.

Usually draining shot is enough for me and it heals for nearly half of my food buffed HP. I honestly dont use the back bar much except for alter if im expecting the fight to be hard and the funnel i think it is, but i dont use those very often and could probably do fine without them in most situations. They are more of crutch at this point than anything i think. I just havent put a bow of any decent quality( it blue random 160) as i havent figured out what im doing for gear yet and dont want to invest until i figure out what i want to invest in.

So assuming im pretty good on self healing, do you still think wep or pen?

Also i should of mentioned im wearing one HA, attributes are 24 health/40 stam, gear is divines/robust/nirnhoned traits. max stam on armor/ wep damage on jewels, disease on bow, all gold level enchants. Also im wood elf( combat wasnt the primary consideration for race on this one)

FrancisCrawford · March 2018

Hiya.

I doubt 3 Night Mother is a better choice than a monster set plus an orphan.

I don't understand why you're so insistent on only using one bar. Is it an RP thing? Using your back bar would allow Vigor (as you already slot), Reaper's Mark, Leeching Strikes and so on. Ditto Relentless Focus for the Minor Berserk, even if you don't want to use the proc.

Do you use an ultimate skill?

Bombard is awesome while soloing, even if Arrow Spray gives bigger numbers.

I in fact go bow/DW on my stamblade, both when he's thieving and when I change my load-out for a serious fight. But if I went bow-only I think I'd go bow/bow, with one bar being single-target and one having a couple of AoEs.

DeadlyRecluse · March 2018

Anotherone773 wrote: »

So assuming im pretty good on self healing, do you still think wep or pen?

For most of the activities you list, you'll be better off with pen (unless your pug tank happens to be a debuff monster).

But the difference will be a few percentage points--which doesn't really matter in the context of those activities (nonvet dungeons, questing, farming, etc.)

Anotherone773 · March 2018

FrancisCrawford wrote: »

Hiya.

I doubt 3 Night Mother is a better choice than a monster set plus an orphan.

I don't understand why you're so insistent on only using one bar. Is it an RP thing? Using your back bar would allow Vigor (as you already slot), Reaper's Mark, Leeching Strikes and so on. Ditto Relentless Focus for the Minor Berserk, even if you don't want to use the proc.

Do you use an ultimate skill?

Bombard is awesome while soloing, even if Arrow Spray gives bigger numbers.

I in fact go bow/DW on my stamblade, both when he's thieving and when I change my load-out for a serious fight. But if I went bow-only I think I'd go bow/bow, with one bar being single-target and one having a couple of AoEs.

I wont have a monster head for a while, if at all. I do have shoulders and found a couple of sets that give weapon damage as a two item bonus.

Because i get better DPS, the way i play than the way someone else plays. The more i have in a rotation, the worse my dps gets. its also exhausting to play that way. If i do bar swaps, i actually lose 10-15% of DPS. I get better DPS with just injection and snipe than i do with caltrops hail injection, snipe. The more you add to that list the more DPS i lose, partly because im starting to get arthritis in my hands, so i dont have the dexterity i did at 20. I use AOES almost purely for groups of mobs.

Also i dont have the SP to spend on multiple weapon and armor lines. This is a crafter/thief/assassin i use for some basic game content as well. I need just enough utility to keep me alive and enough DPS to be able to reasonably dps things down. I want to improve my DPS just not completely change how this character is designed for it. And im happy with tweaking stuff. Its not an end game character, i have others for that. And i use toxic barrage for ultimate.

I was playing around in UESP build and putting more points into piercing( i have 10 in it) seemed to give me a significant increase in effective power which is what made me wonder if maybe mine was to low( im dumping future points in piercing until i get around 20-25)