Bow bow build nowadays

barbarian340 · May 2019

Returning player here... What are ur opinions on the best classes for bow/bow builds, and why?

Oreyn_Bearclaw · May 2019

If you havent been here in a while, you might be surprised to learn that bow/bow DPS is actually BIS at the moment. It does require group. It has to do with taking advantage of the trapping web synergy from the undaunted line.

Stam Sorc is actually best suited to take advantage of that because of Daedric Prey (yes it's a magic skill). So right now, Stam Sorc Bow/Bow is essentially meta. Whether this will still be the case when the new chapter drops? Who knows. It's, admittedly, a pretty strange meta, but here we are.

AcadianPaladin · May 2019

Depends on your style and objectives. I prefer solo and do not drink potions as part of my routine - so I want solid class buff skills. As a solo player I build for survivability, sustain and damage - in that order. I run three bow/bow characters. I like my sorc and warden very much. Both can solo most alliance zone WBs and solo a moderate number of normal (alliance zone) group dungeons. My third bow/bow is a nightblade and I do not care for it; given how I play, she cannot hold a candle to my sorc or warden.

Bladerunner1 · May 2019

PVE? PVP?

The Elswyr patch (5.0.4) is changing a few things with bow builds.

Snipe / Lethal Arrow / Focused Aim will be hitting 25% weaker, the devs have sped up weaving very slightly, around 50 ms, but it's still a very big nerf. Cast this skill and you're snared for well over a second, maybe 1.35 seconds during the slow server times.

Arrow Spray/ Bombard/ Acid Spray lost the snare debuff, but it's getting 12% cheaper while the direct damage is getting a 27% buff.

The DPS from the previously mentioned spider synergy is down 58%.

Necro bow/bow seems to be the highest dps of bow builds, but burns through lots of resources.

Wardens have a class ranged spammable which doesn't snare.....which is nice. And a minor berserk option. Maybe 2nd place.

Dragon Knight passives provide three very cheap poison abilities: poison arrow, lethal arrow and Acid Spray. It makes for a low resource burn rotation in PVE, perhaps cheaper than a Nightblade. You can build more into max resource and worry less about Regen. Flames of Oblivion seems to have decent range and put out decent DPS on a bow build.

Nightblade bow/bow is getting somewhat tankier while maintaining a low cost rotation. They're gaining use of a higher damage dark shade next patch and have plenty of room on the bar to fit the skill. This gives the Major Ward and Resolve Shadow Barrier buff and puts out a Minor Maim debuff on targets while dealing decent damage. Relentless Focus is losing minor berserk and minor endurance, but gaining 10 more seconds to cast a couple more assassin's scourges while also providing a unique mitigation that stacks up to 15% when you don't cast assassin's scourge. If crushing weapon was the spammable they practically could be face tanks. I found a way to get the same DPS on the PTS as on live, even without minor berserk.

Not sure how much bow/bow sorc dps drops when the spider and snipe nerf is taken into account, and I also haven't tried Templar bow/bow.

barbarian340 · May 2019

Oreyn_Bearclaw wrote: »

If you havent been here in a while, you might be surprised to learn that bow/bow DPS is actually BIS at the moment. It does require group. It has to do with taking advantage of the trapping web synergy from the undaunted line.

Stam Sorc is actually best suited to take advantage of that because of Daedric Prey (yes it's a magic skill). So right now, Stam Sorc Bow/Bow is essentially meta. Whether this will still be the case when the new chapter drops? Who knows. It's, admittedly, a pretty strange meta, but here we are.

What is it about daedric prey that makes it good for bow/bow?

barbarian340 · May 2019

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Depends on your style and objectives. I prefer solo and do not drink potions as part of my routine - so I want solid class buff skills. As a solo player I build for survivability, sustain and damage - in that order. I run three bow/bow characters. I like my sorc and warden very much. Both can solo most alliance zone WBs and solo a moderate number of normal (alliance zone) group dungeons. My third bow/bow is a nightblade and I do not care for it; given how I play, she cannot hold a candle to my sorc or warden.

What's the advantages/disadvantages between warden and sorcerer for bow/bow?

AcadianPaladin · May 2019

barbarian340 wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Depends on your style and objectives. I prefer solo and do not drink potions as part of my routine - so I want solid class buff skills. As a solo player I build for survivability, sustain and damage - in that order. I run three bow/bow characters. I like my sorc and warden very much. Both can solo most alliance zone WBs and solo a moderate number of normal (alliance zone) group dungeons. My third bow/bow is a nightblade and I do not care for it; given how I play, she cannot hold a candle to my sorc or warden.

What's the advantages/disadvantages between warden and sorcerer for bow/bow?

Again, I can only speak to my style of solo play. Sorc does well with 2 buffs (Surge + Hurricane) whereas Warden wants three (Netch, Frost Cloak, Lotus). Warden has better sustain and a handy heal that can help any allies whereas my sorc uses the clunkier Dark Exchange as a burst self heal that costs no stam and actually feeds her stam. Sorc has better light attack damage thanks to Bound Armament. Both use Caltrops/Hail but Warden can comfortably use Subterrainian Assault as well which is a good skill. Warden can spam Snipe, Dive or both whereas the sorc lacks Dive. Overall, I find the Sorc a bit more survivable with better single target/burst damage whereas the Warden has better sustain and damage vs groups.

I struggle with clunky skills like the Nightblade's Spectral Bow, the Psijiic Crushing Weapon (and though not relevant here, the magsorc's Crystal Frags) so that factors into what works best for me.

With an anticipated nerf to Snipe, I may end up dumping that skill entirely which would hurt my sorc more than my warden.

I consider myself to be an 'intermediate' player though I have spent much time/effort working on bow/bow. I recommend you take a look at this fabulous thread which is a much more authoritative guide to bow/bow: https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/381498/everything-needed-to-know-about-bow-bow-in-pve-wrathstone-update#latest

Lightspeedflashb14_ESO · May 2019

watch this-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQf1Fr3hjA4

read this-

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/381498/everything-needed-to-know-about-bow-bow-in-pve-wrathstone-update/p1

Stx · May 2019

I have been playing redguard dk bow/bow and hea pretty awesome. Your poison bow abilities are 25% cheaper from dk passives, and all your bow abilities are 8% cheaper from redguard including ballista. Between class and race passives sustain is a nonfactor and you can build 100% for damage, it's great.