10 replies to this topic

[EvilLoynis]

Ok now I have not played the Archer/Hunter/Sniper Classes much although I do have a lvl 64ish Hunter. Now I along with most people have wondered what is the best bow to use and really how much difference do they make. The 3 main bows that I will compare are Composite Bow's [4] / Elemental Bow's [1] / Orc Archer Bow. I will also start off with some Basic Prices I just got from Ragial.com for comparison of prices to each. Now the Orc Archer Bow will be using Endows & Steel arrows while the others will be using the Elemental arrow appropriate.


EDIT: Prices below are based on Valky Server not Ymir.

Earth Bow [1] is around 5m zenny to buy. A +5 Earth bow will run you around 20m though.
Frozen Bow [1] is around 4-5m with a +5 being ~25m

Composite Bow [4]'s are about 500,000 zenny each with a +7 running 6-7m and a +10 60m.

Orc Archer Bow runs about 5-6m, +5 11-12m and a +7 85m.

Vadon Cards run about 3m avg
Goblin Cards run about 1.5-2m avg
Mandragora Cards run about 300k - 400k


Now in the following examples I will be comparing a +5 Elemental and Orc Bow to a +10 Comp bow. This is because not many people will use the +7 comp bow. Also remember that with the elemental and comp bows you will have the added expense of the cards. Comp Bows in the following examples would need 2 Mandragora/Mandragora and 2 Goblin cards. Earth Bow would use 1 Mandragora and Frozen Bow 1 Vadon.

The two monsters up for discussion today will be Hill Winds and Goats.
Also the equipment and stats other than Bows/Arrows will be the same.
Character will be a lvl 99/50 Hunter and will have 99+48 Dex from 2 Gloves, Bless, Improve Concentration, Owl/Vulture eyes, will also have a DragonTail carded Garment to help with Double Strafe damage.



Hill Wind

+5 Earth Bow
+10 Composite Bow with 2/2 Mandragora/Goblin
+5 Orc Archer Bow

Normal Atk Damage

1226min/1262avg/1305max Range of 79 Damage
1226min/1328avg/1430max Range of 204 Damage Best Max
1317min/1371avg/1425max Range of 108 Damage Best Min/Avg

Double Strafe Damage

4904min/5056avg/5214max Range of 310 Damage
4942min/5350avg/5762max Range of 820 Damage Best Max
5266min/5480avg/5694max Range of 428 Damage Best Min/Avg


Goats

+5 Frozen Bow
+10 Composite Bow with 2/2 Vadon/Goblin
+5 Orc Archer Bow

Normal Attack Damage

615min/650avg/686max Range of 71 Damage
583min/662avg/740max Range of 157 Damage
687min/732avg/777max Range of 90 Damage Best Min/Avg/Max!!!

Double Strafe

2708min/2826avg/2952max Range of 244 Damage
2698min/2986avg/3272max Range of 574 Damage
2998min/3156avg/3312max Range of 314 Damage Best Min/Avg/Max!!!


Ok my conclusion for overall performance would have to be the Orc Archer Bow by quite a bit performance wise. On Goats it rules the other two and with Hill winds it was that far off the max and still beat out the others in minimum and average damage so it would seem to be more reliable due to a more consistent range of damage.

Pro's

- Lower cost really without having to worry about cards.
- Not having to switch between bows and arrows saving your hotkeys
- Wouldn't have a lot of problems dealing with Neutral/Poison Targets


Con's

- Needing an Endow Slave or Converters
- Difficulty if needing to fight different element of monsters in one area.
- Steel arrows seem to be more expensive than others.


P.S. If there are any other monsters you would like me to compare leave a msg.

Edited by EvilLoynis, 03 September 2010 - 04:28 PM.

[Kadelia]

You really should compare +7 frozen bows to +10 composites. Its only fair.

[EvilLoynis]

You really should compare +7 frozen bows to +10 composites. Its only fair.

Well didn't do that as I said because first off Comp Bows are a lot more common than the other 2 bows. Orc bows only drop at 0.03% and elemental bows at from 0.04-0.11% (Gust & Burning drop at 0.11% since the monsters are alot togher). Comp [4] bows drop at 0.26%.

I admit that it is not a Huge Difference but I think the difficulties of the monsters and Spawn rate/locations should be taken into account as well don't you?

[Kadelia]

Well didn't do that as I said because first off Comp Bows are a lot more common than the other 2 bows. Orc bows only drop at 0.03% and elemental bows at from 0.04-0.11% (Gust & Burning drop at 0.11% since the monsters are alot togher). Comp [4] bows drop at 0.26%.

I admit that it is not a Huge Difference but I think the difficulties of the monsters and Spawn rate/locations should be taken into account as well don't you?

No this logic is a fallacy. Nobody hunts kobold archer or w/e on ymir (dunno about valk) but Kasa is hunted round the clock for exp. That said, burning bow is more common than a composite on ymir. Cheaper, too. And better up to 160 dex or so.

Also frozen bow drops from castles as well. And from gazeti which is killed round the clock especially now during ice titan event.

Orc archer bow is really good but its quite inflexible with element as it requires endow.

Good players generally determine their purchases off what they can obtain not on what is safe. a +7 or +8 frozen bow is what most people go for.

Composites are only useful on monsters with a "target-able" Race and Element simultaneously. If they are missing one of those (such as being undead or neutral element) composite is going to suck real bad compared to an orc archer. Undeads and neutral enemies are particularly prominent with this. On ghost enemies, an orc archer is useless due to the lack of ghost endow. If they're demi human then you're in luck, thanks to the battlegrounds bow.

Edited by Jaye, 03 September 2010 - 02:32 PM.

[EvilLoynis]

No this logic is a fallacy. Nobody hunts kobold archer or w/e on ymir (dunno about valk) but Kasa is hunted round the clock for exp. That said, burning bow is more common than a composite on ymir. Cheaper, too. And better up to 160 dex or so.

Orc archer bow is really good but its quite inflexible with element as it requires endow.

Good players generally determine their purchases off what they can obtain not on what is safe. a +7 or +8 frozen bow is what most people go for.

Composites are only useful on monsters with a "target-able" Race and Element simultaneously. If they are missing one of those (such as being undead or neutral element) composite is going to suck real bad compared to an orc archer. Undeads and neutral enemies are particularly prominent with this. On ghost enemies, an orc archer is useless due to the lack of ghost endow. If they're demi human then you're in luck, thanks to the battlegrounds bow.

Forgot to mention in this post previously that I play on Valky server. This being said having an Endow Slave on Alt acct is simple. Also this being said getting weapons upgraded is more difficult.

Also I do know that Kobold Archers are hunted for the Head Gear quest (Kitty Headband I think) and one of the best maps that has them also has Goblin Archers as well.

EDIT: Ok I know I made a mistake. It was the Catfoot Hair Pin Quest here.


Also my own personal experience with Frozen Bow upgrades has not been that great. Recently bought 5 of them and started upgrading them normally. 3 of them broke just trying to go +1 and 4th one broke going +2. Saved the last one for enriched upgrades to be safe as I had just lost 16 mil + Oridecons.

Edited by EvilLoynis, 04 September 2010 - 07:07 AM.

[Kadelia]

On Valk you need to use enriched elu the entire time to get a good upgrade success rate (safe to +5, and not riddick low to +7 or +8). If you can't afford a good bow, you probably shouldn't be making threads about what's "best" as you seem to have little experience there.

Pretty sure Kitty Band is dropped by Smokie (the racoon near payon), btw.

Edited by Jaye, 04 September 2010 - 05:29 AM.

[Tyre]

yeah, kobold archers drop the puppy band, easy enough mistake to make.

I think I remember checking it out before and finding something about an orc archer bow +7 with proper endows could be stronger than any of the 4x card and even the elemental bows...

I suppose there is a small difference between 'best' and 'most economical'

For hill winds... since they only have 4.2k hp anyway, the earth bow would be sufficiant to one hit them, so that seems fine.

[Kadelia]

Actually the earthen bow is the best choice on hill winds for another reason; it has a smaller range of damage and the minimum is higher, so you can 1 shot hill wind with lower base DEX than with even a 2-2 +10 composite. I believe with some +ATK gear you can 1 shot hill wind with 120 or 110 dex on a rouge or something

Edited by Jaye, 04 September 2010 - 12:47 PM.

[Quazera]

Question~ Are you using the elemental arrows with the bows? Or just regular arrows?
Oh snap~ lol~ i read that up front~

but still~ if you try the elemental arrows with the OAB you might be able to put out more dmg than with the steel arrow set~ I think...when i had +7 OAB with Stone arrows @ hill winds i did more damage with DS than with steel arrows~C:

Edited by Quazera, 14 October 2010 - 04:11 PM.

[jake0619]

using elemental arrows with OAB will only benefit you the attack of the oab?

[Kadelia]

Question~ Are you using the elemental arrows with the bows? Or just regular arrows?
Oh snap~ lol~ i read that up front~

but still~ if you try the elemental arrows with the OAB you might be able to put out more dmg than with the steel arrow set~ I think...when i had +7 OAB with Stone arrows @ hill winds i did more damage with DS than with steel arrows~C:

pre-RE you could do 200% on monsters with elemental mod while OAB only netted 150%. However, OAB with steel arrow and an earth endow would be 300% (100*1.5*2).

post-RE elemental mods are kind of weak and only go up to like 150% of original dmg. So given the ATK/lvl of OAB its hard to beat its damage with any specialized bow even with the right arrow. It is pretty stupid.

Edited by Jaye, 15 October 2010 - 03:12 AM.