Which bow would be the best to use an archer planning to solo all the way thru ToB? Basically, which proficiency should I choose? Long bows or short bows?

Tuigan Bow
And there's no point in saying other wise .. the tuigan-bow is best.
It deals most damage of all bows when playing an archer. Or maybe it was strong arm +2, but because the tuigan Bow has 3 shots per round, its still better to have ( disrupting mages and the like).
So its the tuigan Bow and strong arm +2 .. shouldnt be a problem getting them both. I think Dundee Slaytern is the pro on this subject ( and many others ), he might be more specific .. but I'd say Tuigan Bow.

You'll get it doing the Copper Coronet quest to expose Hendak and the like

Hope it helpz [img]smile.gif[/img]

im currently playing soa using an archer (im with nalia and aerie) and it really rules the game specially youre side by side with two mages. the bows that rules are "heartseeker 3", "mana bow" and the bow you can avail from the trademeet (after completing the quest) market. i prefer using longbows than shrotbows because they have more damage (specially when you combine it with your hurricane ability). try it youll enjoy it.

Tansheron's Bow - you don't have to clutter up your inventory with ammunition

With the Ammo Belt and the Quiver of Plenty, what clutter? ;)

daan is right. In the end, the Tuigan Bow will deal the most damage per round due to the extra rate of fire. In the beginning though, the Strongarm +2 deals more damage.

Bows you should also keep are the Tansheron Bow( perfect for Iron/Adamantium Golems) and the Gesen Bow( for those pesky Demi-Liches).

Acid arrows are good to keep, for disrupting Stoneskinned Mages.

if you have the patch from Baldurdash that grants an extra half attack for grand mastery, and the gauntlets that let you do a bit more damage, have a bonus to your THAC0, and another extra half attack per round, armed wityh Taralush+5 I was doing 20 damage a hit minimum and firing AT LEAST 3 times a round anyway.

I like the Taralash +5 even though you get it a bit late.. If you have that to boost your movement rate and the Grandmaster's Armor to boost your speed, and perhaps the Boots of Elvenkind, you could be quite lethal. And you can be fast enough to keep running away to use the bow without being engaged in melee. Add the Quiver of Plenty +2 and you're ready to take on the multiverse.

well, and archer can get an obscenely low thaco anyway, so a +5 weapon isnt needed. i like the elven court bow. i play as an elven archer, so that works fine for me. wear the boots of speed, and you are a machine-gun. get a good melee weapon, and you are good to go. i use a spear, simply because i hate going into my inventory if i want to equip a second weapon to dual-wield with. besides, just because im an archer, doesnt mean i HAVE to dual-wield, right? anyway, i say the elven court bow, or the heartseaker. both great bows, and you can get the elven court bow VERY early in the game.

Kaltia, you misunderstand. The Tuigan Bow has a <u>base</u> attack per round of 3. Normally, bows have a base attack per round of 2.

If you have 4 attacks per round with the Taralush, you will have 5 attacks per round with the Tuigan Bow, assuming they have the same number of proficiencies in their respective weapon-types.

With the Grandmaster Patch, a level 34 Archer will have...

Note, THACO is irrelevant, as an Archer will easily have a THACO in excess of -20 with practically any bow. So I will deal with the more important factor of damage.

Strongarm +2:
----
Bow adds +3 to damage
5* adds +5 to damage
Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialisation adds +2
Archer kit means +9 to damage at level 33+

I get 4.5 attacks per round( apr).

Base apr of 2
+1 apr from 5*
+1 apr from level 7 and 13
+0.5 from the Gauntlets

Normal, +1, +2 and +3 enchanted arrows all deal 1d6 damage, and we shall use them to factor in the calculation, as they are the most frequently used.

(1d6 + 3 + 5 + 2 + 9) * 4.5 = [min 90, max 112.5] damage per round

With Call Shot, [min 99, max 121.5] damage per round
________

Tuigan Bow:
----
Bow adds +1 to damage
5* adds +5 to damage
Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialisation adds +2
Archer kit means +9 to damage at level 33+

I get 5 attacks per round( apr), not 5.5, as 5 is the cap unless you factor in Whirlwind and Haste spells.

Base apr of 3
+1 apr from 5*
+1 apr from level 7 and 13
+0.5 from the Gauntlets

Normal, +1, +2 and +3 enchanted arrows all deal 1d6 damage, and we shall use them to factor in the calculation, as they are the most frequently used.

(1d6 + 1 + 5 + 2 + 9) * 5 = [min 90, max 115] damage per round

With Call Shot, [min 100, max 125] damage per round
________

If you do these calculations with the Taralush Bow, you will find it to be most disappointing compared to these bows. It gets even worse if you do not have the Grandmastery Patch, as the Tuigan Bow will still have 5 apr, but the Taralush and the Strongarm will only have 4 apr.

Grrr....I wonder if anyone has heard of firetooth +5 ?

The bow you really want to use is called "composite longbow". And the arrows for day to day use are called "arrows". Just save a few magical ones for when you come across something you can't harm otherwise.
Trust me, it's more fun to say you finished the game with a simple unenchanted bow than a magical bow of overpowering, so to speak. A bit more of a challenge too.

Of course, if you want to go for pure damage instead of style, forget the bow and cheat yourself a killsword. [img]graemlins/saywhat.gif[/img] Have "fun"...

Firetooth is a crossbow. Very slow attack speed and not much use for a solo archer. I usually have Jan use it when I've got a new mod installed and am playing with a party, because it's not really that good for a solo archer.

Dundee, yes, I made a mistake. You have my apologes and I shall not counter-mand your wisdom again ;)

I like Taralush for the damage and speed but I usually keep gesen for most other opponents. i wasn't too impressed with tuigan, but, again, that's my preference [img]smile.gif[/img]

NO bow but a crossbow in ToB:
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firetooth +5 because it fires infinite bolts and you don't care about slow rate of fire when you've got advanced whirlwind

Spoiler
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If I take Greater Deathblow instead of Greater Whirlwind, a solo Archer can kill 10 Beholders or 10 Mind Flayers in two rounds using the Tuigan Bow. Try doing that with Firetooth +5 and Greater Whirlwind.

Illithids are...lvl 6 or eight, aren't they? In DnD standards?

Personally I don't like the crossbows. I keep Gesen and tuigan in my inventory for bosses, and the taralush normally because it makes you move faster (handy) I also tend to keep some swords in my inventory for vampires or whatever, or things that tend to dominate you or whatever they do before you can kill them with a bow.

I'm not a bow-specialist, but in these damage calculations that are being compared, isn't Strength an important factor? If I'm wrong, please re-educate me, but I thought in SoA/ToB the composite bows allowed you to add a STR bonus where others did not.

Besides, gesen and taralush have infinate bolts, and once you get the quiver of plenty in WK and upgrade it, every bow has infinite arrows.
Yes, as far as I can tell, strength determines damage in all weapons.

That is incorrect. STR does not add to your missile damage.

Unless you are using the Sling of Seeking +2. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Currently im roleplaying 3 specialist archers, i find:
The best short bow: Tugian/gensen
the best long bow: Heartseeker
the best crowwbow: Firetooth (upgraded)

Why is everybody so enamoured with Heartseeker? Is THACO really more important than damage for you people? Sacrificing 1 THACO for an extra point of damage seems like a bargain to me, especially since we are talking about Archers here, who can most probably take a stick and string, tie them into a makeshift bow and still have -20 THACO with it... ...

Actually im fascinated by Heartseeker, thats why i passed my verdict in its favor, hope that removes your confusion!

IMHO the Tuigan shortbow is the best bow in the game. As Dundee said the amount of attacks you get per round is very good witch increases the ammount of damage per round to more than just about every other, if not all other bows in the game. And if you get the item upgrade mod, you can have unlimited +3 arrows!
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