Strong vs Eagle Eye Bow

[Marathon]

My team of 4 hybrids is coming along slowly but surely. My Ranger just maxed senses and is close to maxing dex. My question is - what do you guys consider to be the best bow? If I plan on using the Strong Bow I will need to start increasing strength. If I want to stick with the Eagle Eye bow, I can go with speed and intelligence as he is my only back row character and casts quite a bit. The higher initiative on the Eagle Eye looks nice, as does the bonus to Eagle Eye, but the 5% higher kill bonus on the Strong Bow makes it look, to me, to be the best bet. Opinions? I posted the stats of each below to save anyone from having to look them up.

Also, I seem to remember the instant kill bonus for a Ranger is based on their ranged combat skill. Is it the same as with critical strike, 1% per 25 skill points?

Eagle Eye Bow
To Hit: +4 Weight: 7.5
Init: +4 Damage Mod: +40%
Damage: n/a Value: 43,500

Bonus Eagle Eye +10
Special Attack Kill 1%

Strong Bow
To Hit: +3 Weight: 7.5
Init: +2 Damage Mod: +40%
Damage: n/a Value: 6,500

Special Attack Kill 6%
Requires Strength 85
Bow 30

[Krull]

Marathon

I must confess that I prefer the Strong Bow as I do seem to get more criticals (extra 5% of course). This is strange as the Eagle Eye Bow is a lot more expensive.

As you say though the high Strength requirement is a bugger. So I would go with the Eagle Eye Bow because, as you say, DEX and SEN is more important for Rangers.

What race is the Ranger by the way?

(Edit: Oops! I forgot the Mook has very low Piety so probably not best choice for a Valkyrie)

[ 01-18-2005, 01:57 PM: Message edited by: Krull ]

[Nightwing]

Strong bow is my fav.

[Marathon]

Ranger is an elf. He's level 13 right now, already has senses maxed, at about 96 for Agility, and is very close to leveling to 14. That's part of the reason for the question - start pumping ST now or leave it? He's at 52 for strength, so I figure 5 more levels before I can use the Strong Bow (with 2 Ankh's of strength equipped). The expense is a big reason why I was wondering since the EE Bow is priced so much higher.

[Krull]

As I said, I don't understand why the Eagle Eye Bow costs so much.

There is a viable alternative. Have you come across the Seige Arbalaest? No requirements needed like 85 Strength.

-3 to initiative
+3 to hit
+30% damage
5% kill

If you're lucky you can get one from the Trynton Armoury but Ferro in Rapax Castle sells them.

What's the rest of your party like? Do you need to concentrate on his magic at all or is this covered by the others?

There's nothing wrong with increasing his Strength as I think (and I could be wrong) each point over 50 Strength equals +1% to damage.

[ 01-18-2005, 07:21 PM: Message edited by: Krull ]

[Marathon]

Party is Elf Ranger, Mook Samurai, Human Monk and Valkyrie. My monk is on his way to powercast and is maxing agility, the valkyrie has Iron Will and almost powerstrike, the samurai is more melee oriented with strength and agility being maxed.

I think strength adds a half % for ranged, but could be wrong. Either way, my ranger could use some more strength to carry ammo, and close combat later on. I'm hoping to get the ranger only Estoc de Olivia for him to use later (or else the Ivory Blade).

One thing I'm not sure about - with the Siege Arbalest, which is awesome damage-wise, how much does the lower iniative affect number of shots fired? I was thinking that could be part of the reason the EE Bow is so high since it has a +4 initiative.

[ 01-18-2005, 08:24 PM: Message edited by: Marathon ]

[babar]

The bad thing about the strong bow is if Rapax start casting hex at you and you don't have munchkin strength (meaning if they hex and you still have enough strength to use the bow), it gets automatically unequiped during combat. It also happens with a certain mace, but I think you only need 50 str for that.

but the best bow imo is the elven bow. you have to import it but it's rumored to be for a sale in the Flamestryke mod.

[Wereboar]

I prefer strong bow. And increasing strength sould be your next priority anyway, to increase damage bonus.

My rangers always use bows (no melee weapon), since i consider their critical chance to be much more valuable than any melee damage. So when i start using strong bow, i use another bow as alternate weapon. In this case, he can just swap weapons when hexxed (automatically, or manually if enemies are in close range for his fists). Don't forget to reequip the bow after combat.

[Krull]

Marathon

Just checked a website that tells you what each point of Strength actually does for you...

Strength 2.5 cc, .7 stamina
Melee: .1 to Hit, .1 Attack Rating, 2%/1% damage above/below 50
Ranged: 1%/.5% damage above/below 50
Note: Strength increases weapon damage for all but Modern Weapons

So it is 1% for damage for every Strength point over 50.

Babar

Same thing happened to me yesterday with my Ninja who had equipped the Defiler (a returnable weapon in Flame's mod which has minimum DEX and SPD requirements). A Sige cast Slow on him which reduced his speed so the Defiler automatically was unequipped.

Also, as you say, the Elven Bow can now be bought from a vendor in Flame's latest mod, who also sells some other awesome new items as well. Already thinking of an all Elf Party, all of whom can use the Bow.

Wereboar

Was it you then who, sometime ago, recommended having a bow in the secondary slot and a crossbow in the primary slot as the crossbow's minus to hit didn't matter at short range?

[Wereboar]

No, that wasn't me. That would need to carry two kinds of ammo, and manual swapping. I wouldn't bother with that.

Well, sometimes i wield two different stacks of ammo, but with only one missile lauuncher. Then i can 'swap weapons' to switch from standard to better ammo. I know you can do this from the character equipment screen too, without wielding the ammo before, but thats too much effort for me.