Bows

[Ziggurat]

My mook ranger has the Eagle Eye bow, and her Senses are 88, but I'm not getting many kills with her using this weapon. Very few. I also have the Demonsting, Strong Bow and another which I forget. Is it worth using the Eagle Eye or should I switch her to something else? It costs the most and has 40% damage bonus, but that may not mean much. She is lev 15.

(Edit: changed him to her. She was a bit offended when I switched her sex without asking!)

[ 08-22-2003, 02:29 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

[Scatter]

IIRC, the real deal with Eagle Eye is its bonus to eagle eye skill. Strong Bow is the highest insta-whack bow you can get (6%). They're my fave, but your Str has to be 85 to use them. I'm not sure how much Senses contributes to your crit potential; Dex and Str and Bow/Ranged skills do for sure.

[Ziggurat]

Maybe I haven't quite developed her enough, maybe put her in the back for awhile! Her stats currently are:

Str = 106
Int = 52
Pie = 25
Vit = 65
Dex = 60
Spe = 60
Sen = 91

Ranged Combat = 62
Bow = 40

I guess I have put her on the flank because of the Death Sword, but she gets less ranged attempts. Guess I will work on dex and finish getting the Eagle Eye skill. And maybe switch to Strong Bow, if Eagle Eye Bow is really not better.

[Scatter]

yikes, senses!!! i almost never work senses on even a Ranger past 55. They see enough for me anyway, and i'd much rather have 100 Dex first. The manual is misleading in a lot of ways, and i think with regard to the advantage of Sen it's very overrated. All they get is the ability to find hidden items from farther away than you'll ever be from an important item. (they're all in smaller spaces).
As far as spotting mobs is concerned, X-Ray beats senses anyway: you can see them on the automap, even.
Eagle Eyes' contribution to hitting is low enough that if you max Dex first you'll get more hits than if you start E-E first, and usually you Ascend way before you max E-E.

(edit) There's also a good argument for the amount of damage and the insta-whack potential of Siege Arbalest with Lightning Bolts---see Frontier Phaser thread...

[ 08-22-2003, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: Scatter ]

[Ziggurat]

Scatter (great name in these chaotic times):

Yah, I saw and have been reading the Frontier Phraser thread, which is good.

I think you are right about Senses, but hell, it's there for a reason? I hope. I will dump next levs into dex and speed. I never did get a good response of rangers to Eagle Eye in earlier games. I was expecting more.

I know abow xbows, like Siege Arbalest. Was hoping for more accuracy this game so strictly bows. But de-emphasized dexterity. In this game, it is easy to focus on one thing while neglecting more important things. Part of the strategy element. Many options.

You are probably right about Senses not helping past 55 or so. It is helpful to see an enemy long before they get hostile. But once you get X-ray, this skill is useless.

If anyone has a good rationale for upping Senses and getting Eagle Eye skill, let me know.

Still curious about effectiveness of bows, and I did a search and read earlier posts about this. It seems Strong Bow vs. Eagle Eye for best.

(Edit: fixed two typos)

[ 08-22-2003, 05:07 PM: Message edited by: Ziggurat ]

[EEWorzelle]

Zig,

I agree with Scatter about Dexterity. It increases ranged combat "to hit" much faster than Senses does.

But I do not agree, at all, with him or her about Senses. It is a great attribute, that improves initiative as well as "to hit" and attack rating. It is also a controlling attribute for Ranged Combat, which is very important for the Ranger. The main reason for senses in a ranger, however, is Eagle Eye, which increases hitting and penetrating with a ranged weapon. With ranged criticals, the Ranger has a good chance, of Critical Hitting anything hit and penetrated. Of course getting the Expert Skill, at a level of zero, does nothing. You need to get it early so it can rise to high levels. Eagle Eye and Senses are not a substitite for Dexterity, however, I hope I was clear about that.

ScottG in another post proposed that the % chance of a critical is 10% of the Critical Hit Skill, which sounds about right. If that is true and also applies to the Ranger, then a Ranged Combat Skill of 125 (since it is the primary skill and the one that controls critical hitting for a Ranger) would give up to a 12.5% chance, or 1 out of 8, which could be even better with some weapon kill%.

Strength also helps Bow Skill and damage %, but I'm not sure how important it is to get it all the way to 100 for Powerstrike, in a Ranger. How often will the Ranger be using their melee weapon?

[ 08-22-2003, 06:54 PM: Message edited by: EEWorzelle ]

[Scatter]

All the time, in a party of 3 or 4.

[EEWorzelle]

Nods. Yeah, Scatter. It always depends on the party and the way the characters are actually used in combat, doesn't it?

If you have a Ranger, doing a lot of melee, your choices are develop it or do it poorly. What you say makes a lot more sense in that context.

[ 08-22-2003, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: EEWorzelle ]

[Scatter]

I really like the combination of Estoc de Olivia and Diamond Eyes. I usually get Mace/Flail and Dual skills going with Enchanted- or Disruptor- Mace and DE, then work the sword skill in once Dual is over 50. I hardly ever make my Ranger any better than the others at archery--they're more like an alchemiser that can wear Infy Helm.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

I've actually had the best luck with criticals when using a Ranger over any other class. I did work on Dex and Senses first, I'm sure that's the best way to do it.