[Snake]

Their SWA is pretty pathetic compared to other weapons due to their general low Power, and no 'Two Handed' to benefit it, their interaction with Archer have been nerfed harshly and finally, its main STR scaling leaves a lot to desire.

I'm not saying that they're not without its uses, I'm complaining about how a man who fully forsakes DEF/RES/CEL to invest everything into a Bow's scaling doesn't get the cookie they're after, which is damage. Bows have a pseudo-cap limiting their potential to be better than an innate 'Tool' tag weapon, and most of a Bow's effects are not worth the lack of damage they naturally have.

Could Bows be buffed just a little to compensate their loss of other statistics? I'd provide the following to be food for thought:

- All Bows' base Power should be increased by 5-10.

or

- All 'Barks' should be able to be fused together through Woodworking LV6 (+Black Pearls, +Magic Mud), into something called 'Ultrabark', which is basically just Dragon Remains but for Bows. (+3 Power +5 Accuracy/Critical, +8 Weight.)

or

- Strength should interact with all Bow weapons in a special way, where it increases its Critical Damage due to stability of hand.

or

- ''Crossbow Body'' weapon part. +5 Power, +5 Accuracy, -10 Critical. Changes a Bow's STR scaling for GUI.

[Tana]

A 150 swa weapon that never gets close, will always lose to a 120 swa weapon that can fire from one corner to the other.

I don't think bows are in any truly dire spot at the moment, even if having to build strength can be a bit of a damper.

[Autumn]

I believe that the systems that are less beneficial for bows should benefit bows in a way that does not correlate directly to damage, Tana is correct here in that bows have insane range, and quite frankly I like that identity about that currently.

We should accommodate into encouraging bow users to build STR, instead of shirking away from it. Perhaps by moving farshot penalty for bows specifically to STR through either the use of a new archer base class passive or by changing the weapon type itself and introducing a new mechanic.

This would even make sense, as you need considerable amount of upper body strength to pull back the string of a bow and aim consistently and steadily, it is not all technique in that regard.


Secondly, Bows can be made of bone and/or metal as well, I believe that bows should be allowed to utilize both metal and wood material types, unless that specific bow might not call for it in a sensible way. This is currently mitigated less by bows having access to probably the best weapon parts in the game as of the current moment (which isn't a bad thing either, mind.)

[Jeff]

Isn't the best bow currently a mutated shuriken? Then maybe the true bows need to be looked at.

[Autumn]

Isn't the best bow currently a mutated shuriken? Then maybe the true bows need to be looked at.

Not quite for the reasons you would imagine, also it once again fell behind Magnifying Glass in raw damage due to the tool tag addition being added to shurikens. I don't think mag glass will be as useful as it once was either, due to having slightly reduced scaling on top of having to deal with its own problems like Elytra and being a 'melee' weapon as a bow.

The reason why shuriken bow was strong was cause of its utility + the damage it provided, now its just the utility again as  it'll compare pretty evenly among most bows assuming around a 50-75% chance to crit against most targets.

Tamaki Shuriken was good because:

-Auto Snake Wrap on successful infliction with Snake Shot (Which could be combo'd into pulling shot)
-Higher range than most bows due to how mutation functions with weapons turning into bows
-Great potential + poison tick damage
-Ninja Talents should you desired them.

But by far some of the best bows in the game are not these bows, some of the best bows in the game are bows people are perfectly willing to build STR to use such as with Hunting Bow, Grandia, Filcherbird, Star Shooter, Kraken's Sigh, Fae Bow etc.

[Snake]

How are people getting more than 100 SWA on a Bow right now while building GUI + STR?

[InsainArcaneBirdbrain]

How are people getting more than 100 SWA on a Bow right now while building GUI + STR?

It's not that hard actually. Bow parts and passives save you so much on the hit/crit department that you can afford to run str/gui, something no other weapon type can really say. Also keep in mind the above example build is without rising game bonuses active on ghost MC, so it's not unfeasible for anyone of any race to pull this off tbh.

[Sawrock]

How are people getting more than 100 SWA on a Bow right now while building GUI + STR?

CHAD MOTHERFUCKING POWERSHOT, 101 SWA BABY

[Snake]

Though that's only Bow of the Green Forest and the SWA trickles on 105 at -most-. I'm talking something to at least graze what a Sword/Axe/Spear/Gun can do, which is around 115 SWA tops.

What about other Bows? They all sound pretty impossible to be happy with.

(also HAH DAMMIT SAW)

[InsainArcaneBirdbrain]

Tana already pointed out how the range advantage cancels out the lower overall swa of bows, so a swa of 105 is pretty high for a STR/GUI bow in the first place imo. I've never had issues with bows in terms of damage output really, since they can do it from so far away that it more than makes up the difference. The farshot for bows specifically from STR has been an idea that's been thrown around a few times already, and I think would even the the only mild drawback of GUI-less bows of suffering a bit from farshot.