Aspect of Steam Bow

[Dorian]

I'm looking to craft my first greensteel bow and leaning toward Water/Positive/Water+Positive.

I know people like their lightning bows... but the untyped damage from the Steam Bow seems nice. And its listed as a 20% proc rate.

I just can't decide between and triple Earth Bow (for earth grab and acid damage) or the Steam Bow.

Any suggestions or downside of either of these bows?

Thanks.

[Ikuryo]

For damage on devils such as Harry you need to remember that he has resists for cold, fire and acid. They have no resist for lightning though which is why the lightning II bow is preferred.

On normal your water/positive/steam will be doing BASE +0 +1d6 (+4d6 on crit) +4d6-10 on confirmed 20 +20% chance of 2d8+8.

Your acid bow will also be getting a lot of reductions from resists. BASE +0 +0 (+2d10-10 on crit) + 4d6-10 on confirmed 20.

The numbers are zero because even if you rolled the max it would still all be absorbed by the basic devil resists. Your triple earth would be even less usable on Harry of similar big guys since you can't use silver or any other kind of arrow to bypass his DR so you are losing 10-15 BASE dmg on normal. All these numbers get worst if you go into a quest on higher then normal. Only the lightning dmg is not resisted.

[Dorian]

For damage on devils such as Harry you need to remember that he has resists for cold, fire and acid. They have no resist for lightning though which is why the lightning II bow is preferred.

On normal your water/positive/steam will be doing BASE +0 +1d6 (+4d6 on crit) +4d6-10 on confirmed 20 +20% chance of 2d8+8.

Your acid bow will also be getting a lot of reductions from resists. BASE +0 +0 (+2d10-10 on crit) + 4d6-10 on confirmed 20.

The numbers are zero because even if you rolled the max it would still all be absorbed by the basic devil resists. Your triple earth would be even less usable on Harry of similar big guys since you can't use silver or any other kind of arrow to bypass his DR so you are losing 10-15 BASE dmg on normal. All these numbers get worst if you go into a quest on higher then normal. Only the lightning dmg is not resisted.

Sounds like I would be better off with at pos/pos/pos bow and use whatever arrows I need to bypass DR depending on boss.

Wonder how the DPS of this compares to just using the silver bow.

I guess I'm looking for the best all around trash mob bow and I'll use the silver bow for bosses. (one that works well in the new area in mod9)

Thanks for the reply.

[SqtYork]

I don't have a Steam weapon so I won't speak to that. I do have an Earth II bow. The proc chance for EG is pretty low, and it doesn't last as long as Earth Elemental EG. I usually get one and sometimes two shots with the Auto Crit before the mob escapes. But summon one or both of the earth elementals change bows and go to town. Those two will EG stuff and that lasts long enough for must stuff to be dead before it can escape.

the math is the fun part.
If the Earth II is a 2 maybe 3% proc and you crit for about 80 - 100 extra pts then it's work about 1 - 6 hps / attack depending on how much extra damage and how many hits you get during the EG.

The Steam II is about a 20% proc and you get 3 - 4 points of untyped damage / attack.

Now you have to add in all of the other modifiers. What weapon for base damage and crit multipliers, str modifier, crit bonus effect (bloodstone / seeking bonus items), and what tier I and II effects did you add
Earth is all acid damage. So it's 2d6 acid + crit multiplier * d10 + 4d6 on a 20. for comparison I would add in the extra damage you get on a crit vs a normal strike for the duration of the EG.

For steam it's either 2d6 holy or +2 str, the simple math says that 2d6 is more than 2 from str but holy only hits evil stuff, it does help get thru some DR on mobs ... where str hits everything, str also add to your to hit and your crit confirmation, and also the the damage from the crit multiplier. For simplicity's sake lets say holy is better and that's 2d6 good / attack. Add 1d6 acid + acid burst crit multiplier * d10 + 4d6 on a 20.

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?p=1621729#post1621729
this article says it's about 3.4 / hit compared to 7-9 for Lightning II. Lighting is resistable, untyped it not.

In the end I think it's situational just get one you like.

[Ikuryo]

Hes talking about a bow though so STR does not affect crit confirms at all. It does get added in if you have bow strength though.

There are comparison charts out there, the lightning II bow is slightly more dmg over time then the pos/pos/pos bow when using silver arrows with both of them. The lightning strike for about 600dmg is just enough to put it ahead. Assuming your target takes lightning dmg. As long as your bow is good aligned, either from Holy or pure good(Good blast) you can use arrows of the different types to bypass most DR. On Harry you will want silver, on DQ you will want cold iron. On the DQ I think the +/+/+ bow does more as she has a resistance to lightning. Many rangers just make both if they are going to be ranging, the +/+/+ bow is a good dmg bow that helps do acceptable dmg until you can get the lightning II bow made.

The Silver Bow is a good aligned weapon so you will need to use silver arrows with it to get full dmg on Harry. Which does more dmg is a matter that has been discussed a number of times on the forums. If you have improved crit:ranged the silver bow gets a large crit range and will do a fair amount of dmg if your target can be critted.

A lot of people talk about how Mineral II is the best for a weapon if the target has a DR you can overcome but most of the time they are talking about melee weapons. Almost all of the DR in the game is overcome by good and some form of material. With a good aligned bow you just need to find the correct arrows to load into it to overcome the DR of your target. As an added bonus GS weapons are also Evil aligned so you can hit some of the other creatures as well.

It all comes down to how many Larges you will have access to and at what rate. If you can get the larges for a Lightning II bow easy then you can make one of those first. If not, making a pos/pos/pos bow first to hold you over until you can make a lightning II bow is a common way to go. As an added bonus you get the ability to raise someone if they die, clerics and bards are normally nice choices. :D

[barecm]

I have several of the bows mentioned on my ranger. As a rule, the lightning bow is best on Harry and the devils. For general dps, I am finding myself pulling out my triple water bow more and more as the proc rate for crushing wave seems to be the best of any bow I have.


Bows not disucssed:

Aspect of Ash - Sucks as it does not proc a lot and does not proc on named (i wasted larges here)
Aspect of Dust - Not terrible, but does not proc a lot
Aspect of Magma - Great undead killer and a good situational bow. No cool proc graphic
Aspect of Water - Great for fire based enemies. Proc rate is great

[Ikuryo]

I actually prefer my lightning II bow for undead, the blackbones are immune to fire so I like not having to worry about that. Lichs are immune to lightning though but that is what the triple positive bow is for.

It is true that crushing wave goes off rather often. I know my crushing wave guard procs if I'm being hit consistently for any length of time. Looking at the thread that lists proc chances the crushing wave proc goes off between 2% and 5%. The 2% is from a post on the Japanese sever. The ash effect should be a 5% chance of triggering.

[barecm]

The ash effect should be a 5% chance of triggering.

Unfortunately, I have found that Ash proc a lot less than anything else I have made. If I could choose to deconstruct 1 item, that would be the one....

[krud]

earthgrab is only ok on my s&b guy. doesn't proc all that much, even when spamming cleave/gc on gathered mobs. I suspect it would be worse on a bow.

[Slink]

I have tried a few different gs longbow enhancement types.
I ALWAYS go back to tri pos when I am ready to be serious.

Unfortunately, in mod 9, the blast effects are broken on longbows.
Hopefully they fix this before it goes live.

If you are just begining to craft ranged, I would start there.