GS crafting for AA

[~Jules921]

I have an elven AA that is coming up through the ranks and want to make a gs bow for her. Is rad II still the best option?

Flaming
Good Burst
Flaming Blast

Thanks,
Jules

[khaldan]

I'd personally go with lit 2:

Holy
Shocking burst
Shocking blast

Rad 2 is decent CC though, if you manage to find a bunch of mobs in a row.

[Mr_Tank]

Lightning II or Dusk II are what I use. Earth grab is good as well.

[Tiemmothi]

Im looking at making a Lightning 2 or the earthgrab bw for my aa ranger.

[krud]

Lightning2 seems the most popular choice. Go with dps potential first, then go for cc later.

"Is rad II still the best option?"

I don't think Rad2 was ever the best option, let alone a good option as a bow for an AA. The best part of rad2 is the blindness feature which procs on a critical hit. This works best on weapons with large crit ranges (rapiers, scimitars, kukris, and khopeshes too), instead of weapons with a low crit range. Occasionally, you'll see rad2 qstaffs for monk-acrobats, but they partially make up for it with the faster attack speed. Plus, a major benefit of the blindness is auto-sneak attack. Unless you got a lot of rogue levels, it won't benefit you much. It's also not very effective against many of the current end game bosses.

[~Jules921]

I'd personally go with lit 2:

Holy
Shocking burst
Shocking blast

Rad 2 is decent CC though, if you manage to find a bunch of mobs in a row.

This will be my choice and thanks

Lightning II or Dusk II are what I use. Earth grab is good as well.

What exactly is a Dusk II - I haven't heard of it before

Lightning2 seems the most popular choice. Go with dps potential first, then go for cc later.

"Is rad II still the best option?"

I don't think Rad2 was ever the best option, let alone a good option as a bow for an AA. The best part of rad2 is the blindness feature which procs on a critical hit. This works best on weapons with large crit ranges (rapiers, scimitars, kukris, and khopeshes too), instead of weapons with a low crit range. Occasionally, you'll see rad2 qstaffs for monk-acrobats, but they partially make up for it with the faster attack speed. Plus, a major benefit of the blindness is auto-sneak attack. Unless you got a lot of rogue levels, it won't benefit you much. It's also not very effective against many of the current end game bosses.

So for my pure aa Lit II is best, but for my rogue that I'm re-splashing to aa (elf and doesn't like to get hit) it would be perfect.

Everyone thanks for the input.

Jules

[Glenalth]

I'm going to assume that he means Dust II which is a 500pt disintegrate, but since it's an Earth+Negative combo you're not going to be getting good base damage out of it and the overall numbers will be low compared to Lightning II.


The only totally necessary GS bow is Lightning II. That's where your damage is going to come from for most of the content.

For the rest I mostly bounce between Silverbow (evil with lightning resist/immunty mostly) and Earth II (everything else).

Everything else is all specialty stuff (bursting banes, stat damagers, etc) though i do see myself crafting a Vacuum II at some point in the future for giggles.

[krud]

but for my rogue that I'm re-splashing to aa (elf and doesn't like to get hit) it would be perfect.

Jules

I still think a melee rad2 weapon would be the way to go on that rogue AA. It procs so much more easily. You'll have to get close to the mobs to get the sneak attack bonus with a bow anyway, you might as well melee. Plus, if you are already accustomed to constantly darting around while kiting mobs with your ranger, then darting around with a melee rogue shouldn't be too difficult to master. That's a lot of ingredients to be spending on a bow that is only going to be used as a debuffing weapon a majority of the time.

[natakeu]

On my AA Ranger I have only two bows made of GS.

1st is Lightning II (Holy, Shocking Burst, Shocking Blast) using silver arrows from House Deneith Vendor to bypass the Damage Reduction of the Pit Fiend (Devil). Your normal AA arrows will not bypass the damage reduction and cause yellow numbers, which means a loss of dps.

2nd is Tripple Positive (Holy, Good Burst, Good Blast) using cold iron arrows also from House Deneith Vendor to by pass the Damage reduction of the Demon Queen (Demon). The additional reason is due to the fact that Demons are resistant to just about all elemental effects, unlike Devils who are succeptable to electricity; which in this case this bow deals alignment damage solely. Even if you dont do the third tier I still recommend having this type of bow. It makes good for having a clicky to res people with.

In Both cases the 2nd bow will do damage to both monsters and is cheeper to make if your strapped for ingrediants. It will not have the bolt of lightning kicker like the Lightning II of 600-650 dmg. So it boils down to whatever you want most.

As for your ideas to make radiance bows, it is a low crit weapon and you should reconsider the idea of a rapier, scimitar, khopesh, or heavy pick on a rogue. If making radiance go Holy, Flaming burst, flaming Blast for higher dps vs evil monsters.

[Glenalth]

2nd is Tripple Positive (Holy, Good Burst, Good Blast) using cold iron arrows also from House Deneith Vendor to by pass the Damage reduction of the Demon Queen (Demon). The additional reason is due to the fact that Demons are resistant to just about all

If you have a high strength and seeker or even just good bard songs, this is a waste unless you actually need the additional +3 to hit over the Silverbow.

[natakeu]

If you have a high strength and seeker or even just good bard songs, this is a waste unless you actually need the additional +3 to hit over the Silverbow.

Not everyone is lucky to find the silver longbow. Buying one dependant on server can eaither be tricky or easy. Other than the crit range of the silver longbow do tell me the advantage of a holy bow over a holy good burst w/possibly good blast attached?

Also, in the words of my former guildmaster (Kirvan) of another guild; By Passing DR means everything despite whatever str you have, so infering not needing the silver arrows or cold iron arrows is a no no.

[Glenalth]

Not everyone is lucky to find the silver longbow. Buying one dependant on server can eaither be tricky or easy. Other than the crit range of the silver longbow do tell me the advantage of a holy bow over a holy good burst w/possibly good blast attached?

Also, in the words of my former guildmaster (Kirvan) of another guild; By Passing DR means everything despite whatever str you have, so infering not needing the cold iron arrows is a no no.

The expanded crit range is the advantage of the bow. The more base damage you pump into it, the better it gets. If you have a Bloodstone and are adding at least 35pts through favored enemies, strength, bard songs, ram's might, and other bonuses the Silver Longbow is doing more damage than Pos II. Without a Bloodstone, you have to get that number to 44. The only time that Triple Pos is going to be doing better is against fortified mobs and when your attack isn't high enough at the +3 to hit will help.

Another note: Using the cold iron arrows is why you are losing +3 to hit. If you can use +5 arrows the Silverbow is even more attractive, but in the DQ situation that would be bad.

Do you feel that grinding for a Triple Pos longbow in The Shroud is easier or even faster than farming a Silver Longbow in a level 9 quest or from the House Deneith broker?

[natakeu]

Another note: Using the cold iron arrows is why you are losing +3 to hit. If you can use +5 arrows the Silverbow is even more attractive, but in the DQ situation that would be bad.

In the least we can agree that keeping the cold iron arrows for DQ situations and silver arrows for Pit Fiends would be in the best interests of other AA's.

Do you feel that grinding for a Triple Pos longbow in The Shroud is easier or even faster than farming a Silver Longbow in a level 9 quest or from the House Deneith broker?

I dont need to grind anything since I have both. Ive had silver longbows in the bank since the vamp quest came out, roughly. Small and medium ingrediants are a dime a dozen by the time you make your first tier III weapon and both involve grinding of some sort.

[Crann]

The Silver Bow is far easier to obtain than a GS bow, on my server anyway.

The profit from selling one small mat on the AH will pay for one, easily, no grind required.

Not sure about the other servers, but I cannot imagine any situation where a Silver Bow wasn't signifficantly easier to obtain than a GS bow.

Alot of people overlook the expanded crit range on this and other weapons.....higher crit ranges really outway added elemental/alignment damage in alot of cases.