Epic Short Bows

[Tom_Hunters]

Hi I am new to Ranger and seeing that the new pass is opening so many possibilities, I am planning to building a ranger with very high dex and moderate str.
He will be mainly using a bow (AA + DWS), and melee with scimitars.

I just thought it might be a good idea to make it elven, and with Grace (+ dex mod to dmg for scimitar + short bow, or long sword + long bow).
But then I found that there is actually no good short bows...

Or did I miss anything?

[saco]

Pretty much the same boat of how light maces or light repeaters are neglected.

There are some epic shortbows but really all bows for endgame are longbows... well there is only one and that is Pinion.

I wish Turbine would develop a new Shroud crafting system where one can create any weapon type they want for endgame content.

Either use rapiers with an added feat of weapon finesse or throw in some Tempus and get the dex modifier for dmg to scimitars.

[unbongwah]

All the best bows are longbows; not just Pinion, but all the bows you'll want for leveling, like Cannith Earth longbow, Silver Bow, Bow of Sinew, etc. So if you're going DEX-based w/elven Grace, you might as well go Aerenal and use rapiers+longbows, with longswords as a backup for fighting off zombies.

[brian14]

To the best of my knowledge, there is only one Epic shortbow:

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Epic_Collapsible_Shortbow

And that one is more of an acrobatic aid than a weapon.

[droid327]

Don't forget Cormyrian weapons....not wonderful, of course, but a decent weapon available as any weapon type, and cheaper to grind out now at ML20/24.

Though, honestly, the difference between a 2[1d8] longbow and a 2[1d6]+4 shortbow is only 2 dmg, let alone special longbows with 1d10 or 2d6 base die or 2.5+ weapon die. You're probably still better off with a longbow by Epic, even if you take Valenar training.

But yeah, if you're a primary archer with a melee backup, then go Aerenal, take the extra 4 dmg where you'll use it most.

[Inoukchuk]

Don't forget Cormyrian weapons....not wonderful, of course, but a decent weapon available as any weapon type, and cheaper to grind out now at ML20/24.

Though, honestly, the difference between a 2[1d8] longbow and a 2[1d6]+4 shortbow is only 2 dmg, let alone special longbows with 1d10 or 2d6 base die or 2.5+ weapon die. You're probably still better off with a longbow by Epic, even if you take Valenar training.

But yeah, if you're a primary archer with a melee backup, then go Aerenal, take the extra 4 dmg where you'll use it most.

Except that there are no epic scimitar's that I'm aware of (haven't played the expansion yet as I'm in a TR chain, so don't know about there), where as Balizarde is the best 1 hander in the game to my knowledge and is a rapier, which goes with longbow also. *shrug*

I have no idea why they seemed to almost purposely avoid adding rapier into tempest (why does scimitar get singled out?). In particular if you want dex to hit and damage doing so with a rapier really really requires some work.