Great Crossbows ... should I bother w/ Green Steel?

[voodoogroves]

I think I'm going to go w/ a great xbow for a few lives. Now, I can cannith-craft just about anything, and there's deplorably few actual good named options out there.

That said, Shroud is rare and I'd need a few runs at least to get shards, etc. together. A Rad2 would be awesome, but is it worth the wait?

There are basically none on the AH, and ones w/ augment slots are rare. I've got a few BTA blanks and I could easily enough do Holy Burst / Bleed or Maming.

I see the Eveningstar throwers and crossbows are the same cost - any chance the crossbows are also spell-plagued?

[UurlockYgmeov]

to get shards / mats you can also run Devil Assault.

I would think that a RadII GXB would rock until you get can get TF (if even available in TF model)

[voodoogroves]

I was thinking Rad2 because the blind and light is on a crit - and those things have crazy expanded range options.

[Memnir]

Rad2 is the way to go.
Had a GXB Ranger years ago - before they added the Trip feature to GXBs. Even back then, a Rad2 tore things up.

I wish I had the materials to make one on my Mechanic. lol

[Chi_Ryu]

to get shards / mats you can also run Devil Assault.

I would think that a RadII GXB would rock until you get can get TF (if even available in TF model)

Shards are much rarer in DA, though, especially the higher ones. You can also get shards from Tower of Despair, but that's probably even harder to fill than a Shroud...

I'm certainly going to craft a RadII Great Crossbow before I do a Mechanic life on an alt, as blinding on 15-20 is great for sneak attack damage (which can easily hit 150ish per bolt on a brand new stock level 15 character). Shame it is a dual-shard recipe, though

[jalont]

My feeling is that it's never worth the time to make any piece of GS unless you already have everything needed to make it.

[voodoogroves]

Yeah, looks like I need a few shards and, go figure, energy cells. Dangit.

[Lonnbeimnech]

I heard blindness is broken and doesn't grant sneak damage at the moment, have not tried it myself. I do know that mobs run around like headless chickens when blind and that would make lining up ips much more difficult.

I would look at it this way, how long is it going to take you to farm out the mats vs how long are you going to spend using it. If you have all the mats already then yeah make one. If its going to take you several days to farm them out and one day to get from lvl 12 to when ever you would trade in the xbow for a better weapon, then it's not worth the time.

[Ausdoerrt]

Yeah, looks like I need a few shards and, go figure, energy cells. Dangit.

Cells are easy - just buy them from the vendor in Shroud and charge with +8 or greater weapons.

[voodoogroves]

Cells are easy - just buy them from the vendor in Shroud and charge with +8 or greater weapons.

Yeah, that means I need to carry a stack of **** in my inventory through shroud ;-)

[Saekee]

Yeah, that means I need to carry a stack of **** in my inventory through shroud ;-)

Shroud crafting is now on a lot of guild ships and you can charge your cells there too. You still need to buy them in the Shroud and they are not cheap. They do drop sometimes but better to just spend some plat and stock up.

heroic content is easy anyway and the enhancements have made the mechanic powerful around when you get the greensteel.
In epics you have TF of course and the awesome ToEE xbow. Otherwise, the Estar challenge bows will give you some nice effects if you are into the whole gambling. The life stealing are the best for trash but I do not think that will appear on anything other than a level 24 (maybe level 20 but not 16).

For heroic crafting, I would do WoP, Holy for DR and either Backstabbing (if not on your gear) or Deception.

[Memnir]

I'd add Heartseeker to the list of attributes to look for on random-gen loot.

[voodoogroves]

And I'm likely to use this for several lives; why I was thinking GS.

Though, w/ the knockdown on vorpal, I may just go w/ a holy burst of something w/ a slotted damage augment. Std Holy of Bleed @3 but then bigger pluses as time goes on.

Leverage doesn't seem that super awesome to me?

[Saekee]

I'd add Heartseeker to the list of attributes to look for on random-gen loot.

great point. You can get Vorpal of Heartseeker as well:



here was my lucky pull for an EStar weapon:

[voodoogroves]

Show-off ;-)

I'd love that on a GXBOW.

[Buffyanne]

A GS Gxbow is actually a really good investment since there are no named options. GS will take you from L12 to L20 when I would get an ES challenge one until TF and eventually ToEE.

You have a few options for sure. I would skip the Min2/Lit2 combos. They are boring and you don't need the slight DPS increases they used to provide over other GS weapon options. Let's look at the choices...

Aspect of Ooze 2 - Acid/Icy Burst (or vice versa), Acid blast or frost blast. Added effects Cloudkill and ooze summons. A very fun weapon that can give you a swarm of ooze minions. Good DPS as well.

Aspect of Vacuum - Unholy/shocking burst, +2 insightful INT. Added effects Destruction and trap the soul. In heroic pretty much most things are going to fail the DC 30 save on trap the soul making it a very nice instakill weapon with soul stones to boot. DPS isn't as good as others because unholy doesn't effect a lot of content. The insightful INT can be somewhat useful.

Aspect of Radiance - Holy/flaming burst, either +60 Hamp or +2 insightful Int. Added effects sunburst and radiance (light dmg and blindness). Lots to like here as it has strong DPS plus good utility in either Hamp or INT. The blindness would proc a lot with expanded crit profile.

Aspect of Ash gives negative levels with a similiar effect profile as Vacuum but the trap the soul would have much more utility in heroics. Aspect of Freezing ice has an electric/frost DPS profile and does freeze things, but its much easier to just kill them on heroics.

The other elemental damage profiles offer more proc damage that isn't really needed. I guess overall Radiance has the most utility but Vacuum or Ooze offer some perks you don't see everyday and would be fun to play.

[Buffyanne]

I heard blindness is broken and doesn't grant sneak damage at the moment, have not tried it myself. I do know that mobs run around like headless chickens when blind and that would make lining up ips much more difficult.

I would look at it this way, how long is it going to take you to farm out the mats vs how long are you going to spend using it. If you have all the mats already then yeah make one. If its going to take you several days to farm them out and one day to get from lvl 12 to when ever you would trade in the xbow for a better weapon, then it's not worth the time.

Blindness works, what doesn't (in epics) is the light damage. While the blindness is a no save, there is a save vs the light damage. Since when GS came out the save must be really low like DC 17 or so, virtually all epic mobs make the save vs light damage.

[jalont]

Blindness works, what doesn't (in epics) is the light damage. While the blindness is a no save, there is a save vs the light damage. Since when GS came out the save must be really low like DC 17 or so, virtually all epic mobs make the save vs light damage.

Blindness does not work. It is currently bugged and doesn't give sneak damage. It's tricky to notice because things aren't always aggrod on you, but if they are when the blindness hits, you don't get sneak damage. It makes it an absolutely worthless thing to put on GS or TF.