Bow of Sinew vs Silver Longbow.

[xBunny]

Okay, I know this is an old question, and I have found some topics on it, but those were very old one too, predating me playing ddo and things seems to have changed little since than. Started my Ranger 3 lifes run, Strimtom's Acid Arrow AA 17 lvl atm first ranger life run. Do have Silver Longbow and I am generally happy with it. Is Bow of Sinew noticeable better than Silver Longbow for heroics? Since there is 25% discount on packages was thinking to buy Harbinger of Madness to get it, but not sure if it is worth it.
P.S not comparing it with Unwavering Ardency or Sapphire Sting.

[ShifterThePirate]

Bow of Sinew is really good for Heroics yes. But then again you can get through Heroics with like any bow... So kinda depends how bad you want it?

I think I just grabbed a month of VIP to get access to the pack. Harbinger of Madness has some pretty nice quests with horror vibe. So if it's cheap it's still a nice grab. It has some other cool items too like Parasitic Breastplate (light armor)

[Sam1313]

Okay, I know this is an old question, and I have found some topics on it, but those were very old one too, predating me playing ddo and things seems to have changed little since than. Started my Ranger 3 lifes run, Strimtom's Acid Arrow AA 17 lvl atm first ranger life run. Do have Silver Longbow and I am generally happy with it. Is Bow of Sinew noticeable better than Silver Longbow for heroics? Since there is 25% discount on packages was thinking to buy Harbinger of Madness to get it, but not sure if it is worth it.
P.S not comparing it with Unwavering Ardency or Sapphire Sting.

Heroics: Silver Longbow is good but Sapphire Sting is better. Slot it with ruby of the vampire slayer, Add force damage per hit at the stone of change. GreenSteel Longbow Lightning 2 is also a good bow.

[xBunny]

Bow of Sinew is really good for Heroics yes. But then again you can get through Heroics with like any bow... So kinda depends how bad you want it?

I think I just grabbed a month of VIP to get access to the pack. Harbinger of Madness has some pretty nice quests with horror vibe. So if it's cheap it's still a nice grab. It has some other cool items too like Parasitic Breastplate (light armor)

Bought the pack, got bow. Bow is really good for heroics, +8 seeker is also good, since u don't need to slot it on your items. Pack is fun too, thought final fight is a PITA for fleshy races.

[xBunny]

Heroics: Silver Longbow is good but Sapphire Sting is better. Slot it with ruby of the vampire slayer, Add force damage per hit at the stone of change. GreenSteel Longbow Lightning 2 is also a good bow.

Yes, 10% attack speed is good too but I don't have TOEE, and heard it is PITA to farm. Don't have experience with GreenSteel crafting, either. Happy with Bow of Sinew.

[ned_ellis]

Yes, 10% attack seed is good too but I don't have TOEE, and heard it is PITA to farm. Don't have experience with GreenSteel crafting, either. Happy with Bow of Sinew.

I'm late to the party but you made a good call - love me the bow of sinew!

[janave]

Yes, 10% attack seed is good too but I don't have TOEE, and heard it is PITA to farm. Don't have experience with GreenSteel crafting, either. Happy with Bow of Sinew.

Haste potions are cheap, passively can get 5% at level from rand gear, then later named items and CC can bump it further to about 7-11%. I cannot play any martial builds without drinking haste potions every 30 seconds at the start :P. Then later I actually made a 3 x Air clicky from Shroud which helped for a while.

What really is sad, that I have the stacking raid gear speed (AA ToD set), and at level 23 (Pinion) I have better bow ranged alacrity than at 30 with endgame gear.. Q_Q....

8 AP in Vistani gets you Haste Boost III; 11 AP gets you 5% Doubleshot. For leveling in heroic this is fairly good investment.

[Saekee]

they are about the same except for elasticity on sinew which adds a critical punch on 19-20.
Lots of sources of seeker now such as Ring of Stalker but yeah, you can just use bow’s booster there if gearing is tight. Since you are building around crit make sure to have max armor
piercing on your gear and slot a blasting chime against construct types.

With weapons that have a high rate of fire you can make a case that on-hit effects in heroics may be more dps than a superior crit profile. So a Macabre or Barovian bow in some situations, for example, might be better. Idk...On my WSS level 10, the attack speed boost of wraps makes Barovian handwraps the best option against undead foes for me, especially since I have difficulty critically hitting undead at that level.

[rarothrock]

Honestly, I used the silver longbow at the lower levels then swapped to the sinew at 15. I felt the sinew did more damage, especially with the 19-20 crit bonus.

[janave]

Bow of Sinew with updated stats would be nice for sure.

Compared to new named weapons

Missing .5W
Missing an augment slot
Missing Mythic opportunity ( comes from reward lists that dont roll em)
Missing Reaper opportunity ( above^ )
Missing Proc damage / On hit / On critical damage

Has 1 Seeker over current accessory ( +7 CC or RNG)
Has 10% critical chance (best thing about it)
Has Inherent Good bypass (altho slottable for others using augment)

Compared to Cannith Crafted:
ML 10: Bow (Damage: Force effect 3d6, Damage: Bludgeon Effect 3d6, Offense: Insightful Deadly 2)
ML 15: Bow (Damage: Force effect 4d6, Damage: Bludgeon Effect 4d6, Offense: Insightful Deadly 2)

Seems close to me, preferring crits here, but procs actually work well in Heroic.

[kmoustakas]

Okay, I know this is an old question, and I have found some topics on it, but those were very old one too, predating me playing ddo and things seems to have changed little since than. Started my Ranger 3 lifes run, Strimtom's Acid Arrow AA 17 lvl atm first ranger life run. Do have Silver Longbow and I am generally happy with it. Is Bow of Sinew noticeable better than Silver Longbow for heroics? Since there is 25% discount on packages was thinking to buy Harbinger of Madness to get it, but not sure if it is worth it.
P.S not comparing it with Unwavering Ardency or Sapphire Sting.

Neither. Go grab longbow of the scrag or even the new disintegration one. Better yet, find a randgen vorpal one with a slot and you're sorted for heroic. For coolness factor, put icy burst on it as well.

[xBunny]

Bow of Sinew with updated stats would be nice for sure.

Yeah would be nice, at least .5 W and slot.

With weapons that have a high rate of fire you can make a case that on-hit effects in heroics may be more dps than a superior crit profile. So a Macabre or Barovian bow in some situations, for example, might be better. Idk...On my WSS level 10, the attack speed boost of wraps makes Barovian handwraps the best option against undead foes for me, especially since I have difficulty critically hitting undead at that level.

Seems close to me, preferring crits here, but procs actually work well in Heroic.

Found procs on heroics to be good too for some builds. But AA already has good procs, and attack speed is not great, so IMO crits are preferable.

[xBunny]

Neither. Go grab longbow of the scrag or even the new disintegration one. Better yet, find a randgen vorpal one with a slot and you're sorted for heroic. For coolness factor, put icy burst on it as well.

Found crit profile still to be better.

[darkniteyogi]

Has bow of sinew been buffed? So 19-20 is x4? I dont remember it to be this good.

[Ulfo]

find a randgen vorpal one with a slot and you're sorted for heroic. For coolness factor, put icy burst on it as well.

^^^
This.
And Vorpal of Feeding or Draining is more better. 8)

Found crit profile still to be better.

No. At least, arguable.

[Cantor]

Has bow of sinew been buffed? So 19-20 is x4? I dont remember it to be this good.

always. elasticity, they added to a few of the newer bows.

No. At least, arguable.

Depends on the difficulty and the character power level. The more +dmg the more profile rules all else. The higher the difficulty and older the content the more viable vorpal fishing is.

[janave]

^^^
This.
And Vorpal of Feeding or Draining is more better. 8)

No. At least, arguable.

It doesn't give you much on a Red/Purple names tho. CC can make one with a slot, neg level ruby.

[kmoustakas]

Higher base damage does a lot to red names, procs also. Unless you're running r3 or higher

[xBunny]

^^^
No. At least, arguable.

Ruining E\R1 mostly, and it feels for me like profile does work better on these difficulties. Having 25% crit chance with x3 profile and x4 on 19-20 is good. Especially when u get another +1 to crit profile.

[janave]

For Heroics, I would still prefer to use a Golfbag approach, at least an Undead and Construct beater, maybe one for Reapers specifically ( the event spectral bow is pretty good but i missed that being a horrible slacker when turning in things). Then extended crit. bow for the rest.

Vorpal fishing eith bow ROF, not liking it much.