Ideas for heroic bows that could compete with Silver Bow

[FengXian]

So as you probably know some bows including Silver Bow, Unwavering Ardency, Epic Thornlord, (Epic) Sapphire Sting are getting nerfed from 18-20 x3 to 19-20 x3.

One of the reasons was that they limit design space for further bows for the devs because they are too good at their respective levels.

I'm making this thread to see if it's possible to design bows around ML 8 that can compete with the current 18-20 x3 Silver Bow.

This thread is taking into account heroics only. If there is an issue with the about-to-be-nerfed bows becoming OP at level cap, it should be (and is being) discussed elsewhere.

I'm choosing Silver Bow as comparison because it's easy to get and arguably the most iconic of them.

I've had some general ideas that I'm sure would be fairly easy to implement and to balance, I'm hoping players will add feedback and more ideas if anything just for the fun of theorycrafting.

1) Obviously bow fitting a specific niche. It's not really a full nor a particularly elegant solution, since Silver would arguably still be better for generic purposes, but to get more beaters for some common and/or tough mosters would be nice regardless.

2) CC bows. Yeah we have PA from the AA tree and we now have the Ruby of Snow Peaks for low level generic purposes (actually maybe remove red slot from Silver Bow instead?) but if you improved CC options a bit on the several already existing CC bows that would definitely make them more appealing. Or just make new ones if you want us to farm new content.

3) Defensive bows. This would be great imho. Considering how important Archer's Focus is, I find myself often wanting to stand still and "tank" the hits instead of kiting (which also makes it less annoying for my teammates to melee so it's a good habit anyway). Well give us some defensive options on bows. Another version of lifeshield, a chance to proc Stoneskin or to "fade in the shadows" with an incorporeality chance, or maybe a way to stack PRR on hit if you're standing still, there are SO MANY possibilities.

4) Obviously other Offensive bows. What comes to mind is a way to incentivate on-hit effects instead of crits, so a bow with stacking doubleshot but maybe lower crit multi?
Or something like the Blood Rage (I think?) from Scourge Choker proc, +8 stacking Str that would also incidentally improve Bow Strength, now that we're getting Dex on damage.

I'm sure there are tons of other ideas out there that would make some items more desirable than even the current 18-20 x3 Silver bow in heroics, that are easy to implement and wouldn't be OP.

[Marshal_Lannes]

They already have. The Ravenloft bow (ML10) you get for completing Into the Mists is better than the new Unwavering Ardency (ML14) so I assume it's significantly better than the Silver Longbow. At least you have something to spend those Vistani tokens now - silver lining playbook and all.

[FengXian]

They already have. The Ravenloft bow (ML10) you get for completing Into the Mists is better than the new Unwavering Ardency (ML14) so I assume it's significantly better than the Silver Longbow. At least you have something to spend those Vistani tokens now - silver lining playbook and all.

Yeah I was just looking at that comparison and it's pretty sad.

They say these bows are too good and limiting design space? Let's talk about Barovian Bows. How many of those poor discarded weapons being limited by Silver Bow or Unwavering Ardency are better than barovian/macabre?

[droid327]

I've been saying just make special bows have loaded W die instead. It works for L29 weapons, no reason it wouldnt work in Heroic too.

There's a breakeven (for any reasonable assumption of mainstat) where X[W+Y] becomes equivalent to +1/0 crit.

But yeah having a bow version of Elemental Bloom or something would be another option (though it'd probably **** off all the Para Arrow AAs )

Innate stat-to-hit/dmg bows would be another potential carrot for Heroic too, since that'd let you move AP around while leveling up out of Falc/Harp/FI. But of course that's only really a benefit in Heroic where you're more AP-limited.

[FengXian]

I've been saying just make special bows have loaded W die instead. It works for L29 weapons, no reason it wouldnt work in Heroic too.

There's a breakeven (for any reasonable assumption of mainstat) where X[W+Y] becomes equivalent to +1/0 crit.

But yeah having a bow version of Elemental Bloom or something would be another option (though it'd probably **** off all the Para Arrow AAs )

Innate stat-to-hit/dmg bows would be another potential carrot for Heroic too, since that'd let you move AP around while leveling up out of Falc/Harp/FI. But of course that's only really a benefit in Heroic where you're more AP-limited.

Loaded dice is also a good suggestion, scales not as well as expanded crit but has more frontloaded power in return (I believe, at least).

I agree paralizing would kind of be redundant or "unfair" to para arrows but other kinds of debuff/CC are definitely on the table.

I hadn't thought about innate stat to hit/dmg, that is also a great idea! And the fact that it would be more relevant for heroics is actually a plus imho, easier to balance.

I encourage more people to add ideas/criticism on the matter, or just elaborate existing suggestions further. I do firmly believe there is plenty of design space as is