U49 Bow Max DPS Build Complete Guide

[Carpone]

Shouldn't count destruction as part of standing fort bypass. It has a 3 sec internal CD for you, so if only you where running it would take 45 sec to get max stacks. Even in a group of 6 it would take 9 seconds, both of which are too long of a fight for a trash mob.

Fair enough. So it's "only" 113% fort bypass which is still plenty for trash mobs. Against red/purple named where it can matter, it doesn't factor in sources from other builds in the group/raid like Assassin's Trick, Cracking Attack, etc.

[johngalt317]

Updated the guide to provide clarity around favored enemy choices. Thanks to those who reached out via DMs. Speaking of which, if you sent me a Discord friend invite to discuss, please resend. While on a conference call, I was distracted and ended up hitting "Ignore" instead of "Accept" to several requests. Oops.


No. The build is based on Lamannia U49 Preview 3. Nothing has changed between that and live.


You don't need 50% fort bypass with bows. I break it down in the guide, which has a standing 128% fort bypass with no effort with an additional 25% for red/purple named creatures. And how do you not have CC in your party? Every single melee DPS has Dire Charge.


Build however you want, but you're gimping your damage not being in Fire stance for the crit multiplier.

Cool thanks for the suggestions... I guess I'll try a pure dex based build, w/ swapped wis for the battle dance.

Thanks!

[Carpone]

Thanks to Beni for the Discord feedback. Swapped to the Belt of Sure Strikes which nets +8 Quality Accuracy, and allows swapping out +32 Sheltering aug for +20 Vitality (or whatever aug of your choice).

[IlIllI]

Curious as to your view on the (to me) nerfs to bow/dex Rangers in U49.
I epic reincarnated 8 days ago; rerunning the same quests with the same gear/epic destiny etc.
Lots of little Manyshot/3x arrows do not make up for the machine gun Manyshot of before. Nerfs of Furyshotting don't help either.
Even the "new" Manyshot doesn't seem impressive - even with the higher base doubleshot/ranged power, I am killing things visibly slower than before.
Ranged alacrity before was 20% (SOTR + Epic Quiver of Alacrity), now it is 15% so shooting slower isn't my imagination.
Also - before Manyshot could be combined with Sniper, Aimed, Head shots. No more.

[Artos_Fabril]

Did you consider twisting in haste boost, since the new bow animations are supposed to be uncapped?

[Carpone]

Curious as to your view on the (to me) nerfs to bow/dex Rangers in U49.

Pre U49, bows were godlike for 16.6% of the time but you piked for 83.3% of the time. Doesn't matter what I think about U49 changes. It's the reality we live in. This build is meant as a reference post for people that need to run ranged. This is the best possible version. Melee still eclipses ranged by a wide margin, so if you're looking for top DPS in the game run an INT-based Halfling 20 Rogue Assassin.

Did you consider twisting in haste boost, since the new bow animations are supposed to be uncapped?

The build has Haste Boost from VKF.

[Artos_Fabril]

The build has Haste Boost from VKF.

Don't know how I missed that, but I'm going to blame being distracted by work.

[IlIllI]

Pre U49, bows were godlike for 16.6% of the time but you piked for 83.3% of the time. Doesn't matter what I think about U49 changes. It's the reality we live in. This build is meant as a reference post for people that need to run ranged. This is the best possible version. Melee still eclipses ranged by a wide margin, so if you're looking for top DPS in the game run an INT-based Halfling 20 Rogue Assassin.


The build has Haste Boost from VKF.

By your statement above - the godlike portion is gone, leaving 100% piking based upon the termination of burst dps capabilities.

And given this - does a different, specialty dc focused build make more sense?

For example: while Executioner's Shot only procs 35% of the time, it is - as far as I know - the only ranged assassinate around. Assassinate is tough to get much over 100 DC, but less clear how beneficial this is from an endgame perspective. If a 100-ish DC could take down high reaper trash mobs - which take significant time even for the max dps melee types to whale away on - then there is still value for being a bow ranger in a raid group.

Ditto say a very high wis ranger.

From my view - rangers were eggshells with hammers before.
After the new bow changes, they are eggshells with paperweights.

[Carpone]

And given this - does a different, specialty dc focused build make more sense?

DPS solves all problems.

Executioner's Shot took a huge hit with the non-dmg proc rate reduction with the doubleshot changes.

[Epicsoul]

For example: while Executioner's Shot only procs 35% of the time, it is - as far as I know - the only ranged assassinate around. Assassinate is tough to get much over 100 DC, but less clear how beneficial this is from an endgame perspective. If a 100-ish DC could take down high reaper trash mobs - which take significant time even for the max dps melee types to whale away on - then there is still value for being a bow ranger in a raid group.

The question of what's best for the build aside, you can certainly get an assassinate DC higher than 100ish. I've ran multiple lives with ~125 assassinate DCs, and that's not maxed.

[IlIllI]

The question of what's best for the build aside, you can certainly get an assassinate DC higher than 100ish. I've ran multiple lives with ~125 assassinate DCs, and that's not maxed.

125 as a Ranger?
Or 125 with the Assassin adds?

What I was referring to was options for bow/dex rangers now that burst capability is seriously nerfed.

[IlIllI]

DPS solves all problems.

Executioner's Shot took a huge hit with the non-dmg proc rate reduction with the doubleshot changes.

The problem with that statement is: why bother playing a ranged when DPS for melee is simply fundamentally higher?

If a melee can do better crowd control, can hit harder, has more hps, has greater AC/PRR and can even heal just fine - why again bother playing a ranged?

[Carpone]

The problem with that statement is: why bother playing a ranged when DPS for melee is simply fundamentally higher?

If you want the most optimal DPS in the game, play melee. They outpace ranged by a wide margin.

There are times in the game where you want or need to play ranged. PN, MA and LOB are great examples. This guide is a reference build for that. Also, many players are going to explore playing around with bows since they've been refreshed. There's a ton of misinformation out there (WIS-based, monk splash, acid arrows, fort bypass builds, etc), or players don't know how to do the math to determine "what's optimal DPS for a bow?" Gear tetris is also a royal pain in the ass. This guide makes it easy for players to make the right choice.

[cru121]

...Executioner's Shot only procs 35% of the time, it is - as far as I know - the only ranged assassinate around.

Coup de Grace?
Death from Above?

[DareDelvis]

Excellent write-up, which is not surprising, given the author.
Thank you for taking the time and effort to research and share your findings and opinions.
Cheers,
DD

[IlIllI]

Coup de Grace?
Death from Above?

Thanks - Coup de Grace doesn't look like it would work much given the straight Forti save.

Death from Above definitely qualifies as a legit ranged Assassinate.

[IlIllI]

If you want the most optimal DPS in the game, play melee. They outpace ranged by a wide margin.

There are times in the game where you want or need to play ranged. PN, MA and LOB are great examples. This guide is a reference build for that. Also, many players are going to explore playing around with bows since they've been refreshed. There's a ton of misinformation out there (WIS-based, monk splash, acid arrows, fort bypass builds, etc), or players don't know how to do the math to determine "what's optimal DPS for a bow?" Gear tetris is also a royal pain in the ass. This guide makes it easy for players to make the right choice.

Fair enough. To be clear: thank you for the writeup, it is interesting and beneficial.

I just don't see any point in playing a ranged Ranger any more with these latest "improvements". As I've noted before: what really irritates me is that DDO wasn't over-run with bow/dex or bow/int ranged of any type much less full 20 level Rangers because the class/capability was OP.

While I've only been on DDO for 9 months now - all as a bow/dex Ranger - I have started doing raids. The raid demographics also support what I say above: I have seen a total of 1 other ranger, once in the 20 or so L30+ raids I have participated in. So excluding myself, that's 1 out of 220 slots. About half are basically pickup, the other half are guild raid groups. This lack of presence would seem to me that rangers just aren't any type of useful end game as it was.

Furthermore, the optimized setup you have created requires a major cash and time investment in order to get named and raid items from both Sharn and Feywild, as well as paid for enhancement trees not to mention massive reaper points.

[Arkat]

If a melee can do better crowd control, can hit harder, has more hps, has greater AC/PRR and can even heal just fine - why again bother playing a ranged?

Maybe wait for Horizon Walker before seeking an answer your question? It might just get answered.

[Montegue]

Instead of going into Vistani for haste, why not just twist it over from LD? Then you can do elemental damage from Arcane Archer and also have haste.

[Montegue]

Maybe wait for Horizon Walker before seeking an answer your question? It might just get answered.

I definitely hope there's CC in the cards. I'm enjoying the new bow stuff (Hunt's End! Many Shot! Die!) but the lack of CC and the way nerve venom basically sucks completely now is problematic.