U50 Comprehensive Guide to Bow DPS

[Carpone]

Do you have any screenshots or video of what your damage numbers look like?

No. Though I have noticed the lack of Distant Diversion in the top-end gear set. I've pulled aggro a few times in raids with Hunt's End + Manyshot.

I've run through R10 Saltmarsh, Feywild, Sharn, Cogs and House J and it performed well.

[Gnominal_Aphasia]

Hi Carpone, and many thanks for the build and detail...

I notice that you didn't spend 2 AP into Conjure Arrows (HW tier 1) so I guess you source your ammo from Flame Arrow scrolls or wands? Or is there a source that I'm missing? It would be good to know for noobs like me
EDIT... my brain decided to wake up and I guess you have thousands of House D arrows in your quiver...

The rest of my questions are detail...

You spend 7 AP into Soul Eater to get the excellent Taint the Aura debuff... but I don't understand why you took Consume (2 AP) instead of the extra rank in Hungry for Destruction and something else like another debuff Taint the Blood.

DWS / VKF (not a question) nice combo for +5 to saves and effects against Favored Enemies.

For your solo version (13 rogue / 6 ranger / 1 barbarian) would you take Improved Evasion and Opportunist for your two Rogue Special Abilities?

For us lesser mortals with no Completionist or Rogue Past Lives, I guess Empower Healing would be a good option... do you think Power Critical is worth the Feat and do you know if it stacks with Falconry Practised Accuracy?

Thanks!

I will try and build an HC version (32 point) and am thinking more of Halfling 13 rogue / 6 ranger / 1 Wiz with extra feat as Extend for Shield spell.

[Vish]

So the best bow build…
Is a rogue?
Not a ranger?

Haha funny game ddo

Told ya icons don’t matter anymore

Past the point of recognition


Thanks ying

But question is, it’s single tgt?
So that’s why I think bow build suck?
Because while they’re killing one,
I’m killing the rest?

[Carpone]

I notice that you didn't spend 2 AP into Conjure Arrows (HW tier 1) so I guess you source your ammo from Flame Arrow scrolls or wands? Or is there a source that I'm missing?

It's in the gear list. Void, the Endless Cold has a clickie for "Ice Arrow" which is returning. If you don't have it, by all means spend 2 AP into Conjure Arrows. There's more than enough AP to play around in the HW tree.

You spend 7 AP into Soul Eater to get the excellent Taint the Aura debuff... but I don't understand why you took Consume (2 AP) instead of the extra rank in Hungry for Destruction and something else like another debuff Taint the Blood.

Taint the Aura states "Against targets marked by your Consume attack:"

For your solo version (13 rogue / 6 ranger / 1 barbarian) would you take Improved Evasion and Opportunist for your two Rogue Special Abilities?

Reflex is already high enough to be no-fail except on a 1. I'd probably take Slippery Mind over Improved Evasion.

For us lesser mortals with no Completionist or Rogue Past Lives, I guess Empower Healing would be a good option

The build doesn't need Empower Healing if you spend a little bit of time farming gear. With my Devotion swaps for Healing Spring, I'm hitting 720ish positive spell power.

do you think Power Critical is worth the Feat and do you know if it stacks with Falconry Practised Accuracy?

Weapon Focus is slightly higher damage than Power Critical. If you're going beyond FE Animal in Falconry, then you're deviating from the build.

So the best bow build…
Is a rogue?
Not a ranger?

Optimal ranged builds have been rogue based since monk shuri nerfs years ago. Throwers with a 11 Rogue/6 Ranger/3 Bard split were the meta before bows.

[Vish]

So bow + ranger is a fail

Ok I’ll tell all those bow rangers I see to reroll

That’s ok tho, I’ve been trying to get all the warlocks to reroll alchy

[Carpone]

So bow + ranger is a fail

20 Ranger was the bow meta pre-U50. Horizon Walker really opened up the build options.

[FengXian]

What do you cut in case of limited AP and what would you say is the minimum AP you need for this build to pull ahead of others like ranger 20 for example?

[Malignar]

No. Though I have noticed the lack of Distant Diversion in the top-end gear set. I've pulled aggro a few times in raids with Hunt's End + Manyshot.

I've run through R10 Saltmarsh, Feywild, Sharn, Cogs and House J and it performed well.

Shame. I think it would be important to provide some for a few reasons. Some fairly lofty claims there lol. I would like to see some discussion around your specific numbers and what people's idea of success in R10 looks like in general.

[Carpone]

What do you cut in case of limited AP and what would you say is the minimum AP you need for this build to pull ahead of others like ranger 20 for example?

You cut the racial enhancements if you aren't a racial completionist.

This build always pulls ahead of 20 Ranger and the other class splits tested in the guide regardless of racial past lives.

never played a ranger/rogue build before, but is the solo build good for soloing 1-20 @ r1-3 or does it only shine at lvl 30 with all the goodies?

I wouldn't run this build solely for heroic leveling. Fire sorc is way better for racial past lives. If you need a rogue past life, I'd go 17 Rogue/2 Arti/1 Barb Inquisitive and run R1 from level 4-20.

Some fairly lofty claims there lol. I would like to see some discussion around your specific numbers and what people's idea of success in R10 looks like in general.

I've shared the model and all the numbers that plug into it.

Success in R10s goes way beyond a build. It's about skill, quest knowledge, party makeup and team work. I've played in static groups with this build where we steamrolled everything at run speed, and then I've 4-manned R10s with one other DPS, a tank and a healer where it was a slog.

[wyattbatman]

Does the new 4 filigree artifacts change the gearing meta at all?

[Carpone]

Search on the Rogue forum from Aug 2019 for the 17/2/1 Inquisitive. I'd ask on the Ranger forum for PL builds. I suspect Tempest is the optimal way to go in heroics.

Does the new 4 filigree artifacts change the gearing meta at all?

No. The Perfect items don't solve any gearing problems with bows. The "best gear set" in the guide is an actual work of art. It's by far the tightest gearset I have ever seen in the years of playing this game.

[Tilomere]

I've 4-manned R10s with one other DPS, a tank and a healer where it was a slog.

Consider dropping HW and reverting back to the standard 18 ranger/1 FvS/1 rogue meta winter/summer DM combo. Also consider boosting base Armor Piercing to 160 with filigree so your crits actually land all the time against everything. Last build you had lower always-on fort as well, and whiffed a bunch of your crits which is fine for a tank or tanky but a DPS shouldn't do.

AP
36 DWS (IAF, SLL, HD)
40+1 Tome VKF (Capstone, dagger crit profile, dagger ranged power to damage, stuffs)
2 + 15 PL SDK Chains
2 WS DM

FoTW

Rotation is then Dire Charge > triple chain cleave > triple chain cleave > FoK auto crit > clean up with bow. If you use an orb + dagger, offhand versatility will give auto crit Fan of Knives as well, for even more AoE. You can use winter force crit/impulse ring, and orb with insightful impulse to power FoK.

PSWF and all the cleaves will fill your adrenaline meter up so you can spam adrenaline sniper shot every 6 seconds.

This will give you the AoE to clear dungeons and quadruple the amount of adrenaline sniper shots with basically endless adrenalines while clearing packs. So even though you use a bow less of the time, this will actually cause you to deal substantially more bow dps.

HW is a melee tree for making a favored enemy x2/x3 dagger raid alt, as you say it is a slog on its own or close to on its own for clearing dungeons. DPS isn't just stats. You maxed stats in a spread sheet for a theoretical perfect situation and made a slog build. DPS is rotation. With lower bow stats and a better rotation, you can do substantially better dps.

PS: your rogue assassin build also doesn't have the 160 fort bypass without marking to double assassinate high fort mobs. So again while I'm sure the spreadsheet shows it is maximum optimal theortical dps, it isn't as functional as a build with lower stats that has 160 fort bypass without marking which can double assassinate high fort mobs.

[wyattbatman]

Thank you for the reply about the new artifacts. One last question, at lower rAP values, does halfling outperform WE?

[Carpone]

Consider dropping HW and reverting back to the standard 18 ranger/1 FvS/1 rogue

No one should do that. It does much less DPS.

Also consider boosting base Armor Piercing to 160 with filigree so your crits actually land all the time against everything.

Maybe you should read the guide where I address armor-piercing. And the cap is 170, not 160.

[Carpone]

One last question, at lower rAP values, does halfling outperform WE?

Halfling outperforms Wood-Elf on lower-AC mobs where the 6% to-hit isn't relevant.

[Epicsoul]

Consider /snip

Going ranger also gives one access to Spike Growth for AOE damage. I would also utilize Soundburst from Exalted Angel, which will cause helplessness for even MORE AOE damage.

[Carpone]

Minor but important change the top gear set: Replaced Draconic Gem with Dark Diversion.

Also added Legendary Bow of the Silver Flame to bypass bludgeon damage.

[Komradkillingmachine]

Minor but important change the top gear set: Replaced Draconic Gem with Dark Diversion.

Last I checked, Dark Diversion (aug) didn't stack with Wildwood Gauntlet's Distant Diversion. Did the devs update it recently?

[Carpone]

Last I checked, Dark Diversion (aug) didn't stack with Wildwood Gauntlet's Distant Diversion. Did the devs update it recently?

They do not stack. The optimal gear set uses Tinkerer's Gloves though.

[Epicsoul]

Last I checked, Dark Diversion (aug) didn't stack with Wildwood Gauntlet's Distant Diversion. Did the devs update it recently?

The "Best" gear set-up in the guide doesn't use Wildwood.

EDIT: Carpone beat me.