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Bowmanology - Sn1perJohnE - 2008-07-01
The complete (when finished) guide to the bowman, with personal experiences from other bowman.
I would like to note, that this is not just a copy-paste of an already existing guide, though many elements may be derived from said guides. This guide is essentially a ground up guide of bowman.
The Bowman Basics
I Wanna Be A Bowman, Please
To become a bowman, you must first be level 10, with a minimum of 25 DEX. You must head to Henesys, through the portal under the Mushroom Park sign, and head all the way to the right, to the tree/building.
What About My Stats?
As a bowman, there are two different paths you can take, both with variations in style and builds.
The two stats that will be raised throughout your Bowman career is DEX and STR. Dex acts as the main part of a Bowman's damage range, increasing DEX will boost your damage overall. STR acts as a stabilizer to a Bowman's damage range, increasing STR will increase the minimum damage of a Bowman, and after so many point, increase the max damage of the damage range.
There are three main variations to stat builds.
The normal one consists of increasing STR and DEX normally for your weapon, and stop adding STR when you know which weapon you want to stop at. Usually, most Bowmen will opt to cap their dex a little below their highest level equip, and use STR adding equips to be able to equip the weapon, while adding those extra points into DEX. This Build will require little funding to make it an awesome Bowman.
This build has two variation, Low STR build is common, and consists of capping STR at a lower amount, and using STR clothes, capes, and the STR bonus from a Zakum Helm to be able to equip the highest level weapon they will use. For most Low STR builds, STR is capped at around 75. The other variation is newer in light of the release of overall STR scrolls. This variation is Super Low-STR, and uses the fact that all Bowman overalls only have a DEX requirement to equip, and certain ones have 6 STR on them clean. With these two factors taken into consideration, it would be possible to equip an high level Bow with a Z-Helm, a decent STR scrolled overall, and a STR cape, with barely any STR added at all. The Low-STR will require some funding to make it a awesome Bowman, but mainly for a STR cape, and Z-Helm. The Super STR-less will require a larger amount of funding, but has major benefits to it.
The STR-less build is very literal, in that you leave STR alone throughout being a Bowman, and add nothing but DEX. STR-less builds consist of using stat-less weapons, or weapons that have no stat requirement to equip, such as the Maple Weapons, and the Bow of Magical Destruction for Bows. The STR-less build can require very little funding, to a lot, depending the supply of BoMDs and Maple Weapons.
The Path Of The Bow
The Bow is one of two weapon types available to a Bowman. The bow has some advantages over the other weapon choice, crossbows. and the enjoyment of their face not being covered almost completely by the weapon. The main downside to Bows, is both the average attack on the bows, and the formula used for bows.
The Path Of The Crossbow
The Crossbow, or Xbow, is the second type of weapon available to a Bowman. The major upside to Xbows, is the increased average attack the Xbow has over its bow counterpart. Where a LVL 90 bow would have 90 clean attack on average, an LVL 90 Xbow would be 93 attack clean on average. The damage formula also gives the Xbow an advantage. With a 106 attack Bow on my Ranger, i had a high damage range of 19xx, but with an 104 Xbow, my high damage range was around 20xx, easily more damage with a weapon of less attack. The main downside to Xbows, is the look of it. At higher LVLs of Xbows, the size of the weapon is noticeable, as it will tend to cover most of your face when equipped, if not all of it.
The Firing speed of both Bows and Xbows has been thrown into question. Some other guides list that there is a slight difference of shots/minute between the two, mainly because Xbows firing animation plays through fully, with the arrow actually firing at the end of the animation, while Bows have the arrow firing more towards the beginning to middle of the animation. I plan to test this myself by using the stopwatch on my cell phone and firing both and Xbow and Bow without booster or SA, using normal arrows for 1 minute, and the amount of arrows used will give the shot/minute. That Number I will bring to you when i am finished with the test.
Firing Speed Results
Using a Normal Speed Bow And an Normal Speed Xbow with no booster for either. I had with me 100 arrows of each and fired for 1 minute timed on my cell phone stopwatch. The results are.... 75 Arrows Shot With BOW/Minute, and 71 Arrows Shot with XBOW/Minute. This shows that there is a clear speed advantage with Bows over Xbows, but Xbows do have the increased damage.
Stat Distribution
For Bowman, DEX is the single most important stat there is, and for Bow users, STR is the second.
For Bow Users, you Should keep your STR at 5 above your level, so if you are level 30, your STR should be at 35.
For Xbow users, keeping your STR equal to your level is all that is needed.
First Job Skills
For the First Job Bowman, there are three skills that need to be maxed, these skills are:
The Blessing of Amazon: It adds Accuracy, even though Bowman get massive amounts of Accuracy alone from the high amount of DEX we have, having the Accuracy from Blessing of Amazon allows us to attack certain higher level monsters ahead of other classes.
The Eye of Amazon: This increases the distance our arrows go, since we are a ranged class, the father we are from the enemy, the less damage you may take while training.
Critical Shot: This is an absolute must, as this single skill allows Bowman to compete on the same level as other classes, by giving Bowman a boost in the damage they are able to deal, adding 100% more damage to the attack. With my high damage range of 19xx, i hit about 19xx with a normal arrow, but with a good critical shot, i hit upwards of 41xx.
Arrow Blow Vs. Dual Shot
For most new Bowman, this is one of the most confusing parts of the Bowman job: whether to use one high damage attack or to use two attacks in one, with lower damage for each attack.
Arrow Blow: This attack skill gives a major amount of damage in the form of a single arrow. Many argue that Arrow Blow is the best way to go, for certain reasons, like seeing high numbers, as well as needing less MP to use than Dual Shot.
Double Shot: This attack skill deals higher than normal damage over 2 arrows, giving the same total damage as Arrow Blow, at the increased MP cost. The main and most reasonable reason people say to go with Dual Shot, is because when Critical Shot is added to the equation, Dual Shot out damages Arrow Blow.
In Simplified Terms
wobbufet Wrote:Critical shot does not give x2 damage it gives an extra 100% damage. AB with crit = 360%. DS with 1 crit = 360% with 2 crits = 460%.
Arrow Blow Update: As of the last patch, certain changes have been made to many skills, Arrow Blow included. The damage of Arrow Blow has been increased, so that at max, it should hit 290% damage, but due to an error, it currently still deals 260% when max, but at level 19, it does 283% damage, bringing it close to the damage that Double Shot produces with Criticals put into the equation.
Hunter or Crossbowman
So, you have made it to level 30, and you are ready to make your job advancement. Well, head back to Henesys, and back to where you made the first job advancement. After talking to Athena, head to the main Henesys map, and continue heading right along the top platform. Go through the portal, and head to the upper right hand corner of the map. Once there, talk to the Job Instructor to begin the job advancement test. You must collect 30 dark marbles, once collected, talk to the Instructor, they will give you a medal, which you must take back to Athena.
Now comes the hard part, you must choose whether or not you want to use Bows or Xbows for the rest of you Bowman career. With Bows, you get speed, with Xbows, you get power. Once you choose, all the skills you attain for your choice will only be usable with that weapon.
Common Ground: Shared Skills
These next skills are shared between both Hunters and Crossbowman.
Bow Mastery: This is an important skill, not only does it give you a little more Accuracy bonus, but it will also stabilize your damage by increasing the minimum damage on your damage range.
Final Attack: This skill is one of the skills that is full of controversy within both Hunters and Crossbowman. What the skill does is include a powerful attack at the end of an skill attack such as Arrow Blow or Double Shot. The controversy behind it stems from the fact that it does not work with ANY of the third or fourth job skills, meaning that after third job, the points put into Final Attack almost seem useless. But for those that do decide to put points into it, it is IMPERATIVE that it is maxed. You don't want to put just a few points in it, you either max it, or don't even touch it. For those that do max it, an increased training speed has been seen, because at max, it deals 250% damage when it activates. But this is still an optional skill, and will forever be debated as to max it or not.
Booster: This skill is a skill seen in every job, and is always nice to have. The skill itself increases the attack speed while it is activated. So with a bow of normal speed, you will have a slightly faster attack speed.
Soul Arrow: Another important skill, this one frees up the Use part of Bowman Inventories, by allowing no arrows to be needed to attack. The only draw back, albeit a very minimal draw back, is that Attack boosting arrows (diamond arrows, bronze arrows, red arrows) will be negated, and the damage range boost from them will not appear with the damage you actually deal. A personal recommendation I would make about Soul Arrow, is to not completely max it. With Booster, the duration of the skill at max is 200 seconds, but with Soul Arrow, it is more, at max, it lasts 600 seconds! So as to keep duration times equal, not maxing Soul Arrow is kinda nice, but other than just keeping skill times close to each other, there is no other reason to not max it other than the fact that you have 5 less MP used at a lower where the duration time is closer to the 200 seconds of Booster.
Power Knock-Back: This is a really nifty skill, and literally helps out in a tight situation. As a Bowman, you can use the Bow or Xbow equipped to push back the enemy in front of you when you cant fire an arrow. What Power Knock-Back does is build on this and allows for there to be damage dealt and knock multiple enemies back at once. So if an enemy spawns in front of you, you can simply use this skill, deal damage to them and fire arrows at them without losing much training speed.
The Hunter Skill
Coming Soon!
*credits: wobbufet.
(under construction)
Bowmanology - Mira - 2008-07-01
Sn1perJohnE Wrote:Bows have a firing speed advantage over crossbows, but only of about 1 arrow/minute moreThat is incorrect; there is a 6 Shots Per Minute difference, and that Xbows and Bows do almost the same DoT (The latter being slightly lower). Looks should also not be the defining factor between the 2, it should be based on playstyle.
Good luck. ^^
Bowmanology - wobbufet - 2008-07-01
Mira Wrote:That is incorrect; there is a 6 Shots Per Minute difference, and that Xbows and Bows do almost the same DoT (The latter being slightly lower). Looks should also not be the defining factor between the 2, it should be based on playstyle.
Lots of people care about looks though, and they are willing to let their class decision depend on it. I wouldn't recommend it but everyone should be able to make their own decisions I guess..
Bowmanology - Mira - 2008-07-01
wobbufet Wrote:Lots of people care about looks though, and they are willing to let their class decision depend on it. I wouldn't recommend it but everyone should be able to make their own decisions I guess..
Still, basing a decision on looks alone is fairly narrow minded, especially if you can afford NX. He shouldn't base the decision portion on looks as much as he is. ^^
Bowmanology - wobbufet - 2008-07-01
Mira Wrote:Still, basing a decision on looks alone is fairly narrow minded, especially if you can afford NX. He shouldn't base the decision portion on looks as much as he is. ^^
Yes I agree but then again he is still working on it
Bowmanology - Sn1perJohnE - 2008-07-01
thanks for the corrections and input
im currently working on the AB v. DS debate.
Bowmanology - wobbufet - 2008-07-01
Simple solution to the AB v. DS debate =>
Critical shot does not give x2 damage it gives an extra 100% damage. AB with crit = 360%. DS with 1 crit = 360% with 2 crits = 460%.
Bowmanology - Hazzy - 2008-07-01
I have two questions. First off, how is Sharp Eyes applied? xP Second, with the release of overall STR scrolls, are low Dex Archers more pratical now? :O
Bowmanology - Sn1perJohnE - 2008-07-01
Hazzy Wrote:I have two questions. First off, how is Sharp Eyes applied? xP Second, with the release of overall STR scrolls, are low Dex Archers more pratical now? :O
SE i was planning to cover in the 4th job section, which may not be completed today, but i was planning on a Build Variations section, in which i would cover the statless weapons, and STR capping.
and i think you mean Low Str archers being more practical, and it really all depends.
Bowmanology - wobbufet - 2008-07-01
Yay I'm mentioned in the credits :p
I'd say that it's smart to try to cap your STR as low as possible, that way you get a bigger boost from Maple Warrior. It may not be much but it's still something, right? :p
Bowmanology - Mira - 2008-07-01
Hazzy Wrote:I have two questions. First off, how is Sharp Eyes applied? xP Second, with the release of overall STR scrolls, are low Dex Archers more pratical now? :O
To your first question: Sharp eyes adds +1xx% damage on top of criticals to ranged attacks (This is +140% at max level, +240% when stacked with Critical, and 340% when added to Strafe)
As to Overall Str scrolls, I think that makes a Low Str Archer ALOT easier to make, although being Low Str only changes the cost of equips, seeing as how for everthing you can do for Str, you can do for Dex. Other than Maple Warrior (which only affects Base Stats), and because it's cheaper, there isn't much use to go extremely low Str (60-70 or lower, depending if you get an Arund/Raven or a Metus/Casa)
So says my Bowman buddy.
Bowmanology - wobbufet - 2008-07-01
Also the overall STR scrolls add Def. and HP which seems more useful than acc. and speed for a bowman.
Bowmanology - Kevvl - 2008-07-01
Mira let me post through her because I was too lazy to make an account here. =P
(I told you to fix that typo =k)
Anyway; They add HP? Hmm..
That changes alot. I need less Str now >.>
Bowmanology - Sn1perJohnE - 2008-07-01
speed is still something that i see as important to archers, as sins get a big training speed boost from having haste.
Bowmanology - wobbufet - 2008-07-01
Sn1perJohnE Wrote:speed is still something that i see as important to archers, as sins get a big training speed boost from having haste.
Power > Speed though, at least in my eyes it does.
Bowmanology - Hazzy - 2008-07-01
Sn1perJohnE Wrote:SE i was planning to cover in the 4th job section, which may not be completed today, but i was planning on a Build Variations section, in which i would cover the statless weapons, and STR capping.
and i think you mean Low Str archers being more practical, and it really all depends.
Ah, I look forward to the 4th job section.
Yea, I meant Low Str. ._. "Low Dex" is ingrained into my head from playing Rogues and warriors, lol.
Mira Wrote:To your first question: Sharp eyes adds +1xx% damage on top of criticals to ranged attacks (This is +140% at max level, +240% when stacked with Critical, and 340% when added to Strafe)
As to Overall Str scrolls, I think that makes a Low Str Archer ALOT easier to make, although being Low Str only changes the cost of equips, seeing as how for everthing you can do for Str, you can do for Dex. Other than Maple Warrior (which only affects Base Stats), and because it's cheaper, there isn't much use to go extremely low Str (60-70 or lower, depending if you get an Arund/Raven or a Metus/Casa)
So says my Bowman buddy.
I've heard a few different explanations for Sharp Eyes, with the one you've presented most re-occuring. I have to say, I now understand why people love it so much. For a Hermit or Night Lord, that'd be a 3.8 multiplier per Star with crit. :O One more question though. When a (x)Bowmaster uses Sharp Eyes, does his crit become 55% chance of happening with +240% damage, or 45% chance of +100% damage, 15% chance of +140% damage, and 6.75% chance of 340% damage?
I'm not as active in the Market as I use to be, so I wouldn't know, but how common are Overall Str Scrolls? o.0
Bowmanology - Hazzy - 2008-07-01
Sorry, forgot to Copy/Paste and edit it. Please remove this post. D:
Bowmanology - Kevvl - 2008-07-01
They're common enough so that I didn't know they existed until just now.
As for your other question, It has been confirmed that for ranged-non-magic attacks, SE always stacks with regular criticals (+100%+100%+SE%+Damage%). So, it would be a 55% chance of +240% damage. For magic attacks it's a multiplier (1.4*Damage), and I am unsure of how it works for melee hits. 3.8 Multiplier? With L7, SE makes it 390% damage, not 3.8 =P
Are you sure you know how crits work? They don't multiply (Exception being mages) They add. L7+Crit = 250% damage.
Bowmanology - Retalion - 2008-07-01
I hope you dont mind me giving some points that you could consider adding:
1. In terms of strength, it does make stabalizing your damage better which is why in first job, I often put more points into strength so that I had that non-mastery stability. Additionally, many people use melee weapons up till 18/20 so the extra early strength makes it easier to use a melee weapon.
2. In terms of bows and xbows, with strafe, the firing speed is almost exactly the same (that's what I remember anyways. I remember before 4th job, people were talking of how snipers were so unbelievably better because they got the best of both worlds: Better dmg formula along with the same shooting speed as well as having freeze)
3. Blessing of Amazon doesnt have to be maxed. In fact, most archers dont max it and get focus instead as the avoid is more useful in the longrun than the acc (which is almost never useful, even at those lower levels).
All I could think of as of now as there's not much info yet. Hope this helps.
Bowmanology - Kevvl - 2008-07-01
Jack Wrote:In terms of bows and xbows, with strafe, the firing speed is almost exactly the same (that's what I remember anyways. I remember before 4th job, people were talking of how snipers were so unbelievably better because they got the best of both worlds: Better dmg formula along with the same shooting speed as well as having freeze)
Until the firing rates were changed, that wasn't the case. Strafe fires at the same speed as every other bowman skill, although recently Nexon decided to modify firing rates for Bows. Bows now fire the same speed (For every skill, not just Strafe) as Xbows. I am fairly certain this is an error(seeing as how it sorta breaks the equality), and once it is fixed (It's been here since 0.51) Bows will fire a faster Strafe than Xbows.
Alot of people say Strafe fires faster because it looks faster. It's not any faster in reality =P