Bow Mechanics

[Caerulus]

On the Green server, are bow damage, criticals and To-Hit governed by dexterity, or strength?

[Khaleesi]

+1

[Cen]

I want to answer more of your question then you wanted.

Bow damage is effected by your ATK rating, but the little detail here that makes it separate from other types of physical damage is that DEX has the formula in place of Strength (for melee) for bows. Keep in mind that just straight increasing your ATK rating is all you need to do to make bows hit harder though.

Now Dex also effects the rate at which you proc, and critically hit. Its a very small increase (and im not even sure how much per skill) until a number thats near 110, then it largely increases to a number close to 140 (so from around 100-150 is a huge jump), then its almost nothing past 140. You might ask, why don't I know, or why is it hard to calculate? Because 1) the numbers which have the largest percentage spikes are weird odd numbers not nice even ones like 120 or 130 etc, and 2) you have to parse a whole lot for each skill point you test with and that takes forever so not many people know

The bad news: Bows are dependant purely on dex for procs, damage, and everything - Its not the most powerful stat in the grand scheme of things.

The good news: Bows are dependant purely on dex for procs, damage, and everything - If you *really* wanted to be a better bow guy, you only need to worry about 1 Attribute (but also your ATK rating)

However, here's the big takeaway: bows aren't that great in this game overall. Don't focus on them. They are fun though and super powerful until around level 20 but they have a very flat damage curve throughout your characters life.

A cheap way to power level to 20 with a bow? Runed Oak Bow. Cheap. Powerful as hell.

[magnetaress]

There's some awesome velious bows eventually, but runed oak from that SK trent guy is legit all the way to 50.

It's better to use bows against rooted targets.

[Christina.]

Kunark Disc True Shot + Windstriker Plane of Sky bow

= Arrows hitting your ass for 350. It's dangerous.

[ewjax]

Dex = definitely improves bow damage.

I do disagree with the recommendation to just stick with Runed Oak bow. Yes it's a good value, not too expensive, reasonable range at 125, and a good ratio.

Why do I disagree:


If you are using it to pull, i.e. mainly just a single shot: Get yourself a 150 range, 25 damage Rough Darkwood Recurve bow. Better range, and biggest hitter in the game.

If you are using it to DPS, i.e. shooting repeatedly: Get yourself a 150 range Shaped Darkwood Compound bow. Extra range, and very similar DPS ratio to R.O.


Full disclosure: My main (Azleep) may be the only 202 skill fletcher on Green (that may not be true, but I'm the only one I see auctioning to sell darkwood bows in the EC tunnel), and I make and sell bows for fun, and nostalgia really (there's a whole story that goes with that, which I won't inflict on the reader unless someone expresses interest). So you can take my comments with a grain of salt if you like. But I think my comments are objective, accurate and valid.

[magnetaress]

Dex = definitely improves bow damage.

I do disagree with the recommendation to just stick with Runed Oak bow. Yes it's a good value, not too expensive, reasonable range at 125, and a good ratio.

Why do I disagree:


If you are using it to pull, i.e. mainly just a single shot: Get yourself a 150 range, 25 damage Rough Darkwood Recurve bow. Better range, and biggest hitter in the game.

If you are using it to DPS, i.e. shooting repeatedly: Get yourself a 150 range Shaped Darkwood Compound bow. Extra range, and very similar DPS ratio to R.O.


Full disclosure: My main (Azleep) may be the only 202 skill fletcher on Green (that may not be true, but I'm the only one I see auctioning to sell darkwood bows in the EC tunnel), and I make and sell bows for fun, and nostalgia really (there's a whole story that goes with that, which I won't inflict on the reader unless someone expresses interest). So you can take my comments with a grain of salt if you like. But I think my comments are objective, accurate and valid.

I would buy both of your bows, but my troll is a wizard.

Can a rogue get a dex crit with a bow?

[Videri]

Unless they've fixed it, Archery damage is based on STR instead of DEX. See the thread entitled Archery uses STR instead of DEX!!!! (https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=242638&highlight=archery+ivory)

Everyone is saying Dex governs archery damage, because it's supposed to, and the Wiki says it does, and Brad McQuaid said it does. But it doesn't currently on P99. This may be an EQEmu code mistake.

The upside is that rangers can gear for Str to increase both their melee and archery damage.

[Christina.]

It is str here, which is a good thing an lil bonus for rangers. Str = DMG Dex = critical chance / procs.

[Caerulus]

It is str here, which is a good thing an lil bonus for rangers. Str = DMG Dex = critical chance / procs.

okay, so archery is bugged on green as well as blue. that's what i needed to know. so str actually governs atk as well?

thanks for the replies, everyone!

[Cen]

So the damage goes up with ATK, and its just using the ATK increase from STR on the character sheet for the calculation? If that's all that's going wrong I can stick notes on the wiki. Everything else I wrote I guess is still fine except for the straight damage calculation with ATK

Weird that its stayed on the wiki if its wrong

[fadetree]

okay, so archery is bugged on green as well as blue. that's what i needed to know. so str actually governs atk as well?

thanks for the replies, everyone!

I don't think STR 'governs' ATK...it's one of the major components, though. Your level and skill in the weapon also matters. Like AC, it is split into 2 components, although I forget what the names or difference is, and is combined on the UI to look like a single number. AC works the in a similar way, see https://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Armor_Class.

Here's a explanation of the ATK components, although not the best explanation of ATK that I've ever seen, but it's close enough:


“Attack, like AC, is also composed of two parts. One is based on your Strength and wielded weapon to decided how hard you hit the mob when you connect. Let's call this Power. Brohg writes: The Power part of Attack is how hard you hit, when you hit. No amount of power will raise your max hit, but those who are familiar with the (1-20)*DI nature of Everquest damage will understand that shifting your average hits higher on the 1-20 scale will lead to much more overall damage. This is what Power does. Power is modified by Offense skill, Strength score, and +ATK mods on items. In combat, Power is opposed by the target's Mitigation.

The other part of Attack decides how often you hit. This is based on your weapon skills. We can also safely assume that your Offense skill is also one part of the calculation. Again, Brohg teaches us: "Displayed "Attack" is Accuracy+Power. Accuracy is how likely one is to hit one's target, and in combat is compared to the Avoidance part of AC (more on that later). Accuracy comes from two sources, Weapon Skills and +Accuracy mods on items."


In later expansions they started adding item +atk too, and some spells and stuff that also boost it, kind of like how haste works. I'm not sure, but I don't think Vanilla through Velious had any +atk items?

[Benanov]

Can a rogue get a dex crit with a bow?

On live in this era back in 1999, there was a way for rogues to get huge critical hits with "thrown weapons" because there was a bug.

If you used a bow in your ranged slot and throwing daggers for ammo, and hit from behind...it was considered a hit with a throwing weapon and from behind so eligible for a crit...and yet, also added the bow's damage as part of the damage calculation.

That was removed fairly quickly once it was discovered.

But the idea of being able to shoot a throwing knife with a bow was hilarious.

[fadetree]

Anybody remember the 'Uzi Ranger' day when they accidentally removed the delay from archery? Teams of Rangers with AM3/EQ were running around true-shotting everything to death...it was AWESOME.

[YendorLootmonkey]

Anybody remember the 'Uzi Ranger' day when they accidentally removed the delay from archery? Teams of Rangers with AM3/EQ were running around true-shotting everything to death...it was AWESOME.

LOL I remember finding out after the hotfix patch and being upset I didn't know about it. :(