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  #1  
Old 11-30-2025, 11:07 AM
Goregasmic Goregasmic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecily [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
That's an important mechanic to be aware of, too. Your mainhand determines your proc rate with a bow. So one of the huge benefits from Earthshaker is the +++ proc rate. It's awful trying to proc with a Baton.
... didn't know that, interesting fact!


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Originally Posted by Snaggles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
That place has a ton of blue spawns to 55 so you have 3 levels of bliss and fine steel. Plus 55 is a nice upgrade for the ranger.

Even if you kept it boring and just killed Boshinko it’s a solid camp to plunk while you watch YouTube. No splitting needed.
I have to return to antonica for other business so I will check it out.
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  #2  
Old 11-28-2025, 09:25 PM
Snaggles Snaggles is offline
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Tolan arrows, Fleeting Quiver, SCHW’s, and a slow 2h (anything 50+ delay) will burn up highkeep. Los HP is the goal above all else.
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  #3  
Old 11-28-2025, 11:57 PM
Goregasmic Goregasmic is offline
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Originally Posted by Snaggles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Tolan arrows, Fleeting Quiver, SCHW’s, and a slow 2h (anything 50+ delay) will burn up highkeep. Los HP is the goal above all else.
Yeah I have fungi/tolan's/seahorse belt and an AP (42/49). The next 2 step ups would be tantor's or Earthshaker but tantor's is worth almost as much as ES so might as well go for ES. Fleeting quiver is up next on the wishlist.

My bow skill is maxed but I mainly just pulled with it. Up to 48 I just face tanked unlimited WL panthers (33-37) basically so I never cared that much for bows but when I switched to CS wyverns (38-42) I could barely chain 2 if swarmcaller didn't proc early. Panthers have 2khp and wyverns 3k, which seemed some of the lowest in the 38-42 bracket. The 42-46 bracket seem to hover around 4.5khp so I'm bracing myself and I guess I'll have to be more creative.

According to the wiki HHK nobles are 38-42 too. I've avoided them because I was under the impression there weren't that many and it seems a very popular spot?
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  #4  
Old 11-29-2025, 12:08 AM
DeathsSilkyMist DeathsSilkyMist is offline
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Snaggles PM'ed me with a similar question about archery, but more specifically about BFG. I'll post my initial findings reply here:

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I did some initial research and a bit of testing. According to the EQEMU code, an archery attack uses the same function as a regular melee attack for the damage calculation. There is a switch case for archery to use DEX instead of STR, but idk if that applies to P99. The only thing I don't know is if p99 uses STR, DEX, or neither in the damage calculation.

This is probably why bows in the range slot still get the main hand damage bonus from whatever is in your primary hand, because it is using the same function for damage as melee calculations. My SK is indeed getting the 110 damage bonus from using a weighted axe on blue.

I looked at this video:

https://youtu.be/elAYmxcDOrM?si=y9Z4RbPvDFBs-a0W

And saw some damage numbers. The guy was using a UI that simplified his incomming text, so I am not sure if that was hiding if a hit was a crit or not.

He trueshotted with BFG. I believe his max damage without crit was around 346, and I think he crit for like 567 once.

Looking at my DPS calculator, these numbers are close to a Warrior who who is using a 59 damage 50 delay 1h weapon. I used Warrior instead of Ranger so I could see the crit number. This makes sense, as BFG with an 8 damage arrow would be (20 + 8) * 2.1 (trueshot multiplier) = 59 damage.

I do not know if the double damage for stationary targets thing when using archery exists on p99. I can't test it myself.

Under my current assumptions, you would calculate a BFG without trueshot and without stationary double damage as a 28/50 damage 1h weapon with bow crits basically.

This is just my initial, rough conclusion. Without my own Ranger to test this, I can't say this is true for sure. But according to my DPS calculator you'd get like 84 DPS with BFG + 8 Damage Arrows/Claw (no trueshot) and like 105 DPS with Baton/Claw. This isn't including bow crits, so BFG dps might go up to like 90ish DPS with crits. My calculator shows like a 5% boost to Warrior DPS with critical hits (not crippling blows).

With trueshot BFG does like 125 DPS not including crits.

Hope this helps!
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  #5  
Old 12-02-2025, 09:31 PM
Goregasmic Goregasmic is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Snaggles PM'ed me with a similar question about archery, but more specifically about BFG. I'll post my initial findings reply here:
If it is the melee formula then:

[Max Damage] = ([Mod] x [Weapon Damage]) + [Main Hand Bonus] (rounded down)
[Mod] is calculated as: ([Offense Skill] + [STR]) / 100

Do you know if Mod uses offense or archery?

If I guesstimate (210 + 215)/4 = 4.25 for my Mod @54

Then 12dmg bow, 5dmg arrow and an argent protector so 25dmg bonus

(4.25 x 17) + 25 = 97 max hit.

I'd have to double check but I'm not sure i've ever seen a 97dmg bow hit ever, highest has been mid 60s without crit but I'd have to reconfirm, haven't used bow extensively the last few levels. Am I missing something?

Using dext (110ish) instead of str gives a 80 max hit, probably much closer to the truth but a zillion people (one guy from my research?) reported bows use str so I don't know about that.
Last edited by Goregasmic; 12-02-2025 at 09:36 PM..
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  #6  
Old 12-03-2025, 03:16 AM
DeathsSilkyMist DeathsSilkyMist is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Goregasmic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
If it is the melee formula then:

[Max Damage] = ([Mod] x [Weapon Damage]) + [Main Hand Bonus] (rounded down)
[Mod] is calculated as: ([Offense Skill] + [STR]) / 100

Do you know if Mod uses offense or archery?

If I guesstimate (210 + 215)/4 = 4.25 for my Mod @54

Then 12dmg bow, 5dmg arrow and an argent protector so 25dmg bonus

(4.25 x 17) + 25 = 97 max hit.

I'd have to double check but I'm not sure i've ever seen a 97dmg bow hit ever, highest has been mid 60s without crit but I'd have to reconfirm, haven't used bow extensively the last few levels. Am I missing something?

Using dext (110ish) instead of str gives a 80 max hit, probably much closer to the truth but a zillion people (one guy from my research?) reported bows use str so I don't know about that.
Yeah the question I haven't answered is if bows use STR, DEX, or neither for the damage calculation. If your parses show that you never hit for higher than 80, my guess is STR isn't used for bows specifically.

In the EQEMU code they have a specific exception for bows to use DEX instead of STR. Since that special exception is already in place, it wouldn't be difficult to modify the special exception to use neither STR or DEX for bows on P99.

My SK at 68 Archery Skill has hit for up to 150 with a weighted axe in mainhand using a 25 damage bow with 1 damage arrows. My DPS calculator shows a max damage of 152 using my setup from the previous sentence if my STR was set to 1. I didn't do a ton of testing, but it is an interesting result that supports the idea that STR isn't used for bows.

Can you do some more parsing to get a better idea of your max damage with your bow and arrow setup?
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  #7  
Old 11-29-2025, 02:11 AM
Snaggles Snaggles is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Goregasmic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
Yeah I have fungi/tolan's/seahorse belt and an AP (42/49). The next 2 step ups would be tantor's or Earthshaker but tantor's is worth almost as much as ES so might as well go for ES. Fleeting quiver is up next on the wishlist.

My bow skill is maxed but I mainly just pulled with it. Up to 48 I just face tanked unlimited WL panthers (33-37) basically so I never cared that much for bows but when I switched to CS wyverns (38-42) I could barely chain 2 if swarmcaller didn't proc early. Panthers have 2khp and wyverns 3k, which seemed some of the lowest in the 38-42 bracket. The 42-46 bracket seem to hover around 4.5khp so I'm bracing myself and I guess I'll have to be more creative.

According to the wiki HHK nobles are 38-42 too. I've avoided them because I was under the impression there weren't that many and it seems a very popular spot?
I want to say bards are blue to 55. Nobles are a coin flip blue at 56. They have low 2k hps so go down easy with arrows. On blue they are not camped at all (usually). Not sure on green. Back then I used my Huntsman bow and it was fun but the DD will occasionally break root early.

Harmony won’t split them up. Gotta root and root, then go to work. Or snare and haul to the zone and split them that way.
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  #8  
Old 11-29-2025, 04:57 PM
TytosOfEight TytosOfEight is offline
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I levelled from 46 to 54-55 with the Bow of Huntsman. I used a rusty halberd but an Earthshaker is better. It would proc 15+ times per fight. That's a lot of additional damage. I moved onto a Skydarkener at 55 and started quad kiting with it. But, I found it was far better for single targets. I'd snare and shoot then root, and then shoot, sit, shoot, sit, etc. Super efficient and the procs add up a ton. I pretty much only killed Geonids and Sents to 60.
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  #9  
Old 11-29-2025, 05:03 PM
Cecily Cecily is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TytosOfEight [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]
I levelled from 46 to 54-55 with the Bow of Huntsman. I used a rusty halberd but an Earthshaker is better. It would proc 15+ times per fight. That's a lot of additional damage. I moved onto a Skydarkener at 55 and started quad kiting with it. But, I found it was far better for single targets. I'd snare and shoot then root, and then shoot, sit, shoot, sit, etc. Super efficient and the procs add up a ton. I pretty much only killed Geonids and Sents to 60.
That's an important mechanic to be aware of, too. Your mainhand determines your proc rate with a bow. So one of the huge benefits from Earthshaker is the +++ proc rate. It's awful trying to proc with a Baton.
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  #10  
Old 11-30-2025, 05:26 PM
Duik Duik is offline
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How do we know that proc rate on earthshaker is more?
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