Long Bow or Short Bow?

[Gideon_Slack]

Up to now I've used short bows on my hunter character, but am thinking of switching to long bows for the damage (to make up for lack of pet). I wonder, however, if the extra damage is worth the loss of some of the skills in the short bow tree. My max discipline level in either bow would be 15.

I currently have Lightness at 4 which gives a +12 bonus to dexterity. Would losing this bonus be a huge loss to evades, or even to the bow damage dexterity tweaks? Evades are important because I play a ninja hunter. (The only other short bow skill I have points in is Dual Shot).

The long bow tree does have Omnipresent which is a passive concentration increase. I know some people say concentration is worthless, but it is supposed to increase spell hit chances (good for ninja). The only other long bow skill I would put points in would probably be Shield Piercing.

Does long bow damage (and range) make up for what look like better skills in the short bow tree?

[ncvr]

If you're using an LB as a ninja, probably best to keep SB at 15 for dex passive and Tear Apart, then get LB to cast Ensnaring as your main offensive spell.

Btw, evades aren't that important to ninja hunters.

[Gideon_Slack]

Originally Posted by Necrovarus

If you're using an LB as a ninja, probably best to keep SB at 15 for dex passive and Tear Apart, then get LB to cast Ensnaring as your main offensive spell.

Btw, evades aren't that important to ninja hunters.

The way my build works out, one bow tree will have to be 15, and the other 11, when I reach level 50 (almost level 44 now).

If did make Short Bow 11, that would still give me Level 3 dex passive; while still giving me Level 15 Long Bow.

That might be the compromise I need.

[ncvr]

The longbow spells suck. The people who use longbows are either marksmen or hunters who use it for high dmg ensnare arrows.

[fluffy_muffin]

Do it like me use both.
I have 11 or 17lvl short bows but when i have less mana or i need solid punch i switch bow for normal hits or ensnaring. For using long bow you don't need high lvl long bows ;] maneuver and parabolic is enough imvho

[_dracus_]

As Zielski said it, the interesting powers in long bow for me as a hunter are Parabolic shot, and Manoeuvre. Don't use shield pierce it's sucks your mana for dmg lower than your normal hits.

Really if one thing is worth putting points in it's parabolic shot for me. You'll be able to target people from 39m which is good.

[Gideon_Slack]

Thanks for the advice.

What I will probably do is use level 11 short bow and level 11 long bow; this will let me have Tricks, Scouting and Evasion at 19, while still having level 3 passives in the bows if I need them. Other than maybe the passives, I will put no points in the bow trees.

A good long bow with Ensnaring Arrow, and high debuffs should hopefully be enough offense for what I need. I'll test it and see.

[Jedi-x]

a good around set-up for your bows is ........ 15 shorts, 11 longs , then your other disciplines as you see fit. Ensnare is a must for any hunter, it does the most damage, and it's usable with either shorts or longs, how many points you put into it .... that's another story .. I have found lvl 4 and 5 are really nice with certain bows + DF / SS / DS

At lvl 50, if I'm not too badly mistaken, mine are something like :
Shorts - 19
Longs - 11
Evasion - 19
Scouting - 19
tricks - 11

That is just one of the builds I use ....... just remember, with this build at lvl 50, be very careful when hunting alone !!!

[traverse]

In the warzone my primary offense is my longbow and I use dual shot with a shortbow as a cheap backup and for faster casting.

My LB discipline is at 5.
My SB is at 11 (for dual shot(3))

Just because you carry a longbow doesn't mean you have to put points into the discipline. Ensnare(5) more than makes up for any offense lost by taking points out of shield pierce.

The only spell I really miss from putting points into other disciplines is... rep shot. Which I traded for my big ugly troll.

- Nimrod

[Gideon_Slack]

Originally Posted by traverse

In the warzone my primary offense is my longbow and I use dual shot with a shortbow as a cheap backup and for faster casting.

My LB discipline is at 5.
My SB is at 11 (for dual shot(3))

Just because you carry a longbow doesn't mean you have to put points into the discipline. Ensnare(5) more than makes up for any offense lost by taking points out of shield pierce.

The only spell I really miss from putting points into other disciplines is... rep shot. Which I traded for my big ugly troll.

- Nimrod

I have Ensnaring Arrow maxed at the moment; but without a pet I found I needed one more offensive spell (greater natural damage of the long bow was not enough). For this purpose, Dual Shot, with the short cooldown has been better for me than Shield Piercing.

I did try out a sb/lb 11/11 split, but this also did not provide enough offense. At the moment I am using sb/lb 15/11. Having lb 11 gives me +5 concentration (good for Tricks 17 casting). Combine this with Sentinel +5 concentration, and you have a +10 concentration bonus.

Like you said, having a fast short bow in the arsenal is excellent for quick attacks -- Dual Shot, Ensnaring Arrow and Sudden Strike all have 1 sec casting times.

My level 50 build will probably be this:

Scouting 19
Evasion 19
Tricks 17
Shortbow 15
Longbow 11
Pets ?

You could call this the Dirty Tricks Ninja.