Damage with bonus items such as the Nevermore Flatbow

Can anyone clarify how the damage is worked out for bonus items where the requirements aren't met.

GuildWiki says:

Collectors, crafter, quest reward, or unique weapons, will deal damage equal to the equivalent Starter Weapon. (I.E. attempting to wield a Droknar's Sword at 8 Swordsmanship will result in it dealing 2-3 damage like a Starter Sword)

If the weapon is a dropped item, it will deal half damage. For example, a max 6-28 axe will have a base damage range of 3-14 when you do not meet requirements.

Testing the Nevermore Flatbow, it's doing significantly more damage than a Starter Bow, but I can't figure out if it's doing half damage with the bonuses then added or something else?

well, if you don't meet the req for a weapon/shield, you only get HALF the benefit (as seen with sheilds, if you don't meet the req you will only get +8 AL, NOT +16; for staffs, you will only get +5 energy, NOT +10 [i am talking about an items base affect, NOT bonus mods such as +5^50, +5 always staff head, ect])

Responding to the OP, ignoring a post that has nothing to do with it:

I was the one who originally wrote what the wiki stated. There's more to what affects the damage of weapons when you don't meet the requirements, but I don't fully understand them and I don't think anyone cares.

Even if you don't meet requirements, if you still have points in the associated weapon mastery it'll increase the damage you do. Damage bonuses on a weapon apply regardless if you meet requirements or not.

As I understand it the damage will rise and fall depending how far short of the req your skill is.

There will be other considerations for some weapons based on criticals from say marksmanship and the armour piercing damage from Strength.

I did use the nevermore flatbow in presearing with a lvl 1-7 ranger and it was doing more damage than anything else I got in pre.

Including the ascalon bows you get from the ranger trainer and the weaponsmith which were the best I aquired in pre before I got the nevermore.

No, if you don't meet requirements your damage is screwed, regardless if you're 10 ranks short or just 1. However, increasing your weapon mastery will still increase damage done, even if you don't meet requirements.

That's the reason for my question

I'm still pretty new to the game, and I've been trying out all the classes before deciding which to play as a main.

I was planning to buy the Ascalon Longbow, and not bother using the Nevermore as I expected the damage to be 3-5, but even with zero attribute points at level 1 it was doing significantly more.

It doesn't matter much I guess, as if I stick with the Ranger I'll put the points needed in Marksmanship. It's good to know as much about the mechanics as possible though.

Thanks for the replies

You'll love the Nevermore once you get your Marksmanship up to 9 - it's great to be able to do 80-100 (sometimes more) damage on a Power Shot. My Ranger (deleted today to make room for a PvP character) could probably have soloed the eastern part of the Old Ascalon region (including Regent Valley, the Pockmark Flats, etc) outside of the Missions, though I took the coward's way out and kept the Healer henchman with me. (and used 3 henchmen for the Missions) The Breach and the Diessa Lowlands (with the Flame Temple Corridor and the Dragon's Gullet, of course) are another matter entirely...

Actually, I'm pretty sure you get the inherent +10 from a staff, regardless of meeting the attribute or not.

Ahh, but you're forgetting to add in the armor and level of the mobs you're hitting, too. It may be 3-5 (just an example), but only against AR 60 level 20's.

That makes it much harder to figure out exactly what kind of damage you're pushing out.

hmm.. i'm pretty sure i 'may' possibly be right. that, or, i am thinking of an offhand and if you don't meet the req you only get 6 energy instead of the 12

The requirement on a staff is just for the damage, hence 11-22 Fire Damage (requires 9 Fire Magic) for example. The inherent +10 energy is req-free.

Yep. I've got GotY and recently tried a Necro (didn't like it, though) - he got the full +15 from the Insightful Soul Shrieker. For the GotY offhands, characters got only +3 of the +12 Energy of the Tiger's Roar (Elementalist) and Wolf's Favor (Monk) until they got the appropriate stat up.

Tested this on a staff and yes that's quite true

The skill req for my staff is 13 soul reaping and it does 12-22 dark damage I tested damage vs skill, assuming soul reaping doesn't in itself affect damage.

From soul reaping 0 - 12 I did 25 damage when I reached 13 the damage ranged from 41 to 75.

Repeated test with my ele using a fire wand req 11 fire, damage remained at 25 up to fire 10 at fire 11 damage was as for the necro staff.

Difficult to prove with a bow as all bows use marksmanship as a requirement but I would assume it holds true for them as well.
I am guessing I did better with the nevermore flatbow because what marksmanship I had did add some critical damage and maybe that is based on the damage range of the bow.

So a critical on a bow doing say 6-12 is lower than on a bow of 12 -28 I don't intend to start a third ranger and go through pre and test it out though.
Leave that one to someone else.

Thanks to the OP and to Savo for making me see past my assumptions.

Staves are automatically +10 because the req is for the damage, not the energy. Offhands are what you were thinking.

Yup. I just did a bit more reading around bows too, and although I'd figured out that different bows have different ranges and rates of fire, I didn't know about things like arc size and elevation having and effect on accuracy and damage.

I think until I'm a bit more experienced with the game, I'll just go with "Ooo! Pretty bow!!"

No you're completely wrong. Staffs req depends on the dmg you do not the amount of energy you gain. you'll still get +15e with whatever attribute you just wont deal max wanding dmg.

eh everyone beat me too it :P

yea i figured it was onece of the 2. but, i don't play casters and have no need for a staff as a warrior so it's all good. :>

Actually for staff +10 is always req met or not.


edit- I am late...