Modding a Half-Moon

I just recently bought a Half-Moon, and I'm not quite sure what to upgrade it with. I'm selling my Stinger (for 8K, don't need any of the mods on it, check Ventari's Sell to purchase), so the price of the mods doesn't really matter (as long as the price of both add up to under 8K). I already have an Icy Bow String I gathered from a Gold Longbow last night. Should I upgrade it with the Bow String and another mod? What should I upgrade it with?

There are only 4 bow grip mods that really do anything warding (+ against enviormental damage), shelter (+ damage against phsyical attacks), defense (+ armor) and fortitude (+ health), all other are if you really want to specialize in something.

There are basically 5 string mods that are worth any money, fire, ice, lightning, poison and earth. Ice only works againse fire creatures, not that common, but when you encounter them, ice really beats them down. Fire is the most commonly damage string, just about everything takes fire damage, except fire creatures. Only a few creatures don't take any poison damage, and some are very suseptable to poison, oddly enough there are ususally strong against fire damage. I haven't found any one that is particularly strong or weak against lightning or damage, but both lightning and earth do have some armor pentrating abilities. The grawls down by droks are the onlky thing I have found that are weak against earth. BTW sundering, is over hyped, even 1 out of 10 shots with the extra damage simply is not worth it.

Me personaly, I have a variety of bows. I generally prefer basic armor, rangers already have a good defense against elemental attack, so I protect my health rather than depend on high health to win.

There is no reason to limit your self to one bow. So I would say the least amount of bows you want is fire string, ice string, and (preferably) a poison string. Ranger really are the most versitlie characters in the game, take advantage of it, stock up on weapons.

Vamperic is usefull. ESP if you have a monk secondary. 5 health per shot is pretty usefull.

Zealous is kinda nice too! 1 energy per hit is ok, as long as you arn't a warrior primary.

What for mending?

Why would you use a bow as a main damage weapon as a warrior?

just about everything takes fire damage, except fire creatures.

I have found this to be VERY untrue. Doing Hell's Precipice with Guildies, that's all we took, and we smoked right through it. Tried water, earth and poison builds, but fire still got the job done.

You did Hell's Precipice with fire magic O.o !!! What a waste! It does like, 1/2 damage if that once you account for the level penalty... Get someone to bring winter, and it's way easier... Not, by any means, nececessary, but it's easier.

i'd take advantage of a Halfmoons fire rate and equip a Zealous or Vampiric string... just make sure u have a bow to switch to outside of battle

as for a grip... i've always liked going with an Fortitude grip just cause i always seem to be taking a Sup Expertise Rune... but a Armor grip is also very handy

personally I go for armour vs physical, since a ranger already has great armour against elemental.
If you run a markmanship heavy build then a 20% +1 is always nice.
Obviously an enchanting grip will be precious to an enchanter (e.g. judges insight)

unless you make the effort to cycle targets and poison everything then a poisoners sting is a bit of a waste. Never had problems with energy so I have not tried zealous. Vampiric is pretty handy at 5/-1 (bought one for 6k last night) just about breaks even on a shortbow with no attack speed boost. Elemental damage stings are pretty build specific.

The vampiric mod is probably the most beneficial bow string overall. With a fast shooting bow like the half moon, you gain 1 health every 2 seconds on average if you are constantly attacking. In addition, you also gain a bonus of 5 damage every hit, regardless of an opponent's armor or resistance, which can add up to quite a lot of damage in the long run. However, the vampiric bow string can be a hassle at times, forcing you to switch weapons often while out of combat to avoid the degeneration. If you can handle changing your weapons often, go for the vampiric string.

Personally, I prefer the bow grip of defense, (+5 armor) but all of the grips are quite decent.

Vampiric 5/1 + Barrage/Dual shot + Tiger's Fury...think about it. That is all.

• For pure mathematical damage, a 5/-1 Vampiric string is the best.
• Sundering is worthless.
• Poisoning and Enchanting are fine if you use builds which compliment them.
• Elemental mods are nice generally, and dirt cheap too.
• Zealous strings are great fuel if you use a stance such as Tiger's Fury or Flurry/Frenzy from the warrior line. Great for barrage spam too.

Grips you can choose yourself, they all have uses, but very very different prices.

u guys are forgetting the awesome 10/10(sundering) health +30 bows

i don know if ur j/k or not... but Sundering mods are complete crap...

IMO:
Vampiric +Armor if you have money for Vampiric

Planning for bows is always difficult.

I don't know if you farm SF or like greens, but you may want to keep in mind the green short bows from SF. They have zealous and vampiric versions and if you like those then you could put something else on your half-moon.

IMO (Having played 2/3 of my game hours on a ranger):

Zealous is the best Bow String.

Elemental strings are only effective area to area, and make important attack boosters like the Orders or Winnowing useless to you.
Sundering only minimally adds any type of damage to your shots (would only be worth it at 100% chance, 10 penetration equals to about 10-13% more dmg [depending on armor lvls] which can be 5-10 more dmg a shot, making it on par with vamp except for vamps 5 extra ignores armor and lets you gain it as health).
Poisoner's is really situational to your build, and with condition removal being more and more in the mainstream - longer durations are not always better anymore.
Vampiric: Its probably your second best choice. You'll have to swith off inbetween fights and watch your vitals better but its the best for pure dmg adding.

Zealous though - IMO - Was MADE for Bows. Zealous looks like a raw deal at first, but once you use it awhile, and then try ot stop using it - You'll really notice the difference it made.

It it does for just a normal shooting of a bow - is increase your energy regen by more than you think.

Under Normal circumstances 1 pip of energy regen gives 1 energy every 3 secs. The normal bow shots every 2 secs. You've just decreased your time it takes to get that 1 energy by 1 sec. Over the course of a long fight - this shows itself better.

You say..Rangers have Expertise..they dont need management like this - I tell you to try it...Rangers more than anyone else rely on consistent spamming to keep up DPS. Expertise was designed specifically for this cause (to keep a ranger spamming longer by taking the edge off each shot'senergy consuming). The double edge'dness of this is that once a ranger's cycle is up - His DPS suffers for a greater amount of time than any other class. Zealous is a way for that ranger to keep his energy undercontrol and give him quicker bursts of it.

(Dont say a Ranger using high expertise never has to look at his energy - Rangers that never have to have cooldown time like a caster are the smart ones using stuff like Zealous strings and accurate consuming of skills and energy).

Sundering is not Worthless if your secondary is Monk. For PvP I use a Short Bow, 10/10 Sundering & 20% Enchantment with (forgot name the 10% pentrating smite skill) for massive damage to warriors. As Rangers are always the last they target, if u are not a ranger spike team .

You use sundering vs warriors? You smiting skill is adding a lot of damage, sure, but consider this:

Most, no wait, pretty close to ALL warriors wear Gladiators armour in PvP. Gladiators' armour has 80AL + 20vs Physical damage. Adding an Elemental mod of any kind to your bow would add 20% armour penetration (100% chance) vs. that armour. 20 times more effective than your horrible, pathetic, weak sundering mod.


I. Hate. Sundering.

Use a bow with +10% armour penetration (shadow, horn etc), a 10/10 sundering mod and the necro weaken armour skill...and add barrage ('cause it might strip preparations, but that 10% inherent from the bow stays!)

id mod with a zealous and a +29 fortitude cheap and effective