Best Barrager Bow?

With my Barrager 'sin I've been using Elswyth's Recurve Bow for a while, but didn't really bothered to look at all the differenr greens/types of bow.

I'm still an Assassin primary ( i swap to markmanship only in specific locations), and never had a ranger. So i was wondering: What is the BEST bow for a barrager?

Vampiric or Zealous modded and/or Horn/Shadow/Ivory Bow for the extra 10% AP.

Elsywths is perfect.. That bow is one sexy mother!!!

Isn't a Shadow Bow a Recurve, not a horn? But if you want damage... i'd go for Vampiric, Zealous is just a waste of space if you have 13 Expertise to hit 2 energy point for Barrage since you can spam it all night and not run out.

Since, like most i can't afford/be arsed to buy a Horn bow, i just use Elswyths Recurve from the tombs.

I'd like to add something to this question. Which bow has the smoothest transitions for barrage? With some bows you get halfway through a normal attack animation then reset at the barrage one.

Shadow Bows are a type of Horn Bow

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Category:Bows

Recurve/Composite bows will get you the desired effect.

Heh I never even bothered to try Elswyth's bow yet, such a huge bow collection I have but I just end up using drago's the most :P (but if you have a horn bow I think that would be best)

would a -5 energy horn bow be any good? also what are the best sort of mods as for a barrage bow?

best mods? there are none - only a vamp or zealous would be your somewaht restriction. but other then that nothing

some would say use 15^50 bow for extra dmg but i dont really care about that..

and sure a -5 enrgy bow isnt a big deal because the xpertise of a main ranger lowers the cost of barrage and ranger have an energy regen of 4? i think... so it wont matter

noiw to go further you might want to consider getting druids armor beacsue it gives you extra energy for spamming..

...

Damn, i always thought they were Recurve Must be because of Elswyths having Recurve attributes but shadow skin...

Just checked the link, didn't realise Ascalon Bows came as different types either... i thought they were all the same type.

-5 energy would be perfect if you were using 13 Expertise. The only time i hit 0 is if i spam Concussion Shot a little too often or get hit by a lot of E-surge.

The best bow for barrage is a Vampiric shortbow of marksmanship +1 20% coincedentally, a graygore short bow has this exact stat, its the best barrage bow. Shortest reload is and the short distance provides maximum accuracy while maintaining good projectile speed. The vamp adds +5 energy while they stack health to you while the +1 means additional dmg bonus when it kicks in.

I have a vampiric shadow bow of defense, but I still usually use my Elswyth's recurve. The attack time is smoother, and it's nice for those interrupts that barrage builds always bring along. A shortbow can be nice, especially when stacked with tiger's fury... but meh.

why the +1 marksmanship, wouldnt +30hp or armor +5 be better? soz im a ranger newb with a load of perf bows and i dont know what they are good for

I'm talking in pure dmg and taking barrage to the extreme. A +30hp is nice but its not maximizing your barrage nor does it do anything for your attacks. I'm assuming when you're doing barrage, you are at a relatively safe position where you are not getting hammered, in which case, a dmg increase is more drastically useful than a self serving mod.

agreed...elswyth's is pretty much the best option for pretty cheap

I like to use Longbows (Storm bows), because I can stay out of aggro range (which helps the mobs clump together), and it has a lower arc then Recurve. A short bow would attack faster, but if the enemies are getting scattered cause of too much aggro, there will be a drop in DPS.

For bow strings, I prefer 5/-1 Vampiric and 20/20 Sundering, cause they work better with Orders or Judge's Insight.

For inherent mod, I prefer 15>50 on my bows, because I'm rarely in aggro range and taking damage. If I'm taking damage, and fall below 50% health I'm either running or healing myself.

Finally, I prefer 20% marksmanship cause it adds lots of damage for the Barrage spam. It's also good to have a 30 health bow if you're getting too much DP.

I couldn't find a green bow with the exact stats I prefer so I made 2 of my own.

I run 16 marks with a 5/1 vampiric zodiac bow of defense, also have an elswyths for if I'm under degen.

The "best" bow is subjective. At 16 marks, the +1 from a grip isn't gonna affect my damage that much, while being able to move to whatever position I need is. Ergo, for me I use armor/hp mods to accentuate my mobility.

I also tend to favor an ebon bow for its double damage vs afflicted and general non-immunity among mobs. Good, solid damage.

Look also at a build that drops a trap, brambles, and a crippling bowstring for some real chaos and a lot of help to a nuker.

It's situational, and the best rangers are equipped for every situation.

Best of luck, there's lots to read.

I like using a short bow type. I use a vamp half-moon of defense. It's 5/1 vamp and +15%/-10AR and with the +5 defensive grip it's only -5AR. I would rather lose a little AR over energy because it's easier to balance AR is fairly easy to bump, plus I don't try and tank too much. The short bows seem smooth on refire with Barrage. I have an Eternal bow that I use when I don't want to get that close or I'm under too much degen.

I use Marksmanship 12 - 14, Expertise 9 - 13, and secondary in Healing or Blood at 12.

I use Barrage, Distracting, and Savage as my main attacks. Since Barrage and Distracting are only 5E it's easy to get away with 9 Expertise. I save Savage for the emergency interupt and mainly try and use only Distracting for the important things (Heal Signet, nasty necro hexes, the ever healing monk, etc). If I use Concussion or too many more 10E + ranger skills then I bump up Expertise to 13 and keep Marksmanship at 12 and the rest in my secondary. Higher Marks will do marginally higher damage, but costs a lot in attribute points that can go a long way to having a more balanced build. That all depends on your playing style.

For secondary I use Monk a lot. A Barrage ranger makes excellent support. If you bring Vigorous Spirit you will be healing yourself and can also help buff the melee types since it's cheap. I bring Breeze for emergencies and an appropriate rez. Depending on the area I will bring hex and/or condition removal it will help enough. These skills really help offset the vamp mod so your monk isn't always healing you (and yes bring another non-vamp bow).

I have been trying out Necro as a second and it works great with the Barrage setup. It has fairly cheap self healing skills and can also add to the degen of the target while keeping your health up.

Well, since the desert collectors have several identical statted ascalon bows, if they were all flatbows itd be a bit of a waste

Wait wait wait... Earth damage counts 2x against afflicted, like holy damage does against undead?
Sweet!

When I do barrage parties, I usually have a few bows, but I have to say, I think the best bow you could use is Dragos Flat Bow (20/20 sundering), its very fast, has a very long range and just looks cool! :P I also use Graygores shortbow for the marksmanship +1 (20%) and the vampiric mod.

chkkrs flatbow.

right now i use either a
short bow - 15^50, max dmg req9, 3/1, mark +1
horn bow - same stats execpt 20/20 - ap
platnum - same stats execpt +30hp

Hmmm *holds onto the Ebon Bow String he just found*.

Gotta say Judges Insight makes short work of Skeletons in FoW, an Ebon bow string will just make it easy. At least the latter is constant.

For Barraging I use Vampiric Flatbow of Fortitude or Vampiric Dead Bow of Fortitude. Both are good with the Dead Bow used for interrupting.

best barrage bow, huh?

string:
vamp 5/1 or zealous, elemental if using conjure

why: barrage maximizes the number of foes you hit. vamp adds +5 damage to every hit and nets your 5 health per foe. zealous keeps your energy pool up so that you can spam barrage all day and still have a net energy gain in case you're casting other stuff. elemental string is a no-brainer for conjure element builds.

bow type:
horn bow

why: a barrage ranger's refire rate depends on the cooldown of the skill, not on the refire rate of your bow. your bow can fire as fast as it wants, but you can't use barrage while it's in cooldown. thus, short bow and flatbow types are terrible for barrage builds. this is the reason why people often have to interrupt their attack animation when using barrage. the refire rate of the bow is too fast. horn bow types have the perfect refire rate to match barrage's cooldown, giving you smooth barrage transitions. plus, it's an added 10% ap per hit, which can't hurt.

grip:
+1 marksmanship (20%) or +5 armor

why: it's a 20% chance of added damage to barrage. it's not much, but it's extra, so why not? you shouldn't be tanking anyway. a +5 armor grip would be a good alternative if you're taking hits. only have the +30 hp grip in an alternate bow on another weapon slot. so, if you're facing degen or are low on health, you can switch to the +30 hp bow. +30 hp is useless until your health is really low and you need the extra hp.