E/R - Bow or Staff/Wand?

I just started the game yesterday and have a level 6 Elementalist/Ranger. I recently switched from a Staff/Wand to a bow. The default damage is significantly greater with the bow, plus I can use the Ranger skills. The goal is to have a decent weapon that can do damage to the target when I start to run low on Energy during a battle. The flow would be something like this:

Fire Storm followed by several flares, then with the last bit of Energy I'd hit Ignite Arrows and starting firing arrows until my Energy recharged....Rinse and Repeate.

So far this has worked well in the low level PVE area doing quests outside of Asceron (being new I'm unfamiliar with pre-searing v. post-searing).

Any comments on this build and these tactics? Does anyone else have this build and use a bow over a Staff/Wand?

Ariston
Char: Arianai Spellsinger (6 E/R)

I say use your bow. It helps out because like you said the damage is greater. also staffs and wands use magic type attacks so you will see a decrease against mobs that have high elemental resists. but bows use melee so you have a good medium against non tank. I prefer putting an elemental string on my bow so that I can do elemental damage but have the melee also. just my 2 cents

Elemental String? That sounds interesting. Do I take the bow to the crafter in Asceron for that? Can I do it at my current low leve?

I'd say bow for now. Keep using it till the requirments become too high for you to use. If you have the choice, why not go with the higher damage? The only downside I can see is loosing the +# Energy items in your other hand.

As for the strings, those are salvage items you get from higher level mobs. You'll get like, Shocking bow or so forth, and you can salvage the string out of those with an expert salvage kit and put it on other bows.

The downside of effectively using a bow long term is that you'll need to put skill points in marksmanship, which is good for ranged damage, but since you're already an ele you've already got that base covered. However, your base damage will be higher and you will have some of the utility style marksmanship skills available to you, so it may be a good use of points (especially if you decide to spec in something like earth for more defense).

My goal is to keep long ranged weapons at the ready. If I run low on Energy, I want to make sure that I can still keep the target at bay from a distance doing more damage that a staff or wand. I think it's worth ditching the off-hand item worht +4 energy for a weapon that deals almost twice as much damage per shot.

I like the idea of elemental strings...can they be swapped out? It would be awesome to keep the four elemental types to use as needed for the environment.

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