The bow

[venomlight]

How good is it and especially compared to other ranged weapons? What are your opinions on it?

I like it, i think it has good utility and photon arts but i have a rifle and sub machine guns that put out damage so fast and at such great range it kind of feels redundant especially since the bow can miss. Keep in mind that i don't think i can even use many, if any photon arts with those so this is purely default attack.

[VanillaLucia]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KF29ML0bPU

The Twin Machineguns that a Gunner uses are technically "ranged" weapons but if you ever use them as a Gunner you would end up using them more as a melee weapon simply due to how the Gunner works.

The Rifle and Launchers that the Ranger can use are definitely much more capable of ranged combat but their power comes from precision and already knowing the content and what you're fighting. In that sense, a very well-positioned and knowledgeable Ranger can snipe bosses and attack them when no one else can (such as fighting Dark Falz [Luther] to stun him and break him in harder-to-reach areas).

The Bow aspect of the Braver is much more intensive on pure execution and skill where you have much more speed and much more control over what you can do when you're being chased by an enemy. The Ranger struggles with the rifle when you're under pressure by a mob (which is why you have a Launcher) and when you aren't in the correct positions for your attacks a lot of your stronger attacks do no work. But in that sense, the Ranger's greatest strength comes from knowing who the enemy is and reacting ahead-of-time to positioning themselves to get the upper hand, whereas the Bow Braver can also snipe and get the upperhand in the same way but are much faster when it comes to being put under pressure without having to resort to another weapon (but you definitely can with their katana).

I heavily recommend the guide below if you are interested in the mechanics of the Bow because it is definitely a weapon that punishes you for using it like every other weapon if you don't optimize your timing and skill with it.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-eK8zIf8cAkaJSfwz46CDU8yZz0RvFzewFQeRtlTfAM/preview?pru=AAABcuIGmBg*u3x5NhLJb_6q-yl82Amr4A#

[Potor10]

I’d also like to add that bow braver dps is very poor until you obtain around 200+ pp, enough pp to start and finish a full combo.

200pp isn’t a cheap investment and bow braver isn’t an easy class to play either.

But if you can play well, you can easily haul around 8-10m damage in the 20s rockbear test. Your sustained dps will be excellent and on par (if not better) than most rangers.

I’d like to make it clear that 95% of bow bravers fail to meet this expectation and just make a fool of themselves spamming low damage pas. It’s not easy to be good with bow braver.

[venomlight]

Yeah it definitely seems like a lot more effort is required for a braver as i can just hold down a single button with a rifle and it does the job but i'll see how everything changes as i level up more and get much better gear.
Thanks for the guide, i'm going to give it a read through and try to get better. It's such an overwhelming game in general.