Where to find good bows?

[Blackdragon]

There doesn't seem to be a shop that sells them. The smith at the keep only sells melee weapons, and Margh the ranger also doesn't sell good bows.

Here are the ranged weapons I've found so far.

Shortbow you get in the prologue (and it makes the fight with the Wyrdspawn trivial).

Composite bow is at the stone arch near the tall tower with the fire beacon at the keep, accessible by rope bridges. Requires 15 Dexterity.

Longbow you can get from the keep guards or bandits (killing the guard only nets a 100 gp bounty if done in stealth, and the loot and XP is worth it; just make sure to drop any stolen items in the stash before doing it, or they'll get confiscated when paying the bounty. Also, don't kill all of the guards: you need some alive to claim the bounty, or the entire keep will remain hostile you).

Being at level 13 and in the first region, I haven't been able to find a Greatbow so far. The Powerbow (a rare greatbow) is only available in the second region (Cuanagh) and requires 15 Dexterity.

So, is there anything better than a mundane composite bow in the first region?

[Pandas_of_doom]

the 2nd region has an NPC that specifically only sells new bows but as of right now I have not found any bows from dungeons or enemy drops thats better than whats stated by OP

but its possible that I have not explored all of the 1st region as this game has alot of hidden nooks n crannies

[Blackdragon]

Originally posted by Pandas_of_doom:

the 2nd region has an NPC that specifically only sells new bows but as of right now I have not found any bows from dungeons or enemy drops thats better than whats stated by OP

but its possible that I have not explored all of the 1st region as this game has alot of hidden nooks n crannies

I have found a Greatbow in the first region, it's dropped by a Disgraced Archer in the northernmost area, after the bridge with Broc the bee-keeper, near the All-mother Shrine and the druidic ritual circle.

And it actually sucks, because while it has slightly higher base damage than the longbow, it requires 5 Strength, which means 5 less points in Dexterity, i.e. -50% less ranged damage compared to a pure Dex build. The increase in base damage won't cover the loss of the damage bonus. So it's more useful for hybrid Strength/Dexterity builds than for a pure Dex archer.

I guess I'll stick to my longbow until I get the Powerbow which doesn't seem to require Strength (according to the wiki).

[Devd Inside]

great bow user here, if you upgrade it (and keep your character rounded so when they nerf range your not ♥♥♥♥♥♥) and use the long distance bonus damage perk, you will SLAP with the Great bow, i added 2 relic slots and added 2 magic damage +10 bonus's to it, thinking about swapping 1 out for 15% bow draw increase. as to where to find bows, i have gotten drops from higher ups in the second reign, one that shoots multiple arrows but at the cost of accuracy from what i can remember right off the bat, but nothing that has snuffed out my great bow just yet, i am thinking the comp bow is gonna be THICC once its upgraded but i gotta run the gold and sharpening stones to see. and its a high ass dex req so i have a feeling its worth it.

[Blackdragon]

Originally posted by Devd Inside:

great bow user here, if you upgrade it (and keep your character rounded so when they nerf range your not ♥♥♥♥♥♥) and use the long distance bonus damage perk, you will SLAP with the Great bow, i added 2 relic slots and added 2 magic damage +10 bonus's to it, thinking about swapping 1 out for 15% bow draw increase. as to where to find bows, i have gotten drops from higher ups in the second reign, one that shoots multiple arrows but at the cost of accuracy from what i can remember right off the bat, but nothing that has snuffed out my great bow just yet, i am thinking the comp bow is gonna be THICC once its upgraded but i gotta run the gold and sharpening stones to see. and its a high ass dex req so i have a feeling its worth it.

It just doesn't seem like the greatbow is worth investing 5 strength for an archer build, when the same points could go to Dexterity for +50% damage and +25% attack speed.

Furthermore, the Powerbow - which is a rare greatbow with a special ability - requires 15 Dex, not 10 Dex/5 Strength like a regular greatbow. So it has the base damage of the greatbow and doesn't require spending points on strength. I've just taken it off from Kestrel the Piercer in the second area, and it already has higher base damage than my Longbow +2 (twice upgraded), plus the penetration ability. As I said, the regular greatbow seems geared towards Strength/Dexterity hybrids rather than pure archers.

As to possible future balance changes, I'm sure we won't be able to predict them and "build for them" in advance. I'm just keeping a respec potion tugged away in case I want to turn my character around dramatically. Besides, do we even know if early access saved games will work with release version of the game? Frequently that is not the case (although I'd be glad if they did, not looking forward to repeating early game grind so much).

[Blackdragon]

I've reached the Cuanacht main trade hub, and finally found a merchant selling bows.

To wit, this happened when I was already Level 25 and in the middle of the second area of the game (where I went early, specifically to get new bows, ahead of the main story quest). This is definitely not normal, considering a melee weapons merchant is available right from the beginning in the first keep.

Now, the bows themselves were a disappointment.

The greatbow, as I said, requires 5 Strength, which makes it worse than a longbow for a pure archer. And it's definitely outclassed by the Powerbow which you can get from Kestrel even before you arrive at the town of Cuanacht.

The three magical bows (Frostbloom bow, Nightshade bow, and Arcanist's bow) available for purchase at the merchant are also more of a sidegrade even to a longbow, and at first sight a clear downgrade to the Powerbow.

For comparison, the longbow does 20-23 base damage, greatbow 26-30, and Powerbow 30-36.

Now, the new magical bows:

Frostbloom bow (1-14 base damage) causes Slow on the target - a great effect for an archer, on paper. However, the drawback (pun intended) is the low base damage, as this is basically a Shortbow. So yeah, you're slowing the target, but you are also doing only 1/3 of the damage you'd have inflicted with a longbow or greatbow. Considering a lot of damage comes from the stealth alpha strike bonus, the difference becomes even more apparent. I'll take instant kill over a slow effect any day of the week.

Nightshade bow (1-23 base damage) inflicts +100% damage when attacking from stealth - amazing for a stealth archer, right? WRONG. Because its base damage is so low, the double bonus on sneak attack ends up completely negated. Furthermore, the low end of the damage being so ridiculously low creates a risk of your stealth alpha strike "fizzling" and causing only a minute amount of damage. So overall, this bow is actually BAD for a stealth archer.

And finally, the Arcanist's bow (18-19 base damage). The description says it "consumes 20 mana per shot and adds magical damage", but never says HOW MUCH magical damage is added. It also requires 3 Spirituality in addition to 7 Dexterity, so -30% damage and -15% attack speed compared to any bow that doesn't require dumping points in other stats besides Dex. Needless to say, a dedicated archer won't have enough mana to consistently use the magical damage bonus, and the low base damage compounded by the need to dump 3 points into a different stat than Dex makes this bow unattractive to anybody except mages.

And to be frank, I'm not sure it's so good for mages either, because of the steep requirement of 7 Dexterity, and also using mana to make its shots. The very reason to use a bow for a mage is when you are out of mana; if you have mana available, why not just cast a spell? So it's a weapon for a niche mage/archer hybrid, which probably won't be very good at both magic and archery.

Bottom line, none of these "advanced" and expensive bows are a straight upgrade even to the Longbow, and are all completely outclassed by the Powerbow. All of them seem to be "gimmick" weapons that need to be seriously tuned to become viable. In fact, I'd rather see them cost 10x the price, but offer actual tangible upgrades. Right now they are all wasted potential, as an archer I would rather stick even to my longbow, not to mention the Powerbow.