Crossbow vs regular bow

[Asschen-Sukar]

I've been wondering about the pro's and cons of crossbows and regular bows, and in particular the armor piercing part. The most distinctive advantage of the crossbow, especially early game [edit: I meant late game], is its Armor Piercing Shot (this attribute makes your attacks ignore half of the enemy's armor) However, one could argue that a regular bow of the same grade (regular bows deal more damage) and a little extra Precise Shot would make up for that. However, in the past I've always ended up with a crossbow, since I felt that it was more valuable against the bigger, heavier armored enemies. Obviously, I haven't done the math on this, but maybe someone else has a more informed opinion about this?

[Alu1868]

bows have usually longer range (about +1) so in the early game you are able to shoot your (weak, unarmored) foes in the first turn.

[alexshiro]

I find the longer range on the bow much more usefull. Being able to shoot the priority, squishy targets like elves and casters before they can move is great, and most armored foes have low speed so you can shoot them many times before they walk over to you, or low melee armor so you can just cut them down.

[Asschen-Sukar]

I hear you, and I agree. My initial statement of the crossbow being more useful in early game, is probably not right. It's the other way around, isn't it? But the range advantage becomes redundant in late game, when a scout has points in extra range and more mobility. A bow is still strong against the "weaker" enemies then, but how about, for example, a dragon?

[the_charch]

depends if you went ranger (i think) that gives double shot, or adventurer (which gives heavy armor and weapons). both can be pretty useful. 2 rounds of double shot seems to kill almost anything, makes dragons not so tough.

[marcelrose]

In high end, you can kill one dragon with one double-shoot...

[Asschen-Sukar]

With crossbow or regular bow? :P

[marcelrose]

Sorry, i mean with regular bow. :-)

[Kurosawa0]

Early ? Regular bow for range so you can oneshot other ranged units.
Later on ? Situational. If you do not have a really special ranged weapon, then I'd use a crossbow if you have + 2 range from perks. Otherwise I ran across a merchant that sold a bow with +17 ranged dmg or a crossbow with 15 dmg and a range of 6.
Though, both had a cost of 5k gold and a few hundred gems. So yeah, at the time I afforded it they were not needed anymore anyways.

Unitwise I go with crossbowmen over rangers / archers though. That one range just doesn't really cut it compared to butchering most meleeunits, especially from a Hill or with a Scouthero as leader. And Rangers have the same dmg as crossbowmen if I am not mistaken.

[Asschen-Sukar]

Some fair points, indeed.

[John Fish]

Early -> bow, later -> crossbow. 4 range on your hero is just unacceptable. in the early game you dont have to face too many high pierce armour enemies anyway so it doesnt make much of a difference to use bows instead of crossbows damage-wise. I usually take the bow up to tier 2, then take the tier 3 crossbow and if I don't have anything better yet the tier 4 crossbow. Those tier 3/4 xbows give 5 range just like low-tier bows do, and usually when you get to the journeyman carpenter you have the perk for +1 range on your hero. 6 range is perfect, 7 range can be useful but not worth trading armour-piercing shot for.

Edit: the only class to consider going for lategame high-tier bows for would be the archer, as that class should have more than enough precise shot to pretty much have the same effect as a crossbow regardless of pierce armour. For the adventurer a crossbow is highly recommended because the range difference really doesnt matter at all for the adventurer; unlike the archer he can take a beating at close range if necessary and he can just move forward and shoot without spending stamina, if the 1 range would make a difference.

[Asschen-Sukar]

Well said. That's basically what I have been subconsciously applying until now. I recently got a bow drop that cranked the Precise Shot up to 15 on my Archer (+4 added). Another crossbow drop of a slightly lower tier made me wonder how its Armor Piercing Shot holds out against high Precise Shot.
And indeed, it's situational. Or, more precisely, it depends on how much armor your target has. Unless my Archer has a ridiculously high Precise Shot, a really tough enemy will go down harder with Armor Piercing Shot (and a slightly lower amount of Precise Shot, since my Archer's skills and items give him that).
I also remember the damage advantage (let alone the range advantage) of a bow becoming smaller when it's the same tier as a crossbow. However, I think the regular bow usually still has slightly more damage than a crossbow. This adds a little to its attraction, especially in early game.
Enough has been said about range, I think. :)