Is a Bow build viable?

[☧ Voievod]

I'm thinking of rolling a Thief with dual dagger and bow as main weapon. Is it viable or will I get destroyed?

[Vinyltavia]

Escrito originalmente por gmarius:

It is currently viable, and arrow issue is fixed. you can carry 99 of and 600 in "stash" of each arrow types, which automatically restocks when resting on bonfire. damage wise its good, and even eases many boss fights. can be your main weapon without having aiming skills but obviously you gonna need some small blade for close quarters.

Ahh there's the necromancer

[Slug Camargo]

Escrito originalmente por Vinyltavia:

Escrito originalmente por gmarius:

Ahh there's the necromancer

Hey, if it helps to bring up a thread that is not about f'ing poise or group therapy for invaders whinig about hosts ganking, I say necro all you damn fine want.

[JakTragedy]

I would be curious to see if Bleed, Hollow, Luck, Rouge, Leo Ring can stack and make a "bleeder" bow. A blender, as it were. Damn I hate my Xbone is broken. I'd. Love to know if that works. You cant buff bows or crossbows with magic or dark, right?

[Wade the Wilson]

My first build in DS3 was Dagger/Bow only build. It's totally viable. It's a challenge, but it's viable. I suggest adding in as much Luck as possible, and using Bleed and Poison on your daggers. And 18 STR / 40 DEX is the optimal stats for bows, because it grants access to the Onislayer great bow, with it's best damage, as well as good damage on all the smaller bows as well.

I prefer Twin Daggers with a Simple Parrying Dagger in the off hand, and the Composite Bow (since it gives the rapid fire skill).

Good luck, PvP will be difficult, HAHA.

[wulfster42]

I did a bow only run back at launch (Believe I had to use a few firebombs as well on the first boss before I could get more arrows...but it's been along time).

That was the only time I didn't kill everything with arrows and I had no problem at all. Some of the fights where freaking cake. The shortbow has a very fast attack speed/animation and shoots from range, making it very easy to stick and move.

I killed all the bosses as always without summons as well.

Long bow/composite bow are good for non-boss fights (A bit more damage), short bow for me was best for boss fights as even with less damage, the very fast firing speed allowed me to stick and move easily.

Was CAKE taking out the Abyss watchers for instance, easier then melee which I have alwayd done them with (as I find spellcasting versus them the first time at least (so no uber damage that 3 hits them) much harder. Short bow vs them though lets you just keep dodging and shooting non stop, works GREAT when the red eyes guy shows up on first part, and lets you dodge the flame version easily and shoot him, then rinse and repeat. Probably easiest way without uber spell damage to take them out with no damage.

Giant is also easy to take out with a bow vs any other method besides the hurricane sword. Shooting his head is cake with a decent ranged bow, and 2 shots and he's down, doesn't really give him a chance to hit you.

Same with the bracelet guy, very easy to aim at the bracelets and shoot them fast with a short bow etc.

Very few bosses are difficult with a bow, and many (Especially options bosses) never even get to hit you. As far as running through areas, 198 arrows is more then enough for any run from one shrine to another, and honestly by the time you spend that many, you probably wanna head back to the shrine and spend your souls.

With enough practice the short bow is very similar to a fast attacking melee weapon, but with more range. No shield is how I generally like to fight, so decent stamina and regen is important (lots of rolling etc). It's actually one of the most fun (not most powerful, but most fun) pve experiences I had. Spells can be more insane (taking out everything in 2 shots etc), but it's dull and requires little skill. Running through with bows though? A blast:)

[The Fountaineer 🖋]

Bow builds are basically annoying, and take forever to actually kill someone with. You have to have a back up weapon and switch between them while using Bows.

For me, I use knight and Hunter rings, hawk ring, and leo(?) ring, whichever one boost critical hits. My back up weapon are the refined Drang hammers.

[bgm.1]

As a main wepon , I don't think the bow would be enough , but I personally use it a lot as a way to attract a enemies attention and in some cases killing them .

[Panic Fire]

Escrito originalmente por William See:

Bow builds are basically annoying, and take forever to actually kill someone with. You have to have a back up weapon and switch between them while using Bows.

For me, I use knight and Hunter rings, hawk ring, and leo(?) ring, whichever one boost critical hits. My back up weapon are the refined Drang hammers.

No you don't. You only need a short bow and a longbow.

[The Fountaineer 🖋]

Escrito originalmente por Panic Fire:

Escrito originalmente por William See:

Bow builds are basically annoying, and take forever to actually kill someone with. You have to have a back up weapon and switch between them while using Bows.

For me, I use knight and Hunter rings, hawk ring, and leo(?) ring, whichever one boost critical hits. My back up weapon are the refined Drang hammers.

No you don't. You only need a short bow and a longbow.

Short and longbow are virtually the same thing except with slightly different damage output on quality builds. I've PVP'd against many good players and bad players with the bow, and invaded with them. 99 large arrows and 99 of whatever other arrow types you want are not enough to kill one person, even the most mundane UGS user knows enough to block or dodge the arrows.

Long story short (no pun intended) it's always good to have a back up weapon on you.

[wulfster42]

He is talking about using bows for PvE, not PvP, and they are just fine for PvE.

Don't get me wrong it certainly is slower then magic, and usually slower then melee, but it's often also safer, so good if you are learning boss movements/patters etc.

I'd list all the enemies that are easier to take down with bows, but honestly it's almost all of them. It's not faster, but it's easier. The short bow especially has pretty much no wind up/animation time, which means you can constantly stick and move, are ready to dodge at a seconds notice etc. Almost every enemy you encounter right from the start is killable your first time fighting them with a bow setup (although your first time fighting Gundry I think you need to use a few firebombs as you'll run out of arrows).

It should also be mentioned that using bows is a great way to learn enemies attacks and their attack pattern. The short bow works well both at range, and close up, allowing you to hit from melee range but not right on top of the enemy, and therefore you can roll out of range easier/dodge etc (useful for enemies that are harder if your not in melee range).

Things like the dogs frost aura are not a problem for bow users either, hitting the giants head is cake (knocking him down), and the dancer is easier to kill with a bow in many cases then with magic (because you fire and forget, and can move behind a pillar, out of it's charge path much faster with bow attacks....not to mention you can long distance aim/fire easier.

Bow builds for PvE can work just fine, and are in fact a very fun challenge. I wouldn't say it's a great idea to play one your first time, but as a challenge run with ONLY bow damage allowed (other then a few firebombs needed for first boss, so you could say only bow and item damage), it's a blast. Was a great mix up for me on my 4th run through the game.

[4FCG]

I had some guy 2 shot me with that avelyn, I was baffeled.

[Wade the Wilson]

Oh, also with bows, make sure to use the rolling attack. You get a SUPER fast shot off right after rolling, it is the most useful shot for bosses, and will help with PvP a bit too. Often catches people by surprise that don't use bows.

[Hunubul]

Ok. I'm gonna say how it is: PvE yes; PvP NO!

[Gren]

A Bow build is not viable at the beginning of the game, but if you get the composite bow and the hawk ring and a few other items. I've seen it work and chunk the twin princes with the weapon art for about 1000+ Dmg. So yes you could use it, would recommend the twin brigand daggers, and put in just enough faith and int for stone flesh to poise through invaders, it has quick step so you can over come the slow walk. Then use the composite bow for rapid firing which will cause a lot of damage as I said. Use Hawk ring for little added range, hunter ring for some added Dex, maybe the farron ring since you'll be using weapon arts a lot and maybe pontiff's right eye ring for successive attacks or the obscuring ring so you can ambush invaders. Use either Dark arrows, heavy arrows or feather arrows. An alternative to the fast firing composite would be the dragon rifer bow for higher damage/shot at the cost of fire rate.

[4FCG]

Wow nice necro