Are bows inferior to crossbows in general?

[vintran]

I personally prefer bows to crossbows and I've heard that they're mostly the lesser choice for a ranger in this game? However all the posts were from a year or 2 ago. Have they balanced it yet or is it still the same?

[Reaper21666]

Crossbows tend to do more damage and I believe give a 5% accuracy bonus.
But they also have a movement penalty.
I suppose it depends on your build and the need for mobility and how good the individual bow/crossbow is when you find it.

[vintran]

Originally posted by Reaper21666:

Crossbows tend to do more damage and I believe give a 5% accuracy bonus.
But they also have a movement penalty.
I suppose it depends on your build and the need for mobility and how good the individual bow/crossbow is when you find it.

Well the general consensus I got is that rangers don't really need to move much and when they do there's plenty of mobility spells for that.

[Chaoslink]

Exactly. Most movement can be done by abilities and you’ll have the tactical retreat skill pretty early. That haste effect boosts the mobility that the crossbow takes. Save for something like 20% crit, the base damage of a crossbow will generally outweigh the stats on a good bow roll. I’d be more than happy to look at your two ranged weapons in a screenshot and analyze them with you should you like. Never underestimate a higher base damage.

[vintran]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Exactly. Most movement can be done by abilities and you’ll have the tactical retreat skill pretty early. That haste effect boosts the mobility that the crossbow takes. Save for something like 20% crit, the base damage of a crossbow will generally outweigh the stats on a good bow roll. I’d be more than happy to look at your two ranged weapons in a screenshot and analyze them with you should you like. Never underestimate a higher base damage.

Oh haha I haven't even started the game yet. I always like archer classes in my RPGs and the recent ones that I played all have no such thing! I just find it weird for elves to use a crossbow and not a bow

[Chaoslink]

Its a little less weird when you see a few of them. Still, they're pretty interchangable. I don't really notice when I change between them honestly.

[FDru]

I thought bows had a higher arc when firing, which made them more useful when shooting down some ledges where crossbows would just hit the ground. But maybe that was just my imagination.

[DaHotFuzz]

Have high a huntsman skill combined with a strong crossbow for maximum damage and you won't worry about the movement penalty. I hardly ever move my ranger once he's on high ground anyway. In situations where his movement is out of my control (teleportation) or I put myself in a bad spot, then yeah it's not favorable. But ya overall bows are weaker and for the duration of my playthrough I've stuck with crossbows probably 80% of the time

[mainer]

I'm finding that crossbows are superior to bows, more so in DOS2 than DOS1. They definitely do more damage, and the -1 movement penalty can usually be offset by equipment that has movement bonuses (which seems fairly frequent). As someone mentioned, archers can also get the "tactical retreat" skill which is huge for moving. I also seem to find more unique & legendary crossbows (either as loot or w/ merchants) than bows. And the height advantage for an archer is a huge advantage.


https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197979849651/screenshots/?appid=435150

[Player 2]

i prefer a bow because its much cooler. just like i never use a wand because its so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ lame