question about augment on my bow

[SotvānZander]

hey everyone so I got the shaft streamstone now I can augment my valos II bow I have it capped with dragon attack is affinity better or attack damage?
thank you I am a noob every bet of tip helps.

[Lack of Stuff]

For bows always go affinity at least for the first augment unless you somehow have 100% without the augment.

[SotvānZander]

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

For bows always go affinity at least for the first augment unless you somehow have 100% without the augment.

ah ok thx no I donot have much affinity just 5% lol

[Venusgate]

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

[SotvānZander]

Originally posted by Venusgate:

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

I see question for you, so should I change my charm from attack to the one charm that give affinity?

[Stationary Traveller]

Originally posted by Sage Hoss:

Originally posted by Venusgate:

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

I see question for you, so should I change my charm from attack to the one charm that give affinity?

You should use Fitness Charm then use decos or armor skills to increase your affinity (Weakness Exploit, Critical Eye, Agitator...)

[CourtesyFlush09]

LOVE the Velos. It makes quick work of any elder dragon if you know what to aim for. Personally, I always go with health augments for all weapons (and 1 affinity for most Diablos and Jho weapons).

[IrisMachina]

bows affinity all the way
happy hunting

[tag545]

for bows your priorities are critical element, mighty bow, 3 fitness from the charm (+ dash juice), the element for that specific bow, then finally affinity

for other weapons you could argue the benefits of 4 attack, but with bow the crit elemental damage outweighs the benefits from that so affinity should be your goal after the 3-4 element for you decos.

for augment only affinity is really worth it. the health augment is weak for bow since it only counts the damage of 1 arrow per shot and attack does almost nothing vs affinity.

edit
adjust builds from vid to fit your needs by swapping in some survivability decos as needed
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lWPoPrv4g4&t=188s

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by Venusgate:

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

The problem with health agument is that there is a short cooldown between procs. On most melee weapons this doesn't matter, the time between melee hits is usually longer than the cooldown, so every hit heals you. On the bow however this means that only one arrow out of every shot heals.

Most guides will say that bow healing aug is not worth it because you get so little healing relative to the damage you do. Also bow users are more likely to just get 1-shot so healing doesn't matter as much.

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush90:

LOVE the Velos. It makes quick work of any elder dragon if you know what to aim for. Personally, I always go with health augments for all weapons (and 1 affinity for most Diablos and Jho weapons).

Elder Dragons are not weak to dragon damage. Velos is not the WORST bow on most elder dragons, but it's never the best either.

[Rinto]

Originally posted by Venusgate:

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

theres not chip dmg for bow user, you either got one shotted or almost got one shot, you sheet and heal either way

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by Rinto:

Originally posted by Venusgate:

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

theres not chip dmg for bow user, you either got one shotted or almost got one shot, you sheet and heal either way

It's extremely niche but auras still do chip.

[CourtesyFlush09]

Originally posted by Sotanaht:

Originally posted by Venusgate:

affinity is always better than attack damage until you reach 100% affinity (including weakness exploit). I'd argue bow is on the edge of having health regen be the priority, though. Unlike the bowguns, you have to stay a lot closer and unless you're 1337 pro gamer, you are going to take chip damage.

The problem with health agument is that there is a short cooldown between procs. On most melee weapons this doesn't matter, the time between melee hits is usually longer than the cooldown, so every hit heals you. On the bow however this means that only one arrow out of every shot heals.

Most guides will say that bow healing aug is not worth it because you get so little healing relative to the damage you do. Also bow users are more likely to just get 1-shot so healing doesn't matter as much.

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush90:

LOVE the Velos. It makes quick work of any elder dragon if you know what to aim for. Personally, I always go with health augments for all weapons (and 1 affinity for most Diablos and Jho weapons).

Elder Dragons are not weak to dragon damage. Velos is not the WORST bow on most elder dragons, but it's never the best either.

Wait, doesn't it constantly get rid of their auras? Have I been fooled this entire time!!!??

[Lack of Stuff]

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush90:

Originally posted by Sotanaht:

The problem with health agument is that there is a short cooldown between procs. On most melee weapons this doesn't matter, the time between melee hits is usually longer than the cooldown, so every hit heals you. On the bow however this means that only one arrow out of every shot heals.

Most guides will say that bow healing aug is not worth it because you get so little healing relative to the damage you do. Also bow users are more likely to just get 1-shot so healing doesn't matter as much.

Elder Dragons are not weak to dragon damage. Velos is not the WORST bow on most elder dragons, but it's never the best either.

Wait, doesn't it constantly get rid of their auras? Have I been fooled this entire time!!!??

Elderseal can reduce or get rid of auras but it's not consistent and there's mostly no aura worth sealing that justifies the reduction in damage compared to using a better bow.

[CourtesyFlush09]

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush90:

Wait, doesn't it constantly get rid of their auras? Have I been fooled this entire time!!!??

Elderseal can reduce or get rid of auras but it's not consistent and there's mostly no aura worth sealing that justifies the reduction in damage compared to using a better bow.

Ahhhh good to know. Thanks.

[Sotanaht]

Originally posted by Lack of Stuff:

Originally posted by CourtesyFlush90:

Wait, doesn't it constantly get rid of their auras? Have I been fooled this entire time!!!??

Elderseal can reduce or get rid of auras but it's not consistent and there's mostly no aura worth sealing that justifies the reduction in damage compared to using a better bow.

Just to put things in perspective, with my current gearset and full buffs (I think there's some room for improvement on my thunerbow), Hazok Velos hits Kushala Daora in the head for 246 on a level 4 powershot, while Tarroth Arrow Thunder hits for 296. I think I can probably improve that to ~300.

In any case, we are talking about a 20% damage difference, and the percentage gap gets bigger when you aren't running full buffs/power coatings because all those things buff raw. Kushala is a relatively good case for dragon damage too.