Versatile Bow Builds?

[HP Office InkJet Pro 6978]

I'm trying to get into using the bow but man it's way harder to use when I don't have armor that compliments it specifically. I'm not really looking for builds to maximize DPS, I'm looking more for consistency and flexibility so I'm wanting a fair amount of evade window and definitely max earplugs (rolling through roars is a big pain for me so I'd rather just have this anyways). Any suggestions?

[Popcorn]

Just max out EW to 5 and you're good.
You dont need EP for roars, cuz EW5 is also good for attacks as well.

Otherwise, if youre already done with the game and got Fatalis' set, just use that one

[HP Office InkJet Pro 6978]

Originally posted by Popcorn:

Just max out EW to 5 and you're good.
You dont need EP for roars, cuz EW5 is also good for attacks as well.

Otherwise, if youre already done with the game and got Fatalis' set, just use that one

I already am running with high EW. My issue is stuff like stamina consumption and a lack of skills that benefit bow. Also I've only just finished the Iceborne story last night. I'm not really anywhere near getting super endgame gear atm. I do want some decent DPS, but not like sacrificing all mobility and utility options for theoretical massive damage kinda builds. Basically a good learning build that won't make me still consistently finish a given quest with only a minute to spare if I'm not playing like ♥♥♥♥.

[Keoul]

It's a bit of a waste to have EW 5 and EP maxed out, you should definitely just practice so you can dodge those roars. Bow should be dodging around all the time anyway so it's not like you gotta worry too much about being locked in an animation like most melee weapons where you'd benefit more from EP. Constitution 3 is the minimum IIRC and if possible you'd want some Stamina Surge too so you can keep dodging and firing. Other than that then it's just the standard crit and elemental stuff. Weakness Exploit, Critical Element and max out whatever element your bow is.

[CookedMeat]

There's no easy way to play bow. You just gotta gid g...

The only essential skill for Bow if Might Bow jewel that unlocks third level of charging. The second most important skill is Spread+ or Normal+, depending on how you would like to play.
Constitution level 3 is enough if you always kept the Dash Juice buff activated.

Evade Window 5 is hardly gonna fit with Earplug 5 if you're only at the point of beating Iceborne. You can only choose 1. Learning to roll Roar is extremely beneficial to Bow player since you'll be constantly side stepping during fights anyway. Always bring the Evade Mantle so you get rewarded for a good evade timing (massive DPS boost).

For bow you usually want to have a build for each element, thus 5 total builds (or at least 1 build but 5 bows). This is not for keeping your DPS optimized, but to make your DPS not suck. (Bow doesn't work well without element unless the raw attack is substantially higher, which is kinda the case for Fatalis bow). Though, I would still say elementless bow build is viable, since you can save slots for comfy skills. (Provided you don't mind spending ~20 minutes per quest.)

I can't remember exactly what build I was using post-Iceborne credit. Probably a combination of Velkana 2 pcs + anything that keeps my affinity at 100%. But this is for elemental builds.

[ominumi]

I'm not sure what's your playstyle for bow is. My guess is you're side stepping for charging. So you need Constitution 5. Stamina Surge 3 if you can find it. But those two skills don't show up on many armor. That'll limit your offensive skills. Evade Window is iffy. You should be in good position to avoid attacks rather than rolling through them.
Sucks there's no armor set builder online where we can exclude certain armor pieces.

[CookedMeat]

Constitution effect stacks with Feline's Blackbelt and Dash Juice.
IIRC, the latter 2 effect is roughly 1 level of Constitution, and Constitution's effect cannot surpass level 5 (50%). So depending on they way you play you can save some slots from Constitution.

[ominumi]

Originally posted by CookedMeat:

Constitution effect stacks with Feline's Blackbelt and Dash Juice.
IIRC, the latter 2 effect is roughly 1 level of Constitution, and Constitution's effect cannot surpass level 5 (50%). So depending on they way you play you can save some slots from Constitution.

You're making a big assumption OP has 500 dash juice to spend on every quest and every cart.

[Hammer Of Evil]

Originally posted by ominumi:

Originally posted by CookedMeat:

Constitution effect stacks with Feline's Blackbelt and Dash Juice.
IIRC, the latter 2 effect is roughly 1 level of Constitution, and Constitution's effect cannot surpass level 5 (50%). So depending on they way you play you can save some slots from Constitution.

You're making a big assumption OP has 500 dash juice to spend on every quest and every cart.

uhh, im not sure cause i havent actually finished any of my bow builds yet, but if dash juice doesn't have an IB equivalent, you can get a lot of them from farming 'a rush of blood' event quest with MR gear, the odies drop a lot, and you can listen to megaman chiptunes while you farm it.

playing with dash juice is amazing for bow, highly recommend it.

[FrozenFruit]

I suggest using Tentacle Coil Alpha + and Tentacle Greaves Beta +.
It gives you Constitution lv2, Stamina Surge lv3 and Element Acceleration.
Element acceleration is very good on the bow because the bow is better with element damage and it is easy to activate the skill.
Fill the rest of the armour piece with skills that you want.
Since you are not looking for a max DPS build, you don't need critical eyes, critical boost or critical elements. Skills that you are looking for are Constitution lv5, Stamina Surge lv3, health boost lv3, Bow Charge Plus lv1 and element damage lv 6.

p.s you can craft a Bow Charge Plus lv1 with the melder

[FrozenFruit]

For example, a Thunder bow build with most rare 10 armours could look like this.
Tentacle Coil Alpha +, Tentacle Greaves Beta +, Odogron Vambraces, Tigrex mail B+, Ingot B+. Then fill-up the rest of skill with deco and charm

[Zand]

The Azure Era set is the quickest and easiest way to get a decent bow set with True Critical Element and it can be mixed with Silver Rath later so I suggest you do the event quests that allow you to craft it.

[HP Office InkJet Pro 6978]

Originally posted by FrozenFruit:

For example, a Thunder bow build with most rare 10 armours could look like this.
Tentacle Coil Alpha +, Tentacle Greaves Beta +, Odogron Vambraces, Tigrex mail B+, Ingot B+. Then fill-up the rest of skill with deco and charm

Those 2 comments were very helpful and I was able to write up a comfy looking set for me. Basically I'd end up just replacing the head with Seething Beetlejuice B+ and the odogaron arms with Kush Arms B+. I also might try and get a Master Charm and see how high I can upgrade that. I might be able to get it to level 3 pretty easily. With the jewels I already have I was able to max out earplugs, get EW 4, and somehow had enough slots to spare that I could get crit eye 5, crit boost 1, true shot 1, and then the basics like health. Obviously I should do without earplugs like people have been saying but I honestly would just rather not worry about roars for the time being. I think I also have a free tier 4 jewel slot left too and my weapons could probably fit more.

[FrozenFruit]

happy that helped. Once you reach MR100, you can use gramma for water or thunder bow builds.

[CookedMeat]

Originally posted by ominumi:

You're making a big assumption OP has 500 dash juice to spend on every quest and every cart.

I'm sorry, is this some sort of peasant joke that I'm too rich to understand?

Anyway, judging from the fact that OP wants so many comfy skills yet still wants to deal decent damage, the mass extinction of Diabolos family is a little price to pay.