What are the worthful ranged weapons?

[nightshift]

I never unlocked ANY bows so far, ever in this game because shields work so great and using them became second nature. But now I'm thinking about trying them out, even recently got the Infinite one. Which seem to be the least appealing, but still.
Since the majority of players tend to favor ranged weapons instead of shields, I started this thread hoping that you could advise me what are the ones that are good and what are not. Which is your favourite and why. Is the repeater crossbow any good? I'm leaning towards the Quick bow and the Hunter's Longbow, but I want to hear the opinions of some of the seasoned ranged players. Thanks in advance!

[BronzyIsland]

repeater is great especially with a turret in front of you. it charges up now like lightning bolt.
infinite bow, repeater, and speedbow are the best imo

[Frozen Lipeh]

I like the Heavy Crossbow when it has the pierce all enemies flavour text.
Repeater Crossbow with some utility can be good also.
Never used the Hunter's Longbow, but would like to try.

[Epsilon Rose]

I'm a big fan of the quick bow, it fires faster than the other bows and can sustain crits from any range, if you're good about managing the number of arrows you have stuck in your target.

However, if you're doing a ranged run you need to have a shield or a grenade with the "drop arrows" enchantment, otherwise they won't be very useful against bosses. Also, the Watcher can be a bit of a pain, since you can't retrieve ammo that's stuck in the main body durring the tentacle phase.

[ChaosSabre]

Only good one is the repeater crossbow now that they made it you can auto fire it by holding attack button.

[Grayshift]

Quick Bow, Repeater, and Infantry Bow are all solid general purpose ranged bows.

Fire Brands are wonderful, especially if your other weapon has +100% on burning targets. They don't even have an ammo counter.

Throwing Knives pair spectacularly with the Dagger of the Sadistic Cult (crits on bleeding targets), and are the most convenient way of sniping annoying flying enemies.

[Mr. Buckaroo]

Generally the worth of a ranged weapons rely on how you use them. I use the velmont's whip and the bow I can never remember the name of, the one that inflicts criticals at close range.

[Epsilon Rose]

Originally posted by The Holy Roman Empire:

Generally the worth of a ranged weapons rely on how you use them. I use the velmont's whip and the bow I can never remember the name of, the one that inflicts criticals at close range.

That would be the infantry bow. It works well as a main weapon or a secondary weapon for, relatively, safe and quick crits to recover HP.

[nairobi]

In overall you won't know if you don't experience it. It all depends on your playstyle. I find throwing knives very useful, and they are default weapons. Run around with them and see for yourself if you like killing from distance. Quick bow is meh, and hunter's longbow is in my opinion the weakest one, aside from bow and infinite arrows. Some people hate ice bow, but I love it. All are good if you keep them in the second slot.

Originally posted by The Holy Roman Empire:

Generally the worth of a ranged weapons rely on how you use them. I use the velmont's whip and the bow I can never remember the name of, the one that inflicts criticals at close range.

Infantry bow, the melee weapon which crits every time and has ammo.

[No_Whey]

Depends on what you're looking for. A support/secondary for safety clearing out-of-the-way or otherwise difficult to hit enemies like fliers? Throwing Knives are top tier, as they track enemies, and Firebrands are excellent ground clear that can easily nab fliers with a "fires arrow upwards" affix.

For a damage-focused secondary or a melee replacement, either Infantry Bow or Heavy Crossbow can do well, though Heavy C.bow has a bit of wind-up you'll need to get used to. Having not yet unlocked Repeater C.bow (have the blueprint, just gotta grind some cells), I can't speak to its effectiveness in this role, but from what I've read it's a strictly better Heavy C.bow. I'd also put Lightning Bolt forward as a good choice here. Yes, it's got a wind-up like Heavy C.bow, but it continues doing damage as long as you hold the button (though watch out for the blowback) and doesn't have ammo to lose.

Hunter's Bow can be alright, but you really need to learn the distance on the crit trigger before it really becomes "good."

[nightshift]

Thanks for the suggestions.
Throwing knives I tend to use sometimes (kinda like the ones that also poison-clouds the target) along with the Sadist Sword, but not much else and that is already unlocked from the start of the game.
I have to say the recommendations are not what I expected though. Most ranged weapons that were mentioned are only useful in close range, but then I'm better going melee + shield (and they even has a windup?) And their damage is way too low compared to the melee weapons and can only be useful within the distance when the enemy can already jump at you. The distance of the ever popular Repeater Crossbow is basically the one where all enemy proceeds with a melee dash anyway (not to mention the Heavy Crossbow and the Infantry Bow). Zombies, Shield Bearers, Slashers, Spinners, Meat Grinders, the Hookshots... they are laundhing an attack already when getting in range. And most levels feature tight corridors when you're already toe to toe with the enemy from the start, then it's just better to go melee even without a shield.
So I still fail to see the usefulness in them... but whatever. Maybe I find a video featuring a good ranged run, that should be relatively easy right, as most players go ranged instead of shields... but so far I'm still yet to see that video.

[Epsilon Rose]

Originally posted by nightshiftgamer:

Thanks for the suggestions.
Throwing knives I tend to use sometimes (kinda like the ones that also poison-clouds the target) along with the Sadist Sword, but not much else and that is already unlocked from the start of the game.
I have to say the recommendations are not what I expected though. Most ranged weapons that were mentioned are only useful in close range, but then I'm better going melee + shield (and they even has a windup?) And their damage is way too low compared to the melee weapons and can only be useful within the distance when the enemy can already jump at you. The distance of the ever popular Repeater Crossbow is basically the one where all enemy proceeds with a melee dash anyway (not to mention the Heavy Crossbow and the Infantry Bow). Zombies, Shield Bearers, Slashers, Spinners, Meat Grinders, the Hookshots... they are laundhing an attack already when getting in range. And most levels feature tight corridors when you're already toe to toe with the enemy from the start, then it's just better to go melee even without a shield.
So I still fail to see the usefulness in them... but whatever. Maybe I find a video featuring a good ranged run, that should be relatively easy right, as most players go ranged instead of shields... but so far I'm still yet to see that video.

You keep saying that most players go ranged instead of shields, but it's not really an either/or thing. Some ranged weapons can be used off hand to replace a shield, but a lot of them would be used as main weapon, in conjunction with a shield, since succesful parries can restore ammo and bows can do pleanty of damage.