Crow crossbow or spider bow?

[CheersMate]

which one is better?

[Deadman]

I prefer the crossbows, you get a tier 3 crossbow as well.

[Jaggid Edje]

Depends on if you want high damage per shot, or faster shots. In different circumstances, different ones would be advantageous. The biggest downside of the crossbow is the long reload animation which you cannot cancel out of, so if you want to switch to melee in order to block....you can't until the animation finishes.

That said, I personally prefer the crossbow for the higher damage. I only use ranged as an opening salvo before switching to melee. I can see someone who uses range more frequently preferring the bow for the faster shot speed.
There is a tier 3 crossbow as well, though, as @Deadman said, and I don't think there's a tier 3 bow.

[Padgey]

I prefer the bow purely because you can’t cancel out the reload mechanic and if a bug gets too close the reload mechanic is so long for the crossbow that normally you get hit as you can’t block with any bow or crossbow but at least with a normal bow you have less time to weight so you can switch back to a shield or something quicker

[pcdeltalink]

I prefer crossbow. Yeah the reload sucks but the times I would use a ranged weapon I want the most damage possible per shot.

[rcummons]

basically if i make a ranged kiting build i use the crossbow because my goal is to never enter melee. if i am just wanting extra damage or use it for pulling, i use the insect bow.

[RequiemsRose]

I personally liked the bow better, but the crossbow is more practical for how my playstyle has been changing. Early game I was cheesing lots of things with the bow, things I 100% shouldnt be messing with but thanks to their limited pathfinding and bows range you can totally fight safely. Loved the bow for that because it was quick and easy basically. Could take pot shots on the run if something went wrong, shorter reload animation so its easier to defend yourself if something goes wrong, and I found it easier to be more pinpoint accurate with the bow if im trying to focus just one enemy in a group or something. Things go wrong a lot in early game though, hence the backup plans.

Now that I'm getting towards later game, and found myself loving axes the most (though this is late game so Im using a few other element/damage types to) I find I often use my bow to either pull one critter from a group so im not swarmed, to aggro bugs and lure them into better areas to fight, or to just completely take out lower health pests/scarabs in the area; which ultimately the crossbow is better for. The slower reload animation doesnt matter as much when you are either killing the bug in one shot, or letting it come to you from afar...as long as you dont get ambushed by something else.

[rcummons]

Yeah definitely use the insect bow for almost everything but hunting scarabs. i use the Ox crossbow and splinter arrows for scarabs and the insect bow for everything else.

[Subsonic]

Crossbow.