Mighty Bows

[Vogar Eol]

Lately I've been playing around with a couple of archer builds. I've noticed that all the readily available bows (even "Epic" bows) have fairly low mighty. It even looks like some may have been changed in the recent past to have lower mighty.

Are +8 Mighty bows still around? What's the highest that can currently be obtained?

[Tsidkenu]

The RIG (Random Item Generator) can throw out some +8s but they're not common. They are always Duskwood, because that material gives an innate +6 Mighty on top of whatever random RIG enhancement gets thrown in as well.

[Vogar Eol]

So basically the RIG rolls a +2 Mighty and Duskwood, and that combo produces a +8 mighty?

[Tsidkenu]

Yeah something like that. I think there's even been some +10 ones but i haven't seen any of those on auction or similar for quite some time (~2 years).

[mrm3ntalist]

The bentwood bow is the only bow with high might. The epic version has +8. Its unlikely to find a bow with a higher mighty value

[Vogar Eol]

The bentwood bow in the shop I saw doesn't have +8 Mighty anymore. I do have an old one though, but like the above player, I could have sworn I've seen +9 and +10 random items in the past.

It kind of annoys me that if you want strength-based range damage, you can't go bow very easily. Sure, Dex works great with a lot of bow builds, but Str/Wis Ranger is still a thing.

[Tsidkenu]

Go sling then. They have unlimited mighty and you can use them with a shield

[scriver]

Do slings count as a throwing weapon for purposes of the STR-based throwing feat?

[KOPOJIbPAKOB]

Do slings count as a throwing weapon for purposes of the STR-based throwing feat?

No, otherwise they would have been imbalanced.

[Vogar Eol]

Slings work like throwing weapons for damage output. They still use dexterity or wisdom for AB.

Frankly I would think Brutal Throw and the insane sling builds out there both justified more Mighty on bows.

[Sun Wukong]

Well... and again... with throwing weapons you can only get 'a stack of 1000+' throwing weapons with mundane iron throwing weapons. Special throwing weapons will be limited to just 50 per stack, without the auto re-equip like you have with quivers of arrows, bolts, or sack of bullets.

Brutal Throw builds are great. I got one. A bard. But... you know... it is still a hassle.

[TeoDeathDealer]

Don't wish to hijack the threat, but I will anyway.

Anyone have a good mighty slinger build?

[chad878262]

Anyone have a good mighty slinger build?

Halfling Ra11/Ro10/WSS6/SD3 or Ra15/A9/WSS6 would be good for a few favored enemies and some sneak damage plus ricochet. For a non-halfling/non-WSS I like Ra21/A9 for any race with a sling (Bane of Enemies and Death Attack plus Manyshot). However, you can really go a lot of routes. If it were me, I think I would go for something like Ra13/F4/EA5/A8 which would provide a good mix of 4d6 damage out of stealth with Manyshot alongside Weapon Specialization/Ranged Mastery damage from fighter and a bit of extra damage from Elemental Archer and Ranger Favored Enemies. As an added bonus you get camouflage and other ranger goodies. Bane of Enemies is great for the +~7 damage, but F4/EA5 gives 6 damage to all enemies so seems overall a better pick in this case. Wood Elf makes a great slinger since they get +2 STR and DEX so would likely be my pick.



If anyone is looking for a decent (but not epic) sling, got one for sale here:
viewtopic.php?f=55&t=62147

[joleda]

Don't wish to hijack the threat, but I will anyway.

Anyone have a good mighty slinger build?

A few non-magical, non-Halfling, builds. Like anyone still makes twerps, haha!

Non-HIPS: 14 Fighter, 11 Hunter, 5 Elemental Archer

Non-HIPS:. 12 Fighter, 4 Rogue, 5 Elemental Archer, 9 Wilderness Stalker

Pre-epic HIPS:. 4 Fighter, 13 Ranger, 5 Elemental Archer, 8 Assassin

Epic HIPS:. 4 Fighter, 13 Hunter, 5 Elemental Archer, 8 Assassin (due to Many Shot at Hunter 10)

[chad878262]

Epic HIPS:. 4 Fighter, 13 Hunter, 5 Elemental Archer, 8 Assassin (due to Many Shot at Hunter 10)

This is why you go vanilla Ranger with such a build. Yest the 13d6 traps from Hunter are nice, but since the DC is low they are less appealing (especially if enemy has evasion). Ranger gets Rapid Shot at 2 and Manyshot at 6. Thus you could go Ra6/A8/F3/EA3 by 20, which has the downside of spending an epic feat on Ranged Mastery, but the upside of getting HiPS at 14... Or you could go Ra6/A7/F4/EA3 at 20, which allows an extra Epic Feat for something else, but delays HiPS until level 21. Hunter getting Manyshot at 10 delays your best feature (HiPS and Manyshot) until level 24 at best which will make leveling much less fun.