Throwing Axe +2 best ranged weapon?!
johntyl
Member Posts: 397
I just fled from Candlekeep after wiping Prat and his buddies and found myself a Throwing Axe +2 in my possessions. So I gave it to my main CHAR who has no pip in axes just to, you know, test it and I was stupefied at the amount of damage this crazy little thing dealt. I mean, just take a look at this:
Even without the critical hit, it was dealing an average of 18-20 damage per hit. If I were to give this to a dwarf fighter with grandmastery in axes and some pots of strength, is he gonna cheese the whole game?!
Even without the critical hit, it was dealing an average of 18-20 damage per hit. If I were to give this to a dwarf fighter with grandmastery in axes and some pots of strength, is he gonna cheese the whole game?!
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For a character with high strength, throwing daggers are even crazier, since they are the only weapon that gets both a strength bonus and 2 base APR. Without any other equipment, a level 8 half-orc Kensai can throw three daggers per round for 1d4+13 damage each, averaging 46.5 total.
I think the rate of throwing axe is lower than bows, so an archer with a good bow and +2 arrows will deal more damage per round. Plus arrows can be fire, acid, detonation, dispell, etc.
I checked an old save from a game and a lv7 elven archer with shortbow and arrows +2 has THACO of 0, 3 APR and 13-18 damage. So he almost never misses (unless the enemy has AC -10) and deals 39-54 damage/round.
Nm, it was answered in a post above. And that's crazy, will try it out on a run someday.
1d6 +2 arrows +2 bow +2 archer +4 high mastery +2 gloves = 13-18
Alternatively, a half Orc berserker or kensei with throwing daggers could have:
1d4 +7 strength +2 kit +4 high mastery +2 gloves = 16-19
Which gives +6 damage per round extra on average. Additionally, DUHM and strength tome can add an extra 3 damage per hit bringing the total to a difference of 15 per round between the dagger thrower and the archer (THAC0 will be negligibly different as well).
The same on axe:
1d6+2 +10 strength +2 kit +4 high mastery +2 gloves = 21-26 which gives 47 average per round compared to the archers 46.5 damage per round.
So the axe wins vs the archer! But not vs daggers. Some dual class builds like assassin -> fighter will beat the builds above due to GM but that's getting a bit too specific for my taste.
TL:DR:
Thrown Dagger > Thrown Axe +2 > Archer w/short bow +2 and +2 arrows
Arrows of Detonation are of course the beez knees of ranged weapons but they are better off in the hands of an assassin or a blackguard due to the AoE poison application.
But I didn't know the poison applied to the fireball from arrows of detonation!
arrows of dispelling
arrows of detonation
arrows of slaying
arrows of biting
Axes indeed inflict more damage but you need those arrows in especially tough encounters (such as the Sarevok fight of even the Iron Throne fight)
You don't get a magical returning axe until very late in BGEE, and throwing daggers are a pain to manage in your inventory and are very heavy. Meanwhile, excellent bows and crossbows are available very early, and you can actually use the quiver slots to make your inventory a bit cleaner.
And then there's the ammo. In BGEE, Acid Arrows add 2d6 acid damage with no save for an extra 7 damage on average, and you have a variety of useful utility arrows.
(One shouldn't discount crossbows either, as The Army Scythe firing Bolts of Lightning is nothing to sneeze at.)
This flips around in BG2EE, because apparently Amnish fletchers aren't very good; elemental arrows do much less damage (acid arrows only add 1d3 instead of 2d6), utility arrows are much less common, and enchanted arrows have lost their damage bonuses entirely. Meanwhile, you can get a magical throwing axe from Ribald or the Temple Sewers, the Boomerang Dagger from the Bridge District, and now you can even import a +3 Sling if you've a mind to.
On Kiel's Buckler: It all depends on where your Dex is at. Going from 19 to 20 gives you nothing but thieving skill adjustments. If you start with an 18 and use the Tome of Dex, the buckler isn't going to help you aside from the AC bump. 20-21 gives you a boost to AC and ranged attack rolls, though, so if you wanted to make a Halfling or Elf thrower/slinger, that could be fun if you're willing to lose the Strength of a half-orc.