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Enchant weapon, Short bows vs Longbows??

VydanVydan Member Posts: 2
Yes I know.... the age long question... Now I know that in the past shortbows or crossbows won hands down due to some powerful magical items of these types that made it that you would have +4 or +5 ammo.
But now that ee has implemented the spell enchant weapon which can enchant your ammo and can now allow ranged weapons hit pretty.much anything, which do you think is better??
Short bows which have the rapid firing bow u get early on which will do less dmg but fire alot faster?
Or longbows which will fire slower but do more dmg?
And which longbow would be best?
Post edited by Vydan on

Comments

  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    i think that you have posted, possibly by error, using english language in the german language section.
    if you want you can ask to a moderator to move it in the english section of the forums.

    i prefer slings and returning daggers and in ee i make little use of bows, i also assume that the one that have to equip it is a fighter type, as rogues can not use long bows and casters can not use bows at all.
    i think that more apr is better then a little more damage, while ranged weapons that carry the str damage can make a big difference, adding up to 14 more dmg/hit. so for me is short bow. a lev13 fighter grandmaster in long bow has 4 apr, so he get only 8 dmg/round more using hearthseeker compared to a lev 13 grandmaster in short bow. i prefer to have 1 more chance to poison/disrupt with elemental damage or whatever then a little more physical damage, as the bonus of a long bow is only slightly superior to the damage of 1 more attack.
  • NaturalBornKielerNaturalBornKieler Member, Moderator, Translator (NDA) Posts: 407
    (Thread moved to English section)
    gorgonzola
  • Humanoid_TaifunHumanoid_Taifun Member Posts: 1,055
    @Vydan Longbows do not deal more damage than shortbows.
    They have a THAC0 bonus of -1.
    With the extra damage from enchantments missing in Baldur's Gate II, most longbows do less damage than the Tuigan shortbow (the bow with the extra attack).
    Composite bows get +1 on damage. That puts them on the same level as Tuigan by default.

    The Strongarm +2 with its +3 damage is the only bow that gives Tuigan any real competition.
    If you have a warrior of level 13 or greater with two or less points in ranged weaponry, Strongarm can beat Tuigan.
    Strongarm loses to Tuigan if any of the following conditions are true*:
    If you are below level 13, if you have more than 2 points in ranged weaponry, if you use ammunition that deals extra damage, if you have equipment like Legacy of the Masters, if you are an archer or any other kit that adds bonus damage to your attacks.

    * assuming you are not using Greater Whirlwind. In which case Strongarm always wins.

    But as @gorgonzola says, there are ranged weapons other than bows. Slings are very powerful. Since you need strength 19 in order to use Strongarm at all, any character who can use Strongarm would be very efficient with a sling.
    gorgonzola
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    @Humanoid_Taifun thank you, reading your post i realized that i was confusing hearthseeker, the bow that i mentioned, with strongharm, the one i really meant. the 8 dmg/round i was telling about are obtained with the latter.
  • Humanoid_TaifunHumanoid_Taifun Member Posts: 1,055
    edited April 2019
    Then your numbers are wrong. At 4 APR, Strongarm does 8 dmg/round more than a bow with a damage bonus +1 (any standard composite longbow).
    But Tuigan does not just grant you +1 dmg/round. It also grants you an extra attack. That means even without proficiency bonuses, Strongarm only has an advantage of 3.5 dmg/round. But you cannot get to 4 attacks per round without Grandmastery.

    So Tuigan ends up doing more damage per round.

    This is why I have edited my game files to give the endgame bows of Throne of Bhaal their enchantment bonuses in damage. I find it silly that a shortbow from the start of the game outperforms them so easily.
    gorgonzola
  • masteralephmasteraleph Member Posts: 270
    Tuigan will outdamage any of the longbows due to its extra apr.

    Gesen can outdamage Tuigan if you’re using non-auto generated arrows, but they’re neck and neck without the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Weapon Specialization, which can be tough to get in SoA.

    With (Greater) Whirlwind, Gesen with separate ammo outdamages all other bows, though the Fire tooth crossbow outdoes it.
  • gorgonzolagorgonzola Member Posts: 3,864
    does gesen and fire tooth damage still stack with the separate ammo one in EE? i was convinced that ee removed that feature.
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