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Archery - the finer points....A discussion of using the right arrow for the right critterSomeone asked me about some info on what I have learned about which arrows are best for which critters, and where to target on some of them. This info is good for crossbow too of course, and for the most part is the same with melee weapons and mages. Of course, an archer has a bit of an easier time carrying an assortment of arrows for various creatures than melee fighters - but not as easy a time as mages, that just have to carry a few additional components. Keep in mind that there is no best arrow for every creature. Even Greater AP arrows don't do much more damage to a golem than regular blunts, and are much more expensive. The differences between arrow types becomes more pronounced as the level of the monster increases, to the point where using the wrong arrow can make you feel like you've lost 10 levels from the amount of damage you are doing. First, a bit of an explanation on arrows in general, and why they seem to make archers so powerful compared to comparable level melee fighters. You average melee weapon has a damage range that is expressed as 6-12 slashing or something akin. What that means, is discounting any other modifiers, that a Tachi will do ON AVERAGE as little as 6 or as much as 12 points damage, not counting crits, spells, or weapon resistance/vulnerability of the target. That is, some critters are more easily damaged by slashing (Drudges or Banderlings) while others are very resistant to slashing (Golems, Skeletons). A basic arrow, on the other hand, has a damage variation of only 25% compared to 50% for maces, hammers, swords and spears. This means at any given time, an arrow will hit for 8-11 points while the guy with the tachi might hit for as little as 6. Add to that the damage modifier of the bow and you understand why Archers can do the damage they do. It gets even better when you use AP or Frogcrotch arrows, and again when you use greaters. Some may think this is an unbalance of the game, and that it makes things unfair for melee fighters, but that is NOT nescessarily the case. Archers cannot carry a shield with their weapon, and unless they create a rather unique character (like Brell who has melee defence trained, and who truly is a tank with a melee defence of 320+ when fully buffed), they might not even have melee defence trained at all. With Brell I either evade, or take heavy damage - melee fighters take a little damage more of the time, but they dont have to evade all the time. Also the melee fighter will be able to hit 2-3 times for each arrow the Archer can fire, and thus make up for the damage difference. Elemental arrows add even more variance, since they can work either for or against you. Hit a Granite Golem with a blunt and you do ie. 25 pts damage. Hit him with an acid arrow, which can toast a Limestone Golem in 1 shot, and you do less than half what the blunt does. Likewise, using frost on a Lich will probably make him laugh, while fire can add the equivalent of 10 levels to your archer when fighting the undead. I literally equip Brell with an arrow assortment based on where and what I am hunting. For melee fighters, it is imperative that they carry with them a few different swords. Since Shadows are hurt more by fire and slashing than anything else, I suggest a good fire-sword. Limestone Golems dislike Acid, etc... Take the list from our Bestiary, and see what kind of critters you hunt the most, and use a comparable sword or UC weapon. Even if you best sword is a 8-16 base damage non-elemental sword, you will get more out of using a 5-10 damage Electrical Sword on Lugians, simply because electricity is their weakness. In areas with plenty of Lurkers, Stalkers and Raveners as well as granites and coppers, not to mention shadows of various types - I pack mostly Greater Blunts (drudges and golems), Greater Fire or Greater Frogs (shadows) and a few greater AP for the occasional annoying Monogua or Tumerok. My mix would change should I go looking for Mattekar hides or Virindi. Use your own judgement. Mages offcourse cant use the attack height as a factor, but they can use the attack type and the element. if you have doubts as to what arrows makes which kind of damage - right click an arrow and examine it - it will tell you what kind of damage it does - the same thing goes for UC weapons and for spells with Mages. Swordsmen can only do piercing and slashing damage (Piercing with low power-setting or using a Repier sword, slashing with high power-setting) but from the Bestiary you will see that this is exactly what the majority of the citters are vulnerable to. In cases where elementals weaknesses are listed, they will most often be my first choice to exploit. |
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