Bow/Boomerang/Crossbow/Insults

[Oregonaut]

Ok, as a WAR, is it worth it for me to worry about Archery or Marksmanship Weapon Skills? Or should I go with a Boomerang since it doesn't require ammunition, even though it has no Weapon Skills?

I've been using a Light Crossbow currently, and that's just so I can distance claim mobs so mage types don't beat me to the punch. However, I'm not so totally hooked on it that I wouldn't trade it in for something that will be more useful in the long term.

Anyone have any experience to share? Or does it really just not matter at all for WARs?

[Jei]

If you only use it for pulls, it doesn't matter really. I used boomerang too up until 30 then I switched to acid bolts for the defense down effect. It was pretty hard to hit even with cap marksman skill and all the +R ACC gears I macro on, but still nice when they do.

After 40 or so my war rarely had to pull at all. And later on once you wear bomb core you don't want to throw that xD

[Tirrock]

For pulling as WAR...doesn't really matter too much. You won't likely land bolts enough for the defense down to make a massive difference, but acid bolts are definitely the best thing to pull with in exp.

If nothing else, it's sort of like a free skill-up for when you solo. Bloody/Sleep/Acid/Blind bolts save lives while solo. D:

[Armando]

If you keep it marksmanship capped (easier said than done; the only easy way to do it is 1) sleep bolt mobs to death, 2) shoot worms and take Stone/ga casts, or 3) get high level help to tank mobs) you can act as a ghetto RNG as WAR/RNG (landing Acid Bolts on mobs.) Other than that, you don't have to worry about it. It's a nice option to have, but most people won't expect a WAR to have capped ranged skills, and they probably wouldn't be very enthusiastic about a WAR/RNG anyways. It IS extremely useful for soloing, though.

[Ghostraven]

Exactly, you can't use ranged weapon skills without sub /rng anyways

unless I'm mistaken?

[Spinnthrift]

Definately worth having capped Marksmanship as a Warrior for things like Promyvion Missions.

War + Thugs Zamburak +1 = dead Strays and Def Down Bosses.

Might want to level Thf for it, but it's definately worth keeping capped for level 30 at the bare minimum.

[Murphie]

Exactly, you can't use ranged weapon skills without sub /rng anyways

unless I'm mistaken?

You're not mistaken. I mean, it's still handy to carry around some status bolts (especially when solo) but nothing I'd require of a WAR in my party.

[Jei]

you can land bolts consistantly with war? I don't know, those strays are dead within 2 swings normally xD
If you're into marksmanship, level up ranger. You'll cap them while in PT no problem.

[Oregonaut]

So it is looking to me that Crossbow is the winner. Cool, thanks everyone!

[Kakusaijin.]

Bomb Core, in the long run, will end up being the winner.

But if you want to have a ranged weapon levelled, Marksmanship is very good.

A friend of mine is currently 72 Warrior, and he has been using Acid Bolts since the very first level he could. Right now, he uses Tracker's Kecks and things like that to make sure that the bolts land in a consistent manner. You'd think that he wouldn't land them, and a lot of times he has a little bit of trouble, but all of the times I've exp'd with him, he hasn't had extensive problems. And they really do help the entire party. Some of my best Blade: Jins have come from those Acid Bolt'd mobs. Don't let anyone pressure you to buy a Bomb Core, because you can absolutley get by with Acid Bolts.

Bloody Bolts are probably good to pull with, and landing an Acid Bolt after the tank provokes is the way to go. That's what he does, and it seems to work for him. He's a Taru, though. So I guess the Bloody Bolts are to keep his tiny HP pool full as much as possible. ^^;

[Feba]

I love my xbow. I usually don't need to use it in XpPT, but when soloing, Bloody Bolts are a godsend. I'd rather have a stack of Bloody Bolts than a stack of Shihei any day of teh week.

[Spinnthrift]

Eventually - the cost of Shihei will outweigh Bloody Bolts... 80 hp cured for 99x shots for 18k vs 3 saved hits for 99x shihei for 8k... when you start getting hit for single digits.. you can farm with B. Bolts to your hearts content.

[Feba]

18k!? Holy crap, they're like 10k on my server, max. I bought a stack of quivers for 100k..

[Armando]

Eventually - the cost of Shihei will outweigh Bloody Bolts... 80 hp cured for 99x shots for 18k vs 3 saved hits for 99x shihei for 8k... when you start getting hit for single digits.. you can farm with B. Bolts to your hearts content.Not to mention, the drain on Bloody Bolts actually does damage, whereas Utsusemi just slows you down.

[Ziero]

I use a CC boomerang in Exp pts now for the acc, but for solo I ALWAYS have my xbow. Acid, Bloody, Blind, SLeep and Holy Bolts are just AWESOME.

And in Promies, one holy bolt can take out a stray.

[Hubby]

Get a Bomb Core at 63 and make someone else pull.

[Mog]

It's always a good idea to skill up ranged whenever you can, but if it detracts from doing your real job, don't bother.

(I wish I could use ranged attack as a blm. Bah!)

[Raydeus]

I'd go with insults but that only works in Ballista anyway. :P


Xbow, bloody/acid/holy bolts for me, they rock at least up to lvl 40. I don't know after that because I don't have any dd job higher than that)