[Firewind]

I have a question about Barrage and Bloody Bolts. Do they stack? I mostly use Longbows when in parties on RNG and usually macro in a Longbow for barrage so I didn't really think of testing it myself.

Anyway what effect does barrage have on the HP drain effect? Does it just work out the damage of the bolt and add the same HP drain a regular bolt would have done? Does it add HP drain for each bolt that hits? or does it simply just ignore the HP drain effect?

[Andrinor]

In my experience it just ignores the effect completely. Same thing with other status bolts and elemental/debuffing arrows. It would be great for example if the Holy Bolt effect procured on a full barrage, but alas, they just didn't let it work that way.

[Clever Ninja]

I'm just gonna assume that Barrage would work like any other ability, even though its several simultaneous attacks, and won't work with magic effects like Bolts/enSpells/Sambas/etc. I would have certainly heard about Barrage + Bloody Bolts equaling an uber heal if it was actually implemented.

Would be pretty sweet if it did/does work though.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

No proc effects stack on ranged bolts, when you Barrage with them, its just raw damage.

Considering the proc bolts tend to have lower damage, its better to use a standard high-damage bolt for barrage as opposed to any bolt with a proc effect.

Considering Holy Bolts are so cheap and actually do better damage than the rest of the bolts in general (sans colibri and endgame mobs), use Holys for TP, and best raw damage bolt you have access to for Barrage and Weapon Skills.

Bloody bolts are the most expensive proc bolt out there, so unless you're soloing, its best to use them sparingly.

[Firewind]

I found out the expense of status bolts the hard way. I got a little trigger happy so I blew more money than I really should have on it.

Thanks for answering my question anyway. It was something i was curious about and I didn't feel like pointlessly blowing away a bunch of expensive bolts just to see what happens. I think I'll keep to using longbows for Barrage. I generally prefer Longbows in parties and crossbows for solo/FoV anyway.

[Caspian]

Wait, you're switching weapons for barrage? Don't do that. All that sweet TP is for naught if you switch weapons. Do like BBQ said and just change ammo for barrages and tp moves. Darksteel bolts are great for barrages and a GMB (is that right? been too long since I last played) is great for Slugshots if US is up.

[Firewind]

No I don't switch weapons for Barrage. I usually do this (RNG is currently at 33):

TP to 100% with weapon of choice. I usually use Longbows but now I have access to Holy Bolts the damage is very attractive even if I can land Horn Arrows much more frequently.
Hit Sharpshoot
Hit Barrage
Use WS
Ranged Attack
WS again

If the mob is still alive at the end it's usually time to switch to a crossbow and bloody bolts. Then again taking into account the DPS from the rest of the DDs if the mob still has a notable amount of HP left after the RNG just used two Weaponskills and Barrage we're overpulling anyway.

I usually prefer Longbows in exp parties at my level (RNG33) because Horn and Silver Arrows are so cheap to spam the hell out of even if Bolt cases aren't that expensive

[Caspian]

Ah.
Are you using acids at the beginning of every fight for the def. down debuff and then reapplying everytime it wears? Other than that, use whatever bolts have the highest base damage for barrage and ws's.

[Firewind]

Just finished with a party getting my RNG up to 37 and wow Holy Bolt spams can produce ludicrous numbers. I found that arrows are more powerful with barrage but considering that i was shooting for 80-120 per shot (including Light effect) and that I could shoot two bolts for every swing of the DRK's G Axe and shot from the COR's gun I was easily outparsing the rest of the party with those bolts.

I love Longbows but wow spamming Holy Bolts really racks up the damage. it was the first time I ever got praised for managing to steal hate from a PLD, DRK and COR all going full out on exp mobs.

[Armando]

Yeah, Xbow is king. Not using Acid Bolts is a great disservice to the party and costs you way more damage than anything you could possibly do to make up for it.

The hot thing about Holy Bolts is that not only is their DPS insane, you only get hate a fraction of it. It's also a lot easier to raise the light proc damage since it's a straightforward 1 MND -> 1 damage relationship if I remember correctly.

[Malacite]

Originally Posted by Omgwtfbbqkitten

No proc effects stack on ranged bolts, when you Barrage with them, its just raw damage.

Hate to beat on the dead horse here but this only makes me further question why the hell they put "Enhances Barrage" on the Mythic Xbow rather than enhancing bolt effects >_>

Would making acids lower more def and holy bolts hit harder etc been that hard to do? Also isn't there a cap on how much you can push holy bolt damage by adding on MND?

So yeah, for barrage you'll want to use Mythril and later Darksteel Bolts rather than your bread & butter acids and holy. Also keep in mind Puks are outright immune to acid bolts and Colibri resist the crap out of them (I think I've only ever seen it proc once on a colibri) which is a damn shame because otherwise RNG would destroy the Nyzul camp with an Obow.

[Firewind]

Well I was only levelling RNG to sub for my COR but I'm had a lot of fun with RNG so I might carry that on if COR doesn't work out.

I've read a few guides and for Crossbows it says Acid for Pulling, Holy for TP and Mythril/Darksteel to WS and Barrage. Bloody are for when the WHM forgets to drop a regen on you when you get back to camp and sleep are for when the sleepers are sleeping.

I got bored and tested out the damage of a Longbow barrage compared to a Crossbow barrage and Logbows generally hit harder due to the higher base damage and Ranged Acc bonuses on the bows and ammo. I noticed the TP gain upon using Barrage with crossbows plummet due to no Ranged Acc bonuses on the ammo and crossbow. Although the rate of fire of crossbows do make up for how inaccurate they are. Even with +Ranged acc gear and a Hunter's Roll of 11 I still see crossbows whiffing more often than I would like compared to Longbows or even swinging my dagger.

Longbows look cooler though and are nice if the party is killing so fast it just doesn't seem worth using bolts or you're fighting something that resists acid/holy bolts. That and they look cooler.

[Andrinor]

As you progress with RNG and get more ACC gear and traits, you will see the accuracy for X-Bows and Bows pull much more even.

Agree with what everyone has said. X-Bows have always been a great choice for RNGs who are more concerned with effectiveness and helping the PT than they are with ePeen. Guns and Bows do hit harder, but the rapid rate of fire and additional effects of bolts make up for individual raw numbers. That's not to say you cannot be effective using Gun or Bow, but X-Bows have long been underutilized (even when RNG was a more popular job).

[Armando]

Although the rate of fire of crossbows do make up for how inaccurate they are. Even with +Ranged acc gear and a Hunter's Roll of 11 I still see crossbows whiffing more often than I would like compared to Longbows or even swinging my dagger.

Huh? Do you have a parse to back that up? X-Bow and Archery, if you have equal skill in both, should be equally accurate. Unless, of course, you're standing at the same distance for both, since they have different sweet spots.

Maybe you're just noticing more misses because you're shooting more (although that's usually the opposite of what people do - demonize high Delay weapons because of how painful it "feels" when they miss and have to wait for the next attack round.)

[Andrinor]

Originally Posted by Armando

X-Bow and Archery, if you have equal skill in both, should be equally accurate.

Very true. I assumed what he was noticing was the +5 ACC buff on the arrows in addition to whatever ACC he's getting from his bow choice. At low levels without a lot of ACC gear available, this could account for an accuracy difference.