Bow Mechanics
 

On the Green server, are bow damage, criticals and To-Hit governed by dexterity, or strength?

+1

I want to answer more of your question then you wanted.

Bow damage is effected by your ATK rating, but the little detail here that makes it separate from other types of physical damage is that DEX has the formula in place of Strength (for melee) for bows. Keep in mind that just straight increasing your ATK rating is all you need to do to make bows hit harder though.

Now Dex also effects the rate at which you proc, and critically hit. Its a very small increase (and im not even sure how much per skill) until a number thats near 110, then it largely increases to a number close to 140 (so from around 100-150 is a huge jump), then its almost nothing past 140. You might ask, why don't I know, or why is it hard to calculate? Because 1) the numbers which have the largest percentage spikes are weird odd numbers not nice even ones like 120 or 130 etc, and 2) you have to parse a whole lot for each skill point you test with and that takes forever so not many people know

The bad news: Bows are dependant purely on dex for procs, damage, and everything - Its not the most powerful stat in the grand scheme of things.

The good news: Bows are dependant purely on dex for procs, damage, and everything - If you *really* wanted to be a better bow guy, you only need to worry about 1 Attribute (but also your ATK rating)

However, here's the big takeaway: bows aren't that great in this game overall. Don't focus on them. They are fun though and super powerful until around level 20 but they have a very flat damage curve throughout your characters life.

A cheap way to power level to 20 with a bow? Runed Oak Bow. Cheap. Powerful as hell.

There's some awesome velious bows eventually, but runed oak from that SK trent guy is legit all the way to 50.

It's better to use bows against rooted targets.

Kunark Disc True Shot + Windstriker Plane of Sky bow

= Arrows hitting your ass for 350. It's dangerous.

Dex = definitely improves bow damage.

I do disagree with the recommendation to just stick with Runed Oak bow. Yes it's a good value, not too expensive, reasonable range at 125, and a good ratio.

Why do I disagree:

• If you are using it to pull, i.e. mainly just a single shot: Get yourself a 150 range, 25 damage Rough Darkwood Recurve bow. Better range, and biggest hitter in the game.
  
• If you are using it to DPS, i.e. shooting repeatedly: Get yourself a 150 range Shaped Darkwood Compound bow. Extra range, and very similar DPS ratio to R.O.

Full disclosure: My main (Azleep) may be the only 202 skill fletcher on Green (that may not be true, but I'm the only one I see auctioning to sell darkwood bows in the EC tunnel), and I make and sell bows for fun, and nostalgia really (there's a whole story that goes with that, which I won't inflict on the reader unless someone expresses interest). So you can take my comments with a grain of salt if you like. But I think my comments are objective, accurate and valid.

I would buy both of your bows, but my troll is a wizard.

Can a rogue get a dex crit with a bow?

Unless they've fixed it, Archery damage is based on STR instead of DEX. See the thread entitled Archery uses STR instead of DEX!!!!

Everyone is saying Dex governs archery damage, because it's supposed to, and the Wiki says it does, and Brad McQuaid said it does. But it doesn't currently on P99. This may be an EQEmu code mistake.

The upside is that rangers can gear for Str to increase both their melee and archery damage.

It is str here, which is a good thing an lil bonus for rangers. Str = DMG Dex = critical chance / procs.

okay, so archery is bugged on green as well as blue. that's what i needed to know. so str actually governs atk as well?

thanks for the replies, everyone!