Range bow damage - dex or str?

[Anxarcule]

Thinking about starting a ranger down the line and am trying to understand if dexterity is worth investing in for ranged combat. As I understand dex affects bow damage and hit rate (str has 0 effect on ranged weapons), though on the Game Mechanics page it states that archery has no damage bonuses. is there a formula that demonstrates stat level with added damage (e.g. for every 5 dex above 100 +1 damage)?

There is an interesting thread from 2016 that states str is used instead of dex - was this fixed at some point between now and then? the wiki on patch notes seems to refer to original EQ timeline, not p1999 patches

[Imago]

On P99 you want STR, not DEX, for bow damage on a ranger.

[Anxarcule]

Thanks for the clarification - seeing you have a 60 ranger I imagine this is accurate. Do you have any idea the +str to + dmg ratio, from your experience?

[Anxarcule]

Also, is dex still relevant for bow accuracy or is that also str? (would edit previous post but looks like too much time has passed)

[YendorLootmonkey]

Unless you're playing on Red and worried about PVP, bow damage isn't really compelling enough to worry about during the lifetime of the server due to lack of Luclin-era EQ/AM3 AAs, except for 2 mins of Trueshot every 72 mins with a very small subset of endgame bows. At that point, you will be max STR and pretty close on DEX anyway.

Bowkiting is tedious.

In most cases, you are doing max DPS with melee weapons unless you've neglected to upgrade.

[Anxarcule]

I know doing a bow ranger (especially pre-kunark/velious) may be tedious but it's something that I've been itching to try for some reason. Still going strong with my wizard for now so I probably have some time until the urge sinks in, but something about the unorthodox play style appeals to me

[YendorLootmonkey]

Originally Posted by Anxarcule [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I know doing a bow ranger (especially pre-kunark/velious) may be tedious but it's something that I've been itching to try for some reason. Still going strong with my wizard for now so I probably have some time until the urge sinks in, but something about the unorthodox play style appeals to me

I get it, but it will appeal to you for about 3 mobs.

The unorthodox playstyle of a ranger comes from its versatility, not so much the ability to bow-kite. Harmony-pulling singles out of Mistmoore or Unrest, tanking for your group... shit, here comes a roamer... swap targets and rootpark. Wizard just overnuked and got aggro, no problem... flame licked back onto you. Nice, a warrior just joined the group... shit, he can't hold aggro. Cast root or swap to Ebony Bladed Swords and proc root for him. Got a runner... uh oh... no problem, snared. Wizard's at 50% HP and cleric is healing the warrior... top him off with a few heals and go pull the next mob.

I can make the case that playing a defensive/utility ranger like this with STA/HP/AC/WIS gear vs. an offensive ranger with STR/DEX is more compelling gameplay.

[Philistine]

Originally Posted by YendorLootmonkey [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I can make the case that playing a defensive/utility ranger like this with STA/HP/AC/WIS gear vs. an offensive ranger with STR/DEX is more compelling gameplay.

I've attempted to gear my ranger based on this advice. Finally starting to struggle with tanking at 46 - without slows I struggle unless a cleric is healing. With slows it seems like most healers can keep me up without TOO much mana sponging

[gherron]

Originally Posted by Anxarcule [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I know doing a bow ranger (especially pre-kunark/velious) may be tedious but it's something that I've been itching to try for some reason. Still going strong with my wizard for now so I probably have some time until the urge sinks in, but something about the unorthodox play style appeals to me

Bow kiting once in a while for a quest mob or some names mob for a drop outdoors is cool. What’s not cool is when you’re solo grinding through bow-kiting and it takes you an enormous amount of time just to kill one mob. Source: me.

[Jimjam]

I imagine str affects bows similarly to how it does on normal weapons. Usually it doesn’t add damage, it just makes it more likely your hits will do damage closer to your max damage. It seems to rather rarely also add a small amount of extra damage to a few of your hits, but again this is rare. Dex doesn’t seem to do much, maybe a marginal increase in crit hits, but again those are rare enough it doesn’t really improve your damage most of the time.

Bows are surprisingly good at very low level as they ignore damage caps. The benefit of this is largely lost by the time you’re done with giant scarabs and you start benefiting from things like double attack or dual wield and melee weapons beecomong uncapped.