Ranged Cipher Guns or Warbow?

[Junkermanz]

Hey guys!

 

I just hit level 4 on my Cipher, so far I'm having a tonne of fun with the game, but now I'm terribly torn as to what my level 4 talent choice should be. At level 2 I selected the cipher class ability that causes increased damage from your soul whip. I feel like that was a good choice. Next I'm unsure how to proceed.

 

I'd ideally like to take a talent that increases my accuracy but I'm unsure which weapon I should be sticking with. So far I have been using a Warbow and have been enjoying it in combat and its aesthetics RP-wise, I recently picked up a pistol - and while the damage is good, it is pretty slow and inaccurate and doesnt look as cool as the bow does.

 

I'm interested in using a rifle but I'm unsure where to get one or how far into the game they become available. As I wasnt able to find on in the BB I'm not sure if I'll like using it or not.

 

So should I take the warbow accuracy or the rifle accuracy talents?

 

Also, is penetrating shot worth it the talent as well down the road?

 

Thanks!

[Voss]

Penetrating shot is certainly worth it with the bow.  With guns, I'm reluctant to slow them down any further. 

 

I just fought an encounter with a mixed group of guls, skeletons (21 piercing DR) and revenants. 

I've got a druid with a fine warbow, and penetrating shot, and a ranger with a fine arquebus, gunner, and vicious aim (+acc, +dam, -rate of fire and reload).  Their stats are set equal (16 might and 16 dex), though the ranger does have a hat with +1 might, giving her an extra 3% damage

 

Over the course of the fight the damage was

Druid w/warbow: 19, 21, 14(graze), 6 (skeleton), 2 (skeleton, graze)

Ranger w/arquebus: 36(graze), 61, 46

 

So the druid had time for 2 extra shots while the ranger was reloading, but the damage for the bow was 62, while the arquebus was 144.  

 

Not exactly a scientific study, but the kind of difference the weapons make.

[termokanden]

I've been thinking about this for a while and trying out some weapons. Like the OP, I'm sitting at 4 trying to choose. Early on, bows are pretty good, but I just have a feeling that DR might become a problem, and bows can't penetrate arcane veil.

 

I decided to go the Ruffian route. For talents, I'll get Gunner at 4 because it seems to shave at least a second off of the reload time for a pistol (and an arbalest if you go soldier). With the way blunderbuss scales with Draining Whip (you get at least 12 focus from one shot just from DW alone), I'll be grabbing that and WF Ruffian as my next two talents. Not sure if WF or DW is best to grab first though.

 

If you are an Aumaua, it may be better to take the Quick Switch and Arms Bearer talents instead of Gunner (4 shots is likely enough for most fights). However, since I'm a wood elf, it'll be a while before I can reach even 3 shots and Quick Switch, so I think Gunner is the way to go for me.

 

In any case, while you pretty much need Gunner or Quick Switch + Arms Bearer for guns, you probably don't want Penetrating Shot; as Voss mentioned, you don't want to slow them down further, and besides pistols have very good penetration for those high DR targets.

Edited March 28, 2015 by termokanden

[Voss]

Arcane veil isn't an issue.  At all.

 

As an aside, quick switch bugged out on me. It was working at first, but after a bit, it switched back to the default cooldown.  So I reloaded my pre-leveling save and picked something else.

 

 

Just for some insight, I've just finished the gilded vale area (including the keep), and the grounds of the stronghold, and a few rooms after Maerwald.

At 2 days and 22 hours, (Kana has 2 days and 9 hours for time in party, the shortest of the group) I've got the following stats for the party 

 

[including a custom paladin and druid, the former is a tank with 12 might, 12 con and 17 per/res, and the latter is 16 might, dex and int, as is my main, ranger)

[stats: enemies defeated, total damage done, highest single target damage, hits]

 

Ranger, arquebus : 74 defeated, 7233.1 damage, 75.5 highest, 99 hits

Eder, saber&shield: 34 defeated, 2160 damage, 28.3 highest, 121 hits

Paladin, sword(whispers) & shield (larder door): 33 defeated, 2472.8 damage, 55 highest, 152 hits (larder door has bashing, so counts as a weapon)

Kana, crossbow: 31 defeated, 2271 damage done, 35.7 highest, 84 hits

Druid, warbow: 60 defeated, 3821.9 damage done, 51.6 highest, 127 hits

Aloth, wand: 27 defeated, 3121 damage, 39.9 highest, 245 hits

 

I presume spells are included in hits and damage done, as the druid's highest damage is almost certainly from blizzard.

I have no idea if my ranger's damage includes the pet. Scary if it doesn't. 

To be fair to eder, he is the only one lacking a fine weapon. I briefly tried a fine stiletto in the keep, but it was utterly worthless.

Oh, and the ranger was using an arbalest before we ran into Kana, stole his gun and enchanted it to fine.

Edited March 28, 2015 by Voss

[termokanden]

Very useful information, thank you. Too bad about Quick Switch, they really need to fix those gamebreaking bugs!

[Fen(rir)tastic]

A cipher with a blunderbuss maximises your ability to cast abilities as you generate so much focus. Termokaden pretty much covers the talents perfectly.

[Urthor]

Yea if you want to play optimally, the only choice is blunderbuss it's not close

 

Quick switch, penetrating shot, both of those are essential talents for blunder, although just to be sure are you islander Aumaua?

[revial]

I use arbalests on all three ranged in my party (cipher, chanter, cleric). High damage (personally, I think weapon speed is pointless compared to whether you're actually damaging the enemy) to overcome damage reductions, plus knockdowns on crits.

 

On paper, there's all sorts of synergy with the different weapons, speeds, damage types, etc, but in practice, three arbalests attacking the same target tend to punch holes. 

 

I generate zero focus on my cipher, but fights don't really require her to cast anything outside of her absorption shield twice-if at all-on one of my three melee. 

 

My character (Fighter) has 39707.2 total damage. All three ranged of mine are in the 30k-35k range. The two melee are 18k (fighter) and 13k (Paladin) respectively (and two of my ranged were the last two characters to join the group). 

 

Also, I went with passives (weapon focus, marksman, gunner, etc). 

Edited March 29, 2015 by revial

[Junkermanz]

I have no idea if my ranger's damage includes the pet. Scary if it doesn't. 

 

From my tests Pet damage most definitely does not show up as Ranger damage in the party/personal information section.