Weapon Delay

[SK_Lafree]

<p>I saw his topic in another forum so I thought I would bring it up here.</p><p>What is the best weapon delay choice?</p><p>Personally I've been going with bows with fairly high damage and longer delays and two quick hitting melee weapons.</p><p>My though being of couse that a high damage lower rate of fire bow will help me from firing off all my arrows too quickly and since I tend to dance out and out of melee very quickly prefering of course to keep at range as much as possible that it is better to get a quick series of hits in against foes.</p><p>I was just wondering what more experienced players though on the subject of weapon delay for rangers as well as weapon delay in general.</p>

[Ranja]

<p><cite>SK_Lafreeze wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I saw his topic in another forum so I thought I would bring it up here.</p><p>What is the best weapon delay choice?</p><p>Personally I've been going with bows with fairly high damage and longer delays and two quick hitting melee weapons.</p><p>My though being of couse that a high damage lower rate of fire bow will help me from firing off all my arrows too quickly and since I tend to dance out and out of melee very quickly prefering of course to keep at range as much as possible that it is better to get a quick series of hits in against foes.</p><p>I was just wondering what more experienced players though on the subject of weapon delay for rangers as well as weapon delay in general.</p></blockquote><p>For bows you want the longer delay, because of our haste buff.A 7 second bow will be hasted down to 5 seconds which gives you time to get off 1-2 CAs in between auto. If you used a 4 second delay, your haste would bring that 2 far down so you would delay your auto with your CAs. Plus,  longer delay bow has a larger damage spread - there are numerous threads about that. It has nothing to do with "firing all of [your] arrows too quickly"</p><p>For melee weapons it does not matter since you should not be using melee auto-attack. Choose the 2 melee weapons that give you the best ranged bonuses and use those.</p>

[Walford]

<p><cite>Ranja wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Choose the 2 melee weapons that give you the best ranged bonuses and use those.</p></blockquote><p>Hear, hear... just be aware that STR and possibly INT or (rarer) CA dmg would be all you could expect at lower levels, whereas you have more options for Stats/effects to look for once you get to T8. </p><p>Ultimately you could find that this might include a <strong>shield</strong> or two along the way, though strictly legendary drops as no MC shields have anything useful for a ranger. </p><p>I have gone through two expansions now with mid-geared rangers all having 95% identical gear on for much of the time (until they get whatever bow will make them viable (and successful - chicken and egg discussion here) to DPS in a more lucrative (RAID FABLED GEAR) environment.</p><p>Happy hunting</p><p>Canul</p><p><Renegades> AB</p>

[EQ2Magroo]

<p><cite>Canul@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ultimately you could find that this might include a <strong>shield</strong> or two along the way, though strictly legendary drops as no MC shields have anything useful for a ranger. </p></blockquote><p>The Bloodwood Shield of Fangs is MC and isn't that bad in the overall scheme of things, and can be bought cheaply enough. It has +2 Ranged/Melee crit and +30STR/+25INT and +498 on all the resists. Previously I had been using the Varacious Shield of Striking.</p><p>There's a lot better out there of course, but this is the best I've been able to loot unfortunately <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Ranja]

<p><cite>Adeyia@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Canul@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ultimately you could find that this might include a <strong>shield</strong> or two along the way, though strictly legendary drops as no MC shields have anything useful for a ranger. </p></blockquote><p>The Bloodwood Shield of Fangs is MC and isn't that bad in the overall scheme of things, and can be bought cheaply enough. It has +2 Ranged/Melee crit and +30STR/+25INT and +498 on all the resists. Previously I had been using the Varacious Shield of Striking.</p><p>There's a lot better out there of course, but this is the best I've been able to loot unfortunately <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p></blockquote><p>Roundshield of the Vault. Super common drop from the 1st named in EA is pretty good.</p><p><a href="http://eq2.zam.com/db/item.html?eq2item=b9d12104467f7130c61ddffff90085fd" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2.zam.com/db/item.html?eq2...61ddffff90085fd</a></p><p>+15CA, +2RDA,+2RC,+5 DPS</p>

[SK_Lafree]

<p>Well I certainly apreciate the suggestion but right now I'm only level 22 so I don't think I'll be getting that for a month or two yet.</p><p>Thanks for the suggestions though.  I'll keep that in mind as I level up.</p>

[Jemoo]

<p>At lower levels, when you don't have haste, go with MC short bows (then get up there in price but are the best option). They are the 4 sec delay, giving time for 1 CA but as I soloed to 70-75 I fired off the big hitters as quickly as possible to take the mobs down asap. Later on when you have haste and are grouping, long bows give you more time to hit 1-2 CAs. Get some decent melee weapons with delays as close as possible and STR, I used MC for most tiers when leveling but some legendary have good +CA or +DPS.</p><p>EDIT: Also grab a quiver as soon as you can and keep it filled with current tier arrows.  Arrows shouldn't be a huge issue when soloing unless you spend days between selling junk loot, but keeping it full in case you get into a group is always a good plan.  You don't really want to get to the point of using makeshift in the middle of a dungeon.</p>

[Ranja]

<p><cite>Pattywak@Kithicor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>At lower levels, when you don't have haste, go with MC short bows (then get up there in price but are the best option). They are the 4 sec delay, giving time for 1 CA but as I soloed to 70-75 I fired off the big hitters as quickly as possible to take the mobs down asap. Later on when you have haste and are grouping, long bows give you more time to hit 1-2 CAs. Get some decent melee weapons with delays as close as possible and STR, I used MC for most tiers when leveling but some legendary have good +CA or +DPS.</p><p>EDIT: Also grab a quiver as soon as you can and keep it filled with current tier arrows.  Arrows shouldn't be a huge issue when soloing unless you spend days between selling junk loot, but keeping it full in case you get into a group is always a good plan.  You don't really want to get to the point of using makeshift in the middle of a dungeon.</p></blockquote><p>Sorry but this is not good advice for several reasons.</p><p>Always use a longbow. Never a shortbow. DPS is better, range is better and the delay makes it easier to fit CAs into.</p><p>And, what part of my first post did you not read. "Decent melee weapons with same delay". It does not matter what delay they have because you should not be melee auto-attacking. Only when you melee auto-attack does delay matter and as a ranger you do not use melee auto-attack. I thought that was pretty clear in my first post.</p><p>Further, +ca is the worst stat for a ranger and the last one you should consider buffing. +dps +rc and +rda are all better.</p>

[Jemoo]

<p><cite>Ranja wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Pattywak@Kithicor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>At lower levels, when you don't have haste, go with MC short bows (then get up there in price but are the best option). They are the 4 sec delay, giving time for 1 CA but as I soloed to 70-75 I fired off the big hitters as quickly as possible to take the mobs down asap. Later on when you have haste and are grouping, long bows give you more time to hit 1-2 CAs. Get some decent melee weapons with delays as close as possible and STR, I used MC for most tiers when leveling but some legendary have good +CA or +DPS.</p><p>EDIT: Also grab a quiver as soon as you can and keep it filled with current tier arrows.  Arrows shouldn't be a huge issue when soloing unless you spend days between selling junk loot, but keeping it full in case you get into a group is always a good plan.  You don't really want to get to the point of using makeshift in the middle of a dungeon.</p></blockquote><p>Sorry but this is not good advice for several reasons.</p><p>Always use a longbow. Never a shortbow. DPS is better, range is better and the delay makes it easier to fit CAs into.</p><p>And, what part of my first post did you not read. "Decent melee weapons with same delay". It does not matter what delay they have because you should not be melee auto-attacking. Only when you melee auto-attack does delay matter and as a ranger you do not use melee auto-attack. I thought that was pretty clear in my first post.</p><p>Further, +ca is the worst stat for a ranger and the last one you should consider buffing. +dps +rc and +rda are all better.</p></blockquote><p>OK, here is my justification for the advice I gave.</p><p>Short bow over long bow:  Looking at the bow listing stickied at the top the short bow has better DPS potential at the same level as a long bow.  You hit more often and I've done out the math several times, it will edge out the long bow in longer combats.  The long bow is better for a 2 second fight where you only get one auto attack off, but if you can get 2 or 3 off with a short bow its better damage.</p><p>Melee weapons:  OP stated that he is still only 22.  This would mean that he doesn't have a whole lot of his ranged CAs yet.  Getting some melee weapons that work is important at the lower levels.  I completely agree that once you hit 60 or even earlier that you really shouldn't need melee weapons for anything other than the occational CA because you should be ranged atuo attacking.</p><p>+CA damage:  +DPS, +RC, and +RDA are not seen often at level 22... in fact I hardly ever see them before 79 or 80 gear and if I do they're expensive.  +CA damage may not be great but its better than nothing at 22.   You can also get +CA cheaper than any of the others if you're hard on cash.  The other 3 are much more important but if you're doing quests and eventually shard runs you'll have plenty of that stuff on armor and jewelry once you hit 80.</p><p>I agree that my advice is terrible for an 80 ranger, especially if you hope to ever get into a raid, but for leveling the advice is much different.  Everyone above me gave the advice I'd give to someone who just hit 70+ but nothing for a ranger looking to get leveling quickly.</p>

[EgilSkallagrim]

<p><cite>Ranja wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Pattywak@Kithicor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>At lower levels, when you don't have haste, go with MC short bows (then get up there in price but are the best option). They are the 4 sec delay, giving time for 1 CA but as I soloed to 70-75 I fired off the big hitters as quickly as possible to take the mobs down asap. Later on when you have haste and are grouping, long bows give you more time to hit 1-2 CAs. Get some decent melee weapons with delays as close as possible and STR, I used MC for most tiers when leveling but some legendary have good +CA or +DPS.</p><p>EDIT: Also grab a quiver as soon as you can and keep it filled with current tier arrows.  Arrows shouldn't be a huge issue when soloing unless you spend days between selling junk loot, but keeping it full in case you get into a group is always a good plan.  You don't really want to get to the point of using makeshift in the middle of a dungeon.</p></blockquote><p>Sorry but this is not good advice for several reasons.</p><p>Always use a longbow. Never a shortbow. DPS is better, range is better and the delay makes it easier to fit CAs into.</p><p>And, what part of my first post did you not read. "Decent melee weapons with same delay". It does not matter what delay they have because you should not be melee auto-attacking. Only when you melee auto-attack does delay matter and as a ranger you do not use melee auto-attack. I thought that was pretty clear in my first post.</p><p>Further, +ca is the worst stat for a ranger and the last one you should consider buffing. +dps +rc and +rda are all better.</p></blockquote><p>I switched to longbows at 22 and started seeing benefits around 25 or so.  Before then we don't have enough ranged attacks to justify any increased price on longbows.  Then again, MC bows are cheap these days because assassins are more in fashion than rangers, so choose whatever you want early on.</p><p>Regardless of which bow you choose early on, Melee will be critical until level 30 or so.  I'd recommend mastercrafted weapons until at least that point.  I had pretty good results with 3 and 4 second delay weapons. </p>

[-=Hoss=-]

<p><cite>Pattywak@Kithicor wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>+CA damage:  +DPS, +RC, and +RDA are not seen often at level 22... in fact I hardly ever see them before 79 or 80 gear and if I do they're expensive.  +CA damage may not be great but its better than nothing at 22.   You can also get +CA cheaper than any of the others if you're hard on cash. </p></blockquote><p>Out of curiosity, when was the last time you had a toon at thsoe levels.  I just leveled a brigand in the past few months, and I was surprised at how easy blue stats were to find on lower level gear.  In fact, I was wearing a level 30 choker until I hit 79 because it had better stats than anything else I could find.  Now, I can't speak to wehther there was ranged crit or DA, because I wasn't lookin specifically for that.  Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up in case you were like me and it had been years since you had any toons that low in level.</p>