Bows
Great link to final product http://vanguard.guildlore.info/crafting/bows/bows.php
Bow Level (tier) The bow recipe is received from your trainer as any other starting at tier 2. There are therefore 4 levels of bow, referred to as T2, T3, T4 and T5, which has nothing to do with the style of bow. The tier of the bow determines the level of damage, bonus stats etc as with most other crafted gear.
Bow Style The level of the bow and the bow style are mostly independent of each other, as will be explained. At the highest tiers (T4 and T5) all types of bows can be crafted and they have similar stats (damage is the same, but range varies). At T3 the arbalest and war bow are not available, and at T2 only the short bow and light crossbow are available. The archery required for each type depends on the bow style and not the tier, so a T4 warbow has 400 archery required (making it effectively a level 40 required bow, despite being item level 37ish), while on the other hand a T5 short bow required only 1 archery to use (though a much higher adventurer level to be able to use it because of EE%).
Bows craftable by level: T2 = short bow, light crossbow T3 = short bow, light crossbow, longbow, heavy crossbow T4 & T5 = short bow, light crossbow, longbow, heavy crossbow, war bow, arbalest
Materials Used to Make Bows All bows require the following components to be crafted:
{Required} Timber boards of the corresponding tier (1 for short bow & light crossbow, 2 for longbow & heavy crossbow, 4 for arbalest & war bow). I know the recipe says something about needing a bow to make a bow… just ignore that. {Required} A grip of the correct tier, made by a normal secondary finishing recipe. For T2 that is "Imbalanced Wood Grip", T3 is "Balanced Wood Grip", T4 is "Reinforced Wood grip", and T5 is "Polished Wood Grip". {Required} Orbs of the corresponding sphere. T2 = 2 orbs of pure magic T3 = 3 shimmering orbs of pure magic T4 = 4 spheres of pure magic T5 = 5 shimmering spheres of pure magic {Optional} Resonating dusts/powders/shards/crystals which are one of three types. Note that the addition of a resonating dust diminishes the archery bonus on the bow somewhat, but much less than in the old days. Resonating <dust/powder/shard/crystal> of the Sniper – Accuracy bonus Resonating <dust/powder/shard/crystal> of the Marksman – Damage bonus Resonating <dust/powder/shard/crystal> of the Assassin – Critical hit bonus
{Optional} Upgrading bows - you will need a rare or UR (Ultra Rare) timber and a bundle (refined hide) corresponding to the tier of the bow to be upgraded. For a superior bow you will need a rare timber, and for flawless you need the UR timber: T2 - Thorn timber (rare only) & Ratty Leather Bundle (common) T3 - Arid timber (rare) or Desicated timber (UR) & Stiff Leather Bundle (common) T4 - Warped timber (rare) or Gnarled timber (UR) & Rough Leather Bundle (rare) T5 - Umber timber (rare) or Obsidian Timber (UR) & Aged Hide Bundle (rare)
Of Orbs & Spheres You cannot make a bow without orbs or spheres. They are consumed in the starting stage of the bow finishing recipe and provide the proc type to the bow. Therefore all bows have a proc type. Think of this as a bonus that other crafted gear does not get… you have a proc & the chance to add a resonating dust too! Also note that the proc type is tied to the continental style, so you have to complete the “elemental bow quest” on each continent to get all the proc options when crafting (more on that later).
Proc types:
Kojan - Earth & Poison Qalia - Arcane & Lightning Thestra - Fire & Ice
Comprehensive List of Bows Bow types Short Bow – range 8-25, 1 archery required, Bard, Dreadknight, Ranger, Rogue, Warrior Light Crossbow – range 5-20, 1 archery required, Bard, Dreadknight, Ranger, Rogue, Warrior Longbow – range 8-30, 250 archery required, Dreadknight, Ranger, Warrior Heavy Crossbow – range 5-20, 250 archery required, Dreadknight, Ranger, Warrior War bow – range 8-35, 400 archery required, Ranger, Warrior Arbalest – range 5-25, 400 archery required, Ranger, Warrior
Raw Stats at various tiers T2 – damage, normal (xx/xx)/superior (44/47) T3 – damage, normal (57/59)/superior (74/76)/flawless (90/93) T4 – damage, normal (93/95)/superior (xx/xx)/flawless (127/131) T5 – damage, normal (132/134) /superior (150/153)/flawless (169/172)
Dust Effects at various tiers (A=Archery, C=Crit, D=Damage, S=Sniper-Accuracy) Adding a resonating enhancement dust (powder, shard or crystal) will add accuracy, damage or critical hit bonuses to your bow with a slight drop in the archery rating it would have had without the dust. Overall there is a greater net benefit from adding the dust. Reminder: Sniper dusts are more common than marksman and assassin ones (at present the last two are extremely rare, but hopefully decon fixes will correct that one day).
T2 – archery & stat values, normal/superior (7C+72A) T3 – archery & stat values, normal (107A or 16C+89A)/superior/flawless (167A or 29C+139A or 34D+139A or 54S+139A) T4 – archery & stat values, normal (165A or 60D+137A or 93S+137A or 51C+A137)/superior/flawless (224A or 79C+187A or 95D+187A or 147S+187A)
T5 – archery & stat values, normal (222A or 185A+252S)/superior (252A or 306S+210A)/flawless (200C+235A or 238D+235A or 235A+366S)
Proc types at various tiers Earth T2 (name) - Description T3 (Mudslide) - sometimes a root, sometimes a snare T4 (Mudpool) - Description T5 (Embrace of Earth) - snares (70%) target and physical debuffs them for 30secs. Poison T2 (name) - Description T3 (Dripping Death) - Description T4 (Impending Doom) - Description T5 (Soulsip) - increases your physical resistance by 161 points and heals over time for 30 seconds. Fire T2 (Shock of Fire) - Description T3 (name) - Description T4 (Searing Pain) - Description T5 (Nove Blaze) - bonus dmg + a DOT to the mob and increase your fire resists , while decreasing the mobs fire resists. Ice T2 (Shock of Frost) - Description T3 (Iceshards) - Description T4 (Icy Tendrils) - Description T5 (Icy Touch) - slows the mob I think (Drev), but it also increases your ice resistance Lightning T2 (Shock of Nature) - Description T3 (Thundering Impact) - Description T4 (Lightning Strike) - Description T5 (Thunderclap) - bonus physical damage + increases ranged critical chance for a couple seconds. Arcane T2 (Shock of Arcane) - Description T3 (Bolt of Pain) - Description T4 (Disorienting Sphere) - Description T5 (Flash of Pain) - bow stuns the mob & stuff
Other Relevant Information Location of the quest NPCs for the elemental quests: I think these are given by the same NPCs that give you the continental tier quests (ie. Master Artificers in NT, Ahgram and Tanvu). It's been a while since I did them... not sure whether you need to do the quest on each continent to get that continent's procs or just the one time (presumably from any of the NPCs) to get all the procs.