Changing the bow to the main hand has severely limited it’s usefulness. I say that because I cannot defend myself when an enemy gets inside of the draw distance.
I understand that archers are supposed to be ranged, but that isn’t always a viable option in some of the tight corridors. To not have access to at least a basic 1h weapon to defend, it kind of doesn’t work.
I like the quiver, that’s a nice touch. Instead of popping an oil to get an elemental effect every 60 seconds, I can just carry the appropriate arrows. Dig that. But the bow really should be off hand.
And if my pleas aren’t enough to change it back, then please change the enemies to match. You got crossbow guys that club me when I get too close. If I can’t do it they shouldn’t be able to either.
You can just have another weapon in your second slot. I don’t see the issue. Bows should be also be two-handed, because they are. You need both hands for it.
It would be then the same for any other two-handed weapons, which doesn’t make sense, having great sword in one and dagger in other hand.
What i would like to see is the option of having Sword and other weapon as off hand, so, sword and axe, dagger, whatever one handed weapon can be added as offhand.
Ahhh, I think I understand now. I have not reached the point where I can unlock the new slots for the hand/off hand/tool etc. Curious how that works when switching between melee/bow. Before it was a different button all together on the controller. If they’re the same hand, it would probably be the same button, but probably a RB modifier sorta thing.
Yeah, there is a button for switching main hand, and another for off-hand switching, but works really good.
My main so far is bow/dual daggers/greatsword combo and it is so fun, works really good.
You can always have bow, then axe+shield, and whatever you want on third slot, you can have whatever combos you want, and with every weapon having 4 runes/spells, it is a looot of combinations to have fun with
I don’t see why we can’t equip different weapons in main/off hand interchangeably Elden Ring style. Would it be that difficult to implement? Would allow players to Taylor builds to personal preference. I like having the bow in the off hand just cos it looks cool
As others have said you can flip weapons eventually, but that isn’t really needed.
You can actually do an evasive/dodge shot. Hit Sprint button + Shoot button; you will dodge and shoot. You can do it while actively sprinting, or from a dry/standing position. Pushing your character in a direction while you do it, will jump/dodge in that direction. On my Steam Deck I mapped a single button to A+X, so it is very easy to jump all over the place while shooting lol.
This works for the Wooden Bow, and a few others. However not all Bow-types have a dodge-shot. Some of the bows that have a lob/arc to their shots, or that shoot multi-projectiles, don’t have it.
And some of the other ones that do, have different animations. Like one of them does a jump-shot, but it cannot go in any direction; and only goes backward but is a little more vertical and less horizontal movement.
Anyways, I recommend using the evade shot in close quarters. You can see the enemy about to move toward you and pick the direction to jump in. Also good for enemies that are throwing things at you; instead of having to dodge, then retaliate separately.
And if you have focus, following up with Sky Shot is a good finisher.
There are definitely some drawbacks to the new Archery system but being attacked by enemies isn’t the issue for me. To me mele enemies that get to you and punish you for not adequately investing in stamina is part of the immersion. No I think the biggest issue for the archery is the new move sets for move and shoot. The short bow is the best and there isn’t a reason to use the others.
Having the system this way incentivizes you to unlock a second slot in the weapons so you can use a sword or a knife after you’ve applied a status effect to your enemies.
Why would you swap to another weapon when you can just swap quivers back and forth and leapfrog your element for enhanced effects. Fire Arrow > Lightning Arrow > Fire Arrow > Lightning Arrow. It’s really easy if you do not unlock the third offhand slot, so the change button just goes from one to the other.
Mostly preference. I like the idea of smacking a guy up and getting him down on his knees from poise damage. He’s burning, and I go in with a lightning blade to give him a finishing AEO blast.
Siren’s Call got gutted and most bows feel anemic now.
But Lacquered Bow, the unique bow, is actually pretty strong now. Try to get that, though sadly they made Crucible outrageously overtuned in HP, so good luck with that at lv30. Cyvion is a total nightmare to deal with if you don’t get lucky with echos because now he has a massive HP pool, his poise is more or less unbreakable in most realistic scenarios, and now you can’t even create openings with parry since they gutted Parry’s stun window and it doesn’t last more than a second.
