The new bows are a big step up from previous iterations, but sometimes they fail to be adequate two-handed weapons, due to shortcomings or oddities in the Movesets.
I’m not evaluating the damage of the bows since I haven’t had time to upgrade them all, But the ones I used might benefit from higher damage offset by damage falloff (less damage if you are further away more damage if you are closer).
The introduction of Damage Falloff would also help discourage camping and encourage a more aggressive playstyle, especially for faster bows.
Key Symbols:
: Perfect/Low margins of improvement
: It could be problematic but I have to test more
: Can be improved
: Should be improved
: Doesn’t work well/It’s terrible
Runes:
Skyfall Shot: It is a very fun, useful and versatile rune, it encourages aggressive and spectacular plays, I love freezing enemies and then breaking the ice with this skill.
Skyburst Volley: When you use a Quiver too often some of the arrows don’t hit the target, otherwise it’s an excellent rune, maybe it could be 75 Focus instead of 100 also to give it a slightly more distinct role from Flipkick Burst.
Arrowstorm: It’s too slow for the game’s combat, You can only use it when the enemies haven’t even seen you or when they are stunned or frozen, so it’s always better to use Multi Shot which does similar damage even if it costs less, the arrows that fall from the sky get stuck on roofs, and so you can’t even test the skill on the dummy.
/Cone Shot: Seems to be too slow for the damage it does, especially considering that to get maximum damage you need to be close to enemies, It would be a good skill with a more distinct role if the arrows passed through the enemies, so it would count as an AOE skill.
Multi Shot: Now does the correct amount of damage, but I am still of the opinion that the monument focus should be proportional to the amount of arrows fired (in a similar way the ice/fire beams rune), and it is also unclear that by keeping the button pressed the ability lasts longer.
/Retreating Teimshot: Fancy and effective, I haven’t tested if it’s balanced but It gives me the impression that it would be more fun if it costed 75 Focus instead of 100.
Flipkick Burst: When you use a Quiver too often some of the arrows don’t hit the target (once got hit at the beginning of the animation and the animation stopped and I lost all focus but maybe is intended?).
/Knockout Shot: Simple and effective, I haven’t tested if it’s balanced but if it isn’t just change the damage or focus cost to make it balanced.
Evasive Shot: Simple and effective, I haven’t tested if it’s balanced but if it isn’t just change the damage to make it balanced.
Skybreaker: Same as Skyfall Shot but you go a little further back and there is only the Eltreic version, it’s ok but why not just make an electric version of Skyfall Shot? They are almost identical you almost don’t notice, I think it’s too redundant, in my opinion it should do physical damage and where it is limited to 125 or 150 Focus, so it would be a fairly distinct version from Skyfall Shot.
/Glideburst: You can only use this run if you kill/stun the enemy with its damage, it would have been a very interesting rune if the bows were still off hend wepons, or if you could direct the slide in the direction you are walking like the running attack of the Short bow, alternatively the cost should be reduced to 50 focus or less (it doesn’t matter if the damage goes down), so it can be combined with Skyfall Shot more easily.
Movests
Short Bow
This is by far my favorite bow, It is agile and intuitive. But that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
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Basic Attack: Fast attack that consumes a lot of stamina, the time between one attack and the other is very low, this means that to increase the damage of this attack it is advisable to focus on stamina rather than scaling, for this reason this weapon seems to do little damage if you don’t invest in stamina right away, This is also the attack that gains focus the fastest among the bows (if you have stamina).
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Running Attack: Jump in the direction you are running and shoot an arrow at the enemy. This is by far the best running attack of the bows, all other running attacks are clunky in comparison.
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Roll Attack: None, something like a fater less exaggerated version of Siren’s Call’s Roll Attack would be perfect.
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Charged Attacks: None, something like a slightly faster version of the third attack of Patience would be perfect, If you keep it charged to the end, the attack will be fired. If you don’t finish charging it, the normal basic attack will be fired, (like melee weapon charge attacks).
Answered Prayer
This bow is meant to be a short range aggressive bow but the basic attack is too slow and the cost in stamina is too high for the damage.
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Basic Attack: Same as the basic attack of the old bow, but shoots two arrows, without context it would be a good attack but it does not synergize with the rest of the moves of this bow, it is too slow/there is no incentive to stay close to enemies for that. I think he should shoot more arrows in a cone in a way that encourages shooting when close to enemies.
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Running Attack: Dash towards the enemy with a kick and then shoot arrows, it’s a bit too clunky as a dash attack and forces you to dash in the direction of the enemy, in my opinion all bow Running attacks should send the player in the direction he is going and not straight towards or away from the enemy.
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Roll Attack: Same as the Running attack but in this role it makes more sense, too bad that if you are in range for the kick you should only go away since the basic attack is too slow and consumes too much stamina.
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Charged Attacks: The basic attack can be Charged in a modular way “like the old bow”, good but in the context of this bow it makes no sense, It should be a much faster attack.
Fungus Strung Bow
This bow is inferior to the short bow in every way. It’s like playing a short bow without the dash attack because you use the dash attack as your basic attack. And every now and then the basic attack goes off and without expecting it, you make a slow, uninterruptible attack, which often gets you into bad situations.
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Basic Attack: The first attack is very slow and strong then the following attacks are fast like those of the short bow, the first attack is too slow, it does a lot of damage but it doesn’t work because you must be in a safe position to use it and so in the end you use the running attack instead of this one, I think the slow attack would work well as a charged attack instead of a basic attack.
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Running Attack: is the same as the short bow basic, essentially is as if this bow does not have a running attack, you use this as a basic attack rather than a basic attack. It happens that you make the basic attack by mistake.
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Roll Attack: None, something like a less exaggerated version of Siren’s Calls Roll Attack would be perfect.
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Charged Attacks: None, The first basic attack of this Bow would be perfect, If you keep it charged to the end, the attack will be fired. If you don’t finish charging it, the normal basic attack (which would be changed to the same as the short bow) will be fired, (like melee weapon charge attacks).
Siren’s Call
This bow is good but its running attack makes it clunky.
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Basic Attack: Same as the basic attack of the old bow, but shoots Three arrows, I think the time to fully charge could be reduced, the fact that it shoots three arrows synergizes with the ring that gives you stamina when you hit which is cool.
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Running Attack: You jump by kicking then doing a backflip shooting an arrow and then you land, it’s a bit too clunky as a dash attack and forces you to dash in the opposite direction of the enemy (in my opinion all bow Running attacks should send the player in the direction he is going and not straight towards or away from the enemy).
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Roll Attack: same as the running attack, Here it makes more sense, except that the animation is still a bit too slow, the landing time is very noticeable, in my opinion the character should jump less high (so at first) and you should be able to immediately break the character’s back as soon as he lands.
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Charged Attacks: The basic attack can be Charged in a modular way “like the old bow”, I think the time to fully charge could be reduced.
Yew Longbow
This is the most similar to the old bow if you liked the old bow you will also like this one, but as a two-handed weapon it has some shortcomings.
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Basic Attack: Exactly the Same as the basic attack of the old bow, but now it does the correct amount of damage even when attacks are not charged, I still think the time to fully charge could be reduced.
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Running Attack: Shoots two arrows, does a pirouette and then a back flip and then shoots an arrow, This attack does less damage than it should (less than an uncharged basic attack), it’s a bit too clunky as a dash attack and forces you to dash in the opposite direction of the enemy if this attack let you go in the same direction you want to go that would be good.
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Roll Attack: None, but in this case it seems ok to me.
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Charged Attacks: The basic attack can be Charged in a modular way “like the old bow”, I still think the time to fully charge could be reduced.
Balak Talon
This bow is also ruined by the fact that the running attack only goes in the direction of the enemy.
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Basic Attack: Same as the Short bow but shoots three arrows, the fact that it shoots three arrows synergizes with the ring that gives you stamina when you hit which is cool (and probably a little too strong).
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Running Attack: A quick slide in the direction of the enemy while simultaneously shooting 3 arrows, This attack should let you go in the direction you want to go.
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Roll Attack: None, something like a fater less exaggerated version of Siren’s Call’s Roll Attack with 3 arrows instead of one would be perfect.
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Charged Attacks: None, something like a slightly faster version of the third attack of Patience with 3 arrows instead of one would be perfect, If you keep it charged to the end, the attack will be fired. If you don’t finish charging it, the normal basic attack will be fired, (like melee weapon charge attacks).
Pale Ash
This bow is worse than the short bow in every way. The Arrows that chase targets are more visual flair than useful and Arrows dont’ follow the target when using a quiver, the running attack is clunky, no charged attack, .
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Basic Attack: Same as the Short bow but shoots slower arrows that that follow the target ( The quivers make the arrows return to normal and no longer chase the target)
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Running Attack: (same as the Siren’s Call) You jump by kicking then doing a backflip shooting an arrow and then you land, it’s a bit too clunky as a dash attack and forces you to dash in the opposite direction of the enemy (in my opinion all bow Running attacks should send the player in the direction he is going and not straight towards or away from the enemy).
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Roll Attack: None, something like a less exaggerated version of Siren’s Calls Roll Attack would be perfect.
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Charged Attacks: None, something like a slightly faster version of the third attack of Patience but with a slow seeking arrow would be perfect, If you keep it charged to the end, the attack will be fired. If you don’t finish charging it, the normal basic attack will be fired, (like melee weapon charge attacks).
Patience
This bow is very similar to the short bow but has a very slow attack that would make more sense as a charged attack than as a normal attack. When you do that attack you find yourself in a long, uninterruptible attack that almost always puts you in danger.
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Basic Attack: Same as the Short bow but it has a very slow attack as a third attack which would make more sense as a charged attack than as a normal attack when you do that attack you find yourself in a long uninterruptible attack which almost always puts you in danger
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Running Attack: (same as the Short Bow) Jump in the direction you are running and shoot an arrow at the enemy. This is by far the best running attack of the bows, all other running attacks are clunky in comparison.
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Roll Attack: The same as its third attack which It is true that if you decide to attack after a roll and you are almost guaranteed to be hit.
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Charged Attacks: None, its slow attack would be perfect, If you keep it charged to the end, the attack will be fired. If you don’t finish charging it, the normal basic attack will be fired, (like melee weapon charge attacks).
Twined Recurve Bow
This bow is Ruined by its TERRIBLE running attack.
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Basic Attack: Same as the basic attack of the old bow, but shoots two times.
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Running Attack: You slide forward while kicking and then spin around hitting twice with your arms, when to make sense only with short-range weapons like fists and knives, even for the initial kick it only hits if you are very close to the enemy and therefore you almost always only copy the last two hits which are very weak, Even if it did the right amount of damage it would be a terrible attack for a bow. Give this bow the short bow Running Attack please.
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Roll Attack: None, but in this case it seems ok to me.
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Charged Attacks: The basic attack can be Charged in a modular way “like the old bow” but it’s much faster (obviously it does less damage but it’s perfect like this).
Twinkling Short Bow
The basic attack of this bow is very nice but the running attack as always ruins the experience in my opinion.
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Basic Attack: Similar to the Short bow but shoots 5 arrows in a cone, the fact that it shoots 5 arrows synergizes With the ring that gives you stamina when you hit which is definitely too strong.
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Running Attack: (same as Balak Talon but 5 arrows) A quick slide in the direction of the enemy while simultaneously shooting 5 arrows, This attack should let you go in the direction you want to go.
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Roll Attack: None, I think Answered Prayer’s Roll Attack but with 5 arrows it would be perfect
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Charged Attacks: None, I think a quick charged attack that pushes you back away from the enemy would be very nice on this bow.
Woodland Protector
This bow has only one attack for some reason, but paradoxically it’s still better than having bad running and rolling attacks.
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Basic Attack: Same as the basic attack of the old bow, but shoots Three arrows, I think the time to fully charge could be reduced, the fact that it shoots three arrows synergizes with the ring that gives you stamina when you hit which is cool.
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Running Attack: None, It doesn’t matter which attack you choose, the important thing is that it’s the player is who chooses the direction of the movement.
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Roll Attack: None
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Charged Attacks: The basic attack can be Charged in a modular way “like the old bow”, I think the time to fully charge could be reduced.
In Conclusion
Having a dash attack that doesn’t go in the direction the player wants automatically ruins the archer’s playstyle, it can still be managed obviously (the weapons are “usable”) but there’s still a lot to do.
I also point out that if you analyze all the classes in the game in this way you often come to similar conclusions, two or three weapons in the category stand out as “complete” and usable and the others either have a nice gimmick but at the cost of practicality or they are terrible.
I would rather have 5 bows with a nice Movesets than 11 but 7 of them have serious problems, and only one has no problems of any kind.
And this applies similarly to all weapon classes, Movesets should be made more carefully, there is no need to fill the game with weapons if 60% of them are not used by anyone.
When the Together update is finished I will make a detailed topic on the Movesets of all the weapons and their problems, but in this beta I only focused on the bows