Thoughts on bows

[thunder-ray]

I Have been thinking about making a Guntecher soon and was wondering if I should lvl bows or not. I know that they ignore mobs dfp and do decent dmg at high lvls. But I keep hearing that bows arent worth lvling no more and people prefer to use rifles since they have knockdown. My question to everybody is are bows worth the time to lvl?

[desturel]

They are worth it if you like bows. Not really an answer, but the best one I can give you.

Rifles are stronger, faster, and have knockdown. Bows have a nice look about them and, before the Rifle upgrade, they were competitive in terms of damage with rifles on a Guntecher.

If you are a min-maxer, then don't bother. If you are a completest, well you wouldn't be asking this question since you would level everything. If you don't mind using something that's not the most powerful thing out then go for it.

[shookems]

Totally worth it because they level fast especially post mag. You will eventually be in a situation where it will be good and you never know when a new bow might come out thats epic.

[TheUpstreamer]

Bows are really iffy in the sense that there's nothing bad about them, but they aren't as good as rifles. Bows still have really good attack, elemental %, and PP though. And to top it all off, they, as said before, really do level fast.

Plus, they're stylin as hell.

[thunder-ray]

Thank you all for replying too my question, I have made up my mind and im going to lvl bows on my GT. Agian thank you for your thoughts

[Magician]

On a guntecher, the rifle's ability to knockdown and rate of fire makes it the better choice on a mission to mission basis. Longbows would receive more attention if they were given knockdown or blowback at level 31+ bullets, but I doubt that would ever happen. I cannot argue against the fact that they're a stylish weapon; I still use one on my FT for flying bosses and enemies over noszonde or nosmegid.

[Magus_84]

I'd suggest leveling at least one Rifle to 31+, for the knockdown. Preferably Burn or Virus. Then level your other five elements on Bow.

"Ideally", you'd get all Rifles to 31 and ignore Bows' very existence on GT in lieu of PT. But that takes a long time.

If you like them, use them. But you'll want that ranged knockdown ability. It's extremely useful, even if you only have it in one element.

[rayner]

I leveled all my Bow PA's to lv 31+ in hopes that Sega will do something with them in the near future, as it is now. Rifles are MUCH better than Bows, though they take YEARS to level compared to Bows. If they add splash damage, i.e at lv 21 it hit 2 targets and lv 31+ 3 targets... not pierce but a small-radius ra-tech effect ( lv 11 ra-tech radius ) then they would have some advantage over Rifles. The only advantage at the moment is they level fast, and look nice :-)

[amtalx]

From a tactical standpoint, there are NO advantages to a bow. The only reason to use bows is for looks or variety.

[Akaimizu]

Well, there's only 1 half-decent tactical use of the Bows. Ok, two. But they really are the same thing. Two-headed dragons (all two of them). Bows ignore the defense on them so you can tag them on the wings for their damage, all the time, with no break of target.

The main reason why I mention the two-headed dragons because they are definitely the best bosses for being annoying and hiding their bullet-weak locations from you. They have more body/neck/wrong head mass to block your shots, and less bullet vulnerable parts. Since as a Guntecher, you have no grenades. It's not a big advantage, but I find that it takes them down a little faster whenever those two bosses become annoying and bob their vulnerable head away from you like they're imitating Stevie Wonder. The radius of their damage in some of their great attacks are probably the largest of the dragons, by far. The only reason why shotguns are a bit more dangerous to use on them, than the others. Of course, if you're playing a level of that mission where their attacks are no issue....give the shotties a whirl.

Phantasy Star Portable pretty much solved the rifle/bow issue by:
1. Not giving rifles the ability to earn the level for the knockdown.
2. Not giving the same class both Bow and Rifle use. You have to pick one or the other.

Still, it's kind of funny how this went down. The rifles getting so much to overwrite much of the bow's abilities just after Guntechers were given access to S-class Bows. Almost an insult to injury, right there. Especially during a time Sonic Team was desperately trying to do something to make Guntechers more popular.

They are real stylish, though. Love the look, and I loved how fast they levelled. Back in the day, they were the choice for Guntechers looking to get SE4 bullets quickly enough in time for some good events that could use SE4. I remember the large Goldova, and you were quite the life of the party for having SE4 burn by firebreak.

[mvffin]

Phantasy Star Portable pretty much solved the rifle/bow issue by:
1. Not giving rifles the ability to earn the level for the knockdown.
2. Not giving the same class both Bow and Rifle use. You have to pick one or the other.


Protranser can use both in PSP version. A lot of the weapon stats are different though, and I haven't tested to see if Rifles still outdamage Bows.

[Criss]

Bows are really all about the defense bypass. Keep one bow with one or two leveled bullets on you for bosses or enemies with a lot of def. There are few guns as effective as bows for taking out Mother Brain's arms. Plus, you can't get much better than a grinded Phantom for rifle as a GT, while if you can get your hands on a 11* or 12* bow, the extra att on the bow really helps compensate.

[Akaimizu]

Protranser can use both in PSP version. A lot of the weapon stats are different though, and I haven't tested to see if Rifles still outdamage Bows.

Thanks for the clarification. I didn't realize they had both weapon access in PSP. I planned to do protranser soon, in that one, but I have yet to play it in PSP. I totally forgot they could use rifles.