Best bow besides Winforce & Faith?

Hi everyone. I browsed the forum for quite a while yet never found a really satisfying answer to this problem. Typically when you're discussing "best bow" the only two choices that are in option are Windforce and Faith. Other than that is typically scoffed at leaving it as: "probably Lycander's or Witchy". Right now I have in my possession three choices from which I wanna choose my final endgame bow as I don't really think I'll ever lay my hands on Windforce. (and since I'm SP Faith is out of option completely heh) Those three choices are two bows and one crossbow. The bows are Witchwild String and Lycander's Aim and the crossbow is

guess

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Hellcast!

now just to imagine the look on your face

it's Buriza Do-Kyanon of course. 98-360 dmg.

Now which one of the three would you recommend? From other topics I saw people mostly voted for Lycander's Aim. WWS came out second, though in one topic that discussed true usefulness of Lycander's it came out first. Buriza was a staple mid-game choice since I can remember and nothing seems changed right now. As from my own experience with the bows so far, Buriza performs the best as it has the highest damage out of the three however the slow speed on it is kinda annoying especially when shooting out Freezing Arrows. Lycander's is the best all-rounder with + 2 to all skills it resides on my switch whenever I need to recast a Valkyrie. Witchwild string with two Shaels is the fastest however the damage is quite low. Now I can either

1. Socket a Buriza with Shael - would it be at decent speed then? I don't want to burn my socket reward yet so I'll ask beforehand

2. Upgrade a Lycander's Aim and socket it with ??? I studied the Grand Matron Bow at Arreat Summit and it seems it has very wide damage with the minimum actually lesser than the Matriarchal Bow has. Is that true?

3. Upgrade a Witchwild String. The Amplify damage on it is particularly interesting and it's always mentioned when this bow is discussed. However it seems to me that everyone counts with the amp after first Strafe volley. From what I've seen when I played around with it, it's quite rare. And it also likes to spawn on a distant Fallen, when a Superstrong Superfast Might enhanced Moon clan bosspack is around. Still: even when we count only with DS, it's interesting.

The thing I need to know is the aproximate dmg values of the upped Lycander's and WWS. Lycander has a couple of nice mods so if the values will be somehow even, it'll probably win.

Or should I take Buriza?

You decide:-)|||strafe and IAS make Amp proc like crazy. On my non-ladder zon I use Atma's Scarab to get the amp damage proc and it's silly the damage I put out. Of course WWS by itself has low damage, so you'd need something to pump it up. Laying of hands is good for demons, and using demon limb as a prebuff, I believe 25% of the enchant damage is converted into phsyical.|||what I saw was strafe and ias'ed WitchWild:) Double Shael socketed + Lava Gout Gauntlets with + 20% increased attack speed.|||Quote:








what I saw was strafe and ias'ed WitchWild:) Double Shael socketed + Lava Gout Gauntlets with + 20% increased attack speed.




I would swap out lava gout with LoH and get a highlord's wrath to make up for IAS. more than a third of all mobs in the game are demons, and all bosses are demons. So it multiplies the damage where it most counts.|||I like the Enchant from Lava Gouts too much to swap it for LoH. It raises my attack rating quite a lot. I forgot to mention I have Highlord's too:). but the topic is not about additional equipment. Please let's concentrate on the weapons and which one of those three choices is the best|||If you don't want to factor in amp (and IMO that would indeed be more realistic), Buriza is the best bow for physical damage. Upped Lycanders comes in second and WWS is far behind both.

If you also plan to use FA then Lycanders makes the best all-round bow.|||What about upped WWS for trash (strafe + IAS and the deadly strike will clear out groups of mobs like no one's business) and an upped Burizae for bosses? other than WF and Faith, you can't beat the Buriza's damage.

This is of course if you are going for a phsyical damage Zon. If you want to use fire or ice, I'd suggest Lycander's over them for the +skills.|||Quote:








If you don't want to factor in amp (and IMO that would indeed be more realistic), Buriza is the best bow for physical damage. Upped Lycanders comes in second and WWS is far behind both.

If you also plan to use FA then Lycanders makes the best all-round bow.




Trust me, the amp procs like crazy when strafing. plus if you want to solo hell, it's the only way to effectively deal with phys immune mobs. I'd at least keep it on swap.|||Quote:








Trust me, the amp procs like crazy when strafing.




Well I have used it and I can only say I found it didn't proc all that much. This only exaggerated by the fact that typically MS is the better skill to use and then the amp proc really becomes rare.

Adding Atma's makes things a little different, but then there is no reason why Buriza and Lycanders cannot benefit from that.


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plus if you want to solo hell, it's the only way to effectively deal with phys immune mobs. I'd at least keep it on swap.




That's where FA comes in.