Guns Vs Bows

Because the further you are out of ideal range, the lower your R.ACC/R.Attack goes.
Yes, but that's like saying Axex2 > GA because I already have merits in Axe and GA isn't capped.

I was just using that as an example on why alot of people favor bow over gun.

Guns only suffer a 12% PDIF penalty outside of their sweet spot and you can still go in for weapon skills provided you're smart and time it properly. Guns are also easier to make a hit-build with if you have the proper tools.

For the longest time I was bow-only, but I've come around to guns lately, since SE has done a lot to make guns more attractive in the past few months. Namely, I have these two guns now which I carry around with my Vbow and Loxley:





Both are my screenshots. The Dragonmaw in particular is amazing, if you want to see some discussion about it you can check this BG post: http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90728&page=40

I'm presently working on capping out marksmanship merits, and I think I'll be firing more bullets than arrows in the next few weeks.

Thanks for the advice, now my biggest question is can they be done cheap, or do I need to fork out for Hellfire +1 w/ Silver Bullets? Can i use NQ Hellfire w/ Iron Bullets? What about Coffinmaker, would that be acceptable?

Read the above where I said the only gun really acceptable is Anni. As far as others, only event I would probably get out parsed at is KV. Other than that I have never seen a gun ranger come close to a bow ranger in any event. And yea, delete your account if you have anni and no 5-hit.

...you also mean what Thf doesn't have marksmanship capped?

Lulz XD

I just don't see much a use for a ranged weapon that fires twice other than using up a good ammount of ammo. Sure you have a decent ammount of damage but you constantly have to pay more for that damage. Basically the gun would be okay for merits where its lack of stats would be less of a factor. The hellfire+1 is nice.



If you not going to use a Hellfire+1 with silver bullets you might as well just go get a selene's bow and use scorp arrows if you want to be cheap.



Serriously? what were all the gun rangers using metal tubes filled with rock salt? I just suppose all your gun rng friends must suck.

My linkshell is a pretty good one. Go to linkshell list on this and look at number 3 on the list. It's safe to say they know what they are doing, so as far as them sucking no. Just from what I've seen bow out performs it. What 5-hit build do you use with your Anni by the way?

I take it you are Asura.Oblisk by saying your in the number 3 overall LS?

All my gear sets are available for viewing on my character page. /sam + rajas + rose strap gives me like 21 TP per shot return with anni. I honestly haven't had much of a chance to do ZNM and Salvage to get more decent ranger sTP items. If I wanted gear with just sTP i could slap on Cobra gear but I don't want to get my sTP that way.

Many mobs have 10 qubit Aoe which also happens to be close to best Bow range. Guns however are 5.5 qubits. Which is why gun is greater. If you are at the 15.1 mark to avoid mobs with range at that rate then it kinda start to be what ever. Use which ever you have better gear for merits etc.

Using Gun full time is expensive and the gear to make gun truly the burst damage it should be is 3-4x > then full time bow.

Bow > Gun for any situation where you aren't going for maximum spike damage (IE the Qiqrin ZNM in the ruins). Simply put the math is in favor of bows, the damage/delay ratio clearly shows that bows have an advantage. As far as spiking with Slugwinder, SE has (as mentioned previously), improved on a Gun's ability to make ***go boom recently a bit.
All that being said, Crossbows are awesome as well since you can effect not just just your own performance, but the performance of every other person swinging at the mob as well.

So then stand between the two? lol. It really isn't all that hard to do :/

I agreeeeeeeeee
I dont much care for Guns :x
Is why I have merits in Archery

Guns are slightly better but i prefer bows from animation down to what i think a "ranger" should use.

Some times it really is the tiny things but the lower delay on a bow helped me go ws > barrage (and if mob was still alive) > WS before i was raped between ws and barrage.

Silence on Kabura's was nice when it proc'd and was needed.

but yeah Gun > bow for capped damage, you are not gimping yourself with either though as difference is tiny. Most rangers are retards anyway. When i had my taru geared which used Ebow I only ever found one rng that out did me and they had Anni (hume). On the other I used to out-do a different kclub/anni user every merit (also a hume).

Edit: Not that opening with ws > barrage is always clever but any rng should be able to solo a bird this way at the minimum. failing that the next ws should kill it....

I'd be more happy if you gear'd well and played properly then buying a Hellfire +1 and either being dead all the time or just plain crap and thinking your good cos every so often you do a 2k ws (which is still crap).

No, it's really not. The DoT of guns is superior to bows. Nobody's saying you can't use whatever you like, but don't say things like, "Bow has superior damage, the maths is in its favour", when it's just plain wrong.

I use Annihilator and am RNG/WAR any time I can and have a 5-hit on it. It is hugely fun. Not the biggest fan of /SAM. I only use it in certain situations.

Pretty happy with my RNG in its current state. Only thing I need to finish up is the stupid Trial.... 1180 kill shots to go for the +6 dmg ~.~

For those who asked about 5-hit builds, can check our my gear sets if you want.

TP - http://www.ffxiah.com/item_sets.php?id=91086

WS - http://www.ffxiah.com/item_sets.php?id=115043

Mind me asking why Blobnag ring on TP? Less accuracy then a Behemoth NQ, lol.

I bow for everything but zerg. In which case it's a cannon. I'm 8/8 Archery and 8/8 Marksmanship merits.

Yes, that's me. But like I said with relic you can get away with /sam. Where you can't without one, because you pull massive amounts of hate. And using cobra gear with a anni, don't please. Shoot yourself if you do.

Please show me how i'm wrong. Compare the damage and delay ratio differences between using a gun and a bow.

Laitha I had a quick look over your sets. I suggest you stop letting people know how to ranger until you figure it out yourself. You are a prim example of having a relic doesn't make you a good player.

If you were inclined enough to do your own research before coming to your conclusions, I wouldn't need to. Go and visit the other FFXI forums and read through the hundreds of topics and tests already conducted on this subject. I've also done plenty of testing on the subject myself, and if the results and topics on those forums don't educate you, I'd be happy to share them... That is, assuming they wouldn't instantly be discredited just because they show people to be mistaken.

In all honesty, the whole gun vs bow thing is kind of moot because it depends greatly on the other gear you're using. For example, your STR/AGI ratio, STP, subjob, rapid/snapshop ect. The difference in delay and WS mods are going to make them perform differently depending on your other gear.

I was just thinking this over myself the last couple days as I have pretty much capped RNG and deciding what else to do with it and what to sell. I think overall bow is more consistant and sometimes in some end game events rng can only get 1-2 shots from mobs 18 ppl r attacking so the delay was something I considered also I merited 8/8 arch so it was a given.

Boats n' hoes!

you have capped archery and marksmanship merits because?

Stop adding the word "merits" there retard lol. Theyre just saying CAPPED SKILLS not capped and merrited. Whole thing you quoted doesnt include word "merits" anywhere, learn to read.

before you call someone a retard you should read all the posts from page one...

1) Gun DOT is higher than bow. When you are doing the math don't forget to account for the static 2.8-2.9 seconds that both get after a shot. Standing in the sweet spot firing at a unmoving target and WS at 100%, HF will beat ebow 100 times out of 100. This has been done about a billion times on every forum and the math favors gun.


2) Distance penalty is over-rated. At max distance gun suffers from a 15% penalty while bow suffers from a 13% penalty. From 25' to 11' the ratios stay pretty close to this. At 10' bow does better. 0% penalty compared to 10% penalty for gun. But if you are standing at 10' you can be standing at 5.5' and not have the gun penalty so it really doesn't matter.


3) In a mixed setting when you are forced to WS at max melee range, gun gets a 15% penalty while bow is 30%.