Dedicated Crossbowmen - where have they gone?

[Fasader]

Why it is not suited for dedicated crossbowman ? Seem fine for them, you trade damage for speed. Urist is right.

It's not like 1h where you have to pick best weapon to compete, there is tradeoff.

because after 138 wpf the accuracy doesn't get any better.

[Ganon]

because after 138 wpf the accuracy doesn't get any better.

That is nice info for my xbow build, thanks.

[Fasader]

! ! ! to the item sheet, stats changing time!

[bruce]

It's a hybrid's weapon. Heavy and (really) sniper are for crossbowmen.

[Gorath]

Don't really see how an x-bowman can be anything but a hybrid.  The reload rate is too slow and damage too low per shot to make it a primary weapon rather than a sidearm for your melee.  That said, I have fun on my x-bowman/1her-shield character.  100 wpf in x-bow with a regular x-bow and steel bolts, but other than in siege servers on defense it's only really good for maybe 2-3 shots before the melee line is in my face and I'm duking it out hand to hand.

[Ganon]

I almost agree with Gorath (wtf!!), try using roofs, agreed on the rest, dedicated xbowman is a build people make for fun but it's gimped right now.

[bruce]

Well, if you're going to play as a crossbowman, play as a crossbowman. Grab a heavy or preferably sniper if you can afford it, stay somewhere a bit off and try to snipe horses (which is a big help to your team when you down one), ranged, maybe some hero meleer if you get the chance. You'll get the opportunity to farm kills when it's melee time (the fighting got near / further away and you're mopping reminders), someone tries to backstab you, etc.

It's a different playstyle then melee with crossbow sidearm, and it's generally a more relaxing one sometimes. Of course melee wpf helps, but it helps for everyone who isn't one of the bundle of stickss which run away from every opportunity to get kills in melee.

[UrLukur]

Well, if you're going to play as a crossbowman, play as a crossbowman. Grab a heavy or preferably sniper if you can afford it, stay somewhere a bit off and try to snipe horses, ranged, maybe some hero meleer if you get the chance. You'll get the opportunity to farm kills when it's melee time (the fighting got near / further away and you're mopping reminders), someone tries to backstab you, etc.

It's a different playstyle then melee with crossbow sidearm, and it's generally a more relaxing one sometimes.

And killing horses of players like Tommyyy lead to better modifier. Shooting him when he is in melee helps too (but many retards with xbow just join the fray to die in miserable way, instead of killing some hero when i stall his progress with shield :/).

[Chaos]

I have a hybrid xbowman:

lvl 30 - Spec_Ops_Chaos_Takeda

Strength - 15
Agility - 24

One Handed   1
Two Handed   67
Polearm   1
Archery   1
Crossbow   165
Throwing   1

Ironflesh   0   
Power Strike   5   
Shield   0   
Athletics   8   
Riding   0   
Horse Archery   0   
Power Draw   0   
Power Throw   0   
Weapon master *   8

He does fine using sniper xbow and steel bolts with basically no armor and a miaodao. Melee isnt too great but competitive enough, which is good because melee is inevitable, as it should be.

Unfortunately I've come to the conclusion that using the sniper xbow over the light or regular or even heavy xbows is more or less pointless. why would you give up all that reload speed just to still take 2 shots to kill a naked thrower or a leather covered archer (plus add delay to your shots)? well for me its because im too lazy to get used to the ballistics of the other xbows again. other than that, the class is pretty much fine. imo though, the class was meant to be a lot slower with the reload and a little higher with the damage.

[Tai Feng]

Does shield on back stop projectiles or lower their damage? Any even slight use of a crossbowman having shield on their back?

[Bear]

In singleplayer the damage get reduced by 50% if u get shot in the back while havin a shield there.
alltough i had read somewhere that it also works in multiplayer.

[John]

Does shield on back stop projectiles or lower their damage? Any even slight use of a crossbowman having shield on their back?

Yes, it lowers damage.  Just yesterday I shot my friend in the back.  It was raining, he was running away from me and it hit the shield on the back, and that was enough for my heavy crossbow to glance off his brigandine.

[Tai Feng]

Yes, it lowers damage.  Just yesterday I shot my friend in the back.  It was raining, he was running away from me and it hit the shield on the back, and that was enough for my heavy crossbow to glance off his brigandine.

The damage was also lower probably because of rain. Any chance you can repeat it with just shield but no rain?

[John]

Yeah, that's why I mentioned that it was raining.  All of the circumstances I mentioned contributed to him receiving lower damage.

[Heroin]

The top weapon in each category *should be* so expensive that you can't have it all the time. That is proper balance with current upkeep.

Ok, so lets make sideswords, german poleaxe, danish/german greatswords, and warbow/longbow all cost the same amount as the current price of the sniper xbow. Bring on the whine.

Anyone tried heirlooming both the xbow and steel bolts yet ?

I have a masterwork sniper xbow, haven't got to the bolts yet. But for those interested, even the masterwork siege rarely 1-shots people, even in light-medium armor. Nakeds or people in peasant tunics are about the only people to get one-shotted. And I've even seen people in black robes survive shot from my masterwork sniper + steel bolts at longer ranges.