Quick Noob Bow Rogue Gear Question

[guardianlion]

As a rogue I am leaning towards a bow build. My question is since mostly all my skills are bow skills, does it matter if I equip daggers or is better to use a bow since all my skills are shooting arrows?

[keikali]

You can always carry a dagger just in case. I do both, I switch around when I want to. My build allows me to. You can still use your "bow" skills even with daggers.

[guardianlion]

So even if I am a bow rogue equipping daggers won't effect my damage or effectiveness??

[GoodSyntax]

The trade-off between DMG and DPS is the heart of the question between Bow or Blades.

Bows, generally, provide much higher DMG stats, but are generally slower weapons, so you will notice a big drop in DPS. The added DMG gives you a big boost in Skill Damage (Aimed Shot in particular, when it Crits).

Blades, generally, provide much higher DPS stats, but generally don't hit as hard, so you will see a drop in DMG. This drop in DMG is reflected in your skill damage, but you compensate for that loss with the ability to do AoE damage on a charged blade attack, and the substantially higher DPS values.

There are times when higher DPS and the ability to do AoE is preferred. Dispensing with large mobs, like those found in the Tombs or Mines are where Blade builds really shine. The high DPS allow you to quickly deal with mobs without a high reliance on Skills, thus conserving mana.

Other times, Bows, and the intrinsic high DMG is preferred. Dealing with Bosses, mini-bosses, PvP and elite situations are best for Bows. Bosses in particular are where Bows are preferred, because every skill (including DoT skills like Nox Bolt) hit harder, and, specifically when Aimed Shot crits, the damage is impressive. My Rogue can one hit every boss from Season 1 maps when my Aimed crits!

So, like I said in my opening, it is a choice between DMG or DPS, there are situations where one would be preferred over the other.

[Alrisaia]

So even if I am a bow rogue equipping daggers won't effect my damage or effectiveness??

The short answer to this is YES. it will effect your damage / effectiveness.

The longer answer is about your play style and if you care to, read on to discover how a hybrid dagger / bow build works for me...

I would never give up my daggers. I'm too much of a tank at heart. I like to wade into the combat and fight hand to hand - coming in while the MOBS are distracted by the tank and crit them in the back. I also prefer more control over which targets I'm attacking, and with a bow I have found difficulty in doing so.

That being said - I also use a bow, and do so with deadly efficiency. Good tanks lose agro to me often. For this I swap out skills.

So – while I’m running elite (with my Elite Runners :P) I will use Daggers with the following skillset:
Aimed 5/5
Smoke 4/5 (no explosion)
Razor Shield (3/5 – no Spinning Freedom, and no bleed)
Traps 4/5 (no explosion)

I use the above skills with daggers to clear groups of mobs. Traps combined with razor shield is an ugly damage machine (I use RS primarily as an offensive skill).

When we get to a boss – especially those that can OHK (one hit kill)… I swap out for the bow and replace one of the above skills with Nox 4/5 (no increased range)

The skill I replace depends on the boss we’re fighting and the group I’m with. If I have two other rogues with smoke, then I’ll drop that. If not I will drop traps.

So – typically it looks like this at a boss:
Aimed 5/5
Smoke 4/5
RS 3/5
Nox 4/5

I have Passive Dex 5/5 and Passive DMG 5/5

This build works well for my play style and I have come to love it. Everytime I experiment with something different - while I usually end up liking it – I will always come back to this – it’s just too hard for me to lose the two DOTs and smoke. And then at the same time I would never run without Aimed Shot…

So there you have it. A Dagger / Hybrid build that seems to works best for my play style.