Crafting Bows

Know Your Bows

The idea behind this thread is to develop a comprehensive resource of bow information in one place. There are two main reasons for this:

To make life easier for carpenters crafting this peculiar item(s); and
To make it easier for prospective customers to to determine what they really want, and the materials required.

To expand on point 2, the carpenter will want to know three basic things from you (the customer)... which tier bow, which bow style and which proc you want. In the case of dusts they will probably expect you to supply a dust because they are darned hard to come by. I have seen a few sniper dusts while levelling, but virtually none of the others, and decon is well.... de con.

Bow Level (tier)
The bow recipe is received from your trainer as any other starting at tier 2. There are therefore 4 levels of bow, referred to as T2, T3, T4 and T5, which has nothing to do with the style of bow. The tier of the bow determines the level of damage, bonus stats etc as with most other crafted gear.

Bow Style
The level of the bow and the bow style are mostly independent of each other, as will be explained. At the highest tiers (T4 and T5) all types of bows can be crafted and they have similar stats (damage is the same, but range varies). At T3 the arbalest and war bow are not available, and at T2 only the short bow and light crossbow are available. The archery required for each type depends on the bow style and not the tier, so a T4 warbow has 400 archery required (making it effectively a level 40 required bow, despite being item level 37ish), while on the other hand a T5 short bow required only 1 archery to use (though a much higher adventurer level to be able to use it because of EE%).

Bows craftable by level:
T2 = short bow, light crossbow
T3 = short bow, light crossbow, longbow, heavy crossbow
T4 & T5 = short bow, light crossbow, longbow, heavy crossbow, war bow, arbalest

Materials Used to Make Bows
All bows require the following components to be crafted:


{Required} Timber boards of the corresponding tier (1 for short bow & light crossbow, 2 for longbow & heavy crossbow, 4 for arbalest & war bow). I know the recipe says something about needing a bow to make a bow… just ignore that.
{Required} A grip of the correct tier, made by a normal secondary finishing recipe. For T2 that is "Imbalanced Wood Grip", T3 is "Balanced Wood Grip", T4 is "Reinforced Wood grip", and T5 is "Polished Wood Grip".
{Required} Orbs of the corresponding sphere.

T2 = 2 orbs of pure magic
T3 = 3 shimmering orbs of pure magic
T4 = 4 spheres of pure magic
T5 = 5 shimmering spheres of pure magic
{Optional} Resonating dusts/powders/shards/crystals which are one of three types. Note that the addition of a resonating dust diminishes the archery bonus on the bow somewhat, but much less than in the old days.

Resonating <dust/powder/shard/crystal> of the Sniper – Accuracy bonus
Resonating <dust/powder/shard/crystal> of the Marksman – Damage bonus
Resonating <dust/powder/shard/crystal> of the Assassin – Critical hit bonus
{Optional} Upgrading bows - you will need a rare or UR (Ultra Rare) timber and a bundle (refined hide) corresponding to the tier of the bow to be upgraded. For a superior bow you will need a rare timber, and for flawless you need the UR timber:

T2 - Thorn timber (rare only) & Ratty Leather Bundle (common)
T3 - Arid timber (rare) or Desicated timber (UR) & Stiff Leather Bundle (common)
T4 - Warped timber (rare) or Gnarled timber (UR) & Rough Leather Bundle (rare)
T5 - Umber timber (rare) or Obsidian Timber (UR) & Aged Hide Bundle (rare)

Of Orbs & Spheres
You cannot make a bow without orbs or spheres. They are consumed in the starting stage of the bow finishing recipe and provide the proc type to the bow. Therefore all bows have a proc type. Think of this as a bonus that other crafted gear does not get… you have a proc & the chance to add a resonating dust too! Also note that the proc type is tied to the continental style, so you have to complete the “elemental bow quest” on each continent to get all the proc options when crafting (more on that later).

Comprehensive List of Bows
Bow types

Short Bow – range 8-25, 1 archery required, Bard, Dreadknight, Ranger, Rogue, Warrior
Light Crossbow – range 5-20, 1 archery required, Bard, Dreadknight, Ranger, Rogue, Warrior
Longbow – range 8-30, 250 archery required, Dreadknight, Ranger, Warrior
Heavy Crossbow – range 5-20, 250 archery required, Dreadknight, Ranger, Warrior
War bow – range 8-35, 400 archery required, Ranger, Warrior
Arbalest – range 5-25, 400 archery required, Ranger, Warrior

Raw Stats at various tiers

T2 – damage, normal (xx/xx)/superior (44/47)
T3 – damage, normal (57/59)/superior (74/76)/flawless (90/93)
T4 – damage, normal (93/95)/superior (xx/xx)/flawless (127/131)
T5 – damage, normal (132/134) /superior (150/153)/flawless (169/172)

Dust Effects at various tiers (A=Archery, C=Crit, D=Damage, S=Sniper-Accuracy)
Adding a resonating enhancement dust (powder, shard or crystal) will add accuracy, damage or critical hit bonuses to your bow with a slight drop in the archery rating it would have had without the dust. Overall there is a greater net benefit from adding the dust. Reminder: Sniper dusts are more common than marksman and assassin ones (at present the last two are extremely rare, but hopefully decon fixes will correct that one day).

T2 – archery & stat values, normal/superior (7C+72A)
T3 – archery & stat values, normal (107A or 16C+89A)/superior/flawless (167A or 29C+139A or 34D+139A or 54S+139A)
T4 – archery & stat values, normal (165A or 60D+137A or 93S+137A or 51C+A137)/superior/flawless (224A or 79C+187A or 95D+187A or 147S+187A)
T5 – archery & stat values, normal (222A or 185A+252S)/superior (252A or 306S+210A)/flawless (200C+235A or 238D+235A or 235A+366S)

Proc types:

Kojan - Earth & Poison

Equipped Effect: Eila's Deftness - Effect Stacks
+3 Damage
+11 Mental Spell Damage
+8 Energy
+3 Mental Absorption
+3 Physical Absorption
Qalia - Arcane & Lightning

Equipped Effect: Idaras Presence - Effect Stacks
15% chance on attack to heal wearer
+8 Arcane Spell Damage
+8 Spiritual Spell Damage
+8 Health
+3 Arcane Absorption
+3 Spiritual Absorption
Increase Arcane Damage Shield by 5
Thestra - Fire & Ice

Equipped Effect: Jeric's Virtue - Effect Stacks
+1% Accuracy All
+8 Fire Spell Damage
+8 Cold Spell Damage
+8 Armor Class
+3 Fire Absorption
+3 Cold Absorption
Icreases Fire Damage Shield by 5

Proc types at various tiers

Earth

T2 (Shock of Earth)

15% chance on hit to cause crushing damage.
T3 (Mudslide) - sometimes a root, sometimes a snare
T4 (Mudpool)

15% chance on hit to cause crushing damage.
15% chance on hit to AE snare by 70%.
T5 (Embrace of Earth)

15% chance on hit to cause crushing damage.
15% chance on hit to AE snare by 70% for 10 seconds.
15% chance on hit to increase physical absorption by 161 for 30 seconds.
Poison

T2 (name) - Description
T3 (Dripping Death)

15% chance on hit to cause physical damage.
15% chance on hit to cause damage over 16 seconds.
T4 (Impending Doom)

15% chance on hit to cause physical damage.
15% chance on hit to cause damage over 20 seconds.
T5 (Soulsip)

15% chance on hit to cause physical damage.
15% chance on hit to transfer life to wearer over 20 seconds.
15% chance on hit to increase physical absorption by 161 for 30 seconds.
Fire

T2 (Shock of Fire) - Description
T3 (Torrent of Flames)

15% chance on hit to cause fire damage.
15% chance on hit to cause AE fire damage.
T4 (Searing Pain)

15% chance on hit to cause fire damage
15% chance on hit to cause AE fire damage
T5 (Nove Blaze)

15% chance on hit to cause fire damage.
15% chance on hit to cause AE fire damage.
15% chance on hit to increase wearer's fire absorption by 161 for 30 seconds.
Ice

T2 (Shock of Frost) - Description
T3 (Iceshards)

15% chance on hit to cause cold damage.
15% chance on hit to slow target's attacks and spells by 10% for 10 seconds.
T4 (Icy Tendrils)

15% Chance on hit to cause cold damage.
15% Chance on hit to slow target's attacks and spells by 20% for 15 seconds.
T5 (Icy Touch)

15% chance on hit to cause cold damage.
15% chance on hit to slow target's attack and spells by 25% for 20 seconds.
15% chance on hit to increase wearer's cold absorption by 161 for 30 seconds.
Lightning

T2 (Shock of Nature)

15% chance on hit to cause spiritual damage.
T3 (Thundering Impact)

15% chance on hit to cause spiritual damage.
15% chance on hit to increase chance to crit target 1% to 3% for 10 seconds.
15% chance on hit to reduce mitigation by 5% for 10 seconds.
T4 (Lightning Strike)

15% chance on hit to cause spiritual damage.
15% chance on hit to increase chance to crit target 2% to 4% for 10 seconds.
15% chance on hit to reduce mitigation by 10% for 10 seconds.
T5 (Thunderclap)

15% chance on hit to cause spiritual damage.
15% chance on hit to increase crit chance up to 4% for 10 seconds.
15% chance on hit to lower mitigation by 10% for 10 seconds.
15% chance on hit to increase wearer's arcane absorption by 161 for 30 seconds.
Arcane

T2 (Shock of Arcane) - Description
T3 (Bolt of Pain) - Description
T4 (Disorienting Sphere)

15% chance on hit to cause arcane damage.
15% chance on hit to stun target for up to 3 seconds.
T5 (Flash of Pain)

15% chance on hit to cause arcane damage.
15% chance on hit to stun target for up to 3 seconds.
15% chance on hit to increase wearer's arcane absorption by 161 for 30 seconds.

Other Relevant Information
Location of the quest NPCs for the elemental quests: I think these are given by the same NPCs that give you the continental tier quests (ie. Master Artificers in NT, Ahgram and Tanvu). It's been a while since I did them... not sure whether you need to do the quest on each continent to get that continent's procs or just the one time (presumably from any of the NPCs) to get all the procs.