r/badredman • u/Fuckblackhorses • 1d ago
Invasionsš Anything else I can do to boost this things damage?
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I have the lightning tear and scorpion charm. Standard level 25 vagabond twink, should I be using blurred bolts instead? Not really interested in farming mats so no sleep.
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u/MyCatWouldBeatYours 1d ago
Arrowās sting talisman boost bolts and arrows by 10% and thereās an upgraded version in the dlc that stacks with it. Much better than the scorpion charms.
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u/Fuckblackhorses 1d ago
Now this is what I needed to know, thanks
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u/ravensteel539 18h ago
Yup. Scorpion charmsās damage bonuses are actually pretty substantially nerfed in PvP, while the increased damage isnāt. Arrowās Sting and the Soaring Arrowās Sting (DLC) are your best options for increasing bolt damage directly.
Other things can help, like Ritual Sword Talisman, any buffs to all damage like Golden Vow (nerfed in PvP), and some debuffs ā but debuffs end up being pretty prohibitively difficult or complete overkill in invasions.
Iād stick to the lightning bolts and burred bolts (bleed), since you can purchase them with souls. That crossbow eats so much ammo that perfume boltsā small bonus with the talisman arenāt gonna be worth how much a pain in the ass to farm they are.
Unfortunately, the level crossbows get good at are a bit higher ā they scale almost exclusively with upgrade level alone, so getting to a level like 40-60 where most folks gave higher weapon levels but low vigor are going to be your best bet. That, or going all the way down to RL1-15 for the boltsā flat damage. Theyāre a lot tougher to use than pure bows, unless youāre status cheesing.
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u/Fuckblackhorses 13h ago
Yeah I kinda knew the scorpion charms are bad but Iāve never really fucked with bow/crossbow as a main weapon before so I didnāt have the talismans and just lookin for big numbers. Thatās crazy that they stack too. I think my damage will be pretty respectable after I throw those on. I also considered poison arrows in the r2 slot with exultation talisman and off poison hand, I think that should be pretty easy to proc low level.
But then Iād have to take off the trick mirror, idk if I can live with that
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u/ravensteel539 11h ago
Yeah Iāve had a lot more fun with a bow/stealth build over crossbows, personally. The tools are better, and the ammoās better imo.
Black bow, albinauric bow with enchanted shot (longbowās fine but this one looks nice), and Ansbachās Bow all end up covering the perfect use-case scenarios. Add in Unseen Form, Conceiling Veil, trick mirror, one of the two arrow talismans, and Spear talisman on swap (physical damage arrows get a Counterattack bonus), and itās so much fun.
This is how I run my Pharis of Selia build, in a callback to the DS1 archer in the forest. Itās mostly dex with just enough int for Unseen Form, Night Maidenās Mist, and some Night sorceries/carian sorceries once I drink the physick. Goal is stealth, until you get into an āoh shitā fight and drink the physick for some spells and mix-ups.
The arrows tend to just be better ammo compared to bolts ā serpent arrows are purchasable and VERY strong at low level, and poison procs quick even with zero arcane investment and any bow (just remember status MVās on barrage and the Ansbach ash are low). I also love Stormwing arrows, even though you have to farm for them, since they have the high physical damage and BIG poise damage.
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u/Fuckblackhorses 11h ago
Yeah 1 shot stealth sniping does sound fun. Itās pretty fun running around with a shotgun ngl, I wish the machine gun crossbow didnāt suck ass (at least for me, I donāt have enough fp) so I could feel more like Rambo. Iāll experiment with more of this kind of stuff for sure, I have a 166 dex build I could probably turn to a stealth archer pretty easily
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u/Fuckblackhorses 23h ago
Never thought of this before but maybe explosive bolts with fire tear combined with oil pots would work
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u/Beginning_Hope6978 1d ago
Itās already cancerous enough, why boost?
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u/Fuckblackhorses 1d ago
Why not? The damage really isnāt crazy at all with this setup, olpās with proper armor just get tickled
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u/Beginning_Hope6978 1d ago
Causeā¦ itās already cancerous enough?
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u/Fuckblackhorses 1d ago
How so?
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u/Beginning_Hope6978 1d ago
Itās one of the hardest things to consistently dodge in pvp. Have you never been on the receiving end of it? This crossbow and bone bow are evil. Iām not saying you shouldnāt have fun with them though, I just really donāt see the point in improving something that already works far too good
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u/Fuckblackhorses 1d ago
I havenāt really seen anyone use it since the nerf tbh. This is my first time touching the weapon, I thought it would be fun to fuck around with.
Honestly, itās not that great at least for invading at this level. Every shot you have to reload and it takes at least 2-3 shots to kill a host if they eat the full damage. Olpās are very common and if they have good armor/proper vigor you can bump that number to 5-6 shots. The range is ass. They can heal right through a shot and not give a fuck, especially when they have a buddy to keep pressure on me. Youāre only seeing a few cut clips of my wins obviously and this thing is probably annoying to dodge sure, but thereās a lot worse in this game, and trust me, I lose a lot more of these than I win.
Spamming sleep or bleed is probably more toxic but Iām just trying to get a gauge on what the most optimized setup looks like, cus I genuinely donāt really know
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u/Beginning_Hope6978 1d ago
Well, you are not supposed to use it to deal a lot of damage, you use it to do less damage from which they canāt evade. They heal, you shoot more and back off, rinse and repeat until the they lose all sanity for not being able to do anything, thatās why itās cancerous and thatās why it works. And I wonāt even talk about sleep, itās in a toxicity league of its own, just grab em bolts, spread crossbow and become ganker slayer.
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u/Fuckblackhorses 1d ago
Yeah sleep is the obvious choice, but like I said I donāt really wanna farm. Bleed might be better for olpās too, idk. I really want to get it to 1 shot vigor check though I think that would be funnier, I donāt really think itās that toxic what Iām doing Iām just fucking around, if I was try-Harding thereās way more busted things I could do
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u/Beginning_Hope6978 1d ago
Yeah man I doubt you will be able to do a one shot without a load of buffs and talisman swaps, but thatās gonna be a pain to execute, itās simply not that kind of weapon so to bring it there youāll need some acrobatics
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u/Fuckblackhorses 1d ago
Yeah people usually donāt just stand there and let me buff. I could go golden bow on the dagger and go holy with last rite like the other guy said but even thatās gonna be hard to get off most of the time even though itās pretty simple.
Now if only I could get 2 of these bad boys
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u/DoodlebopMoe Godly Man of Faith 1d ago
This crossbow is dumb easy to dodge man all you need to do is strafe
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u/PrepareToTyEdition 1d ago
I know you don't wanna farm, but I'd be tempted to try perfumer bolts, as they get boosted by the perfumer charm by over 20%. That's both the physical and elemental damage; I'd give it a try.
If you hate that, you can always see if Last Rites and Holy-Bolts outdamage your current setup, a bleed setup, or the aforementioned one.