Lava Bow-Fire Spray-Ignite

[FiOth]

I am close to finishing my first cycle (yup, its taken a while but I am careful to get as much unique stuff as possible out of each) and I am thinking about using my Demon's Souls to create the last of the spells/items. One that's been messing with my head is the Hard Demon's Soul (Armor Spider).

I can figure out the Bow well enough. Fire Damage and (maybe) some fire resistance. The Fire Spray sounds simple as well. You can cast it while moving, FD etc. But what about this Ignite thingie? "Creates a flame in front of the character's fingers"... and what? Bakes cookies?

Since I wouldn't like to waste my HDM on something useless could any of you fine gentlemen/lasses come out and describe what they know about each of the available options? Would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance.

[Balfor]

ignite looks cool, but overall is a useless spell so i'd wait on that. if you use bows a lot then the lava bow is a solid option if you are not using a dex heavy build(in which case the sticky compound longbow is better). out of the 3 my favorite is fireball but that is mainly because it just looks cool.

[FiOth]

out of the 3 my favorite is fireball but that is mainly because it just looks cool.

You mean Fire Spray, the Fireball spell is obtained by using the Dragon God's Soul.

So, should I go for the Bow first?

[Balfor]

er yeah, firespray lol. i dont' use it often but every now and then it is fun to just circle around a blue eyes or red eyes and spam it, they never hit you because they are always turning around trying to line up and you're constantly casting.


and yeah, out of the 3, the bow will be by far the most damaging and in the end, the most useful.

[FiOth]

er yeah, firespray lol. i dont' use it often but every now and then it is fun to just circle around a blue eyes or red eyes and spam it, they never hit you because they are always turning around trying to line up and you're constantly casting.


and yeah, out of the 3, the bow will be by far the most damaging and in the end, the most useful.

Hmmm... my build is DEX and INT centered though... trading for a Bow is always an option but you cannot get someone else to learn the spell for you. I will probably go for the Spray... seems like an interesting combat strat to me, I will try it and see how it goes.

Thanks for the feedback mate. :)

[ICE PICK]

ignite....worthless, firespray....worthless, lava bow.....worthless

well unless you dont plan on having a decent dex stat anytime soon, then i would get the lava bow

there are simply too many other spells and too many other options to use these, also i THINK ignite takes up 2 spell slots LOL

i just consume the spiders soul lol or just let them build up in storage

[Sferzar]

How high is your Dex? If you have it high then lava won't be useful to you. Regardless, just choose one and keep going, it isn't a life or death decision.

[Gen Eric Gui]

Unless I'm mistaken, Ignite is the close-range fire spell used by the Fat Ministers. It doesn't have very good range, but it's supposed to do pretty good damage. At least, it does when the Ministers use it.

[joest01]

I am on NG+, somewhat Dex heavy (30 at SL84) and the lava bow is far from worthless! The lava bow actually does scale with your attributes, but not very heavily, so ultimately the sticky will be better for my build, but the lava bow does serve it's purpose for a long time.

That is, unless you spend your days farming for souls and spider stones instead of playing through the game :)

p.s. I actually carry a white bow in addition b/c of the additional range it offers.

[ICE PICK]

I am on NG+, somewhat Dex heavy (30 at SL84) and the lava bow is far from worthless! The lava bow actually does scale with your attributes, but not very heavily, so ultimately the sticky will be better for my build, but the lava bow does serve it's purpose for a long time.

That is, unless you spend your days farming for souls and spider stones instead of playing through the game :)

p.s. I actually carry a white bow in addition b/c of the additional range it offers.

whitebow is worthless too :P

im almost positive that the sticky bow gets a range increase of +5 per level so a sticky longbow +3 has the same range as a White Bow and a +4 or +5 version would be superior to the White Bow on top of scaling at a rate of S and having lower requirements

now im going to be honest and tell you that this info is off of wiki LOL but it does kind of make sense, the next time i play i will test this to make sure

[Sferzar]

For the record, 30 isn't necessarily high Dex. We are refering to the 50+ range. You will see a real difference at that point.

[Karkarov]

Ice Pick is correct whitebow is crap. It's range difference is minimal, I believe 5 yards more than sticky. Also basically EVERY BOW will do more damage than the whitebow at it's minimum useage stats. If your dex is over 25 the answer to what bow is better is easy. It is either the sticky bow +5 or if your str is very close to your dex (within 5 points) and you don't have "high dex" yet it is the quality +5. Please bear in mind this answer assumes your dex is 25 or higher, high dex is like Sfer said 50+.

The lava bow will win (probably) if your dex is below 25 but you need to understand it has some of the worst range among bows and it will not hold up in new game +. It does scale with stats but it does it very very badly.

If you are a str stacker and have 30+ str and the other stats are low (mag, dex, fai) then your best bet is a plain old compound long bow +10.

EDIT: Oh yeah, don't listen to fire spray bashers. It is actually very good at kiting mobs who have no fire resistance and costs very little mana to use. It isn't worth anything in pvp no but it can make a number of pve encounters (especially against melee only enemies) a breeze.

[joest01]

The OP is referring to his finishing off the first cycle. If you are at 50Dex at that point I am back to my original argument that you spent your time farming when you could have just used the lava bow and be done with it.

Also, I am not aware that range increases at all with upgrades. The white bow will always shoot further than the sticky. Also, the sticky - like most upgrade branches - receives the S bonus only at +5.

So, no, neither one is crap. Not for a good while into the game at least.

But then again, I'm not a loot scavenger/farmer, so I try to be efficient with my weapons.

[Dominions]

The lava bow will win (probably) if your dex is below 25 but you need to understand it has some of the worst range among bows and it will not hold up in new game +. It does scale with stats but it does it very very badly.

Woah, hold on there. Lava Bow has the advantage of doing fire damage, giving you free shots on enemies while they do the OH MY GOD IM ON FIRE dance instead of rushing at you or shooting back and making you spend time dodging.

Yeah you can get fire arrows for regular bows too but they pretty much suck. Good for finding platforms in the dark sometimes, that's about it.

White Bow is the best bow if you don't want to spend any time farming for bow materials and just need it to pull enemies from their spot at long range.

[Sferzar]

The OP is referring to his finishing off the first cycle. If you are at 50Dex at that point I am back to my original argument that you spent your time farming when you could have just used the lava bow and be done with it.

Also, I am not aware that range increases at all with upgrades. The white bow will always shoot further than the sticky. Also, the sticky - like most upgrade branches - receives the S bonus only at +5.

So, no, neither one is crap. Not for a good while into the game at least.

But then again, I'm not a loot scavenger/farmer, so I try to be efficient with my weapons.

No, not necessarily. You can be at level 80 or whatever and still have 50+ Dex. It just means you are using Dex as your main attacking option and aren't going for the overall balance build.

And the Sticky Compound Long Bow does outperform the White Bow with High Dex. In your case it doesn't because you aren't a "farmer" and don't have high enough Dex. So, for you, the White/Lava Bow is the way to go.

But yea, Sticky Compound Long Bow is amazing for the ones that take the time to upgrade it and have high enough Dex.

[joest01]

No, not necessarily. You can be at level 80 or whatever and still have 50+ Dex. It just means you are using Dex as your main attacking option and aren't going for the overall balance build.


I disagree with that statement. My build is not balanced. Magic is a at 12, will is at whatever it took to get the second magic slot and strength is just high enough to wield the white bow two handed (20). I did make the mistake of putting a few levels into luck in the beginning b/c I was frustrated with the drops, I think it's around 15.

Both endurance and vitality hover around the same as Dex for now and will do so until about the 40 mark when I will start pumping Dex even more.

Well, perhaps for a pure pve player pumping one stat from the beginning could work, but if you want to stand a chance in pvp you definitely want to keep vitality and - perhaps even more so - stamina up to snuff!

[Gamefanatic]

I would go for the lava bow, but how do you get the upgrade"? Also, how do you get the sticky bow? Great thread so far, but the "how to" part has yet to be discussed. :) I did check the wiki but couldn't seem to find these two items. I have a +10 Compound long bow currently and TONS and TONS of stone of every kind. I'd love to have a lava bow since the flame animations are so kick A**..

[Balfor]

when you are upgrading the compound longbow, it should offer you the sticky path when it is +3 as an option instead of going to +4. given you have to be at the blacksmith on 2-1, not the one in the nexus.

[Gamefanatic]

Oh good, that was quick! I'll just use a meltstone on it and start over. Will the Lava bow be offered around the same level of upgrade, +3 or +4?

[joest01]

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/bow

[Luminous_Reaver]

Unless I'm mistaken, Ignite is the close-range fire spell used by the Fat Ministers. It doesn't have very good range, but it's supposed to do pretty good damage. At least, it does when the Ministers use it.

You beat me.

It's pretty useful against slower enemies. Never used it, or seen it used against other players.

[Gamefanatic]

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/bow

Thanks man! And we've played several times online Joest...

[joest01]

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/bow

Thanks man! And we've played several times online Joest...

Who killed whom? ;)

[Gamefanatic]

http://demonssouls.wikidot.com/bow


No no, you helped me kill stuff... If we did battle, I am sure you would win because I lose 99.9% of the time. :very_sad:

[GuyIncognito]

I am close to finishing my first cycle (yup, its taken a while but I am careful to get as much unique stuff as possible out of each) and I am thinking about using my Demon's Souls to create the last of the spells/items. One that's been messing with my head is the Hard Demon's Soul (Armor Spider).

I can figure out the Bow well enough. Fire Damage and (maybe) some fire resistance. The Fire Spray sounds simple as well. You can cast it while moving, FD etc. But what about this Ignite thingie? "Creates a flame in front of the character's fingers"... and what? Bakes cookies?

Since I wouldn't like to waste my HDM on something useless could any of you fine gentlemen/lasses come out and describe what they know about each of the available options? Would be really helpful.

Thanks in advance.

The best bow in the game (if not the best weapon) is sticky composite long bow +5 (with heavy arrows). It does ~350 damage (per arrow) at dexterity ~30 and has a longer range than the lava bow. So you can just randomly choose what to get (for trophies, for example)...to get all trophies you need to go through at least 4 playthroughs.

[FiOth]

Well, the thread came back to life while I wasn't looking! :P

Just for the record, I picked Fire Spray and I have to say, I didn't regret it. The damage per shot is minimal but there are lots of ways to use it. Spamming on a caster or someone who tries to heal is a great way to finish them off, granted you have high enough MAG to cause any damage. There are even more options if you play with a Phantom and since my DEX is high enough the Bow can wait. Ignite was a no-no due to the fact that it takes TWO slots. I mean, gimme a break, thats imba.

But thanks for trying to help people, I really appreciate it.

[SinisterDeath]

Unless I'm mistaken, Ignite is the close-range fire spell used by the Fat Ministers. It doesn't have very good range, but it's supposed to do pretty good damage. At least, it does when the Ministers use it.

You beat me.

It's pretty useful against slower enemies. Never used it, or seen it used against other players.

Ignite would be classified as a PBAOE.
Point Blank Area of Effect. You virtually have to touch the mob to do any dmg with it.

Fire Spray is the one the fat ministers use, not Ignite... Well, at least I've only ever seen them use 'fire spray' (medium-range fire spell) against me, + there melee weapons.

Ignite is only good if you can actually time it right on the enemies, and that virutally requires a shield + rebound. But you can hit multiple enemies with it.... If you dare get that close.
Not useful at all against the shiney bugs though. They run to fast.

[jedbeetle]

ignite....worthless, firespray....worthless, lava bow.....worthless

well unless you dont plan on having a decent dex stat anytime soon, then i would get the lava bow

there are simply too many other spells and too many other options to use these, also i THINK ignite takes up 2 spell slots LOL

i just consume the spiders soul lol or just let them build up in storage
Firespray is so not useless.
I used firespray against the laughing mage dudes (fat ministers) in 2-1 and 1-3, the squid faces in world 3 and against the assassins in 1-3. It's actually pretty useful if you're a magic build - the ability to move and cast at the same time is clutch.

[ICE PICK]

ignite....worthless, firespray....worthless, lava bow.....worthless

well unless you dont plan on having a decent dex stat anytime soon, then i would get the lava bow

there are simply too many other spells and too many other options to use these, also i THINK ignite takes up 2 spell slots LOL

i just consume the spiders soul lol or just let them build up in storage
Firespray is so not useless.
I used firespray against the laughing mage dudes (fat ministers) in 2-1 and 1-3, the squid faces in world 3 and against the assassins in 1-3. It's actually pretty useful if you're a magic build - the ability to move and cast at the same time is clutch.

yeah i will admit that being able to do that is good and the spell does have its you uses, my post had just a little bit of sarcasm in it and closed minded ness

but realistically IMO there are much better spells that can be used in place of that spell, perhaps the spell just doesnt fit my taste and i prefer big damage or pressue spells......the only projectile spell ive used a good bit is soul ray....now THAT is my kind of spell, and fireball isnt that bad either with the huge explosion and splash dmg