Bowman

Title: MapleStory Bowman Introduction – Hunter and Crossbowman

Welcome maplers/beginners! Need a guide before you begin your long journey from as a bowman? You have come to the right place! This guide covers about what is actually a bowman all about, what’s so special about playing this job, and what could this job offers you for the next 2nd, 3rd and 4th job advancement. Sounds interesting? Grab a drink and read on!

Contents at a Glance

What is a Bowman?

Why be Bowman? (pros and cons)

What type of Bowman suits me?

What attribute does Bowman need? (AP Allocation)

Frequently Asked Question

Useful Links / Related Topics

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What is a Bowman? [Top]
Bowmen have dexterity with some power, and in battles, they specialize in long-range attacks. They handle bows and crossbows very well, and can also use a light sword, blunt weapon, or an axe on occasion. They are adept at avoiding the enemy, and prefer armors that are light enough to maximize dexterity. The job order for the bowmen reveal a 2-way job route. In order to advance as one of these job, various requirements need to be fulfilled. You should take time deciding what kind of a bowman you want to become down the road before committing to a route. (Maplestory.nexon.net, 2005)

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Why be a Bowman? [Top]
Pros
– Very cool and unique skills in 3rd and 4th Job (i.e. Puppet)
– Uses magician element (Fire/Ice) in 3rd Job to 4th Job.
– Furthest range (similar to Assasins attacking distance)
– Highest accuracy among all jobs (Dexterity is their main attribute for damage and accuracy)
– Cheap equipments for sale since the majority does not play as Bowman.
Cons
– Low HP (Has high risk of being killed easily against boss or high level monsters)
– Difficult to jump shoot like Assasins.
– Difficult to deal with mobs in close range.
– Difficult to train (very slow).
– Unstable damage due to critical shot.
– Have very few party skills to contribute to party members.
– Mostly solo by themselves while training.

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What type of Bowman suits me? [Top]
There are 2 sub-class in Bowman which are Hunter and Crossbowman. Hunter uses bow while Crossbowman uses crossbow to fight against enemies. Below is a list that states the pros and cons for each sub-class.
Hunter
Pros
– Looks much cooler than Crossbow Man as their Bow does not cover their face.
– Bow reloads arrow much faster than Crossbow.
– In 3rd Job, Hunter has Fire element attack that deals more damage than Crossbow Ice element.
Cons
– Bow has less base weapon attack compare to Crossbow.
– Bow requires more STR (Strength) to be equipped compare to Crossbow.
– Requires arrow to shoot unless player has Soul Arrow skill activated.
Crossbow Man
Pros
– In 3rd Job, Crossbowman has Ice element attack that is able to freeze monster.
– Crossbow has more base weapon attack compare to Bow.
– Crossbow has lesser STR requirement, does Crossbowman have more DEX to deal more damage.
– Crossbow is preferred for early training as they provide more damage.
Cons
– Crossbow reloads arrow much slower than Bow.
– Requires crossbow arrow to shoot unless player has Soul Arrow skill activated.

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What attribute does a Bowman need? [Top]
To advanced as a Bowman in 1st Job, you would need to have at least 25 DEX (dexterity) to pass the Athena requirement to allow you to become a Bowman. For players who want to advance as a Hunter (2nd Job) your STR (strength) must be (level + 5) in order to equip bow, while Crossbowman needs their STR to be equivalent as their level.

Perfect Bowman stats on rolling dice
The perfect build for a Bowman is to roll the dice at: (both INT and LUK is 4)
STR is required to handle equipments while DEX is to boost your accuracy, min and max damage.
STR : 4
DEX : 13
LUK : 4
INT : 4

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Bowman In-Game Screenshots

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Credits / Sources
All credits goes to senior players who have put lots of effort in teaching newbies about Bowman.
Credits to Adrew88 for compiling the Bowman Frequently Asked Questions.
*~2nd Job The CrossBowMan Guide~* compiled by Andrew88 (PPF Forumer)
Life as a Crossbowman Screenshots
Detailed 1st/2nd JOB ARCHER GUIDE 4 NEWCOMERS who just joined by LordOfDragons (PPF Forumer)
Credits to MapleSim.com as I used the site to create a bowman picture preview!
Credits to Bowjob.wordpress.com for the screenshots and funny picture.
Bowman Useful Information

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Bowman Frequently Asked Question [Top]

Why People Say Crossbowman Does More Damage?

Is Crossbow Really Slower Than Bow?

Do You Really Need Power-KnockBack?

Advantages and Disadvantages of Power-KnockBack

Advantages and Disadvantages of Final Attack

Comparison between Arrow Blow vs Double Shot

Comparison between Focus vs Blessing of Amazon

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Why People Say Crossbowman Does More Damage?
– Formula for Max Damage: (Notice the difference in multiplier? 3.4 vs 3.6)
– Bow : (DEX * 0.9 * 3.4 * Skill Mastery + STR) / 100 * Weapon Attack
– Crossbow : (DEX * 0.9 * 3.6 * Skill Mastery + STR) / 100 * Weapon Attack
– The Higher Your Level,The different In Damage Would Get Even Higher!
– Crossbows Always Have A Higher Weapon Attack Compared To Bow Of Same Level.
– Due To Need For More Str To Equip With Bow,Crossbowman Would Have More Dex.

Is Crossbow Really Slower Than Bow?
Crossbow is ‘slightly’ slower than Bow even though the speed description of both weapons are ‘Normal’

Do You Really Need Power-KnockBack?
‘Why do I need Power-KnockBack When We Have Arrow Eruption & Mortal Blow in 3Rd Job’ ?
Below is a list pros and cons of Power-KnockBack, so you can decide it according to your style.

Pros
– You Can Fight Melee Before You Get Your Mortal Blow & Arrow Eruption
– You Get To Fight Up To 6 Monster Melee(Kill Monsters Blocking Your Path)
– When A Monster In Your Minimum Range But With Low Hp,You Can Just Kill It With Power-KnockBack.
– Able To Provide You Shooting Space To Activate Skills Like Blizzard Or Strafe
Cons
– It Becomes Almost Useless When You Have A Decent Level Of Arrow Eruption.
– You Might Receive More Physical Damage in the within the mobs When You Uses Arrow Eruption

Advantages and Disadvantages of Final Attack
Basically, 2 Main Build For Archers Are FA Or FA-Less (FA=Final Attack). Below are the pros and cons.

Pros
– FA-Shot Is A Shot Delivered In A Very Fast Timing.
– FA-Shot Cost 0 MP
– Deals 250-350% Damage For Free
– FA-Shot Has No Minimum Range

Cons
– If FA Comes Out As Iron Arrow & Hit 6 Tauromacis………
– Activation Of FA-Shot unable to move or jump, Thus Suffering Monster Attacks. (Etc:Earthquakes)
– Might Screw Up Your Iron Arrow Which You Will Still Be Using In 3rd Job.(Damage Wise)
– Time is wasted if your DS managed to kill the monster but FA gets activated.(Shoot Air)
– Unable To Train On 1 HKO Monsters. (HKO = Hit Knock Out = Kill Mosnter Instantly)

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Arrow Blow or Double Shot?
One of the most debated topics of all time in the archer community. Originally Arrow blow was believe to be better since it’s one whole number which provides more knock back, but mathematical calculations have proven that DS does more damage, on a personal note I have used both 20 AB and 20 DS and I must say that even 10 DS can be as good as 20 AB.

Calculations:
Arrow Blow deals one arrow of 260% damage.
Double Shot deals two arrows of 130% damage each adding up to 260%
Critical Shot has a 40% chance of adding 100% damage to each arrow fired.

Arrow Blow
Arrow Blow has one 40% chance of adding 100% to 260%
60% chance of Arrow Blow without Critical = 260%
40% chance of Arrow Blow with Critical = 360%
Average damage Arrow Blow damage = 0.6*260 + 0.4*360 = 300%

Double Shot
Double Shot has two 40% chances of adding 100% to two 130%’s
16% chance of Double Shot with 2 Critical = 460%
48% chance of Double shot with 1 Critical = 360%
36% chance of Double Shot without Critical = 260%
Average damage Double Shot = 0.16*460 + 0.48*360+ 0.36*260 = 340%

Conclusion:
* Double Shot can deal up to 100% more damage than Arrow Blow when both are doing critical damage.
* Double Shot deals 40% more damage than Arrow Blow on average.
* Double Shot has a 24% chance of ALWAYS dealing equal or more damage than Arrow Blow.
* Arrow Blow has the power to knock back particular monsters and is some what useful in 3rd job though you will be strafing most of the time.
* Choosing Arrow Blow or Double Shot affects learning Final Attack or not.

Summary
Choose Double Shot, because it does more damage and knock back is overrated. By: pokgai

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Focus or Blessing of Amazon?
Being an archer means we already get way too much accuracy from your massive dex, by the time we’re level 70, we can pretty much hit almost every monster in the game excluding level restriction.

Blessing gives passive accuracy, while focus cost a little mana gives accuracy, but also avoid. Wouldn’t you rather pay a little mana and have the extra security of some extra avoid?

Summary:
It’s recommended that you get Focus instead of Blessing. By: pokgai

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Below are some useful information for Bowman, compiled by LordOfDragons (PPF Forumer)
Credits goes to him/her with playpark forumers who helped in this FAQ compilation!

Does Soul Arrow stack with Red Arrows or other Arrows that add WA?
It has been proven a no. Arrows that has bonus WA (weapon attack) is not added into Soul Arrow.

What is Strafe’s speed?
For rangers – 84 per min
For snipers – 84 per min

Is FA worth adding?
FA doesnt work with 3rd job skills, and it causes delay when it activates, which might cause death.
Moreover, by maxing FA, you cannot max alot of other skills which would be more useful.
FA is useful for training during 2nd job however, and gives a large boost in dmg.
For people who answer the question of “Does FA work in 3rd job?”
People who say yes mean FA still works, but not with 3rd job skills.
People who say No mean FA doesnt work with 3rd job skills-credits to nickykeeng for it.

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Is FA worth adding?
Arrow Bomb is an active Hunter skill, shooting an arrow that strikes the nearest enemy and explodes. At level 30, it costs 28 MP, has a 60% chance of stunning, does 40% damage on impact, and does 130% damage to up to 5 monsters within the explosion radius. Arrow Bomb is a very special case when combined with Critical Shot, however. Normally, Critical Shot adds 100% to your attack, with a 40% chance. But instead of adding 100% damage, Critical Shot will double Arrow Bomb’s damage. On impact, a Critical Arrow Bomb will deal 80% damage instead of 140%, and the explosion will deal 260% damage instead of 230%.

Arrow bomb is 40 + 130 + 130 + 130 +130 +130 = 690%
Iron Arrow is 180% + 148% + 121% + 99% + 81% + 67% = 696%

Iron Arrow is an active Crossbowman skill that fires in a straight line and does not curve, but passes through monsters without resistance until the end of its reach, also passing through walls. At level 30, it costs 28 MP, and causes 180% damage to the first monster it strikes, and from there the damage is reduced by 18% (not damage %)

NOTE : IA’s critical dmg gets cut as it passes through monsters as well.
Note : Iron Arrow shoots in a straight line, which means it might not shoot mobs on platforms that go slunting up or down. Arrow Bomb curves but does not shoot through ledges.

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Thrust worth adding? (Personal Preference)
Some may say that Thrust wastes sp, but some may say it is good for passive speed buff.
Its pretty much up to u, if u wanna sacrifice MB/inferno for Thrust or not.

PKB (Power Knock Back)? (Personal Preference.)
PKB is a rather useful skill, for it helps when you’re getting mobbed. With Arrow Rain, sometimes PKB will still be used. Not to mention its quite a fun skill to use to kill people :P
Though with Dragon Pulse, this skill would probably be useless.

Note: The dmg calculation for pkb and bow swing is that of a 2H BW calculated based on your STR and DEX with 10% mastery(Coz we dun hav BW mastery). So the dmg will never be in the range shown in stats window.
PKB has been nerfed in version 0.40, to not have 100% aggro.

Puppet
This skill is very useful, it helps luring mobs. At vikings esp, by use rain/eruption on the spawn, cast puppet somewhere unreachable and you can snipe them to death

Is xbowman better than bowman in terms of dmg?
Yes it is. Xbowman have better WA and 5 dex advantage.
crossbowmen still has higher damage compared to hunters with the same level and equipments. 1. crossbowmen has 5 dex advantage over hunters. 2. crossbowmen’s damage multiplier based on DEX is 3.6 while hunter’s is 3.4.
Also, WA is more significant in crossbows, for e.g, a 65 WA xbow will add more dmg than a 65 WA bow.

(Cross)Bow Mastery
When you put points in (Cross)Bow Mastery (often shortened to “Mastery”), every odd skill level will raise your minimum damage by a certain percentage. This tightens the range of your raw damage, which as you know is used everywhere. When it reaches level 19, the skill brings your minimum damage to within 60% of your maximum, and adds 19 ACC. Maxed (cross)bow mastery is needed for 4th job advanced mastery.

(Cross)Bow Booster
When you put points in (Cross)Bow Booster (often shortened to “Booster”), every skill level increases the duration by 10 seconds, and decreases the MP and HP cost by 1. Investing more points into Booster does not increase your Attack Speed. While Booster is in effect, your Attack Speed will increase by the same rate whether the skill is at level 1 or 20; it is only the cost and duration that are affected.

Does Arrow Rain’s area of att increase when u increase its skill pts?
Rain’s range changes everytime the mp cost changes.
But its range isnt as high as Ice Strike, thus it doesnt hit all mobs up/down.

Strafe VS Double Shot + Final Attack
This has been a long argued issue because : Strafe max dmg 800%, while DS + FA is 460% + 350% = 810%, which SEEMS higher than strafe.
Firstly, take note that FA does NOT work with 3rd job skills, and it has only 60% chance of activating. Not to mention that its delay can cause death.
The conclusion is that Strafe will outdamage DS + FA over time, no matter what. For calculations, see the link at my post on the second page.

STR-less Bowmen
Pure DEX bowman are made possible with the release of maple weapons, BOMD and sorts. There have been debates about Pure DEX V.S Normal Bowman. It has been proven that at lower levels, Pure DEX bowman wins normal ones hands-down. But as their levels progress, pure dex bowman lose out to normal dex ones. Also, there will be 35 levels of hell to suffer as a pure dex bowman from lvl 1~35 before you can use maple bow. Not to mention the expensive items. For calculations, visit the link at the bottom, where i credited it for the FAQ.
Theres no Pure DEX xbowman since there are no str-less xbows like BOMD.
Playing Pure DEX is probably a challenge some might take up.

Skills needed to max for 4th job?
Mastery(2nd job) for Bow Expertise
SilverHawk/GoldenEagle needs to be at least level 15 to get the 4th job bird.

Arrow Rain/Eruption Range increment?
Arrow Rain’s range rises every time the mp rises. In other words, the maximum range of arrow rain is capped at lvl 22
Note that the only skills that increases in range over skill level is rain/eruption

About Critical Shot.-xiaodoudou-
Crit does not work with the following:
1. Melee weapons.
2. Bow swing in place of shooting @ melee range.
3. Power Knockback (Bowman 2nd Job Skill)
4. Hawk (Bowman 3rd Job Skill)
5. Blizzard (Only for 3rd Job Crossbow : Sniper)

Arrow Bomb/Hawk Stun Timer.
I tested it, and got an avg of 12 seconds for Arrow Bomb, and for Hawk, ard 10~12 seconds.

Blizzard Freeze Timer-shimbenedict-
Avg of 10 seconds. Note that this only applies to freezable monsters. The 10 seconds is only when the monster is NOT attacked by any other attack by you or anyone else. If you use another attack to hit the frozen monster, it will turn to 3 seconds.

Blizzard V.S Arrow Bomb
Use the above timers for this. Arrow Bomb has a longer avg stun timing by ard 2 seconds. However, Freeze works only on freezable mobs, while bomb only has a 60% stun chance. Now, to get to the point.

Arrow Bomb stuns at a 60% chance, BUT it is dependent on some multiplier and the monster’s level, so it is NOT pure %, unlike hawk. This makes it not as efficient.
Blizzard freezes 100%, only on freezable mobs(refer to unfreezable mobs list).

Visually you’d see that Blizzard is actually better, though it doesnt do critical.
Afterall, Arrow Bomb is a 2nd job skill, and you can’t expect a 2nd job skill to compare to a 3rd job one i guess. Made this due to the comparisons of Arrow Bomb’s stuns and Blizzard’s freeze.

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Relationship between Strength and HP
Strength DOES NOT increase the amount of hp u get when you level up. It is only a neccessity for holding bows and nothing else.
Note that Blizzard lasts around 5 strafes.(credits : rosette)
For e.g., you freeze a mob. You can hit it 5 times with strafe. At the 6th strafe, it will most probably defrost and start using its magic attacks on you.

Difference between Snipers and Rangers?
Rangers shoot slightly faster while snipers have higher dmg.
Rangers shoot Inferno while Snipers shoot Blizzard(freezes)
Rangers have Silver Hawk and Arrow Rain, while Snipers have Golden Eagle and Arrow Eruption.
Basically those skills work the same.

Number of HP added if AP is added, or increment during level-up.
Increment during level-up ranges from 19~24, depending on real life luck.
When AP is added to HP, it ranges from 15 to 20.

Experience decrease after dying.
Dying in towns or certain boss places decreases only 1%. Dying at normal training maps gives a decrease of 10% if you did not add luck. However, recent updates in KMS seem to reveal that the loss of percentage has been decreased.

Hands?
Hands in your ability box is the combination of INT, LUK and DEX. STR is excluded from this equation. Currently, there is no known use for Hands.

HP Washing?
HP Washing is actually taking points from MP and adding it to HP.
To do this, add level-up AP to HP. After that, reset MP to dex.
It is actually quite worth it if you’ve the money to do it. Archers need HP a lot for survivality.
Personally, I am not rich and thus, cannot afford to do this.

Sets or overalls?
This is actually personal preference. Sets are not as aesthetically nice-looking, although cash items may make up for it.
Also, sets are slightly more rare to find and difficult to scroll as scrolls are all cursed. Moreover, it might be a chore as bottomwear scrolls are STR scrolls.
Overalls on the other hand, are easier to find and scroll, and look nicer as well. Arguably, overalls have 10 slots but top/bottom have 14 slots added together.

DEX and ATK
DEX and WA are the primary contributers to a Bowman’s dmg. 1 WA = 4.5 dex approximately.
WA certainly contributes alot more to dmg than dex, esp at higher levels. For calculations visit the link in the credits for FAQ.

Speed VS Jump
Scrolling shoes for jump is more advisable than speed because shoe jump scrolls add dex, which contributes to damage. Nevertheless, keeping a speed shoe with you is advisable for weaker mobs and for travelling distances.
Bowman shoes should be used to scroll jump while ss should be used to scroll speed.
of course, you can use jump scrolls on ss but speed on bowman shoes is not recommended.

How do I jump shoot?
By pressing your jump and attack key at the same time.

Is jump shot good?
It helps dodge earthquake atks, from mushmom, yetis, etc.
Also helps in shooting while travelling at the same time.

About Accuracy.
Accuracy adds nothing except accuracy. It doesn’t affect our damage, nor range, nor critical rate.

Does 4th job require Zakum Helm?
No. Any claims that it is needed in the past are fake rumours.

Weapon Defense affecting our damage
According to Julliant, WD is calculated : base dmg – WD * skill %

Spd/Jump VS Dmg
Dmg is better than anything related to movement without a doubt. Usually, if you want dmg, you will not have extreme movement rate. If you want movement rate, your dmg will be lower. And dmg is more impt for training efficiently.