Making a BowTana

Not a guide or anything just needed to know a few things.


First of i wanted to know if Save on cf affects damage on charge not discharge.

So far i noticed a decrease in damage whenever i save but i get confused cuz it might be cuz of rotation.


SECOND!

Since im playing Bowtana i noticed Cf damage majorly decreases after tenryu, might be cause of rotation but i also tried to cf before going tenryu and i still barely did damage like i do 1m max with cf but with bowtana ill be lucky if i get around 500k (usually is 100-300k) the damage of cf is just so unstable with bowtana


Besides that id love to see combo ideas for me to use, combos are my problem mostly and when to use cf if rotation is the problem.

 

The way CF works in combos is (% modifier for charge) + (% modifier for attack cast) - 100% unless it is both smite so 150% + 150% - 100% will not make it 200% damage. It is best to smite one of them for maximum damage, with proration.

Bowkatana tends to have low stability because Bows have low stability. Bows are meant to gain the stability from Arrows along with element and attack (and any other benefits). I've used bowkatana since katana was released, and to offset this you'd put stats into STR or use Paralyze shot lv10. I wouldnt use skill points on Paralyze 10 unless you really want to. Otherwise, bowkatana is not really built for full dps, unlike Bow+Arrow.

You could always use the combos I use for my bowkatana but there are so many things you can do with it.
CF > Decoy (save) > Kairiki (swift) > Meikyo (swift)
Meikyo > CF (smite)
Pulse >Paralyse/T.Thrust (save) > Tenryu (swift)
Moeba > Decoy (save) > Kairiki (cons) > Snipe/Zentei (swift)
Technically with the new combo system you can put Garyou in the last combo, but I havent had much reason to add Garyou to the combo when 10/10 normal Garyou does 600k±200k for me anyways, with smite it might get to 1m. CF tends to be around 1m±200k for me .

Really bowkatana is meant to be a more balanced archer, one that can deal good ranged and close damage, have access to good defense options, and can be a good team support as well. It depends a lot on your equipment and skills, your bowkatana can do a lot of things.

 

I figured bowtana is good because cf you gotta wait for it to charge so while im at it i can dash damage with tenryu then end with break snipe comboed with genryu.

And end with cf.

So the charge also has damage modifier so why not smite both?

 

Smiting the charge means you need to put CF in a combo, and it means longer time on the same spot. The smited CF also needs a following skill to avoid doubling MP cost, of course, smited Finale as combo ender can be a good way around this.

On the other hand, firing the CF can be left smited without following skill since it cost 0 MP anyway.

In short, the time you start charging a smited CF, you could've done a lot more stuff - deal more damage, avoid dying, reviving a teammate, etc. In terms of speed, using CF directly to charge is the fastest and safest.

 

Because there's a specific clause that makes smiting both do no extra damage.

The best thing about bow katana is that you can use bow on anti-melee and katana on anti-range. Also you can charge CF while Zentei tanking since apparently Zentei does not flag CF to stop charging if you take 0 damage.
Bowtana is better than bow+arrow in my opinion since it can do much more. But, for high dps you NEED snipe right before CF/Garyou.

 

I just tried garyou, its really disappointing.

650k crit with a bit of proration plus break. For a 9mp cost combo it was terrible

But maybe i did it wrong, i tried to find info online on how garyou works, do i need to use 1 skill of each katana tree to get stacks or is spamming tenryu 10 times enough for example.

So my combos with bowtana right now is to charge cf no combo

Then go in and spam tenryu with maga for extra duration(dont have zentei)

After duration break with snipe and genryu smite (quick aura to negate smite problems)

Then finish with cf.

 

from what i know, it's useless to try if want to deal decent damage using katana skills with this build. At most you'll only able to reach around 2/3 of normal katana damage. The purpose of using bowtana is to be flexible with the battle situation, and garyou usage mostly is for extra damage (tho the reason your damage is pretty low probably because of low of ATK or you happen to have -LRD stat or you might be casting garyou long enough till the armor break is gone)

 

Dont let the builds of 2 slot rich people sway whether or not your damage is good, 650k is great. Plus, MP is the least of your worries with how infinate bowkatana gets MP. Decoy + Kairiki is probably the most broken thing about it. With 10/10 stacks + Snipe I've seen my Garyou get up to 800k on normal bosses, 600-700k on Ulti bosses.

But, I know a lot of CF only bowkatanas, which is good either way.

I wouldnt say its useless, since you'd be doing much better than a Bow+Katana against anti-range bosses, and bosses like Hell Reaper. The katana skills will never deal as much as two-handed katana but its no reason to dismiss the damage of the skills as useless, as it all adds up in the end. Dealing 5/6 bow damage + 2/3 katana damage does tend to deal more than 6/6 bow damage in the long run.

 

Since you are using bowkatana, you get the ability to:
①Support
②Tank
③Deal single target and AOE damage.

First is support. Snipe offers Armor Break debuff which is useful for the party especially at nm/ult bosses. If you are the only Armor Breaker, your presence alone can speed things up. You need practice to time it. Debuff duration, skill casting time, actions you can do while enemy can resist Snipe, etc. If you were like me who uses Snipe a lot during nm/ult fight you'll generate a shit ton amount of aggro, so I recommend having -aggro or stay within Guardian buff range at all times.

Second is tank. Having Decoy, your MP is almost guaranteed, but you need to have a good ampr yourself so you won't have trouble with using MP a lot. Magadachi gives back a bit of MP when used for defense, but Zantei(even at level 1) offers 0 damage taken for 1 hit. The only drawback is the skill animation time and ending lag. With this, you can act as OT or MT if desperately needed.

If you wonder what I meant by ending lag, look at when your character fires CF. Your character lowers its hand to go back to fighting pose. Not that noticeable, but can get you killed. Same with Zantei and Magadachi. Whenever I die, it's mostly because of that very tiny delay. It feels like eternity to me.

Lastly, Tenryu, Garyou, Magadachi, Zantei, Hasso Happa, Arrow Rain, Snipe, Cross Fire... Man pick your poison.

Bowkatana is so versatile. You lose stability because of no arrows and required to use element weapon. You can't get two handed buff because you're using sub. If you don't have 2s or have a piece or two, it means you can still get stronger. 600k? It's not that bad for common players. Just keep yourself updated with info so you won't waste efforts and regret later on. Practice also makes you better. Practice hard, practice smart. Good luck.