Bow+Katana?

I've seen a bunch of videos on Youtube showcasing a 'hybrid' class that wields both a katana and a bow, with skills borrowed from both skill trees. And yes, while it may look cool and seem 'versatile' enough to be applauded, is it really optimal to use your precious skill points for two class skill trees?
Ones I've mainly seen, both in YT and in game, seem to focus on the katana skill tree but have several bow skills, which I admit, are very useful, but if you're already going for katana, then why do you waste skill points on the debuff arrows? Won't it be better to focus purely on the katana skill tree if that's what you're going for? I mean, high dps skills of the bow like Decoy Shot and Cross Fire are admittedly very useful dps skills that help you get your damage up, but by equipping a katana, you miss out on the far more compatible combinations between bows and daggers; daggers which provide far more useful buffs to the bow skill tree and overall damage. I like the thought of making an evenly rounded character with debuffs, but in a game that is solely focused on getting the highest burst damage as possible, then why bother with a bow? Or conversely, why bother with a katana? While both skill trees do complement each other fairly well, it is in my opinion that by focusing purely on either skill tree, you will get the most out of it, rather than branching out to either skill tree, both of which are quite point-intensive.

edit: i mean, dagger skills provide debuffs too yknow...

However, the case I've made above is purely for theory only; if you enjoy playing the 'Samurai' class, as it is popularly called, then do whatever floats your boat. I'm not here to pick a fight, just to gather thoughts of other people. Also, you'll see the severe lack of proving that I had put, so forgive me; twas just a passing thought in my head.

 

I've played the Bowkatana class ever since Katana became a thing, and to be honest you do have a point where you probably would achieve higher damage by doing just bow or just katana. I use a build which mixes the both of them, so I do use CF, Snipe, Zentei, Tenryu and Garyou. It does not have the same damage numbers as Bow + Arrow or Two Handed Katana but I can say that it fits into so many more battles that they will. With accessability to both you do have more to do in battle when one strategy is not gonna work out, meaning you would provide more DPS than the other two on average of all the bosses in the game.

You can always make a build work out for you if you are satisfied with the play style. Having Kairiki and Meikyo able to have you Crit and MP horde is very useful, and I can see why you would get them, though Bow + Arrow in the end will do more damage. The main reason to go for Bow + Katana is if you want a character who can fit into more battles, do more than just what a normal Archer or Katana would be able to do at the cost of some DPS. I can say that I have placed around 1-2 as Attacker with Bow + Katana a decent amount of times, but with 99% confidence I can say that I've placed all three Breaker/Attacker/Tank more than a standard Bow or Katana would.

 

I see. So by having a samurai class, instead of high damage bursts, you will instead put out moderate damage bursts with far more skills that can adapt to most bosses? Like, it's sacrificing specialized damage for a jack-of-all-trades kinda style?

 

You damage can still be pretty high, like I can send out around 1m CF and 600k Garyous (using Tenryu while charging to get the 10 charges) so you may not be able to dish out 1.4m constantly thoughout a battle with one CF. But as the saying goes "Dead DPS is No DPS", so while a standard CF user may struggle against some bosses and not be able to dish out 1.4m damage, you can at least do 600k Garyou while they struggle/die.

But yes, you can function a lot like a jack of all trades.
You have CF, Tenryu, and Garyou for DPS
Snipe, Power Shot, Moeba, Paralyze, Smoke, Arm Break, Pommel for ailments
Zentei for Tanking if needed (CF does charge even if you take 0 damage to get the last hit on Zentei)
Meikyo makes all your attacks +65 Crit Rate so you dont really need crit+ or crit% you can stack critdmg
Kairiki + Decoy will restore all the MP you ever need, it is stupid how much MP you regain from it (Tenryu buff will make this faster as your ASPD maximizes)

This is just with the Shot and Mononofu skill trees, you can always add in War Cry, GSW and other things if you wanna but I personally only need the two skill trees.

 

please share your bow tana build sir.. i need help, i never got attacker

 

The thing about bow-kata people forget is:
•You can use both shot & mononofu
•You can focus on shot
•You can focus on mononofu

For a versatile gameplay, bow-kata is great. For melee focus, you can make your katana main. For ranged focus, you can use arrow instead of katana.

It's not that you can't pull off high damage output. It really depends on how and who will use it for what situation. This means using different equipments for different fights. I gotta say, this build is an expensive one since you get access to two full skill trees when you needed it.

If you're so obsessed with attacker rank, I can assure you other weapon types can do that without much effort.

P.S bow cannot equip daggers, but bowguns can

 

I also play bowtana but i focus more on support role. Zantei really protect the precious cf charge along with aura buffs and since my pet is tanking i im a bit free to move around safely. I can deploy buffs and give first aid without worry of getting pommeled and kairaikiri + decoy really helps while i give support on the fly while staying alive. Quick motion kills a lot of ampr so i i only deploy that when my mana is full. My gear is more focused on - aggro for freedom of movement and general survival. Really fun to play, i can micromanage everything on the fly.

 

Evasion buff is something I love for the fact I have a second way to not get hit.
Plus Mirage Evading during decoy is fun

 

Bow + Kata is indeed a late game playstyle that you need to heavily invest in in order to compete with other top tier dps out there who can get there easier, otherwise you'll most likely be stuck in the support role most of the time. It also takes a lot of work to keep up the DPS as well since you have to be mindful of proation, avoid taking a hit with CF, timing with Zantei and among other things to keep in mind.

That said, it has its ups and down when compared to their counterparts. As such, Bow + Kata will not have access to exploiting elemental weakness with Crossfire. You will not gain benefits from Two-Handed sword. You won't get any Stat boost from your off-hand.

But personally for me, its pros outweigh the cons if you look at it from a utility point of view. You can utilize Meikyo with no loss of c.damage with CF. You can easily apply Armor Break for Garyou. You almost never need to reset or run out of MP with Decoy 12m auto range and 30s Kairiki. The list can go on and on depending on how you build it.

The strongest point of a Bow + Kata isn't when the flow of the battle is proceeding smoothly; it's when the flow of battle changes abruptly. Glass Cannon DPS will usually struggle to adapt to changes such as getting aggroed or the boss decides to flip the bird on you. Bow + Kata is extremely versatile in that regard in which you always have something you can do in these kinds of situation so long as you pay attention.

Your tank died and is coming after you? Laugh at his attack with Zantei. Oh he killed one of your teammates? Decoy + Kairiki and spam that first aid with no worries to MP. Too dangerous to get close? It's CF spam time. And so on and so forth.

You just can't be a dead brain with BIG DPS IS BETTER meta we're currently in right now, and Asobimo hasn't really created anything challenging enough that requires good coordination yet. You should always strive to do what's best for the team, even if it means sacrificing your DPS to fill in other roles when the going gets tough in order for your team to re-bounce back. Again, you need to invest heavily into it to be the Bow-Kata everyone needs but do not deserve, or you'll always feel lackluster.

But once you achieve that, good god do they shine when you need them the most.

 

My short review with bow-kata dex>str build

You can bully most bosses with your katana main. No need ele gear to achieve this.
You can participate in most events with your main bow + ele arrow.

Really versatile and most useful class

 

Its kind of a necropost, but yeah katana+bow is good and fun to play. With the amount of skill points of the current level cap, you can use bowtana, pure katana playstyle and pure bow in one character. You just need to add snipe and crossfire on top of basic katana build. You can also get satelite arrow if you don't take extra buff skills like recovery and brave aura.