Archer Build

Hey, everyone!

When I was into Demon's Souls I used a berserked archer. So far I haven't gone the archer route in Dark Souls, but I feel it's time. I'm asking which bow is best. I keep my builds at sl 50 so that I can co-op most of the playthrough. I'm assuming Red Teastone and Hawk ring should be used. I want to use the bandit knife as my melee and i want to take both weapons down the fire path so either fire +10 or chaos +5! Any suggestions? Thanks in advanced!

Composite bow, has the fastest pull back and fire rate. So it is more commonly used. Dragonslayer bow, the slowest to fire and reload, but has massive knockback and high damage. Pharis bow, has the longest range and good damage, but takes a bit to reload and pull back.

As for upgrade paths, you'll want to go Fire, Regular, or Magic/Enchanted/Divine/Occult. The reason for this is split damages. If using fire arrows, Fire/Chaos. If using physical damage arrows, regular. If using moonlit arrows, Magic/Enchanted/Divine/Occult. This way you'll get the most damage out of the bow you are using. I hope this helps, I'm an avid bow user myself. Don't forget to mess with your sensitivity too, since your arrow will point to where your camera is when you zoom in, as well you'll in general be more aware and be able to aim at targets faster.

http://tinyurl.com/7mzrquv
This is what -I- would do if I was playing your character... However, for PvE purposes, I'm not above using certain exploits that allow me to use a magic buff on the bow, hence it being non-elemental. If you are not willing to use such a simple glitch (I call it such because IMHO bows should have been capable of being buffed) I'd drop your stats down, make it a chaos composite, and get fire arrows. The Oolacile Cat is the best way to get great sorcery for a low expense, and buffing the Bandits knife with 198 extra magic damage (or the bow, if so inclined) is a good way to turn it into a reliable weapon for both combat and backstabbing. I personally would use the Lingering, but the RTSR is full an option.

see but the composite bow has real **** accuracy, the black bow of pharis tho... has good pull back, range, fire rate, damage and accuracy haha, thats the one i use on my build

I just keep a Pharis in my inventory for sniping.

Pharis does great damage anything over mid range. But composite bow is best for anything charging at you're butt really fast. Like Dogs. But any kind of humanoid can be taken out with a few aimed headshots with the BBoP

I would say choose from Composite Bow,Short Bow,and DragonSlayer for pvp. I wouldnt suggest always wearing the hawk unless you are trolling with the dragon slayer I randomly turned my warrior build into an archer the other day and dueled people in burg, it was tons of fun. I need to further test this, but using the cestus while offhanding a bow gives a similar effect to the dragon body bow glitch. Just nowhere near as much dmg, but still it seems to do more dmg then having another weapon.
http://tinyurl.com/76azlle

Thats probably intentional by From, then the dragon form glitches it.

Yea i just tested it again, it doesnt do as much dmg as i seem to remember it doing. Nothing huge like 300dmg. Pretty bad actually, but a lot of the time people dont expect a backstab while your two handing a bow.

Especially if you dont have dragon form. plus, as they get up, you have time to get distance.

If you have poison arrows equiped, your backstab causes 64 buildup.
The more you know.