Martial Bow vs Shigeto BowFollow

Hey, I dinged 75 a couple weaks ago and have had great fun playing SAM in merit parties. Usually come SAM/DRG with Soboro and had great fun.

HOWEVER!

I used to play SAM/RNG and had fun with it, but missing Sidewinders hurt...Now that I'm 75, I'm thinking about bringing my SAM/RNG back. The question is, have anyone here tried testing the Martial Bow vs the Shigeto Bow? Martial Bow gives a TP bonus to ranged weaponskills, sorta like Hagun to Great Katana weaponskills. But will it compete with the Shigeto Bow in the long run on WS' considering you can fire a sidewinder @ 100% TP and get the Acc of a 200% TP Sidewinder, or is it not worth it?

Usefulness of SAM/RNG aside (different debate).

Awhile back I had the same question and after same rather quickish testing (only 40 or so samples from each test) the difference between 100 and 200 TP on sidewinder is approx 40 accuracy. For RNG mains (A+ skill and plenty of +r.acc gears) its not worth it. But for SAM (C skill and limited gear sets) the difference is significant. Each sidewinder will be weaker (vs a Shig(+1)) but the quantity of SW's capable of being fired will be significantly higher (almost 2x as much).

SAM/RNG with soboro + Martials + Kabura can turn out pretty impressive numbers on piercing weak monsters.

Not my favorite playstyle, but some people still love it.

And the best thing, Martial bow is like 5-10K on the AH (like Oni used to be).

SAM/RNG still has its uses, but none are in merit parties. /sigh

No piece of ranged gear quite says Samurai like the Shigeto Bow.

Being able to fire off Swinders as soon as you get over 100% TP has got to be useful though. I wait till 160+ with the Shigeto Bow.

Even with sharpshot, the C level skill (230) is what really kills it, at least on anything that matters. Thankfully /RNG gives two accuracy bonus traits (+22) so that will mitigate it a bit.

You are correct that that no ranged weapon screams "SAM" like a Shig. But of all the GKT the one that most looks like "SAM" is Shinsoku, and we see how that works. Because SAM spams so many WS and thus gets most of its damage through WS, its always in our best interest to optimize our WS output in whichever way was can. In the case of Y/G/K spam its Hagun. A weapon that looks ugly, and has crappy DoT, but makes our WS kick a$$. For SW spam its the Martials Bow for the same reason. But in this case its quantity your getting, being able to fire off at 100tp for the same accuracy as someone waiting till 200 definitely counts. In fact if your waiting for 150 to fire, the Martials not only fires more often, but also would have more accuracy (and thus less miss's) due to it have the acc of a 200tp SW.

But I digress, I'm a GKT SAM mostly, with a little bit of Tomoe sprinkled in for flavor.

I love the look of Oni personaly, awesome blue blade.

I once did SAM/RNG with full RNGACC/WSACC macro in Mire on imps around 72 on SAM, before lvl sync. I think it has real merit(pun) there because Imps are weak to arrows, lower level, and because amnesia. I don't have Hagun, and might not ever since my HNMLS days are behind me, and I like simple leveling and meriting, so a SAM/RNG build could work there pretty well.

Go in with sole sushi, or the RNG ACC/ATT food. Since amnesia has the problem of killing your WS right before 100 TP, you'll prolly end up with 150-200 with soboro a lot of the time, getting awesome DOT. With sole, you'll have 95% hit rate pretty damn easily, can stack on all the haste/att you have. Its not hard at all to hit Imps with Sidewinder with Shigeto at 72, so at 75 should be too easy.

Keep in mind this setup is for fun, not for hard core meriting. If its linkshell party, do it if they let you, this game is about having fun, so don't let anyone tell you how to play as long as your damage keeps up with the parties. IF the party setup is BRD RDM COR SAM SAM you, go with GKT or polearm, if the setup is BRD RDM THF PUP PLD/NIN and you, play for fun.