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This guide aims to showcase a bow/bow build that is viable in all content and remains able to compete with more meta choices in more difficult content. Bows have been in a very lackluster position within meta PvE content for most, if not all, of ESO's history. As a DPS weapon, bows fall behind compared to dual wield, two handed, and staves in terms of performance. This is not aided by the lack of flexibility inherent to bow abilities. Most options for bow skills are a choice between two forms of damage, meaning that bows are severely lacking in utility. However, this problem becomes less of an issue when you build with it's strengths in mind. So what are bow's strengths?
- Direct Damage
- AoE
- Poison/Disease
- Debuffs
- Range
- Speed
These strengths allow for an interesting build to emerge in the Support DPS category of group content. Sets like The Morag Tong buff most of our damage sources while also buffing damage done by teammates using poison/disease abilities. We are also able to generate a large amount of ultimate through the Animal Companions passives + Soul Harvest Ultimate. This lets us keep a high uptime on our Colossus ultimate majorly boosting team damage. Between bow skills and class skills, this build has a wide array of debuffs that it applies. These debuffs can include major Breach, major/minor Vulnerability, major/minor Defile, Poison, and Disease. This build also easily morphs into a slightly more dedicated Support role through the addition of sets like War Machine or Martial Knowledge. Swapping to the Bone tyrant skill line gives access to even more buffs/debuffs and utility. Necrotic Potency for ultimate generation, Ruinous Scythe for supplying Off Balance and Hemorrhaging, Remote totem for minor Protection/major Cowardice, and Empowering Grasp for Empower and minor/major Maim.
The main setup for this build is aimed at fulfilling the dps role in 4 person dungeon content. However, with a few aforementioned tweaks to that setup you can easily adapt to solo or trials content.
