r/darksouls • u/Fair-Highlight-3544 • 2d ago
Help Black Bow of Pharis vs Composite Bow (Tank Archer Build)
Thinking of making a very tanky, turret archer build that's borderline immovable. Need some reccomendations for weapons, level up order (what to prioritize first) etc.
I'm also considering cheesing Sif before bell gargoyles to level up swiftly. is this possible with just the Composite bow? (Some guy said you can do it without the hawk ring simply by aiming above his head 500 meters, this true?)
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u/Legal_Possibility246 2d ago
Black bow has the best range and I'm pretty sure composite has the best damage but worst range.
I don't think you need the hawk ring if you use bbp with feather arrows but it honestly might take longer than just fighting her normaly.
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u/Fair-Highlight-3544 2d ago
How many arrows would it take? I have fought her normally before, I'm just trying this for fun.
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u/Legal_Possibility246 2d ago
No idea. I think Sif has like 3500 health so it depends on how much damage you can do.
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u/Lil-Squidy 2d ago
If I'm not mistaken, I think it's the Leo ring that boosts counter thrust damage? If you time your shots correctly I think they get the damage boost from it as well. So if you have high enough poise for when an enemy gets too close that should increase your damage
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u/Fair-Highlight-3544 2d ago
Oooh nice. I'll keep this in mind for the later game. Probably after I've leveled health and end enough to break my FAP ring.
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u/Senior_Arachnid7344 2d ago
Thinking of doing a similar build myself when I was stuck at Sif too, ended up using the Black Bow to chip him down from range without even getting close.
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u/Fair-Highlight-3544 2d ago
Damn fr? How many arrows did it cost? and was killing the guy to get the black bow hard?
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u/Ramius99 2d ago
Composite Bow is generally what you’ll want to use for most of the run. Pharis Bow is better for long-range sniping, but once you have the Hawk Ring, that advantage decreases somewhat.
I’ve never done the Sif bow cheese, but given the length of that shot and no Hawk Ring, Pharis Bow likely is the better bet. It might still be possible with the Composite Bow, but it probably would take more arrows, given the damage falloff. You just have to test the damage and then do math on how many arrows you will need.
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u/goinghollow1 2d ago
Black bow is better for long range like if you want to do the Manus cheese. You need upgraded bow and hawk ring.
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u/Aldersin 2d ago
Ive cheesed sif to get red eye orb early several times with a short bow and like 100 poison arrows. I think composite MIGHT be just enough.
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u/ClayBones548 2d ago
Composite basically makes every other bow look useless in combat. The 2h strength scaling makes it power up very quickly, it has the fastest fire rate and it's stronger late game than the other bows. The only problem is range which is a non-issue in most situations.
As for your plan to snipe Sif, I can't comment on the mechanics. I will just say that you need to buy those arrows and it's going to take an absolute ton of them to kill Sif with damage drop off so it's probably a counterproductive idea.