A few PvE Ranger Bow questions from a noob

[Kerus Tel Veren]

Bow: Shortbow always, or can I use a Flatbow and get just as much damage since my targets won't be moving often? Is the penetration on the Hornbow worth using for general PvE play?

Currently I use a Shortbow in combat, and a Longbow for pulling.

Bow configuration - For the prefix, Elemental Damage or Penetration? And for the Suffix, I'm assuming Marksmanship for general PvE combat.

At some point, I'll work on getting various anti-species bowgrips for farming, but that's a ways down a line. I'm a total newbie to playing a Ranger, and just finishing up Factions with him now before I set out to Proph and NF to gather skills. Rather fun so far :)

[Div]

Use a longbow for best overall effect. Flatbows miss if the enemy moves at all, shortbows might put you in too much trouble. Recurve is nice for interrupts, and hornbow isn't that great.

Penetration is probably best for general PvE, but elemental damage if you plan on having conjures. Fortitude is a good mod, or +armor.

[Fay Vert]

You need to understand the key differences between bows.

Short and flatbows have the fastest fire rate, hornbow the worst
Flat and longbow have the longest range, shortbows the shortest
Recurve bows have the fastest flight time, flatbows the slowest
Hornbows are near useless only of value in very limited spike builds

Most beginners tend to go for longbows, they are pretty good at most things with no real bad points. However, better players tend to have a mix of bows for different situations and switch between them.

Barrage is a pretty popular elite to base builds around in PvE, if this is the case then you will want a flatbow. In barrage situations you will have mobs grouped up either by terrain or blocked on tanks, minions or pets. In this situation the combination of fast fire rate and long range is idea, the penalty of flight time in virtually none. Flatbow is also the best for pulling as it has the long range, but also the high arrow arc can shoot things a longbow can't, missing isn't an issue as you are shooting to attact attention, not to damage, and a miss does that just as well.

The other key role of a ranger is utility, and for that you can't beat a recurve, you will need this for interrupting key enemy skills, without it you have to get a lot closer than shortbow range to have any reliability on interrupts.

For strings, you need to use one to complement the builds you are using, you can't generalise. Firey strings are popular to go with conjure flame, I use poison a lot, vampiric is good in barrage for nice damage add and self healing. Sundering is okay but very over-rated and isn't anything you can complement with skill use.

Grips don't make a lot of difference. 30hp is popular, defence os good.

Insignia used is mostly 15>50, having +5 energy is nice, though not often needed.

[Kerus Tel Veren]

Thanks for the replies, I'll spend some time grabbing a few more maxed collector bows and experiment with their behavior.

One question about interrupts specifically - if I use an interrupt skill, does it ignore the delay between shots, and only the flight time matters - ie, the Recurve is best there because of the low flight time?

I'm not too worried about interrupts in PvE, since I'm usually playing with a friend and packing dual hero groups, and I usually have Gwen along, and my Olias also has three interrupts for his energy management, so most enemy casters are getting constantly interrupted. PvP otoh, I'll need to get comfortable with the timing...

edit: One other question - Barring an elemental string, bows deal piercing damage, which is physical. Other than Necromancers using +15 vs Piercing armor, are there any other effects in the game that are resistant or weak to Piercing damage? Certain npc types perhaps?

[iridescentfyre]

One question about interrupts specifically - if I use an interrupt skill, does it ignore the delay between shots, and only the flight time matters - ie, the Recurve is best there because of the low flight time?
Interrupts have a set cast time of a 1/2 second. A bow attack without a specified cast time will take whatever your bow's speed is to fire. For instance, Power Shot with a Recurve bow has a hidden cast time of 2.4 seconds. When you fire an interrupt, it takes exactly as long as it specifies to fire: half a second. Technically it doesn't ignore the delay between shots, but it effectively speeds it up a lot... and yeah, arrow speed is still a factor. Recurves are usually the preferred bow for interrupting and for basically any general PvP use as well.

edit: One other question - Barring an elemental string, bows deal piercing damage, which is physical. Other than Necromancers using +15 vs Piercing armor, are there any other effects in the game that are resistant or weak to Piercing damage? Certain npc types perhaps?
Offhand I know Skeletons have +20 armor vs. Piercing damage. I'm sure there's other weaknesses and resistances to it, but its a fairly obscure thing and few tests have been done on it. In PvP however, "Shields Up!" will be giving your targets +24 armor vs. Piercing sometimes (It was +50 before nerf!). Occasionally players will be using a +10 vs Piercing shield, or have armor with extra armor for piercing. That doesn't mean don't use it, but I would keep an elemental bow within reach.

[Fay Vert]

Interrupts say 1/2 second on the description, but I think it's more like 1/3, many claim it's 1/4 but it's certainly faster than the 1/2 stated.