Archer with slings

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Will it work? I know I can only gain Mastery in them, but I wanted to get it anyway. My Archer will only ever engage in ranged combat, and I really need him to have a way to inflict blunt damage too...besides, its tough to hurt +3 and over enemies without slings...(Erinne's Sling, the +5 sling you get from Joluv etc).

So, will it work? Will the Archer bonuses apply?

 

Slings do piercing damage. BioWare didn't want there to be blunt ranged. Even the Dwarven Thrower does piercing damage when thrown. As for +3 and above, grab the almighty Gesen.

Oh as for your actual question, I believe all the Archer bonuses apply to all slings. Can't say for sure though...

 

Bah...how do I kill Clay Golems if I was soloing then?

 

Take a point in blunt weapons and get slaughtered

 

Ekarderif wrote:

They do?!
In the manual it says "bludgeoning". Of course the manual is wrong in so many places it hardly means anything. Can you verify your statement, please?
Anyway, piercing damage is good.

 

No. I'm sure I've hurt Clay Golems with slings. When my front liners were doing nothing, Jan was getting dammage in with his sling.

 

Slings do piercing damage!
The only way I've hurt Clay Golems with slings is with Sunstone Bullets.

 

even if you CAN do it with slings, can't you do it 10 times easier with Bows anyway? i'm thinkin like fire arrows n stuff like that

 

I'm pretty sure it does bludgeoning, i remember Jaheira damaging the golems where others couldnt.

 

Hmmm... The Sling of Everard I know doesn't hurt Clay Golems, but I was under the impression that was because they created magical +2 bullets, and +3 bullets were required to hit clay golems.

Sunstone bullets work, because the are coded as either +4 or +5 items (I forget whether they were +4 or +5, but honestly, I don't think it matters - are there any creatures immune to +4 weapons?).

Gesen works (if you don't put any arrows in it) because the magical arrows it creates are +4 and they do magic damage, not piercing damage. Generally speaking, you do more damage by using Gesen WITH arrows, but that's with the caveat that the arrows you are using can actually harm the creature in question.

That having been said, I never heard of slings doing piercing damage. You say that ALL missilie weapons are like that. Are you saying that even Dwarven Thrower - a war hammer for god's sake - does piercing damage???

 

The best sling is the Sling of Seeking - give it to someone with high STR or with a Belt of Strength and they will deal insane amounts of damage. It's the ONLY sling/bow/crossbow in the game that adds STR bonus to damage. Use it with +3 bullets and you'll wreak havoc. Including to Clay Golems

 

I'm pretty sure any blunt weapon of +1 or better hits Clays. I'd say take 1 star in flail, and pick up the Flail of the Ages. Its slow effect really helps with the Clays, as it negates their Haste.

 

I'm guessing the Sunstone Bullets are the only ones that are coded with bludgeoning damage. Clay Golems are hittable with any magical bludgeoning, except I've never managed to hit them with slings at all. I haven't tried Sunstone Bullets, though.

The Sling of Everard generates +5 bullets, but they only have +2 damage. If you doubt this, try attacking Kangaxx and you'll should notice that it hurts him.

Apparently, BioWare decided that bludgeoning is too powerful to stick onto ranged weapons. If you doubt this statement, look at the Dwarven Thrower... At least bullets doing piercing damage makes sense. Who'd think a thrown hammer would do piercing damage? If you don't believe me, check out the 2nd to last entry: http://baldurdash.org/tweaksandcheats.html

 

Yes, as I wrote earlier Piercing damage is good because for example Clay Golems (the link Ekarderif gave says the same) have 0% resistance to that damage type.

Note that Missile and Piercing are two different damage types.

From looking in Infinity Explorer it looks like there is no damage type called "blunt" or "bludgeoning" (except in the manual), it's called "crushing".

 

So...am I good to go with Slings with my Archer?

 

That's correct.

Without arrows Gesen doesn't do any damage to Clay Golems.
Weapons which do missile damage do piercing damage, and Clay Golems are immune to piercing damage.
Sunstone bullets +1 work only because they do +2 fire damage.

 

If the dwarven thrower does piercing damage, can a dwarven cleric use it?

 

@ Jathszu Khatharua
Clay Golems have 0% (no) resistance to piercing damage, but 100% resistance to missile damage. At least that's what I got from looking in Infinity Explorer.

 

Only if your Cleric is a Dwarf or multi/dual class Thief with Use Any Item. Using it would be akin to using the Staff Spear +2.

 

Earl Grey: Clay golems are immune to pretty much everything (barring SK'd abilities and a few other rare exceptions) except crushing/blunt/WTFeveryouwanttocallit damage from +1 weapons. So, you're stuffed in solo.