question about ranger damage

[PopTart]

Playing a ranger, trying to decide which weapon to use and what to leave at home. I have luckily picked up a decent sling, bow, and crossbow and some interesting ammo. The question is:

Rangers get extra shots with the bow, right? Should I take this into account when reading the damage per round for different ammunition while I'm wielding a bow vs. other weapons?

Any other advice about ranged weapons is welcome too. I'm considering carrying the sling for most work because sling ammo doesn't break on use, and then the heavy crossbow for tougher monsters, once I have enough strength to lug it around.

[Estie]

If your sling ammo doesnt break, youre playing the new version which means all launcher types will give you extra shots/level. The damage listed takes #shots into account.

What I do is to equip the launcher that I have the best ammo for and leave the alternatives in town. Typically, early on thats a sling and changes to bow or xbow later on. Whether ammo breaks or not is of no relevance to the decision what to use - if you run out of good ammo of one type, for whatever reason, your best option for the ranged slot might change.

[PopTart]

Aha thanks for filling me in on that. I thought I noticed something different about iron shots and pebbles: they're actually viable weapons now. Yeah, I am hoarding as many good crossbow bolts as possible for later (when strength is higher). My (+4,+4) sling is doing surprisingly well at DL 20, although now less surprising that you mention that all launcher types get extra shots. I really don't like it when ammo breaks.

Originally Posted by Estie

If your sling ammo doesnt break, youre playing the new version which means all launcher types will give you extra shots/level. The damage listed takes #shots into account.

What I do is to equip the launcher that I have the best ammo for and leave the alternatives in town. Typically, early on thats a sling and changes to bow or xbow later on. Whether ammo breaks or not is of no relevance to the decision what to use - if you run out of good ammo of one type, for whatever reason, your best option for the ranged slot might change.

[PopTart]

Okay, I get how rangers work, finally. You start out using a sling (if possible) with the same pebbles and shots until you find the second book. By then you've hopefully found a decent bow, so you empty your house of all your good sling ammo, crossbows, etc., convert all staves to arrows, and it's arrows until a Great Crystal Drake shards you at CL 47.