TL;DR:
I don't care to read this wall of text, just give me the numbers.
At level 60 with equal weapons and 300 dex:
Bow quick shot: 1,891 damage per shot, 1,419 DPS.
Bow charged shot: 3,215 damage per shot, 1,365 DPS.
Musket standard shot: 2,364 damage per shot, 1,267 DPS.
THIS DOES NOT ACCOUNT FOR ANY PERKS OR SKILLS. JUST WEAPON DAMAGE ALONE.
There are a good few dozen threads comparing the two weapons, and each thread is based on the “feel” of the weapon. There are an incredible amount of variables in “feel” of a weapon, so I am making this thread to try and introduce some hard numbers into the mix and make it at least a little bit more statistical.
The way I am going to attempt to do this is by looking at numbers on paper, and draw conclusions from those. The game is, of course, extremely variable and there are a number of conditions that would make one better than the other in certain situations. A bow is preferable in AoE, for instance, and the musket is better when your target is 100m away.
However, these anecdotal situations are what I am trying to avoid here with this thread. The intent is to rule out as many variables as I possibly can to try and get some numbers down and see which is better in DPS on paper.
On paper is the key thing here. Yes, I know that you had 30 guys clumped up that one time once and therefore bow best because of poison shot et cetera. Not the point. We’re looking at numbers in a vacuum here. As a result, your mileage will obviously vary by personal skill, gear, situation, etc etc.
The variables we are going to be looking at include time per shot of both the quick and charged attacks of the bow, as well as the musket, using near identical tier 5 legendary weapons and Orichalcum ammo, with 300 dexterity as the assumption.
The reason I am going with this combination of items and attributes is because it becomes infinitely variable when you are comparing a level 34 to a 43 with different attributes, gear, et cetera. Again, trying to eliminate as many variables as possible. To that end, we will assume the two people being compared are level 60, have 300 dex, using weapons that are the same 600gs, with identical perks.
We will also assume both of these players are gods among us mortal men and hit 10 out of 10 headshots. This will allow us to apply any applicable headshot or crit damage bonuses.
We will NOT be including any perks, passives, abilities, or anything of the sort. Your build is up to you. This is comparing the raw damage of the normal attacks. If you would like to compare the damage abilities would do, feel free to take the numbers presented and do your own math to determine if your theory-crafted bow build is better than your theory crafted musket build or vise versa.
A couple of notes before we get on to the numbers:
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The debug data displayed in game at the very top left has a time counter accurate to 0.001s, which made recording much easier. This timer is what was used to calculate the time of each shot.
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In each of the clips, the video was stopped and time recorded on the frame where the 10th arrow hit the tree, or the same frame as the 10th muzzle flash was seen, as musket is hitscan and has no travel time. Refer to the next bullet point as to how this affects the seconds per shot.
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The recording software used to compile the clips is rather lightweight. And will keep or remove up to 0.1s of footage that was either supposed to be included or clipped out. It’s not an incredibly accurate $5,000 editing software. As a result, each of the three clips is 0.1s longer or shorter than it should have been. That is for each clip, not each shot in the clip. There are 10 shots per clip. Therefore, each posted time per shot is +/- 0.01s. A variance that I find acceptable. This is most noticeable in the final musket shot, where only 9 shown shots were fired. There were 10, but the recording software clipped 0.1s more than it should have in this instance. The time calculated was done during the frame of the 10th muzzle flash, though the clip does not show it as it happened on the next frame after the cut. If this is unacceptable to you, feel free to do your own tests.
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Information as to exactly how damage is calculated and how attributes apply to each weapon’s damage is still rather vague, and nobody knows exactly how damage is calculated. I will use the best information I have available to me as of the time of this post, but know that it may be inaccurate to some degree.
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We will assume the target is an equal, level 60 PvE mob with a 20% damage resistance. In this way, we will not have to account for another player’s attributes, armor, scaling, et cetera. It is a very simple PvE DPS test against a mob of equal level with a static damage absorption. Much like the above reasons, this is so we can eliminate as many variables as possible in this compairson.
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Rather than rely upon my own math, I will be using the damage calculation spreadsheet found HERE. This spreadsheet was found in Dukesloth’s community, and I highly recommend checking him out for more numbers and spreadsheets and what have you. I have used my own character as a litmus test, (level 46, 202 dex, 165 base weapon damage musket) and plugged into the numbers and found it arrived at the correct 766 damage as shown in game. Therefore, I find it to be a reliable calculator.
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The rest of the damage formula will be calculated based upon this video by Pritch. This is, to my knowledge, the best damage calculation formula to date and is the most reliable (that has been made to my knowledge.) As we’ll not be accounting for perks, abilities, et cetera, it’s a very simple formula. I will notate next to each perk or bonus which part of this calculation it applies to. As a quick reference:
WeaponDamage * Ammo Damage * Damage Modifier * Crit Damage * Damage Reduction = Damage
Damage / Time Per Shot = DPS.
With all of that out of the way, and hopefully assuaging as many “yeah but what about XYZ situation” as I possibly can… Onto the numbers.
Dexterity:
Dexterity adds 0.9% damage per allocated attribute. There are diminishing returns, which is handled by the calculator noted above. The additional perks gained at 50, 100, 150, 200, 250, and 300 that are relevant to the Bow and Musket in this test include:
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+5% Thrust Damage: Part B
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+10% Bonus Headshot Damage: Part B
There are other perks that would be applied, but since we are assuming both players are getting 10 of 10 headshots, +5% crit and guaranteed crits after rolling etc are irrelevant.
Time Per Shot:
TL;DW:
Bow Quick Shot: 1.332 seconds per shot
Bow Charged Shot: 2.3537 seconds per shot
Musket: 1.865 seconds per shot.
Bow:
Weapon damage after level and 300 dex: 1,124
+5% Thrust Damage (Dex Perk): Part B
+10% Headshot Damage (Dex Perk): Part B
+20% Damage from Orichalcum Arrow: Part B
+14% Headshot Damage (Vorpal): Part B
+11% Crit Damage (Vicious): Part D
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Quick Shot Damage Formula:
1,124 * 1.49 * 1 * 1.4116 * 0.8 = 1,891 Damage
1,891 Damage / 1.332s per shot = 1,419 DPS -
Charged Shot Damage Formula:
1,124 * 1.49 * 1.7 * 1.4116 * 0.8 = 3,215 Damage
3,215 Damage / 2.3537s per shot = 1,365 DPS
Musket:
Weapon damage after level and 300 dex: 1,405
+5% Thrust Damage (Dex Perk): Part B
+10% Headshot Damage (Dex Perk): Part B
+20% Damage from Orichalcum Cartridge: Part B
+14% Headshot Damage (Vorpal): Part B
+11% Crit Damage (Vicious): Part D
- Standard Shot Damage Formula:
1,405 * 1.49 * 1 * 1.4116 * 0.8 = 2,364 Damage
2,364 Damage / 1.865s per shot = 1,267 DPS.
Conclusions:
I am well aware Bow has a perk that increases Charged Shot damage by 30%, and that musket can gain 45% empower instantly via it’s perks. There are many more beneficial perks than those. And I am well aware that inclusion of these perks will drastically alter these dps numbers. But I am also aware there are a thousand and one possible ways to build each of these weapons, and to try and account for every possible build is beyond the scope of this post. Your build is up to you. Take these numbers presented if you find them sufficiently accurate, and use them in your theorycrafting. In that way, you can determine your own best build.
With that in mind. In a vacuum, on paper, the bow comes out on top. With it’s charged shot dps being 7.73% higher than musket, and it’s quick shot dps being 12% higher.
I wanted to report this but dunno where!