Why O-Bow-Vion?

The “Before-Times”

When I first started participating invasions (shortly after New World’s retail release) I was on a server that was pushing to be ‘world first’ in successfully completing an invasion. To achieve this goal, the shotcaller ran a white-listed roster, filled with players that were running approved weapons/perks and had 3 Corrupted Trophies in their houses. Did it work? Yes. Did I have to run Bow/Spear with the Sundering Javelin perk? Yes. Did I use my spear outside of invasions? Not so much. But because invasions were my primary group content, mixed with a little bit of expeditions with my company on the side.. I ran bow/spear for a really long time. When I wasn’t rending mobs in invasion with my javelin before DPS’ing with my bow, I’d just… use my bow.

My Gameplay Issues with Bow/Spear, Corruption ‘Fog’, and the Path to Oblivion

One of the favorite skills of bow players in invasions is Rain of Arrows. That’s been true since the release of the game, and at the time of this guide it’s still very true. Personally I’m not a fan, due to issues with my hands and vision that make this skill very tough to use. I struggle to aim it, and by the time I do aim it and fire the shot… the rain of arrows fall on an empty patch of land where mobs are no longer present. They either moved or were already killed by other players. Add in the corruption ‘fog’ effect over the spawn locations in invasion, and me + Rain of Arrows was a very ineffective combination.

In July 2022, AGS “reworked” the Splinter Shot skill into Explosive Arrow. I was wary of a shot that would *very obvious* when I missed my target, but my frustrations at trying to aim Rain of Arrows outweighed my self conscious feelings of: “but they’ll all see that I missed.” I adjusted my Bow skill tree to what you see at the top of this guide, taking the skills Penetrating Shot, Rapid Shot, and Explosive Arrow.

Another change in the game that came into play in early 2022 was the increase in expertise/gear score to 625. As players gear scores began to climb and more and more servers had begun to master invasion combat and strategies, the invasion elites started dying faster and faster. The need for several javelin rends felt less vital. Void Gauntlets were growing in popularity, and some healers were off-handing them and throwing down Oblivions for the DPS. The problem for me is that if I tried to stand in the Oblivions they were putting down (near the edge of the corruption) I couldn’t see *anything*. For me to spot the mobs spawning, I needed to be up the road closer to the fort, standing back from the ‘fog’.

I’d already been leaning towards running 50 Intelligence in my attribute build for the 10% increase damage on “random” crits, so I picked up a VG with Intelligence and the Nullifying Oblivion perk (to potentially remove the Priest’s range attack blocking bubble). I can stand where I am better able to see and provide an Oblivion buff for myself and anyone else standing nearby (usually other bow players). An added bonus, since I am not busy trying to aim/time a Rain of Arrows, is that I can put my Oblivion down just before the spawn and benefit from the damage buff longer once the mobs are up. I loved this new combo so much that it was my weapon combo out the gate when the fresh start servers came out, and I haven’t looked back.

Skill Tree, Attributes, Gear Set, Perks and Trophies

Character Build

You can view my full gear set with perks, my skill tree, attributes and relevant trophies over at NW Guide. I run 50 Intelligence and all other attribute points into Dexterity. My current gearset is definitely not “BIS”, but I do have all four skill perks that apply to my build (Refreshing Penetrating Shot, Penetrating Rapid Shot, Empowering Explosive Arrow and Nullifying Oblivion) along with some Refreshing/Refreshing Evasion. I have Thrust Damage on my ring, and Corrupted Bane on my bow. I also have Hearty on my ring and Nimble on my earring because I need all the stamina I can get. I’m in light armor and I’m always dodge rolling. Always. (I roll so much I ended up writing a song about it. ^.^) I have the Evasive Tactics ability, and I try to work rolling into my rotation enough to keep that 15% additional damage up as much as possible. Some folks find that it takes some practice to keep dodge rolling without accidentally rolling out of the Oblivion buff, so if you are trying to combine those two buffs you may want to do a little practice rolling before you take it into combat.

Corrupted Combat Trophies

To further increase your damage output, having three houses with a Corrupted Combat Trophy active in each is important. Even minor trophies give 3% more each, which is 9% more damage right on the top. Each level of trophy increases that bonus by 1% more, so with major trophies you will do a total of 15% more damage to Corrupted. Participating in invasions now rewards over 1000 coin for a winning defense (and just shy of that for an unsuccessful defense), so coming up with the coin to buy houses and better your contribution in invasion can be earned just by participating in them! I always encourage folks to run the Territorial Triumph buff from the music skill for a free 30% territory standing as you play, and this will help you build enough standing to buy your desired tier of house more quickly. If you need a lot of storage (of course you do, it’s an MMO), you may want to shoot for a territory standing of 30 in three zones so that you can purchase Tier 4 houses. The tier number of the house correlates to the number of storage chests you can place in the house, increasing your storage capacity for that territory.

Targets and Skill Rotation

This build is not designed for clearing out large quantities of grunts and bombers. It does a great job at taking down Destroyers (skulls), Elites and Siege. With Rapid Accuracy, Rapid shot will be up often. I do my best to land all three shots on a mob to keep that cooldown nice and short. In later waves, I’ll refrain from using it if my current target is close to dying so that I have it ready to start on the next mob. Explosive Arrow on cooldown combined with the Empowering Explosive Arrow perk helps boost damage, and the Refreshing Penetrating Shot perk helps bring that skill around again. If a second elite or a group of trash mobs are close to lining up, I’ll hold Penetrating Shot until I can hit multiple targets, otherwise I just use it as soon as it’s available.

Always listen to the shotcaller’s kill priorities, and adjust your targets and rotations to coordinate with the team. Another point to be aware of: the combination of skills in this build is not one that takes advantage of the invasion scoring algorithm. If you are looking to get the invasion leaderboard cape, you’ll want to make a build that is designed for a high number of kills and assists and focuses on taking down a lot of the trash mobs. You may want to try to be on back gate for that. I personally avoid back gate because I have a hard time finding a place to stand where I can see through the ‘fog’ to see mobs from both spawn locations. By the time I can see them, they are on the move at an angle and I have a hard time hitting them. I tend to prefer front gate duty, where mobs are generally running straight at us to get to the gate. It limits the amount of mouse movement required for me to hold steady on my target. For players that don’t have my vision and hand issues, some of my motivations for going with this build won’t apply, but if the combination of skills sounds fun to you or you are looking for something different, I’d encourage you to give it a try. Or do some experimenting of your own to see which skills you enjoy using the most, and create a build that suits your style.