vampiric and ranged?

[Nebuchadnezzar]

OK, I'm an XL14 DsBe. I am wielding this:

+4 eveningstar "Hougheok" {vamp, rF+ rC+}

which is quite handy but I also have these:

h - the +7 triple crossbow of Impermanence {venom, +Blink Str-1}
Z - the +8 storm bow {elec}

- also very nice. The problem, of course, is that a vampiric weapon isn't easily unwielded and rewielded when I want to perform a ranged attack.

I'm not sure what my question is. Maybe: how good is the eveningstar? Or maybe: is one or other of those launchers good enough that I should ditch the eveningstar in favor of whatever else Trog gives me? And, perhaps as a supplement: what's better, the crossbow or the storm bow?

All help and constructive comments gratefully received!

[Sandman25]

That eveningstar is end game weapon even without those great resistances so you might ignore ranged combat completely or just train Throwing. But that stormbow is extremely powerful too so if you have another decent eveningstar you might use it.

[tasonir]

It's hard to give tailored advice without a dump, but given that you're a DsBe, I'd probably just use the eveningstar. Being +4 isn't super high, but the base type has extremely high damage for a 1h weapon. Grab a shield and never die

If you train some throwing you should eventually get some javelins, but I wouldn't consider that too high a priority, and it may take a long while depending on luck before you get a stack gifted to you.

[corvin]

I'm not sure I'd change overall strategy for that triple crossbow. Venom is great up to a point but it loses some utility the further in you get. Also it almost seems like apples and oranges. Do you want to do 1h w/ shield, or 2h? If 2h, (great maces and whatnot) then from personal experience Stormbow will rock all the way through Zot with a strong melee backup. If 1h w/ shield, then the question is a bit moot, since you're not gonna take off your shield to use the bow.

I like shields, personally, so I'd stick with the mace and just set autopickup to grab all tomahawks and javelins.

[partial]

that eveningstar is filthy don't ever unequip it

[XuaXua]

I'd prefer a character dump so I can tell your current skill investment, but kneejerk is either the eveningstar + shield or the electric bow and a 2-handed backup. Switching to a Venom weapon is not that "worth it" in the late game.