Talk:Broad Head Arrow

How long does it take to hit?

Depends on your distance to the target, can be up to possibly longer than three seconds from what I've seen. Shotting from maximum range with a flatbow is a joke though so don't do it. Dancing Gnome 07:40, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

Agreed. If used right, though, it has invaluable shutdown potential, considering it's possible to keep a perpetual daze on the target. KrelusDerian 03:22, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

I use a flatbow most of the time, and this does not seem to increase the arc any more than it already is...It's pretty much the same, just not affected by Favourable Winds. --Srakin 03:58, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I take that back <_< After a couple tests, it definitely goes even higher than the normal Flatbow arc.--Srakin 05:03, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

what happens when you combine this skill with an arc-altering skill eg Read the Wind? Twiggie 22:16, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

as far as i can tell personaly there is no change using either Read the Wind or Favorable Winds Redeem 22:30, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Thats correct. Ive tested under the effects of both read the wind and favorable winds, at the same time, and the flight time of BHA appears to be unaltered.--Ryudo 23:07, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Changes to the skill

This skill also needs to be unblockable due to it taking forever to reach it's target and even if you are the target of this skill, you can see the arrow coming towards you and can easily kite out of the way (it does not take much only a few steps for it to miss).William Wallace 00:50, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

Err... no? It's perfectly balanced as is. It's unconditional Daze, and it's not hard at all to get a cover condition, people often pick Apply Poison for that. So, what do you have, then? Only 2 skills used on the bar and you can already shut down one of your foes pretty well. Odds are that you've also brought Dshot and Savage Shot with that, so you can even interrupt other skills. 4 skills used. Res Sig. 5 Skills used, with 3 leftovers. Those 5 skills alone are enough to shut down one caster, if not 2 if you're good at it. This skill doesn't need a buff. It's strong as-is, with its obvious downsides, but running near your target and using a shortbow already gives you good odds at hitting him. You could just interrupt his/her Guardian so your BHA can't be blocked anymore.

tl;dr: It's fine. Saphatorael 22:26, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

^Agreed, this skill is perfect, the unconditional Daze effect makes it a permanent staple skill on my bar if I know I'm going to be fighting spell casters, Broad Head Arrow along with the myriad of other Interrupts a Ranger can pack makes it so stupidly easy to obliterate a Caster, this skill already has the ability to shut down an opposing team's Monk, killing their healing and down cutting their survival rate, you can rip apart their Nukers if they have them, removing threat of a large damage output, this skill needs NO buffs, it's perfect how it is, the high energy cost and recharge make it very well balanced, did I mention it's also an Elite? So you have to sacrifice an Elite slot, a decent amount of energy, a high recharge and the fact that it's slow moving, for a Daze that is totally unconditional...Worth it, so worth it, if you plan on being an Interrupt Ranger then this skill is perfect. Kinslayer / Talk 15:55, 29 March 2008 (UTC)

This skill saves in doing dungeons with hero/hench. Pyre does a great job set up as inturppter with a recurve bow + read the wind--164.106.215.11 00:57, 4 April 2008 (UTC) (Ryudo at school too lazy to log in.)--164.106.215.11 00:58, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Also all the target just has to move two spaces or in pvp just hit the Q or the E key and it always misses and to the player who said this skill can shut down an opposing teams monk right...... ever heard of guardian(which will prevent broad head arrow from ever hitting).William Wallace 13:12, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

So you want to make this skill so that it can't be prevented or avoided? There's a word for that... Overpowered. Following your judgement, Word of Healing should be an AOE, since even though you're healing ONE party member, another one might ostensibly be taking damage, so the skill should take care of that, too! Just because a skill can be flummoxed in a certain scenario is no reason to buff it. In short, from imperfection is born balance. Any upgrades to this would make it an unstoppable caster killer - it's fine the way it is. KrelusDerian 05:35, 17 April 2008 (UTC)

Honestly the skill is pretty stacked as it is. just run up to a monk with one of your many ranger IMS skills, use broad head arrow (which will immediately be covered with poison from apply poison, if you don't fail at ranger), then boom you have a monk shut down for 15+ seconds. This is assuming you can interrupt a 1.5 second mending touch (or, if you have other melee's/attackers on your team, you probably don't even have to do that). Then 15 seconds later, you can repeat the whole process. As a monk, what the hell can you do to stop this? Unless you have disciplined stance (or other stance-based blocking) + mend touch - you can't. Loser223 01:06, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Maybe that's what this is for. Noctarch 23:04, 28 June 2008 (UTC)

You want to remove Daze covered by poisoned? Use this instead and ignore Noctarch. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 96.233.6.210 (talk).

Broad Head + Cripple

I found that as long as my target is crippled, i have no problem hitting them with broad head at all!

I found that as long as I'm next to my target, I don't have to worry about missing with BHA, and I don't have to waste a skill slot on Pin Down!

I found that if im next to a target it's stupid and redundant to use a bow!

What. You're using a bow for 25+ seconds of daze. -- euphoracle | talk 22:29, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

What. You're using 20 Marksmanship. ~ Chao 21:45, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Silencing -- euphoracle | talk 22:39, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm hexed with Head Up My Ass! I didn't know there was even a silencing string, o shit. ~ Chao 02:27, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Mystic Corruption tbh Vili 点 03:09, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Arcane Mimicry Archer's Signet tbh elix Omni 03:22, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Or, y'know, the silencing bowstring which HOW DID I NOT KNOW THEY EXIST O.o wtb tbh ~ Chao 18:09, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

HeadButt.

I know I'm late here, but...mimicry doesn't copy signets.--Ph03n1x 02:39, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Yes it does. Try it. --Irgendwer 02:54, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Ack, I was thinking Echo, not Mimicry.--Ph03n1x 19:02, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Underused?

Broad Head Arrow is great, so why do I nearly never see it being used? The Slayer 15:13, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

It's useless against dervishes and rangers so no one brings it. -- euphoracle | talk 19:03, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

It's not that great in PvP, people are running around too much so the arrow is easily dodged (Someone in JQ had this on the Luxon side one time. Didn't hit a single person all match), but in PvE, it can be a godsend (Disc of Chaos, Droajam, Mage of the Sands, Ruby Djinns... it's especially good for hard-hitting Eles or competent Monks.) It's my Ranger's main Elite in PvE. It's underrated. Elysea 19:12, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Because stunning strike is better than it in every way, including being available to a better class. -Auron 02:07, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Hey Elysea. I use BHA in JQ, but on the Kurzick side. And I use a Flatbow. I never miss. I know this isn't the place for this discussion, but the fun is guessing when that ele is going to stop advancing and begin casting, all without taking any damage from the spell. I use BHA all the time, I rarely switch out for a different elite. Sometimes its necessary to switch out to a shortbow when dealing with a mesmer, but on the whole - a bit of range, and height advantage and ping a BHA from a flatbow - its nice. Taking a pet, or just LR is necessary of course. Oh - its good against dervishes too ;D 84.92.169.252 02:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Does bow type affect arc?

Does the bow type used affect the arc that the arrow takes when u fire a Broad Head Arrow? In other words, if you stand shortbow distance from the target and fire this shot, does the bow type affect the time it takes for the arrow to hit? Thanks in advance. Combatter 20:07, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

I think it does. Get a flatbow and use this. Watch the arc. HUGEEE(Get as far away from the target as you can). I'll have to check how big the arc is for all the other bows compared to normal, but it IS a noticeable change between bows. So. Yeah. personn5 20:10, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

See the discussion at the top of this page. It seems Read the Wind and Favorable Winds doesn't affect the arc either. --Silver Edge 07:33, 11 October 2009 (UTC)

I see the same huge arc and the same clocked time regardless of bow type. Flatbow at max distance will obviously be longer than short or recurve or hornbows due to the distance you're shooting from. Stand in the Isle of the Nameless and test it out on the targets there. The things that make a difference in flight time are distance and elevation.72.161.120.228 23:59, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Max Daze Duration

Hey, just wondering, with ALL the factors in-game - high attributes, Silencing etc - how long would the daze last ? Would it reach 30 sec ? Magnum 11:44, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

A little past thirty, actually. It would last about 69 seconds, since duration increases stack multiplicatively iirc. –~=Ϛρѧякγ (τѧιк) ←♥– 16:40, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Arc

I've read that some players said the bow type DOES affect the arc. I ran some tests in Sunqua Vale, on mantid monitors - they have high attack range and shot 2 BHAs with a flatbow and a recurve bow, respectively, FROM THE SAME DISTANCE - the aggro bubble range. Any1 would realize the difference betwenn their arcs ok ? And the 2 arcs appeared to be unaltered. This is not necesarily for putting info in the page, but for correcting the wrong info others put in. Could some1 check this too ? Ofcourse there is a slight possibiliy for lag or other problems, but I dont think I had any at all. Magnum 13:45, 8 January 2011 (UTC)

Recharge

The recharge is too long for the following reasons:

• Your foe could move.
• The foe could die before the arrow hits it.
• If you miss or get blocked, you've wasted 7-15 energy. and have to wait 15 seconds.
• The foe has ample time to cast a blocking skill.

This needs to be reduced to 7 seconds, at least. Scar Of The Lotus 17:36, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

• Daze

No, it does not need a recharge reduction. However, I wouldn't be averse to a functionality change. --Riddle 17:47, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

I'd go with some daze duration/recharge reduction. →[ »Halogod (talk)« ]← 17:53, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

This skill is godly in PvE. Unconditional long lasting daze, and most of the enemies you'd want that on are stationary or slow moving anyway. I could see a PvP version though, with a shorter recharge. The main argument against it is that this is a cheap, long lasting, unconditional daze. If used at close range, it's all but impossible to dodge, and there's plenty of space on a ranger bar for an optional secondary skill to make this unblockable. Way of the Fox is my favorite. Way of the Fox + Deaths Charge + This = unblockable, undodgeable, unconditional daze.72.161.120.228 22:45, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

It's not good in PvE. Single-target, long duration/recharge. –~=Ϛρѧякγ (τѧιк) ←♥– 01:40, 28 April 2011 (UTC)

Whether it's good or not in PVE depends on how it's being used. By your simple standard Pain Inverter is also no good in PVE. In most instances I'd much rather disable a single dangerous boss than muck around with pressure on a half-dozen mooks. You have 6 or 7 other skill slots (not to mention other party members/allies) to use against them, so being single target is irrelevant. BHA's recharge can also be shortened if desired. Kruhljak 04:18, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

The way I see it, BHA mostly exists for situations where it's very difficult or just not feasible to land a Concussion Shot. For example, a Monk boss that carries Glimmer of Light. Concussion Shot recharges in 5 seconds and dazes for about as long...15 compared to 25 energy also doesn't mean so much with high Expertise, and you can run Prepared Shot anyway. Even works in PvP, somewhat. 67.188.100.103 04:31, 10 July 2011 (UTC)