bola

[Rombus]

They are for Berserkers, and they work like bows. You put a throwing Axe in Ammo, and one of these in Range, and get added range / damage / proc (for the ones that have it).

[Koru]

When I put one on my rogue it didn't seem to add the range. Believe me, the difference between bola range and shuriken range is quite noticable. So either it's a bug and they're supposed to work like bows, or they're nonstackable highly lame throwing weapons (for what they take to make in addition to the non-stacking issues they're not all that). It would be nice to know for sure which they intend them to be.

[Heartsong_Steelsoul]

I don't think putting something else in range will help - Bolas aren't things to help throw other items, they are things to throw.

Now, if it were - argh, can't remember the name. It's a curved piece of wood used for throwing spears with great force. I don't remember the name, though.

[Koru]

Atlatl? And I agree, when I first saw people saying bolas were supposed to be the bows of throwing I thought it didn't make much sense since an atlatl or sling would make more sense in that way. Plus they do love to brag about new features, they'd probably put it in a patch message if throwers got bow-type implements.

[Gardeltron]

Originally posted by Rombus
They are for Berserkers, and they work like bows. You put a throwing Axe in Ammo, and one of these in Range, and get added range / damage / proc (for the ones that have it).

Are you sure this is true?

Has anyone actually tested these out to see if they act like a bow?

[Tudani]

Aparently the one with the stun proc at least lets you throw the shaman throwable potions 200 range instead of the shorter normal range that they throw at.

[Eidolon Faer]

I looked up the Shaman-Made Stunning Concoctions on Lucy. (For you nonspellcasters, Lucy is the site that parses data on spells in great detail.)

The Stunning Concoctions are 0-second stuns.

That means they will interrupt spellcasting and generate lots of hate but not actually DO anything to the critter.

The Fire DD procs from the other type of bolas / potions is like 65 points of damage for the highest level effect.

Executive Summary: Don't bother. It's not even a good skillup path.

[Gardeltron]

Ok I tested the idea that Bolas worked like a bow for my shaman using the shaman potions. I equipped a bola in my range slot, but found that potions could not be equipped in the ammo slot. When I equipped a potion in the range slot and a bola in the ammo slot I was able to throw the potion, but not with any distance.

Also, if I had a bola equipped in both the range slot and ammo slot, I threw the bola in the range slot, but there was no autofeed from the ammo slot.

I did not test the bola with some other throwing item in the range slot (like a throwing hammer). Bottom line is, I doubt that bolas are used like a bow to throw anything. Rather, they are throwing items themselves.

I don't have the tailoring skill to combine a potion with a bola. I'm wondering if there are more bola recipes than those currently listed on the EQTC data base. When I made my bolas, I used medium quality cat skins, and the recipe showed up as "Bola(cat)" in my trader window. I didn't have medium quality wolf skins or high quality ra'tuk brute hides available to try the others.

I'm also wondering if there are recipes that allow you to combine shaman throwing potions other than stun with bolas (e.g., snare concoctions). Additionally, are there recipes that would use cat skins instead of high quality ra'tuk brute hides to make a bola with a shaman potion effect? Has anyone tried this?

My final comment is that the bola-shaman potion recipes appear to me to be a work in progress rather than a finished product. The lack of stackability and autofeed are something that presumably should have been completed before these were released. Furthermore, one would think that a bola made with a common item such as a medium cat hide would have less of an effect than one that was made with a hard to get item like a high quality ra'tuk brute hide (these drop in GoD zones, first one I saw was in Vxed, but I haven't spent much time there).

[Sarania]

Originally posted by Gardeltron
Are you sure this is true?

Has anyone actually tested these out to see if they act like a bow?

I use mine exactly how he says it on my berseker. I put the bola in the range slot and the summoned axes in the ammo slot. When you click range it throws the axes. I havent tried making any of the special ones yet. I am hoping that somewhere in GoD they actually have them with stats. It does seem to increase the range but since axes have 150 range it's not much.

[Eidolon Faer]

Okay...

I've made them with both 2 MQ cat pelts and 2 MQ wolf pelts.

You get two separate recipies listed in the new UI window, one is something like Bola (MQ Cat) and the other is Bola (MQ wolf). Both recipies had the same trivial level.

Now, as for the bolas with special effects:

I've seen the clay drop in Tipt off from mobs that hit for well over 1k. If the hides also have to be farmed in high-level zones, then there is simply no way in heck anyone would ever waste the time to make a one-shot throwing weapon that is heavy, doesn't stack, doesn't autofeed, requires absurd farming, only makes one item per combine, and doesn't proc a 4000 point DD.

The regular bolas are just-barely-plausible as pulling weapons, since at least all of the raw materials stack and they have a good range. Sure, you have to carry a sewing kit, but so what?

The magic bolas might be cool if there was a class that has the Throwing equivalent of Endless Quiver AA available. But as far as I know, there isn't.

[Gardeltron]

Originally posted by Sarania
I use mine exactly how he says it on my berseker. I put the bola in the range slot and the summoned axes in the ammo slot. When you click range it throws the axes. I havent tried making any of the special ones yet. I am hoping that somewhere in GoD they actually have them with stats. It does seem to increase the range but since axes have 150 range it's not much.

This seems to me to be a bug. What you're describing is a sling, not a bola.

Are you sure that the distance is greater for an axe thrown with a bola equipped in the range slot? Or is this just an impression?

I'll see if I can test this out to see if there really is a difference.

Also, do bolas work like this using other kinds of throwing items?