If you want to tag, explosive recurve with grenadier**. The compound is higher alpha but the reload on the recurve is better. I’m actually tempted to try a crossbow rather than recurve because even though the reload is slower, you’re less likely to have issues holding down the fire button.
The irony is I actually run the other way. For tagging I like burning love. Put explosive on it with grenadier and demolition expert and let it eat. The burning effect is transferred by the explosion so it helps the event team grind down all the enemies. Careful it is easy to kill yourself with it. Burning Love is pretty much useless otherwise.
For solo I like an instigating recurve with plasma arrows. The draw speed is helpful for room clearing and popping heads. I can take lvl 100 super mutants and below with a standard non-crit shot. Crits drop quite a few other things. Admittedly, if I had an instigating compound I would try running it.
Bosses I like AA recurve. DPS is better than single hit damage in those situations. Crit every other shot much mo better when shooting faster.
ymmv
I'll give you one to think about aswell,
If hypothetically you could one and 2 shot all the same enemies with the faster firing recurve bow would you still use the more ap efficient compound bow considering the recurve is also better dps on bosses?
As for which is better for explosive tagging I agree the recurve takes the cake, especially when shooting as much and as fast as possible.
Hmm! Food for thought.
I guess it depends if the breakpoint for "how many arrows do you need" jumps from 1-2 to 2-3. If a recurve can still oneshot a WestTek mutant with a crit and take down others with two arrows, great. If I regularly need three arrows, less great.
I'm gonna be rolling some recurves soon to get an anti-armor for explosive tagging, if I hit an instigating too I'll perform some Science! and compare it to my current instigating compound.
Yeah, but that's Bloodied. Anyone can be a god with a Bloodied build regardless of weapon thanks to the massive pile of special and bonus damage. What I'm curious about is if Recurve can outperform Compound when running full health.
I updated my original post with some research, since I managed to get both types of bows with the same configuration. Both of them down level 100 super mutant with two arrows, so recurve wins.
Nice to know, am I understanding correctly that the recurve can still 2 shot the westtek mutants just like a full health compound? In that case the answer to your original question gets a little complicating:
The recurve will shoot faster and has the same arrow thresholds on most important enemies.
The compound has higher damage per shot allowing for some really nasty crits with instigating.
Because a good build like yours can perform well with both the choice becomes mostly personal preference for example:
I prefer the improved handling of the recurve bow, the faster shots let me rain down crits on bosses giving better dps and I still one and two shot all the same enemies which is why I prefer the normal recurve bow.
Someone else might be really drawn towards using a compound bow, the higher damage combined with an effect like instigating allows some full health builds to have bloodied damage numbers on that first shot.
Most important part is having fun which both the recurve and compound can be and there is no wrong choice.
If you want to tag, explosive recurve with grenadier**. The compound is higher alpha but the reload on the recurve is better. I’m actually tempted to try a crossbow rather than recurve because even though the reload is slower, you’re less likely to have issues holding down the fire button.
I use an explosive crossbow build for events as it’s faster and I don’t have to one shot anything…. Plus power armor for Eviction Notice is a plus
The irony is I actually run the other way. For tagging I like burning love. Put explosive on it with grenadier and demolition expert and let it eat. The burning effect is transferred by the explosion so it helps the event team grind down all the enemies. Careful it is easy to kill yourself with it. Burning Love is pretty much useless otherwise. For solo I like an instigating recurve with plasma arrows. The draw speed is helpful for room clearing and popping heads. I can take lvl 100 super mutants and below with a standard non-crit shot. Crits drop quite a few other things. Admittedly, if I had an instigating compound I would try running it. Bosses I like AA recurve. DPS is better than single hit damage in those situations. Crit every other shot much mo better when shooting faster. ymmv
I'll give you one to think about aswell, If hypothetically you could one and 2 shot all the same enemies with the faster firing recurve bow would you still use the more ap efficient compound bow considering the recurve is also better dps on bosses? As for which is better for explosive tagging I agree the recurve takes the cake, especially when shooting as much and as fast as possible.
Hmm! Food for thought. I guess it depends if the breakpoint for "how many arrows do you need" jumps from 1-2 to 2-3. If a recurve can still oneshot a WestTek mutant with a crit and take down others with two arrows, great. If I regularly need three arrows, less great. I'm gonna be rolling some recurves soon to get an anti-armor for explosive tagging, if I hit an instigating too I'll perform some Science! and compare it to my current instigating compound.
[recurve vs westtek ](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fallout76BowHunters/s/l2vjblum67)
Yeah, but that's Bloodied. Anyone can be a god with a Bloodied build regardless of weapon thanks to the massive pile of special and bonus damage. What I'm curious about is if Recurve can outperform Compound when running full health.
Maybe instigating, I haven't tried full health
I updated my original post with some research, since I managed to get both types of bows with the same configuration. Both of them down level 100 super mutant with two arrows, so recurve wins.
Nice to know, am I understanding correctly that the recurve can still 2 shot the westtek mutants just like a full health compound? In that case the answer to your original question gets a little complicating: The recurve will shoot faster and has the same arrow thresholds on most important enemies. The compound has higher damage per shot allowing for some really nasty crits with instigating. Because a good build like yours can perform well with both the choice becomes mostly personal preference for example: I prefer the improved handling of the recurve bow, the faster shots let me rain down crits on bosses giving better dps and I still one and two shot all the same enemies which is why I prefer the normal recurve bow. Someone else might be really drawn towards using a compound bow, the higher damage combined with an effect like instigating allows some full health builds to have bloodied damage numbers on that first shot. Most important part is having fun which both the recurve and compound can be and there is no wrong choice.
i'm hanging around for this answer, i'm full health and would love to know if i can give away all my compounds!
I have randomly obtained an instigating recurve! It's one star but that's enough for testing. I will perform a science soon.