NL vs BM : What are the detailed pros and cons?

• An NL is significantly weaker than a BM without SE. More than 25% weaker.
• For solo play I'd say a BM is probably more enjoyable given that it can be annoying to bring around an SE mule everywhere you go, although this is your own preference.
• Triple throw is easier to use and you really shouldn't be worried about overkilling since you aren't going to be triple-throwing many things that you can kill in one hit.
• BMs suffer quite a lot from getting knocked back; if this is your concern definitely play an NL.
• I'd argue that SE is probably easier to join content in, although like you mentioned in situations where there's usually only room for 1 designated SE it may be hard to justify a spot (for example on a 6 man HT, you generally don't bring multiple SE's.)
• I would say you probably would want to wash to 12k HP as a BM just so you can participate in everything with HB and still comfortably do a lot of content without HB.
• Yes, you are definitely going to lose out if you don't use the bird or dummy. They're essential tools for BMs.

 

Theres a lot of neat situational things that you can do with Puppet, like placing it down on the bottom for pirate boss and pin him there and just hold Hurricane. Its just a staple for Archers.

Phoenix isn't really used that much unless you're gonna be bossing, the summons don't keep mapowner anyways.

NL is just Shadow Shifter galore and holding down Triple Throw+Shadow Partner, theres already a lot of Night Lords out there so going with a BM would be a bit easier on the mesos and of course having SE is a huge advantage to joining a party.

I have both a NL and a BM that I bounce in between but all in all its entirely up to you on which you prefer really, just have fun

Btw, mard has really solid points for both classes.

 

I'd guess an NL without SE is between 30-35% weaker than a similar BM in a freefire context.
For solo grinding BMs can get way higher EPH than an NL without an SE mule, probably about double.
As well as the mobility and jump attacks, NLs go through way less potions than BMs, especially for long bosses like horntail, an NL never has to struggle to have enough USE inventory space once it's maxed out.
But the way I see it, the biggest reason not to make a BM is the waddling, I imagine bossing as a BM to be an endless torture of getting knocked back and stepping forward again, although I've never actually tried it.

 

NL vs BM
1) As NL, u will need to make a SE mule.
2) both NLs and BMs are welcome into parties, with NLs having a higher edge due to party optimizations.
3) NL(with SE) does more dmg than BM with the same amount of funding. Kid u not, bows are very expensive.
4) the wash mechanics are the same for both.
5) solo grinding, BM is stronger.
6) waddling^ as above. u prefer waddling or netflixing?

If u really want to make a washed archer, just go for MM. xbows are cheap (for now) and snipe lets u do decent dmg while carrying base int.

 

The "waddling" is something every class except thieves and warriors eventually learn to deal with, and even warriors have suck it up until mid 4th job.
The ones worst affected by it is most likely bowmaster, and maybe corsair, by virtue of their main damage mechanic basically boilling down to "hold down one button", so each KB requires you to reposition and start all over again.

 

Why not both? You already have the bishop, and if you do not like your choice you are going to have to do low level leech again which sucks. Might as well bring along any other classes you think you might like so you never have to go back to low lvl leech.

 

dont forget Hamstring enable a bm to solo certain boss like bga, bgb and The Boss etc

 

If u gonna leech him to 130 just open BM and NL and leech both.
Also better HS with party of 3 so u wont waste ur time.
At worst ull have MU mule or SE mule

 

9.5k base HP is enough for doing most boss (with HB) but not all.
If u want all boss (some with HB), you need wash higher than 11.9k HP.
This is the same for both BM and NL.

 

NL:
+Damage
+Mobility
+Avoid
-Expensive
-Need SE

BM:
+SE

 

BM mobbing? BM afk bossing cause of puppet? You're slaaacking

 

The only bosses I've used puppet on are Papulatus, which is actually very helpful, and some field bosses like Bigfoot (and CWK pirate boss obv). There aren't a whole lot of bosses that are worth soloing, and I'm pretty sure it counts as aggro abuse if you puppet the NT bosses. The mobbing is better yeah but I forget that since I've never trained at 7F kek

 

I've played both a NL and a BM at 4th job. My answers here are largely anecdotal from that experience, rather than me looking up formulas and stuff.

I think my real answer is to make both. If you're leeching them to 130, anyway, it won't slow you down too much thanks to how HS works. If you're making an NL, you'll probably want an SE mule, anyway. This has already been said, of course, but expressing my agreement.

Going to go through your points one by one:

A lot. If I've calculated it correctly, SE gives a 53% dpm increase on average for NLs. I actually tested it and my NL without SE using an apple got less dpm than my NL using a cider with SE. That's how big a difference it makes. Given NLs do slightly more damage than BMs with SE (the main thing that boosts their DPM is getting hit less, rather than actually having higher damage output, necessarily), I'd say NL without SE is probably around 60-70% of the damage of a BM. They scale differently from gear, so at early points where a BM is relatively strong, it will be a bigger difference, and later it should become smaller. Always way too significant to ignore, though.

This is highly subjective.

As mentioned by Mard, an NL will need you to bring an SE mule with you for solo play. This might be a blocker for you and can be annoying, particularly if you're soloing a boss (can't just sit one in FM, necessarily). Generally, though, for any kind of solo play, I'd be bringing a team of buff mules. This is just another one to have there. Conversely, you might want to have an MU mule for a BM.

In bosses (a lot of this applies to bossing with others as well as solo), BMs take a lot more active play. You get hit a lot more often and that means that things like positioning and being efficient in your movement is a lot more important. NLs have shifter and flash jump, so on the rare occasion they do get hit it's a lot less of a burden having to get back quickly. A lot of people consider NLs boring because you are essentially just standing there holding down triple throw. It's a more chilled out experience, though.

Just as a side note for when bossing in a party, as a BM, you're responsible for keeping SE up for the party, which means leaving your post every 5 minutes. More active play, but could be considered annoying.

For mobbing, BMs have arrow rain, which can be used when in melee range. Hurricane also doesn't lead to much overkill (which you kind of touch on in your next question) but I don't really find I have much trouble with overkill on my 14x NL. Maybe that will change as it levels up a bit. Really, though, both are bossing focussed classes so mobbing shouldn't be a big concern. They're both kind of dull for mobbing in my experience.

For card hunting, BMs are definitely better. It took me a lot less time to get my T10 on my BM than it did on my NL, and I was a lot more experienced with the card drop rates by the time I got to doing my NL. I don't know if better equates to more fun for you, but that's all I can objectively say. Hurricane is just a really good skill for card hunting. It tears through low level mobs, allows you to move while attacking (if you tap the skill).

Hurricane gives you more control over your character than triple throw. There's essentially no restriction to your movement from attacking because you can stop at any time. NLs are easier to use in just about every other respect, though.

BMs, because they're less mobile, but this question is a little moot. NLs have higher avoid and also have shifter which gives them a 30% chance to avoid an attack that otherwise would have hit. They don't get hit nearly as often as BMs. BMs both suffer more from knockback and get knocked back more. If this is a concern for you, NL is the way to go.

I wouldn't say either is easier to join content on. The main difference, though, is that when I've joined content on my NL, we've then needed an SE to join. When I've joined on my BM, we can take on NLs, but they aren't necessary. While you'll be accepted to just about any party as either class, the party is likely to be formed more quickly if you've joined on a BM

It depends on what content you want to do.
There's a guide for this: https://forum.maplelegends.com/index.php?threads/important-hp-thresholds.31698/
BMs and NLs have the same HP formulae, so washing is exactly the same for both of them.

The bird is not a big loss, but it's free dpm you're missing out on. It's foolish to not use it, but not really a huge deal if you don't.

The dummy is used primarily in CWKPQ, which is awful exp for a BM, but good money, supposedly (I've never made much from it, myself, but everyone tells me it's good for that). You may as well raise the skill, but you don't need it outside of niche situations.