I like boomerangs a lot, they sound cool when you throw them and well they are boomerangs
Anyways i collected an assortment of max damage ranged weapons to compare them all.
Its a bit long sorry,
The damage shown is per shot or per throw.
Acidic Boomerang of Power
Resistant- 46
susceptible- 58
Normal- 36
The listed slay and brand modifiers for boomerangs are actually less than ranged modifiers, and much less than melee.
Non Resist Multiplier is only 1.28
Susceptible Multiplier is only 1.62
Max Boomerang Skill Acidic Boomerang of Power
Non Resistant- 78.08
Susceptible- 98.82
Normal 61
So with a max damage and Velocity (Extra shot) Boomerang, with maximum boomerang skill you would get a total of 5 throws and do the following damage
Non Resistant- 394
Susceptible- 491
Normal- 305
Here is a list of damage with Maxed out ranged weapons with 2 shots a round zero skillpoints and unenchanted magic ammo
Sling - 192
Shortbow- 195
Longbow- 260
Crossbow- 330
So a Heavy crossbow with the lowest damage ammo available, and 0 skill actually does more damage.
All of the following are based on 1 shot, although most good ego Bows, Slings and Crossbows will have 2 shots per round.
Sling ego x3
Magic Shot-96
Mithral Fire Shot +15 Damage
Non Resist- 214.2
Susceptible- 336..6
Normal- 153
Slays +15 Mithral Shot
Kill Undead- 275.4
Short Bow ego x3
Magic Arrow-97.5
Seeker Arrow of Flame +15 Damage
Non Resist- 220.5
Susceptible- 346.5
Normal- 157.5
Slays +15 Seeker Arrow
Kill Undead- 283.5
Long Bow ego x4
Magic Arrow- 130
Seeker Arrow of Flame +15 Damage
Non Resist- 294
Susceptible- 462
Normal- 210
Slays +15 Seeker Arrow
Kill Undead- 378
Light Crossbow ego x4
Magic Bolt- 132
Seeker Flame Bolt +15 Damage
Non Resist- 302.4
Susceptible- 475.2
Normal- 216
Slays +15 Seeker Bolt
Kill Undead- 388.8
Heavy Crossbow ego x5
Magic Bolt- 165
Seeker Bolt of Flame +15 Damage
Non Resist- 378
Susceptible- 594
Normal- 270
Slays +15 Seeker Bolt
Kill Undead- 486
Now i understand that the boomerang skill modifier is better than most of the other skills, but if you take the amount of skillpoints you would have used to max boomerang and put them into the other skills you get the following
Warrior
Boomerang 100 points=50
Sling- 100 points 30 =3 Extra Shots
Bow 100 points 35 =2 Extra Shots
Crossbow-100 points 35 =Extra Shot, Extra Might
Rogue
Boomerang 50
Sling 37.8 =3 extra shots, with 5 more points 4 extra shots
Bow 29.4 =2 extra shots
Crossbow 29.4 =Extra shot Extra Might
Mimic
Boomerang 50
Sling 35 =3 extra shots
Bow 25 =2 extra shots
Crossbow 25 = Extra shot Extra Might
Ranger
Boomerang 50
Sling 37.8 =3 extra shots with 5 more points 4 extra shots
Bow 38.8 = 3 Extra shots
Crossbow 37.8 =Extra shot x2 extra might
Adventurer
Boomerang 50
Sling 25.5 = 2 Extra Shots
Bow 24.5 =1 Extra shot, 2 skillpoints more for 3
Crossbow 24.5 = Extra might 1 Extra shot, 2 skillpoints more for 3
Druid
Boomerang 50
Sling 42.9 =4 Extra Shots
Bow 35.75 =2 Extra Shots 7 more skillpoints for 3
Crossbow 35.75 =Extra Shot, extra might 7 more points for x2 extra might
Mindcrafter
Boomerang 50
Sling 25.5 =2 Extra Shots
Crossbow 29.4 =Extra shots extra might
Here is the damage a x5 ego Crossbow does with Extra Might skill making it do x6 damage
Heavy Crossbow ego+extra might x6
Magic Bolt- 198
Seeker Bolt of Flame +15
Non Resist- 453.6
Susceptible- 712.8
Normal- 324
Slays +15 Seeker Bolt
Kill Undead- 583.2
My Artifact Boomerang collection
22 alltogether
6 With Velocity (Extra Shot)
One with 22 damage 3 with 21 damage, and 1 that i traded with another player that has 30 with no extra shot.
So velocity is quite rare and high damage as well.
As you can see even with a Maxed Weapon of extra shots and Maxed boomerang skill with 5 shots a round, a lot of the other weapons with zero skill and base ammo do comparable damage. The Heavy crossbow actually does more damage.
Once you add in ego ammo the damage a boomerang does is not even remotely close to the other weapons.
A few ideas to make them actually useful.
1. my favorite and one i suggested in game is make them all vorpal, it makes sense that boomerangs have a chance to cut and this would add dome pretty nice damage.
2. Don`t know if this is possible but give each throw a 50% chance to hit twice, one on way out one on way back.
3. Add melee damage to ranged damage, you are throwing it and a hard throw=more damage.
4. Add a ranged Multiplier to them.
5. Add more damage per skillpoint (most Boring imo)
6. A chance for negative status ailments- Confuse, Blind, stun, paralyze, slow, Poison.
7. Another one i like, give brands and or slays the ability to do damage over time. So a poison branded boomerang would poison its target for a percentage of its damage.
Now i realize that 99% of everyone that use boomerangs only use them for the stats and resists, so here is an alternative that i think sounds really cool.
Have some actual caster and interesting gear that make sense to just be a buffing implement.
Such as
Orbs
Wands
Fetishes
Shrunken heads
Focus
Now with some more interesting offhands how about adding some activatable powers and keep them separate from the magic device skill.
Say Activating the Eye of Vecna causes a massive disintegrate spell centered on the caster and has a cooldown but no failrate.
or just an orb of fire that casts fireball with a small cooldown and no failrate.
Or even items with no cooldown like an focus that casts firebolt and can be set to autofire.
I believe all of these would be a lot more fun and interesting than a piece of wood you use to give you a resist or 3 strength.
Sorry for the long post, and if you are still here thanks for reading
