Archer/Hunter Help Rainbow Hive Bow Powdering Dilemma

Infused Hive Bow can be powdered in many different ways due to its 5 powder slots and its ability to adapt to any element. The problem comes when trying to powder Hive Bow for a rainbow build. Sure, Fog of Creation exists as a good endgame rainbow bow and then there's Freedom, but if you're poor like me and can't afford a Freedom, all you have is Fog of Creation and Infused Hive Bow. Fog of Creation is a solid endgame bow but Infused Hive Bow simply just does more damage, thus making Fog of Creation a good secondary to Infused Hive Bow (due to the health regen) if you feel like using Hive Bow for a rainbow build.

As stated prior, the problem comes when trying to powder Hive Bow for a rainbow build. There are many ways to go about it.

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1. You could just slap a T6 of each powder.

The problem with this is that you get an "unbalanced" rainbow bomb, you don't get a powder special and it's likely not even the most damage you can achieve from powdering Infused Hive Bow.

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2. You could powder your Infused Hive Bow by applying a powder from each element that converts around 20% of the neutral damage to elemental damage per powder. For example: t5 w4 a4 f3 e6 (Tier VI last powder since it takes the rest of the neutral damage anyway). This generally results in a "balanced" bomb (where the damage from each element is around the same). Note that other spells like arrow storm and arrow shield won't be balanced.

The problem with this is that it deals lesser damage overall and still doesn't have a powder special.

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3. You could ignore the existence of the Earth Powder since Bomb Spell deals Earth Damage anyway and do some sort of powdering that gives you either the Curse or Courage powder special. This is generally the way most people powder their Infused Hive Bows (albeit, very few people actually use Infused Hive Bow for rainbow builds so kek).

The problem with this is that it's generally not even the max damage you can achieve with powdering and often leads to an "unbalanced" rainbow bomb.

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4. You could ignore the existence of the Earth Powder and the Fire Powder since Bomb Spell deals Earth Damage and Fire Damage anyway.

The problem with this is that it leads to an even more "unbalanced" rainbow bomb as compared to Points 1 and 3. Of course, it doesn't matter if a rainbow bomb is super unbalanced if the mob you're attacking has weaknesses. The problem occurs when it has elemental defense in your spell's dominant elemental damage (although this problem isn't super significant).

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5. You could ignore the idea of "rainbow bomb" and just go for a powdering that gets you the max damage possible. For example, w6 t6 t6 t6 w6 (probably not max damage but it does higher damage and has curse).

The problem is that the bomb no longer deals rainbow damage... so what would be the point of running a rainbow build in the first place? (I guess wielding multiple bows like Oily, Gales, TTide, RtE, Fog, Stinger, etc would justify this powdering for a rainbow build but I'd do that with any of these powderings anyway)

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Now for the main point of this thread: I've run into a dilemma where I can't decide between multiple powderings for a specific glass rainbow build:
Cumulonimbus
Libra
Rainbow
Capricorn
Intensity
Diamond Hydro Ring
Diamond Hydro Bracelet
Diamond Fusion Necklace

My Hive Bow is currently powdered t5, w4, a4, f3, e6. This powdering follows the format of Point 2. I powdered it like this two years ago because I was (and still am) an idiot and thought this would be a good idea. I end up not using my Hive Bow 90% mainly due to the existence of Oily (higher damage, cheaper bomb cost and more mr), Fog (hpr) and RtE (agility and more mr). I want to repowder it but can't decide between multiple powderings.

Powdering 1: Balanced Bomb A5-T5-W6-F6-W6
13.8k Bombs

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
11049-14095 (~12572)
E: 2272-2714
T: 2148-3309
W: 1834-2278
F: 1728-2091
A: 3067-3703
Critical Damage:
13656-17420 (~15538)
E: 2835-3386
T: 2662-4100
W: 2222-2759
F: 2159-2613
A: 3778-4562

33.3k Arrow Storms

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
26640-33960 (~30300)
T: 10800-14640
W: 4380-5460
F: 4140-4980
A: 7320-8880
Critical Damage:
32880-41940 (~37410)
T: 13380-18180
W: 5280-6600
F: 5160-6240
A: 9060-10920

Powdering 2: All T6s - Somewhat Balanced Rainbow Bomb A6-W6-T6-F6-W6
14.2k Bombs

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
11389-14579 (~12984)
E: 2272-2714
T: 130-1045
W: 3432-4187
F: 1728-2091
A: 3827-4542
Critical Damage:
14027-17960 (~15994)
E: 2835-3386
T: 161-1295
W: 4157-5071
F: 2159-2613
A: 4715-5595

34.3k Arrow Storms

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
27480-35100 (~31290)
T: 5940-9240
W: 8220-10020
F: 4140-4980
A: 9180-10860
Critical Damage:
33780-43200 (~38490)
T: 7380-11460
W: 9960-12120
F: 5160-6240
A: 11280-13380

Powdering 3: Water Dominated Damage W6-A6-T6-W6-W6
14.6k Bombs

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
11731-15003 (~13367)
E: 2272-2714
T: 130-1045
W: 7546-9144
F: 1352-1615
A: 431-485
Critical Damage:
14357-18371 (~16364)
E: 2835-3386
T: 161-1295
W: 9140-11075
F: 1690-2018
A: 531-597

35.2k Arrow Storms

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
28260-36120 (~32190)
T: 5940-9240
W: 18060-21900
F: 3240-3840
A: 1020-1140
Critical Damage:
33780-43200 (~38490)
T: 7380-11460
W: 21900-26580
F: 4020-4800
A: 1260-1380

Powdering 4: Not Rainbow Bomb W6-T6-T6-T6-W6
14.9k Bombs

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
11177-16106 (~13642)
E: 2272-2714
T: 392-3136
W: 7161-8641
F: 1352-1615
Critical Damage:
13684-19756 (~16720)
E: 2835-3386
T: 485-3886
W: 8674-10466
F: 1690-2018

35.9k Arrow Storms

Spoiler: Damages

Normal Damage:
26940-38760 (~32850)
T: 6540-14220
W: 17160-20700
F: 3240-3840
Critical Damage:
32940-47520 (~40230)
T: 8160-17640
W: 20760-25080
F: 4020-4800

Please help me decide which powdering would be the best. You can also suggest a different powdering that might be better. Notably, all these powderings have Curse but you could suggest a powdering with Courage, idk. I currently like Powderings 1 and 2 the best but they do the least damage. Powdering 1 is barely an upgrade from my current powders and Powdering 2 is a little low on thunder damage as compared to the other elements. This is probably due to my 'OCD' (I don't actually have OCD) for wanting equal-ish damages in all elements for bomb spell.

This thread could also be used for discussing optimal Hive Bow powderings for other rainbow builds (although tbh, the only person I know who uses Rainbow Hive is myself lmao).

 

weapons that are rainbow by design typically come with a benefit like higher base, so you shouldn't feel forced to run rainbow powdering on one that isn't. multi-elemental damage by itself is actually bad because you're worse off against bosses with many eledefs.

with that said, 5xF6 works well with archer's ele conversion, has access to a good special, and faces the least competition from other bows in the meta. you can run whatever you want in all honesty, but i prefer this the most.

(edit: you can make a good argument for 5xW6 given your build tbh)

if you're worried about covering all elements, i'd just multiwield.

 

Good point. Not sure why but I never considered all t6s of one powder. I was too absorbed into the idea of a rainbow bomb ig.
All t6 fire powders do 32k storms and 13.3k bombs while all t6 water powders do 34.7k storms and 14.4K bombs. However, torrential tide exists and does 30.6k storms and 12.8k bombs which does less damage but also makes all t6 water Hive redundant.
All t6 fire Hive is definitely an option to consider.

 

ttide doesn't get curse; if it did, i wouldn't have recommended water hive in an edit