What's the story with bows and dex/cun exactly?

I know this question was probably asked a lot and I can see bits of answers all over internet. But I just need a definitive explanation as it's still not clear to me

Question is, which attributes are used to calculate damage when using short bows, long bows and crossbows before the hotfix and afterwards

I'm playing archery focused rogue and I'm trying to figure out if Lethality actually makes sense… As you know it uses Cun instead Str (if Cun is higher). But is Cun/Str actually used when shooting bows?

I currently have
Str 21
Dex 34
Cun 25

I haven't leveled up for 2 levels know as I cannot decide which way (only dex or dex/cun) should I go. From same reason I don't know If I should max out all archery talents or go for Lethality

thanks for help

Here's the deal, explained and (unofficially) fixed by one of Bioware's developer :
http://dragonage.gulbsoft.org/doku.p…ity_hotfix_101

I've been using this fix for some time now, and I couldn't play without it anymore - and not just for my dual daggers wielding rogue.

I've been a bit nervous to implement that patch, since I believe it works for the enemy as well - and for me their ranged guys tend to be a bigger problem than their melee guys.

Did you not find a significant increase in the efficacy of the enemy rangers after the patch?

I had the very same fear, but honestly I didn't found that it made the enemy archers that lethal. More interesting, rather. Even simple bandit or gemlocks archers offer slightly more of a challenge but I didn't feel an overpowering difference.
On the other hand, Lelianna felt more useful and the damages of my 2daggers w rogue skyrocketted (I had 14 str and 29 dex, that meant I gained +9.5 to my damage stat (29-10)/2 with daggers, because I then had the dex bonus, as it should be.

Hmmmm…- since I have a dualwielding warrior with good ranged skills and a high dex, I'm very termpted indeed…

I don't suppose one could uninstall the patch again if it doesn't work out for you, eh?

EDIT: Ah, cool! I see one can indeed.

Yep you can. That's rare enough. I tried : adding it, removing it, adding it again… it all works and, more importantly it doesn't screw anything in the process.

Thanks for the useful info, Blackharmo!

cool… but this is completely unrelevant to the question I asked!

Well, I don't pretend to have or give all the answers but…

Short bows now get full attribute bonus from Dexterity instead of shared from Strength. This makes them a natural choice for Dexterity focused character builds.

(from the link I gave, above)

I wouldn't say that's "completely unrelevant" either.

BTW, here's what mr Google got me :

without the hotfix

longbow + short bow get 50% damage from str and dex
crossbows get no damage boost from attributes

with hotifx

longbow get 50% damage from str and dex
crossbow + shortbow get 100% damage from dex

Also, the Hotfix messes up things with Shale. If you use the Hotfix, Shale becomes gimped. Something to do with her crystals not doing what they are supposed to do.

Reason enough to avoid, for now….

Yeah, Shale has like 4 armor at level 11 for me. I have 36 or so, and Alistair 28. It's irritating because I virtually ignored Shale in my first playthrough (without Dex hotfix) and was going to use 'it' a bit more this time, but Shale is a horrible tank at the moment. My DW Warrior is the best tank in the party right now.

Incidentally, the respec mod is worth getting for second and onwards playthroughs. I enjoy being able to essentially create my own party from scratch. Sadly with only a single Mage, though.

Originally Posted by Eisberg
Also, the Hotfix messes up things with Shale. If you use the Hotfix, Shale becomes gimped. Something to do with her crystals not doing what they are supposed to do.

"Her" crystals?

Heh heh. You assumed Shale was male?

Guess you must have romanced 'her' to find out!!

Originally Posted by Badesumofu
Heh heh. You assumed Shale was male?

Are you saying he/she/it's not?

Shale: