Josh Wilhelmi wrote: Aside from Clerics, is there any reason you wouldn’t take the new UR Crossbow over the Legendary +5 Thor’s hammer in NM+ runs?
I think so, let me take you through an example
TL;DR: You deal 10-15 damage more with the hammer, crit on 19 as well, and "auto hit" on lower slides than 15 anyway.
At Nightmare, a monster's AC is going to be around 25 or so.
To wield the hammer you need a DEX of 20 anyway. Adds to DEX for a Melee Build for this build come from:
Stu-Pendous Pendant +3 or Amulet of the Champion +2
Ioun Stone Quicksilver Cube, Sphere +3
RoSP or RoSP Segment 6 +1
Bracers of Fast Fitness +2
Possibly, in a stretch, Charm of the Quicksip +2 DEX/-1 STR
From among these tokens all classes can get to 20 DEX.
So, to recap:
1. Typical monster AC is 25
2. You get +5 to hit from your DEX
3. You get +5 to hit from your hammer
4. You now hit on 15+ - just like with the Fixed Fate Crossbow, but.
5. Your hammer to-hit is improved by Bardsong (+2) and Cleric Bless/Prayer (+1/+2)
6. So actually you are hitting on ~12+ or so. If you used the Fixed Fate you'd be at 15+.
You are hitting with lower numbers with the hammer.
Now let's turn to the rest of the build.
It's time to go all in on STR boosters so they can deal the most damage in melee, hit the best in melee, and also boost thrown weapon damage.
So, taking a relic level build, they build up STR with:
+3 from Ioun Stone Onyx Cube and Sphere
+2 from Shirt of Blessed Strength
+3 from Stu-Pendous Pendant
+4 from Mithral Gauntlets
+5 from Girdle of Frost Giant Strength
+2 from Greater Onyx Charm
+2 from Fiendish Charm
Somehow get to 5th level
You are at +21 STR here, depending on your class your final STR will be in the 32 to 40 range (+2 more if you have the Redoubt Set).
Your thrown weapon damage modifier from STR alone is between 11 and 15.
The average damage on Thor's +5 is 8.5, the average damage on the Fixed Fate bow is 6.66.
Your total ranged damage mod is:
Hammer:
Any ranged non-STR bonuses (e.g. Ring of the Yeti) + 8.5 + STR bonus 11-15
Fixed Fate:
Any ranged non-STR bonuses (e.g. Ring of the Yeti) + 6.66 + 0 (no STR bonus)
In the end you deal 10-15 or so more with the hammer, have a better crit range, and the "auto hit" portion of the crossbow is completely irrelevant - unless the dungeon gives you monsters with substantially higher AC than you would have expected.
The other TL;DR of this I see is:
a. In 2018 we saw multiple rooms where the first round in melee was lost climbing up an obstacle.
b. Based on TBTP comments in the past, I expect this to continue.
c. This tokens gives people all in on STR a way to contribute in ranged fights, albeit modestly (~15 damage on a hit with Draco-Lich and Boots of the Four Winds).
This only way I see this token becoming problematic is if we somehow get to a place where non-thrown ranged damage bonuses are exceeding melee/thrown damage bonuses on charters with low DEX. I can't see how that would happen.