The Banish

The most bullshit attack rotation of all time...

Notorious for its absurdity and difficulty, yet eventually turning to the most falsely acclaimed “brain-dead” attack rotation, we have the Banishing Arrow Combo. People would dub it as “Banish Combo”, where every bow braver will try his best to put in as many Photon Arts into Banishing Arrow as possible in a timely manner for massive damage output.

The property of Banishing Arrow does create a large room of creativity and big-brain plays. However, you will end up being strict with your combo patterns in most fights due to speed and PP problems that ensue.

Combos Explained

Banish Combo is all about deciding what bow Photon Arts should we use to maximize the damage of Banishing Arrow within the three-seconds time frame. We are spending around 45 PP as a “damage investment” to offset the limitations imposed by various bow Photon Arts and improve PP efficiency.

For example, one of the most staple yet hand-destroying combo of Bow Braver (shown later), is firing EIGHT Penetrate Arrows in a row and hoping it to hit twice. Although it yields a sickening amount of damage (it does) with proper positioning, it costs a staggering 245 PP to execute even with Bullet Bow Charge Bonus and neglecting any PP Reduction.

Now, the question would be "why should I use it though? Can’t I just use other PA like Million Storm or keep firing Penetrate Arrow? Let’s look at the image below, alogside Bullet Bow Charge Bonus.

A single Banishing Arrow that cost 45 PP can deal an equivalent amount of damage to firing five Penetrate Arrows that would have cost you another 125 PP, in just three seconds. To anyone surprises, you can say that Banishing Arrow functions similar to PP Reduction sources in PSO2!!! Shorter combos also enjoy more efficient damage with the PA as well.

Being restrained to Banish Combo is the main reason that many despise Bow Braver, even worse with various nerfs to it in the past. Various gameplay and gearing problems also stem from this damned PA. Nevertheless, no one can deny the fact that, when learned and used right, Bow Braver’s Banish Combo is one of the strongest, most versatile, and most sustained attack rotations in PSO2.

Now, there are a couple more things that you should keep in mind while performing the combo. Only you can answer these questions yourself through observation, experiments, and practice for experiences.

Where do I want the Banishing Arrow to land?
How much PP do you get back from a single, charged Normal Attack, with and without Rapid Fire?
Do I have enough PP to spend for this combo right now?
What Photon Arts should I be using for the combo?

A lot of people are making the joke that “my brain is too smol for these complications”, but once you learn the geist of it, it’s pretty simple!

The Damned Combo

Anyway, after my extensive testing and watching lots of examples out there, I have come to the conclusion that there are 2 common variations of Banish Combo. The name will make you feel a bit cringe, but that’s just me. You will decide whether it is “a good time” to perform the combo. Sometimes, firing several PA + Chase Arrows is sufficient. Sometimes, you just need more…

Barrage Banisher, aka "The Long Combo", is often your primary rotations. It's pretty much firing multipler PA, mainly Penetrate Arrow by abusing its piercing property and Master Shot from its improved tracking property. Final Nemesis or Torrential Arrow can be added as well. If you want to conserve PP or abuse PA Step, the charged variant also works.

“There’s only 3 seconds to follow up after the first PA hits”. That’s the reason why you can do whatever you want on the first hit for extra damage added to Banishing Arrow, depending on the situation.

If the enemy is large, such as most EQ bosses, and you are two Steps distance away, Penetrate Arrow is favorable.
If the enemy is extremely mobile, too far from you or you think that Penetrate Arrow can’t hit at least twice, Master Shot would be better; both mathematically and in practice.
Torrential Arrow and Final Nemesis addition work better if the boss stays still and you are quick enough to set it up. Special mention on Torrential Arrow that you can fire 3-4 of it in advance and use Banishing Arrow's slide movement to close in for the spams.

Moreover, Master Shot and Penetrate Arrow can be used together, allowing you to kite the boss around while maintaining your damage output. With the right conditions, the “Double-hit, Penetrate Arrow Only” variant remains the fastest to execute and gives the highest damage of all.

There are two downsides to this combo. First, it consumes fuck tons of PP, especially the “Penetrate Arrow Only”, requiring you to have 200-250 PP, even with Bow Charge Bonus. Second, adding Final Nemesis and Torrential Arrow will delay the subsequent combos. You may break the later combos just for that big damage if you don’t time it well.

Precision Banisher, aka "The Short Combo", is the situational rotation. You are now firing less PAs compared to Barrage Banisher, usually by aiming everything yourself. It is used when you need to be efficient with PP usage during Rapid Shoot downtime or otherwise.

Take notes when doing the combo.

If you use the double Sharp Bomb T0 at close range, there’s enough time to sneak in additional Master Shot for extra damage. If you are further away, you can follow up with Chase Arrows to continue the attack.
Sharp Bomb T0 into Final Nemesis is a very damage-efficient combo but requires proper timing to do so. It can delete lower level bosses.
Trit Shooter lasts for the entire duration of Banishing Arrow, so don’t expect to follow up with anything.

The only downside for this combo variation is that you may have to manually aimb them and position yourself correctly to make it work. Sometimes, you just can’t do Barrage Banisher all day long as Rapid Shoot downtime or the boss movement is just too annoying to keep locking on to them. Be split seconds slower, whiffing that PA or not standing at a correct place will ruin everything.

An extension of Barrage Banisher. If you have been playing PSO2 for a long time, whether as Bow Braver or other classes, you should have heard something along this line:

“It’s possible to fire up to 9 Penetrate Arrows or Master Shots within 3-seconds of Banishing Arrow’s detonation timer.”

9 Penetrate Arrow

9 Master Shot

YES, it is indeed possible. I did take some time recheck some numbers and testing some info out there. After a first PA hit - Penetrate Arrow or Master Shot - and triggers Banishing Arrow, you have less than 180 Frames available to fire 8 more of either. While the frame math looks promising, we have to account the travel speed of those PA and human errors as well, so it's not really feasible in real fight even with good practice.

I get it that striving for damage is something we want, but there're some catches here.

Adding more PA means more PP required. Using either PA, you are looking at the combo cost of 270 PP and 225 PP, even with the flat reduction from Bullet Bow Charge Bonus.
It requires near-perfect timing, meaning that you must fire the PA almost instantly when the JA circle appears to save frames.
Pressing 10 PAs in a row is extremely exhausting. You are better off adding Chase Arrow, limit it to 8 or 9 PAs, or charge the first one.

Damage Values tested with Argus’s Setup
Type	Penetrate Arrow	Master Shot
PA Damage	98438 per hit [196876 for double hit]	125745 per use [41915 per arrow]
8 PA combo	1023755	653874‬
9 PA Combo	1151724 [1087740***]	735608

*** Few frames are off and the game accepts only one hit of the ninth Penetrate Arrow.

Comparing the damage output, squeezing the ninth PA means we are doing 12.5% more than the typical eight-PAs combo. However, if we are comparing it through “potency per PP spent”, it’s 2.5% higher. The numbers are there, but what about it though?

It’s something you can do, and I advise against it. Remember, the extra PP that you invest in a single combo can impact your PP economy and the next combo you are planning. You may have to waste extra seconds to fully recover the PP cost, or run out of it in a very bad situation. All in all, it can induce carpal tunnel syndrome, finger locks, and don't try too hard with mouse macro.

I may be exaggerating, but this is one of those times that you can trust the words of a stranger on the Internet.

Alongside the general variations of the combo cringely stated in the above tabs, I took some time to make a cursed "combo chart" as well. It should include the following:

Sarcasms and memes.
Quick Comparison between subclasses.
All “common” variations of Banish Combo.
Frames it takes to perform different Banish Combo.
The total power/potency of each combo, and the PP cost.
Extra info on how Chase Arrow and Torrential Arrow can be used along with the combos.
Extra notes and warnings.

Uh... you don't mind coming back here to check whether the chart is updated once in a while, do you? I probably brain farted and mess up some explanation, but in general, it should be fine for a quick reference regardless of your experiences!

Click here to see it. The chart is so damn large that it'll be difficult to even zoom in.

Side Notes

Keep the following in mind when perfoming Banish Combo. Mst can get away without knowing it at all and learn or getting used to Banish Combo by just playing the class.

1) Banish Combo always takes at least 5 seconds to complete.
2) Always JA Banishing Arrow. It will take 65% of the damage you have dealt in 3 seconds instead, so it’s at least ~1.54 million points of damage to cap. However, if you are BrEt, Flat Attack Bonus should help a lot there.
3) It’s easy to get tunneled vision when doing the combo. It doesn’t always end with Penetrate Arrows spam.
4) The time limitation imposed by Rapid Shoot and Banish Arrow can really put you off. Introducing the “Combo Rhythm”: how many charged Normal Attacks you need to cover the PP cost of the combo. There are Multi-charge, Single-charge, and Zero-charge. The image below should show you how it goes for a common Banish Combo.

You got less than 60 seconds during Rapid Shoot. It will add up.

Every time you fire a charge Normal Attack, you are trading at least 1 seconds of Rapid Shoot to recover PP. No matter how much you try to Zero-charge it, you will have to do Single-charge or Multi-charge eventually. The amount of damage given by the Rapid Shoot is so high that you can notice the damage drop when performing the combo outside it.

Therefore, try to minimize Multi-charge by alternating your combo, practice so you know how different combos can be chained together, and improve your PP Efficiency some more to the point that it feels comfortable.

Apart from alll of that stuff, Bow Braver shares the same struggle as Partizan Hunter when it comes to its blasted focal PA (Banishing Arrow and Volgraptor). There are three common situations where you can potentially lose Banishing Arrow.

Situation #1	Situation #2	Situation #3
Attempting to chain the subsequent Banish Combo too quickly, especially when you combine multiple PAs (Torrential Arrow, Chase Arrow, Penetrate Arrow, and Enhanced Auxiliary Arrow). The server may delay the registration of the following Banishing Arrow.	The (weak) parts of various bosses in PSO2 can have a very questionable hit-sphere . One of the best examples is Deus ESC-A Gracia’s core. If you somehow didn’t land your Banishing Arrow directly on the core’s frontal area, the game will place the marker on his body instead...	Your damage estimation is a bit off, causing you to accidentally break the targeted part with Banishing Arrow on it . Otherwise, the enemy behavior can be so erratic that it can decide to say “fuck you and your combo”, then either disappear or retract its part.

There are several ways to reduce the chance of losing Banish Arrow.

1) While recovering PP through charged Normal Attack, move your character backward to get more distance between you and the target.

Remember that Banishing Arrow is a projectile and will require a short moment to set. Additionally, the PA itself, Penetrate Arrow, and Master Shot have the PA Step for re-positioning. You can also see that Banishing Arrow is less likely to go missing when performed from a longer range. The only problem there is pretty much your aim.
2) Charge the PA or fire Normal Attacks. The delay from it can guarantee that the subsequent Banishing Arrow will land.
3) Try your best to maintain a direct line of sight to the target.
4) Experiment and remember through “Trials and Errors”.

Subclass Specifics

Oh, you thought the notes for Banish Combo are over? There's more that you should know based on your current subclass! Again, most can get away by playing the game as usual while neglecting the practical, or even meme-tier stuff.

Keep your aim consistent. Hitting weak points is everything.
Standing Snipe significantly increases all of your range damage dealt but with one condition: stay still for at least 1 second. More info about it can be found from this video made by Zenora.
For maximum Banishing Arrow damage, try to find a good position to shoot. It is a good idea to use Chase Arrow to stop your movement.

Make sure to keep a tab on your Shifta timer! If it’s not there, tapping the Technique once for extra damage. This should become irrelevant with S8:Sky Dance's Boon.
Zanverse can be used to amp your damage whenever you want, or along with Banish Combo. You may not be able to cast it at all in certain fights, but keep in mind that it is possible.
Penetrate Arrow has a travel time. You can fire it into a group of enemies or a large boss, then tap Megiverse for an instant heal. Other PA can work, but Penetrate Arrow seems to be the best to align with the 1.5 second duration of uncharged Megiverse.

Same Arts PP Save and Tech Arts Bonus Count can influence your PA usage. In general, it’s not going to change your rotation that much, but keeping the PA order in your mind will help with it. Please consider the following combo patterns as “extra and exclusive things” you can do better than the other subclass choices.

Alternating between Penetrate Arrow and Master Shot to get the effects when you are doubting the firing angle. This is taking advantage of Tech Arts Bonus Count and low level Same Arts PP Save to prolong your combo and maintain a respectable amount of damage output.
Squeeze out as much damage as possible with the remaining PP, especially during Rapid Shoot downtime. You should get away with at least two combos, and start spamming the same PA until your Rapid Shoot is available again.
Use Chase Arrow once before every Banishing Arrow. Despite not taking the multipliers from Tech Arts Count Bonus, the PP Reduction does apply, making the two PA costs equivalent to firing a Banishing Arrow of another subclass choice.

Tech Arts Bonus Count also turns subsequent Banishing Arrow, especially the failed one, into a “trigger” for damage bonus and PP Reduction for the next 3 PA, resulting in extreme flexibility. Therefore, if you aren’t that experienced with Bow Braver, having to pay attention to these details can be overwhelming. It will take time.

The time it takes to reach 500 Voltage can vary from 15 seconds to 45 seconds or more. Master Shot and S5:Auxiliary Arrow are your prime candidates, along with Torrential Arrow and Penetrate Arrow.
Remember to track your Rapid Shoot usage and High Voltage for cooldown reduction!
If you are strict with Banish Combo (8 Penetrate Arrow/Master Shot loop), Banishing Arrow should always become the 4th order PA, receiving massive PP Reduction from Tech Arts High PP Save.
Besides the common attack rotation, you can be creative with it to optimize PP spending in a dire situation, such as the example image below.

It is kinda complicated, but you should get the idea.
You may want to fire a Normal Attack once to keep the Voltage up.

Besides, the only time where you can consistently achieve 500+ Voltage are boss EQs and any quests that don’t force zone switching that often. The Banish combo damage can fluctuate a lot while you are trying to build the Voltage, but you can play the game as usual when everything is ready.

BrHu? There's nothing much apart from "be consistent with your Just Attacks [Perfect Attack] and hope Iron Will works when you need it, if you have decided to take it."

Archery

Archery

Cranked to Eleven

Bullshit