Downpour Volley

Downpour Volley is a skill available in Dragon's Dogma.

Description[]

"An advanced form of Cloudburst Volley that expands the area of the attack."

An advanced version of Cloudburst Volley, which fires twice as many arrows onto the selected target.

With Dark Arisen, it becomes Hailstorm Volley with a suitable Strider's Ring or Band equipped.

Usage, damage, and tactics[]

Skill	Arrows		Death Zone Width
Skill	Fired	Consumed ‡	Death Zone Width
Cloudburst Volley	6	6?	~1.5m
Downpour Volley	11?†	11	~2m
Hailstorm Volley	26	24	~4m
† Effective number of arrows, only 9 are actually animated ‡ The number of Special Arrows consumed is less than cause damage

Aiming and locational effects[]

The falling point of the arrows is indicated by a thin shaft of light and circle on the ground indicating the point of impact.

The point of ground (but not foe) aimed at before activating this skill will usually be automatically ranged at (if within range).
Move the view [right stick] up or down to change the trajectory of the arrows, and hence distance of impact.
Maximum range is ~21m, minimum is ~2m for all tiers of skill.
Firing downhill does not increase range, however firing uphill does diminish the maximum range.
The shaft and circle will turn bluish if they are targeting a foe.
The 'Death Zone' is slightly elliptical, but most arrows will hit distinct ~1.5m wide circle inside.

This skill always works outdoors, but not always in enclosed spaces. How and when it works indoors seems erratic :

Usually works in large chambers such as the Proving Grounds and other arenas.
The arrows will not hit the ground in the spiral of the Everfall (~15m ceiling)
The arrows will hit the ground in the tunnels of the Frontier Caverns (~2m ceiling)

Pawns are effective at rapidly and accurately targeting foes, but may sometimes use this skill even when the arrows do not complete their flight to the foe.

Damage[]

Damage increases linearly with number of arrows
- Attack power (and ultimately damage) increases with total strength.
- The individual arrow damage is the same for Cloudburst and Downpour Volley. For Hailstorm Volley the benefit from character Strength is almost halved.
- If a foe is on the periphery around three quarter's of the arrow will still hit. Hailstorm Volley shows great drop of in arrow strikes at the periphery - the zone in which all arrows hit may not be bigger than with Cloudburst.
The arrows fired can be Special Arrows such as Blast Arrows.
The arrows will carry any enchantment on the bow, and can debilitate if used with the Rusted Bow.
Due to the number of arrows the damage output is very high.
As the arrows fall from above, this skill can sometimes be effective in targeting heads, which are often weakspots. However this cannot be relied upon - it consistently fails to hit Undead on the head.

Tactics[]

Take advantage of stationary states such as Goblin gesticulation or Saurian croaking instead of attempting target when moving.
When aiming group of small creatures one should keep in mind that arrows cover area unevenly, with less chances to hit target on its left and right edges multiple times.
Can be used to kill Leapworms that are still hidden.
Can be fired before opening a chest in which a Maneater may lurk.

Trivia[]

The number of arrows animated, consumed, and that actually cause damage are all different.
As noted in the in-game skill usage instructions - pressing [R3] changes the viewing angle for this skill - it doesn't affect maximum range, but can affect targeting at near distances.