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Archery build for PvE leveling.
cptvanor
Posts: 274 Arc User
Want to make an archery based character but can't find much in the way of guilds that aren't quite old. Here's what I'm thinking, any feedback is welcome. However this is a theme character, as such she won't have any real super powers, so I want to stick to the Archery, Gadget, MA, type sets.
I have one question I can think of right away... Is Night Warrior anywhere nearly as good as Quarry? I like the stealth built into Night Warrior, because it fits the character. The hidden strike power is something I might use but not often.
The Powerhouse builder is nice, but it doesn't provide much in the way of numbers or %'s so I'm not sure. I seem to remember that NW gives something like 20% buff to all damage and ~10% to dodge and avoidance. So that looks like it might be on par with Quarry, but I can't get in game to actually see the numbers.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Fletching
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Ego (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Soldier
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Indomitable
Level 12: Brilliant
Level 15: Coordinated
Level 18: Shooter
Level 21: Academics
Powers:
Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Rank 2, Deadly Dissonance)
Level 8: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles' Heel)
Level 11: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Explosive Arrow (Where's the Kaboom?)
Level 17: Concentration (Rank 2)
Level 20: Gas Arrow (Rank 2, Noxious Fumes)
Level 23: Parry (Rank 2)
Level 26: Inexorable Tides
Level 29: Hunter's Instinct
Level 32: Support Drones (Rank 2)
Level 35: Miniaturization Drive
Level 38: Strafing Run (Rank 2)
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Swinging
Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Can't Touch This (1/3)
Avenger: Anguish (2/2)
Avenger: Surprise Attack (2/2)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
I have one question I can think of right away... Is Night Warrior anywhere nearly as good as Quarry? I like the stealth built into Night Warrior, because it fits the character. The hidden strike power is something I might use but not often.
The Powerhouse builder is nice, but it doesn't provide much in the way of numbers or %'s so I'm not sure. I seem to remember that NW gives something like 20% buff to all damage and ~10% to dodge and avoidance. So that looks like it might be on par with Quarry, but I can't get in game to actually see the numbers.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Fletching
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Ego (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Soldier
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Indomitable
Level 12: Brilliant
Level 15: Coordinated
Level 18: Shooter
Level 21: Academics
Powers:
Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Rank 2, Deadly Dissonance)
Level 8: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles' Heel)
Level 11: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Explosive Arrow (Where's the Kaboom?)
Level 17: Concentration (Rank 2)
Level 20: Gas Arrow (Rank 2, Noxious Fumes)
Level 23: Parry (Rank 2)
Level 26: Inexorable Tides
Level 29: Hunter's Instinct
Level 32: Support Drones (Rank 2)
Level 35: Miniaturization Drive
Level 38: Strafing Run (Rank 2)
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics
Level 35: Swinging
Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Can't Touch This (1/3)
Avenger: Anguish (2/2)
Avenger: Surprise Attack (2/2)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
Post edited by cptvanor on
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Comments
She had a guide on it, but I'm forgetting where it is now thanks to the crappy forum-transfer website-merger fiasco.
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
Thanks
I'd love to see her guide as well. But I'm sure she'll post a link to when she responds.
Back in CoH I had a archery defender that I rather enjoyed, so when they released Archery in CO I jumped on it, but wasn't real impressed. I know they've revamped it, so I want to give it a try again.
http://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=152041 - my archery guide.
Night Warrior is most definitely a cool passive, but Quarry is far better for Archery purposes: more dodge/avoidance is always better! Also, archers have no benefits from the stealth Night Warrior provides.
The build is solid enough and can certainly get you through the game, but I do have concerns.
1. Gas Arrow. This power isn't very good. The damage is a drop in the bucket compared to what you can do with just about anything else, and while the random stuns and snares are nice, that's the only thing the power has going for it. If you were going the controller route I'd highly suggest it, but it seems we're looking at a DPS archer here. I suggest replacing Gas Arrow with Torrent of Arrows + Relentless Recurve.
2. Parry. You don't really need a block power since you're ranged. Your basic block should do well enough. Parry's only really good for melee fighters due to the Elusive Monk advantage. Consider dropping Parry altogether and pick up Evasive Maneuvers. It's a backflip that gives you a hefty dodge bonus, along with free stealth that has a 50% chance of dropping aggro altogether.
3. Energy unlock. You've got Concentration, which does pretty alright. You've got Hunter's Instinct, but I highly recommend picking up Molecular Self Assembly out of the Gadgeteering tree so you can get free energy from cooldowns. Your main attack, Storm of Arrows, has a short cooldown that'll make sure you never run out of energy. Hunter's Instinct is just very iffy about energy since it scales on Ego and Recovery.
4. How attached are you to Mini-Drive and Support Drones? Being able to shrink someone is a really cool concept, but it doesn't have much effect when the mobs you're shrinking die in the next second anyway. Support drones are also troublesome little bastards, to put it bluntly. They'll heal you when you don't really need it, but when you actually need it they're either getting destroyed or healing someone else who doesn't need it. I recommend picking up Bountiful Chi Resurgence from the Martial Arts tree and taking Resurgent Reiki to get heals-on-dodge, as well as Conviction from the Celestial tree, which is effectively free HP every five seconds, less if you have cooldown reduction gear. At R3 and with no Presence investment, you can heal back 843 HP without a crit, double that with a crit heal.
5. VERY iffy on Inexorable Tides. It's a cool move, but if you're doing your job as an archer enemies should be dealt with long before they can come close enough for you to use it. Besides, why would you need to run up and sweep kick them when you can boldly flee at full speed while attacking in the first place? I'd suggest taking Masterful Dodge in place of Inexorable Tides.
Smaller things:
Sonic Arrow. You should drop R2 and take Nailed to the Ground, because you never know when you need to make a flying mob stop flying, or when you might be in a duel just for fun!
Travel powers. Rank 'em up! At least Athletics! Archery has the wonderful ability to move full-speed while attacking. Make good use of it!
Test Strafing Run thoroughly to see if it's worth it! Compare it to Storm of Arrows and see if you want to keep it around or not. If you find yourself using Storm of Arrows a lot more, give Ego Surge found in Telekinesis a try. It gives additional Ego and a good damage bonus.
Going with the + 8 talents robs you of extra stats that could go somewhere else. I personally choose 5/5s only! 5dex/5con, 5int/5con and 5ego/5con will bump your health just above 5k at 40, a good amount.
I also adjusted your Specializations a bit. Anguish only does a tiny 10-20 damage DoT, and critical severity winds up being super-important. Finding a good balance of crit hard and crit often is key!
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Fletching
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Ego (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Soldier
Level 6: Acrobat
Level 9: Healthy Mind
Level 12: Ascetic
Level 15: Coordinated
Level 18: Shooter
Level 21: Academics
Powers:
Level 1: Strafe
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Deadly Dissonance, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles' Heel)
Level 11: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Torrent of Arrows (Relentless Recurve)
Level 23: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Sleight of Mind)
Level 26: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Explosive Arrow (Where's the Kaboom?)
Level 32: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 35: Masterful Dodge
Level 38: Strafing Run (Rank 2) OR Ego Surge
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3) (if Ego Surge, take Versatility or...)
Level 35: Swinging (R2 and R3 this if you don't want Versatility)
Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (3/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Surprise Attack (2/2)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)
I'll be providing a similar build that uses Ego Dex/Int instead in the next post. Ego is an amazing primary SS, I'll have ya know.
Thanks
Ok, I thought stealth could be fun provided I didn't lose out too much on important things like damage and dodge/avoidance. I'll stick with Quarry.
Ok, it looked good, but that's based on an either an outdated builder or the powerhouse one which doesn't have stats.
Guess I'm just used to taking a block power. You make a good point and I'll look at dropping it.
You mean MSA instead of Hunters?
Not very, Mini-drive is a fluff power so that's a take it or leave it thing. Support Drones... Well I'm trying to avoid any sort of supernatural power so convection is right out. Bountiful Chi Resurgence might work as long as it's not too flashy.
[/quote]5. VERY iffy on Inexorable Tides.[/quote]
I understand your point, but I just can't make a super hero that can't smack the bad guys one way or the other.
[/quote]Sonic Arrow. You should drop R2 and take Nailed to the Ground[/quote]
Travel powers. Rank 'em up! At least Athletics![/quote]
Noted.
[/quote]I'll be providing a similar build that uses Ego Dex/Int instead in the next post. Ego is an amazing primary SS, I'll have ya know.[/QUOTE]
Is Ego a better primary then Dex? I haven't played for a while, but last time I was here everyone went Dex/Ego. That was back when there was only one secondary...
With that being said, the reason I like Conviction so much is that it's a very basic, not-all-that-intrusive animation and it makes MSA super-happy. It's somehow even less obtrusive at R3! I'm only suggesting it because I've only been burned when I use support drones.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Fletching
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Soldier
Level 6: Acrobat
Level 9: Healthy Mind
Level 12: Ascetic
Level 15: Coordinated
Level 18: Shooter
Level 21: Academics
Powers:
Level 1: Strafe
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Deadly Dissonance, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles' Heel)
Level 11: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Torrent of Arrows (Relentless Recurve)
Level 23: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Sleight of Mind)
Level 26: Conviction (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 29: Explosive Arrow (Where's the Kaboom?)
Level 32: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Resurgent Reiki)
Level 35: Masterful Dodge
Level 38: Strafing Run (Rank 2) OR Ego Surge
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Swinging
Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (1/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Aggression (1/2)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Sixth Sense (2/3)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Vindicator: Mass Destruction (3/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Avenger: Preemptive Strike (2/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)
In any case, feel free to work Inexorable Tides back in, replace BCR or Conviction with Support Drones, whatever works best for you!
EDIT: I gotta wonder if Crashing Wave Kick's advantage also works with ranged moves. Being able to get the dodge bonus with Storm of Arrows would work way better than Inexorable Tides. I'd test it myself, but I'm having driver issues and I'm Silver!
DOUBLE EDIT: I forgot to list my reasoning for Masterful Dodge! Well, do you like NIGH INVINCIBILITY for twelve seconds? I sure do! Masterful Dodge is a wonderful "OH CRAP!!!" button... it's also great to open up on. There's a high chance that if you pair Masterful Dodge and BCR + Resurgent Reiki, you'll emerge from a fight completely unscathed!
PS: I should mention that archery was once kind of weak but one of the good things to come out of On Alert was that it's much stronger so that it's on-par with other offensive types.
Consolidate the currencies! (Please!)
Does your Champion have a theme song? (share it!)
Got a funny in-game screenshot? (share it!)
Please fix the Overdrive energy unlock! (Should help promote thematic build diversity!)
If Convection doesn't have much in the way of flash I'll look at it. At least try it out in the powerhouse when the time comes.
BTW, according to the Champion Builder which I know is out of date but may still be accurate for this...
Crashing Wave Kick adds the Ebb and Flow to melee attacks, so I don't think it would work with anything in Archery.
A few thoughts on it.
I didn't go with Conviction because there just isn't room if I take some of the other stuff I want.
I want Crashing Wave Kick, or some sort of kick attack from MA, mostly for thematic reasons. Same with Strafing Run. I don't know how much I'd use either, but I'd like to have them in my build. Strafing Run is mostly because I plan on buying one of the jets provided I make it past lvl 15 or so with this character. So again a lot of that is thematic in nature.
I'm not completely sure about what travel powers I'll be taking yet. I'd like to try Athletics but the last time I tried Acrobatics I just didn't like it much. It's possible I might go with the jet pack power instead. If so I might pick up Athletics at 35. But if I get the jet then that might become my main travel power. Will have to try it and see.
Oh I also saw your note about the talents. I'll take the 5/5's instead, but I don't feel like copy/pasting the whole thing again.
One final note. It's too bad there isn't some way to donate Questionite to people on the forms... In STO's foundry you can donate Di to people as a tip after you play though one of their missions. If you could, I'd gladly donate 500 to you keikomyst for the help.
PowerHouse (Link to this build)
Name: Fletching
Archetype: Freeform
Super Stats:
Level 6: Ego (Primary)
Level 10: Dexterity (Secondary)
Level 15: Intelligence (Secondary)
Talents:
Level 1: The Soldier
Level 6: Agile
Level 9: Indomitable
Level 12: Brilliant
Level 15: Coordinated
Level 18: Shooter
Level 21: Academics
Powers:
Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Deadly Dissonance, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Torrent of Arrows (Rank 2, Relentless Recurve)
Level 11: Quarry (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 14: Explosive Arrow (Where's the Kaboom?)
Level 17: Concentration
Level 20: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles' Heel)
Level 23: Molecular Self-Assembly
Level 26: Bountiful Chi Resurgence (Rank 2, Resurgent Reiki)
Level 29: Evasive Maneuvers (Sleight of Mind)
Level 32: Inexorable Tides (Rank 2)
Level 35: Masterful Dodge (Rank 2)
Level 38: Strafing Run
Travel Powers:
Level 6: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)
Level 35: Swinging
Specializations:
Ego: Force of Will (2/2)
Ego: Insight (3/3)
Ego: Follow Through (3/3)
Ego: Exploit Opening (2/2)
Vindicator: Aggressive Stance (2/2)
Vindicator: Merciless (3/3)
Vindicator: The Rush of Battle (3/3)
Vindicator: Modified Gear (2/2)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Surprise Attack (2/2)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Mastery: Ego Mastery (1/1)
Maybe even Mighty Kick? Giving an enemy a fierce boot when they get too close sounds pretty cool to me, and Ego has a specialization that lets you turn your Strength-knock powers into Ego-knocks! Not Martial Arts, but it's certainly serviceable and looks super-cool.
It's no problem, I love to help people get into the wild world of Archery, it's payment enough! :P
I'll try that.
It won't be a big part of my build and likely won't be used much. But the one thing that always drove me nuts in CoX was playing a blaster and having effectively no way to simply punch or kick a badguy. Sure there was brawl, but that worse then worthless to use.
So even if I only use it every 15th fight... I still want to have the option at some point.