test content
Logo
What is the Arc Client?
Install Arc
Stormwarden Archery Crit build
Edit: Updated for Mod 10 (07/09/2016)
Archery has come a long way since the class was first introduced back in Mod 2, having had its ups and downs along the road. The original archer was a crit monster (how I loved Prime Critical feat) but also pulled a lot of aggro with Split Shot. The first big rework saw numerous nerfs to both Archery and Combat trees, which received complete overhauls and Trapper was the new kid on the block. The former two were in stasis for a long time until the Mod 10 changes, with Trapper having been leaps and bounds ahead in all departments beforehand. The good news is that Archery can now compete.
This build is still all about Crit. As such you want to stack as much of it as possible. How you do that is up to you but a good place to start is ability scores. Wisdom increases your Crit Chance so you want to pump that stat up along with Dexterity, which increases your damage. With all my buffs up I reach over 100% Crit Chance so I see a lot of orange numbers on the screen.
This build is also about awareness and positioning to maximise your use of Combat Advantage and the damage buff from Longstrider's Shot. This will be explained in more detail later on.
I initially chose Stormwarden because it was the only Paragon Path available to HRs in Mod 2. Pathfinder was introduced in Mod 3 but I have remained SW through the years because PF really doesn't offer anything better. Some people will point to Careful Attack, which was the best at-will HRs had before Aimed Shot was buffed in Mod 10 but it has a limited range and caused lag when running large group content in the past. SW is the AoE path while PF is more centred around single target. The SW feature I use the most is Twin-Blade Storm, which increases damage by 16% at Rank 4 when hitting three or more targets. Electric Shot may also see more use now that it has been buffed; I currently favour it over Split Shot. Stormstep Action is another option for a class feature if you're using Disruptive Shot as one of your dailies. Split the Sky is a good encounter power when fighting dragons and Tiamat.
As Dexterity, Wisdom and to a lesser extent, Strength are the main attributes for a HR, you will want to select a race that augments those scores. For mini-maxing purposes the best choices are Wood Elf (+2 Dex +2 Wis), Drow (+2 Dex +2 Wis), Human (+2 to any ability score), Dragonborn (+2 to any ability score) and Half-Orc (+2 Dex +2 Str). However, if you're playing the game for fun first and foremost then pick any race you fancy (I always wanted a Moon Elf HR myself but the pack was too pricey for me). Str - which contributes to Resistance Ignored - isn't as important as Dex and Wis so a starting score of 12 is all you need for pve.
One can see upon inspection that the HR feats were taken from TR (no-one recycles like Cryptic
). There are good choices and bad choices. Battlewise is an obvious bad choice, while Agile Combatant doesn't help Archery much as they rarely switch stances. Nature's Enhancement and Lucky Skirmisher should be skipped as both provide Deflect, along with Extra Action as we generate Action Points quite easily. I favoured Swift Footwork over Predatory Action because our dailies don't do nearly as much damage as the other dps classes so five points for 5% more damage is pittance.
3/3 Weapon Mastery
3/3 Toughness
1/5 Predatory Action
5/5 Swift Footwork
3/3 Endless Assault
3/3 Disciple of Dexterity
2/3 Scoundrel Training
You can't really go wrong here. Only two feats are passed up entirely (Keen Eye and Stormcaller's Arrow) while the rest of the points all go into the Archery tree. Keen Eye boosts AP Gain (which we don't really need) and Stormcaller's Arrow increases the duration of Split the Sky (also not really needed - even if StS is used). The early feats in the Combat and Trapper trees don't offer anything better to consider dipping into.
5/5 Ghostwalker
5/5 Broadhead Arrows
5/5 Hasty Retreat
5/5 Longshot
5/5 Unflinching Aim
5/5 Bottomless Quiver
5/5 Rising Focus
5/5 Stillness of the Forest
1/1 Predator
The buff to Aimed Shot in Mod 10 changed things considerably for Archery. Previously we were relying on Rapid Shot as our main at-will but now we finally have a hard hitter in our arsenal. I use Aimed Shot (with OH class feature) and Electric Shot as my at-wills. While Rapid Shot received a buff too, it just cannot compete with Aimed Shot any longer. Another welcome change in Mod 10 saw the Rain of Arrows radius finally increased after years of begging and pleading, which means more damage. We have an amazing damage buff in our toolkit with Longstrider's Shot (40%) and good initial burst with Cordon of Arrows. I have tried other encounters but most of them are too clunky or have long animations so I am still running with Rain, Longstrider's and Cordon, which I switch out for Thorn Ward on single-target fights. For dailies I use Seismic Shot mostly with Forest Ghost seeing action once in a blue moon. Cold Steel Hurricane can be considered on dragon fights while Disruptive Shots works well in conjunction with Stormstep Action. Class features offer slightly more variety in Mod 10 with Aspect of the Falcon a good choice now. Apect of the Pack still stays on my bar, while I switch out between Falcon and Twin-Blade Storm depending on the scenario. Seeker's Vengeance and Stormstep Action can be used as well.
The powers you want at Rank 4 as soon as possible are:
Aimed Shot
Electric Shot
Seismic Shot
Rain of Arrows
Longstrider's Shot
Cordon of Arrows
Thorn Ward
Aspect of the Pack
Twin-Blade Storm
Stormstep Action
Disruptive Shot
Forest Ghost
Split Shot
NOTE: I left Aspect of the Falcon off the list as you only need to allocate 1 point to this class feature to get the damage boost.
LOL I seem to have gone over the word-count limit with the update. The last bit can be found on page 5. My apologies for not having the foresight to reserve another slot below this.
Intro
Archery has come a long way since the class was first introduced back in Mod 2, having had its ups and downs along the road. The original archer was a crit monster (how I loved Prime Critical feat) but also pulled a lot of aggro with Split Shot. The first big rework saw numerous nerfs to both Archery and Combat trees, which received complete overhauls and Trapper was the new kid on the block. The former two were in stasis for a long time until the Mod 10 changes, with Trapper having been leaps and bounds ahead in all departments beforehand. The good news is that Archery can now compete.
Build
This build is still all about Crit. As such you want to stack as much of it as possible. How you do that is up to you but a good place to start is ability scores. Wisdom increases your Crit Chance so you want to pump that stat up along with Dexterity, which increases your damage. With all my buffs up I reach over 100% Crit Chance so I see a lot of orange numbers on the screen.
This build is also about awareness and positioning to maximise your use of Combat Advantage and the damage buff from Longstrider's Shot. This will be explained in more detail later on.Why Stormwarden?
I initially chose Stormwarden because it was the only Paragon Path available to HRs in Mod 2. Pathfinder was introduced in Mod 3 but I have remained SW through the years because PF really doesn't offer anything better. Some people will point to Careful Attack, which was the best at-will HRs had before Aimed Shot was buffed in Mod 10 but it has a limited range and caused lag when running large group content in the past. SW is the AoE path while PF is more centred around single target. The SW feature I use the most is Twin-Blade Storm, which increases damage by 16% at Rank 4 when hitting three or more targets. Electric Shot may also see more use now that it has been buffed; I currently favour it over Split Shot. Stormstep Action is another option for a class feature if you're using Disruptive Shot as one of your dailies. Split the Sky is a good encounter power when fighting dragons and Tiamat.
Race & Ability Scores
As Dexterity, Wisdom and to a lesser extent, Strength are the main attributes for a HR, you will want to select a race that augments those scores. For mini-maxing purposes the best choices are Wood Elf (+2 Dex +2 Wis), Drow (+2 Dex +2 Wis), Human (+2 to any ability score), Dragonborn (+2 to any ability score) and Half-Orc (+2 Dex +2 Str). However, if you're playing the game for fun first and foremost then pick any race you fancy (I always wanted a Moon Elf HR myself but the pack was too pricey for me). Str - which contributes to Resistance Ignored - isn't as important as Dex and Wis so a starting score of 12 is all you need for pve.
Heroic Feats
One can see upon inspection that the HR feats were taken from TR (no-one recycles like Cryptic
). There are good choices and bad choices. Battlewise is an obvious bad choice, while Agile Combatant doesn't help Archery much as they rarely switch stances. Nature's Enhancement and Lucky Skirmisher should be skipped as both provide Deflect, along with Extra Action as we generate Action Points quite easily. I favoured Swift Footwork over Predatory Action because our dailies don't do nearly as much damage as the other dps classes so five points for 5% more damage is pittance.3/3 Weapon Mastery
3/3 Toughness
1/5 Predatory Action
5/5 Swift Footwork
3/3 Endless Assault
3/3 Disciple of Dexterity
2/3 Scoundrel Training
Paragon Feats
You can't really go wrong here. Only two feats are passed up entirely (Keen Eye and Stormcaller's Arrow) while the rest of the points all go into the Archery tree. Keen Eye boosts AP Gain (which we don't really need) and Stormcaller's Arrow increases the duration of Split the Sky (also not really needed - even if StS is used). The early feats in the Combat and Trapper trees don't offer anything better to consider dipping into.
5/5 Ghostwalker
5/5 Broadhead Arrows
5/5 Hasty Retreat
5/5 Longshot
5/5 Unflinching Aim
5/5 Bottomless Quiver
5/5 Rising Focus
5/5 Stillness of the Forest
1/1 Predator
Powers
The buff to Aimed Shot in Mod 10 changed things considerably for Archery. Previously we were relying on Rapid Shot as our main at-will but now we finally have a hard hitter in our arsenal. I use Aimed Shot (with OH class feature) and Electric Shot as my at-wills. While Rapid Shot received a buff too, it just cannot compete with Aimed Shot any longer. Another welcome change in Mod 10 saw the Rain of Arrows radius finally increased after years of begging and pleading, which means more damage. We have an amazing damage buff in our toolkit with Longstrider's Shot (40%) and good initial burst with Cordon of Arrows. I have tried other encounters but most of them are too clunky or have long animations so I am still running with Rain, Longstrider's and Cordon, which I switch out for Thorn Ward on single-target fights. For dailies I use Seismic Shot mostly with Forest Ghost seeing action once in a blue moon. Cold Steel Hurricane can be considered on dragon fights while Disruptive Shots works well in conjunction with Stormstep Action. Class features offer slightly more variety in Mod 10 with Aspect of the Falcon a good choice now. Apect of the Pack still stays on my bar, while I switch out between Falcon and Twin-Blade Storm depending on the scenario. Seeker's Vengeance and Stormstep Action can be used as well.
The powers you want at Rank 4 as soon as possible are:
Aimed Shot
Electric Shot
Seismic Shot
Rain of Arrows
Longstrider's Shot
Cordon of Arrows
Thorn Ward
Aspect of the Pack
Twin-Blade Storm
Stormstep Action
Disruptive Shot
Forest Ghost
Split Shot
NOTE: I left Aspect of the Falcon off the list as you only need to allocate 1 point to this class feature to get the damage boost.
LOL I seem to have gone over the word-count limit with the update. The last bit can be found on page 5. My apologies for not having the foresight to reserve another slot below this.
Our pain is self chosen.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Post edited by lirithiel on
0
Comments
Also, I don't think electric shot offers any control as you say, I greatly prefer it to split shot with its large circular AOE myself.
In addition, as an archery spec, you will benefit a lot more from the lostmauth set.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Twin Blade only works on melee attacks. Twin-Blade Storm is better. Stormstep Action? Why? I don't run with Disruptive Shot so I won't benefit from the CD reduction of SSA much. Throw Caution would mean me running with Split the Sky, which isn't better than the three encounters I already use. Even if I was playing as Pathfinder, I wouldn't be using any of the Paragon Path specific powers because they all suck, Careful Attack being the one exception.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
The tooltip for Thorn Ward is very misleading. It shows damage per strike which people may see as how much the encounter does in total. I once did Phantasmal Fortress using Thorn Ward alone and it was hitting for around 5-6k with up to 12k crits - and that is every 1-2 seconds and can be kept up 100% of the fight. Throw in the debuff and its actually a very handy encounter. The only time I find it not worth using is for Valindra because she moves around so much.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Been running stormwarden archer crit focused build since mod 7 (now 3.2K ilvl), and my build is reasonably similar to the one posted above. I do a lot of testing, serious minmax testing under very tightly controlled conditions, because I'm stubborn and have been trying to squeeze every last ounce of performance out of a class/build that people kept telling me wasn't viable. It's viable, but it wasn't easy - level 65 to 70 was seriously painful, and things didn't really open up again until I hit about 2.5K ilvl. I'd like to do more damage (what DPS wouldn't?) but this build is no slouch. I never get complaints. And now that I'm at 3.2K, it's a blast.
I use Cordon of Arrows, Rain of Arrows, and Longstrider. Longstrider for the buff, but mostly because it's fast, which lets me to get back to other things that do more damage. I get a ton of damage from lostmauth set and although I equip split shot I almost never use it - takes too long and can be interrupted and can aggro things I dont want to aggro. I don't want to aggro anything, ever.
I get most of my damage from (believe it or not) rapid shot. I'm at 80% crit and 105% crit severity, rapid shot is not the biggest single attack available, but it's fast, there's a lot of them, and it doesn't get interrupted. It adds up very quickly. Cordon of arrows groups up the mobs, rain of arrows does a hefty amount of damage (fire and forget), then longstrider and disruptive quickly, then I spam rapid shot until any of those other attacks is ready to fire again. Easy as pie. Just spam rapid shot and wait to see what else becomes available. I use disruptive because it's only 25% of AP, it's fast (i can use it every 6.1 seconds and I never run out of AP). I play at mid to long range. My other class feature is either stormstep (single target fights) or sometimes twin blade storm during trash clearing. But usually I forget to change them and just stick with stormstep: faster cooldowns = more damage.
I have tried swapping every single encounter and daily available into that rotation to see what difference it would make, and while some alternatives come close, none matched CoA, RoA, Longstrider, Rapid Shot, and Disruptive. In a very short fight, other things can do more damage as burst damage, but in any fight that takes more than 30 seconds, my rotation does the best for me, and that's the conclusion I reached after running 20+ tests per different rotation under conditions that were as tightly controlled as I could get them.
To deal with mobs moving around a lot (which affects the usefulness of Rain of Arrows), I do one of three things: (1) let the tank hold them in place because that's why god invented tanks, (2) carefully plonk Cordon of Arrows on the target(s) before I start Rain of Arrows, or (3) as a last resort I'll run right into the middle of them so they aren't moving because they're beating on me (and pop plant growth while I'm there) and fire cordon and rain of arrows at my feet. Call in an airstrike on my own position, so to speak. I have enough lifesteal and do so much damage consistently over time that it usually works out ok. I get beat on pretty badly, but I self heal. Thinking about the mount insignia that heals when you crit too, because I crit constantly.
It is definitely easier to play this build and rotation against bosses and other single target fights, and it's easier when the targets don't move around, but it's doable. The biggest problem I have is stealing aggro from the tank.
My playstyle is pretty much the same as yours, although I play CA spec too so I tend to stay closer to the party. I will only use Split Shot when there are a tonne of mobs, otherwise it's CoA and RoA that cleans up for me. I also use Rapid Shot most of the time and have the damage boost unlocked on my MH.
Something to add: When I posted this build I was running with Lightfoot Thief and 3 Greater Bondings equipped, but I have since switched back to Ioun Stone of Might for more sustained damage. My Crit is currently 85% and Crit Severity 132%.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
I also unlocked the damage bonus for rapid shot, it's a significant boost when so much of my damage comes from rapid shot to begin with. Also unlocked aspect of the pack bonus on the offhand (+2% damage per ally within 15 feet). I've been using an ioun stone for a long time, it's simple and consistent, but was planning to switch to a companion with bonding stones or an augment that doesn't attack, just a matter of picking the right one. The cat is tempting because I think it would guarantee combat advantage 100% of the time (aspect of the pack) and is an augment, so it's consistent bonuses. But the additional bonuses possible with bonding stones might outweigh that, I'd have to test both to make a final decision.
You found the thief with bondings wasn't as good as the ioun stone, that sort of surprises me...I wonder if a different companion with faster attacks might change that? I always assumed the ioun stone was lower bonuses overall, but more consistent, but with the right companion I would do better with bondings.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Two questions--is Split the Sky really dead? I see it a bit here and there, and I have used it on occasion, but I haven't checked ACT to see if my damage is all that good from that encounter. I like using it as a first attack since it doesn't draw aggro, but once you are in a fight, the animation is so long, you either don't get it off, or you get 'killed' trying to use it again. But if it is a single rotation type of fight, it seems to work well killing spellcasters. It used to be great in Dragon Fights (Heralds, Tiamat, etc.). Is that not true anymore? If you don't really rely on Longstrider for the DPS, does it make sense to use something else? How would you rate Longstrider vs. Thorn Ward vs. Split the Sky?
The second question is Seldarine set vs. Lathander. They both provide the +8 AC. Seldarine has dex/con, which isn't helping crit, but does help damage, but has Pow/Deflect/Lifesteal, where Lath has Wis/Cha with Power/Recovery/Defense. (Lostmauth has Str/Dex with Pow/Crit/AP) It seems like neither set, Seldarine or Lathander, optimizes two of the traits for the HR, but is the dex (damage) bonus better than the wisdom (crit) bonus? I know I really like the bump in lifesteal from the Seldarine set, and I am not certain how much recovery/defense really helps the HR. (I have almost no chance in getting the Lostmauth artifact, so I am not really including it in the question.) What do you guys think?
edit: Ok--tried swapping out Thorn Ward--I am convinced that it does significantly more damage than split the sky (which isn't hard) but it made an incredible difference in running a few weekly tasks--(Sharandar, Dragons, etc.). Thank you very much for sharing your build and ideas. I guess the first question is really answered, but I am still curious about the second question--if you don't use something like Seldarine, how do you get Lifesteal up to 20%?
I am not unhappy with this choice on a trapper (which is only one of my medium-priority characters and therefore gets no Lostmaunster boohoo).
Neverwinter Census 2017
All posts pending disapproval by Cecilia
As for thorn ward, the 40' range makes it completely unworkable for me, I'm rarely that close to a target. Sometimes I'm in a different zip code. In general, when I tested longstrider vrs anything else, longstrider came out on top for damage. Maybe not for a fight that's over in seconds, but if the fight is over in seconds, I don't really care how much damage I do because we won, hooray, it's done, have some cake and move on. The longer fights are the ones where maximizing damage counts most for me, and in those ones, split the sky is too slow and unreliable for my taste, and thorn ward would force me to be too close to the target. Lirithiel plays closer to the bad guys than I do though, so thorn ward might work in that situation. It's worth testing if that's your play style. Tests are free
I can't speak to the question of seldarine vrs lathander, I went lostmauth from the start.
I'd love to get more confirmation on whether or not cat augments enable combat advantage when using Aspect of the Pack...anyone else tried it?
I only used to run with Split the Sky for dragon runs and Tiamat pre-Mod 6. StS was initially affected by the ArP bug and was doing very low damage. HRs still use it in Tiamat now but as pointed out, its slow animation and the addition of Longstrider's Shot and Cordon of Arrows in Mod 6 gave us better options.
As for Thorn Ward, I always use it on bosses, Valindra being the only exception as she moves around so much. It's an amazing encounter IMO and very underrated. About three months ago I ran Phantasmal Fortress with my Archer (Ioun Stone equipped) and used Thorn Ward solely to clear the lair. It hit for between 6-12k every second or so and can be kept up 100% of the time. It also has a debuff, which is handy. Longstrider's Shot doesn't leave my bar anymore.
With regards to Lathander set v Seldarine set, I have both - Lathander on Archer and Seldarine on Combat. The two sets are defensive in nature and is what adds to my survivability. I can understand why most HRs choose Lostmauth as it is purely offensive, but it was a personal choice for me to buck the trend.
Overall there is probably a bit too much Defense on the Lathander set for my liking but Archers can make use of the Recovery. I have considered stacking Deflect on my Archer to see if it trumps Defense in mitigating damage but never actually took that step. I am running out of the retraining tokens I got during Winter Festival.
The drawbacks for me with Seldarine is the Companion Influence provided by the artifact (lousy stat), the amount of healing the set bonus gives (too little) and the CON stat boost given by the belt (minuscule HP boost). But I find it good for a melee class with the amount of Deflect and Lifesteal the set gives.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
I think Becky's comment might be a better option for me, , but I wonder if I would be better with a belt of wisdom or belt of dexterity? Is the crit route better than plain damage from higher dex?
Again, it's not that I don't like Lostmauth as a set bonus, but can't afford it for this character. And I really would like to try something else anyway.
One other question--how much recovery do you like?-- I saw an archer build pre-mod 6 that had an incredibly high INT score so that recovery was 'nearly instantaneous'. You commented that your Thorn Ward is up almost 100%--and cordon/ROA rotate pretty quickly--I am guessing that having a high INT is a waste, but it begs the question of how much recovery before the cost/payback is exceeded.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
I had a long hard look at the neck, belt and artifact options and I opted for the Imperial Cloak and Waistband (both Power/Crit/Recovery) while still getting a WIS boost from the belt and STR so now I can drop 2 Darks for Azures in offense for more Crit. I don't like the Rod of Imperial Restraint so will give the bonus a skip (I heard the damage from the bonus is pittance anyway). I'll probably end up using Sigil of the Hunter instead of the Eye for more Power and Recovery. Overall it should net me more damage.
I haven't managed to test anything yet as the cloak and belt are both still lvl 1. Next 2 x RP event where are you..?
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
I like the Imperial Cloak for the stats, and really like the 4% action point gain--do you think you will miss the 8AC from the Lathander or Seldarine cloaks? Once we get the 2X RP, let us know if you see return to 'squishyness' without the addition from Lathander.
I think Belial's Portal stone might be a good artifact if your Lifesteal is low (mine is). I'm currently running with DC sigil (for instant AP and heals), Trickster, GWF and the Lantern. I might swap out GWF (Pow, AP, HP) or DC (Power, Def, Healing) for Belial's (Power, Lifesteal, Control Bonus). I think it would be an automatic switch if the additional Control Bonus actually 'rooted' for longer periods, but it doesn't seem to be enough to cause an increase.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.