Newbie's Guide to Archer-ism!
Comments
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aryannamage wrote: »As requested by so many people in this thread... Stickied!
BTW good work! b:pleased
Thank you for the sticky b:pleased[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
In Arduis Fidelis0 -
I find it somewhat hard to agree with this guide.
The first two skills you start out with are very important. Take Aim is THE opener for PvE. Quickshot is also a great skill to cycle with when your other skills are still recovering from delay. Plenty of skills have a high delay factor on them.
Lightning Skills, although Mana costly, pack a hellish punch. It's a good idea to keep them upgraded for PvE and PvP. If you unlock the 2nd lightning strike, you can use it to make the opponent more vulnerable to metal damage, then use your next lightning strike to inflict further damage. Good combo in PvP.
I am surprised you gave Winged Shell a low rating. If you're going full DEX, which I don't agree with also, then you will definitely need Winged Shell to save your behind from taking in serious damage. You are wearing only Light Armor, keep that in mind. If you're wearing other armor, then I don't know what to tell you. Winged Shell should definitely be strengthened whenever possible. It also recovers back some Mana, which helps with your low mp!
I find the poison and bleed shots weak, too. Useful in bosses and parties, only upgrade when there's nothing left. :P
Of course, it is necessary to max all passives - Winged Flight, which I find very useful.
That's all I have to say for now.0 -
Arrow_Dancer - Heavens Tear wrote: »I find it somewhat hard to agree with this guide.
The first two skills you start out with are very important. Take Aim is THE opener for PvE. Quickshot is also a great skill to cycle with when your other skills are still recovering from delay. Plenty of skills have a high delay factor on them.
Take Aim is quite terrible at low levels. The damage is based on weapon damage, and you don't get weapons with decent attack power until at least HH/TT. Frost Arrow is 10 times more efficient in terms of mana and time. Quickshot is useless no matter what, unless you get to Demon path, when the 30% attack rate is very nice. Even at level 10, Quickshot is base + 908, which is terrible. Not worth leveling at all, there is much better skills to spend SP on.Arrow_Dancer - Heavens Tear wrote: »Lightning Skills, although Mana costly, pack a hellish punch. It's a good idea to keep them upgraded for PvE and PvP. If you unlock the 2nd lightning strike, you can use it to make the opponent more vulnerable to metal damage, then use your next lightning strike to inflict further damage. Good combo in PvP.
This says nothing that I don't already have under the skill descriptions.Arrow_Dancer - Heavens Tear wrote: »I am surprised you gave Winged Shell a low rating. If you're going full DEX, which I don't agree with also, then you will definitely need Winged Shell to save your behind from taking in serious damage. You are wearing only Light Armor, keep that in mind. If you're wearing other armor, then I don't know what to tell you. Winged Shell should definitely be strengthened whenever possible. It also recovers back some Mana, which helps with your low mp!
Pure Dex is almost unanimously the best build for EA. Not really going to get into this here. For those who disagree, add your Vit, get to a high level, and see for yourself. You should not be getting hit very much if you are playing your EA correctly. Having a few levels of Winged Shell is enough, and not necessary to max immediately. Passives and useful damage spells will always serve you better.0 -
what is this path of which you speak off ;d b:angry<i just liek that emoticon looks awesome :Db:surrender<that too lolNote: Its probably worth maxing for an Archer who chose Sage path. But even then, I wouldn't recommend maxing it until you actually get there.0 -
The level 89 cultivation has you choose between 2 paths, Sage or Demon.0
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There's no limit to skilling or getting spirit points. The barrier to advancing your skill levels is how much SP (and to a lesser extent, money) you can obtain as you progress through the game. Initially, it might seem that you can easily keep up with your SP spending. When you reach Level 40, you'll start entering the SP drought, and if you've been pumping points into all your skills, you're effectively trying to max out a dozen skills, and you really only have the SP to get three, maybe four. It's only when you get into the high levels that you start getting a surplus of SP, and then you can start levelling the ones you skipped.WaterClaw - Heavens Tear wrote: »why not level stuff? I mean, if u do many quests u get loads of spirit and money come and go anyway, so what's the problem with leveling skills?
do you get a limit in skill-ing at some point?
on the other hand... if u played once an archer class in any mmorpg looks like you don't need to ask anyone about build XD full dex everywhere
That's why some skills are skipped while others are prioritised. Skills get more and more expensive in both SP and coin as you get towards the higher levels, and you won't have enough SP to get all your skills until you get past the mid-game.0 -
well first of all i want to say "Hi all" cause i'm new in this game and forum... i've started as archer on Sanctuary and seems to get large amounts of fun from this game ( though first i was sceptycal)
i'm at lvl 9 and i liked to discover things by myself ... fortunately i've crossed up with a high lvl archer that teached me some things about the build ( dex build ) but now i have another problem... i've upgraded first skills i got ( quickshot and take aim ) at lvl 2... it was a bad move? i'm only lvl 9 so i can delete char and start again :P
the other skills i took as pointed in the beggining of this thread and my stats are kinda :vit: 5 mag:10 str: 13 dex: 32
so should i start again or can i fix this char later?
Thx in advance.0 -
You can reset your stats for a small fraction of your cost for a heaven or sage skill level.
Also, I think take aim works great for low level archers, since I can shoot with take aim in less than half of the time I need for a normal attack. I currently use take aim to keep from losing a monster when I am kiting and my damage over time arrow missed (or to finish off that last bit of health). But when I was low level I opened all of my combos with take aim.
And I love my damage over time skills. I have read lots of negative comments about them but most of those complaints seem to be from people that do not understand how they work.
For example, DoT skills are slower than a full speed take aim, but still faster than your normal attack, and their mana cost is much lower than lightning skills. Anyways, my advice would be: ignore advice you read here and think through how you fight and how each skill works. And maybe try them, level 1 will not be very expensive.
Also, DoT skills do their damage frequently. So moderately low level archers with good DoT skills should be in demand for reputation runs in FBs. Being lower leveled than most other people in your party and using good DoT skills means you are increasing your party's chances to get drops from monsters. You can be doing damage almost three times per second, which gives you decent for landing kills. Conversely, you should probably avoid using these skills when you are the highest leveled character in your FB run.0 -
great guide!
b:bye[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
- sneering at the world is better than barking at it anyday -0 -
Yugoslav - Heavens Tear wrote: »great guide!
b:bye
Glad you find it useful b:victoryAlecsys - Sanctuary wrote: »well first of all i want to say "Hi all" cause i'm new in this game and forum... i've started as archer on Sanctuary and seems to get large amounts of fun from this game ( though first i was sceptycal)
i'm at lvl 9 and i liked to discover things by myself ... fortunately i've crossed up with a high lvl archer that teached me some things about the build ( dex build ) but now i have another problem... i've upgraded first skills i got ( quickshot and take aim ) at lvl 2... it was a bad move? i'm only lvl 9 so i can delete char and start again :P
the other skills i took as pointed in the beggining of this thread and my stats are kinda :vit: 5 mag:10 str: 13 dex: 32
so should i start again or can i fix this char later?
Thx in advance.
Sorry for a late response, schedule has been rather busy lately. Welcome to PW b:victory Upgrading your low level skills a few times won't make much difference in the long run. The SP cost is almost nothing. Its just not worth putting too much into them right now is all.
5 points in Mag won't be a huge setback while you're leveling. I'd probably just keep leveling. You can buy restat scrolls later on to fix your error, so it isn't a big deal. So really, you shouldn't worry too much about it. Good luck b:bye0 -
Great guide!
I was having some trouble with the skill issues ^_^ but for now i seem to be good :P. Thanx a bunch again!b:pleasedb:chuckle 0 -
tyvm the quickshot thing was EXTRA helpfull becomes usless later on.. and when i tell other arches this... they dont belive me..
oh well, they'll find out what mistake they did later on hehe b:pleased
GREAT GUIDE[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
NNN-SANCTUARY0 -
Oh man I never knew an archer would be so expensive?
Any tips on helping me save money?
By the way you said that the lower-mid levels are the toughest. Am I starting to enter that? b:shocked0 -
Girofalcon - Sanctuary wrote: »Oh man I never knew an archer would be so expensive?
Any tips on helping me save money?
By the way you said that the lower-mid levels are the toughest. Am I starting to enter that? b:shocked
well, ya. when i was within the early 20s, i find it hard to kill monsters and they eventually came close to me and cant really do much damg. so its like kill one monster then rest. kinda of time consuming, but it helps to save pots= save money. i usually do not use pots unless my hp is like 100+ or less and spend most of my time resting.
when u get better skills and reach around mid 25s, it wont be much of a problem to kill monster effectively. knockback is always useful. for my type of play, i start with lvl1 take aim, frost arrow, normal att, knockback and normal att(for normal mobs that dont do damg over time(DoT). for dot monster, i will use vicous arrow and other att. lighting is mana consuming so i rarely use it(however it is very effective in damg dealing, i use it for increase hp mobs)
as for money matters, i do not craft items as i can get them from mob kills and usually end up with blue star equip. Collect as much herbs or ores if u can get some n sell them. Also, try not to use pots unless it is necesary to do so. pick up ALL coins u get or seen(i see that most veno do not pick up coins so u can go n pick em up) also, i recommend u to use ur fb19 weapon till lvl 30+ as it is damg efficient. another advice is to sell ur dragon quest items like mystical meat(lvl21) but keep DQ lvl 31 items for ur bank mission. Slowly, but surely, u will definitely save a lot of money. N....DO NOT USE TELEPORT unless very necessary like from plume to arhosaur for instance..
hope that helps b:pleased0 -
Girofalcon - Sanctuary wrote: »Any tips on helping me save money?
I do not know where you spend most of your money, but if you can explain where your money goes maybe we can come up with useful tips?
For example, I spent 400,000 coins on my skills last weekend (before I ran out of spirit). But I was level 60 and and if I were level 20 my skills would have been cheaper so I would maybe have instead spent 30,000 coins, and anyways probably you have been hurt by other costs?0 -
A few things I believe are important to note:
1. Aim Low is not a stun. It binds a foe which is very different to a stun.
2. Thunder shock, according to a chinese archer guide only lowers the metal resistance of equipment resistances and not the total resistance of the character. I would suggest leaving this until later on since it's more of a TW/PvP skill. I do not know how this works with monsters since pwdatabase only gives a number on their elemental resistances.
3. Sharpened tooth arrow reduces x% of maximum hp on a foe for y seconds. However once this timer finishes, the HP will not recover making this a deadly fire first shot skill and forget. Also this skill will not reduce x% hp if that target is below that value already. Meaning it is best to fire at something/someone and forget the skill existed. Useful in TWs against cart pullers and useful for bosses - otherwise not much use elsewhere. Also note that exp gain after kill will be penalised if this shot is used (although not by much)
4. Take Aim should be left on lvl 1 until you have the ability to learn demon or sage Take Aim. At 10 mana a shot at level 1 for 15chi, it is quite useful. If you take this any higher then you will lose this advantage because the mana cost goes up. This skill is horrible until very late on imo since deadly shot out does this. I say later on because sage gives 500% more damage and demon gives it a 2.5s charge time according to ecatomb.
Feel free to bash me if I am wrong or because I am on Sanctuary.
Edit: fixed a typo and added a few things to make it more coherent.0 -
extremely useful except i have already put a lot into vit and mag so have wasted alot of stuff0
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Very helpful..!
However, i must ask, have i gimped myself?
I got 62 dex, 26 str, and 17 vit and maq. After reading this, i will not be putting anymotr points into both, but at level 21, am i gimped?
Also, i seemed to have avoided most of the skill pitfalls here too, except the quickshot. I have it at level 5, so does that mean i have gimped my other skill growths at level 21?
Do i need to start over? because i love my archer to death and i do not want a gimp
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I would remake your character because of the 17 points in magic. You could live with vitality but some may say that everything should be in dex. Besides, lvl 21 isn't that hard to obtain - just about 10hours of playing and you've pretty much broken even.
Also, some like quickshot, some don't - it's a preference but at higher levels those 5 lvls in quickshot makes no difference simply because the spirit and coin invested is like... less than 30k all up (don't know the actual values) and matters little. You really can't destroy your character by leveling the wrong skills because at later levels you'd probably get them up a bit anyway. The only real way you can gimp a character is the stat point allocation. With that being said you have 2 options, only one in which I deem the most logical in your situation.
option 1: Continue playing and forgo the wasted stat points. When you have enough coins, invest in a restat note and bring them back to a base of 5 (they actually go as low as 3, but I'll say 5 for simplicity)
option 2: Remake your archer. This is recommended since you're still a low level and it takes almost minimal time to recover.0 -
Legerity - Sanctuary wrote: »I would remake your character because of the 17 points in magic. You could live with vitality but some may say that everything should be in dex. Besides, lvl 21 isn't that hard to obtain - just about 10hours of playing and you've pretty much broken even.
Also, some like quickshot, some don't - it's a preference but at higher levels those 5 lvls in quickshot makes no difference simply because the spirit and coin invested is like... less than 30k all up (don't know the actual values) and matters little. You really can't destroy your character by leveling the wrong skills because at later levels you'd probably get them up a bit anyway. The only real way you can gimp a character is the stat point allocation. With that being said you have 2 options, only one in which I deem the most logical in your situation.
option 1: Continue playing and forgo the wasted stat points. When you have enough coins, invest in a restat note and bring them back to a base of 5 (they actually go as low as 3, but I'll say 5 for simplicity)
option 2: Remake your archer. This is recommended since you're still a low level and it takes almost minimal time to recover.
yje 5-7 stat points really make that much of a difference..?0 -
well, you said you have 17 in vit and 17 in magic. Every point in dex increases dodge, accuracy, ranged damage and 1/20th of a critical percentile. If you do a simple rundown of the figures, you just lost 24 stats to vit and mag when you could've gone +24dex (which is an extra critical %). I see no reason why you're hesitant in not remaking an archer if you said in your rpevious post that you do not wish to gimp it. It takes less than a days work to get back to lvl 21.
But whatever you feel like, those are only my suggestions anyway. If you don't see anything wrong with your archer then don't take my suggestions... although I don't see why you would ask if you don't intend to do something about it.0 -
You don't want those points in magic. That is the least useful stat for archers. Even if you don't spare those points back into dex they'd be more useful in Vit. Some people have a few points in magic to counter the MP wings eat up but I find it worthwhile to get cash shop wings by the time you're high level enough to get flying mob quests.[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
ಥ_ಥ MOAR.
SkyKoC - How long is yours?0 -
Firstly, thanks a lot for your great guide, i was really surprised about the pure dex./strength build b:shocked , but i remade my archer anyway and i am already noticing the difference. b:thanks
Second, could you find the time to find out how long all the other special weapons you receive should last you for, e.g. the bow you receive for the first quest at the beginning of the game. I am still using mine, but I know you receive one at level 12(?) as well.
VERY CONFUSED!!
b:sadb:sad
I refuse to make a creative signature.I refuse to make a creative signature.0 -
Aluarn - Lost City wrote: »Firstly, thanks a lot for your great guide, i was really surprised about the pure dex./strength build b:shocked , but i remade my archer anyway and i am already noticing the difference. b:thanks
Second, could you find the time to find out how long all the other special weapons you receive should last you for, e.g. the bow you receive for the first quest at the beginning of the game. I am still using mine, but I know you receive one at level 12(?) as well.
VERY CONFUSED!!
b:sadb:sad
I refuse to make a creative signature.
Mmm, I would just suggest using whatever you come across until you get your FB19 (call to duty quest) crossbow reward. This should last you to mid 30s and at 35 you can go hunting for a decent lv35 crossbow. Try save up for a sinister shooter (legendary sling) for lvl 42 and that should sufficiently cover your needs until mid to late 50s. Get a decent 3* lv58 slingshot when you hit 58 and then at lvl 60, get a TT60 swiftwind crossbow.
By this time you should know what you prefer and should do whatever suits your playstyle.0 -
The tips and hints at the beginning and knowing the priority level for each skill were very helpful.
b:thanks0 -
Why shouldent i put points into magic? does it mean I should never put any points? If so how can i do skills? can you expalin please?0
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Why shouldent i put points into magic? does it mean I should never put any points? If so how can i do skills? can you expalin please?
the magic gained as an archer is minimal and even so why do you need mana regen? A point in dex is probably the most valuable. (apart from str where it is needed to wear equipment)
MAG:
increases magical attack
increases magical defense
increases max mana
increases mana regeneration rate (it is reduced BY 75% in battle)
DEX:
increases attack power for ranged weapon
increases dodge
increases accuracy
increases critical percentile (every 20 points = 1% more critical chance)
I am not sure what you mean by "if so how can I do skills?" You can channel skills without any points in MAG. I don't understand what you're asking.0 -
What I meant is that if i have a low mana how will I be able to do skills like Quickshot, or Fire arrows, etc?
Anyway, thanks for explaning0 -
1. continue to chug mana pots
2. winged shell as mana management
3. charms
4. adjust your playstyle?
Having more maximum mana means nothing. Mana problems only goes to the people who have poor manamanagement. The problem does not lie with not having enough mana, but how you use it. Hope this helps.0 -
In PvE, Archers rely mostly on regular attacks, with the bulk of their damage coming from critical hits. Skill usage is minimal and mainly for utility rather than damage. Don't expect to ever be comfortable with enough mana to spam skills. Investing points into MAG will not solve your energy problems. If you really want to use mana-intensive skills, stock up on potions and considering using Focus Powder when you reach Level 20.0
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