Newbie's Guide to Archer-ism!

Legerity - Sanctuary

Haven't been playing in a while and was thinking I was going to stop posting (time issues), but you sir... have made me post again. I am going to be pretty blunt in this - so blunt that it may appear as trolling. Here it goes:

King_jester - Dreamweaver wrote: »

well one thing thats way off is that fact that you stated that archers weren't about the DoT skills. in every game i've seen with archers archers are the DoT specialists, honestly i'm suprised we don't have more poisons in this game.

In "every other game", wizards own, not so much in this though. Why should an Archer be any different in terms of DoT skills?

King_jester - Dreamweaver wrote: »

oh and while i agree that puttin mag stats on are completely useless, and haven't put any mag stats on my archer at all, here is one piece of information you should include in your guide

archers and clerics may both have the same mp cost for flying, however clerics have such a high regeneration rate for thier mag it just cancels out the mp cost. if any archer feels the need to incraese thier flight time, so they can fly all the way across the map, then all they need to do is increase thier mg stats to 20, and it will cancel out the mp cost of flying.

Dumbest recommendation ever. 20 mag means 15 wasted dex points, which is 3/4 of a crit% AND quite a big chunk of damage, evasion and accuracy. If you can't really handle the mp degen then really, just buy a mp regen cape for around 20-40k. Really not worth investing 15 points for something that can be solved with 20-40k. Also note at lvl 30 you get wings that don't consume mana (although quite ugly!)

King_jester - Dreamweaver wrote: »

dude DoT skills are one of an archers defining qualities. it is in every game. max your DoT skills out, cause since you do pathetic damage at close range your DoT skills will still be grinding away at your oponent if they manage to get close enough to you for the damage decrease to take effect.

Wrong wrong wrong!!! DoT in this game is not made out to be as attractive as it sounds! Maxing DoT asap is the worst advice you can give anyone. I'll explain why. Vicious arrow takes 416,200 total spirit and 556,100 coins. Serrated arrow takes 1,172,100 spirit and 1,596,000 coins. You are wasting a total of 1,588,100 spirit to max (won't dig into the coin issue...) two SUB PAR skills. Vicious @ lvl 10 deals 3109.1 damage over 15 seconds meaning it ticks for 621.82 wood damage. It sounds good right? NO. This is to someone who has ZERO wood resistence. Serrated deals 4571.4 physical damage over 15seconds meaning 914.28 physical damage a tick. This is PHYSICAL damage to a foe with ZERO physical resistence. You can shoot an arrow and do much more than 900 in 3 seconds (for example, 2 arrow attacks which out damages a 900 tick on a foe with zero phys res...lol), yet you wasted time shooting out a serrated arrow. Vicious isn't good either simply because if you need elemental damage, you have lightning skills (maxing lightning strike costs a significantly less amount of spirit compared to vicious) which is a ONE off shot. You want things to die asap, not let them chase you while you wait for your DoTs to kick in. It maybe be useful to get a few levels in DoTs (and I'm even against putting more than 1 lvl in it because I am only lvling it for sharp tooth arrow) in the early stages, but in later stages, most monsters won't get to your fragility distance...not to mention the majority of them are ranged foes too! Additionally, you may want to consider how much 1,588,100 spirit is. If you take the base ratio of exp:spirit 5:1 you will notice that it will take 7.9mil exp, enough to get you from lvl 1 to 62. OUCH! Of couse you'd be doing SC Quests (which gives a nice small chunk of "free" spirit) but that won't bring it down that much. Level it as much as YOU want, but know that since in early-mid game you are limited to spirit, recommending someone to max DoT asap is bad and doing so yourself will make PvE more difficult than it should be.

King_jester - Dreamweaver wrote: »

in adition to the last two posts i just made i'd like to state one more slight error in your guide. bows fire at 0.67 sec, crossbows fire at 0.61 sec, and slingshots fire at 0.71 sec. so the info about which fires fastest and slowest is incorrect. i'm not sure if the damage is right either, but i forgot the exact damage ratios, so i'll have to check on that ingame later. you might wanna do the same.

WRONG! The numbers mean how MUCH of an attack it will do in ONE second. i.e A bow will fire 0.67th of an attack in ONE second. Another way to view it is that a bow will let off a full shot every 1.49(2sf) seconds. I'll crunch the other numbers for you to get an idea of the speed. xbow(0.62): 1.61(2sf) seconds per attack, sling(0.71): 1.41(2sf) seconds per attack. As you can see, sacchin remains correct with the adjectives for these type of weapons. His info on the weapons are pretty much all correct, you're just lacking knowledge in PWI game mechanics.

Let me know if I've got anything "incorrect".

edit: was late at night, rushed some numbers. However they have been corrected. Also, here's a protip: learn to edit posts and not triple post. Double posting is bad enough let alone triple posting.

Horseman - Sanctuary

LOL Owned b:chuckle

Jakob - Harshlands

Hey.. don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but I was just reading through this guide and I noticed a typo.

The level 29 skill "Aim Low" does not stun, it just paralyzes the target (stops them from moving). Therefore, mages, clerics, venos and other archers would still be able to hit you. The level 39 skill is the stun. Please correct me if I'm wrong... havn't played an archer since the new server came out =P

Legerity - Sanctuary

Jakob - Harshlands wrote: »

Hey.. don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but I was just reading through this guide and I noticed a typo.

The level 29 skill "Aim Low" does not stun, it just paralyzes the target (stops them from moving). Therefore, mages, clerics, venos and other archers would still be able to hit you. The level 39 skill is the stun. Please correct me if I'm wrong... havn't played an archer since the new server came out =P

See post #47.

Also, when you max winged blessing (+10 range) they can't really hit you if you use it first.

Zakadama - Dreamweaver

great guide. explains alot at the beginning of the game keep it up.

Minyo - Dreamweaver

Love the guide, good work! I hope you'll keep adding to it b:victory

What I'm wondering is if I've wasted SP leveling Take Aim? You do say that it's not worth it until level 60, but I've found it a favorite for me still to open (when I don't have a Spark of course). Should I even really both worrying?

Leaderalan - Lost City

What pvp skills should i have
What skills to have
What skills to max?

Goldian - Dreamweaver

Nice but fore quickshot i think you ment Sage path instead of Demon path

aceykun

Lol Archer Rocks (^_^) Good thing i read this cause i was adding a little on my vit its really a good thing cause im just lvl 7 now so pure dex it is and 1 on str THANK YOU b:victory

midnightkaz

thank you~

this guide was really helpful for beginners like me

i really hope i do enjoy the game since it only game i found so far that come close to Aion

boomtnt

Thnx for confincing me to be an archer i hope to start soon )

NekuKiryu - Lost City

I am using a Archer now with this build lv 26 and still goin strong Thanks for the guide.

Skaldiee - Heavens Tear

I have one question as a beginner.
Does DEX increase Ranged weapons damage or they depend only on weapon type?

Legerity - Sanctuary

Dex increases physical ranged damage. Weapons also increase damage.

chicorita007

ok ok good post

doomrot

I really appreciate this great guide you have made!b:dirty

cursedblader

this is one totally awesome and detailed guide!!
rocking on \m/

thanks a lot for the info!
am sure i can play it well now especially the confusion over which skills to level makes the difference...

phew!! thanks man
rock on

qwertyuio1

whats the max lvlb:shutupb:shutup

_Lucivar_ - Heavens Tear

thnx sacchin this was an awesome guide
to the person who said its all wrong dont go questioning ppl who are heaps higher then you and have more experience then you at playing PW
Thnx again for the help

sizion

sacchin wrote: »

Whether you want a PvE or PvP build, Pure Dex gives the most benefit. In PvE, obviously you want to do as much damage as possible. In PvP, PKing is about spike damage, and you will rarely have solo PKs except in the early levels. You shouldn't need to be a tank at all. Similar for TWs, you aren't supposed to be tanking. If you are, then you are probably doing something wrong.

Wrong.
I come from another version that is farther along in tactics in dungeons and etc.

Most if not all parties going into HH (TT in this version) exclude Pure Agil archers. More though at higher level dungeons (2-3 3-1 3-2 3-3)
Why? Because at those higher lvl places, there is no lvl gap, and if there is one, by 2 at most. That means if you have a bad WB (Barb in this version) you WILL steal aggro, and you WILL wipe your party. Not welcome on other runs with them. And pro WB's are hard to find.
Our version likes to call them Paper EA's. Cause once they get hit with AOE, they die to quickly, unless they have +7 gear or higher.

And on another note about tanking: Wrong again. If you want to tank Beliel (Ancient Devil I think in this version) EA is the best way to tank it. World bosses get tanked by EAs aswell. Why? Simply because it is easier.

And that's where build comes into play. I play with a lvl 99 EA on my server, pure agil, has only around 2k HP. Not good.
To tank anything you must have 5k+ hp as an archer. Beliel must have 7.5k+ HP.

Now would you rather buy those mats for insane amounts of money? Or just farm them.

Sorry to burst the bubble, but saving everyone from those restats in the endgame.
(And yes, endgame is farming HH(TT) most of the time)

tharmi

Well i've been playing for a while..im not a fast leveling person due to the fact that id rather sit back and relax with friends or help noobs alot. But what u just explained sach is exactly what I have been doing dumping 4 into dex and 1 into str. I agree with you that is the best way to do it..and Archers are'nt meant to be tanks...we are semi-squishy chars...good damage dealers but cant take damage. im lvl 55 and I just wanna know one thing...when I get arrow shower or whatever our aoe is called..should I instantly lvl it to max or shall I wait?...and also for alot of archers out there I found out that one of the best ways for us (Archers) to make it without clerics is to lvl our Apothecary Manufacturing skill. we get the same buffs that a cleric gives us just by creating the pots we need. I believe your apoth skill has to be about lvl 2 or 3

Elendil - Sanctuary

Wow, awesome guide man, really helpful

I have one question though, for shards, I plan to put physical attack shards in the weapon, and everywhere else put HP, is this any good? (I'm pure dex) as for equipment, should I aim for physical defense or evasion? I currently use physical defense since I figured I already get enough evasion from dex...any of the higher levels want to give me their input?

Thanks b:pleased

Legerity - Sanctuary

sizion wrote: »

Wrong.
I come from another version that is farther along in tactics in dungeons and etc.

Most if not all parties going into HH (TT in this version) exclude Pure Agil archers. More though at higher level dungeons (2-3 3-1 3-2 3-3)
Why? Because at those higher lvl places, there is no lvl gap, and if there is one, by 2 at most. That means if you have a bad WB (Barb in this version) you WILL steal aggro, and you WILL wipe your party. Not welcome on other runs with them. And pro WB's are hard to find.
Our version likes to call them Paper EA's. Cause once they get hit with AOE, they die to quickly, unless they have +7 gear or higher.

And on another note about tanking: Wrong again. If you want to tank Beliel (Ancient Devil I think in this version) EA is the best way to tank it. World bosses get tanked by EAs aswell. Why? Simply because it is easier.

And that's where build comes into play. I play with a lvl 99 EA on my server, pure agil, has only around 2k HP. Not good.
To tank anything you must have 5k+ hp as an archer. Beliel must have 7.5k+ HP.

Now would you rather buy those mats for insane amounts of money? Or just farm them.

Sorry to burst the bubble, but saving everyone from those restats in the endgame.
(And yes, endgame is farming HH(TT) most of the time)

Just a quick question, are you positive about 2k HP at 99?

I have 3.2k at 84 with gear that is not HP focused... Mind double checking? I'd hope there isn't much difference b/w PWI and PWMY.

Mosz - Heavens Tear

wtf i have 5k hp(6.5k buffed) with +3 armors 3 base vit pure dex survived belial and 3-2s, didnt tank though , and can tank sword tamer easy though i havent tried most other boss

stealing aggro from barbs, come on good barbs can hold aggro except when stunned, then you got winged shell, wings of protect or grace w/e i mix em up, and apoth

Xiao_Qian_ - Sanctuary

U rock!~ but is it ok for me to lv the thunderous blast than thunder boltb:pleased

jspj

nice guide i don't play but i will soon im think about being a archer b:victory

somerandomacc

regarding the Flight Mastery thingy:
it actually depends if ur gonna buy boutique wings or not
if you are, dont level it. if you dont, then level it graduately, and NEVER at the cost of a more important skill

Tecknic - Lost City

does stun arrow really stun, or just hold?
Because when i play my archer it seems to just hold the target rather than stunning it.

Ramiro - Dreamweaver

Helps, Thanksb:laughb:laughb:laughb:laugh

Judor - Dreamweaver

First of all, thank you for putting in the time to create this guide. It really helps me when I am not sure what to do next on my Archer.

Secondly, I have one question - You said that putting 1 STR, 4 DEX each level is fine. My question is, when should I stop putting into STR and start pumping DEX? I know that it will most likely be at a much higher level than I am currently, I am just curious.

Thanks in advance for anyone who answers this question.

-Judor