Annor's Archer Basics (guide)

Annor - Heavens Tear

Archer Basics
A GUIDE BY ANNOR - STATS | SKILLS | DAMAGE PENALTIES | PLAYING YOUR ARCHER | EQUIPMENT

This is my guide and while some of the material is mainstream opinion, other is my own personal opinion and is thus biased. This guide is my own work and will be regularly updated. Please refrain from posting this guide on other websites without my permission.

If you're just starting, itching to play, and just want the absolute minimum to get your archer levelling, try Archer Starter Mini.

The archer is a damage class, specializing in dispatching enemies at range, and relying heavily on their basic ranged attack. This guide is intended to be a starting point for learning to utilize your archer's strength. For further specialized reading, try the links and information in the post below. See the Glossary for a list of definitions for some of the abbreviations and slang used in this guide.


Stats
'PURE'
per 5 attribute points:
1 Strength
4 Dexterity
The standard approach to stats is the 'Pure' build, where in for every level (5 attribute points), 1 point is allocated to strength, and 4 points are allocated to dexterity (yes: no points are ever allocated to vitality or magic). This build is all about firepower, more dexterity means faster kills, and faster kills mean safer archer.

'HYBRID'
While a consensus is difficult to reach, most archers can agree that points spent in magic are wasted points. Some archers however choose to allocate small amounts of vitality to bolster their survivability at the cost of damage, two such build are: 3 dexterity, 1 strength, 1 vitality per 5 points, or 7 dexterity, 2 strength, 1 vitality per 10 points. Vitality-heavy builds reduce your efficiency when out hunting, but can be useful in bolstering your surivability in PVP in lieu of high refines and shards.



Skills
(Brief descriptions, and leveling advice)
Archers have a wide and daunting range of abilities, the ones you choose to use, and with what regularity, may be personal, here nonetheless are some brief recommendations. See also Damage Penalties, and Playing Your Archer sections.

KEY:
Max : Maximize this ability
Efct1 : Effective at level 1, you may decide to conserve mana by leaving it there
Opt : Levelling Optional
Halt : Levelling not advised
Pace: Ability should be maximized, but not necessarily immediately
NA : Usage of this ability Not Advised, generally leave it at level 1

PASSIVES
Bow Mastery (Max) Passively Increases damage
Blazing Arrow (Max) Duration damage buff, keep active.
Winged Blessing (Max) Passively Increases range
Flight Mastery (Opt) Increases flight speed of white wings only

STUNS/SLOWS
Frost Arrow (Max) Slows target's movement
Knockback Arrow (Efct1, Halt) Knocks target back, buying time (effect does not work in PVP)
Stunning Arrow (Max) Stuns target for a short time
Aim Low (Pace) Freezes target in place

DEFENSIVE
Winged Shell (Max) Absorbs damage and regenerates mana
Wings of Protection (Pace) Duration buff, increases evasion and movement speed
Wings of Grace - Stun and slow immunity, damage reduced, movement speed increased

AOE (Area of Effect)
Wingspan (Efct1, Opt) Archer-centered melee range aoe with a knockback effect
Thunderous Blast (Efct1, Pace) Target-centered ranged metal aoe
Sharpened Tooth Arrow (Max) Target-centered ranged aoe, reduces targets' max HP
Barrage of Arrows {PVE(Efct1, Halt)} {TW(Max)} Target-centered continuous aoe, drains mana over time, continues until target dies. Generally only max this ability if you actively participate in Territory Wars.

MELEE
Winged Pledge (Efct1, Opt) Melee attack
Wingspan - see above

OTHER SHOTS
Lightning Strike (Efct1, Opt) Adds damage, converts entire shot to metal element
Thunder Shock (Efct1, Opt) Adds damage, converts entire shot to metal, reduces target metal resistance
Deadly Shot (Opt) High damage shot, long cast delay
Take Aim (Efct1, Halt) Low damage for cast time but fire instantly by pressing twice to generate chi
Quickshot (Halt) Ineffective for damage, but can be used for chi generation (not as effective as instant take aim for this purpose)
Viscious Arrow (NA) Damage over time ability, low wood damage, generally not worth the cast delay or the mana
Serrated Arrow (NA) Damage over time ability, low physical damage, generally not worth the cast delay or the mana
Stormrage Eagleon (NA) Metal damage over 30 seconds with a 30% slow effect, generally a poor usage of sparks as damage does not compete with advanced spark eruption, and sparks can be used more lucratively on other abilities in PVP



Damage Penalties
Ranged Weapons encounter a 50% damage penalty in melee; the metal damage abilities and the melee 'Winged pledge' and 'Wingspan' abilities however do not suffer this penalty, and can be used to deliver full weapon damage. There is also a 50% 'Air to Ground' Penalty, so try to avoid attacking targets on the ground while flying.



Playing Your Archer
GRINDING AND QUESTING
Your ability usage here will form regular patterns. Rely heavily on low mana abilities and regular attacks (the lowest mana ability). Your goal as always should be dispatching your enemy quickly, consuming the least MP/HP possible. All that follows in this section are recommendations.

Melee/Short-range Enemy
Opener1: Frost Arrow
Opener2: Take Aim (effective only after 85 or so)
Snare: Knockback Arrow
Difficult opponents: Stunning Arrow / Aim Low
If reached: Winged shell and Lightning Strike/Winged Pledge/Wingspan
i.e. Frost Arrow -> Regular Shot -> Regular Shot -> Knockback -> Regulars to finish

Ranged Enemy
Precast: Winged Shell
Opener: Take Aim (any level, fire instantly for chi)
Snare: Knockback
Difficult opponents: Stunning Arrow
i.e. Winged Shell -> Take Aim -> Regular Shot -> Regular Shot -> Knockback -> Regulars to finish


PLAYER VS PLAYER
Basic PVP Tactics (assumes use of a HP charm). Your ability usage here will depend on the conditions of the fight, and your target's class and armor-type. Individual fights, manouvres and strategies can be complex, following however are some basic PVP tips to get you in the right mindset.

Dealing Damage:
-For arcane armor, focus on regular attacks
-For heavy armor, focus on metal damage skills (Thunder Shock, Lightning Strike, Thunderous Blast)
-For light armor, use a combination of regular attacks and metal skills
-Try to find opportunities to do large bursts of damage to get past your opponents charm, Spark Eruptions are good for this.
-Deadly Shot/Take Aim can be effective for sniping, but should generally only be used on unsuspecting targets, or those you can kill in a single attack.

Protecting your HP:
If you notice your HP dropping too quickly or your opponent sparks, focus on avoiding damage while your HP charm catches up and the threat passes, by use of:
-Stunning Arrow
-Winged Shell
-Running/jumping/flying
-Wings of Grace


DUNGEONS (FB/BH etc)
Generally in these situations you will want to use only your standard ranged attack, and carefully to avoid pulling aggro. Your target should be that of the tank in your group (you may use 'Assist Attack' from your action menu while targetting your tank to acquire his target). An archer being more expendable than a cleric may choose to throw down their life for one... when picking up such a target, unless you are easily able to dispatch them, cast winged shell for your own protection, and run the monster to the tank.


BOSSES
Monitoring your aggro here is essential, you should aim to NEVER pull aggro from a tank, as this will generally get you killed, occasionally kill the entire group, and ALWAYS make you look incredibly noobish.

As it is impossible to see your own accumulated threat, and your tanks accumulated threat, you should plan your attacking before the fight, and try to avoid guess-work mid-fight. My reccommendation is to choose your starting point based on the level and ability of the tank (the latter if you know it) i.e. for a tank of significantly higher level, start dealing damage at 95% boss HP, for a tank around your level start at 85-90%, for a tank 5 or more levels lower start damage at 80%, and for a tank 10 or more levels lower start at 65-75% boss HP; this method removes guess-work, and ensures the tank gets a solid headstart. This is a rough guide though, your experiences will form a better one.

(49+) When you have it, you should use Sharpened Tooth Arrow after a few swings by your tank (use a level 1 weapon if you're paranoid about an early pull), reducing the bosses maximum HP by a percentage, and forcing their current HP to the new maximum. Immediately after use, cancel your attack, and wait for your planned starting point (remembering that it will now be at a lower HP value - your debuff's reduction was not time spent sticking the boss to the tank).



Equipment
WEAPONS
Weapon: Bow, Crossbow or Slingshot
Soulshards: Garnet (+Physical Attack)
You don't need to pay too much attention to weapon type until the later stages of the game (where slingshots are considered the better PVE weapon, and crossbows the better PK/PVP weapon).

At level 19 you can get the 'Trial Crossbow' from your FB19, a weapon you will likely use until your early to mid 30s, from there you will want to be using 2star, 3star, or mold weapons and replacing every 5-10 levels generally. For a list of recommended weapons by level, see this link.


ARMOR
Armor Type: Light ('all resist' preferred)
Soulshards: Citrines (+HP)
Useful Modifiers: Dexterity, Vitality, HP, Physical Resistance, -Interval
Accessories: Optional, physical resist type recommended
Headgear: lower level HP helm



Glossary
PVP: Player Vs Player
PVE: Player Vs Environment -- Monsters, bosses, FBs... any encounter where you are facing something other than a player, is considered PVE.
TW: Territory Wars -- Guild Vs Guild, large scale battles
HP: Hit Points, your health... the red bar
MP: Mana Points, the blue bar
Aggro: Term used to refer to a monsters attention, your abilities and attacks will generate 'aggro' or threat, and you have 'pulled aggro' when dealing enough damage to cause a monster to leave the player tanking it, and run after you.
Grinding: Gaining experience by simply killing monsters over and over again... what you end up doing when you run out of quests.
AOE: Area of Effect, any ability or spell that affects multiple targets within a given radius
Kiting: basicaly 'hit and run', shooting a monster then running back to avoid being hit, hitting again etc, it often involves slowing the monster. The aim of kiting is to avoid being hit altogether.


Sadly the author of the above guide has all but moved on. Let me say however that the response to this guide over the past months has been truly humbling, it is great to know that I've had a role in helping so many archers, and I hope that more can find inspiration in the wall of text past.

Annor - Heaven's Tear

Annor - Heavens Tear

USEFUL LINKS

Forum Links:
Genie Guide for Archers> Basic genie information from the archer perspective, written by Ijelle
Weapon Progression Guide> Recommended weapon by level, written by yours truly
Archer Attack Speed Basics> Attack speeds and interval equipment, by Elenacostel
Archer Wings FAQ> The art of flight, by Asterelle
Stat Buid Census> Archer forum poll, vote your build, see what other archers use.

External:
Ecatomb.net> Skill info including Demon/Sage ranks and pretty pictures of mounts, aerogear, equipment etc.
PW database> Search monsters, equipment and NPCs
1Perfect World> Quest information, including co-ordinates, sorted by level

(more coming)


MISCELLANEOUS
As in the title, the above guide is Archer BASICS, information that didn't make the cut may appear gradually below:


Total Damage = (1+[dexterity/150]+[Skill Multiplier]+[Bow Mastery])x(Equipment Physical) + Static Skill Bonus
-Percentage multipliers should be converted to decimal (i.e. 120% = 1.2)
-Total damage is modified by enemy defense

While the pushback effect of Knockback Arrow does NOT affect other players, it will affect pets.

The base speed for flight is 5.0 (not your runspeed) -- add this to any speed modifier on your wings.

Want to get to a certain (points per level) build but don't know what your stats should be?
Use this: (Level - 1) x Points per Level + 5
Or for the 'pure' build, just: Strength = Level + 4 and the remainder into Dexterity.




ZHEN GROUPS (59+)
Previously a part of the actual guide, no longer all that relavent as dramatically increased gold prices and alternative levelling methods have sent these squads into all but obsoletion. Retained here for historical value .
A zhen group is a special AOE-grinding party for level 59+, to briefly describe it, archers and wizards stand in a central point, channelling a damage AOE, with a cleric channelling a healing AOE. Lurers, often on mounts, run monsters spawning nearby into the wizard/archer aoe, everything dies, and everyone gets large amounts of experience. There are special Zhen-friendly locations you will likely learn about from other players.

During zhen groups, which last a minimum 1 hour, training esotericas are used (boutique item), and as an archer you will also need to have an equipped MP charm (boutique item). Due to the high mana drain of the archer AOE, Barrage of Arrows, zhen groups are very expensive, keeping barrage at level 1 will make them slightly more affordable.

To begin a zhenning session, before the wizards/clerics begin their spells, the archer must duel a cleric or wizard and cast Barrage on them, after the duel ends and the mighty archer is victorious, the barrage will continue with that player as the focal point. Other players then begin their AOE and lurers begin to bring mobs over.

Fleuri - Sanctuary

I had quibbles with your writeup, here.

Edit: this guide has become rather nice, so I am deleting my old obsolete quibbles.) I currently disagree with some skill descriptions but I do not have enough energy to explain my reasons.)

Illusionista - Heavens Tear

I LOVE YOU ANNOR. BE MINE! b:dirty

You know my critiques and comments from before, no need to list them here XD

Annor - Heavens Tear

You're right, i am talking from my own experience, within that i do try to include opinions of other archers... provided they are mainstream opinions...

Edited: Mass deletion for obsoletion

_Arrow_ - Lost City

awesome guide but just so you know, blazing arrow is buff not passive

but since they're is no buff slot i guess that's the right place

Annor - Heavens Tear

Well, i consider it effectively a passive, laziness and simplicity left it there, ty though

Fleuri - Sanctuary

Annor - Heavens Tear wrote: »

You're right, i am talking from my own experience, within that i do try to include opinions of other archers... provided they are mainstream opinions...

Spending some paragraphs, mentioning key mainstream opinions which led you to your current choices, might be good?

Annor - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Adding magic to improve your flying is definately not one. Why spend large amounts of money on expensive restatting when you can simply seek out an item with +magic? or +regeneration? or even buy potions?

Does five points spent on magic hurt you enough to care? If so, then you should restat anyways because if five points were worthwhile then four points would also be worthwhile and you can get four extra points of dexterity from restating. If five points of spent on magic does not hurt you then for some people their added convenience would be enough reason to get some magic regen.

(Also, I am fairly confident some mainstream opinions are misleading, and I encourage people to test advice. Also, I started with a hybrid build and switched to a pure build later on. I am glad I started this way and I am glad I switched, but I also had +6mp/second mana regen gear and +10/second health regen gear in my mid-50s -- I would be frustrated with my "pure" build if I did not have good regen gear.)

Aesthor - Heavens Tear

You should not say that hybrid archers pay for expensive restating. For one, a guide should not be biased towards a build, and it'd be best if you removed a bit of the opinionated stuff like "the 'pure' archer is generally believed to be superior in both PVE and PVP."

Don't get me wrong; my build is pure dex but I find your arguments faulty before I even read the rest of your guide because:
1) Most of the archers I know have a bit of vit. Maybe they restat when they reach their endgame and don't need to grind but:
2) Vit is helpful on PvP servers or when you're out in PK mode. You can't ambush ALL your opponents 100% of the time. There's people like you walking around too.
3) The highest level archer on HT server has vit. Before you LC players come diss the server, I'd like to point out that vit served him well for 90+ levels; it's gotta count for SOMETHING. (He lives in red mode and solo-PKs often. Staying in constant red mode is quite a feat where only a small percentage of players are in PK mode).

So...arguments like "These 'hybrid' builds are not the norm, and their followers often end up paying for expensive restatting later on" should find a home somewhere else.

Pure dex archers may find themselves in need of better gear than vit archers to find their efficiency point between damage and survivability. As an added point, pure dex makes you draw aggro faster and die faster to the mob you aggroed, which is extremely noticeable if you ever do low level FBs at high level. Additionally your small HP/MP pool makes you a prime target for other nukers i.e. other pure dex archers and wizards.

Annor - Heavens Tear

I'll moderate my language and put my opinions a little furthur from the keyboard if they offend. I've spoken to a fair few archers in my time, only reporting on what ive seen and heard . One reason for my opinions being listed in such a way is this: a lot of the people reading guides are people just starting out, it's very easy to switch from a 'pure' build to a 'hybrid' mid-levelling, but impossible to switch in the other direction.

I don't however think a pure build is an excuse to pull aggro, whatever your build, it is your responsibility to control your aggro within the limits of the tank present (provided they are not sorely negligent).

Aesthor - Heavens Tear

It's not an excuse; it's something to watch out for. You can't deny that not everyone plays the same, and small differences in equips can draw aggro one way or another. For example, my equips are survivability based since I get my damage fix off my build, but for people who boost crit and dex instead, firing a couple crits in a row can easily draw aggro from a blademaster tank, especially in FB-type situations with lower level mobs. An ex-guildy of mine already has the reputation for getting parties killed because he draws mobs and is especially squishy.

Also, your language doesn't offend. I'm just saying a guide for newcoming players shouldn't lean people towards or away from a build unless it's something truly fail, i.e. heavy armor archer XD. Builds exist for the purpose of adding variety to the game and archers are already limited in that aspect compared to the other classes.

Annor - Heavens Tear

Keep the feedback coming, my efforts shall be tempered by fire. Your suggestions give me sustainence .

Planning to reformat, rewrite and trim the "Playing Your Archer" section when my stamina recovers from the coding session last night.

Lethalkiss - Heavens Tear

This is a very good "guide". The first what doesnt just about what skill u have and copy from descriptions, its the first guide which try to explain how to use an archer.

Keep up the good work Annor!
b:dirty

For others:

Not everyone has same build, this is nice in game, but Annor TAKED the time to write somthing usfull...not like others....

Aesthor - Heavens Tear

Annor TOOK the time to write something useful but she appreciates the feedback from people who don't write guides and instead offer feedbacks.

It would be equally easy for me to scoff at a long meaningless post and not write anything. As it happens I think this guide is helpful so I TOOK the time to post and suggest what I thought could be improved. What are you suggesting, that my posts are worth nothing because I didn't break down how to play your character step by step? -_-

Edit:
To Annor: It might just be me missing some stuff but I don't see the two DoTs. Serrated Arrow and Vicious Arrow I think.
Edit Edit: Right, I remember reading some part about you not using the ones that aren't mentioned. My mistake. I find bleed useful sometimes but I agree coin/spirit can be better spent elsewhere.

Annor - Heavens Tear

Hey now, if anyone is fighting in my thread, it better be with me. Yes I appreciate your feedback, and your gesture in defense of my baby is similarly sweet Lethal.

Ty to both of you
Play nice

DivineChang - Heavens Tear

Hey, what about stormraged and wings of grace? What do you suggest for those skills?

Legerity - Sanctuary

DivineChang - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Hey, what about stormraged and wings of grace? What do you suggest for those skills?

Get wings of grace (only can get lvl 1 anyway) but do not touch stormraged eagleon, that skill is a joke. :P

Annor - Heavens Tear

Wings of grace is amazing, very useful in PVE and PVP... play around with it

But yes, stormrage eagleon is usually a poor usage of sparks, the damage it offers will not rival that of an advanced spark eruption in PVE. And using 2 sparks like that in PVP... at once, and for a relatively minor effect, is careless at best.

Mosz - Heavens Tear

wings of grace is vital to pop when you get aggro pop it and winged shell and use stun if necessary itll buy enough time for you to loose aggro

also winged shell-you said pace i say max asap, i think its the best grinding skill archers have, it is THE skill that has saved me millions in pots by now letting me spend my money on better gear and skills

Legerity - Sanctuary

Mosz - Heavens Tear wrote: »

wings of grace is vital to pop when you get aggro pop it and winged shell and use stun if necessary itll buy enough time for you to loose aggro

also winged shell-you said pace i say max asap, i think its the best grinding skill archers have, it is THE skill that has saved me millions in pots by now letting me spend my money on better gear and skills

I agree with Mosz with maxing winged shell ASAP. I read a lot of other guides and not many have really told me to "max" it, however I identified this as a priority skill and leveled it as much and as early as possible. Grinding is a joke with shell, atleast so far anyway. I have no expenses when grinding (apart from repairs and arrows) but then I take it easy anyway - no hardcore grinding with charm business.

DivineChang - Heavens Tear

hahha thanks i will get wings of grace now

Fleuri - Sanctuary

If you do not mind me, too much, here's some of my opinions:

First, in most of my battles, I do not earn enough chi for both frost arrow and for winged shell -- if I try and use both, I eventually run out of chi. Frost arrow might buy me time for extra attacks, but winged shell buys me power for extra skills and helps me stay healthy. Also, crossbows are very slow, but weapon speed does not matter for skills. And blazing arrow only helps normal attacks, but does not require mana for attacks. And some monsters will stay ranged so they can attack almost immediately, even if I slow them, but I can keep on doing full damage against them because they will never try melee. All of this suggests several different styles for attacking, depending. And different monsters have different weaknesses and strengths...

Also, I love starting my combos with "take aim". Take aim takes only 3 seconds to cool down, and goes with different combos with almost no cooldown worries. And, if I like, I can charge my arrow, for extra recovery time and extra damage. Or, I can start my combo twice and then take aim takes half the time of one of my normal attacks.

But some monsters move too quickly and love melee too much, so sometimes I start my main combo with stunning arrow.

Miugre - Heavens Tear

Since Annor seems to be generally receptive to new opinions, I'll throw a couple of mine into the ring.

First: Finish the skills section. You completely left out:

Quickshot - put it in other skills, I guess. I maxed it, it still has some mild effect in standard battles (does about 300 more than standard shots) and is helpful in wraith invasions for holding your own.

Serrated Arrow - I left this at level 1, but I use it a ton on bosses. I haven't yet tested the "if you wait for the tank to take 25% of its health off, you can use whatever you want" theory... I just saw that going all-out from the start made me take aggro and so I spammed this when I wasn't just using regular attacks. Bosses stay around longer than normal monsters so the bleed will more than run its course. I'd rate it as optional though.

Vicious Arrow - See above. It's good against Increased Def monsters, too.

Stormrage Eagleon - I haven't had much practice with it yet, but I guess it's decent on bosses or monsters with Increased Life. It seems kind of suckish for what it costs, though. I wonder if higher levels are much better?

Wings of Grace - Haven't used it much. Yet. No opinion.



Probably my favorite combo is:
Deadly Shot => Frost Arrow => Standard => Knockback => Stun => Standards until dead

I remove Deadly Shot or Stun from the combo if I'm trying to conserve MP, but I spend a good amount of time searching for Focus Powder ingredients so I have this luxury when I need it (i.e. when the monsters I'm facing are tough).

When I get aggro and I want to turn the tables on the monster, Knockback => Aim Low => Standard => Stun (optional) => Standard until dead

For Increased Defense, I usually just burn MP and go with Thunderous Blast => Frost Arrow => Vicious Arrow => Knockback => Stun => various lightning attacks until dead. I do like the Thunder Shock debuff but it's only useful if it's an opening attack, and Thunderous Blast works much better for that purpose IMO.

And for Increased Life, well, presently Advanced Spark Eruption is working well for me, having only gotten it 2 levels ago... using that with my normal combo negates its life bonus. Before that I'd just use my regular combo and throw an Aim Low or two in there, and possibly an extra knockback.



Finally, I'd like to mention especially for low level archers: get a fist. Kiting is all well and good, and the melee skills are also helpful, but I hate taking the damage penalty - pulling out a good fist like Annihilator of Souls lets you do decent damage, particularly if you throw in a melee skill here and there. The downside is that you'll have to go hybrid for this tactic, but you can stop this at any time - personally, having equipped my AoS last level, I probably won't put any more points into Str until light armor requires it again, and just dump whatever's left over into Vit (my current build is about 100 Str, 180 Dex, 15 Mag and I think... 25 Vit? but this will increase). Hell, I can double as a tank in some fights - not a particularly good one, but... yeah. XD

Aesthor - Heavens Tear

I have a lot of dex and attack power and find that by the time any mob comes within Annihilator of Souls range, it's already dead and in my xp log.

@Fleuri (and I guess Annor too): To keep your chi up for both shell and frost arrow, you need to sub in normal shots by alternating instant Take Aim and Quickshot. Neither has to be leveled up; in fact it's better if they're not leveled because you can converve MP but it's okay of they are. Because they count as skill but have quick casting time, using them instead of normal hit builds your chi a lot faster. Also subbing in Knockback Arrow instead of Frost Arrow when monsters are a bit closer will also build chi. In my experience, I can keep my chi up for both Frost and and Winged Shell this way. I use Take Aim and Quickshot as purely chi-building attacks >.>

Coraline - Lost City

First, I'll say this is a very good guide. Nice an infromative even for someone my lvl.

Second, about hybrids. I am a hybrid archer. 75 points in vit...3k~ health, 4k~ with maxed WB buffs. Um..225 in dex? I could be wrong about this, I'm not in game atm. 81 strength and 15 mag(added in my early days when I was raging at the slow mp recovery).. I get soo much hate for being a hybrid archer, but I like it. I hate being squishy and for what I want to do, it fits. I have no plans on being perma red. I just want to dd on people in a group, I'm not a solo pker. I also love to TW. In TW its pointless to just attack and die shortly after, I want to stay alive for a while so I have more time to lay my attacks on the clerics healing and buffing the cursed barbs b:angry . Sure it may take a few shots longer to kill a mob, but I am comfortable with that.
I've heard that putting hp shards in your armor is better than adding vit, however I haven't tested that out yet. But that can be another alternative to going hybrid.
Third: Skills...
Most of my pvp skills are not updated like they are supposed to. This is my first mmo and never really heard of pvping or anything of that nature (and yes I am in a pvp guild now). So yeah..in my lower lvl's I used skills a lot but now my attacks are stunning arrow, normal shot ,normal shot, maybe knockback depending on the mob, and normal shot until the mob is dead. I may or may not use winged shell depending if i forget about it or not. Until I was about lvl 40, I used quickshot a lot and it has saved my life numerous times which is why I maxed it. Now, I hardly use it.

Umm back to builds...I guess it depends on what you want to do.
If you are pure solo pvp, I would prolly suggest going pure dex, so you can kill as quicky as possible.
If you want to do group pvp or TW, I would suggest hybrid so you can support the other members in your group for a longer period of time instead of getting killed straight away.


So yeah that's my opinion on things based off of what I've seen and experienced.

Coraline - Lost City

Also for the chi issue, I use the lvl 69 sling for PVE and the hh70 xbow for Pvp/TW and I gain chi so fast with the sling. Before a mob is dead, I already have 2 sparks ready to go.

Annor - Heavens Tear

Tyvm all for your attention and feedback, I'm very grateful to have people reading my guide and interacting on its improvement.

Originally for the sake of being brief, i had intended to leave out the skills I did not use, but as evident now, thats far too confusing and leads to a lot of "what about?", so I'll get on to that very soon, and you can expect at least a brief interpretation of each of these skills and my reasons for neglecting them.

To some extent how you play your archer is going to be personal, different archers will have different standards on how much mana they want to use each fight, whether they want to use a regular pattern, or improvise one ability at a time. The chi discussion is a very interesting one, being perhaps a little bit lazy, while being aware of the formidable chi-generating compacities of take aim, i generally chose to let Frost Arrow take preference, saving Winged Shell for when i had an excess of chi. But It's interesting to hear how each of you manage your own, and I may well add a short section on Chi Management.

With regards to melee weapons, I have my own Annihilator of Souls which is a fun toy, but thats about as much as I see it, without substantial strength (outside the limits of most archer builds), a lightning strike / winged pledge combo used with a ranged weapon is going to be VASTLY superior to any melee weapon you could be able to equip. While the melee rotations are very taxing in terms of mana, the health you lose during this time can be even worse... so finishing these targets quickly is essential. This rotation below which might be included in a later section can be used to melee bosses (and regular targets, although you will have to close the gap after knocking them with wingspan each time), it can be used continuously on loop, and none of its hits are affected by the melee penalty.
Winged Pledge -> Lightning Strike -> Winged Pledge -> Wingspan ->
(and loop)

To Coraline: I agree that your archer should be what you want it to be, hybrid is a choice you should not feel the need to defend. It is another very slightly different playstyle, with its own advantages and disadvantages -- I know any hybrid could match me for damage on most boss fights as the aggro capabilities of the tank generally determine this ceiling rather than myself. And while I will never drop my pure build... my eyes definately widen when i see an archer my level sporting 700 more hp than me.

To Miugre (again): those are some interesting rotations, very reminiscent of my own playstyle when the uglies materialize directly beside me; you seem to use a little more mana than me on average, but I guess thats personal preference. Levelling up, i was always terrified of the Increased Life and Increased Defense, the increased life still give me some run arounds... interestingly enough though my method of dealing with Inc defense has changed dramatically. My old method was as you said, spamming elemental abilities to attack its weaker defenses, but this is quite costly with mana, and actually seems quite inefficient. Recently, I've merely used my standard Frost/Knockback rotation with the added Stunning and found them to drop remarkably easily, the physical attacks seem to deliver similar, if not more damage over a given time period than the elemental ones. Saving chi for a winged shell for these type fights can be very useful, as you can anticipate your opponent may well come into close quarters. As I've only tried this very recently, I'm not sure if it works in the same way at lower levels... I'd be interested to hear back from some different level people who've tried the "dumb muscle" approach to inc. defense.

When I have to kill an Inc. Life, i generally just resort to a prolonged knockback/stun cycle with a little bit of kiting, my chi is precious.


Again, thankyou very much to all of you for joining in the discussion, and my apologies if I neglected to respond to parts of your feedback. I have a lot of food for thought, and a lot of work to do apparently .

Legerity - Sanctuary

I almost have no problems with chi when I grind. A slingshot+autoattacking can easily get you enough chi for frost and shell. I tend to use shell more than frost though. I actually regret leveling frost because I dare say I have used it less than 50times in my entire PvE archer experience(only use them for inc. life). IMO, think of shell as a frost substitute... I mean you can get hit on average 3 times taking minimal damage on mobs around your level as compared to frosting a mob and then squeezing an extra attack in.

In terms of increased PD mobs, I usually take aim->shell->autoattack until dead. If the shell runs out, I will quickly cast a lightning strike and that should be the end of the mob. As for inc life, I usually take aim->frost->KB->auto attack once or twice->shell->autoattack. I try to avoid inc. life mobs but sometimes I don't even care and just hit it. As you can my playstyle only involves like 3-6skills total.

FBs are a different story and so are PvP/Duels/PK/TWs etc.

Kristoph - Lost City

On a new archer I've made I've used Frost at least 50 times per level... and I'm 32 now. Mobs don't hit me unless KB arrow misses or if they're increased life mobs, in which case I use winged shell. I only use Blazing, Frost and Knockback during normal killing, it's MP efficient and well, mobs don't reach me.


I don't see why you'd substitute Frost with Shell, you can up both, and Shell alone would suck, in my opinion. The cooldown makes it a crappy skill for grinding too.

Legerity - Sanctuary

You could up both, but I experienced some sp problems at earlier levels. I stopped frost arrows at lvl 4 and went on with winged shell. It has served me well until now. I have slowly leveled my frost arrow though, however I still give priority to shell. Yes there is a 30s cooldown, but you can also kill target two with a lvl 1 frost arrow along with KB arrow. I honestly doubt you could kill 3 targets in the duration of the cooldown.

Kristoph - Lost City

Legerity - Sanctuary wrote: »

You could up both, but I experienced some sp problems at earlier levels. I stopped frost arrows at lvl 4 and went on with winged shell. It has served me well until now. I have slowly leveled my frost arrow though, however I still give priority to shell. Yes there is a 30s cooldown, but you can also kill target two with a lvl 1 frost arrow along with KB arrow. I honestly doubt you could kill 3 targets in the duration of the cooldown.

I work around my KB arrow cooldown, so I wait for that... so yeah I could kill three in that amount of time. I just killed about 150 mobs at Orchid for quests, and I can safely say that I wouldn't have the Chi required for spamming plume shell. That and it'll most likely die out because I'd get hit often, along with the fact that it gets you higher repair costs. It's nice for emergencies/PvP/increased life/bosses, but that's all it's good for imo. I'll stick with Frost. Not getting hit is nice, and I don't have to worry about Chi.