kiting

Lokklyn - Lost City

I have a nooby archer and it's really hard to kill stuff. Archers>>> ranged. Whenever I attack the mob starts to go for me, and it enters melee range, making the damage i give halved. I think this has something to do with kiting, which I suck at....

So my question is how do I keep fighting + at the same time stay at max range?

Lokklyn - Lost City

Um... if this makes things clearer: What do I do so that the mob won't go into melee range? (no knockback atm btw)Whenever I run they run aftr me.

AndromedaB - Sanctuary

hit>run>hit>run>hit>run

at ur lv a few pots should be enough...
and u can always squad with somone

Lokklyn - Lost City

Oh okay, thanks!
Lol...that's what I've been doing, but somehow it looked incorrect to me since the other archers I've seen don't do what I've did at all. They just stood there and shot.
b:thanks

Kealani - Heavens Tear

Lokklyn - Lost City wrote: »

Oh okay, thanks!
Lol...that's what I've been doing, but somehow it looked incorrect to me since the other archers I've seen don't do what I've did at all. They just stood there and shot.
b:thanks

heh,I did that early levels,I was to damn lazy x.x Of course,with stun and knock back I really don't need to anymore XD

Shandelzare - Sanctuary

Umm... heres the deal... Early game sucks for archers. We get owned hard unless we got a charm. As you level and get new skills it becomes a lot easier to keep mobs off you. Basically... Frost arrow>Hit>Hit>KB>Hit>Stun>Hit... ect.

Xnightshockx - Heavens Tear

best thing u ca do is jst use ur skills right atm use ur take aim more to do more damage on ur first attack,dont forget to upgrade ur passive skill for range and ALWAYS make sure ur as far away from the mob as possible b4 u attack

Suiryujin - Sanctuary

always start with take aim as your opening at lower lvls. when u get frost arrow u can try going frost arrow for kitting purpose but i was doing take aim>frost>hit>run>hit>run etc
(that is...until u get knockback and u just hit them back and shoot them dead without moving XD)

Xnightshockx - Heavens Tear

I played an archer Up to lvl 49 with a Hybrid build with about 40 Vit and 30 Mag =/
Im building a new archer to Annor's guide on the "Pure" approach,But my problem is that ive never had to kite on my other archer,by the looks of the forums atm pure build at lower lvls involves alot of Kiting and im dreading it,i bet im gonna Die Alot unless i buy aloy of pots xD
Ive played Wiz and cleric and they r Easy to kite with due to the fact that u just cast 1 skill and thats it,but with archer the normal attack keeps goin and when i try run he dont Move just shoots,any tips there?

xxxdsmer

my archer's not pure dex either, and if i were to reroll an archer he would be.

i forget the numbers, but at lv26ish, the points i'd spent on mag (not knowing any better) would do ALOT more damage if spent on dex.

and i saw an archer the other day with practically the same bow i have (moonlight 1 skt, +0) and he was using lv1 take aim and some normal shots to kill the mobs out on the end of broken bow bluff and the mob werent even reaching him. i dont think my archer could do just like that and i'm pretty sure we're both about the same level

Ironhawk - Dreamweaver

While getting from level 1 - 20, I'm what you might have called a 'lazy' Archer.

If, for some reason, an enemy reached me, I'd never move out of the way, dodge their attacks or kite away and do the 'hit 'n' run' approach. To me, it just seemed far too much effort.

On the occasions that they did reach me (happens alot in the early levels), they'd only have 1/5th of their health at best. I'd just activate Winged Shell and auto-attack with a pair of claws. By the time they dropped, I'd have lost only a small amount of health and my mana would be maxed again. Thus, the 'downtime' between killing enemies was small, which meant I leveled faster. An added bonus is that, because of the faster attack from claws, I gained enough chi for my next battle and I also saw lots of crits which is always motivational when you're building a 'pure' Archer.

Now that I'm in my late 30s, enemies never really reach me unless I have an extremely bad run of luck and miss 3 times in a row (it happens!). However, if they ever do reach me, I have built what I call a 'Contingency Macro'. With the press of a single button, I activate my Winged Shell followed by metal/melee attacks. They drop quite fast. Downside is that you use a little mana doing this, which I hate cause I'm a cheapo who likes to get by on just Frost Arrow + normal attacks.

Summary: Keep at it! I'm with you in that pure Dex Archers seem like an up-hill struggle in the early stages. Can't wait till I really notice the pay off from it...

mbrunestud

kiting works as long as you make sure you dont run into more mobs. use frost, knockback to keep the mob away and an incr life may only hit you like once or twice. good to try if you dont want to spend the mana cycling lightning/wing attacks

at the early levels squad with someone. i cant stress that enough you'd save so much time and pain if you have a good ally to help.

Kikuzakura - Sanctuary

Lokklyn - Lost City wrote: »

Oh okay, thanks!
Lol...that's what I've been doing, but somehow it looked incorrect to me since the other archers I've seen don't do what I've did at all. They just stood there and shot.
b:thanks

When you are doing things right and everyone else does them wrong, you will look strange.

Ikritical - Dreamweaver

Dude just wait till lvl 10 or 11. you will get Frost arrow, max that, it slows ur enemy, makes kiting simple.

Chobiits - Heavens Tear

Just charge zen, get an hp charm, tank it all.

It's 4 freakin dollars. I never kited or used winged shell until i was probably level 50. Pure Dex will then be a blessing from that point on.

salochin

Xnightshockx - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I played an archer Up to lvl 49 with a Hybrid build with about 40 Vit and 30 Mag =/
Im building a new archer to Annor's guide on the "Pure" approach,But my problem is that ive never had to kite on my other archer,by the looks of the forums atm pure build at lower lvls involves alot of Kiting and im dreading it,i bet im gonna Die Alot unless i buy aloy of pots xD
Ive played Wiz and cleric and they r Easy to kite with due to the fact that u just cast 1 skill and thats it,but with archer the normal attack keeps goin and when i try run he dont Move just shoots,any tips there?

If u hold down the S key while u fire your non reg attack then u can interupt your reg attack

angellicdeity

Chobiits - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Just charge zen, get an hp charm, tank it all.

It's 4 freakin dollars. I never kited or used winged shell until i was probably level 50. Pure Dex will then be a blessing from that point on.

In my opinion I think the pure DEX build works the best once you reach your TT60 crossbow.

For the first 60 levels I either did

A) Lots of skill spamming (no moving required)

or

Kiting with minimal skill use.


After 60 your first TT60 will give you a surprise.

Your physical attack will increase soo dramatically that you'll only need to use frost/regular and knockback.


Frost -> Regular -> Regular -> Knock back -> Regular -> Regular

Is usually enough to kill most monsters.

Your problem will be gathering the Chi in the beginning. This attack set does not give good Chi.

With that said - many more monsters flip from pure-melee to hybrids with both magical ranged attacks as well as melee physical. So kiting wont be the issue - but killing speed does.

ArwenFrost - Heavens Tear

i didn't find playing an archer enjoyable till lvl 88. but that is just me. b:chuckle

Lyneris - Lost City

I only needed to hit/run constantly from lvl 1-7, from then on till now (lvl 12) I only needed to run once or never. Usually the mobs die before they get to me b:victory

Is it just me, or are there more clerics than archers out there?? b:shocked

Ikritical - Dreamweaver

Frost arrow/knockback make kiting in this game simple.

Whothat - Sanctuary

when i got knockback i barely used any pots... so just hang in there until lvl 19 or so... i bought 200-300 lvl 20 hp pots and i still have like 60 left at lvl 44 so ya... after u get stronger i dont even get touched by ranged or melee mobs

Sylvini - Heavens Tear

I've made my archer a pure dex build, and it really is awesome. That being said, you'll still have a little trouble on the early levels, before knockback. Honestly, I found the most trouble was in the mid teens (14, 15, 16) right before I got knockback. I find the best technique is to buy a fist, just a regular fist-weapon, at the highest level you can. Don't mess with your stats, just get what you can. Fists need more Dex and less Str than any other melee weapon, and you have tons of Dex. Put that and your bow on quickslots, and open up with Take Aim and any other skills you have. When the enemy gets into melee range, click on the fist to switch to a melee weapon. At early levels, the damage won't be too much lower and it's fast as hell. Once you get the archer protection spell (blanking on the name at the moment), you can add this to the combo. Once you get knockback arrow, you shouldn't really need this anymore, and the melee weapons you can equip will progressively get worse and worse as you get higher, so it really looses it's effectiveness, but if you hate kiting, this is the way to go.

Organism - Heavens Tear

What exactly is kiting? Its hard to find a guide where someone actually describes it rather than saying what it is in general and therefore feel they dont need to describe what it is for those of us who havent played more than 2 weeks. b:shocked (In those two weeks, not consistently on one character..I tried out a few classes and found it difficult to live past level 10)

I'll check youtube, but i doubt ill find something reasonable, and if kiting is so needed, please respond on what exactly you do. Thank you. (Keep in mind all ive ever played was runescape, and its a bit difficult to switch from such a black and white game to a 100 pack of crayola crayons sort of game.)

Cyanea - Lost City

If you want to kite and you are level 10...

First, you should probably be using a crossbow. Second, you should only be using your skills with your crossbow. If you take any shots without using your skills you made a mistake. But if I remember correctly crossbows are your most powerful available weapon when you are level 10. (sorry, I have not played this character for some time now.)

Second, you should create a combo for yourself. Open up your skill pane (R) and look down near its bottom and click "new". You should see lots of icons and a row of empty boxes near the top of this new pane you just now opened.

You should drag three icons into your combo's row of empty boxes. Drag your "Take Aim" icon from your skill pane into the left-most box. To its right, drag your "Quickshot" icon, and finally you should locate a blue icon with a curved arrow which is labeled "walk behind enemy" and drag its icon in on the right.

You also have a bunch of icons in the lower half of your combo pane. Pick on (just click on it, you do not drag them). Then hit "Save".

If you did this correctly, you should now have a new "combo" icon down near the bottom of your skill pane. Drag this combo icon onto one of your action key boxes, and then go find some low-level monster to test it on:

Aim at your low level opponent and push your "combo" key. You should charge up take aim and then after take aim goes off you should automatically shoot with quickshot. And then you will stop shooting.

Now try something different on another monster: push your combo key twice. This time, instead of waiting five seconds, your "take aim" shot will go off almost immediately. Try this a couple times so you get used to it.

Next, kiting:

Find yourself a tougher monster. Stand somewhere where you can see it, but where you are too far away to shoot it. Aim at it and press your combo key. You will move into range and start charging your "take aim" shot. When it goes off, you will start charging your quickshot. But before then, turn around so the monster is behind you. You can still see its health on top of your screen, and you can still see your skill charging on the bottom of your screen.

When your "quickshot" skill starts charging, hold down your "W" key. This way, as soon as your shot goes off, you can start running. Run for a short distance and then use your combo again (if you have take aim on your function bar you can see when its ready, but a short count can also work -- anyways the point here is you want to be running while you wait for your skills to cool off). When you use your combo again, be sure and press your combo key again when your take aim starts charging, so you do not have to be waiting very long for your shot to go off. And when quick shot starts charging hold down your W key again.

And, yes, you are shooting backwards. Your monster will follow you faithfully, to its doom, but you want to be looking where you run so you do not run into some other monster. Usually, you can just repeat this process until you have killed it, and usually you will take no damage or almost no damage.

If you are running on sloped ground, you should probably be jumping so you do not get slowed down too much.

That's basic kiting... you should try it a few times and then come back and read my post again. (If you are level 10, you also have frost arrow, which can help you kite, if you have enough chi. Add it into your combo, or make a new combo with frost arrow...)

Later on, when you get additional skills, you can start doing other things which can help you kite. But the basic principle will not change: you will shoot some and you will run some, and your skills will be cooling off when you run. Typically you will also be gaining distance when you run.

You can not kite a monster unless somehow you can keep it from catching you. However, if you must kite a monster which you can not run from, you can try jumping over it after it reaches you. This often lets you get enough distance so you can take a full damage shot. (But slingshots work better than crossbows if you are having problems getting enough distance so you can do a full damage shot.)

I hope I have helped you...

Crossbones - Harshlands

Kiting = firing then running before the mob gets within half damage range.

It means you can take mobs down before getting hit, but you need good spacial awareness, you don't want to run strait into a bunch of higher level mobs and aggro the lot.

I used to do at low level just:

Take aim, fire, fire run, fire, fire, run, fire, fire, run, fire

Now I have more skills including knock back and frost I find I have to kite a lot less, often not at all:

Take aim, frost, fire, fire, KB, fire, fire, winged pledge or LS to finish.

I use a slingshot, the damage range is lower but it is fastest ranged weapon and you do full damage until 4.5, as opposed to 5 or 5.5.

Organism - Heavens Tear

Alright, that makes more sense. I tried running away from things before i made the post and they continued attacking me as i ran away, but when i asked my guild leader he said kiting doesnt generally work on magic mob's, which is what i was killing, so that was probably my problem. Anyways, thank you very much.

Crossbones - Harshlands

Kiting does work on ranged mobs, if you notice they always stop and fire at you at the limit of their range, meaning if you take a couple of steps back they need to miove before firing again. However unlike melee when it is easily possible to kite them and not take any hits, you can expect range mobs to have 1 hit on you as you start to run, so its not as effective no.

However as archers I find we excel taking down ranged mobs, especially magic mobs, if you are having difficulty with them I think you are doing something wrong unless they have a higher level then you or you are taking them on more then one at a time...

In a few levels when you get wing shield you will never have to worry about ranged mobs again.

Take aim, fire, winged shield, fire til they dead. It uses hardly any mana and winged shield will mean you'll lose next to no health.

Yesterday I grinded archer mobs my level for an hour like this without using any pot or charm, the little mana and health I lost each fight was regen on the search for next mob ^^