aoe skills for archers

MavLOLs - Lost City

Shao_on_Fire - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Wow, there's a lot of conflicting skill information here... this skill is good, level it up, this skill is bad, leave it alone...

Let's all admit for one second that skill leveling will, in the end, be a matter of personal choice. it will come down to intangibles like playstyle, personal likes and dislikes, and each individual's ability to understand the metrics of ingame combat.

With that in mind, I will put in my two cents.

Leveling barrage beyond level 2 is a joke. You completely eliminate its usefulness outside of RB if you do so. And yes, it has other applications, such as zehning. If you tried to zehn with a level 6 barrage, you would run out of mana in seconds.

Viscious Arrow is DoT- personally, I like DoT skills- they tend to save arrows. If the enemy is still taking damage while I'm NOT shooting, I'm all for it. Demon level Serrated Arrow "vamps" 200HP for you, as well... again, DoT= your friend, IMO.

STA is godly- and yes, it works on groups, and they don't have to be "tightly packed" for it to be effective. I use it daily in BH's and FBs, and manage to hit 2, sometimes 3 targets at a crack; however, there are only two occasions n which I would do this: 1.) the barb has all 3 targets LOCKED DOWN in aggro- thereby givimg me MINIMAL risk of pulling one or more of the targets onto myself; 2.) When the barb/tank totally loses aggro and all hell breaks loose, and we need to kill things as quickly as possible before people start dying.

Aim Low has practical applications[such as saving a cleric who tried to play DD in the middle of a BH by stopping the foe cold in its tracks so the barb can grab him...], but is largely useless after you get Stunning Arrow. Stunning Arrow is less costly{doesn't require a spark] but doesn't have the 90% success rate right at the start like Aim Low.

Not sure if I saw this next tidbit in this thread or not... but if I hear one more Archer say they actually let Take Aim go for the full 3 seconds and that it makes a great opener, I'm gonna throw up...

Again, just my two cents, and I speak in terms of PvE combat only.

yea PVE combat, i was never a fan of PVE, i dreaded lvl 1-90, b:cry, but once you start pvping, omg yea, those 2 poison skills are really dumb for PVP, i wont comment on PVE purpose cause mine are still lvl 1

Legerity - Sanctuary

Brigid - Harshlands wrote: »

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Aim Low is far better than Stunning Arrow for saving clerics/DDs/yourself. Even at max level, Stun's success rate is only equal to that of aim low, and the duration is much shorter. I'd rather have 7-8 seconds of safety than 3, myself. It's not as if you should ever be running short on chi in a FB/BH anyway, since you're mostly going to be using normal shots to avoid taking aggro.

Stun and Aim Low are both useful for PvE and PvP. No need to say one is better as they both have thier uses. Try saving a cleric with an Aim Low in an FB when a ranged mob is after the Cleric. Doesn't work well does it?

Stun Arrow has a short duration but most of the time the 3 seconds are enough to shift the aggro to yourself in which case you shell or grace or let the tank retake aggro (if fast reflex/competent). If a tank cannot get aggro after you have activated grace or shell, leave the squad. b:surrender

I use DoTs for "fun" but they are largely useless imo. If you attain either book and have the spirit and coin to waste, go for it. Otherwise just leave it alone.

Edit: Highlight - Goodluck not grabbing aggro with normal attacks.

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear

Legerity - Sanctuary wrote: »

Edit: Highlight - Goodluck not grabbing aggro with normal attacks.

"Going AFK. Don't worry, just using normal attacks."

StormHydra - Sanctuary

How did this topic get onto this?
Archer normal attacks (constantly) give the highest DPS. Better than skills apparently (heard it from someone)

Legerity - Sanctuary

Elenacostel - Heavens Tear wrote: »

"Going AFK. Don't worry, just using normal attacks."

b:chuckle
10char

Brigid - Harshlands

Legerity - Sanctuary wrote: »

Stun and Aim Low are both useful for PvE and PvP. No need to say one is better as they both have thier uses. Try saving a cleric with an Aim Low in an FB when a ranged mob is after the Cleric. Doesn't work well does it?

Works fine for me. The shot damage usually shifts aggro to myself, so the mob proceeds to stand there staring at me for 6-7 seconds while I stand out of range. Unless for some reason the cleric was standing next to the tank or something.

Highlight - Goodluck not grabbing aggro with normal attacks.

Ok, poor choice of wording. I was trying to say that you're not going to be using any chi skills except Winged Shell, Wings of Grace, and Aim Low, and those three are only going to be used when someone screws up. If you're having to use them often enough that chi becomes a problem... b:surrender

I know normal attacks do the most damage. I've got Bracers of Blood Moon and a +6 Wind and Clouds; I know just how quickly I can take aggro on autoattack. I'm saying that paced normal shots are better than skill-spamming. Lower damage per shot means a crit gives less of an unwanted aggro boost, and if you take aggro with a normal shot it's easier for a tank to get it back than if you took it with a skill shot.

Legerity - Sanctuary

Brigid - Harshlands wrote: »

Works fine for me. The shot damage usually shifts aggro to myself, so the mob proceeds to stand there staring at me for 6-7 seconds while I stand out of range. Unless for some reason the cleric was standing next to the tank or something.

While that does work, you still give stun arrow too little credit. Stun arrow can cancel mid casts from mobs (and this can prevent 1 shots on the cleric, aoes, etc). They both have their uses. I regularly use both because the cooldown on either skill is rather long.

Brigid - Harshlands wrote: »

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and if you take aggro with a normal shot it's easier for a tank to get it back than if you took it with a skill shot.

I actually think it's rather hard to take aggro with skill "spamming" with a decent barb. I'd be very worried if I took aggro with my 2-3second channel skills. (assuming of course, the barb has already established aggro ;/)

Brigid - Harshlands

Legerity - Sanctuary wrote: »

While that does work, you still give stun arrow too little credit. Stun arrow can cancel mid casts from mobs (and this can prevent 1 shots on the cleric, aoes, etc). They both have their uses. I regularly use both because the cooldown on either skill is rather long.

True. I haven't run into anything stunnable that can one-shot my clerics yet, but I imagine that changes for higher-level instances. Aim Low does nothing to stop channeling, so I can see where that's a problem.

As for skills, I think that's more of a difference between our level ranges. The fixed damage bonus for my Metal skills makes more of a difference to my damage than it would for yours.

Also, this thread has wandered really far off topic b:chuckle