kiting

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.

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)

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

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.

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

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

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

Frost arrow/knockback make kiting in this game simple.

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.

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...

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.