Comprehensive Archer Skills and Equipment Guide

[adwin]

@Mooger: I've been using this for the last few days and it works for me. The additional break armor press between SS and BS gives enough time for the combo to chain up.

@Physio & @WhoIsThis: I've been wanting to sell that L.55 recipe for custom gemstone leather of mine, but I don't know if the sensible thing to do would be to keep it for a dual setup.
The difference between a pure RR and the customised one is 2 dex and 6 damage instead of 6H/S.
6 damage is also 6 additional dps -> only 360 damage in a minute. Bosses usually go down faster than that, and taking into consideration that most bosses have "14 900" health, this is a meagre tradeoff for:
Comparatively, 6H/s is a nice addition to health pot usage reduction in an unbalanced party.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

[Moogerfooger]

I wasn't implying there was anything wrong with it, lol. I start chains with Break Armor....debuff the armor, thereby magnifying other effects of later skills. I will say that this "works for me" Blessed Shot is usually second, in line with your safer approach idea. I do the two so fast we are talking six of one, half dozen of the other for the most part.

[Physiologic]

@Mooger: I've been using this for the last few days and it works for me. The additional break armor press between SS and BS gives enough time for the combo to chain up.

@Physio & @WhoIsThis: I've been wanting to sell that L.55 recipe for custom gemstone leather of mine, but I don't know if the sensible thing to do would be to keep it for a dual setup.
The difference between a pure RR and the customised one is 2 dex and 6 damage instead of 6H/S.
6 damage is also 6 additional dps -> only 360 damage in a minute. Bosses usually go down faster than that, and taking into consideration that most bosses have "14 900" health, this is a meagre tradeoff for:
Comparatively, 6H/s is a nice addition to health pot usage reduction in an unbalanced party.

What are your thoughts on the matter?

+6 damage on a piece of armor, while using the Recurve, is actually +7.0588 DPS But yes, there really isn't much to it unless you count what 6 damage does to your skill damage/combos combined.

Really, it's up to your preference on whether or not you want to craft your equips or not - in-game, you won't be able to detect any sort of difference whatsoever when you're comparing 6 damage to 6 H/s. It's like the pre-1.7 Cyber vs Void vs Sentinel vs Sunblessed argument again - sure they vary on paper but in the battlefield you get very similar results among all of the sets.

I personally enjoy "seeing" a high damage/DPS on my character screen, so I like my Raid Roach sets. You may like a sweet regen rate on your bird so it's less finger movement to use potions during runs. Ultimately - up to you

[djkrazze]

im so using ur build on my bird and i love it!

[Physiologic]

im so using ur build on my bird and i love it!

Thanks!

And this is just a post celebrating the 10,000th view thank you for your support, and thank you for reading!

[Super Turtleman]

Just want to say thanks for the excellent guide. I'm just starting and built my first character as a bear assuming melee was the best damage dealer class (usually my style in rpgs). This is my first MMO, so I'm glad I found this site and read a little before investing too much time. I'm ready for my bird to take fight!

[Zerious]

Adwin, love the setup! I'm using it with my alt thanks a bunch!

[noobmigo]

I do my twinks combos like that too.

From Top---->Right----->Down----->Left

[adwin]

I have updated my setup, here it is:



1: be sure to have focus and evade AT ALL TIMES. Even for regular mob. This WILL save your booty quite a few times, and reduce your potting as well

2: the first "debuffer" as soon as you encounter an enemy, is the thorn (root or wall).
Use wall for mob, and thorn root for bosses. This is a critical step, since it will debuff their dodge, increasing the probability that your subsequent hits will land.

3: there's a reason why I moved break armor up. It's the only debuffer which doesn't deal damage, and apart from that, it's the most critical starter (whopping -26 pts). Every other hit, be it physical or skill, will benefit from this debuff.

4: next comes blinding shot. Another reason for that is because you're moving and at the same time getting closer to the enemy, subconsciously, or just because you're making speed runs or boss runs. I also found that you sometimes need to get quite close for shatter scream to properly chain. Well, thanks to the blinding shot, you can come closer to the enemy, with a reduced risk of being hit.

5: shatter scream, your 2nd proper debuffer - speaks for itself

6: lastly, chain your combo with blast shot.

7: as a bonus damage dealer, repulse shot. Just be sure to be in the right spot. I have seen far too many times repulse shot + bear stomp, and there goes the boss out of reset range. Repulse is also a double-edged sword. Used correctly, it's a very nice tool. I use it all the time to counter an unskilled stomp by a bear or in order to pin the boss in a corner. You will find this especially useful with Trash Heap, where you definitely DON'T want to be in the center for too long. ;]


@Phys: sorry for hijacking your thread, but there was no meaning in starting a separate thread just for that. ;]

[Physiologic]

Awesome, I'll add your skill build example in as soon as I clear out more room in my guide

[adwin]

You can update the thread with the new "Alien Oasis Mystery Set" (although it's on a lv55 char, so just substract 25 dex and the corresponding damage/dps)

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...l=1#post223816

[Physiologic]

You can update the thread with the new "Alien Oasis Mystery Set" (although it's on a lv55 char, so just substract 25 dex and the corresponding damage/dps)

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...l=1#post223816

I'm most likely going to just respec so that my stats are easier to compare with the other sets for beginners I'll probably photoshop that I'm 56 and put me back down to 50 as well, haha.

[Duped]

Thank you so much!! I decided to make an archer for my 3rd char, and I have at least learned from some of my mistakes with the others, most notably about where to put skill points. I got some advice from a lvl 50 that said, first max heal and mana, and then the rest, and it seemed wrong. So glad I came here first! This info is spectacular!!! Very Very Very much appreciated. Too bad a point is automatically put into the scream, oh well Thanks again, awesome guide.

[Physiologic]

Thank you so much!! I decided to make an archer for my 3rd char, and I have at least learned from some of my mistakes with the others, most notably about where to put skill points. I got some advice from a lvl 50 that said, first max heal and mana, and then the rest, and it seemed wrong. So glad I came here first! This info is spectacular!!! Very Very Very much appreciated. Too bad a point is automatically put into the scream, oh well Thanks again, awesome guide.

Don't worry, I maxed Restore and Meditation too because I followed a really old guide posted here when I first started Then I realized, wait a second I have potions, why do I need Restore and Meditation - they barely heal health and mana, plus their cool-down is just too long. Also, less points in my damage skills means less overall damage for my party! And that's what basically inspired me to publish a new guide altogether...

[WhoIsThis]

@Physiologic:

The part about unlocking the shadow caves for the level 50 gear is not needed now since the 1.7 patch.




That said, for bird, some people just like the restore and med. It does offer some healing and mana regen - not much, but for those who don't like to use potions, it is a small boost. Whether it justifies the loss in other abilities though is another matter.

[Physiologic]

@Physiologic:

The part about unlocking the shadow caves for the level 50 gear is not needed now since the 1.7 patch.

That said, for bird, some people just like the restore and med. It does offer some healing and mana regen - not much, but for those who don't like to use potions, it is a small boost. Whether it justifies the loss in other abilities though is another matter.

Thanks for the fix! For me, it's hard to go through the guide over and over again

The only problem about using restore/meditation is that pot costs is extremely minimal. I made a post somewhere that calculated how much pots restore would save in 100 5 minute runs and it only turned out to be ~25,000-30,000 gold - very very minimal. If you're interested I can redo the calculations

[WhoIsThis]

There are players who do not play like you Physiologic - they don't like to be out in front. There are reasons why warbird builds exist and people choose it over dex bird. Personally, I find it an unacceptable loss in firepower. Others clearly disagree and there are plenty of dual-spec birds around. Same with people who choose hybrid int (70% int, 30% str) over pure int mages.

There are also a few strength birds around. A lot of these players tend to have very high PvE K/D ratios because of their play-style.

[Physiologic]

There are players who do not play like you Physiologic - they don't like to be out in front. There are reasons why warbird builds exist and people choose it over dex bird. Personally, I find it an unacceptable loss in firepower. Others clearly disagree and there are plenty of dual-spec birds around. Same with people who choose hybrid int (70% int, 30% str) over pure int mages.

There are also a few strength birds around. A lot of these players tend to have very high PvE K/D ratios because of their play-style.

I know there's plenty of players that don't play like me This guide was written intended for the archer to perform to their best abilities for their party, not the best for themselves (after all - it's a party-oriented game). Even when I used to solo everything and I had lv 5 restore and meditation, I found no real use for them. Enemies, when I am completely mobbed, will kill me if they attack consistently and I don't pot fast enough - +60-80 health heal + 20 h/s won't do me any good if I'm dead in 3 seconds.

Again, this is only what I've experienced myself. Being a dual spec warbird is totally up to a player, but I did issue the warning in my guide that being one will severely impact your ability to perform in a party. That's why the full-DEX recommendation is issued Besides, I'd want an army of full DEX birds in random pub games that happened to glance over the thread, instead of an army of dual spec'd warbirds who can't really do much for the party except survive.

[WhoIsThis]

One of the things I like about mage is that you do use less pots. If you have a mage, you probably know that heal is well worth maxing out. And I hardly ever use mana pots. The only time to pot is when I am mobbed and my spells can't kill fast enough, which isn't that often.

Current build:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_q...Build%2056.png

Note mana regen on build.

That said, there are players that are awesome pallys and awesome strength birds too. Player skill and playing style will dictate survivability and usefulness to team.

[Physiologic]

That's the thing about bears and mages - bears have such high dodge and armor that a high h/s value actually helps them out. Mages have a high mana pool as well as mana shield, so that a high m/s value helps them out.

Birds on the other hand cannot utilize h/s and m/s as well as bears and mages can. If we have a high h/s, then we will still die fast from poor dodge and armor. There's no real reason for us to sacrifice damage for a high m/s. Thus birds are the most expensive class to play regardless of whether or not those skills are maxed