The Definitive Archer Guide

[Splurd]

The Archer
My Guide to the archer. This is just a guide. It is not a instruction manual, the purpose is to give you insight into the archer. Hopefully with the knowledge you gain, you can use your own intelligence1* and create your own build to your own playing style.

Introduction

The Avian are nimble bird-like humanoids with perfect eyesight, quick reflexes, tiny appetites and short attention-spans. The Avian Archer is the master of the bow. A true marksman.
Base stats for Archer: 2 Strength 7 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence.

Yeah, thats the what the game says. The archer is a ranged character, although he has several melee options as well. But the primary focus of his items and skills are for ranged playing style. The developers have said before that the Archer class is supposed to be the DPS class, giving the highest output of damage to a single target.

Attributes
Base stats for Archer: 2 Strength 7 Dexterity, 1 Intelligence.
Firstly, some info on attributes. Firstly, it appears that all attributes have the same effect on each character. So adding str for a archer will have the same effect as adding str for a warrior. In any case, all stats will increase your damage (and thus DPS) and hit%. Dex has a greater effect for hit% and dodge.
Strength: 2 Str = 1 health. Also enough strength will increase h/s. Allows melee weapons and armor with high defence
Intelligence: 2 Int = 1 mana Also, enough int will increase m/s. Allows wands and staffs and bracers.
Dexterity: Adds hit%, dodge, and crit rate. These are important for high damage out put.
For more discussion on Attribute , look at other threads.
Thread on Int
Thread on Int, Dex, str

So Dex is the most important Attribute for Archers. Strength and Intelligence is not good choice to add, as they give only minimal benefits. So unless you are aiming for a unique build (like a melee str archer), you should focus your points into Dex.

Skills

You start off with 0 skills (borrring) and will get a skill at every 2 levels till lvl 24. For a total of 12 skills. You also get 1 skill point at every level, for a total of 29 skill points at lvl 30.

All the skills. Lovely.

Lets go in detail.

Level 2: Focus (Increase hit and crit chances!) Cost 20, 20 secs, +10% chance per rank.

Cooldown is 30 seconds. at level 5, gives 50% to your hit and crit chance. This skill is very important. Hit% is not a issue, since dex gives you huge ammounts of hit% but getting 50% crits makes your damage output go up by alot. And since your skills can crit, it is always good to cast focus before skills like blast shot.

Level 4: Blast Shot (Damage enemies that surround your target!) Cost 15, +2 blast area per rank.

The best offensive skill archers get. Does AoE damage with no knockback. Does 2 hits of damage, of around crit damage. This damage can crit also, so you can do around x8 damage. For example, I do around 50 damage per attack, 100 per crit. My Blast shot does 100dmg per hit, 200 if crits. So its possible to hit around 400 damange.

Level 6: Avian Scream (Push back enemies and stun them!) Cost 15, 3 second stun, +10 damage per rank.

This skill has limited use. It will stun all enemies and knock back them by a bit. Not as impressive as warriors stomp though. No idea on damage.
I left this skill at level 1. The primary reason is for the stun, in case you get surrounded by melee monsters, you can scream like a little girl and run away.

Level 8: Thorn Root ( Stop enemies in thier tracks!) Cost 20, 3 sec root, + Damage per rank.

5 second cooldown. No idea on damage. This skill is very useful. Stops enemy movement, but they can still attack. So if a melee enemy is chasing you, be sure to root him before he reaches you, as he can still attack you. Also, no point in rooting ranged opponents as they can still attack you. You can run out of their range though. The primary use of this skill is to stop bosses from comming near you. a 3 second root + 5 second cool down means you can have a boss rooted 50% of the time.

Level 10: Meditation (Regain your magic power through meditation) Cost 10, +30 Mana at rank 1, +10 mana per rank.

40 second cooldown. At lvl 5, this gives 80mp, tho 10 mp is reduced from cost. But 70mp every 40 seconds is more then enough for your skills. You will hardly need to use a mana pot if you diligently spam this every time it cool downs

Level 12: Restore (Increase your health regeneration!) Cost 20, Regen +4 for 5 secs, +10 heal per rank.

Hmm. I honestly dont know how this skill works, but it gives a pretty good health boost from the regen. the +10 heal, not so much. Gives around 50-70 health, so its like a spell version of a health potion. Its good if you feel like saving on potions. Get it *only* if you feel very cheapskate to not use potions. Otherwise it is far simpler to pop a health potion.

Level 14: Evasion (Dodge incoming attacks!) Cost 20, 20 secs buff, +10% dodge per rank.

Evasion is vital for tanking. Yeah, archers dont tank, but once in a while you'll be faced with a situation where mobs are targeting you. This is where evasion is vital. Cooldown is 30seconds, same as focus.

Level 16: Break Armor (Reduce your targets armor) Cost 25, Reduce targets armour, -10 per rank.

Cooldown is 10 seconds. Makes a single target armour reduced. at level 5, I noticed around 20-25% more damage. This skill is great for bosses, since it allows all teammates to benefit from it. Lasts around 5 seconds only though.

Level 18: Shattering Scream (Blasts targets and reduces their damage), cost 20, -5 target damage per rank.

I never got it so I never tested it. Frankly, I dont want to be getting hit in the first place. And -5 (or -25 damage) is not useful enough to save you from bosses.

Level 20: Repulse Shot (Knock your target back with this heavy shot), cost 15, +2 knock-back per rank.

10 second cool down. This skill does damage, but around the same as a normal arrow. But it does knock back the opponent a fair bit. Useful for making bosses go away. Single target

Level 22: Blinding Shot (Reduces enemy hit chance for 5 sec.), cost 25, reduce 10% hit per rank.

I never got it so I never tested it.

Level 24: Thorn Wall: Root enemies when they surround you. Cost 30. +Multi-Target range per rank.

15 second cooldown. This is an AoE version of Thorn Root. However, I dont recommend it. I tested it at lvl 3, the range is pretty decent, same as thorn Root, and it does hit multiple targets. The greatest flaw is the long cooldown. 3 times that of thorn root. And it does no damage.

Skill Build

Focus & Blast shot

Obviously a 5 for these two. These two skills will increase your damage out put by a large amount.

Evasion

This skill helps if you're faced with a situation where you must take damage. eg, fighting a ranged boss, with no assistance. Or being mobbed by too many monsters.

Avian Scream & Thorn Root

1 point is fine. They will help in crippling bosses and helping you stay at range.

Meditation

Optional but Highly recomended. 5 points in it helps mana problems by a HUGE amount.

Repulse shot

Optional but it helps when fighting bosses. Sometimes they will be melee-ing you, and due to lag+boss whacking you, you cannot run away. This sends them flying so you can run.

Break Armor

This skill allows the entire team to increase their dps, which is great when you need to focus on a boss.

Blinding Shot and Shattering Scream

I've never tested these skills, but I am against them since they do not contribute to dps, only focus on reducing the damage you take. And since you have evasion to help with that.