Need help with Archer build

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Sphinxer

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Hey there,

Quite new, and my current build is.. bad.

I kept searching on the forum good builds for archers but the one I found is from a very early patch. Does sneak attack even apply to ranged attacks ? After spending skill points in it I see no difference. So people were posting their rogue's stats and people using sneak attack usually do it as back up melee.

I'm level 13 and most quests are too hard, not sure where to farm gold and XP, and I refuse to do the traps exploit to rush levels. Not sure how to get a good bow too, right now I just hit and run with fire traps.

Level 13

Str 1
End 4
Agi 5
Int 1
Per 1(+1)

Skills

Sneak Attack 1
Traps 3
Archery 3
Extra Recovery 1
Precision Shots 3
Explosive Traps 2

Gear : 16 armor, 206 HP, Oaken Bow (3-8) and Hunter's Mark (2-6, Beast Slayer II)

Companion :
I use Grissenda(lvl 11) with 20 armor, 186 HP, and Magma Shortsword (3-8 +5 fire)

Any help is greatly welcome, love the game but I'm getting my *** kicked too easily.
 

Skythalos

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Gonna take my time to fully explain what i believe is important, sorry for long post.
TLDR version at bottom.

My main character is a Level 24 Archer and i didnt found it hard to lvl up at early levels, but i respected some limitations.

Archers are probably the most EXPENSIVE class, since you have to really adjust to the challenge using the best potion cost/benefit available, resistance potions, treasure every kind of drop, as long as you're using your movements efficiently and your companion and the way he moves with you (sometime change strategies, its all about pulling the proper aggro) you could save a little cash, but rogues aint cheap, cash means life, and life means i get to sell what i won. In the end of the day its all about the pay.

And most of all, find the best weapon you can and buy it, simply go and buy it.
Also recommended to quest and use wiki for this part in special, because if you had a jester bow you would be thinking something different. I recommend wiki because bows arent that usual to find, so look for this information.

Playstyle advice given and now lets begin with your stats.
If you know they are bad, how come you didnt predict it earlier?

** STR 1 is a waste of points, if i saw 2 there i wouldnt mind because of the HP boost
** END 4 is well... If you would've played properly, like companion blocking, moving properly and treasuring every potion, scroll and the "buff type of item" you ever found. I find it very hard to need such high END before the really high lvl content (Some bosses, late game quests, etc...)
** AGI 5 is meh, could've been higher, honestly, at early levels AGI is DEFENSE and OFFENSE, so its your bread and butter and get it as high as you can until its become a liability to the other stats(Choose your 2nd priority wisely, or spread it somewhat evenly)
** INT 1 Not much to say here roleplaying preference i guess. I personally lvled up INT because of exp boost, maybe with the new XP adjustments it pays off even more, or dont, i didnt tried. Theres still some quest options that i couldnt have without such stats, so it paid off quite well. But i also defeated some pretty nasty encounter with Scroll because of Magical Training skill, its what suited me, i dont use it anymore but had to adapt, see how expensive things can get?
** PER 1 (+1) Last but not least, not much to say here, a few conversation options for quests, better profits or outcomes, do its job. Rumour is good to have about your level but i believe you cant face the challenge of such creatures, or you could always have someone do it for you, like Hirge did for me.
******>>>> AWA ? Where is your Awareness, kinda second priority for not only rogue archer but rogues in general. Cant do anything shady if any moron can trick you. Not only it does give Offense and Defense at a slower rate 1p/0.5 arrow dmg, 3p/1 armor, while allowing you better chance to detect secrets. If you didnt put points in here its one of the main reasons why your character suck so much.

Also btw, Hirge is one of the main reasons of my "successful income", being able to last way more because of her healing. Look around for her and things might become a little more smooth.

Now lets talk about this skill pick of yours.
**Sneak attack is a waste of point, should've gone invisibility if it were to properly waste a point. Invisibility is the difference about doing a quest running from a horde of mobs with the desired item in early levels, instead of having them pile you before you even get to that chest.
**Trap 3 is fine, slow is great, you won't need it in the future or you'll always use it, for early levels its a must, later on its optional.
**Explosive Traps 2 okay, maybe you have thought if slow was nice, what could've been nicer? Exploding traps. Well it damages you if done wrong, which means you wont be able to lay it next to a monster that is hitting you in the face, because things go boom for you and him both. Dont put your biggest dmg output in such two-edged skill and with a cooldown.
** Archery 3 Couldnt expect any different.
** Precision Shots 3 Also couldnt expect any different.
** Extra Recovery 1 Nice, optional at some point. I honestly only leveled it up when i decided to kill
the undermother
at lvl 18 and couldnt grind without 4 rest, only Hirge made such a thing possible is not an understatement.

Now we have seen all we need to point the wrong things in your build.

- As far as point wasting you're clueless if you really didnt put anything in Awareness, Endurance is nice but not that much important, dont waste points or just do it in pairs like its 0 Str or 2 Str/4str/etc, make the most of every point you use.
You should be prioritizing something like this
Agility> Awa/End > Int/Per > Str

Skill slots should be Usually
Evasion, Rapid Fire, Traps > Kick (kinda lame, but can save you), Sprint/Invis(depends on playstyle)

- Skills are a little mess but i guess you didnt had good pointers as to what is worth.
> Invisibility is good to do some quests, many monster i supposedly had to kill to get their items, i simply run past them, opened the chest and escape while healing their impacts. If you can deal with them later, why not. Just 1 point here, all things considered, you can opt out if you want, just a suggestion that worked fine for me.

>>>> Rapid Fire: I cant begin to start to describe how you prioritized explosive traps and even considered sneak attack when this was available. The reason you lack damage is because you dont have Rapid Fire. Rapid Fire doubles your DPS with ranged weapons.
With 9 + 3 Agi, Ion Recurve (3-7, +6 energy End game bow) i hit 56,4 DPS. Rapid Fire simply doubles it to 112,8. Whatever your DPS is, Rapid Fire will double it for the duration.
6 Points here, 100% atk speed for 6 seconds, 20 seconds CD, this is the difference between a kid with a bow and a bullseye assassin.

>>>> Evasion: Pretty much same argument as Rapid Fire, but defensely orientated. 6 points to max, 90% dodge rate for 5 seconds, 20 secs cd, somewhat high but you cant wait on your cooldowns if youre dead. Cmon man its obvious you want this. Anyone want this, but only rogues have it. This is the reason you cant face anything for a few seconds and survive.

> Sprint is a suggestion, only 1 point to 3 max, also something i didnt use till later on, useful for running without boring to death, useful for running from your death.

> Dungeoneering might be the god of underrated skills. 3 points for 25% traps and secrets, count me in! For leveling up its good and to really explore content THIS is a MUST! For many things you might want as a Rogue Archer, are very difficult to get. Or very hidden (Jester bow included). This helps you in ways other than combat (actually helps you get to tougher combats, but better rewards included)

> Magical Training: This is a skill you cant simply level up, you have to plan it, have a reason to use it and most important of all, to use it properly. Since you are not magical, you expend 4 times the mana cost in HP. Even if you heal with a Circle of Restoration you will be damaged by 40HP BEFORE CASTING, yes you can kill yourself. Yes i done it before. Thats how we learn things, we do them wrong. This is a honorary mention because much can be done with this, like hiring some guy to die for you, getting your companion, and summoning an earth elemental or some wolf, well, in your enemies eyes they're all targets so if they take hits it means you get to give many free hits. When things start to damage 80+ you will understand why. I dont use it anymore, but its gonna be always on my advanced skills.

> Poison Master, +30 Toxic Resistance, increase poisons by 100% duration and 50% dmg. As a Rogue you might benefit from both uses. Just another suggestion.
> Death Ward, +36 resist death, another suggestion.
>>> Spiritual Ward, +30 Spirit Resistance, this one is not a suggestion, JUST PICK IT. It gives you chance to not be stunned, and not be paralyzed, which in later game will kill you almost every time.

As for the final conclusions, i guess there is a pattern here.
As far as rogue best damage output discussion, pretty much anything cant damage beyond Assassinate, but in the tactical field the Archer Rogue excels tens of times, but that means you have to think harder and distance is the only thing that keeps nasty things from kicking your butt, or at least keep the ones that dont hit you from far.
You MUST pick Archery for obvious reasons, but you have to use what you got Rapid Fire and Precision Shots cant be missing this build.
You did well by using the Traps, they're part of what i call Tactical field, but them being explosive removes the boss sticking to you and just pressing a trap for him to instantly be slowed for you to safely (at least for a while) walk away.
That is pretty much all offense related, and as you could see the majority of problems you have are DEFENSE related. So you must never, as a Rogue forget Evasion because it is its best skill by far, it simply doesnt open room to discussions. You cant survive without it. I use the 3 elemental protections i mentioned, Spirit being the first one i considered and is a priority, no questions asked when you reach higher levels.






Once again, sorry for long post. For the lazy/very busy ones enjoy the TLDR.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>TLDR<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Trait priority: Agility> Awa/End > Int/Per > Str
Archer offensive Skills priority: 1. Archery/Rapid Fire/Precision shots (ALL MAXED)
Archer defensive Skills priority: 1. Evasion (MAXED); 2. Spirit protection(Later on); 3.Traps(Early levels slow is a life saver)

Archer gameplay priority: Get cash. Really, you cant do anything without it, or you have to do it very slowly.
Get the best bow you can have, look for the best bows even when you think you have the best, do yourself a favour and use the wiki in this part.
Get the best defensive gear you can have, Stun immunity and Stability are extremely valuable item atributes. Also try to have gear that increases your traits, they are very helpful, Endurance and Agility being the most important ones to increase with items.
Use your resistance and healing resources, use your experience scroll resources and never enter a dungeon without a scroll of recall, sometimes you cant clear the dungeon, just get what you came to get.
 

Sphinxer

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Thanks a bunch !

I read everything, it all makes sense. I'll respec everything next time I play, also probably my companion. I'll switch to Hirge and get rapid shot asap. I'll look for a much better bow and probably try to farm gold near Freeport (good XP/Gold)

Thanks again, that should put me on the right track.

At first I didnt know about companions, I was playing solo and died often so i put points in End for that. First run always sucks ;)
 

VDX_360

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Archer builds tend to do better with either Grissenda as a defensive build (1-h, agility weapon) or Hirge with the quasi-immortal build (defense and healing). Those two Companion types are the most durable so offer the most usefulness as a human shield for the archer. Some players prefer a Companion to have an offensive build, and that works too.
 

hueydvr38

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Sphinxer":lvdr9plo said:
Thanks a bunch !

I read everything, it all makes sense. I'll respec everything next time I play, also probably my companion. I'll switch to Hirge and get rapid shot asap. I'll look for a much better bow and probably try to farm gold near Freeport (good XP/Gold)

Thanks again, that should put me on the right track.

At first I didnt know about companions, I was playing solo and died often so i put points in End for that. First run always sucks ;)

Just a heads up: in the final area, you won't be able to take your companion with you so that might be a consideration down the line. I'm not a rogue so I won't claim to know the best way to configure your character but I've read several posts from people having a really tough time in the ark going solo. I'm sure these guys can steer you in the right direction regarding that situation.
 

Skythalos

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A few hints to End game quest as a archer rogue in the spoiler, because it will make everything much easier.

As mentioned above, Ark of Lothasan was the hardest thing i've ever done,
with a Lv 23(now 24) archer and i even killed the Normal Undermother to make my point.
Some hints that made me pass through it was using Mist Hunter bow, because the mobs there have low Lightning resistance, try not to aggro more than ONE mob every time, remember where the mobs are, respect your cooldowns because you cant tank enough to kill anything without evasion, dont forget stun immunity or you might end up dying, and after you kill something run away because the mobs explode, also try to use the best of Wall shooting(Arrows shot at the right distance can pass through walls), so you can kill monsters inside a room you havent opened yet (need to spam them with rapid shot or they'll just heal again), and lastly try to change your bow to the Ark bow ASAP it will greatly increase your attack speed and it was hell to me till i got that bow, after the bow i could even kill mobs before they reached me or kill 2-3 mobs while evasion was active (do not try this without much confidence in your characters potential).
 

Grim Reaper

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Skythalos":1gigrrcr said:
Get the best defensive gear you can have, Stun immunity and Stability are extremely valuable item atributes.

isn't stability for an archer actually a bad addition?
 

Flickering

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16/09/2017
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Have a good day! you can write a lot, but I'll tell you a little about the pictures ...
With each level you will need int, awa and vitality. That's why I do not have enough agility.




The fire trap is not needed, as for me ... In the future, the level of mobs will grow, and its damage will not be enough!



As you see The Ark of Lothasan I finished without a fire trap.


 

Skythalos

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Grim Reaper":3vigtip3 said:
Skythalos":3vigtip3 said:
Get the best defensive gear you can have, Stun immunity and Stability are extremely valuable item atributes.

isn't stability for an archer actually a bad addition?

In my experience, when a mob push you back, you sometimes can aggro other monster, or even receive flanked attack at the moment of being pushed *if more than 1 mob is attacking you* which is why i put Stability in this build as a priority.
 
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