7/7/6 Art/rogue/ranger long range "monster"

[Hyperian]

Here is my take on the 7/7/6 split. My focus is entirely on the x-bow. Depending on how intelligent the quivers are, will say if I bother with multishot or not:

http://www.ddochargen.com/home.aspx?build=3591

WF for self healing. Augment summon for pet, will switch him from tank at lower levels to roguish for upper levels for minor DPS gain it'd add. I already have a hireling attack key in my keybindings, so it works well. If mech and insightful stack, then I'll go that way, otherwise as my int is higher anyways, go insightful strike and mech for damage, means I only need just enough dex to do imp precise. I already played a repeater rogue up to 16 on live, so I have a lot of the reflexes necessary for range already. I believe with the extra range, plus the other perks added into the character by this set, it could be really fun and may make the ranged damage worth it.

One thing I do need help with (other then general assistance on how to make the build stronger) is how do most level up a multi-classer? This will be my first character I try to multi with and I haven't really been able to find a best practice guide for picking what class when. Any insight?

[BOgre]

With a 7/7/6 split your toon will be terribly weak at levels higher than around 10ish. You won't have the benefit of any of the higher level class feats or enhancements that you'll need to survive in higher level quests. Maybe someone else will have some better input for you ((EDIT: See Malison's post below)), but I don't thing there is a way to multi like this. Splashes, sure. Wide spread multi, not so much.

[Malison]

With a 7/7/6 split your toon will be terribly weak at levels higher than around 10ish. You won't have the benefit of any of the higher level class feats or enhancements that you'll need to survive in higher level quests. Maybe someone else will have some better input for you, but I don't thing there is a way to multi like this. Splashes, sure. Wide spread multi, no.

Don't discount heavy multiclasses so simply. It's a terrible idea for casting classes, but it can work on a dps. You should see the 8ftr/6rgr/6monk AA/AC/healamp tank.

@OP
I think the biggest trouble with swapping between crossbow and manyshot is that you have to manually switch which ammo you have loaded each time you switch weapons.

My main thought is that rough dps calculations are putting most crossbow builds around 300 at the moment. This being all-out might raise it a little, as well as the addition of manyshot. This can be okay on a purer artificer, who brings more to the table than just personal dps. But you're losing most of artificer utility by such a deep splash. In the end you'll have to ask yourself, is the dps gain worth the cost?

As an aside, you'll get as good of self healing on a fleshy using potion tossing as you will repairing yourself, and half-elf or elf would offer you AA to boost the bow portion of your dps. My gut instinct is that that's a bigger boost than DWS I.

For levelling, I'd probably do the following:
1 Rogue (1): skill points
2 Artificer (1): proficiency, rapid reload.
3 Rogue (2): evasion
4-5 Artificer (3): insightful strikes
6-10 Rogue (6): mechanic -> int to damage
11-16 Ranger (6): BAB, rapid shot, ram's might
17-19 Artificer (7)
20 Rogue (7)