Sunelf Build?

[RumbIe]

So I saw someone posting elsewhere in the forums claiming Sunelf was the best build for a repeater arti as far as DPS goes. The benefit being +4 Int and access to AA tree for slaying arrows that procs with Endless Fusilade. Of course you give up self heal through repair, but if you work in Cocoon and scroll healing you can do alright. (Plus Sunelf gets two full heals per rest for those Oh S&$@%@! moments)

Does anyone have a build for this? I was thinking that since you're not WF you could also splash in 2 rogue. The biggest downside of not being 20 arti is at level 18 you only get 2 spell slots for level 6 spells, but since you won't need recon then Tact. Detonation and Deadly are all you need and now so long as you grab insightful reflexes you'll have evasion with decent saves. Or would pure Arti still be best?

[RumbIe]

I guess I should add I am aware I would need to buy a LR +1 to get out of the cleric level, but they're on sale this week so I bought one just to have handy. My PM is going to go Sunelf so I can always use it on him if it's not a good fit for arti.

[CThruTheEgo]

I know the comment you are referring to and I'm not sure it is as easy as they made it seem.

I don't know about a full build, but I would plan out the enhancements first. From what I understand you have to spend 14 AP in the racial tree before you even open up arcane archer, then you have to spend 32 AP in AA to get slayer arrows. That only leaves you with 34 AP to spend in both arti trees. Also, I have read that the majority of the AA enhancements do not work with crossbows, only slayer arrows does, so you might end up wasting a lot of points just for slayer arrows. So plan you enhancements out first to see how viable it would be and if it is what you want.

Regarding pure vs splash, don't forget about blade barrier. That's a powerful spell that I personally wouldn't want to give up.

[unbongwah]

Also, I have read that the majority of the AA enhancements do not work with crossbows, only slayer arrows does, so you might end up wasting a lot of points just for slayer arrows.
Inferno Shot also works w/xbows (and throwers); probably True Strike as well. But you're right, you're talking about spending a lot of APs in AA for just a couple of abilities. And by taking Slaying Arrows, you're locking out the T5 arty abilities; I particularly like Tactical Mobility for eliminating the movement speed penalty of charged RAs, so I can keep it fully charged between fights without moving like a tortoise.

I've got an old (pre-MotU) HE arty who was going for AA; the idea being to use longbows w/Manyshot+Slaying Arrows, then switch to repeaters the rest of the time. But with the Enhancement overhaul, I'll probably respec her into a more conventional arty build; spreads her APs too thin to invest heavily into AA, unfortunately.

[RumbIe]

Good points thanks. I actually also have an old HE arti (rogue dilettante when it was worth having) and I tried to go for the AA line last night. Immediately I saw how expensive it would be and what I would have to give up. That's actually quite a bit. I'd love to see whoever built the sunelf post the actual build and some numbers/screenshots of what output you get.

[giftie]

So I went ahead and tried this. I figured Sun Elf isn't a bad starting race for Artificer regardless of AA, so I'd be good either way. Splashed 2 Monk for Evasion and extra feat (Rogue would arguably have been better, but there's really no AP left to spend in Mechanic anyway). Thinking of additionally splashing 2 Fighter for even more feats or 2 Paladin for Divine Grace, as 16 is probably a better stiopping point than 18.

My reflections:

1) Inferno (as well as Dispelling, True and Shattermantle) Shot works, as does Arrow of Slaying. But unlike bows, actually firing off the shot requires the crossbow to be loaded - and you can't hold LMB or have auto-attack on. It requires timing, slows down RoF, and risks wasting the shots because you forgot whether repeater was loaded or not.

2) Energy of the Wild, +DEX and Awareness are still useful, as is Dispelling Shot (if nothing else, it's +3W when Inferno is on CD). I didn't feel like points in the AA tree were completely wasted.

3) You _have_ to run in Fury. This wasn't obvious to me, though I guess it should've been. I don't know of any repeater except Needle with a better crit profile than 19-20x2 and I don't know if it's possible to push the crit multiplier higher. Even with Adrenaline x2-3 crit damage x 400% isn't really all that impressive on paper.

4) Having said that, I'm still not sure this is such a bad idea. On the one hand, AT tree is kinda lackluster, and I'd gladly trade the SLAs for Arrow of Slaying. At first glance, there's really nothing in the other trees I really miss. On the other,
I wonder if this this really is the best you can get from 40-ish APs you invest in Sun Elf and AA, and you get to play in Shiradi.

My enhancements, just for reference:

Racial, 15 AP (last Accuracy point is a mostly filler, but more to-hit never hurts when DEX lags so far behind INT)

Enhancement: Morninglord - Elven Accuracy (Rank 1) x3
Enhancement: Morninglord - Sun Elf Intelligence (Rank 1) x2
Enhancement: Morninglord - Rejuvenation of Dawn (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Morninglord - Arcanum (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Morninglord - Arcane Archer (Rank 1)

Battle Engineer, 31 AP (last core is +5 PRR for 1 AP, but this and last core from Morninglord could be used for Rank 2 of RoD instead)

Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Battle Engineer (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Infused Weapons (Rank 1) x2
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Infused Armor (Rank 1) x2
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Crossbow Training (Rank 1) x4
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Thermal Venting (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Thaumaturgical Conduits (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Extra Action Boost (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Endless Fusilade (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Battle Engineer (Art) - Intelligence (Rank 1) x2

Arcane Archer, 32 AP (only filler is Force Arrows, a nod to when they used to work with repeaters)

Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Arcane Archer (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - True Strike (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Energy of the Wild (Rank 2)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Awareness (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Dispelling Shot (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Force Arrows (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Inferno Shot (Rank 3)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Terror Arrows (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Paralyzing Arrows (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Dexterity (Rank 1) x2
Enhancement: Arcane Archer (Elf) - Arrow of Slaying (Rank 1)

Monk, 2 AP

Enhancement: Henshin Mystic (Mnk) - Riddle of Fire (Rank 1)
Enhancement: Shintao (Mnk) - Bastion of Purity (Rank 1)

EDIT: oh, regardiing "procs with Fusilade" - Arrow of Slaying still just effects only one group of bolts (just like Manyshot), not all 6-8 groups you can squeeze out during a Fusilade

[Blackheartox]

Wanted to add a pscreen of simple damage numbers, i trd to sun elf just to prove that its one of superior artie builds atm.
You can make a better repeteater build with less artie levels, but i went with artie theme with evasion.
Build is 17 artie 2 monk 1 cleric (not using heart as its just a sun elf plife).
Note that im only lv 25, dont have my maxed gear nor did i use all buffs pots etc, was just a simple slaying adreanaline shot on training dummy with couple archer focus stacks.
Damage goes up with maxed gear and possible oc crit line /as you can totaly dump evocation feats.
Why i say that is simple, your runearm is being evaded anyways at higher levels and you cant do anything to push the numbers.
I have 3 sorc plifes, completionist, 2 evoc augment, 3 int helm and maxed int gear with globe.
Did this life mainly to get arcane sphere xp capped and was primarly in draconic. They evaded my runearm and tactical detonation quite frequently in ee-s and theras the idea to totaly dump it, rather have more repetit damage then a insecure evoc dc that can be useless in most situations.
Tho tovens is still good as runearm, light strike procs is always welcomed.

Another thing to note, i play primarly ee, so anything below that difficulty setting would not result the same feedback from me.
For eh a caster artie would be wonderful, bb tact detonation and everything procs 100% of the time (assuming this), but from my experience in ee as playing a couple evocation focused builds (druid evoc fsoul evoc sorc) i can assure you that artie does not have a good kit to make his runearm or spels that are evoc focused viable.
Druid for example has lotsa debuffs, same as sorc where you can incoperate magister debuffs in kit.
Artie cannot do any of those things as he doesnt have this ability, due to the class lacking multiproc non save aoe spells or any kind of debuff to reflex from mobs.
You could use corruption, but i personaly prefer light strike proc from toven and as i have core 5 in aa i dont have ability to charge runearm and not to criple my kiting ability

http://i61.tinypic.com/1z6azol.jpg