Archer guide

[Jay203]

someone should really do some archer guides
kinda getting sick of seeing people shooting in place trying to tough it out with melees =_=
archery is an art!!!



EDIT:
this is meant for ARCHER, not RANGERS ONLY!!!!

[Mithran]

To date Archer Guide:

1. Reroll as melee.
2. Refer to #1.

[Jay203]

To date Archer Guide:

1. Reroll as melee.
2. Refer to #1.

which means that needs to be changed

oh wait, nvm, i forgot how much the entire playerbase hate having ranged toons running around

[Slink]

It is an art.
Try honing your skills without using tab targeting.

With all the "badass" and "uber" melee builds around, they should be able to make up for the lack of DPS by the archer.

Like a great caster, toting large stacks of slaying arrows and a tri neg bow can make all the melee outraged.

[NXPlasmid]

well, maybe I am wrong but I have a pure ranger who is primarily a finesse melee but is still capable of excellent damage ranged, especially with multi-shot so it seems to me that building a "ranged only" toon is rather short sighted, or atleast less useful as a build. Archers aren't supposed to be able to put out as much DPS as a melee, not in PnP and not in real life. All the rangers who moan about not having enough DPS are full of it, the idea that you could arch down an fighter with platemail on as fast as a melee is absurd. Multishot is already rather insanely unrealistic. My biggest issue with my Ranger is I forget to use his bow when it could be used to great advantage for the group, but when you encounter a big group of trolls, orgres, minos, devils, orthons or whatever and the ranger in the group refuses to wade into the mob and melee it's just plain annoying. Or rangers who will shoot into the mobs and then kite them around making it impossible to hit them... If you can't build a ranger with superlative melee and superlative ranged abilities then, yes I think reroll is the only option, using someone elses build to do so... (just my opinion and I am totally open to alternative viewpoints)

[Kezn]

The biggest let down for archer dps is the rate of fire... Its just far too slow to compete with full twf melee characters.

[Emili]

I've an old ranged archer - Ambyre - which can melee, has IC ranged and IC pierce, really the only way to go if you use a bow you also need to melee on occasion. She was built twice tweaked for soling DQ way back when...


When ranging I prefer a circular kite to keep mob in place vs running them all over the bloody place... They stay still and range or cast at you then. One thing I will say is the 20 sec of many shot is 20 sec of the highest dps in game outside an arcane caster spamming.

[NXPlasmid]

The biggest let down for archer dps is the rate of fire... Its just far too slow to compete with full twf melee characters.

That's the point isn't it? There no way you could get through a real dungeon, or encounter with a large number of enemies using a bow in real life, or this game. I'm not trying to bash anyone here, and I appologise if I come across that way, but in general, archers tend to range armies from reinforced battlements, when the battlements get overrun, they don't stand there and shoot more arrows, they pick up a sword or they run. I consider it absurd to make ranged attacks from a ranger even more ridiculously overpowered in comparison to the kinds of damage they can do in real life, hey I know it's a game, but it's based loosely on realism (ok just sorta). The amount of ranged capabilities you loose by making sure your character can also melee effectively is trivial, if you don't do it then you are a sort of a one trick pony, and not as able to contribute to the group you are in. It's the same thing as a rogue who only focuses on rogue skills and not melee as well. Everyone needs to fill their particular role, and there just isn't that much of a role for a ranged ranger... When the need arrises they are awesome, totally awesome, but it's only about 25% of the time. (or so it seems to me)

[Kezn]

Well, if it was going to be like real life, everyone would be using a crossbow... >_>;

But this isn't real, they can easily add archery bracers that speed up your attacks, or increase the value of BAB on ranged attack speed.

[Cuchilo]

the idea that you could arch down an fighter with platemail on as fast as a melee is absurd.

Not really if we are talking realism and history. Longbowmen were very effective, even against platemail. Documented case from Crecy of a longbow shaft punching through the cuisse of a French knight, and through the femur, and the back of the cuisse, through the sadle, and dropping the horse.

Up until the 1500s anyway, when armor started to be hardened.

The main difference between crossbows and longbows never comes through in DnD, which is how fast longbows were. They were not slow.

[JakLee7]

Huns
you know why they totally whooped Europe, Asia, Africa?
1. ruthless
2. Horsebound archers - their bows were not the MOST powerful, but combined with how powerful they were & the speed of their horses, they rarely NEEDED to use swords.... just saying....

[Talon_Moonshadow]

Not a guide...but..

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=189167

[Kezn]

Not really if we are talking realism and history. Longbowmen were very effective, even against platemail. Documented case from Crecy of a longbow shaft punching through the cuisse of a French knight, and through the femur, and the back of the cuisse, through the sadle, and dropping the horse.

Up until the 1500s anyway, when armor started to be hardened.

The main difference between crossbows and longbows never comes through in DnD, which is how fast longbows were. They were not slow.

Yes, but the crossbow took over as a plated knight killer, when the bolts would pass through them.

[Cuchilo]

Yes, but the crossbow took over as a plated knight killer, when the bolts would pass through them.

No, the crossbow took over because you could train a man to use it in an afternoon, where the longbow took years to master.

[Xionanx]

Guide be being a good archer!

Step One: Build for as much ranged DPS as you can! This means taking the time to do the research to find out whats going to give you the most bang.

Step Two: Learn NOT to kite! Yeah, seems counter intuitive but you SHOULD have just as high an AC as most melee and a similar amount of HP's. Therefore "kiting" only serves to **** off the other members of the party as they chase the monster that is chasing you.

Step Three: Learn that 89 > 53 (One hander gets 89 Swings per minute, Bow gets 53 Shots be minute), and that no matter how hard you try 89 Attacks will always do more damage then 53. (note that a hasted TWF tempest ranger gets 209 swings per minute, a hasted rapid shot bow user gets 66)

Step Four: Get angry/Cry because you will never out DPS a melee!

Step Five: Deny it! Pretend you can do good DPS with ranged and come on the forums talking about how awesome you are compared to all those other sucky ranged rangers people hate so much!

Step Six: Hope for a miracle and shelf your Ranged attacker for the day you imagine will come when Turbine figures out they messed up ranged attack speed.

Step Seven: Make post after post explaining how Turbine has failed to implement ranged in a meaningfull way. (this is the step Im' currently on)

[Emili]

The Welsh Longbow <- yes that's right the English first met the long bow made from yew via Wales. The Welsh fend off England's invasions for near a century and is reputed they could pierce through 4" thick of wood. Latter was adapted by the English. Even then, It was a commoner's weapon... They used them for hunting to put food on the table. When come time to raise armies ... what do they bring? The long bow. A good bowman could fire 3-4 arrows a minute.

[Mithran]

My own hostility for ranged specialists is based on their running away from the melee specialists with aggro.

[Guildmaster_Kadish]

My own hostility for ranged specialists is based on their running away from the melee specialists with aggro.

Agreed. IMO, this is the biggest hindrance to ranged combat in DDO--it has very poor group dynamics when used in the logical way. These problems can be avoided through very intelligent playing, but it isn't easy.

[Jay203]

My own hostility for ranged specialists is based on their running away from the melee specialists with aggro.

never had that complaint before
but seriously rangers need to be forced to choose their fighting style instead of just giving them:
Bow Strength
Rapid Shot
Manyshot
Precise Shot
Improved Precise Shot
TwF
iTwF
gTwF

total of 8 feats for free!!!
Note: they bypass requirements as well =_=;;;;

[Mithran]

never had that complaint before
but seriously rangers need to be forced to choose their fighting style instead of just giving them:
Bow Strength
Rapid Shot
Manyshot
Precise Shot
Improved Precise Shot
TwF
iTwF
gTwF

total of 8 feats for free!!!
Note: they bypass requirements as well =_=;;;;

It used to be that they were, and one is still obliged to make the decision in some settings (NWN2 comes to mind, immediately). I think this was a Turbine shortcut, and while I don't use a bow on either Brutality or Nellas often, it's nice to have an effective ranged option available, when necessary.