Wanting to make and arcane archer...

[musicalpants63]

What stats should I start with and any advice is great too.

[karl_k0ch]

Regarding "standard" builds, tihocan's thread http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=232660 is always worth a look.

You might want to read this post in particular: http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p...1&postcount=90

[abull74]

Dwarf......16STR/18DEX/16CON/10WIS.....put all lvl up points into DEX, use items to get your WIS up and everything else will work itself out just fine.

DONT be an ELF....you will hate your hitpoints even with a toughness feat. and dont fall into the ignorant trap by thinking you will not get hit so you dont need HP....


I AM THE FPOON!!!

[grodon9999]

Dwarf......16STR/18DEX/16CON/10WIS.....put all lvl up points into DEX, use items to get your WIS up and everything else will work itself out just fine.

DONT be an ELF....you will hate your hitpoints even with a toughness feat. and dont fall into the ignorant trap by thinking you will not get hit so you dont need HP....


I AM THE FPOON!!!

I disagree - go with Elf

S 15
D 17
C 14
I 8
W 14 (might be high but I like Spell points)
C 8

With levelups in STR, ENH in DEX, +2 tomes, and +6 Stat items where is counts

S 28 (30 with Ram's might)
D 30
C 22
I 10
W 22
C 10

You should have 402 HP with Minos and GFL.

[MithrilSoul]

Dwarf......16STR/18DEX/16CON/10WIS.....put all lvl up points into DEX, use items to get your WIS up and everything else will work itself out just fine.

DONT be an ELF....you will hate your hitpoints even with a toughness feat. and dont fall into the ignorant trap by thinking you will not get hit so you dont need HP....

While it's always good to see people promoting less-than-standard builds, even for an archer telling someone to start with 16 STR and then not put any level-up points into STR seems like really bad advice. One of the great advantages rangers have as a bow-using class is we automatically get "Bow Strength" as a feat at level 1, which allows us to add our STR modifier to all our bow damage. I realize dwarves need to focus on DEX a little more than elves do (because dwarves won't have the racial bonuses to DEX, nor will they have the elf bow +attack enhancements) but still...I really don't think you'd want an AA running around at level 20 with only 16 base STR, even if they had a +6 STR item bringing it to 22 STR (or 24 if you figure in a +2 tome). My elf AA is only lvl 10 and she already has 24 STR, and that is with only a +4 item...

[abull74]

My AA is lvl 17 sitting at 28STR with Rams Might......but HP sucks....396.....i want more!!

If i cant hit 500 or close to it, then i reroll or TR....600+ for ftr type.

I AM THE FPOON!!!

[grodon9999]

My AA is lvl 17 sitting at 28STR with Rams Might......but HP sucks....396.....i want more!!

If i cant hit 500 or close to it, then i reroll or TR....600+ for ftr type.

I AM THE FPOON!!!

I do Amrath Elite and Epic quests on a Melee with 400, a re-roll won't help you.

[Darconeious]

as a dwarf just at lv 9 i have 133 HPs/236 SPs
str 22 with a + 3 item add rams might = 24
dex 21 with a + 2 item
con 20 with a + 1 item
int 12
wis 14
cha 8
with a + 2 tome at lv 7 all stats
there is only what has worked befor and what will work for you. lots of good advise out there follow it , make your choice, and be happy about it. your gonna change something along the way no matter what. one advise i will give , just make sure your "base" str hits 17 and your dex is equal to str or higher. to the end!

[wolfy42]

I was talking to a friend who is making an AA and saw this thread. Why didn't anyone mention going human?


As a pure ranger AA you have quite a few advantages if you go human in my opinion.

The extra feat allows for toughness early on, and taking human con boost allows for toughness 3 enhancement, which is quite a decent hp bonus over an elf.

You miss out on the elven longbow enhancements....but you gain the human versatility boosts (for +5 damage or AB as needed).

The boosts to saves can be very nice as well sometimes.

Honestly long term as a pure AA dex isn't going to need to be that high. A human can boost strength by 1 and con by 1...which I think is more useful long term and compensates for the advantages of a dwarf or elf nicely.

Dwarves get more hp (by about 50 or so), a bit more ac (dwarven armor enhancements with mithril breastplate) and the nice bonus to spell saves.

Humans get a bonus feat (very nice for AA builds in my opinion), +1 strength, Human vers boosts (works well in combo with multishot), an extra skill point (doesn't hurt...especially if your leaving int at base).

Elves get get additional dex (+2 natural, +2 from race) for an extra 2 ab along with elven bow enhancements (+2 to hit and damage possible...although probably just fine going with +1 to hit and +2 damage), echantment resist enhancement but lose out on quite a few hp, especially at low level.


Humans actually have the most hp in fact until you take toughness (if you do) with the other races. With PBS/WF ranged/Mental toughness being required that means the earliest possible time you can take toughness as a pure elf or dwarven ranger is lvl 9 (be kinda nice to snag improved crit at that level though).

Burst damage is actually higher as the human due to synergy between damage boosts and multishot, especially early on.


Main reason I can see for going with elf in fact is if you want to snag dragonmarks for invis/displacement (kinda feat starved though).

Personally I'd rank the races as:

#1 Human
#2 Dwarf (Hp >> minor damage boost)
#3 WF (fairly nice backup THF damage + higher HP)
#4 Elf (Very low Hp, but nice longbow bonus)


For human I'd suggest:


Str 18 (16)
Dex 16 (10)
Con 14 (06)
Int/Wis/Cha Base

16 gives you the nice base +3 dex ac while wearing mith full plate till level 9, and just needs cats grace to reach the +5 ac of mith breastplate post lvl 9. You'll want the dex anyway for ranged AB.

Con 14 with a +3 tome and +1 human bonus gives you a nice 18 base (24 with +6).

It also opens up toughness 3 human enhancement.

Str base 18 +1 at 4 (level up), +1 at 5 (human bonus), +4 bulls and +2 rams gives you a nice 26 strength by lvl 5. The extra strength actually means you do as much damage as the elf with the longbow enhancement...without spending any ap.

Tossing on damage boost (2 at that point) makes damage significantly higher then the elf.

Human versus any other race has initial toughness (by lvl 6 it's 8 hp) and toughness 1 and 2 enhancement for 28 extra hp (20 more then WF/Dwarf due to their higher con, 36 more then an elf of the same level.

36 hp is significant at level 6. The dwarf/WF races will catch up and pass the human eventually (probably at level 12) but the human gains +1 con later on along with toughness 3, given an end hp advantage over an elf of around 62 hp. The bonus feat could be taken as another toughness (probably wouldn't but could be) which would mitigate the dwarf/WF's advantages in hp and end up with a 84 hp advantage over an elf.


Elves just don't gain enough to make it worth it.