Arcane Archer Quistion

[Darkstar1996]

Is this Actually True? Can Rangers Cast Arcane spells like Fireball, and Scoarching Ray and That Stuff? Cause There Not using wands to cast em its like an Actuall Spell Box thing on the Control Bar Thing (So Can you tell im a Noob?) Cause if so im gunna do that!?!

(Update Never Mind its just the Conjure Arrow Right?)

[AylinIsAwesome]

Is this Actually True? Can Rangers Cast Arcane spells like Fireball, and Scoarching Ray and That Stuff? Cause There Not using wands to cast em its like an Actuall Spell Box thing on the Control Bar Thing (So Can you tell im a Noob?) Cause if so im gunna do that!?!

(Update Never Mind its just the Conjure Arrow Right?)

No idea what you're asking, but I'll take a guess...

Arcane Archers get the ability to imbue their arrows with certain spells. It causes a long cooldown on the appropriate spell if you actually have it, such as if your character was an Elven Wizard who, for some reason, took AA.

If you don't have the actual spell (such as if you're a pure ranger), then you still pay the SP for the imbue, but nothing goes on a long cooldown.

[smithtj3]

Though arcane is the name, Arcane Archers are not actually casters from the arcane school in the same sense that Sorcerers are. In DDO, arcane archers, as well as all rangers, are actually a divine casting class. However, it's my understanding that in pen and paper, the arcane archer actually shares some commonalities with the arcane casting class.

As has all ready been stated, the arrow imbues (spells that are cast on the ranger's arrows to imbue them with magical properties) are derived from typical arcane spells such as acid arrow, fireball, fear, etc. These spells really only share the end effect in common with the commonly known arcane version. The method of casting, functionality, and spell point consumption are all unique to the Arcane Archer PrE.

[Darkstar1996]

Are these "Imbune Arrows" Powerful?

[krackythehoodedone]

The Slaying Arrow is.

Does 500 extra damage on a roll of 20

But the whole Ranger Archer path is a rocky road. Takes a lot of time and skill to make a succesful ranged toon and their is a fair bit of negativity towards ranged toons in general from the playerbase

[Mad_ScientistsNH]

Arcane imbued arrows are very powerful, if you know how to use them right. I've had very good luck with them, but there are a lot of useless AA's.

First Rule of the Ranger: Unless you have a reason to be shooting with the bow, you should be stabbing things.

That first bit cannot be said enough, even arcane archers melee quite a bit, and should be very good at it. So, all of this is secondary to when you're not in melee. Always do the most useful thing for you group, that's the DDO way.

The most important thing about being an effective arcane archer, when shooting, is to have the right imbued arrows up. Force arrows are nearly free damage at lower levels, as few things resist force, they ghost touch, and they're the earliest arrows you get. Acid arrows are great because they can put a DoT on things, so they're most useful if you're not doing focused fire, but their usefulness wanes a bit as enemies get more HP. Explosive arrows are great for clearing trash mobs and boosting your arrows damage output. Force Burst is frankly not as useful unless you're fighting something that you don't want to use explosive arrows against.

Frankly, those are all damage boosters and any of them will help clear mobs at any time, but The last two are a little different. Terror Arrows are useless against some enemies, and possibly better than slaying arrows against others. The main issue is, you won't be doing the extra base damage when you have it on, so it's a mixed bag. Slaying arrows are obviously incredible, but you need to run the numbers to see if they're actually better for what you're doing. They only work on Vorpal attacks, which are natural 20's that are confirmed, and depending on what you're fighting, you may actually be doing less average damage than you would be if you had Explosive arrows on. Of course, it feels good to land a slaying arrow, of that there is no doubt, but if you do 500 damage to a 200HP enemy at the expense of what would have been 600 damage to more enemies if you had been using more reliable arrows, then you're actually being less efficient.

Of course, while you're thinking about all of this, you should be stabbing things. Did I mention that?