Crossbow artificer DPS

[mmosean]

I run duo with a friend and her artificer. We like it a lot and sometimes run with a monk as well.

One thing I am wondering is how to boost DPS. The descriptions on some Enhancements doesn't really say what all it affects, or at least I've not figured it out.

The crossbow damage and hit bonus are pretty obvious.

I'm less sure of the spell damage boosts. Do they affect run arms as well as spells? What about the procs the rune arms put on your crossbow?

We seem to do a lot of damage with rune arms and crossbows both, probably most of it crossbow atm, so I'm looking for other ways. Right now I have not put anything in the spell damage boosts because I don't use damage spells much at all.

A lot of what we do is lay down a turret and lock the pets into position to set up an ambush, and then we range into the hairball with crossbows and rune arms. As they mobs close in we'll kite them or otherwise improvise. Other times where we can't make effective use of an ambush, we just... wing it.

So I'm wondering if we should be putting points into spell damage enhancement for rune arm damage and crossbow procs, and what else is a "must have".

As for feats, we went heavy on crossbow related feats, SP boost, and are still thinking about the future.

INT is our primary, DEX secondary with CON third.

We are currently level 10.

[Jaid314]

spell damage affects rune arm blasts, but not the imbue it gives to your weapon.

some of your damaging spells are actually pretty decent CC if you have good int.

at low levels, your rune arm blasts will be a pretty minor thing. it starts getting pretty decent once you get something like the pea shooter. if you could somehow get your hands on, say, the titan rune arm (good luck with that), it would also be a nice option.

for now, i'd stick with the repeater option. throw in the occasional rune arm blast when you aren't moving anyways, but mostly don't sweat it (and i recommend you use clickies to boost your elemental damage, including your rune arm, btw).

later on, you'll want to use your rune arm a bit more, but it really does get better in multiple ways as you gain levels (your available charge tier increases, and your artificer level increases).

and in any case, it looks like you're doing pretty much what i would expect for an effective artificer at those levels. obviously, once you get blade barrier (and tactical detonation) the motivation to get force damage boosts increases dramatically.

[Teraz]

I'd say do the fire and electricity enhancement lines untill you get blade barrier...then your going to want to redo enhancements and go for kinetic.

[conanj77]

once you hit level 15, you gain blade barrier as a spell opt...
You should take it, respec as a Force artificer, then pick up your force rune arm from IQ as soon as possible...
This rune arm can hit for huge numbers... my little first life artificer has had crits of 900 with his Lucid Dreams rune arm...
Pair that up with a Silver Slinger repeater xbow... or a GS Lit II repeater and your golden...

[conanj77]

I just remembered... I posted a build today for a 32pt. WF arti...
lots of juicy stuff on there u can check out for yourself, as well as my build :P

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php...50#post4444750

CJ out!