Arcane Archer Build Assistance

**thesnoman** · 05-12-2013, 02:26 PM

Hello All - I'm assisting a guild mate in Lesser Reincarnating her Archer. We're using a 32-point build and building for end game play primarily with a guild/static group and occasional Pugging.

Here's the basic build I've rolled up and I just want some quick feedback since pretty much all the builds in the old forums are broken links.

Code:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.16.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page


Level 25 True Neutral Elf Female
(20 Ranger \ 5 Epic) 
Hit Points: 452
Spell Points: 450 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 18
Will: 6


                  Starting            Ending          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats         Base Stats         Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)          (Level 25)           (Level 25)
Strength             16                 23                   23
Dexterity            16                 19                   22
Constitution         16                 21                   21
Intelligence          8                 10                   10
Wisdom                8                 10                   10
Charisma              8                 10                   10


Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 3
+1 Tome of Dexterity used at level 3
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 3
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 3
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 3
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 11
+3 Tome of Dexterity used at level 11
+3 Tome of Constitution used at level 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 25)
Balance               3                    11
Bluff                -1                     5
Concentration         3                    23
Diplomacy            -1                     5
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle               -1                     5
Heal                 -1                     5
Hide                  3                    11
Intimidate           -1                     5
Jump                  7                    34
Listen               -1                     7
Move Silently         3                    11
Open Lock             n/a                  n/a
Perform              n/a                    n/a
Repair               -1                     5
Search                3                    30
Spot                  3                    30
Swim                  7                    33
Tumble                n/a                  11
Use Magic Device      1                    16

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Giant
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I




Level 2 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I




Level 3 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion I




Level 4 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost II
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Swamp Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild I




Level 5 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Dragon
Enhancement: Ranger Tundra Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Desert Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage II




Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I




Level 7 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost III
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Damage II




Level 8 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer I




Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage III




Level 10 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Human
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Attack II




Level 11 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +2 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion II




Level 12 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II




Level 13 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Acid Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage IV




Level 14 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack II
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +3 Arrows




Level 15 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Dodge
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Elf
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Explosive Arrows




Level 16 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: CON
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Action Boost I
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost IV




Level 17 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Action Boost II
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +4 Arrows




Level 18 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Power Critical
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Burst Arrows




Level 19 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Terror Arrows
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity II




Level 20 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Lawful Outsider
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Slaying Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Master of Archery
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +5 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild II




Level 21 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Precision




Level 22 (Ranger)




Level 23 (Ranger)




Level 24 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Toughness




Level 25 (Ranger)

Any suggestions would be great. We're looking at trying to do a reincarnation sometime this week and I'll be taking all advice into account when doing this.

Thanks in advance.

TheSnoMan

**Stoner81** · 05-12-2013, 02:59 PM

Put all level ups in to Strength to max out your DPS with your bow and melee, putting a level up in to CON is pointless (imho) since it puts you at an uneven number unless you really really REALLY want Epic Toughness (+4 upgrade tome?).

Precision I would not bother with since Rangers get Improved Precise Shot for free which is just awesome when combined with Manyshot.

Skill wise max out UMD and Balance and put 10 ranks ish in to Jump since Rangers get the Jump spell and the skill maxes out at 40 anyway.

Point Blank shot is pretty nice for short range damage but otherwise it's not needed for feat pre-req's afaik.

Try not to focus too much on Dexterity since for the most part by level 25 you will be hitting everything on anything but a 1 anyway so put as much as you can in to Strength for damage output.

Stoner81.

**thesnoman** · 05-12-2013, 03:38 PM

Yeah - the +1 con was for Epic Toughness and I'm not counting on a +4 tome unless she buys one...which is unlikely...

All else is in Str.

Could also drop starting Dex down to 13 (instead of 16) and get 1 more strength to even it out.

Odd numbers aren't an issue due to equipment covering up that small flaw.

Point Blank Shot is a Pre-req for AA

I can get rid of Precision - was taking it for -25% fortitude against enemies and a lack of other good feats - was originally thinking dodge + mobility + moving shot, but that's 3 feats that can go into better places.

thoughts about dropping starting Dex down to 13?

**Catteras** · 05-12-2013, 04:01 PM

Take a look here. Good arcane archer info.

https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/354668

**Stoner81** · 05-12-2013, 07:54 PM

Originally Posted by thesnoman

Point Blank Shot is a Pre-req for AA

Doh! Sorry forgot about that, been a while since I played one.

Originally Posted by thesnoman

Could also drop starting Dex down to 13 (instead of 16) and get 1 more strength to even it out.

DEX is used for the hit rolls with a bow plus it also adds to your AC at low levels which is very handy, dropping it to 15 and putting STR to 17 would be good since generally stats staring on uneven numbers end up on even numbers at end game.

Stoner81.

**Fleckislaupir** · 05-13-2013, 05:56 PM

It's currently broken, but Combat Archery is supposed to add +1[W] to PBS. If it's fixed soon (a big if), that's an incentive to start DEX 18 + 3 tome so you can take it as one of your epic feats. Drop Dodge, Power Crit, and epic Toughness; I'd rather add a couple of melee or metamagic feats as well as CA (again, if/when it works).

Here's a slightly modified version of a build I did a while ago for someone:

Code:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.16.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page

Level 25 True Neutral Elf Female
(20 Ranger \ 5 Epic) 
Hit Points: 352
Spell Points: 410 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 15
Reflex: 19
Will: 6

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats          Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)             (Level 25)
Strength             17                    26
Dexterity            18                    24
Constitution         13                    16
Intelligence          9                    12
Wisdom                8                    11
Charisma              8                    11

Tomes Used
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 11
+3 Tome of Dexterity used at level 11
+3 Tome of Constitution used at level 11
+3 Tome of Intelligence used at level 11
+3 Tome of Wisdom used at level 11
+3 Tome of Charisma used at level 11

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Undead
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot


Level 2 (Ranger)


Level 3 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons


Level 4 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 5 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Giant


Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost II
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Valenar Elf Melee Damage I
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance I
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer I
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I


Level 7 (Ranger)


Level 8 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons


Level 10 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider


Level 11 (Ranger)


Level 12 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost III
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Imbue Acid Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Imbue Explosive Arrows
Enhancement: Valenar Elf Melee Damage II
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Damage II
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage III
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense II
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance II
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Conjure +2 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Conjure +3 Arrows


Level 13 (Ranger)


Level 14 (Ranger)


Level 15 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Construct
Feat: (Selected) Precision


Level 16 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR


Level 17 (Ranger)


Level 18 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Slashing Weapons


Level 19 (Ranger)


Level 20 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Elf
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Burst Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Imbue Slaying Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Imbue Terror Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Master of Archery
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage IV
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Defense III
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Resistance III
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Conjure +4 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Arcane Archer: Conjure +5 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion I
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion II
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion III
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion IV
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity II


Level 21 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Combat Archery


Level 22 (Ranger)


Level 23 (Ranger)


Level 24 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Empower Healing Spell


Level 25 (Ranger)

If she uses keen melee weapons (e.g., epic Kron'zek's Cruelty, Balizarde), she can swap IC:Slash for Quicken; that + Emp Heal is for CSW & Rejuvenation Cocoon to give her a fair bit of self-heals.

Also, FEs depend on what content your friend plans to run. E.g., Constructs is mostly for House Cannith quests; it can be swapped for a different FE once you're done there (or if don't have House C pack, natch).

**xBunny** · 06-29-2013, 08:27 AM

1)Im newbie here and i want to ask you and advice about 28 points build:Should it be(elf)
str 17
agi 15
con 14
int,wis,char 8

2)Is Human Race good enough to be Arcan Archer, becouse than i can max my str like:
str 18
agi 14
con 14
int,wis,char 8

3)And what about UMD and Balance which are cross-class skills and need twice more points to add? How to max them wisely? Maybe i need to multiclass than ( i really know little about it)? Becouse when i start i have also -1 for Balance and UMD becouse of int,wis,char 8...so when i put 4 points i get only 1 skill!!!
Please answer the last quastion, becouse it is most i wander to know. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Stoner81

Skill wise max out UMD and Balance and put 10 ranks ish in to Jump since Rangers get the Jump spell and the skill maxes out at 40 anyway.

Stoner81.

**xBunny** · 07-01-2013, 07:55 AM

1)I want play Arcane Archer very very much))) Please can anyone help me to build 28 points build without Tomes?
2) I tried this build, but when i level up 4 level, i could not use magic spells becouse i had 8 Wis. If i dont have Tomes mayby i should start with 10 Wis? But for casting all 4level spells i need 14 Wis. Where did you gain more 4 Wis or u didnt use Spells at all?
[/QUOTE]

Code:

Character Plan by DDO Character Planner Version 03.16.01
DDO Character Planner Home Page


Level 25 True Neutral Elf Female
(20 Ranger \ 5 Epic) 
Hit Points: 452
Spell Points: 450 
BAB: 20\20\25\30\30
Fortitude: 17
Reflex: 18
Will: 6


                  Starting            Ending          Feat/Enhancement
Abilities        Base Stats         Base Stats         Modified Stats
(32 Point)       (Level 1)          (Level 25)           (Level 25)
Strength             16                 23                   23
Dexterity            16                 19                   22
Constitution         16                 21                   21
Intelligence          8                 10                   10
Wisdom                8                 10                   10
Charisma              8                 10                   10


Tomes Used
+1 Tome of Strength used at level 3
+1 Tome of Dexterity used at level 3
+1 Tome of Constitution used at level 3
+1 Tome of Intelligence used at level 3
+1 Tome of Wisdom used at level 3
+1 Tome of Charisma used at level 3
+2 Tome of Strength used at level 7
+2 Tome of Dexterity used at level 7
+2 Tome of Constitution used at level 7
+2 Tome of Intelligence used at level 7
+2 Tome of Wisdom used at level 7
+2 Tome of Charisma used at level 7
+3 Tome of Strength used at level 11
+3 Tome of Dexterity used at level 11
+3 Tome of Constitution used at level 11

                  Starting          Feat/Enhancement
                 Base Skills         Modified Skills
Skills           (Level 1)            (Level 25)
Balance               3                    11
Bluff                -1                     5
Concentration         3                    23
Diplomacy            -1                     5
Disable Device       n/a                    n/a
Haggle               -1                     5
Heal                 -1                     5
Hide                  3                    11
Intimidate           -1                     5
Jump                  7                    34
Listen               -1                     7
Move Silently         3                    11
Open Lock             n/a                  n/a
Perform              n/a                    n/a
Repair               -1                     5
Search                3                    30
Spot                  3                    30
Swim                  7                    33
Tumble                n/a                  11
Use Magic Device      1                    16

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Giant
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost I
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Damage I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage I




Level 2 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Dexterity I




Level 3 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity I
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion I




Level 4 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost II
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Attack I
Enhancement: Ranger Swamp Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild I




Level 5 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Dragon
Enhancement: Ranger Tundra Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Desert Lore I
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage II




Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Mental Toughness
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack I




Level 7 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost III
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Damage II




Level 8 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer I




Level 9 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage III




Level 10 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Human
Enhancement: Elven Ranged Attack II




Level 11 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +2 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Devotion II




Level 12 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Selected) Toughness
Enhancement: Racial Toughness I
Enhancement: Racial Toughness II




Level 13 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Acid Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Damage IV




Level 14 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Favored Attack II
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +3 Arrows




Level 15 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Dodge
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Elf
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Explosive Arrows




Level 16 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: CON
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Action Boost I
Enhancement: Ranger Sprint Boost IV




Level 17 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Ranger Extra Action Boost II
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +4 Arrows




Level 18 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Power Critical
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Force Burst Arrows




Level 19 (Ranger)
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Terror Arrows
Enhancement: Elven Dexterity II




Level 20 (Ranger)
Ability Raise: STR
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Lawful Outsider
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Imbue Slaying Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Master of Archery
Enhancement: Elven Arcane Archer: Conjure +5 Arrows
Enhancement: Ranger Energy of the Wild II




Level 21 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Precision




Level 22 (Ranger)




Level 23 (Ranger)




Level 24 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Epic Toughness




Level 25 (Ranger)

Any suggestions would be great. We're looking at trying to do a reincarnation sometime this week and I'll be taking all advice into account when doing this.

Thanks in advance.

TheSnoMan[/QUOTE]

**Stoner81** · 07-01-2013, 08:04 AM

Gaining skill points on a first life character can be troublesome since you are starting from scratch especially with a 28pt build, Humans are a good choice for this reason because they get more skill points at level up than any other race. UMD is pretty useless until you get to about level 10 or so when you can start attempting to use some low level wands (Shield - protection against magic missiles which hurt a lot) but with enough investment once you get to end game it is very useful indeed. I would strongly recommend against multi-classing for now until you learn more about the game and how it works etc, multi class builds can be broken very easily so they need planning and thought going in to them.

Rangers need a WIS score of 11 to be able to cast 1st level spells, a score of 12 for 2nd level spells, 13 for 3rd level spells and 14 for 4th level spells. This can be achieved by simply dumping WIS (leaving it at a score of 8 at creation) and using a +6 WIS item. Rangers get some very useful buffing spells but it takes a fair amount of levels to get them so I would not worry to much. You can also drink potions to boost your WIS score in order to cast spells too such as Owl's Wisdom which gives +4 to Wisdom (iirc).

Stoner81.

**xBunny** · 07-01-2013, 09:40 AM

And what about favored enemies? I was thinking about undead at the begining, but there are clerics and paladins who do well with it. I find such example on ddowiki:

"As a jumping off point, consider (in order): Undead, Reptilian, Giant, Evil Outsider and Aberration. Adjust to taste and experience.Rarely taken are: Animal, Chaotic Outsider, Dragon, Dwarf (includes Duergar), Elf (includes Drow), Gnoll, Halfling, Human, Lawful Outsider, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Ooze, Orc, Plant, Vermin"

Is Dragon favored enemy a good idea?
P.S. thanks allot..)))

**xBunny** · 07-01-2013, 09:41 AM

And what about Enchantments? Do human have proper enchantsment for Ranger? And what about skill points? I am thinking to put them into UMD, Balance, Spot, Tumble, Hide and Move Silently...as i dont find any other usefull. Open Lock, Search and Disable Device are more for Rogue....Jump i will gain from str+spell. I also think about Diplomacy...it is good for my opinion for ranged clasess, but would it be enough points to use it?

P.S. Thanks allot...))

**Stoner81** · 07-01-2013, 10:03 AM

Originally Posted by xBunny

And what about favored enemies? I was thinking about undead at the begining, but there are clerics and paladins who do well with it. I find such example on ddowiki:

"As a jumping off point, consider (in order): Undead, Reptilian, Giant, Evil Outsider and Aberration. Adjust to taste and experience.Rarely taken are: Animal, Chaotic Outsider, Dragon, Dwarf (includes Duergar), Elf (includes Drow), Gnoll, Halfling, Human, Lawful Outsider, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Ooze, Orc, Plant, Vermin"

Is Dragon favored enemy a good idea?
P.S. thanks allot..)))

Dragon is pointless really since you only deal with one at a time at end game I would stick with what it suggests to be honest.

Originally Posted by xBunny

And what about Enchantments? Do human have proper enchantsment for Ranger? And what about skill points? I am thinking to put them into UMD, Balance, Spot, Tumble, Hide and Move Silently...as i dont find any other usefull. Open Lock, Search and Disable Device are more for Rogue....Jump i will gain from str+spell. I also think about Diplomacy...it is good for my opinion for ranged clasess, but would it be enough points to use it?

P.S. Thanks allot...))

Enhancements are more or less the exact same regardless of race with a few exceptions, for example Humans get human heal amp (always handy to have). UMD and Balance are good skills to invest in for sure, Tumble only put 1 point in to it to enable it after that forget it. Hide and Move Silently only apply when sneaking which is very handy in some quests or if you want to bypass monsters without having to fight them depends on how you want to play really.

Stoner81.

**unbongwah** · 07-01-2013, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by xBunny

2) I tried this build, but when i level up 4 level, i could not use magic spells becouse i had 8 Wis. If i dont have Tomes mayby i should start with 10 Wis? But for casting all 4level spells i need 14 Wis. Where did you gain more 4 Wis or u didnt use Spells at all?

Gear & buffs count towards your caster pre-req; so most rgr (& pally) builds start WIS 8 and add a +6 WIS item eventually. At lvl 4, you can equip a +3 WIS item or use Owl's WIS pots / wands; once you have enough House P or J favor, you can also use the 30-min. Owl's WIS buffs.

Originally Posted by xBunny

And what about favored enemies?

My FE recommendations (in order) are:

Undead: you fight them constantly from lvls 1 to ~15 (Necro IV); then again in epics. Plus they're immune to crits & SAs, so every little bit helps.
Giants: this includes ogres & trolls; and now that Gianthold has been epic-fied, it's more useful at endgame than it used to be.
Evil Outsiders: pretty common at higher lvls (Vale, Amrath, etc.). Note: FEs don't stack, so there's not much point in taking, e.g., EO & Chaotic Outsiders as FEs; i.e., you won't do double-dmg to CE outsiders by having both FEs.
Constructs: this is a good one for doing House C quests; can be swapped out once you're done.
Elf: for fighting those darn drow in MotU.

Aberration is okay, esp. if you're running the Madness quests; some people like Elemental because you fight a lot of them and they're usually crit-/SA-immune too, like undead. Now that you can pay for feat swaps with AS, you can swap FEs around based on what content you're running if you don't mind the expense.

**Fedora1** · 07-01-2013, 11:11 AM

Originally Posted by unbongwah

At lvl 4, you can equip a +3 WIS item

I think +3 stat items are ML5.

**unbongwah** · 07-01-2013, 11:42 AM

Originally Posted by Fedora1

I think +3 stat items are ML5.

Regular ones, yes; but you can craft one w/reduced ML:3.

**Fedora1** · 07-01-2013, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by unbongwah

Regular ones, yes; but you can craft one w/reduced ML:3.

Roger that. I got to thinking, maybe "race required" as well.

**MangLord** · 07-15-2013, 06:51 AM

Personally I like precision feat. That 25% fort reduction can make a big difference in undead and construct heavy quests, and you'll also notice a lot less crits being blocked in general, especially at epic levels. It also stacks with improved precise shot and prism stance, assuming you're going Arcane Archer.

For favored enemies, I went with construct, undead, evil outsider and I forget if there's one more. Maybe elf. The reason I went with these is that they're common and/or difficult to kill with high fortification. Human and giant are probably also good choices.

Also...I could never get my UMD high enough to be useful, so I don't recommend wasting points on that. My ranger is splashed with a level of rogue, so I don't know how many I'd be able to devote without having to keep maxing DD and OL. I have a base 16 INT, plus tomes, so I had plenty of skill points to work with.

**Soulfurnace** · 07-15-2013, 08:17 AM

UMD is never a waste, unless you're a barbarian. Rawr, DPS AND STUFFS!
Unless it's a class skill, it just takes a while to be high enough to matter.

**unbongwah** · 07-15-2013, 01:15 PM

Even if you never hit the magic UMD 39 mark (for almost-no-fail Heal scrolls), UMD is still useful: e.g., bypassing race/alignment restrictions on gear, using lower-lvl wand / scroll buffs (e.g., Blur, Fire Shield, Stoneskin, etc.).

**SiliconShadow** · 07-19-2013, 08:47 AM

Originally Posted by Stoner81

Precision I would not bother with since Rangers get Improved Precise Shot for free which is just awesome when combined with Manyshot.

For single target / construct / undead dps precision is the best feat as an AA you can get. I took it on my 5th life TR AA at a low level and ripped through the game, this combines with precise shot.. so don't worry it's imba.

Thread: Arcane Archer Build Assistance

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Arcane Archer Build Assistance

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Arcane Archer 28 starter Build

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