So what are some of the stronger combinations now for an archer?

[sephiroth1084]

Pre-U19 I played a Half-Elf 12 Monk/6 Ranger/2 Fighter AA and it was pretty solid in EE content. Now I'm playing Elf 12 Monk/6 Ranger/2 Druid and it's very strong even without the Beguile shenanigans. I'm STR based with OC, and chose Elf for two reasons: +2 DEX to help me get the 21 I need for Combat Archery, and the Aerenal weapon training (+4 hit/dmg with Pinion). My twists are Rejuv Cocoon, Pin and Otto's Whistler. It's by far my strongest toon.

BTW: I don't purchase Shadow Veil on my AA. Even with Henshin Mystic Contemplation it uses up too much ki. I don't melee.

I don't melee on my archer either, but I twist in (at least for now) +1 passive Ki gen, and I pick up the +1 Ki gen while stealthing out of Ninja Spy. Unless I'm seriously speed-running a dungeon, there are often a few moments here and there where we aren't moving, or aren't moving fast, and I can Stealth to regain some Ki. And now that we have access to all the stances of a given tier, I've also started playing around with jumping into Water III when moving a longish way between fights for another +1 passive regen. Add to that the Ki on being hit while in Earth stance, and I usually have enough Ki to keep 10K Stars going, and to use Shadow Fade (I don't know why they renamed it) when necessary, as well as having a little for an Abundant Step now and then.

I'm fairly disappointed in half-elf. Does it cap out at +2d6 SA from the rogue dilly? it looks like it does, but just getting through that costs so much, it hardly seems worth it. They really didn't need to cost 2/enhancement, but then again, we'd still be saddled with AP invested requirements. So I'm currently just picking up a rank or two of Elven Accuracy, 1 stat boost, and 1 healing amp. Not a great use of my race.

I think I've got most of the goodies out of DWS all the way up and to rank 3 on the bottom, a few of the staples out of AA including force arrows, acid arrows, conjure arrows, paralyzers, the temp SP on-hit, Inferno Shot III (at worst it's a short-cooldown +2[W] attack), and the 3rd core rank, W&S Mastery III in arti, and enough Ninja to get to Fade. I don't recall what feats I have...whether I feel I can drop any to get to OC.

Now that A Dance with Flowers works with Zen Archery, I'm going to LR from Druid to Artificer. Heal scrolls net 396 each for 4 AP, which lets me drop Rejuv for Dance. Full UMD also allows me to incorporate Tenser's Transformation before a Furyshot. I haven't decided what I'm going to replace Empower Heal Spell with yet.

I've been running Enlightenment and Haste Boost. Does Dance work with bows now? This is the first I'm hearing about it. Have you used Leg Shot at all? It doesn't have the +[W] that Pin Down does, but I might be inclined to just used that. It's not all that often you have monsters for whom 50% movement speed doesn't cut it, and it has a much faster cooldown.

Definitely some things to consider here.

[sephiroth1084]

As far as pali's they did get the worst of it with DOS greater stances requiring shields, but Divine might easily made up for the strength loss(adds charisma bonus to strength) The loss to HP and con plus ac if went that way hurt a bit. Still the red headed step child sadly. Work with the enhancements though my pali while not pure made out a lil bit higher in dps and tactics but lost some hp and ac, but can live with it.

Uh...Cha mod to Str is much worse than the old DM.

I used to swap between S&B and a two-hander, which now won't really work, lose HP, AC and threat, and I didn't use tactics at all thanks to being so very far behind the classes for which the game is balanced, and Divine Might isn't bridging that gap.

[oradafu]

Uh...Cha mod to Str is much worse than the old DM.

I used to swap between S&B and a two-hander, which now won't really work, lose HP, AC and threat, and I didn't use tactics at all thanks to being so very far behind the classes for which the game is balanced, and Divine Might isn't bridging that gap.

I totally agree with this. The changes to Divine Might might help Paladins with Monk or Fighter levels since they benefit from an increase in Tactics. However, for a majority of Paladins, the changes with Divine Might hurt since it's a drop in total DPS for Paladins.

[Rhaphael]

I think I've got most of the goodies out of DWS all the way up and to rank 3 on the bottom, a few of the staples out of AA including force arrows, acid arrows, conjure arrows, paralyzers, the temp SP on-hit, Inferno Shot III (at worst it's a short-cooldown +2[W] attack), and the 3rd core rank, W&S Mastery III in arti, and enough Ninja to get to Fade. I don't recall what feats I have...whether I feel I can drop any to get to OC.

On Lamannia that temp SP was bugged big-time. As long as you kept firing your temp SP kept increasing. On live it seems to work similar except it refreshes/resets a lot faster, making it harder to stack on the SP.

Also I REALLY hate that aweful visual effect and the noise every time I hit something now...

[Bilger]

Uh...Cha mod to Str is much worse than the old DM.

I used to swap between S&B and a two-hander, which now won't really work, lose HP, AC and threat, and I didn't use tactics at all thanks to being so very far behind the classes for which the game is balanced, and Divine Might isn't bridging that gap.

Well for mine DM is better, maybe not for yours. Can keep it going way longer more turns "ALOT more" can last a lot longer than the old DM and sustain dps a lot longer. I did say in my post they did get shaft and such so agreed with ya there. I just wanted to point one good thing for me amidst the junk the pali's are now. I saved mine, but would of LR if it wasn't a Iconic into something else. I do have a S&B tank Pali that is shelved atm still can tank and all that, but just isn't fun to play and probably be stuck at 25 for a very long time.

[Emizand]

I'm loath to even load my paladin for fear of seeing just how badly they ****ed him up

Then dont! Not yet anyhows. Have you access to Iconics? Roll a PDK and after lvl 1 swap to Pala. Gain this goody:-

Cormyrean Knight Training: You now use Charisma or Strength, whichever is higher, for attack and damage with shortswords, longswords, bastard swords, and greatswords. IN addition, as long as your Charisma remains higher than your Strength, you receive a bonus to the DCs of your Tactical Feats euqal to 1/3 your Charisma modifier.

Bottom line is things have changed, some not for the better, notably paladins. However most of my toons that i have tweaked are doing ok. Your archer is not as bad as you feared, maybe you can sort Pali in time mate.

As i say if you have access to pdk then roll a lvl 1 you have to take fighter but then could swap to pali and have a play with a max cha no/little str one.

There are new builds waiting to be created.

Emi

[Unsinful]

I have been playing around with 2
#1 is a BowBarian a 13 barb/4 ranger/3 rogue
Requires minimal tomes gives nice damage outputs and as helf you can use 13 wis for cleric dilante
#2 is a BowSlinger a 8 ranger/6 arty/6 fighter
This is the same way helf for heals ranger pastlife free manyshot/twf line arty for traps elemental weapons and tons of umd and fighter for kensai longbow for specifically manyshot

While manyshot is on cooldown i switch from the GS repeater to my pair of GS swords you dont need GS i just love to have it. You will see that you put out really nice damage no matter which way u go.