Help with starting stats pure ranged arcane archer elf

[Sealsniper]

Looking for help pro's/con's on starting stats for pure ranged arcane archer (elf)

I will be completionist with past life in 3x ranger, going pure AA
+5 tomes str/dex/con/wis/int/cha

Leaning I think towards str build over dex build for damage as seems from reading str is better overall per some of the posts made but open to feedback.

Any and all help appreciated

Thank you,

Seal

[korsat]

Looking for help pro's/con's on starting stats for pure ranged arcane archer (elf)

I will be completionist with past life in 3x ranger, going pure AA
+5 tomes str/dex/con/wis/int/cha

Leaning I think towards str build over dex build for damage as seems from reading str is better overall per some of the posts made but open to feedback.

Any and all help appreciated

Thank you,

Seal

hello,

I would say:

16 strenght+5tome+2lvl up to qualify for OC
16dex+5tome to qualify for combat archery
at least 14 con
10 int to max important skills (balance, heal, umd, concentration)
15-16 wisdom for 10k stars if you're building moncher (lvlup here), otherwise just drop this to 11-12 if you go pure ranger and lvl up strenght instead.
cha if you have points left is just for UMD.

I also think strenght is better than dex expecially if you have +5 tomes and you're geared up (Dex still better for no gear no pl toons without OC)

Hope this helps

tc

[unbongwah]

STR: base 18 + 7 lvl-ups + 5 tome = 30
DEX: base 16 + 5 tome = 21
CON: base 14 + 5 tome = 19
dump the rest

You can tweak stats a bit if you wanted any of them to end up even after tomes, but that's the baseline.

Feats
For a purely DPS ranged-focused-but-still-good-melee rgr, I would do:
Ranged: PBS (1), Precision (6), IC: Ranged (9), Combat Archery (21)
Melee: Power Atk (3), IC: Pierce (12), Cleave (15), GC (18), Overwhelming Crit (24)

That leaves your final epic feat free for Blinding Speed, Epic DR, Epic Reflexes, or Emp Heal. If you use Balizardes (or other keen rapiers), you can swap IC: Pierce for another feat.

Enhancements
Again, for primarily ranged build, I would put 41 APs into AA (Slaying Arrows+capstone), 21 APs in Tempest (+20% offhand procs), with the rest split between elf (mostly Aerenal for rapier & longbow bonuses) & DWS (SAs, +Pos Spellpower).

[Darkrok]

Again, for primarily ranged build, I would put 41 APs into AA (Slaying Arrows+capstone)

I thought I'd read something about the capstone being bugged and turning off all damage stances after 30 seconds instead of keeping an extra one active for 30 seconds. Not a big deal if it is - you just respec out of it - but figured I'd mention that to head off any possible confusion if the OP runs into this bug.

[unbongwah]

Ugh - still? I thought the latest patch fixed that...well, whatever, just means more APs to spend elsewhere! BTW, has the Tempest capstone been fixed yet?

[Darkrok]

Ugh - still? I thought the latest patch fixed that...well, whatever, just means more APs to spend elsewhere! BTW, has the Tempest capstone been fixed yet?

I don't know whether they fixed it or not...there's just not a large number of ranged-based ranger 20's out there to test this on live. But yeah, it's easy enough for the OP to test when he gets there as long as he's aware there might be a problem.

[schelsullivan]

I don't know whether they fixed it or not...there's just not a large number of ranged-based ranger 20's out there to test this on live. But yeah, it's easy enough for the OP to test when he gets there as long as he's aware there might be a problem.

Im pure ranger, will respec and test this again tonight.

[schelsullivan]

Im pure ranger, will respec and test this again tonight.

master of imbument still borked.

[Sealsniper]

Thanks to those who have responded.

As mentioned going to be pure ranged 98% of time with this toon. I have other melee only characters for that, though I have the gear if needed (twin min 2's, twin lightning strikes, twin trip pos, twin radiance, twin wounding of puncturing rapiers) in a pinch as was a tempest in previous life long long ago.

Plan on using my triple pos (lvl 8 ) longbow
Lightning strike, mineral 2, icy burst wop, and other collection of long bows once I bigbys to 15 or ottos to 18 (haven't decided which one will use.....most likely bigbys so I can get used to ranger again.

I would assume lvl up in str at 4,8 etc correct?

[unbongwah]

Are you staying pure for flavor's sake? If not, you should consider a monkcher build for a full-time archer.

[Sealsniper]

Are you staying pure for flavor's sake? If not, you should consider a monkcher build for a full-time archer.

Guess more flavor. That and don't know anything about monkcher. Been away from game for over 2 years. Only back a few months and so monkcher was not really around that I'm aware of. Wouldn't know how to build or where to begin.

What pro/con of monkcher? What recommended build?

[AtomicMew]

Guess more flavor. That and don't know anything about monkcher. Been away from game for over 2 years. Only back a few months and so monkcher was not really around that I'm aware of. Wouldn't know how to build or where to begin.

What pro/con of monkcher? What recommended build?

Pros: more DPS and survivability.

Cons: not playing a noob build to troll people with

As for split, 12 monk/6 ranger/2 fighter used to be the classic version, but it's hard to say if that's optimal after the enhancement pass, since you can get master of forms without 12 monk levels.

[Ausdoerrt]

Master of Imbuement is borked, and I suggest trying out the DWS line, I actually ended up liking it better than AA. Just get basics from the AA line and put 40+ points into DWS for capstone. Extra SA and sniper+merciful combo is awesome. Mark of the Hunter debuff isn't bad either.

It's more sustained rather than burst DPS, but is more versatile than AA.

[unbongwah]

What pro/con of monkcher? What recommended build?

The primary advantage of a monkcher is that 10,000 Stars (now a feat, req's monk lvl 6+) works with bows if you have Zen Archery (base WIS 13+). So a monkcher alternates between Manyshot and 10K Stars to keep up their ranged DPS. EDIT: another advantage is the +1 crit multiplier from Master / GM Earth stance applies to ranged atks.

There are a few drawbacks, though: you need to stay centered, so pajamas + ki weapons are a must; they're more MAD than regular archers (since you need to worry about WIS along with other stats); ranged atks don't generate ki (so you either need to switch ocasionally to melee - usually while MS & 10K are on cooldown - or add some passive ki regen abilities like Contemplation); activating MS also triggers the cooldown on 10K (didn't do that pre-U19, IIRC). Also, unlocking the racial AA PrE on elves & HEs costs more APs than it did before, I think.

There were a few nice changes to AA in U19, though: Turbine dropped the feat pre-reqs, so no need for WF:Ranged nor Mental Toughness (or arcane splash); they also dropped the spellcasting pre-req, though you do still need SPs to power imbues+special atks; and they added a lot of new abilities to the AA tree, like secondary imbues and special atks (Slaying Arrow is now a triggered atk rather than an imbue).

As for split, 12 monk/6 ranger/2 fighter used to be the classic version, but it's hard to say if that's optimal after the enhancement pass, since you can get master of forms without 12 monk levels.

It's still a pretty good combo, IMHO, since the extra monk lvls get you Imp Evasion and higher DCs for monk strikes, as well as Master of Forms free. Plus I think it's more cost-effective to unlock AA abilities via the rgr tree than the racial PrEs: you'll lose access to the higher-lvl core abilities; but since the capstone is still borked, then all you're really losing is Aligned & Shadow Arrows. That frees APs to be spent elsewhere; it also opens the door to non-elf/HE AA builds.