"Strimtom's Acid Arrow", Maximum Bow DPS, F2P/new player Friendly

[Loromir]

Awesome, thanks unbongwah.

So, Corrosion (adding to acid spell power specifically) is a good way to go then?

Also, I feel like this might be a silly question, but:

"Corrosive" items (+ acid lore) increases chance of acid spells to critical hit. Would this affect our elemental arrows in any way?

Thanks again!

I don't think spell lore applies to acid arrows.

[unbongwah]

So, Corrosion (adding to acid spell power specifically) is a good way to go then?

Correct. If you chose to take a different imbue, then naturally you need to find the right Spellpower gear to go with it.

For heroic leveling, the Cannith gear is pretty nice, because they provide other useful bonuses. Specifically, Shock arrows + Wind Bracers provides perma-Blur, Dodge, and (at higher levels) Air Guard; acid arrows + Rock Boots gains you Stone Prison Guard, Earthgrab Guard, and immunity to slippery surfaces.

"Corrosive" items (+ acid lore) increases chance of acid spells to critical hit. Would this affect our elemental arrows in any way?

No: spell crit bonuses have no effect on imbues, unfortunately.

[Xxyyn]

Im changing to an archer soon and this seems interesting. But I mostly do EE/LH content and I'm not concerned with heroic. Any updates?

[Ligraph]

Im changing to an archer soon and this seems interesting. But I mostly do EE/LH content and I'm not concerned with heroic. Any updates?

I'd go lightning instead of acid cause of Pit Fiends. I'd also take a look at this build, it might be a bit more endgame focused.

[Strimtom]

New-ish player here

Welcome!

So acid arrows do Xd8 damage, and then "scale with spell power." But what is the practical application of this "scaling"? I mean, how important is it to gear for maxing Spell Points/Power instead of say, seeker, speed, deadly, and so on?

Every point of acid spellpower increases the acid damage from arcane archer. This damage is substantial when you have spellpower. It is easy to get 100 spellpower by level 10, giving you a bit boost. Since you only need spell power and not spell crit you should be able to fit in Spellpower, Deadly, Accurate, and Seeker. I don't use speed that often personally.

Also, Force Arrows say they increase in damage with your elemental arrows. So, is there an advantage to still using acid arrows over force for general leveling?

Yes, acid has a higher top end. Acid does 1-8 x7, force does 1-6 x7. Almost no enemies will be immune to acid damage leveling. I on'y swap to force when facing devils/incorporeal creatures.

And finally, does Acid spell power actually affect damage of your acid arrows? (I have gotten conflicting answers from veterans in-game.) Is it worthwhile trying to gear for corrosive items? Or, should I gear for force spell power? Or universal spell power? All the above? Or something else entirely?

Get a corrosion spellpower item and an insightful corrosion spellpower item. You could stock up on force spellpower items, but that isn't necessary.

I don't think spell lore applies to acid arrows.

It does not

Im changing to an archer soon and this seems interesting. But I mostly do EE/LH content and I'm not concerned with heroic. Any updates?

This build mostly has heroic/EH in mind. You can solo EH at level 20 with this build since it does so much damage. However, in EE it does struggle with staying alive. The damage is fine, but not dying in two hits is pretty tough. If you are looking for a refined EE end game build, check out the build Ligraph mentioned for doing level 30 legendary elite content. I'm not saying you can't use this build, I'm just saying that it hasn't been refined for max DPS at level 30 and that if you wanted to find the best optimization for this build you would need to do the legwork. I went from 20 to 30 in maybe 20 hours, so I know it levels easy

I'd go lightning instead of acid cause of Pit Fiends. I'd also take a look at this build, it might be a bit more endgame focused.

[Ligraph]

New-ish player here and been away from the game for several years. Love the work on the build Strimtom. Thank you.

I'm reviving an old AA character and trying to understand the new mechanics.

So acid arrows do Xd8 damage, and then "scale with spell power." But what is the practical application of this "scaling"? I mean, how important is it to gear for maxing Spell Points/Power instead of say, seeker, speed, deadly, and so on?

Also, Force Arrows say they increase in damage with your elemental arrows. So, is there an advantage to still using acid arrows over force for general leveling?

And finally, does Acid spell power actually affect damage of your acid arrows? (I have gotten conflicting answers from veterans in-game.) Is it worthwhile trying to gear for corrosive items? Or, should I gear for force spell power? Or universal spell power? All the above? Or something else entirely?

Thanks for any advice!

I'll give you a bit of the math:

The way spell power works is it increases the damage delt by things it affects by 1% for every point of spell power you have.

So, it multiplies your damage by (100+ Spell Power)/100

That means if you normally do 31.5 damage with acid arrows, you will do:

• 63 damage with 100 spell power
• 126 damage with 300 spell power
• 189 damage with 500 spell power
• and 252 damage with 700 spell power

Getting 500 spell power isn't super hard if you build for it. 300 is fairly easy (an enhancement item and a insightful item). At level 30 anyways.

In addition, spell power effects your Scion of A Element feats, which adds a LOT of damage (almost the same as Acid Arrows)

[DorkHonor]

Don't mean to necro a thread, but hopefully you guys can answer a quick question. I've been playing this build, planning to reincarnate at 20, so no epics. However, I did take a rogue level to do traps instead of playing pure. Given that, I can't get the capstone, so how would you guys change the enhancement advice? I'm currently going 39 points in Deepwood Stalker, following all the picks from the original post. Have around 28 points in AA to get acid damage up to fourth tier and the moon bow or whatever, where you get a chance for temporary spell points on hit. Thinking of putting the remaining points into the elf tree for some extra dex, and ranged power instead of taking dispelling shot and whatnot in the AA tree which seemed like it was mostly there to get enough points invested for the capstone. Will that work or should I put the points into the AA tree anyway? Or, are there some good enhancements in the rogue or harper trees that I could go into instead?

Basically, if somebody is going to accept the lower damage of splashing rogue with this build, what's the ideal way to do the enhancements?

[Hobgoblin]

Don't mean to necro a thread, but hopefully you guys can answer a quick question. I've been playing this build, planning to reincarnate at 20, so no epics. However, I did take a rogue level to do traps instead of playing pure. Given that, I can't get the capstone, so how would you guys change the enhancement advice? I'm currently going 39 points in Deepwood Stalker, following all the picks from the original post. Have around 28 points in AA to get acid damage up to fourth tier and the moon bow or whatever, where you get a chance for temporary spell points on hit. Thinking of putting the remaining points into the elf tree for some extra dex, and ranged power instead of taking dispelling shot and whatnot in the AA tree which seemed like it was mostly there to get enough points invested for the capstone. Will that work or should I put the points into the AA tree anyway? Or, are there some good enhancements in the rogue or harper trees that I could go into instead?

Basically, if somebody is going to accept the lower damage of splashing rogue with this build, what's the ideal way to do the enhancements?

not sure of your race or how many rogue levels, but have you considered going elf and going aa?

[unbongwah]

However, I did take a rogue level to do traps instead of playing pure. Given that, I can't get the capstone, so how would you guys change the enhancement advice? I'm currently going 39 points in Deepwood Stalker, following all the picks from the original post. Have around 28 points in AA to get acid damage up to fourth tier and the moon bow or whatever, where you get a chance for temporary spell points on hit.

If you're doing an 18/1/1 or 18/2 split, my inclination is: 31 APs AA (Shadow Arrows), 39-41 DWS (Mark of the Hunted + T5s), with the last 8-10 APs spread as you see fit. If you've got Harper + decent INT, you could take Know the Angles; if you still melee, you can put the rest in Tempest.

not sure of your race or how many rogue levels, but have you considered going elf and going aa?

If he's TRing at 20 or 21, it doesn't matter; the last two cores of the racial AA PrE aren't available until lvls 22 & 25.

[DorkHonor]

I started as an X/1 split with only one rogue level for trap skills. I'm level 18 now and realizing that staying X/1 doesn't really do anything because ranger level 19 isn't really any better than level 18, so I should probably go 18/2 or 18/1/1, but don't know what the other 1 should be. Monk maybe? Fighter? Rogue 2 only gives me evasion, which ranger 9 already did anyway right? Well that and some extra skill points. I skipped concentration to keep trap skills maxed so I could use a second rogue level to dump points in concentration I guess. 18/1/1 could net me an extra feat.

Doesn't really matter because I'm already far enough down the line that reincarnating is hopefully right around the corner anyway. Maybe I'll go 18/1 ranger/rogue and roll a die for the last level.

Oh, and my race is elf for the guy who asked that.

[Strimtom]

Don't mean to necro a thread

You can't necro what hasn't died!

If you're doing an 18/1/1 or 18/2 split, my inclination is: 31 APs AA (Shadow Arrows), 39-41 DWS (Mark of the Hunted + T5s), with the last 8-10 APs spread as you see fit. If you've got Harper + decent INT, you could take Know the Angles; if you still melee, you can put the rest in Tempest.

Mostly correct, although I would spend the points in the Elf tree for Longbow damage, dex, and sneak attack range. Depending on how much you want shadow arrows, you could even get away with just 25 points in AA (Enough to get Acid 4, Dex, and Aligned arrows) and do 39 DWS, 25 AA, and 16 Elf for 2 dex, +3 to hit and damage with longbow, and sneak attack range/4% chance to hit.

I started as an X/1 split with only one rogue level for trap skills. I'm level 18 now and realizing that staying X/1 doesn't really do anything because ranger level 19 isn't really any better than level 18, so I should probably go 18/2 or 18/1/1, but don't know what the other 1 should be. Monk maybe? Fighter? Rogue 2 only gives me evasion, which ranger 9 already did anyway right? Doesn't really matter because I'm already far enough down the line that reincarnating is hopefully right around the corner anyway. Maybe I'll go 18/1 ranger/rogue and roll a die for the last level.

Since you have evasion, I would probably take fighter for the free feat.

[DorkHonor]

Thanks for the build by the way! It's been a blast.

I was eyeballing all the stuff in the elf tree that you just mentioned, so it's good to know I'm on the right track.

Now I just need to figure out what I'm going to be in life number 2. Leaning towards Paladin to make sure I get no benefit whatsoever from my ranger past life, cause that's just how I roll.

[unbongwah]

Another possibility is barb splash for +10% run speed. If you're TRing at 20 anyway, it hardly matters either way.

[Strimtom]

Another possibility is barb splash for +10% run speed. If you're TRing at 20 anyway, it hardly matters either way.

Also a good idea. Movespeed is so good

[Kodwraith]

So it looks like acid dmg is effectively multiplied by crit multipliers on this build. Can anyone confirm? ie: a crit hit on a 20 results in 3x physical AND acid damage.

I'm running around at lvl 6 with about 120 Acid spell power and I got a 600 crit from 300 physical damage and another 300 from acid. Fun build, I had an older silver bow form a previous life so my mini-Thor range started at level 6. I can basically one shot almost everything on HE in any of the "classic quests" sometimes it takes two arrows but oh well.

[Kodwraith]

So it looks like acid dmg is effectively multiplied by crit multipliers on this build. Can anyone confirm? ie: a crit hit on a 20 results in 3x physical AND acid damage.

NVM I'm an idiot. Acid damage is not being multiplied by criticals.

[losvtranse]

Hey, some time ago i came with similar build idea, and i want ask you some questions about it (because you played it ), and feel free to blame me, because i`m total noob, know nothing about game etc e.
First - acid... Why acid? Isn`t Force arrows better? While they have a bit lower damage dice, they got (if i read it correctly) a 3d10 dice on crit, that goes into 21d10-27d10 damage on crit, and nobody have resists aganist it.
Second question is - does dws tree brings much profit except dextodamage and 20% doubleshot?
Thrid - what do you think about my version (only theory, will tr into it soon)? int-based(1.5 damage cuz KtA + additional spellpower because of spellcraft) elf 12wis/6fighter(or ranger, i`m still unsure)/2rogue (29 force spellpower from ek, tenser (casted) that gives somewhat 14% atack speed (compared to 20 ranger) because of epic bab increase, usefull spells that gives us additional protective layer, traps from rouge, fighter gives us same number of feats as 11 ranger, but a little later.)

[LrdSlvrhnd]

Hey, some time ago i came with similar build idea, and i want ask you some questions about it (because you played it ), and feel free to blame me, because i`m total noob, know nothing about game etc e.
First - acid... Why acid? Isn`t Force arrows better? While they have a bit lower damage dice, they got (if i read it correctly) a 3d10 dice on crit, that goes into 21d10-27d10 damage on crit, and nobody have resists aganist it.

I would be absolutely SHOCKED if the extra dice amped up the crit hit. I don't know of any longbow that has a x4 multiplier, so you're looking at 2d10 on crits (unless Shadow Arrows increasing the multiplier also increases the damage on burst; I've never gotten an answer on that no matter how often I've asked (my guess would be permanent increases from passives might, but temporary ones from active enhancements probably don't, but I have no clue), but that's still only 3d10). I always prefer extra constant damage over extra "spike" damage like from crits, but that's just my playstyle. So you're talking an average of +11 or +16.5 only on crits (that may or may not be boosted by spellpower). Even with a bow with an 18-20 range, IC:Ranged, and Advanced Sneak Attack from DWS, you're still only critting 25% of the time. So at best, you're looking at +4.1 average extra damage from the Force Burst. Even liberal use of clicky attacks that increase the threat range wouldn't be enough to match the average of +7 (multiplied by spellpower) you'd be getting from an elemental imbue. And with your proposed lineup, it gets even worse - you're at 20% crits without the DWS cores (so average 3.3), and either +2 dice or elemental burst+special (depending on the T5 you take), and no crit-improving actives. Which means either the elemental imbue is an average of +9 (times spellpower) more damage than force (making the discrepancy greater) or you're doing the same crit damage with the ele burst that you'd be doing with the force burst AND extra damage from the better die profile AND whatever extra the elemental crit gives you. I'm not entirely convinced that the extra +20 spellpower from EK (9 of that +29 being universal and thus applying to both Force and elemental *g*) is enough to make up the difference.

So basically:

Force:

• 9d6 (average 31.5) (multiplied by spellpower)
• 3d10 crits (16.5 damage)
• 18-20 range
  
  • 20% - average 3.3 (possibly multiplied by spellpower)
  • Total average: 34.8
• 19-20 range
  
  • 15% - average 2.475
  • Total average: 33.975
• 20 range
  
  • 10% - average 1.65
  • Total average: 33.15
• Even less if Shadow Arrows doesn't affect Burst (and definitely less until you can get it at L22)
• Even less until you get IC: Ranged

Elemental

• 9d8 (average 40.5) (multiplied by spellpower)

IMHO, unless you're going against something resistant to a particular element (or something incorp), the extra constant damage from elemental imbues is better than the extra critical damage from force. And if you are, it's just a matter of a second to switch to force. You're going to need a lot of extra force spellpower than whichever element you choose to make up the difference... and even more if the burst isn't affected by spellpower (would not surprise me at ALL if they neglected to change that, especially since the Improved Elemental Arrows doesn't mention scaling with SP).

As for your proposed build... I'd go with ranger over fighter. You'll spend three of the four fighter feats on what ranger would be giving you for free and you don't have to worry about meeting the DEX requirements for Manyshot while going for an INT build; you get Bow Strength to add your STR to the damage as well (though to be honest, I have no idea if that would work... though if it works with the DEX to damage from this build, it should work for INT to damage from Harper); more SP (helpful for keeping KtA and Spellsword going); and two 1st-level spells (Ram's Might for that extra damage being the most useful... even if you can't add both STR and INT to damage, the +2 damage to weapons should work); and two favored enemies. That's a lot of boosts, and the only real downside is having to spend a regular feat on Point Blank Shot or Improved Precise Shot (should you want either/both of them) vs. using your fourth fighter feat. Even if Bow Strength doesn't work, I think the extra SP, FvE, and damage from Ram's Might is worth the feat, especially if you bag IPS so you can basically dumpstat DEX.

As for your second question... DWS brings in a lot of positive spellpower and ranged power (not doubleshot) and a fair amount of extra damage, as well as +60 HP and +12 PRR. However, for your build I suspect AA would be much, much better, if only because you can get all the cores lol

I'll be interested in learning how your build works out for you; seems like a decent way to get wizard (& sorc) PLs, since I'm not a fan of casters as a rule.

[Strimtom]

First - acid... Why acid? Isn`t Force arrows better? While they have a bit lower damage dice, they got (if i read it correctly) a 3d10 dice on crit, that goes into 21d10-27d10 damage on crit, and nobody have resists aganist it.

LrdSlvrhnd explained it pretty well, but to simplify, acid has a higher top end and will do more damage on average. The crit on force doesn't scale with extra damage dice or with spellpower, so it is weaker than it looks. Great for killing ghosts and acid immune creatures, like a lot of demons, but not so good for everything else.

Second question is - does dws tree brings much profit except dextodamage and 20% doubleshot?

DWS gives you

• Sneak attack die
• Sniper shot, an ability that hits really really hard and also forces enemies to turn around. you can use this skill to slow enemies attacking you and keep them away from you.
• Critical threat range with bows
• 20% fortification bypass and mark of the hunted, an awesome debuff for bosses
• 60 life and 12 PRR
• Action boost Ranged power for better burst
• +8 Base damage against favoured enemy
• 20% doubleshot from strikes like lightning and another 20% from killer assuming you are getting the kills (which you will be)
• +5 Base damage from heavy draw

It's a really good tree for damage.

Thrid - what do you think about my version (only theory, will tr into it soon)? int-based(1.5 damage cuz KtA + additional spellpower because of spellcraft) elf 12wis/6fighter(or ranger, i`m still unsure)/2rogue (29 force spellpower from ek, tenser (casted) that gives somewhat 14% atack speed (compared to 20 ranger) because of epic bab increase, usefull spells that gives us additional protective layer, traps from rouge, fighter gives us same number of feats as 11 ranger, but a little later.)

So, with this build you put all your eggs in the spell damage basket. That's fine, but it means your ranged won't hit as hard because you are lacking in ranged power, base damage, favoured enemies, doubleshot, and sniper shot. However, you gain traps, and the ability to use utility wizard spells.

This build will be fun to play, but using force spellpower means you aren't as good when using draconic incarnation. This build wouldn't really want to use Legendary dreadnought or Fury of the wild because it doesn't scale the physical damage that well. I did respec my ranger into a fully int-based AA to see how good or bad it was, and the massive drop in physical damage (that is multiplied by crit) really hurts. It's very easy to get a 4x crit multi with a bow in my build for scaling physical damage, but since the elemental damage doesn't scale with crit it doesn't go as far. You will also need a lot of dex if you plan to take all the ranged feats instead of getting the for free, which hurts your spread between con-int-dex. Attackspeed from wizard is negated when at level 27 you can take burst of speed and have 15% attack speed bonus all the time.

I think it isn't as strong, but it can do traps and it is different than mine. I'd have to play it to really see what is better. Give it a shot and let me know how it goes!

[losvtranse]

I don't know of any longbow that has a x4 multiplier.

Any longbow in AA hands.

Shadow Arrows: Arcane Archer Secondary Imbue Toggle: +5% Doubleshot chance with bows. Activation Cost: 20 spell points. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Passive: Equipped bows gains a +1 Competence bonus to Critical Damage Multiplier.

especially if you bag IPS

Er... are you saying that i shoud not pick ips? i thought that it is must have for any ranged build 0_o
If i went 6 ranger i`ll anyway need dex for ips. So the reason to go ranger is for dex-to-damage with bows. But then you rogue skills will lag behind.

Attackspeed from wizard is negated when at level 27 you can take burst of speed and have 15% attack speed bonus all the time.

Er... Why? I mean you already can use haste as a wizard, and you also get more atk speed from higher bab.
I thought about using shiradi with this build. I`m not realy know a lot about destinies, but this one look cool - i think spellpower+ranged power is what this build needs. + nice theme