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

[aGarde]

Been looking at trying a ranger / bow set of past lives.. for the +2 ranged damage per past life, and because it seems like it could be fun. I wanted to take the 3rd life all the way to L30. Is there any way to make a Ranger w/bow competitive in epics/leg content? 6 ranger 14 monk seems like a thrower build, not bow build, and I'd prefer to have more ranger lives (for the past life again).. After that I could try the muncher ranger.

[Yamani]

Been looking at trying a ranger / bow set of past lives.. for the +2 ranged damage per past life, and because it seems like it could be fun. I wanted to take the 3rd life all the way to L30. Is there any way to make a Ranger w/bow competitive in epics/leg content? 6 ranger 14 monk seems like a thrower build, not bow build, and I'd prefer to have more ranger lives (for the past life again).. After that I could try the muncher ranger.

Well if you go elf for Elven AA you can sustain over 100% doubleshot, or go top tier deepwood sniper without elf, with proper gear, make sure to have spell power gear for your chosen elemental arrow (should aim for about 400-600 spell power at lvl 30), abuse sniper shot and make sure to get sneak attack dice as its guaranteed damage after sniper shot. If you do happen to take monk levels perfect pinnacle fire stance for blinding fear is another source of sneak attack damage and some defense as they cant hit you as often. Per usual everything scales with helpless damage(including elemental arrows) so running with a CC addict helps too or picking up an ability like pin.

[LrdSlvrhnd]

Been looking at trying a ranger / bow set of past lives.. for the +2 ranged damage per past life, and because it seems like it could be fun. I wanted to take the 3rd life all the way to L30. Is there any way to make a Ranger w/bow competitive in epics/leg content? 6 ranger 14 monk seems like a thrower build, not bow build, and I'd prefer to have more ranger lives (for the past life again).. After that I could try the muncher ranger.

I had no problems at all with (a slightly modified version of) this build in epic, at least in a group. I found I was doing enough DPS that I frequently had to tone it down at the start of battles if I didn't want aggro (which I really, really didn't). And I don't just mean "Oh, hold off on furyshot...", but instead "just spend a few seconds shooting at the wall to make it look like I'm doing something if anybody's watching, and then target stuff..." and even then I found myself sometimes pulling aggro even when actively trying to avoid it lol

[JP457]

Do acid lore items do anything for this build? I know spellpower does.

[Yamani]

Do acid lore items do anything for this build? I know spellpower does.

Elemental arrow damage is not effected by lore items.

[Sarzor]

The missing is simply due to the small amounts of desyncing that happens with the server as you play. That little bit of lag changes your position and the position of the monsters, and so quite often ranged attackers are at a disadvantage when attacking moving targets since sometimes the attacks just don't connect. It sucks yo.

Also, this build isn't meant to be competitive! it is designed to be an introductory build that can get you up to level 30 without too much difficulty to play and understand game mechanics.

If you are looking to get into endgame ranged, I recommend 6 ranger/14 monk archer, 20 rogue mechanic, 16 rogue/4 arti mechanic, 20 arti, or shuriken thrower. Those are all competitive for the ranged damages. A well built pure ranger won't do as much damage as these other classes.

Strimtom, I get that it's the desyncing lag, but it's getting worse. Your build was never a top-tier build, but it was fun, and allowed people to be a solid contributor. Mostly I played it out of fun, since being a warlock or monk was never my thing, and I like the bow idea.

I did some adaption to it, and for previous lives with this build was among the top players in almost any group (largely due to past many lives, gear, etc) but it's at the point now where I'm shooting something coming at me, and I'm dying because the arrows aren't registering. That's not fun. Dying because I'm in a fight over my head is fun, but dying due to lag is never fun.

[ccd1977]

First, love this build. played it and its was nice. Awesome write up, especially the INT Build link. hahahha! love it.

Totally non-first time question and I do not mean to hijack this thread. However, where would you throw in completionist during the leveling without going Human?

[Strimtom]

First, love this build. played it and its was nice. Awesome write up, especially the INT Build link. hahahha! love it.

Totally non-first time question and I do not mean to hijack this thread. However, where would you throw in completionist during the leveling without going Human?

I would take it at level 6.

[untface]

Just popping in to say thanks for the build, mate. Love playing it. Have been lucky to get some really nice drops gear-wise too. A pair of min lvl 30 Corrosion +157, Healing Amp +53, Insightful Corrosion +74 Gloves are my pride and joy. Although, I also did finally get some Legendary Shadow's Footsteps the other day too, which are also nice.

Recently ditched Shot on the Run (and associated) to get Quicken, Empower Heal and Toughness: I think they are a better option at higher levels. YMMV.

Thanks again. Quality first life build (for a returning player).

[Ausdoerrt]

Kinda late to the party... Thanks for posting the build.

I'm wondering - is there a specific reason for focusing on acid damage over other damage types? Particularly, I've been thinking of running a similar build but with cold focus, for flavor reasons.

After all, Force Arrows are still an option for resistant enemies.

[Rikutata]

Wisdom - So I thought you would need lots of this, but there is almost no way to spend spellpoints

What about "Resist Energy" lv1 spell? 50SP for 10 minutes of 30 resist (at rgr 11) in fire, cold, sonic, electricity and acid is kinda nice to have versus random elemental damage what can pass thru your hail of arrows

[Matuse]

I'm wondering - is there a specific reason for focusing on acid damage over other damage types? Particularly, I've been thinking of running a similar build but with cold focus, for flavor reasons.

Fewer things resist acid than resist cold, and Scion Of Earth is a lot better than Scion of Water.

[Selvera]

Fewer things resist acid than resist cold, and Scion Of Earth is a lot better than Scion of Water.

I like running cold-based arcane archers because I find that while cold resistance is a lot more common then acid resist; cold vulnerability is also a lot more common then acid vulnerability. And nearly everything which resists cold and not acid does not resist force arrows.

Meanwhile the scion of water vs earth is not what I would consider a huge deal; you're talking +2 DC vs +200 mana (which is better for the DC side) and +20 PRR vs +20 MRR (which is better for the MRR side unless you're capped).

[Garorg]

Wisdom - So I thought you would need lots of this, but there is almost no way to spend spellpoints and the DC abilities like paralyzing arrows don't let you use acid damage at the same time soooo.... as long as you can get 14 to cast all your spells, you can probably dump this stat too. Will save is kinda nice tho.

Try it out as your next life and let me know what you think!

Thanks for the build and the explanation! I just started playing DDO recently and have been running this as my first build. So I'm still fairly confused by some of the complexity behind character building etc. This is probably a silly question but given what you say about Wisdom in the original post about putting all level ups into dexterity and showing dexterity as the skill choice in all the Arcane Archer and Deepwoods Stalker trees, do you then count on gear to provide the boost to get to 14? I was just wondering about this since it means that I then need to keep a gear slot for at least +Wisdom item or count on potions?

[Strimtom]

Thanks for the build and the explanation! I just started playing DDO recently and have been running this as my first build. So I'm still fairly confused by some of the complexity behind character building etc. This is probably a silly question but given what you say about Wisdom in the original post about putting all level ups into dexterity and showing dexterity as the skill choice in all the Arcane Archer and Deepwoods Stalker trees, do you then count on gear to provide the boost to get to 14? I was just wondering about this since it means that I then need to keep a gear slot for at least +Wisdom item or count on potions?

Yeah, you need to have a wisdom item or just use owls wisdom potions, both options being easy to acquire and F2P friendly.

[Garorg]

Yeah, you need to have a wisdom item or just use owls wisdom potions, both options being easy to acquire and F2P friendly.

OK, thanks. Seemed like what was intended but I wasn't sure if I was overlooking something. Having fun but still bewildered at times by some aspects of the game...

[Garorg]

EPICS

Getting a Thunderforged bow with Acid spellpower is an insane damage boost. Do that ASAP. You can start epic hard right away with no destinies, it's extremely strong. You do good damage for epic elite, but everything will squash you like a bug in one hit. Avoid epic elite unless you can be carried. As for Epic Destinies...

• Shiradi Champion - Required to level for access to Pin and Otto's Whistler. Not the best, but is certainly playable. Inferior to Draconic incarnation.
• Fury of the Wild - Extreme burst makes this very good for EE with access to Expose Weakness + Pin. Very good for level 30. Easy to cause helplessness, stacking Fury with Sniper shot is OP.
• Draconic Incarnation - Most fun. Energy Burst, Breath, and Vortex do crazy damage. When doing epic hard or lower monsters will still fail saves even though you don't have a very high int/cha, and the damage is insane. Makes AOE packs much easier to clear. Flyby attack is fantastic for moving over open pits. Makes the class more dynamic. A lot of fun and gives you some punch when manyshot is down. Be aware, draconic incarnation is completely useless at level 30 with this build when trying to do quests on anything above Epic hard. Don't use this in reaper ravenloft please!

For feats, Combat Archery, Epic Reflexes, and Scion of the Plane of Earth are really really strong. The rest of your feats don't matter as much.

For doing pure endgame content, I would take Fury of the Wild while twisting Otto's Whistler, Pin, and rejuvenation cocoon. If you have more points you should also twist in Grim Precision.

So I've made it to 20 (first character!) with this build and it was a lot of fun, thanks! My current thought process is that I'd like to do an Epic destiny and then Epic TR and possibly Heroic TR to get some other class feats and eventually come back to this build with the recommended epic end game build. So I'll want to end on Fury it seems. So originally I was wondering if Shirandi Champion or Draconic Incarnation would be the best destiny to do first but looking at it, I don't think I can do Draconinc Incarnation at this point. Actually I'm not sure how I would be able at all from this build since its pure ranger and Draconic requires bard, sorc, warlock or wizard. I'm assuming then that to do this I would need past lives in one of those areas?

[silvarstar]

Just wondering, I really enjoy the builds range aspect, but solo I'm running into issues with can't find hidden walls (for quests as example, the catacombs as one example), traps, locked doors etc.

Could this build be modified to take into the fold 2 levels of Rogue at level 1 and level 9?

[Hobgoblin]

Just wondering, I really enjoy the builds range aspect, but solo I'm running into issues with can't find hidden walls (for quests as example, the catacombs as one example), traps, locked doors etc.

Could this build be modified to take into the fold 2 levels of Rogue at level 1 and level 9?

It can. I wouldnt recommend it but it can.

Some things to keep in mind - first its more gear u need, more stats u have to worry about and u lose capstone. 2nd u just need 1 level rogue. U get evasion with ranger. U can put points into search as a ranger to find doors if that is ur issue.

Ranger capstones are nice so it would have to be a huge benefit for me to add it in.

If i did it, would go 18 1 1 rang rog barb/fighter

[silvarstar]

Thanks just tried it, creating a level 4 (1 rogue, 3 ranger), I ended up with a class with no spell points :| so I can't activate corrosive arrows, or morphic arrows. stats are

str 10
dex 20
con 15
int 14
wis 10
cha 8

edit: spellcraft is 5.5

spell points show ZERO (which is the problem ) not sure where I'm going wrong.

BUT just read about capstones (new to me), I see end game ranger cap looks pretty good. maybe not worth it, as you mentioned.

prob won't proceed, but why do I have zero spell points? any idea?