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

[C-Dog]

I agree mostly, with one comment-worthy exception...

... drop Jump completely. You get the Jump spell and potions of +10 to Jump are aplenty. I'm not sure why you put exactly 3 points into it...

Without doing the math, I'd guess that 3 + bonuses (Guild, Strength, etc) +30 from the Spell = 40. And most players want a total 40 jump, as there are several quests where anything less just doesn't get the job done.

And to have 40 innately, without having to worry about slotting a Jump item, or gear swapping - that's really nice. Really, really nice.

(Some players will want to get to 40 earlier than Level 9, so will chase +20 total before then, enjoy a 40 Jump early and not worry about having a 50+ total* later. Ymmv.)

(* @ New(er) Players: There is one exception to the "40" rule. If you're in Stealth (sneaking), you suffer -20 to Jump, but the "max" is still 40. So you then want a Stealth total of 60, so you can sneak-jump those 40-Jump spots. Plan ahead. )

[bookmarked]

@bookmarked

I'm not the most knowledgeable one here, but I'm sure I can help you out.

Thanks for the reply. This build was recommended to me a while back, but there were several points that I found confusing. This was even though it's listed as "new player friendly". I've learned a little bit more about the game in the year since I originally posted, but let's see if I can remember where I was confused.

First, I'm unsure what you mean by you can't make the points work with any of the races. I plug it in my builder and everything adds up perfectly every single time. My only conclusion is that you're trying to make races with -2 strength and the like equal 8 like the table states. This isn't needed; don't add points to those. Granted, Strimtom perhaps should have placed a dash as the value to indicate no changes, but as 8 is the base value, it's fine. Leave them at 6, or whatever.

1) I was trying to plug the exact stat numbers that Strimtom listed in the "ideal stats" table for 32, 34 and 36 point builds into the build planner. The only race indicated in the table is the drow column. For human, the 28 pt stats work but not the others. Drow only get 30 & 32 point builds, so they can't be for that. He said he played as an elf, but the higher stats in the table don't work for an elf either. For a dwarf, the 32 & 34 pt stats work, but not the 28 & 36 pt. That's where the confusion came from. If the stats in the table do work for a specific race then it would have been helpful if he had said what race. If each column was for a different race, then it would have helped to list that.

I do realize that the ideal stats will need to be adjusted for each race as well as other factors.

Second, yes; Strimtom was being serious about Spell Craft. They were just going mad with the power it bestows.

2) For spellcraft, I think that I was confused both by Strimtom's joking tone and that I knew that rangers don't get any direct damage spells that would benefit from spellcraft's bonuses to spell power. I did not realize at that time that spellcraft's increases to spell power would increase damage from Arcane Archer's arrows.

AFAIK, the Arcane Archer Enhancement tree is the only place where spell power is helpful for a ranger (except for healing thus the points to the Heal skill). Nowhere in the wiki ranger pages does it indicate that Spellcraft might be helpful for rangers using the Arcane Archer tree. Remember that this is supposed to be a "new player friendly" build.

Third, swim is at the bottom of the recommendations and is there exactly for the reason you dropped it for dwarves and elves: so that those who start at 10 intelligence are accounted for. There may be a dungeon where it would be useful, but it seems they chose it more for the fact it was silly-broken, as you can easily compensate with the Water Breathing ring you get at the beginning of the game or a potion. Honestly, pick whatever you want here.

3) I would have suggested a possibly useful skill and said that it could be dropped if they didn't have enough skill points rather than a skill that even the wiki says is useless, but maybe that's just me.

Fourth, they were being "meh" about it because those feats are only worth it because of the end result and other feats might be better suited to another individual's playstyle. Honestly, you could drop those three and grab Quicken Spell (which would easily compensate for your concern of no Concentration skill), Magical Training, and something (anything) else.

4) I think I was just trying to understand what alternatives he might have in mind. Keep in mind that as a total newbie, I was repeatedly warned to stick to the builds in the forum and not to try to design my own (including by C-Dog who posted right after you ).

Fifth, as a human, you could grab Magical Training from the start. That would be a small quality of life in the short term so that you can cast your imbue without needing an item or point in Energy of the Wild to just activate it the one time. In the long term, it's an eventual requirement at level 6 or so for when you want Soul Magic and it would save you 3 AP. You also wouldn't have to worry about dropping a feat to get Shot on the Run, although you could certainly replace it anyway.

5) Sure, as a human with an extra feat, the easy fix is the magical training feat, but what about the other races? Strimtom said that race shouldn't matter. In fact, the "variable option" of the build says it's specifically so you can put points into racial or universal trees. Maybe it's just me, but it seems confusing to say 'here's this variation so you can put points into other enhancements but there's a problem that I'm not going to tell you how to fix'.

Sixth, there isn't really a "best way to go." At worst, you're going to end up exactly where everyone else is, even if you could pick everything out of the order specified here. Realistically, if you can pick things earlier than what is called for (such as in the case of rolling a human), then do it. Or don't. It's not gonna break anything.

Seventh, there isn't a problem as outlined in previous points; if you can take the Magical Training feat, then you don't need Energy of the Wild. It's assumed by Strimtom that you'll make adjustments as needed to meet the requirements of that build.

Eighth, those were perhaps dropped, or they were there as informational points if you choose to grab them in the case where you have extra AP or don't desire a certain other enhancement.

6 - 8) I get what you're saying, but the whole reason I was putting the build into a planner was to help me understand the build well enough to be able to make adjustments when needed. And I was posting because there were several points I didn't understand. I wasn't trying to criticize or complain - just ask for help to understand.

Finally, the only things that I can tell you I'd change in that list is to drop Jump completely. You get the Jump spell and potions of +10 to Jump are aplenty. I'm not sure why you put exactly 3 points into it, but I'd just drop it completely. The max for the Jump skill's HEIGHT is 40 (it has other effects not listed). The Jump spell gives you +10 at min. level, +20 at 5th, and +30 at 9th. Those who put points into this skill pump it up to around 10 (depending upon what their strength modifier will be) in order to reach that magic number with the help of a potion or spell.

As for the 3 points in Jump, in part I think I was trying to compensate for the 8 STR penalty to jumping in early levels until you get the jump spell. Basically, I had extra points that had to go somewhere and that seemed like the most useful at the time. Where would you put 3 skill points in this build if not jump?

To sum up, you're taking this build as too cut-and-dried. Loosen up. Nothing's going to break if you modify it a bit here and there. Not one feat in this build makes or breaks it. Sure, you might be a little underpowered than someone else, but this isn't an end-game build, either. This build is meant to have fun with (especially newbies) and to possibly help you burn through those reincarnations to get more build points to make an end-game build.

While time-consuming, you can always visit Fred to change any feat you're not happy with and enhancements can be changed almost at any point you wish. Even your attributes don't really matter much in casual play. What's that you say? You accidentally left your wisdom at 8 and can't cast any spells? That's okay! Grab a guild for the +2 Guild Bonus from the airship and a bunch of potions of Owl's Wisdom for a +4 Enhancement Bonus! You're good to go!

Again, thanks for the reply. A year after I originally posted, I'm not quite so stressed about following a build exactly, but maybe this discussion will help another newbie understand this build better.

[Notthross]

@bookmarked

So, here's the thing. I wasn't trying to be a necromancer and raise the dead with my post. My brain has a hard time adjusting to new years and it still though this was 2022. So . . . I thought you had posted just a week or two ago. Whoops.

Well, thank goodness I was here to sort you out. Who knows what you might've done without my timely intervention and two hours of wasted time drafting, fact-checking, and proof-reading.

[C-Dog]

1) I was trying to plug the exact stat numbers that Strimtom listed in the "ideal stats" table for 32, 34 and 36 point builds into the build planner. The only race indicated in the table is the drow column. For human, the 28 pt stats work but not the others...

Strim' has made typo's before, usually copy/paste errors, and I think this is another example (tho' not copy/paste).

Ideal stats are as follows:

If you look at the "28" vs. "32" columns, Strim' has added 6 build points between the two - +4 into Strength and +2 into Wis. (I'm surprised no one has caught this before. <shrug>)

Admittedly, being able to put 34 points into a 32 point build is pretty ideal, but...

So, just go off his commentary and do the best you can - shouldn't be too hard.

Starting Stats (comments abbreviated)

Strength - This only affects carrying capacity...
Dexterity - ...Max this and put all your level ups into it.
Constitution - ...get this as high as possible.
Intelligence - This stat gives you skill points that you don't need...
Wisdom - ...as long as you can get 14 to cast all your spells, you can probably dump this stat too...
Charisma - Dump this stat.

So, in priority order, for any race...

• 16 pts: Max Dex
• 6(+) pts: High Con
• 0-4(+?) pts: Enough Str for Carrying Capacity (depends on Str Tomes)
• (+? pts): Wis if you have any extra
• 0 pts: Int/Cha - nupe

(Comments:
If ~I~ were running a 1st-life character, I'd go with 6 pts in Con, and get my Strength up (at least) +4 (+6 if a halfling/gnome, who suffer from a 2/3 carry penalty). Nothing sucks worse than not noticing that you lost Evasion due to Encumbrance, and finding out the hard way from a blast spell or trap. )

Also... Strim's chart implies only "even" starting values (12, 14, 16 etc.) are acceptable - unless you have every last piece of gear planned out, that's simply not true. Starting with putting +5 or +8 pts in Con (or +1 or +3 in Wis) means half the time you'll be able to push it up to where it would be anyway, exactly the same as if you started with a 14 or 16. If you're only worried about Encumbrance, this is doubly true with Strength, where every single point helps. Feel free to get creative, make the numbers work for you.

[Scrag]

AFAIK, the Arcane Archer Enhancement tree is the only place where spell power is helpful for a ranger (except for healing thus the points to the Heal skill). Nowhere in the wiki ranger pages does it indicate that Spellcraft might be helpful for rangers using the Arcane Archer tree. Remember that this is supposed to be a "new player friendly" build.


Corrosive Arrows: Arcane Archer Imbue Toggle: Your arrows gain the Corrosive ability, dealing 1d8 acid damage on hit, scaling with Spell Power.

It is in the mouseover for the power in the enhancement window. The above is from ddowiki.

Scaling with evil means Radiance (go figure) for align spell power (evil is an alignment, so points from there)

"bane damage" means Impulse for force spell power

The imbues that are not magicky (deadly trips or whatever), those will say "scales with attack and/or ranged power".

[Scrag]

So, I am embarking on the da/rgr (AA, DWS) ranged build as laid out by @unbongwah. 6 rgr, 14 da, focus on imbue dice (13), basic buffing/self survival, holy sword, and some other bits.

Build is:

34 APs Dark Apostate for Enhanced Shadowform II, Ultimate Heresy, and Ward of Shadow
22 APs Arcane Archer for Elemental Arrows IV
11 APs Deepwood Stalker for Sniper Shot and Ranged Power Boost
8 APs Vistani Knife Fighter for Haste Boost
6 APs Warpriest for Divine Might and Resilience of Battle


I have gear for acid, fire, cold, align, and necro. DA curse is align based damage (evil). I have the secondary imbues I can run in AA, and primaries I can switch to if needed.

What are the best options I should go with?

I have fire/radiance paired gear I can wear, but just the one item. I definitely need necro and align no matter what I do.

Is acid still the best option, and fill in align and necro where I can without much sacrifice on ranged capability?

Thanks!