Jack of all Trades: Elvin Bow-Caster

[Smokewolf]

Below if the basic write-up of a build I've been grinding my racial lives with. (27 so far)

Elvin Bow-Caster.

* Basic concept *

1 level Rogue or Artificer (Trapping skills), 19 levels of Wizard while focusing primarily on Horizon-Walker. Choosing Rogue or Artificer is basically the difference between more skill points early on and having access to (All) Repeaters and Rapid Reload. Keep in mind that before lvl 10 a EK imbued repeater can (pretty much) out kill everything in Heroics. However by lvl 12 its definitely worth swapping to a Bow for the better crit-multi's, especially once you've gained Multi-Shot(lvl 15). Overall though, this build can Trap, Finger, CC, self-heal (via Pale Master), Misty-Step and Multi-Shot. Gearing is similar to a DC caster except for the need for a Bow.

* Enhancement split *

35 AP into HW
25 AP into EK
6 Ap into PM (Lich Form preferred for both Con and Intel)
14 AP into Harper (Intel to hit / dmg / Know the Angles)
What ever Racial points you have going into Intelligence stat boosts.

Ideally you'll want to focus on abilities that increase your Intelligence, survivability and bow damage while avoiding temporary / situational abilities. Reason being is often those situational abilities don't work well in groups as they Zerg through content due to cool-downs and conditional restrictions. (Examples: Opening Shot and Corner the Quarry)

Now should you be lucky enough to have all your Racial points, you can open up Arcane-Archer tree to gain access to the Metalline and Force Arrow Imbues by giving up the points from Harper. (Taking intel to hit within EK) While losing intel to damage isn't great, the Force and Metalline imbues more that makes up the difference due to the superior DR breaking they afford.

Image shown with a Gnome variant but otherwise the same.


* Required Heroic Feats (Recommended order they should be taken) *

Pointblank Shot
Quicken Spell (Wiz)
Rapid Shot
Precision
Extend Spell (Wiz)
Spell Focus: Necromancy (Wiz)
Insightful Reflexes (Can get Evasion via Shadow Walker @ lvl 26 so no need to take 2 Rogue levels)
Manyshot
Spell Focus: Enchantment (Wiz)
Improved Critical: Ranged

* Epic Destiny *
I've focused primarily on Shiradi and Draconic trees for ranged / caster abilities. Should I later require Evasion I'll move points to Shadow Dancer as needed.

Side Notes:
-Base Attack Bonus equal to your Character Level due to Horizon Walker T5. (To-Hit of 140 + is easy to get)
-By lvl 30 spell DC's in the high 80's to low 90's depending on Gear. At least in my experience but my Raid gear is so far limited so it could be much better.
-Bow Crits in raids are often in excess of 30 - 70k depending on Gear / Situation. Which is great for eliminating trash without burning thru precious spell points.

* Game Play *
Alternate between CC and DC spells while using Multi shot between spell cooldowns. While as needed pop Misty-Step to keep mobs away from you and / or to sprint ahead of your group. Keep in mind that the strength of this build is that everything works from one Stat, while allowing you a great deal of situational versatility beyond just a vanilla toon.

Cheers!

Smoke

[Avatar29]

Below if the basic write-up of a build I've been grinding my racial lives with. (27 so far)

Elvin Bow-Caster.

* Basic concept *

1 level Rogue or Artificer (Trapping skills), 19 levels of Wizard while focusing primarily on Horizon-Walker. Choosing Rogue or Artificer is basically the difference between more skill points early on and having access to (All) Repeaters and Rapid Reload. Keep in mind that before lvl 10 a EK imbued repeater can (pretty much) out kill everything in Heroics. However by lvl 12 its definitely worth swapping to a Bow for the better crit-multi's, especially once you've gained Multi-Shot(lvl 15). Overall though, this build can Trap, Finger, CC, self-heal (via Pale Master), Misty-Step and Multi-Shot. Gearing is similar to a DC caster except for the need for a Bow.

* Enhancement split *

35 AP into HW
25 AP into EK
6 Ap into PM (Lich Form preferred for both Con and Intel)
14 AP into Harper (Intel to hit / dmg / Know the Angles)
What ever Racial points you have going into Intelligence stat boosts.

Ideally you'll want to focus on abilities that increase your Intelligence, survivability and bow damage while avoiding temporary / situational abilities. Reason being is often those situational abilities don't work well in groups as they Zerg through content due to cool-downs and conditional restrictions. (Examples: Opening Shot and Corner the Quarry)

Now should you be lucky enough to have all your Racial points, you can open up Arcane-Archer tree to gain access to the Metalline and Force Arrow Imbues by giving up the points from Harper. (Taking intel to hit within EK) While losing intel to damage isn't great, the Force and Metalline imbues more that makes up the difference due to the superior DR breaking they afford.

Image shown with a Gnome variant but otherwise the same.


* Required Heroic Feats (Recommended order they should be taken) *

Pointblank Shot
Quicken Spell (Wiz)
Rapid Shot
Precision
Extend Spell (Wiz)
Spell Focus: Necromancy (Wiz)
Insightful Reflexes (Can get Evasion via Shadow Walker @ lvl 26 so no need to take 2 Rogue levels)
Manyshot
Spell Focus: Enchantment (Wiz)
Improved Critical: Ranged

* Epic Destiny *
I've focused primarily on Shiradi and Draconic trees for ranged / caster abilities. Should I later require Evasion I'll move points to Shadow Dancer as needed.

Side Notes:
-Base Attack Bonus equal to your Character Level due to Horizon Walker T5. (To-Hit of 140 + is easy to get)
-By lvl 30 spell DC's in the high 80's to low 90's depending on Gear. At least in my experience but my Raid gear is so far limited so it could be much better.
-Bow Crits in raids are often in excess of 30 - 70k depending on Gear / Situation. Which is great for eliminating trash without burning thru precious spell points.

* Game Play *
Alternate between CC and DC spells while using Multi shot between spell cooldowns. While as needed pop Misty-Step to keep mobs away from you and / or to sprint ahead of your group. Keep in mind that the strength of this build is that everything works from one Stat, while allowing you a great deal of situational versatility beyond just a vanilla toon.

Cheers!

Smoke

My honest opinion, not trying to **** on your build....

Great idea, but not very good for running high reaper/end game content.

Quicken/necro focus/enchant focus are waste of feats for this build:

you aren't gonna have dc's high enough to cc even on legendary r-1, or epic R2+ so why bother? the +1DC to necro and CC spells won't help.

quicken is a waste because you can self buff without it fine enough, and won't help your cc because they just won't land often enough to matter.

morphic arrows would help a lot more than force or metalline..



18 levels of wizard would be as far as you need to get the 4th core EK and d10's to your SS. better to go 2 rogue for evasion and more skill points then just 1 rogue or 1 arti...

Why not take precise shot? archer's focus would do much more to help dps if you just sit back and have someone else in the party advance and take aggro.

6 AP into PM is a waste... the self healing you'd get from DA would be minimal and not worth while if you plan on running reaper. to be viable, a pm takes all the enhancements in the PM tree for neg healing amplification.



just my 0.02

[Smokewolf]

My honest opinion, not trying to **** on your build.... Great idea, but not very good for running high reaper/end game content.

No worries, constructive feedback is always welcome.

I've been playing this build for several months now and as previously stated, Its great for grinding thru racial lives. Now as for DC's, by lvl 30, I've managed a spell DC of 105-110. While the Bow can crit in the 30-50k range during raids. Thus while not an R10 build by any means, It cruises thru R5-7's just fine.

Note: I've a bunch of reaper points which inflates both my Hitpoints and Spell DC's. My gear has also improved quite a bit, which has pushed my DC's beyond 100.

To answer some of your questions.

Improved Precise Shot: I mostly use the Bow (Many-Shot) between casts or to take out the odd mob that's immune to insta-kills. Having the ability to hit all the mobs in a line would reduce the damage I'd need vs that single target. Thus making it much less likely to die from the single burst.

PM: Yeah past lvl 20, a splash of PM isn't going to keep a player alive but it does help top off hitpoints very efficiently. Keep in mind that this is mostly for grinding thru past lives so I rarely take the build to 30.

Quicken/Necro focus/Enchant : Its a mixed bag and situational. Though I do enjoy the use of quicken with insta-kills.

Morphic arrows : Arcane Archer is really only worth it if you have the past lives to fill the racial tree without having to spending your base action-points. Currently I've 11 or 12 racial points and need 3-4 more to be able to pull this off.


Maybe I'll make a video of the build in action and post it. We regularly run R4+ with a casual group that most likely wouldn't mind if I recorded a mission.

Smoke