arcane archer imbues...

[Kefrem]

do these imbues work on crossbow bolts/xbows?

[Mamalian]

do these imbues work on crossbow bolts/xbows?

No

[unbongwah]

do these imbues work on crossbow bolts/xbows?

No. But the Imbue dice bonuses from Arcane Archer will stack with other Imbues that do work with crossbows, e.g., Inquisitive's Law on Your Side or Battle Engineer's Thundershock.

E.g., here I have +4 dice from AA and +1 dice from Inquisitive.

[LurkingVeteran]

No. But the Imbue dice bonuses from Arcane Archer will stack with other Imbues that do work with crossbows, e.g., Inquisitive's Law on Your Side or Battle Engineer's Thundershock.

E.g., here I have +4 dice from AA and +1 dice from Inquisitive.

Which reminds me that it's a shame that two-handed weapons and bows do not get more imbue damage or scaling than one-handed weapons. AA imbue are pretty good (D8, spell power), but you can pick it up from EK, or 200% RP D8 from Inq. I honestly do not see a reason to ever go bow if you are an imbue build, which is kind of sad considering the entire tree of AA revolves around them. You can just pick up the extra dice if you want.

[unbongwah]

I honestly do not see a reason to ever go bow if you are an imbue build, which is kind of sad considering the entire tree of AA revolves around them. You can just pick up the extra dice if you want.

The low rate of fire of bows means they're not ideal for Imbue-focused ranged DPS. But the rogue 12 / ranger 6 Horizon Walker builds can pick up some Imbue damage fairly easily:

• 41 Horizon Walker
• 11 Deepwood Stalker (Sniper Shot)
• 12 Arcane Archer (elemental imbue + 4 Dice)
• 8 Assassin (Poison imbue + 3 Dice)
• 8 Acrobat (run speed + Haste Boost)

Perfectly doable on a twink-free first-lifer and I don't think I skipped any essentials. Also gives you a choice between an Imbue based on Ranged Power (Venomed Blades) or Spellpower (Elemental Arrows). IMO Imbues are a way of supplementing your DPS, not a replacement for more traditional DPS approaches.

[droid327]

Which reminds me that it's a shame that two-handed weapons and bows do not get more imbue damage or scaling than one-handed weapons. AA imbue are pretty good (D8, spell power), but you can pick it up from EK, or 200% RP D8 from Inq. I honestly do not see a reason to ever go bow if you are an imbue build, which is kind of sad considering the entire tree of AA revolves around them. You can just pick up the extra dice if you want.

Not everything has to benefit equally from all sources of power, though...I think they wanted to create a situation where imbues were more valuable for some styles than others, not just make imbues a homogeneous must-take for all non-casters

[Marshal_Lannes]

I honestly do not see a reason to ever go bow if you are an imbue build, which is kind of sad considering the entire tree of AA revolves around them. You can just pick up the extra dice if you want.

Bows currently fare quite well in ranged combat. Xbows have gone through so many nerfs that longbows end up being better in combination with Horizon Walker and you don't really even need to focus on them as a bow archer and end up with a significant amount. The Longbow in HW is the master of Archer's Focus and Xbow can't recover from the -20% nerf to IPS, even if the XBow is built up to 35-40 imbue die because all those die also suffer from a -20% nerf.

[Mindos]

imbue die because all those die also suffer from a -20% nerf.

Is this true? Does having Improved Precise Shot on decrease the damage of weapon imbues by 20 percent as well?

[LurkingVeteran]

Is this true? Does having Improved Precise Shot on decrease the damage of weapon imbues by 20 percent as well?

Pretty sure this is wrong. This is also why effects like imbue do not scale with crits or even (I think) Hunt's End, they are not capital d "Damage". Which is kind of a shame in itself.

Incidentally, going IPS over AF is the reason I think Imbues are interesting, just a shame for AA that they are not so good paired with a bow. If I wanted to stand still in combat there are many better games than DDO to play.

[EinarMal]

Pretty sure this is wrong. This is also why effects like imbue do not scale with crits or even (I think) Hunt's End, they are not capital d "Damage". Which is kind of a shame in itself.

Incidentally, going IPS over AF is the reason I think Imbues are interesting, just a shame for AA that they are not so good paired with a bow. If I wanted to stand still in combat there are many better games than DDO to play.

Plus ranged solo is just painful IMO especially if you like running heroics. IPS was the only AOE and they nerfed it heavily and I am still not sure why?

[LurkingVeteran]

Plus ranged solo is just painful IMO especially if you like running heroics. IPS was the only AOE and they nerfed it heavily and I am still not sure why?

It kind of made sense at the time they did it because nobody had good AoE, but then they made the strike through changes so THF got better AoE and then ofc casters got buffed in the spell passes to where everybody now has better AoE than IPS used to be. Part of the problem is also that at the same time they nerfed IPS, they improved AF so the slow-bow playstyle was simply more effective most of the time.

[Tilomere]

Plus ranged solo is just painful IMO especially if you like running heroics. IPS was the only AOE and they nerfed it heavily and I am still not sure why?

Nah, it's the only AoE of bad arcane archer builds. A good arcane archer build, like a 20 wizard, has a rotation of Mass Hold > Arcane Tempest > Energy Burst/Carrion Swarm > Meteor > Acid Well > Pew Pew with bow while on cool down. Or in heroics something like Scorch > Pew Pew, upgrading Scorch to Fireball, Ball/Chain lightning, DBF, Meteor and Acid Well. And at higher heroics adding in Mass Hold and Arcane Tempest.

There is a reason it is called ARCANE Archer instead of MARTIAL Archer and it has +4 Enchant, USP, and SP generation.

[LurkingVeteran]

There is a reason it is called ARCANE Archer instead of MARTIAL Archer and it has +4 Enchant.

To work with the various AA CC arrow effects that all trigger off wisdom? :-D

Sorry, but arcane archer in DDO has nothing to do with wizard.

[Fisto_Mk_I]

To work with the various AA CC arrow effects that all trigger off wisdom? :-D

Lol, who need AA CC from arrow when you have all Wizzy arsenal for such task?

Sorry, but arcane archer in DDO has nothing to do with wizard.

Argue with Tilo usual... contr-productive... usual...

[EinarMal]

Nah, it's the only AoE of bad arcane archer builds. A good arcane archer build, like a 20 wizard, has a rotation of Mass Hold > Arcane Tempest > Energy Burst/Carrion Swarm > Meteor > Acid Well > Pew Pew with bow while on cool down. Or in heroics something like Scorch > Pew Pew, upgrading Scorch to Fireball, Ball/Chain lightning, DBF, Meteor and Acid Well. And at higher heroics adding in Mass Hold and Arcane Tempest.

There is a reason it is called ARCANE Archer instead of MARTIAL Archer and it has +4 Enchant, USP, and SP generation.

I realize this is AA thread I was referring though to ranged solo and IPS in general for ranged builds not hybrid builds.

[archest]

Spellsword: Gain Access to four Imbues that add (Fire, Cold Electric or Acid) damage to your attacks and Eldritch Strike.
Each imbue does 1d8 of their specific element and damage increases by 1d8 for every bonus Imbue dice you have.
You gain additional Imbue dice at Wizard levels 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18.
Passive
+2% Doublestrike
+10 Universal Spell Power.
You also gain proficiency in Light Armor and Martial weapons.

works with crossbow

AP Cost: 1 Ranks: 1 Progression: 5 AP (6 total AP and Wizard level 3)

this would add all your imbue dice together from all tree sources. so yes if you had 3 wizard levels and spellsword.