PVP Archer Needs Build Advice

[sirrojen]

I have not pvped in years and even back then I am not going to say I was any good at it, but now a days I have been feeling the desire to get back into it and I figured I would post my template for some advice.

115 Archery
105 Tactics
100 Poisoning
100 Hiding
120 Stealth
50 Ninjitsu
115 resisting spells

I only have 705 skill points available, and I was thinking max dex 60 int and the rest str, because I know poisoning with the elven composite requires high dex.

The reason I am thinking the 50 in ninjitsu was to use smoke bombs to help me escape, is the use of smoke bombs worth giving up 50 pts? I want to be able to escape situations as much as possible.

This character will never pve a single creature, I have plenty of other characters designed around fighting monsters.

Any advice criticism or anything at all is appreciated!

edit: I forgot to mention I would be healing with pots and as much enhance potion gear as I can find.

 

[Taylor]

I'm not a big PvPer, but I can say that poison is not so good in conjunction w/ archery. Those skills are prolly better spent on something else - say, 75 chiv and pump up your tactics a bit.

 

[sirrojen]

Why would you say that poison arrow is no good? I'm all ears.

It seems totally boss to me but I have not developed my poisoning skills yet.

 

[Barl DeAbreago]

I'm going to go ahead and agree with Syrus.

Consider my friend that these days poison is extremely easy to cure, and no matter how much dex and ssi you have, a bow is still only going to shoot so fast, so you need your shots that get through to count big. The fact is that there are other specials more advantageous to get off.

Now, also consider that you have another, better option here. With ninjitsu, you can use fukiya darts and shuriken that can poison your target at the same level as the poison applied to them - regardless of poisoning skill.

So..if you were going to go ninja anyways, which is a very good idea on an archer, you could:

Raise your archery to 120
Raise your tactics to 115 or 120.
Raise your ninja much higher (poison stars that can dp with zero poisoning , never fail animal forms, etc)
raise your resist to 120.

Or hell, invest some points in chiv and med so you've got better healing and damage.

Ultimately, no matter what way you go, there is a better use of 100 points on an archer than poisoning.

 

[sirrojen]

Thank you Barl for that articulate response, you gave me much to think about, now I am rethinking my entire build! Very very good post.

Can shurikens be used with a 2 handed weapon when you have gm ninjitsu? I ask because the fukiyas can be used in that manor.

 

[Barl DeAbreago]

Thank you, I am glad to be of help.

To answer your question, I believe you do have to have a hand free to throw stars.

If memory serves, uoguide says something along the lines of 'depending on how high your ninjitsu is, at skill level 'x', you can throw them with a two handed weapon equipped.' I seem to remember testing this myself and finding it to be false.

Fortunately, it is pretty easy to test. I can tell you that I do this on my archer with a balanced bow and it works just fine. I usually roll one handed weaps on my ninjas that get close with weapons for pot chugging though.

Let me know what you find out.

 

[sirrojen]

your posts have me thinking and I can't stop, its a good thing

Now I am thinking:

120 Weapon Skill (archery/fencing/swords/macing)
120 Tactics
100 Hiding
120 Stealth
120 Ninjitsu
120 resisting spells

Now I am kind of thinking archery MAY not be the way to go.

I have a gm or higher of all tradeskills, and the ability to go out and acquire any peerless ingrediants, is there a certain weapon or weapon skill you think would be most beneficial with this pot chugger setup for a 100% pure pvp char?

I love advice, it has me rethinking this entire build and anymore advice would be so great, thanks in advance!

 

[Barl DeAbreago]

Well, when it comes to weapon skills, it really does fall to personal preference. You can use any of them and do some really good damage. What I would do is consider which specials you want to be using and which weapons will cater to those specials best.

I personally usually roll fencing or macing. If I were to use bushido I'd probably go swords.

Archery is still a perfectly viable option here, though it is worth pointing out with so many points invested in ninja/hiding/ and stealth - you aren't going to get the benefit of the Death strikes you could be doing unless you do switch to swords/fencing/macing.

Lastly, I will say that while I am a HUGE fan of resist, I'm not entirely sure if it is really your best option here. At this time you have no form of healing other than potions - and heal pots have a ten second timer on them. There is also talk of the eventual potion nerf that could come in to play later. Having said that, many assassins do go extremely heavy offense and try to kill quick without so much worrying about healing....but even by this logic, resist isn't really helping you.

With ninja and stealth you've got the possibility of animal form and smoke bombs if you need to make a getaway, so I'd consider chiv and some med or bushido.

Edit: Also, a thought if you need extra skill points. You'll be getting good damage with your current ninja/hiding/stealth set up if you are doing deathstrikes, but I think alot of templates that make use of DS are only using 120 ninja/100 hiding/80 stealth.

 

[sirrojen]

Information overload! I really have no idea what I should do for a build now, is it universally agreed apon that the best way to heal is chiv? or is healing better for that sole purpose? You are right though, I do lack a good healing plan. If I can fit a good healing plan in there this template may be fully fleshed out.

I am thinking your right about dropping resists, and lowering tactics to 90 so I can still use all my weapon specials, that opens up like 150 points I could use to come up with a good healing plan.

I'm all ears, thanks so much!

 

[Barl DeAbreago]

I would not say chiv is the best, it is good but you have to have the casting speed for it.

I would look at some numbers like this..

Weapon 120
Tactics 90
Ninjitsu 120
Hiding 100
Stealth 80

That puts you at 510, giving you in the area of 190 to 220 poitns to play with. Be it anatomy and healing, chiv and med, bushido and chiv...Maybe some necro in there..

You've got options.

 

[Jesusislord]

I would not say chiv is the best, it is good but you have to have the casting speed for it.

I would look at some numbers like this..

Weapon 120
Tactics 90
Ninjitsu 120
Hiding 100
Stealth 80

That puts you at 510, giving you in the area of 190 to 220 poitns to play with. Be it anatomy and healing, chiv and med, bushido and chiv...Maybe some necro in there..

You've got options.

Don't forget about mana

But, my archer pvp template would be like this:

120 Archery
120 Magery
120 Eval
120 Tactics
120 Resist
105 Med

That would be my build. If I could get all those 120 scrolls.

Only problem with magery is it doesn't have a direct poison damage attack. Luckily, Archery can have poison damage.

 

[Diomedes Artega]

So...nice conversation here. My turn now.

Poisoning with serpent arrow and what have you used to work okay. But it is automatic for people now to pretty much nullify the poison skill with pots.

That being said, I would STONE your poisoning skill or put it on a crafter or mule character. If they ever pull their head out of where ever it is...it will be of some use again *crosses fingers*

Using ninjitsu with shurikens you can load them on a belt, but yes...as someone mentioned, you need a free hand. This can easily be done...just the key will be your timing and your arm/weapon macro swap-outs.

Barl has some great points. If you are going to be a stealth archer, you might as well not pack resist. Your point is to do damage and then get away...not to get blasted by spells and paralyzed/poisoned etc. Having said that, the stealth archer used to have some POWER drive on their playing template. Too many people complained they were overpowered though and hence death strike is not as powerful nor are other moves that combine ninjitsu and archery. Some moves in fact are melee and not archery based.

Healing you can really pack around 55 chivalry or so. For PvP purposes you don't need Enemy of One anyways. If you do spawn champs...just pack the applicable slayer weapon(s). Anatomy and healing you can really go with 90 each if you wanted to implement those.

The main thing you will have to figure out is this: how do i like to kill people? A ninjitsu archer just isn't what it used to be unless you have GOOD bows that pack a PUNCH...or utilize an additional weapon skill like Barl suggested. Various tactics are good so that...yes, so that you don't become predictable.

You can however implement an ecru +50 ring and then use pots in conjunction with some balanced bows. You will heal around 30ish damage, but they have a timer on them (the greater heal ones...not sure the other ones since I only use greaters). Although, you will want another healing method.

I guess I will leave it at that for now if there are any questions. My templates are somewhat unique and utilize probably 4 or so ways of healing coupled with having at least that many ways to kill someone.

 

[Diomedes Artega]

Don't forget about mana

But, my archer pvp template would be like this:

120 Archery
120 Magery
120 Eval
120 Tactics
120 Resist
105 Med

That would be my build. If I could get all those 120 scrolls.

Only problem with magery is it doesn't have a direct poison damage attack. Luckily, Archery can have poison damage.

Yes...serpent arrow.

 

[Diomedes Artega]

I would not say chiv is the best, it is good but you have to have the casting speed for it.

Yes, that is why I pack a 2/3 brace, a 1/3 ring and FC 1 bows. People can take the -1 bows all day but...those hamper my personal play style.

 

[Barl DeAbreago]

Aye, with casting like that chiv is definitely a good thing.

And sorry, I agree that med is definitely a good idea - but more or less depends on the final set of skills chosen.


You know, my all time favorite character to fight with was my very first mage on atlantic, Mairsil, who was an archer mage. Back before AOS when there was no spell channeling or special attacks and you just had to equip a bow at the right times before and after spells, I loved it. But I haven't really done it since.

Particularly now that you can't ready specials while casting spells, even with an SC bow you never drop, the timing would have to be extremely good, and you are going to have to fit in a lot of mods on the suit for it to be worth anything.