Has something changed and help with archer template

[elspeth]

Me and husband are recently back from a several year (pre-SA) hiatus and he was wondering what he's doing wrong.

He has an archer that he used to kill swoops with and now going in he can't seem to hardly do any damage at all. The only change made was that we removed his parrying and upped his archery (and also focus for this inbetween time) because I read on these forums that it is completely useless for an archer. But even before I removed the parrying and upped his chivalry he couldn't seem to do much damage to swoop.

He was doing EoO, consecrate and honoring it (bushido). I don't think he hit much with lightning strike but I'm not sure that he ever did that before either.

I'm looking over his template and gear and I can see he needs a lot of improvement but still it wasn't terrible armor for pre-imbuing times. Anyways, would love to know if something changed (like swoops got buffed) and also some thoughts on where to go with the character to get more damage and what things are highest priority as I see there is lots to do.

template currently
110 archery/tactics/anat
117.9 bushido
98.8 heals
91 chiv
93.3 focus (ready to drop this for something better)

str 131, dex 132, int 35
resists 70/65/70/66/70
49 hci / 20 dci
DI is like 10 and LMC 20
a bit of HPR and MR as well on suit

wearing spirit of totem, jackals, quiver of infinity, totem of void, ring of vile

He did switch to a bird slayer talisman for killing swoops but I'm not sure which weapon he was using. I thought it was one with AI special but the one in his hands today is

heavy crossbow dragon slayer HL 40 HML 42 HLD 38 HLA 34 HCI 5 DI 10

I already told him to use lightning strike more and that we should get him a 120 archery scroll (though he isn't so sold on this last idea and it doesn't seem like it should make too huge a difference). Clearly looking at gear we need to get him more DI and I've told him he should raise dex to 140, I'm thinking at expense of str.

So what do you all think? What is #1 priority for better damage? Are we missing something as far as fight tactics goes? What should I put in place of parry?

 

[elspeth]

If he was using the dragon slayer bow would that be causing some of the problem? I think I remember something about using anti-slayer being particularly bad, but that's only for completely oppositely aligned slayers right?

 

[Kim Li of LS]

It seems to me he may have been doing swoop before swoop got its big buff. Swoop has had its HP increased dramatically, resists and skills as well.

 

[elspeth]

It seems to me he may have been doing swoop before swoop got its big buff. Swoop has had its HP increased dramatically, resists and skills as well.

Ahh, do you know about when this happened? We stopped playing I think just a couple of months before SA came out, certainly no more than a year.

 

[Ganesh89]

As far as I recall swoop was boosted more or less after ML came out, so I dont think thats your husbands problem....

What I could see in your template is: DI 10.....?! Did you forget a 0 there ? DI from weapon and suit should really reach 100...Additionally I suggest he gets his dex to 150 to get more shots in.

As for a weapon I like composite bows for the AI special like you mentioned. Maybe he want's to consider becoming Elf for some more Int and mana gain.

I try swoop with my archer later and can let you know what damage I achieve...

 

[CorwinXX]

Replace ring of vile with something useful. For example, a ring imbued with DEX/DI/HCI + other mods. You don't need any regeneration on his suit. Use HML on your weapon for mana, DF for stamina and Healing for HP.

Use AI vs swoops on every second shot. (There's a big mana penalty for using special moves two times within 3 sec).
Use LS on other shots. (Use LS on every shot if you haven't AI on your weapon).


Try to get DEX to 140-150 (for faster healing) and stamina to 185-190 (for faster attack). Use swing speed calculator (Swing Speed Increase - UOGuide, the Ultima Online encyclopedia) to determinate how much SSI you need on your weapon.

Your skills are good, just get them to 120 (drop focus). Get archery to 120 as soon as possible. Also chivalry is not so useful without FC/RCF so you can lock it on 95 (no fails on EoO).