Necro Archer / Death Ranger

[calibek]

OK here's the deal, I LOVE necromancy. In just about any game where necromancy or necromancers or death knights are available I will play it. I absolutely think it is the best class ever. In fact if I could put necromancy on every one of my chars without lowering something else vital I would. Well anyways here is a new template I want to try.

Race: Elf (Female)

Stats: Without any Items boosts
100 Str
100 Dex
30 Int

Template:
120 Archery
100 Tactics
100 Anatomy
100 Healing
100 Spirit Speak
100 Necromancy
100 Resisting Spells (for PVP) / 100 Bushido (for PvM)

This template isn't set in stone. The archery (currently 115), tactics, necro, and SS are but other things can be changed (thanks to soul stones). Was thinking about taking out healing/anatomy for hiding/stealth. I'm looking for some more experienced ideas on this. And no i REALLY don't want to turn this into a sammy archer (simply because I already got one being planned)

Currently I have a suit with these properties:
62/70/70/70/75 suit out of wraith form
all 70's in wraith form.
100% LRC
40% LMC
6 MR
2/6 FC/FCR
45% HCI

Here is where my question is...should I go for DI on the bracelet/ring combo or should i go for DCI? If it is DCI then I'm only going to have 35% (15% on each jewels plus Quiver of Infinity). Most of my damage is PLANNED on being done in wraith form with curse weapon.

As for my bow here is what I am thinking as a must on it

50% DI
30% SSI
25% HCI

Would give me two more mods to put on there. Now I plan on making slayer bows and the like so I'll have a number of weapons BUT a slayer prop is only 1 and I have room for another. What are your guys' opinions on possible other mods on the bow.

Need some help here all...see what ya can do for me.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I would say do DI because you're ranged and it'll help with your Curse Weapons.

On the bows I would do Mana and/or Stamina Leech, Wraith Form will only drain while the target has mana, where as Hit Mana Leech will always give you mana as it converts the damage from your hit rather than actually draining it. Thats not neccessary on all monsters, so it depends what you're hunting, but otherwise I would go with Stamina Leech as you have no means of replenishing your Stamina, other than regen from changing to Vamp Form, or from a Dark Wolf.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Toss LRC, it's unnecessary for a swordsman let alone an archer.

You'll also want to consider the option of using Protection.
Frees up 280 imbuing intensity on jewelry, and you're going to fizzle often with FC 2 anyway.
Fizzling once renders the FC 2 worthless for that spell, let alone 2 or more times.

 

[calibek]

Thanks Lord God, I was thinking about one of those two but wasn't sure how necessary they would be

Toss LRC, it's unnecessary for a swordsman let alone an archer.

You'll also want to consider the option of using Protection.
Frees up 280 imbuing intensity on jewelry, and you're going to fizzle often with FC 2 anyway.
Fizzling once renders the FC 2 worthless for that spell, let alone 2 or more times.

I was thinking about no LRC when i put together the suit but I just thought people used LRC...i was considering the hassle it would be to carry around regs anymore.

Also Protection scrolls would work for the fizzle but won't that slow my casts down more without no 2 FC?

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

I think you should go with the LRC and 2/6 out of Prot.

 

[Stupid Miner]

Thanks Lord God, I was thinking about one of those two but wasn't sure how necessary they would be


I was thinking about no LRC when i put together the suit but I just thought people used LRC...i was considering the hassle it would be to carry around regs anymore.

Also Protection scrolls would work for the fizzle but won't that slow my casts down more without no 2 FC?

Yes, it means no FC and Lower Resisting spells and lower Phys resist.

FC 2 decreases casting time by 1 second. However you can still fizzle. If you fizzle, you lose the benefit of the FC. Without DCI, you'll get hit, and fizzle more.
Also, there are some item properties that you're missing that would be more useful than FC in my opinion as a spell-casting Necromancer.

Try carrying regs around with a necromancer for a while, 2 stacks of 50 each and 4 of pig iron. See how much of a hassle it is/isnt.
Personally, it's pretty simple for me to not carry them.

If I need to fetch my corpse, I just embrace honor.

 

[Lynk]

I actually play a necro archer on Chesapeake.

I actually just use 2/3 casting from the orny and never use protection. I use my bow as my primary offense, rarely am i casting spells consecutively. You definitely want 2 FC and no protection for those quick painspike killshots.

Don't worry about 100 LRC, there are only 5 necro regs and its pretty easy to carry around 50 of each. You need to have high stamina and mana for your archer so where you would normally put LRC put stat increase.

For PvP weps focus on getting weapons that are 100% fire or poison damage. Corpse skin can be very handy in getting people to burn apples so your mortals stick for full duration.

 

[Stupid Miner]

... It'd really be beneficial to differentiate between whether this is a full PvP with supplemental PvM or Full PvM with supplemental PvP.

Cause It looks like
LG's advice for LRC is more for a Necro/Archer (instead of an Archer/Necro)
My advice was more geared toward PvM Archer/Necro
Lynk's advice is more for a PvP Archer/Necro

Wraith form is no good in PvP unless you're with a group that'll protect you. In PvP Archers especially need to be very mobile. And for PvP, FC 2 and no protection is best if you're running with resist. (since protection reduces resist)

 

[Lynk]

Lynk's advice is more for a PvP Archer/Necro

That is correct. All my PvM is done on my lumberjack sampire, who hits harder than your archers!

It is one of my favorite characters, but also the least effective against an opponent that is extremely well equipped.

 

[Stupid Miner]

That is correct. All my PvM is done on my lumberjack sampire, who hits harder than your archers!

It is one of my favorite characters, but also the least effective against an opponent that is extremely well equipped.

Perhaps so, but I like my Swordsman/Necromancer/Archer template

 

[calibek]

This is going to be a PvM template with some (hopeful) PvP utility. I'm more building this as a combo template. Something where I can kill from range and sling spells while i shoot arrows.

 

[calibek]

I should clarify a little better. I don't want one of the skills to overpower the other. I want to use both necro and archery evenly. I'm not choosing necro simply for a few spells, I'd like to use a robust range of them. Yes there are some spells I will not use often if at all (lich form, the monster form) but most of the others i plan on using. With only 50 mana I'll be limited to what I can use but I would like to throw out a pain spike/strangle combo or use poison strike while I'm pelting my target with arrows. My idea here is not to use one skill more than the other but to blend necro and archery together.

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

What I've said is based on a Necro/Macer (not a sampire or wammy) that I played once before. It was intended as a fun template rather than one that could solo things. It was built to still work as a caster. I used it in public events for a while before rebuilding it into something else. I can't remember everything I had on it but I don't think I had Heal/Anat. But I did use LRC and 2/6.

 

[calibek]

OK I managed to finish the entire suit with the bow. My current bow is a composite bow made of frostwood with the following mods

25% HML
40% HSL
52% DI
30% SSI
25% HCI

I managed to also get my stamina up to 120 so i can take advantage of some shoot time. A little problem I'm having is this. I went with my guild on a Trev run and when we were down there I was in wraith form and shooting with my bow and tossing out some pain spike/strangle combo's, withers and poison strikes for the mirror images and my mana was refiling quite nicely...nice enough to allow me to use lightning strike and allow my mana to quickly refill...btw curse weapon is a GREAT thing when you get targeted down and need to fill some health.

The run was going well and I like the template for the most part. However, I was only hitting Trav for 12-15 points of damage per. Now I wasn't expecting big 50 plus hits but that range i was hitting seems kind of low. Any reason why?

Some factors for instance: the bow was made out of frost wood which is 60/40 Phys/cold damage, my anatomy is only 90 at the moment, and I did not get a chance to honor Trav before the fight...could these things have contributted to the low damage. Anybody got some ideas on how i could fix this.