archery mages

[goremouth]

I'm wondering how successful a wizard would be at being an archery warmage. I know they would not be ideal, but with dex balancing for bolts and arch AS that is a good compliment, haste adds the bonus while flinging arrows, as does tonis for stunning potential targets. But how viable is this outside my idealistic dreams? And when is it the easiest to use it as a method of hunting if at all. I could see haste + tonis at 20 could be a costly affair but could be whole heartedly viable at say 50 heck even 40.

I'm also a master fletcher so I could make my own good arrows. Critiques and advice are welcome!

[Asha]

I've seen it rock with a capped mage. And I do mean ROCK!!
Apart from that I have no idea

[goremouth]

that alone is sufficient for me to absolutely consider possibly trying it around 40

[Suppressed Poet]

I've tried fixskilling to an archery warmage build at level 42 with my dark elf wizard. I found it difficult for two reasons:

1). I couldn't get my AS high enough for it to be effective. In most cases, I would have to rely on a disabler (Tonis bolt, call wind, e-wave) for my attacks to hit hard enough.

2). The real kicker for sucessful archery is to aim for the eyes. Ambush is a costly skill for a pure. At this level it ate up a lot of training points.

You would probably do better with a THW or lance for the better damage. I think as far as archery goes, the best are debatable between rogues and rangers. Bards I feel can be a very close third if built right, at much the same concept as your idea for a hasted archery war mage.

I am sure it is quite feasable with a lot of exp post cap. There may be a few running around with it pre-cap (none that I know of) I regretted the decision, and went back to my immolation/906 build.

[Axhinde]

Perception determines open aiming, so as long as you can 2x in that you should effectively be hitting the eyes once you hit your 40s. Since wizards can only 1x Ranged their AS will be low, but their strength is their disabling spells and utility spells.

A sleeping target not only has shit for DS, but is easier to aim against.

[SpiffyJr]

Perception determines open aiming, so as long as you can 2x in that you should effectively be hitting the eyes once you hit your 40s. Since wizards can only 1x Ranged their AS will be low, but their strength is their disabling spells and utility spells.

A sleeping target not only has shit for DS, but is easier to aim against.

Works just fine at 33. I got bored with arrows though and moved to polearms.

[WRoss]

Aiming from the open only uses perception, which wizards can double. The problem of hitting eyes is the same for all archers until later trains.

[waywardgs]

I ran a capped archer mage for a while, was a blast to hunt. You look like a hurricane in a swarm. 435/518/1sec eye shots, etc. Fun build.

[audioserf]

I feel like it's no fun unless you have an e-bow and a ton of Ranged/DEX enhancives. I HATED dealing with ammo, and my AS was terrible. This was between levels 55-58 or so. I fixed to pure at that point and life got much easier.

[Suppressed Poet]

Good point on the perception for aiming. Perhaps I did it wrong.

It would be really cool if you could aim bolt spells the same way as arrows.

[goremouth]

I will really have to think about this when I get into my mid to late 30s then, sounds like it could be a great deal of fun!

[AnticorRifling]

It would be really cool if you could aim bolt spells the same way as arrows. We've been asking for that for years. Hell the skill is called spell AIMING.

[Axhinde]

It would make sense to be able to aim bolt spells. It would have to incur a 3 second hard RT as well as the 3 second soft RT. It would be similar to the risk taking of channeling spells, only slightly more dangerous (i.e stance offensive) but higher reward, since you can channel, albeit less effectively, in lower stances.

I still think perception would have to be tied into this somehow. If spell aim were the only skill that determined a successful hit, I believe this would be too overpowered. Coupled with the DF of bolt spells especially.

[Malvadere]

Base aiming penalty off of spellcost, like 910 would be like swinging a heavy glaes mattock and 901 like a dagger.

[Asha]

The tip of the bolt wouldn't be anywhere near as precise as the tip of an arrow or crossbow bolt. Just saying.

[AnticorRifling]

The tip of the bolt wouldn't be anywhere near as precise as the tip of an arrow or crossbow bolt. Just saying.

You're of course basing this on all of the magic missles you've fired IRL.

[goremouth]

You're of course basing this on all of the magic missles you've fired IRL.

I've fired several "magic missiles" in my life, and they just pissed off my fiancee and made a mess...very hard to aim compared to a bolt or arrow needless to say.

[AnticorRifling]

I've fired several "magic missiles" in my life, and they just pissed off my fiancee and made a mess...very hard to aim compared to a bolt or arrow needless to say.

Can't base a conclusion on such a SMALL test firing.

[Malvadere]

Oh snap

[goremouth]

Can't base a conclusion on such a SMALL test firing.

Hey it's the only kind I know =)

[Gizmo]

Hey it's the only kind I know =)

Likely not her though.

ZING!

[goremouth]

She dated a 'brotha' so more than likely has been massively dissapointed with the transition, like skipping a stone into the ocean after that =(. But rings and flowers make up for it...come to think of it she has been working late more often...

[Gizmo]

She dated a 'brotha' so more than likely has been massively dissapointed with the transition, like skipping a stone into the ocean after that =(. But rings and flowers make up for it...come to think of it she has been working late more often...

lol

[Drunken Durfin]

fuck mages.