Achery V. THW Concerning AS Limitations

[AbnInfamy]

Reading through the boards, there appears to be a time when AS falls short for a war mage.

I've seen someone suggest dropping claidhs around 40, and swapping to Mauls or Battleaxes so the enchants can help you hunt.

Does Archery have that same falling off problem? I know you can easily produce a 8X set of ranged bow/arrows with just e-blade, but will you always be able to produce high enough end rolls to stun/kill? Swinging a claidhmore an end roll of 110-120 is enough to stun/kill, how much do you need for archery?

At what point can mages produce high percentage death crit aimed shots? Lets say 75% is high percentage. Would I have to wait until level 40+ with double perception?

A more personal note: I've currently set up my character so that he won't be able to train CM or perception until level 22, when I reach 24 EMC and 24 PF. Will I see the AS drop off significantly earlier, or will the weighting of the claid just keep me pushing through?

What ends up making archery so powerful, just the aiming? I imagine you're taking slightly more than 1 second to pull out an arrow for your next shot, isn't it just as fast to keep on trucking with 1 second claidhmore swings?

[audioserf]

CM doesn't affect ranged AS, so the 10x bow/arrow combo is sort of offset by that. Your AS will be shit. However, ranged DS is terrible game-wide, and with the ability to prone things and shoot with Haste, you will do fine.

Archery is a tested and true way to warmage at cap and beyond.

Another BIGGIE: 513 doesn't affect ranged AS like it does melee. So you can bolt at maximum output along-side your archery. E-wave a room full of shit, Cone, shoot the survivors in the eye.

If you go ranged, you have to make whatever concessions necessary to 2x perception. It's where your aiming comes from (402 and 404 help).

Archery > THW with the exception of arrows being annoying as fuck to keep up with. I hated managing ammo and that's a big reason I dropped ranged after two levels and just went pure.

[AbnInfamy]

Thanks for the reply.
If I drop air lore completely, and .5x PF, and pick up EMC as it comes along, I can fit in

1x ranged
1x brawl
.5x pf
1X AS/MIU
1x HP
2x Spells
2x Spell Aim
2x perception

Does this sound reasonable, seeing as I won't need to do too much leeching as a war mage? I'm loving the Fu, so I need to maintain brawling. I'd give up ranged before brawling.

When can I expect to start seeing results from actually aiming? Even at 25% accuracy?

[audioserf]

Well, you still need air lore. You want 1 second shots, right? Although bow RTs are lower than swinging RTs so with good STR/AGIDEX maybe you can shoot in 1 second without lores. I dunno; hit KP and do the math on that one.

Brawl is fucking you here. I understand you want it for RP/FU though. But when you're doing such a mutant build, sacrifices need to be made.

I don't have enough ranged experience to answer your accuracy question. I would suggest reading Nuadjah's Art of the Bow guide he has on the PC. It's awesome and will answer a lot of your questions.

[BriarFox]

If you like brawling so much, then just do a Fu/Bolt build. Train in brawl and shield. Ranged will only waste your points.

[Inspire]

If you like brawling so much, then just do a Fu/Bolt build. Train in brawl and shield. Ranged will only waste your points.

Or don't bolt and go Brawl/Ranged/Perception.


It's a cake walk up to level 50.

[audioserf]

Or don't bolt and go Brawl/Ranged/Perception.


It's a cake walk up to level 50.

Inspire raises a good point. And I'd wager you can roll that path far higher than 50. It'll feel strange not to bolt as a mage, but it's feasible, at least.

[AbnInfamy]

For now I've decided to go straight brawling. I can actually pick up 1x surv/FA/Perception if I do, and do all my own bounties. I'll lose some strength from not having that second perception, but I think I'll be fine.

Voln-Fu is a riot, but the first set of punch/kicks are pretty weak. Hopefully I can jump up to two in a couple weeks and start ripping into shit.

Bolting is weak at this level (11), but that's because mana is low, just like every other class at this level.

The only thing I'm missing is those hard crits from the maul/claud. I think I'll pick up a fist-scythe for my non-undead tasks, and whittle away by attrition. Wet noodles will kill at 1 swing per second.

I can't give up bolting. What self respecting rock mage can't hurl boulders?

[audioserf]

I think your mage is going to be both fun and viable on this path, keep at it. Being a bounty machine is awesome. I wish I had 1x FA+Survival.

[Whirlin]

Any recommendations on ways to offset the low DS of being an archery mage? I'm sitting at 61 right now, and it's starting to be a bit lower than I'd like.

Reading over the archery sticky now... but wondering if anyone has any advice from the mage perspective.

[Inspire]

Inspire raises a good point. And I'd wager you can roll that path far higher than 50. It'll feel strange not to bolt as a mage, but it's feasible, at least.


I've taken it to level 74, then I quit playing that character.

[SpiffyJr]

Any recommendations on ways to offset the low DS of being an archery mage? I'm sitting at 61 right now, and it's starting to be a bit lower than I'd like.

Reading over the archery sticky now... but wondering if anyone has any advice from the mage perspective.

Keeping 919 up? Shouldn't have many issues with it going.

[Das Uberdog]

do you homo-sapiens use heavy crossbows or long bows? i just fixskilled from THW->ranged and so far the long bow seems less gangsta but fires 2x as fast.

[Inspire]

You're basically going to ping things to death.

[AbnInfamy]

Ok. I've made it to level 15.

Been using Voln-Fu to progress and level up. I'm at step 19, so still using Kick1.

I like the results, even though they're all wet noodle hits right now. I'm a walking wall of screen scroll.

My bolting sucks, mostly because 903 and 904 suck. I was hoping to have a dynamic build that would allow me to hunt anything in the game with success. Worst comes to worst I can pull out my fist-scythe and 1 second scrape something to death, but not what I envisioned.

Undead up to my level are no problem. I can kill arch wights as long as I catch them between casts.

All in all, I supposed I'm happy with the Voln-Fu wizard, but I'm not thrilled. I'm going to wait it out and get kick2, and hope my bolting improves. Mana Leech is right around the corner.

I just need to understand that I have to be more picky about my hunting spots, but what I really wanted was a bounty and money bitch.

[audioserf]

You're level 15, don't worry about bolts. Everyone's bolting sucks at that level. Keep it up, get Kick2, and you'll start flying.

[SpiffyJr]

At least as a wizard you'll get a low MB penalty from armor. Throw in a good AGIDEX hero and you'll have a handy start. Get 618 from a friendly ranger if you can.