Dumb question

[Xyl]

Ok so I know the basics, I've read "The Art of the Bow"(great info). I've just always had trouble figuring out the "best" way to go for me. My current training plan idea goes as this:
Dark elf Rogue
3x perception,dodging
2x Ranged,armor,stalking,ambush,picking,disarm,PF
1x Cman(2x if poss.)
climb,swim,arcane symbols,and 400 circle as able.
Hopefully 406 by 10-15 then idk might go for the higher spells but not til near cap.

My other thoughts were to remove the ambush and stalking, get more cman, pick, disarm, and get a few "RP" skills(maybe pick pocket or lrn2skin).

Advice welcome and appreciated. If there is anything else I could get to raise as/ds that I might have missed please let me know. Thanks for your time.

[Gizmo]

Ok so I know the basics, I've read "The Art of the Bow"(great info). I've just always had trouble figuring out the "best" way to go for me. My current training plan idea goes as this:
Dark elf Rogue
3x perception,dodging
2x Ranged,armor,stalking,ambush,picking,disarm,PF
1x Cman(2x if poss.)
climb,swim,arcane symbols,and 400 circle as able.
Hopefully 406 by 10-15 then idk might go for the higher spells but not til near cap.

My other thoughts were to remove the ambush and stalking, get more cman, pick, disarm, and get a few "RP" skills(maybe pick pocket or lrn2skin).

Advice welcome and appreciated. If there is anything else I could get to raise as/ds that I might have missed please let me know. Thanks for your time.

1x CM is fine for a rogue archer, 2x is just overkill IMO for one. Least not until you hit cap and want a post cap goal.

Otherwise, keep pushing those spells and stick with the other training.

[4a6c1]

Dumb Answer:

http://images.sodahead.com/polls/001641577/1715845552_tn_memes_no_face_of_course_not_answer_2 _xlarge.jpeg

[Asha]

Yeah if you want to stalk and snipe from hiding then CM training and shadow mastery is really helpful with RT and hiding bonus.
Plus of course the CM training itself helps defend against maneuvers.

[Xyl]

Ok so right now im scraping out:
3x dodge,perception
2x armor,ranged,ambush,PF,Cman,pick,disarm,stalk/hide

Unfortunetly my TP's dont allow for much more except the needed climb,swim,arcane symbols.

Another thing I thought of is what would be the easyiest bow to use, I would think the composite bow due to its lower rt with the much better avd but would a longbow be prefered if I can get the str to lower it enough, I know as a dark elf strength isn't my greatest stat. Thanks to everyone who has helped out so far.

[Asrial]

Shadow Mastery and Surge of Strength (in that order) are probably the two greatest CM's you can get as an archer.

Mfire is also fun, but I'd only get that if you have the points to spare or are in invasions a lot.

Disarm is a good general purpose defensive CM, but I'd only get it if you have the points to spare.

I'd use a long bow and deal with the RT. Stock up on white crystals or seduce a mage. Get Surge of Strength and you will never have to worry about it.

The only things that factor into archer AS/DS are dodge, ranged skill, ambush, and perception.

At least 2x dodge, max ranged, max ambush, and at least 2x perception (but if you go this route just keep it AT LEVEL (IE: level 30 = 60 ranks of perception).

Voln/brawling works really well as an archer as the bow doesn't inhibit your attack too much so you can Voln-fu.

Also, and I speak on this subject from personal experience, 2x picking/disarming will do you fine.. though you DO want the lores. You can also get away with ~25 mana as long as you use your lores intelligently and take your armor off (IE: disarm everything and put boxes with traps aside, cast traplore, disarm all the ones trapped, cast locklore, pick them all at once). Manna bread can really help with having low mana too. I've really not encountered too many situations where I couldn't open my own boxes.

What level are you?

[Asha]

Not Mfire. Never mfire.

[DaCapn]

I wouldn't consider a longbow unless I could work off all of the RT or hunted lots of things in plate (and was close to working off all of the RT).

My experience with ranged is with a halfling rogue (around level 90 now, sniping, 3x hide, 410) and almost entirely vs. bandits (sometimes grimswarm). I get to experience a pretty full AG spread. It takes a lot of effort to minimize composite bow firing RT for my character (100 STR + 509 + enhancive (+5 to STR bonus) + surge = minimized) so longbows are out of the question.

Against things in plate, if I want a chance at a crit-kill, I usually have to aim at the legs then subdue first (or 410 then subdue). But I always work the lower-AG creatures first. At that point I'm usually 1-on-1 with a plate-wearing creature so I can take my time and all of the setup effort is reasonable. Though, when they're in plate, 4 seconds of fire time is really EXACTLY enough time to leg a bandit and subdue. If surge drops, it usually takes a number of leg shots or 410 to keep them prone long enough.

I barely have any experience with ranged at much lower levels, but I'd guess you'll need to be level 20-30 before you can really be playing with ranged the way you want and you probably won't have to worry about plate until at least level 50-60.

For CMs, surge and smastery obviously. I'm a caster in doubles so I also have emastery at 3 ranks. What I recommend for every rogue is to put your first 5 CM points into combat mobility (and shoot for the final 10 points by 30ish CM ranks). The only other CM I'm looking at is vanish (post cap goal) and then much later a few ranks of disarm. This is coming from someone who doesn't hunt anything that disarms, though.

[Gibreficul]

3x perception is overkill

nobody mentioned (that I saw) combat mobility as a cman, which I feel should be FIRST on EVERY rogue's agenda.

[Xyl]

Ok so been without cable,internet,phone for a week+ now and havnt been able to play. So after looking everything over I think I've got a solid plan:

3x -dodge
2.5x+ -stalk/hide
2x -perception(3x for the first 20 trains or so to get a leg up)
2x -pick,disarm,pf,cman,armor
Max -ranged, ambush
As able climb,swim,Arcane symbols,400's(410 by 50?),MIU
5-10 -HP(for the mana)
Possible 24 EMC if the points get there(more likely post-cap)

Cmans-Combat mobility,Surge,Smastery.

Comp bow
Good???

[DaCapn]

Somehow, I think you'll be short on points if you just max everything.

This is more realistic:
1x AU,CM
2x Ranged, perception, ambush, picking, disarm, dodge, hide, PF
+ climb, swim, MIU, AS, HP, MnE

Also, if you read "the art of the bow," you'll recall a big -40 in the ranged AS formula. Think about that when it comes to the first 20 levels and your training. There's no point in aiming at those levels. Forget EMC.