Seeking Advice for Archer Mage

[Woden]

I've been playing a claid wizard since level 0, and as much as I love it, I'm seeing the writing on the wall that says, "you ain't gonna be able to keep this up much longer." Sooner or later, I'm going to fixskill to archery. Which means, it's time to research how to be an archer.

I don't really know much about the mechanical aspects of archery. Obviously, I'll master fletching beforehand. What I'm wondering about is what skills can I do away with (combat maneuvers? Or is that worth keeping?), and what skills will I need (how much perception?). Thanks for any input. : )

[Rimalon]

Claidh-wielding Warmages are perfectly viable from 1-100, trust me.

If you do want to be a sissy and go archery, you'll be dropping all combat maneuvers. Multi-fire is a crap CMAN. And perception is at least 1x, preferably 2x.

But really. It's a lot more fun to 1x Two Handers, 1x Earth Lore, 1x CM, get 24 ranks of Air Lore, and go whack things.

[Woden]

I'd prefer to stay with my claid, but I've been hearing lots of rumbling about them not working out in the long run. Any advice on how to smooth the path would be welcome too. : )

[AnticorRifling]

I'd prefer to stay with my claid, but I've been hearing lots of rumbling about them not working out in the long run. Any advice on how to smooth the path would be welcome too. : )

I made it to 66 with zero problems. I didn't see myself having issues between 66 and cap either.

[g++]

Archery is nice but I dont see it as any more viable or fun than 2 handers. Your not going to be death on wheels or anything unless your near or post cap. You would be better off buying a 6x bow and e-blading arrows than making your own, because fletched arrows are a pain and basically your going to be a crappy archer who fires extremely fast. So your going to lose alot of arrows, to the point where you prolly wont want to spend 2 minutes making each one. I prefer to get a long bow and hunt with haste for 2 second shots that tend to do alot of damage, other people go short or composite and go down to 1 second shots. If you were swinging a claid before you might be able to fire a longbow in 1 second. Aside from that just keep the bonus on 425 as high as it can be 1x in ranged and if you want train in perception, its pointless at young levels and your not going to be able to aim your shots well anyway. Get air lore to at least 20 ranks so you can 505 stuff down and get the - second haste bonus. You also might want to attune to air so you can bundle ebladed arrows.

[Celephais]

Re g++'s advice:

I don't think you'll have a problem getting to 1 second w/ long bows, what with the str spell and as he said, you were a THW user so your str isn't tanked.

You need 24 ranks of air lore for the 1 second haste reduction. You can attune to any element you want, even without any lore training, so choose one that fits your RP/long term goals if you are going to.

What's your hunting strategy that you're having trouble w/ your claidh? Is your AS too low, your DS too low? What level are you? Are you running 919 as you fight? Would switching to a non-claidh enchanted/ebladed weapon help the AS issue. Are you just hunting the wrong creatures...

[Woden]

I'm 54, with 24 air lore ranks and 51 ranks of major elemental. I've got the Haste thing down cold, heh. I don't maintain 919 as I hunt because my mana supply isn't good enough yet.

The main problem is AS, although I do take the time every day to pour one out in memory of 919. A high-enchant crit weighted maul or mattock would solve my problems nicely, but I don't have 80 million laying around to get one. Hell, a 4x crit weighted maul or mattock would do the trick, but those don't seem to exist.

Starting at 60, I'm going to get back on the stick with minor elemental training, which will help matters, since I stopped at 435 to work on major elemental and now wizard circle. I don't have AS issues with anything I can ewave, but this level I moved into the Blighted Forest in Illistim, and the vipers there have an offensive DS equal to my AS and cannot be ewaved. They're kind of a pain in my ass. I figured that that sort of situation would become more common as I got to higher levels, which got me thinking about archery.

[g++]

I dont even understand why people train in the wizard circle, if you have 916 and download atlas you are done training in the wizard sphere till cap.

[g++]

I'm 54, with 24 air lore ranks and 51 ranks of major elemental. I've got the Haste thing down cold, heh. I don't maintain 919 as I hunt because my mana supply isn't good enough yet.

The main problem is AS, although I do take the time every day to pour one out in memory of 919. A high-enchant crit weighted maul or mattock would solve my problems nicely, but I don't have 80 million laying around to get one. Hell, a 4x crit weighted maul or mattock would do the trick, but those don't seem to exist.

Starting at 60, I'm going to get back on the stick with minor elemental training, which will help matters, since I stopped at 435 to work on major elemental and now wizard circle. I don't have AS issues with anything I can ewave, but this level I moved into the Blighted Forest in Illistim, and the vipers there have an offensive DS equal to my AS and cannot be ewaved. They're kind of a pain in my ass. I figured that that sort of situation would become more common as I got to higher levels, which got me thinking about archery.

Actually I think you will have an easier time of things in supplicants and dogmatists and the tower is insanely easy for wizards. The only thing you will die of there is boredome.

[Woden]

I have no idea where those critters are, or what the tower is. This is my oldest character ever by like thirty levels, and I'm flying blind. : D