The new areas,ie. cypts of disgrace and ghost robbers are great archer territory. Look for the quest guy when you zone in there, you get mats for completing it. The hills are ugly on a fighter class, but with a bow this is no big deal. Start with grave robbers first, then the crypsts. Warning the crypts area gives off a decrease in pdef but this no biggy as a bow user, mobs die before they hit ya anyways.
BHAHAHAHHAHAHAAH at step 2!
it makes me wonder how archers forget this step :P
But anyways, not sure how you are for gear but I used a dagger about 75% of the time till I was in B grade. But I had full buffs all the time...if your just starting out and still low on funds or groups, take a bow to mobs that you can 1 shot if you crit and you should be fine.
I used a dagger mostly till 52 cause of the soul shots mostly and mp was the 2nd issue. And since I had access to vamp i just kept going nonstop. I actually still use a dagger in B grade about 30% of the time when mp runs low.
shots are fair enough untill B grade when bows and daggers take the same SS (but bow will do more damage)
even without herbs archers have very little downtime compared to melee or mages but with the addition of herbs you will go non-stop for eternity
Ok apparently most people think i am an idiot posting this, so i guess i just have to clarify what i mean.
What i am searching for is basically information on weapons (what bows are good at different lvls) what type of SA one should seek to go after on the bows that offer SA. What skills should be bought and what skills should not be bought. What one would group best with and what mobs one should try to hunt for when alone (for example are 1X mobs the best ones, or should one after a while go for 1/2X mobs for kill speed ? ).
Basically just basic information about beeing an archer that people that have played them have collected over the years.
My highest lvl character is 33, i decided to go archer because:
1 We had only 1 other archer in clan, so we needed more ranged damage
2 I felt playing a TH would bee too much hoping for luck and spending mana on skills
3 I felt it would be fun playing an archer for once
There are guides out there for all classes basically, so why woudn't there be one for archers ?
Ok so noone knows any archer guides or has anything to contribute to this and i should just learn it all myself?
I will give this a try. Before anyone starts flaming this post, Id like to say that the path to an archer is a diverse one. I know that somethings just are THAT good so that everyone takes that bow or that gear...
Ok in NG you better stick with the gear you can get and a sword, there is not much to stick with anyway so you might as well make it yourself easy and lvl with a sword to 20.
So you passed 20? You are now a rogue? Well unless you really want bow-light armour (I cant stop you from doing that), you will have it easier to lvl in heavy and with a dagger till lvl 40.
At 40 try to get an Eminence Bow, if you take Drake-Theca or the overpriced Plated, doesnt really matter...with an Emi you will shoot things down before they can reach you normally.
Try hunting greens and white x1hp mobs. I presume you dont have access to OOP Buffs or whatsoever, so stay alive and hunt those mobs.
By the time you are 52 try to look out for a Bow of Peril, its the fastest bow in game, and can get you to 76 if you want. If you can get plated leather it will boost you to A grade, if not try to get BW light. Doom light sucks, although most people wear it.
At A Grade, you can choose between DC light or Majestic Light, both are decent sets, where Maj is favourised. Interesting bows are = BoP, Carnage, Soul.
By the time you reach S grade you will have drooled so much on that one uberbow that you will know what it is ;)
best bows..Dgrade is strenghten long bow (can't spell), no sa, does a lot of damage, but i suggest using a dagger at this level, Cgrade is Emi bow, geet he Cheap shot sa, uses 10ssper shot, and that gets pretty **** costly. i had to take 10k ss with me, andd drop it on the ground and pick up some when i would run out just so i could solo for a good period of time. Bgrade is BoP, get quick recovery sa, you'll go through mp fast, but you'll have the herbs/pots to keep you going, at Agrade is soul bow quick recovery, slower than the BoP but does awesome damage, then Sgrade is the Drac bow...focus sa, enough said about that one.
in the 50's i hunted in dragon valley, headless knights and such, what you're looking for is an area that you can kite mobs at there isn't alot of argo, because when running around kiting you dont' want to be getting mroe and more argo all the time.
high 50's (58) i went to forsakin plains, the shamans that change into tigers give 13k xp for 1x hp ... they stun, but if you're good it doesn't matter. once they turned blue i hunted in forbiddin gate way, stun mobs there too but good quests and xp. 72 i hunted in imperial tomb with a full party, or solo wall of argos. 73-75 was hot springs solo or duo, and now i'm back to woa because i'm solo again, and it's easy kiting and killing there.
get a bow, arrows, and heal pots, find a spot with hardly any argo and room to run and you're good to go
I still find FG to be one of the best solo spots til about 70, then I moved to shrine of Loyal. If you have others with you. pr other forms of support class outside of a Prophet, then you can try FoTD and so on.
Thank you all for the replies, finally something happening here ;)
Atm i am using a Strengthened long bow and i am wearing Reinforced Leather set (i thought light would be best since i got light masteries). I am 35 and have started my first quest of the three for becoming a hawkeye (will be 40 around the middle of next week, if not sooner).
What i will have access to as soon as i get 40 and hunt with the rest is prophet buffs most of the time, just need to catch the other lvl 40 people in our clan. I will probably not afford any C- grade armor at first, so i will stay in the D-grade until i can get money for better.
For weapon i was planning on getting the Crystalized Ice bow first, and then upgrade to an Eminence bow when i can afford it (just need to gather around 1M for that). But is it really worthless grinding with a bow for me? i changed at 30 from using my Kukuri to the bow i have now since i decided to go HE and because i thought since of all the bow masteries i got it would be easier.
I do take alot less damage, but i have also seen that i more and more start needing to rest after about 1h-2h grind because i get no mana pots and have 0 mp.
Oh and about the SS cost, yeah it sucks =) ive done raidbosses where 3k SS is not enough (but i end up pulling aggro anyways and having to use Ultimate Evasion and stop using SS anyways not to die), but isn't the damage from the bows better anyways ?
yeah damage from bows is alot more then dagger...but you can't go as long with a bow, so take a bow an dagger (if you can afford them both) and shoot the mobs at a distance ith your bow, then when they get close, take out the dagger and finsh them off, you'll save mp like this
Raids dont get you more adena or gear, they are xp givers (and even now in C5 that aint true anymore, now RB's are just sight-seeiers posted around Aden to give a nice story to passengers).
If you can go 1-2h w/o having to sit at D grade, means you are really managing your mp very well. I can go for 4h on selfbuffs in FP while using my B2M (HE) skill and the pots that drop, but thats still a lot.
Don't go with low C, imo it aint worth the investment. Try to get something more valuable to start with if possible (Crystal shop can help you out).
If you upgrade your bow before your armour, you really need the best you can get.
Well, with C grade crystal price beeing about 3k each, me having my bow and 200.000 adena atm, i am very poor. My bow is worth maybe 1.600.000 Adena sold as D-grade Crystals and that would leave me with 1.800.000 Adena at lvl 35. Gaining about 3.000.000 Adena before 40 would be astronomically hard to do to get a better bow (the best C-grade i can buy in the Luxury shop would go for around 4-6Million adena).
The only thing that makes me somewhat happy is that guildmembers will start hunting in an area where Eminence Bow Shafts drop, so if we could get them i would get myself made an Emi bow as soon as we get the recipe.
But i understand, i guess ill just have to stay with my bow as long as possible and then upgrade to the best when i can afford it (and get an SA on it aswell).
Playing on franz atm, so only 2 castles controlled and only Giran where you can buy seeds and use the manor system. So i haven't started using since nobody had castles and manor systems up until now. I guess i can try that and see how that goes.