Archery guide (my version)

[Conqueror]

If you do disagree with something in this guide, please post your opinion about why you feel that the information is incorrect/incomplete and kindly offer a coherent alternative. That way anyone reading the guide and its critiques can make up their own mind about how to build their character. I will do an faq style question and answer section at some point; this will basically be a sort of summary for those who do not want to read through the whole guide but would still like to get an overall picture of how to build an archer.


Table of contents

1: Character class this guide is meant for (Archers)

2: Weapon type weapons that this class should use

3: Build type = recommended build at level 80

4: Stat skills explained = explains what each stat does for the archer

5: Strategy level 1 - 19

(a) approximate stat distribution at level 19

(b) skill and their appropriate levels at level 19

(c) equipment to use [this section explains how to decide which equipment
to use and why one set of equipment is better than another set]

(d) area you should be fighting in at level 19 [also explains why it is best to
fight in areas with yellow / orange mobs during your rested time]

(e) boss you should be able to solo at level 19

(f) enchantments you should aim for [explains enchanting in detail. Read
this section if you want to figure out how enchantments work]

6: Strategy level 20 - 39

(a) approximate stat distribution at level 39

(b) New archery and stat skills added at level 20 that you should level up

(c) skills and their appropriate levels at level 39

(d) A word on magic strategy [read this section for a recommended magic
strategy for archers]

(e) Equipment to use

(f) Area you should be in at level 39

(g) Boss you should be able to solo

(h) Enchantments to aim for

7: Strategy level 40 - 59

(a) approximate stat distribution at level 59

(b) New archery skills added at level 40 that you should level up

(c) skills and their appropriate levels at level 59

(d) Equipment to use

(e) Area you should be in at level 59

(f) Boss you should be able to solo

(g) Enchantments to aim for

8: Strategy level 60 - 80

(a) skills and their appropriate levels at level 80

(b) Equipment to use

(c) Area you should be in at level 80

9: Level Cap

(a) Approximate stat distribution at level 80

(b) What skills to now focus on for your build

(c) Enchantments to aim for

10: In the End

(a) Omg omg omg omg omg How am I going to do all this ? [ an explanation
of what skills to focus on if all of the above seems too daunting and is
too much to manage on your limited budget; explains skills you can
slack on and those you should focus on in all cases and are essential]

(b) Levelling via the above mentioned method takes forever =( [explains
how fast you should level up and whether rushing to level cap is right
for you]

(c) Deleveling explained

11: Archery: a summary
This is a standalone section of the guide. If you do not want to read the entire guide, read this section and then refer back to the guide for specific information.

[Conqueror]

1: Character class
Archer
2: Weapon type
Bow, Arrow and Quiver; Piercing weapons; Shields
3: Build type
89 melee 120 magic 110 defense 1 recovery (at level 80)

4: Stat skills explained

It is important to know the following: at level 80: melee + magic + defense + recovery = 80 X 4 = 320
It is possible to raise any one of these stat skills to the maximum value of 140. For example melee can be raised to 140. However all 4 can not be raised to 140 as that would exceed 320.
In other words, you have 320 points to work with.
In order to allocate these points in the best way possible, it is important to know what each stat does for the archer.

Melee --> for an archer melee determines accuracy. All (or most) of your points in this stat should go into dex (a few points may be placed into pst to increase your energy). If you hover your cursor over dex you will read the following: "its primary function is to determine how likely you are to hit an opponent with all weapons including bow and arrow." In simple terms, melee is your accuracy stat. Never put any points into strength. It does nothing for the archer.
Magic --> for an archer, magic is the damage stat. In simple terms, the higher the average value of int and cnc, the harder the archer will hit (Note that the damage increase is capped so you can't increase damage indefinitely by leveling int and cnc; after this damage cap is reached the archer will hit closer to the damage cap at a greater frequency if int and cnc are raised even higher; thus, leveling these numbers beyond the damage cap can still be beneficial). Since the game uses the average value of int and cnc to determine your archery damage, I recommend that you only level cnc (leveling cnc is more suitable for the magic strategy that I will recommend later in this guide).
Defense --> defense increases your longevity. Optimal strategies have been described as follows: for a player versus mob combat build, assign the points evenly (1 point into agility, 1 point into cnt and 1 point into dur); for a player versus player build, the optimal strategy is to go for an all durability build. Many people raise their agi and cnt to a certain value and place the rest of their points into dur. For example someone might have 160 agi 160 cnt and 250 + dur. Find the strategy that works best for you.
Recovery --> There are people who will disagree but I recommend that you don't put any points into recovery. Archers don't need pre and mre because they do not generally have high mana and energy (low mst and pst skills). Thus, for an archer, the purpose of recovery is to help you heal faster after the battle is over. However, with the correct build, you will take minimal damage to begin with and healing pets and healing gems can make up for the minor cuts and scrapes that you do recieve. If you do put points into recovery, put all of them into reg. However, I recommend that you ditch this stat and save your points for the other three which are far more beneficial. To give you an idea of why recovery is not necessary, I find that I am fully healed by the time I am done looting a mob; my archer's recovery stat is at 1.

[Conqueror]

5: Strategy level 1 - 19

(a) Approximate Stat distribution at level 19
19 melee (all dex) ; 34 magic (all cnc); 22 defense* ; 1 recovery
(* = refer to defense in the "stat skills explained" section above)

(b) Skills and their appropriate levels at level 19
(Try to keep the most important skills (aka your archery skills and suiting) at or around your player level. Magic is less important and you can slack on magic a lot more. Ideally at level 19 your skills should be as follows

Note: Archery and Suiting should always be kept at or above your level to maximize the damage dealt and to receive minimal damage. If your archery is low compared to the suiting of your opponent you will do as little as half of normal damage. Conversely by keeping your suiting higher than the level of your opponent you will take less damage. I recommend that you keep the archery skill and the suiting skill at least two levels higher than your player level.

Most important skills and their recommended levels
Archery = 23
Critical shot = 19
Serial criticality = 19
Trishot = 19
Kiting = 19
Ambush = 19
Suiting = 23
Class enhancement = 19

Other important skills [these are good for the recommended build but are secondary in importance]
Piercing = 19
Blocking = 20
Testudo = 20
Impedance = 19
Petmanship = 18

Magic skills [Ideally, all magic colors (i.e. black, red, white, green, blue and grey magic) should be levelled up in order to maximize magic resitance. If levelling all of these is not possible, I recommend that you level up the following skills up to the values indicated and then focus on life magic until you reach level cap]
Sorcery = 19
White magic =19
Green magic = 19
Remedial focus = 19
Diabolism = 19
Red magic = 19
Black magic = 19
Mindbending = 19
Blue magic = 19
Grey magic = 19
Wizardry = 10 (to activate the second pouch)
Gem handling = 20 ( to be able to place three gems of a kind into your pouch)



(c) Equipment to use

Archery equipment:

To assess how good your weapon is I recommend using the following formula: (min bow damage + max bow damage + min arrow damage + max arrow damage) / delay = efficiency. Higher efficiency = better weapon. Take accuracy into account as well when the efficiency values for two weapons are relatively close to each other.

I recommend that you try to get the 13 archery set and upgrade directly from the 13 archery set to the 23 archery set.
If you can afford to get the epic 9 set, that is even better. Otherwise aim for the 13 set.
If you find that the 13 set is too expensive as well, go for the 14 and then the 16 or 17 sets, followed by the 23 set.
Try to equip the 23 archery set at level 19 if it is possible. If not go for the 22 or stick with your 16 / 17 or 13 or 9 set.
These are general recommendations. Assess how good your weapon is for yourself by using the formula given above.


Suiting:

To assess how good your armor is I recommend the following approach: 1) compare their armor class values (higher = better) 2) look at the maximum amount that an armor can be enchanted for (refer to the "enchantments to aim for" section below) 3) look at extra effects (for example the epic 9 armor's legging gives you a 1% extra chance to hit for a critical strike with all attacks)

I recommend that you try to get the 13 suit and switch directly to the 20 suit as you approach level 19.
If you can afford the epic 9 armor set, that set is even better and can be used instead of the 20 set as well
To compare how other armor sets stack up against the abovementioned suggestions, use the criteria given above.


Shield:
A shield gives an archer a 25% delay penalty; the benefit of equipping a shield is the extra armor class value that you get and the damage absorbance effect that results from leveling testudo. A shield can be very useful when fighting bosses or higher level mobs. I recommend that you carry a shield around in your inventory and use it only when the extra boost it provides can help you overcome a tough situation (for example that fight in which you can almost solo a tough boss and need the extra edge to suceed).


Piercers:
The sole purpose of getting those piercers is to have two additional items to enchant (Archers are meant to autoshoot throughout the fight and not switch back and forth between autoshoot and autoattack). With lvl 19 in piercing you can equip the lvl 19 piercer (sold in town 4). In general, aim for piercers that can be enchanted for the highest amount (enchanting explained below).

Pets:
Get the chipmunk ( level 18 as fast as possible ). Stick with healing pets. Attack pets are for whip users and won't benefit you much.

(d) Area you should be fighting in at level 19
I recommend that you fight yellow ( 1 level higher than your player level ) and orange ( 2 levels higher than your player level ) creatures during your rested time for the most efficient usage of rested time. As level difference between mob and you increases, your accuracy will decrease and it will take longer to kill the mobs. Thus you will complete fewer fights during your rested time and will get fewer trophies, less experience and less gold. On the other hand you want to fight creatures that are a higher level than you to get the highest yield of trophies.
So at level 19 you should be fighting in either North passage or Moss dungeon lvl 2.

(e) Boss you should be able to solo
(not the end of the world if you can not solo these; I am just mentioning the bosses I was able to solo with the above mentioned skills while using the 23 archery set, the 20 armor and the 20 shield).
Level 22 elite north passage boss
Level 22 moss dungeon level 2 boss

(f)Enchantments to aim for
Enchanting stones are used to enchant items that are equipped on your character in order to redistribute your stat skills. For example, you can use a + 8 int - 8 mre stone to give yourself a 8 point int boost while taking away 8 points from mre. The goal is to take points from stat skills that are not useful to your build and put these points into areas that are useful.
Melee Magic Defense Recovery
str (useless) int (important) agi (important) pre (useless)
dex (important) cnc (important) cnt (important) mre (useless)
pst (neutral) mst (neutral) dur (important) reg (neutral)

So you want stones that increase the important things (dex, int, cnc mainly) and decrease the useless things (pre, mre, str, maybe pst and mst if you need more negatives).

Examples of stones that are good for archers are:
+(dex and/or int and/or cnc) - (pre and/or mre and/or pst and/or mst and/or str)
Examples; (+ 16 int - 16 str stone) (+ 4 dex - 4 mre)

But here is the catch.
You can't put just any stone on any item.
Go to town 1 and look at the level 13 helmet in the armory.
On the helmet it says: Str: 2 Agi: 1
To figure out what the maximum enchanting stone the item can take is, add these up and multiply by 2:
So for the 13 helmet it is: 2 + 1 = 3 * 2 = 6. So the biggest stone the level 13 helmet will take is a + 6 - 6 stone

I generally recommend that you use mostly int stones. These are very cheap and raise your overall damage (damage is determined by the average of int and cnc). Dex stones are very expensive and I generally shy away from those. Defensive stones can be a boost but are generally not necessary and don't help much against mobs while farming (unless you are taking a lot of damage for example which you shouldn't be, you don't need dur enchantments to fight a mob).

[Conqueror]

6: Strategy lvl 20 - 39

(a)Approximate Stat distribution at level 39
45 melee (all dex) ; 64 magic (all cnc); 46 defense (your defensive strategy); 1 recovery

(b)New archery skills added at level 20
Trained eye
Flameshot/Poisonarrow
Vengeful shot
(Pick one between flameshot and poison arrow. I recommend that you level flameshot because it triggers more often)

(c)Skills and their appropriate levels at level 39

Most important skills
Archery = 41 (Level this to 45 if you want to get the 45 rare set).
Critical shot = 39
Serial criticality = 39
Trishot = 39
Kiting = 39
Ambush = 39
Trained eye = 39
Flameshot = 39
Vengefulshot = 39
Suiting = 41 (Level this to 45 if you want to get the 45 rare set).
Class enhancement = 39
Class specialization = 39

Other recommended skills
Piercing = 39
Blocking = 39
Testudo = 39
Impedance = 39
Petmanship = 37 (to equip swans: epic healing pet)
Epicurious = 25 (only if using epic weapons)
Dual Wield = 20 (an additional piercer to enchant)
Stat enhancement and mitigated penalties = 39 (not as important. Level these only if you are working on skills and are not levelling up and have class enhancement and class specialization at level 39; otherwise leave them for when you get to level cap.)



(d) A word on magic strategy
As far as magic skills are concerned, concentrate on levelling up life magic skills that do not require a staff. Ideally, you want to level all magic skills (i.e. white, green, red, black, blue and grey magic) to maximize magic resistance. However, auras can be used to increase magic resistance and can help if you don't have the trophies to level up these aforementioned magic skills. For archers, I recommend using white and green magic; a magic strategy that relies on healing gems to increase longevity and auras to reduce damage is very effective in my opinion. Use mostly healing gems (direct heals such as heaven's glance and healing touch and heal over time gems such as regrowths should form the core of your healing pouch). Some damage over time gems may also be added to your pouch. Keep your other pouch for player versus player gems such as dazes, mezmerizes and stuns or leave it empty for a reliable escape pouch when the going gets rough.

(e)Equipment to use
Use the aforementioned criteria (in the strategy lvl 1 - 19 section) to compare and contrast equipment. Here I will just make some recommendations:

Archery
23 set --> 25 epic set --> 39 epic set (or for non epic users)
23 set --> 27 set --> 36 rare set --> 45 rare set

Suiting
9 epic set --> 25 epic set --> 39 epic set (or for non epic users)
20 set --> 27 set --> 36 set --> 44/45 set (the 44 and 45 set are very similar. The 45 is slightly better but is also much more expensive in general).

Pets
2 Swans (epic 37 pet)
Unfortunately the only healing pets between the chipmunk (level 18) and the bear cub (level 68) are epic. So try your best to get the swans and if you can not, stick with the chipmunks.

(f)Area you should be in at level 39
Batcaves

(g)Boss you should be able to solo
With the aforementioned skills and build you should be able to solo red bosses pretty easily ( red = 3 levels higher than your player level ).
So level 42 bat cave boss. To give you an idea of how strong you could be, I have done up to + 5 boss kill with skills that were less than these.

(h)Enchantments to aim for
Again I recommend + int stones. They are cheap and very beneficial.


7: Strategy lvl 40 - 59

(a)Approximate Stat distribution at level 59
65 melee (all dex) ; 99 magic (all cnc); 71 defense (your defensive strategy); 1 recovery

(b)New archery skills added at level 40 that you should level up
Archery
Blinding arrow
Arrow rain
(These are both player versus player skills and are less important especially when fighting mobs. You can slack a bit on these if you don't have enough trophies)

(c)Skills and their appropriate levels at level 59

Most important skills
Archery = 61
Critical shot = 59
Serial criticality = 59
Trishot = 59
Kiting = 59
Ambush = 59
Trained eye = 59
Flameshot = 59
Vengefulshot = 59
Suiting = 61
Class enhancement = 59
Class specialization = 59

Other skills
Blinding arrow and Arrow rain = 59 (you can level these up if you have enough trophies. Otherwise leave these archery skills for later.)
Piercing = 59
Blocking = 59
Testudo = 59
Impedance = 59
Petmanship = 53 (to equip seals: epic healing pets)
Epicurious = 50 (only if you are using epic weapons)
Stat enhancement = 59 (not as important; can leave for later)
Mitigated penalties = 59 (not as important; can leave for later)


(d)Equipment to use
Use the aforementioned criteria (in the strategy lvl 1 - 19 section) to compare and contrast equipment. Here, again I will just make some recommendations:

Archery
39 epic set --> 48 epic set --> 58 epic set (or for non epic users)
36 rare set --> 45 rare set --> 53 set --> 59 set --> 61 set --> 63 rare set

Suiting
39 epic set --> 58 epic set ( I recommend against using the 48 suiting set as it is not a significant improvement over the 39 ) (or for non epic users)
45 set --> 52 set --> 61 set --> 63 set

Pets
2 Seals (epic 53 pet)
Unfortunately the only healing pets between the chipmunk (level 18) and the bear cub (level 68) are epic. So try your best to get the seals and if you can not, stick with the swans or *gulp* the chipmunks =)

(e)Area you should be in at level 59
Arena Isle should be your farming spot

(f)Boss you should be able to solo
With the aforementioned skills and build you should be able to solo red bosses pretty easily ( red = 3 levels higher than your player level ).
So level 62 arena isle boss is fair game.

(g)Enchantments to aim for
Again I recommend + int stones. They are cheap and very beneficial.

8: Strategy lvl 60 - 80

No new skills are unlocked in archery at level 60

(a)Skills and their appropriate levels at level 80

Most important skills
Archery = 80 or higher
Critical shot = 80 or higher
Serial criticality = 80 or higher
Trishot = 80 or higher
Kiting = 80 or higher
Ambush = 80 or higher
Trained eye = 80 or higher
Flameshot = 80 or higher
Vengefulshot = 80 or higher
Suiting = 80 or higher
Class enhancement = 80 or higher
Class specialization = 80 or higher

Other skills
Blinding arrow = 80 or higher
Arrow rain = 80 or higher
Piercing = 80 or higher
Blocking = 80 or higher
Testudo = 80 or higher
Impedance = 80 or higher
Petmanship = 68 (to equip bear cub: healing pet)
Epicurious = 75 (only if you are using epics)



(b)Equipment to use
Use the aforementioned criteria (in the strategy lvl 1 - 19 section) to compare and contrast equipment. Here, again I will just make some recommendations:

Archery
58 epic set--> 67 epic set --> 78 epic set (or for non epic users)
63 rare set --> 69 set --> 73 set --> 75 rare set

Suiting
67 epic set --> 78 epic set (or for non epic users)
63 rare set --> 73 set --> 75 set

Pets
2 bear cubs (lvl 68 healing pets)

(c)Area you should be in at level 80
Aim to farm in an area with mobs 2 or 3 levels higher than you at most.
So halcyon rapids could be a good region to farm for a level 80.

[Conqueror]

9: Level Cap

(a)Approximate Stat distribution at level 80
89 melee 120 magic 110 defense 1 recovery

(b)What skills to now focus on for your build
Now is the time to focus on the following skills if they weren't levelled already
Broadhead arrow (new archery skill unlocked at level 80)
Blinding arrow
Arrow rain
Stat enhancement
Mitigated penalties
Also magic skills (all the magic colors should be levelled up to maximize magic resistance.

Once all of your archery skills and the other skills mentioned in the previous sections are at par with your level or higher, you can continue improving these skills or you can start leveling up various other skills. For example: One option is to level up the skills that are necessary for piercing attacks so that piercers can actually be used as weapons instead of items that are solely present for the purpose of their enchanting bonus potential.
Skills that are beneficial for piercing attacks are:
Piercing
Critical strike
Overcrit
Two handed
Hemorrhage
Dual wield
Double attack
Pierce spec
Puncture
Precision
Strikethrough
Deathblow


(c)Enchantments to aim for
Same as before. Cheap int enchants are preferable. Dur, dex, cnc etc enchants may also be used.



10: In the end

(a)Omg omg omg omg omg How am I going to do all this ?
It is very easy to tell someone that they must keep this and this skill at their level. The reality of it is much more difficult. Nodiatis is a challenging game in this regard. The truth of the matter is that you will find it difficult to keep your skills (even your main archery skills) at your level at all times. This challenge is even greater for those who are not spending money or are spending a limited amount of money on the game. This is perfectly okay. What I put forth above is a very idealistic version of how an archer should be created. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are an archer and that your main weapon is the bow and arrow. The skills that will benefit you most are found under the category of Archery. I have seen too many low level and new players that get distracted by the plethora of skills that are present. In the end if you can work on nothing else, work on archery, class enhancement and class specialization. This is where your damage comes from. You can do without shields, without piercers and even without pets and good gems. But the bow and arrow is your bread and butter. Don't spread yourself too thin. Focus on archery. I can't stress this enough.

(b)Levelling via the above mentioned method takes forever =(
There are several ways to play this game. It is possible to play it as a free account and on the other end of the spectrum it is possible to spend a lot of money on the game as well. How you level up really depends on how much you are willing to spend. The best strategy to level up is to get to level cap as fast as possible, and then to work on your skills at level cap. This is because you get a lot more experience and gold and the trophies are worth a lot more experience as well at higher levels. I recommend this strategy to any player who can pay for the grinder and accel upgrades and can afford to buy enough timecards to have rrt at all times when playing. However, those people who have a standard account or a free account or even just a premium account with no upgrades can not really rush to level cap. For these people, in my opinion, it is best if they work to strengthen themselves at lower levels and enjoy the game at these lower levels. Getting to the cap is not possible for everyone and a rushed build where you can not defeat anything and are losing most of the duels you are fighting in will just make you want to quit the game sooner. So follow the above guide if you are one of these people and be a strong low level player. For those who can and are rushing to level cap, the above guide may still prove useful in that it lists possible equipment sets to get and skills to level etc.

(c)Deleveling explained
As melee + magic + defense + recovery = 320 deleveling these skills can be a useful tactic. For example you could rush to level cap by doing an even build of 80 melee 80 magic 80 defense and 80 recovery. At level 80 then, you would want to delevel recovery and put those points into the skills that would help you the most. This is how to do it:
Step 1: right click on recovery and press redistribute stats. When it asks you to pay gold press ok.
Step 2: a window/box will pop up asking you to assign 3 points into either pre mre or reg. Don't assign the 3 points. Close this window/box by clicking on x at the top right.
Step 3: now right click on recovery and press "untrain 1 skill point"
Keep doing step 3 until your recovery is as low as you want it to be.

Another scenario: lets say you level recovery by 1 and the window pops up asking you to assign 3 points into pre, mre or reg. If you close the window you can delevel again without having to do step 1 or step 2 above. Just step 3 will suffice.

By doing this you can level up in blocks. For example, lets say you are a level 31 player in ogre caves and you want to get to skeleton coast where the mobs are level 36. Skeleton coast has 100% combat trophies so it will be easier for you to bring up your archery skills from, lets say 29 to 34 in skelly. You can level up recovery from 1 to 12 to jump up from level 31 to 34 without assigning any points into recovery (just close the point assignment window which asks you to put 3 points into pre, mre or reg whenever it comes up). This way you can level up and delevel without ever paying any gold (the trick is to not assign the 3 points when the window pops up asking you to).

Delevelling can be a useful tactic for any player, but make sure that you know what you are doing before you choose to delevel. Whenever you delevel (almost always recovery in an archer's case) your goal should be to assign those points to a skill that will improve your build.

I would like to wish you all success in your archery pursuits. This guide is not scripture; use this guide as a jump off point and figure out what is best for your character on your own.

A warm welcome to the ranks of the few, the proud, the Archers.

[Conqueror]

11: Archery: a summary
(refer to the guide for more detailed information about any topic presented here; however this can be read by itself for a good explanation about how an archer character works).

Note: more may be added to this section if the questions come up or if I can think of something that a new archer might want to know.



1. What should I use as my primary weapon ?

The archery set (bow + arrow + quiver) is your primary weapon. Archers should autoshoot throughout the fight for 2 reasons:

1) There is a longer delay when you switch back and forth between autoshoot and autoattack.

2) You should always focus on archery skills until you have them as high as possible; any trophies you use to improve the usage of any other weapon are trophies that are not going towards your archery skills.



2. What does each stat do for the archer and where should I assign my points when I level a stat?
(Refer to section 4 in the guide)

Melee: this is your accuracy stat. Level dexterity only or level mainly dexterity while putting a few points into pst for some additional energy.

Magic: this is your damage stat. Level int / cnc; in this guide I recommend that you level cnc only and use enchanting stones to increase int as they are cheap. Stay away from mst as magic is your damage stat and you want to maximize int/cnc to maximize your archery damage.

Defense: Go complete durability for a player versus player build (0 agi 0 cnt 3dur) or distribute evenly (1 agi 1 cnt 1 dur) for a player versus mob build.

Recovery: This stat helps you heal faster after the battle is over. However, it is not necessary if your character is built right (You will take little damage and healing pets/healing gems should make up for the damage you do take. For example I am fully healed by the time I am done looting when fighting orange and even higher level mobs.) I recommend that you do not level recovery or level it only for the reasons given in the next question.



3. Is their a situation where leveling recovery can be useful to an archer ?
(refer to section 10 (b) and 10 (c))

Yes. Recovery can be used to level up faster if you are rushing to level cap. If you do have the money to spend and can afford the upgrades and the tc's, rushing to level cap is the most optimal strategy for levelling up. This is because higher level trophies and mobs are worth a lot more experience and you can also make a lot more gold at higher levels. If you do choose to do this, you can level up more evenly (80 melee 80 magic 80 defense 80 recovery or some variation with higher magic and melee) and then delevel recovery all the way to 1 at level 80).

Also recovery can be used to level up in blocks. For example lets say you want to jump from level 45 to 49. You can increase recovery from 1 - 17 to get to level 49 and then delevel recovery as you raise the other stats (melee, magic or defense) without ever going below level 49. When you level recovery, and the window pops up asking you to put 3 points into either pre mre or reg, close the window without assigning the points. This will allow you to delevel (untrain skills point in recovery) without paying any gold to redistribute.



4. Why does the guide recommend an 89 melee 120 magic 110 defense and 1 recovery build. Why not 140 melee 140 magic 140 defense 140 recovery?

You can level any one stat to 140 (for example melee can be levelled up to 140). However combined the 4 stats can not add up to more than 320.

In other words melee + magic + defense + recovery = 80 * 4 = 320.

Hence all of them can not be levelled to 140. The points have to be assigned strategically to get the best results possible.

If you level melee to 89 and you assign all of the points to dex you will have 374 dexterity without using enchanted stones. You can vary this number and how you do, depends on how much you value higher dexterity. Some people prefer a 79 melee 120 magic 120 defense 1 recovery or some other combination thereof. I recommend 89 120 110 1 simply because I do not like using dexterity enchants to raise my dexterity (too expensive) and 374 dex is a good amount of dexterity to work with at level 80. Magic (int/cnc) can always be raised a lot more with additional enchanting stones for a cheaper price. I feel that dexterity above 400 provides limited gains at best so I do not recommend levelling melee higher than 89 at most.



5. So how do I level up?

To level up you assign 4 points into any of the four stat skills (melee magic defense and recovery). You can level up by doing 4 melee 0 magic 0 defense 0 recovery or you can level up by doing 1 melee 1 magic 1 defense 1 recovery.

I recommend you stick approximately to the 1 melee 2 magic 1 defense 0 recovery strategy (Not exactly but approximately; refer to section 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to find the approximate stat levels that I recommend you aim for at levels 19, 39, 59 and 80).



6. What are the most important skills that I should level up if I can level nothing else?
(refer to sections 5 (b), 6 (c), 7 (c), 8 (a))

Archery skills =) [try to keep these at your level or atleast make your best and foremost effort to level these up as high as possible].
Note: Archery and Suiting should always be kept at or above your level to maximize the damage dealt. If your archery is low compared to the suiting of your opponent you will do as little as half of normal damage. Conversely by keeping your suiting higher than the level of your opponent you will take less damage.

Archery
Critical shot
Serial criticality
Trishot
Kiting
Ambush
Trainer eye
Flameshot or Poison arrow (I recommend flameshot happens more often)
Vengefulshot
Broadhead arrow
Class enhancement (increases your damage so I recommend this)
Class specialization (increases your damage so I recommend this too)
Suiting



7. What are some other skills that I could level up as well that would help my build ?
(refer to sections 5 (b), 6 (c), 7 (c), 8 (a)), 9

Blinding arrow
Arrow rain
Piercing
Blocking
Testudo
Impedance
Petmanship



8. What about magic skills?

Ideally it is best to level up all magic colors, so as to maximize magic resistance. However, this is often too lofty a goal. I recommend that you level up the magic skills mentioned in section 5(b) of the guide to the levels indicated and then focus completely on life magic, atleast until you hit level cap and have good archery skills.

In your pouch mainly use heals, a few damage over time gems and auras (refer to section 6(d) for a magic strategy for archers).



9. How do I know what equipment to use?
(refer to sections 5 (c) 6 (e) 7 (d) 8 (b))

To asses archery equipment use the following formula: (min arrow damage + max arrow damage + min bow damage + max bow damage) / delay = efficiency
Higher the efficiency the better the archery set.

To assess how good your armor is I recommend the following approach: 1) compare their armor class values (higher = better) 2) look at the maximum amount that an armor can be enchanted 3) look at extra effects (for example the epic 9 armor's legging gives you a 1% extra chance to hit for a critical strike with all attacks)

I recommend that you use healing pets unless you have no necessity for the extra healing that the pets provide. At level 30 petmanship you can equip 2 pets.

Shields and piercers: if you do level these pick the shield with the highest armor class value that you can get based on your blocking skill. Pick the piercer that can be enchanted for the highest amount based on your piercing skill.



10. Where should I fight?

I recommend that you fight yellow / orange or at most orange / red mobs when you have rested time. The goal is to maximize farming efficiency (get the most gold, trophies and xp). Any higher than red and your fights will take a lot longer (accuracy decreases as the difference between mob level and your level increases). When you are out of rt or if you are not using your rt (grinder upgrade users) feel free to fight whatever level creature you want. Just keep an escape pouch (a completely empty 2nd pouch to give you guaranteed escapes every time) handy incase you need to escape.



11. What bosses should I be able to solo?

By level 19, you should be able to solo red bosses with relative ease if you are following the guide to a dot. I was able to do black bosses and my skills weren't nearly as high as I recommend in this guide.



12. How do enchanting stones work and what enchantments should I aim for ?
(refer to section 5 (f) of the guide for a detailed explanation of enchanting stones and how they work)

Enchanting stones are used to enchant items that are equipped on your character in order to redistribute your stat skills. For example, you can use a + 8 int - 8 mre stone to give yourself a 8 point int boost while taking away 8 points from mre. The goal is to take points from stat skills that are not useful to your build and put these points into areas that are useful.

So you want stones that increase the important things (dex, int, cnc mainly) and decrease the useless things (pre, mre, str, maybe pst and mst if you need more negatives).

I recommend using mainly int stones because they are cheap.

Is there any way you can get archers to use their PST? I think they're missing out on a chunk of DPS.

[thatperson]

when i make an archer i tend to go 5:1 dex: pst so that i can use DD gems along with bow....idk if this is a good idea though

DD's at low levels = weak.

[launcelot]

Isnt this supposed to be in the competion thread not a new one :O


*copy and pastes*

[Conqueror]

Thank you for your responses guys. Ok here goes. This is my thought process so you might not agree with what I am about to say.

Klippi
I haven't completely ruled out the possibility of using dd's with your archer but I myself am against it for the the following reasons.

1. Magic is an archer's damage stat and hence I am against levelling mst.
(200 + 2*mob lvl) x1.5 = int + cnc needed to do maximum damage. [Thank you StormWizard/archer/warrior/noodlebib/spongebob Just kidding for the formula]
So at level 80 fighting a level 82 mob you need 546 int + cnc if this formula is to be believed. Without enchants you would need roughly 120 in magic to be able to do this (provided you go all int/cnc). But 546 is the bare minimum. In todays competitive environment at higher levels you would want higher int + cnc simply because the higher it is the more higher damage hits you get (up to your max damage offcourse). That is where the enchanting comes in.
Thus:
A few points may be spared for mst but for all practical intents and purposes I would say an archer using dd's (particularly at higher levels) would be using energy based dd's. Somewhat rules out mana based dd's from the get go.

2. As I said in my guide: if you level melee to 89 and put all of the points into dex you will have 378 dex. I am against using dex enchants simply because they are very expensive and higher level dex stones are rarely available. Plus the bow and arrow is a high delay weapon so it is imperative that you hit when you do hit. 378 dex without enchants is a good value to have in my opinion. You could put some points into pst but I wouldn't want my dex to go below 350 (300 minimum if I must).

3. DD's get energy and mana intensive pretty fast and even up to mid levels are not very powerful. To cite an example, radiant showers (rank 7 white dd gem) needs 42 energy to cast and has dd of 5 - 27. I didn't use black or reds because they need even more mana and energy. Lets say I am a level 40 and I have 40 melee (using pk's strategy of 5 dex 1 pst means 1/2 point in pst every turn which means about a 20 increase in pst from its base). Your energy would be at roughly 200 now. This means 4 effective casts at most of a gem with a max damage of 27 (better gems = more energy intensive). Plus it means that I will have to level my dd skills too and this is the wrong track to go in in my opinion. Your goal is to focus focus focus focus on archery skills.

Conclusion: I wouldn't say don't ever ever ever ever use dd's but I recommend against them atleast until you hit level cap. You benefit a lot more in my opinion from directing those stats towards archery. But try it out for yourself and see what happens. This game is all an experiment in seeing what works and what doesn't.


Thatperson
5:1 dex pst is ok. I explained my reasoning above as to why I prefer all dex. But different builds and playing styles are great. If you do run tests using an archer character with all dex and one with 5:1 dex pst please post your results as to which choice is more efficient.


Launcelot
Thank you for your post too. This is a guides section so creating a new thread is not a wrongful act. But the reason I didn't post in the competition thread is because I wanted my guide to flow together without being interrupted by comments. I am all for comments but I want them to be posted subsequently. Plus if I posted 6 or 7 times on Flashus's page it would get confusing. Right now this guide is linked to his page so it should still work.

Thank you everyone
Keep any comments, questions, remarks coming.

[Conqueror]

Thank you to all of those who voted for my guide. I sincerely appreciate your support.

My intention when I wrote this guide was to help anyone who needed the assistance. I spent considerable time on this guide and even scrapped and rewrote the whole thing once. So I hope it is helpful to somebody.

In conclusion, I would like to say this: if anyone has any questions about how to build their archer, feel free to ask on this thread and I will try and respond to the best of my abilities. I have more than 8 months experience with building an archer, and my archer (by no means the best archer out there) has a pretty decent build.

Thank you for sponsoring the competition Flashus. Your contest gave me the extra inspiration and push that I needed to put together my guide.

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Conqueror

1: Character class
Archer
2: Weapon type
Bow, Arrow and Quiver; Piercing weapons; Shields
3: Build type
89 melee 120 magic 110 defense 1 recovery (at level 80)

4: Stat skills explained

It is important to know the following: at level 85: melee + magic + defense + recovery = 85 X 4 = 340
It is possible to raise any one of these stat skills to the maximum value of 140. For example melee can be raised to 140. However all 4 can not be raised to 140 as that would exceed 340.
In other words, you have 340 points to work with.
In order to allocate these points in the best way possible, it is important to know what each stat does for the archer.

Melee --> for an archer melee determines accuracy. All (or most) of your points in this stat should go into dex (a few points may be placed into pst to increase your energy). If you hover your cursor over dex you will read the following: "its primary function is to determine how likely you are to hit an opponent with all weapons including bow and arrow." In simple terms, melee is your accuracy stat. Never put any points into strength. It does nothing for the archer.
Magic --> for an archer, magic is the damage stat. In simple terms, the higher the average value of int and cnc, the harder the archer will hit (Note that the damage increase is capped so you can't increase damage indefinitely by leveling int and cnc; after this damage cap is reached the archer will hit closer to the damage cap at a greater frequency if int and cnc are raised even higher; thus, leveling these numbers beyond the damage cap can still be beneficial). Since the game uses the average value of int and cnc to determine your archery damage, I recommend that you only level cnc (leveling cnc is more suitable for the magic strategy that I will recommend later in this guide). If you choose to add Dds at cap go balanced.
Defense --> defense increases your longevity.
Agi is rather unneeded for normal players. It is useful high end pve/pvp but that's later on. At low levels some dur may be useful but it is possible to go without. Cnt is the most important. By cap you'll want roughly 350 for a pve build
Recovery --> There are people who will disagree but I recommend that you don't put any points into recovery. Archers don't need pre and mre because they do not generally have high mana and energy (low mst and pst skills). Thus, for an archer, the purpose of recovery is to help you heal faster after the battle is over. However, with the correct build, you will take minimal damage to begin with and healing pets and healing gems can make up for the minor cuts and scrapes that you do recieve. If you do put points into recovery, put all of them into reg. However, I recommend that you ditch this stat and save your points for the other three which are far more beneficial. To give you an idea of why recovery is not necessary, I find that I am fully healed by the time I am done looting a mob; my archer's recovery stat is at 1.Regen can be useful if you want to pvp or solo farm mid-high end. Otherwise go with vamp. Pre/mre can be ignored unless you wish to add a heavy casting element.

Originally Posted by Conqueror

5: Strategy level 1 - 19

(a) Approximate Stat distribution at level 19
19 melee (all dex) ; 34 magic (all cnc); 22 defense* ; 1 recovery
(* = refer to defense in the "stat skills explained" section above)

(b) Skills and their appropriate levels at level 19
(Try to keep the most important skills (aka your archery skills and suiting) at or around your player level. Magic is less important and you can slack on magic a lot more. Ideally at level 19 your skills should be as follows

Note: Archery and Suiting should always be kept at or above your level to maximize the damage dealt and to receive minimal damage. If your archery is low compared to the suiting of your opponent you will do as little as half of normal damage. Conversely by keeping your suiting higher than the level of your opponent you will take less damage. I recommend that you keep the archery skill and the suiting skill at least two levels higher than your player level.

Most important skills and their recommended levels
Archery = 23
Critical shot = 19
Serial criticality = 19
Trishot = 19
Kiting = 19
Ambush = 19
Suiting = 23
Class enhancement = 19

Other important skills [these are good for the recommended build but are secondary in importance]
Piercing = 19
Impedance = 19
Petmanship = 18

Magic skills [Ideally, all magic colors (i.e. black, red, white, green, blue and grey magic) should be levelled up in order to maximize magic resitance. If levelling all of these is not possible, I recommend that you level up the following skills up to the values indicated and then focus on life magic until you reach level cap]
Sorcery = 19
White magic =19
Green magic = 19
Remedial focus = 19
Diabolism = 19
Red magic = 19
Black magic = 19
Mindbending = 19
Blue magic = 19
Grey magic = 19
Wizardry = 10 (to activate the second pouch)
Gem handling = 20 ( to be able to place three gems of a kind into your pouch)



(c) Equipment to use

Archery equipment:

To assess how good your weapon is I recommend using the following formula: (min bow damage + max bow damage + min arrow damage + max arrow damage) / delay = efficiency. Higher efficiency = better weapon. Take accuracy into account as well when the efficiency values for two weapons are relatively close to each other.

I recommend that you try to get the 13 archery set and upgrade directly from the 13 archery set to the 23 archery set.
If you can afford to get the epic 9 set, that is even better. Otherwise aim for the 13 set.
If you find that the 13 set is too expensive as well, go for the 14 and then the 16 or 17 sets, followed by the 23 set.
Try to equip the 23 archery set at level 19 if it is possible. If not go for the 22 or stick with your 16 / 17 or 13 or 9 set.
These are general recommendations. Assess how good your weapon is for yourself by using the formula given above.


Suiting:

To assess how good your armor is I recommend the following approach: 1) compare their armor class values (higher = better) 2) look at the maximum amount that an armor can be enchanted for (refer to the "enchantments to aim for" section below) 3) look at extra effects (for example the epic 9 armor's legging gives you a 1% extra chance to hit for a critical strike with all attacks)

I recommend that you try to get the 14 suit and switch directly to the 20 suit as you approach level 19.
If you can afford the epic 9 armor set, that set is even better and can be used instead of the 20 set as well
To compare how other armor sets stack up against the abovementioned suggestions, use the criteria given above.


Shield:
A shield gives an archer a 25% delay penalty; the benefit of equipping a shield is the extra armor class value that you get and the damage absorbance effect that results from leveling testudo. A shield can be very useful when fighting bosses or higher level mobs. I recommend that you carry a shield around in your inventory and use it only when the extra boost it provides can help you overcome a tough situation (for example that fight in which you can almost solo a tough boss and need the extra edge to suceed).


Piercers:
The sole purpose of getting those piercers is to have two additional items to enchant (Archers are meant to autoshoot throughout the fight and not switch back and forth between autoshoot and autoattack). With lvl 19 in piercing you can equip the lvl 19 piercer (sold in town 4). In general, aim for piercers that can be enchanted for the highest amount (enchanting explained below).If you wish to be a pure archer you may want to consider slashers as a lot of pure archers equip runed flurry greatsword at cap.

Pets:
Get the chipmunk ( level 18 as fast as possible ). Stick with healing pets. Attack pets are for whip users and won't benefit you much.

(d) Area you should be fighting in at level 19
I recommend that you fight red ( 3 levels higher than your player level ) and orange ( 2 levels higher than your player level ) creatures during your rested time for the most efficient usage of rested time. As level difference between mob and you increases, your accuracy will decrease and it will take longer to kill the mobs. Thus you will complete fewer fights during your rested time and will get fewer trophies, less experience and less gold. On the other hand you want to fight creatures that are a higher level than you to get the highest yield of trophies.
So at level 18 you should be fighting in either North passage or Moss dungeon lvl 2.

(e) Boss you should be able to solo
(not the end of the world if you can not solo these; I am just mentioning the bosses I was able to solo with the above mentioned skills while using the 23 archery set, the 20 armor and the 20 shield).
Level 22 elite north passage boss
Level 22 moss dungeon level 2 boss

(f)Enchantments to aim for
Enchanting stones are used to enchant items that are equipped on your character in order to redistribute your stat skills. For example, you can use a + 8 int - 8 mre stone to give yourself a 8 point int boost while taking away 8 points from mre. The goal is to take points from stat skills that are not useful to your build and put these points into areas that are useful.
Melee Magic Defense Recovery
str (useless) int (important) agi (important) pre (useless)
dex (important) cnc (important) cnt (important) mre (useless)
pst (neutral) mst (neutral) dur (important) reg (neutral)

So you want stones that increase the important things (dex, int, cnc mainly) and decrease the useless things (pre, mre, str, maybe pst and mst if you need more negatives).

Examples of stones that are good for archers are:
+(dex and/or int and/or cnc) - (pre and/or mre and/or pst and/or mst and/or str)
Examples; (+ 16 int - 16 str stone) (+ 4 dex - 4 mre)

But here is the catch.
You can't put just any stone on any item.
Go to town 1 and look at the level 13 helmet in the armory.
On the helmet it says: Str: 2 Agi: 1
To figure out what the maximum enchanting stone the item can take is, add these up and multiply by 2:
So for the 13 helmet it is: 2 + 1 = 3 * 2 = 6. So the biggest stone the level 13 helmet will take is a + 6 - 6 stone

I generally recommend that you use mostly int stones. These are very cheap and raise your overall damage (damage is determined by the average of int and cnc). Dex stones are very expensive and I generally shy away from those. Defensive stones can be a boost but are generally not necessary and don't help much against mobs while farming (unless you are taking a lot of damage for example which you shouldn't be, you don't need dur enchantments to fight a mob).
I wouldn't focus on enchanting gear much until higher levels though.

Updates in red.
More to come in following days.

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Conqueror

6: Strategy lvl 20 - 39

(a)Approximate Stat distribution at level 39
45 melee (all dex) ; 64 magic (all cnc); 46 defense (your defensive strategy); 1 recovery

(b)New archery skills added at level 20
Trained eye
Flameshot/Poisonarrow
Vengeful shot
(Pick one between flameshot and poison arrow. I recommend that you level poison arrow because it helps shaft of death. )

(c)Skills and their appropriate levels at level 39

Most important skills
Archery = 41 (Level this to 45 if you want to get the 45 rare set).
Critical shot = 39
Serial criticality = 39
Megacrit = 39
Trishot = 39
Kiting = 39
Ambush = 39
Trained eye = 39
Poison arrow= 39
Vengefulshot = 39
shaft of death = 39
Suiting = 41 (Level this to 45 if you want to get the 45 rare set. If finances are tight always prioritize rare bows over rare armor. ).
Class enhancement = 39
Class specialization = 39

Other recommended skills
Piercing = 39 (or slashing)
Impedance = 39
Petmanship = 37 (to equip swans: epic healing pet)
optional:
Double bond/two handed instead of dual wield
Epicurious = 25 (only if using epic weapons)
Dual Wield = 20 (an additional piercer to enchant)
Stat enhancement and mitigated penalties = 39 (not as important. Level these only if you are working on skills and are not levelling up and have class enhancement and class specialization at level 39; otherwise leave them for when you get to level cap.)



(d) A word on magic strategy
As far as magic skills are concerned, concentrate on levelling up life magic skills that do not require a staff. You will need red, Grey, green, black, and possibly blue magics by cap. White is optional at low levels. However, auras can be used to increase magic resistance and can help if you don't have the trophies to level up these aforementioned magic skills. For archers, I recommend using white and green magic; a magic strategy that relies on healing gems to increase longevity and auras to reduce damage is very effective in my opinion. Use mostly healing gems (direct heals such as heaven's glance and healing touch and heal over time gems such as regrowths should form the core of your healing pouch). Some damage over time gems may also be added to your pouch. Keep your other pouch for player versus player gems such as dazes, mezmerizes and stuns or leave it empty for a reliable escape pouch when the going gets rough.

(e)Equipment to use
Use the aforementioned criteria (in the strategy lvl 1 - 19 section) to compare and contrast equipment. Here I will just make some recommendations:

Archery
23 set --> 25 epic set --> 39 epic set (or for non epic users)
23 set --> 27 set --> 36 rare set --> 45 rare set

Suiting
9 epic set --> 25 epic set --> 39 epic set (or for non epic users)
20 set --> 27 set --> 36 set --> 44/45 set (the 44 and 45 set are very similar. The 45 is slightly better but is also much more expensive in general).

Pets
2 Swans (epic 37 pet)
Unfortunately the only healing pets between the chipmunk (level 18) and the bear cub (level 68) are epic. So try your best to get the swans and if you can not, stick with the chipmunks.

(f)Area you should be in at level 39
Batcaves

(g)Boss you should be able to solo
With the aforementioned skills and build you should be able to solo red bosses pretty easily ( red = 3 levels higher than your player level ).
So level 42 bat cave boss. To give you an idea of how strong you could be, I have done up to + 5 boss kill with skills that were less than these.

(h)Enchantments to aim for
Again I recommend + int stones. They are cheap and very beneficial.


7: Strategy lvl 40 - 59

(a)Approximate Stat distribution at level 59
65 melee (all dex) ; 99 magic (all cnc); 71 defense (your defensive strategy); 1 recovery

(b)New archery skills added at level 40 that you should level up
Archery
Blinding arrow
Arrowrain
one with nature
(These are both player versus player skills and are less important especially when fighting mobs. You can slack a bit on these if you don't have enough trophies Blinding a Mob so melee hits miss often and srsly boosting your survivability accounts for nothing special I guess? Obviously I recommend leveling blinding arrow. I'd ignore arrrowrain entirely til cap. )

(c)Skills and their appropriate levels at level 59

Most important skills
Archery = 61
Critical shot = 59
Serial criticality = 59
Trishot = 59
Kiting = 59
Ambush = 59
Trained eye = 59
poison arrow = 59
Vengefulshot = 59
shaft of death = 59
blinding arrow = 59
Suiting = 61
Class enhancement = 59
Class specialization = 59


Other skills
Piercing = 59 (or slashing)
Impedance = 59
Petmanship = 53 (to equip seals: epic healing pets)
Epicurious = 50 (only if you are using epic weapons)
Stat enhancement = 59 (not as important; can leave for later)
Mitigated penalties = 59 (not as important; can leave for later)
one with nature = 59
Secondary specialization = 59 (get at least level 1 to choose secondary class)
What secondary class should I pick? Ranger may seem like an obvious choice but honestly unless you use a lot of green poisons I'd recommend dark knight more.


(d)Equipment to use
Use the aforementioned criteria (in the strategy lvl 1 - 19 section) to compare and contrast equipment. Here, again I will just make some recommendations:

Archery
39 epic set --> 48 epic set --> 58 epic set (or for non epic users)
36 rare set --> 45 rare set --> 53 set --> 59 set --> 61 set --> 63 rare set

Suiting
39 epic set --> 58 epic set ( I recommend against using the 48 suiting set as it is not a significant improvement over the 39 ) (or for non epic users)
45 set --> 52 set --> 61 set --> 63 set (why be so lazy as to use armor for 2 levels? Grind a bit more even if it means overskilling a bit to save money.)

Pets
2 Seals (epic 53 pet)
Unfortunately the only healing pets between the chipmunk (level 18) and the bear cub (level 68) are epic. So try your best to get the seals and if you can not, stick with the swans or *gulp* the chipmunks =)

(e)Area you should be in at level 59
Arena Isle should be your farming spot

(f)Boss you should be able to solo
With the aforementioned skills and build you should be able to solo red bosses pretty easily ( red = 3 levels higher than your player level ).
So level 62 arena isle boss is fair game.

(g)Enchantments to aim for
Again I recommend + int stones. They are cheap and very beneficial.

[SIZE="5"] 8: Strategy lvl 60 - 85/SIZE]

Archery skills unlocked at 60:
Aerial dominion (this is an epic skill so raise this sparingly. Just a couple levels to give yourself a chance of a huge crit. Raise more at cap.
Snake tongue (you can finally use both flameshot and poison arrow at the same time)

(a)Skills and their appropriate levels at level 85

Most important skills
Archery = 85 or higher
Critical shot = 85 or higher
Serial criticality = 85 or higher
Trishot = 85 or higher
Megacrit = 85 or higher
Kiting = 85 or higher
Ambush = 85 or higher
Trained eye = 85 or higher
Flameshot = 85 or higher
Poison arrow = 85 or higher
Vengefulshot = 85 or higher
Suiting = 85 or higher
Class enhancement = 85 or higher
Class specialization = 85 or higher

Other skills
Blinding arrow = 85 or higher
Piercing = 85 or higher (or slashing)
Impedance = 80 or higher
Petmanship = 68 (to equip bear cub: healing pet) (or 85 for epic owls)
Epicurious = 75 (only if you are using epics)



(b)Equipment to use
Use the aforementioned criteria (in the strategy lvl 1 - 19 section) to compare and contrast equipment. Here, again I will just make some recommendations:

Archery
58 epic set--> 67 epic set --> 78 epic set (or for non epic users)
63 rare set --> 69 set --> 73 set --> 75 rare set

Suiting
67 epic set --> 78 epic set (or for non epic users)
63 rare set --> 73 set --> 75 set

Pets
2 bear cubs (lvl 68 healing pets)

(c)Area you should be in at level 85
this is where this guide's age shows. When you first cap grind nlake halcyon.
I recommend you pick a resourcing skill because that will become a major income for you at this point. Here is how to rate your progress: (note this is for server 1)
Where normal builds should be able to farm
New caps nlake/Deadman's valley (86-89 mobs)
Weak caps goblin swamp (90/91 mobs) (way better than nlake once you can farm here. If you choose mining stick to dmv tho)
Average caps fungi forest (level 95-96) or pit (99-100)
Strong caps can go higher but going past average cap level is fairly optional.
Normal cap skill level average
New cap 85 (epic skills 10-20)
Weak cap 94 epic skills 30-40
Lazy cap 99 epic skills ~85
Normal cap 100
Strong cap 100 epic skills 89+

Gear:
New cap uncommons
Weak cap epics
(can't think of a good level for this one so..) cap t1 lgs
Average cap t2-t3 lgs.
Strong cap t4+ lgs.

Note it will take a few months to become a new cap but years to become a strong cap. Don't feel bad if your progress is slow. Nod has been around for 9 years. Hard to catch up overnight. But you will slowly but surely. My toon Alastrina is 4 years old and has won arena once and matched the highest group heroic boss kill. That puts toons 5 years older to shame. Think about how good you'll feel killing toons 9 years older someday!
.

Updates in red :{ darker red doesn't mean anything special.

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Conqueror

9: Level Cap

(a)Approximate Stat distribution at level 80
89 melee 120 magic 110 defense 1 recovery

(b)What skills to now focus on for your build
Now is the time to focus on the following skills if they weren't levelled already
Broadhead arrow (new archery skill unlocked at level 80)
Arrow rain
Stat enhancement
Mitigated penalties
secondary specialization
Big game trophies (crucial for capping trophy skills)
Max coinage (will more than triple the gold in chests at cap even in low zones like nlake.)
Also magic skills (all the magic colors should be levelled up to maximize magic resistance.idk if this guy is a Noob or if it changed years ago but... Only diabolism/sorcery/mind bending help resistance. Blue/red/green etc do jack nothing for resisting gems currently.)



(c)Enchantments to aim for
Same as before. Cheap int enchants are preferable. Dex, cnc etc enchants may also be used.



10: In the end

(a)Omg omg omg omg omg How am I going to do all this ?
It is very easy to tell someone that they must keep this and this skill at their level. The reality of it is much more difficult. Nodiatis is a challenging game in this regard. The truth of the matter is that you will find it difficult to keep your skills (even your main archery skills) at your level at all times. This challenge is even greater for those who are not spending money or are spending a limited amount of money on the game. This is perfectly okay. What I put forth above is a very idealistic version of how an archer should be created. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are an archer and that your main weapon is the bow and arrow. The skills that will benefit you most are found under the category of Archery. I have seen too many low level and new players that get distracted by the plethora of skills that are present. In the end if you can work on nothing else, work on archery, class enhancement and class specialization. This is where your damage comes from. You can do without shields, without piercers and even without pets and good gems. But the bow and arrow is your bread and butter. Don't spread yourself too thin. Focus on archery. I can't stress this enough.

(b)Levelling via the above mentioned method takes forever =(
There are several ways to play this game. It is possible to play it as a free account and on the other end of the spectrum it is possible to spend a lot of money on the game as well. How you level up really depends on how much you are willing to spend. The best strategy to level up is to get to level cap as fast as possible, and then to work on your skills at level cap. This is because you get a lot more experience and gold and the trophies are worth a lot more experience as well at higher levels. I recommend this strategy to any player who can pay for the grinder and accel upgrades and can afford to buy enough timecards to have rrt at all times when playing. However, those people who have a standard account or a free account or even just a premium account with no upgrades can not really rush to level cap. For these people, in my opinion, it is best if they work to strengthen themselves at lower levels and enjoy the game at these lower levels. Getting to the cap is not possible for everyone and a rushed build where you can not defeat anything and are losing most of the duels you are fighting in will just make you want to quit the game sooner. So follow the above guide if you are one of these people and be a strong low level player. For those who can and are rushing to level cap, the above guide may still prove useful in that it lists possible equipment sets to get and skills to level etc.

(c)Deleveling explained
As melee + magic + defense + recovery = 340 deleveling these skills can be a useful tactic. For example you could rush to level cap by doing an even build of 85 melee 85 magic 85 defense and 85 recovery. At level 85 then, you would want to delevel recovery and put those points into the skills that would help you the most. This is how to do it:
Step 1: right click on recovery and press redistribute stats. When it asks you to pay gold press ok.
Step 2: a window/box will pop up asking you to assign 3 points into either pre mre or reg. Don't assign the 3 points. Close this window/box by clicking on x at the top right.
Step 3: now right click on recovery and press "untrain 1 skill point"
Keep doing step 3 until your recovery is as low as you want it to be.

Another scenario: lets say you level recovery by 1 and the window pops up asking you to assign 3 points into pre, mre or reg. If you close the window you can delevel again without having to do step 1 or step 2 above. Just step 3 will suffice.

By doing this you can level up in blocks. For example, lets say you are a level 31 player in ogre caves and you want to get to skeleton coast where the mobs are level 36. Skeleton coast has 100% combat trophies so it will be easier for you to bring up your archery skills from, lets say 29 to 34 in skelly. You can level up recovery from 1 to 12 to jump up from level 31 to 34 without assigning any points into recovery (just close the point assignment window which asks you to put 3 points into pre, mre or reg whenever it comes up). This way you can level up and delevel without ever paying any gold (the trick is to not assign the 3 points when the window pops up asking you to).

Delevelling can be a useful tactic for any player, but make sure that you know what you are doing before you choose to delevel. Whenever you delevel (almost always recovery in an archer's case) your goal should be to assign those points to a skill that will improve your build.

I would like to wish you all success in your archery pursuits. This guide is not scripture; use this guide as a jump off point and figure out what is best for your character on your own.

A warm welcome to the ranks of the few, the proud, the Archers.

Overall a decent guide. Just a bit aged.

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by Conqueror

11: Archery: a summary
(refer to the guide for more detailed information about any topic presented here; however this can be read by itself for a good explanation about how an archer character works).

Note: more may be added to this section if the questions come up or if I can think of something that a new archer might want to know.



1. What should I use as my primary weapon ?

The archery set (bow + arrow + quiver) is your primary weapon. Archers should autoshoot throughout the fight for 2 reasons:

1) There is a longer delay when you switch back and forth between autoshoot and autoattack.

2) You should always focus on archery skills until you have them as high as possible; any trophies you use to improve the usage of any other weapon are trophies that are not going towards your archery skills.



2. What does each stat do for the archer and where should I assign my points when I level a stat?
(Refer to section 4 in the guide)

Melee: this is your accuracy stat. Level dexterity only or level mainly dexterity while putting a few points into pst for some additional energy.

Magic: this is your damage stat. Level int / cnc; in this guide I recommend that you level cnc only and use enchanting stones to increase int as they are cheap. Stay away from mst as magic is your damage stat and you want to maximize int/cnc to maximize your archery damage.
there is a legendary armor set called Raidens that can help with mst too. Gives 25 int 25 cnc 25 mst on sleeves. 27 on legs. Sleeves are always a solid choice for near any build.

Defense: Go complete durability for a player versus player build (0 agi 0 cnt 3dur) or distribute evenly (1 agi 1 cnt 1 dur) for a player versus mob build. there are a ton of alternatives to Dur at cap now. Raise dur as sparingly as possible no matter what you wish to do.
I'd aim for 350 cnt. Do whatever floats your boat beyond that.

Recovery: This stat helps you heal faster after the battle is over. However, it is not necessary if your character is built right (You will take little damage and healing pets/healing gems should make up for the damage you do take. For example I am fully healed by the time I am done looting when fighting orange and even higher level mobs.) I recommend that you do not level recovery or level it only for the reasons given in the next question.



3. Is their a situation where leveling recovery can be useful to an archer ?
(refer to section 10 (b) and 10 (c))

Yes. Recovery can be used to level up faster if you are rushing to level cap. If you do have the money to spend and can afford the upgrades and the tc's, rushing to level cap is the most optimal strategy for levelling up. This is because higher level trophies and mobs are worth a lot more experience and you can also make a lot more gold at higher levels. If you do choose to do this, you can level up more evenly (80 melee 80 magic 80 defense 80 recovery or some variation with higher magic and melee) and then delevel recovery all the way to 1 at level 80).

Also recovery can be used to level up in blocks. For example lets say you want to jump from level 45 to 49. You can increase recovery from 1 - 17 to get to level 49 and then delevel recovery as you raise the other stats (melee, magic or defense) without ever going below level 49. When you level recovery, and the window pops up asking you to put 3 points into either pre mre or reg, close the window without assigning the points. This will allow you to delevel (untrain skills point in recovery) without paying any gold to redistribute.

regener archer is a semi common pvp build that doesn't do too badly. Not as useful pve unless you're not able to farm as high as you'd like with hp vamp.


4. Why does the guide recommend an 89 melee 120 magic 110 defense and 1 recovery build. Why not 140 melee 140 magic 140 defense 140 recovery?

You can level any one stat to 140 (for example melee can be levelled up to 140). However combined the 4 stats can not add up to more than 340.

In other words melee + magic + defense + recovery = 85 * 4 = 340.

Hence all of them can not be levelled to 140. The points have to be assigned strategically to get the best results possible.

If you level melee to 89 and you assign all of the points to dex you will have 374 dexterity without using enchanted stones. You can vary this number and how you do, depends on how much you value higher dexterity. Some people prefer a 79 melee 120 magic 120 defense 1 recovery or some other combination thereof. I recommend 89 120 110 1 simply because I do not like using dexterity enchants to raise my dexterity (too expensive) and 374 dex is a good amount of dexterity to work with at level 85. Magic (int/cnc) can always be raised a lot more with additional enchanting stones for a cheaper price. I feel that dexterity above 400 provides limited gains at best so I do not recommend levelling melee higher than 89 at most.
cap today is 10 levels higher than the time of this guide. So 360 skills. (though 85 is soft cap. You won't hit 90 for a VERY long time. So hence my editing it to 340s)so you need get 20 extra points. I'd recommend dex if you wish to ever farm higher than goblin swamp. If gs is the dream raise magic. If you feel you're a bit squishy defense. No major difference at this point.



5. So how do I level up?

To level up you assign 4 points into any of the four stat skills (melee magic defense and recovery). You can level up by doing 4 melee 0 magic 0 defense 0 recovery or you can level up by doing 1 melee 1 magic 1 defense 1 recovery.

I recommend you stick approximately to the 1 melee 2 magic 1 defense 0 recovery strategy (Not exactly but approximately; refer to section 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 to find the approximate stat levels that I recommend you aim for at levels 19, 39, 59 and 80).



6. What are the most important skills that I should level up if I can level nothing else?
(refer to sections 5 (b), 6 (c), 7 (c), 8 (a))

Archery skills =) [try to keep these at your level or atleast make your best and foremost effort to level these up as high as possible].
Note: Archery and Suiting should always be kept at or above your level to maximize the damage dealt. If your archery is low compared to the suiting of your opponent you will do as little as half of normal damage. Conversely by keeping your suiting higher than the level of your opponent you will take less damage.

Archery
Critical shot
Serial criticality
Trishot
Kiting
Megacrit
Ambush
Trainer eye
Flameshot
Poison arrow
Vengefulshot
Broadhead arrow
Class enhancement (increases your damage so I recommend this)
Class specialization (increases your damage so I recommend this too)
Suiting
Secondary specialization
Big game trophies
Max coinage




7. What are some other skills that I could level up as well that would help my build ?
(refer to sections 5 (b), 6 (c), 7 (c), 8 (a)), 9

Blinding arrow
Arrow rain
Piercing
Impedance
null mind
Note: why do I recommend null mind but not grim resolution or banish light? Vengeful shot.
If a dd lands on you you get a free archery shot. How op is that? Note that if you have trouble surviving you may wanna raise them anyway. But if not free dps. Meanwhile null mind is used to help resist daze/mez/stun gems from mobs.
Petmanship



8. What about magic skills?

Ideally it is best to level up all magic colors, so as to maximize magic resistance. idk if this guy is a Noob or if it changed years ago but... Only diabolism/sorcery/mind bending help resistance. Blue/red/green etc do jack nothing for resisting gems currently.) (However, this is often too lofty a goal. I recommend that you level up the magic skills mentioned in section 5(b) of the guide to the levels indicated and then focus completely on life magic, atleast until you hit level cap and have good archery skills.

In your pouch mainly use heals, a few damage over time gems and auras (refer to section 6(d) for a magic strategy for archers).



9. How do I know what equipment to use?
(refer to sections 5 (c) 6 (e) 7 (d) 8 (b))

To asses archery equipment use the following formula: (min arrow damage + max arrow damage + min bow damage + max bow damage) / delay = efficiency
Higher the efficiency the better the archery set.

To assess how good your armor is I recommend the following approach: 1) compare their armor class values (higher = better) 2) look at the maximum amount that an armor can be enchanted 3) look at extra effects (for example the epic 9 armor's legging gives you a 1% extra chance to hit for a critical strike with all attacks)

I recommend that you use healing pets unless you have no necessity for the extra healing that the pets provide. At level 30 petmanship you can equip 2 pets.

Shields and piercers: if you do level these pick the shield with the highest armor class value that you can get based on your blocking skill. Pick the piercer that can be enchanted for the highest amount based on your piercing skill.



10. Where should I fight?

I recommend that you fight yellow / orange or at most orange / red mobs when you have rested time. The goal is to maximize farming efficiency (get the most gold, trophies and xp). Any higher than red and your fights will take a lot longer (accuracy decreases as the difference between mob level and your level increases). When you are out of rt or if you are not using your rt (grinder upgrade users) feel free to fight whatever level creature you want. Just keep an escape pouch (a completely empty 2nd pouch to give you guaranteed escapes every time) handy incase you need to escape. at cap there are more incentives to farm higher thanks to big game trophies/max coinage.


11. What bosses should I be able to solo?

By level 19, you should be able to solo red bosses with relative ease if you are following the guide to a dot. I was able to do black bosses and my skills weren't nearly as high as I recommend in this guide.



12. How do enchanting stones work and what enchantments should I aim for ?
(refer to section 5 (f) of the guide for a detailed explanation of enchanting stones and how they work)

Enchanting stones are used to enchant items that are equipped on your character in order to redistribute your stat skills. For example, you can use a + 8 int - 8 mre stone to give yourself a 8 point int boost while taking away 8 points from mre. The goal is to take points from stat skills that are not useful to your build and put these points into areas that are useful.

So you want stones that increase the important things (dex, int, cnc mainly) and decrease the useless things (pre, mre, str, maybe pst and mst if you need more negatives).

I recommend using mainly int stones because they are cheap.

what should mysuit look like at cap? (note these are for legendary gear. Level 100 roughly and for pure archers. Hybrid archers like double cast dd/ bm archer shouldn't have archery primary class and are very different Stat wise. I may see about finding guides for them or making the guides at some point. Don't hold your breath though. Pm me in-game on blaze and I can run you through the basics of each easily enough though. )
This is a huge personal preference thing. I'll give my recommendations on the best few though. Take it with a grain of salt and do what you really want though
Bows: there are 3 main LG bows for archers.
Demontendon. High damage. Slow. Good for low end instakill farming.
Thraki's fury. Widely considered the best bow and used by nearly every build. Whether bm archer or melee. Low damage but fast with 15% ranged hit chance and 7% chance of multi attacks.
Dragon's talon. similar to thraki damage wise. Proc can do instant 1500 bloodlets.
Honestly recommend thraki.

Arrows: 2 main choices.
Fateseal (proc increases damage enemy takes by 4%. Sadly means you don't get it the first shot you take.)
Demon tooth higher max damage.
I recommend fateseal. It helps teammates in arena or group farming and is solid solo.

Quivers: 2 main choices.
Thunder eye (decent ranged haste small damage boost)
Obliterator (no ranged haste huge damage boost)
Oblit is good if you wanna instakill farm around nlake area. Otherwise get thunder eye.

Helm: all helms suck so whatever floats your boat.
Demonskull: 3% crit and dot bonus.
Aliangel: 3% exp bonus.
Goldwing 5% gold bonus.
Main 3 I recommend.

Sleeves: archers basically exclusively use Raiden sleeves for the stats. Could choose zirc/spellbound for hit chance or demonskull for damage I suppose.

Legs:
Spellbouns/zirc give crit chance.
Raidens stats.
Demonskull damage.
Earth Fusion damage mitigation. Choose what suits you. I recommend crit.

Breastplate: most people will recommend aliangel for the haste. If you're using thraki/thunder eye tho I do not recommend that. I'd use demonskull. The way haste stacks the BP is lame after a 40% boost from quiver.

Pets: no pets really scream "archer". Stalkers for hp vamp are a solid choice. Timmies if you wish to regen. Weasels are also a choice more pvp themed.

Melee weapon: 2 piercing options. Dual forged dragontooth daggers (both give 18% hit chance each) or fang spear of conjuration if you wanna go more casting themed.
1 slasher option: runed flurry greatsword. Gives hit chance and multi attack chance.