The "Ideal" Archer thread

Discuss what your "ideal" archer setup would be with the skills/gear we have at this time:
- Points Allocation

- Action Bars setup

- Gear equipped

- Macros, if you have them

- General tactics for certain mobs

- Skills/traits/attributes from other classes that are useful to Archers

- Any info to help Archers doing what they do best.

- Any other info that is not in a category in the previously mentioned items.

- Discuss and elaborate please.

/eaction 1 Light Shot
/eaction 2 Heavy Shot
/eaction 3 Feint
/eaction 4 Multishot
/eaction 5 Raging strike II
/eaction 6 Ferocity II
/eaction 7 Hawk's Eye
/eaction 8 Blindside
/eaction 9 Siphon MP
/eaction 10 Cure III
/eaction 11 Puncture II
/eaction 12 Wide Volley II
/eaction 13 Shrieker
/eaction 14 Bloodletter
/eaction 15 Trifurcate
/eaction 16 Siphon TP
/eaction 21 Chameleon
/eaction 22 Raise
/eaction 23 Chainspell
/eaction 24 Sleep
/eaction 25 Protect II
/eaction 26 Shell II
/eaction 27 Stoneskin

Alt 1
/action Trifurcate me
/action Raging strike
/action Ferocity
/action Hawk's Eye
/action Blindside
/wait 30
/wait 30
/wait 30
/echo Trifurcate stack ready

Alt 2
/action Puncure t
Alt 3
/action Wide volley t
Alt 4
/action Shrieker t
Alt 5
/action Bloodletter t

Stats
STR 86
DEX 86
VIT 80
MND 80
PIE 86
INT 86

Gear:
ACC rings +/- ATT choker
ATT and ACC attributes have priority over primary stats no matter how little in the gear slot.


To do what you do best:
Abuse multishot and use your buff abilities before a fight.
DO use multishot and trifurcated boosts during boss fights and stack all the abilities even if it means a full stamina bar's use. DO use abilities that reduce swings in emnity prior to using raging strike, hawk's eye, etc.
DO NOT wait until you're getting hit to use chameleon and collusion, constantly shed any hate you can.

DO NOT use anything but basic arrows.

basic arrows?

- Points Allocation I maxxed out the STR at 174, put 87 into VIT, and 93 into Dex. I am still working on moving my points around as I am not happy with the results I am getting. So these numbers are current but always changing.

- Gear equipped, I am again going with max STR points
Head - Silver Tricorne
Weapon - Crab Bow +2
Arrow - changes depending on the mob, but for general purpose I use Silver as I help farm mats for my ARC/CARP LS mate who makes us other arrows which we use in NM fights. I will get into arrows in a bit.
Body - Cavalier's Chainmail
Belt - Penance
Hands - Spiked Leather Armguards. I don't like the look and stats on other gear but these give HP +23, so I can live with that. I would use the Venerer's Braces for stats but the STR -2 was not my cup of tea.
Pants - Leather Skirt, again for STR
Shoes - Engineer's Leggings as it gives HP +32 and Vit +2.
Rings - Three Garnet Rings which helps in STR +7 for each.

The gear is also another thing I am constantly changing around, so this is not a final end product.

Macros:
For buffs in fights I use
/ac "Raging Strike II" <t>
/ac "Hawk's Eye" <t>
/ac "Still Precision" <t>
/ac "Ferocity" <t>

This is another work in progress thing since Ferocity is not an archer's best friend and if your tank loses hate, guess who is more than likely the next meat shield?

- My action bars
Bar 1 goes like this: Heavy Shot, Light Shot, Trifurcate, Shrieker, Barrage, Foeseeker, Bloodletter, Multishot, Invigorate, Cure II.
Bar 2 goes like this: Raging Strike II, Hawk's Eye, Still Precision, Ferocity, Refill
Bar 3 goes like this: Chameleon, Feint, Sacrifice II, Second Wind II

- General tactics for certain mobs. We try to implement the shots into the Battle Regimens for maximum effectiveness.

Uraeus - Shrieker to his head using Red Coral Arrows. Stand outside his AoE range in front of him and go to town.
Dodore - Shrieker to his eye using Silver Arrows. Usually I stay back and let the tank (most of the time a THM) and once the minions are about 50%, just take them out using only Heavy Shot until they are gone and then go to town on Dodore.
Elder Mosshorn - Shrieker to his horns using Iron Swallowtail Arrows. We usually go for one of the Billy first and then the Nannygoats. Once those are gone, we stand with the tank in front and do our attacks until the horns break. Since he has no AoE, we are safe there.
Great Buffalo - Stand on right side and using Iron Swallowtail Arrows. Stand to his right side away from his AoE circle and use Bloodletter to his right horn.
Haughtpox Bloatbelly - Red Corral Arrows. Right arm use Barrage, let arm use Foeseeker, and head use Shriker.

- Skills/traits/attributes from other classes that are useful to Archers: As you can see from my action bars, I utilize many classes' skills

I never use shrieker because of the long cool down. Use Skullsunder 2 or Concussive blow 2 they both have much shorter cooldowns and with affinity traits they do just as much as shrieker.

Weapon: Crab bow +2
Ammo: Silver Arrows (best arrows by far)
Head: Silver Tricorne +1
Body: Bucc's shirt (maybe eternal shade for the extra attack)
Hands: Spiked leather (I agree veners really blow)
Waist: Penance
Legs: Tarred Leather Trousers
Feet: Cavalry Sollerets (not for arc but nothing better for str)
Jewelry: mythril choker (for the attack) 2 garnet rings.

With stat conversion traits I'm at 175 Str 120 Vit 144 Dex as Archer.

Raging Strike II, Ferocity II, Hawk's Eye, Blindside 2, Cadence, Bloodletter, Quick Nock, and Wide Volley II are staples, my bar might change depending on what I'm killing.

About the arrows situation, Silver and Red Coral is about the same damage even on earth affinity mobs like buffalo. People have claimed that having a high water affinity affects coral arrow damage, but I haven't tested it to find out.

I notice some of you are boosting STR while others focus on DEX. I realize the debate on whether it is worth investing most points on DEX even though there is a cap.

However, i would like to hear your input on why you focus on STR, DEX or be it any other trait, along with your equipment, skills...etc

My archer is still at rank 26; i will revisit my post again to share my equipment, traits...etc might be helpful for others around my rank.

Peace

My setup (r46 arc)

head: Darksilver Circlet (Aquamarine)
body: Cavalier Chainmail (blue)
hands: Brass Vambraces (black)
belt: Iron Tassets
legs: Velveteen Kecks (black)
feet: Toadskin Leggings (brown)
accessories: Silver rings x2, Sunstone ring, Flourite ring +1

As far as actions go, I typically use arc skills exclusively, along with 2nd wind, cure 2, protect, shell, and stoneskin.
my traits include the tier 1 mag/phys conversions, plus prime conditioning, fleet of foot, and fastcast. (when in a party, I'll swap out fastcast w out of sight)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShinobiHakeem

I notice some of you are boosting STR while others focus on DEX. I realize the debate on whether it is worth investing most points on DEX even though there is a cap.

However, i would like to hear your input on why you focus on STR, DEX or be it any other trait, along with your equipment, skills...etc

My archer is still at rank 26; i will revisit my post again to share my equipment, traits...etc might be helpful for others around my rank.

Peace

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Currently DEX has a lower impact on Archer's actual accuracy than say, Marauder. 100 DEX into Marauder will result in a noticeable difference, where as you can have as low as 50-60 with Archer and not really see much change. Currently, after about (estimated) 100 points into a given stat, it gives diminishing returns and serves no real purpose. -However-, current battle/class/skill/job changes that are upcoming, along with physical level's roll changing/being removed/whatever, stat information as-is will be different by the end of summer... so really, doesn't matter. I've found with the -required- horizontal leveling of this game, it's best to keep a fairly even distribution of points, well-rounded characters have the best survivability for solo play, which will inevitably happen with the lack of a playerbase.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Belial

Currently DEX has a lower impact on Archer's actual accuracy than say, Marauder. 100 DEX into Marauder will result in a noticeable difference, where as you can have as low as 50-60 with Archer and not really see much change. Currently, after about (estimated) 100 points into a given stat, it gives diminishing returns and serves no real purpose. -However-, current battle/class/skill/job changes that are upcoming, along with physical level's roll changing/being removed/whatever, stat information as-is will be different by the end of summer... so really, doesn't matter. I've found with the -required- horizontal leveling of this game, it's best to keep a fairly even distribution of points, well-rounded characters have the best survivability for solo play, which will inevitably happen with the lack of a playerbase.

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Thanks! I thought the DEX cap effect kinda applies to all, but it's good to know that Marauder as you mentioned make use of more DEX. I currently lowered my DEX to 80 as ARC R32, making some space for MND...etc for mages classes.

I look forward to what changes the upcoming update to classes/jobs have that might affect ARC playstyle or abilities.

Thanks again for your reply!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ShinobiHakeem

Thanks! I thought the DEX cap effect kinda applies to all, but it's good to know that Marauder as you mentioned make use of more DEX. I currently lowered my DEX to 80 as ARC R32, making some space for MND...etc for mages classes.

I look forward to what changes the upcoming update to classes/jobs have that might affect ARC playstyle or abilities.

Thanks again for your reply!

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No problem, now the caps do indeed apply to all, but the way stats are calculated, it is an extrememly complicated and broken system. An Archer, being a bowman, naturally has good accuracy, where a lumbering Marauder with his huge axe-of-crushing-stuff is slow, and misses a lot. These are just stereotypes to the kinda class/weapon you have. But these seem to play a roll in stats as well, since like I stated before, I have used as little as 50 DEX on Rank 50 Archer with no discernable difference in how much I hit or miss. On Marauder, however, the difference between 40 - 100 actually becomes quite noticeable (it seems that with removing the race base stats that were around in FFXI, there are hidden base stats per classes, or perhaps just a strong affinity towards certain stat allocation.) Either way, the playerbase and development team have both admitted that the stat allocation system as-is, is needlessly complicated and broken.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Belial

No problem, now the caps do indeed apply to all, but the way stats are calculated, it is an extrememly complicated and broken system. An Archer, being a bowman, naturally has good accuracy, where a lumbering Marauder with his huge axe-of-crushing-stuff is slow, and misses a lot. These are just stereotypes to the kinda class/weapon you have. But these seem to play a roll in stats as well, since like I stated before, I have used as little as 50 DEX on Rank 50 Archer with no discernable difference in how much I hit or miss. On Marauder, however, the difference between 40 - 100 actually becomes quite noticeable (it seems that with removing the race base stats that were around in FFXI, there are hidden base stats per classes, or perhaps just a strong affinity towards certain stat allocation.) Either way, the playerbase and development team have both admitted that the stat allocation system as-is, is needlessly complicated and broken.

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That is a very interesting observation. I did notice low accuracy with Lancer as well, which i guess compares to your case with Marauder. I will try and increase the DEX and see if it is of any help for Lancer. Otherwise, I'd keep it around 80-90 for now.

Thanks!

PS: Sorry OP for diverting a little bit into stats.

Mostly agree with what other people have posted here already, but something I'm an outspoken advocate of (just ask anyone in my linkshell who has been unfortunate enough to have the topic come up) for permanent status on any archer's bar is Soughspeak. I actually use Soughspeak II since Conjurer was the first class I ranked up to 50, but you get regular Soughspeak pretty early on with Conjurer.

Hate management is critical for archers, and Soughspeak works great, has a lower cooldown than Chameleon, and, in my experience, tends to work better.

That being said, I think the skill itself might actually be broken, going by the (English) description of it, anyway, but that doesn't change the fact that it works like a charm.

I also usually have Levinbolt II on my bar. It actually works pretty well situationally and can do a nice chunk of damage and leave a dot on your target, and is extra-nice if it happens to be resistant to physical, or weak against magic or lightning. Although I have to admit a lot of it just has to do with the fact that I think I look like some kind of badass Archer-mage when I do it. :)

Definitely a +1 for Fleet of foot, it's pretty key to my playstyle with archer when we're running around between multiple mobs grinding or on a leve or whatever. Lets me nock my arrows with multishot between mobs so all I have to do is tap raging strike before the next pull and I'm ready to go, all while I'm running to whatever it is we're killing next.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pes

Mostly agree with what other people have posted here already, but something I'm an outspoken advocate of (just ask anyone in my linkshell who has been unfortunate enough to have the topic come up) for permanent status on any archer's bar is Soughspeak. I actually use Soughspeak II since Conjurer was the first class I ranked up to 50, but you get regular Soughspeak pretty early on with Conjurer.

Hate management is critical for archers, and Soughspeak works great, has a lower cooldown than Chameleon, and, in my experience, tends to work better.

That being said, I think the skill itself might actually be broken, going by the (English) description of it, anyway, but that doesn't change the fact that it works like a charm.

I also usually have Levinbolt II on my bar. It actually works pretty well situationally and can do a nice chunk of damage and leave a dot on your target, and is extra-nice if it happens to be resistant to physical, or weak against magic or lightning. Although I have to admit a lot of it just has to do with the fact that I think I look like some kind of badass Archer-mage when I do it. :)

Definitely a +1 for Fleet of foot, it's pretty key to my playstyle with archer when we're running around between multiple mobs grinding or on a leve or whatever. Lets me nock my arrows with multishot between mobs so all I have to do is tap raging strike before the next pull and I'm ready to go, all while I'm running to whatever it is we're killing next.

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I agree that in essence this should be the case, but the way the game is in it's current state, enmity just isn't worth worrying about. Hell, go bounce around some youtube videos, ARCs can tank virtually any current content minus the ridiculous 60+ mobs that are out there. The system sucks, and hopefully once things are changed around what you say will be true and ARCs finally end up being squishy little bastards. But for now, you can almost literally just do what you want with no real penalties.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Belial

I agree that in essence this should be the case, but the way the game is in it's current state, enmity just isn't worth worrying about. Hell, go bounce around some youtube videos, ARCs can tank virtually any current content minus the ridiculous 60+ mobs that are out there. The system sucks, and hopefully once things are changed around what you say will be true and ARCs finally end up being squishy little bastards. But for now, you can almost literally just do what you want with no real penalties.

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I'm not going to entirely disagree with you, I mean, yeah, if you're grinding random mobs or leves purely for SP, or doing any leve above like rank 40 or so, that experience for me has mostly consisted of the people in my party, and, usually, the people in 1-2 others and maybe some random people just hanging out in Ul'dah crafting or something sitting around on Vent having a big party line and goofing off, cracking jokes and having a good time while mindlessly partaking in the virtual slaughter of defenseless woodland creatures. That's just what we do to get SP and rank up, it's an MMO, that's your "job" for better or for worse right now, unfortunately. It's more fun because our LS is a bunch of really cool, fun people and we like hanging out and talking to each other. But if we want to do something that requires a little more than hitting the "1" button we'll go find some of those crazy 60+ mobs or whatever. Most of the NMs have just turned into an annoyance more than anything else, but those can still be fun sometimes too.

And I haven't actually tried tanking an NM (an actual NM, not one of those pansy mini ones, I guess I've "tanked" those if soloing them counts) as an archer, although I suppose I probably could if I really wanted to. Strictly speaking you can tank anything as just about any class if you really wanted to, all it requires is a little bit of VIT and somebody who can drop some heals on you.

Hate management while playing Archer isn't important because you can't take hits, it's important because if the mob is running after and beating up on you, then everyone else in your party has to heal you, chase the mob, or work on getting hate back, which means that other people aren't building up their TP, hitting and/or debuffing the mob, stacking things in a battle reg, keeping other linked mobs from beating the snot out of your buddy the conjurer who is now not going to be so enthusiastic the next time your HP drops, etc. But to get back, specifically, to what it means to YOU, the Archer, is that you risk focusing less on pumping whatever it is that's running at you full of arrows.

That being said, an Archer's hate-drawing prowess can come in handy in a pinch. In big, extended fights, I do occasionally intentionally do something like hit raging strike and hawk's eye to get the attention of an add that starts giving a healer next to me some trouble to draw it off of them if it looks like they're struggling, or need to focus on healing people that would be out of range if they dropped an AOE on themselves or something. If I can't take whatever it is down in one or two shots I'll just run it over to a tank, hit soughspeak and let them deal with it.