Seeking Archer/Bard Macro tips and Gear/Cross-Skill Suggestions

[Reauland]

Hi guys!

I'm a PS3 player and just recently hit 24 Archer and am working on bringing all classes up to minimum of 15 for starters. I find myself fast reaching the point where I can't confine my melee actions to one set of crossbars without combining some. Currently, I just have a simple Heavy/Straight macro and a couple of fancy ones for Shadowbind:

/micon Shadowbind
/mk "Bind1" <t>
/ac "Venomous Bite" <t>
/wait 1
/ac Shadowbind <t>

Subsequent
/micon Shadowbind
/ac "Venomous Bite" <bind1>
/wait 1
/ac Shadowbind <bind1>

What I've noticed is that occasionally my Heavy/Straight Shot macro will get the flashing, broken outline around the box that I associate with combos. Since Archers don't get combos, what exactly is that indicating?

Also, any and all suggestions for macros, cross-skills, and gear will be most appreciated. In my next post, I'll at least lay out what I'm currently using and why.

Thanks in advance!

[Ryihito]

Just use a 2nd hotbar.

And using Heavy Shot will have a chance of causing the next Straight Shot to do Critical damage, so the flashing indicates that Straight Shot can do Critical damage.

[Reauland]

Ahhh, gotcha. Didn't realize that it gave us a heads-up on the crit chance. As far as cross-skills go, I imagine they're situational to a degree, but is there some optimal set I should be working towards?

As far as gear goes, I've just been stacking Dex and crit rate wherever possible. And cross-skills, I've been using Keen Flurry and Featherfoot staggered out as defense tools, and Inner Release and Haymaker for the added offense.

[Ryihito]

You're going the right way, however Haymaker is awesome for soloing, but not that great for party play, so consider swapping that out for something else if you want more offense. Blood for Blood from Lancer is also a good offensive buff.

Second Wind is nice too, it has saved me from dying multiple times when a healer couldn't heal me in time.

At the start of most fights, try and attack slowly, especially early in the game, and then start attacking faster. Archers can take a lot of hate from the tank very quickly, so make sure you keep an eye on aggro.

Repelling Shot and Blunt Arrow is great for extra DPS, but you won't get the latter until way later.

Get into a habit of using Straight Shot first, and then Venomous Bite, then Bloodletter and then Windite once you learn it. The Straight Shot buff (Increase Critical hit chance) and the two DoT's are amazing, and they only get better as you progress. Much later on, you will get a Trait that causes Bloodletter to instantly reset - once a DoT of yours is a critical hit, there's a 50% chance it will reset Bloodletter.

Once you get Mage's Ballad, don't play it for the sake of it, it lowers your damage by 20%, so only play it when the mages are around 50% of their MP.

The Infantry outfit from Brayflox (around level 35) can last you until your AF, providing you at least upgrade some of your gear as you continue to progress. You really don't have to worry about your gear until then, just as long as you accept them from the quest rewards at least.

[Reauland]

Awesome! Thanks for the advice

[Zeronic]

Just my 2 cents on this. Bloodletter and Miserie's End should be put in a Macro. That way you automatically fire them when they are ready. Like this
/ac "Misery's End" <t>
/ac "Venomous Bite" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>
Just spam the button. Also, from what I have heard, it is better to start using windbite as your first DoT. So, Straightshot> Windbite> Venomous Bite> Heavyshot.
Personally I go with Cross class skills from Pugulist (Internal Release, featherfoot, Second Wind) And 2 from Lancer ( Blood for Blood and Invigorate, trust me, you are gonna need it).
Also, I use buff macro's, each macro having 2 buffs + Hate drop buff Like this.
/ac "Quelling Strikes" <me>
/ac "Hawk's Eye" <me>
/ac "Internal Release" <me>
I use these in between skills (during general cooldown). That way you don't draw too much hate and you can be buffed for a pretty long time.
I hope this helps ^_^

[Reauland]

I hope this helps ^_^

Oh absolutely it does! So from the look of it, I'm taking Lancer up slightly past Dragoon level to unlock the Lancer skills you use.

I was thinking about macroing Windbite and Venomous Bite together complete with a /wait and then having Misery's End and Bloodletter on one of its own. Does that make any sense? And that buff macro example - does it just fire them off sequentially at a tap for each? If so, that's pretty sweet!

Looks like I got some macro writing to do when I get home from work :P

[Estellios]

I would suggest not macro-ing Venomous bite into your Shadowbind macro. You really do want Shadowbind to land ASAP whenever you need to use it, but marking the target in the Shadowbind macro is a good idea.

I don't use too many macros myself, I like doing almost everything manually personally. Still, I would recommend playing around with your skill/macro placements and try to set them up in ways that make sense and are intuitive for you. I would also recommend splitting commonly used actions between L and R so you don't strain your fingers as much. I had my bars setup before so that every single one of my attack and DoT skills was on my R trigger set which meant that I could potentially be holding R for minutes at a time as I hate the toggle mode. I changed it so my DoTs are on L Trigger and i haven't had any finger strain since.

I would also suggest making a macro to assist other players. I just made a macro that is /target <tt>, and this lets you target a party member through the party list and hit the macro to switch targets to whatever they are targeting, so you can make sure you are always attacking the Tank's target or working together with other DPS in the party.

[Zeronic]

I was thinking about macroing Windbite and Venomous Bite together complete with a /wait and then having Misery's End and Bloodletter on one of its own. Does that make any sense? And that buff macro example - does it just fire them off sequentially at a tap for each? If so, that's pretty sweet!

Looks like I got some macro writing to do when I get home from work :P

Not adviseable. Putting a wait in a macro is not really productive IMO. Besides, you might need to move or jump out of the way or use another skill that just breaks that macro.
If it were me I would stick with:
/ac "Misery's end" <t>
/ac "Skill" <t>
/ac "Bloodletter" <t>

With Skill being Straight, Heavy Wind And Venom shots/bite That way most important skills are set from 1 to 4. While you can still use bloodletter and miseries end in between.
Furthermore I should refrain from combat macro's. Some make it just more complicated.

[Ryihito]

Awesome! Thanks for the advice

You're welcome.

I don't use macros at all, so I can't help with them. Personally I prefer to have full control and not have a macro use multiple skills. PS3 user here too, by the way.

Bard's can restore TP also using their own songs, so Invigorate is not entirely needed. You should be preparing to sing songs in advance for certain situations. If you notice a healer's MP is dropping faster than usual, get ready to sing, or if you think the fight is going to be long and you need to use AoE's, get ready to sing. Don't leave singing to the last second. A Bard has to be prepared and have good reflexes (ESPECIALLY for Blunt Arrow silencing in the end game). Sure, they are easy to use in combat, but their support skills can bring an imminent wipe to a total victory.

The Bard's LB is also a lifesaver. When a healer dies, and that boss is at 20% HP, that healing can give you enough time for the rest of you to kill it. The key to the Bard's LB is that you yourself need to decide when to do it. Don't wait for someone to tell you to do it, you need to make the decision fast. Of course some situations has the DPS LB to be better, so the Bard's LB is more suited for when everyone is hurt.

Windbite is slightly stronger than Venomous Bite, but there's not much of a difference for it to matter. The most important thing is that you use both.