Carraway's Guide to the New Archer: 1.18 and Beyond

[NoctisUmbra]

Trifurcate has a 2 minute timer, so you are just sitting on those buffs for half of that time?

You should just try buffing a double multishot (3x light shot) when ferocity/etc. is up. You should also try (in my opinion) using Cadence and Murderous Intent as they both are pretty effective as well (Cadence may be removed/rendered useless or changed in 1.19). I think you'll find it makes a considerable difference to get twice as many big bursts as you do currently.

Also wondering if anyone else gets absorb attack transferred onto them by a mage for the bursts. It seems to be a pretty good way to boost damage as well (though granted when I do this we are usually using a full BR).

I do try to use the buffs on the 1 minute mark on a double shot to get the most squeeze out of them, but many times due to moving about during the boss fights (shifting during Ogre, Skeles and shield light during Batraal) it doesn't end up mattering much anyway.

As far as saving 2 multishots to get a triple shot out, I see no feasibility in it unless you are standing close enough to use close shot as your primary attack while keeping the extra arrow nocked. Haven't tried that personally but heard that it works.

Waiting 15 seconds without shooting is just absurd. Even if you spend 4-5 or even 6 seconds of it buffing it isn't justified. Shouldn't take that long to buff anyway. Only time I end up getting 2x multishot up is when I'm away from the actual boss during batraal hitting lights, thus have the time to prepare the arrows.

We don't use BRs and they will be removed temporarily with 1.19 anyway so Cadence is a no. Murderous Intent, while can be nice, isn't worth a slot on my bar at this time. I can increase my critical hit rate through dexterity - whcih will also have a more profound effect post 1.19 apparently. Either way crit buffed Light Shot does just over 800 as opposed to a regular buffed Light Shot doing mid 700s. Not much compared to the drastic damage increase gained from actual buffs.

[Murugan]

I do try to use the buffs on the 1 minute mark on a double shot to get the most squeeze out of them, but many times due to moving about during the boss fights (shifting during Ogre, Skeles and shield light during Batraal) it doesn't end up mattering much anyway.

As far as saving 2 multishots to get a triple shot out, I see no feasibility in it unless you are standing close enough to use close shot as your primary attack while keeping the extra arrow nocked. Haven't tried that personally but heard that it works.

Waiting 15 seconds without shooting is just absurd. Even if you spend 4-5 or even 6 seconds of it buffing it isn't justified. Shouldn't take that long to buff anyway. Only time I end up getting 2x multishot up is when I'm away from the actual boss during batraal hitting lights, thus have the time to prepare the arrows.

We don't use BRs and they will be removed temporarily with 1.19 anyway so Cadence is a no. Murderous Intent, while can be nice, isn't worth a slot on my bar at this time. I can increase my critical hit rate through dexterity - whcih will also have a more profound effect post 1.19 apparently. Either way crit buffed Light Shot does just over 800 as opposed to a regular buffed Light Shot doing mid 700s. Not much compared to the drastic damage increase gained from actual buffs.

How is it not worth it. Show me a parse of your unbuffed light shots where they = 100+ damage each on the Ogre. That is how much damage you are missing not buffing an extra shot.

Fully buffed 3x shots does ~280-300 dmg each for me (outside of BR's). So 3.33 light shots (15 second multishot timer/4.5 second delay) would have to do 90+ damage each if you could somehow buff ferocity/etc. in 0 seconds. Since you can't buff instantaneously even spamming a macro, and since you can fire off a heavy shot or bloodletter after Multishot without spending it we are really talking about only 1-2 light shots you are missing out on.

So you are missing 300 damage potentially (out of a BR), or 800 damage (if you can BR) all for maybe two light shots? What weapon are you using that gives you that kind of unbuffed light shot?

Also cadence outside of a group BR is worth it, and Murderous intent is worth it because crits give ~10-20% more damage and Murderous Intent lasts well beyond the triple shot.

[Penguin]

I buff my Trifurcate with Raging2, Blindside2, Ferocity2 and Hawk's Eye. This entire buffing process takes no more than 3-4 seconds as I run a macro for it.

You either have an amazing connection to the server or just aren't actually watching you're screen while you are buffing because at no point have i ever seen 5 buffs take 3-4 seconds to apply, go test it yourself and if its 3-4 seconds than if possible post a video.

I have been testing archer rotations for a while now and for me atleast its impossible to get 2 buffs in between lightshot cooldowns, the animation of lightshot + the animation of the buff you are using is around 3-3.5 seconds for me meaning 1 lightshot followed by 1 buff/WS followed by 1 lightshot is the max i can do between cooldowns.

And also @Murugan.

I used to focus my rotation around fully buffing 3 nocked lightshots aswell and although i may have not been doing a perfect rotation at the time and although the damage looks great when your hitting for 250+ on each shot when i switched to a more focused lightshot rotation i actually started doing more damage per second than i was with fully buffing.

Next time you do a non BR ogre with your rotation if possible fraps it and upload it or just record total damage done and length of fight and post what dps you are doing over the entire fight because i would be interested to know what kind of dps you are doing with your rotation.

Edit: Murderous Intent is also 1 of the most powerful buffs currently for archer since the majority of their damage is from lightshots, it lasts a decent amount of time i think 30 seconds with axemanship? and the reduction in tp is very minimal, i have personally seen 3-4 minute fights with 42% crit rating over 70+ lightshots.

[carraway]

I used Brandish II for a while, but I find that Arrow Helix actually does better damage (however it has a blindspot close to the archer so you have to step away before using it if you have aggro).

I do need to edit that part of the guide, as I've also found Brandish II to be a waste. So far our archers are pushing the most damage on Batraal while putting the least burden on healers by rotating 2-arrow Light Shot / Heavy Trammel / Wide Volley II / Leg Sweep. We save our fully buffed Trifurcates / 3-arrow Multishots for Batraal himself.

As for this 2-arrow buffed Multishot vs. 3-arrow buffed Multishot discussion, let's consider a hypothetical 1-minute section cut out from an ogre fight ending with a Trifurcate, not counting WSs which can be slotted wherever:

2-arrow buffed Multishots
0s: Light Shot
0.5s: Ferocity II
1s: Multishot
3.5s: 2-arrow Light Shot
7.0s: Light Shot
10.5s: Light Shot
14s: Light Shot
16s: Multishot
17s: Raging Strike II
17.5s: 2-arrow Light Shot
21s: Light Shot
24.5s: Light Shot
28s: Light Shot
31s: Multishot
31.5s: 2-arrow Light Shot
35s: Light Shot
38.5s: Light Shot
42s: Light Shot
45.5s: Light Shot
46s: Multishot
(Hold Raging Strike II for Trifurcate CD)
49s: 2-arrow Light Shot
52.5s: Light Shot
56s: Light Shot
58.5s: Raging Strike II
59s: Trifurcate
59.5s: 3-arrow Light Shot

3-arrow buffed Multishots
0s: Light Shot
1s: Multishot
3.5s: x
7.0s: x
10.5s: x
14s: x
16s: Multishot
17s: Raging Strike II
17.5s: 3-arrow Light Shot
21s: Light Shot
24.5s: Light Shot
28s: Light Shot
31s: Multishot
31.5s: x
35s: x
38.5s: x
42s: x
45.5s: x
46s: Multishot
46.5s: Raging Strike II
49s: 3-arrow Light Shot
52.5s: Light Shot
56s: Light Shot
58.5s: Ferocity II
59s: Trifurcate
59.5s: 3-arrow Light Shot

Again, just an illustrative example. In a real-world situation, you're firing off WSs in place of Light Shots every once in a while, but what I'm trying to show is that if you're consistently holding Light Shot, you have to rely entirely on Heavy Shot (which does less damage) and WSs -- but if you're just using Heavy Shot, you're not generating enough net positive TP to fuel non-stop WSs every other 15-second period. Feel free to provide your own math, but consider that, in addition to trading 9 regular Light Shots (~60 damage x 9 = 540, not counting crits) for 2 fully buffed Light Shots (~250 non-crit x 2 = 500 or ~280 crit x2 = 560 or ~265 avg x 2 = 530), you're also sacrificing the TP gains from continuous Light Shot usage.

And if you're suggesting on slipping on single-buffs to fully, completely, wholly buff every 3-arrow shot with Cadence, Ferocity II, Hawk's Eye, Blindside II, Raging Strike II, etc., that's an insane amount of DPS uptime lost to buff animations.

---

That being said, Murderous Intent is a pretty awesome buff, especially with Axemanship for higher uptime. The crit gains are definitely noticeable over time.

[NoctisUmbra]

As far as Murderous Intent goes, I'll give it another look and see how it works for me.

Buffs however, as I listed them, do not take 6 seconds. I listed 4 buffs which I have in a macro with a wait time of 1 second between each buff in the macro. 3 '/wait 1' commands between 4 buffs accounts for 3 seconds. The animations themselves are cancelled by the following buff, and the final buff's animation cancelled by the actual shot. Throw in the actual Trifurcate buff for maybe another second or 2 depending on how you have your macros set and unless you have exceptional server lag it should take 4-5 seconds tops. You would have to have a buff in the macro not go through due to lag or something, requiring you to hit the macro again, to cause you 2-3 more seconds of downtime tops. Worst case scenario you're looking at 9 seconds to buff. Worst case scenario. Multishot is 15 seconds cooldown. Still not worth it holding out for it.

Also Murugan, 15s/4.5s is wrong. Verdant is 3.5s. Crab is 4s. Heck the slow one, Uldahn Longbow, is 4.2s. With Crab and Verdant, the 2 most widely used bows, you'll get closer to 4 shots in each time. Based on you saying the extra buffed shot doing up to 300 damage on Ogre, 300/4 = 75. 70+ is perhaps an argument, not 90+. When damage is that close, I prefer the route of more shots and buffed shots as they become available. Greater TP gain and crit chance.

[Murugan]

I do need to edit that part of the guide, as I've also found Brandish II to be a waste. So far our archers are pushing the most damage on Batraal while putting the least burden on healers by rotating 2-arrow Light Shot / Heavy Trammel / Wide Volley II / Leg Sweep. We save our fully buffed Trifurcates / 3-arrow Multishots for Batraal himself.

As for this 2-arrow buffed Multishot vs. 3-arrow buffed Multishot discussion, let's consider a hypothetical 1-minute section cut out from an ogre fight ending with a Trifurcate, not counting WSs which can be slotted wherever:

2-arrow buffed Multishots
0s: Light Shot
0.5s: Ferocity II
1s: Multishot
3.5s: 2-arrow Light Shot
7.0s: Light Shot
10.5s: Light Shot
14s: Light Shot
16s: Multishot
17s: Raging Strike II
17.5s: 2-arrow Light Shot
21s: Light Shot
24.5s: Light Shot
28s: Light Shot
31s: Multishot
31.5s: 2-arrow Light Shot
35s: Light Shot
38.5s: Light Shot
42s: Light Shot
45.5s: Light Shot
46s: Multishot
(Hold Raging Strike II for Trifurcate CD)
49s: 2-arrow Light Shot
52.5s: Light Shot
56s: Light Shot
58.5s: Raging Strike II
59s: Trifurcate
59.5s: 3-arrow Light Shot

3-arrow buffed Multishots
0s: Light Shot
1s: Multishot
3.5s: x
7.0s: x
10.5s: x
14s: x
16s: Multishot
17s: Raging Strike II
17.5s: 3-arrow Light Shot
21s: Light Shot
24.5s: Light Shot
28s: Light Shot
31s: Multishot
31.5s: x
35s: x
38.5s: x
42s: x
45.5s: x
46s: Multishot
46.5s: Raging Strike II
49s: 3-arrow Light Shot
52.5s: Light Shot
56s: Light Shot
58.5s: Ferocity II
59s: Trifurcate
59.5s: 3-arrow Light Shot

Again, just an illustrative example. In a real-world situation, you're firing off WSs in place of Light Shots every once in a while, but what I'm trying to show is that if you're consistently holding Light Shot, you have to rely entirely on Heavy Shot (which does less damage) and WSs -- but if you're just using Heavy Shot, you're not generating enough net positive TP to fuel non-stop WSs every other 15-second period. Feel free to provide your own math, but consider that, in addition to trading 9 regular Light Shots (~60 damage x 9 = 540, not counting crits) for 2 fully buffed Light Shots (~250 non-crit x 2 = 500 or ~280 crit x2 = 560 or ~265 avg x 2 = 530), you're also sacrificing the TP gains from continuous Light Shot usage.

And if you're suggesting on slipping on single-buffs to fully, completely, wholly buff every 3-arrow shot with Cadence, Ferocity II, Hawk's Eye, Blindside II, Raging Strike II, etc., that's an insane amount of DPS uptime lost to buff animations.

---

That being said, Murderous Intent is a pretty awesome buff, especially with Axemanship for higher uptime. The crit gains are definitely noticeable over time.

You aren't understanding me at all let me show you my aproximate solo breakdown for Ogre keeping track of how much more damage total I am doing by doing it this way:

End Cutscene
0:00Multi Shot
0:01Heavy Shot
0:02Invigorate
0:08Quelling Strike+Raging Strike
0:15:Multi Shot
0:15Light Shot
0:16Bloodletter
0:17Chameleon
0:19Light Shot
0:22 Skull Sunder
0:24 Light Shot
0:28 Light Shot
0:30 Multi Shot
0:33 Light Shot
0:34 Trifurcate
0:35-0:38 Ferocity+Cadence+Murderous Intent+Keen Flurry+Blind Side II
0:39 enter BR/Light Shot/Fire BR 270-300 dmgx3
0:42Heavy Shot
0:43Light Shot
0:44Bloodletter
0:45Skull Sunder
0:47Light Shot
0:52 Light shot
0:56 Light Shot
1:00 Multishot
1:01 Light Shot
1:03 Invigorate
1:05 Light Shot
1:10 Light Shot
1:12 Heavy Shot
1:13 Bloodletter
1:15 Light Shot
1:16 Multishot
1:18 Skull Sunder
1:19 Raging Strikes
1:20 Light Shot
1:25 Light Shot
1:29 Light Shot
1:33 Light Shot
1:34 Multi Shot
1:36 Bloodletter
1:38 ***MISSED LIGHT SHOT OH NO AHHHHHH!!!! -50 Damage for me!**
1:42 Heavy Shot
1:43 ****Missed Light Shot Oh NO AHHHH!!!! (-100 Damage Total)
1:44-48 Ferocity+Cadence+Murderous Intent+Keen Flurry+Blind Side II
1:47 **** MIssed Light Shot AHHHHH (-150 Damage Total)
1:49 Multishot
1:49 enter br/light shot/Fire BR 270-300 dmgx3 (+150 Damage Total)
etc. etc.
2:34 Multi Shot
2:36 Bloodletter
2:37 Heavy Shot
2:38 Skull Sunder
2:39 Missed Light AHHHHHH**** (+100 Damage Total)
2:42-48 Ferocity+Cadence+Murderous Intent+Keen Flurry+Blind Side II
2:43 Missed Light AHHHHH *** (+50 Damage Total)
2:48 Missed Light Shot AHHHH **** (+0 Damage Total)
2:49 Multishot
2:49 enter/light shot/Fire BR 270-300 dmgx3 (+300 Damage Total)
etc.
2:54 Trifurcate+ Raging Strike= an extra ~150 you are missing (+450 Damage Total)
3:30 (this is where your fights end) Total Damage gained by doing an extra burst over 450 Damage

In a fight lasting longer than 3:56 minutes it would be (~+500-700) Damage depending on the exact time it ended.

Don't take my word for it, try it and parse it. You'll see an improvement in your Light Shot Damage proportion of Total Damage (which as you pointed out generally means that you are doing more damage overall). This is also an approximate break down I play by feel more than actually breaking down my "rotation" down so much, but in order to explain to you I thought this would be the best way.


Also I am being generous as I don't think everyone, including myself is hitting every single light shot anyways at exactly its refresh 100% of the time (especially when buffs are involved), and I'm also not counting all the damage you are missing in your example above by only buffing with Raging Strike and neglecting Ferocity/Murderous Intent/Cadence/Keen Flurry/Blind Side II for 1:15 of every Trifurcate refresh.

Of course I try and do BR's while they are still in the game (because I enjoy them more than anything) in which case it is a much larger difference in Damage. It is also makes for a much more pronounced difference on mobs not as physically tough as Ogre.

To recap when buffing multix2:

-I do light shot right before the first multi shot
-I only miss 3 Light Shots (missing 150 damage)
-I use at least 2 Weapon Skills while waiting for multi to refresh
-I gain 250-300 Damage from an extra buffed Shot
-I gain an extra Raging Strike buffed shot with 2nd+ Trifurcate giving me another extra 90-150 Damage


I'll take burst focus over sustained DD method for Archer any day with or without BR (though with BR it is an absolute necessity for good damage capable of creating at least 1,000+ extra damage)

• It is more versatile (easier to control where and when your damage goes, and less susceptible to mob buffs)
• It is always capable of more overall damage(except for a very small window in fights w/o BR lasting less than 2:30 seconds where it is "maybe" similar but never worse)

[Penguin]

Since you are 100% certain Murugan can you parse a non BR ogre or fraps it as i asked earlier, make sure you know when the group 1st engaged the ogre and when he died and calculate the dps.

As i said i tried the same way you are doing it and after switching my rotation to a more lightshot focused rotation my damage increased alot although i would like to test a more perfected version of buffing trifurcate fully to see the difference in my current rotation.

[Rubian]

Can someone please answer me this question, and feel free to explain in exact detail here:

Why does every Archer I see use the Alpine War Jacket. And when I talk to all my R50 Archer friends and LS mates, they all say its the best piece of gear in the game. And they say its the best Archer Body.

I know it has good Defense/evade/resists and all that, but as long as you don't pull hate, getting hit shouldn't matter. Shouldn't it be all about the Brigand's Acton or Eternal Shade?

If I'm wrong and the Alpine War really is the best, that's fine, but I can't find much evidence to support that, other than EVERY ARCHER I KNOW SAYING SO.

[NoctisUmbra]

Can someone please answer me this question, and feel free to explain in exact detail here:

Why does every Archer I see use the Alpine War Jacket. And when I talk to all my R50 Archer friends and LS mates, they all say its the best piece of gear in the game. And they say its the best Archer Body.

I know it has good Defense/evade/resists and all that, but as long as you don't pull hate, getting hit shouldn't matter. Shouldn't it be all about the Brigand's Acton or Eternal Shade?

If I'm wrong and the Alpine War really is the best, that's fine, but I can't find much evidence to support that, other than EVERY ARCHER I KNOW SAYING SO.

Until 1.19, Brigand's Acton is clearly the most beneficial.

Your LS mates must not know how little the defense stat effects how much damage you take compared to difference in ranks, and they also must not know that 1 atk is equivalent to ~10 STR.

[carraway]

Can someone please answer me this question, and feel free to explain in exact detail here:

Why does every Archer I see use the Alpine War Jacket. And when I talk to all my R50 Archer friends and LS mates, they all say its the best piece of gear in the game. And they say its the best Archer Body.

I know it has good Defense/evade/resists and all that, but as long as you don't pull hate, getting hit shouldn't matter. Shouldn't it be all about the Brigand's Acton or Eternal Shade?

If I'm wrong and the Alpine War really is the best, that's fine, but I can't find much evidence to support that, other than EVERY ARCHER I KNOW SAYING SO.

Eternal Shade and Brigand's Acton are both far better than Alpine War Jacket right now due to the proportional effect of raw attack and accuracy versus actual stats. This is going to change in 1.19; Bowman's Tunic, especially slotted with materia, will likely become best-in-slot.

Also I am being generous as I don't think everyone, including myself is hitting every single light shot anyways at exactly its refresh 100% of the time (especially when buffs are involved), and I'm also not counting all the damage you are missing in your example above by only buffing with Raging Strike and neglecting Ferocity/Murderous Intent/Cadence/Keen Flurry/Blind Side II for 1:15 of every Trifurcate refresh.

My example was definitely sloppy but I did note Ferocity II usage and I do personally advocate Murderous Intent usage. That being said, I'm willing to try your method next time we go in, but, as Peng noted, we have done some testing in the past with a higher focus on throwing every single buff possible on 3-arrow shots and holding buffs for that purpose, and it didn't match up. Of course, over the course of time we've also made our prioritizations far tighter, so that may account for the change in damage output.

To clarify, what you're suggesting is only holding Light Shots for 3-arrow Multishots when buffs are available? Your delineated example misses a Multishot cooldown and slips on Raging Strike II cooldown unnecessarily (unless you're assuming its inclusion along with your mass of other buffs), so I want to make sure I'm interpreting you clearly.

And I know for a fact that Peng wants to go all-out with BRs at least once before 1.19 hits, so we might do some further testing with those as well, just to see how high our numbers can get.