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

[Murugan]

Anyone here use a working parser for XIV?

[NoctisUmbra]

Just got off a fresh Darkhold run. As an LS we decided not to use WS BRs tonight and ended up having the smoothest runs ever - multiple full clears with 4 chests each time.

I switched some of my rotations as Carraway suggested - namely focusing heavily on multishots and trifurctaes buffed fully and not bothering to buff WS. I can attest that my DPS increased more than noticeably. It was myself and another archer and we discussed in advance to both use Bloodletter as soon as it wears off, and never use it when we see it is up. Worked like a charm.

80 dmg unbuffed for Ogre is what I remember seeing (though I don't have a log in front of me, and I was usually buffing bloodletter since I was doing it in a BR and was under the impression that it also affected the dot/end damage at the time since I am new to Archer).

Unless bloodletter front end damage is better than skull sunder II/Foeseeker/Barrage/Quick Knock then I think one archer and possibly one other as a backup is all that should be doing bloodletter because otherwise you are wasting your TP on a weapon skill whose payoff is entirely on the backend/dot and cannot be stacked.

I think most of your groups' are "likely" using more than 2 archers since that is how many shells are running darkhold (not going to get into that debate on the archer forum, lol), it seems to me that keeping up bloodletter should be assigned and not randomly spammed by archers as I see it in most videos/pick ups I joined. Granted those groups do just fine, but again this is for the purpose of min/max discussion I'm not trying to insult anyone's group.

Any competent Archer will have Invigorate II/I on their bar, which serves as quite a boon to your TP generation. Alongside constant multishots and buffed trifurcates, archers should have no trouble generating TP. I urge you to try this...

However, provided the party has more than 2 archers, it may very well be best to have archers with invigorate II, and if needed I all do Bloodletters when it wears and others with potential TP problems not participate in Bloodletters at all.

It all boils down to the party. I use Invigorate II on cooldown, and I must say I had to go out of my way and use Barrage, Leg Sweep, Foeseeker many times to keep my TP from capping at 3k while waiting for Bloodletter to wear off.

Most JP pick up groups for Darkhold on my server don't use BR, so I'm familiar with it and its ability to still do good DPS. I can see the downside of BR if you have to wait for any amount of time, but I think a well coordinated BR removes this problem.

Still this is off topic, we've established that you guys aren't doing group BR's. Again I'm referring to using/equipping Cadence even for a solo BR. You said you guys don't do BR's so I'm not trying to convince you otherwise, but you said you tried cadence solo and found it not to be worth it (I thought from your post you were saying you did try it with trifurcate maybe I read it wrong).

Unless there is an upper limit, or a diminishing return on buffs you are buffing with Raging Strike II, Hawk's Eye, Ferocity II and getting (up to) 800 damage on Ogre you said with Trifcurcate. I'm suggesting that you instead try Raging Strike II, Cadence, Keen Flurry (better than Hawk's Eye), Ferocity II + Trifurcate in a solo BR and see if you can improve that even further. I'd think Keen Flurry would be a good replacement for Hawk's Eye, and Cadence would be a good replacement for at least one of your defensive abilities during the Ogre.

Furthermore if you coordinated your timers with another archer you could also get a phys. defense reduction BR doing this without otherwise interrupting your solo rotations. I also find that I get a higher TP return generally when part of a BR (though I'm not sure this is true solo or not), so there is that bonus as well.

We did only basic attack def reduction BRs tonight. Worked like a charm.

Overall just try all your ideas in a party and for more effect have everyone else that can do the same. Eventually you'll start to see what works best. All I have to say is I took all the good advice from this thread and used it tonight as did my LS and it worked like a charm.

[Murugan]

[COLOR="navy"]
[COLOR="navy"]Any competent Archer will have Invigorate II/I on their bar, which serves as quite a boon to your TP generation. Alongside constant multishots and buffed trifurcates, archers should have no trouble generating TP. I urge you to try this...

Of course I already do this, it's pretty much common sense on any melee to equip invigorate, as one of if not the useful sustained buff, I'm just saying that you cannot have too much TP either.

We did only basic attack def reduction BRs tonight. Worked like a charm.

Overall just try all your ideas in a party and for more effect have everyone else that can do the same. Eventually you'll start to see what works best. All I have to say is I took all the good advice from this thread and used it tonight as did my LS and it worked like a charm.

Because I think having the end burst on bloodletter with 500 dmg everytime, I think that (as well as you buffing trifurcate if it truly does give in range of 600-800 damage on Ogre/Batraal) and not your lack of BR's would attribute to more of your added damage during that fight.

[carraway]

Again I'm referring to using/equipping Cadence even for a solo BR. You said you guys don't do BR's so I'm not trying to convince you otherwise, but you said you tried cadence solo and found it not to be worth it (I thought from your post you were saying you did try it with trifurcate maybe I read it wrong).

Unless there is an upper limit, or a diminishing return on buffs you are buffing with Raging Strike II, Hawk's Eye, Ferocity II and getting (up to) 800 damage on Ogre you said with Trifcurcate. I'm suggesting that you instead try Raging Strike II, Cadence, Keen Flurry (better than Hawk's Eye), Ferocity II + Trifurcate in a solo BR and see if you can improve that even further. I'd think Keen Flurry would be a good replacement for Hawk's Eye, and Cadence would be a good replacement for at least one of your defensive abilities during the Ogre.

I agree with this, and I'm going to modify the guide to reflect this point. I'm also going to reinforce the importance of Skull Sunder II as the most efficient 500 TP weaponskill.

[Murugan]

It's nice that you guys have such actually useful discussions taking place in the subforum which are helpful to people trying to find information on the class. Too bad you aren't a pugilist.

[carraway]

I agree, the discussion here is great. As for a working parser, I've tried a few and they don't seem to interpret the log very well. I'll revisit them in a few more version updates, maybe.

[Viridiana]

Just got off a fresh Darkhold run. As an LS we decided not to use WS BRs tonight and ended up having the smoothest runs ever - multiple full clears with 4 chests each time.

Looks like with 1.19 the BR/No BR debate will be taken (temporarily) out of our hands. . .

[carraway]

For point of reference, here's a DH 5-chest speedrun video that one of our archers, Peng, uploaded. You can bump it up to 1080p to check the time on the Deepvoid Slave and Batraal kills. However, this doesn't necessarily represent our fastest bosskills.

http://youtu.be/41W7aPNmgMA

[Penguin]

Ogre was pretty damn slow compared to our usual times but Batraal was pretty fast and smooth.

We also usually tank Batraal close enough to the circle to be able to damage him and pop the circle at the same time but he was slightly out of range in the video.

[Akuun]

I agree with most of the gear selection, the only change or additions I see, are getting rid of the bracelet i'll take 6 more accuracy from 2 more brass wings instead. Also a good head piece that isn't mentioned is the Peregrine Helm with 1 attack and 1 accuracy, as attack is a little tougher to get than accuracy, i see this being equal to the poachers hat.

Stat wise, regardless of your vitality, you'll take about the same amount of damage (honestly even naked you still take about the same (rank plays to big of a role)), so if you can take a couple hits you should have enough vitality.
I personally run 174 str, 100 dex, and the rest in vit. Accuracy doesn't seem to be an issue with 100 and my accuracy gear, and with the 174 str (plus w/e my gear adds) in BRs I typically hit for 2400-2900 on the ogre and Batraal.

I'll leave the 174 vitality to the tank ^^