PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

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Areani
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PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by Areani »

Hi there! I've noticed a general attitude that AA isn't great on this server endgame wise so I wanted to share a build I think will fill that niche. This is almost a direct rip off of Mick Dagger's Holy Elven Archer build on tapatalk and I've only changed the skills a very small amount to suite what's needed for Blackstone. For more detailed information I suggest you check the forum post there.


The Idea behind this build is to maximize damage and abuse most mobs lack of Divine DR. This is not the best generalist archer and has a very clear focus- lots of damage done behind a wall of teammates. You WILL be very squishy and this is NOT the go to AA build to take to a pvp fight. This is the build you go to when you want to deal a very large amount of damage quickly.


"But Areani, why bother to make a pure damage archer when I can just go with a standard WM?" This build has two solid advantages over other builds made to do damage, for one it's ranged(obviously) and two, this setup has a advantage where DRs might impact a WM a tad harder. Because of the sheer amount of divine damage this build is unloading when at max level, it ends up laughing at DRs and is not crit dependent to get it's damage off(I'm looking at you undead mobs). With nearly 20 divine damage per hit, and some 1d10 Magical arrows, you are shredding everything equally.


This build will require a decent amount of gear to get rolling, and can be a tad tricky to level when solo without a front-liner, but in the end you end up with a archer with a ton of endgame damage with enough AB to snipe pretty much anything. My tips for leveling this if you are going solo is abuse your wiz levels and pick up any summons/hirelings you can along the way(Spider, Harp, ect) and kite when you need to. With decent spacing, and proper kiting you shouldn't have much trouble surviving PvE. Early on use your Divine Mights sparingly vs boss mobs or high HP targets, but later on when you've got enough charisma to sustain the buff for longer, keep it on at ALL times because it's a huge portion of your damage. You also have access to Divine Shield when needed, but I found I used it rarely because I wasn't spending a lot of time getting hit. Also, don't forget that you have pointblank shot- when in groups with other players, make sure you are in that 15 feet radius to gain the benefit of +1 ab.


I haven't seen an archer build with more raw damage then this and I think will be a great addition to all endgame hunting parties. I hope you guys try out and enjoy the build as it's been one of my personal favorites to play.

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Paladin 9, Wiz 1, Arcane Archer 30, Elf

Alignment: Lawful Good

STR: 14
DEX: 17(20)
CON: 6
WIS: 8
INT: 11
CHA: 17(34)

01: Wizard(1): Point Blank Shot, {Scribe Scroll}
02: Paladin(1)
03: Paladin(2): Rapid Shot
04: Paladin(3): CHA+1, (CHA=18)
05: Paladin(4)
06: Paladin(5): Weapon Focus: Longbow
07: Paladin(6)
08: Arcane Archer(1): CHA+1, (CHA=19)
09: Arcane Archer(2): Power Attack
10: Arcane Archer(3)
11: Arcane Archer(4)
12: Paladin(7): CHA+1, Divine Might, (CHA=20)
13: Arcane Archer(5)
14: Arcane Archer(6)
15: Paladin(8): Divine Shield
16: Arcane Archer(7): CHA+1, (CHA=21)
17: Arcane Archer(8)
18: Arcane Archer(9): Improved Critical: Longbow
19: Arcane Archer(10)
20: Paladin(9): CHA+1, (CHA=22)
21: Arcane Archer(11): Great Charisma I, (CHA=23)
22: Arcane Archer(12)
23: Arcane Archer(13)
24: Arcane Archer(14): CHA+1, Great Charisma II, Epic Weapon Focus: Longbow, (CHA=25)
25: Arcane Archer(15)
26: Arcane Archer(16)
27: Arcane Archer(17): Great Charisma III, (CHA=26)
28: Arcane Archer(18): CHA+1, Epic Prowess, (CHA=27)
29: Arcane Archer(19)
30: Arcane Archer(20): Great Charisma IV, (CHA=28)
31: Arcane Archer(21)
32: Arcane Archer(22): CHA+1, Great Dexterity I, (DEX=18), (CHA=29)
33: Arcane Archer(23): Great Charisma V, (CHA=30)
34: Arcane Archer(24)
35: Arcane Archer(25)
36: Arcane Archer(26): CHA+1, Great Charisma VI, Great Dexterity II, (DEX=19), (CHA=32)
37: Arcane Archer(27)
38: Arcane Archer(28)
39: Arcane Archer(29): Great Charisma VII, (CHA=33)
40: Arcane Archer(30): CHA+1, Great Dexterity III, (DEX=20), (CHA=34)

Hitpoints: 254
Saving Throws (Fortitude/Will/Reflex): 33/29/37
Saving Throw bonuses: Spells: +4, Mind Effects: +2
BAB: 29
AB: +53 (mundane longbow)
AC (naked): 19

Divine shield: +12 AC (+18 with max charisma) for 12 (18) rounds

Divine might/ shield: 15 (21 with max charisma) uses per rest

Damage:
16 - 23 (19-20/x3) piercing
+2 mighty (+8 with max strength)
+12 divine (+18 with max charisma) for 12 (18) rounds

Skills: Skillpoints: 146
Lore 27, Spellcraft 20, Spot 43, Tumble 20
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by sphinx »

Why take spot if you aren't going to pvp? I would think you would want to dump 20 more in tumble or somewhere else.
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by Areani »

It's pretty much just a dump, tbh you don't really need any skills besides lore for convenience and a little tumble for kiting if you end up in that situation.
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by Kane0 »

With so few hitpoints you could dump them into heal.
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by The Flying Rodent »

Hey Areani, nice build. I've made something similar to this on another server years back [Sorc 9 Pal 4 AA 27, went more into sorc as there were less magic items available], and I can concur that it's a lot of fun having a ton of unblockable damage on an AA. Divine Might is treated as a 'Damage Increase' effect, which means it ignores all resistances and vulnerabilities, including things like Divine Resistance from Crown of Thorns. Rather fun!

As for an archer build with more damage: Cleric 12 Sorc 1 AA 27 from memory wins out here, because it also gains access to Divine Favour [+4 magic, and also treated as a Damage Increase effect] and War Domain [+3 physical once/day], in exchange for maybe 2 points of damage from less AA levels and Charisma. But! This cleric AA also gets less AB than this version of the Pal AA and can be dispelled easily, so for high end PvM here, I'd say Pal AA would be more consistently effective.

Given that this is basically a Glass Cannon AA that indexes almost purely into AB and Damage, I'd be tempted to tweak it a bit with that in mind. Skills and AC aren't that important on this build, so I would:

- Take Sorcerer instead of Wizard [uses charisma, which you have in spades], drop 11 int to 8 [and prob get rid of spot], and instead dump those 3 points onto constitution [to better survive spell spam mainly],
- Switch Divine Shield for something like Blind Fight for concealed opponents, Toughness for more HP, or Called Shot to lower certain enemy's AB and kite opponents without freedom.

Either way, the build looks fun. I might have to make my own Charisma AA now. :)
Last edited by The Flying Rodent on Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by Areani »

Very fair points! I do think that the cleric variation just loses a bit too much ab for my liking but I do think you're spot on with the sorc change and dumping the int for more const. I also agree with the Divine Shield swap to Toughness for a tad more beef(not so worried about Blind Fight here, invis mobs are few and far between, and true sight exists for when you do need it). If I were to remake, I'd for sure do those things although I think at this point I'm too lazy to re-level so I'll deal with my measly HP pool haha. Good luck if you decide to make one, I hope I've shown it's power in the last couple raids!
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by The Flying Rodent »

They'd be minor tweaks to the whole, probably not that noticeable in the grand scheme of things.

And yeah, rather impressed with your one so far. The Doom Lich certainly didn't know what hit him lol.
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by Areani »

Hahaha, now it's just back to the lab to figure out a melee build that can ignore the DRs. The lack of Crushing Blow on this one kinda makes it sad verses things affected by it..
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by The Flying Rodent »

Following a similar premise, maybe something like Fighter 8 Pal 4 WM 28 or Fighter 11 Wm 28 Cleric 1 has promise? Get a bunch of WM levels for AB, then go Epic Weapon Spec/Divine Might for Damage/maybe even duel wield feats?
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by Areani »

I'd for sure want to try fitting in DW/Dev Crit on it for the extra crit damage and the extra attacks per round. The question is just how do you fit all of that without hurting your ab too badly. There's for sure something to cook up, just need to find the ideal way to do it haha. Anyways, that's for another thread. Thanks for the feedback :)
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by The Flying Rodent »

Right, Dev crit could be useful as well. Which complicates things a bit.

But yeah, something to think and write about in a future thread I guess.
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by itchyfunk »

Areani and I were comparing notes the other day. I have Dev Crit on Eima. Areani's and Eima's damage is pretty similar. I swapped 6 DM damage for 6 str damage. I'll post her concept with a discussion of some of the trade decisions I think are relevant. It's doable, without too much sacrifice. I dropped a 209crit + 72dev crit damage on umgahs yesterday. I really like Areani's toon! Still not sure why she was doing double the damage I was on the dracolich *envy* ... wondering if it was the difference in arrows?
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by The Flying Rodent »

itchyfunk wrote: Tue Feb 26, 2019 6:03 pm Areani and I were comparing notes the other day. I have Dev Crit on Eima. Areani's and Eima's damage is pretty similar. I swapped 6 DM damage for 6 str damage. I'll post her concept with a discussion of some of the trade decisions I think are relevant. It's doable, without too much sacrifice. I dropped a 209crit + 72dev crit damage on umgahs yesterday. I really like Areani's toon! Still not sure why she was doing double the damage I was on the dracolich *envy* ... wondering if it was the difference in arrows?
I'm going to assume that the damage difference vs something like a Dracolich would've come down to probably Arrows + Divine Might difference. A lot of Undead and high level enemies have % Damage Immunity to Piercing damage, but not to Divine or Magic [not that it would matter if they did, given that Divine Might bypasses resistances, but still]. In addition, Isaac's Arrows deal magic damage, and Areani does use those. So overall, I'm guessing Areani's archer was just dealing more non-physical damage than Eima and so won out in this instance.

Against opponents with physical damage immunity though, dipping into something like Dev Crit would definitely increase overall damage. I imagine that Umgah didn't know what him them!
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by sphinx »

Noly smited an umgah for over 1650 yesterday. Just had to say that. :) :)
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Re: PvM Ranged Build - Paladin 9 / Wiz 1 / Arcane Archer 30

Post by itchyfunk »

LOL... it would be awesome if you could smite ranged! Yeah, you guys have some insane crushing blows. I really appreciate the stuff everyone is teaching me playing here.
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