PvM Ranged - Bard 6 / Assassin 15 / Arcane Archer 19

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Yunim
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PvM Ranged - Bard 6 / Assassin 15 / Arcane Archer 19

Post by Yunim »

This is a ranged build that takes advantage of the recent Assassin changes. There are two versions of this build, a DEX version with high AB and a STR version with Devastating Critical. These builds are both designed for party play, you will struggle to play them without some kind of melee support. Both of the builds posted below are fairly balanced, they can both be minmaxed at the cost of playability.

With an 8d6 Death Attack and a 5d6 Assassin damage bonus, against the right monsters these builds can outdamage minmaxed Divine Might archers like Sorc2/Pal8/AA30 or Bard16/AA21/BG3 even when not minmaxed. Also both builds have UMD and so can use any scrolls or wands. The main downside of these builds is that they need to be fairly close in order to get Death Attack damage, which means that you lose one of the main advantages of a ranged build.

This is the DEX variant of the build.
When using Rapid Shot in Point Blank Shot range it has +79 AB, 1 more AB than a minmaxed Sorc2/Pal8/AA30.

You can minmax the build by changing the starting stats to 16STR/20DEX/6CON/8WIS/8INT/12CHA.
This will increase your AB and damage by 1 at the cost of 120 HP and your stealth skills.

You get four level 1 Bard spells and three level 2 Bard spells.
For level 1 I recommend: Grease. Lesser Dispel. Mage Armor. Magic Weapon.
For level 2 I recommend: Darkness. Silence. Ultravision.

With +12 DEX, +12 CON, a +20 AB longbow, and +6 AC items, it will have the following:
AB: 27 (BAB) + 19 (DEX) + 4 (feats) + 10 (AA) + 20 (AB bonus) = +80 (+79 with RS + PBS)
AC: 10 (base) + 19 (DEX) + 8 (Tumble) + 24 (AC bonus) + 4 (haste) = 65
HP: 278 (base) + 280 (CON) + 40 (feats) = 598
Fortitude: 20 (base) + 7 (CON) = 27
Reflex: 26 (base) + 19 (DEX) = 45
Will: 19 (bas) - 1 (WIS) = 18

===

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Bard(6), Assassin(15), Arcane Archer(19), Elf

STR: 14
DEX: 18 (36)
CON: 12
WIS: 8
INT: 12
CHA: 12

Code: Select all

01: Bard(1): Point Blank Shot
02: Bard(2)
03: Bard(3): Rapid Shot
04: Bard(4): DEX+1, (DEX=19)
05: Bard(5)
06: Assassin(1): Weapon Focus: Longbow
07: Assassin(2)
08: Assassin(3): DEX+1, (DEX=20)
09: Assassin(4): Toughness
10: Arcane Archer(1)
11: Arcane Archer(2)
12: Arcane Archer(3): DEX+1, Improved Critical: Longbow, (DEX=21)
13: Arcane Archer(4)
14: Arcane Archer(5)
15: Arcane Archer(6): Blind Fight
16: Arcane Archer(7): DEX+1, (DEX=22)
17: Arcane Archer(8)
18: Arcane Archer(9): Called Shot
19: Arcane Archer(10)
20: Bard(6): DEX+1, (DEX=23)
21: Arcane Archer(11): Epic Weapon Focus: Longbow
22: Arcane Archer(12)
23: Arcane Archer(13)
24: Arcane Archer(14): DEX+1, Epic Prowess, Great Dexterity I, (DEX=25)
25: Arcane Archer(15)
26: Arcane Archer(16)
27: Arcane Archer(17): Great Dexterity II, (DEX=26)
28: Arcane Archer(18): DEX+1, Great Dexterity III, (DEX=28)
29: Arcane Archer(19)
30: Assassin(5): Great Dexterity IV, (DEX=29)
31: Assassin(6)
32: Assassin(7): DEX+1, (DEX=30)
33: Assassin(8): Great Dexterity V, (DEX=31)
34: Assassin(9)
35: Assassin(10)
36: Assassin(11): DEX+1, Great Dexterity VI, (DEX=33)
37: Assassin(12)
38: Assassin(13)
39: Assassin(14): Great Dexterity VII, Great Dexterity VIII, (DEX=35)
40: Assassin(15): DEX+1, (DEX=36)

Code: Select all

Disable Trap 1(2), Hide 43(56), Lore 3(10), Move Silently 43(56), Open Lock 1(14),
Pick Pocket 1(14), Search 25(28), Set Trap 1(14), Spellcraft 23(24), Tumble 40(53),
UMD 34(35)

Ba	01: Hide(4), Move Silently(4), Pick Pocket(1), Spellcraft(4), Tumble(4), UMD(3), 
Ba	02: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1), 
Ba	03: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1), 
Ba	04: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1), 
Ba	05: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1), 
As	06: Disable Trap(1), Open Lock(1), Set Trap(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1), 
As	07: Hide(2), Tumble(1), UMD(2), 
As	08: Hide(1), Move Silently(3), UMD(1), 
As	09: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(2), UMD(1), 
AA	10: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(3), 
AA	11: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(6), 
AA	12: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(9), 
AA	13: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(12), 
AA	14: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(15), 
AA	15: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(18), 
AA	16: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(21), 
AA	17: Hide(1), Save(25), 
AA	18: Hide(1), Save(29), 
AA	19: Hide(1), Save(33), 
Ba	20: Hide(1), Lore(3), Spellcraft(15), Tumble(8), UMD(11), 
AA	21: Hide(1), Move Silently(4), 
AA	22: Hide(1), Move Silently(2), Save(2), 
AA	23: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(5), 
AA	24: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(8), 
AA	25: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(11), 
AA	26: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(14), 
AA	27: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(17), 
AA	28: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(20), 
AA	29: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Save(23), 
As	30: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(6), Tumble(10), UMD(10), 
As	31: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(2), UMD(1), 
As	32: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(3), 
As	33: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(3), 
As	34: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(3), 
As	35: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(3), 
As	36: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(1), Tumble(2), 
As	37: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(3), 
As	38: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(3), 
As	39: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(3), 
As	40: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Search(3), 
Yunim
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Posts: 225
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Re: PvM Ranged - Bard 6 / Assassin 15 / Arcane Archer 19

Post by Yunim »

PvM Ranged - Bard 6 / Assassin 15 / Arcane Archer 19

This is the STR variant of the build.
When using Rapid Shot in Point Blank Shot range it only has +72 AB, which is very low for an AA. However it does have Dev Crit, and unlike a Divine Might Dev Crit AA it doesn't need to sacrifice damage to get it. This build is only really useful against one of the three main bosses, but against that boss it averages 74 damage on critical hits which gives it an average 25 Dev Crit damage.

You can minmax the build by changing the starting stats to 16STR/20DEX/6CON/8WIS/8INT/12CHA. You will also need to remove Blind Fight and Toughness, move Cleave and Great Cleave to pre-epic feats, and use the two spare epic feats for Great Dexterity.
This will increase your AB by 2 at the cost of 160 HP and Blind Fight.

With +12 DEX, +12 CON, a +20 AB longbow, and +6 AC items, it will have the following:
AB: 27 (BAB) + 12 (DEX) + 4 (feats) + 10 (AA) + 20 (AB bonus) = +73 (+72 with RS + PBS)
AC: 10 (base) + 12 (DEX) + 8 (Tumble) + 24 (AC bonus) + 4 (haste) = 58
HP: 278 (base) + 280 (CON) + 40 (feats) = 598
Fortitude: 20 (base) + 7 (CON) = 27
Reflex: 26 (base) + 12 (DEX) = 38
Will: 19 (bas) - 1 (WIS) = 18

===

Code: Select all

Bard(6), Assassin(15), Arcane Archer(19), Elf

STR: 16 (26)
DEX: 18 (22)
CON: 12
WIS: 8
INT: 8
CHA: 12

Code: Select all

01: Bard(1): Point Blank Shot
02: Bard(2)
03: Bard(3): Rapid Shot
04: Bard(4): STR+1, (STR=17)
05: Bard(5)
06: Assassin(1): Weapon Focus: Longbow
07: Assassin(2)
08: Assassin(3): STR+1, (STR=18)
09: Assassin(4): Toughness
10: Arcane Archer(1)
11: Arcane Archer(2)
12: Arcane Archer(3): STR+1, Improved Critical: Longbow, (STR=19)
13: Arcane Archer(4)
14: Arcane Archer(5)
15: Arcane Archer(6): Blind Fight
16: Arcane Archer(7): STR+1, (STR=20)
17: Arcane Archer(8)
18: Arcane Archer(9): Power Attack
19: Arcane Archer(10)
20: Bard(6): STR+1, (STR=21)
21: Arcane Archer(11): Epic Weapon Focus: Longbow
22: Arcane Archer(12)
23: Arcane Archer(13)
24: Arcane Archer(14): STR+1, Cleave, Epic Prowess, (STR=22)
25: Arcane Archer(15)
26: Arcane Archer(16)
27: Arcane Archer(17): Great Cleave
28: Arcane Archer(18): STR+1, Overwhelming Critical: Longbow, (STR=23)
29: Arcane Archer(19)
30: Assassin(5): Great Dexterity I, (DEX=19)
31: Assassin(6)
32: Assassin(7): STR+1, (STR=24)
33: Assassin(8): Great Dexterity II, (DEX=20)
34: Assassin(9)
35: Assassin(10)
36: Assassin(11): STR+1, Devastating Critical: Longbow, (STR=25)
37: Assassin(12)
38: Assassin(13)
39: Assassin(14): Great Dexterity III, Great Dexterity IV, (DEX=22)
40: Assassin(15): STR+1, (STR=26)

Code: Select all

Disable Trap 1(0), Hide 8(14), Lore 5(10), Move Silently 8(14), Open Lock 1(7),
Pick Pocket 1(7), Search 7(8), Set Trap 1(7), Spellcraft 23(22), Tumble 40(46), UMD 34(35)

Ba	01: Hide(4), Move Silently(4), Pick Pocket(1), Spellcraft(1), Tumble(1), UMD(1), 
Ba	02: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(1), 
Ba	03: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(1), 
Ba	04: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(1), 
Ba	05: Hide(1), Move Silently(1), Tumble(1), 
As	06: Disable Trap(1), Open Lock(1), Set Trap(1), 
As	07: Tumble(3), 
As	08: Tumble(2), UMD(1), 
As	09: UMD(3), 
AA	10: Save(3), 
AA	11: Save(6), 
AA	12: Save(9), 
AA	13: Save(12), 
AA	14: Save(15), 
AA	15: Save(18), 
AA	16: Save(21), 
AA	17: Save(24), 
AA	18: Save(27), 
AA	19: Save(30), 
Ba	20: Spellcraft(22), Tumble(10), UMD(1), 
AA	21: Save(3), 
AA	22: Save(6), 
AA	23: Save(9), 
AA	24: Save(12), 
AA	25: Save(15), 
AA	26: Save(18), 
AA	27: Save(21), 
AA	28: Save(24), 
AA	29: Save(27), 
As	30: Tumble(10), UMD(20), 
As	31: Tumble(2), UMD(1), 
As	32: Tumble(3), 
As	33: UMD(3), 
As	34: UMD(3), 
As	35: Lore(2), UMD(1), 
As	36: Lore(1), Tumble(2), 
As	37: Tumble(3), 
As	38: Lore(2), Search(1), 
As	39: Search(3), 
As	40: Search(3), 
itchyfunk
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Posts: 83
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:41 pm

Re: PvM Ranged - Bard 6 / Assassin 15 / Arcane Archer 19

Post by itchyfunk »

What are the assassin changes? Is there a post. Nice to hear some love is being given to that class


Edit: just found the post from driller.
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Yunim
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Re: PvM Ranged - Bard 6 / Assassin 15 / Arcane Archer 19

Post by Yunim »

After the recent assassin damage nerf, a Sorc2/Pal8/AA30 outdamages both of these builds on almost all of the high end PvM runs. If you want to make a ranged build for high end PvM I suggest making either a Sorc2/Pal8/AA30 or a Bard16/BG3/AA21.
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