Assassin Archer

[Aranan]

I was wondering if it would be possible to make a stylish assassin that uses a bow instead of claws for her main weapon. I figured Burst of Speed (faster attack and easier "stay out of melee range" ability) and Venom (poisoned arrows are fun!) would be nice, and since they stack in 1.10, I decided to take advantage of it. A shadow as a tank could be useful, and aside from other no brainers in the shadow tree (mind blast, cloak of shadows), I'm having problems figuring out what she'd use. I don't know for sure, but I imagine none of the martial arts skills work with bows, so that would probably limit me to the shadow and trap trees. I don't want this to be a trapper build, so that tree's use wouldn't be too involved...

Anyone have some suggestions for me?

[GenXCub]

I think traps do work well with this build, and you'll need some for those monsters that are poison immune. Most Black Widow assassins go for max Venom (a 3 socket Nats armor with 3 poison facets would be great for this build) and the end-game bow would be the Widow Maker since it gives you the Guided Arrow skill. Then you don't need to worry about AR or positioning yourself. Otherwise, I think the Passion Runeword bow would do well, since it has +10 to hit blinds target, you can poison them while they just stand there. You could even find gloves with charges of Multi-shot, but it's never a very high level.

I think it'd be required to have a good shadow master, Venom, and enough BoS to hit a decent breakpoint, but no need to pump that skill. Use Cloak of Shadows and Mindblast liberally, but again, no need to pump them. A single point is enough. I do think you should go into traps, but if you don't want to look like a full trapper, at least just go for Death Sentry. You could even use your weapon switch for casting it.

[Darkwell]

Aranan

I have one at lvl 65 in A5 NM and she's a blast to play. Venom has changed in 1.10 and only has a .4 sec duration (10 frames) and all other poison sources are set to this, which means their not useful. I am currently using a witchwild string (shael, eth) bow. It's a great weapon and it shoots slvl 20 magic arrows(so you don't need to carry any) and this adds 181% AR. Take a look at it.

[Phresh]

trust me it wont be very fun when you are in hell and dont do dick all dmg

[Parapsycho]

One skill that might work well is Psychic Hammer. As long as the target has life left, it will keep knocking them back, and some times, it confuses them, and they stop attacking you, which leaves you open for an attack.

[darcho420]

My asn right now is lvl 86 and I have her use a bow on occasions such as pvp or picking out bosses with auras in pvm. My main weps are a +3 fire lizards and an ethereal jade talon. My main attack is d talon and d flight. Sometimes for kicks I use blade fury. Basically, in pvp, for ranged attackers I use my duel claws and kicks for killing. For melee attackers I use widowmaker with guided arrow. I would really like to kick it up a notch and get a chaos and a bramble. This way I can have my kicks, whirlwind, guided arrow, and blade fury. Always using venom. I do not consider this build or strategy of attack as being strictly an archer, I would say she is more of a versatile assassin. Have a multitude of attack styles to always catch her enemies by suprise. To work with guided arrow and whirlwind requires only investments in gear and not skill points. You only need to max three or so skills and then spread out the rest and let + to skills kick it up. Anyways, I wouldn't base a pvm assassin build around only a bow... you have no crowd control. although it does work for certain situations, and i do recommend its use.

[morris]

My asn right now is lvl 86 and I have her use a bow on occasions such as pvp or picking out bosses with auras in pvm. My main weps are a +3 fire lizards and an ethereal jade talon. My main attack is d talon and d flight. Sometimes for kicks I use blade fury. Basically, in pvp, for ranged attackers I use my duel claws and kicks for killing. For melee attackers I use widowmaker with guided arrow. I would really like to kick it up a notch and get a chaos and a bramble. This way I can have my kicks, whirlwind, guided arrow, and blade fury. Always using venom. I do not consider this build or strategy of attack as being strictly an archer, I would say she is more of a versatile assassin. Have a multitude of attack styles to always catch her enemies by suprise. To work with guided arrow and whirlwind requires only investments in gear and not skill points. You only need to max three or so skills and then spread out the rest and let + to skills kick it up. Anyways, I wouldn't base a pvm assassin build around only a bow... you have no crowd control. although it does work for certain situations, and i do recommend its use.


an assasin could be naked...and shed still have the best crowd control skills in the game..(ok the necro could do it as well .. but you see my point)

[memememe173]

Max Shadow Warrior and put Phsyic Hammer on left click

[Muffassa]

I would recommend trying the Blade fury guide first, rather than an archer (unless you are playing pvp).

I look at blade fury like this - it makes any weapon a bow for the assassin - only it is a 3/4 damage bow, and they all fire at the same rate. However, the versitilty of Blade fury makes up for it's weaknesses.

It sounds like a bow assassin would use exactly the same build too (psychic hammer, Shadow Master, Venom) except that you need to put extra points into Burst of Speed instead of Fade. Also, you are weaker in that you can't use a shield, but still need to invest all the points into dex to get your damage up.

Although thematically cool, I think the Blade fury assassin would fare quite a bit better than the archer varitey

[danc133]

An expensive but good alternative on a bow is "silence".

Dol + Eld + Hel + Ist + Tir + Vex

200% Enhanced Damage
+75% Damage To Undead
Requirements -20%
20% Increased Attack Speed
+50 To Attack Rating Against Undead
+2 To All Skills
All Resistances +75
20% Faster Hit Recovery
11% Mana Stolen Per Hit
Hit Causes Monster To Flee 25%
Hit Blinds Target +33
+2 To Mana After Each Kill
30% Better Chance Of Getting Magic Items

I gives +skills nice resist boost, nice boost to damage and with BoS on you could fire at an amazing rate. Not to mention blind being cool for ranged attack. Icing on the cake is if they flee you can shoot them in the a$$.

Another option worth mentioning is Demon machine Great speed, decent level of pierce, fires explosive bolts so you get splash damage from your venom.

Don't forget for bows dex is the stat of choice for boosting your damage

Just my $.02
This round is on me! :drink: :buddies:

[Naliworld]

I would recommend trying the Blade fury guide first, rather than an archer (unless you are playing pvp).

I look at blade fury like this - it makes any weapon a bow for the assassin - only it is a 3/4 damage bow, and they all fire at the same rate. However, the versitilty of Blade fury makes up for it's weaknesses.

It sounds like a bow assassin would use exactly the same build too (psychic hammer, Shadow Master, Venom) except that you need to put extra points into Burst of Speed instead of Fade. Also, you are weaker in that you can't use a shield, but still need to invest all the points into dex to get your damage up.

Although thematically cool, I think the Blade fury assassin would fare quite a bit better than the archer varitey

One major advantage that bows have over BFury is that Bows can pierce, though...may be a big concern especially in Hell if you can't get strong AoE effects like Static on your equipment.

[mrp935]

My thread:
http://rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=139799

Darkwell's SP thread:
http://rpgforums.net/showthread.php?t=170180



Some basics:
1. +Attack Rating / -Enemy Defense / Mercs
- Personally, I think the Assassin as an Archer/Ranger is better geared towards lowering enemy defence than increasing her own attack rating
- Unless you've got an ITD or Explosive arrow bow, you're going to need a lot of points in CoS, as you have no skills that provide AR bonuses when using a bow; the -enemy defense on this skill is the next best thing, and the blindness effect of this skill is invaluable for a ranged, but somewhat underpowered character such as yourself, because you can take a lot potshots while the enemy does nothing; don't be afraid to invest alot of points in this skill, as the longer duration is needed to make up for the small amount of dmage you'll likely do per shot
- Mercs: Either Act2 Blessed Aim or a Rogue for Inner Sight (probably the better choice, especially if you're going for style points; you probably won't have a lot of reason to invest heavily in dexterity to use any of the higher-end equipment, so a %AR bonus like B.aim usually won't help as much, plus if you use CoS, a melee merc will need to be a DAMN good tank, or else he'll get swarmed and slaughtered if your doing ranged attacks)

2. Equipment & Skills
- Most, if not all of your skills will be in the Shadow Disciplines with an emphasis on Venom as your main damage buffing skill
- Look for +Skill, +Shadow, +Poison skill damage, and/or -Enemy poison resistance mods
- Armor: Nat's esp. with 3 Poison Facets, or a high +%poison skill damage "Bramble" Runeword
- Boots: Shadow Dancer unique Myrmidon Greaves or Nat's if you're going to use the full set
- Gloves: Trang-oul's for the +25% Poison Skill damage, Cleglaws are always a cheap favourite for rangers
- Helm: +3 Shadow circlet or Nat's if you're going to use the full set
- Jewelry & Charms: +Shadow Discipline ammy & GCs, Angelic Jewelry if you need AR, or else any high-end uniques should be good
- Belt: Really dunno. Razortail if you need some pierce. Haven't heard much input on this slot.
- Bow: Again, basically any of the high-end uniques. Runewords: some suggestions I've heard are "Passion," "Silence," and maybe "Zephyr" for the poorer among us.
- Weapon switch: 2x +3 Shadow Discipline claws, Nat's if you're going to use the full set (claws are basically for pre-buffing Venom/BoS/Fade/CoS/SM/SW or casting traps [with Nat's] if you choose that route)



All of this is covered pretty much in the threads; this is a pretty good condensation of it all.

[Darkwell]

mrp935

Hey! How are you, I haven't seen any recent post about your archer. How far is she, what's her stats, any equipment problems, inquiring minds want to know. I have Malice in Hell now, lvl 72, and just finished den of evil. She's alot of fun and is still wearing the equipent she had in act 2 normal, except the witchbow she got in NM. Let me know about yours, I'd like to compare observations.

One thing I will disagree on, is the points in CoS. I find that I would prefer to cast it more frequently. I have 10 now and would prefer 5. The duration is too long for me and too many monsters are out of its range and show-up 5 sec after Malice or her shadow cast it. I put 10 in expecting a duration penalty in NM/Hell similar to a sorc cold spell or necro curse, I was wrong.

Other than that, I agree with everthing else. Get lots of +3 skill items and a good bow. 'Passion' is a fairly cheap runeword and adds up to 80% AR. It can be useful if you don't have one that shoots exploding arrows.

BTW: *shhh* Your term 'shadow archer' is acceptable on another forum.

[mrp935]

Well, I haven't played DII a lot lately. Basically, because my computer sucks. I'm planning on getting a new one though.

So I'm still pretty much where I was at my last update.
My only real problem is figuring out how much strength to put in; the requirement for Nat's armor is pretty steep, and I don't really know if it's worth it to get your base to 150 or whatever it is. Basically, with this char, you need to get all your ideal end-game equipment together and then try and make it, so you'll know what +str mods you'll have to work with.

I think the extra points in CoS are more about -enemy defense than +duration. For me, anyways. If you have ITD or Explosive Arrows, then this basically becomes a 1-point wonder.

Similar deal with BoS; if you have your weapon planned out from the start, and have enough IAS to hit the highest possible attack speed, then just go for max Fade instead.

In either case, +skills make a big difference.

I just started using Shadow Master (up to about Slvl 5 now I think). Not a bad skill, although in Act4 NM, she just doesn't have enough life for most things. Still, a handy tank, a good diversion, and a little bit of elemental damage occasionally from BoI/CoT/FoF/PS to make up for your inevitable lack. I think you're really limiting yourself if you just use Shadow Warrior.

Anyways, that's all for now.

Maybe one day the two of us can throw together a guide or something.

[Darkwell]

mrp935

Sorry to here about you computer, it's hard to play on a tempermental machine. Mine locked up half a dozen times during the NM ancients, luckily I only died the first time it happened.

As for your str, you might look to some other equipment with less requirement. My bowsorc mat'd using runeword 'smoke' dusk shroud. It's very good for a nef lum price and gives 50 resist-all. I'm not familiar with Nat's set, is there a particular reason to use it? Some benefit you need? The 150 str req. is really steep for an archer. I have 90 now, only to ensure I can meet the req. of a diamond bow when I upgrade the wws. Then again, if you find a windforce, you'll already have the str to use it.(ha, like that happens to those of us that really need one)

So far IAS isn't a problem and BoS at 5 is o.k. I am going to put alot of points in fade(more for my shadow than my 'sin) And, I'm sticking with SW, only to maintain a shadow skills only character. I admit a SM would be a much better choice but it would also use skills outside the shadow tree, which I don't want for purity reasons.

As for a guide, I think you are much more qualifyed than I. Though, I'll be glad to contribute some observations and help in anyway I can, when the time comes for you to write it up. I am however, working on an opening for a thread I'm going to start on the sp forum, for anyone using non-classical archer-type characters(ie. bowbarian, bowassin, bowsorc etc.) I think a place to pool info on archers will be helpful and in the last few weeks, I've discovered there are alot of us out there that use bows and have fun doing so. Good luck on your computer.

Darkwell

[lextalionis]

The only skill you have to max for an Archer is 20 Venom.
This leaves you a lot of flexibility:

Some people max traps with this. They feel that spamming arrows is better than spamming FB. I both have their merits. I know this is the best all around damage idea for a bow user.

The other is DTalon builds. Most of them use Blade Fury. But like Nali points out, the big difference between BF and firing arrows is that arrows allow you to pierce. And that means hitting more than one target with each arrow.

DTalon builds usually have great mods for archers. DTalon also has some natural knockback. DTalon also has no prerequisites and a good AR booster built into it. Dex also amps damage for both skills (I know strength will do more for DTalon damage, but Dex does help).

Last BoS maybe a necessity for you depending on your items and what breakpoints you need. But really consider using FADE. If you use a bow, you will be without a shield. Shields often are a good source of DR and resists, FADE offerers both.

Blade Fury opens up some great mods that are not normally available on Ranged attacks, since it turns your melee weapon into your Bow, for all intents and purposes. I say this not to discourage you from using a bow, but to remind you, its the mods on the bow and equipment that will be really important to this build. Pierce is a great mod. So is Crushing Blow and Open Wounds. I'm sure there are others as well.

I look forward to you reporting back.