37 réponses à ce sujet

[NoAngel89]

Just curious what stats I should focus on, what skill/talents I should get first. If I am making a archer rogue, do I also need to invest in dual weilding/melee skills also. What sub class is good for a arch rogue. I'm thinking of making a ranger rogue. Is that a good subclass to invest in, with an archer. Just curious. Please give me the 411 on archers

[NoAngel89]

seriously guys..... what is being an archer a sucky fighting style to purse

[Elhanan]

DEX is your bff, especially if and when you play Awakening and upper lvls. That said, I recommend getting STR to 20 quickly at the start of game to wear top tier light armors. Many leave it there for the rest of the game, while I prefer to increase it to 38 to adorn heavy armor. This is a personal design preference, as I hate reloading characters killed by special attacks like Overwhelm, Grab, etc.

Cunning should go to at least 22 for top tier Stealth (recommended), 30 for the Deft Hand (4) line to open all locks & traps (also rec if you enjoy doing your own work). If you choose to go with a high Cunning build and go higher, be certain to choose Lethality talent to make it worth it. Rest of the talents in that line are weak and/or problematic, so I skip it altogether, and go with STR.

Willpower to 20-30; I recommend the latter, but doing so will water down your high level play; most stay at 20.

Magic and CON do not need any extra points besides what is granted for free in play, or what comes from item effects.

The top longbow in the game is Far Song. To get that bow in the game, you must fail a quest to help the smith in Redcliff. To do this will cost you access to his later wares which includes the only Grandmaster Hale rune for sale, and the boots of Diligence. For most of my archers, I take the quest, find his daughter, but fail to speak to her, so she never returns

Some decent tips here:

http://dragonage.wik...icient_Approach

Enjoy!

P.S. As for specs, I always take Duelist (works with ranged & melee very well), and Assassin (though I rarely take any talents. Ranger is for summons only, and Bard is also not my cup of tea and is best when used w/high Cunning builds. And as I mentioned, DEX is really, very helpful in the long haul.

Modifié par Elhanan, 27 septembre 2010 - 10:45 .

[miltos33]

^ some good advice. I would just like to add that if you have the Witch Hunt DLC you start the game with the Sorrows of Arlathan in your inventory which is comparable to the Far Song and you don't have to fail a quest to get it.

[Elhanan]

miltos33 wrote...

^ some good advice. I would just like to add that if you have the Witch Hunt DLC you start the game with the Sorrows of Arlathan in your inventory which is comparable to the Far Song and you don't have to fail a quest to get it.

True; using that one for my partial archers now myself. But Farsong is still the best longbow in DAO; perhaps in the entire game.

[NoAngel89]

Elhanan wrote...

miltos33 wrote...

^ some good advice. I would just like to add that if you have the Witch Hunt DLC you start the game with the Sorrows of Arlathan in your inventory which is comparable to the Far Song and you don't have to fail a quest to get it.

True; using that one for my partial archers now myself. But Farsong is still the best longbow in DAO; perhaps in the entire game.

so should I try going full archer, or should I have a mixture of melee attacks as well

[Elhanan]

For your first time, a full archer is probably the better choice.

Still, with Duelist in your bag of tricks, you can still use a sword; even a shield if you wish. Or you can take the first tier of DW talents if you prefer to use two weapons, and Duelist also aids this choice.

The 'down side' of Rogue is that the class is so full of good choices, it is difficult to gain them all. So focus on one weapon style is better than a hybrid for the most part. But I have played those, too.

P.S. Keep your eyes open for Rapid Aim gear, as this effect stacks, I believe. And the faster you shoot, the faster Darkspawn die.

Modifié par Elhanan, 27 septembre 2010 - 02:59 .

[termokanden]

Remember that there's a limit to how effective rapid aim is. It doesn't actually make you shoot faster, it reduces aim time. Aim time can easily be reduced to zero. One item is enough unless you have activated extra abilities that slow you down.

There are some gloves in Return to Ostagar that reduce aim time just a little TOO much. Don't need more Rapid Aim gear than that.

Modifié par termokanden, 27 septembre 2010 - 03:23 .

[Elhanan]

termokanden wrote...

Remember that there's a limit to how effective rapid aim is. It doesn't actually make you shoot faster, it reduces aim time. Aim time can easily be reduced to zero. One item is enough unless you have activated extra abilities that slow you down.

There are some gloves in Return to Ostagar that reduce aim time just a little TOO much. Don't need more Rapid Aim gear than that.

Guess the power of suggestion seems to make the longbow plus other such items seem faster. My bad, I guess.

[termokanden]

Or maybe not. If you use Aim, it increases aim time by 1.5s. Rapid Aim reduces aim time by 0.3s. Think you start out at 0.3s. So you'd need five items to make up for using Aim. Either that, or just get the Repeater Gloves

[NoAngel89]

where do you find this stuff, lol alittle overwhelmed, is there a wiki or guide for getting some of these items, first time hearing some of this stuff

[termokanden]

Forums and the wiki.

[freddfx]

I just started an archer rogue and i have to say, to start it was hard but it only got way better (sort of like how 2H starts off slow)



the ONLY special ability I use is scattershot... other wise it's basically AIM (with draw speed reduced with repeater gloves) + song of courage + Shale's rock mastery (to the max now) I stopped pumping DEX at 30 and only put into CUN for the damage (needs lethality).



What i would do differently next time, especially for the beginning is take on Dueling first for the +10 attack bonus since you can't get song of courage until lvl 10 anyway and you get your next specialization at lvl 14. In the beginning my attack REALLY sucked I could hardly hit a thing and AIM without the repeater gloves is painful to use... soooo slow.



Given my playstyle there are certain skills i wouldn't consider getting, I ignored the entire Arrow of slaying line because I don't need it... I grabbed master archer first but i think i'd go for scattershot first next time for the CC. Because i'm a CUN archer I use tainted blood for the bonus, and you can't stay cloaked while using it, so the entire stealth line was out. Try to be able to take advantage of lethality the moment it becomes available at lvl 8 because you'll suck at damage otherwise... plus you can take advantage of longbows (they pull damage from STR... but with Lethality they pull damage from CUN)



i'm about lvl 12 now and even now I can feel the build becoming fairly solid, especially during the Antivan crow ambush, scattershot the mage and then one more shot to finish her off.. everyone stunned i 1 - 2 shot the archers and Shale/Sten held threat and engaged the melee enemies.



Even the fight with Uldred became trivial... scattershot the abominations while having Sten/Shale beat down Uldred. I do include Wynn in the group especially to keep Sten and Shale alive and her Heroic Aura gives a great (but short) boost to attack.



I haven't tried running with an entire archer crew... but after seeing the video linked from that dragonage wiki article i think someone posted above... i'm tempted...



i'd take Bard/Duelist, Leliana Bard/Duelist(or Ranger for off-tanking), and Zev Assassin/Bard and Shale for the Rock mastery bonus to damage and crit (its huge). One great thing about "permacrit" archers is that the only stamina used is for AIM and Song of Courage... which leaves a lot of stamina for something like a battle pet if you choose to do so.



I never really thought much of archers before but it turned out to be a lot of fun, reminds me of when i went for the "Gunslinger" Jedi build in KOTOR II no one could hit me.

[termokanden]

I also ignored the Arrow of Slaying line with my archer at first. That's the real weakness of archery; special attacks just fire too slowly. Compare to how melee special abilities work and you just have to ask "what were they thinking?". It means that really only a few archery abilities are worth using over autoattack. Scattershot is worth it though.



Second problem with archery is that you can actually miss often without Accuracy from Awakening, even if you put all your points into dex.



I gave my DW rogue Melee Archer and used a bow for a couple of fights just for fun. Actually did reasonable damage (a bit to my surprise), but nothing I would be able to stomach for a longer period. In Awakening, now my rogue is a full archer and does insane damage due to Accuracy.

[freddfx]

I still haven't picked up DA:A... maybe i'll check it out



One thing i happen to notice while doing some testing... Shale's rock mastery bug does happen with area transitions, (alone i think he give 14.5ish% crit chance at lvl 11 max rock master line) so that does indeed double to about 30% and with aim and song of courage brings the total to 61% crit chance thats great for a lvl 12 archer... UNTIL you introduce Heroic Aura... now Aura does wonders for attack rating but it also kills the Shale stacked crit bug lowering my crit rate to about 51%. The wiki better explains how Aim calculates crit rate so while you wont be at a complete loss you wouldn't be as optimal either.



TL;DR - Heroic Aura kills Shale's rock mastery stacking.

[Elhanan]

I use Shale as a tank, and only try other mode in special circumstances. I attempt to stand on my own w/o reliance on summons, items, or specific companions. Exept the ladies.... *rowr*

[freddfx]

Shale's crit bonus is just too good to pass up as an archer...basically the only way to "perma-crit" i think the the max you can go with shale + song + aim is about 77.something and the rest can be taken care of with just items...



who wouldn't want to 1 - 2 shot most enemies with a bow? (first shot being scattershot)

[Elhanan]

freddfx wrote...

Shale's crit bonus is just too good to pass up as an archer...basically the only way to "perma-crit" i think the the max you can go with shale + song + aim is about 77.something and the rest can be taken care of with just items...

who wouldn't want to 1 - 2 shot most enemies with a bow? (first shot being scattershot)

Guess there is me; only use Aim. While I have used Lil as a Bard, I do not care for a bardic Warden; prefer high STR & DEX over Cunning for my archers.

[DWSmiley]

I quite enjoy mutual aid and benefit parties. One of my favorite playthroughs was a cunning archer. Alistair Rallying the troops. Wynne providing Heroic inspiration. My pc keeping everyone's Courage up with a Song. Shale chipping in with her golemish Rock Mastery and one of the best crowd control abilities in the game, Elemental Grasp. With dex of only 30 my archer ended with a hit rate of 90%, almost as good as any max dex archer I've built.

Modifié par DWSmiley, 28 septembre 2010 - 10:15 .

[freddfx]

DWSmiley wrote...

I quite enjoy mutual aid and benefit parties. One of my favorite playthroughs was a cunning archer. Alistair Rallying the troops. Wynne providing Heroic inspiration. My pc keeping everyone's Courage up with a Song. Shale chipping in with her golemish Rock Mastery and one of the best crowd control abilities in the game, Elemental Grasp. With dex of only 30 my archer ended with a hit rate of 90%, almost as good as any max dex archer I've built.

Max dex archers aren't that great after a while anyway... i mean it's great they never miss but they do chip damage at best... in that case you'd actually need critical shot and arrow of slaying. That party is similar to mine, except i have Sten for heavy damage and aggro and Shale as off tank and buff, Wynn is a great healer but she's also the absolute best mage killer... mana clash is that great.

One kind of off topic question however... has anyone else had any issues with Shale and rock barrage? She does the animation but there's no... barrage... nothing, looking around the forums some others have the issue but i'm not sure if it's universal, like EVERYONE with the 1.03 patch+ is affected.

at first i thought it could be bad mods but i only install mods to change appearance... i reinstalled DA:O from steam and i'm going to move my save games in order to have a clean install and test...

[Elhanan]

Can confirm barrage is missing falling rocks.

Max DEX may not be as heavy hitters before Awakening and Accuracy, but with either high Cunning and Lethality, or with 38+ STR, dmg does not seem bad at all.

And while I enjoy party play, I try and build my Wardens to stand on their own. So if and when the Warden is stripped of all gear, improvisng with mundane items is not bad at all. Guess this is a factor as to why I enjoy 30 Willpower in most of my designs; not hampered by Stamina/Mana loss.

[miltos33]

This mod provides a fix for rock barage as well as fixes for many other bugs. You can pick and choose the ones you need: http://www.dragonage...ile.php?id=1601

[DWSmiley]

Elhanan wrote...

And while I enjoy party play, I try and build my Wardens to stand on their own. So if and when the Warden is stripped of all gear, improvisng with mundane items is not bad at all. Guess this is a factor as to why I enjoy 30 Willpower in most of my designs; not hampered by Stamina/Mana loss.

I was worried how my cunning archer would do in the Fade, Proving Grounds and Landsmeet but it turned out she handled herself quite well.  Her self boosts from dueling and SoC sufficed.

30 willpower gets you negligible extra use of talents or spells.  A moment doing the arithmetic makes that clear.  Willpower is comfort food - not much use but harmless in moderation.

Modifié par DWSmiley, 29 septembre 2010 - 11:18 .

[termokanden]

The Fade will usually be easy enough with any character, simply because the shapeshifting is so powerful. Tough mob? Spirit -> crushing prison -> regeneration -> golem -> quake, smash, whatever.

Max dex archers aren't that great after a while anyway... i mean it's great they never miss but they do chip damage at best... in that case you'd actually need critical shot and arrow of slaying. That party is similar to mine, except i have Sten for heavy damage and aggro and Shale as off tank and buff, Wynn is a great healer but she's also the absolute best mage killer... mana clash is that great.

I ran through Origins recently with a max dex DW rogue (stopped at 22 cunning including Fade bonuses). I tried using a bow for a bit and thought the damage was actually OK, though it wasn't near Awakening levels of course. I'm still quite convinced max dex is a good way to level a rogue, though it isn't the only one.

Modifié par termokanden, 29 septembre 2010 - 01:41 .

[freddfx]

What's interesting is... stats wise, to play as elf origin you'd be an inferior arch in the start due to less points in dex/cun/str from racial bonus but to be honest... dalish elf origin makes for a much better archer in the beginning and gets stronger from there... you get rapid aim bows very early and the dalish armor set gives +2 dex and +9 def with set bonus... so up until I got the repeater gloves I ran rapid shot with suppressing fire for the penalty to attack for enemies since your crit rate at the start sucks anyway. By the time I got dueling my attack was at 90... with the repeater gloves I could run aim and dueling in place of rapid shot/suppressing fire and bost my attack to about 110 all by level 8.