28 réponses à ce sujet

[RiffuelRaffit]

Hi!

 

Like the title says - I would like to know if someone has advice on how to efficiently play as an archer-artificer.

I like the conept of the specialisation, but aside from the passives is seems rather useless for an archer.

I am in no way a great  tactician though, so it's very possible I miss something.

My biggest issue are the traps: They are melee ranged, which well, I'm not.

As an archer, I try to stay away from the enemy with my character. If they do happen to get close the elemental mines come in handy, but the AI keeps spamming them even if there are no enemies in the vaccinity as soon as the battle starts. Which wastes a lot of stamina on nothing.

Disabeling them is possible... but then it just would be better to choose an specialisation which abilities are more useful.

The passives of this tree are not bad but are down at the bottom so I need to spend my points on other abilities first.

I've been trying out Sera, Varric and (archer) Cole in one party - and Varric does seem to do to the least amount of damage.

Am I just playing it wrong, is there a trick to it or is artificer just better suited for melee rouges?

Like I wrote, I like the concept of it (traps and mines are cool!), but assassin for example seems to be just more suited and easier to handle for an archer.

I'm curious about your experiences

 

[teks]

Artifacers depend on the main archery skills most of the time. The active skills serve to add utility to the archer, not replace skills. I also wouldn't discount the passives. The passives alone make the artificer a force to reckon with.

 

First, you need to spec your whole party for crit chance to take full advantage of the artifacer cooldown. If everyone in your party has a decent crit chance, your cooldown will become almost non-existant. Combine this with your own high crit chance and 'it looked like it hurt' which is an ESSENTIAL skill. Now you have next to zero cooldown and next to unlimited stamina. Now you can start to appreciate the artificer a little.

 

elemental mines aren't melee ranged. I highly recommend you get the upgrade for them and use them with a enhanced stamina amulet on. The amount of mines you throw is just ridiculous. These make for great openers, great counters to incoming melee, and great walls of pain to hide behind. They are perfect for archers and have a thousand uses. The full stamina drain is a non-issue because the mines can crit, and each crit adds 10 stamina. With a decent number of hits this skill can leave you with full stamina immediately after its use.

A great opener is elemental mines from stealth followed by leaping shot. Enjoy seeing your screen lit up with numbers.

 

Spike traps are melee range, but they can be used from stealth without breaking stealth, and they last a long long time. These are traditional traps for the old school trap enthusiast. You can prepare areas for a fight, or stealth in and put traps around enemies before a battle. They have some limited utility during battle, like dropping one at your feet as an enemy is charging you, but honestly I'd rather just use leaping shot.

 

The final active allows you to take a beating and immediately teleport to safety with full health. All you need is some foresight to know when your beating is gonna come. See that dragon about to breathe doom? Drop your beacon, run away from your beacon, and activiate it before you die. Great utility.

 

In conclusion, none of the artifacer actives are supposed to be used liberally. The strength of the artifacer lies in its ability to constantly spam archery abilities you already have. while also granting you additional fun utility skills that expand your capabilities rather then replace other skills. A great archer spec, and one I highly recommend. I don't think the spec offers nearly as much for the melee rogue though.

[teks]

note. The AI sucks with most specs, this isn't an exception. The passives alone make this great with varric though. Just disable all the active abilities, and let him spam archer abilities.

[shazza53]

I think teks covered it well. If you search, you will find several recent discussions about the artificer archer, whether to go dexterity or cunning, which bow is best - Masterwork Spiked or Swan, and more.

I have done a number of playthroughs, and my Artificer Archer is my favorite so far. Good survivability, good DPS, lots of explosions and fun!

[RiffuelRaffit]

Thank's for the quick answers

I didn't get "it looked like it hurt" yet, which, like you wrote, I really should have...

I guess I've been going about the artificer all wrong - I put my focus on the active skills of the tree, which don't shine on their own.

Thank you for your tips, I can't wait to get home and try it out myself

[squidney2k1]

It's all about the passives. They are phenomenal.

Hail of Arrows is pretty good too, but the traps are meh. However, Elemental Mines is actually a good skill since it will persist for a while and can be used to spam/bottleneck your position. Plus, it's super-fun against dragons.

[sinosleep]

You might be surprised by how much an artificer archer benefits from being at close range. While waiting for the crit chance to get to really outrageous levels it benefits you to use abilities that offer multiple opportunities to crit in one go. So I like to make use of leaping shot and elemental mines because both offer a multitude of opportunities to crit. And both of those abilities function far better up close than far away so I make quite a bit of use of hook and tackle as well.

 

I'll long shot, then hook and tackle in, leaping shot at point blank range which ensures the arrows all actually hit something, which takes me just far enough to where elemental mines should land either on, or just in front of the mobs I just hit with leaping shot, hit another leaping shot, rinse and repeat.

 

If I'm fighting a big enemy like a dragon then I pretty much just spam leaping shot non-stop since even from long range the arrows will hit big targets like dragons.

[Elhanan]

While Elemental Mines were useful, the spec itself was a bit disappointing overall. Assassin might be a better fit for my personal style.

[Biotic Flash Kick]

everyone rags on artificer :<

 

its the most misunderstood gem of this game 

[Bayonet Hipshot]

The Artificer specialization is like the Ranger in DAO to me. It gives you options as an archer rogue but it does not change the way you will play as an archer rogue. It is just a nice strawberry on top the archer rogue skillset.

[RiffuelRaffit]

I've used the tacticians removal on my character and included "it looked liked it hurt" this time - there is indeed a massive difference!

My stamina will never ever run out again. I haven't even optimized the party gear yet, just chose some abilities for my companions which adds to crit chance (Dorian panicking enemies with wall of fire while Cole has mercy killing is win).

I'm not sure yet if I enable friendly fire in my next playthrough, so I'm still unsure about the elemental mines (although they are awesome - and are, like teks wrote, an instant stamina refiller), but the passives alone in this tree are indeed worth it.

The only regret I have for now is that my characters ability points are so invested in this build I can't have evade anymore (for now). That one is a real life safer, but if I can get the hang of thieve's lantern it may become unnecessary anyhow.

I still have to experiment some more with this specialisation, but I've now officially converted to an follower of the artificer

[draken-heart]

Everyone says artificer is great. I personally believe that is wrong. The "opportunity knocks" passive is great, and without that, the Artificer is meh, just like the rest of the specializations.

Makes me think that they made the artificer spec as THE real rogue spec, and if you do not play an artificer/Varric, then you have no rogue.

[Chadwin]

no

 

tempest for life

[Duelist]

Everyone says artificer is great. I personally believe that is wrong. The "opportunity knocks" passive is great, and without that, the Artificer is meh, just like the rest of the specializations.

Makes me think that they made the artificer spec as THE real rogue spec, and if you do not play an artificer/Varric, then you have no rogue.

Versatility is what makes Artificer great, Opportunity Knocks simply helps enable it.

With the right passives (Opportunity Knocks, Cheap Shot, Looked Like It Hurt), Elemental Mines becomes the best crowd control talent in the game (it practically becomes cheating with Hidden Blades proc) and an efficient means of building both Guard and Focus quickly.
This also makes it the ONLY Rogue spec good at CC.

Add to that the ability to roll dragons in seconds and buff your entire party and you have a great spec.

[Back Lot Basher]

I've been taking in some advice from a few posts I made on this subject, and the majority of people seem to be suggesting Artificer.  Not to say the others are wrong, but I like the sounds of how the synergy between the trees works for my playstyle.  This is my second playthrough on Nightmare (first was a KE mage), and I'm absolutely loving this class...just scooting around the battlefield untouched while a couple of warriors soak up aggro and the mage keeps them healthy.  I'm definitely looking forward to some of the more interesting and tough battles ahead.

 

When I started, I was running with two mages, but recently I began bringing Bull and either Cass/Blackwall.  This seems to really create a lot of breathing room for an archer, and you can really take time to size up the threats and eliminate them in good order.  Those passives in Artificer sound like a dream come true for going after cooldown reduction.

[draken-heart]

Versatility is what makes Artificer great, Opportunity Knocks simply helps enable it.

With the right passives (Opportunity Knocks, Cheap Shot, Looked Like It Hurt), Elemental Mines becomes the best crowd control talent in the game (it practically becomes cheating with Hidden Blades proc) and an efficient means of building both Guard and Focus quickly.
This also makes it the ONLY Rogue spec good at CC.

Add to that the ability to roll dragons in seconds and buff your entire party and you have a great spec.

Without Opportunity knocks, the artificer is just like a regular archer. If we are talking numbers and efficiency, the mines and spike trap are not useful, and outside of opportunity knocks, only fallback plan has any real use for an archer.

[Gaz83]

I was a Tempest diehard... until I played an Archer Artificer.

 

With the right set up, it's like having a constant Fire Flask.  Insanely powerful if used to it's full potential. 

[Duelist]

Without Opportunity knocks, the artificer is just like a regular archer. If we are talking numbers and efficiency, the mines and spike trap are not useful, and outside of opportunity knocks, only fallback plan has any real use for an archer.

That goes for all specs though.

And in all the time it takes my party to reach a mob, I can Hook and Tackle my way in, create distance with Leaping Shot, cover my ass with a Spike Trap and then spam mines until they're dead which doesn't take long.

The short range archer doesn't lack for efficiency, it just plays differently yet will still roll a dragon in seconds.

[Chadwin]

I was a Tempest diehard... until I played an Archer Artificer.

 

With the right set up, it's like having a constant Fire Flask.  Insanely powerful if used to it's full potential. 

 

Tempest archer is the undisputed solo king

[draken-heart]

That goes for all specs though.

And in all the time it takes my party to reach a mob, I can Hook and Tackle my way in, create distance with Leaping Shot, cover my ass with a Spike Trap and then spam mines until they're dead which doesn't take long.

The short range archer doesn't lack for efficiency, it just plays differently yet will still roll a dragon in seconds.

but do you have Opportunity Knocks? that makes the artificer efficient.

[Duelist]

but do you have Opportunity Knocks? that makes the artificer efficient.

Of course and it's Opportunity Knocks in conjunction with Looked Like It Hurt that make Artificer efficient.

Every spec has a skill that makes it efficient otherwise you end up with crap like Necromancer.

[draken-heart]

Of course and it's Opportunity Knocks in conjunction with Looked Like It Hurt that make Artificer efficient.

Every spec has a skill that makes it efficient otherwise you end up with crap like Necromancer.

except that all classes have a passive cooldown reduction, except rogue. for a rogue to be efficient, they have to be an artificer/Varric for opportunity knock.

[Duelist]

except that all classes have a passive cooldown reduction, except rogue. for a rogue to be efficient, they have to be an artificer/Varric for opportunity knock.

Were that the case no-one would have finished this game as a rogue and there is still Shadow Strike.

Tempest relies on it's flasks for efficiency, not cooldowns (although there is always Shadow Strike spam).
Assassin relies on heavy crits from stealth to be efficient, not cooldowns.

Honestly at this point I find myself wondering: do you even Rogue, bro?

[Novadove]

everyone needs to understand this:

 

1) Artificer reduce CD base on crit and next comes the climax

 

2) Artificer can self crit to reduce CD WITHOUT depending on anyone.

 

Number 2 alone makes artificer the most deadly archer.

 

Now now, if only all arty knows how to leap and leap to refresh their own CD.............

[Duelist]

everyone needs to understand this:

1) Artificer reduce CD base on crit and next comes the climax

2) Artificer can self crit to reduce CD WITHOUT depending on anyone.

Number 2 alone makes artificer the most deadly archer.

Now now, if only all arty knows how to leap and leap to refresh their own CD.............

And for all things Artificer ladies and gentleman, we have Novadove. Solid post as always.

Still, I've grown attached to blowing things up with mines so I tend to favour Xelander's build.

Different way to skin a cat is all.