Arcane Archer or Pure Staff Sorc

yuppiekid1882

I am fairly new to this game, however have played many MMO's before (both tabletop and computer). I like the feel of an Arcane Archer, bow for long range, spells for when they start to get close, however am not sure how this will work in this game.

Would an Arcane Archer work or would a Pure Staff Sorc be better???

Opinions and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

Xvorg

yuppiekid1882 wrote: »

I am fairly new to this game, however have played many MMO's before (both tabletop and computer). I like the feel of an Arcane Archer, bow for long range, spells for when they start to get close, however am not sure how this will work in this game.

Would an Arcane Archer work or would a Pure Staff Sorc be better???

Opinions and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

Since the changes to softcaps, it is no loger possible to have hybrid builds, so the Arcane Archers is not posible. The closer to it is the bow stam sorc using skills like.

This is an old post, but Dagh's built the closer to an arcane archer in the current meta (some patches ago) Here

bebynnag

Xvorg wrote: »

yuppiekid1882 wrote: »

I am fairly new to this game, however have played many MMO's before (both tabletop and computer). I like the feel of an Arcane Archer, bow for long range, spells for when they start to get close, however am not sure how this will work in this game.

Would an Arcane Archer work or would a Pure Staff Sorc be better???

Opinions and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

Since the changes to softcaps, it is no loger possible to have hybrid builds, so the Arcane Archers is not posible. The closer to it is the bow stam sorc using skills like.

This is an old post, but Dagh's built the closer to an arcane archer in the current meta (some patches ago) Here

I agree that hybrid builds are not optimal in this game atm for end game. (dungeons, trials & PvP.)

because all stamina based abilitiessch as bow skills are sacled off max stam & weapon damage, where as all magic skills are scaled of spell damage & max magic. and both skills require high critical ratings for PvE content, and it is not possible to have high enough weapon & spell critical at the same time.

but it depends what aspects of the game you are interested in @yuppiekid1882 if you just want to quest the arcane archer could work. although you may find yourself struggling with some content open world PvE especially once one tamriel goes live.

if it is something you would still like to try there is a really good crafted set that could help you, but it is 9 traits which takes a long time to research for yourself, so you will need to find a crafter to help you.

yuppiekid1882

@Xvorg & @puffytheslayer

Many thanks for your replies and your time, my character is only lvl 7 at the moment so will focus my character on spell damage, max magika, it is nice to see that people are willing to take the time to explain things and provide helpfull suggestions and/or provide information on the mechanics without resorting to insults as happens in the forums of other games.

I still have a lot to learn about the game so hopefully once I know more about the game I will be able to (hopefully) build a semi-decent character lol.

Asardes

The Nightblade class has an ability in the Assassination line called grim focus which allows you to shoot a "spectral bow" after doing 4 consecutive light attacks. That's about all the "arcane archery" this game has

Acsvf

yuppiekid1882 wrote: »

Would an Arcane Archer work

Nope, it won't.

yuppiekid1882 wrote: »

bow for long range, spells for when they start to get close

You can equip two weapons, one on each bar. Bow also works fine enough at melee range.

yuppiekid1882 wrote: »

Pure Staff Sorc be better???

Generally builds aren't made like that. The first thing to consider is to choose from one of 4 role/build types:

• Magicka DPS/Healer
• Stamina DPS
• Stamina Tank
• Magicka Tank

Everything else revolves around this, essentially. Weapon choices usually depend on the meta, or your preference, but they don't define you.

Seratopia

Can't this guy make a stam sorc? Do they not use bows? Might be what he's kind of looking for.

Nope don't ask me. I'm a magsorc. Know nothing about the stam side.

Wolfchild07

Depends how effective you want it to be. By effective, I mean, do you just want to be able to tackle most of the content, or do you want to minmax?

You can drop most points in stamina and grab some mag regen/use a race with mag regen bonuses. You can use mostly bow skills and have sorc abilities like Encase, which holds enemies in a conical area in front of you in place so you can shoot them. You can use Bolt Escape to reposition and have Dark Exchange (morph to Dark Conversion) if you need to trade your stamina for some magicka.

I'm not a theory crafter, but you can make it work depending on what you want to use it for. It's a start anyway.

CasNation

As someone has mentioned already, you could play a stamina sorc. There will be a couple differences in terms of morph choices, but the end result is the same: you use your bow mainly for damage and your spells for buffs/utility. If you are okay taking the stamina morph on a few skills (like hurricane and Bound armaments) I think you might really enjoy the feel of the playstlye.

I guess it really comes down to how strict you are on the "arcane" requirement. If you are adamant about using spells to deal damage, you probably want to go pure caster, but if you want to be a bow user that augments their abilities with magicka buffs, that is definitely possible.

Acsvf

Seratopia wrote: »

Can't this guy make a stam sorc? Do they not use bows? Might be what he's kind of looking for.

Stam Sorcs are one of the highest DPS at the moment, last I checked, and they generally go for the typical DW/Bow. 'Arcane Archer' and "Stam Sorc" are two very different things, however.

CasNation

Acsvf wrote: »

Seratopia wrote: »

Can't this guy make a stam sorc? Do they not use bows? Might be what he's kind of looking for.

Stam Sorcs are one of the highest DPS at the moment, last I checked, and they generally go for the typical DW/Bow. 'Arcane Archer' and "Stam Sorc" are two very different things, however.

Eh, they don't have to be though. Stam sorc carries certain build connotations I guess, but really it is just a sorc that specs heavily into stamina. Doesn't have to mean the standard dw/bow build. And arcane archer is a fairly loose term as well. All in the eyes of the OP, I say.

Acsvf

CasNation wrote: »

Acsvf wrote: »

Seratopia wrote: »

Can't this guy make a stam sorc? Do they not use bows? Might be what he's kind of looking for.

Stam Sorcs are one of the highest DPS at the moment, last I checked, and they generally go for the typical DW/Bow. 'Arcane Archer' and "Stam Sorc" are two very different things, however.

Eh, they don't have to be though. Stam sorc carries certain build connotations I guess, but really it is just a sorc that specs heavily into stamina. Doesn't have to mean the standard dw/bow build. And arcane archer is a fairly loose term as well. All in the eyes of the OP, I say.

True. Just want to make sure that OP understands that hybrids aren't in a good place right now by absolutely any measure.

Xvorg

In theory there's a way to build a hybrid focused on an arcane archer, but IDK how strong he will be. I believe it could be done by combining Pelinals with Necropotence and the MSA bow, putting all the points into stam and the glyphs into magicka (if necessary). Dunmer for the extra bonus to magicka and stam

Having ate least a pet active, you will have extra magicka. The idea is to focus everything into wpn dmg, so pelinal can increase the spell dmg at the same rate. That demands 5 pieces of medium armor. Also it can synergize with the WW build that uses pelinals.

But that's just theory...

Rohamad_Ali

Xvorg wrote: »

In theory there's a way to build a hybrid focused on an arcane archer, but IDK how strong he will be. I believe it could be done by combining Pelinals with Necropotence and the MSA bow, putting all the points into stam and the glyphs into magicka (if necessary). Dunmer for the extra bonus to magicka and stam

Having ate least a pet active, you will have extra magicka. The idea is to focus everything into wpn dmg, so pelinal can increase the spell dmg at the same rate. That demands 5 pieces of medium armor. Also it can synergize with the WW build that uses pelinals.

But that's just theory...

I was going to try this awhile ago but decided not too . Seemed like a lot of work leveling abilities if it didn't work .

billp_ESO

The basic problem is that a bow will scale off of stamina, and spells will scale off of magika, and you can't really have top-notch stamina and magika on the same character.

However, the main PvE game is so easy, you can do it with a weak build and hardly notice it. So if you are just questing and doing basic PvE, you could do a bow/magic character and be fine. I played that for the first 40 levels or so, until I started running dungeons.

I used to stack the bow aoe dot and the sorc aoe dots and the enemies would just melt. It worked fine for the first 40 levels. The DPS output is sub-par though when you move to PvP or dungeons. So I went all magika sorc, with a focus on spell crit percentage.

CasNation

Acsvf wrote: »

CasNation wrote: »

Acsvf wrote: »

Seratopia wrote: »

Can't this guy make a stam sorc? Do they not use bows? Might be what he's kind of looking for.

Stam Sorcs are one of the highest DPS at the moment, last I checked, and they generally go for the typical DW/Bow. 'Arcane Archer' and "Stam Sorc" are two very different things, however.

Eh, they don't have to be though. Stam sorc carries certain build connotations I guess, but really it is just a sorc that specs heavily into stamina. Doesn't have to mean the standard dw/bow build. And arcane archer is a fairly loose term as well. All in the eyes of the OP, I say.

True. Just want to make sure that OP understands that hybrids aren't in a good place right now by absolutely any measure.

Ah yes, that is absolutely true.

Silver_Strider

Unless the Arcane Archer is anything like this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mXQlO4iUf0[/vid]
it's not worth the effort

ClockworkArc

Strictly speaking, hybrids ARE viable in PVP as long as you're using Pelinal's Aptitude.

Wild_Monk

yuppiekid1882 wrote: »

I am fairly new to this game, however have played many MMO's before (both tabletop and computer). I like the feel of an Arcane Archer, bow for long range, spells for when they start to get close, however am not sure how this will work in this game.

Would an Arcane Archer work or would a Pure Staff Sorc be better???

Opinions and constructive criticism are more than welcome.

---

Would You like to play in game role of a magician? Magic and the staff as a hand weapon?

dodgehopper_ESO

@yuppiekid1882 , It really depends what you mean by Arcane Archer. If you want to be successful as an Archer though you need to focus your build on things like Stamina, Weapon Damage, and Crits. Traits like Well-Fitted probably would not hurt either. You should also realize there are also useful utility skills in all the classes for Stamina builds. These abilities cost magic or sometimes stamina. Things like Igneous weapons, Siphon, Mark Target, Dark Exchange, Hurricane, Surge, Binding Javelin, Rune Focus, Repentance, Bound Armaments, Mirage etc...

If you want the sense that you are imbuing your weapons with some kind of magical power, you'll most likely get that feeling from Sorcerer (Surge) and Dragon Knight (Igneous Weapons). Nightblade has of course its siphon effect but I doubt you feel the same about that. Obviously, cloaking is very nice for an archer though so you have that to consider as well as Mirage. The short answer is that if you use magic for utility and stamina for weapon damage (and in the case of skills like Hurricane utility as well) you'll do fine. Pick the class you feel fits your theme best, read up on the abilities and passives.

I should mention Nightblade has that nice 'Grim Focus' ability, to give if a fair shake in your assessment. If you want to imbue your arrows with 'shadow' magic and be able to cloak then go Nightblade. If you want to imbue arrows with fire then become a Dragon Knight. If you want to imbue arrows with 'lightning' then become a Sorcerer. That's really how I see it. Think about the animations your character will perform, while also remembering what I said earlier regarding weapon damage/stamina/etc and you should be fine with the result and happy with the playstyle.

I realized you only mentioned Sorcerer but I posted about the other cases just to let you know that all the classes can play all roles and playstyles: Magic DPS, Stamina DPS, Tank, Healer.

Xvorg

Here comes the necrooooo

I've been having playing with a magicka sorc using a bow last days... maybe he's not strong, but gave me some ideas and a lot of fun.

Here's the concept (until now)

Race: Dunmer

Full magicka, regular cps for stam (green and red constelations), Blue cps spreaded (27 thaum, 27 mighty, 27 bow mastery, 50 elemental expert, the rest on spell penetration)

5 pcs elegance, 5 pieces medium armor (red mountain, undaunted infiltrator, pelinal's), everythin on reinforced. All enchant on stam, all jewelry on magic dmg. Bow... a regular one, master and maelstrom are optional, but we need a bow with a lightning enchantment

Skills main bar (bow)

Poison injection
Endless fury
Power surge
Velocious curse
Crystal frags
U Energy Overload.

Skills backup bar (bow, mainly buffs) (not ready)
streak
def rune
bound armaments
whatever
whatever
U Ballista/Soul assault/meteor

The idea is to use heavy and light attacks as spammable sttacks (30% extra dmg thanks to elegance and bow mastery), with endless fury weaved.

A rotation that has worked a lot: Full heavy + poison inject + light attack + velocious curse + light attack + endless fury + (crystal frags if procs).

I try to get the enemy below 20% health within 4 secs after using endless fury for the proc. At the same time, poison inject increases dmg at the 50% enemy's health. That's why I need velocious. Crystal frags is like a back up skill to do heavy dmg if necessary and only if it has an instant cast. The rest is for light attacks, which have a trick too: implosion doubles its chances with a bow with a lightning enchant.

Currently I have a lvl 27 toon doing this and only red mountain as gear, which I think is a great option for the proc chance and the increase dmg for being a dunmer. However, my first choice was pelinal's and then infiltrator. I've considered storm master but IDK if I'll be able to get the proc with a so low crit rating build.

Any ideas. This is my first sorc and I know less than Jon Snow about them...

EldritchPenguin

ClockworkArc wrote: »

Strictly speaking, hybrids ARE viable in PVP as long as you're using Pelinal's Aptitude.

But isn't that pretty much limited to ridiculous stuff like Jesus Beaming Stamplars? I mean, please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Xvorg

EldritchPenguin wrote: »

ClockworkArc wrote: »

Strictly speaking, hybrids ARE viable in PVP as long as you're using Pelinal's Aptitude.

But isn't that pretty much limited to ridiculous stuff like Jesus Beaming Stamplars? I mean, please do correct me if I'm wrong.

There's a WW build based on pelinal's. strong attack and strong heal

AcadianPaladin

I have a Bosmer bow/bow stamsorc who is about CP110 and does well in pve normal content. She is not ‘impressive’ but survives and can complete quests just fine with a bit of caution. Not bad for a stamsorc who won’t touch a melee weapon.

She's very focused on medium armor, stamina, crit % chance, bow, and selective sorc skills that generally do not penalize a low magicka character.

Bar 1:
Shattering prison – can repeatedly lock down multiple foes and, with the passives, for a reasonable time.
Poison injection – nice execute skill.
Arrow barrage – great AoE Dot that can be dropped at range or on your own head if swarmed.
Draining shot – short range knockback with a heal at the end.
Unstable Clannfear – great little tank and healer.

Ultimate is Greater Storm Atronach - decent tank.


Bar 2:
Critical Surge - +20% damage and heals on crits.
Hurricane – AoE damage, shielding and relies on stamina.
Dark Conversion – solid heal but has cast time.
Focused aim – longer range and good damage.
Unstable Clannfear – great little tank and healer.

Ultimate is Suppression Field – great opening attack vs boss or tight group; also good panic button on your head if swarmed.

The build tries to act like a long range sniper, using the clannfear as a tank after the first strike. Has learned some tricks to help her clannfear get/hold aggro.

Relies on the synergy of Crit Surge, Hurricane , Arrow barrage for up close damage while healing. Can easily generate 3k hp healing /sec with Crit Surge, Hurricane and Arrow barrage all active and being attacked. That allows her to block/light attack under that dome of damage/healing.

Now. . . that all said, I think a pure magsorc with staves is a more effective character.

Asardes

In normal dungeons almost anything works. But advancing to veteran dungeons requires more optimized builds. Bow is limited to about 25K DPS, and that's with BiS gear, and also very situational. People that are able to do 20K+ on bow are able to pull at least 30K on proper rotation that uses mostly the 2W and some class skills. Endgame the only skills that are useful from the bow line are poison injection and endless hail. Snipe is slow and even if the tooltip damage may look good, spamming that will get you maybe 10-15K DPS, which is insufficient for veteran content.