New Character... Archer-something?

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

So my buddy is going to be starting to play and he's brand new to the series. He wants to be an archer, and he's thinking rogue-ish, stealth, etc... but he is also thinking about the buffs and magicka of a templar. Or should he go DragonKnight and utilize some of those spells? Would really like some input on what the best(or most helpful for a new player) class will be... thanks in advance for your help!

TheNuminous1 · April 2017

Stam bosmer nightblade archer.

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

I also read on Reddit that DK is almost ungodly with a bow...anything to that?

I think they mentioned the Draconic skill line?

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

TheNuminous1 wrote: »

Stam bosmer nightblade archer.

But thats really what I was thinking... any recommended build for that?

psxfloh · April 2017

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/noss-bo-bo-stamblade-pve-guide/

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

psxfloh wrote: »

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/noss-bo-bo-stamblade-pve-guide/

Why would the OP of that post recommend Khajit?

psxfloh · April 2017

Well, this was only the first build that came to mind when I read "He wants to be an archer".. but I think I wouldn't recommend it for a completely new player.
Master and Maelstrom bows are miles and miles away if you're new to the game - and are behind a brutal RNG wall, so you might never ever see a sharpened (best in slot) version of either.

Maybe have a look at some builds from alcast or deltia, I love their 'alternative' gear recommendations, where they mention item sets that are easy/easier to lay your hands on.
http://alcasthq.com/eso-stamina-sorcerer-build-pve/ comes to mind.

To your friend's "stealthy" ambitions.. in combat this will only work in the open world on regular enemies/npcs, but I was always disappointed that it takes longer to sneak up to an enemy and one-shot him from stealth than if I had just walked into him and killed him with 2-3 skills/attacks. Which you'll still have to do with his 2 friends, because none of the "turn invisible" moves (like invisibility potions or nightblade's shadow cloak) will actually take you out of combat - nope.. they'll just keep chasing/attacking you!

And he'll have a hard time in dungeons (I'd probably kick him from the group

) or for every mob that has a little too much health to be one-shot...
For stealing, doing thieves guild's heists or dark brotherhood missions every class should work if you're using:
- 5 pieces of Night's Silence Set
- 3 pieces of Night Terror Set

I always hated the thieves guild's heists.. then I combined these two sets and the heists started to be fun!

Edit:

jgruberman wrote: »

psxfloh wrote: »

http://tamrielfoundry.com/topic/noss-bo-bo-stamblade-pve-guide/

Why would the OP of that post recommend Khajit?

Don't get hooked on the top races mentioned in guides.. but be aware that hybrids are underpowered at the moment, so you'll want to put all your attribute points into stamina or magicka (except for some rare high-health-builds), and your race choice should support your preferred stat and playstyle. But most guides have a special section regarding race choice, listing more than one race..

zaria · April 2017

Warden looks good for an stamina based ranged dps but is still some time away.

AcadianPaladin · April 2017

I came from Oblivion and Skyrim and wanted a stealthy bow only mystic archer when I started ESO.

Here are some of the game's problems with that: While you are slowly and carefully setting up a nice elegant snipe, some dragonknight (bless their hearts) will not see you, charge in and explode your target. While you are thinking about your next target, your last one will respawn on top of your head - a slow methodically cautious playstyle will see that happen alot. The bow's range is pooh - less than rock throwing distance. So when you do open up, you have little chance of regaining stealth nor more than a couple seconds before your foe (and his friends) are in your face.

I tried a bow/bow stamblade initially and got frustrated early. Admittedly probably too soon to call it a fair shot. So I tried a bow/bow stamsorc and that worked much better for me. By choosing carefully there are a number of sorc skills that support this. Clannfear is a good little tank whose hp scales with your level (not your puny magicka). Encase can be helpful for holding down foes (not bosses). Critical Surge + Hurricane is defense, healing, AoE and DoT - a very helpful combo for a any stamsorc. The sorc ultimates are quite good as well. The character is sort of fun but brings nothing to a group - no utility, mediocre dps, no healing for others. . . . The character works - but is definitely gimped and limited without embracing dual daggers on one bar.

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

psxfloh wrote: »

http://alcasthq.com/eso-stamina-sorcerer-build-pve/

This looks like it would be right up his alley considering it mentions self healing and can handle mobs and 1v1 pve. Couple quick questions...

For his particular preference, would he just rotate the DW and bow and use the bow as his primary?

Also, what race would be good for this? High elf?

Thanks for all your info so far, its been super helpful!

psxfloh · April 2017

Let me put it this way:
For the beginning you and your friend should be fine with what @AcadianPaladin described. A bow as your main weapon will work an be fun to play. And if you never enter vet dungeons or trials, you'll be fine as long as you play eso

Just be prepared to do some serious overhaul of your build if you want to enter more 'advanced' group content, or take on world bosses solo (or in a team of 2). But luckily that's something you can do at any time! So don't worry..

Only thing you should take care before you start is your race..
High Elves have racial passives that are good for magicka builds, whereas all skills for bows are stamina-based => no good synergy here. It will work and be fun, but unless you want to play a pure magicka sorcerer later you should choose another race. Don't get me wrong: Magicka sorcs are great, and if you don't mind putting your bow away for a staff one day, to maximize your damage, go ahead.
I'd recommend Redguard (best sustain) or Orc if you want to stick with the stamsorc archetype, and High Elf if you're the type who want's to try something new (like a staff-wielding mag sorc) after he's played something else for a while...

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

psxfloh wrote: »

Let me put it this way:
For the beginning you and your friend should be fine with what @AcadianPaladin described. A bow as your main weapon will work an be fun to play. And if you never enter vet dungeons or trials, you'll be fine as long as you play eso

Just be prepared to do some serious overhaul of your build if you want to enter more 'advanced' group content, or take on world bosses solo (or in a team of 2). But luckily that's something you can do at any time! So don't worry..

Only thing you should take care before you start is your race..
High Elves have racial passives that are good for magicka builds, whereas all skills for bows are stamina-based => no good synergy here. It will work and be fun, but unless you want to play a pure magicka sorcerer later you should choose another race. Don't get me wrong: Magicka sorcs are great, and if you don't mind putting your bow away for a staff one day, to maximize your damage, go ahead.
I'd recommend Redguard (best sustain) or Orc if you want to stick with the stamsorc archetype, and High Elf if you're the type who want's to try something new (like a staff-wielding mag sorc) after he's played something else for a while...

With a stamsorc... what skills would be best used for healing? It sounds pretty strsaightfoward as far as the stamina part... stamina feeds the weapon damage and I still have that stamsorc link you sent, but wanted to directly ask where the healing part would come from for that particular build?

AcadianPaladin · April 2017

Healing for my bow/bow stamsorc comes from critictal hits with Critical Surge active - so build for +50% (or higher) crit%. Hurricane gives you lots of crits just by being close to foes. The clannfear heal is a medium heal as well. The emergency heals came from Dark Exchange (either morph has pros/cons to consider).

Let's see. My character is a Bosmer for roleplay reasons but she is a good race for this. Gear that supports stamina and critical hit % chance is good. Thief works well as Mundus sign to boost crit %.

This character can solo normal quest content and delves with slight care to not blindly charge into stuff. Public dungeons are possible but getting swarmed can be a challenge. Soloing world bosses is out. Soloing any group dungeon is out. In fact I don't formal group with her either because, as I said above, she has little to offer a team in terms of group help or even raw dps.

psxfloh · April 2017

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Healing for my bow/bow stamsorc comes from critictal hits with Critical Surge active - so build for +50% (or higher) crit%. Hurricane gives you lots of crits just by being close to foes. The clannfear heal is a medium heal as well. The emergency heals came from Dark Exchange (either morph has pros/cons to consider).

Let's see. My character is a Bosmer for roleplay reasons but she is a good race for this. Gear that supports stamina and critical hit % chance is good. Thief works well as Mundus sign to boost crit %.

This character can solo normal quest content and delves with slight care to not blindly charge into stuff. Public dungeons are possible but getting swarmed can be a challenge. Soloing world bosses is out. Soloing any group dungeon is out. In fact I don't formal group with her either because, as I said above, she has little to offer a team in terms of group help or even raw dps.

thanks.. i just wanted to write something like that.
Critical Surge won't be available from the start and take a while to get.. Summon Unstable Clannfear is a morph of Summon Unstable Familiar - which is a tier 1 skill that should be accessible very early, same is true for the clannfear morph.

psychotic13 · April 2017

I've been playing a NB bosmer archer, it's actually really good and by archer I don't mean a snipe bot, I'm in the process of writing up the build and getting some footage, I'll post it when it's complete

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Healing for my bow/bow stamsorc comes from critictal hits with Critical Surge active - so build for +50% (or higher) crit%. Hurricane gives you lots of crits just by being close to foes. The clannfear heal is a medium heal as well. The emergency heals came from Dark Exchange (either morph has pros/cons to consider).

Let's see. My character is a Bosmer for roleplay reasons but she is a good race for this. Gear that supports stamina and critical hit % chance is good. Thief works well as Mundus sign to boost crit %.

This character can solo normal quest content and delves with slight care to not blindly charge into stuff. Public dungeons are possible but getting swarmed can be a challenge. Soloing world bosses is out. Soloing any group dungeon is out. In fact I don't formal group with her either because, as I said above, she has little to offer a team in terms of group help or even raw dps.

So there is a passive that restores health with critical damage, so the idea is to raise critical chances and thus raise health recovery rate... and do more DPS in the process... makes sense.

One more question that I can think of though... looking at the StamSorc link sent earlier... I've looked at other builds on that same site and it has a section called "Gear [Beginner]". But let's say for example, my character is level 6. How do I get someone to craft those pieces for me for a level 6 character? Is that even possible?

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

psxfloh wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Healing for my bow/bow stamsorc comes from critictal hits with Critical Surge active - so build for +50% (or higher) crit%. Hurricane gives you lots of crits just by being close to foes. The clannfear heal is a medium heal as well. The emergency heals came from Dark Exchange (either morph has pros/cons to consider).

Let's see. My character is a Bosmer for roleplay reasons but she is a good race for this. Gear that supports stamina and critical hit % chance is good. Thief works well as Mundus sign to boost crit %.

This character can solo normal quest content and delves with slight care to not blindly charge into stuff. Public dungeons are possible but getting swarmed can be a challenge. Soloing world bosses is out. Soloing any group dungeon is out. In fact I don't formal group with her either because, as I said above, she has little to offer a team in terms of group help or even raw dps.

thanks.. i just wanted to write something like that.
Critical Surge won't be available from the start and take a while to get.. Summon Unstable Clannfear is a morph of Summon Unstable Familiar - which is a tier 1 skill that should be accessible very early, same is true for the clannfear morph.

So what would he do for health regen until he gets to that Crit Surge point? I just built a MagSorc so the same question applies to me... use the Clannfear ability?

NordSwordnBoard · April 2017

Archer-something?

Sterling Mallory...

AKA "Duchess"

psxfloh · April 2017

jgruberman wrote: »

psxfloh wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Healing for my bow/bow stamsorc comes from critictal hits with Critical Surge active - so build for +50% (or higher) crit%. Hurricane gives you lots of crits just by being close to foes. The clannfear heal is a medium heal as well. The emergency heals came from Dark Exchange (either morph has pros/cons to consider).

Let's see. My character is a Bosmer for roleplay reasons but she is a good race for this. Gear that supports stamina and critical hit % chance is good. Thief works well as Mundus sign to boost crit %.

This character can solo normal quest content and delves with slight care to not blindly charge into stuff. Public dungeons are possible but getting swarmed can be a challenge. Soloing world bosses is out. Soloing any group dungeon is out. In fact I don't formal group with her either because, as I said above, she has little to offer a team in terms of group help or even raw dps.

thanks.. i just wanted to write something like that.
Critical Surge won't be available from the start and take a while to get.. Summon Unstable Clannfear is a morph of Summon Unstable Familiar - which is a tier 1 skill that should be accessible very early, same is true for the clannfear morph.

So what would he do for health regen until he gets to that Crit Surge point? I just built a MagSorc so the same question applies to me... use the Clannfear ability?

yeah.. i guess so... provided you need any healing at all, steamrolling everything or having all npcs tanked by your clannfear ..!?

Texecutioner187 · April 2017

psxfloh wrote: »

jgruberman wrote: »

psxfloh wrote: »

AcadianPaladin wrote: »

Healing for my bow/bow stamsorc comes from critictal hits with Critical Surge active - so build for +50% (or higher) crit%. Hurricane gives you lots of crits just by being close to foes. The clannfear heal is a medium heal as well. The emergency heals came from Dark Exchange (either morph has pros/cons to consider).

Let's see. My character is a Bosmer for roleplay reasons but she is a good race for this. Gear that supports stamina and critical hit % chance is good. Thief works well as Mundus sign to boost crit %.

This character can solo normal quest content and delves with slight care to not blindly charge into stuff. Public dungeons are possible but getting swarmed can be a challenge. Soloing world bosses is out. Soloing any group dungeon is out. In fact I don't formal group with her either because, as I said above, she has little to offer a team in terms of group help or even raw dps.

thanks.. i just wanted to write something like that.
Critical Surge won't be available from the start and take a while to get.. Summon Unstable Clannfear is a morph of Summon Unstable Familiar - which is a tier 1 skill that should be accessible very early, same is true for the clannfear morph.

So what would he do for health regen until he gets to that Crit Surge point? I just built a MagSorc so the same question applies to me... use the Clannfear ability?

yeah.. i guess so... provided you need any healing at all, steamrolling everything or having all npcs tanked by your clannfear ..!?

True. On a side note, I'm having the same challenges with my MagSorc... three guys come at me and I have to kite them for a while until my clanfear does some damage or I can slowly wear them away. Is that just what comes when you're a solo'ing magsorc?

Oreyn_Bearclaw · April 2017

Archer means a stamina character.

Race:
The races worth considering are: Redguard (best mix of damage and sustain), Khajiit (most damage in buffed group, best ganker), Bosmer (no extra damage, but best sustain), Imperial (same damage as redguard, less sustain, more health), Orc (great melee damage and speed).

In the beginning you really wont notice your race all that much, so dont over think it. If you are trying to min/max in PVE, Redguard or Khajiit is your best answer. In PVP, I would probably go Redguard or Orc.

Class:
There are merits to all 4 classes. If I had to eliminate one right off the back for this it would probably be templar. I am just not a huge fan of stamina templar. They can certainly be powerful in the right hands, however they just dont do it for me.

My favorite stamina class is sorcerer. They are very strong in both PVE and PVP. They have excellent heals, mobility and damage. My second favorite is probably nightblade. This potentially fits very well into the archetype your buddy wants. They have excellent burst damage and can be played very stealthy. They are certainly the "rouge" class. There rotation is perhaps the hardest to master from a PVE standpoint. Stamina DK is also a solid choice. The reason people say they are good with a bow is that they have a skill that gives a 40% buff to heavy attacks. This can be used for very impressive damage in PVP from range if played well. In PVE, they arguable have the most damage.

Keep in mind that most builds are going to have you using a bow as more of a buff weapon than a main weapon, but unless you are trying for speed runs in vet dungeons, you can make a bow work as a main weapon.

shinikaze · April 2017

If your friend wants to be a dedicated archer and go to pvp at some point in the game he has to be a nightblade-vampire bosmer.

main bar Bow (in pvp): radiant mage light, shadowy disguise, snipe (any morph), poison arrow (any morph), reapers mark/ double take/ shuffle. flawless and dawn breaker.

back up bar 2-handed (again pvp) : shadow image, relentless focus, rally, ambush, surprise attack, incap strike/ dawn breaker.

Lynx7386 · April 2017

At this point i would tell him to play something else until morrowind, then make an archer\ranger style stamina warden. Warden will have a ranged stamina attack to weave with bow shots, major brutality and stamina recovery from the netch (both if which will be amazing for a bow build), and a bear pet that will serve as a ranged execute and tank when soloing.

AcadianPaladin · April 2017

Regarding armor. I would wear dropped gear, upgrading as you go until CP160. It is just too tedious upgrading gear every few levels. Bow, however, I upgrade every two levels, putting the older bow on the back bar.

Healing at low level (before Critical Surge and Dark Exchange). Yes, the clannfear can help. So can popping an absorb health glyph on your bow. So can potions and eating bread. I don't do Cyrodiil/PvP but some might consider getting Vigor at a fairly low level?

Single foes are easy if you command your clannfear to attack then wait until he's engaged before opening up - he will often hold aggro the whole fight. Not so much with multiple foes but Encase and scattershot can help keep foes off you. I like Encase alot because by holding the foe in place, the clannfear can often attack it long enough to gain aggro.

psxfloh · April 2017

shinikaze wrote: »

If your friend wants to be a dedicated archer and go to pvp at some point in the game he has to be a nightblade-vampire bosmer.

main bar Bow (in pvp): radiant mage light, shadowy disguise, snipe (any morph), poison arrow (any morph), reapers mark/ double take/ shuffle. flawless and dawn breaker.

back up bar 2-handed (again pvp) : shadow image, relentless focus, rally, ambush, surprise attack, incap strike/ dawn breaker.

that doesn't sound like anything that would make sense in PvE.. maybe pure PvP, although I don't understand the race choice?! Only passive for a stamina toon would be max stam +6%, but other races have a greater +stam bonus and more than one passive that benefits stam...