For reference: Enhancement Alpha at DDOWiki

I'm still working on getting my last monk life finished then hopping in to my ranger lives. My end-goal is to be some type of arcane archer. I'm not tied to the 'monkcher' setup but it seems like 10k stars + manyshot is the way to go as an archer (not sure if the ENH pass changes that or not).

That said, w/ the monk stances becoming feats, the feat pre-req's for things like AA being dropped, and the existence of two strong ranged pre's in ranger, I'm wondering what the best build for all-around ranged damage and flexibility might end up looking like.

First question will be whether 10k stars and manyshots will share a timer or will continue to work as they always have. I'm assuming for the rest of this post that they will not share a timer but 10k stars being on the same timer with manyshot would further push things away from Monk.

Looking at the monk trees, there's very little to recommend it for bow users. The main reason that monkchers existed was for the tier III stances (earth/water) and 10k stars. We could get Ki in epic levels from Enlightenment - it's not ideal but it could be done - so monk levels wouldn't be required for 10k stars (unless they require monk levels with the feat version).

Fighter levels used to be taken for feats. An argument could be made for up to 4 fighter levels for weapon group specialization (+4/+4 total if you take all 4 ranks) and up to +3 crit damage. I don't think we'd dip into the T5 stuff from Kensei though so it's questionable how much value the splash would have as the really nice Kensei stuff is T5.

A lot of the ranger-based AA's splashed 3 arti levels and I could see an argument for anywhere between 1 and 3 arti levels as well.

What really made me focus on this is what ranger has available.
Level 12:
Aligned Arrows: Arcane Archer Secondary Imbue Toggle: Your arrows bypass all alignment based damage reduction. Activation Cost: 20 spell points. Cooldown: 10 seconds.

Level 18:
Shadow Arrows: Arcane Archer Secondary Imbue Toggle: +5% extra shot chance any time you fire an arrow. Activation Cost: 20 spell points. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Mark of the Hunted: Activate: Expend a use of animal empathy. Your currently selected enemy receive -10% Fortification, -10 AC, -10 Spell Resistance, and suffers a -4 penalty to all ability scores for 3 minutes.

Level 20 (only 1 of these would be available):
Master of Imbuement: You gain +2 Dexterity and +10% Extra shot chance (repeating crossbows have a reduced chance to produce extra shots). When you leave primary arcane archer imbue stance, the bonus granted by the stance lingers for 30 seconds before being removed.
Horizon Shot: You gain +2 Dexterity and +1 Sneak Attack Die. You are always considered to be in Point Blank Shot and Ranged Sneak Attack range.

Those abilities are just the core abilities but those are really the only ones that matter for this conversation - we could do a traditional 12 monk/6 ranger/2 fighter and get all of the other abilities from both trees but those core abilities are lost when we don't get to the required ranger levels.

So the question is are those core abilities in AA and DWS compelling enough to trump splashing one of the other classes, assuming of course that we can get 10k stars w/ whatever splash we end up taking? I'm thinking that just the level 18 stuff is compelling enough to trump going more than 2 levels in to anything else...the DWS debuff is amazing and the stance is basically 5% extra damage any time you don't need one of the other secondary imbues. I'm relatively new to building archers though so I'm definitely interested to see everyone's input.

Just thinking about this some more. So much of the damage for AA's is in how Fury of the Wild works with adrenaline + multiple shots. Anything that provides a chance at additional arrows, assuming it works the same way that manyshot/10k stars works with Adrenaline charges and the epic moment, would trump anything else.

Now for monks throwing shurikens there are other options but I'm not really into the entire thrown weapon thing...I like bows. For a bow user it looks like 18 ranger = 5% extra shot chance unless you need a different secondary imbue. 20 ranger = 10% extra shot chance. There are plenty of other compelling reasons for the 18 & 20th ranger levels but these by themselves would have an enormous impact on Fury-based ranged damage.

Anyone have any info from Lamannia about the 10k stars feat and monk stance feats requirement-wise? A pure ranger with 10k stars and enlightenment to provide the ki for it would be pretty effective. Given that almost all the feats to make the build work are provided by the class now we'd have room for feats like Zen Archery, 10k stars, and monk stances. And we wouldn't be tied to any particular race anymore.

That dog has a lot of HP.

Darkrok wrote on Jul 2^nd, 2013 at 3:35pm:


Elf/H-Elf Racial AA unlock, you get the doubleshot secondary stance @22 and the 10% doubleshot capstone @ 25 no matter how many ranger levels you have

I'm definately not going to go pure ranger, the Elven AA line is worth blowing 4ap imo.

I'm still nutting out how I'll finish mine up, but atm (early stages)  Here's my thought process.

My AA will always be a monk, purely cause I'll never give up abundant step. However now that 10k stars shares a cooldown with manyshot, I see no point in going wisdom specced. 

Since Shintao's Defensive strikes works with a bow equipped I'll pick it up and give up using handwraps. Looking at my options, Ninja Training Tier 2 Should technically count for bows and Sireth, so I'll have dex to hit and dex/str for damage on the only weapon sets I'll ever use.

I'm looking at a lot of free feats now that I'm moving away from unarmed / 10k stars combined with dodge / mental toughness no longer being pre reqs.

Here's the first take on my new feats list:

Level 1 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Undead
Feat: (Half-Elf Dilettante) Half-Elf Dilettante: Rogue
Feat: (Selected) Point Blank Shot

Level 2 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Power Attack

Level 3 (Ranger)
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapons

Level 4 (Ranger)

Level 5 (Ranger)

Level 6 (Ranger)
Feat: (Favored Enemy) Favored Enemy: Evil Outsider
Feat: (Selected) Weapon Focus: Piercing Weapons

Level 7 (Ranger)

Level 8 (Monk)
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Zen Archery

Level 9 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Ranged Weapons
Feat: (Monk Path) Path of Inevitable Dominion: Fists of Darkness

Level 10 (Monk)

Level 11 (Monk)

Level 12 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Power Critical
Feat: (Monk Bonus) Precision

Level 13 (Monk)

Level 14 (Monk)

Level 15 (Fighter)
Feat: (Selected) Improved Critical: Bludgeoning Weapons
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Improved Precise Shot

Level 16 (Fighter)
Feat: (Fighter Bonus) Cleave

Level 17 (Monk)

Level 18 (Monk)
Feat: (Selected) Great Cleave

Level 19 (Monk)

Level 20 (Monk)

Level 21
Overwhelming critical

Level 24
Grandmaster of Forms

Level 28
Combat Archery
 

Enhancements I'm Considering atm.

TheFifthSock wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 7:23am:

This makes me sad, if Turdbine fuck up my monkcher too.
Already fucked up evoker and palemaster, they will twf stalwart.
Jesus Christ, what am I going to actually play.

Darkrok wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 11:08am:

The thing is, it's the only "finalized" toon in years. All gear i want, Pinion, Antipode, black robe fully upgraded etc.
Don't have access to Lammania so don't really know about "future" builds either.
I got spare comms, Baliz, Rebellion and some other crap fortunately.
But I need first to TR fighter, fvs, and , and ....

Munkenmo wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 8:48am:


I think that you can drop Weapon Focus: Ranged as well.

Munkenmo wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 3:47pm:


Icky.

It seems like there should be something better than spending 2 feats for +1 attack and +2 seeker, but there is really nothing out there for ranged.

Carpone wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 6:04pm:



Do they stack for you? for me they didn't.  I've filed a bug report, but not sure if it's wai or not.

I tested the same way, going uncentered to drop my ki to 0.

I had water stance III, enlightened, and both heroic enhancements, I also had +3 at 0, I was expecting +4.

Carpone wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 6:04pm:


I actually went and tested for myself since previously I took the word of this thread as gospel.  Carpone is correct, so I will be sticking with a wisdom specced build.

Glenalth wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 5:58pm:


I was considering picking up dragonmarks to gain shocking weapons, but I can't see the AP being worth it.

Carpone wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 10:22pm:


Should be multiples of your concentration score.

Munkenmo wrote on Jul 4^th, 2013 at 8:48am:

Yes, Ninja Training II core enhancement allows you to use DEX for damage with bows while centered.  What's funny: Deepwood Stalker is supposed to provide this ability as well through a combination of the Weapon Finesse feat and Improved Weapon Finesse enhancement.  It didn't work when I tested on Lamannia. If you go the DEX route with bows, Overwhelming Critical (STR 23 required) is no longer an option.

I hadn't considered Sireth before for the 30 second downtime in the 10k stars/Manyshot cycle.  That's actually alot more attractive to me for regaining ki than doubling up on passive ki regen.  I really dislike dedicating an ED twist for Enlightenment.  I'd prefer Rejuv Cocoon, Otto's and Pin for quests and Rejuv Cocoon, Unearthly Reactions or Energy Sheath, and Grim Precision for raids.