Archery/TA The best way/powers etc to level Advice needed please!

[the mauler]

There are a number of finished post 50 builds out there but nothing for us noobs the best way to level. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[mothermoy]

Fastest and easiest. Keep yourself xpee boosted then run radio teams using lfg channel.

[Sovera]

Grab all the attacks and six slot them with two accuracy, three damage and one recharge, three slot hasten/aim/upshot with recharge, six slot Eagle Eye with three health and three stamina.

 

Do one DfB to reach level 8. Do Posi 1 and 2, do a Synapse (it's best to do these low level TFs when level approprate, IMO), you should be level 22 now, and all the merits you've earned will gear you up in generic IOs.

[Novacat]

Start with Snap Shot and obviously Electrified Net Arrow. The latter should be your opener for now as it's a DoT. Shoot it first. It's higher accuracy anyways - one of the best T1s in the blaster secondaries.

 

After punching 3-4 enemies just outside your starting point you'll reach level 2, so here's where you have a choice.

 

- Glue Arrow is a strong long DoT that slows and really screws everyone in the area - the tighter packs in DFB get slaughtered in this stuff once you learn to choose targets so as to place it well. It slows, kills recharge, but it's also got a 45s cooldown of its own. You'll want this ... but maybe not FIRST.

 

- Fistful of Arrows is reusable every 8 seconds, and may be preferable this early on. It's a 30 degree cone with range 50 - rather average, nothing special, hits things in its reach just a teeny bit harder than your Snap Shot does. Still, it's AoE, so the more you hit the more valuable it is.

 

Now you do DFB two or maybe three times. That ought to get you into the 12-15 range with ease.

 

Level 4: Seeing as you have no other single target holds, I find Ice Arrow quite skippable. Its -recharge is nothing to write home about, its damage is pathetic, its duration unimpressive

 

- Time to get Glue Arrow perhaps. It's not bad at all - though admittedly it's better once you can put some recharge rate in there and use it every fight.

 

- Or get your first pool power Maneuvers might be a bit end-intensive for now but if you're feeling alright with that go for it, otherwise maybe get started on Fighting by grabbing Boxing or Kick. You will probably never use or slot Boxing or Kick, but you'll need one of the two to unlock Tough and Weave later, so hey.

 

Level 6: Blazing Arrow is your T3. Your heavy attack. You get this. It's BARELY slower to cast than "aimed shot" would've been and hits twice as hard. Bit more recharge time and endurance cost but well worth it.

 

So you already now have three solid single target attacks. The first two are quick and usable when you're stunned/asleep/etc, and if you're not, Blazing Arrow should either be your opener if you think it'll kill the minion outright, or halfway done firing by the time the giant parasol you tossed at them (Let's be honest with ourselves, Electric Net Arrow is ... visible)

 

8 and 10 bring Aim and Upshot. Both are good things. Both vastly upgrade your alpha-strikes. You're still low and relatively unslotted, so these are phenomenal (62.5% and 100% respectively) damage buffs. They also improve chance to hit but that's not the real meat of their value (later, a small to-hit in Upshot will qualify it for insta-snipes the same way aim does, keep that in mind for later on). Blazing Arrow becomes a murder blast, cone and glue will melt entire groups... use'em together if you want to make damn sure as much dies as possible, or stagger and cycle them to greatly improve separate fights when the going's safe and quick enough (like in a group doing death from below).

 

Explosive Arrow at 12 is a radial AoE. Another tool in your "murder gangs" arsenal. And you ARE a blaster - other ATs can easily approach or match (or sometimes even surpass slightly) your single-target capabilities once they jump in, but YOU can wipe out a dozen minions in two AoEs under build-up, with LTs in bad shape and bosses having lost a chunk. Explosive Arrow. Consider Knockback to Knockdown but otherwise enjoy. Things on their ass aren't hurting you or your friends.... and are probably sitting in poison glue.

 

Now you're finishing up the DFB runs (it took like, 45 minutes tops and you've done it three damned times).

From here you'll want to be doing DIB (another 'low level task force' for rapid levelling that's often up) or positron's TFs and other, basically when it comes to leveling anything a group will help you go faster, which you probably wouldn't have asked "the best way" if you were doing storylines with contacts (doing that and radio missions is perfectly fine, just, not as fast is all). You'll be getting the hang of your abilities pretty quick, so here's just a few more as you begin to enter "the mid-levels":

 

- Flash Arrow: You might not take this at 16, but you should not forget it exists later on. This massacres perception and mildly debuffs to-hit on everything in its massive radius. It does NOT aggro. This lets you stealth and get close (actually it lets you get fairly close even without stealth). It reduces the ability of enemies (groups or wandering individuals) to join in on a fight when you aggro something because they're all half blind as well. And it's about a minute worth of -ToHit you can later slot into the 6-8% penalty range. Not something you'll probably ever 6-slot but consider letting it have one of your power slots one day. Flash arrow is weak and yet incredibly versatile.

 

- Ranged Shot is your sniper. When under quick-snipe (at the moment being "at" - more like 'over' 22% to-hit bonus) it's a brutal alternative to snap-shot whenever it's up; as quickly shot for a bit over twice the damage. Not quite Blazing Arrow but something nice to alternate it with.

 

Finally we get to level 20. Eagle Eye is your sustain, so it's basically a non-negotiable affair: you take that right away. Massive health regen, double stamina, and 20% Accuracy (on already-accurate archery attacks) the global procs will be going into Health and Stamina - this thing deserves the % value enhancements you can put there. And between this and Archery's base acc all your attacks are as good already as if any other set combo had slotted an accuracy SO in each attack.

 

Obviously Rain of Arrows, Agility and Gymnastics you'll be taking as time goes on, but give consideration - perhaps (like flash arrow) not immediately at 35 to ESD Arrow: not many blaster sets have an area hold, its drain can be slotted to completely drain even level minions and then some depending on which alpha slot you'll take later, and it does decent damage to mechanicals. Throwing a slotted ESD (its base is 55%, same as Thunderous Blast and better than Short Circuit) into a group can knock half of it out of commission for a bit, and those that aren't held other than the boss may be drained dry for a few seconds as well. Ample time to chew through the lot of them and it stacks nicely with controllers and electric users both.

 

Task Forces, certain Architect team missions, and big teams. You will level at a very steady pace, armed with pretty impressive self buffs and good attacks.