A (Not So)Advance Guide to Archer/Dark Archer

This is an advance guide for Bow Classes. Before executing the build I am to mention below, be sure to have familiarize your game play with bows. Also for better equipment, be sure to have some budget. This is not as good as an in-depth guide for bow classes but a guide that can be useful in specific situations without sucking hard at a more difficult situations that can ruin your overall performance.

Archers/bow users has a very simple skill sets in Toram. Regarding Cross fire as the main damage dealing skill, Snipe as a side DPS skill and decoy shot for additional MP recovery. Most players get away with just these skills (and other compulsory DPS skill trees) and still inflict overwhelming damage (with 5/5 CF). However, there is still a way to maximize the performance of the Bow classes. Considering the ability to survive, the ability to be independent, making advantages of buffs/debuffs, and strategies/tactics on attacking.

Pure archer focuses on attack, critical damage and critical rate. This is to maximize the damage output of cross fire and secondary Dps skills. Without balancing these three variables, the build may suck. Luckily, most equipment and skills in toram suits best for this build, maximizing it without ruining the balance.

Spoiler: Status

Lets state the obvious here, we will go for Dexterity > Strength. This is to maximize the damage output. We need the the attack from Dexterity (1 dex = 3 atk) and critical damage from Strength (5 str = 1 cdmg). After you have gotten the 510 cap status and before going for Dex again, put 250 on strength and don't leave it to 247. Since cdmg from Str is rounded down to the nearest number (247 str = 49.4 cdmg = 49 cdmg) assuming that there are no other sources of Str other than the stat. We don't want to waste that 1 cdmg just for a mere 3 status points in dex (250 str = 50 cdmg).
Should we consider agility? No.

Spoiler: Skill Trees

When level capped, bow class tend to have a lot of extra skill points after getting all the skill trees needed for a normal bow build. Taking advantage of this fact, you can add more skills for experimental gameplays or making a hybrid class for bows, dark archers or BS archer for example.
Shot Skills:
- Shot Mastery Lv10
- Moeba Shot Lv1 - combo opener
- Snipe Lv10 - for armor break
- Quick Draw Lv10
- Cross Fire Lv10 - Main Dps
- Decoy Shot Lv10 - Additional attack mp recovery
Blade Skills:
- War Cry - 10% atk for 25 secs. remove fear
Magic Skills:
- Magic Impact Lv7 - combo opener and mp reduction of the next skill by half (rounded up by the nearest 100 mp)
- Finale Lv1 - combo stopper
Mononofu Skills:
- Shukuchi Lv1
- Kairiki Ranshin
Halberd Skills:
- Quick Aura Lv10
- Godspeed Wield Lv10
Assist Skills: (Survival, Support and Battle Skills)
- Mp Boost Lv10
- Recovery Lv1 - debuff heal
- Brave Aura Lv10
- Critical Up Lv10
*Battle Skills should go 10>5>10>10
Other Skills:
- Backstep Lv1 - evading abrupt and/or wide Area of Effect (AoE) attacks
For Dark Archers.....
Dark Skills:
- Demon Claw Lv10 - Secondary Dps when using Kairiki+Godspeed Wield best at HP below 10%
There is still a lot of skill points left after completing all the skill trees above.

Spoiler: Combos

Decoy Combo:
Moeba Shot>Decoy Shot(save)>Finale(Smite) - 100mp combo but very slow
Moeba Shot>Decoy Shot(Swift) - 500mp fast decoy for safer gameplay
Magic Impact>Decoy Shot(Swift) - 400mp fast decoy
Cross Fire Combo:
For starting CF, never put it in combo, just do it manually.
Triggering CF:
Kairiki>CF(Smite)
Warcry>CF(Smite) - if you don't want kairiki's ignite, a lil bit weaker but safe from HP-draining ignite, better survival
Snipe>Kairiki(Consecutive)>CF(Smite)
Kairiki>Snipe(Consecutive)>CF(Smite)
Demon Claw Combo:
Magic Impact>Demon Claw(Smite)>Finale(Smite) - If HP is below 10%
*Note that these combos can be changed depending on the pattern of boss attacks, the difficulty and mostly preferences.

Spoiler: Recommended Weapons and Arrows

Cone Bow III (recommended w.atk = 165+) - 24% physical pierce, 36 critical rate, 12 critical damage and -40% aggro
The stats suits best for a bow class, high cr, some cdmg and -aggro. Why recommend this if there's no attack %? because of physical pierce. When your bow character is capped, most bosses you might fight will be high difficulty bosses with high defense. When you're farming for example, or fighting event bosses and doing gemruns. Having p.pierce on your side is very convenient in these situations. It is also the only NPC bow that is still good to have even after the +10% atk% and cdmg% update. It can still do decent damage.

4th Anniv IX Bow (recommended w.atk = 174+) - Player Made
- ACD10%CDCR20CR20%
For overall damage performace, having a bow with this stat is very important.

- Damage to ele20% a10%cd20cr20
If you really want to go all out with your build, then I will recommend DtE full crit bows. This goes without saying that 20%DtE is much better than any stat a player can fill into equipment (except element awakening). Since bow has variable arrows that can be changed to the desired element, there is no use of putting an element to the bow itself. Even if your DtE bows are only 1 slotted (+S), it can still deal better damage than a +S 2 slotted full crit bows. When prioritizing DtE bows to create or buy, make sure to get what elements are often used when fighting bosses. For me, I always find myself fighting either earth or light element bosses. So I went for DtEarth first then DtLight. That is if you stick with your budget. What I was planning to get next is DtFire and DtDark. I rarely fight wind and water element bosses so I leave it up for later.

Arrows, get all elemental arrows and when I say get all, get all of it and always carry all of it.
Fire element - Love Arrow(event)/ Flame Arrow
Earth element - Cacao Arrow(event)/ Pointed Ore Arrow
Wind element - Apple Arrow(event)/ Tempest Arrow
Water element - Serein Arrow
Light element - Candy Arrow(event)/ Flash Volt
Dark element - Spiky Arrow
Neutral - Drill Bolt, Lil Empress Arrow or Crystal Arrow

Spoiler: Armor Stat

Go for a>7%cd10cdcr20 for your universal armor. Be it adventurers garb or HFG. I prefer adventurers garb 2s with a7%cd10cdcr20 stat since you can add more xtals rather than having a HFG 1s acd10cdcr20 which u can only add one despite having higher atk% stat.

Again to maximize damage DtE armors are the best armor stat you can have as a bow user.
DtE20%cd>8%cdcr20, again it doesn't matter whether it is HFG or adventurers garb.
Prioritizing should go the same as the bow: DtEarth>DtLight>DtFire>DtDark

Spoiler: Additional Gears

Bear Hat - possibly the most suitable additional gear for bows since it has both critical rate(15) and attack.(5%)
Thunder Drums - If you are dealing with water elemental bosses. It has 15 c.rate and DtWater10%. This goes without saying that DtWater10%>atk5% only if dealing with water ele. bosses.
Yashiro Azuki's Dad's Mask - Without critical rate but it has 6%atk and 600aspd. I use this with cone bow III just because it already has 36 c.rate.
Heart Knapsack/Ice cape - for bosses with high p.def, 5%atk and 10%p.pierce except ice cape has tumble unavailable. It doesn't really matter which to choose.

Spoiler: Special Gears

Machina Ring - since it is already 2 slotted and cheap. 300 mp will suffice the build and 2 slotted is really needed or else the build will suck.
For higher budget...
Dark Talisman (Power) - It has 3% atk which isn't bad and 400 mp... nothing to say more except it is pricey when it is 2 slotted.

Spoiler: Crystas

Weapon:
Tyrant Machina - 6%atk and 6%Dex
Mardula - 7%atk and 4ampr
Neo Maton Sword - 7%atk and -28%aggro
Armor:
Tuscog - 6%atk
Usami - 3%atk and 300 mp
Additional Gear:
Tuscog - 6%atk
Mercy - 15 c.rate and -15%aggro
King Piton - 10 c.rate and 4 cdmg
Special Gear:
Tuscog - 6%atk
Venena - 500 mp, 1%atk and 2%stab
*Guignol isn't recommended because of its aspd reduction. Aspd for bows is important as well for faster ampr.
*No HP xtalls because you can get HP from food buffs.

Spoiler: Food Buffs

Critical rate > MP > AMPR > HP > Weapon attack or -Aggro (all should be at least Lv7 or up)

Spoiler: My Personal Build

Weapons:
- Cone Bow III 177+S (Mardula+Tyrant Machina)
- 4th Anniv Bow IX ACD10%CDCR20CR20% 174+S (Neo Maton Sword+Tyrant Machina)
All elemntal arrows collected including event arrows.
Armors:
HFG 20%DtEarthCD10%CDCR20 (Usami)
Elfin Armor 20%DtFireCD10%CDCR20 (Usami)
Holy Robe 20%DtLightCD10%CDCR20 (Usami)
Adventurers Garb A7%CD10%CDCR20 (Tuscog+Usami)
Additional Gears:
Bear Hat (Tuscog)
Bear Hat (Mercy)
Yashiro Azuki's Dad's Mask (Tuscog)
Thunder Drums (Tuscog) - for water element enemies
Heart Knapsack (Tuscog)
Special Gears:
Machina Ring (Tuscog+Venena)
Food Buffs:
- Cr Lv7 (own)
- Mp Lv8
- Ampr Lv8
- Hp Lv8
- Weapon attack Lv8
Avatar Stats:
Accessory - 7ampr
Top - 4 ampr
Bottom - 5 cdmg
*I didn't get any atk% because I don't have FST's left and basically just unlucky. Also I am not a rich person to whale orbs. I have been f2p since I started playing Toram.

Spoiler: Damage Testing at Don Yeti

4th Anniv Bow IX (Neo+Tyr)
Love Arrow
20%DtEarthCD10CDCR20 (Usami)
Bear Hat (Tuscog)
M.ring (Venena+Tuscog)
Total Crit rate: 25 base + 25 bow + 20 arm + 15 b.hat + 18 food buff + 5 crit up = 108% (too much lol)
Total mp: 100 base + 300 mp boost + 300 Usami + 720 food buff +500 Venena - 200 (2)tuscogs = 1720 mp
*Doesn't necessarily be maximum of 2000 mp,

With this current build, full buffs (B.Aura, Warcry and Kairiki) and consumables (Barmbrack and Power candy). I am able to deal barely 4m damage with 5/5 Cross Fire(smited). Why do this? To flex of course. Some of you must have seen toram ytubers flexing their maximum damage with CF. Why not do the same? It is also good to test whether which equipment are best to have and to tell if you actually got stronger. I can pair it up with DtE bows but I don't have budget at the moment. I can probably reach more that 4.5m 5/5 CF if I have such build but too bad I don't. I also tested Demon Claw damage. With my current build, Demon Claw damage reached 1m+ as long as I can remember. However, Demon Claw is very situational and can't be used every time.

Spoiler: Fighting Iconos Ultimate / any high p.def bosses

Cone Bow III (Tyr+Mar)
Love Arrow / Lil Empress Arrow or Drill bolt
20%DtEarthCD10%CDCR20 (Usami) / Adventurers Garb A7%CD10%CDCR20 (Usami+Tuscog)
Heart Knapsack (Tuscog)
M.Ring (Venena+Tuscog)
Total Crit rate: 25 base + 36 bow + 20 armor + 18 food buff + 5 cr up = 104% (lol too much again)
Total P.pierce: 24% bow + 10% add gear = 34% p.pierce (not bad) + 10% arrow for neutral element (eg. Bexiz Ulti)= 44%

I use this set when I am getting FST emblem at Iconos ultimate difficulty. I use the neutral set at Bexiz Ultimate difficulty when helping guildmates leveling up to 150.

Spoiler: Farming at Seele / Critical resistant bosses

4th Anniv Bow IX (Neo+Tyr) / Cone Bow III (Tyr+Mar)
Spiky Arrow
20%DtLightCD10%CDCR20 (Usami) / Adventurers Garb A7%CD10%CDCR20 (Usami+Tuscog)
Bear Hat (Mercy)
M.Ring (Venena+Tuscog)

Total Crit rate: 25 base + 25 bow + 20 armor + 15 b.hat + 15 mercy + 18 food buff + 5 cr up = 128% (lets see if my crit still won't pierce through those cr resist bosses) = 139% if using Cone Bow III

I use this build when farming red satin and high grade frill at seele. Also when doing gemruns with crit resist bosses such as gwaimol, sapphire roga and tuscog. I only use Cone Bow III when doing dye runs with ultimate difficulty bosses.

Now on how to CF. For me, I keep my CF charge at 3/5 for many reasons. First is that it only takes 10 secs to charge CF to 3/5, I don't know how much damage it can deal considering the skill multiplier and constant stuff which I am not familiar of, but it is much more efficient rather that taking a whole 30+ secs to wait for a 5/5 CF. Second is that I usually use Kairiki>CF(Smite), once I fire 3/5 CF, the time for kairiki buff and ignite debuff is also 10 secs. It coincides with the CF charge to 3/5 right? Yes, I actually use the kairiki and ignite as a timer so I can estimate when I should fire my 3/5 CF again. Also make sure to instantaneously charge CF again after firing it or else you will lose the timing. I would start the Snipe>Kairiki>CF combo at the 2 second mark of kairiki and fire CF just after it became 3/5. For Kairiki>CF combo, I would fire it at the 1 second mark of kairiki. I often use this technique at Iconos Ultimate and Venena so that I could deal the most damage I can in a limited amount of time. When using GSW, I just start the combos 1 second earlier. Very ideal for DPS right? (Damage per Second). So good timing is also needed for bows.


For Dark Archers, it is best to use Demon Claw while waiting for the CF to charge. Together with Kairiki, taking advantage of its ignite debuff to drain your HP compliments Demon Claw's the-lower-the-HP-the-stronger-I-am characteristic. Also use quick aura to reach that less than 10% HP. Since advance players get away with just 1 HP on their bar, having Demon Claw on their side is very convenient. So better practice a 1 HP run with GSW and Kairiki when using bow.


Another thing to mention is that bow is a tank-dependent class. Archers can't reach their full potential if there is no aggro holder in a party. Attacks interrupts CF charging and archers tend to die easily due to having low defense and HP. This is because the build only focuses on offense and it has to.

I will conclude this guide here. It mostly consists of things I have experienced using bow as my main dps. The build are there just as references and not a must have. It is all your decision at the end of the day. If you have any suggestion or disagreements, feel free to comment.

 

Nice, ive been thinking about how to improve bows for a while. Demon Claw does fit the crossfire playstyle.

 

This is literally how I play, and with this play style I am most likely to get Attacker rank, like 80% of the time.

No I don't have 2 slots other than machina ring and no +S equipments other than my old 1h which I bought long ago because it was OP at the time.

Every archer should consider doing the 3/5CF+Ignite thing. Also that snipe-kairiki-cf is the secret to dealing high damage to bosses with high defense.

Good job

 

I agree with the 3/5 crossfire thing, but I don't think most people are going to pick up on that because they are going to watch all of the bigger players doing 5/5 to show off their damage because bigger number = best build. But maybe that's a good thing, more attacker ranks for me.

 

I've always been doing 3/4 charged cf with recoveries and snipe+warcry on the intervals. Getting rid of recovery altogether and to use demon claw instead seems plausible to me. Never been one to use gsw as the 3 charge cycle doesn't really have that much of a difference with motion speed (well, maybe for a faster snipe). With Demon claw there's all the more reason to utilize gsw to its fullest.

Bow doesn't have a whole lot of room for improvement aside from getting more atk%, as cf is a placed skill. Physical pierce would have half the effect as snipe ald gives you 50% worth of pierce with the armor break. Lrd% will also boost demon claw just like snipe.

 

LRD% only takes effect 9m or further while Demon Claw only covers 8m at most. So LRD% would still be useless except for snipe.

 

Isnt it 8m. Srd is 7m or less. Magic:burst with 8m is also an lrd skill