Bow builds

So I played this game this weekend for the first time, and had a lot of fun. But now I'm having a tough time figuring out how to play bow-wielding characters. Even early on in act 1 there are mobs much faster than my character, making kiting impossible, because the early skills are useless to keep them away. So I ended up doing a lot of face-tanking which is ridiculous and no fun.

I thought preemptive bear traps would be the solution, but it only immobilizes mobs for a fraction of a second... The tooltip doesn't mention the immobilization duration nor what governs it.

What should I do to have fun with an archer early on?
[quote="Path of Exile forums"]Draft out of sync.[/quote]
Archers can kite when you get some +movement boots. So early on you need some luck... Also rise zombie or Summon skeleton can be really usefull for solo archers to keep enemys busy (start a witch and get some of the early gem rewards - summon zombie should be there really early, i'm not 100% sure but it might even be offered after hillock already; and put it in your chest to have access to it for your archer)

EDIT: Later kiting isn't that much of a problem (because sooner or later you will find +movement boots, also use body armor different from the pure str and str/int armor - they slow you down the most), at least that was my impression with my Shadow lightning archer
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Last edited by Sony_Black on Sep 17, 2012, 5:00:53 PM
I dont remember anymore how it was for me at the start, because now if i want to level a new character i just strap him with my uniques that work at lower levels and are ridiculously strong, but you can use enfeeble, or temporal chains, or a decoy totem for protection.

I use a decoy totem with every bow character that i play and i have 4 of those over lvl 60 and 2 over lvl 70 and while I do not use it all the time, it is very very useful in tougher areas where you can't tank the enemy.

Can I ask which build you use?
For example the strongest build I play with the best damage/defence balance is this one: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAQIAA0OLpQQfeR4GwETPB2uU1Qh6wpwI23LXCqgxHQr8Kq8PSLviEmgPxxSDK5MXh5WHGGDZSSPvSKwpGeMTLJLz_jEtIjQ3xCN_OqvyJ0TGMulGqg2ORzyMuUhZ_PNJth9tUMPZ4VJZeclS_IQEVWQOa1upQbFexIRxY2o8MmSmULRlp-7KaiLrvHGEKRx9C94zgMkz1YNe7weECf4phNccEoX9L_yJaX6WiYOTJIuBrVaMnwtqjQ8pV5KyYraThx9-lIM7npXAPlGW1QR6l9THBpo64s2cvMMXnTAhOqOgzo2oL3qJqgU6VqoOCjCqFnYGqkMxfKtlVdK09lXht6LQarnWRGHImb0CygGufc-N8ezRSC0o1YyD9NYrD7jdI1F43bR_Ed6BFAXeoK9N4CAnKecJ6irvHhJf8kM_fvNHdxj0CpgU_KU1FP1oCW0=

With this build you can use any elemental bow skill you like(Ice Shot, Burning Arrow, Lightning Arrow) although I find it best to use elemental hit because it offers the most damage but has too much mana cost for lower levels.

You might be able to pick up a Temporal Chains curse somewhere along the line (the quest reward list in General sadly doesn't list Temporal Chains -- anywhere). It noticably slows down all hexed monsters, allowing for easy kiting.
"
Shyrk wrote:
I dont remember anymore how it was for me at the start, because now if i want to level a new character i just strap him with my uniques that work at lower levels and are ridiculously strong, but you can use enfeeble, or temporal chains, or a decoy totem for protection.

I use a decoy totem with every bow character that i play and i have 4 of those over lvl 60 and 2 over lvl 70 and while I do not use it all the time, it is very very useful in tougher areas where you can't tank the enemy.

Can I ask which build you use?
For example the strongest build I play with the best damage/defence balance is this one: http://www.pathofexile.com/passive-skill-tree/AAAAAQIAA0OLpQQfeR4GwETPB2uU1Qh6wpwI23LXCqgxHQr8Kq8PSLviEmgPxxSDK5MXh5WHGGDZSSPvSKwpGeMTLJLz_jEtIjQ3xCN_OqvyJ0TGMulGqg2ORzyMuUhZ_PNJth9tUMPZ4VJZeclS_IQEVWQOa1upQbFexIRxY2o8MmSmULRlp-7KaiLrvHGEKRx9C94zgMkz1YNe7weECf4phNccEoX9L_yJaX6WiYOTJIuBrVaMnwtqjQ8pV5KyYraThx9-lIM7npXAPlGW1QR6l9THBpo64s2cvMMXnTAhOqOgzo2oL3qJqgU6VqoOCjCqFnYGqkMxfKtlVdK09lXht6LQarnWRGHImb0CygGufc-N8ezRSC0o1YyD9NYrD7jdI1F43bR_Ed6BFAXeoK9N4CAnKecJ6irvHhJf8kM_fvNHdxj0CpgU_KU1FP1oCW0=

With this build you can use any elemental bow skill you like(Ice Shot, Burning Arrow, Lightning Arrow) although I find it best to use elemental hit because it offers the most damage but has too much mana cost for lower levels.



What is your dps for your skills with that build? I see everyone say how powerful these builds are but having half of your passive points in +10 attribute slots seems to be a huge waste to me.
"
artemis42 wrote:
So I played this game this weekend for the first time, and had a lot of fun. But now I'm having a tough time figuring out how to play bow-wielding characters. Even early on in act 1 there are mobs much faster than my character, making kiting impossible, because the early skills are useless to keep them away. So I ended up doing a lot of face-tanking which is ridiculous and no fun.

I thought preemptive bear traps would be the solution, but it only immobilizes mobs for a fraction of a second... The tooltip doesn't mention the immobilization duration nor what governs it.

What should I do to have fun with an archer early on?

There are some movement speed passives to the south of the ranger start that help greatly with kiting, the three 3% nodes, and celerity. But you can get much more movement speed from boots, which makes a huge difference.

Skills like fire trap and poison arrow let you kite around in a circle while the enemies still take damage, for those times where you've found yourself under attack by a huge, unmanageable mob. Besides that I'd recommend getting some sort of AoE or multi-target skill like split arrow or ethereal knives ASAP, even if you don't plan to continue using it in the long term. That way when you interupt your kiting to turn and shoot, you hit (and usually stun) a whole bunch of enemies instead of just one, which can make things more manageable.

Getting some cold damage either from gear or gems (added cold damage, hatred) can also help a lot with kiting, thanks to slowing the enemies.
Last edited by Malice on Sep 17, 2012, 10:43:52 PM

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