The best advice I can give you is to post what your goals with the character are, i.e; pvp (zone vs arena) vs pve, solo vs team, AE vs mish, specific task forces skills. Second post your characters current economic situation. Starting with nothing, 2 -3 million, 10 mill, 1 billion, infinite, etc...
Do this before the real heavy hitter archery sorts find this thread.
Going with a neutral based build however with an estimated 10-20 million to spend, I would drop fly, but keep hover (eventually slot three high levels flight speeds - it will be fast and make you happy in battles). Add hasten and SS, and buy or get lucky and find a stealth IO to achieve full invisibility. Hasten will help you lay trip mines more often (does not speed up animation, but you can get a larger minefield out if needed). I would drop explosive arrow as well (subpar damage and scatters groups). You still have 4 slots as I removed fly and explosive arrow and added hasten and SS.
With those 4 slots, pick up caltrops. This will help to keep enemies from running over the trip mines too quickly, and make your mine fields much better.
Slot # 2, I would pick up ranged shot. Range is your friend. You can actually easily drop a lieu with a ranged shot and blazing arrow combo before they get into range.
Slot #3, Time bomb. That's correct timebomb. It is a nuke that does not effect your end bar basically, and makes a great opener. Great for solo or for patient teams. If you place a time bomb, and then count 7 full seconds and click trip mine, you just double bombed them. Once again, great solo, situational on teams. You can also place at feet of mobs and then run around corner and use ROA if you time it correctly. Many people hate timebomb, but i would consider it. You asked above about planting of trip mines, and cloaking device and smoke grenade may work, but it is not guaranteed. Go for the SS if you want zero risk.
Slot #4 now If you cant get a stealth IO, then cloaking device is needed. If you can get the IO, then I would get recall friend. You are invisible with SS and stealth IO, so it is helpful in tf's to be able to stealth to end of some mishes and port folks. Other considerations include combat jumping to put some juicy IO unique in and greater mobility in battle.
I agree with hover, so if stuck on fly, that is cool, as it is a personal choice. I would still grab hasten. I think taser and stunning shot are no good. You are ranged and can do great damage. The whole perma stun the boss trick will take longer than just killing him with two snipes or a trip mine + blazing arrow. Not a fan of it persoanlly, but it does have its uses. A fully slotted AIM buffed blazing arrow will take down a minion and so will a ranged shot. Both together should drop a lieu and may get some bosses that sensitive to lethal. This is assuming +0 however. Either way, the minion is gone. I used to blazing arrow one minion and ranged shot another when solo, leaving the lieu alone or the lone minion alone.
If you want to Pvp and it can be done well actually, then state that as it brings up a whole new bunch of issues to discuss.
Good luck. Archery and Devices is great thematic pairing and can work well together.
Oh, good point.
Pretty much exclusively PvE, solo and in groups of 2-4. Missions and AE missions (but not farming, I think). Probably not many (if any) TFs. I can probably scrape together a few million if need be - almost certainly by the time I reach 30+ which is when I generally switch to IOs, anyway.
I have to admit I blinked at the Time Bomb recommendation, I hadn't really considered it. It does sound kind of fun when you put it like that.
So Superspeed + Stealth IO = totally invisible, but not Cloak + Stealth IO? I should probably look up a guide on Stealth mechanics.
Stunning Shot is handy. You won't need it every spawn, but it's very handy for annoying Lts (like Stunner Freaks or those Malta officers with the 30+ second stun grenades). Plus you can get some good set bonuses, especially if you can afford Basilisk's Gaze.
Caltrops are useful to keep range, but if you fly they're less important. Still handy in tight quarters though.
One of the best things to pick up is Aid Self. It's a huge downtime reducer... you can end a fight down in the orange and be back near full health in a few seconds. It's also useful in combat, just break line of sight for a couple of seconds and fire it off.
Cascade, level 50 Blaster (NRG/NRG since before it was cool)
Mechmeister, level 50 Bots / Traps MM
FAR too many non-50 alts to name
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I find Cloaking Device to be quite useful. I paired it with a Stealth IO, but you can use Smoke Grenade instead to be completely hidden and lay some Trip Mines. Though taking Smoke Grenade is a power pick, of course.
I also use Hover with my Arch/Dev, and Stunning Shot and Taser are nice since you can take a boss out of a fight and drop them in safety. I found this to be useful and almost needed to solo when I got my Arch/Dev into the late 30s and 40s. I could have made it without, perhaps, but it did make things easier, especially when paired with Stealth.
I personally like the Blaster snipes, as they can be a great opener. As they are, they can almost drop a minion when you target them (I put the Sting of the Manticore proc in mine, and when it hits, the minion dies), or put a hard hit on a lieutenant or boss... I think half of a lieutenant's health will get dropped. Anyway, such an attack can be useful when starting a fight, that's for sure.
Guide: Tanking, Wall of Fire Style (Updated for I19!), and the Four Rules of Tanking
Story Arc: Belated Justice, #88003
Synopsis: Explore the fine line between justice and vengeance as you help a hero of Talos Island bring his friend's murderer to justice.
Grey Pilgrim: Fire/Fire Tanker (50), Victory
I just went and looked up Stealth mechanics.
Apparently you need 45 to be hidden to minions, 50 to lieutenants and 54 to bosses, with Stealth IOs giving 30, Stealth giving 35 and Cloaking Device giving only 15! (according to my copy of Mids, anyway)
Why is Cloaking Device so low by comparison? The pool power Stealth and the Cloaking Device give the same defence bonus - is the movement-slow in Stealth really that significant that the stealth factor in Cloaking Device needs to be that low?
I can't recall all the numbers, but a Stealth IO and Cloaking Device is enough to go and stand in front of a boss without them seeing you (unless they have +perception, but there aren't many bosses with that). As far as I know, Cloaking and Smoke Grenade are enough as well.
So that's quite good, I would say. And Cloaking Device doesn't have any movement penalties, either.
Guide: Tanking, Wall of Fire Style (Updated for I19!), and the Four Rules of Tanking
Story Arc: Belated Justice, #88003
Synopsis: Explore the fine line between justice and vengeance as you help a hero of Talos Island bring his friend's murderer to justice.
Grey Pilgrim: Fire/Fire Tanker (50), Victory
What are you guys/gals referring to when you say stealth IO's I don't see any standard stealth IO's listed, blue side anyway, so are they from a IO set or a unique? Just curious as I've gotten my rifle/dev up to 42 now and have 3 sockets open in my cloaking suit.
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What are you guys/gals referring to when you say stealth IO's I don't see any standard stealth IO's listed, blue side anyway, so are they from a IO set or a unique? Just curious as I've gotten my rifle/dev up to 42 now and have 3 sockets open in my cloaking suit.
[/ QUOTE ]
Leaping has one and Running has one (Unbound Leap and Celerity)
my understanding is you just need 2 stealths...doesnt matter if its a IO, Cloaking Device, Stealth, Grant Invis, or SS (pve only)....
or you could have one stealth + a -perception power like smoke gernade...so you should be able to approch a smoke bombed mob with SS only and not be seen..
(only problem with that is whether or not Smoke Bomb is auto hit and what the maximum affected is..)
Having Cloaking Device + SS is a common way to go..
As far as power picks go, you could take any of those..i personally wouldn't take any of the stuns..you have better tools to take out bosses (damage for starters)
perma jump is ---> /up 1
My Archery/Devices Blaster is currently level 20, and I'm trying to decide which powers to take between now and 38.
The concept is a stay-at-range blaster (hence Hover over Air Superiority) and I currently have:
Archery - Snap, Aimed, Fistful, Blazing, Explosive
Devices - Web 'nade, Targeting Drone
Flight - Hover, Fly
Fitness - Swift, Health, Stamina
I definitely plan to take Aim, Rain of Arrows, Trip Mine and Auto Turret, but that leaves four slots between now and 38.
The options are:
Archery - Ranged Shot (the snipe) and Stunning Shot
Devices - Taser, Cloaking Device, Smoke Grenade, Caltrops
Various pool powers
Caltrops seems good as a keep-away tool. How much use would I get out of the stuns (Stunning Shot/Taser)? Would Cloaking Device + Smoke Grenade be enough for the planting of Trip Mines, and would their damage mitigation be noticeable? What can a fully slotted for damage Ranged Shot take down in one shot? (Given I'll only have Aim and not Build Up)
Any advice much appreciated!