Get flaming arrow sooner, it does massive damage for a defender
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Get flaming arrow sooner, it does massive damage for a defender
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I agree Flaming Arrow is the only reaosn the single target attack chain for Archery isn't completely rubbish. It is a snipe level damage attack.
Personally I think Combat Jumping + Hurdle is not very natural looking.
@Unthing ... Mostly on Union.
well, it can be if the player does extreme sports training. Possible, but not very likely. Personally I thik it will be a pain in the [censored] without a proper travle power, but then again, it is a natural build.
I'm currently playing a TA/Archery defender very similar to this, and definately get Blazing Arrow as early as you can. Also forget about putting so many SOs into Snap Shot, it's just not worth it. Put more into Aimed Shot earlier, and get two/three recharges and an accuracy into it ASAP, which makes it just as useful.
IMO Flash Arrow is useless. It freezes a group, but as soon as you shoot one of them, they ALL unfreeze. Great for escapes from tricky situations, no good in combat!
My main thing with any Archer character is to get a shed load of recharges in to your arrows. The main reason to be an Archer is to fill people with arrows, and that's hard to do when waiting for the power to come up. Get two/three recharge reductions into your main combat arrows, and don't forget the accuracy, damage can come later when you have space.
There's a natural break in the progression of TA/Archery powers at level 14, I'd suggest holding off on any pool powers till then, as you can't take any arrow powers anyway!
The best guide to TA/Archery characters I've found is over at the US Forum, take a look. http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showf...part=1#5798552
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
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IMO Flash Arrow is useless. It freezes a group, but as soon as you shoot one of them, they ALL unfreeze. Great for escapes from tricky situations, no good in combat!
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Flash Arrow is a non-aggro, auto-hit, -perception, -acc power best used before a fight, not as you have suggested a mass sleep 
It'll do you no good as an "escape tool" except for maybe the fact theyd miss you more or stop chasing you earlier. Both of which would've been established had you of fired it earlier. 
Shnyet AWAY
Indeed that is the only amendment that needs making to an otherwise excellent TA/archery guide, as flash arrow is now non aggro, so probably a better pick than before.
I've amended the build slightly based on that guide, which should be more effective.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name: The Arrow of the Falcon
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Trick Arrow
Secondary: Archery
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Flash Arrow==> Rechg(1)
01) --> Snap Shot==> Acc(1)
02) --> Glue Arrow==> Rechg(2) Rechg(3) Slow(3)
04) --> Aimed Shot==> Acc(4) Rechg(5) Rechg(5) Dmg(36) Dmg(36) Dmg(37)
06) --> Ice Arrow==> Acc(6) Acc(7) Rechg(7) Rechg(9) Hold(25) Hold(31)
08) --> Poison Gas Arrow==> Rechg(8) Rechg(9)
10) --> Flaming Arrow==> Acc(10) Rechg(11) Rechg(11) Dmg(17) Dmg(21) Dmg(21)
12) --> Acid Arrow==> Acc(12) Acc(13) Rechg(13) Rechg(17) DefDeBuf(31) DefDeBuf(31)
14) --> Hurdle==> Jump(14) Jump(15) Jump(15)
16) --> Assault==> EndRdx(16)
18) --> Hasten==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19)
20) --> Health==> Heal(20)
22) --> Stamina==> EndMod(22) EndMod(23) EndMod(23)
24) --> Tactics==> EndRdx(24) EndRdx(25) TH_Buf(37) TH_Buf(37) TH_Buf(46)
26) --> Oil Slick Arrow==> Rechg(26) Rechg(27) Rechg(27) Dmg(45) Dmg(45) Dmg (46)
28) --> Aim==> Rechg(28) Rechg(29) Rechg(29) TH_Buf(43)
30) --> Ranged Shot==> Dmg(30) Dmg(34) Rechg(40) Dmg(42) IntRdx(43) IntRdx(43)
32) --> EM Pulse Arrow==> Acc(32) Acc(33) Hold(33) Hold(33) Rechg(34) Rechg(34)
35) --> Disruption Arrow==> Rechg(35) Rechg(36)
38) --> Rain of Arrows==> Acc(38) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Rechg(40) Rechg(40)
41) --> Power Build Up==> Rechg(41) Rechg(42) Rechg(42)
44) --> Stunning Shot==> Acc(44) Acc(45) Rechg(46)
47) --> Fistful of Arrows==> Acc(47) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Dmg(48) Range(50) Range(50)
49) --> Temp Invulnerability==> DmgRes(49) DmgRes(50)
---------------------------------------------
01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
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Hmmm...on that basis, maybe I'll pick Flash Arrow and give it a second try. You never know, might even change my opinion of it! 
Good build Capt'n! keep us inform of how you get on, always nice to have another pointy stick wielder on the block! 
Formerly @Crimson Archer, now @CA
The Militia - Protecting Paragon City through roleplaying since June 2006!
Got him up to just shy of level 7 tonight in a little under 3 hours, with a very good team of weapon wielding/natural origin toons. Very few deaths, even when we lost one of the scrappers and the other TA/arch.
Flash Arrow is far, far superior to entangling arrow - the tohit debuff isn't huge, but is noticable, and works well with only the default slot. Glue arrow is ace, especially with two of them at the same time. Ice arrow is an ok hold, will be much better once I've had chance to put some slots in it.
Looking forward to poison gas arrow, and flaming arrow in the next two level ups.
Hmm. I started a TA/A defender today and he's now lvl 11. Is flash arrow remarkably different these days? I thought that it was just like smoke and smoke grenade and was nerfed into uselessness.
My biggest gripe so far is the total lack of damage mitigation. Apart from a little -rech from the glue and a bit of -dam from the poison cloud there doesn't seem to be anything else until the knockdowns in oil slick.
I can imagine how TA would be on border of being overpowered if flash arrow was a 30% acc debuff, since the entire set is AoE debuffs and they are pretty much all in there from what I can see... but is flash only 8% accuracy still? That's fairly negligible compared to hurricane, darkest night or rad infection. I would rather that it had an accuracy check, generated aggro and was 30% than how it is currently.
Right now I just see a TA defender is as a 'debuffing luxury' and not as someone that can actually defend their team.
EDIT: Do you need stamina for TA/A? I never saw my stamina drop below 75% the whole way from 1-11. My debuffs went down as soon as they recycled and I was constantly firing arrows.
Need stamina? well, not exactly. If you include things like explosive arrow, leadership (and any other toggles) and the side effect of emp arrow (the stopping of endurance recovery) and any regular endurance drain effect on you. It would be a bonus to have it
@Inkwave ..(darn merge)
Well I got to 12 and got what I had assumed to be one of the big powers in the set (acid arrow) expecting it to be a freezing rain type -Def -Res AoE but without the knockdown or the -Spd -Rech. Well it's a TINY radius, needs an accuracy check, is a single application, doesn't stack and doesn't last very long. Whilst I can imagine that the duration may scale as you level, the radius is unlikely to.
What on earth were the devs thinking? "Oh lets give them something like freezing rain... but without the knockdown.. oh and without the recharge or speed debuff... oh and let's make it have an accuracy check and make it a really small area and have it a single application instead of a pulsing area debuff... oh and we had better make it so that it doesn't stack with other acid arrows... yeah that looks great!" 
Just really uninspired by the whole set so far. The debuffs are either small in radius, short duration, or low in value compared with the other defender sets that the effects are borrowed from. Perhaps something miraculous happens to the first 6 powers as you get higher level but I somehow doubt it. It's not hard to see why there are so few TA defenders.
Ok, making a concept toon here, so some advice may get ignored if it doesn't fit concept.
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Exported from Ver: 1.7.6.0 of the CoH_CoV Character Builder - (http://sherksilver.coldfront.net/index.php)
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Name: The Arrow of the Falcon
Level: 50
Archetype: Defender
Primary: Trick Arrow
Secondary: Archery
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01) --> Flash Arrow==> Rechg(1)
01) --> Snap Shot==> Acc(1) Acc(3) Dmg(9) Dmg(13) Dmg(37)
02) --> Glue Arrow==> Rechg(2) Rechg(3) Rechg(42)
04) --> Aimed Shot==> Acc(4) Acc(5) Dmg(5) Dmg(13) Dmg(37)
06) --> Ice Arrow==> Acc(6) Acc(7) Rechg(7) Rechg(9) Rechg(11) Hold(43)
08) --> Hurdle==> Jump(8) Jump(25) Jump(25)
10) --> Poison Gas Arrow==> Rechg(10) Rechg(11) Range(46)
12) --> Combat Jumping==> Jump(12)
14) --> Acid Arrow==> Acc(14) Acc(15) DefDeBuf(15) DefDeBuf(17) DefDeBuf(17) Rechg(43)
16) --> Swift==> Run(16)
18) --> Disruption Arrow==> Rechg(18) Rechg(19) Rechg(19)
20) --> Stamina==> EndMod(20) EndMod(21) EndMod(21)
22) --> Flaming Arrow==> Acc(22) Acc(23) Dmg(23) Dmg(40) Dmg(40) Rechg(46)
24) --> Aim==> Rechg(24) Rechg(29) Rechg(29) TH_Buf(48) TH_Buf(48)
26) --> Oil Slick Arrow==> Rechg(26) Rechg(27) Rechg(27)
28) --> Ranged Shot==> Acc(28) Dmg(31) Dmg(34) Dmg(36) IntRdx(36) IntRdx(36)
30) --> Hasten==> Rechg(30) Rechg(31) Rechg(31)
32) --> EM Pulse Arrow==> Acc(32) Acc(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(33) Rechg(34) Hold(34)
35) --> Stunning Shot==> Acc(35) Acc(37) Range(46)
38) --> Rain of Arrows==> Acc(38) Acc(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(39) Dmg(40) Rechg(43)
41) --> Power Build Up==> Rechg(41) Rechg(42) Rechg(42)
44) --> Temp Invulnerability==> DmgRes(44) DmgRes(45) DmgRes(45) EndRdx(45)
47) --> Assault==> EndRdx(47) EndRdx(48)
49) --> Tactics==> EndRdx(49) EndRdx(50) TH_Buf(50) TH_Buf(50)
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01) --> Sprint==> Empty(1)
01) --> Brawl==> Empty(1)
01) --> Vigilance==> Empty(1)
02) --> Rest==> Empty(2)
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No travel power, although I have left the option open for SS/SJ to make their way in there if I get bored of hopping around the place...
I know nothing about TA, so any advice would be appreciated, especially on the order/slotting.