I love my Archery Devices blaster, and its the first blaster I ever enjoyed playing. Archery just has a very nice feel for it, and though it isn't amazing damage its nicely varied, gets its AoEs and STs and has AIM which is always nice.
"Well, they found my diary today.
They were appropriately appalled
at the discovery of the eight victims
They're now putting it all together.
Women wrapped in silk
with one leg missing
Eight legs, one body, silk,
spider, brilliant!"
Archery, definately. It's full of nice damage powers, and you really can build it the way you want to. You can skimp a bit on Archery powers to no harm, as long as you have blazing arrow, one of the smaller shots and Rain of Arrows (Of course) you're fine, the rest are just nice extras. So you could emphasize your devices side if you wanted, and go for pools to help it. (Like TP foe, hasten, that kind of stuff).
Not sure what the verdict on Stamina is for Arch/dev...
Anyway, AR is meh compared to archery. Archery trumps it for damage IMO, and has better anims.
Archery
Snap Shot 37.8 Damage
Aimed Shot 55.6 Damage
Fistful of Arrows 50.6 Damage
Blazing Arrow 145.2 Damage
Explosive Arrow 50.1 Damage
Ranged Shot 153.5 Damage
Rain Of Arrows 150.1 Damage
Assault Rifle
Burst 60.1 Damage
Slug 91.2 Damage
Buckshot 50.6 Damage
M30 Grenade 50.1 Damage
Sniper Rifle 153.6 Damage
Flamethrower 106.8 Damage
Ignite 111.2 Damage
Full Auto 156.9 Damage
Please explain how exactly Archery does more damage?
load one up, the first two attack powers you take, you will use endlessly for anything up to a couple of years. level it to 4/5, will take an hour or two maybe. you'll see your main and most used attacks, decide if you like them. then do the other one and see which you prefer.
one obvious problem with games like these are boredom at repetitive action, which IMHO isn't helped by terrible animations and boring looking attacks. i roled a archery, got to level 4/5 and thought it was terrible. took the 2nd and 3rd attacks, one target aoe, and the more powerful of the first two(which i assume look the same). frankly the arrows/bow look [censored]. the guns look more interesting imho, but i found both blasters to be instantly boring to play, but obviously only for me.
but as i said, just try them both to level 5.
Assault is much better imo, more fun and reliable. If things ever get to tough with a Ar/Dev blaster you can just spam web grenade and ignite which takes out anything pretty quick.
Personally I feel assault rifle has more fun animations as well and archery gets to repetitive.
Personally I find the opposite to be the case. So far I've found Archery's differing animations much more varied than AR. I LOVE AR too, but my main gripe with it is I find the gun model used utterly hideous and devoid of charm, NOT because of its shape, but because of the 54 different colours used. I mean how many assault rifles are there with each additional weapon being in a different colour?
Shiny black/grey assault rifles FTW!
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Archery
Snap Shot 37.8 Damage
Aimed Shot 55.6 Damage
Fistful of Arrows 50.6 Damage
Blazing Arrow 145.2 Damage
Explosive Arrow 50.1 Damage
Ranged Shot 153.5 Damage
Rain Of Arrows 150.1 Damage
Assault Rifle
Burst 60.1 Damage
Slug 91.2 Damage
Buckshot 50.6 Damage
M30 Grenade 50.1 Damage
Sniper Rifle 153.6 Damage
Flamethrower 106.8 Damage
Ignite 111.2 Damage
Full Auto 156.9 Damage
Please explain how exactly Archery does more damage?
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Aim + Blazing Arrow is how.
Main Hero: Mazey - level 50 + 1 fire/fire/fire blaster.
Main Villain: Chained Bot - level 50 + 1 Robot/FF Mastermind.
BattleEngine - "And the prize for the most level headed response ever goes to Mazey"
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Archery
Snap Shot 37.8 Damage
Aimed Shot 55.6 Damage
Fistful of Arrows 50.6 Damage
Blazing Arrow 145.2 Damage
Explosive Arrow 50.1 Damage
Ranged Shot 153.5 Damage
Rain Of Arrows 150.1 Damage
Assault Rifle
Burst 60.1 Damage
Slug 91.2 Damage
Buckshot 50.6 Damage
M30 Grenade 50.1 Damage
Sniper Rifle 153.6 Damage
Flamethrower 106.8 Damage
Ignite 111.2 Damage
Full Auto 156.9 Damage
Please explain how exactly Archery does more damage?
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For AoE, Archery beats AR IMO because of the animations, and it does enough in its 3 AoEs to wipe a mob out, in good time too.
Sorry, where's AR's Blazing Arrow for ST damage? All I see is a snipe. Aimed shot cycles very nicely too.
*EDIT* Oh yes, and aim, sweet aim. For burst, factor that in.
Archery
Snap Shot 61.4 Damage
Aimed Shot 90.35 Damage
Fistful of Arrows 82.2 Damage
Blazing Arrow 236 Damage
Explosive Arrow 81.4 Damage
Ranged Shot 249.4 Damage
Rain Of Arrows 243.75 Damage
Oooooh lovely.
Only exception is Ignite, wich u can easy stack 2 times if a mob is held/immobilized, not to mention this with icepatch. For the rest, archery wins. Full Auto is just a too long animation compared to RoA, although FA can combine with flame trower (nrg boost range).
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Only exception is Ignite, wich u can easy stack 2 times if a mob is held/immobilized, not to mention this with icepatch. For the rest, archery wins. Full Auto is just a too long animation compared to RoA, although FA can combine with flame trower (nrg boost range).
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Not sure if this is true for RoA (don't think it does) but full auto has a chance to do critical damage which is a nice bonus and makes up for the long animation (which looks better then RoA). If have an immob power and slot its duration ignite becomes a lot easier to spam and use on bosses.
Downside is the redraw on doing hold/imm powers.
RoA is a tick-tick power, and damage is done. FA is a insane DoT power wich roots use for a few seconds. Mobs not taunted/mezzed will be able to attack you, wich resulted in a few nasty faceplants. Added that FA is cone based wich can be unlucky in most cases where RoA is (iirc) target-AoE (like blizzard).
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Not sure if this is true for RoA (don't think it does) but full auto has a chance to do critical damage which is a nice bonus and makes up for the long animation (which looks better then RoA). If have an immob power and slot its duration ignite becomes a lot easier to spam and use on bosses.
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No crits with Rain of Arrows.
However... (and I've only got one blaster, Archery/Em, so I can't talk for the AR fans out there)
When an Invuln/SS Tank and Archery/EM blaster can duo 6-7 man spawns while bored waiting for the rest ofthe team to catch up/get back from bio etc, then there's nothing wrong with Archery's damage output. (and yes, I frequently used to end up doing this with my regular tank)
Build Up -> Aim -> Rain of Arrows -> Explosive arrow -> Fistful Of Arrows
The spawn would be down to just the hardiest or luckiest members by that point.
Carry on with the remaining couple of mobs - -> Blazing Arrow -> Ranged Shot -> Aimed Shot -> Whatever you've got left and/or recharged.
And, IMO, Rain of Arrows scores over Full Auto by the fact that You're immobile for the initial animation, but when the damage starts rolling in, you can be heading at Mach 3 for the hills, if you need to 
It's just a shame that Herostats doesn't track Rain of Arrows' damage output 
However
Solo, you'll find the animation times a killer. All those wonderful looking animations take time. During which the mobs are trying their hardest to show you what your spleen looks like.
(BTW, I played Fitz as a pure ranged blaster. The only melee attacks I have are Power Thrust (which always sounds mildly obscene, but we'll skip that 
) and Brawl. Mixing some of the /Dev Blaster's control in there could help, but that's down to the skill of the player)
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
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where RoA is (iirc) target-AoE (like blizzard).
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Location Based AoE, not target based.
Warning:
The above post may contain Cynicism, sarcasm and/or pessimism. If you object to the quantities contained, then tough.
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Full Auto is just a too long animation compared to RoA, although FA can combine with flame trower (nrg boost range).
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The way i did it (AR/Energy)...Boost range then build-up. Flamethrower on mob, move back a couple of steps, Full Auto.
End of mob.
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Full Auto is just a too long animation compared to RoA, although FA can combine with flame trower (nrg boost range).
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The way i did it (AR/Energy)...Boost range then build-up. Flamethrower on mob, move back a couple of steps, Full Auto.
End of mob.
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Arch/En.
Boost Range -> Build up -> Aim -> Rain of Arrows -> Fistful -> Explosive while the rain lands.
Overly dead mob. 
From very far away
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where RoA is (iirc) target-AoE (like blizzard).
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Location Based AoE, not target based.
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Yeah that one ^^
This is imho the win of Archery, FA needs proper positioning to get full use of it, specialy with a few knockback people in the team this can be somewhat annoying.
Although my archery is only early 30s, my AR is mid 40's, its very circumstantional wich one performs better. Yet, i went for the munition pool, LRM missile makes damage output alot higher.
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(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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where RoA is (iirc) target-AoE (like blizzard).
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Location Based AoE, not target based.
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Yeah that one ^^
This is imho the win of Archery, FA needs proper positioning to get full use of it, specialy with a few knockback people in the team this can be somewhat annoying.
Although my archery is only early 30s, my AR is mid 40's, its very circumstantional wich one performs better. Yet, i went for the munition pool, LRM missile makes damage output alot higher.
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mobs can run out off a location AoE power (or get knocked out) once full auto starts it doesn't matter what the mobs do they'll get all of the DoT. I can easily get a full spawn of mobs with full auto and using it mid fight has no more problems then using RoA mid fight.
True, however if u just got into melee/close range, you first need to backup to get a proper cone on the mobs.
From my experience they are pretty equal in various aspects, although AR looses on a few points regarding rooting and animation time.
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Well, I have finally tried Archery/Devices combo and so far reached level 14.
I find it quite disapointing.
Activation times are very long and, in a team, I usually shot at defeated enemies.
I was doing Positron TF and lethal resistant enemies (Clockwork and CoT Spectral Followers) laughed at my face. Luckily we also had an energy blaster and a storm/elec defender in the team...
Only thing I like in */Devices so far is Targetting Drone (I rarely miss the enemies) but I can rarely use Web Grenade or Taser.
(Yes, I chose Taser over Caltrops. I have Caltrops with my Traps MM and almost never use it).
I liked the combo Fistful of Arrows > Explosive arrow. Looks cool. But does very low damage.
Blazing arrow is... just OK, but other sets equivalent powers (let's say Power Burst) are much better and feel lot faster. And do not root you.
So, a question:
Can you really play this combo of sets without Stamina?
Given the fact that with Archery inherent accuracy bonus and Targetting drone you only need one accuracy slot (or none) per power, I think I could use one slot in each power for Endurance reduction. Also, not planning to pick endurance-heavy toggles like Leadership and the likes...
With that and the alleged low end cost of the Archery powers... can you really skip stamina?
That would be the only reason for me to continue with this character.
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where RoA is (iirc) target-AoE (like blizzard).
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Location Based AoE, not target based.
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Yeah that one ^^
This is imho the win of Archery, FA needs proper positioning to get full use of it, specialy with a few knockback people in the team this can be somewhat annoying.
Although my archery is only early 30s, my AR is mid 40's, its very circumstantional wich one performs better. Yet, i went for the munition pool, LRM missile makes damage output alot higher.
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mobs can run out off a location AoE power (or get knocked out) once full auto starts it doesn't matter what the mobs do they'll get all of the DoT. I can easily get a full spawn of mobs with full auto and using it mid fight has no more problems then using RoA mid fight.
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But that doesn't matter, since it's 2 fast ticks. Really fast.
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Blazing arrow is... just OK, but other sets equivalent powers (let's say Power Burst) are much better and feel lot faster. And do not root you.
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But power burst style powers do less damage than blazing arrow and require the user to be much closer to the target to use.
Main Hero: Mazey - level 50 + 1 fire/fire/fire blaster.
Main Villain: Chained Bot - level 50 + 1 Robot/FF Mastermind.
BattleEngine - "And the prize for the most level headed response ever goes to Mazey"
Can you really play this combo of sets without Stamina?
Given Archeries low end cost/animation and long animation times in which end recovery is easily made, yes you can, however end slots in attacks will still be preferable in the most commonly used attacks.
Given the fact that with Archery inherent accuracy bonus and Targetting drone you only need one accuracy slot (or none) per power, I think I could use one slot in each power for Endurance reduction.
1 acc because many a time can TD be detoggled and that attack needs to be fired asap. Also 1 acc * TD tohit = hit upto +5 
easy.
Even AR/Dev can go staminaless, I fight with 1 travel power and 3 toggles running and so stamina is still only just beneficial to me. (All primaries or near all have an end slot).
According to my maths with total unlikely abuse of Ignite, Archery gets crushed on DPS by AR but as I say 'unlikely' abuse. However AR vs an AV is gonna be better than Archery vs AV. A realistic use of Ignite will tell a more even story about which I can only bet.
He will honor his words; he will definitely carry out his actions. What he promises he will fulfill. He does not care about his bodily self, putting his life and death aside to come forward for another's troubled besiegement. He does not boast about his ability, or shamelessly extol his own virtues. - Sima Qian.
arch/elec can quite ok play without stamina. My AR/ice cant
50)Sinergy X/(50)Mika.
(50)MaceX/(50)Encore
Sign the petition, dont let CoH go down! SIGN!
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Can you really play this combo of sets without Stamina?
Given Archeries low end cost/animation and long animation times in which end recovery is easily made, yes you can, however end slots in attacks will still be preferable in the most commonly used attacks.
[/ QUOTE ]With stamina, my arch/dev never, EVER runs out of endurance, hasn't since mid-20's (He's 36 ow), and that's with just SO slotting, AND running SJ (which is only slotted for jump) in most fights. You could certainly play the combo without stamina.
On the subject of RoA, one big boost is that it doesn't require LoS, you can fire it off perfectly safely from around walls and corners.
I want to roll a new blaster. After leveling one Energy/Energy to 50 and one Fire/Ice to 35 (and will level to 50 eventually because he is lots of fun) I want to try something more natural-oriented.
The secondary will be Devices, that much I have decided yet. Now I have to choose between Assault Rifle and Archery.
I don't PvP and probably would mostly solo with this character (though could eventually team).
If anyone can offer me some good advice that helps me decide between the two primaries it will be much apreciated.