With a 35sec cd circling wont be the solution for the aoe problems in earth tower. Which archer classes arent restricted by aoe attack ratio (sr, wugu?) or can spam aoe to mitigate?
Frost cloud and other strong AoEs have similar cd, so I donāt know why people always point out that 35 sec cd as one of circlingās flaws.
Yeah, I totally agree with you. Besides, msot ET groups will have a chrono for pass anyway, so thatās less of a problem (same as frost cloud as pointed out by Hakaze)
So an archer has circling and no problem in earth tower. That makes builds a lot easier.
Well, falco has the least votes so far
Feel free to suggest other builds that you guys know
Archer3>Wugu2>Falconer>Canon
Features:
Circling + Lv15 multishot
Circling + Cannoneer skills
Wugu poison
This one is on the poll =)
Guys Iām planning 3 Wugu2 Falco1 Cannon, currently at Wugu2 ā¦ Can you give me skill build and stat build of itā¦ I just build this archer from gut feel. lol
surprised that SR is an ET/AoE build. i thought itās just a mobile and flashier version of qs 3.
I wanna try this build since i already have a cataphract and i cant make a falc because of limited character slots. Will the damage be sub optimal if i dont get dgc and the + 1 RS gem?
My understanding, through an immense amount of number crunching, research, and having 4 archers above level 220, including a 280, is that in theory the A2/Sapper2/Wugu2/X (Cannon in this case) is the strongest possible ET build, however due to Wugushiās poisons not being capable of critical attacks and the rest of the build thriving on crit rate, it requires a NEAR unobtainable amount of gear/stats to reach the stats needed for it to pull ahead.
I believe that one of the primary reasons SR2 is considered the best spec at the moment is because of the essentially free defensive stats they gain while riding their mount, allowing them to allocate more of their stats offensively. Since realistically almost any archer build needs about 50-100 con even in a āprotect the DPSā comp due to their naturally low health pool and unexpected damage or the occasional āwoopsā of incoming damage. SR2 is the only ET archer spec that likely could spend 0 points in Con and get enough through gear (Max Peta/Gems/whatever) and being mounted to be relatively safe.
As for A3/Wugu2/Falco1/Cannon, truthfully, I have not seen that build and in theory it doesnāt make sense to me either. I realize Falcon synergizes with Wugu better than Sapper because Broomtrap doesnāt have a hit cap but I would actually think A3/Sapper2/Falco1/Cannon would be a better similar option, due to the aforementioned crit vs atk (dex vs str) struggle that comes with Sapper/Wugu, it would be the same if not worse with A3/Wugu2/Falco1/Cannon.
If youāre open to suggestion and slight tweaking of a build, I would likely recommend the following:
Archer 2, Sapper 2, Wugushi 2, Falconer 1
I realize at first glance it may not seem all that great, and truthfully itās not entirely the best maximum damage build when thinking in terms of just your personal dps rather than group dps.
That being prefaced, Falconer1 almost only affects your Multi-shot, but if you have anything else in your group suck as another SR, and elementalist, a cannoneer, a doppel (honestly wouldnāt be surprised to see them in ET meta groups after the buffs devs have been toying with for them), or almost any other aoe dps build, it will pay for itself.
Plus if grouped with a Cryo or Linker or anything that can effectively group mobs, as long as youāre wearing gear such as Gladiator Band, Manamana, and/or Vubbe Fighter Gloves, since Circling will be down, Hovering is actually a surprisingly large amount of sustained AoE DPS, since you only have to cast it once for a total of 19 seconds of āfreeā added dps.
All this is before considering that both Hovering and Pheasant are āStrikeā damage, which if your group has a wizard, will be dealing double damage as long as you sync your casts with his/her Lethargy.
The thing about A2/Sapper2/Wugu2 is that the build is essentially ET-ready at Rank 6. There are actually pros to Cannon, Falconer, Sapper3, and Wugu3. Itās both a blessing and a curse.
Heck, on my A2/S2/W2 I actually finished with Scout primarily so that I can still pull my weight in ET at roughly a 5% dps loss over anyone who chose one of the other ET options just so I can bring this character into guild battles and GvG and such as well. I figure I can make up the relatively minor damage loss through enhancements and gems lol 
Anyway, I tried to make this response as nice and neat as possible and hope it was helpful to some degree, but I am extremely tired so I apologize if any of it is unclear or poorly written.
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Minor continuation of my last post,
There are two more important things worth considering:
Cannoneer, though strong and as much as I like the class in general, is currently in a bad spot due to there not being a cannon in the game that compares to Manamana, Venom, and/or Karacha, which add a considerable amount of sustained damage. Therefore in order to pull off Cannoneer in an ET build, you would have to use Bandit/Superior Kracked and Manamana, for example, in one weapon set and Bandit/Superior Kracked and Agvara in the other, and only ever switch to your cannon for Cannon Blast, for the burst damage and potential Armor Break debuff. If you consider global cooldowns as well as the weapon switch latency, itās pointless to switch to your cannon for Cannon Shot or Shootdown.
That being said, the other thing you may want to consider is the future-proofing of your character. With future ranks (R8+) and level cap increases around the corner, itās hard to commit to a build that is good now and may or may not be good in the future. I believe Cannoneer is the most future-proof R7 choice at the moment for PvE (AoE) content, due to itās naturally high damage and well-scaling abilities.
Both posts in summary, itās a tough call no matter how you look at it and truthfully you might just want to play whatever you think youāll enjoy most.
3 Likes
I am stuck between the A2/Sapper2/Wugu2/Cannon vs A3/Wugu2/Falco1/Cannon. I am leaning towards the latter for the following reasons:
- Doesnāt circling affect cannoneer skills as well?
- Also I think one thing youāre forgetting is the Level 15 multishot. It scales really and adds another 500% attack modifier with 2 overheats. Coupled with the low cooldown, it makes me think this is superior to the 40 sec cd of broom trap with no overheats.
- Regarding the dex vs. str problem with the A3/Wugu2/Falc1/Cannon build, I think youād still be able to go a low amount of dex and have a high crit rate through gear and party buffs
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Aswome advises dude, thanks a lot. Iām currently a QS3 and i want a character oriented to pve, mainly farming solo. What would you recommend me? Iāve in mind a qs3 a2 falconer musketeer or a qs3 a2 sr2.
Pd. Other question my friend, scatter drops can be use while mounting?
The qns is not directed at me but allow me to put forth an opinion. As a A2-QS3-SR2 here, I honestly canāt say I would recommend SR in itās current state. SR is a 2 circle class or nothing job. While not overly bad, and under the right situations can be extremely powerful but hereās the keywords - under the right situations. We have a few useless skills (namely Limacon and Caracole with Limacon being quite possibly in my opinion, one of the worst skill in the entire game), 2 semi-decent multi hit skill which deals less than Multi Shot and locks us in place during charging and our best skill, retreat shot requires certain set up or situation in order to maximize itās full potential while A2-QS3-Falconer-Musketeer is more versatile and immediately useful under any situation and with that, I wholly believe that is an overall better build than A2-QS3-SR2.
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Where as Iām inclined to agree with javin on this, it depends what you mean by farming solo. The free defensive stats and movement speed of being mounted may benefit you more than the potential burst of Falcon/Musket.
I personally am not a huge fan of Falcon/Musket due the setup and unrealistic conditions to make it shine. Paired with a Linker, Falcon/Musket is potentially the highest burst aoe and single target damage class in the game, but again, the conditions required are a little unrealistic and even groups with a Linker youāll likely end up holding your cooldowns and essentially wasting dps waiting for the ārightā time to use them.
That being said, for solo farming as an archer one of the best strategies to employ is usually āKill it before it kills meā, which Musketeer is usually pretty good at.
To summarize, itās a toss-up between the two, and kind of depends on what you mean by solo farming. I think Iād be a little more inclined to recommend A2 QS3 SR2 to you for the slight movement speed advantage and the additional defensive stats.
To Borel and anyone else, where as I enjoy offering my two cents and helping others whenever I can, letās not highjack this thread for archer Q&A 
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Yes circling affects Cannoneer skills. It affects any skill with a target cap.
Level 15 multishot is nice and in a perfect world likely does come out to be more sustained dps than broomtrap. That being said, between the small radius and fact that youāre only gaining an additional 5 hits (only is relative, I realize over time those 5 extra hits equal a lot of damage), broomtrap likely does tend to be more reliable damage, especially since a lot of groups tend to run a Cryo3 as their ātankā due to the ability to both group and CC the mobs with tree and snowball, and tree will make hitting all mobs with multi-shot impossible, but hitting all mobs with broomtrap quite easy.
I donāt think youāll be able to get ENOUGH crit rate with a low amount of dex but unfortunately itās hard to confirm without a working damage meter. I mean, I could throw a bunch of math formulas at you but on paper and actual execution are quite a bit different.
Also make sure you read and consider my above mentioned issue of there being no cannon that compares to Manamana/Venom/Karacha. Where as Cannoneer is extremely strong on paper, the amount of sustained lost from either weapon swapping or losing the crit rate and property damage the other sub-weapons offer, Iām not sure Cannoneer is a practical choice for ET.
##Disclaimer:
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I love the Cannoneer class. I wish there were better cannons available in the game. Iām sure one day there will be. Also depending on how much weapon swapping latency you experience, maybe you can pull it off. I am not suggesting Cannoneer is a bad class choice, however, I do believe there are too many repercussions to it as an ET choice at the moment.
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Composition is something you should consider if youāre looking to be part of an ET group that pushes into later floors. If you plan on running two archers, befriend said other archer, and make sure only one of you is a Falconer, or at least make sure you coordinate Circling cooldowns with them if you end up deciding to run double Falconer, etc. What is best for you may not be what is best for the rest of your group.
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@javin2871
Help and tips are always welcome. Thanks man. In your experience, how does retreat shot complement running shot? I mean you used to perform retreat and then fill the cooldown with running? Or using the both at the same time? Other question, scatter drops works while mounting?
@Xanthiris Yes, i agree with you one of the best advantages of being SR is the bonus stats. What others build do u think are viable as a QS3?
I currently have a QS3 SR1 and retreat is the perfect complement to Running shot.
You get to move faster on your mount.
You get more HP/Evasion/Defense on your mount (Very much needed since Iām a full STR build)
Retreat Shot lets you move at top speed while unleashing huge amounts of aoe damage, learning how to use it is tricky though but once you figure it out itās amazing.
Honestly I donāt think thereās a more perfect class for quarrel shooters.
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