Create an Archer
Fiesta: A Beginner's Guide to Archers
Archers are often considered to be the most undervalued character classes in many fantasy stories. Rangers, hunters, rogues, and other bow wielding characters rarely get a spot in the limelight; more often than not, they make for really interesting side characters. In video games, the same role is given to the class -they are good and fun to play, but they are rarely the class that gets highlighted in posters and promotions.
So why become an archer in Fiesta? Aside from the fact that you can practically play the game solo, the archer class also makes for a very great support character without having to change your skill build. As a long range class with fast attacks, high evasion, and a penchant for kiting means that archers will do well in almost any setting. All you need is to adapt your play style.
A Whole New Level of Adaptability
When we say adapt, we simply mean change the way you order your skills or position yourself in combat. An archer is not essentially strong -arrow damage is pretty small compared to the massive spells cast by mages or the critical hits of a fighter's ax. But what you have going for you is the ability to shoot fast and keep running.
Kiting has always been a strong suit of the archer class -far better than a mage ever could. Thanks to arrows being fired instantaneously, you need not worry about missing a step while running away. Of course, there are plenty of fast moving enemies as well, so there will be times that you will have to rely on consumable items that will help increase your movement speed.
But if the enemies do catch up with you, there is no need to panic. While archers have very little to offer in terms of HP and defense, they make up for it with high evasion stats. After all, why worry about an enemy if it cannot hit you at all. Combine this with the archer's kiting ability and you have a pretty deadly combo for almost any enemy you meet in the field.
All About Patience
We did mention that arrows do very little damage right? So expect some fights to be long and drawn out -particularly against foes that have plenty of health or strong resistance against physical attacks. In some cases, you might be kiting for a very long period of time. But the good thing about this is that you will definitely be able to kill your target.
Even mobs are not that big of an issue -just keep kiting and concentrate your shots on a single target (moving only to a new target after the first one dies). Eventually, you will be able to whittle down the pack. This means that you will have to be consistent and accurate with your shots -at the same time, you must also have a pretty good idea of the stage's layout. Kiting means going around the field while moving backwards -try to memorize how the area looks if you do not want to suddenly find your back against the wall, literally.
Many Ways to Hunt
Later in the game, archers will be able to apply a poison attribute to their arrow shots. When a target is poisoned, it slowly loses health over a short period of time. This will make kiting a whole lot faster as the poison will slowly damage your enemy while you keep kiting it. In a mob scenario, it is advisable to cast poison on several targets before focusing on just one (this allows the poison to work its way against the other enemies while you kill a specific target). Depending on which class specialization you select later on, you will also be able to upgrade the poison damage to significant levels, allowing you to deal huge amounts of damage on enemies over a period of time.
Mobs are often a problem for players, even while kiting. This is why an area of effect attack is very useful for thinning out a herd of hostiles headed your way. While these abilities do not appear until you have reached a significant point in the game (which, like above, allows you to choose a specialization), that will be the only time you will encounter hostiles that will require the skill. Once again, kiting is the key to using the archer's AOE abilities efficiently.
PVP and PVE
While it is a pretty accepted standard in Fiesta that straight bow users are better for PVP events and the AOE empowered crossbow is excellent in the PVE setting, that difference is not as significant as you may think.
Area of effect skills in PVP events may not seem useful when you are confronted by a single target -but more often than not, the matches are parties against parties. Dealing damage to all units at the same time is actually a good way to keep their healers distracted. Mix in some poison shots and you have a pretty good way of messing up whatever battle plan the opponents may have. Of course, bow users do have the advantage of special one-shot attacks that deal plenty of damage over an extremely long range. So it boils down to how you play and what your team strategy is. Also, traps are pretty effective against human players as it works as a distraction and an attack at the same time.
Monsters are not necessarily better dealt with using AOE attacks. While it certainly works for mobs, it definitely does not fare better when you want to be specific with the amount of aggro you want to pull. When you get to dealing with really high level spawns late in the game, the distant shot ability will become really useful in luring boss-type monsters into an ambush by your party.
Setting Up the Stats
The stat builds for archers are pretty one sided to dexterity. This stat provides players with a massive bonus to long range attack hit rating, which means that you are quite unlikely to miss. At the same time, this will also raise your evasion raising. Investing in DEX saves you from having to add points in the defense based END. If you place everything in your DEX, you will suffer from having a very low damage power -this is something you will need to compensate for with equipment and other bonuses.
Uncharacteristically, strength is important for the archer class in Fiesta. This stat directly increases the amount of damage your character can dish out. Some players prefer to sacrifice a bit of dexterity for a bit of strength (while others even out the two stats equally). You could also try going for a pure strength build but that will require getting equipment that will compensate for the lowered attack rating and the lack of evasion.
SPR is a pretty good stat to invest in instead of strength. It will raise your base damage (the lowest amount of damage your arrows will make) and more importantly, it will increase your chances of landing a critical hit. When coupled with the bonuses that you get from DEX, this becomes very enticing. Combine the critical hit rating with the archer's ability to shoot fast and you will have a build that deals a decent amount of damage (through critical hits) and at the same time, never misses and is able to evade well.
Our preferred build is a combination of DEX, STR and SPR. While this may seem a little damage-oriented, it is one of the most enjoyable ways to play an archer. With this build, all you need to worry about is your defensive strategy, and if you can kite well, then surviving alone in the game will not be so much of a problem. Just be sure to keep away from massive spawns.
Not Much Love
Since archers are long range characters, not many players are too fond of them (and it is pretty easy for an archer to kill-steal). With that being said, it pays to be a little careful when you are an archer or if you are playing around them. First off, be wary if you see a random monster running about -it is likely that the creature is being kited by another player. So try not to attack these monsters unless they specifically aggro on you.
When you are camping an enemy spawn, try not to be so far away from the spawnpoint -other parties may assume that you are hunting elsewhere and you might get into an argument about who can camp what.
Parties will either hunt on the go or camp specific monsters -so always communicate with the team about what you are doing. An archer is able to pull plenty of aggro, so do so with the consent of your teammates. No matter how skilled or how high leveled you guys may be, getting swarmed by a dozen hostiles due to excessive aggro pulling does not constitute fun.
Lastly, the most important thing about archers that players should know is that you can solo almost anything. So try not to be so competitive towards enemies when you are in the field. Not all classes have the luxury of moving off somewhere else -whereas an archer can go almost anywhere that he or she pleases.
Or find out more on Archers in Fiesta at Outspark.