Marksman Guide

[Kieran]

Aug 24, 2011 11:25:36 GMT -5 chosen1 said:

ok thanks.

I guess I will get relentless recurve and then should I get fair game or just rank up my quarry?


looks like torment of arrows is a huge skill I will be using for ht erest of the game. I am currently lv 10

Torrent of Arrows is amazing. I spam the daylights out of that skin - not only do I use it as a fantastic alpha strike, but I use it whenever it becomes available during combat. It's that good.

[chosen1]

Just got to lv 11 and got relentless recurve.


I might rank up quarry or get fair game next. what do you guys think I should do? I was looking at that build from page 2 that was a summary of hte OP first post but I am confused on it

[supercollide]

Dusted off my Archery toon, decided to level her following this AT guide, loving it. Gotta remember to keep moving and maybe switch you my joypad instead of Keyboard & Mouse but loving it.

[scorcherofthorns]

Oct 6, 2011 3:23:53 GMT -5 supercollide said:

Dusted off my Archery toon, decided to level her following this AT guide, loving it. Gotta remember to keep moving and maybe switch you my joypad instead of Keyboard & Mouse but loving it.

I'm also playing an archer and I'm loving it, the Ronald Mcdonald way! There is also certain fem sexiness to the archer allowing me to make it my first ever permanent female toon, I'm very VERY excited about this getting this AT all the way to 40, certainly following this guide.

[scorcherofthorns]

Feb 25, 2011 12:03:01 GMT -5 Kieran said:

I had some people expressing confusion concerning all the advantages and ranks they were supposed to take with these powers.

So I compiled all of the powers and advantages into the list below. Note that this is just a summary of Ashen's advice - I'm not advocating my own build or changing anything. I'm just condensing all of Ashen's awesome information into this section below:


Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (R2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Teleport (R2)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Deadly Dissonance, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Quarry (R2, Fair Game)
Level 11: Torrent of Arrows (R2, Relentless Recurve)
Level 14: Retaliation (R2)
Level 17: Snap Shot (Finish Him, Crippling Challenge)
Level 22: Hunter's Instinct (N/A)
Level 27: Evasive Maneuvers (R2, R3)
Level 32: Storm of Arrows (R2, Achilles Heel)
Level 40: Explosive Arrow (Where’s The Kaboom?)


Since Ashen never specified if Straight Shot should be level up to Rank 2, you can either put the two extra advantage points into there (as I outlined above), or you can allocate them to Retaliation R3. I favor Straight Shot R2, as I just don't like shielding all that much, but then again, that's personal playstyle for ya'.

Excellent! Its even simpler now, thanks.

[fallingstar]

I have also lvled a marksman to 32 so far and here are some thoughts and observation I made.
So far, I believe the barebone version of the build should be something like:

Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Teleport
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Deadly Dissonance)
Level 8: Quarry (R2, R3 or Fairgame)
Level 11: Torrent of Arrows (Relentless Recurve)
Level 14: Retaliation
Level 17: Snap Shot or Focused Shot
Level 22: Hunter's Instinct
Level 27: Evasive Maneuvers (R2, R3 or Sleight of Mind)
Level 32: Storm of Arrows (R2, Achilles Heel)
Level 35: Your second travel choice (recommend Flight/Jetpack or Swingin with Flippin advantage)
Level 40: Explosive Arrow (R2, Where’s The Kaboom?)

I believe that is the basic must have requirement for every marksman.

Although I chose snap shot myself, I believe focused shot should not really be overlooked for utility purpose. I have a lvl 40 soldier myself and since the last blood moon event, I have realize the significance of air sniping. Eventhough focused shot is not as powerful as sniper file, the fact still remains that you can air snipe with it, that means alot of situations where you are in an area with enough space will allow you to engage difficult bosses without getting damaged at all (provided you have a flight travel). So it is a really strong point in favor of focused shots.

Additional to straight shot, sonic arrow and torrent of arrows is what I believe to be the real optional aspect of marksman, and it is up to you to decide how to distribute them. A note here though, when I am leveling my toon, I put the first 4 points into relentless recurve and r2 torrent of arrows. With those, you can pretty much 1 shot groups easily with a fully charged torrent of arrows, making your leveling alot easier

[petro678]

Why didn't you select Nailed to the Ground and Crippling Challenge?

[supercollide]

UPDATED TO ON ALERT & NEW FORMS: 19/06/2012

Two versions - PvP & PvE

Name: Marksman At Guide Build (PvP Version)
PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Archetype: The Marksman

Super Stats:
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Intelligence (Secondary)
Level 15: Ego (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Marksman
Level 7: Coordinated
Level 12: Shooter
Level 15: Academics
Level 20: Healthy Mind
Level 25: Acrobat
Level 30: Ascetic

Powers:
Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Deadly Dissonance, Nailed to the Ground)
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Fair Game)
Level 11: Torrent of Arrows (Rank 2, Relentless Recurve)
Level 14: Concentration
Level 17: Snap Shot (Finish Him, Crippling Challenge)
Level 21: Retaliation (Rank 2)
Level 25: Hunter's Instinct
Level 30: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Sleight of Mind)
Level 35: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles\' Heel)
Level 40: Explosive Arrow (Where\'s the Kaboom?)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Teleportation
Level 35: Athletics (Rank 2)

Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Avenger: Preemptive Strike (2/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

Name: Marksman At Guide Build (PvE Version)
PowerHouse (Link to this build)

Archetype: The Marksman

Super Stats:
Level 6: Dexterity (Primary)
Level 10: Intelligence (Secondary)
Level 15: Ego (Secondary)

Talents:
Level 1: The Marksman
Level 7: Coordinated
Level 12: Shooter
Level 15: Academics
Level 20: Healthy Mind
Level 25: Acrobat
Level 30: Ascetic

Powers:
Level 1: Strafe (Aversion)
Level 1: Straight Shot (Rank 2, Split the Arrow)
Level 6: Sonic Arrow (Rank 2, Deadly Dissonance)
Level 8: Quarry (Rank 2, Fair Game)
Level 11: Torrent of Arrows (Rank 2, Relentless Recurve)
Level 14: Concentration
Level 17: Snap Shot (Rank 2, Finish Him)
Level 21: Retaliation (Rank 2)
Level 25: Hunter's Instinct
Level 30: Evasive Maneuvers (Rank 2, Sleight of Mind)
Level 35: Storm of Arrows (Rank 2, Achilles\' Heel)
Level 40: Explosive Arrow (Where\'s the Kaboom?)

Travel Powers:
Level 6: Teleportation
Level 35: Athletics (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (3/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (2/3)
Dexterity: Evasion (2/2)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Avenger: Preemptive Strike (2/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: Find the Mark (2/3)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

Gearing:
Heroic Gloves of Precision [19 Defense,68 Offense,95 Critical Strike] & Gambler's Lucky Gem
Heroic Breastplate of Agility [29 Defense,139 Avoid] & Gambler's Lucky Gem
Heroic Helmet of Utility [19 Defense,139 Cost Discount,139 Cooldown Reduction] & Impact Prism

I've made a few changes/tweaks to the build, nothing too out there. Thank's to gear and Spec Tree changes you won't need quite so much dodge buff from Evasive Maneuvers so I've opted for it's stealth/threat wiping advantage.

[Deleted]

I am really enjoying this AT after getting it to 40 during the last weekend, it has a lot going for it (back then before the on-alert and form changes, not so much loving it). Such that I can confidently say the marksman is one of the better free ATs I would recommend besides the unleashed and soldier, it's actually more fun since you get to stack various combinations of your attacks rather than spam just the one charge or maintain.

Here's a few minor things I did differently with my PVE build:
Talents (in leveling order):
Level 7: Impresario
Level 12: Negotiator
Level 15: Wordly
Level 20: Shooter
Level 25: Coordinated
Level 30: Academics

Explaination: Gets you a total of 25 REC. This is all the REC you will ever need at lvl 40.

Powers:
Level 17: Snap Shot (Rank 2, Rank 3)

Explaination: I use Snap Shot extensively for single target DPS against bosses as if it was a single target 0.5s maintain. The damage difference is actually rather small with Finish Him's 35% bonus at Rank 2 vs a Rank 3 with 25% bonus.

Combo: Explosive Arrow (Where's the Kaboom?) (tap) + Straight Shot (Split the Arrow) (tap) + Snap Shot (tap x4)

Specializations:
Dexterity: Combat Training (2/3)
Dexterity: Gear Utilization (3/3)
(2% defense gain vs 0.3% cit chance loss)
Dexterity: Deadly Aim (3/3)
Dexterity: Quick Reflexes (2/3)
(3% dodge gain since DEX will likely be your highest stat)
Avenger: Ruthless (2/2)
Avenger: Round 'em Up (3/3)
Avenger: Surprise Attack (2/2)
(+20% crit chance when starting a fight, procs Hunter's Instinct. Completely fills up your energy bar with the return from Concentration as well)
Avenger: Relentless Assault (3/3)
Guardian: Fortified Gear (3/3)
Guardian: Locus (2/2)
(My mob clearing combo usually starts with Torrent Of Arrows/Sonic Arrow and ends with Storm of Arrows. This procs often and grants +11% defense. During fights these specialisations grant me offense +43% defense +45%)
Guardian: Ruthless (2/2)
Guardian: The Best Defense (3/3)
Mastery: Dexterity Mastery (1/1)

Gearing:
Heroic Gloves of Precision [19 Defense,68 Offense,95 Critical Strike] & Gambler's Lucky Gem
Heroic Breastplate of Agility [29 Defense,139 Avoid] & Gambler's Lucky Gem
Heroic Helmet of Efficiency [19 Defense,186Cost Discount,93 Cooldown Reduction] & Gambler's Lucky Gem
(This gearing compensates for adding less INT which I will explain below)

Secondary gearing and mods:
My recommendations for mods is EGOx3, DEXx2, CONx1. Then for secondary gear use all +INT gear, nothing else.

With this setup and good use of Evasive Maneuvers and Teleport if necessary, my marksman hasn't died in alerts or PVE content on elite difficulty. The only content where an AT including the marksman has difficulties is rampage alerts, which is PW's way to sell freeform slots to everyone.

[savetheplanet]

Evasive Maneuvers was not very helpful. The enemy just runs after you and the dodge effect lasts only for a second or two.
I like that AT but Evasive Maneuvers was pretty disapointing to me.

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2012 6:38:28 GMT -5 savetheplanet said:

Evasive Maneuvers was not very helpful. The enemy just runs after you and the dodge effect lasts only for a second or two.
I like that AT but Evasive Maneuvers was pretty disapointing to me.

Here's how I use EM, take a look at how I geared my marksman. The key is cooldown reduction and rank 3. EM lasts for 12s and can be double stacked. You can effectively have 100% dodge for a few seconds and 80% dodge any other time.

[savetheplanet]

Dec 13, 2012 7:50:27 GMT -5 @wimpazoid said:

Dec 13, 2012 6:38:28 GMT -5 savetheplanet said:

Evasive Maneuvers was not very helpful. The enemy just runs after you and the dodge effect lasts only for a second or two.
I like that AT but Evasive Maneuvers was pretty disapointing to me.

Here's how I use EM, take a look at how I geared my marksman. The key is cooldown reduction and rank 3. EM lasts for 12s and can be double stacked. You can effectively have 100% dodge for a few seconds and 80% dodge any other time.

Thanks. My archer is level 33 now. Do you think I can twist her to your suggested build?
I need 4 points for EM and more Intelligence (for cooldown reduction) or equipment that does cooldown reduction.
Am I right?

[Deleted]

It's still significantly cheaper to retcon at 33 than 40. If you just need the points, no hurry at the moment, just wait till you get them. Gear wise, there's no need to go out of the way for them before 40. Just keep a lookout for them as you level. Adding more intelligence to a quarry build benefits ego too so that's always good. Just note at 40, the optimal int is just above 250 to net you +25, +28, +30 stats on your audacity.

[savetheplanet]

Thank you.
I guess I´ll never reach INT 250 until level 40. Maybe the whole build is failed.
I try first to change the whole gear and equip gear with INT instead of CON.

[Deleted]

Nothing wrong with having more Con while leveling, since the health gain from Fair Game scales with it. Most ATs unfortunately won't have their potential realised until lvl 40, unlike freeforms. Even then, DPS ATs require a more tactical approach to play in order to stay alive, some more than others. The Marksman is one of those where tactics really helps such as using Focused Shot on a higher health enemy to reduce its health followed by Torrent of Arrows to wipe out the whole mob etc