Back To MapleStory Skill Guide

Power Archer Guide

Table of Contents:

1-Intro
2-Skill Build (explained)
3-Bows vs Xbows in 1st job
4-Stats (NOTE: READ THIS FIRST IF YOU'RE NEW TO MAPLESTORY)
5-Skill Build (brief version, for reference)
6-Credits

===========================================================================

1-Introduction / Logic Behind:

Bowmen get a skill called Critical Shot, which causes your hits to double
in damage 40% of the time, when the skill's maxed. Because of this, your
already wide damage range (like any class other than mage) doubles. You
also get a skill Double Shot (I'll explain later why you choose this) which
effectively doubles this range yet again. Because of this, 1st job Bowmen
are extremely unstable in damage. Let's do what we can to balance this.

===========================================================================

2-Skill Build (explained):

Most people probably start with getting maxed range. However, Bowmen start
with a longer range than Assassin-Rogues, and don't need the maxed range as
much. So what I did with my bowman is wait until later, and get power early
on.

lv10 Arrow Blow lv1 (cheap and powerful)
lv11-17 Max critical shot to 20, 1 point left over.

Okay, where do we head from here? you'll be happy you're hitting high
numbers with crit shot, over getting a little more range, as nice as it is.
I've tried both ways. Increasing damage early on means you can compete a
bit better against other low levels and 1-hit-KO more. So you may be
wondering, do I go double shot now? Do I get my range? Neither.

put that left over point into arrow blow. AB is now lv2.
lv18 put 2 more into arrow blow, so it's lv4. 1 point left over.

Why did I do this? because, you can put the damage of AB to 156% from 141%
for the same MP cost, and bowmen waste their points on near worthless
skills before they change to 2nd job anyways. You'll see at the end.

now put that last point into double shot.
lv19-20 put double shot to lv7 for 90%x2 damage at 9 MP

Here's where two different builds come out. You can either get your much
anticipated range here (which is what I recommend), or you can max your
double shot. I will show you the range approach. Here are some things to
think about... I'll continue underneath the special notes.

*__________Special Note__________*
Here is why I recommend against maxing double shot early:

Reasons:
* You should be leveling at easy places still, being orange shroom spots or
pig beach (best). You do not need a ton of power. They give good exp.
*green shrooms are okay exp, octos better, but octo training spots suck.
green shroom spots are either crowded (hunting grounds), suck (kerning /
sleepywood), or are hard for a bowman (ie. green mush tree). Also, green
shrooms have high armor, so you get less benefit out of a double shot,
since the armor applies twice.
*max double shot doesn't get you much more power per shot compared to say,
a sin's Lucky 7. Lucky 7 is even more powerful than the skill suggests, if
you look at the formula for it, but that aside it says 150% x 2 hits.
Double Shot is 130% x 2, for the same MP. You're leveling against these
guys, and you need an advantage of some kind. Your advantage is that you
are cheap with crit shot. Why waste that by pouring MP to do a lesser
amount of damage to things like orange shrooms and pigs? There's no point,
not yet.
*from level 10 of Double Shot and on, your mp cost is 67% higher than arrow
blow and you're only doing a total of 188% damage vs 156%. That's only
20.5% higher. lv9 is 50% more MP cost, and 180% (15.4% higher) attack.

Con: You can't kill higher monsters as well.
Argument: You have fine exp for now. There's no need to, you will be able
to shortly.

Con: You won't be as strong for PQ.
Argument: If you've ever had a bowman in PQ with you before, you should
know how useless they are until at least lv25+. Forget PQ, just level. PQ
wastes time waiting and doing nothing, is frustrating, and only gives fair
exp. The items are okay, but you could make a lot more money just leveling
and not using so many pots. The best time to PQ is when you have a good
team with lv23+ mages or lv28+ sin-rogues. Warriors are in the same boat as
Bowmen. They suck for the first PQ. But they can do okay after lv25... just
not good. Anyhow, PQ when no one's on, and try surfing all the channels
before waiting for some track that's in 1st stage. There will often be one
open when you see a bunch of channels with no one waiting in the PQ area.
If your team is good, just ask them to help you, and use AB =P.
-________________________________-

*__________Special Note__________*
So, why use Double Shot early on instead of Arrow Blow?

It's not as much for power as it is STABLE DAMAGE. Yes, it doubles your
damage range, but, it also makes it average out. Theoretically you could
hit 2 1's and then 2 100's with crit shot + double shot, but you're a lot
0more likely to hit somewhere in between. Toss 2 coins. the outcomes are
Heads(H) or Tails(T): HH, HT, TH, TT. The odds that you'll get somewhere in
between 2 highs (heads) or 2 lows (tails) are half as likely as something
in between in this coin toss example. Damage calculation is similar.

So, when do you use DS vs AB?

AB is great for training alone, against small mobs or individual enemies at
a time, like orange shrooms at kerning. It's also great for smaller enemies
that you're not afraid of getting hit by, which are likely to die from a
smaller hit anyways.

DS is great for when mobs get big or when you're competing against other
players for kills. What you want then is a bit more damage, with not TOO
much MP used *cough*rogue*cough*, and you want to be able to depend on it
more, rather, want it more stable. There is no need to overkill those
piggies with really high damage. The normal pig is 75HP, Orange Shroom is
80HP, and Ribbon Pig is 120HP. Don't expect to always one-hit things with
1st job bowmen... go for 2-3 hits.
-________________________________-

Okay, back to the build. We're going Range next.

lv21 The Blessing of Amazon to lv3 (required for range)
lv22-24 The Eye of Amazon (range) to lv8 Maxed. 1 point left over.

Now you'll really be itching to fight something different. You have two
options: (A) go somewhere you can use a lot of AB and occasional DS on
harder enemies and save your SP for later so you don't use MP like crazy.
or (B) Max your DS and use lots of MP pots for fighting hard enemies,
perhaps in PQ.

and of course, (C) Fight at Pig Beach some more =P. Ribbon Pigs are good
exp, easy to kill now, and have a great spawn rate. Hate hackers? Change
channel, or kill things they vac, or just go somewhere out of their reach,
as most often they don't affect the entire map. Be flexible. And of course,
report them when possible and don't party them =P. I think that's asking
for trouble personally, and it's telling them you think it's okay that
they're ruining the game. Howabout no. [/rant]

Save or max your DS, or raise it just a little to maybe lv13 so the MP use
is only twice that of AB and your attack is higher than 100% (108% x 2). If
I were you, I'd do that based on how you feel about your current strength,
as it is really a personal preference on power vs spending pots.

(Recommended in [ ]'s, but it's really up to you.)
(1 point from before left over)

lv25-26 Spend, or spend and stop at lv13, or [save SP] for Double Shot (up
to lv14)
lv27 [Spend], or save now, or keep saving (up to lv17)
lv28 Max DS. Enjoy.

Finally, you have only 2 levels of SP left to use before changing jobs. You
can get the passive skill for more accuracy, but... bowmen already have
tons of accuracy. Instead, I recommend getting level 6 Focus, so that you
can up your evade/accuracy a little bit if you're fighting something hard,
trying to escape, or just want to use a cool looking skill around other
people. There is also the chance that you may end up having some points
left over in your 2nd Job build, at which point you may choose to add to
this skill some more. Never know =P.

lv29-30 Put Focus to lv6 (+6 avoid/+6 acc for 2 minutes, 10 seconds, 8MP)

And that's it for the skills! Time to change Jobs. This guide doesn't cover
that yet, unfortunately. But I do intend to make a somewhat complex guide
later.

===========================================================================

Let's look at some other things, like stats and the bow vs xbow thingy:

3-BOWS vs CROSSBOWS (XBOWS) in 1st Job

Let's talk about bows and xbows first. I recommend trying both, spending a
little extra early so you can get the feel of each. Bows come on levels
divisible by 5... so 10, 15, 20 etc... xbows are on 2's and 8's, so 12, 18,
22, 28 etc. until lv42, and then the next is lv50, and goes by 10s. Bows do
that too from lv40 on, next being 50 also. Stat requirements work the same
as low levels.

If you decide you want xbow only, then forget about bows completely.
They're weaker, but faster reacting, and can use arrows your xbow can't. If
that doesn't matter to you, there's no reason to get a bow that's a few
levels higher than your current xbow... it'll be about the same power, or
slightly weaker actually.

My view, as someone that wanted to go bow in 2nd job (hunter), is that I
use each xbow and bow that my level allows, so that I can use both types of
arrows and so I get a nice power boost from the xbows, which is fun. I like
bows better, and that's what I commit to in 2nd job, but early on a bit
more power is nice, and you're not fighting anything so dangerous that not
reacting fast will kill you. So there you go.

*__________Special Note__________*
The power of xbow over bow:

By lv12 your attack will be at about 7~54 with bow lv10. with xbow lv12
you'll be at 8~66 with the same stats. (My test stats here are reasonable:
10 str for leveling as a beginner, 4 and 5 of the unused stats, and rest
[61] into dex. You do not need str until the 2nd bow/xbow.)
-________________________________-

===========================================================================

4-Now, Stats:

What does a bowman need? well it depends on if you're going xbow or bow.
Bows require 5 str higher than your level, while xbow and bowman clothes
require only your level's worth of str. The rest goes into dex.

When you make your character, make sure you have no higher than 5's in int
and luk... roll your dice until you get that. It's not that hard. I'd never
accept two 5's... always at least one 4, if not both. Consider this your
training to level from 0 to 1 =P. People pay good money to get a bit higher
stats via weapon/clothing scrolls, so why not spend a little time here?

Example
STR no higher than say 10
DEX anything
INT 4/5
LUK 4/5

You need to pour into dex or you won't have any power after becoming a
bowman. 10 str will help you kill things as a beginner, and so will dex to
a lesser extent, but you'll be stable. It's actually not bad at all. You
could skip str altogether until lv15 if you're going bow (need 20dex), or
lv18 if you're going xbow (need 18dex).

So did you decide to go my path for bow vs xbow, as in use both until 2nd
job? If so, here's your stat build:

_Build using both bow and xbow_
lv10 no more than 10 STR, rest into DEX (must have at least 25), change
your job NOW. Consider using a polearm/spear or 2-handed axe/mace
along with bow for killing slimes/snails easily.
lv11 put all into DEX
lv12 STR at least at 5, rest into DEX, buy lv12 xbow
lv13 STR at least at 10, rest into DEX
lv14 STR at least at 15, rest into DEX
lv15 STR at 20, rest into DEX, buy lv15 bow
lv16 all into DEX
lv17 all into DEX
lv18 all into DEX, buy lv18 xbow
lv19 all into DEX
lv20 STR at 25, buy lv20 bow
lv21 all into DEX
lv22 all into DEX, buy lv22 xbow
lv23 all into DEX
lv24 all into DEX
lv25 STR at 30, buy lv25 bow
lv26 all into DEX
lv27 all into DEX
lv28 all into DEX, buy lv28 xbow
lv29 all into DEX
lv30 STR at 35, buy lv30 bow, change jobs
lv31 all into DEX
lv32 all into DEX, consider buying lv32 xbow even if hunter, less expensive
from other players probably than making or buying for 200k npc
outside of Victoria Island. It has good knockback, and your mastery
and attacks aren't so bow specific yet, so if you're out of MP for
your Arrow Bomb attack, switch to xbow and save some arrows maybe
=P. Up to you.

===========================================================================

5-Skill Build (brief version, for reference):

Finally, for those who want a quick overview of how the skills work in this
guide, or just want to refer back since the first explanation is messy,
here it is again:

lv10 Arrow Blow (AB) lv1 (cheap and powerful)
lv11-17 Max critical shot to 20. Then 1 to AB for lv2 afterwards.
lv18 2 more into arrow blow for lv4. NO MORE, EVER. Save 1 point.
lv19 put double shot to lv4 for 82%x2 damage at 8 MP (same as lv1).
lv20 put double shot to lv7 for 90%x2 damage at 9 MP.
lv21 The Blessing of Amazon to lv3 (required for range)
lv22-24 The Eye of Amazon (range) to lv8 Maxed. 1 point left over.
(Recommended in [ ]'s, but it's really up to you.)
(1 point from before left over)
lv25-26 Spend, or spend and stop at lv13, or [save SP], for Double Shot (up
to lv14).
lv27 [Spend], or save now, or keep saving (up to lv17) for DS.
lv28 Max DS. Enjoy.
lv29-30 Put Focus to lv6 (+6 avoid/+6 acc for 2 minutes, 10 seconds, 8MP)
Change Jobs.