Using archery in E3

[megamad]

I know, archery sucks in E3, but i still love to use it.

One of my characters is an archer, and i would love to get some tips from you people on how do make the best use of him. Posions? Any potions good? What items? Any spells helpful? And buying arrows any better than iron ones is out of question (how comes they are so expensive?).

Thanks in advance.

[Lazarus.]

Well the infinite arrow is cool, you can find it in junk shops occasionally. An infinite arrow and Archer's Bow are both very light, so it leaves your archer with plenty of weight to carry armor and other stuff. Magic arrows are a bit expensive at first, but by the middle of the game you'll reach the gold limit and have plenty to blow on magic items. But for the most powerful bow you'll need the Fury Crossbow (its an artifact, so you know its gonna be a pain to get it.) Still, even with the fury crossbow and magic bolts I found archery to be too weak.

 

I like using poisons on both melee and archer characters. Very few monsters are resistant to it, and killer poisons pack quite a punch. I almost cried when I realized there would be no poisons in Avernum

[Toenail Returns]

With my main archer Mathuzar, he was equipped with 40 Killer Poisons I bought from Randall's Item Shop (hint: use Shift + D to refresh items in shop), the Fury Crossbow, a handfull of magic bolts, and an Assasin's Knife for backup. The damage wasn't very good, but he was helpful with levels like the Giant Caves due to the lava blocking me off from giants, making my melee characters useless.

[megamad]

I do have the Archer's bow and Infinite arrow. i allso have a few magic arrows. Are there any spells that can boost the hit chance and/or damage of archery? (like strength to fighters).

Is randell the shopkeeper in the Tower of magi, or the one in lorlei? Cause i'm now doing the tower of magi quest.

[Toenail Returns]

Randell is in the Tower.

 

Btw, Strength increases bow attacks as well as melee attacks. Using Strength, Bless, Haste, and other boosts should make your archer more powerful.

[Randomizer]

Archers are useful where you can't get into melee. Think of it as a free attack while the monsters run up to die. In the end in R-I's fortress it helped with parties in corridors where only the first character could melee.

 

Mass haste, major blessing, and any other buff spells will increase your attack damage and number of attacks.

[the Great Potato]

I like poison and exploding arrows. I don't remember if there are lightning arrows too, or if they're javelins, but those would be good as well.

 

EDIT: Although personally I would just abandon archery and go for tossing razordisks instead.

[Toenail Returns]

Using Arrows of Life against undead is very helpful.

 

The Great Potato, using razordisks is fun with the fun swooshing noise, but they are harder to find and far more expensive. Also, you can find enchanted bows/crossbows and arrows/bolts but razordisks don't come in many varities. :-P

[Alorael at Large]

The Great Potato is Drakey.

 

—Alorael, who equipped all his archers with returning ammunition and rarely used any of his bows. The time spent shooting is better spent charging so as to start applying two-bladed fury.

[Toenail Returns]

Ah.

 

Using arrows on non-ranged boss monsters with weaker parties is helpful while it is charging forward.

[Spring]

I've always found that, along with your party archer, capturing the Empire Archers soul (the one in the slime caves) is quite handy.

[Lilith]

Empire Archers cheat. >_<

[ben4808]

I usually start an archer on my party, but he always eventually evolves into a secondary mage (e.g. Slow Group man) as arrows evolve from marginally useful to useless.

[Toenail Returns]

Quote:

Originally written by Spring:
I've always found that, along with your party archer, capturing the Empire Archers soul (the one in the slime caves) is quite handy.

Very true. During the Tower of Magi fight against the Mung Demons and Haakai I summoned five Empire Archers to shoot down the stray Imps and act as meatshields.

[Andraste]

I always wonder how Empire Archers can never run out of arrows. I always fall short in the middle of an important battle.

[Toenail Returns]

Monsters have unlimited arrows.

 

Cheaters.

[ben4808]

I think I may have stumbled on their secret . Interesting...

[Toenail Returns]

Nah, the Returning Arrow may be never-ending, but I can't seem to damage any of those higher-level monsters with it. The damage just isn't strong enough.

[Randomizer]

You need to be blessed when shooting at higher level monsters. It also helps to save special arrows for them. Only Empire Archers really are damaging with bows. Don't rely upon them except when you don't have anything else.

[Cairo Jim]

Quote:

Originally written by Toenail RETURNS:
Using Arrows of Life against undead is very helpful.

The Great Potato, using razordisks is fun with the fun swooshing noise, but they are harder to find and far more expensive. Also, you can find enchanted bows/crossbows and arrows/bolts but razordisks don't come in many varities. :-P

They aren't that hard to find. You can get them in Ghikra, for one thing. I can't remember where else though.

[Alorael at Large]

Let sleeping zombies lie.

 

—Alorael, who can only add that he cannot approve of Throwing on principle

[Randomizer]

Exile thrown weapons use less action points than bows so in haste you get an extra shot off each round. Still bows are easier to use with the greater variety of arrows.

[The Mystic]

Back when I did a lot of archery, I'd use infinite arrows and any accuracy-enhancing items; train up on strength, dexterity, and archery; and use a lot of blessing items & spells.

 

Nowadays, I just train everyone with strength, intelligence, and both mage and priest spell skills, and carry a lot of items that replenish spell points (though this is probably off topic, so I won't go into details).

 

Edit: One thing I do like in the Exile series, however, is that no matter what your ammo, you can target invisible monsters. This is not true of the Avernum series.