Skyforge Archer PvP Guide

Skyforge Archer PvP Guide by SocietyX

First thing I’ll start out with is the build I mostly use in PVP currently. This will vary a bit I believe depending on if you’re doing 3v3 or 10v10 but currently there is not a lot of 10v10 going on in PVP. So for purposes of this guide we’ll be focusing primarily on 3v3 Arena PVP. In the future I will return to update this guide with more information directly related to 10v10.

[ KINGESI ARENA ]
RECOMMENDED BUILD

[ PROS ]

1. High BURST
2. Diverse Control Options
3. Mobility
4. Highest Range
5. Decent AOE
6. CC Immunity

[ CONS ]

1. Low HP
2. Lower mobility than other DPS
3. Long charge-up on AIMED SHOT
4. Requires precision timing

-///-SKILLS->

1. [ Electric Rapid Fire ] – I personally recommend this skill because in 3v3 you are often a primary target of aggression. The reasons for this are simple, you’re very squishy and you very disruptive. So what you need to do to mitigate some of this is allow yourself openings in combat and also provide openings for your team before you die. One of the most effective ways this can be done in my opinion is ELECTRIC RAPID FIRE. Beyond the fact it’s a sustained form of CC it still does good damage. Uses for this can even be specific towards particular classes. A great example of this is NECROMANCER, when a NECROMANCER is about to transform into his Lich form channel your ELECTRIC RAPID FIRE on him and he will be stunned for the entire duration of his undead form and will be unable to life steal. This is basically guaranteed death.

2. [ Double Somersault ] – This skill is pretty simple in it’s execution, and where it’s used. It’s a simple escape mechanism ability that allows you to dash backwards, then double backflip further away from your location. It has the added benefit however of removing negative effects, making you immune to negative effects for 6 seconds, and increasing your movement speed. In PVP this is an obvious choice in my mind. It has all the things you’d want from a PVP movement skill in that it breaks you free and makes you immune, then pops some movement in the mix just for extra benefit. Not much to explain here.

3. [ Smoke Screen ] – This skill allows you to throw down a circle of smoke that will mask you entirely from those who’re outside it. The uses for this can be many. Especially if you manage to do it before the person pursuing you notices that you did. You will completely disappear as if you went into stealth as a Slayer and I’ve tricked people into thinking I must have lag warped away or something. Then you can rail on them freely from cover without them knowing where it is coming from. Another good use for this in my mind, especially in KINGESI ARENA is to allow you to go into Siege Mode from a far off range, for example on the raised platforms, and throw fire based free damage on your opponents, even fearing them if you’re running the PYROPHOBIA talent.

4. [ Trip I ] – This is another pretty simple skill. It allows you to kick an opponent in melee range and knock them to the ground for 3 seconds. This is an excellent skill to continue controlling a fight versus an opponent or as a get away tool to kick them and then SOMERSAULT away. I personally like to use this to extend my control often as it allows me more time to build CONCENTRATION back up or get off a AIMED SHOT without interruption.

5. [ Electric Barrier II ] – This skill may be the most crucial ability you possess in PVP outside of AIMED SHOT. This skill combos excellently with offhands that you can get that reduce the damage you take by 40%. So you’ll become not only immune to CC but you’ll also take nearly HALF the damage you otherwise would have. This is amazing in situations where you have a Berserker fighting you at melee range and wanting to lock you down for a quick skill. I also sometimes like to throw this down immediately when a Paladin is consistently charging in on me first and trying to combo it up with more control and damage to blow me up instantly. This is a very common situation. It’s also just great for 1 v 1 situations with classes like CRYOMANCER or even other ARCHERS because they want to control you to do their own damage. None of this is even counting for fact that if they cross the fence they become stunned on top of it.

6. [ SIEGE STANCE ] – This is your ultimate attack. It’s uses are a bit limited in PVP because it doesn’t do very much damage and as anyone can tell you, burst is king in PVP. It can be a good harass tool though for early damage as I mentioned above in the SMOKE SCREEN section. It can apply the PYROPHOBIA talent however which is really it’s main use in PVP currently. Allowing your team openings while people are controlled by your abilities, and you are a safe range away. It has a nice bonus of making you immune to CC but this is a meager bonus in most cases because being stationary as an ARCHER is often death. People are aware your ultimate does little damage and will often just charge you to fight knowing you can’t move. The best advice I can give on this skill is to feel it out and see if you think you can apply it early in a round for some free damage. Otherwise it can be mostly ignored in it’s current form for PVP.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1. [ Firey Rapid Fire ] – I’ve run into some archers who prefer this skill over the ELECTRIC RAPID FIRE and it definitely has merits if you wish to push your DPS even more in a fight. Especially because it can be proc’d to be cast for free in the middle of your rotation. I personally prefer the electric version just because CC is so powerful in this game but I can’t say the fire version is bad. I think ultimately you’ll have to decide for yourself what’s more important to you.

-///-TALENTS->

1. [ Electric Disruption ] – This talent is a must for PVP currently. It simply allows you to do 500% damage to shields using your electricity based attacks. The uses for this are obvious. With so many people employing classes like PALADIN, ALCHEMIST, and LIGHT BINDER, there is tons of shields being thrown around. Even GUNNERS have a pretty beefy shield they can employ in a fight. Having the ability to shatter these shields for your team can be the difference between losing and winning versus these classes. In fact I often find myself hanging back in a fight for example where it’s 2 v 1 on a PALADIN and just spamming shield breaks to make them die much faster. This will often result in a more efficient win for your team than just trying to brute force in damage through a shield.

2. [ Pyrophobia ] – Another absolute must for PVP in my opinion. This skill allows you to FEAR enemies using your FIRE based offensive abilities. This can be proc’d off of your ultimate SIEGE STANCE, off FIREY ARROW, or from WILDFIRE ARROW in an AOE, allowing you to fear an entire team at once. Given how squishy an ARCHER is it just makes sense why you need to run with more control and utility to supplement this fragility. Especially since most of your DPS output is easily coming from the single source of AIM SHOT. It can also disrupt certain abilities that’re channelled or have a limited duration of time, such as GUNNERS going into ARTILLERY MODE. The uses for it are near endless.

3. [ Long Queue ] – This talent allows you to extend the duration of ELECTRIC RAPID FIRE by 2 seconds, and also has the added benefit of knocking them to the ground if the entire channel is completed. The reasons I run this is for the extended amount of control, with the added benefit of a free TRIP at the end, essentially. Not to mention extending the duration of your rapid fire just adds more damage to it as a bonus. Further extending the usefulness of this ability in situations such as mentioned above like controlling a NECROMANCER through his undead form.

4. [ Jungle Law ] – Perhaps the most no brainer of all the talents ARCHER possesses. This simply gives your AIMED SHOT a bonus damage of 60% to targets OVER 50% health. The reasons you need this are the most obvious of any talent. More damage on your primary output of DPS is simply amazing.

5. [ Loading Mechanism ] – Probably the second most obvious talent on why it would be needed on an ARCHER. This talent allows you to switch arrow types for 20 less concentration. This translates into simply being able to fire off more AIMED SHOTS in one bar of concentration. This also means you have much less time required to fill up enough concentration to fire off another shot against a target that may be close to death. Simply amazing.

6. [ Superconductivity ] – This talent is also a must in a lot of ways I feel. It allows your ELECTRIC SHOT effect to last 4 seconds longer, and slow for 20% more. Obviously with ARCHER being a class that will be forced to kite people around due to it’s low HP pool, being able to slow them for longer and higher percentage of slow, is simply amazing. Plus it allows you to combo your ELECTRIC SHOT DOT in sync with your FIREY ARROW DOT so that the two are ticking together more closely.

7. [ Electrocapacity ] – This talent is pretty amazing as well since it only enhances the use of your perhaps most important skill, ELECTRIC BARRIER. This talent extends the duration of the barrier by 4 seconds. This means 4 seconds longer of CC immunity, 40% less damage, and a safety net where people will be stunned if they cross the barrier. Everything about it simply works to your advantage in a multitude of situations in PVP.

8. [ Easy Target ] – This talent is pretty handy for adding extra burst in a fight. What it does is effectively allowing you to detonate your burning effects on the target using PIERCING SHOT and dealing 600% bonus damage when this occurs. So if you throw a firey arrow DOT on the target at the beginning of an engagement, follow it up with your AIMED SHOT while the target is feared, and then detonate the DOT with this talent it’s like nearly doing a free AIMED SHOT again.

NOTE: This talent is currently overpowered because the game is on a previous version where this skill had no internal cooldown. Soon a fix will end up rolled out to where this talent has a 10 second cooldown on each target you detonate it on. It can be abused for the time being, but not for long.
[ 7/27/2015 ]

HONORABLE MENTIONS

1. [ Injuring Strikes ] – This talent is definitely a good option as well. It extends the duration of your TRIP knock out by 100%. If you find yourself using TRIP a lot and are finding good combo’s with it that work for you, then you might want to pick this up for your rotation. Especially if you’re finding yourself having trouble effectively kiting targets you’re going against.

2. [ Electric Burns ] – This can be a good talent to slot in if you’re running in a coordinated group who can focus burst on a target in unison. Bonus damage on people who’re under the effects of your CC is a pretty handy thing to have since most PVP revolves around effectively controlling a target and bursting it down before it can react or dodge out of it.

3. [ Electric Field ] – Similar kind of situation here, if you’re on a coordinated team and facing some very aggressive opposition or trying to run a turtle strategy then this talent will allow you to extend the bonuses of your ELECTRIC BARRIER to your allies, making them also immune to CC effects. Given the pure Strength of CC in this game, this can be a pretty huge boon to a fight if you get them to burn their spells early to no affect.

-///-SYMBOLS->

This is probably the most debatable section of a guide in this game. There are many SYMBOLS in this game, many of which are amazingly good. So people will have various opinions on if they wish to maximize damage, utility, or survivability in their SYMBOLS. This section will be the most likely to receive updates into the future and I hope to once I have more knowledge of the ACENSION ATLAS overall, to supply multiple builds depending on what you may wish to focus on. For now however I’ll include what I am using, and plan to use.

1. [ Lacerated Wound ] – This symbol is I think one of the least debatable talents that you can have for any DPS class. It allows you to apply a DOT on the target that’s damage is equal to your LUCK. This DOT ticks over a duration of only 2 SECONDS. This means if you land a critical hit and have 2000 LUCK, it will apply a DOT that ticks for 1000 DAMAGE every SECOND. This is a very high amount of DPS to be gaining when you’re already focusing on LUCK to begin with. That means this DOT will only scale higher and higher.

2. [ Cold Calculation ] – This is your max ARCHER symbol that you get for completing the class. It allows you to do an additional 15% DAMAGE to targets OVER 50% life. Much like your earlier talent JUNGLE LAW, this is just a flat DPS increase that increases your burst. This is not really a debatable symbol in my mind either, for any DPS.

-///-STATS / GEAR->

PRIMARY STATS

1. [ Luck ] – This stat is basically the primary stat for nearly everyone in the game. It’s essentially the god stat of damage in the game. It gives you CRITICAL CHANCE and CRITICAL DAMAGE in one stat. Being that ARCHER is also a DPS class it obviously makes sense that critical is going to be one of the main things you want to emphasize. You’ll want to be trying to find rings with LUCK AND CRITICAL CHANCE on them for optimal setup. There’s not tons of LUCK nodes in the ASCENSION ATLAS but each one is also a premium node to hit, even if you have to go one or two nodes out of your way to get it. This will be your everything. For the min/maxer inside you LUCK calculates as such ..

[ Luck + Critical Chance:
1 point of Luck = 2/3 Critical damage
To calculate the value of Luck you simply multiply Critical Damage by your Critical Chance.
3000 Luck with 30% Critical Chance
3000 Luck = 2000 Critical Damage x 0.3 ( Critical Chance) = 600
600 = Average damage given by Luck + Critical Chance per hit ]

2. [ Strength ] – This is where things can diverge a bit. The second most important stat to an ARCHER can vary depending on what build you wish to go for. The first of these two potential stats is STRENGTH. STRENGTH simply increases the MINIMUM base damage of your skills. Base damage is your character’s basic skill damage. This displays a min / max damage amount which can be influenced by increasing the secondary stat ACCURACY. ACCURACY will increase the minimum damage amount, bringing it closer to the maximum, thus helping increase your potential DPS. Once again for the min/maxer inside of you STRENGTH calculates as such …

[ 1 point of Strength = +0.2 to max range for base damage.
To calculate the value of Strength with Accuracy
1.(Strength x 0.2) * (1+Accuracy%) = + max damage
2.((Strength x 0.2) * Accuracy)*(1+Accuracy%) = +min damage
3000 Strength w/ 30% Accuracy
3000 x 0.2 * 1.3 = +780 to max damage
((3000×0.2)*0.3)*1.3 = +234 to min damage
damage you get from Strength 234-780
(234+780)/2 = 507 = Average damage given by Strength+Accuracy. ]

3. [ Spirit ] – The other stat you can use as a primary is SPIRIT. It is considered more of an end game type of build as well. What SPIRIT does is simply increase the amount of IMPULSE DAMAGE your skills will do that proc IMPULSE CHARGE. Think of it like a guaranteed CRITICAL DAMAGE boost. If you look above your DASH meter you will see a Lightning Bolt looking symbol. This is your IMPULSE CHARGE. If you have a skill that utilizes this, such as AIMED SHOT, whenever you fire your AIMED SHOT and this charge is off cool down, it will do bonus damage depending on how high your SPIRIT is. Again for the min/maxers in the audience…

[ Spirit + Discharge Recovery
1 point Spirit = 1 point Impulse damage
To calculate the value of Spirit + DR
Spirit*(1+DR%) = Impulse damage
3000 Spirit + 30% Discharge Recovery
3000 x (1+0.3) = 3,900 Impulse damage ]

GEAR

1. [ Bow ] – There is a variety of stats that come on bows, but I think the best one is currently the statistic of adding X% of bonus damage on your FIRST AIMED SHOT. This is especially good in KINGESI ARENA because it’s only 3 v 3 and once you die you’re out for the round. Landing a high damage bonus opening shot on someone can sometimes even be enough to kill them outright in a single hit. This bonus stat can get as high at 40%+ on a Blue bow. Given that there’s also no official healing classes, all damage is semi-permanent.

2. [ Sight ] – Your sight is a little bit flexible when it comes to what you wish to slot in here. There’s two primary options in my mind, and both go back to further enhancing your ELECTRIC BARRIER, which as I’ve already said is probably your most vital skill in PVP. The one I personally like to use can reduce the damage you take inside the barrier by up to 40%+, the advantages of this are obvious, when people are focusing on you as they often will you’ll take nearly half the damage. The other will reduce the COOLDOWN of your ELECTRIC BARRIER. Being able to use the barrier more often can also be a huge boon to your combat.

3. [ Amulets ] – I personally emphasize AIMED SHOT damage in this category. These will scale up at your PROFICIENCY does to acquire better amulets. Anything that increases your burst potential in PVP is a great thing to have. And with good amulets you are adding hundreds of damage to your AIMED SHOT. A good one to also get is WILDFIRE damage increases, but I think this will be even more useful in 10 v 10’s than 3 v 3.

4. [ Rings ] – Depending on what build you’re going for, you will want to emphasize LUCK and CRITICAL CHANCE on your rings, alongside STRENGTH or SPIRIT. The ideal last stat here would be HEALTH BONUS. Giving you a complete stat allocation of LUCK, STR/SPIR, CRITICAL CHANCE, and BONUS HP. It’s not easy to have all of these stats in one ring so be prepared to work for it. But these rings are worth their weight in gold so treasure them like the rare diamonds they are!

-///-CLASS MATCH UPS->

This section is going to be based on giving some tips for how to fight versus other classes. This again is a section that can be debated and may vary wildly depending on the build load out of each class. Consider these more of basic guidance for your first steps in to facing these classes in PVP. I will be looking to come back to this section to update it more with information as more chances to versus certain rarer classes especially becomes available.

1. [ Cryomancer ] – The CRYOMANCER fight is fairly straight forward as far as PVP match ups go for the ARCHER. You’re both high DPS burst classes who want to CC the other. Your best friend here is your ELECTRIC BARRIER, making you immune to their CC’s. Focus on trying to land your control on them first, opening up early with a firey arrow to land a PYROPHOBIA and burst them down quickly. They are one of the lowest HP pool classes in game so they will fall fast. Then focus on dashing into their face if you can to land a TRIP and keep them locked down out of the fight.

2. [ Necromancer ] – NECROMANCERS are an interesting fight because you have to keep in mind they have two HP bars to burn through if they are allowed to switch into their lich form and lifesteal back to full. The best strategy to employ here is to save your ELECTRIC RAPID FIRE for when they transform, or right before they do, so you can lock them down for the entire duration of their form and they will immediately die. Be aware also that they have a close range, nearly melee, high damage fear ability. They also have a limitation of being mostly stationary because even their basic left click will not allow them to move.

3. [ Paladin ] – This is one of your tougher match ups in the game, for obvious reasons. They are a tank who has a lot of shielding and even with your talent to help you blow up shields they can mitigate lots more damage than you can. The general strategy I try to employ here is if they put on their shield, knock it off as quickly as possible with your electricity arrows and then sneak in as many AIMED SHOT’S as you can before it’s off cooldown. PALADINS have tons of HP but they still rely PRIMARILY on the shield to mitigate for them. Underneath it they can be as squishy as anyone else. Standing inside your ELECTRIC BARRIER can also be a life saver when you can be immune to their CC and take 40% less damage. Much of what a PALADIN wants to do revolves around controlling you.

4. [ Berserker ] – This may be the hardest match up an ARCHER comes up against if you’re not prepared with your ELECTRIC BARRIER for when they charge in at you. Their opening combo of CC and heavy burst can drop you down to less than half easily with their CRIPPLING BLOW. This can really only be avoided if you’re prepared inside your barrier and can avoid their opening combo of burst. Thankfully they are not overly tanky so they can be bursted down, despite the appearances of their wearing heavier armor!

5. [ LightBinder ] – This is another tough fight to deal with, for similar reasons as most shielding classes. You’ll need to balance the fight you need to destroy their shield with your bonus damage versus shields, to weaving in damage between those shields. LIGHTBINDERS however also possess a high amount of CC and very high potential for damage output. This can often lead to situation where similar to CRYOMANCER you need to drop your ELECTRIC BARRIER down and do as much damage as you can while not affected by their various forms of CC.

6. [ Archer ] – So the classic mirror match. Fighting your own class can either be something you find very easy, or very challenging. Simply knowing what they want to do is not always an equation that will equal into you winning the fight. I think the advice here is quite similar however to fighting most heavy burst DPS in the game. You’ll want to drop your ELECTRIC BARRIER first and try to get your CC on them before they can rotate theirs on you. Often I’m looking to exploit fact I’m immune to CC, land a PYROPHOBIA, weave in a few AIMED SHOT’S and EASY TARGET, then dash in for a TRIP, more shots, and then ELECTRIC RAPID FIRE. At this point they’re usually in execute range or very close, so you simply need to finish it off.

7. [ Gunner ] – This fight can be tough, especially with a good GUNNER across from you. Once again the first thing you’ll likely have to tackle if their shield, bursting that off immediately to get to the squishy flesh underneath. Often this will end up being a DPS race as it often is, and who can control the situation better. The upside here is GUNNER’S aren’t as CC packing as most classes you encounter. Their biggest tool is their flamethrower they’ll use to apply the same kind of effect as your PYROPHOBIA. Keep in mind also they can teleport away to their beacon and try to sneak grab HP Buffs or 2x Damage. Focus on landing your CC rotation on them to keep them controlled and isolating them from the buff spawns.

8. [ Alchemist ] – While I haven’t had a ton of chances to really understand the ALCHEMIST match up yet, what little experience I’ve had with it suggests this might be the hardest fight you have. An ALCHEMIST is what I might call the best all around class in the current meta of the game. They do good damage, amazing CC, and their shield is very strong. On top of all of this they have great mobility and their ability to fly will make it near impossible to keep them from simply exiting the fight to heal or grab a buff drop. Your best option here is trying to control the situation better than they can. Their slimes are extremely annoying and set them up to drop a lot of combo on you that you can’t really avoid unless you have your barrier handy. If you do see them spam their slimes at you then immediately drop it or you’ll be locked down for an extremely long day and vulnerable.

9. [ Slayer ] – This match is hard to gather reliable information on as well because their DOT, BLOOD HARVEST, is currently overpowered beyond belief. Many Slayers are exploiting this fact and are simply spamming this DOT in PVP and running away creating a very powerful poke and run style of gameplay. This has however been nerfed on RU and will be getting fixed. However, general tips for SLAYERS are to never stand still, especially if you see a purple circle under your feet. Be aware of fact they can drop to 1 HP and still live as they drop into stealth. Their shurikens throws stack a buff on you that allows them to critical a charger version of their toss. They have a very high damage combo where they will throw down their mines and chain pull you into them. And their have a lot of mobility. So you mostly want to treat a SLAYER, if they aren’t spamming their DOT, as a typical rogue. Use your CC and control the fight and if they drop into stealth at low health DO NOT assume they died. Look for them to reappear with low health and finish them off, otherwise they’ll sneak away and spam shurikens at you while you’re distracted with someone else or go heal.