Silkroad Online Forums

I've noticed many posts on various forums similar to the following...

"OMGWTF I have a bow.. now what do I do with it!?"

Well, I'm here to help!

Choose a suitable build.
I'm in favor of pure str or str-based hybrids for bow, but that's just me.
I don't recommend pure int for bow because pure ints have nukes, which are already long range attack. They also have low life and a bow does not offer any defense, so you're more susceptible to getting owned.
Feel free to play around with builds a bit to see which you're most happy with and settle with that.

Which element?
Cold is popular among bowmen. It'll slow the enemy down so that you'll may be able to kill them before they even touch you. STRs can also go fire. However, it is entirely up to you and what you feel most comfortable with.

Now on to SKILLS, the fun part!
Bowmen necessities include...


Anti-devil!
This is a must. Max it and get all books. It's a great starter and has an awesome critical stack.


Arrow Combo.
Get them. ALL 3 BOOKS EVEN!


ZOMG A HAWK!
Woo, the hawk! The hawk allows you to hit harder. It's pretty hot.
The black hawk is not worth it in my opinion. Sure, it looks cool & hits for ya, but it doesn't do much damage unless you lvl it way up. Even then, a white/blue hawk may enable you to get more damage in overall.


Demon soul arrow.
So you can shoot further. (Especially useful skill for hunting uniques like Isy and training.)


Berserker arrow.
Gives you that great AOE (aka Area of Effect).
However, it's not necessary if you're an int-heavy build with a nuke.
The third book of berserker arrow is incredible though! (lvl 69 mastery x.x)


Go Strong Bow!
Great starter for those harder to kill things. It's a bit slow, but the damage it creates makes it worth it. Don't recommend it for PvP (cause it's slow!), but some people can pull it off.


Mind Concentration.
Pacheon's passive skill. It raises attack rating.

Feel free to play around with your bow skills. Have fun with them.

That's all I've got... now scram.

( Hope you found this useful. )


Special thanks to http://sro.mmosite.com/ for the skill icons.
Edit: Get Berserker arrow!

thanks haight,.. you're awesome!

Short and good. No faults except maybe not putting sp in the berserk arrow but thats just me.

what about autumn wind flame??

i founbd autunm wind useful for doing a perfect amount of atacks in 1imbue but the problem is it gets useless fast. i plan to keep it up until i get strong bow then delvling it

something i would like to add, i would not suggest arrow combos for fire though. the main reason you get arrow combos are to get more imbue shots which i see useful for ice but not for fire. but now with the auto pot system i think that the arrow combos are completely useless. the auto pot takes away the effects and it does far too little damage to be useful..

In regards to PvP.

But arrow combo in PvE is all good.

Don't get autumn wind.

I've got this basic noob question. When you say to max Anti-devil arrow for example, do you mean to max all books or just the last (so the strongest one). Does maxing previous books give any bonus to the stronger ones ? (something like synergies in Diablo II ) ???

in order to get the next book you must max the previous one with anti devil. Even If that wan't the case I would do it.

The best thing about the 2-3-4 arrow combo is that you can use one after the other. Its great for ice archers and pvp.

Now go in and do all the force skills

Jk, Great Guide.. (not because im ur guildmate)

maybe i should do one for glaive users ^^

Very nice guide good job. Short and sweet, just what I like to see! You get an A!

Strong bow is a GREAT first opener for a fight. Its too slow mid-fight, because they will pot back health. But when you crit and one hit another player, you probobly won't regret learning this skill.

With a good STR build and decent weapon, a crit strongbow should take down (or nearly take down) a mob your level.

Its also good for same level or harder mobs.

- Strong bow + imbune + devil + 4 arrow for mobs above you.
- Strong bow + imbune + devil for mobs your level.
- Devil and 4 arrow for mobs below you.

Archers own the most where mobs are easy and populated, like ishades. Theres no running involved. Just point click and keep killing like a machine. Watch the XP and item drops cash in.

For PVP, open with the strong bow. But then cycle back and forth between your devil bow, and four arrow. You must wear him down fast enough that he can't pot. If you need a 'reset', back off a bit and start over with the strong bow.

Archers are great in jobs. If someone is running or passing by on a horse, NAIL those hotkeys and watch em fall. If someone is higher than you, you get a free first hit if you have a little distance. Kill em in the back.

Ice or fire? This is a huge debate.

In all my experiences, ice did the least damage. I'm not scared of it one bit unless they are higher than me. Its annoying, it cancels my spells and it takes longer. But with someone the same level, they cant get my life past half way.

this guide is great thx alot. and yuor sdditioon was good to ryoko

Very good and useful.... mind doing an int-lightning spear one next?

ZOMG A HAWK!
Woo, the hawk! The hawk allows you to hit faster and harder. It's pretty hot.
The black hawk is not worth it in my opinion. Sure, it looks cool & hits for ya, but it doesn't do much damage unless you lvl it way up. Even then, a white/blue hawk may enable you to get another hit or a few in, which deals more damage overall.


That's not true.
Attack RATING isn't attack SPEED , if it would be so higher lvl glaviers would be hitting insanely fast for a glavie cause they have much attack rating on their glavie

hi , i just started to play silkroad recently. I train my archer with electric element. I wonder is it good for archer since stun electric got stun ?

I was thinking about the same thing. I still haven't decided between Cold or Lightning. It seems not too many people have tried it.

Wait but if you add SP for all those aforementioned skills than you wouldn't have enough SP for force. Since I'm deciding on 6 skills with 50 SP. Also is it possible to reallocate SP?

Edit: Sorry for double posting I should've made new thread.

Lightning doesn't stun, it lowers the opponent's parry. Nothing wrong with going with lightning. I know of a few lightning archers, all str-builds though.



You could get force. Try to focus only on 3 or 4 masteries. ^_^ ie: Lightning, Bow, Force or Lightning, Fire, Bow, Force , etc.

Reallocating skills is possible. You can obtain a curst heart quest from the herbalist or purchase Skill Reallocation Potions from the Item Mall.
(Guide on Curst Hearts = http://www.silkroadforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=243)

THAT IS A HUGE HELP, IVE ALREADY GOT A LVL 30 GLAVE CHARACTER, BUT IM REALLY INTERESTED IN HAVIN AN ARCHER AND KNOWING THIS HELPS ALOT... UR A CHAMPO

Thanks for the tips. Ya I decided to choose my class as a Ice/Fire Archer with Lightning Buffs for the leftover SP. Thanks for the guide!

Well, ill ask the same as I asked in hellsharpt's fire bow guide..

I think you should just get the skills that you will use, whether they be the 'good' ones or not. So long as you use them. Don't wanna waste SP!

It's not likely that you'll be using every bow skill..autumn wind is the black sheep of the bunch, i believe. With only 2 masteries, your skills will have high potential and you shouldn't have a problem with SP.

For a moment, I was thinking, 'Wait, NO grasswalk?!?' but I remembered that you could buy speed potions.

Goodluck!

yeah, thats what I figured too... Archers have alot of good skills though..
And yeah, alot of people are like.. "no grasswalk..??? dude, are you high?"

but you can make potions, I only fail alchemy anyway, so might aswell use my elements for that..

thanks

ahhh... ive been quite an oldy about this game, but still i got a question about ur build...(no offense)... wen u add int, not only du u add mana but u also add ur magical dmg... the more u add em the more they increase, that is the reason y int-nukers have a lot of dmg. the only disadvantage about it is dat u dont have enough defence. dats the tym that strenght type comes to an advantage... wen u increase ur strenght u have enough def. and physical dmg., but lack of magical offense...

here's is the catch... we use imbues right? and dat is magical... right? so my question is... y increase on strenght if we use imbues which is based on magical dmg? physical dmg is noo use...(except for glaves) if we base on history archers' disadvantage is dat wen they are hit they are killed immediatly but the advantage about is dat they are long range... then fire comes in... fire makes a good dmg., epsecially wen u are int. before the monster comes to u, the monster is already dead because of ur dmg. sometimes ice takes a little tym of propability to freeze the monster... so... think about it...

it is up to u if want to be a nuker... but it is also up to u if u want to live on an exciting lyf as an archer...

think about it ok??? and send me a comment if u dont want my suggestion...

my high level hero xD

..godam its late.............

you forgot to mention the atumn skill, but it's useless anyway, so o well

Alright. INT-Bow is just not a good build for PVP. However, in PVE, INT-Bow's damage surpasses that of a same lvl STR-Bow as mages deal massive damage. If one wants to live an 'exciting' life as an archer and nuke as well, one can use bow for PVE and go sword/shield for PVP using nukes or whatever to their advantage.

Pure STR archers have very high crits, which is why PHYS damage is important to STR-bows as well as a high Critical stat on their bow. Criticals for INT-bows are MUCH weaker.



Go to sleep honeybun lol. =P

ahhh... crits depends on your weapon... (if u are int) and dahhh... even if i dont use a nuke during PvP y do i survive strength archers??? So??