DDO’s AAA (Part 4)

Acid Arcane Archer, The High Elves Levels (15 – 20)

*Author’s note: A big thank you to Strimtom for sharing his build! Check out his stream on Twitch: Strimtom.

*Strimtom’s Build Note: This build is recommended for new players and first lives, but NOT reaper mode. It can be modified as a Reaper support character if you drop the damage a bit and instead focus on Paralyzation Arrows. See comments section for Part Three of this series for ideas on how to get this accomplished.

Overview

In the first part of this series, we covered the overview of Strimtom’s Acid Arrow (also known as the Acid Arcane Archer build). In the second and third, we went into a little more detail on levels one through fourteen, and how to play. This is the fourth blog of the series, and we shall focus on the final levels of Heroic.

Remember that as you level, you’ll want to continue to upgrade to the appropriate gem augments (Ruby of Corrosion).

If you solo, you’ll want to keep your hireling to accordance with your character level, so as to keep both of you alive! If you happened to get a DDO Starter Pack, that includes a level three gold seal hireling that you can use to complement your at-level healer. If you’ve purchased the Mists of Ravenloft expansion, you’ll have access to another gold seal hireling at level ten, as well as Barovian Longbow, which is basically the same as the Silver Longbow, but with a huge upgrade!

 

AAA enhancement setup, level 20 (ignore the extra point in Human.

 

Levels 15 to 20

As stated in the last post, beyond level 10, not much of the build or strategy changes. If you solo, kite mobs and try to get them to run at you in single file fashion. Once you get Improved Precision, you’ll be shooting through mobs if you target the furthest enemy.

A level appropriate Ruby of Corrosion from the DDO Store (costs DDO points, but is rather cheap), or the Auction House (more expensive), or gather enough Mysterious Remnants from Champions and turn them in to the Collector in the Hall of Heroes.

When you get Sniper Shot and Merciful Shot together, you’ll want to use Merciful Shot right after Sniper Shot so you can see large damage numbers on just your physical damage alone. Once you begin to take Deepwood Stalker enhancements, your chances of doubleshot processing each time you fire is increased.

Feats like Weapon Focus: Ranged will give you more ranged power, and thus aid your quest to incur upon your foes utter devastation.

Tourmalina decides on Snake Soup for dinner.

 

How to play the build: The playstyle of this build at high levels does not change from that of the mids, though as you get closer to twentieth level, you will probably notice a decrease in damage, and thus effectiveness. If you solo, you’ll find dungeons and mobs more and more difficult to defeat. I have found that keeping at least one (if not two) levels banked to be the most effective countermeasure.

Healers will continue to be your platinum purchased hirelings of choice.

Gear: You’ll want to watch for what levels you can upgrade your Ruby of Corrosion, as this will stack with your spellcraft to increase acid damage. Get a Silver Longbow asap, and a Barovian Longbow if available. No other gear is required, though items with the “ghostly”, “blurry”, “Heavy Fortification”, and CON will aid in your survival. Properties that raise your DEX or STR will boost your damge, as will “Impulse” for when you swap to Force.

Tourmalina gets herself a new rug

Other Tips and Tricks:

Once you reach 20, you may want to start the Token farming process so that you’re able to reincarnate. Whether you Heroic True Reincarnate,  Iconic Reincarnate, Racial Reincarnate, or stick with hit through epics, the fact that you’ll need Tokens of the Twelve is an inevitability.

You may decide you want to keep your beloved murder machine through epics, maybe even keep it level capped for one reason or another, though I think you’ll find better builds for epic content (such as the Sacred Vanguard Paladin). If so, you’ll want to focus on the Shiradi Champion Epic Destiny.

If you bank 2 levels, once you fulfill eighteenth level, you’re going to want to take twentieth level, since 1,900,000 is the Heroic XP cap. Also, Epic Destinies do not make use of Heroic XP, so you’ll want to take that final Heroic level so as to start the acquisition of those advantages.

So there we have it, a basic look at how to play the AAA build through mid levels. The minimum requirements for gear make this an extremely good build for new players and first lives.

In the next AAA post, I’ll cover destiny choices, playstyle, and try to give some gear advice. Of the AAA build, that post shall be my final.

I’m sure I’ve missed some things, and if someone points them out or I think of them later, I’ll add them.

Have questions, hints, suggestions, or critiques? Feel free to share them in the comment section below! I’m always looking to improve both my writing and builds!

Thank you so much for the time you spent here. I appreciate your patronage, and hope you’ll visit again!