Building and Playing

Mage and Tank Archers

by Long_Ranger

Long_Ranger 1/5 8:42pm Huge Guide to Building and Playing Mage and Tank Archers

Note: This is Version II. Several people asked me to add a hunting guide, so I have added some information about where to hunt. I've also discussed the differences between a one- and a two-school Tank Archer, the perennial Life vs Creature issue and also edited the document based on general feedback.

Over the past few months, I've been perusing these boards and many other excellent sites like the Unrepentant Archer (www.pongo.com/brash), gathering as much info as possible regarding Tank and Mage Archers. I have put all my notes into a long article that I hope will help anyone who is thinking of designing an Archer build the right kind of character for him or herself. I have essentially outlined what each character is like to play from the very start to a fairly high level, which skills suit which type of character best, and, ultimately, what type of gaming experience (both positive and negative) each character delivers.

I'd love to hear constructive feedback on what I've written so far so that maybe I can continue to improve this as an FAQ/guide to playing (and not just designing) these kinds of characters. I'd also like to hear more about your favorite hunting grounds so I can continue to develop the hunting element of this article. I have written down most of what I know, so if you know of other places, or have more detail, post below and I will add your comments to this piece.

Thanks to the following people to whom I have often listened and learned something from: Toxeus, Anon 64, Harold_the_Bartender, al-Khabul, Siden, Reighn, goober_nut and Brash_Endeavors

ARCHER MAGE

The Archer Mage is currently one of the most powerful AC character archetypes. Tough to start with, but very powerful at higher levels, a well designed Archer Mage is capable of destroying every regular creature Dereth can throw at him or her.

Magic is this character's life-blood. Life, Creature and Item give enormous amounts of flexibility, and Bow is the finisher. Having powerful magic is vital for this character. Being able to land those vulns is all-important. If your character's magic is too low to do that, you have big problems.

TYPICAL ARCHER MAGE TEMPLATE (thanks to Toxeus) Note: there are many, many variants of this template. This is the most balanced.

Strength: 30
Endurance: 10
Coordination: 100
Quickness: 10
Focus: 100
Self: 80

EXTREME VARIANTS (Note: both require a lot of dedication. They are very hard to play and flawed/problematic until Level 50 and beyond).

OG-ARCHER
MAGE-TANK HYBRID
ARCHER-MAGE SKILLS

The Archer-Mage maximizes skills that draw on Coordination, Focus and Self -- Life Magic, Arcane, Bow, Creature Magic, Item Enchantment, Mana Conversion, Magic Defense, Fletching, Healing.
This type of character can use skills that utilize Coordination and either Quickness or Strength to a reasonable degree -- Melee Defense, Secondary weaponry.
This type of char is very slow and very vulnerable to getting killed for the first 15 levels.
This character needs good inventory management to stay under burden.

PROS
Superb magic user -- can reliably cast the best protections and buffs available.
Can also effectively cast the best offensive magic in the game.
Capable of killing big stuff with only a few shots.
Makes excellent use of all the "free" skills that utilize focus/self (magic defense, loyalty and so on) with comparatively low experience point investment.
A great social char that can offer all sorts of different help to people, from body rescue to buffs.
A very, very powerful character at high levels -- indeed, Archer Mages are one of the strongest character archetypes AC currently enables players to build.
You effectively get two characters for the price of one -- a superb Life Mage and a splendid Archer.

CONS
Has to carry a lot of stuff (comps and so on) and therefore needs high quality, lightweight armor to stay under burden.
Usually has a long pre-fight buff cycle.
Must use magic to kill high level targets.
If not protected properly, can be killed very easily.
Anti-magic and physical debuffs can really hurt.
Not too good with big mobs of creatures.
Low or no Melee Defense offers little or no protection when tackling big creatures.
Hard to play at low levels.

IDEALLY
By L45, an Archer Mage should be able to buff his or her Life to around 300 and cast VI's in all three schools. Bow skill should also be close to 300 buffed.

GENERAL NOTES
This char uses magic offensively and defensively -- to weaken the enemy, and to protect and bane his or her self.
With a char like this, don't expect to take on large mobs of creatures, or to go toe-to-toe with the really big stuff. Even if you have Melee Defense trained and are fully buffed, when taking on a mob you will still take large amounts of damage in a fairly short amount of time. This becomes less true at much higher levels (L40+), where your VI protects and banes mean you will be able to do a pretty decent Tank impersonation.
Fights between you a big creature are generally short in duration, with more time spent prepping and landing offensive spells on creatures than actually firing your bow.
At higher levels (L45+) you will be able to kill pretty much every regular creature in the game with ease.
The Life-specced Archer Mage is definitely the most formidable type of character in AC right now.

SOCIAL FIGHTING
In an organized fight situation (questing), you are behind the front line. You are there to Drain, Vuln, to heal and to get shots in whenever you can. When it really comes to the crunch, your primary task is to support the Tanks for as long as possible and stay alive to help complete the mission.

FINALLY
Do not play this character if you want to take on mobs.
Do not play this character if you get frustrated easily.
Do not play this character if you want to run around blasting at everything, Quake-style.
Do not play this character if you're not willing to put some considerable effort into learning spells and generally maintaining your char.

Play this character because you are a tactical, one-on-one fighter who loves magic and really adores the ability to drop the biggest stuff in the game with just a couple of shots.

AND REMEMBER
This character is ALL ABOUT THE OFFENSE. It's all about casting those vulns -- so make sure your character is designed to land spells on big creatures or your potential as an Archer Mage will be seriously hampered.

LIFE AS AN ARCHER MAGE

PLAY STYLE
A tactical hunter that usually spends more time preparing than fighting, due to the two-shot nature of his or her killing style.
Hunting tends to be a little less action-packed than a Tank Archer because, generally speaking, enemies have to be dealt in ones or twos.
Generally has to avoid mobs unless they are of a considerably lower level than him or her.
Bow is generally preferred for this type of char as it is lighter, faster-firing and is quicker to switch from a drawn bow to a wand than it is from a drawn Xbow to wand.

RECOMMENDED HUNTING PLACES:

STARTING OUT (Under 20)
This is the toughest time for this char. And it really is tough. You are slow, you have no endurance and your health is a pitiful 5 points. Getting your hands on as many II and III creature buffs will really help you out during this period. The single-most useful item I think is the Life Giver necklace, which ups your life by 300% out the box. Add Endurance II or III to this and you're looking a lot more viable as a warrior.

Getting help is highly recommended, and you can level very fast if you have a person/people to help you. You can do it yourself, but you have to use hit-and-tactics, which makes progress very slow and frustrating. Bottom line is if you are going to build a char like this, you should find a patron, friend or ask on the boards and find someone to help out. Mages are the best help, because they can buff you and vuln the baddies, making progress incredibly rapid. But even without Vulns, as long as your partner can keep the enemy occupied, you'll still level fairly quickly (you'll just use about four times more arrows/quarrels).

SOUTH OF BAISHI
Head towards the Cit South of Baishi. There are all kinds of Matties, Mosswarts and Lugians. Get your Patron/friend to Tank them while you shoot them down. Even without many buffs you can kill big creatures. Just make sure your patron/friend is ready to fire off a shot to kill any creatures that turn and run towards you. Like I said, this is tough, but if you get into a rhythm you can go from level 1-5 in less than an hour, and get to level 10 or so within a few hours. After that life is still tough (pretty much all the way up to around L20), but you'll be over the nightmare starting hump.

QALBAR
Same as above. Head towards the Cit, and you will find plenty of ideal creatures to blast into oblivion.

EASTHAM BEACHES/MAYOI BEACHES/ARWIC MOUNTAIN PASS
Grommies, Mud/Wooden/Water/Ice Golems and lower-level stuff like Mites, Bandies and Monougas. Again, let your friends do the tanking, and just keep on firing. If you are doing things yourself, this is the place where you should go. It's a lot less dangerous than Baishi and Qalbar. Once you hit Level 10, head to Baishi or Qalbar.

LOW LEVEL (Levels 20-30)
You should be casting IV's now, and are therefore ready top move onto bigger and better things.

FORT TETH.
Ideal place for a budding Archer Mage (late teens and up) to brush up his or her skills. Lots of mid to high-level creatures to test your mettle, and usually nicely spaced apart so you can pick them off one by one. It's a dangerous place and you can run into really nasty stuff, so stay close to the Fort first of all. But as you develop, you can run further afield and take on the bigger stuff.

MATTY CAVE (Level 20 and up)
Can be a little tough for Archer Mages due to the mob-nature of the spawns, but if you're careful you can have plenty of fun in here. It's usually empty, and is populated by plenty of Matties of all walks of life. Decent loot (orbs/wands/jewelry) and fairly good xp. The real reason why you should be here, though, is to shoot Greater Matties for horns so you can get the first bits for your comp bow.

LUGIAN CITADEL. (Level 20 and up -- some have successfully survived from their late teens)
This place is great from the late teens to mid 20's. The Cit farthest South of Baishi is generally the least crowded. The one nearer Baishi is more crowded, and the Qalbar one more crowded still. It's recommended to go to one of the more populous Cits first, as you will find safety in numbers. Experience is good here, and it won't be long until you get to your mid-20's and are ready for BSD.

Oh, and don't forget to pick up some Lugie sinews for a comp bow. Usually you can find them lying around the floor. Otherwise, blast some Gigas and you'll soon have what you need.

BSD (Level 25 and upwards)
If you have Life specced, you are laughing your ass off. Troll your way over to BSD, bane and protect yourself to the hilt and go drain the monkeys. The experience will have you creaming your slacks, believe me.

This part of the character's life is probably the most action-packed he or she will experience in terms of mob-frenzy madness. Basically, you're going toe-to-toe with Tuskers, draining them of health and stamina --- and vulning so that others can kill them. You can skim if you want, but I think that is a fairly dishonorable way of doing things unless you're severely vitaed, or your buffs have just run out and you're simply trying to survive. Otherwise run with the crowd, heal and vuln when you can and generally be a thoughtful, unselfish player. Not only will you gain xp a-plenty, but you'll also win some friends who are usually more than willing to help if you become unstuck.

Big tip: don't forget to learn "square dancing". That is, when you are being pursued by a big baboon, learn how to run around a column until it gets stuck on the opposite side, trying to run directly at you. When this happens, you will have plenty of time to drain them to death.

DUNGEON OF CORPSES
Another fun place that offers good loot and xp. Play style has to be more Tank-like as you'll be taking on mobs and won't have much time for magic, so protect and bane and you will be fine. This is a good place to hunt if you're looking for rav guts. You should already have horns and sinews, so guts are the next thing you need to be able to build your comp.

MID LEVEL (30-45)

THE ISLANDS (late 20's and upwards)
Really good hunting grounds that offer plenty of room to maneuver, have lots of creatures to shoot and are generally not very populated by hunters. Great xp and loot. The down-side is that the higher level creatures are fairly resistant to magic, but they are easy to shoot down because most have fairly low Missile Defense. Start at the Westernmost Island first, and work your way to the Easternmost Island as you improve your abilities. Bane yourself with electrical, flame, acid and piercing protections and you should be able to play Tank style and have lots of fun.

BSD
Still great experience, and it should be getting increasingly easy to live here by this time thanks to your V buffs.

OBSIDIAN PLAINS (L35+)
Very dangerous, but this is where you really learn your craft as an Archer Mage. Single out the enemy, land those vulns and bring them down. Amazing xp. Amazing loot. But it's no picnic.

HIGH LEVEL (45+)

AERLINTHE
This is where you should be by this point. It's the best place to hunt in Dereth, offering the highest xp and the best loot.

TANK ARCHER

The Tank Archer is a very fun character. Designed to take on Mobs with a wrecking crew mentality and be able to go toe-to-toe with Dereth's biggest denizens, a truly successful Tank is built around defense. Due to the play style of this kind of char, you must ensure that this character is built to withstand enormous amounts of punishment and be able to survive very protracted fights with the toughest creatures in the game. Without the right protections, you will die very quickly.

TWO-SCHOOL TANK ARCHER
Item is a given for a Tank Archer. But arguments rage as to whether Creature or Life is the best choice for a two-schooler. It's a tough decision, and there are many good arguments for both. However, I have these two observations that for me over-ride all other arguments:-

If you lose your Creature buffs and you can't cast Creature spells -- not a huge problem. You can still bane/enchant your armor and protect yourself with Life magic. You're weaker than you were, but are not really under too much threat and body recovery is generally straightforward.

If you lose your Life protections and you can't cast Life spells -- big problem. You can bane/enchant your armor, but you're completely unprotected from specific attacks. You're very vulnerable, and body recovery can be very tough.

The bottom line: Creature buffs make you stronger. Life buffs keep you alive longer. When it comes to the crunch, which would you rather be?

That is the only reason why I think Life is a marginally better choice. Frankly, there are many upsides to Creature, and to be honest, as long as you are aware of the potential hazard of losing your protections, you can set up your char to avoid those problems and be fine. Some people just prefer the spells Creature delivers. Some prefer Life. Look at both sets of spells and decide which one best suits your play style, and make your choice. When it really comes down to it, the gameplay experience is very similar regardless of which school you choose.

One thing for sure -- you'll inevitably have to find clothing/jewelry/armor that feature buffs/protects from whichever school you didn't take. Prioritize what you need, and then start looking. You have five jewelry slots, upper and lower body underclothes, hands, feet and head, and then whatever buffs your armor and weapons gives you. Quite a lot, it must be said, but finding the right combination of stuff can be a frustrating and time-consuming experience. However, it's perfectly possible to set yourself up with everything you need and still have room for bonuses.

ITEM-ONLY ARCHERS
Known as "Pure Tanks", Item-only Archers are a perfectly viable character archetype, as long as they are correctly designed. My L44 Tank Archer is a Pure Tank, and I have plenty of fun.

The worst nightmare of a Tank is his or her buffs and protects suddenly running out in the middle of a mob. I find I can deal with banes running out if I am still protected from whatever type of attack is hitting me, but the other way around usually involves a trip to the Lifestone. The only way you can ensure that doesn't happen is by using items that enchant you with the spells you need and making sure they're always full of mana.

Another benefit of having the bulk of your buffs on items is that buff cycles are super-fast. Basically you put on your gear, bang out your banes and enchant your weapon and get on with destroying things.

If you do go one-school, just remember that you will be spending a lot of time looking for the right combination of items (clothes/armor/jewelry) to give you all the buffs and protections you need to survive. Also make sure you make your Arcane Lore as high as possible so you can eventually wear V and VI items. I feel speccing Lore is important, though you can get away with it trained if you really need the points for something else. Just remember that you'll have to put a good amount of time and effort to ensure that you have all the buffs you need, or you'll have fatal gaps in your defenses. Some people find that frustrating... but personally I love shopping and trading for items and think it's a lot more fun than learning magic spells (my second rationale behind going Item-only, he he he).

If you are going the one-school Archer route, I think taking Missile Defense is a good idea. Firstly, it gives you access to a vast range of armor that's always very cheap because few people can use it. Secondly, Missile Defense completes a Pure Tank's defenses. You can take on the enemy and everything it (literally) throws at you.

With a char like this (indeed, I think it's true for most Tank Archers), I also highly recommend seriously developing a Melee weapon as backup. The one thing that has saved my ass more times than I care to mention when the tide of battle is turning in favor of my foe is my ability to quickly switch from Xbow to Dagger and hide behind a shield. Sounds really dumb, but even a tiny buckler with around SL150 and a few choice banes can help you survive what would have been death-delivering blows, giving you the precious seconds you need to heal/recover/do whatever you need to do to survive.

The other benefit a Melee weapon delivers is much more flexibility on the battlefield. Even though you may be protected up the gills, when you're firing an X/bow, you ultimately take anything that comes at you on the chin. With some creatures, I find it's simply easier to grab my dagger and shield and slice them to bits, rather than trying to be the hero and bring them down with my Xbow. Some purist Archers might call this cheating, but hey. Archer-Mages have all the help they need from magic. Why can't Non-Magician Archers get a little help from weapons?

TYPICAL TANK ARCHER TEMPLATE (Thanks again to Toxeus) Note: there are many, many variants of this template. This is the most balanced.

Strength: 30
Endurance: 10
Coordination: 100
Quickness: 100
Focus: 80
Self: 10

EXTREME VARIANTS (Note: both require a lot of dedication. They are very hard to play and flawed/problematic until Level 50 and beyond).

FOCUS TANK
PURE TANK
TANK ARCHER SKILLS

Maximizes skills that draw on Coordination, Quickness and Focus: Melee Defense, X/Bow, Arcane, Fletching, Healing, Dagger
Can use skills that utilize Focus and Self to a reasonable degree: Life Magic, Creature Magic, Item Enchantment, Mana Conversion, Magic Defense.

PROS
Has excellent evasive skills.
Capable of taking on many creatures at once.
Reasonable protects and buffs (but usually around 20 points (or one level of magic) behind a similarly-aged Archer Mage).
Carries less comps than a mage, but needs very good armor.
Relatively short buff cycle.
Anti-magic debuffs no problem. Physical debuffs can seriously hurt.
Very fast runner and if designed correctly can use his or her racial weapon to excellent effect (ideally, it should be dagger to capitalize on the 100-100 or so starting coordination and quickness of a typical Tank Archer template).
You effectively get two characters for the price of one -- a superb Archer and a splendid Meleer.

CONS
Incredibly hard/near impossible to land offensive magic spells on high level creatures.
Has to rely heavily on armor/clothing/jewelry for protections/buffs. Finding the right combo of buffs takes time and effort.
Can't two-shot big stuff (expect to use tons more quarrels/arrows than a Mage).
Fighting very high level creatures requires a lot of very careful preparation -- if you don't protect yourself correctly against what you are fighting, you will die quickly. If you don't fire the right quarrels or arrows to do maximum damage, you will also get into serious trouble very quickly.
Fighting is generally very protracted, and often becomes hit and run with really huge creatures. Because you have no offensive magic, you have to kill creatures the hard way -- by standing toe-to-toe and plugging away until the enemy finally kicks the bucket.

IDEALLY
By L45, a Tank Archer should be able to buff Melee to around 300, and be able to cast V spells. Also, the char's Arcane Lore should be high enough (170+ buffed) to enable him or her to wear jewelry and clothing with V and VI buffs/protects. Xbow is generally preferred for a Tank Archer because it is very important to deliver the highest possible damage when going toe-to-toe with big monsters. Also, this type of char doesn't need to swap items very often, so it's easier to live with the fact that swapping a drawn xbow for a wand, for example, is much slower than going from drawn bow to wand.

GENERAL NOTES
This char should use magic defensively for banes and/or protects and buffs. Don't expect to be able to use magic offensively -- you will quickly get frustrated at being repeatedly resisted by high level creatures. Fights are long and tough and when you're fighting a very high level creature, you have to use the right protects, banes and quarrels/arrows or you'll get killed quickly. With the right kind of banes, protects and quarrels, however, you will be able to go toe-to-toe with anything.

SOCIAL FIGHTING
In an organized fight situation (questing), you are the front line that exists to protect the non-Melee portion of your group. When it comes to the crunch, you are there to occupy the enemy's attention, deliver as much damage as possible and kill all threats to your party. The thing I think is very important to remember is that you are a Tank, and ultimately you're the person who lays down his or her life so that the rest of your party can succeed. Sometimes it's tough being a char like this… but being the hero always is.

FINALLY
Do not play this character if you have Life envy and feel inadequate if you can't two-shot something.
Do not play this character if you want to use magic offensively.

Play this char if you love running around like a maniac, getting right into the middle of the action, taking on many creatures at once and generally causing madness and mayhem on the battlefield.

AND REMEMBER
This character is ALL ABOUT THE DEFENSE. Protect. Bane. Evade. Concentrate on those things, and your high x/bow skill will take care of everything else. If you don't have super-strong defenses, your character will be completely ineffective as a Tank.

LIFE AS A TANK ARCHER

PLAY STYLE
Very aggressive, arcade style -- makes AC as close to Quake or Unreal Tournament as is possible.
If you like running around shooting at anything and everything, this is the character for you.
It's all about the protects and banes, which give you the ability to endure the very protracted fights you'll inevitably have with high level creatures.

RECOMMENDED HUNTING PLACES:

STARTING OUT (Levels 1-15)
Levels 1-5 are the toughest time for this char. However, you are quick and have very good evasive capabilities to help you keep every one of your feeble 5 life points. Getting your hands on as many II and III creature buffs will really help you out during this period. The single-most useful item I think is the Life Giver necklace, which ups your life by 300% out the box. Add Endurance II or III to this and you're looking a lot more viable as a warrior.

Getting help is highly recommended, and you can level very fast if you have a person/people to help you. You can do it yourself, but you have to use hit-and-run tactics, which makes progress very slow and frustrating. Mages are the best help, because they can buff you and vuln the baddies, making progress incredibly rapid. But even without Vulns, as long as your partner can keep the enemy occupied, you'll still level fairly quickly (you'll just use about four times more arrows/quarrels).

SOUTH OF BAISHI
Head towards the Cit South of Baishi. There are all kinds of Matties, Mosswarts and Lugians. Get your Patron/friend to tank them while you shoot them down. Even without many buffs you can kill big creatures. Just make sure your patron/friend is ready to fire off a shot to kill any creatures that turn and run towards you. Like I said, this is tough, but if you get into a rhythm you can go from level 1-5 in less than an hour, and get to level 10 or so within a few hours. After that you'll still be weak, but well over the starting hump.

QALBAR
Same as above. Head towards the Cit, and you will find plenty of ideal creatures to blast into oblivion.

EASTHAM BEACHES/MAYOI BEACHES/ARWIC MOUNTAIN PASS
Grommies, Mud/Wooden/Water/Ice Golems and lower-level stuff like Mites, Bandies and Monougas. Again, let your friends do the tanking, and just keep on firing. If you are doing things yourself, this is the place where you should go. It's a lot less dangerous than Baishi and Qalbar. Once you hit Level 10, head to Baishi or Qalbar.

LOW LEVEL (under L30)
You should be casting IV's now, and are therefore ready top move onto bigger and better things.

FORT TETH.
Great fun for Tanks who are in their late teens and up. Lots of mid to high-level creatures to test your mettle, and usually nicely spaced apart so you can pick them off one by one, or take on a selective mob to brush up your tanking skills. It's a dangerous place and you can run into really nasty stuff, so stay close to the Fort first of all. But as you develop, you can run further afield, take on the bigger stuff and take on mobs like a maniac.

MATTY CAVE (L20 and up)
Great fun for a Tank. Usually empty, and populated by plenty of Matties. Decent loot (orbs/wands/jewelry), and fairly good xp. The real reason why you should be here, though, is to shoot Greater Matties for horns so you can get the first bits for your comp bow.

LUGIAN CITADEL. (Level 20 and upwards -- some have successfully survived from their late teens)
Great place to level. For a Tank Archer, I feel that this place is great from the late teens to mid 20's. The Cit farthest South of Baishi is generally the least crowded. The one nearer Baishi is more crowded, and the one near Qalbar is more crowded still. Go to one of the more populous Cits first, as you will find safety in numbers. When you go, head straight in the direction you exit the portal and take the first fork right and you'll find plenty of things to shoot. Once you've reached your Mid-20's, you can start hunting in the Giga room and increase your xp potential. Take a left from the entrance, take the first left turn and head all the way down to the Giga room (be careful if you're on your own -- this part of the Cit is packed with baddies). I like the Giga room because Archers can ping the four Gigas that spawn on the top platform in the last room before the Melee boys get the chance to destroy them. Big xp here.

Oh, and you will have no problem picking up Lugie sinews for a comp bow. Usually you can find them lying around the floor if you need them.

OHN (Level 28 and up)
BSD is out for Tanks at this time. You'll get really smacked about. But no worries -- OHN lies in wait and it's great. Make sure your Melee is around 240 buffed and that you can cast at least IV piercing and acid banes, and you should be fine. Take on Workers first until you're able to fight without having to run away, then try tackling Soldiers.

DUNGEON OF CORPSES
Another fun place that offers good loot and xp. This is a great Tank spot as you'll be taking on mobs, so protect and bane and you will be fine. This is a good place to hunt if you're looking for rav guts. You should already have horns and sinews, so guts are what you need next for your comp.

MID LEVEL (30-45)

THE ISLANDS (late 20's and upwards)
I think this place is a Tank's paradise. It's much easier to hunt here as a Tank than it is as an Archer Mage. There are tons of good hunting grounds that offer plenty of room to maneuver and lots of creatures to shoot, from <20 to >75. Generally devoid of other hunters, this place offers tons of variety and excellent loot and xp. Start at the Westernmost Island first, and work your way to the Easternmost Island as you improve your abilities. Bane yourself with electrical, acid, flame and piercing protections and you should have lots of fun.

BSD
Once you can cast V banes and protects, try this place out. Off-peak it's really tough as you'll have problems with mobs, but running with a crew of people when it's busy, you will be able to deliver plenty of damage and avoid getting smacked around by several Tuskers at once. Build yourself up, and eventually you will do fine here. Just don't expect overnight success. Surviving in BSD is one of the toughest tests for a Tank Archer. Meleers have shields. Lifers have drains. You've got your x/bow. Um. Yeah.

OBSIDIAN PLAINS (L35+)
Fun, fun, fun. Going here will make you realize how much fun being a Tank is. It's very exciting, very dangerous, but this is where you can really test how good your Tank truly is... and also learn how important those banes and protects really are.

Basically, run around and have a blast. Don't overdo it and take on too many big creatures at once. Pace yourself, learn how to fight each different creature and learn your craft. The xp is excellent here, and the loot is the best this side of Aerlinthe. And once you really learn how to do it, you can go on h-u-g-e killing sprees...

HIGH LEVEL (45+)

AERLINTHE
This is where you should be by this point. It's the best place to hunt in Dereth, offering the highest xp and the best loot.


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