Character Link: https://te4.org/characters/87858/tome/2 ... b48b281bbf
Archer's Biggest Weakness Circumvented:
This win was made possible almost entirely thanks to a game changing discovery: When you target the tile behind (even if outside max range) an enemy with Slow Motion, Gravity Locus, Projectile Deflection or other similar talents, the talents don't work against your arrows. In this regard, bow are superior compared to slings. (Take that Called Shots!)
Edit: If this gets fixed, I propose a beam ego on ammo, or at the very least a damage buff to Quiver of the Sun.
Edit 2: And/or an archer revamp as well! Although it can be hard to keep archer as a newbie ranged class then, intuitive shot was a perfect step in the right direction, and most of bpat's and blakmane's ideas look good.
How to not kill myself:
As for enemies that pull you or make you kill yourself with your own projectiles (Bone Grab, Battle Call, Mindhook, Shadow Ambush, Shattering Shout, Slow Motion + Shattering Shout etc), it was best to tackle them with a fighting game mindset: bait those talents with weaker arrows that I could survive before "punishing" them for committing these talents. Just had to make sure I had enough healing and kiting. Late game it was less of an issue thanks to my absurd speed, so I could unleash that Vital Shot once the target had acted and couldn't do anything before it landed.
Why Vital Shot and Draconic Will? Why Shalore?
Vital shot was, um, vital in the more difficult fights in Dreadfell, as at that point my gear was not good enough, made worse by the lack of utility talents then. Eye of the Tiger with a steady bow and crippling ammo would be a competitive alternative, if not better.
Draconic Will was mostly because of personal preference, and that I had mediocre offensive drops by then that didn't cover statuses so I wanted to itemize more offensively. Timeless, Relentless Pursuit and Providence would be barely enough but I would have been getting debuffed for fractions of a turn (slow, for example, is potentially deadly from high damage enemies with high global speed), so not getting debuffed at all during the period in which I rained arrows on my opponents. Also a good way to waste enemy turns as they often spam debuffs first, leaving them with no more or few enough to be handled by a timeless extended providence by the time Draconic Will faded, if they aren't dead by then. IMO Draconic Will could be replaced by a more offensive prodigy provided stun&confuse immunities are stacked.
Shalore (read: Timeless) does not synergize with Archer, but Timeless is so ridiculous it synergizes with itself. Definitely critical to survival in the midgame when it removed all debuffs while giving me the extra push (especially that second vital shot)to finish off the enemy.
Close Calls
Gnarg, of course. Rush spam, giant leaps, WINblades, slow motion and shattering shout. Virtually impossible to kite, even with slow motion out of the equation (with slow motion he is unkillable and he will kill you with a shout should you dare stay on your tile with 5 arrows stuck there) so Intuitive Shots and Sorcerous Aura's -20 accuracy penalty were my salvation.
Vor. I forgot it was the boss floor as I got impatient due to the slow tedious nature of the run. Pressed Z, and promptly got a critical freeze and a meteor to the face. Fortunately I had 0% stun resist in favour of 100% crit so the iceblock saved me, leaving me with ~140/1400 hp. (His followups were taken care by Heart of Poosh, ~180% heal mod and a 300+ power heal infusion, and of course arrows)
And many others...