Battlefield Archer quarry damage

[Mad Hamish]

BA is still one of the best PPs there is for sure. The level 16 Battle Surge feature may not sound too exciting, but remember, you have Prime Shot and Defensive Mobility automatically. The whole idea of BA is you get right in the enemy's faces and fight from point-blank range. This also makes the multi-quarry nice since it will be easy to slap it on various opponents. Remember, you should have a pretty sick AC what with your nice 20 starting DEX that you did remember to take...

One of the big factors is that you commonly want to be close.
With feats like
Called Shot + 5 Damage versus Prime Shot Targets
Improved Prime Shot
being closest to the enemy is huge
My level 30 BattleField Archer would commonly have AC 55 versus opportunity attacks
(45 Base, +2 Defensive Mobility, +5 action point bonus, +3 from Predator's Hide) and concealment against the quarry and as a daily item power that went to total concealment for the encounter after a milestone.

With the total concealment Orcus didn't crit against me on a natural 20 on an opportunity attack and I got +39 to hit against him (Improved Prime shot, Quarried, most commonly had combat advantage (flanking or distance advantage) so I hit him on a 9 or better without combat advantage or 7 or better with it.

It meant I took some attacks opening up for punishment from the defenders but he didn't do a lot of damage to me and it boosted my damage significantly with +5 damage on each attack...

Now when he attack Fortitude it wasn't fun but that was going to be the case unless I went back a long way which increased pressure on defenders and the str cleric leader and reduced my chance of hitting and damage significantly.

Battlefield Archer is still IMO the best choice for a ranged archer build

 

[Mad Hamish]

As far as ranged ranger paragon paths go I see Sylvan Archer, Battlefield Archer and Sharpshooter as being the top picks in terms of effectiveness (there are others that are really nice for flavour)
All 3 of them are effective but I think Battlefield Archer is the best pick (although I did often find myself wishing I had an opportunity attack that could possibly hit) because some of the other ones have abilities that the right feats and equipment can make redundant (ignoring cover and concealment can be done via feats or items) while the Battlefield Archer abilities can't be achieved in other ways and I like the in your face options it opens up.

Saying that a strong approach for a ranged archer is a Beastmaster ranger with a bird companion and Sharpshooter. He can use the bird to quarry anybody on the board and draw opportunity attacks...

 

[Prestidigitalis]

The level 11 feature has a secondary effect, which can be good or very good depending on how you read it. Either you or anybody who attacks your quarry gets a +1 to attack against them.

I had forgotten about that ambiguity. Yeah, it's very good if it applies to your whole party.

 

[Mad Hamish]

I had forgotten about that ambiguity. Yeah, it's very good if it applies to your whole party.

I believe that there was a faq response that it did apply to the whole party.

 

[Aulirophile]

In addition, any attack made against a quarry receives a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

There is ambiguity.... where exactly?

 

[DracoSuave]

In addition, any attack made against a quarry receives a +1 bonus to attack rolls.

There is ambiguity.... where exactly?

This.

Battlefield Archer is good. It doesn't even matter what the rest if its abilities are, that's a PP-definer right there.

 

[boar]

Nobody's mentioned yet the biggest strike against BA:

It requires you to take the archer fighting style.

Even straight out of the PHB, it was tempting to take two-blade fighting style just for toughness being the better feat. Now that archers can have a pet, or quickdraw plus the ability to swap weapons at will, I see no earthly reason to take the archer fighting style except to qualify for Battlefield Archer. I should hope it's the best ranged PP!

And yes, +1 to attack rolls is good enough that everything else can be junk and the PP would still be viable. The fact that the bonus applies to the whole party is more or less pony-whipping ridiculous, and the powers are great to boot.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Nobody's mentioned yet the biggest strike against BA:

It requires you to take the archer fighting style.

Even straight out of the PHB, it was tempting to take two-blade fighting style just for toughness being the better feat. Now that archers can have a pet, or quickdraw plus the ability to swap weapons at will, I see no earthly reason to take the archer fighting style except to qualify for Battlefield Archer. I should hope it's best ranged PP!

And yes, +1 to attack rolls is good enough that everything else can be junk and the PP would still be viable. The fact that the bonus applies to the whole party is more or less pony-whipping ridiculous, and the powers are great to boot.

Sure, but how much are you actually giving up? If you're aiming to be capable of close up archery you'll want Defensive Mobility anyway. So just take Toughness as your 1st or 2nd level feat. In terms of what you lose from archery vs TBF in any other sense it is miniscule. If you DO use melee weapons, say you go split STR/DEX (several race choices) you can just swing a bastard sword in one hand and say a hand axe in the other, or a katar/kukri or whatever. You lose 2 dice sizes on the secondary attack, but so what? There are several ways to deal with the quick switch and MOST TBF rangers will want to pick up something for ranged use anyway and would probably get a harness or Quickdraw, etc.

So, yes, the main point is to take BA, but what you're giving up for it is pretty minor overall. And if you ARE a pure archer standing back and all you don't need to worry about all that much. Toughness might still be a good idea, but the concept is not to get pounded on in most fights. With a HIGH DEX you will also have a high AC and Reflex anyway, and probably want some WIS, so you have solid defenses and again don't lose much.

Archery might have allowed Great Bow proficiency I suppose, but it seems kind of strong.

 

[Aulirophile]

Sure, but how much are you actually giving up? If you're aiming to be capable of close up archery you'll want Defensive Mobility anyway. So just take Toughness as your 1st or 2nd level feat. In terms of what you lose from archery vs TBF in any other sense it is miniscule. If you DO use melee weapons, say you go split STR/DEX (several race choices) you can just swing a bastard sword in one hand and say a hand axe in the other, or a katar/kukri or whatever. You lose 2 dice sizes on the secondary attack, but so what? There are several ways to deal with the quick switch and MOST TBF rangers will want to pick up something for ranged use anyway and would probably get a harness or Quickdraw, etc.

So, yes, the main point is to take BA, but what you're giving up for it is pretty minor overall. And if you ARE a pure archer standing back and all you don't need to worry about all that much. Toughness might still be a good idea, but the concept is not to get pounded on in most fights. With a HIGH DEX you will also have a high AC and Reflex anyway, and probably want some WIS, so you have solid defenses and again don't lose much.

Archery might have allowed Great Bow proficiency I suppose, but it seems kind of strong.

Given the sheer number of ways not to provoke OAs from moving/attacking at all (as opposed to gaining a relatively small bonus), Defensive Mobility is not "something you'd take anyway." Really if you want to run DPR numbers and defenses and the opportunity costs etc., he's right, Battlefield Archer really is the only reason to take Archery Style.

 

[Mad Hamish]

Nobody's mentioned yet the biggest strike against BA:

It requires you to take the archer fighting style.

Even straight out of the PHB, it was tempting to take two-blade fighting style just for toughness being the better feat. Now that archers can have a pet, or quickdraw plus the ability to swap weapons at will, I see no earthly reason to take the archer fighting style except to qualify for Battlefield Archer. I should hope it's best ranged PP!

Toughness versus Defensive Mobility is dependent upon the style of the player and the style of the GM.
+2 to AC versus attacks of opportunity saved my character from taking damage a fair few times.
The pet loses you Prime Shot iirc and that cuts out +2 to hit and +7 to damage with the right feats (it might only be +5 to damage)
quickdraw and swapping weapons at will isn't a huge issue and if you want it you can pick up the feat that gives you expertise for all weapon attacks.

So the archer style is at least reasonable.