MapleStory/Bowman

Bowmen do the most ranged damage of the four classes and use bows and crossbows (sometimes called Crossbows). Bows are faster than crossbows, but they also do less damage, while crossbows are the opposite. They have virtually unlimited accuracy and have medium HP and MP. At second job, archers have two options, Hunter or Crossbowman.


 * Pros


 * Are completely ranged so they have an advantage over warriors.
 * Nice mob skill attacks
 * Unlimited accuracy due to having so much dex
 * Have elemental advantages and become powerful at 3rd job.
 * Ammunition is cheap and more common than stars

Cons:
 * Cannot attack at close range, they would just whack the monster with the bow/crossbow instead
 * Stereotyped as the weakest and least popular of all the classes
 * Archers are lesser in population compared to the other classes
 * Very unstable damage until Mastery is learned.

Starting Out
A perfect archer must start out perfectly by rolling the dice during character creation until (s)he has 4 LUK and 4 INT because they do nearly nothing for an archer. The amount of STR and DEX rolled does not matter. It is generally acceptable to roll a 4/5, 5/4 or even 5/5 or 4/6, but the absolute perfect archer is a 4/4.

Choose your favorite hairstyle, and don't worry about clothes or shoes; eventually, you will replace them with your true armor. In the meantime, a tee shirt is fine. The same goes for a weapon; I know you want a bow right now, but you really can't use one until level 10 anyway.

So now give your character a name, and check to make sure no one else has it. Then click okay, and we are moving on!

Maple Island
The first stop in your journey is Maple Island. Here you will learn the basic controls and mechanics of the game. There are a few quests you can do while on the island, but you cannot become an archer until you leave for Victoria Island.

You should stay and train on this island until you are level 10. Maple Island is a great place to level a "beginner" class and it is easy to get an entire map to yourself. Never, ever, put any ability points into INT, LUK, HP, or MP. Get your STR to 15 or so, then put all other points into DEX. You may also wish to put more points into STR if you want your earlier levels to be easier, or less points into STR if you have more money, but 15 is a reasonable amount. The most STR recommendable is 30, which will be sufficient until level 25. Just make sure your DEX is at least 25 by level 10. There are now quests available on Maple Island that will allow you to get to level 10 quite rapidly. The Beginner skills have little affect on leveling an archer, so distribute beginner skill at your own preference. You can leave this island at any time you wish by collecting 150 mesos and heading to Southperry to board the ship. Once you leave, however, you can never come back, except in Chinese MapleStory.

Victoria Island
If you aren't level 10, get to level 10 right now by leveling on snails. You can't become an archer here unless you are level 10 with 25 DEX.

After you reach level 10, find Athena Pierce in the town of Henesys (the one at the bottom of the world map: it is suggested that you use the taxi service in Lith Harbor to go to Henesys, NOT the black taxi, but the guy near the booth). She lives in a tree on the far right of Mushroom Park (also called Henesys Park).

It is important that you talk to Athena Pierce while you are at level 10; you will not gain crucial skill points otherwise.

After advancing to archer, your max HP and MP will nearly double, and now you can finally equip a bow! The potion shop of any town sells arrows at 1 meso each, or you can find arrows easier from monsters for free. Unfortunately, at level 10 you don’t have enough dex to do decent damage with a bow. It’s advisable for beginning archers to continue using melee weapons until level 15. If you want to have a good melee weapon until then, go to Perion, at the top of the world map, and buy a 2-handed Axe or wooden sword for 3k meso (each k = 1000 meso). These can also be found from Slimes or Orange Mushrooms, which will be a primary training source at low levels. You can either raise some strength early or you can just pump dex all the way. Both STR and dex raise your damage, but dex is better for bows and STR is better for melee weapons. STR affects the minimum damage range of a bow, but only very slightly.

The general stat build is to have 5 more STR than your level, and everything else in dex. This way, you get the most damage out of your attacks while still having enough strength to hold a bow. However, the 5 STR more than your level build is only recommended if you want to be a bowman. Crossbowmen usually have their STR down to their level, as crossbows require less STR to use. When you're upgrading gears, make sure to set your priority list such as this: weapon, tops, bottomwear, hat, gloves, and finally shoes (which are not very necessary). If you are intending to use Crossbows, to get used to the type of weapon before advancing, the general stat build is to have the same amount of STR as your level. Be aware though, that a transition from say, a Balanche to a Battle Bow, will have a large jump on Strength. Remember that armor equipments during these levels also require the same amount of STR as your level.

If you don't know what skills to get, just max out Critical Shot, Double Shot, and Eye of Amazon. See the builds page for more specific builds, and the pros/cons of those builds.

Tips after level 10

 * 1) . Melee weapons are best up to level 15, and then switch to a composite bow. Funded characters won’t need to do this.
 * 2) . Always keep a melee weapon handy to return to town with in case of running out of arrows.
 * 3) . For unfunded archers, it is best to do Critical Shot first, and then Double Shot. Critical shot activates with all bow attacks, and costs no MP. Double Shot, at low levels, can be quite a drain on funds.

The Second Job Advancement
Once you have finally reached level 30, you are ready to get yet another giant boost in power. You will finally be able to advance to the 2nd job.

First, talk to Athena Pierce again, and she will give you a letter to take to the 2nd Job instructor, located one map outside Henesys on the path to Sleepywood. Now, stock up on a few potions (50 orange potions and 50 blue potions to be safe) and find the 2nd Job instructor and give her the letter. You will have to fight super powered Evil Eyes and Zombie Mushrooms in an Ant Tunnel themed area. Be aware that both Evil Eyes and Zombie Mushrooms deal approximately 70 damage to you. Three Arrow Blows or Double Shots per monster should do the trick. There is a fixed number of monsters so bring a melee weapon in case they respawn in a inconvenient location. If you change channels, you will be sent back to Henesys. If you leave the hidden area, any collected marbles will be lost when you return to try again. Collect 30 dark marbles, talk to the instructor again, who will give you a medal to take back to Athena Pierce.

Congratulations! You are now a 2nd job Archer. See the Hunter or Crossbowman section if you are having trouble deciding what you want to become. Athena Pierce also gives a rough breakdown of the jobs.

Tips after level 30

 * 1) It is much cheaper to create arrows in Henesys, using 1 processed wood and 1 stiff feather. Talk to Vicious (found in Henesys Market left of the potion and weapons shop) when you have collected 1 stiff feather and either 10 branches or 5 firewood. He can then turn your branches or firewood into processed wood. However, keep in mind that you have to go to Henseys or El Nath to create your arrows, and then return to your training point, which can sometimes cost more than the arrows themselves. Pi from Ludibrium and Vogen from El Nath can create arrows using the same materials as Vicious. Additionally, they can create bronze and steel arrows.  Bronze Arrows require 1 Bronze Plate (refine 10 Bronze Ore through Mr. Thunder, Chris, or various others), 10 Stiff Feathers, and 3 Processed Wood.  Steel Arrows, on the other hand, require 1 Steel Plate, 15 Soft Feathers, and 5 Processed Wood.
 * 2) If you want to train quickly, never use your normal attack; ALWAYS use AB or DS. To keep up the pace, keep plenty of mana potions. Keep in mind this is only practical after level 30 or so, although if you have a solid fund supply you can do that at lower levels as well.
 * 3) Try to stay a good distance away from enemies. Bow whacking may look fun, but it doesn't do much damage and in most situations is very ineffective. Power Knockback is a better option, if it is necessary.
 * 4) Use warrior potions and speed potions to increase training speed when you can afford them.
 * 5) Do not create a Glove! One can get a level 20 glove Blue Diros and level 35 Gold Scaler glove from quests. Gloves are expensive to craft, and there is little to no benefit in making them, as they do not raise your defense very much.  However, you may consider upgrading to the Green Diros. All it takes to upgrade is the level 20 glove, which you already have, a little cash, two refined emeralds, and some screws. This gives a +2 dex boost, which is nice at level 20. You'll be using the glove for 15 more levels, so it's something to consider once you have funds available. Everything else is entirely inefficient.
 * 6) Do not create Boots! There are only two shoes you need, snowshoes and whitebottoms. Other shoes can be acquired from quests, if wanted. Speed is one of the more important stats for an archer, as it allows you to get away from your enemies faster. Snowshoes give you traction in El Nath, as well as 7 slots as opposed to the 5 slots of normal shoes. Whitebottoms give speed everywhere else. It can be suggested that you keep your whitebottom shoes for a while, and then scroll snowshoes for speed when you can afford it.  If you want Shoes that increase your statistics, simply use ones you can find or gain from quests. Another option is scrolling Snowshoes with 60% Shoe Jump, which adds one point of dex. These scrolls are fairly expensive, however.
 * 7) If you plan on being a Hunter, then your STR should be 5 more than your level, with everything else in DEX; For Crossbowmen-to-be, STR only needs to be equal to your level, with everything else in DEX. NEVER PUT AP INTO HP, MP, INT OR LUK.  At level 30 (and assuming you rolled perfect LUK and INT), a Hunter should have 35 STR and 127 DEX, and a Crossbowman should have 30 STR and 132 DEX. Similarly, you should still have 4 LUK and 4 INT if you want to be perfect at that level. The best AP Distribution (for hunters) is as follows:

AP Distribution Chart
Repeat this for every other level. Use the last level to put in all the AP needed for strength.

Where to Train
This table is not an end-all-be-all guide for where to train, and depending on how you build your archer, some of these places may not be good for you to level at all. For example, Fire Boars or Jr. Kitties at level 46 is much more effective for someone who has Bomb or Iron Arrow early but doesn't work for someone who is getting Final Attack at that time. Final Attack archers can take on golems earlier than archers who don't have FA, and so forth.

Notes: After level 55, you should be able to figure out which training spots are good and which are bad. You can truly go nearly anywhere now, especially now that you are able to enter the level 50-only area in Ossyria. Coolie Zombies are generally the best leveling spot from level 55 till past level 80 or so, so give them a try.
 * Despite the many efficient enemies to train on from level 45 to 50, this is considered the "Archer hell" period. You will gain the least amount of experience percentage per hour during this time. Don't get discouraged.
 * The fastest EXP gain is Lunar/Luster Pixies for bowman & crossbowman from 50 to 57. It is highly recommended if you go out and get a speed cape/shoes/bone helm or use speed potions. They seem like a waste of money, but the increase in EXP gained per hour is significant.
 * Pig Beach is the best spot to find pigs. However, they spawn fast and can be difficult for an archer to achieve minimum firing distance.

Advanced Guide
More than what you need to know.

Jump Shot
This is a relatively simple trick that is hard to master. There are 3 kinds of jump shots, forward jump shots, back jump shots, and stationary jump shots. While in practice, there is little to no reason to do a jump shot, it is necessary when fighting some bosses as you avoid getting hit entirely. For example, jump shooting against a Yeti will prevent earthquake damage and back jump shooting against Jr. Balrog will make you outside of his range of fire.

Stationary jump shots are the easiest. Just hit shoot and jump at the same time. Some keyboards won't allow you to do this unfortunately, but the majority of keyboards will allow you to do it if the buttons are on different rows and columns. For example, if your attack button is on s and your jump button is on d.

Forward jump shots are the next easiest. While walking forward, do a jump shot.

Back jump shots are the hardest, and most people cannot do them consistently. Basically, while walking forward, jump, hit back, and shoot at the same time. Again, some keyboards simply don't allow this as they only allow one button to be hit at once. Additionally, this is nearly impossible to do with snowshoes because you have to do this while you are "sliding". Go to El Nath to practice, slide forward, jump back and shoot all at once to see the effect.

Hunter or Crossbowman?
This is a classic example of speed vs. power. While Hunters have a higher damage/minute output in early levels, Crossbowmen catch up quickly in 2nd job. This is unfortunate as it gives a bad example of the strength of Crossbows in the first 30 levels; where the damage difference is miniscule and the speed difference is massive.

In second job however, Crossbows and Bows get the skill "booster" that levels the playing field in terms of speed. While hunters are still faster than Crossbows, it is less noticeable with booster on. (With no booster, the speed difference is 10%, with booster on the speed difference is only 6%). The damage difference does just the opposite, the higher level you are, the bigger the difference is between the classes. Crossbows just get stronger and stronger than Hunters.

Frankly, both the speed difference and strength difference is miniscule compared to the different skills in 2nd job. Hunters get Arrow Bomb, a weaker attack that can cause up to 6 enemies to get stunned. Crossbows get Iron Arrow, a stronger attack that does not "home" on enemies but can go through walls.

The true difference between the classes is simply the Arrow Bomb vs. Iron Arrow debate. The skills are similar; they both hit up to 6 enemies and both cost a lot of mana, however Iron Arrow is a bit cheaper. This is where the similarities end; Iron Arrow gets weaker as it progressively hits enemies, while Bomb gets stronger after it hits an initial enemy. This means Iron Arrow is most definitely going to be stronger on small mobs (3 or 4) and Bomb will be better on larger mobs (6 at a time). However, Iron Arrow is more powerful than bomb in all circumstances.

Please note that since Arrow Bomb does not pierce through enemies, it will do area damage (and perhaps stun) around the first monster it hits. Therefore, a group of six monsters can be easily hit by Iron Arrow; however, the same group must be very close to be affected by Arrow Bomb. It must also be noted, Iron Arrow's strengths are also its weaknesses; Arrow bomb has the ability to shoot upward or downward at a slight angle. This ability is useful in ranged combat from a safe spot.

Arrow Bomb has a stun ability, which makes up for its relative weakness. When maxed, Bomb Arrow has a 60% chance to stun an enemy, for each enemy. Admittedly, it doesn't seem like a "flat" 60% chance, weaker enemies tend to get stunned more often than the stronger enemies, and bosses never get stunned.

Arrow Bomb also has something of a glitch. The monster that is actually struck with the arrow takes half damage, 65% at max, and the monsters hit by the “splash” damage take more than it says, 195% at max. Also, a critical with Bomb does double damage, as opposed to a critical with other skills, where it merely adds 100%. This is a great advantage, as a monster hit by splash damage that criticals will take 390% damage, where as if it had worked normally it would only do 230% damage.

In 3rd job, the tables are reversed. Crossbows get Ice Shot, which freezes foes for up to 3 seconds as long as they aren't ice-resistant; however, it does not receive critical attacks. Hunters get Fire Shot, which is stronger and does receive criticals. In essence, however, the difference between these two bowmen can be summed up like this: Hunters are speedy, and Crossbows are powerful.

Stat comparisons: 20 Dex on a Crossbow = 21 Dex on a Bow. Similarly, 20 Weapon Attack on an Crossbow == 21 Weapon Attack on a Bow. This basically means that if you are a hunter with 42 dex, you will do the same damage per shot as an Crossbow with 40 Dex. Or if you are a hunter with 210 dex, you will do the same damage per shot as a Crossbowman with 200 dex. Bows have a Dex * 3.4 multiplier, whereas Crossbows have a Dex * 3.6 multiplier. Everything else stays exactly the same. For that same reason, the same amount of Weapon Attack has a higher net impact on a Bow in terms of unit output, while Dexterity has a higher net impact on a Crossbow in terms of unit output. Similarly, due to weapon requirements, Bow users will overall have 5 more Strength and 5 less Dexterity than Crossbow users, and Crossbow users will overall have 5 more Dexterity and 5 less Strength. Weapon Attack's impact overtime generates an increasing proportional rate to statistics such as Dexterity and Strength. Diminishing returns currently do not seem apparent.

It must be clearly understood that Arrow Bomb and Iron Arrow are not buddy skills, and similarly, Ice Shot and Fire Shot are not buddy skills. The Ranger's damage dealing skill is Fire Shot while the Sniper's is Iron Arrow. The Ranger's disabling skill is Arrow Bomb while the Sniper's is Ice Shot.

Comparing Ice Shot with Arrow Bomb, their damage is relatively similar. Ice Shot has a flat damage rate of 140%. Arrow Bomb has a rating of 130%, but subsequent mobs that get hit gets slightly higher damage. Arrow Bomb can also hit critical, making the average damage of Arrow Bomb 170%. Yet, due to the damage difference between Ranger and Sniper, these two skills do about the same damage. Ice Shot guarantees a freeze but Arrow Bomb only has a 60% chance. Yet, Ice Shot cannot be used on Ice type monsters.

Now, for Fire Shot against Iron Arrow. Fire Shot does 150%, with critical the average is 190%. Iron Arrow does 180%, with critical that is 220%. However, Iron Arrow damage reduces as it hits more targets. In any case, Iron Arrow deals more damage as the Sniper inherently deals more damage. However, unlike Ice Shot, the elemental advantage of Fire must be considered. Ice Shot is only meant for freezing; its damage is a bonus. Fire Shot only has one purpose, which is to damage. Therefore, Rangers can catch up on the lack of damage by attacking Ice type monsters.

One last point about these 4 skills is that when you first reach level 70, the Sniper can immediately learn Ice Shot for 100% damage and 1 second freeze. His Iron Arrow is already at level 30. This means that the Sniper can immediately take advantage of his Ice Shot and take out huge numbers of monsters. The Ranger, on the other hand, has to take 10 levels to max out Fire Shot.

In the 1st job advance period, Hunter's edge on speed is superior to Crossbow's edge on damage. You're not spamming skills, and more speed and less damage vs. more damage and less speed generally comes to an almost equal damage over time, so the versatility of higher speed is better (especially considering the level 25, 35, and 90 Bows have a FAST speed rating). However, if you're spamming skills, then Bows are not better than Crossbows (though, not worse off either), and it becomes solely a choice.

Scrolling

 * The main question in scrolling shoes is that between scrolling them with Shoe Jump Scrolls or Shoe Speed Scrolls. On the surface, it seems that you would want to stick with the jump shoes, because those add DEX and result in more damage. However, one must also consider that increased speed will allow you to train faster. Furthermore, the Jump from the +DEX shoes will also alter your jumpshot timing, which could lead to catastrophic results if you go Yepeing often. Lastly, Jump shoes are much more expensive to scroll.


 * The other scrolling methods are pretty simple. Scrolling with 10% is like trying to win the lottery, scrolling with 60% is the standard choice, and 100% are for people who don’t take risks.


 * However, not all 100% scrolls are cheap. The 100% Scroll for Cape is not sold by NPCs and has a high price. Even high-leveled players search for these kinds of scrolls. That one extra DEX can really help your damage.


 * If you have a lot of money to invest in scrolls, and the equipment being scrolled upon is cheap (work glove, for example), you can try to spam 10% on hordes of work gloves, throwing away failures, until one works. Now, proceed to scroll that worked glove with the scrolls of your wish (not 10% though, your luck can't be that good).


 * If the player can afford 5 60% speed scrolls (less than jump 60%) try a 3-4 speed Whitebottom shoe. Iron hogs drop them and they can be purchased in Henesys. 11 speed is what you’re aiming for. This is 4 60%, plus the speed that’s already on them. Normally, buying an 11 speed shoe is in the millions since it normally requires 1 10% and 4 60%'s working which is very rare.  Thus using boots that already have speed on them allow you to get 11+ speed boots. (120% or higher speed is wanted for fighting Jr. Barlog and with 11 speed boots, a speed pill that adds 10% and 2-3% from the 10% dex overall scrolls you might have on your armor is the best way to achieve 120%+ speed.)

Attack Speed Ladder
How to calculate rating: Crossbow speed is 0, fast Crossbow is 1, normal bow is 1, and fast bow is 2.

Booster increases the speed rating by 1, and strafe increases the speed rating by 1.

For example: A Normal Crossbow with booster shoots as fast as a Normal Bow (speed rating of 1). A Fast Crossbow shoots as fast as a normal Bow (speed rating of 1). A Normal Bow with booster and Strafe shoots as fast as a Fast Crossbow with booster and Strafe (speed rating of 3).

It is unknown what happens when a Fast Bow with Booster gets used with Strafe (rating of 4)

Continue to Skills