MapleStory/Bowman/Builds

Stat build
Unlike other jobs, Bowmen do not have any "special" AP distribution. STR does not contribute much to damage and is used primarily for wielding of weapons.

Bows require a STR value of 5 above the Level of the Bow while Crossbows require a STR value equal to the Level of the Crossbow. Because of this, the simplest AP distribution format would be as follows.

Bowman: STR = Level + 5

Crossbowman: STR = Level

Simply put:

And so on.

Yet, it must be noted that to maximize training efficiency, STR should be kept to a minimum. When you do not require the STR, do not add it. However, do plan in advance when you will need extra STR and add it at the last few levels to meet your target.

For example:

LUK and INT should both  ALWAYS be 4.

There are STR-less Archers, who use a War Bow until Level 35, where they get a Maple Bow, and at 43 use a Maple Soul Searcher. The last STR-less bow is the level 65 Bow of Magical Destruction. The problem with this is that the few bows are all very rare and thus cost massive amounts. In addition, unlike an Assassin, DEX does not do as much for an Archer as LUK does for an Assassin, therefore, the benefits from going STR-less will be insignificant or non-existent.

Additionally, some Archers may opt for a MELEE build, by having 25 DEX and 35 STR. Moving on, they will use a melee weapon until at least Level 16. Eventually, this build will merge back to the normal build at Level 30 for Hunters and Level 35 for Crossbowmen.

First Job Skill Build
There are many skills offered to Archers in the first Job that cannot be maxed by 2nd Job. As such, one must carefully determine which skills to forgo.

There are some essential skills that must be maxed such as the following:

Some skills are alternatives of each other and one must be maxed:

Some skills are pre-requisites of other essential skills and must be learnt:
 * Level 3 of to unlock
 * Level 1 of to unlock

As the order of learning these skills will have no permanent impact as compared to Improve Max MP Increase and Improve Max HP Increase. Therefore, the order will only affect your training style.

Below is the best recommendation for all new Archers:
 * 3
 * 8
 * 20
 * 1
 * 20
 * 9

Build Order 1: Recommended for the unfunded new Archer
 * Max
 * Max
 * Max

With this build, Range is maxed immediately, allowing you to stay away from the monsters and prevent being hit. Critical Shot is maxed next, adding to average damage but still saving money on MP. Double Shot is next, as by this time enough funds should have accumulated that MP potions won't be a problem. Focus is merely to hold the remaining points left over, though the AVOID it adds is quite useful in reducing damage taken.

Build Order 2: Recommended for the experienced and funded player
 * Max
 * Max
 * Max

Those who are rich, through funding from another character or sheer luck in getting valuable drops, can choose to go the more expensive path and max their active skills first. They would max Double Shot as soon as possible, and then max Critical Shot for the most damage as soon as possible. This comes at the expense of range and lots of money spent on mana potions.

Alternative Build: Arrow Blow

There are Archers who choose Arrow Blow over Double Shot despite its lower damage output. The common reasons for choosing Arrow Blow:
 * Double the knocking back ability due to large consolidated damage
 * Lower MP cost and arrow cost during lower levels
 * Aesthetics

Second Job Skill Builds
After completing the first job, the second job unlocks many new powerful skills. Unlike the first job build order here is important, as it takes much longer to get to level 70. Having chosen between getting Final Attack or not, you should now execute your decision and follow the appropriate section.

Final Attack Build
If choosing to raise Final Attack in the second job, this is how your skills will look like after you are done with them.


 * Build Order
 * 1
 * 20
 * 6
 * 2
 * 30
 * +14 (for 15 Bomb total)
 * Save up 10 to 15 points, and get +15 (for 30 Bomb total)
 * 20
 * 15 and 5

Variations: You can get 20 PKB instead of saving up points. Some people opt for a longer booster/SA combo earlier, and get 9 booster and 3 Soul Arrow.

FA-Less Build

 * Build Order
 * 1 or
 * Max out for Expertise in Fourth Job.
 * 6
 * 2
 * +14 or  (for 15 IA/Bomb total)
 * Save up 10 to 15 points, and get +15 Bomb (for 30 Bomb total) or
 * 20
 * Max out, , and at the same time.

Currently Agreed points about 3rd job
30 Strafe
 * All 3rd job archer skills are great, which makes the 3rd job builds difficult, since not all skills can be maxed.
 * Strafe, and Arrow Rain/Eruption are must-max skills. Strafe is both faster and stronger than any other skill you will get, and Arrow Rain/Eruption covers your "minimum range" skill.
 * Mortal Blow is an underrated skill. Its purpose is NOT to do its instant kill on the enemy, but instead, to replace the bow whack animation.
 * Arrow Rain/Eruption is extremely useful, and should be put up to at least level 28.
 * Snipers should get ONLY 21 Ice Shot. No more, no less. The reason is that it is not best to use Ice Shot as a main mob attack, but to freeze the mob for 3 seconds. 21 points in Ice Shot is the lowest possible investment to give 3 seconds of freezing.
 * The minimum build for 3rd job archer skills:

20 Mortal Blow

30 Arrow Rain/Eruption

15 Eagle/Hawk

12 Puppet

1 Inferno/21Ice shot

Almost all archers would have at least these skills, and they form the most basic build for any 3rd job archer. How the rest of the skill points are allocated depends on the player, and they are covered in the following section.

Debates
Thrust is well known to be a good skill. The "thrustless" party claims that thrust is totally unnecessary, as speed equips can do the same, and the skill points are better spent on a more powerful skill. 5 thrust makes the point that the last few points of all 3rd job skills are extremely inefficient, and the difference of not-maxing skills and maxing skills is not much. With that said, almost all archers agree that maxing Thrust is a bad idea. Some would go so far as to say that any Thrust is a bad idea. The maximum speed any class can have (on foot) is 140%, or +40 speed. With scrolling of shoes and overalls, Haste from Thieves, and speed items like the Golden Hinkel (+10 Speed), Dark Arund (+10 Speed), and Metus (+11 Speed), it is feasible that maximum speed can be reached any number of ways without investing any SP points into Thrust.
 * Thrust Debate (no thrust, 5/10 thrust, 20 thrust)

While a couple of equipments in the game give speed bonuses (Bone Helm, IC2), I personally feel that there are some huge trade-offs. First, using a bone helm doesn't give any of the dex bonuses available from archer helms or the much better zakum helmet. Also notable is a lower defense. Second, IC2's main draw back is the lower defense and eventually at higher levels the IC2 will be replaced with the pink adventurer's cape, with it's ATK bonus.
 * Counter Thrust Debate (Equipments for power)
 * Scrolling is also issue in regards to equips. A 10% overall dex will only add 1 speed when it works. The same is true for 10% shoes of jump (most bowmen scroll this cause of the +dex). In conclusion, speed equips such as shoes and helmets are a huge detriment to attack power; losing easily at least 30 stats on a helmet (zakum helm), 1-4+ attack on capes, and easily 5+ dex on shoes. Thus, putting points into thrust is not a bad idea at all.

I will allow for NX cash users this: Pet Equips. If you have a pet, give it an equip with the most slots possible and 60% it. I currently have a +10 speed husky. A current combination of pet speed, weapon speed, and pills is giving me a 131%. If I throw 5 sp into thrust, I'll have max. Granted, this is the best option for NX users who are going solo for sometime. (See my personal build below)

Inferno is an attack that, when maxed, does 125% fire damage to 6 enemies (Not 150%, which is a common misconception). This is more powerful than Arrow Bomb and has the added advantage of not stunning mobs. This means that monsters weak to fire will get hurt 187.5% damage (150% * 1.25 elemental damage), while monsters strong to fire will resist the damage by a .75 rate, but in reverse. That means that if the max damage is 150%, a fire-based enemy would receive a .75% multiplier, meaning 112.5% damage.
 * Inferno Debate (Rangers only)

Additionally, Arrow Rain does more damage than Inferno. Supporters demonstrate that Inferno is an arrow based attack, while Rain is an area based attack; they have different uses. Inferno is a ranged attack, and can hit monsters across the screen. Rain on the other hand, can only hit monsters in the immediate vicinity. Granted, the horizontal range for Rain is still massive, but not as massive as Inferno's horizontal range.

Another argument for Inferno is that the fact that it can't stun/freeze or otherwise cause flying enemies to sink posing a threat to those below makes it a great skill for destroying the minions summoned by Zakum and other bosses.

Inferno is obviously quite strong on monsters weak to fire. There are more monsters in the game that are weak to fire than any other element. Some high level monsters that are trained on, like Bains, have a resistance to fire. On the other hand, most monsters in El Nath are weak to fire due to the cold environment. In Ludibrium, there are a few Viking ships that archers generally train on that are also strong to fire. Areas of Leafre in the Ice Mountain are full of monsters weak to fire. However, skelegons/skelesaurs and jr newties/nest golems, the two most trained on monsters for higher leveled archers are not fire weak, and require some effort to mob together for inferno to be effective. So there would be a wide variety of monsters Inferno would be useless to, and still a good variety of monsters that Inferno would be the best long ranged mob skill in the game.

While a relatively minor debate over a measly 2 skill points, archers know that they must spend every skill point as wisely as possible. Both 18 and level 20 puppet last for a full minute, but level 20 puppet has 6000 HP instead of 5000. 5000 HP for a puppet is a lot, as puppets have godly defense. People for Level 20 Puppet feel that perhaps a new monster in the future will be released, and that 1000 extra HP points could mean the world. Level 18 puppet supporters claim that barely any monsters can take out a level 18 puppet before time runs out anyway. Some even advocate a lower level, like 10 or 12.
 * Puppet Debate (18 Puppet vs. 20 Puppet)

Hawk's stun rate is 90% at level 16, 95% at level 21, and 99% at level 29. Additionally, the amount of hits Hawk gets before it disappears goes up as well, so many archers are planning to get at least 21 hawk. Level 29 hawk/eagle may seem like a waste at first; however, it can be viewed that whenever level 21 would have missed, level 29 had a 80% chance of working, and if level 16 would have not stunned, level 29 would have a 90% chance of working. The main argument is that in one-on-one combat, like when fighting a Gatekeeper, the difference between stun and no stun can mean the difference between life and death. In addition, higher level hawk saves a large amount of pots on training on monsters such as gobies, squids, newties, skeles, and etc. This also allows one to attack slightly more because of reduced potting time. Finally, with the advent of fourth job, a minimum of 15 Hawk is required in order to be able to get the Phoenix summon at all.
 * Hawk/Eagle Debate (16 vs. 21 vs. 29 SP points)

With so many good skills, some archers feel that they need to cut corners to cover all the skills necessary. Since a minimum of 5 Mortal Blow is required to access Arrow Rain, that gives a 40% activation rate, which is sufficient to some. Others say to get it to 10 or 11, which gives a 50%-52% activation rate. With new Fourth Job Skills like Dragon Pulse, which can push monsters away at a 100% success rate (note that Dragon Pulse does have minimum range), some feel it is worthless now. Inferno, with all the strengths and weaknesses listed above, is often filled with points that would go into Mortal Blow. However, others feel that Mortal Blow is extremely helpful, moreso than Inferno because Mortal Blow has a 90% activation rate and does a 250% damage attack instead of a bow whack when a monster spawns on the player. On the other hand, inferno is rarely used in higher leveled training spots, limiting its usefulness.
 * Inferno or Mortal Blow

Springers' build
First of all, I'm not even at 2nd job yet with my archer. However, as I've spent some time looking at the different builds and arguments, I came to find the way I'm going to make my own archer. This is for a Ranger. Here it is: That was it, my Ranger Build, glad if it can be used. Springers,Demethos, GlobalMS
 * 1) Strafe(30) - Must-max skill, main attack -
 * 2) Arrow Rain(30) - Good for closer ranges-
 * 3) Inferno(30) - Elemental advantage on some monsters, long range mob skill -
 * 4) Silver hawk (16) - High chance of stun, pre-requisite for Phoenix -
 * 5) Puppet(18-20) - Must-max skill, makes you able to actually survive -
 * 6) Mortal blow(15-17) - Less bow-whack = YAY -
 * 7) Thrust(10) - +20 speed, lets you use scrolls on other things instead of speed -

IsaacGS's Third Job Build
For Rangers: There are 151 points available for Third Job, levels 70 to 120. Some skills are practically required. Strafe, Arrow Rain, Puppet, and Hawk are very important skills. Strafe becomes the primary attacking skill practically as soon as it is acquired. Arrow Rain is great for attacking monsters located above or below, and it's also good for attacking when monsters mob around. The best use for both Rain and puppet is to use Rain to aggravate monsters and then setup a puppet outside of their reach. Inferno serves this purpose well also. For characters with Final Attack, level 21 inferno has the same 130% damage as Arrow Bomb, making it a good option on Fire neutral monsters, and much more powerful on fire weak ones. Hawk, when used in one on one combat, practically renders a monster helpless at max. It can launch another attack to re-stun monsters before their old stun wears off, making them unable to react. Mortal Blow provides a good backup in case monsters spawn too close. Thrust, while not a bad skill, is by far the worst in the ranger skill book.
 * 1) Strafe (30)
 * 2) Arrow Rain (30)
 * 3) Inferno (21)
 * 4) Silver Hawk (30)
 * 5) Puppet (20)
 * 6) Mortal Blow (20)

For Snipers: There are 151 points available for Third Job, levels 70 to 120. Some skills are practically required. Strafe, Arrow Eruption, Puppet, and Hawk are very important skills. Blizzard is only useful for the freezing aspect, so 21 points (3 seconds of freeze) is good enough. Strafe becomes the primary attacking skill practically as soon as it is acquired. Arrow Eruption is great for attacking monsters located above or below, and it's also good for attacking when monsters mob around. The best use for both Eruption and puppet is to use Eruption to aggravate monsters and then setup a puppet outside of their reach. Eagle, when used in one on one combat, practically renders a monster helpless at max, though it is not as important for Snipers since they can freeze with a 100% chance. It can launch another attack to re-stun monsters before their old stun wears off, making them unable to react. Mortal Blow provides a good backup in case monsters spawn too close. Thrust, while not a bad skill, is by far the worst in the Sniper skill book.
 * 1) Strafe (30)
 * 2) Arrow Eruption (30)
 * 3) Blizzard (21)
 * 4) Golden Eagle (30)
 * 5) Puppet (20)
 * 6) Mortal Blow (20)

TruZen's Third Job Build (Sniper)
I agree with IsaacGS on many points, but I really do feel that thrust can't be denied. You'll notice that I withdrew points from Golden Eagle. A 94% success rate of stunning isn't a huge difference from a 99% chance. The same goes for a 20 second drop in duration of eagle and a 10 hit drop. The biggest deterrent is that eagle can't be controlled on which enemy it hits. Snipers have blizzard which can compensate for the loss of stuns (elemental monsters depending). A +20 speed increase can eliminate the reliance on pills and speed equips/weapons. Elimination of pill reliance will save money and there are still 3 different types of Neschere (100 xbow). Only one of the 3 types adds speed.
 * 1) Strafe (30)
 * 2) Eruption (30)
 * 3) Blizzard (21)
 * 4) Silver Hawk (20)
 * 5) Puppet (20)
 * 6) Mortal Blow (20)
 * 7) Thrust (10)

DragonForceX's Ranger Build

 * 1) Strafe (30)(MAX)
 * 2) Mortal Blow (5)
 * 3) Arrow Rain (30) (MAX)
 * 4) Puppet (5)
 * 5) Golden Eagle (20)
 * 6) Puppet (15)(MAX)
 * 7) Mortal Blow (15)(MAX)
 * 8) Thrust(10)
 * 9) Inferno (21)

I totally agree with TruZen's build, but I'm just here to edit the order a bit. The skills which are required for survival are Strafe, Arrow Rain, Puppet and Golden Eagle. First, max Strafe, which is a HUGE improvement from Double Shot. Then, put 5 on Mortal Blow because it is a pre-requisite for Arrow Rain. Max Arrow Rain then, because it is a mob skill which can still be used at close ranges. 5 Puppet comes next, once again for a pre-requisite, for Golden Eagle. Put 20 on Golden Eagle, which has a sufficient 94% stun rate which is extremely helpful. Next you finish off Puppet, which is essential for survival, when you're not partied with a DK with HB. Your puppet has godly defense, so it ensures safety. Mortal Blow comes next and it is helpful when a strong monster suddenly spawns right onto you and Puppet can't save you. Thrust isn't too essential, but its still useful as it allows you to use your scrolls on something else, and its also feels better when you know you can walk faster than anyone else. Inferno comes last, because in my opinion, it is the most useless skill. Apart from being long ranged and having a possibility of an elemental advantage, the damage is pathetic, and cannot be used close ranged like Arrow Rain can. There are also monsters that are strong to fire.

Anti-Builds
When newbies begin this game, they come in and think they can do better than the guide. This should be encouraged, but if you wish to wander from the path, at least know which paths that you should be warned against. Now the following are all controversial whether or not they are bad or not, but they aren't the cookie cutter for a reason.

However, if an archer is willing to sacrifice power, speed, and efficiency for uniqueness, go ahead with one of these builds.

The max Arrow Blow build
This build does have small advantages over the Double Shot build, as noted in "Ongoing Debates" below.

Double Shot (DS) has been proven time and time again to be stronger, contrary to the information that Wizet gives us. DS does up 460% damage with critical shot, while Arrow Blow (AB) does a flimsy 360% with critical (see "Ongoing Debates" below). The pros this build has is simply more Knockback instead of power; high-leveled enemies don't flinch unless they are hit by one massive hit.

It should be added here that AB and DS have the same "armor break" value. Armor of the monster effects this skill just as much as DS, except DS is still stronger. In addition, it should be noted that lvl. 19 AB is currently 283% damage due to a glitch, although it does not show in the skill description.

Note : There seems to be much controversy about these facts. I assure you; they are true. After spending hours shooting Snails, Iron Hogs, and Werewolves; the only conclusion possible is that AB's max damage is 360%, with DS's max damage at 460%. If anyone wishes to contradict this statement; please submit a screenshot of Arrow-Blow doing more than 400% damage with your stat window up. (Ex: Damage Range 300 to 400 damage, a screenshot of AB doing 1600 damage on Snails is all that is necessary to disprove this fact) Thank you.

The max Arrow Blow and max Double Shot build
Ah, you hate FA (it slows down training in some cases, because of the uncontrollable free shot, you may end up shooting nothing instead, except in high spawn maps), but now where do you put the points? The obvious choice is into Arrow Blow (AB). While it seems like a good idea at first, just know that you will only find AB useful at one monster, Cargos (in OMS anyway). Every other monster does not require knockback because they are either too slow, or have suitable sniping spots, or Bomb/FA can handle them fine, or simply: DS would KB them anyway.

If you max both, you will find that you will not be using AB that much at all.

There are a few rogue archers that go against the crowd and believe AB is better than Focus however.

The no/low-Power Knockback build
While Dragontamer is going down this build, he recommends no one else follow the path unless they know what they are doing. Power Knockback(PKB) is one of THE most important skills for an archer. At level 1 and 2, this skill does nearly nothing, but by level 20, you can start killing monsters with reasonable efficiency with this skill, let alone sliding them. PKB is the only melee attack an archer gets until at least level 70, so this skill should not be skipped at all.

Again, due to the mysterious nature of PKB, there is no argument that is solid in fact. Despite Wizet's claim of +40% Knockback, PKB does not do +40% knockback, and most arguments bank on this fact. Everything with this debate is purely speculation. No facts or experiments have been gathered.

The skill itself has its own knockback. It is not added to the bows knockback rate.

This build replaces the cookie cutter FA build, and gets 2 PKB instead of 20, and max Booster and Soul Arrow.

The no-Bomb or Iron Arrow or 15 Bomb/Iron Arrow Build
Some archers believe Bomb and Iron Arrow(IA) is overrated. While they are welcome to this opinion, at least know what you are missing out on. First off, grows much stronger between level 15 and 30, so do not let level 15 IA fool you in its strength. Same thing for, in addition to the stun. A weak Iron Arrow and Arrow Bomb may suffice in the very short run, but in the long run, maxing is key.

Yes, 2x mana does seem like a lot more money spent over nothing, but the higher level you are, the more money you make and the less and less that extra mana costs. These are the *unique* skills that XBowmen and Bowmen get, so do it justice and actually max out these skills.

Lets put it this way: when you are level 10, you are glad to have 10k in your pocket, and spending more than 600 mesos was considered an investment. Then at level 20, you add a zero to that. You are glad to have 50k to 100k in your pocket, and spending more than 6000 mesos is an investment.

As you advance in levels, the bigger this difference gets. At high levels (60+) millions are no longer a big figure. And you would gladly spend more on arrow bomb for the massive 30% (Bomb) or 80% (IA) extra damage.

Conclusions of the first Great Archer Debate: AB vs. DS
Background: There have been a great many debates on archer forums across many forums. The following conclusion came from the Sleepywood forums, and there is a great amount of evidence behind this conclusion:

Double Shot is stronger than Arrow Blow in all circumstances and better than Arrow Blow in almost all circumstances.


 * Critical is +100%, not 200%, and Critical may occur for every arrow you shoot. Hence maximum damage of Arrow Blow is 260% + 100% =360%. Maximum damage of Double Shot is (130% + 100%) * 2= 460%.
 * As a result, DS has a higher average damage(~340% damage) than AB(~300%) has, rendering the AB skill weaker for BOTH Hunters and Xbowmen. Furthermore, having only one shot, AB is unstable (dealing either high — 40% chance of 360% damage or low — 60% chance of 260% damage) while DS is more stable with two shots (DS, when activated, has 48% chance to deal average damage, which is one critical and one normal hit, hence the stable damage. Take note that this 'average' damage is 360% damage, equal to a critical shot AB. Furthermore, DS has 16% chance to deal 460% damage, which rocks).
 * DS has a higher average damage than AB (340% compared to 300%), a higher max damage (460% compared to 360%), and an equal minimum damage (both 260%).
 * On higher-level monsters, DS is still stronger than AB despite the weapon defense of the monster, since defense is applied BEFORE the damage multiplier. This will be discussed more thoroughly in the formula section.
 * Rebuttal: At low levels, i.e. 30, attacking a stone golem with DS often results in 1 damage per arrow. However, AB will produce minimum damages of more than 100 damage. Analysis of this phenomenon indicates that weapon defense is applied AFTER the damage multiplier. Further confirmation can be derived by observation that AB's damage is MORE than 260% of a normal attack, indicating again that defense is applied AFTER the damage multiplier.
 * The only saving grace of AB is the ability to knockback. Because AB has higher damage in one hit, it is much easier to flinch higher-level monsters with AB. However, knockback ability alone is not enough to warrant maxing AB instead of DS.
 * Despite all the flaws of AB compared to DS
 * Arrow Blow gives you 141% damage with just 1 point in it for a cheap-but-effective attack for your first point when you become a Bowman. Pursuing it further makes no sense because Double Shot accomplishes a different effect, and 1 point of AB is complimentary to DS, which you should pursue.

Ultimately, it should be noted that regardless of whether a player invested in AB or DS or both, once the player reaches level 70 and invests in Strafe, AB and DS will hardly be used, so even if a player does invest in the "wrong" skill, getting Strafe will more or less rectify that.

Note: The above statement does NOT address one big concern: if Strafe would be main attack on monsters, then technically DS serve no purpose for 3rd job. AB would be useful just like PK, which still can be used there and there. AB still has better knock-back ability to knock-back bosses to keep your distant away in tight situations. This can not be ignored if a player preferred soloing bosses, as strafe might not deal enough minimum damage for knock-back. AB shows more usefulness against bosses that can causes blind, seal, weakness, or curse. Bosses would not be able to effect you when the distant is too far, thus lower chances in death of player and less uses in All Cure Potion.

The New Job One Debate: AB vs. Focus vs. Blessing
Note: This section is currently incomplete.

All right, so we proved that DS > AB, but that still doesn't answer whether to get blessing, focus, or AB for your free 9 points. It should be noted that whatever you do, some archers consider these 9 points to be a waste anyway, so there is no massive disadvantage any way you go. Additionally, just because a build is cookie cutter doesn't mean it is the "best" either.

Pros for Blessing:
 * Passive -- No worries about casting or anything. Once you place points in here, you forget them, and they will always work to your favor
 * Stacks with Cleric's bless -- Unlike focus, Blessing stacks with the skill "Bless" assuming you are with a cleric.
 * Rebuttal: It is difficult to find a cleric, and archers hit most targets at 100% accuracy before they can even break the armor of enemies, so accuracy is generally a non-issue.

Cons for Blessing:
 * Archers have highest accuracy in the game, blessing does virtually nothing for an archer.
 * You gain about 2 levels worth of accuracy, every level you gain you basically get free accuracy + the fact you got dex
 * Opportunity cost for active Avoidability (aka, focus) or 10 AB.

Pros for Focus:
 * Offers a potential of 20 avoid (9 if you go for the 9 focus build).
 * Works great in FA-less build, as you can use points in 2nd job to finish off focus.

Cons for Focus:
 * Active -- for you lazy people, you have to cast this skill.
 * Rebuttal: You don't have to cast it if you don't want to, only cast it if you feel it will make a difference. Example: Stone golems have very low accuracy, so using focus in Stone Golem temple is a good idea. Basically, if you need it, it is there for you.
 * Costs MP with no direct offensive output.
 * Rebuttal: MP costs is minimal compared to DS.
 * You don't max this until 2nd job. Until then, you have 9 focus
 * Rebuttal: 9 avoidability is still a lot.
 * Opportunity cost for AB if you get Final attack
 * Rebuttal: 10 AB without final attack is too pathetically weak to train with
 * May increase chance of 'false hit' when used in conjunction with puppet

Pros for 10 AB:
 * Offers a cheaper alternative to your level 20 DS, 9mp for MSea (someone, check this please was it 9 or 10 ???) and 7 for OMS.
 * MP efficiency! This attack has the most MP efficiency of all Bowman skills if you get Final attack.
 * Rebuttal: Mana is cheap at level 50 and above, and by that point, killing efficiency takes priority over money-efficiency.
 * Rebuttal-Rebuttal: Bowmen use lots of mana at lower levels and are easily one of the poorest classes early on; having a cheaper skill that still does comparable damage is a nice advantage.
 * Rebuttal^3: There is always "Normal" attack that uses no mana; although it is weaker.
 * Best synergy with FA. FA enhances this skill with a lot more damage.

Cons for 10 AB:
 * Pathetically weak in comparison to DS.
 * In MSEA, level 1 AB costs 8 mana for 190% (MSEA archers, please fill out what the most efficient level for AB is.)
 * Opportunity cost for Focus.
 * AB will be underused at higher levels, a big waste of 10 SP.

The Greater Archer Debate: FA or FA-less?
Unlike the AB vs. DS debate, a conclusion has not yet been reached. FA and FA-less have many pros and cons for and against both of them; this coupled with the fact that FA is a very "feel" based attack makes this is a difficult topic to discuss in the archer community.

Just know full well that if you go either FA or FA-less, the other half of the archer population will think you are stupid!

Reasons to get Final Attack: Reasons to NOT get Final Attack
 * You are fine with 5 Soul Arrow and 15 Bow Booster.
 * This should probably be explained in more depth. Soul Arrow and Bow Booster work as timer skills. Adding points to them does not increase their effectiveness as they only really decrease how often you cast these skills. The mana cost for both of these skills is negligible, and by using 5 SA /15 BB, you are already gaining back the mana cost by natural mana regeneration (both skills last 150 seconds at those levels, so you gain back 45 mana; BB and SA combined only costs 30 mana and 15 hit points at those levels).
 * You wish for more damage/time.
 * Final Attack increases your shots/time quite a lot. Final attack is fired at least 2x faster than DS, and so your bow shoots much faster as FA comes out.
 * You want to save mesos.
 * Final Attack is a free skill that activates 60% of the time when maxed. This means that instead of firing your DS, which costs 16 mana, 60% of the time you will shoot something for free. This gives loads of savings in mana potions.
 * FA has no minimum range.
 * If Final Attack activates, you won't "bow-whack". You will always fire FA, no matter what the distance between you and your enemy.
 * FA knocks back enemies when DS cannot.
 * While many archers agree that knockback is not a necessary feature, they do agree that it is a nifty little feature of FA. DS damage is split over two weaker shots, while FA is one strong shot. This means that enemies that require 1000 damage dealt to them at once to be "flinched" or "KBed" may not be KBed by DS, and have a much higher chance of getting KBed by FA.
 * FA does not fire when you jump shot with a bow. However, you may need jump shoes or activate booster for it to not activate (For Hunters, +1 Jump is all that is required). Furthermore, because XBows are slower, FA may still fire with an XBow. The amount of jump required to not activate FA on an XBow is around +13.
 * To max out SA and Bow Booster.
 * When you skip FA, you get your mob skill much earlier on, and Iron Arrow/Arrow Bomb are very potent on large mobs of weak enemies, the main thing you will train on during those early levels.
 * You dislike FA itself; that is, you think the skill makes you worse and not better.
 * There is a valid argument to this. FA is a double-edged sword. While it does increase your damage/second, your mobility and control over your character is reduced — you lose control of your character during that 1/3 of a second when FA is fired.
 * FA-less archers also note that while FA is firing, your crowd-control skills such Bomb or IA are greatly reduced in effectiveness. If you're mobbing with BA/IA and an FA shot is fired it will only affect the first monster coming towards you, leaving the other monsters to overrun you and force you to relocate. Some argue that this is actually good for arrow bomb, because the first monster takes much lower damage than the rest of the mob due to bomb's low impact damage so FA actually evens out the damage throughout the mob.
 * However, there is a general consensus that FA is not good with IA, as IA does not stun monsters like bomb so FA will only hit the first monster, while the rest overruns your character.
 * FA can get you mobbed if it gets activated. The delay can cause you not to turn quick enough if there is an enemy behind you, alas, causing damage.

Facts
 * FA does not activate when using 3rd job skills.
 * This sounds bad, but it is also good. Strafe does so much damage in the 3rd job that it beats DS/FA in all respects, including speed and power. If final attack activated in 3rd job skills, you'd be weaker. So it is a good thing it goes away.
 * FA always hits only one enemy. (It may even end up hitting a monster you didn't even provoke, such as when the skill activates and a monster spawns right in front in that same period of time.)
 * DS is more powerful than FA. See DS vs. AB debate; the rules in the debate apply to FA as well. FA receives only +100% from Critical Shot, and thus the max damage is 350% damage. But because FA is faster than DS and is a free shot, FA is more mana/damage efficient and damage/time efficient.
 * The delay of FA is between .3 and .35 of a second for bows, it is unknown what the delay is for XBows. For some, this is too long, others, it is not noticeable, which contributes to the controversy of this skill.

Dragontamer believes that as a rule of thumb, Hunters should get FA, while XBows should not. Currently though, most archers do not get FA, especially xbowmen because of FA's detrimental effect to Iron Arrow.

Common Myths
Myth: Arrow Blow is better than Double Shot

Arrow Blow does less damage than Double Shot, as it only has one chance of hitting critical (see below). Most players agree that Arrow Blow has its uses despite lower damage, namely having increased chance of knockback.


 * It should be noted that most people don't understand how this works. Critical does +100% damage; not x2 damage. This is a very big difference in AB vs. DS damage calculations. If AB gets a critical, it does 260% + 100% damage, or 360% damage. If DS gets 1 critical, it does 130% + 130% + 100% damage, or 360% damage. If DS gets 2 criticals, it gets 460% damage.
 * Similarly speaking, Arrow Blow does not "armor break". That is; DS and AB take in the same amount of armor from the enemy. For example: Iron Hogs may remove 300 damage from arrow-blow, but it will only remove 150 damage from each double shot. It has been tested; and the amount of armor removed is proportional to the % damage. So Power Strike, which does 260% damage, will take in 260% more armor than a normal hit. Same with Arrow Blow, Double Shot, final attack. The only attack that this may not work with is Arrow Bomb, PKB, and "Spread" Final attack on warriors; but tests in this area have been too few and no conclusion has been reached yet, as the damage formulas for these attacks are unknown. Note: When you do a critical shot with AB, the "armor" value is 360% higher than normal.
 * With these two facts; it is easy to see that DS will always do at least the same amount of damage as arrow blow; add in the critical damage, and DS does an average 40% more damage than Arrow Blow.
 * Arrow Blow DOES have two advantages over Double Shot: first, Arrow blow has higher chances of "knockback" (KB), a.k.a. "flinch" (if you don't know what I'm talking about, shoot a few shots at Stone Golems, and notice they can only be "flinched" if you do 1000 damage with a single arrow). Arrow Blow doesn't spread the damage between arrows, thus while the total damage may be lower, the damage per arrow is higher, and thus the chance of "knockback" is higher. Second, Arrow Blow has slightly lower MP cost: it's damage per MP rate is 21.4%/MP, higher than the damage per MP rate of Double Shot (21.25%). However, the advantage is VERY slim, and the advantage of being able to kill monster faster outstrips the damage/MP rate by at least 10 to the exponent of 10 times.

Myth: I only need 15 Bomb/IA or 10 DS/AB

30 Bomb or IA is MUCH better than 15 bomb/IA. Additionally, the money "saved" in mana pots is near nothing compared to the money you will spend on your equipment, which will be many millions at higher levels.

Myth: I only need 19 mastery

This was commonly told in older guides, because the only bonus gained from level 20 mastery is 1 accuracy, which is useless for archers. However, it is now a prerequisite for the 4th job skill (Cross)bow Expertise. One could also max it later with one point from 3rd or 4th job, but this would be a poor waste of SP.

Myth: Bowmen shoot much faster than Xbowmen in 2nd and 3rd job.

While bows do fire faster than crossbows without any skills, booster makes normal speed crossbows fire at the same rate as normal bows fire with booster. The maple bow, soul searcher, kandiva, and blue metus are some exceptions to this rule though, as these fast attack speed bows fire faster than fast attack speed crossbows.