MapleStory/Bowman/Builds

Stat build
Unlike other classes, Bowmen do not have any "special" stat distributions. Nearly everyone just follows the following formula:

Bowman: STR = level + 5 XBowman: STR = level

What does this mean?

[| border="2" cellpadding="5" !Level !! Bowmen Str !! XBowmen Str
 * 20 || 25 || 20
 * 25 || 30 || 25
 * 30 || 35 || 30
 * ]
 * 30 || 35 || 30
 * ]
 * ]

And so on. Pretty simple stuff.

Luck should  ALWAYS be 4, and INT should ALWAYS be 4. If you started with 5 luck or int, you won't be perfect, but you won't be too bad off either, But a perfect archer has 4 points.

Everything else goes into DEX.

There are Strengthless 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 strengthless 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 doesn't do as much for an archer as LUK does for a sin, so these really aren't worth the trouble.

Additionally, other archers opt for an "early high str" build, by getting off of maple island with 25 dex and 35 str, and then they use a melee weapon till level 16 (increasing only dex). In the long run however, this build ends up just like the cookie cutter.

First Job Skill Build
The main decision required when going down the path of an archer, is whether or not to get Final Attack. The choice of going FA or FAless will have an impact on how many skill points are allocated for each skill, even in the first job, so you must choose early. If you want FA, then choose the FA Build. If you don't want it, choose the FAless build. For more info on Final Attack, checkout The FA or FA-less Debate. As Bowmen and Crossbowmen are very similar in skills, the basic build for both classes is the same.

Irrespective of whether you choose to have Final Attack or not, the first job build is essentially the same. For the most part, order does not matter, as long as the skill points end up in the right place at level 30. Here is a general path archers with little money should go down:
 * 3 Blessing of the Amazon (to unlock Eye)
 * 8 Eye of the Amazon
 * 20 Critical Shot
 * 1 Arrow Blow (to unlock Double Shot)
 * 20 Double Shot
 * 9 Focus

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 Avoidability it adds is useful.

Those who are rich by level 10, through funding from another character or by finding a scroll early, 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, at the expense of range and lots of money spent on mana potions. Range should always come first, though.

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.

[|table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align = "left"
 * + First Job Build (FA archer)
 * Bowman|Blessing of Amazon || 3
 * Bowman|Eye of Amazon || MAX (8)
 * Bowman|Critical Shot || MAX (20)
 * Bowman|Focus || 0 or 9
 * Bowman|Arrow Blow || 10 or 1
 * Bowman|Double Shot || MAX (20)
 * ]
 * Bowman|Arrow Blow || 10 or 1
 * Bowman|Double Shot || MAX (20)
 * ]
 * Bowman|Double Shot || MAX (20)
 * ]

[|table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
 * + 2nd Job FA Build
 * Bowman|Mastery || 19
 * Bowman|Final Attack || MAX (30)
 * Bowman|Booster || 15
 * Bowman|Soul Arrow || 5
 * Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Bomb or IA || MAX (30)
 * Bowman|Power_Knock-Back|PKB || MAX (20)
 * Free Point || 2
 * ]
 * Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Bomb or IA || MAX (30)
 * Bowman|Power_Knock-Back|PKB || MAX (20)
 * Free Point || 2
 * ]
 * Free Point || 2
 * ]


 * Build Order
 * 1 Bowman|Arrow Bomb|IA or Bomb
 * 19 Bowman|Mastery
 * 6 Bowman|Booster
 * 2 Bowman|Soul Arrow
 * 30 Bowman|Final Attack
 * +14 Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Bomb or IA (for 15 Bomb total)
 * Save up 10 to 15 points, and get +15 Bowman|Arrow Bomb| Bomb or IA (for 30 Bomb total)
 * 20 Bowman|Power Knock-Back
 * 15 Bowman|Booster and 5 Bowman|Soul Arrow

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
[|border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0" align = "left"
 * + First Job Build (FALess archer)
 * Bowman|Blessing of Amazon || 3
 * Bowman|Eye of Amazon || MAX (8)
 * Bowman|Critical Shot || MAX (20)
 * Bowman|Focus || 9
 * Bowman|Arrow Blow || 1
 * Bowman|Double Shot || MAX (20)
 * ]
 * Bowman|Arrow Blow || 1
 * Bowman|Double Shot || MAX (20)
 * ]
 * Bowman|Double Shot || MAX (20)
 * ]

[|border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
 * + 2nd Job FA-Less Build
 * Bowman|Mastery || 19
 * Bowman|Final Attack || 0 (none)
 * Bowman|Booster || MAX (20)
 * Bowman|Soul Arrow || MAX (20)
 * Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Bomb or IA || MAX (30)
 * Bowman|Power_Knock-Back|PKB || MAX (20)
 * Bowman|Focus (from first job) || MAX (20)
 * Free Point || 1
 * ]
 * Bowman|Power_Knock-Back|PKB || MAX (20)
 * Bowman|Focus (from first job) || MAX (20)
 * Free Point || 1
 * ]
 * Free Point || 1
 * ]
 * ]


 * Build Order
 * 1 Bowman|Arrow Bomb or Bowman|Iron Arrow
 * 19 Bowman|Mastery
 * 6 Bowman|Booster
 * 2 Bowman|Soul Arrow
 * +14 Bowman|Arrow Bomb or Bowman|Iron Arrow (for 15 IA/Bomb total)
 * Save up 10 to 15 points, and get +15 Bomb (for 30 Bomb total)Bowman|Arrow Bomb or Bowman|Iron Arrow
 * 20 Bowman|Power Knock-Back
 * Max out Bowman|Focus, Bowman|Soul Arrow, and Bowman|Booster at the same time.
 * Free Point is spent in Bowman|Mastery or Bowman|Blessing of Amazon

Third Job
It should be noted that not many people are exposed to 3rd job as they only came out in OMS on December 20, 2005. Much of this section is not tested by more than 1 person at all, and holds a huge amount of speculation. Maybe in a few months or years people will understand what the best 3rd job build is; but not today.

Currently Agreed points about 3rd job
30 strafe 20 mortal blow 28 arrow rain/eruption 16 eagle/hawk 12 puppet (21 ice shot for snipers) almost all archers would have at least theses skills, they form the most basic build for any 3rd job archer. how are the rest of the skill points are allocated depends on the player, they are covered in the following section.
 * All 3rd job archer skills are great, which makes the 3rd job build difficult as not all skills can be maxed.
 * Strafe, and Mortal Blow are must max skills. Strafe is both faster and stronger than any other skill you will get, and Mortal Blow 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 your "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 you are choosing not to use Ice Shot as your main mob attack, but to freeze the mob for 3 seconds. 21 points in Ice Shot is the lowest possible investment to give you 3 seconds of freezing.
 * The minimum build for 3rd job archer skills:

Debates
Thrust is well known to be a good skill. The problem with the skill is that it is passive, meaning it is permanent, and according to various sources, it becomes next to impossible to go through levels while having a massive speed boost that cannot be deactivated. The "thrustless" party claims that thrust is totally unnecessary, as you can get speed equips and use your skill points 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. The only thing well accepted right now is that anything above 10 thrust is a bad idea; not only because you will have difficulty going through narrow levels with such a high speed, but also that the last 10 points of thrust only add 1 speed; instead of 2.
 * Thrust Debate (no thrust, 5/10 thrust, 20 thrust)

The maximum speed any class can have is 140%, or +40 speed. With scrolling, Haste and speed items not yet released, it is feasible to get your maximum speed any number of ways other than using SP on Thrust.

Fire Shot is attack that when maxed does 150% fire damage to 6 enemies. This means that monsters weak to fire will get hurt 225% damage (150% * 1.5x elemental damage), while monsters strong to fire will resist the damage by the same 1.5x rate, but in reverse. That means that if the max damage is 150%, a fire-based enemy would receive half of the damage, which is 75%. The debate is weather or not you should even get this skill. With Bomb doing 130% damage non-elemental, Fire Shot is only a moderate upgrade to most monsters, and weaker than Bomb on monsters resistant to fire.
 * Fire Shot Debate (Hunters/Rangers only)

Additionally, Arrow Rain/Eruption do more damage than Fire Shot. Fire Shot supporters demonstrate that Fire Shot is an arrow based attack, while Rain is an area based attack; they are used for different purposes. Fire Shot has more range, and can hit monsters across the screen. Rain/Eruption on the other hand, can only hit monsters around you. Granted, the horizontal range for Rain/Eruption is still massive, but not as massive as Fire Shot's horizontal range.

Fire Shot is obviously quite strong on monsters weak to fire. However Bains, perhaps the highest-level mob monster in OMS, are *strong* to fire, and therefore Fire Shot is worthless on them. On the other hand, most monsters in El Nath are weak to fire due to the cold environment. Looking ahead to Ludibrium, there are a few Viking ships that archers in JMS generally train on that are also strong to fire; while at the same time some ships that are weak to fire. So there would be a wide variety of monsters Fire Shot would be useless to, and still a good variety of monsters that Fire Shot would be the best mob skill in the game. You should note that Ludibrium is in OMS now.

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 nearly no monster can take down level 18 puppet before time runs out anyway, so why bother?
 * Puppet Debate (18 Puppet vs. 20 Puppet)

Hawk's stun rate is 90% at level 16, 95% at level 21, and 99% at level 27. 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.
 * 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. Rain/Eruption and Fire Shot are awesome skills, however, at the last 2 SP (level 29 and level 30), they gain 1% damage instead of the usual 2% damage. This makes the last 2 SP points less efficient than the first SP point.
 * Fire Shot or Rain/Eruption, 28sp vs. 30sp

MajesticMystic's Third Job Build
For Rangers:


 * 1) Mortal Blow (1)
 * 2) Strafe (30)
 * 3) Puppet (10)
 * 4) Mortal Blow (4)
 * 5) Arrow Rain (30)
 * 6) Silver Hawk (30)
 * 7) Thrust (10)
 * 8) Puppet (10)
 * 9) Mortal Blow (15)
 * 10) Last 11 points can go anywhere.

Generally, There're not much uses for Fire Shot after you've done training on Yepes, so I didn't put points into there. If you're adamant about maxing Fire Shot, max it right before arrow rain, forget about the 15 points in Mortal Blow, and sacrifice 4 points from Puppet or Arrow Rain. Additionally, you can cut thrust down to 0 if you wish.

For Snipers:


 * 1) Mortal Blow (1)
 * 2) Strafe (30)
 * 3) Puppet (10)
 * 4) Ice Shot (21)
 * 5) Mortal Blow (4)
 * 6) Arrow Eruption (30)
 * 7) Golden Eagle (30)
 * 8) Thrust (10)
 * 9) Puppet (10)
 * 10) Mortal Blow (4)

Ice Shot is only useful for the freezing aspect, so 21 points is good enough. If you want to max it out, sacrifice 4 points from Mortal Blow, and 5 from Arrow Eruption.

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, efficiency, for uniqueness, go ahead with one of these builds.

The max AB build
DS has been proven time and time again to be stronger, contrary to the information that Wizet gives us. DS does 460% damage with critical, while AB does a flimsy 360% with critical. The pros this build has is simply 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.

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 AB and max DS build
Ah, you hate FA, but now where do you put the points? The obvious choice is into 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 rouge archers that go against the crowd and believe AB is better than Focus however.

The no/low-PKB build
While Dragontamer is going down this build, he recommends no one else follow the path unless they know what they are doing. 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 till 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.

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 IA is overrated. While they are welcome to this opinion, at least know what you are missing out on. First off, Bowman|Iron Arrow grows much stronger between level 15 and 30, so do not let level 15 IA fool you in its strength. Same thing for Bowman|Arrow Bomb, 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 formulae 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.

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

Alright, 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. Till 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 6 mana for ??? (MSEA archers, please fill out what the most efficient level for AB is.)
 * Opportunity cost for Focus.

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 may be delayed (and in general, their effectiveness is lowered).
 * 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. Hunters are much faster than XBows, and thus the lost time from FA is easily made up by the speed of your bow. This does not mean that it is a bad idea to be FAless if you are a Hunter or to get FA if you are an XBow however.

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.


 * It should be noted that most people don't understand how this works. Critical does +100% damage; not x 200% 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 12% more damage than Arrow Blow. Arrow blow is only better in the few cases of "flinch", aka "KB" or knockback. 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.
 * Arrow Blow DOES have an advantage over Double Shot, in that 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: Arrow Blow is just as good as Double Shot because of knockback

The only monster where knockback (KB) will matter is Cargos. At taurospears/tauromacis, they charge lightning even if you KB them. Zombies is same thing. Golems are too slow. Yetis and Yeti/pepes are slow, and Earthquake will still hit even if you KB them. DS will KB every other monster.

[NOTE] While arrow blow is weaker than doubles hot in terms of damage, its knock back ability may also be insignificant, it must be noted that double shot will be completely replaced by strafe while arrow blow retains some use. If you choose arrow blow, you will suffer the less damage but eventually have an greater array of skills.

~ You can always skip focus and get Arrow Blow anyway, and if you don't get FA then you have the points to finish it later.

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.