Editing MapleStory/Bowman/Builds

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==AP Build==
It is best to add all your points into DEX. Luckily, the Auto-Assign can do that.

==Skill Build==
===First Job===
*Skills:
**Critical Shot (20)
**Archery Mastery (15)
**Arrow Blow (20)
**Double Jump (10)
;Optimal build
First, add 1 point into Arrow Blow and 3 into Double Jump, the latter for mobility. Max Double Jump for the extra jumping distance. Next, max Archery Mastery for the extra shooting distance, as well as Speed and Avoidability. Next, max Critical Shot for the extra Critical Rate. Finally, raise Arrow Blow to 19, as chances are, you won't be using it much in the next job advancement.

Note, for the skill tables, the numbers are listed respectively. For example: Double Jump, Archery Mastery|1, 2|10 (Max), 2| means Double Jump has 1 SP added, totaling to 10, and Archery Mastery has 2 SP added, totaling to 2.

{|{{prettytable|notwide=1}}
!Level!!Skill!!New SP!!Total SP
|-
|10||Arrow Blow, Double Jump||1, 3||1, 3
|-
|11||Double Jump||3||6
|-
|12||Double Jump||3||9
|-
|13||Double Jump, Archery Mastery||1, 2||10 (Max), 2
|-
|14||Archery Mastery||3||5
|-
|15||Archery Mastery||3||8
|-
|16||Archery Mastery||3||11
|-
|17||Archery Mastery||3||14
|-
|18||Archery Mastery, Critical Shot||1, 2||15 (Max), 2
|-
|19||Critical Shot||3||5
|-
|20||Critical Shot||3||8
|-
|21||Critical Shot||3||11
|-
|22||Critical Shot||3||14
|-
|23||Critical Shot||3||17
|-
|24||Critical Shot||3||20 (Max)
|-
|25||Lightning Punch||3||4
|-
|26||Lightning Punch, Flash||3||7
|-
|27||Arrow Blow||3||10
|-
|28||Arrow Blow||3||13
|-
|29||Arrow Blow||3||16
|-
|30||Arrow Blow||3||19
|}

===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 60.  Having chosen between getting Final Attack or not, you should now execute your decision and follow the appropriate section.

===Final Attack Build===


{|table border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"
|+ '''2nd Job FA Build'''
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Mastery}} || MAX(10)
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Final Attack}} || MAX (20)
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Booster}} || 10
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Soul Arrow}} || 10
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Arrow Bomb}} || MAX (20)
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Physical Training|Physical Training}} || MAX (5)
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Quiver Cartridge|Quiver Cartridge}} || MAX (1, automatically assigned, does not affect total SP)
|-
|{{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Covering Fire|Covering Fire}} || MAX (10)
|}

;Build Order
* 1 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Arrow Bomb}}
* 1 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Covering Fire|Covering Fire}}
* 10 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Mastery}}
* 6 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Booster}}
* 20 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Soul Arrow}}
* 5 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Physical Training}}
* 20 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Final Attack}}
* +19 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Arrow Bomb|Arrow Bomb}} (Max Bomb)
* +5 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Covering Fire|Covering Fire}} (Level 6)
* +4 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Hunter|Booster}} (Max Booster)
* +3 {{MapleStory/Skill|Bowman|Covering Fire|Covering Fire}} (Level 9)

Variations: Some people opt for a longer booster/SA combo earlier, and get 10 booster and 3 Soul Arrow.

;Explainations 
*1. A bowman is a job that in the beginning of first job, has mobbing skills. Adding your first skill point into the mobbing skill is needed for a bowman to strike many monsters. Bowman's have random damage in the beginning of the game and usually hit extremely high to average. Maxing out mastery is needed to balance out this weakness of bowmans. With critical, the range of bowman attacks will be even larger making Mastery and Expertise crucial to any bowman. 
*2. Booster, for bowmans, increases speed of attack, but increased level doesn't effect the speed that comes with it. Leveling booster up to six would make it so that booster doesn't run out so quickly, but still have a fairly good attack speed. 
*3. Leveling up Arrow Bomb at the start is a waste of money. Instead, letting it be level 20 at the end is the best efficient plan. Level 1 allows it to be your first mob skill and 20 is its maximum level to defeat stronger monsters at higher levels. You do not need to be that strong at low levels.
*4. Soul Arrows also increase your total Attack, increasing your damage. Also increases your duration, so instead of levelling Arrow Bomb you can add Soul Arrow first to increase damage.
*5. Physical Training is needed as it boosts 30 Strength and Dexterity, indirectly increasing your damage.
*6. Finally, contribute all points into covering fire, and booster at the same time. Covering Fire is the only move that improves with levels, so focus your attention on covering fire but leave it at Level 6 first since Level 7 requires 5 MP for the skill instead of 3. Level booster too. You should max all moves except covering fire by level 60 as it is used mostly as a mobility skill with its terrible damage of 100% at Level 9, which is quite useless by the time you reach 3rd Job as you will get way better skills.

==Third Job==
===Currently agreed points===
*All 3rd job archer skills are great, which makes the 3rd job builds difficult, since not all skills can be maxed.
*Arrow Blaster is a must-max skill. Arrow Blaster is both faster and stronger than any other skill you will get and with its turret, it can be useful even in 4th job as its speed is the same as hurricane, increasing your hits per second by around 50% easily.
*Mortal Blow is an underrated skill. Its purpose is to do its instant kill on the enemy.
*Focused Fury/Pain Killer both adds abnormal status resistance passively, so they should also be maxed.
*To increase survivability, max Hookshot since it gives 40% HP at max level (4% per level)
*Reckless Hunt: Bow may decrease survivability (-40% DEF) but its damage boost is great (40 ATT, 40% Damage)
*The minimum build for 3rd job archer skills:
20 Arrow Blaster
15 Marksmanship
<br />20 Focused Fury/Pain Killer
<br />15 Phoenix/Frostprey
<br />10 Reckless Hunt: Bow
<br />1 Inferno/15 Explosive Bolt
<br />10 Hookshot
<br /> Minimum 1 Evasion Boost
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.

===Plausible Skill Builds===
Note: These are not really well-written and that it is not limited to just these skill builds.

====Ranger====
;Build A (Recommended for funded)
#Arrow Blaster (20) - Must max since you will still use it even at 4th Job.
#Marksmanship (20) - Additional Damage
#Inferno (20) - May be good for its damage overtime
#Phoenix (10) - Summon skill, additional damage
#Focused Fury (20) - Increase status resistance
#Reckless Hunt:Bow (10) - While you lose 40% DEF, you damage taken increases barely like around 15% more? And then you get 40% damage and 40 ATT boost.
#Hookshot (10) - More HP and mobility
#Mortal Blow (4) - Instant Kill chance only instantly kills monster below the HP limit and the chance is too low to even activate. By then you would have already killed the monster before the skill could even activate.
#Evasion Boost (10) - Dodge rate increase and 100% critical rate if you dodge

;Build B (Recommended for unfunded)
#Arrow Blaster (20) - Must max since you will still use it even at 4th Job.
#Marksmanship (20) - Additional Damage
#Inferno (20) - May be good for its damage overtime
#Phoenix (10) - Summon skill, additional damage
#Focused Fury (20) - Increase status resistance
#Reckless Hunt:Bow (10) - While you lose 40% DEF, you damage taken increases barely like around 15% more? And then you get 40% damage and 40 ATT boost.
#Hookshot (10) - More HP and mobility
#Mortal Blow (10) - Instant Kill chance instantly kills monster below the HP limit and the chance is quite reasonable to activate for high levels.
#Evasion Boost (4) - Dodge rate increase and 100% critical rate if you dodge. However your 4th job Illusion Step gave 30% dodge rate no matter what and this skill increases only the base dodge rate. Level 1 evasion boost also gives you 100% critical chance after dodging.

;Variations
Evasion Boost and Mortal Blow are deemed as the 'optional' skills since their impact is not really heavy.
*Mortal Blow instant kill monsters below 30% HP at 10% chance, so if you deal very good damage you would have instantly killed the monster. If 1 hit takes away about 60% of the monster's HP, the monster will never go below 30%, rendering this skill useless since if you hit again the monster simply dies (120% of HP taken off)
*Mortal Blow does not work on boss monsters (such as Knight C/D/E in Future Ereve)
*Evasion Boost increase may be too insignificant. Average dodge rate at low pevel is about 25% at 1000 avoidability. Level 4 evasion boost gives 18% more so the total evasion rate is about 29.5% but Level 10 evasion boost gives only 30% more which makes it 32.5% in total, which is 3% extra for every 25% base evasion rate.
*Critical rate boost after dodge is the same for all levels.
*When you hit 100% critical rate this skill is almost useless (apart from evasion rate increase, which is insignificant).

====Sniper====
#Marksmanship (20) - Increase damage
#Hookshot (10) - Increase HP and mobility
#Pain Killer (20) - Increase status resistance
#Reckless Hunt:Crossbow (10) - With Aggressive Resistance, 50% avoidability makes you vulnerable to get hit about 50% more often but damage taken is reduced by Aggressive Resistance anyway. Boost critical damage.
#Dragon's Breath (9) - Level 10 Dragon Breath costs more MP for a miniscule damage boost
#Aggresive Resistance (10) - 60% damage reduction, which increases survivability by alot.
#Frostprey  (10) - Summon, increase damage
#Mortal Blow (5) - Damage is so high you do not really need this skill to kill the monster.
#Explosive Bolt (20) - Deals ridiculously high damage to the first target (700% base +200% first target)
#Evasion Boost (10) - Dodge rate increase helps to cover part of the lost evasion due to reckless hunt.

===Outdated Builds===
These builds are remained here as they are references to the above builds, to a certain extent. The above builds are also adjusted after taking into account current game state and the olden game state.

====Springers' build====
This is a possible but untested build for a Ranger:
#Strafe(20) - Must-max skill, main attack -
#Arrow Rain(20) - Good for closer ranges-
#Inferno(20) - Elemental advantage on some monsters, long range mob skill -
#Phoenix(10) - High chance of stun, pre-requisite for Phoenix -
#Puppet(10) - Must-max skill, makes you able to actually survive as well as taking less damage at 4th job (Elite Puppet)-
#Mortal blow(15) - Insta-kill and recover HP and MP= YAY - 
#Evasion Boost (10) - Critical hit for 1 sec after dodging! -
#Drain Arrow (10) - Lesser pot consumption, time to save $$$! -
Springers,Demethos, GlobalMS

====IsaacGS's Third Job Build====
For Rangers:
#Strafe (20)
#Arrow Rain (20)
#Inferno (20)
#Phoenix (10)
#Puppet (10)
#Mortal Blow (15)

There are 124 points available for Third Job, levels 60 to 100.
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 20 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. Phoenix, 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.

For Snipers:
#Strafe (20)
#Arrow Eruption (20)
#Blizzard (15)
#Frostprey (10)
#Puppet (10)
#Mortal Blow (15)
There are 124 points available for Third Job, levels 60 to 100.
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.

====TruZen's Third Job Build (Sniper)====
#Strafe (20)
#Eruption (20)
#Snapfreeze Shot (15)
#Frostprey (10)
#Puppet (10)
#Mortal Blow (15)
#Evasion Boost (10)
I agree with IsaacGS on many points, but I really do feel that evasion boost can't be denied. You'll notice that I withdrew points from Frostprey. A 100% success rate of stunning isn't a huge difference from a 100% chance. The same goes for a 20 second drop in duration of frostprey and a 10 hit drop. The biggest deterrent is that frostprey can't be controlled on which enemy it hits. Snipers have Snapfreeze shot which can compensate for the loss of stuns (elemental monsters depending).
A 30% dodge increase can eliminate the reliance on pills and def 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.

====DragonForceX's Ranger Build====
#Strafe (20)(MAX)
#Mortal Blow (5)
#Arrow Rain (20) (MAX)
#Puppet (5)
#Frostprey (10)
#Puppet (10)(MAX)
#Mortal Blow (15)(MAX)
#Evasion Boost (10)
#Inferno (15)

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 Frostprey. Put 10 on Frostprey which has a sufficient 100% freeze 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. Evasion Boost 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 dodge more 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. 

====Trinityblast's Strafeless Third Job Build====
For Rangers:
#Strafe (1)
#Arrow Rain (20)
#Inferno (20)
#Phoenix (10)
#Puppet (10)
#Mortal Blow (15)
#Evasion boost (10)
The explanation for this is due to the recent updates in KMS. In KMS, many of the bowmen skills were upgraded, inferno being one of them. Currently in GMS, inferno hits for about 520% with 100% DOT for 6 seconds besides the elemental attribute. In KMS, the updates made inferno upgrade with a 4th job skill, Ultimate Flame Shot. Additionally, it was given a 6 second burn effect that burns the affected monster by 100% of the maximum damage in the damage range per second. This is considered to be of great use on higher HP monsters during 4th job when hurricane is still weak. Whether it is useful once hurricane can mow down monsters is a subject of debate. The reason why this build maxes everything but strafe is because strafe is almost entirely replaced by hurricane. Because bowmen can train with maxing arrow rain alone at typhons after windraidering from level 70-80 until fourth job, it is very easy to forgo strafe without suffering any major consequences training-wise. The build here is highly reliant on the fact that GMS will get the updates that KMS did, but that can be considered questionable.

====Radical Soloing Sniper build====
DISCLAIMER: This build is constructed based on what I know of 3rd job Snipers. I have a crossbowman, which I intend to use this build for.
#Mortal Blow (5) 
Firstly, Mortal blow is required to unlock your 3rd job mobbing skill, Arrow Eruption. Secondly, if you train smartly, monsters can't get close enough to you to trigger a bow-whack.

2.Strafe (20) (MAX)

Strafe will be your main solo attacking skill so it is a must max. Strafe can do a maximum of 400% damage and 1200% damage with Critical Shot applied to all 4 arrows. Strafe will also be your main bossing skill. 

3.Puppet (10) (MAX)

Some people think that maxing puppet is a waste of SP. They believe that leaving puppet at 9 is enough. With the release of Time Temple in MSEA, 1k more health for your puppet can't be better. With the release of Elite Puppet, level 10 Puppet is required.

4.Blizzard (1)

This skill can freeze monsters solid, reducing your dependence on freeze from Frostprey

5.Frostprey (10) (MAX)

Frostprey will freeze monsters for you, reducing your pot costs.

6.Arrow Eruption (20)

My decision to leave Eruption at 20 is because the seal chance will be 60% for 4 seconds. It can hit 10 monsters.

7.Evasion Boost (10)

Lowering your dependence on parties, A lv 10 Evasion Boost grants you a +30% dodge chance increase, giving you a god-like 
bonus. Evasion Boost should be added at the end of the 3rd job.

This is completly theoretical, and anyone who chooses to use this build can end up screwing themselves.
A 1st point into Blizzard is absolutely necessary at lv 70 for the 1 sec freeze. Next, Strafe is maxed, followed 5 into Puppet. Then put 5 into Mortal Blow, unlocking Eruption. After that, max Eruption for power, followed by Eagle, then Blizzard. Maxing Puppet after that, your last points should go into Evasion Boost for a dodge boost that comes in handy during soloing as mobs will generally hit you with a miss hit.

==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 want to try, make sure you have the basics right.
Some of the basic skills are:
*Archery Mastery
*Bow Mastery
*Soul Arrow
*Marksmanship
*Arrow Blaster, Hurricane/Snipe
*Sharp Eyes
*Maple Warrior

Note: You do not really have to max all these skills since every individual has its own needs. However these skills are essential since without them your character will have a higher chance to fail.
The skills listed above are the most essential ones that should not be meddled whereas skills that are deemed essentia, such as double jump, is not listed since they can be meddled without causing too much damage to the character.

==Ongoing Debates==
===Arrow Blow versus Double Shot===
''The bottom of this section, titled "Appendix", lists the various calculations that govern this issue.''
;Short answer
For First Job, [[MapleStory/Bowman/Skills#Archer Double Shot|Double Shot]] deals more damage than [[MapleStory/Bowman/Skills#Archer Arrow Blow|Arrow Blow]] in terms of average damage and maximum damage. However, Arrow Blow's useful knockback is not superseded until 4th Job. Therefore, Double Shot is better for leveling (killing monsters), but Arrow Blow is better for bossing safely (soloing or in a group) until 4th Job (at that time, both skills are ignored as Bowmen acquire more powerful ones).

Neither skill has an advantage over the other when choosing one of the Job trees (Hunter or Crossbowman).
----
;Long answer
First of all, players need to be aware of what affects the damage calculations:
*A critical results in +100% damage.
*With Critical Shot maxed, archers have a 40% chance to crit.
*Both arrows from Double Shot may crit.

Secondly, players need to know how much damage each skill is capable of dealing:
*Arrow Blow, when maxed, deals 260% regularly, 360% on a crit, and 300% on average.
*Double Shot, when maxed, deals 260% regularly, 360% on a single crit, 460% on a double-crit, and 340% on average.

In conclusion, the following can be said:
*Double Shot deals more maximum and average damage than Arrow Blow. It is thus better for leveling.
*Arrow Blow's damage cannot be matched in terms of affecting the chances of a knockback (Double Shot's maximum individual projectile damage is only 230%). 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. Although it has its uses, there are many knockback skills that can be used instead.
*Some players put one point in Arrow Blow (141% damage) after they reach First Job, but then max Double Shot.
*Both Double Shot and Arrow Blow are superceded by more powerful Second, Third, and Fourth Job skills (particularly [[MapleStory/Bowman/Skills#Strafe|Strafe]] and [[MapleStory/Bowman/Skills#Dragon Pulse|Dragon Pulse]]).
----
;Appendix
*Arrow Blow's maximum damage is <tt>260% + 100% = 360%</tt>.
*Arrow Blow's average damage is <tt>((260% * 0.6) + (360% * 0.4)) = 300%</tt>.

*Double Shot's maximum damage is <tt>(130% + 100%) * 2 = 460%</tt>.
*Double Shot's average damage is <tt>((260% * 0.36) + (360% * 0.48) + (460% * 0.16)) = 340%</tt>.
*Double Shot's probabilities (used in the average damage calculation): 16% chance of double crit, 48% of one crit, and 36% chance of no crit.

;Monster Defense
The point at which Monster defense reduces your base damage is often misunderstood. Some players believe it affects your base damage (the range that appears in your stat window). However, at low levels such as 30, attacking a much higher level monster, such as a [[MapleStory/Monsters/Level 51-60#Stone Golem|Stone Golem]], with Double Shot often results in only 1 damage per arrow. On the other hand, when using Arrow Blow in the same situation, numbers upwards of 100 can be produced.

Some claim that both skills "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. 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, and 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. Also, when you do a critical shot with AB, the "armor" value is 360% higher than normal.



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