what is your favorite archer build in 5e?

[Rfkannen]

I think archers are cool. What iyo is the coolist archer in 5e?

[JAL_1138]

I think archers are cool. What iyo is the coolist archer in 5e?

It's not the best archer at archer-ing by a long shot (sorry for the awful pun), but my favorite is either one of the Bards stealing Swift Quiver off the Ranger list.

[Giant2005]

It might not count but I prefer the Warlock.
I might just be stingy as hell but Archery just costs too much imo. With a 50% recovery rate of your arrows, each shot you take costs an average of 5 copper. That adds up extremely fast! My character that was formerly an archer fights with a Rapier now lol
If I have to choose a non-magical version, I'd go with a Ranger and I'd primarily use Slings until Swift Quiver came along and helped my ammunition issue whenever I can cast it.

[Rfkannen]

It's not the best archer at archer-ing by a long shot (sorry for the awful pun), but my favorite is either one of the Bards stealing Swift Quiver off the Ranger list.

I also find that pretty fun. Valor bard with swift quiver. Aint half bad at auto attacks and pretty awesome at spells.


It might not count but I prefer the Warlock.
I might just be stingy as hell but Archery just costs too much imo. With a 50% recovery rate of your arrows, each shot you take costs an average of 5 copper. That adds up extremely fast! My character that was formerly an archer fights with a Rapier now lol
If I have to choose a non-magical version, I'd go with a Ranger and I'd primarily use Slings until Swift Quiver came along and helped my ammunition issue whenever I can cast it.

I see what you mean I suppose. My current dm let me have infinity arrows at level 1. or rather, they were never brought up and when I was countring my arrows he was just "eh, don't" so that helps. (like every encounter we have has at least one archer enemy anyway so it isnt like I would run out of arrows anyway)

[Naanomi]

My first 5e experience had two archers... A sniper rogue and a battlemaster. Both were effective; and neither were probably as purely effective as a ranger or bard; but of the two I liked all the combat tricks the battlemaster could pull at range

[TrollCapAmerica]

Variant Human soldier background Battlemaster

My first 5th ed character

[BootStrapTommy]

Variant human. Hunter Ranger or Champion Fighter. Maybe Valor Bard or multiclassed Assassin Rogue. Feat: Crossbow Expert. At 3rd: Sharpshooter.

Heavy crossbow.

[darkscizor]

I made a half-elf archer with a DEX of 19 and a bunch of other high stats (all over 12) as my first character ever. It was really optimized despite my small amount of role-playing experience... I've gotten to be better about that now, though. I think a human (variant) valor barc with a hand crossbow+ the crossbow expert feat would be good, as long as the character also has a rapier or something to balance it out and for some occasions.

[unwise]

There is just so much utility in being able to take out sentries and lookouts in one shot that I have to go with the assassin rogue. Over the course of the fight the ranger will out damage them by a fair bit. Before the fight started however, they probably took out 2-3 guys themselves.

[Gwendol]

Wood elf ranger is my choice, but have to put a vote in for rogue too: the damage they can pull off with a successful sneak attack is quite useful at times.

[citystar]

Wood elf ranger with Sharpshooter feat and a good use of Hunter's Mark.

[asorel]

Variant Human Fighter 6/Rogue (Assassin) 14. Take Sharpshooter at 1st Level and Crossbow Expert at 4th. Use Heavy Crossbow until 4th Level, and Hand Crossbow until 8th. After that point, it's a choice between the hand and the heavy, depending on how often you plan to use Cunning Action. Depending on starting stats, it may be a good idea to grab Alert at some point.

[Naanomi]

So a hunter ranger for consistant damage, an assassin rogue for alpha strike scouting, a battlemaster fighter for combat control... Who is the fourth member to best compliment this all archer party? War Cleric maybe? warlock fluffing his eldritch blast as a spectral bow?

[Rfkannen]

So a hunter ranger for consistant damage, an assassin rogue for alpha strike scouting, a battlemaster fighter for combat control... Who is the fourth member to best compliment this all archer party? War Cleric maybe? warlock fluffing his eldritch blast as a spectral bow?

If your going for a cleric you want tempest. fly up, shoot. LIghting and thunder along with your bows.

[Slipperychicken]

I think archers are cool. What iyo is the coolist archer in 5e?

I like the idea of a halfling battlemaster fighter with the precise strike maneuver. His feats are crossbow master and sharpshoooter. Takes until level 8 to really shine, but pumps out a lot of damage, suffers less from natural 1s, and can also do one or two things besides damage.

[Maxilian]

Variant human. Hunter Ranger or Champion Fighter. Maybe Valor Bard or multiclassed Assassin Rogue. Feat: Crossbow Expert. At 3rd: Sharpshooter.

Heavy crossbow.

That's one of my planned character (using heavy armor)

[JAL_1138]

I like the idea of a halfling battlemaster fighter with the precise strike maneuver. His feats are crossbow master and sharpshoooter. Takes until level 8 to really shine, but pumps out a lot of damage, suffers less from natural 1s, and can also do one or two things besides damage.

5e has made "halfling Fighter" something to take seriously.

"At last, the world will finally respect the military might of the halfling army. Its elite armored crossbowmen are among the most accurate and deadly archers in the world, and their skills in the arts of war are surpassed by few--or none.

Go ahead, make a short joke. I dare you. You'll have more holes in you than a fishing net before you can even blink."

[Nod_Hero]

In the three different campaigns my group has started, there's a Halfling crossbower in all of them.

[Ralanr]

Variant human. Hunter Ranger or Champion Fighter. Maybe Valor Bard or multiclassed Assassin Rogue. Feat: Crossbow Expert. At 3rd: Sharpshooter.

Heavy crossbow.


That's one of my planned character (using heavy armor)

Sounds like one of my characters, except he was a dwarf.

It's a modern tank! Heavy armored and shooting!

[Mandragola]

I do quite like the idea of a "bow pact" warlock of some kind. It would probably play quite like a ranger really, but you'd eventually pick up +cha to damage. I wanted it to work with a multiclass into lore bard for swift quiver, but it's clear you can't take that at bard 6 because it calls out that you can take a spell you can cast from the bard table.

The best archer is probably some combination of ranger, fighter and assassin I think. You can get very high burst damage with two attacks and action surge, all critting thanks to being an assassin. I'm not totally sure if the ranger levels are worth it for hunter's mark or if more rogue levels would just be better. Fighter 11 rogue 9 might be nasty. I think rogue 3 fighter or ranger 5 is the basis for a really strong burst damage build. A ranger using pass without trace and expertise in stealth is all but invisible, so he should get his surprise rounds in. Warlock 12 fighter 1 (for the fighting style) rogue 7 could work too.

[D.U.P.A.]

It might not count but I prefer the Warlock.
I might just be stingy as hell but Archery just costs too much imo. With a 50% recovery rate of your arrows, each shot you take costs an average of 5 copper. That adds up extremely fast! My character that was formerly an archer fights with a Rapier now lol
If I have to choose a non-magical version, I'd go with a Ranger and I'd primarily use Slings until Swift Quiver came along and helped my ammunition issue whenever I can cast it.

This is why when I DM I ditch this recovery rules, because then spellcaster are just better. Unless it is a siege of some sort, where would I limit cantrips too.

[Naanomi]

Mending Cantrip to repair arrows, someone in your party can probably take it

[Joe Eskimo]

Wood Elf Assassin Rogue with the Sharpshooter feat that uses a Longbow.

[Millface]

From a straight damage perspective its hard to imagine anyone outdamaging a BM Fighter/Assassin Rogue for this. You get +2 to attack rolls so you can more easily get away with +10 sharpshooter, Easy to go first.

You get sneak damage any time you shoot at any creature in melee with your tank, you can trip attack from range to impose advantage for sneak if they aren't near your tank. You can disarm from range. The utility here is almost as silly as the damage.

at 11 figher/9 Rogue you're shooting for 3d8+45+5d6 every round with a vanilla bow, thats sustained damage. Surprise with an oathbow and action surge and you're at 12D8+46D6+8D10+90.

Granted this takes a little longer to flourish, but it has more potential than a Ranger could ever have, for both burst, sustained, and utility.

[Yagyujubei]

my vote is for valor bard with SQ. great, great fun to play.

[coredump]

Rogue5/Ranger5 (Get there however you want, its all good.) With Sharpshooter
Then Battlemaster 3
Then.... who cares you are already killing everything in sight.

[coredump]

my vote is for valor bard with SQ. great, great fun to play.

Swift quiver is neat, I just don't count it as an Archer build.

A bard can't get it until 9th level, and then can only use it once.

Sure at 11th level you can blow your 2 5ths and your 1 6th slot to use it 3 times.... but thats a lot of resources.

[Fralex]

My current dm let me have infinity arrows at level 1. or rather, they were never brought up and when I was countring my arrows he was just "eh, don't" so that helps. (like every encounter we have has at least one archer enemy anyway so it isnt like I would run out of arrows anyway)

I wonder how it would work to, instead of track individual pieces of ammunition, just assume that every X days containing combat you need to get more arrows. How many days do archers normally go before running out, anyway? It's probably pretty long since you can get back half your spent ammunition every fight.

[Ramshack]

Halfling Fighter 2 Assassin Rogue 18

Archery Fighting Style, Second Wind and Action Surge

+

Full Assassin Line

Take the following Feats:

Alert, Observant, Sharp Shooter, Skulker

Get a Dog to Ride.. Lots of Fun.

[Rad Mage]

I wonder how it would work to, instead of track individual pieces of ammunition, just assume that every X days containing combat you need to get more arrows. How many days do archers normally go before running out, anyway? It's probably pretty long since you can get back half your spent ammunition every fight.

I recall the version of Gamma World that released alongside 4th ed. had a similar, though less forgiving, mechanic regarding guns. You didn't have an ammo count, instead if you only shot once in an encounter you were "being conservative" with your ammo and could shoot again in the next encounter. If you were firing more than once you were essentially going full Schwarzenegger and could fire infinitely until the end of the encounter when your supply would run dry and you would have to actually search for more ammo before using your gun again.