Arcane Archer, need help

[m149307]

Wonder what would be a good build for an Arcane Archer? Should I just go all 20 levels in warrior/arcane archer, should I go into Eldritch Knight, or Rogue? What are some good feats to pick if I want to be primarily ranged dps? Any suggestions outside these questions would be helpful as well since this will be my first 5e game and I don't much about the possibilities.

[Quoz]

Ok, sounds like you're still early on and looking to make an archer build. A lot of options are great for this, it depends where you want to take it.

The two things to look at for making a strong archer are damage and control. One of the best sources for damage is the sharpshooter feat. -5 Attack for +10 damage. A lot of builds look to focus on this, finding ways to gain advantage and attack bonuses to offset the attack penalty. Finding ways to get in more attacks is also key. Crossbow expertise is a strong choice, granting a bonus action attack. Note that you can trigger the attack with the crossbow itself, so no need to dual wield. Some GMs may allow you to use a shield in the offhand with this feat, but it depends on your table.

For control, you want to get no action riders on your attack. Arcane Archer is good, but I would suggest you look at battlemaster. Any of those abilities that don't specify a melee weapon can be used at range. They can also be used in close combat if you get swarmed.

My recommendation would be a dex based fighter/battlemaster. Take archery for your fighting style, and get battlemaster for disarming, menacing, and precision. For feats, sharpshooter and dex increases. Crossbow expertise is also great if you go that route. After level 5, things open a bit if you want to multiclass but straight fighter is good through the end. I haven't played many games that go past level 10 so others may have more insight there.

[m149307]

Ah, I was actually thinking of adding in the Arcane Archer subclass from xanathar, thoughts on if this is a good idea or not?

[Kane0]

Yeah it's a solid subclass. Get yourself a decent Dex and Int, throw in Sharpshooter and maybe some other feats and you'll be fine.
Your biggest concern will be picking out Magic Arrows that you want and deciding when and on whom to use them.

[Quoz]

Arcane Archer's get more damage (2d6 vs 1d8, ending at 4d6 vs 1d12) and arguably they get slightly stronger effects depending on your choices. In exchange they are more limited. Archers get 2 uses per rest, and only one per turn. Battlemasters get 3 to start and more as they level, and can gain one more with a feat. They can also nova and use one per attack in a pitched fight.

Archers are also limited to only long and short bows, while battlemasters get any weapon. This opens up crossbows and backup melee weapons, adding a lot of versatility.

Both are good choices, but over the course of a long day I think battlemaster goes a bit longer. If you are going for the feel of slinging spells from a bow, you can always fluff the battlemaster shots am magical abilities.

[BobZan]

Precision is key for an Archer, therefore Battlemaster suits better.

[Aett_Thorn]

Arcane Archer's get more damage (2d6 vs 1d8, ending at 4d6 vs 1d12) and arguably they get slightly stronger effects depending on your choices. In exchange they are more limited. Archers get 2 uses per rest, and only one per turn. Battlemasters get 3 to start and more as they level, and can gain one more with a feat. They can also nova and use one per attack in a pitched fight.

Archers are also limited to only long and short bows, while battlemasters get any weapon. This opens up crossbows and backup melee weapons, adding a lot of versatility.

Both are good choices, but over the course of a long day I think battlemaster goes a bit longer. If you are going for the feel of slinging spells from a bow, you can always fluff the battlemaster shots am magical abilities.

Just a point of clarification here. Battlemasters get three Maneuvers at level 3, but 4 superiority dice. This means that they have 4d8s per short rest to use on their three maneuvers. Compare that to the Arcane Archer's 4d6 per short rest, but with stronger effects.

The Battlemaster also gets to be more single-ability dependent, as their saving throws are based off of Str or Dex, so they don't need to bump another stat like Intelligence.

Arcane Archers have a more magical feel to them, but Battlemaster can beat them hands down, unless you're in a low-magic world and won't get a magic bow of some sort, or you really need those stronger effects (but again, the stronger effects are usually given a save that is based on your Intelligence).

[Throne12]

Having a player running a Arcane archer in my game. They are a great sud-class. Spend a few feats on sharpshooter, magic Initiative, and Ritual caster. And you got your self a cool arcane archer.

[Vogie]

I could see going straight arcane archer for the first 11 levels (so you can get more arcane shot options and that third attack), then grab 3 levels in another class for additional utility. For example:

3 levels of Ranger for Favored Enemies, minor spellcasting and to pick up Close Quarters Shooter. Horizon Walker, Slayer, or Hunter will all give you additional damage.
3 levels of Shadow Sorcerer will give you the ability to do the Darkness/Darkvision combo without being a warlock, alongside full spellcasting.
3 levels of Pact of the Blade Warlock can make sure you will always have a +1 bow at hand (great if your DM doesn't hand out magic items) as well as full spell casting, 2 invocations, and Bonuses tied to the Patron. Celestial will give you the ability to heal without using spells, GOO gives you one-way telepathy, Raven Queen gives a Raven Familiar with a blend of other bonuses, Hexblade will give you a Improved Critical on the cursed target
3 Levels of Bard will give you Bardic Inspiration, full spellcasting and healing, plus the bonuses from a College. Lore gives you cutting words, Whisper can turn your inspiration into psychic damage, Swords gives you an additional fighting style and I'm pretty sure You can use a Blade Flourish with a bow... it doesn't say melee attack, just caring about Attack Actions that Hit.
3 Levels of Paladin will give another fighting style, minor spellcasting and healing, in addition the ability to channel divinity for a bonus. Oath of Vengeance gives Vow of Emnity, Oath of conquest gives Conquering Presence and Guided Strike, Oath of Treachery gives Poison Strike and Conjure Duplicate
Edit: 4 levels of Moon Druid will give you Wild shape into CR 1 non-flying creatures as a bonus action in addition to full spellcasting. Your DM may also rule that your Arcane shots are spells, which may allow you to use Twilight Druid's Harvest’s Scythe ability with your arcane shots and offensive Druid spells... However, I don't think that it would work according to RAW.

[AnthonyKuch]

Sharpshooter is definitely a must on an archer, but the -5 to the attack roll can be pretty steep. To offset that I actually suggest something that might be less popular than others which is 1 level into Life Cleric. It opens to you 2 spells that can come in really handy! First is Bless which is a d4 to your attack rolls and saving throws. It's a concentration spell, but won't matter too much because you won't have other concentration spells to have to choose between. The second spell you get is cure wounds which you can cast on yourself and because you're a Life Cleric, right at first level you get a +2 + the spell's level added to your healing for "Disciple of Life". All of this for the low price of a single level in Life Cleric.
If you want more details about archer/cleric stuff please let me know :)

[stoutstien]

I really don't understand the obsession with the -5/+10 part of SS. Bypassing 1/2 and 3/4 cover is borderline unfair but trading hit for less than a 50% static increase in damage seems like a bad trade.
Back to OP, there is a plethora of ways to build an Archer in 5e and few of those are bad. Every fighter subclass can make a solid pick other than cavalier.
samurai can go all out with fighting spirit and action surge, battle masters have a ton of riders too add to control and agitate foes,
arcane Archer seems weak at first but every subclass feature makes you better at hitting stuff with arrows,
EK can switch between weapon attacks and spells and action surge means you can blow up a lot of stuff quickly,
champion is simple but effective
And that is just fighter

[BarneyBent]

I really don't understand the obsession with the -5/+10 part of SS. Bypassing 1/2 and 3/4 cover is borderline unfair but trading hit for less than a 50% static increase in damage seems like a bad trade.
Back to OP, there is a plethora of ways to build an Archer in 5e and few of those are bad. Every fighter subclass can make a solid pick other than cavalier.
samurai can go all out with fighting spirit and action surge, battle masters have a ton of riders too add to control and agitate foes,
arcane Archer seems weak at first but every subclass feature makes you better at hitting stuff with arrows,
EK can switch between weapon attacks and spells and action surge means you can blow up a lot of stuff quickly,
champion is simple but effective
And that is just fighter

I used to feel similarly about SS until I crunched the numbers. When paired with Archery fighting style, against all but the highest AC enemies you’ll experience a relatively small penalty to hit relative to your overall likelihood, and even more so with advantage. The damage output is much greater.

It’s also not “less than a 50% static increase in damage”. If you’re firing a longbow with a maxed Dex, that’s 1d8+5 = 9.5 average damage. A plus 10 to that is more than double. Of course that will shift if you pick up, for example, Hunter’s Mark, or a magic bow that does an extra dice of damage, or even just a +1-3 bow (though that will be offset by your increased chance to hit with SS).

It’s the -5/+10 is generally not worth it for high single damage attack classes (e.g. Rogue) unless you’ve got Elven Accuracy in play and the AC is lower than maybe 20. But on a Fighter with 3 attacks it is devastating. And if you can find a way to get regular bonus action ranged attacks (e.g. Crossbow Expert) then it’s 100% worth it.

[BarneyBent]

Sharpshooter is definitely a must on an archer, but the -5 to the attack roll can be pretty steep. To offset that I actually suggest something that might be less popular than others which is 1 level into Life Cleric. It opens to you 2 spells that can come in really handy! First is Bless which is a d4 to your attack rolls and saving throws. It's a concentration spell, but won't matter too much because you won't have other concentration spells to have to choose between. The second spell you get is cure wounds which you can cast on yourself and because you're a Life Cleric, right at first level you get a +2 + the spell's level added to your healing for "Disciple of Life". All of this for the low price of a single level in Life Cleric.
If you want more details about archer/cleric stuff please let me know :)

What about a Ranger (Hunter) X/War Cleric 1. 3-5 bonus action ranged attacks per short rest will help get the most out of SS. Take Cleric 2 for Channel Divinity to turn your clutch SS miss into a hit. Fighter obviously works as well but I picked Ranger because of WIS synergy (basically you get more out of maxing WIS than a Fighter would).

[stoutstien]

I used to feel similarly about SS until I crunched the numbers. When paired with Archery fighting style, against all but the highest AC enemies you’ll experience a relatively small penalty to hit relative to your overall likelihood, and even more so with advantage. The damage output is much greater.

It’s also not “less than a 50% static increase in damage”. If you’re firing a longbow with a maxed Dex, that’s 1d8+5 = 9.5 average damage. A plus 10 to that is more than double. Of course that will shift if you pick up, for example, Hunter’s Mark, or a magic bow that does an extra dice of damage, or even just a +1-3 bow (though that will be offset by your increased chance to hit with SS).

It’s the -5/+10 is generally not worth it for high single damage attack classes (e.g. Rogue) unless you’ve got Elven Accuracy in play and the AC is lower than maybe 20. But on a Fighter with 3 attacks it is devastating. And if you can find a way to get regular bonus action ranged attacks (e.g. Crossbow Expert) then it’s 100% worth it.
This is fair.