Good AA builds?

[cathedralmaster]

When I left, strength AAs I think were all the rage. What are the best AA builds now?

[Deleted]

None

[louisvilleslugger]

Agreed, none.

If you truly MUST make an archer, I'd go 35 Wizard, 3 AA, 2 Rogue. Why? -Because you'd bring epics and rogue skills to party and still have 13d8 elementals for arrow damage, and it's more defensive due to conceal and access to epic dodge via epic mage armor.

[Matt]

A well built slinger is pretty decent, better than an AA imo if you want a ranged character.

[sabregirl]

Yeah AAs got left in the dust with the weapon buff changes. Most other classes got a big damage increase, and AAs didn't. If you just want a damage tank 2 handers (of a variety of classes) and barbarians are the rage now.

There are a few people that like tanks that just don't die - like battle clerics.

-S

[desocupado]

Any humanoid shifter with decent AB outclasses an AA due better weapon damage more attacks and the option to use other forms.

Slinger is your best bet for a similar play style.

[Yojimbo]

What about those super awesome amazing Gnomish Inventors everyone is running these days

[chainlink]

I have both Rogue AA and Dev Crit AA builds and they work OK, rogue one can open everything and although not at maximum AA damage boost rips stuff a new one with 15d6 additional sneak attacks if the opportunity presents itself and the dev crit one does maximum AA damage gets a decent boost from high Str and doesn't have to run away when a PF decides to stand next to it and do the flappy thing.

[technoprisoner]

What is current opinion on AA?
I always liked Flurry of Arrows build (1 Wiz, 9 Monk, max Dex), but is at any good these days?

I don't have a STR BUR sub-race, only Erinyes and Half-Fiend.

[Raj]

Junk.

[desocupado]

Fun fact:
Arcane archer is the only character I ever deleted. And I tend to like underdogs and try to explore less used classes.

[louisvilleslugger]

Please don't make an arcane archer.

[Lil' Mikey (Msowby2)]

May 18, 2017 19:36:31 GMT technoprisoner said:

What is current opinion on AA?
I always liked Flurry of Arrows build (1 Wiz, 9 Monk, max Dex), but is at any good these days?

I don't have a STR BUR sub-race, only Erinyes and Half-Fiend.

The mighty on bows cap at pretty low modifier (+16 iirc) so anything after a +16 strength modifier (after +20 from items) is useless- from there you want to invest in DEX since it increases your ab (not that you need it tbh). A bard/hs/50AA is likely going to be the highest damage dealer out of all the combos, but is complete glass cannon. In short, I would not recommend making an AA, as it's damage/utility is not great at all, and most damagers outclass it by at least 200% damage (even sword+shield users have better numbers in most cases).

In short, like most of the people on this thread- it's not really a good investment to make an AA (even with ego I might add..)

[technoprisoner]

OK, ok, I get the point!

Does make me sad though
I'll see if I can struggle through with Cleric and Bard.

Any chance of AA getting any boosts?

[Raj]

It's not AAs that need a buff, it's all weapons and weapons buffs that could use a small nerf tbh There's no way to make ranged weapons palatables with the current weapon buffs. 4 bonus dices are just too much.

The AAs lost their edge and went from top damage dealers to meh category when weapons buffs got introduced, so you have to compare their 15d8 elemental damage to a fully buffed weapon, that's about 3x 6d12 elemental + 3x 2d12 exotics or 4x 6d12 elemental + 2x 6d12 exotics, for a DB weapon; add 2-3 d12 dices of exotics if you have some oddball like paladin/bg/sd/pariah or are yourself a ranger, and 1-2 dices of elemental damage if you have a dsm/bfm or are yourself a stormlord. Mighty+AA enchanted arrow damage pretty much equates to STRmod bonus for most builds.

Long story short, AA damage is lower than a 1 handed + shield tank, except if you're attacking some guy immune to everything but one damage type, but those are rare past the desert and weapon crafting also helps. Most of enemies in end game take 1 element good and 2 almost as good, plus some exotic damage. Download the HGX, check monster datas, and run the numbers against properly crafted weapons.

You can make an AA total glass cannon and still lag behind in damage, not to compare to melee glass cannons with 2handed boost.

AAs only have one job, doing damage, and their support skills are pretty much non-existant. You can build them ''tanky'' with sort of uni-stats but that's true of most builds if you forget about damage.
They don't bring epics, don't bring auras, don't bring weapon buffs, most of time don't even help tanking because they sit in the backlike and can't disarm nor quickly remove a threat that made its way toward the party casters. Almost everything deals more damage, and the few exceptions that are also considered weak classes nowadays (shadowdancers, dex rogues, dex and zen rangers, assassins, and tanky 1handed rdd and dd) all have some party utility skill that more than makes up for the (small) dmg output difference.

If you ask me, AAs are the most unwelcome build in every self conscious party.