Out of curiosity, which of the big 4 roguelikes has the best archer class?

Amnekian · August 20, 2013, 00:19

Nethack was god awful. DCSS was quite fun, but it felt stale. I'm yet to take a dive in this game. Thoughts?

Derakon · August 20, 2013, 00:37

Depends on what you mean by "best".

For a long time the Ranger in Angband was a rather munchkiny class -- good at melee and spellcasting, and unparalleled at archery of course. It's had its melee and spells nerfed a bit since then.

Ranged combat in general is quite competitive in Angband. The damage output isn't quite as good as melee (unless you find really good gear), but you can stay out of range of enemy melee attacks. Similarly, it's not as consistent as spells, but your only limit is your ammo, instead of your mana which can be drained quickly.

Interface-wise, you'll want to get comfortable with the 'h' and 'n' commands. 'h' does "target nearest monster and fire the ammo in your first quiver slot". This cuts way down on keystrokes. 'n' does "repeat last command", which is helpful for if you want to use nonstandard ammo -- just select your target, fire once manually, and then repeat commands to keep firing the special ammo.

Djabanete · August 20, 2013, 00:50

Out of curiosity, which are the 4 big roguelikes? I suppose Angband, NetHack, and Crawl are obvious, but the fourth?

T-Mick · August 20, 2013, 01:34

ADOM, I suppose. Never played an archer there though. Of the other three, Angband has the OP archer.

Tab will also quick-fire to the nearest target, at least in FAangband.

Patashu · August 20, 2013, 02:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djabanete

Out of curiosity, which are the 4 big roguelikes? I suppose Angband, NetHack, and Crawl are obvious, but the fourth?

ToME4? (or Dungeons of Dredmor sarcasmmarks)

Amnekian · August 20, 2013, 19:47

My bad, yes, the forth one is ADOM.

AnonymousHero · August 20, 2013, 20:32

I don't tend to play archers, but from what I've played, both V and Sil seemed quite archer-friendly. (Not as in "overpowered", but the UI was reasonably efficient.)

PowerWyrm · August 27, 2013, 16:03

Archers in ADOM are clearly the most OP. Ammo with slay brands will kill anything in a couple of shots, this means the nastiests undead, demons and dragons. And level 50 makes all your ammo piercing...

Estie · August 28, 2013, 15:46

Archery in vanilla angband is not really a viable path by itself. There is no archer; rangers have some advantages when using bows, but basically archery is used by everyone and as a support skill.
There was an attempt to make archery a mainstay attack option, with easy to get ammo in huge ammounts and protected from getting destroyed by dungeon wear and tear, but most of that has been undone again. As it is, its an option for burst damage that doesnt really burst.

It still has some use, but if you go and expect to play "an archer", youll bound to get disappointed.

Philip · August 28, 2013, 16:15

Except for the fact that a Ranger is almost twice as good as anyone else at archery, and only has support spells and a small amount of melee, the fact that archery reliably does more damage than say, melee for many characters etc.

Ranger is a specialist archer, he is super powerful as an archer, what more do you want?

August 20, 2013, 00:19	#1
Amnekian Apprentice Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 65	Out of curiosity, which of the big 4 roguelikes has the best archer class? Nethack was god awful. DCSS was quite fun, but it felt stale. I'm yet to take a dive in this game. Thoughts?

August 27, 2013, 16:03	#8
PowerWyrm Prophet Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 2,954	Archers in ADOM are clearly the most OP. Ammo with slay brands will kill anything in a couple of shots, this means the nastiests undead, demons and dragons. And level 50 makes all your ammo piercing... __________________ PWMAngband variant maintainer - check http://powerwyrm.monsite-orange.fr (or http://www.mangband.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=9) to learn more about this new variant!

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August 20, 2013, 00:37	#2
Derakon Prophet Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 9,022	Depends on what you mean by "best". For a long time the Ranger in Angband was a rather munchkiny class -- good at melee and spellcasting, and unparalleled at archery of course. It's had its melee and spells nerfed a bit since then. Ranged combat in general is quite competitive in Angband. The damage output isn't quite as good as melee (unless you find really good gear), but you can stay out of range of enemy melee attacks. Similarly, it's not as consistent as spells, but your only limit is your ammo, instead of your mana which can be drained quickly. Interface-wise, you'll want to get comfortable with the 'h' and 'n' commands. 'h' does "target nearest monster and fire the ammo in your first quiver slot". This cuts way down on keystrokes. 'n' does "repeat last command", which is helpful for if you want to use nonstandard ammo -- just select your target, fire once manually, and then repeat commands to keep firing the special ammo.

August 20, 2013, 00:50	#3
Djabanete Knight Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 573	Out of curiosity, which are the 4 big roguelikes? I suppose Angband, NetHack, and Crawl are obvious, but the fourth?

August 20, 2013, 01:34	#4
T-Mick Adept Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 120	ADOM, I suppose. Never played an archer there though. Of the other three, Angband has the OP archer. Tab will also quick-fire to the nearest target, at least in FAangband.

August 20, 2013, 19:47	#6
Amnekian Apprentice Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 65	My bad, yes, the forth one is ADOM.

August 20, 2013, 20:32	#7
AnonymousHero Veteran Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 1,391	I don't tend to play archers, but from what I've played, both V and Sil seemed quite archer-friendly. (Not as in "overpowered", but the UI was reasonably efficient.)

August 28, 2013, 15:46	#9
Estie Veteran Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Germany Posts: 2,180	Archery in vanilla angband is not really a viable path by itself. There is no archer; rangers have some advantages when using bows, but basically archery is used by everyone and as a support skill. There was an attempt to make archery a mainstay attack option, with easy to get ammo in huge ammounts and protected from getting destroyed by dungeon wear and tear, but most of that has been undone again. As it is, its an option for burst damage that doesnt really burst. It still has some use, but if you go and expect to play "an archer", youll bound to get disappointed.

August 28, 2013, 16:15	#10
Philip Knight Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Prague,Czech Republic Posts: 909	Except for the fact that a Ranger is almost twice as good as anyone else at archery, and only has support spells and a small amount of melee, the fact that archery reliably does more damage than say, melee for many characters etc. Ranger is a specialist archer, he is super powerful as an archer, what more do you want?

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