Alright so yesterday I finally sat down to test this Arcane Archer build everyone keeps asking about. Grabbed my level 7 human fighter named Bryn, saved right before respeccing at Withers. Felt kinda sketchy spending that gold but hey, gotta know.
The Hype Got Me
Saw all these forum posts screaming “arcane archer OP!” and “best ranged DPS in BG3”. Figured it was time to see for myself. Dusted off my half-elven ranger first, then thought nah, fighter base probably works better for the feats. Respecced pure fighter. Picked:
- Arcane Archer at level 3 obviously.
- Sharpshooter feat ASAP.
- Archery fighting style for that sweet +2.
Felt decently strong setting up. Found that Githyanki Shortbow early, the one that adds psychic damage. Slapped that on. Gear choices were mostly basic stuff lying around my camp chest:
- Helmet that gives +1 to attack rolls after a kill.
- Some gloves adding acid damage occasionally.
- Dumb boots that prevent slipping, honestly forget the name.
Running Into Real Battles
Took Bryn out to the Goblin Camp first. Easy targets to practice on, right? Wrong.
Tried the Beguiling Arrow on a goblin booyahg. Missed. Natural 1. Great. My rogue Tav laughed at me. Tried again – hit! The booyahg looked confused. Then its pal threw a rock at it. Did like 3 damage. Felt useless.
Okay, maybe crowd control sucks. Switched to damage.
Fired a Banishing Arrow at Dror Ragzlin’s right-hand hobgoblin. Connected! Poof, he vanished! Felt amazing… for one turn. Dude pops right back next round, perfectly healthy. My Barb Karlach screamed that I wasted her rage target.
The Sharpshooter Trap
Here’s the big kicker: everyone swears by Sharpshooter. With Arcane Archer? Bad mix.
- Arcane Shots use your bonus action.
- Sharpshooter needs your bonus action for Precision Attack to fix the -5 penalty.
Can’t do both! Either your fancy magic arrow misses because you didn’t use Precision, or you use Precision and can’t fire the magic arrow that turn. Dumb. My Tav kept whispering “just use a normal arrow dummy” every time I blew a shot.
Nearing The Breaking Point
Pushed to Act 2. Fighting shadows. Thought “Aha! Shadow Arrow time!”. Hit. Blinded one. Cool. Then it ran behind total cover. Couldn’t finish it off. Rest of the party struggled.
Tried Grasping Arrow on an Orthon. Got the vine effect. Awesome! Orthon immediately did an AoE fire burst. All vines gone. Why even bother?
Started thinking about my gloomstalker ranger playthrough last month. Easier damage. More flexibility. Less fuss. Felt heavy regret spending all that respecc gold.
What Actually Sorta Worked
Okay fine, ONE good thing: Piercing Shot on grouped-up enemies. Hit two ghouls at once in the Gauntlet. Nice damage spike. Useful maybe twice per long rest though.
The big problem? ONLY TWO SHOTS PER REST. Two. I burned through those faster than Lae’zel burns through my camp supplies. Constantly felt like I was out of gas. Meanwhile Gale flings Fireballs like candy.
Final Verdict? Nah.
Wasted two full nights pushing this build. Felt weak. Felt clunky. Got constantly outshined by simpler builds. The fantasy is cool – magic arrows! – but the execution? Bleh.
Respecced Bryn back to Battle Master before bed. Gave her a heavy crossbow and the Pushing Attack maneuver. Next fight felt smooth as butter.
Sometimes the internet lies, folks. Or maybe I just suck at Arcane Archer. Either way, won’t be trying that again soon. Back to my boring but reliable Sword and Board tank.