ToME Vault Link: Derptastio
Derptastio was a follow-up to my first archer character, which I made after finding Belmarduk's awesome video series. I named him so because of the way I killed that first archer, i.e., by being a complete derp. Having that character under my belt and all the things I learned from Belmarduk, Derptastio was nearly unstoppable through the entire run, aside from a WTFDeath to my first encounter with hellscape and later Tempest Peak. I'm fairly certain that all my deaths were pre-Dreadfell, but I could be misremembering.
Skills
It's been a long time since the run, so I don't remember a lot of specifics at this point. I made him before the expansion to Archer skills, so no Poisons or Excellence or anything like that. He was an Anti-Magic character, though I didn't invest in that portion until later in the game and I immediately regretted waiting so long once I saw the epic that is AM and Fungus.
I picked up Conditioning from an NPC rescue early on, and I can't say I was disappointed. It probably would have been better to invest in AM/Fungus before spending time on Conditioning, but I didn't put too much into it anyway and I had generic points to spare anyway. It didn't make any difference with my survivability either way.
The Dwarven racials are good for pretty much everyone, but the greatness of Power is Money can't be overstated; gold becoming bonus saves is very nice, it doesn't take a whole lot of bank to make it worthwhile, and you don't really need a lot of gold until near the end of the game anyway. I put way too many points into Stoneskin, which would have been better spent on getting Heightened Senses and maybe Piercing Sight once I saw that I wasn't getting an NPC thief rescue or Track, though I didn't realize at the time how unbelievably good scouting ahead can be.
On the class talent side, he was pretty straight-forward even if a little misguided. Before the new class talents, there were a whole lot of extra class points just sitting around, so I imagine some of the skills I have at 5/5 are due to that. Bow Mastery, Steady Shot, and Scatter Shot are always 5/5 skills because they're so important; Steady Shot is a big damage skill with a really low cool-down, Scatter Shot is an AoE bomb that stuns and, iirc, doesn't require line of sight, and Bow Mastery impacts how fast you can reload per turn along with bonus damage and such. I went over-kill on Relaxed Shot since I also dumped a full 5/5 into Quick Recovery, but honestly both of those were kind of a waste.
On the Aim vs Rapid Fire front, I went full-on Rapid with this character and ran it all day. The worst penalty associated with Rapid, in my opinion, is the crit chance penalty, but you may notice that I spent a point to unlock the Combat Techniques tree, which was entirely for Precise Strikes to (more than) offset both the crit chance penalty and the accuracy loss from Rapid Fire. Aim, especially for the way I play, should be better for me and more my style, but I know from my other winner that it just isn't to my taste. I ended the game with 100% crit chance anyway, so my sheet says.
Also from the Combat Techniques tree is Blinding Speed, a global speed increase a few turns. I dropped 5/5 into it and proceeded to never use it; oops. I imagine that it's a great skill and it's both a mistake on my part to not have use it and a testament to how easy the game gets for Archers at a certain point that I could waste a 54% global speed bonus.
Prodigies
I picked Vital Shot first, and proceeded to save it for the moments when I "really needed it," which were not that often. It could easily stand to be used more freely than I used it. It is one of the best prodigies for an archer, without a doubt. It's impossible that something with stun, cripple, and massive damage wouldn't be.
Superpower was the other get, mostly because I was doing AM anyway and thus had some Willpower. It did make a nice bonus bit of damage, but it wasn't outrageous either. If I'd focused on Willpower more throughout the game instead of Strength or Constitution, I think it would've been a much larger impact. Despite that, I think it was the best of my options at that point and it makes a nice prodigy for AM characters. I would get it again on a better planned character, without a doubt.
Infusions
For infusions, I used the default three for the majority of the game, only adding a fourth once I got AM/Fungus going, then ran with two Regenerations and two Wilds, one Physical/Magical and the other Physical/Mental. If I'd been able to find even one that broke all three I probably wouldn't have used a category point for the 4th infusion, but I'm too far removed now to know for sure. You may notice that I have a Movement infusion in my backpack, but I never had to slot it because escapes were never a thing for me; I either won the encounter or died very suddenly, and that was only in the beginning and some mid-game.
I also had a Heroism infusion, but it fell into that same "I don't really need all this" category, so I didn't bother slotting it. I don't really know why I didn't slot that 24% Wild infusion, though. I already had double Physical, so I probably could've stood to have double magical or mental instead to have the better damage resistance, but I suppose it, too, was unnecessary.
Gear
I think most of what you see on the sheet is pretty simple so I'll just hit the bullet points.
My general rule to go for the bows that have the best range as soon as possible, then worry about everything else. Your damage comes from your arrows any anything that shows up on the bow is just gravy. I tend to prioritize damage over quiver capacity, especially if you can get something that auto-reloads.
The biggest hardship I had with gearing Derptastio was, without a doubt, due to Anti-magic barring him from certain artifacts and item mods. Anything with the "Arcane Forces" note on it was right out, and if you want to know how many artifact bows are arcane then roll up an AM Archer and brace yourself for disappointment. Some really good arrow mods are also arcane, most notably Recursion, which has a chance to strike a second time in a turn.
For rings, I wholeheartedly believe that War God > anything else other than a really, really good bought orange. It's just so good and improves so many important things for Archer, most especially Bow Mastery. Rings with big stats are nice, but that .3 to so many talents is way better, imo.
For gloves, I tried my best to maintain gloves that had a use of Steady Shot on them, which gave me a second use. I also had a bow that gave a Steady Shot use during the journey, which meant I started all boss fights with three Steady Shots, some of them in the same round due to Rapid Fire, which made things very quick. The cool down on item-based SS is not as good as the skill, but most of the time you won't need to worry about that anyway.
The light source I found on this character was really nice in Guidance, one of the few AM-specific artifacts. I really couldn't have asked for better, honestly. Without that, and knowing what I know now, I would aim for something that gave a use of Track more than anything else.
The only other point I'd make is that Stun/Freeze and Confusion immunities are really nice to have. It isn't necessary to win, and I don't believe this character had them until near the end either, but they can make a huge difference in a win or a loss. Even aside from that, it's really nice to not waste time dealing with those effects if you can avoid it.
Overall
I wish it had not been so long ago since playing, but I really don't remember any big highlights with this character anymore. I remember things being pretty easy-mode for the most part, and then in the 40's getting AM/Fungus rolling with two auto-on Regeneration infusions and things going to let-me-just-die-for-you mode. The biggest thing I learned with this character is what is and isn't necessary as far as skills go, how to stat comfortably, and that even a learning character can pull off a win.
