The Ultimate ABC Archer Guide for Ultima Online

The ABC archer is a powerhouse both in PVP (player versus player) and PVM (player versus monster) and one of the best all around templates that Ultima Online has to offer. How it works is that damage is increased by Anatomy, Bushido and Chivalry to 300% of normal damage. To give you an idea of what you can accomplish in PVM, expect to be able to solo Rikktor, the ancient dragon champion with impunity while fencers, sampires and others lie dead on the ground around you.

The Build

The following skills are typical for an ABC Archer: 120 Archery, 120 Tactics, 120 Anatomy, 100 Bushido, Magic Resist, Healing, and about 70 chivalry. High archery skill is needed to hit both players and monsters reliably, if you miss you will lose DPS (damage per second). Low DPS means that you will lose consistently in PvP and you will not get relics or top damage against monsters in PVM. The ideal race is human so that you can have Jack of All Trades. Jack of All Trades is a very powerful ability which assumes that as a human you have at least 20 points in all skills; allowing you to repair your own bows, track down opponents, hide, use spell weaving and necromancy spells.

Tactics and anatomy add to your DPS outside of the 300% damage cap for both PVP and PVM are absolutely essential to the build. By having 100 bushido or higher, you will enhance your chances to get a critical hit against both monsters and players. It's typical for an ABC Archer to land blows of 200-300 or more damage against champions and dark fathers. The best Bushido spell is Lightning Strike, which maximizes your chances of hitting your opponent and will add extra damage.

The Gear

Armor

45% hit chance increase, 45% defense chance increase, 100% damage increase, 70 in all resistances, Lower Mana Cost up to 40%, Mana Regeneration, Stats Dexterity and Int. The ideal gear includes: Mace and Shield Reading Glasses, Folded Steel Glasses, Huntresses' Headdress, Ring of the Vile, Jackal's Collar, Storm Grip, Conjurer's Trinket or Primer of Arms Removal, Quiver of Infinity and a Crimson Cincture. The rest of your gear will be crafted resistance pieces.

Weapons

For PVP you will want to have a heavy crossbow for dismount and moving shot and a bow for mortal strike and paralyzing blow. The heavy crossbow is desirable for an ABC Archer because it will allow you to dismount an opponent, run around and still do heavy amounts of damage. Composite and crossbows are also popular with PVP archers.

The following powers are desirable on a PVP bow: Swing Speed increase of 35% or higher, Hit Mana Leech, Hit Chance increase, Hit Lower Defense, Balanced (which allows you to drink potions), velocity (which does extra damage) and spells such as fireball or lightning. For PVM use a slayer bow or your PVP bow if you do not have one or are fighting a monster that doesn't have a vulnerability to slayer weapons.

If you have the bowcrafting/fletching skill you can create your own PVP weapons using a Heartwood Runic Kit, see my other guide about how to acquire one from the Hearwood Elf Questing area. When the Stygian Abyss expansion is released you will be able imbue your weapon with the specific traits you need for PVP.

Tactics

Use the honor virtue on your opponent; If you have 50 Bushido you can honor an opponent and gain up to 100% extra damage and a 1000 extra luck. The higher your bushido is, the more of a bonus you will gain and you must be able to hit the monster consistently to increase your bonus, having high hit chance increase and archery skill is critical to getting the best bonuses from honor.

ABC Archers are so powerful in Ultima Online because they are capable of dishing out insane amounts of damage while not taking any. For example, you are fighting Rikktor, you would want to kite or lure the champion around in circles without getting hit by his claws and other powerful attacks. You will get pummeled by his earthquake ability, just run ahead and heal. The high damage comes from a slayer weapon, enemy of one, consecrate weapon and the bushido spell lightning strike. Move and attack constantly and you can kill almost anything.

PVP is harder, you will have to deal with a variety of strong templates, experienced players and the element of the unexpected but the tactics are similar. Dance out of your opponent's reach, slow them down and pummel them with high damage until they are dead. Carry potions and use a balanced pvp bow. One of the tactics people will use against you is to try to limit your mobility so they can kill you with a high amount of burst damage before you can heal using chivalry or bandages.

Avoid walls of stone, field spells, getting dismounted or disarmed, the faster you move and can get away, the higher your chances of survival will be. If your opponent is overpowering you, try blocking their healing with mortal strike or use paralyzing blow to stun them and run away. Because you have the bushido skill you can also use a lesser hiryu to attack your opponent, dismount them and lower their resistance.