I am a little confused by the archery skill because it affects both offense and defense.

Does the your % in the Archery skill govern how well" "keep yourself safely out of range? Or does it only affect the shot itself? How do you increase your %, is it only the once or twice around from hitting an opponent or can it increase with keeping out of range part as well?

Also, the helpfile doesn't make it clear, but what stat governs this skill? Thanks!

archery skill % has an impact on 2 things primarily:

first is defense, like you said. and it is a defensive skill that comes before dodge and means you cannot parry/shield block (obviously, 2h bow).

second is like any weapon % it has a tie to scaling damage. 100% means you hit harder on your melee, just like the difference form 75% sword to 100% sword.

rapid shot is the skill that adds second and third attack to archery melee. a few years ago nepenthe upgraded to allow for the 3rd strike which is dex oriented. i bug boarded it but i don't think metabolic quickening allowed for any extra hits. oh well.

anyway, hunters are a lot of fun and are the more versatile build outside of the wilds because you still get good defense with archery skill and can use aimed shot, boosted serpent strike, or timed attack out of the wilds.

(i've played 5 hero range archers now, 3 heroes)

>I am a little confused by the archery skill because it
>affects both offense and defense.
>
>Does the your % in the Archery skill govern how well" "keep
>yourself safely out of range? Or does it only affect the shot
>itself? How do you increase your %, is it only the once or
>twice around from hitting an opponent or can it increase with
>keeping out of range part as well?
>
>Also, the helpfile doesn't make it clear, but what stat
>governs this skill? Thanks!


My experience is that it the skill affects % both offense and defense. I seem to recall getting all (or at least most) of my improvements defending with the bow. When I last played a hunter though I spammed archery up by fighting large groups, similar to working parry or dodge up so I had a lot more opportunities for it to fire defensively.