Archer Guide

Guide created using an unknown version of Cataclysm DDA.
The information present here might not apply to the current version of CDDA.

This guide is a bit of a quick-start guide for an archer. It gets you rather competent with a bow, a bunch of reasonably strong ammunition and most likely some good stuff from raids, in addition to a solid, semi-fortified fort with sustained food and water. It is built for a fairly easy start, not late game, so do try again later.

Step 1: Character Creation

During character creation, there's a number of things you need to get for this build.

Stats: 10 Perception and 10 Strength is pretty important. Put remaining points after the entire process into Dex - if you don't care about later game, feel free to drop Int to 4. At 10 Strength, 10 Dex, 8 Int and 10 Perception, you've spent 6 points.

Traits: Read Beginner Character Tips for more info, but you'll want 12 points of negative traits and possibly Pack Mule. Ugly, Truth Teller, Heavy Sleeper, Fast Metabolism, Bad Back and Addictive Personality are all good. With Packmule and 12 points of negatives, you've gained 9 points.

Profession: You have two choices here: Bow Hunter, or Blacksmith. Both are good. Bow Hunter's Carbon Fiber arrows will get you through your first mini-raid and fight off wild animals more easily, while Blacksmith has less grinding and a decent melee weapon. Blacksmith costs 1, Bow Hunter costs 2.

Skills: Get to Fabrication 5 (4 if Archer), Archery 5 and Survival 2. This will cost you 8 points if a Blacksmith, and 7 points if an archer.

You've now spent a total of 6 points, the allotted amount! If you didn't take Packmule or drained from Int, you have extra points for whatever you want - more Dex, more Strength, Fabrication 5 if Archer, and more traits are all good.

Step 2: Getting Started

Alrighty! Now that you've got a sick character, it's time to start building!

If you went blacksmith, you need to craft some equipment before anything else. Smash a window for some String, find a rock outside and smash a bench for a two-by-four, then craft a Stone Knife. Smash another window for another string, find a forest, smash a young tree for a few heavy sticks, and craft a longbow. You'll want to smash a few more young trees for more heavy sticks, which can be made into heavy wooden arrow shafts.

Now, you need to get some storage and a shovel. If you're an archer, you can start here, but you will want to get a longbow anyway. After that, get another rock, another heavy stick, and some more string to make a shovel. Take two of the sheets from a broken window and make them into two makeshift slings, and wear them. Now that you've got storage space, dig pits all around the house. Whenever you're out and returning home, fill your inventory with two-by-fours or heavy sticks so you can make pointy sticks to spike these pits. For now, though, it'll do.

Smash the lockers in the starting building for metal, and make those into arrowheads. Now you've got most of what you need to make Heavy Wooden Arrows, which are nearly as good as flaming and explosive ones. For the last part, you'll need either a lucky basement or a brief raid. What you're looking for is cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and plastic bags for fletching. Remember, you can empty bottles by wielding them, then (U)nloading them and pressing a direction to pour. You may need to grind Fabrication recipes if you're an archer and still at 4 fabrication, but after making the dozen or so recipes of arrowheads and arrow shafts you should be good.

Step 3: Raid

This step might not even be necessary if you can find stuff in your basement. If you can, skip to step 4.

If you're raiding, you'll need to be careful, especially if a blacksmith. Make some Field Point Arrows by grabbing some more rocks - these will have to do if you run out of carbon fiber arrows or if you are a blacksmith. Always pick up your arrows after you finish fighting what's nearby. Go to the most isolated houses nearby and loot whatever food, water, drugs, first aid kits and bandages you can find, while taking lightweight tools/materials if you don't have them, especially flashlights, lighters and a pot/pan. Fight off any zombies you meet, though there shouldn't be many - if there get to be too many to fight, cut your losses and run.

Step 4: Finishing Up

Now that you have the parts to make heavy wooden arrows, do so! This plus your high archery skill plus a longbow is one of the best weapon setups you can get early game - the range means that even if zombies swarm, as long as they aren't all grouped up you can generally take them all out without being touched. They also make good big-game hunting, though you'll want to use your arrow shafts for small game.

Next is fixing your fort. If you want to move your fort to a house, do so now! A good house is surrounded by grass, has a toilet and a basement with a decent amount of metal racks. You'll need to lug back as many pointy sticks as you can back to the base, making them from heavy sticks. You will most definitely need more than one trip, so stock up on water and food if needed. You'll need 128 pointy sticks total, or 640 inventory space of them. A few dozen can be gained by smashing whatever is inside your shelter, but the rest must come from the forest. Now, spike each of the pits surrounding your house - this will make it very difficult for any attackers to get in, both slowing them down and dealing damage to them. If you want to be extra safe, dig regular pits around the spiked pits facing town, to slow mobs down further. With your ranged weapons, you are now nigh invincible inside your fort. Be sure to have a couple two-by-fours laying around, so you can (e)xamine the pits and lay the two-by-four across it, making it safe. Once you cross, (e)xamine again to remove the two-by-four, making the pit active again.

Finally, you'll want ways to cook and get water. If you can find a Funnel, that'll do well as you can put a funnel and a water bottle on the ground to collect rainwater. If you moved to a house, you can simply use the toilets to fill bottles. Now you need fire - simply burn something in a pit 2 squares away from a door, allowing you to cook from the doorway yet avoids burning your fancy home down. You'll need a pot both to cook meat and to boil your water so it's clean, but once you do that you're good to go. Go into forests to hunt when you need food, collect more water when you need water. The only consumable resource you have now is arrows, but if you pick them up after shooting you'll have very little problems getting enough, as a city will have enough cardboard and plastic for thousands and thousands of arrows.

If you happen upon a Hacksaw, an excellent upgrade from Heavy Wood Arrows is the Metal Arrow, netting you +2 Damage, Armor Piercing, and Range over a Heavy Wood Arrow. The only "better" arrow might be the Flaming or Exploding arrows, but the Exploding arrow requires hard-to-get Gunpowder and the Flaming Arrow requires alcohol that you could be using to make bandages, and is rather finicky and not much better.

Congrats! You now have stable living and a good fighting set up. Look to more advanced guides for how to continue.

Various Tips

• As an archer, skeletons are going to wreck you. Carry a decent melee weapon and perhaps bash any small animals you see to death to train melee skill, so that these threats aren't quite such a game-ender.
• Even worse are skeleton dogs, who are faster and dodge pretty much any melee attack. To deal with them, just chuck everything heavy you have on hand, picking up more stuff if needed. Throwing almost always hits them for low damage and will usually take them down faster than bashing or shooting.
• A good investment is a bear trap, set it to slow problematic enemies. It should kill an skeleton with one hit.
• For "cleaning" of larger areas it may be worthwhile to dig a line of deep pits. Lead difficult enemies into them, smoker zombies can be killed easier that way.
• A fairly limited resource is healing - be sure to take healing items whenever you can, and any alcohol you find later on (for making bandages).
• Be sure to start shooting when enemies are fairly far away - the more enemies, the further you need to shoot from.
• For the most part, you'll want to pick up arrows after shooting. Once you stock up enough and clear out the city you've taken on, you might be able to skip this, but there's very little point in not picking it up.
• As a general tip, butcher zombie corpses so they don't rise again.
• Using arrow shafts will keep small game a bit more intact.
• If you find yourself running out of arrows, Field Point Arrows can help take out enemies that aren't at all threatening, and will save you a few Heavy Wooden Arrows. However, this shouldn't be a problem.
• Once you get a couple canteens, your water problems should be mostly solved, so you can use any water bottles you have for fletching.
• If you manage to find a Reflex, Recurve, or Reflex Recurve bow, swap it out for your current one.
• You can go for Strength 12 for a Reflex Recurve Bow if you want - you can craft it at Archery 7, so it's a worthwhile investment.