Best Builds: Top 5 Archer Builds Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Guide – In this Builds Guide for Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous I’ll explain what my Top 5 Archer Builds are for the spiritual sequel to Pathfinder Kingmaker. I’ll explain a few mechanics about making an Archer in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, to further clarify why I’ve chosen these Classes as well. If you want to know how to make an Archer, or you want to know what the Best Archer Builds are in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous, then this Guide is for you.
- Zen Archer 3 / Faith Hunter 17
- Eldritch Archer 10 / Eldritch Knight 10
- Zen Archer 20 (Pure Zen Archer)
- Zen Archer 4 / Cult Leader 16
- Rowdy Rogue 20
Archer Builds in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous have a distinct advantage over Melee Builds because they don’t need to move as much, meaning they will get Full-Attacks far more often each round of combat. Full-Attacks allow you to use all of your total Attacks, while Standard Attacks do not. This is what makes them so deadly, and why Lann is such a kickass Companion. He simply attacks so many times, that he wipes out enemies before they can even respond.
Before I get into what my Top 5 Archer Builds for Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous are, I want to discuss a couple of Attributes, Abilities and Feats that are very important when making an Archer, so let’s get into those now.
Dexterity & Strength in Archer Builds
In Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Dexterity is used on your Attack Rolls made with most Ranged Weapons, but it does not increase the damage of these Weapons like it does in Baldur’s Gate 3 or 5th Edition D&D. Additionally, it increases both Armor Class Bonus and Initiative.
Armor Class helps protect you from damage. Initiative helps you attack first so that you can defeat enemies before they get a turn, and is extremely useful if you have any sort of Sneak Attack Damage since enemies are considered Flat-Footed until they’ve taken their first turn in combat. This means if your Archer goes first and has Sneak Attack, every attack it makes will deal Sneak Attack Damage, even if it repeatedly strike the same enemy.
Strength can be added to your Damage Rolls only when you are using a Composite Longbow or a Composite Shortbow, and is a great way to increase damage as an Archer. And though, +3 or +4 damage may not seem like a whole lot, you have to remember you will be adding that to each Attack Roll that Hits, and it will be multiplied if you land a Critical Hit. This can sometimes add up to 20-40 damage a round later on in the game, which is not a small number. So make sure you add Strength to your Archer Build, and make sure you get a Composite Longbow or Composite Shortbow as quickly as you can.
Rapid Shot & Manyshot | Flurry of Blows & Ki Power: Extra Attack
Rapid Shot, Manyshot and Flurry of Blows are ways that Archers can add additional attacks every time they make a Full-Attack at their highest Base Attack Bonus. This makes them even more efficient, and every Archer should incorporate either Rapid Shot and Manyshot OR Flurry of Blows into their Build in order to increase the number of attacks they do.
Rapid Shot can be taken at the very beginning of the game, and allows you one more attack when you make a Full Attack by applying a -2 penalty to all of your Attacks Rolls. This can be particularly punishing at the beginning of the game, but as time goes on you will notice the penalty less and less, as your shots begin to land anyway. Additionally, you can take Rapid Shot (Mythic) later on in the game, completely negating this penalty.
Manshot will acquired by most Builds around level 6, 7 or 8 depending on the Class they are playing, as it requires a BAB of 6, and allows your first attack (when making a Full-Attack) to shoot 2 arrows. This is still only considered one attack, though Damage Resistance is applied separately to each arrow fired, Critical Hit damage is applied to only one arrow, and you can only deal Sneak Attack Damage (if you have any) once. So for all intents and purposes, it’s not quite as good as just a proper extra attack, but it does not come with any negatives like Rapid Shot.
Unlike the Rapid Shot and Manyshot Feats, Flurry of Blows is a Monk Ability, and more specifically in this case, a Zen Archer Ability that can only be used if you have at least 1 level of Zen Archer. It allows you to make an extra Attack at your highest Base Attack Bonus when you make a Full-Attack while wielding a Bow. At Level 11 this becomes 2 attacks, though it is not noted on the Ability’s description. You cannot use Rapid Shot and Manyshot with Flurry of Blows, and since this is used automatically by all Zen Archers, these Feats do not work if you are a Zen Archer.
Zen Archers also get an Ability at Level 3 called Ki Power: Extra Attack which lets them make a further extra attack by using one point from their Ki Pool when making a Full-Attack. Because of this, at Level 11 Zen Archers can make one more attack than Archers that use Rapid Shot/Manyshot, just not all the time since their Ki Pool is a limited resource. Additionally, it is much harder to Multiclass a Level 11 Zen Archer, than a Level 3 Zen Archer, so if you’re already 11 Levels into Zen Archer you will likely not Multiclass.
What this means is that all Archer Builds in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous will have to make some tough decisions about whether or not to include Zen Archer in their Build, or whether to go the Rapid Shot/Manyshot route instead. But now that I’ve provided some basics, let’s get into the Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Archer Builds themselves.
1. Zen Archer 3 / Faith Hunter 17
- Stats: Wisdom/Dexterity/Strength
- Classes: Zen Archer (Monk) / Faith Hunter (Inquisitor)
- Weapon: Composite Longbow/Composite Shortbow
- Armor: None
- Spell Focus: Healing Spells
Number 1 on my list is a combination of Zen Archer and Faith Hunter. For this Build you’ll take Zen Archer to 3 and then begin increasing the Faith Hunter archetype of the Inquisitor Class. What I love about this Build is that Inquisitors are Divine Spellcasters that use Wisdom to influence how many Spells they gain, and how hard they are to Save against. This allows them to make better use of the high Wisdom that Zen Archers will possess, and they also have some extremely good Abilities as well.
For instance, Judgment allows them to increase their Attack Rolls, Damage Rolls or to increase their Armor Class, and at Inquisitor Level 16 they can do all 3 of these things at once. This increases their damage significantly and this is all before you factor in Bane, Smite, and Cunning Initiative.
Bane allows you to select an enemy type and add 2d6 damage to your Damage Rolls against that enemy type for an attack. This increases to 4d6 at Inquisitor Level 12, further boosting your damage.
Smite works similarly to the Paladin, except you gain +4 to Attack Rolls without needing Charisma, and you gain 1/2 your Inquisitor Level in damage instead of your full level. This allows you to burst down hard to kill enemies as long as they are of a specific Alignment.
Cunning Initiative allows you to add your Wisdom Modifier to your Initiative so that you are even more likely to go first in combat. This means you should more easily pick off enemies before they even get a chance to attack.
- Very high damage
- Very high Initiative
- Can use Smite on hard to kill enemies
- Can cast a good amount of Spells
- Takes longer to get going
- Uses lots of Swift Actions
- Needs Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom, instead of just STR/DEX
2. Eldritch Archer 10 / Eldritch Knight 10
- Stats: Dexterity/Intelligence
- Classes: Eldritch Archer (Magus) / Eldritch Knight
- Weapon: Any Ranged Weapon
- Armor: Medium Armor
- Spell Focus: Ray Spells
The Eldritch Archer Build combines the magic Spells of the Magus Class, with the Feats of a the Eldritch Knight to provide both good damage with your Ranged Weapon and also added support and damage from Spells. Eldritch Archers can fire Ranged Touch Attack Spells and make Ranged Weapon attacks in the same turn when they Full-Attack. This essentially gives them a “free spell” every turn they make a Full-Attack, which should be often since they use a Ranged Weapon and don’t need to move as much.
Additionally, Eldritch Archers can cast Spells while wearing Light Armor with no Arcane Spell Failure, and later on at level 7 they can wear Medium Armor with none as well. This allows them to remain tanky, while casting Spells.
They can also boost their damage and Attack Rolls using their Arcane Weapon Enchantment, and increase their Attack Rolls by their Intelligence modifier if needed a few times before having to rest. This is important because they take a -2 penalty to all Attack Rolls when using Ranged Spellstrike, and a further -2 penalty from Rapid Shot until they gain Rapid Shot (Mythic). So they will need all the accuracy they can get.
Eldritch Archers make full use of the Arcane Strike Feat, which adds a further +5 damage to their attacks since all of their levels are indeed Caster Levels. This allows them to get away with no Strength, and instead focus on Intelligence and Dexterity.
The Eldritch Knight Class allows Eldritch Archers to increase their Base Attack Bonus faster, giving them better Attack Rolls while still facilitating spell growth. Once you reach Level 10 in Eldritch Archer you should begin leveling Eldritch Knight until you reach Level 10. This will allow you to get the most of your Feats, including Greater Weapon Focus, and Greater Weapon Specialization.
- Can cast Arcane Spells
- Has 6 Attacks per round + can cast a Ray Spell
- Good versatility
- Can use any ranged weapon
- Doesn’t need Strength
- Slow start due to low BAB of Magus
- Low Attack Rolls early on due to Rapid Shot and Spell Strike
3. Zen Archer 20 (Pure Zen Archer)
- Stats: Wisdom/Dexterity/Strength
- Classes: Zen Archer (Monk)
- Weapon: Composite Longbow/Composite Shortbow
- Armor: None
- Spell Focus: None
The Pure Zen Archer Build, or just taking 20 Levels in Zen Archer is simple and straight forward. You get tons and tons of Archery related Feats, and it just cranks out the damage from the very beginning of Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous. It gets more attacks than just about any Archer Build out there, and it deals a whole lot of damage!
At Level 20 Zen Archers deal 2d10 damage, which is the highest default attack value I could find in all my testing. And on top of that, this number increases even further if they are under the effects of Enlarge Person all the way up to 4d8, which is a staggering amount of damage. Enlarge Person is not a hard Spell to come by, and Camellia can use it if you need her to.
Zen Archers deal Unarmed Damage from level 5 onward, even though they attack with a Bow of some kind, their damage is calculated completely differently. For this reason, if you make a Zen Archer and you go past Level 4, you are essentially committing to the Unarmed Damage scaling, whether you like it or not, since there is no way to turn it off. For this reason, if you plan to take a Zen Archer to Level 11 to get the extra Flurry of Blows attack, you might as well go all the way to 20.
- Easy to Build
- Very high damage
- Strong all game
- Great surviveability
- Won’t use Armor
- Can’t make use of damage resistance passives like other Monks
- No Divine Spellcasting, so somewhat wasting Wisdom
- Needs Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom, instead of just STR/DEX
4. Zen Archer 4 / Cult Leader 16
- Stats: Wisdom/Dexterity/Strength
- Classes: Zen Archer (Monk) / Cult Leader (Warpriest)
- Weapon: Composite Longbow/Composite Shortbow
- Armor: Light
- Spell Focus: Healing & Utility Spells
For this Build you’ll take 4 levels of Zen Archer and afterwards you’ll take 16 levels of Cult Leader which is an archetype of the Warpriest Class. There are a lot of similar synergies between these this Build and the Faith Hunter Build, for instance, you can cast a good number of Spells as well due to the high Wisdom.
Cult Leaders can also boost their Armor using the Sacred Armor Ability, so you will need to find some good Light Armor. You will lose the benefit of your Wisdom Modifier to your Armor Class, but you will make up for it with Light Armor and Sacred Armor, which can also be used to boost your Spell Resistance. Additionally, you since Sacred Armor is an Object Armor Enhancement buff, you can still gain a Self Armor Enhancement buff to your character. These stack because the target of these buffs are not both you.
You can also increase your damage and Attack Rolls with Sacred Weapon periodically further boosting the effectiveness of all of your attacks. On top of that, you can also Sneak Attack gaining up to 6d6 Sneak Attack Damage at level 15 of Warpriest. Remember that if you go before enemies in the first round you can deal Sneak Attack Damage with every shot you fire, so this will be your normal damage PLUS 6d6 damage by max level PER ARROW fired. That is a lot of damage!
On top of all that you can gain Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization and Greater Weapon Specialization with this Build, alongside Penetrating Strike and Greater Penetrating Strike. This gives you some of the best Feats of Fighter, while gaining Sneak Attack, 6 shots per round, and the ability to cast Divine Spells. What more could you want?
Oh yeah, did I mention that you can use the Warpriest’s Fervor Ability to heal quite a bit of health many times a day, that you can use in between battles to top up? This is arguably the best all around Archer Build in the game if you can keep your Initiative high and go first in combat.
- Very high damage
- Strong all game
- Great surviveability
- Can cast Divine Spells
- Good versatility
- Sacred Armor not useful until mid-game
- Needs Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom, instead of just STR/DEX
5. Rowdy Rogue 20
- Stats: Dexterity/Strength
- Classes: Rowdy (Rogue)
- Weapon: Any Ranged Weapon
- Armor: Light
- Spell Focus: None
The last Build on my Top Archers in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous list is the Rowdy Rogue. What I love about this Archer Build is the insane damage it can gain from using Vital Strike. Not only does this Build gain 4x the Weapon Damage at Rowdy Level 11 when using Vital Strike, they also add 2d6 per Sneak Attack die rolled when using Vital Strike. This means at Rowdy Level 20 Vital Strike will hit for 4x the Weapons damage, +Strength Bonus, +20d6 damage, +10d6 Sneak Attack Damage! That is a potential of 225 damage in one attack without a Critical Hit. And, at level 20 you have a chance to insta-kill anyone you Sneak Attack!
Another great thing about this Build is the sheer number of Feats you can obtain, and although these don’t include Fighter Feats like Greater Weapon Focus, and Weapon Specialization, it provides you more than enough to get all the Feats you could possibly want otherwise.
The key to playing a Rowdy Archer is using Full-Attacks on a group of enemies, and using Vital Strike when you need to move a long distance and attack. Vital Strike is a Standard Action so it’s best to use it when you cannot make a Full-Attack. This allows the Rowdy Rogue to take down a deadly foe, even when it cannot make a Full-Attack during a combat round.
- Some of the highest single shot damage in the game
- Very deadly at wiping out groups before they can attack
- Easy to use and put together
- Starts out strong and only gets stronger
- Can use any Ranged Weapon
- Relies heavily on Sneak Attack and Vital Strike for damage
- Relies on equipment to overcome Damage Reduction
- Less surviveability than other Archers
Well that’s it for our Top 5 Archer Builds for Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous! I hope you enjoyed our list, and you learned something about Archer Builds and are inspired to make some of your own! You can look forward to more of these types of Build Guides to give you more ideas on how to play Melee, Spellcasting Classes, Mounted Builds and more! Be sure to check out the Official Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous Wiki if you have more questions about the game, or post in the comments and I will try to answer all I can!
