# MapleStory/Bowman Guide/Skills

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## Archer
### Blessing of Amazon

    A very useless skill to have. Arches have the highest accuracy in the game and rarely miss their targets. The only target you may miss is the Jr. Necki, but I assure you will be able to hit it by level 30. After that, it is nearly impossible for a bowman to miss his or her target. You should only get 3 of this skill to unlock Eye of Amazon.

### Eye of Amazon

    This skill is important to all bowmen. Every point invested in this skill will increase your attack range by a bit. Once maxed, an archer is capable of shooting from nearly 1 end to another of the screen.

### Critical Shot

    A passive skill that give s a chance to deal additional damage. Every point increases the chance to score a critical, as well as the damage output of the critical. It should be noted that Critical Shot does +100% damage, and not x2 damage, contrary to the in-game statistics. This is the main reason why Double Shot is stronger than Arrow Blow.

### Focus

    A support skill that adds to the accuracy and avoidance of the archer. Every point increases accuracy and avoidance by 1, as well as increase the length of the skill to be in effect. This skill does not stack with bless, and is not a party skill

### Arrow Blow

    Contrary to popular belief and the statistics given on the Maple Story homepage and inside the game, Arrow Blow does much less damage than Double Shot. More information can be found in the Debate section . It is suggested to only get 1 of this skill to unlock Double Shot.

### Double Shot

    A more advanced skill than Arrow Blow. Many players opt to build on this skill than on Arrow Blow due to the higher average damage (see Debate section for details). This skill is a must max skill.
It should be noted that both Arrow Blow and Double Shot have been revamped in the big update, while many older guides may tell you that it is better to "save up" points in the first job, this is no longer necessary in any version of Maple Story.
Blessing of the Amazon (Master level 16)
Critical Shot (Master level 20)
Eye of the Amazon (Master level 8)
Focus (Master level 20)
Arrow Blow (Master level 20)
Double Shot (Master level 20)

## Job 2: Crossbowman or Hunter

There is very little difference between the Crossbowman and Hunter.

### (Cross)Bow Mastery

    This is a necessary skill. Mastery increases the minimum damage of your attacks, which greatly increases damage consistency and thus your training speed. 20 Mastery does the exact same thing as 19 Mastery in terms of damage, so it is pretty much worthless to get 20 Mastery.

### Final Attack

    There is a great amount of debate surrounding this skill. Refer to the FA vs FAless discussion. In essence, when maxed, you shoot another arrow 60% of the time with the power of 250% (350% with critical) when using Arrow Bomb, Iron Arrow, AB, or DS. More commonly used with AB builds than DS build. Also more common for xbowmen to use than hunters. Requires 3 points in Mastery

### (Cross)Bow Booster

    This is a necessary skill; however, it does not become more effective with additional points spent into this skill. The timer grows and the HP/MP cost decreases when points are added, and thus level 1 Booster has basically the same effect as level 20 Booster. The difference in timer and HP/MP cost between level 20 and level 1, however, is quite significant. Refer to the speed section for more information. Requires 5 points in (X)Bow Mastery.

### Soul Arrow

    This is yet another necessary timer skill. Like Bow Booster, it does not become more effective with additional points spent. This skill gives you an infinite amount of arrows for the duration of the timer. When maxed, provides 10 minutes of Soul Arrows. Requires 5 points in (X)Bow Booster.

### Power Knock-Back

    This is the first melee skill archers get. You may notice that when you bow-whack low leveled enemies, they sometimes slide across the screen. Power Knock-Back can do this to up to six enemies when maxed. It also adds to the (X)Bow's percent chance to cause a Knockback, as well as claiming to do +200% whack damage.
It is somewhat a mysterious skill that appears to factor in level or KB resistance from the enemy. The attack damage equation is also unknown, as it has extremes of highs and lows. You can also use it to kill mages by knocking Golems or other large creatures into them. Just keep in mind, Nependeaths will never slide from any amount of PKB, no matter how hard you try.
Most people think that PKB adds the % KB rate weapon and the skill. Aka, a lvl 90 Metis will give a 100% KB rate. Unfortunatly, this has been proven wrong with several different bows, and a large amount of tests. Leaving us with the conclusion that no one really knows how this skill works. Current tests point at having a 60% "KnockBack" cap, but even this is uncertain.
The test was simple: At level 40, keep using PKB against Stone Golems until they jump back. Easily, you can see that it is less than 5% of the time when Golems get KBed, or even flinch. Even with Max PKB, you don't get the theoretical 70% or 80% Knockback. Some variables that may effect the PKB level are monster's level, an unknown monster "size" variable, and maybe even how many enemies you hit. But all are just theories and are not even tested.
PKB takes advantage of a glitch or a "feature" that afflicts crossbows. Often, when an enemy is close, the crossbow will shoot, but because of slowness, the enemy will advance upon you and the crossbow will bash the enemy instead of shooting. While on the surface that would appear to be a disadvantage compared to a bow that does not suffer that problem, it is in fact a feature that allows a combo. If the Crossbowman anticipates bashing the monster, instead of continually shooting, he can activate PKB and cause it to chain in a combo after the previous shot, forcing the enemy back far enough to be shot again, or knocking them back, assuming their KB number is lower than the damage done. The point is that if you are going to be forced to bash the enemy against your will, you increase your chances of knocking them back by activating the PKB skill. If you don't do it, you only get the chance for KB inherent to the crossbow, but if you use the PKB skill you get the KB% from the crossbow plus the unknown bonus you get from PKB.

### Arrow Bomb

    The signature move of Hunters. It is definitely one of the most flashy second job skills there is. When maxed, Bomb provides a 130% damage (up to 230% with critical), while also providing a 60% chance of stunning them... up to 6 monsters! However, there are lots of unknowns in this skill. First, it appears that the monster that gets hit by the arrow itself does not receive the full damage from the bomb, instead, it is more likely to be around 50% of your normal damage (although nobody has done any tests on this yet). Second, Bomb appears to be less accurate than skills such as DS or AB (you might see a few misses on the monsters that you can hit 100% on with DS or AB). Third, it appears that the splash damage from the bomb is actually higher than the Max of 260% possible, again, this is not confirmed. As well, the 60% chance of stunning is not actually a real percentage, the formula seems to involve the level of the monster, the Knock-Back level of the monster, your level, as well as of course, your bomb level. Nonetheless, Bomb is definately a skill to be maxed. There is nothing more satisfying than to bomb all those pigs to death on pigs beach and get lots of "wow"s from fellow players.
    (Erik) From experience I believe that the initial hit of AB doesn't take targets def into account or your damage either. the initial hit is less than my min damage and then the splash damage erupts from the point of impact doing greater damage as it goes. Being FAless its easy for me to keep monsters in a line rather then in 1 big pile. The best damage is caused to those mobs about 2inches from the initial hit of AB. Thus a pile of mobs will get hit for 600 damage each where as if they are strung out in a line the first 2 get 600 then next takes 1000, then 1500. the outer monsters take roughly double the damage the creatures near the initial impact. So if you have FA it will kill the lead monster and your initial hit will be on a mob. On a side note since def isn't taken into account at lvl 54 I could stun a Werewolf and do 200-600 damage where as DS did 1 and 1 and AB did 100 damage...(being FAless I trained AB and DS max)

### Iron Arrow

    Iron Arrow is the defining skill of the Crossbowman. It is unique to your class, and as such it should hold some measure of respect and awe regardless of how strong it actually is. Luckily for you, it is actually pretty goddamned strong. Iron Arrow has 180% natural power, and can go up to 280% thanks to Critical Shot. It gets slightly weaker with each enemy it goes through, but the exact rate of dropoff is unknown. Iron Arrow is an attack that goes for over half of a screen's length in a straight line in front of your character, and does not home. While Iron Arrow does not have the stun capabilities of Arrow Bomb, Iron Arrow has the firepower to quickly shred any mob of enemies that it can flinch with endless waves of damage. The downside is that Iron Arrow has quite terrible synergy with the skill Final Attack.
(Erik) Iron Arrow without FA is great synergy whereas being interrupted 60% of the time by FA causes the terrible synergy.

### Don't worry, Final Attack level 24 is fine

Final Attack level 24 is a massive typo on Wizet's part. Pay no attention to it, level 24 FA IS better than level 23 FA.
Again, continue on with level 24 FA. Just because it looks like it is bad doesn't mean it is bad :) Fortunately, level 25 does not suffer this bug.

## Job 3: Sniper or Ranger

Again; Wizet shows their superb creativity by making Snipers and Rangers differ in 2 skills... and one of those skills still does the same thing.
So here is the only true difference in 3rd job skills for Snipers and Rangers:

### Fire Shot

    Hotly debated skill right now; few facts known. Hits upto 6 opponents for 150% dmg at max lvl. No one knows how Elemental weakness/advantage works for this skill. Unlike #Ice Shot, if you get this skill; it is for the kill. Because of the unknown damage formula; it is difficult to compare this skill at all to other skills. Untested theories/hunches right now place Fire Shot to do upto 375% or maybe its max is only 300% damage with critical.

### Ice Shot

    No sniper should get this skill over lvl 21. At lvl 21, you got 100% chance of freezing your enemy for 3 seconds (unless it is strong to ice). Even at max level; Ice Shot does pathetic damage as it receives no critical. Similarly to Fire Shot; no one knows the damage formula. The difference is that Snipers don't care for the damage formula cause this skill is too pathetically weak. Nonetheless, get it for the 3 seconds of freeze.
The rest of the skills are exactly the same, except for minor graphic differences, for XBows and Bows. The notation will be Ranger Skill/ Sniper Skill. Ex: Arrow Rain is the Ranger skill below, and Arrow Erruption is the Sniper Skill.

### Arrow Rain/Erruption

    This is a mob skill that hits 6 enemies for 160% damage (260% with critical). It has no minimum range; and thus can be activated any time you are on the ground. requires 5 #Mortal Blow as a prerequisite. Only the animation is different for Bowmen and XBowmen. For Bowmen, the arrows fall from the sky, for XBowmen, the arrows come from the ground. There is one believed difference, Arrow Rain may have more vertical range while Eruption may have more horizontal range. However; because of the differences in animation; it is very difficult to test whether or not this is true.
Note from Cepheids: There is just one more animation difference between Arrow Rain and Arrow Eruption. Arrow Rain is a single large animation plastered over the Ranger while Arrow Eruption is a composition of many small animations that are pasted over the targets. Therefore, when there are few targets for Arrow Eruption, it appears pathetic. If there are many targets for Arrow Eruption that are packed together, you will see a tiny but concentrated area of the screen full of red arrows.

### Strafe

    This is the stumper skill for all bowmen. Strafe does 4 shots of 100% at the enemy; with max damage of 800%, minimum damage of 400%, and average damage of 560%. This is the 2nd "must get" skill for archers.

### Thrust

    This skill adds permanent speed to your stats. There is much controversy with this skill; as with a speed candy; lvl 70/80/90/100 bow, Icarus cape and some lucky scrolling on your shoes and the skull helmet; you'd have max speed anyway and this would be a waste. On the other hand; if you get as low as 5 thrust, replace the icarus cape with the icarus jump cape instead, and use a jump bow instead of the speed bow and get some more lucky scrolling on shoes and pets; you'd have max speed and jump. 10 thrust will make your scrolling easiest for max jump and speed without the need to spend real money on pets. Archers are in 100% agreement that anything over 10 thrust is a waste of SP points.

### Hawk/Eagle

    A very handy skill that at high levels that will almost always stun the enemy. The hawk/eagle will follow you around hitting enemies every 2 seconds or so. The bird does pretty weak damage; but it is noticeable. The true reason to get this bird is that it stops enemies in their tracks with stun. Very useful skill, but it costs a lot of money. Each summon stone costs 5k to buy; but that won't be much when you are high level. Also, it can be noted that this skill is somewhat superfluous since Rangers have Arrow Bomb which can stun, and Snipers have Ice Shot, which at level 21 freezes enemies for 3 seconds.