Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General Having trouble with my archer

So my first character is your standard-issue mage, Lone Wolf, Glass Cannon and probably more spells than I need (but I am an obsessive completionist).

My second was supposed to be a sort of "dark archer" build. She's sneaky, thiefy, lockpick-y and all that. I've been pumping her Dexterity and Speed, and training her in Witchcraft, Scoundrel and Expert Marksman.

She does the support job fairly well. She can buff and heal when necessary, she can debuff (sort of), and summon (so far she knows Spider and Undead Warrior). But despite Dexterity score of 12 (at level 8) her damage with the bow is rather subpar. It's not that she misses a lot, it's just she doesn't hurt people as much as I'd like her to. And how does an archer deal with undead? Her bow is a level 7 green with +Willpower and chance of blind on it.

Or are archers just underwhelming in combat?

Dexterity does not increase damage, it increases chance to hit.
Bow Skill increases damage.
If you aren't doing enough damage, increase your Bow Skill, or try to find a better bow.

Remember that skeletons are resistant to piercing damage, so rangers are going to seem weak if you're fighting skeletons.

Archer are polyvalent and very powerfull early on thanks to their special arrow. However they don't scale very well later on and their vanilla normal attack potential is indeed low. If you want her to do more than support and actually do some damage through normal attack, you should consider picking guerrilla with sneak 5 for a 100 % damange boost at the cost of 1 ap per attack (as a bonus, it fits your theme). Archer also synergize well with bully talent because they can easily slow/knockdown enemy and can also take advantage of target disabled by the party.

Without changing anything, since you already have witchcraft, oath of dessecration is also a good way to increase your damage (50% damage for 3 ap for 3 turn)

Undead are usually resistant to poison and piercing but vulnerable to fire. Fire and explosive arrow are your best friend in Cyseal. Despite the poison immunity, a poison arrow on a burning undead can also be effective (double fire explosion combo).

Also try to take advantage of oil and ooze barrel. A well placed arrow from a scouting invisible archer can often take out several enemies before the fight has even started.

I have just recently finished a double LW hard playthrough with a mage archer combo.
Final stats with gear:
STR 5+3
DEX 15+7
INT 8+3
CON 14+4
SPD 12+5
PER 12+9

DMG 366-730
50% crit

28 AP/Turn
Tenebrium 5+2+2
Armour Specialist 2+1
Body Building 5+1+1
Willpower 5+1+1+1
Marksman 5
Scoundrel 2
Geomancer 2
Witchcraft 2
Leadership 4+1+1
Blacksmithin 3 (+2 with non-combat gear)
Crafting 2+1 (+2 with non-combat gear)
Lorecraft 4+1+1 (could just as well be 0, but I like to know the stats of my enemies)
Glass Cannon
Lone Wolf
Quickdraw
Bully
Stand your Ground (allows my mage to use Earthquake without the drawback)

key spells of the other classes:
Walk in Shadows
Bless
Midnight Oil
Summon Pet
Oath of Destruction
Blind