Skill Archery

The skill that governs the use of bow-type ranged weapons. Archery provides Warriors and Rogues with a ranged attack skill to safely pull enemies, gives Shadow Knights and Paladins an alternative with longer range and free of mana, and is specialized by Rangers for kiting, pulling, and situational DPS in raids and groups.

Classes

• Ranger (Max 240?)
• Warrior (Max 240)
• Rogue (Max 240)
• Shadow Knight (Max 75)
• Paladin (Max 75)

Archery and Stats

ATK has exactly the same importance for archery that it has for melee. The higher your archery ATK versus the target's Mitigation AC, the better your chances of landing hits closer to max damage. In other words, the higher your archery ATK, the higher your average damage per hit. Along with your Archery skill, your ATK is also improved by your Dexterity stat.

REMINDER : The ATK value shown in the inventory is the MAIN HAND MELEE ATK only, and does not apply to offhand nor to archery. Off hand and archery ATK are calculated the same way that main hand ATK is calculated, but use their own values for skill (slashing/piercing/archery) and for stat (STR used for off hand, but DEX for archery). Archery ATK value is not currently shown anywhere on the character sheet, but testing has found that items, AAs, and buffs that increase ATK do influence archery ATK, not just main hand melee ATK.

Archery and Dexterity

The following test was performed by a level 43 Ranger/Enchanter/Shaman, against a level 55 Test Dummy using Mitigation of the Mighty 1, and ten mitigation increases. Testing was done over about 45min for each.

Strength	Dexterity	Hit Chance	Crit Chance	Average Damage	Max Hit	DPS
198	139	67.1%	15.2%	118	738	34
199	338	68.9%	19.4%	153	738	45
299	340	66.5%	18.3%	151	738	43

Archery and Haste

Haste from worn effects, spells, and bard songs affect bow delay the same way it effects melee.

Quiver Haste

But archery uses one more kind of haste: quiver haste. To use quiver haste, you just need to have a quiver in the top level of your inventory. Only the first quiver haste in you inventory is used. Typically you would only have one quiver anyways, but if you have multiple for some reason you want your best one in the top left slot of your inventory so it's used first. If you only have a single quiver, it won't matter which inventory slot it is placed in.

You do not need an arrow of any kind in your quiver to benefit from the haste, an empty quiver is fine. This was proven with testing early on, though the rumor persisted. It was confirmed to be correct by the developers on Discord on Sept. 25, 2026.

Quivers do not display their haste percentage the way other haste items do, but the haste can be determined based on the quiver's weight reduction:

Quiver Haste = Weight Reduction / 3.

It is important to note that in Everquest quiver haste functions a bit differently from other hastes. Rather than adding the quiver haste to your overall haste, quiver haste reduces the delay of your bow first, and then all other haste effects are applied to the resulting weapon delay afterwards. This means it is unaffected by haste caps.

Available Quivers

Quiver	Haste	Source
Quiver	6.6%	Vendor
Tailored Quiver	7.3%	Tailoring
Thunderhoof Quiver	11%	Kroldir Thunderhoof
Quiver of Marr	16.6%	Mage Summoned
Fleeting Quiver	20%	Tailoring

Damage Calculation

While melee weapons have a set damage listed on the weapon, archery damage (and range) is a combination of your bow and your arrow. A bow with 10 damage, 40 delay, and a range of 100, when combined with an arrow of 5 damage and 50 range becomes equivalent to a 15 damage, 40 delay weapon with a range of 150.

Range

Archery range does not cap at 300. Testing was done both with duel and outranging dragon fear to verify that a 200 range bow with 150 range arrows does have a range of 350. This was precisely determined to be correct in the duel test (range exactly 350), and anecdotally determined to be true from historical data on classic Everquest.

Note that this is particularly helpful because Dragon_Roar has a PBAoE range of 300, which allows for a character to stand outside fear range and DPS with careful positioning when playing in a group.

Additional notes on Hitboxes; larger boxes add to the range you can shoot them at. Z-axis distance -does- apply to archery range.

Trueshot and Ranger DPS

Trueshot is not currently part of EQ Legends

Rangers can pull respectable DPS with a good bow and the Trueshot Discipline. This is especially true in cases where there is some mechanic, such as a poor hitbox or AOE, which makes it difficult for melee to stay consistently engaged.

Rangers get innate double damage against non-rooted, stationary MOBs starting at level 51. This effectively offsets the fact that archery damage does not double the attack power like melee damage. A Ranger using an Exquisite_Velium_Reinforced_Bow and CLASS_2_Steel_Silver_Tip_Arrow is effectively using a 38/36 two hander with 340 range, without damage bonus or double attack. That is still not very good DPS, but the Trueshot discipline slightly more than doubles Ranger bow damage for 2 minutes. With that added, it becomes approximately equivalent to a 38/36 two hander that always double attacks, can crit and doesn't have a damage bonus. That ends up being competitive DPS, though usually still behind a well geared rogue if the rogue dps is not disrupted by fight mechanics.

Skills