Bowmaster HP

[piwhgem]

Bowmen should have decent HP now since Big Bang patch came out last December. There's no longer any need for HP washing.

Bowmen's HP didn't magically change after Big Bang, it stayed pretty much the same. Aside from that 4th job only skill "Marksmanship" that adds a measly 10%. We still get the same hp per level, while warriors and few other melee classes still get 60 something per level + the 20% increase as an early job skill.

On the other hand with big bang monster attacks and how our defense works were changed. You'll be able to survive regular monsters at your level until 4th job. And if you stay at LHC from then on, your HP won't be too much of a problem.
However, if you plan on killing monsters at around your level, their attacks still hit for a few thousand, and you'll be a 1 or 2 hit kill.
I'm only 162 with 6.2K HP and thats with a couple dozen points spend HP washing and quite a bit from equips. The giant mushroom things from Future Henesys hits me for 4K in one attack.

However, with the Chaos patch HP and Defense scrolls were bumped massively. If you have spare slots on an equipment or can't afford other stat scrolls you can put a few HP scrolls on them. Before Chaos 100% HP helm scrolls were 5HP each, they're now 20 HP. 60% were 10HP and were bumped to 40HP.
Common class HP equips are now easier to come by too. Evolving rings give quite a bit, and so do zombie rings. The PVP sets from larson also give a few hundred if you don't have anything better to equip. Chaos Zhelms and Chaos Horntail Pendants, although both quite expensive give 10%HP each(as much as fully maxed out marksmanship!). Mark of Naricains also give 300HP if you can get them.
With potential out now, I suppose you could self-HB yourself too if you have the right pants
Also with the professions patch, leveling up the right personality can also give you more HP.

If you can acquire enough NX, I definitely recommend getting a Pet HP pouch(and a pet of course). I use ginger ales in mine from NLC. Occasionally the free elixirs and power elixirs from Ani raids are sufficient too.

[Omar Ranger]

Any good archer should be used to occasions that they face monsters that can 2hko them. It's part of being that squishy archer. I reach almost 8k HP with everything I have (excluding my Decent Hyper Body) and I still sometimes worry when I fight certain enemies or bosses. It's okay to get worried but you picked the class so time to face the consequences. We're archers. We attack from a distance. We weren't made to be right up in the enemy's face and constantly get hit by the physical and magical hits. We take the long range ones that don't hit as often, but even then we need to be careful. It's part of the archer.

Times have changed. HP washing is no longer necessary. Your HP can and will be sufficient without wasting AP and I see it as if the monster can't 1hko you then you are perfectly fine. You just have to be careful. My base HP at level 166 with the boosts from Marksmanship and the 200 HP I get from the Willpower trait is at 5423 HP. That's a nice sum I think and it is very helpful when I equip the %HP equips. The best equips for an archer are ones that boost HP to add for a less squishy attacker and ones that boost stats at the same time. This puts archers at a difficult point since unlike warriors, they have to worry more about survival. They can't just go grabbing tons and tons of damage items and not pay attention to HP because they won't survive very long in bosses like Pink Bean or Cygnus. BUT just because we have to worry about that, it doesn't mean we need to waste ability points or scroll slots. Instead you focus on the base stats of items. Chaos Zakum Helmet and the Chaos Horntail Pendant are great items to look into like you said, but are also very expensive. A cheaper version of these are the Red Rex Earrings. These earrings, like the Chaos items, also give a nice 10% HP boost. The only downfall is the durability. The durability is a lot worse for archers since normally the durability goes down per skill usage, but in Hurricane's case it goes down for every arrow. Needless to say, Hurricane shoots a lot of arrows. Still a pair of Red Rex earrings can last me about 70 minutes of continuous Hurricane spamming, which is still a good time in a lot of places. It is nice though to have a magic door available to repair if you are training at Lionheart Castle. The Chaos Zakum Helmet shouldn't be too hard to get, but the Chaos Horntail Pendant is another story. It's pretty expensive so you probably will have to settle with the Mark of Naricain. If you can get a regular Horntail Pendant with a good potential that increases your range more than the Mark, get it if you have enough HP to survive without the Mark.

My current base HP


My current equipped HP


My current equipped HP with decent HB


Now I admit I did HP wash a few levels before the Big Bang, but that was a different story back then. And also, Rasudoken is right, the formula for HP increase per levels have changed and have gone up. Although it may not seem like much, it does make a difference for new archers. No new archer needs to go through HP washing. It's a waste of points. And if you can help it, try not to scroll for HP. There are many ways to get HP without wasting slots. The several common rings out there are great sources and if you can get the money for it, Decent Hyper Body pants are a great investment.

Also if you think that buying scrolls for defense is a good idea, then you are wrong. Very very very wrong. Even with the new increases in scrolls, you are still wrong. The only way defense can make a difference is if you have several thousand of it. The only real character that can make use of a huge amount of defense is the Paladin because they have Shield Mastery. They can have about 4-5x the amount of Defense that an ordinary archer has without needing scrolls at all. In the end for archers, it's how much HP that matters.

With that said I would like to repeat this once more, do not waste your AP on HP and please if you can help it, do not waste your equipment slots either.