OK thanks guys. Weird its been a little over a year and Im super eager to jump back in again. Replaying Muramasa totally reignited my need to try this for good this time around.
The last time I played I went about as a Fighter, but Im really curious to try out the Elf. I love my ranged attackers. I just hope she'snot as difficult to use as I've been reading. Any guidance or adive on using her would be most appreciated!
-I don't remember the exact skill names, but your main damage dealer is going to be the Power Shot + Impact Arrow + Clone Shot combo. You should level these skills up whenever a new tier in one is unlocked, although you may not want to max out Clone Shot if you feel like you're running out of arrows too quickly against bosses.
-The horizontal across the screen Power Shot is your least effective arrow attack, since the arrow never hits the ground and Impact Arrow never procs. That doesn't mean you should never use it, but you shouldn't rely on that as your primary attack. Clone shot should usually be reserved for bosses since it obliterates your arrow reserves. This leaves the in the air downward Power Shot as the Elf's most efficient attack against trash mobs. It only fires one arrow, and you get the added Impact Arrow damage from it piercing enemies and hitting the ground. Since it pierces, you can hit an entire group of clustered mobs with one Power Shot this way. You can also use evade-cancels to fire multiple shots before having to return to the ground. This is also the Elf's most defensive attack, since you can keep out of the range of a lot of enemies by staying airborne. There's also a way to move-cancel and attack-cancel so you can fire multiple airborne shots without using evades, but it's been a little while since I've played and I don't remember the particulars. You'll also want Salamander Oil and the Toxic skill for added massive damage against bosses.
-As an Elf, you are basically a master ninja with evades. You'll quickly notice that, unlike with some other classes, the Elf's evade has no momentum, so you don't have to worry about finishing the evade animation before cancelling out of it.
-I use Elemental Lore as my secondary attack rather than Dagger + Backstab, especially since two of my inventory slots are taken up by Salamander Oil and Toxic Arrow.
-Kicks should mainly be used for arrow generation, positioning, and crowd control, rather than damage.
-The slide attack is an insta-kill against the crummy little enemies like scorpions and snakes, which are also small and annoying to hit with regular attacks.
-Against some bosses, it's quicker to just die to refill your quiver rather than try to kick arrows out of them. This is an especially useful tactic against the Ancient Dragon, since all that matters is whether you beat him before you run out of lives. It's not like dungeon chaining where you'll want to stock up on lives.