Inferno Debate (Rangers only)

Inferno is an attack that, when maxed, does 150% fire damage to 6 enemies. This is more powerful than Arrow Bomb and has the added advantage of not stunning mobs. This means that monsters weak to fire will get hurt 225% damage (150% * 1.5 elemental damage), while monsters strong to fire will resist the damage by the same 1.5 rate, but in reverse. That means that if the max damage is 150%, a fire-based enemy would receive 150% divided by 1.5, which is 100%.

Additionally, Arrow Rain does more damage than Inferno. Supporters demonstrate that Inferno is an arrow based attack, while Rain is an area based attack; they have different uses. Inferno is a ranged attack, and can hit monsters across the screen. Rain on the other hand, can only hit monsters in the immediate vicinity. Granted, the horizontal range for Rain is still massive, but not as massive as Inferno's horizontal range.

Another argument for Inferno is that the fact that it can't stun/freeze or otherwise cause flying enemies to sink posing a threat to those below makes it a great skill for destroying the minions summoned by Zakum and other bosses.

Inferno is obviously quite strong on monsters weak to fire. There are more monsters in the game that are weak to fire than any other element. Some high level monsters that are trained on, like Bains, have a resistance to fire. On the other hand, most monsters in El Nath are weak to fire due to the cold environment. In Ludibrium, there are a few Viking ships that archers generally train on that are also strong to fire. Areas of Leafre in the Ice Mountain are full of monsters weak to fire. So there would be a wide variety of monsters Inferno would be useless to, and still a good variety of monsters that Inferno would be the best mob skill in the game.

Puppet Debate (18 Puppet vs. 20 Puppet)

While a relatively minor debate over a measly 2 skill points, archers know that they must spend every skill point as wisely as possible. Both 18 and level 20 puppet last for a full minute, but level 20 puppet has 6000 HP instead of 5000. 5000 HP for a puppet is a lot, as puppets have godly defense. People for Level 20 Puppet feel that perhaps a new monster in the future will be released, and that 1000 extra HP points could mean the world. Level 18 puppet supporters claim that barely any monsters can take out a level 18 puppet before time runs out anyway. Some even advocate a lower level, like 10 or 12.

Hawk/Eagle Debate (16 vs. 21 vs. 29 SP points)

Hawk's stun rate is 90% at level 16, 95% at level 21, and 99% at level 27. Additionally, the amount of hits Hawk gets before it disappears goes up as well, so many archers are planning to get at least 21 hawk. Level 29 hawk/eagle may seem like a waste at first; however, it can be viewed that whenever level 21 would have missed, level 29 had a 80% chance of working, and if level 16 would have not stunned, level 29 would have a 90% chance of working. The main argument is that in one-on-one combat, like when fighting a Gatekeeper, the difference between stun and no stun can mean the difference between life and death. Also, with the advent of fourth job, a minimum of 15 Hawk is required in order to be able to get the Phoenix summon at all. This has become one of the most hotly contended points in the community as of late.

Inferno or Mortal Blow

With so many good skills, some archers feel that they need to cut corners to cover all the skills necessary. Since a minimum of 5 Mortal Blow is required to access Arrow Rain, that gives a 40% activation rate, which is sufficient to some. Others say to get it to 10 or 11, which gives a 50%-52% activation rate. With new Fourth Job Skills like Dragon Pulse, which can push monsters away at a 100% success rate, some feel it is worthless now. Inferno, with all the strengths and weaknesses listed above, is often filled with points that would go into Mortal Blow.http://strategywiki.org/wiki/MapleStory/Bowman_Guide/Builds