A class that can cast named bullet. So ranger or Inquisitor.
Despite best efforts, you're never going to have amazing damage on a single arrow, though named bullet and greater named bullet will do a good job.
It also happens that ranger and inquisitor can do a great job of shooting a lot of arrows that add up to considerable damage so they have options to do either.
For a character starting at level 1 it could be useful to start as a zen archer monk and go to level 3 so you can be strength and wisdom based. It has a lot of front loaded archery stuff, and then multiclass into inquisitor.
you might want to consider some of the following:
- overwatch style feat tree (style, tactician and vortex) , might not work with vital strike, depend how you read the rules, but let you ready 4 ranged attacks(at you max bab bonus, unlike muti shot archer who sometimes miss the last arrows they shoot for low bab) .which trigger can all be, when i call out the shot: "1" "2" "3" "4". trigger doesn't have to be based on some1 else's action. (and you can talk out of turn)
- setting true strike spell before will give +20 to hit, which is great for shooting at max distance (which without far-shot give -18 to hit).
- 2 levels in Ashiftah witch while taking the flight hex will grant you a great action economy by heaving a standard action free to shoot (or cast true strike, if you find a way to add to spell list) swift action to use the flight hex to cast feather fall on self and move action to vanish and 5 ft if needed.
- if you go the ranger path (or can get ranger spells) the bow spirit spell will allow you to have a bow (which uses your feats like vital strike) shoot along you (swift action to direct it but it has it's own action economy) potentially doubling whatever else you might end up with this thread.
just to add.
unless you really work hard at it ,it is much easier to just nab a lightning gun and use that to deal 10d12 ( i like to think at it as ~20d6) electricity damage as a touch attack with a standard action. i had a (2 Ashiftah\ rest unchained rogue) character that used the above vanish trick to ranged touch attack 10d12 + sneak attack.(he also had the minor magic rogue talent for acid splash - in case electricity immune came up)
using 3PP stuff, look into Trailblazer's Fighter and Expert Weapon Proficiency, which allows you to increase the damage dice of a weapon (up to 3d8), then mythic Vital Strike feats and mythic Deadly Aim. Everything else is going to be gravy, but that will get you to your highest output I believe.
or for a silly interpretation, Barbarian Titan Mauler throwing a single huge arrow with two-handed thrower (if your read it as allowing you to throw such a weapon with the attack action), full-stat boosts into Str and then Vital strike, etc...I think throwing the arrow counts as an improvised weapon, which should mean you can use relevant style feats to further boost the damage of the arrow.
Named bullet also works with a magus via spell blending - spell combat makes the action economy healthier, 1 (major) arrow per round > 1 per 2 rounds.
Or anyone with the hunter spell list can cast (greater) named bullet at a reasonable character level. That's hunters and fey trickster mesmerists - inquisitors and similar get it later. Sorcerers and wizards of course get named bullet at a similar character level and you're probably not much concerned with BAB here, they may be an option.
What sort of character level are you looking at here? Just L20, or does it need to be played from level 1?
I really think that Inquisitor, Ranger, or Magus are the best bets.
They will be playable from level 1, they will be able to fulfill the "single arrow" routine eventually when the spell becomes available, and up to that point they have class features to help them deal damage with multiple arrows or in the case of the magus, using other spells to deal some burst damage. Though magus doesn't have as great of options for ranged spell strike assuming you choose eldritch archer. Although myrmadarch might actually work assuming you want to be primarily melee but at higher levels occasionally whip out a bow to make a massive attack. Stack named bullet with a ranged attack spell you cast through your bow and you could really have something.
Taking 3 levels of zen archer monk will just make you good at archery in general, but combines really well with any other wisdom based classes like Inquisitor or Wapriest. Although wapriest doesn't get access to named bullet, so it's not going to do a lot of damage on a single attack.
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Half-Elf nvestigator with an Inspired Shortbow.
Deadly Aim obviously.
Half Elf FCB adds +1/4 to Inspiration rolls.
Studied combat adds +1/2 level to-hit and damage
Studied Strike adds (1/2 level -1)d6 damage.
url=https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/focused-shot-combat/]FOCUSE D SHOT[/url] adds INT to damage.
INSPIRED WEAPON adds double your Inspiration roll to damage (when combined with the Combat Inspiration talent).
Amazing Inspiration changes Inspiration to 1d8, Tenacious Inspiration allows you to roll twice and take the better result.
Takes a little while to come online, but at level 9 when you get Combat Inspiration you're at 1d6 (shortbow) +4 (Deadly Aim) +4 (Studied combat) +3d6 (Studied Strike) + (1d8+2)×2 (Inspired Weapon) +INT (Focused Shot) plus whatever else you can think of.
By level 13 you get Tenacious Inspiration (roll twice take the higher on Inspiration rolls) and your FCB gets to +3. At this point you're rolling 2d8 pick the highest (average 5.8) and add 3 for Inspiration, and adding double that number to damage (~+17.6 damage per shot), your Studied Combat is +6 to-hit/damage and Studied Strike is +5d6.
I'm sure there are more ways to optimize it, but it's pretty good.
(Aso you're still way better off doing more than 1 shot, but at 1 shot per round you can make that shot count.)
Ranger gets Named Bullet and Instant Enemy at level 11... Divine Tracker can get you some Blessings to play with... VMC Cleric can get you Domain powers, Spontaneous Casting, and Channel...
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I did a similar idea as a tiefling ranger (divine tracker). My goal was to be able to assassinate people from long distance with one shot. Vital strike (imp, greater), devastating strike, deadly aim, stacked all my favored enemy into human (using instant enemy for going after other targets), gravity bow, and named bullet.
We played all the way to 20 in that campaign. This character also gained mythic 1, and she took the mythic vital strike feat, which is the single largest damage bonus you will get for this build.
I had no problem spending my time to set up a shot, that was kinda the point for me. Climb up to the top of a building and shoot someone from 4 blocks away (limitless range (mythic) + distance enchantment for range increments of 1,100ft). She also used phantom arrows (they disappear after hitting, leaving no evidence behind).
So she'd take a single shot at +40 to hit, which automatically threatened a crit. Damage = 12deadly aim + 6str +5enhancement +10 favored enemy. Multiplied by 4 with mythic vital strike. +6 for devastating strike.
That is (8d6+138)x3 because it probably confirmed the crit, +20(named bullet) +2d6bane +1d6holy. For an average damage of 528.
Note that without mythic vital strike, that average drops to only 97 damage (so yeah, it pretty much only was good because of mythic).
(3pp)Spheres of Might has a sphere dedicated to this sort of thing called the Sniper Sphere.
Divine Tracker Ranger VMC Cleric is a go-to NPC for me... Ranger stuff, with a little love from Warpriest and Cleric... the Spontaneous Casting from VMC Cleric means you never have to prepare healing spells, opening up your very limited casting... Blessings and Domain Powers further reduce your need to use up your limited spells... Channel actually becomes a super neat tool that Rangers never otherwise have access to... full BAB/6+Int skills/Ranger Combat Style feats/two good saves... makes for a d@mn near perfect NPC/cohort... also, completely playable as a PC...
Oh for thise not familiar with it, the MORTAL USHER prestige class adds damage to single shots while increasing your class abilities.
I don't know if it's the best option, but it's something to consider.
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Tiefling Rogue (underground chemist) 4 / Alchemist (Vivisectionist) X
Basic Shenanigan - Take "bomber" as your second level rogue talent. You do damage with bombs equal to your sneak attack damage, and can deal sneak attack damage with splash weapons. The vivisectionist sneak attack damage stacks with the rogue's. Make alchemist your favored class and take the alternate FCB (+1/2 point to bomb damage). Take the "explosive missile" discovery. Have Deadly Aim. Using a hornbow, at 9th level, you'll do 2d6 (weapon) + 5d6 (sneak) + 5d6 (bomb) + 2 (FCB) + 4 (deadly aim) + Int mod + Str Mod + Enhancement.
Advanced Shenanigans - There's tons of damage-boosting alchemist extracts and discoveries. Including Spell Knowledge, which gets you access to wizard spells.
YMMV with the above. Explosive Missile says the alchemist infuses the projectile "with the power of his bomb," but as a vivisectionist, he traded out that class feature, so his bomb does 0 damage (or maybe 2 because of the FCB but you don't really have the class feature to improve).
My bad. I misread your summary as saying the bomber talent let you sneak attack with splash weapons, but that's the 4th level underground chemist ability. Bomber is giving you bombs.
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YMMV with the above. Explosive Missile says the alchemist infuses the projectile "with the power of his bomb," but as a vivisectionist, he traded out that class feature, so his bomb does 0 damage (or maybe 2 because of the FCB but you don't really have the class feature to improve).My bad. I misread your summary as saying the bomber talent let you sneak attack with splash weapons, but that's the 4th level underground chemist ability. Bomber is giving you bombs.
Yeah, you can pull off the "double-sneak damage bomb" by going Underground Chemist 4 / any class with full sneak damage. (Including staying as a rogue, but that route gets you the least damage-dealing boosters.)
I left it open-ended on purpose, but vivisectionist stacks with a lot of other alchemist archetypes as well. If you went with an half-orc Grenadier (instead of tiefling) you could still get the alternate FCB and wouldn't have to spend a feat for the Hornbow. You'd also get to add 1d6 or so from infusing the arrow with an alchemical item. Or be an Inspired Chemist and use some of MrCharisma's tricks above for a full investigator with a shortbow (instead of hornbow). Or all three archetypes!
if your also looking at 3pp that the gm might approve the Yabusama is a fairly balanced ranged samurai that is focused on one shot per round high damage.
among the things he get is using the challenge ability in range attacks (instead of melee) & many class abilities that specifically work with other ranged attacks\abilities as long as he only attacks once per round. like the ability to add dex to damage and increase the base damage of the arrow shot -which again specifically called out to work with other abilities that attack once per round (such as vital strike).
in a way this answer the "increase the damage of a hornbow". the OP asked for.
Elf, half-elf (Ancestral Arms*), or human (Martial Weapon Proficiency*) brawler (snakebite striker) 1/sorcerer (Draconic** or Orc bloodline) 4/arcane trickster 6/arcane archer 2/arcane trickster +4/arcane archer +1/sorcerer +2 with Magical Knack (Wizard), Accomplished Sneak Attacker (to qualify for arcane trickster), Intensified Spell, Maximize Spell, and Quicken Spell.
Quickened true strike + Imbue Intensified, Maximized acidic spray into an arrow + Impromptu Sneak Attack + Surprise Spells = arrow damage +7d6 Sneak Attack (arrow) + 1d6 [cold, electricity, or fire] + 140 acid (affects target and a 60 ft line; save for half) +7d6 Sneak Attack (spell) + 70 acid next round on a failed save (save negates).
*- longbow or short bow
*- black, copper, or green
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To increase the damage of a hornbow: buy Large arrows for a hornbow, put down Large arrows, increase size via enlarge person* or other effect (mountain druid 12 using wild shape to become a Large giant for 12 hours, for example), pick up arrows to use while character is Large size. This gets around the automatic resizing of carried gear/resumption of original size when leaving possession issue.
*- juggernaut's pauldrons effectively allows a character to benefit from enlarge person all day (apart from having to reactivate the effect every 5 minutes)
On further consideration, a better character path would be elf, half-elf (Ancestral Arms*), or human (Martial Weapon Proficiency*) brawler (snakebite striker) 1/arcanist (blood arcanist**) 4/arcane trickster 6/arcane archer 2/arcanist +1/arcane trickster +4/arcane archer +1/arcanist +1.
Brw 1 - Magical Knack (Arcanist), one other trait; Point Blank Shot
Arc 2 - Precise Shot
Arc 4 - Accomplished Sneak Attacker
AT 2- Intensified Spell
AT 4- Reach Spell (spells like shocking grasp and vampiric touch can be cast as ranged touch attacks)
AT 6- Weapon Focus*
AA 2- Quicken Spell
Arc 5- Arcanist Exploit (Metamixing***)
AT 7- Extra Arcanist Exploit (Quick Study***)
AT 9- Maximize Spell
AA 3- Expanded Preparation or Improved Initiative
*- longbow or shortbow
**- Draconic (Black, Copper, or Green) or Orc bloodline
***- switch the order, if desired
If including mythic, then I'd recommend half-elf (using the elf FCB to add +1 to the arcane reservoir with each arcanist level) with the Orc bloodline above and add the following mythic progression (assuming a mythic tier is added each even level):
Tier 1- Mythic Path (Archmage); Archmage Arcana (Wild Arcana), Champion's Strike (Distant Barrage); Mythic Spellcasting; Dual Path (Champion)
Tier 2- Mythic Weapon Training (Bows) to gain proficiency in orc hornbow (and later apply Weapon Focus to all bows)
Tier 3- Crafting Mastery because making your own magic items (like an adaptive orc hornbow, bracers of archery, sniper's goggles, etc.) is great; Mythic Spell Lore to learn even more mythic spells
Tier 4- Unstoppable Shot to shoot around corners and through creatures
Tier 5- Component Freedom, Energy Conversion; Extra Path Ability
Tier 6- Channel Power
Tier 7- Limitless Range; Weapon Focus (Mythic)
Tier 8- Enduring Armor
Tier 9- Mirror Dodge; Extra Mythic Power
Tier 10- Legendary Item, Longevity, or Perfect Preparation
Mythic heroism active. Quickened true strike (Mythic true strike will also bypass all DR) + Imbue Intensified, Maximized Mythic cone of cold using Channel Power into an arrow + Impromptu Sneak Attack + Surprise Spells = 2d6 orc hornbow + Str bonus +5 enhancement (or +4 enhancement and +2d6 anarchic, axiomatic, holy, or unholy with Mythic greater magic weapon) +4 morale from Mythic heroism +7d6 Sneak Attack (arrow) + 1d6 [cold, electricity, or fire] + 330 cold (can be changed to acid, electricity, or fire with Energy Conversion; affects target and a 60 ft cone, save for half) +7d6 Sneak Attack (spell).
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On further consideration, a better character path would be elf, half-elf (Ancestral Arms*), or human (Martial Weapon Proficiency*) brawler (snakebite striker) 1/arcanist (blood arcanist**) 4/arcane trickster 6/arcane archer 2/arcanist +1/arcane trickster +4/arcane archer +1/arcanist +1.
Brw 1 - Magical Knack (Arcanist), one other trait; Point Blank Shot
Arc 2 - Precise Shot
Arc 4 - Accomplished Sneak Attacker
AT 2- Intensified Spell
AT 4- Reach Spell (spells like shocking grasp and vampiric touch can be cast as ranged touch attacks)
AT 6- Weapon Focus*
AA 2- Quicken Spell
Arc 5- Arcanist Exploit (Metamixing***)
AT 7- Extra Arcanist Exploit (Quick Study***)
AT 9- Maximize Spell
AA 3- Expanded Preparation or Improved Initiative*- longbow or shortbow
**- Draconic (Black, Copper, or Green) or Orc bloodline
***- switch the order, if desired
Why not grab hornbow prof with the half elf racial, or take the alt human racial for any 2 martial or exotic weapon profs and grab hornbow that way?
Why not grab hornbow prof with the half elf racial, or take the alt human racial for any 2 martial or exotic weapon profs and grab hornbow that way?On further consideration, a better character path would be elf, half-elf (Ancestral Arms*), or human (Martial Weapon Proficiency*) brawler (snakebite striker) 1/arcanist (blood arcanist**) 4/arcane trickster 6/arcane archer 2/arcanist +1/arcane trickster +4/arcane archer +1/arcanist +1.
Brw 1 - Magical Knack (Arcanist), one other trait; Point Blank Shot
Arc 2 - Precise Shot
Arc 4 - Accomplished Sneak Attacker
AT 2- Intensified Spell
AT 4- Reach Spell (spells like shocking grasp and vampiric touch can be cast as ranged touch attacks)
AT 6- Weapon Focus*
AA 2- Quicken Spell
Arc 5- Arcanist Exploit (Metamixing***)
AT 7- Extra Arcanist Exploit (Quick Study***)
AT 9- Maximize Spell
AA 3- Expanded Preparation or Improved Initiative*- longbow or shortbow
**- Draconic (Black, Copper, or Green) or Orc bloodline
***- switch the order, if desired
Mainly because arcane archer requires Weapon Focus with longbow or shortbow. The progression above is to qualify for arcane trickster and arcane archer as quickly as possible.
You could substitute Exotic Proficiency in place of Reach Spell, but you lose out on casting Intensified Reach shocking grasp (up to 10d6 ranged touch) as a 3rd level spell or Reach vampiric touch as a ranged touch 4th level spell. The progression above is not primarily an archer, but it can do a massive amount of damage on a single shot a few times per day.
Anyway, the difference between a composite longbow (1d8) and an orc hornbow (2d6) is 2.5 base damage on average. When you're adding +7d6 Sneak Attack and Intensified, Maximized spell damage (also with Sneak Attack), that 2.5 average damage is not much.
So, another option I was thinking would be Arcane Archer. Arcane Archers can Imbue their Arrows with Spells, and that can come out to lots of Damage. The traditional way to become an Arcane Archer would be something like 6 levels in Fighter, a level in Wizard, and then the rest in AA. Another thought I had would be 1 level in Fighter, 5 levels in Wizard, then levels in Eldritch Knight and/or Living Monolith until your BAB gets up to +6, then Arcane Archer. I've never been super excited about any of my builds, but I think this would be a very powerful character.
Yeah, I build them with EK these days unless I plan to cast more often than fire my bow (cause that 1 extra casting progression level lost at EK1 hurts if casting is your primary shtick). I wouldn't put more than 4 levels into Arcane Archer. Nothing past AA4 is really worth giving up more spellcasting. More levels of EK gives you both BAB and spellcasting, so that or more of your spellcasting class for class features are probably better options. This lets you get slightly better BAB (so one more iterative attack) and cast higher level spells than either a Magus or Bard, though both of those classes have other advantages that help level the magic archer playing field depending on what exactly you want to do.
To the OP, since you're trying to maximize single arrow damage, you could also do this with 1 level of Crossblooded Sorcerer for the Orc and one of the Dragon arcanas. Then pick your prefered Wizard spec (admixture for the ability to change energy types on the fly; foresight for never being surprised, an init bonus, and an interesting re-roll ability; or teleportation for that sweet, sweet, swift-action dimension door-like ability) or stick with Sorcerer since losing a spell known of each level sucks but doesn't really affect your ability to shoot fireball arrows (and you lose one fewer caster levels). Because you only need one arrow (at nearly full BAB) to hit per round, hitting is less of an issue than keeping your DCs and your caster level which will be at least -3 up so you don't lose too much damage. The Magical Knack trait will fix some of that with a +2 and the rest can be made up with various combinations of feats.
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So, another option I was thinking would be Arcane Archer. Arcane Archers can Imbue their Arrows with Spells, and that can come out to lots of Damage. The traditional way to become an Arcane Archer would be something like 6 levels in Fighter, a level in Wizard, and then the rest in AA. Another thought I had would be 1 level in Fighter, 5 levels in Wizard, then levels in Eldritch Knight and/or Living Monolith until your BAB gets up to +6, then Arcane Archer. I've never been super excited about any of my builds, but I think this would be a very powerful character.
may delay it a bit, but 1 level of War Priest and the Air Blessing takes away the penalty for range increment of any ranged attack (while also letting you ignore AoO from making ranged attacks). Coupled with Seeking Arrow or Phase Arrow and the mythic champion ability Limitless Range, you can hit anyone on the planet you know about!
i would like to point out one major problem with any one shot per round build - the 'Deflect Arrows' feat can be a real buzz killer. (also the similar feats like 'missile shield' and 'cut from the air chain')
-"i can deal a godzilion damage with only one arrow"
-'im a first level monk and guess what i go for free?..."
I wonder if a touch of Bolt Ace would help? You're only doing one shot and the best way to maximize damage is guarentee hits.
bolt ace suffer from the fact he didn't get 'the get out of deadly aim touch nurf' along the normal gunslingers. something a lot of players iv seen playing bolt ace seem to miss.
(deadly aim doesn't work with touch attacks. guns specifically call out to work with it. but bolt ace didn't get that, although a lot of gm wave it in anyway)
i would like to point out one major problem with any one shot per round build - the 'Deflect Arrows' feat can be a real buzz killer. (also the similar feats like 'missile shield' and 'cut from the air chain')
-"i can deal a godzilion damage with only one arrow"
-'im a first level monk and guess what i go for free?..."
in a mythic game a while back, one of the players was a zen archer. We were squaring off against some evil muckiddy muck foot soldiers, who all had missile shield. Instead of focusing on one, or kicking them in the head, he instead spread his five or so shots a round among five or so baddies. For. Four. Turn. In. A. Row.
After the third round of doing absolutely nothing, I finally turned to him and asked if he was messing with us, to which he just kind of laughed and then declared he was doing it again. After the game, he said he didn't notice they were blocking his arrows with their shields, to which we asked, didn't he find it odd that he wasn't rolling damage?
If you want a strong archer AND a strong blaster-caster, then go ganzi (Weaponplay oddity*) arcanist (blood arcanist**) 6/eldritch knight 3/arcane archer 4/eldritch knight +7 to end with BAB +17 and spell progression as an arcanist 18. The only "issue" is that the racial +2 Con, -2 Int, and +2 Cha aren't "optimal" for a Dex/Int character.
Arc 1- Magical Knack (Arcanist), trait; Point Blank Shot
Arc 3- Exotic Weapon Proficiency (Orc Hornbow)
Arc 5- Arcanist Exploit (Metamixing); Precise Shot
EK 1- Intensified Spell, Weapon Focus (Longbow)***
EK 3- Rapid Shot***
AA 2- Maximize Spell***
AA 4- Quicken Spell
EK 5- Manyshot***
EK 7- (feat)***
EK 9- (feat)***
*-"always proficient with all simple and martial weapons, and they can qualify for feats normally available only to fighters (such as Weapon Specialization) even if they don’t have any fighter class levels"
**- Orc bloodline
***- switch the order of these feats, if desired (as long as Weapon Focus is taken by arcanist 6/eldritch knight 3 to qualify for arcane archer when BAB hits +6)
Well, to throw this in there....
What about a Slayer with the sniper archetype? you add your level in damage with sniping attacks, can use studied target and deadly aim, and add sneak att within the first range increment (not limited to 30ft with the sniping att). Depending on level that can add up.
I actually had a whole reply typed up earlier about just being a Slayer or Nature Fang Druid, and using Assassinate... apparently it didn't post, or I didn't post it. Lol.
Also, I absolutely STACK my generic enemy NPC's with Cut/Smash From the Air... some of my favorite feats in the game... especially for NPC's... and the Bonded Mind teamwork feat, but that's not for this discussion...
Just a stupid melee mook? Might as well be a Fighter... might as well have Weapon Training (not like it's going to change the outcome of anything for these guys)... I will even use Martial Focus on classes without Weapon Training to get Cut/Smash From the Air... might as well take advantage of Combat Reflexes to chop missiles out of the sky...
Honestly, Combat Reflexes is such a guarantee for my characters and NPC's... using Cut/Smash From the Air gives me a reason to pick up Power Attack. Lol.
I normally avoid anything that has a penalty to attack, regardless of whatever extra damage may come from it... I would rather hit every time and do an average amount of damage, rather than do massive damage IF a hit occurs...
And how else to you possibly combat archers from just destroying $#!+...?
It is absolutely awesome asking the party's archer (ZAM-3/Inquisitor-16) what their rolls where for each arrow... AoO are made at your highest BAB, regardless of how many you take... chop, chop, chop... I'm still alive!!! That is a lot of fun as an NPC enemy... we all know they get ran over more often than not... it's nice to have a trick that works every once in while... stick around for an extra round... make the party think twice...
The best part of those feats is they work for the guy beside you too.
For sure.
I am usually that guy, chopping arrows out of the air for those around... I consider it my duty as a big dumb fighter... it's the least I can do, don't worry it.
It is, or can be, surprising when the enemy does it...
But, to maximize damage... it's probably magic... magic is always the answer...
With the right combination, you can probably find a way to imbue an arrow with a no save spell that is worse than death from hp damage alone... or just lots of hp damage... whatever you want... magic is cool like that...
Maybe an Eldritch Archer/Hexcrafter Magus VMC Witch with Slumber Hex arrows? Slumber Hex can be boring effective... so can archery... sleep arrows... not damage, but down and out...
Maybe an Eldritch Archer/Hexcrafter Magus [bVMC Witch[/b] with Slumber Hex arrows? Slumber Hex can be boring effective... so can archery... sleep arrows... not damage, but down and out...
What does VMC Witch get you there? You already have Hexes as a Hexcrafter ...?
If I VMC'd Witch and Hexcrafter, I'd be a White Haired Witch, that gets that Hair Attack instead of Hexes.Maybe an Eldritch Archer/Hexcrafter Magus [bVMC Witch[/b] with Slumber Hex arrows? Slumber Hex can be boring effective... so can archery... sleep arrows... not damage, but down and out...What does VMC Witch get you there? You already have Hexes as a Hexcrafter ...?
VMC Witch (or for that matter VMC anything) doesn't let you choose an archetype, so this doesn't work.
With respect to Warpriest using the Vital Strike feat chain with any ranged weapon as Sacred Weapon:
Level∙∙∙∙∙∙∙Base Damage∙∙∙∙∙∙Gravity Bow or Enlarge + Pick Up Large Arrows Damage
1∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙1d6∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙1d8
6∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙1d8∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙2d6
6+VS∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙2d8∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙4d6
12∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙1d10∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙2d8
12+IVS∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙3d10∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙6d8
18∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙2d6∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙3d6
18+GVS∙∙∙∙∙∙∙8d6∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙12d6
20∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙2d8∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙3d8
20+GVS∙∙∙∙∙∙∙8d8∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙12d8
(*)Or a Fighter who keeps Weapon Training and gets Advanced Weapon Training (Focused Weapon), although in this case the levels at which the feats are gained will be at least 7 for Vital Strike and possibly as early as 11 and 16 for Improved Vital Strike and Greater Vital Strike, respectively.