[The Great Hairy]

Arcane Archers are not bad in single player - make sure you have some tanks to soak damage before getting into combat however. There is quite a nice bow for them in HotU, too...

There are two main ways to get to Arcane Archer - either Fighter/Mage -> AA or Bard -> AA. The F/M method is a little quicker, as you can gather the required feats a lot faster, but I personally prefer the Bard method (I like playing Bards).

However, it really is up to you. You could try any combo and see how it turns out.

Cheers,
TGHO