[XBOX] Help With Living Through Encounters With Hunter Ranger

reddleokul

I hit 70 last November, and just recently got back into the game. I hit Item Level 1700ish in November, but coming back the system changed. I've pretty much grasped the new system, I'm running a full stable with full Insignia (no epic mounts). I am currently an Item Level 8526 Pathfinder Hunter Ranger. I run Split Shot/Split Strike, Seismic Shot, Hinder Shot/Hindering Strike, Forest Ghost, Aspect of the Pack, Aspect of the Serpent, Constricting Arrow/Steel Breeze, Hunters Teamwork/Careful Attack, Cordon of Arrows/Plant Growth.
I have my rotation down, but I still can't seem to survive. I'm working on getting the Trailblazers Bow, but I cannot solo the Rune Trolls. Below is my gear, what needs to change to live through combat?
GEAR:
HEAD: Elemental Alliance Assault Hood (Azure Rank7)
ARMOR: Dusk Assault Coat (Azure Rank7)
ARMS: Drowcraft Bracers (Azure Rank7)
MAIN HAND: Renewing Longbow of Smiting (Radiant Rank7)
MELEE: (green)Elemental Fire Axe (Radiant Rank7)
FEET: Dusk Raider Gaiters (Dark Rank5)
NECK: Cloak of the Emissary of Neverwinter (Radiant Rank7)
LEFT RING: Ring of Ambush +3 (Demonic Rank7)
RIGHT RING: Ring of Charging Bull +4 (Demonic Rank7)(Azure Rank7)
WAIST: (blue)Golden Belt of Puissance (Cruel Rank5)
SHIRT: Hunter's Exquisite Elemental Tunic
TROUSERS: Hunter's Exquisite Elemental Trousers

ARTIFACTS: (purple)Bruenor''s Helm, (blue)Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, (green)Sigil of the Hunter, (green)Globe of the Third Eye

I plan on dropping a bit of money soon, I know a soulforged enchant is supposed to be good, but that might have to wait. Thanks for taking the time to view this.

Mod Edit: Added XBOX prefix to subject title, moved to The Wilds.

armadeonx

Which path did you go with your feats? My new(ish) HR went Trapper and I only get into trouble if I over-aggro.

I'd suggest you use Binding Arrow/Oak Skin as one of your encounters as Oak Skin increases your defence and applies a HoT heal on you.

You should also buy/farm the Drowned weapon set which have better stats than the Elemental Fire and a bonus of healing you in combat - I used these up until I got my Aboleth ones from The River District.

Your artifacts are also a problem. You need to focus on offensive stats with these; power & crit are the most important - you would benefit a great deal from a Wheel of Elements as your primary artifact as (when activated) you can choose between Offence (fire) and Self Healing (water) as needed.

here is a list of available artifacts

If you're in a guild/alliance that has the Mysterious Merchant, the merchant has some good gear that you can buy with Guild Marks:

I'd recommend the Executioners Attire & the Gladiators Feted Greaves as they focus on power & crit plus some nice bonuses (the boots increase your Defence by 200pts for every enemy you're in combat with, so in HE's they can add quite a bit.

https://neverwinter.gamepedia.com/Mysterious_Merchant

thefiresidecat

reddleokul#6661 said:

I hit 70 last November, and just recently got back into the game. I hit Item Level 1700ish in November, but coming back the system changed. I've pretty much grasped the new system, I'm running a full stable with full Insignia (no epic mounts). I am currently an Item Level 8526 Pathfinder Hunter Ranger. I run Split Shot/Split Strike, Seismic Shot, Hinder Shot/Hindering Strike, Forest Ghost, Aspect of the Pack, Aspect of the Serpent, Constricting Arrow/Steel Breeze, Hunters Teamwork/Careful Attack, Cordon of Arrows/Plant Growth.
I have my rotation down, but I still can't seem to survive. I'm working on getting the Trailblazers Bow, but I cannot solo the Rune Trolls. Below is my gear, what needs to change to live through combat?
GEAR:
HEAD: Elemental Alliance Assault Hood (Azure Rank7)
ARMOR: Dusk Assault Coat (Azure Rank7)
ARMS: Drowcraft Bracers (Azure Rank7)
MAIN HAND: Renewing Longbow of Smiting (Radiant Rank7)

CAT SAYS:: work on getting a set of artifact weapons. drowned works. even getting the other elemental works. but get this changed:: also after the next mod drops in mid sept within a week there will be a new kind of weapon on the ah. it will be cheapppp.. and decent. not as good as the RD or relic or sh sets but better than any of the elemental type weapons.

MELEE: (green)Elemental Fire Axe (Radiant Rank7)
FEET: Dusk Raider Gaiters (Dark Rank5)
NECK: Cloak of the Emissary of Neverwinter (Radiant Rank7)

CAT SAYS::any artifact cloak is better here. the company cloak with dex from stronghold is best::

LEFT RING: Ring of Ambush +3 (Demonic Rank7)
RIGHT RING: Ring of Charging Bull +4 (Demonic Rank7)(Azure Rank7)

CAT SAYS::both of these rings need to go. a rising crit or power ring is better but really anything with stats is better than these two rings. ::

WAIST: (blue)Golden Belt of Puissance (Cruel Rank5)
CAT SAYS:: Switch this out for the Dex belt::

SHIRT: Hunter's Exquisite Elemental Tunic
TROUSERS: Hunter's Exquisite Elemental Trousers

CAT SAYS:: If you're needing more survivability go for the drow underset or the greater somi underset they have health bonus's::

ARTIFACTS: (purple)Bruenor''s Helm, (blue)Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue, (green)Sigil of the Hunter, (green)Globe of the Third Eye


Cat SAYS: none of these artifacts are good for the hr. the CW sigil is good. the lantern is good, wheel is good. kessels spheres are good, thayan book of dead good and a lot more I can't think of off the top of my head. but none of these that you have outfitted are really helping you.



I plan on dropping a bit of money soon, I know a soulforged enchant is supposed to be good, but that might have to wait. Thanks for taking the time to view this.

I've done some commenting inline above my comments are the ones that have CAT SAYS::

also you probably want darks for your defense slots instead of radiants. Lifesteal is a lot more helpful than hp. (unless I guess you have no hp. I don't know your hp situation) you want to join a guild that has some good boons for you. lifesteal especially. I'd go solid azure/dark for stones other than utility.

you want to not go with the standard higher level powers load out. You WILL want aspect of the pack and serpent but if you are having a hard time surviving, for now.. until you get your stats up you might want to try slotting lone wolf and cruel recovery instead. your offhand bonus should also be slotted for cruel recovery.
where you can on insignias (for now) try for lifesteal. if you aren't getting your arpen from there.

there are some good heal insignia choices but I can't remember what they are off the top of my head.

for rotation try oakskin/fox shift/plant growth.

the advice i'm giving here is NOT going to help your dps that much other than it will really help you live until you're gear/stats are high enough to let you kill faster and living longer is higher dps by default.

like Armadeux said the gear from the merchant is good easy gear to obtain

for pets I recommend the dread warrior (not sure if he is on xbox) or the young yeti or a healing companion if you're not running an augment. the dread warrior is good even after you've levelled up a bit. 10 percent damage on targets he's attacking and a solid heal. the threat thing sucks a little but it doesn't proc that often and if you're just getting dailies done you probably already have the threat on you. lol.


again want to say. the advice here is NOT end game advice. or an endgame type build.. but if you're dying alot I swear by it. this is how I build an undergeared toon til they can stand on their own.

reddleokul

Thank you both, I will take this and edit my character and get back to you, also as far as feats:
COMBAT: Serpent Wave, Fluid Hunter, Skirmishers Gambit
TRAPPER: Fleet Stance, Deft Strikes, Forestbond, Swiftness of the Fox, Thorned Roots, Biting Snakes
MY guild, coincidentally allied with yours cat, has Power, Armor Penetration, Incoming Healing, Defense, Lifesteal, Experience, Mount Speed, Group Heal Potion and Revive sickness Bonuses, I've just switched out Defense for Lifesteal, Currently also running Power and Mount Speed.

reddleokul

Ok I've switched alot of stuff out for Life Steal and am using oakskin, fox shift and plant growth, and I'm seeing major improvement, still being easily killed by the rune charged trolls, but in other activities, I'm surviving. I only have 70,000 HP is this a problem too?

armadeonx

The HP is a problem as you should be above 90k at least, swapping out your chest piece for anything current will do. Did you mean you are in the Ruthless alliance? If so, Button Mashers build the Merchant every week, you'll need 30k guild marks for the chest piece and 20k for the boots I mentioned above. They currently have the boots, I'm not sure if the chest is on this week.

Do you have bonding stones on your companion? You need rank 8's at least (preferably higher) and get gear (where possible) that has 2 slots - one offence one defence and put lifesteal on the defence ones - it's give you a nice boost. The runechanged troll does a fairly substantial DoT that you need to counter.

By the way, have you got far enough in SKT to get the free 30% EF resist? The troll's damage is increased by EF so the more resist you have, the less damage you'll take.

thefiresidecat

everything armadeonx has said is good advice!

also soul forged is good but isn't the only option. I think shadowclad is a good deal cheaper and has some good deflect stat help. barkshield is good but I think that is also on the expensive side. Get a dread in your weapon slot. the hp is super low. try to get some better newer armor with more hp that will help. both head and chest. I think the dwarven throne (or whatever that skirmish is called) drops a hp chest or something like that. maybe try farming that a little.

the two insignias that are invaluable for the new hr are gladiators guile and wanderers fortune. the teal spider was cheap (dunno where it's at now) it has wanderers fortune. I don't think this list is complete anymore but it might help find the right bonus's to help you along when you click on the bonus it tells you what mounts have it

https://two30.github.io/neverwinter-insignia/

reddleokul

Thank you both so much, I will pick up the of those rank 8+ bonding stones, they are currently rank 1 on my companion. I did find the Mysterious Merchant in the Button Mashers Stronghold, but I haven't built up enough marks. Probably should have did more on the power shards, but I will continue to farm GM to get those armor pieces. Thanks again!

armadeonx

I think this Thursday is 2x guild marks so that'll help you.

jonkoca

Get the new teak weapons from the ah they're cheap and the damage is just as good as the somi ones. Then you can skip skt.

armadeonx

He's XBox so will have to wait until Sept 12th

jonkoca

Lol oops. Tbh. I'd wait anyway, getting somi weapons is an asspain of ginormous proportion.

stefoid

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1233011/ps4-the-noob-poor-lazy-players-guide-to-hunter-ranger

For survivability, lifesteal is critical. Bloodletting >>> Serpents weave for survivability.

I dont know much about trappers, but I think most of their builds dont climb the combat tree the way you have. IMO its unfortunate, but the trees dont lend themselves well to strongly hybrid builds like yours. I would always take bloodletting though.

wdj40

stefoid#1036 said:

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1233011/ps4-the-noob-poor-lazy-players-guide-to-hunter-ranger

For survivability, lifesteal is critical. Bloodletting >>> Serpents weave for survivability.

I dont know much about trappers, but I think most of their builds dont climb the combat tree the way you have. IMO its unfortunate, but the trees dont lend themselves well to strongly hybrid builds like yours. I would always take bloodletting though.

Do not listen to this post, unless Stefoid can actually provide proof in what he/she is saying.

I use a Hybrid PvE build and it has been months since a player out-damaged me in a run.

If TC would like to have a look at my xbox dvr page it is easy to find and I have lots of recent screenshots and video clips, all are my hybrid build.

What I would suggest though is Reddleokul should drop Skirmisher's Gambit as it is really not needed, espcially in the latest couple of Mods. Take the other Feat in that tree instead Lucky Blades... that way you are increasing ALL your Encounter powers damage by 15%. Also Lucky Blades is 100% uptime even running around not in Combat.

I have 15 points into the Combat Tree and the rest in Trapper, it is incredibly powerful and pretty tanky at the same time.

My screenshots etc will show how quickly I run PUG's (every screenshot & video is a PUG).

wdj40

wdj40 said:

stefoid#1036 said:

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1233011/ps4-the-noob-poor-lazy-players-guide-to-hunter-ranger

For survivability, lifesteal is critical. Bloodletting >>> Serpents weave for survivability.

I dont know much about trappers, but I think most of their builds dont climb the combat tree the way you have. IMO its unfortunate, but the trees dont lend themselves well to strongly hybrid builds like yours. I would always take bloodletting though.

Do not listen to this post, unless Stefoid can actually provide proof in what he/she is saying.

I use a Hybrid PvE build and it has been months since a player out-damaged me in a run.

If TC would like to have a look at my xbox dvr page it is easy to find and I have lots of recent screenshots and video clips, all are my hybrid build.

What I would suggest though is Reddleokul should drop Skirmisher's Gambit as it is really not needed, espcially in the latest couple of Mods. Take the other Feat in that tree instead Lucky Blades... that way you are increasing ALL your Encounter powers damage by 15%. Also Lucky Blades is 100% uptime even running around not in Combat.

I have 15 points into the Combat Tree and the rest in Trapper, it is incredibly powerful and pretty tanky at the same time.

My screenshots etc will show how quickly I run PUG's (every screenshot & video is a PUG).

I have just done a screenshot of my current PvE Hybrid build's Feats, it should pop up on my Xbox DVR page very soon. Sorry I cannot post links from my Xbox and do not have access to a PC.

I really wish I could run it through ACT like the PC guys do, but anyhoo it is incredibly powerful when set up right.

For Companions its Shadow Demon summoned (absolute beast of a companion), Siege Master, Earth & Air Archons and Death Slaad. Trans Dread & Shadowclad.

There is so much synergy going on though to be able to be powerful. You have to maximise Longstrider, Gushing, AotS and Plant Growth etc and rotate incredibly fast... I go for less root damage overall but more powerful Encounters etc.

Mounts are Magistrates P, Shepherd's Devotion to manipulate Everfrost Shirt & Pants bonuses, Protectors C, Gladiator's Guile and I forget the name of the last one but taking 35% HP damage un-mitigated gives a decent Heal.

Aboleth Weapons and Dex Belt & Neck Combo.