Worth it?

prettyflacko1

As a trapper, would it be worth it to spec into the Longshot feat in the Archery tree? Seen variations of this on the PC forums and decided to alter it.

Here is a link of what I was thinking it would look like (go straight to feats): http://nwcalc.com/index.html#/hr?b=23ci:k6rwk5:8dep:5tb7d,1fi3iii:15u0u00:1000000:15u0uz1&h=0&p=swd

Feel like ancient roots will only really be missed in PVP as in PVE I'll be reapplying roots fast enough to not really notice. Since I would be using crushing roots, I could drop serpents and therefore wouldn't need the feat that goes with it. Trapper's cunning also feels like its just extra and dispensable (will probably toss these points in 5% melee life steal if anything).

Plan on running Fox, Hindering and Constricting to maximize effects of crushing roots. I'll also have AotP running too. Obviously to reap the full benefits from Longshot I'd have to build crit (pushing 50% I'd say).

Drawbacks of course are the fact that this feat is only beneficial to two skills out of the six I'll use as a trapper. I'm worried about the fact that the loss of damage from Serpent's will be too great for Longshot to make up for, since Longshot relies on crits and can only proc through archery skills. Maybe switching Fox for Cordon would make this work better but I'd hate to lose out on that free dodge for the party.

This all under the assumption that I'm going full PVE and no PVP planned.

soonergm

my question is, does "ranged attacks" include the roots that are generated from a ranged attack, or just the initial hit from the attack?

if you decide to experiment, i hope you come back and let us know your findings

wdj40

I have already done something similar to this to test it and Longshot was pretty rubbish so I changed it again. You lose way too much from the Trapper Tree for Longshot to be any good. Honestly try it yourself and you will come to the same conclusion.

I`ll post my Feat build in a moment once I figure out how to use that calculator thing

I have 10 points into the Archery Tree without losing much in the Trapper Tree. Although cool-downs are longer but I use Aimed Strike in my rotation when I am running solo so it works out just right for my build.

wdj40

Here we go here are my Feats... I have Crit at 40% so when switching to Ranged it goes up by 5% then extra from Aspect of the Serpent etc. The Crits causing Weak Roots power is pretty pointless, 3 out of the 6 attacks in my rotation are roots anyway. I think my Crit Severity is something like 120-130% at the moment.

When running solo the reduced cool-down at only 9% (Swiftness of the Fox) is noticeable and as I mentioned above I fill that small gap with an Aimed Strike. If running with another person or more then the cool-downs are almost instant (for the opposite powers) when using a group buff. This has also given me an excuse to raise my recovery to over 2000 at the moment which also helps cool-downs now that I do not have 15% cool-down any more.

Its working out extremely well. Before anyone states Recovery is useless on a HR, I actually dis-agree. But its a moot point anyway because at one point you do not need the Rings, Belts or Necklaces of Piercing anymore, so I swapped them out for Recovery ones (for my Cat and myself)... Power and Recovery combo is nice when Arm Pen is not needed

http://nwcalc.com/index.html#/hr?b=23ci:k6rwk5:8dep:5tb7d,1xi3i0i:15u0000:1000000:1uu0wnv&h=0&p=pfr

Ok sorry for the edit I messed up the 1st 2 times

soonergm

wdj are you using vorpal or did you do something else to get your crit severity up that high?

prettyflacko1

Asked around on PC, seems they all reached the same conclusion as you

wdj40

soonergm said:

wdj are you using vorpal or did you do something else to get your crit severity up that high?

I am not online at the moment... from the top of my head I have a Greater Vorpal ready to upgrade which is 38% on top of the natural 75%. Then there is a boon for 2%. There is a Companion from the SW pack which gives 5%... Also choose the the Half-Orc Race as that is another 5% severity

So it will be improved when I upgrade my Vorpal even more

Vorpal is amazing when you get your Crit near or over 40%

wdj40

Ok I have done a 7min clip of me going solo through the Master of the Hunt Skirmish, it took ages and I thought I had more of it and the end, but I had 10 seconds of the end for some reason... Anyhoo link below of what it looks like when you sacrifice 3 points from Ancient Roots and 2 points from Swiftness of the Fox, then put 10 points into the Archery tree to get the 5% Crit chance in ranged.

http://xboxdvr.com/gamer/wdj40/video/12274622

Bearing in mind this Skirmish is supposed to be for 5 players. Also I do not have any Orange equipment what-so-ever (but my Lantern is 96)... I also do not have any Elven Armours yet and all my Runes are Rank 8... I also have a Cat who is equipped with all Personalized stuff as am I.

I was wrong earlier in the thread, I actually have 35% Crit so the 5% takes me to 40%. Anyhoo main stats 80k HP, 12.4k Power, 6k Crit, 60% Arm Pen, 2269 Recovery, 3.4k Defence, 1.5k Deflect, 3,2k Lifesteal.

Loads of room for improvement yet.

prettyflacko1

How much lifesteal % you at? Tempted to spec back into it, with Madness you also reach 7k so def curious to know what % that translates into

On your build tho, was curious as to why you simply don't take out the 2 points in Ancient Roots and use them to top off Swiftness of the Fox. This should allow you to rotate through your encounters with no delay and you'll be reapplying roots fast enough to not need the extra 1.5 or 2 secs of root. Saw a few moments in your vid where you still had to wait a sec or two for your encounters to cooldown. Otherwise, your survivability is impressive.

wdj40

Thank you

Yes unfortunately it is a very high risk strategy and build... the issues arise when you miss with a Melee Encounter, if this happens you do not benefit from any reduced cool-downs and is very very noticeable (which is one of the reasons I made the video so you can see). With the Lostmouth set though you can fill the gaps up with Aimed Strike (works out just about right timing wise) or a load of Rapid Strikes... Rapid Strikes really benefit from the set which is nice

I would suggest for now once you are happy with Arm Pen, Power and HP etc I would really try to aim for 10% Lifesteal (which is nice as attacks are very quick) and some other forms of healing. I would suggest to take the boon which regens 20000k HP and buffs defence by 4000 when you are struck. Possibly as your character gets better 20% might be nice but out of my reach for now.

Without Oak Skin the survivability is no-where near what I can do... I have another small vid on there which shows me and 1 other taking down the Kessells boss and I had to solo the last little bit. I did not have as much survivability on that vid though as I changed it just after that run.

I still need to experiment more with points in different stats and I still do not know if I am going to keep my current build, I am liking it and the increased Crit on ranged (since that is where most of the damage comes from).

I do have to give a little credit to rayrdan from this forum for some helpful advice a while back which helped me improve my build.

wdj40

P.s another good reason why I like Oak Skin... it never misses so always reduces my ranged cool-down by the amount in the feat

More if with another person or more

prettyflacko1

I think I will test out the Longshot feat, simply because the feats I will be dropping from trapper won't affect my dps in such a drastic way. I could drop any of the following feats in my opinion, Forestbond, Trapper's Cunning, Ancient Roots, Serpent's Bite. Crushing Roots + AotP for PVE and Crushing Roots + AotLW for PVP. Will test out when I find some time.

wdj40 said:

Thank you

Yes unfortunately it is a very high risk strategy and build... the issues arise when you miss with a Melee Encounter, if this happens you do not benefit from any reduced cool-downs and is very very noticeable (which is one of the reasons I made the video so you can see). With the Lostmouth set though you can fill the gaps up with Aimed Strike (works out just about right timing wise) or a load of Rapid Strikes... Rapid Strikes really benefit from the set which is nice

I would suggest for now once you are happy with Arm Pen, Power and HP etc I would really try to aim for 10% Lifesteal (which is nice as attacks are very quick) and some other forms of healing. I would suggest to take the boon which regens 20000k HP and buffs defence by 4000 when you are struck. Possibly as your character gets better 20% might be nice but out of my reach for now.

Without Oak Skin the survivability is no-where near what I can do... I have another small vid on there which shows me and 1 other taking down the Kessells boss and I had to solo the last little bit. I did not have as much survivability on that vid though as I changed it just after that run.

I still need to experiment more with points in different stats and I still do not know if I am going to keep my current build, I am liking it and the increased Crit on ranged (since that is where most of the damage comes from).

I do have to give a little credit to rayrdan from this forum for some helpful advice a while back which helped me improve my build.

Playing MMOs growing up, I've developed a few habits when building my characters. Main one being that I prefer to focus on one area instead of branching out. This usually ends up with me speccing as a glass cannon on any dps class. With the trapper, my main method of survivability is the daze and constant movement. I'd daze with constricting, move in with fox shift, re-daze with hindering strike, hit steel breeze and shift back out, apply fox cunning (still rooted so can't get to me), hit bigger target with hindering shot then repeat with constricting. Granted this is much trickier with ranged mobs, disruptive shot helps in those situations and a lot of dodging is involved. The daze works wonders in group play as well

wdj40

Yeah I liked the Daze for a while until it became useless... for instance in the T2 dungeons it never seems to trigger, possibly because they have really high resist or something. Especially bosses are immune to it.

I ended up dropping it for Seekers for that extra 19% damage from behind. This is nearly all the time as Fox`s Shift quite often leaves you behind an enemy, I then AoE Strong Roots with Hindering Strike. Then dodge away to Oak Skin and as enemies are rooted you can hit them from behind more often than not with your powerful ranged attacks.

I found just killing them quicker with more regen (not the stat regeneration) works better for me. I`m also fairly surprised you do not run Aspect of the Serpent, the damage buff is actually huge and paired with Seekers even better and the AotS Feat gives more Crit + Damage to it.

Also I dropped Aspect of the Pack a while back now, it was extremely good in Mod 5 but there are better passives now. Plus if you are running with an Augment it is useless. But running with 1 or more people its fairly easy to navigate round the enemies to the correct spot.. more than 1 person with you its even easier to obtain Combat Advantage + Seekers.

I don't really PvP so I cant comment on that side of things... in open world I win more than I lose but still have a fair number of defeats

wdj40

prettyflacko1 said:

I think I will test out the Longshot feat, simply because the feats I will be dropping from trapper won't affect my dps in such a drastic way. I could drop any of the following feats in my opinion, Forestbond, Trapper's Cunning, Ancient Roots, Serpent's Bite. Crushing Roots + AotP for PVE and Crushing Roots + AotLW for PVP. Will test out when I find some time.

wdj40 said:

Thank you

Yes unfortunately it is a very high risk strategy and build... the issues arise when you miss with a Melee Encounter, if this happens you do not benefit from any reduced cool-downs and is very very noticeable (which is one of the reasons I made the video so you can see). With the Lostmouth set though you can fill the gaps up with Aimed Strike (works out just about right timing wise) or a load of Rapid Strikes... Rapid Strikes really benefit from the set which is nice

I would suggest for now once you are happy with Arm Pen, Power and HP etc I would really try to aim for 10% Lifesteal (which is nice as attacks are very quick) and some other forms of healing. I would suggest to take the boon which regens 20000k HP and buffs defence by 4000 when you are struck. Possibly as your character gets better 20% might be nice but out of my reach for now.

Without Oak Skin the survivability is no-where near what I can do... I have another small vid on there which shows me and 1 other taking down the Kessells boss and I had to solo the last little bit. I did not have as much survivability on that vid though as I changed it just after that run.

I still need to experiment more with points in different stats and I still do not know if I am going to keep my current build, I am liking it and the increased Crit on ranged (since that is where most of the damage comes from).

I do have to give a little credit to rayrdan from this forum for some helpful advice a while back which helped me improve my build.

Playing MMOs growing up, I've developed a few habits when building my characters. Main one being that I prefer to focus on one area instead of branching out. This usually ends up with me speccing as a glass cannon on any dps class. With the trapper, my main method of survivability is the daze and constant movement. I'd daze with constricting, move in with fox shift, re-daze with hindering strike, hit steel breeze and shift back out, apply fox cunning (still rooted so can't get to me), hit bigger target with hindering shot then repeat with constricting. Granted this is much trickier with ranged mobs, disruptive shot helps in those situations and a lot of dodging is involved. The daze works wonders in group play as well

1 bit of advice if you do switch and/or use Aspect of the Serpent. Make sure you do not use Fox`s Cunning 1st in the Ranged rotation, it will use a stack of AotS which is a complete waste. Same with any ranged or melee buff, never use it 1st in the ranged or melee rotation as it is a waste of a stack of buff.

prettyflacko1

wdj40 said:

Yeah I liked the Daze for a while until it became useless... for instance in the T2 dungeons it never seems to trigger, possibly because they have really high resist or something. Especially bosses are immune to it.

I ended up dropping it for Seekers for that extra 19% damage from behind. This is nearly all the time as Fox`s Shift quite often leaves you behind an enemy, I then AoE Strong Roots with Hindering Strike. Then dodge away to Oak Skin and as enemies are rooted you can hit them from behind more often than not with your powerful ranged attacks.

I found just killing them quicker with more regen (not the stat regeneration) works better for me. I`m also fairly surprised you do not run Aspect of the Serpent, the damage buff is actually huge and paired with Seekers even better and the AotS Feat gives more Crit + Damage to it.

Also I dropped Aspect of the Pack a while back now, it was extremely good in Mod 5 but there are better passives now. Plus if you are running with an Augment it is useless. But running with 1 or more people its fairly easy to navigate round the enemies to the correct spot.. more than 1 person with you its even easier to obtain Combat Advantage + Seekers.

I don't really PvP so I cant comment on that side of things... in open world I win more than I lose but still have a fair number of defeats

Granted daze doesn't work on all bosses in T2s I still find it very useful for all the ads inbetween bosses. Gives me and my team more cc which can lead to better and faster runs rather than going full dps with AotS.

On AotP I should've mention I use it solely for group play. I run an augment so it'd be useless for solo play. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I was told, unlike the description says, that AotP affects all allies. Believing it affects only one ally and since you can't control who gets the buff (could be cleric or tank) I had originally stopped running it in favor of AotS. The only reason I picked it back up was due to the fact I was told it'll give everyone CA which I believe makes it invaluable in a party.

I find solo play (dailies) to be fairly easy so I don't put too much thought into it.

wdj40

Yes that is what I was told quite a while back, that AotP effects all allies. But anyhoo even if it is just you and 1 ally it is still a decent passive. Instead of the enemies having a blue section somewhere on them for you to be in to obtain CA, they have a blue circle all the way round them, so you obtain CA where-ever you stand (and your Ally/Allies).

To be honest I have never got around to testing if it does effect every Ally within a certain radius of you I just believed what I was told.

I like having the 19% extra from Seekers and obtaining CA the old fashioned way lol

Quite often enemies have large sections of blue or all the way around them anyway when running around other people.

soonergm

i still love the daze effect of crushing roots, but i always switch it out for aotp for bosses, unless it's add heavy. or i switch it out if someone else in the party is running a similar cc ability.