Combat HR discussion

wdj40

Hey everyone, so I pretty much Trapper in PvE and Archer or Trapper in PvP...

I have never really been into Combat as I like the jumping in and out of action too much, well ever since the day Longstriders came out, so I dont actually know a great deal about how to run it. But with current content like Cradle and T9 jumping back and forth has actually become quite hazardous lol, also with the confined spaces Combat just seems the better option for now. Dont get me wrong I still cant match my Trappers DPS as its so built into my system it can melt things even with me not really looking at the screen.

Anyhoo I made a random clip as it was my 1st time running Combat and I wondered if I was on the right track? https://xboxdvr.com/gamer/wdj40/video/62337408

1 thing I noticed is that Flurry does not really last as long as I thought it might, if you use an Aimed Strike for instance that is pretty much the end of flurry once its finished its animation. I have seen people mention 3 At-Wills after a Flurry proc, generally if I do that I am still At-Willing when my Encounters are already off cooldown and find I do more DPS if I use less At-Wills.

I ran T9 after this but did not record it as it was quite long, a couple of us did not really know the dungeon so didnt know to kill the souls at the end etc so it was a pretty messy run. But anyhoo I had 1 and a half billion damage so know it can pump out some DPS with some buffs. I just dont feel I am running it properly yet.

Boss rotation at the moment is...
Thorn Ward>Disruptive Shot>LSS>Gushing Wound>PG>Aimed Strike>(optional Split Strike)>Thorn Strike>Aimed Strike>(optional Split Strike)>Forest Ghost

Then I see where I am on cooldowns and decide what to do etc, either a couple more melee rotations or back out to TW+LSS. Wheel of Fire used at the start and Leg Lion Mount (only have that) near the start too.

Passives are AotP and Bladestorm. I will do a couple more clips as I get used to it and if anyone has a suggestion or 2 I will try it out and see if it suits me.

artifleur

I don't think aimed strike is worth it, but if you really want to use it you should use it before an encounter not after one, you'll still get blade hurricanes for each aimed strike hit that happen during the flurry window.

You can get 3 blade hurricane procs during one flurry with both split strike and clear the ground but it doesn't mean that you should do that after each encounter, it depends on how fast your encounters can reset. For example if you are alone and spam all 3 encounters at once you'll be left with at least 10s with no encounter to use and no flurry. On the other hand, if you are in group with an OP and a DC, you should try and use plant growth and gushing wound ASAP.

In a good group, facing a boss, here's what i'll usually do :
throw caution > plant growth > split strike x2 > gushing wound > split strike x2 > throw caution > split strike x2 or 3 while waiting for plant growth etc...

for pathfinder, thorn strike should have the lowest priority since it's only really good for triggering flurry.

vorphied

artifleur said:

I don't think aimed strike is worth it, but if you really want to use it you should use it before an encounter not after one, you'll still get blade hurricanes for each aimed strike hit that happen during the flurry window.

You can get 3 blade hurricane procs during one flurry with both split strike and clear the ground but it doesn't mean that you should do that after each encounter, it depends on how fast your encounters can reset. For example if you are alone and spam all 3 encounters at once you'll be left with at least 10s with no encounter to use and no flurry. On the other hand, if you are in group with an OP and a DC, you should try and use plant growth and gushing wound ASAP.

In a good group, facing a boss, here's what i'll usually do :
throw caution > plant growth > split strike x2 > gushing wound > split strike x2 > throw caution > split strike x2 or 3 while waiting for plant growth etc...

for pathfinder, thorn strike should have the lowest priority since it's only really good for triggering flurry.

Following the discussion as well since I've recently picked up my HR again and have been doing primarily Combat.

From what I can tell, it's generally wasted time/DPS to use the ranged version of encounters as Combat after the initial engagement unless there's a break in the fight (e.g. the boss jumps, teleports, goes immune, etc. so that you can lay down Split the Sky, Cordon, reposition for LSS while waiting for it to become targetable); would that be generally correct?

wdj40

artifleur said:

I don't think aimed strike is worth it, but if you really want to use it you should use it before an encounter not after one, you'll still get blade hurricanes for each aimed strike hit that happen during the flurry window.

You can get 3 blade hurricane procs during one flurry with both split strike and clear the ground but it doesn't mean that you should do that after each encounter, it depends on how fast your encounters can reset. For example if you are alone and spam all 3 encounters at once you'll be left with at least 10s with no encounter to use and no flurry. On the other hand, if you are in group with an OP and a DC, you should try and use plant growth and gushing wound ASAP.

In a good group, facing a boss, here's what i'll usually do :
throw caution > plant growth > split strike x2 > gushing wound > split strike x2 > throw caution > split strike x2 or 3 while waiting for plant growth etc...

for pathfinder, thorn strike should have the lowest priority since it's only really good for triggering flurry.

Aaaaah ok cool nice one, I did not realise that Aimed Strike would proc if used before an Encounter... I will look into that some when I am online shortly.

I wasnt really sure about using Aimed Strike anyway due to the long animation so I will probably drop it altogether

I will have a play with Throw Caution as well... I was avoiding it a little as StS takes soooooooo long to fire off and even once its fired off something can stop it triggering including a dodge, it started annoying me so I have not really used it much.

I feel a little bit more squishy than my trapper for some reason... Have to get used to a whole different way of playing. I have had combat builds for a while but just never liked using them a great deal.

artifleur

vorphied said:

Following the discussion as well since I've recently picked up my HR again and have been doing primarily Combat.

From what I can tell, it's generally wasted time/DPS to use the ranged version of encounters as Combat after the initial engagement unless there's a break in the fight (e.g. the boss jumps, teleports, goes immune, etc. so that you can lay down Split the Sky, Cordon, reposition for LSS while waiting for it to become targetable); would that be generally correct?

I agree.

wdj40 said:

I will have a play with Throw Caution as well... I was avoiding it a little as StS takes soooooooo long to fire off and even once its fired off something can stop it triggering including a dodge, it started annoying me so I have not really used it much.

Don't worry about StS. Throw caution is great and there's no need to use StS.