SniperX’s Pathfinder PvP & Playstyle Guide
Introduction
I’m fairly new to the forums here and Neverwinter in general, I’ve been playing only a few months. I come from a competitive background in almost every game I play, GuildWars and GuildWars 2 being the most relevant. GW1 I played in a consistent top 10 guild in the world verses World Champions and the best of the best. GW2 I teamed up with GW1 World Champions The Last Pride and played with their international team.
I recently made the switch to path finder and have been loving it ever since. With proper skills and gameplay techniques it can make your character seem overpowered. This is my first guide so bare with me, hopefully it helps someone enjoy the game more. Everybody finds joy in winning and believe me you will be winning a lot more following this guide. I've tried to make this as **** friendly as possible, as I realize most people may not be at the levels of select few.
Strengths
One of the greatest strengths I find with this build is that its just so hard to die. If played correctly it’s almost impossible to die more than 3 times in a single game. This build has the perfect balance of attack and defense. GF, GWF, TR all melt, luckily for you that’s about 60% of all PvP classes right there. The screenshot below is of the pugs I've done since my new build, 0 premades.
However gear is not everything. It also comes to strategy and how to play, which I will explain in another section.
Weaknesses
There is no single class that gives you trouble, however if I had to personally choose one I really hate playing against CW’s, even though constricting arrow does wonders around them they have a low of crowd control and will keep you still for someone else to wack at you.
Another weakness I found is that I find myself struggling to do the 500 assists/kills under half health just because you’re never going to be there. Some games I purposely try to keep myself low just so I can get some kills towards that. Not much of a weakness but still, its really annoying.
Race
In my opinion there is only one viable race that should be used when it comes to Hunter Rangers and that’s Wood Elf, what you want to do is put all your points into Dexterity and Wisdom. Fairly straight forward, increases damage and increases crit, and believe me you will crit and you will crit a lot.
Feats
Feats are fairly straight forward, I experimented with Quarry for about a day but make no mistake about it, prime critical is the single best feat to have. Although the 5% extra damage may seem nice, being able to cast 2 thorn wards at once, or just spamming all of your encounters and watching people melt is a lot more satisfying than the 5%. As well, you end up doing more damage regardless just because you are able to spam your encounters.
Boons
This is all pretty straight forward as well:
Dread Ring:
Bottom 4 + Rampaging Madness
Sharandar:
Bottom 2 then Top 2 and Fey Thistle
Icewind Dale:
Bottom 4 + Rousing Warmth
PvP:
Living Wall + Vanguard’s Resolve + Tactical Redeployment
The IWD and PvP boons are mostly personal choice, this is just what I prefer, most important are obviously Dread Ring and Sharandar boons.
Gear
I’ve been using Profound Combatants and as of right now I have not had a problem, can’t complain. With 2 Ring of Pegasus and the Armor Penetration bonuses from the set and 2x weapons you are able to reach all caps fairly easily while still having a good amount of regeneration/deflection and plain out tankability.
The ring of the pegasus can be found by the pegasus seal vendor in Protectors. Don't forget you can buy bountys in AH and then convert them over for seals, which is what I did and it is really cheap. With your other stats you want to keep them high as possible, once you break 2500 for crit and armor pen its pretty much at it's cap, its not efficient to add to those stats. Defense you want to be looking at around 1800. Regen/Deflection etc you want to get high as possible.
For neck and belt you should be looking at what you need to improve. If your crit and armor pen is good there is no point of getting anything that adds to that. Great stats that are always useful is power, hp, regen, deflection, try to use your belt and neck slots to fill what requires to be filled. If you meet all the requirements already, use those slots and look to add the stats mentioned above.
Enchantments + Weapon / Armor
I am using Dark Enchantments in Utility slots for Movement
I am using Azure Enchantments in Defense for Defense
I am using Azure Enchantments in Offense for Critical Strike
Along with Vorpal and Soulforged Enchantments as well.
I would recommend leaving the enchantments for last, that way you can see where you need the added stats, the goal is to have over 2500 critical strike and armor penetration
Artifacts
I am using Bloodcrystal/Waters/GWF ….Bloodcrystal and Waters provides extra recovery and regeneration, while GWF provides much needed HP
At-Wills
Without a doubt the only two at-wills you should ever use are Hunter’s Teamwork and Aimed shot. Hunter’s to obviously mark your target and do not underestimate aimed strike. It does a fair bit of damage but most importantly with Careful Attack and a well placed Aimed Strike you can do a good amount of bleeding damage, this adds up as well helps provide crits to decrease downtime inbetween encounters. Aimed shot can easily do over 25+/1 shot many people. You just want to put yourself in a position to be able to pull it off.
Encounters
In my mind there are two encounters which are staples in the Hunter Ranger class, they are the most useful skills in pvp and should always be equipped. They are Marauder’s Rush and Fox Shift. With prime critical the cool downs on these skills is pretty much halved, which means you can spam them. In fact, spam all your encounters, there is no point of having them not on cool down, its just extra dps that you aren’t doing. That being said the third encounter could be one of two things. Thorn Ward or Constricting Arrow, each has their own perks, Thorn Ward is great for holding points and pretty much destroying any melee class, Constricting is great for chasing down and well as locking down annoying classes such as a TR or CW. I would recommend swapping these two encounters accordingly before every match. Simply push X and see what you are facing.
http://nwcalc.com/hr?b=m43:27oawg:1bxzxs,1000000:100000:100000:100000&h=0&p=pfr
Note: I have left some extra points left over, use them however you seem fit. I am currently holding on to them encase I have a need to spec something else.
Daily Powers
The two daily powers I would recommend using is Disrupting Shot and Forest Ghost, using Disrupting shot is useful for its daze effect as well it is an awesome finisher, the quick release is usually what it takes to kill people while they pop back from for soulforged or try to run for their lives. Forest Ghost has the synergy with Aimed Shot allowing you to get one off, and also provides another useful escape method.
Class Features
The two class features that you want to be using are Aspect of the Serpent and Aspect of the Lone Wolf, these two provide you with extra damage and survivability.
Gameplay
In my honest opinion this is the most important part of this entire guide, I know I won’t be able to cover everything as I’m writing this now but hopefully I will be able to continuously update this and provide useful tips for newer players and even experienced ones as well.
Fox Shift, a lot of this comes down to timing, patience and understanding of the game, it’s a free dodge, what more could you ask for? What you want to do is work on your timing and obviously hit it as you see yourself about to be hit. Fairly straight forward but it is something you could continuously be improving on as I am myself.
Camera work is also extremely important, when on mounts or even standing around be active with your camera, always try to keep a 360 view, never keep it constant, this way you can see attacks coming from all angles and hitting your fox shift will be that much easier. Once dodging one of their encounters it automatically puts you at an advantage.
Marauder’s Rush, this is hands down the best spell for the hunter ranger class. Not only because of the amazing damage that you can do, but the movement it provides. Here are a few situations which I typically find myself in and find this skill to be useful. The first is obviously as an escape. For example if you are running from the opposing team while you are on 3, use Marauder’s escape to create distance, turn around and switch to Marauder’s Rush, you will more than likely find someone on 2, using rush will not only damage them (and possibily kill them) it will create even more space from the opposing team that is behind you. Simple, yet effective.
Don't forget you can also use Marauder's Escape as a way to close distance, if an enemy is running away from you, like those annoying GWF/TR simply turn backwards and hold the S key and use Maurader's Escape. You will go backwards and quickly close any space they may have tried to create. This puts you in range to hit him and also switching to Maurader's Rush again will close any remaining distance so you can finish your kill.
I had used the word running before, and that in PvP is such an important word, as a player you have to pick your battles, there is no shame in running and there is nothing wrong with putting yourself in a better position to succeed. You want to make mental notes of who is the stronger players on the opposing team, I usually see which players I do the most damage to and make notes of that mentally. Then when in larger team fights I focus on the players which I know I can easily kill. This may seem like it’s the obvious thing to do but the times I’ve seen 3 people on a GF that’s taking no damage is ridiculous.
P&P
Potions and Positioning, are so extremely important, you are a hunter ranger, you are not a GWF or GF, we have to use positioning to our advantage, being at a distance and getting 1-2 aimed shots can easily do over 40K+ damage, killing anyone on their team. Being at a safe distance allowed you to use Aimed shot which in my opinion is broken for the amount of damage it can do. Good players will find ways to get this off. Be one of them.
Potions are part of the map, you should always know where they are and have an easily escape route to get to one. They are on the map to be used so don’t be afraid to use one. Usually potions are put in a position on high ground, going for a potion then shooting your opponents at a distance is a great way to get yourself back into a fight, and usually it’s not expected.
I hope you all enjoyed my guide, as time goes on I will update this and hopefully add more insight, if I’m able to help atleast one person out there this will be more than worth it. If anyone has any questions or wants to PvP as well, feel free to add me at SniperX@Sandstorm777.
Update Log:
06/24/14 Posted
07/02/14 Minor Gameplay Addition
07/05/14 Gear Addition
08/08/14 Minor text/format changes
Comments
Currently I am Archery too for the cooldowns and like it better than combat even though I lose 10% deflect. The main problem with the deflect is that you have to be in melee stance. If you get caught out by CC while in ranged stance, than it's useless. It works better for me to not have to worry so much about what stance I'm in and be able to spam abilities faster.
However, I think stacking HP and maxing CON and using thorn ward instead of marauder's is better for node-contesting, which generally helps win games more than killing more people but having to run away.
I'm currently sitting at 37.5k HP. That's great against burst, but it's even better because regen and our set-bonus are percentage heals, so the more hp- the bigger the heal.
i am a new player and i am going over your post in order to learn
i got few questions if you dont mind
1. this is an Archer build right?
2. how do you have 81% crit chnace? how much crit point do you have?
3. if you use fox shift and merders escape, then you have only 1 power for dmg, what is the point?
Thanks man
Hey, welcome to the game.
1. Yes this is an archer build, all points are there except for 5 in nature, for the added healing.
2. With full buffs everything added together the total is 81%, however don't be confused, that is not for EVERY single hit, the average crit chance I have right now is roughly 54%
3. Although this is an Archer build, by hitting TAB you are also do significant damage in melee stance. Plus with Hunter's Teamwork and Aimed Shot you do significant amounts of damage continuously, plus do not underestimate the damage from Thorn Ward.
Thanks for sharing your build and strategies!
No problem, I'm glad you found this guide to be useful, thanks for the kind words.
And myrnym, don't worry I plan on updating this as we go! I already have some ideas but will see how it goes first.
Still - any class that can solo a freakin' dragon is fine by me.
Aelar Hawkwind - Archer
Karrin Feywinter - Mistress of Flame
Errin Duskwalker - Executioner
Darquess - Soulbinder
Amen, glad to see it's only going to get stronger. From what I've read it seems like HR's are finally going to be "archer's" so to say. Which I believe was the intent on them in the first place as the ranged class.
Archers are single-target DPS beasts but have zero CC and not much survivability.
Combat has bags of survivability, lower DPS with a fair amount of AoE, and no CC.
Trapper has good CC coupled with OK DPS at both ranged and melee distance. Survivability in melee could be an issue.
Aelar Hawkwind - Archer
Karrin Feywinter - Mistress of Flame
Errin Duskwalker - Executioner
Darquess - Soulbinder
Hey, thanks for the kind words, I'll try to answer the questions best I can. For leveling through pvp the best advice I could give is just don't get hit, you probably don't have the best armor, use highground and keep your distances, only switch to melee when they are below 50% health that way you can quickly finish them off and on to the next one.
The ring of the pegasus can be found by the pegasus seal vendor in Protectors. Don't forget you can buy bountys in AH and then convert them over for seals, which is what I did and it is really cheap. With your other stats you want to keep them high as possible, once you break 2500 for crit and armor pen its pretty much at it's cap, its not efficient to add to those stats. Defense you want to be looking at around 1800. Regen/Deflection etc you want to get high as possible.
For neck and belt you should be looking at what you need to improve. If your crit and armor pen is good there is no point of getting anything that adds to that. Great stats that are always useful is power, hp, regen, deflection, try to use your belt and neck slots to fill what requires to be filled. If you meet all the requirements already, use those slots and look to add the stats mentioned above.
Awesome thank you so much for this awesome information, if you haven't already you should definitely add this to your OP
No problem, and thanks for the suggestion, will add it.
here you go buddy, not the best roll but don't need to exploit stats to kick *** lol
HP issue: everything under 30k hp in pvp right now is pretty much toast against decent pvp opponents. It just scales too good with the 4set bonus and the general and very much needed survability in high end pvp.
With 26-27k hp ur dead against high end trs, ur dead against high end cws, ur dead against high end gwfs, and ur in trouble against other HRs. I really cant stress enough: stack HP as much as possible without reducing ur dmg output ofc. Loose some crit because it gets redundant with archery feats.
Maraudeurs rush/escape: ur half right and half wrong with that. Its an awsome skill for fast rotation and evasion. Really nice vs gwfs and GFs. And very useful in pug matches when u have to carry ur team and have to be present on all nodes ^^
But in high end premades, i rarly slot this power. Its useless against HRs, CWs and DCs (always CA slotted) and a waste against TRs (hindering slotted).
Another thought: plague fire is way better for PF than vorpal. It just has so much synergy with all of ur powers and boons.
One more thing: Forest ghost using for a aimed shot is a waste. Against good opponents u will not land a aimed shot very often and u have to be near a target to benefit from the meleeattack of forest ghost.
It feels maybe lame but right now, forest med is the daily to go. Pvp is all about survability and node contesting and rotating enemies to 2vs1 clear u are ur most dangerous threat. So forest med is ur best friend there until backup arrives. Ofc only in coordinated premades, in pug matches, just kill everything ;-)
Keep it going!
While I appreciate your comments, I disagree with some of the statements you've said, I consistently play vs some of the top "opponents" and manage to do just fine, most of the time killing and doing better than them, though I do agree HP is very important.
There is a lot more to ghost than just using the aimed shot, ofcourse, the point I was making in the OP was it was one of the many ways to use it, it may seem like common sense to you but you have to also remember this guide was written for newer users.
As for node contesting 1v2, I prefer to just kill them instead of sitting around and waiting for backup, which is usually the case, if anything use ghost if you can't kill them, heal up and come again with a friend.
Thanks for reading and responding to my guide
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Ofcourse, expect an update along with the new mod.
Edit: I don't know if you added them now or they just didn't load propely before but thanks anyway.
Thank you! They were always there, could have been lag. Personally these forums have been a little laggy for me as well.
Nice guide, but have you ever competed with an high-end combat HR on a node with this build? You give some basic rules
for gameplay, but not, how to fight or defend a node with this build.
All the time, the amount of damage I've done especially with having 2x thorn wards up is always more than enough, I've easily solo'd some of the "top page 1 leaders" by simply outplaying them as well. The biggest piece of advice I could give has nothing to do with the game its self, its mental, you need to make sure you're hitting your encounters and dodging theirs but even more importantly, look for patterns. Once I have a read on a player and know exactly when hes gonna use his constricting arrow...disrupting shot etc and I easily dodge it, its a cakewalk.
Char sheet :
Stats :
Feats :
Differences (at least for now) are, Quarry over Sniper's aim and slotting Battlehoned over Serpent ,
also went for Con / Dex over Wis / Dex which would be another 4% chance
and the obvious difference of Halfling over Wood Elf.
Great guide by the way and thanks for sharing !
Alright so lets have a look, your HR is in the works so i'll try not to be critical. First of all I would strongly recommend dropping Quarry for Snipers Aim and slot Serpent, the amount of extra damage you will get is insane compared to those two, trust me on that one ^^.
Realistically a 35-40% crit chance is more than enough, like you mentioned it also goes to a point of diminishing returns.
I can't see exactly, but I get about 400 crit from each of my weapons (they are also slotted with azure for extra crit) so that could be something you look at to increase your crit chance. I'd also swap out your belt for a Black Ice one, whichever you prefer but I find those to be the best PvP belts.
I'd also work towards a bloodcrystal artifact, the amount of regeneration that it provides makes it almost a must have.
Also I remember you mentioned you had no boons, those are a must have, they will help you out greatly. Get about 375 extra crit just from those not to mention 250 regen/ap/power. After those few changes I think you'll be on your way, then it just becomes the process of getting combatants.
Thanks for your kind words, its always nice to hear ppl enjoy the guide. If you have any other questions feel free to ask.
Toon was leveled 0-60 in like 4 days (hit 60 last night), so no glory farming in the process, at the moment running gg to grab my free grim set and saving the glory for the skull.
Would love to see your ability scores roll and the actual ratings/stats numbers if you can bother adding them in your first post or here (my toon has campfire buff in the previous pic by the way) .
Second page
I've had success with it, so yes, I believe it can be viable. If I can do enough dps to get my bracers with 1 hand while on the phone it must mean its viable right?
Just switch the encounters to -> Rain of Arrows/Mauraders Escape/Thorn Ward with Splitshot/Aimed Shot ... for bosses switch out your At-Wills to Hunters Teamwork/Rapid Shot and literally watch the numbers fly across the screen.
I will post screen shots of my level 53 HR PF, Drow Elf, NightMaire in hopes of some advice and tweaking.
The question I have is, can you get weapon enhancements in game without having to buy Zen??