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Archery Spec - Need advice
hercules125
Member Posts: 427 Arc User
I need advice on how to maximize my DPS in dungeon groups, since I'm having issues competing with high GS - well, virtually anything, except perhaps GFs and healing spec DCs. Current GS 16.8k.
Currently using:
Daily: Seismic Shot / Forest Ghost (rarely)
Encounters: Rain of Arrows, Thorn, Split the Sky
At Will: Rapid Shot, Split Shot
Usual sequence:
1. Lead off with Split the Sky and Thorn
2. When multiple mobs group up, hit them with Rain of Arrows.
3. Finish off trash mobs with Split Shot, then concentrate on any remaining boss mobs with Rapid Shot.
ISSUES:
1. Targeting rain of arrows is problematic at range, sometimes I get a good spot, many times I don't.
2. Team members have the penchant for pushing, pulling mobs out of rain of arrows. Drives me absolutely nuts.
CWs and GFs are the worst offenders.
3. Split the Sky only hits when the mob hits a team member. Makes it almost useless against boss mobs, unless you have a tank who is taking hits. Without a tank, most people try to avoid being hit. The supposed "root" that it has, Ive seen no indication of it. Ever.
4. Amazes me how much agro split shot draws, considering it really doesn't do that much damage per mob.
5. Seismic Shot has weird behavior at times. I can fire it into a group of mobs and get a complete miss. Ive actually fired it point blank at times at mobs directly in front of me, and it misses. Also, any other competing AE power, like Singularity seems to interfere with it actually hitting anything.
6. Forest Ghost is supposed to be a "break agro" power. Only works maybe 25% of the time for me, and it forces me
to sit there for several seconds before it will "take". If I fire it, and start moving, its like I'm interrupting myself. Any suggestions for the 2nd daily?
WISH LIST:
1. Some kind of highlighting mechanism when I ground target Rain of Arrows to indicate which mobs would be effected, so I can get optimal placement.
2. Wider area of effect for rain of arrows, maybe decreasing as it gets farther from the center. Increased target cap.
3. Split the Sky - have it hit mobs randomly who aren't hitting anything. Have the root actually work, or maybe replace with a 2-3 second stun.
Decrease fire time, the 3+ second amount of time it takes to fire has actually gotten me in trouble a number of times.
Make it work against ranged mobs. Currently it seems to only strike if both the mob and target of the mob are under the cloud. Not sure if it only works for melee npc strikes, but it seems that way.
4. Fix Seismic Shot - make it a narrow cone instead of a bullet line. Increase target cap. Make it work with Singularity
and other AE powers going off at the same time.
5. Fix Forest Ghost so it breaks agro and works instantly. I cant sit there and take more hits.
The builds I've seen online are very high end build, with lots of gold artifacts. I don't have the money and its taking forever to level up the artifacts I have. Getting to gold probably isn't happening any time soon.
Given that, usng only T2 items + purple artifacts, what target numbers should I be looking for Power, Crit, AP, etc?
Thanks.
Currently using:
Daily: Seismic Shot / Forest Ghost (rarely)
Encounters: Rain of Arrows, Thorn, Split the Sky
At Will: Rapid Shot, Split Shot
Usual sequence:
1. Lead off with Split the Sky and Thorn
2. When multiple mobs group up, hit them with Rain of Arrows.
3. Finish off trash mobs with Split Shot, then concentrate on any remaining boss mobs with Rapid Shot.
ISSUES:
1. Targeting rain of arrows is problematic at range, sometimes I get a good spot, many times I don't.
2. Team members have the penchant for pushing, pulling mobs out of rain of arrows. Drives me absolutely nuts.
CWs and GFs are the worst offenders.
3. Split the Sky only hits when the mob hits a team member. Makes it almost useless against boss mobs, unless you have a tank who is taking hits. Without a tank, most people try to avoid being hit. The supposed "root" that it has, Ive seen no indication of it. Ever.
4. Amazes me how much agro split shot draws, considering it really doesn't do that much damage per mob.
5. Seismic Shot has weird behavior at times. I can fire it into a group of mobs and get a complete miss. Ive actually fired it point blank at times at mobs directly in front of me, and it misses. Also, any other competing AE power, like Singularity seems to interfere with it actually hitting anything.
6. Forest Ghost is supposed to be a "break agro" power. Only works maybe 25% of the time for me, and it forces me
to sit there for several seconds before it will "take". If I fire it, and start moving, its like I'm interrupting myself. Any suggestions for the 2nd daily?
WISH LIST:
1. Some kind of highlighting mechanism when I ground target Rain of Arrows to indicate which mobs would be effected, so I can get optimal placement.
2. Wider area of effect for rain of arrows, maybe decreasing as it gets farther from the center. Increased target cap.
3. Split the Sky - have it hit mobs randomly who aren't hitting anything. Have the root actually work, or maybe replace with a 2-3 second stun.
Decrease fire time, the 3+ second amount of time it takes to fire has actually gotten me in trouble a number of times.
Make it work against ranged mobs. Currently it seems to only strike if both the mob and target of the mob are under the cloud. Not sure if it only works for melee npc strikes, but it seems that way.
4. Fix Seismic Shot - make it a narrow cone instead of a bullet line. Increase target cap. Make it work with Singularity
and other AE powers going off at the same time.
5. Fix Forest Ghost so it breaks agro and works instantly. I cant sit there and take more hits.
The builds I've seen online are very high end build, with lots of gold artifacts. I don't have the money and its taking forever to level up the artifacts I have. Getting to gold probably isn't happening any time soon.
Given that, usng only T2 items + purple artifacts, what target numbers should I be looking for Power, Crit, AP, etc?
Thanks.
Post edited by hercules125 on
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Sharra Del'Armgo - SW Trapper Hybrid HR
Ogghra Bar'Ghuzumn - MI Scoundrel TR
Vænna Thrymskjöldr - IV Protector GF
Honestly, there are a lot of archery annoyances that made me go combat (still use RoA as combat btw). Never looked back since. Not to mention if mobs get angry at me, I can handle it.
Edit: Also, Split Shot's aggro used to make sense when it dealt huge amounts of damage. After the 40% nerf I don't really get the point of it making adds chase you around I mean, it's not that good anymore.
HR Stormwarden Trapper / Stormwarden Combat
GWF Swordmaster Destroyer
CW Master of Flame Thaumaturge / Spellstorm Oppressor
TR Master Infiltrator Executioner
SW Soulbinder Fury
Thorn ward almost never leaves the bar. It's an autotarget so if you have to run in circles around it at least it will hit things when you can't. ROA is great but if everyone is blowing things to bits and pushing the ads this way and the other I'll use one of the aforementioned instead.
But as query523 mentions ROA is also good used defensively, especially if you have a lot of life steal.
I've never noticed any encounter having any lifesteal, only my at-wills...
Any damage you deal will apply lifesteal.
thing with sts is that its passive damage u can layer while u cast atwills. so instead of casting say a hindering u cast another splitshot which actually is more damage ( if there is atleast 2-3 targets) while sts is dong its thing and adding more damage on top.
Enemies have to attack you or your party members for StS to do damage tho. If you're with a good cw mobs will be frozen, stunned or dead while you're still in the cast animation. 2 cws, forget about it.
I guesstimate that I can fire a hindering and a disruptive shot in the time it takes to get StS up (if it's not interrupted) and there's a fairly good chance that at least one of those will crit.
It's not like I don't use it or anything it just feels situational to me but whatever works best for the individual player, I always say.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Thing is how to use it, i tend to just use it mostly as a starter,run in alfa with cw and start with sts so u dont agro and usually get the benfits during the rest of the fight. The other great thing about slotting sts is throw caution, straight 15% dmg buff for 10 secs. Ill sometimes slot it just for the buff, as just by itself and its benefits on tw, roa and split its probably higher dps than a single target encounter shot ( i use disruptive for that).
I think the combination of both gives superior dps output, but u cant just compare the parse of dps output of one encounter vs other, as slotting it will make the other spells parse more dmg ( extra casts and dmg buffed) with an extra 3-6% dmg coming from sts itself.
on the otherhand if im not going to slot sts im using fox, higher single target dps output and the lovely free dodge that everyone loves.
Whaaa? The duration is 10 seconds? And here I thought it was only on your next attack. Dayam, if so I think I should really start working Throw Caution more into my rotations. Too good to pass up then IMO.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
thing is it debuffs ur defense (sadly doesnt really show how much anywhere) so u have to run tanky, but with my near 40% dr ill just debuffmyself while tanking XD.
As i dont think its gona be more than the 15% of the buff, but u netting 15% higher dmg for ur ls.
Yeah I learned a long time ago not to trust icons and tooltips on NW
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Have you looked at the numbers tho? I can crit for 90k on binding shot (although I only slot it when I want the regen and for party buff) StS averages 3.5k a hit for me and most Ive seen is high side of +20kish of course this is all contingent on the mobs actually attacking and the party keeping the fight under it so it's not reliable damage.
DS and hindering are practically spammable and average upwards 13k+ non crit. But if the mobs are arrayed just so then it's all moot anyway since I'll just drop a tw and spam ss. Results will vary based on playstyle of course I'm just suggesting ways to max DPS that have worked well for me.
Using StS for Throw Caution is definitely worth considering. I've only toyed with it a little tho as my hr never feels tanky enough so don't like the idea of losing defense.
Eh? I'm getting 10-15k hits out of splitmost of the time.....
90% of the time I only get outdamaged by CWs. Which I expect, and sometimes they blow my damage out of the water. But again I expect it.
Same rotation. But. I use the melee skills too. In combination with STS and ghost forest. ROA melee skill is terribad though. Ive tried to figure what I could replace it with, but ROA itself is amazing on mulitple stationary targets.
About CWs, especially if you use StS; you have predict a good time ahead the position to place. With multiple CWs on trash by the time you cast it; the mobs are almost dead. If I see 2-3 CWs I forgo the entire StS opening and pretty much concede any type of dmg race. You'll know after the first couple pulls of mobs whether or not StS is worth opening or not.
StS works best with GF and GWF in your party, because they typically want to or will take damage.
Sometimes ill slot fox instead of StS (really good in SoT skirm). Good for the party and the melee part isnt as bad as RoA melee half.
PS karru is one of the worst dungeons for us in a strooong party. Things melt to CWs but RoA is so difficult to place with those sliding fire archers.'
edit: just read ximaes build, guess he came up with the same idea i did. I have lesser GS and gear than him, more like GS of yours OP. But still mighty effective.
Fox Stevenson - Sandblast
Oh Wonder - Without You
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
- Dylan Thomas