An Ill-Advised Archery Guide - Dual Warden/Hunter Loadouts

typo

Here is a new Archery build for Mod 17. Happy holidays!

Available from Google Drive: http://bit.ly/YarrowsUtterlyArchery

typo

Looking ahead to Mod 18, here are the noteworthy changes we know of and how these changes compare to their current settings in Mod 17:

• Focused - now increases 2% per second to a maximum of 20% (down from 2.5% per sec to a max of 25%)
  
• To The Wind - now grants a 5% boost to Throw Caution (down from 10%)
  
• Skirmisher's Gambit - now reduces Critical Strike by 10,000 and increased crit severity by 25% (from -3K crit and +30% crit sev)
  
• Disruptive Shot - magnitude increased to 300 (up from 250 magnitude)
  
• More than Disruptive - now increases your ranged damage by 10% for 5 sec (up from 5% damage for 5 sec)
  
• Slasher's Expertise - now increases your melee damage by 10% for 10 sec (up from 5% damage for 10 sec)
  
• Longstrider's Shot - magnitude increased to 525 (up from 480 magnitude)
  
• Gushing Wound - magnitude and DoT magnitude increased to 300 (up from 280 magnitude for both)
  
• Aspect of the Falcon - now grants a 10% damage bonus (up from 5% damage)
  
• Thorned Roots - increased magnitude against control immune targets to 150 (up from 100 magnitude)
  
• Hawk Shot - magnitude increased to 210 (up from 170 magnitude)
  
• Prey (from Predator) - now increases ranged damage by 10% (up from 5% damage)
  
• Biting Snare - can now occur every 15 seconds instead of 20 (i.e. more frequent dailies)
  

This slightly hurts Warden (both the melee and range variants) but significantly does help Hunter. Overall for this build, the Mod 18 changes do not seem to suggest much need for any significant alternations in feats or powers.

Note: I do wish though that Rapid Volley would receive a small boost in damage, as it just feels a little bit too wimpy at the moment. Same goes for its melee variant.

typo

Here is a brief video of Warden Archery on solo. Only loadout 1 is shown, not loadout 2. Nothing fancy here either but just to give the basic idea.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIXUdxDN8DE

Just to be clear, this isn't to suggest archery is BIS or even close to Warden Melee. Read the first page in the guide and you'll get a better sense of what this is really about. I'm also not knocking archery either, but just trying to make the most of a challenging situation.

A couple of issues are worth noting.

The lack of maneuverability when firing Electric Shot does not couple well with the long cast time of ranged powers. Penetrating Arrows is a much nicer at-will in that respect, but the larger issue comes down to achieving an overall synergy of feats and damage, which seems better served with Electric Shot. Even then, the added lightening damage from Storm Conduit is not nearly as easy to proc nor as useful as flurry is for Warden Melee. It's a nice idea to have a storm ranger, but right now our storm seems to need a little more oomph to it. One way to possibly fix this is for the devs to change Split the Sky to be able to strike more frequently and multiple times at once.

typo

Take 2 of solo Warden Archer. I like this better than the previous attempt. Warden Melee is still best, but this seemed to go more smoothly. Electric Shot (marks target) + Storm Conduit (+10% dmg on next lightening attack) + Call of the Storm (big hit and supercharges other attacks) is a good combination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2otvGE4pqI

typo

Here is a video of a Hunter Archer (loadout 2 from the build). If you compare it with the video above of Warden Archer, you can see how Warden Archer seems more capable of handling mobs, in particular because the daily becomes kind of like a 4th encounter power almost. You will also notice how I go up against the same boss. Warden takes longer to kill it, where as Hunter cuts it down pretty quick. Thus, I think having both loadouts is ideal for parties. Warden is probably best to solo with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3trNEgMzoWQ

teucer

In PvP, I prefer the Hunter and with the changes next Mod, it should shine. Presently, selecting the % damage gear is suggested and leading with Disruptive. In a 1v1 for a node, melee Wardens are forced to pop their Pally Sigil, if they are able to.

typo

teucer#3019 said:

In PvP, I prefer the Hunter and with the changes next Mod, it should shine. Presently, selecting the % damage gear is suggested and leading with Disruptive. In a 1v1 for a node, melee Wardens are forced to pop their Pally Sigil, if they are able to.

I've really been meaning to give PVP a try. I even have a loadout, but it needs some work. I've been too busy with PVE just lately. But that's kind of been a good thing. Been getting a lot of helpful feedback on the archery build and made another update to it today, notably for the single target loadout.

teucer

I wish they had not touched Skirmisher's Gambit, its terrible what they did with Plant Growth. It seems that are leveling the playing field with the Hunter-Warden and not respectively all toons.

typo

teucer#3019 said:

I wish they had not touched Skirmisher's Gambit, its terrible what they did with Plant Growth. It seems that are leveling the playing field with the Hunter-Warden and not respectively all toons.

The change to plant growth did seem excessive, what with the magnitude being set so low and the cooldown lengthened way off the charts. The power now seems fundamentally unusable. I feel like Split the Sky was weakened too much as well.

But glad to see Hunter getting a boost, even if Warden gets a small nerf. Overall, I think we will be fine for the most part, in respect to the other classes.