Hunter Ranger Tips Tricks and Build Discussion

voltomey

Hello Everyone Voltomey Here I am going to give you guy a overview of the HR Class The class It's Far from Perfect BUT The class is flexible enough to fully support 3 Style Of play The Ranged The Hybrid And The Melee Style Of Combat. The Class will not penalise you for playing the way you like most. But to Play in any of the play-style you must be knowledgeable. Before we get started i would like to thank obsidiancran3 for his part and the many test he has done on the class as well and for his excellent write up on the skills i will be using the information he has given in this thread as apart of My OP now lets get started.

I will Like to Credit obsidiancran3 For this section of my rewritten OP i EDIT his post about the dailies and atwills Tee Hee Hee.

Class Features
Aspect of the Falcon: if you plan to go Archery and are looking to maximize shooting 3/3, the extra 9' matters as its basically another shot (or 2 of rapid).
Aspect of the Lone Wolf: atm does not function however this should be a great feature for leveling shooters, I guess we will see when it works.
Aspect of the Pack: at level 16 get a Man-at-Arms and then stay within 1-2 shifts of him for CA on all attacks and +1% damage for each point of Cha over 10. I run 3/3 while leveling and recommend it for Nature Builds at all times basically.
Aspect of the Serpent: This is a great feature for Hybrid and Melee builds. While the enemy is closing, shoot 5 times. When they are in melee range make 10 melee attacks (5 to use your buffs and 5 to stack 5 ranged buffs) and then move back to range to finish the encounter and start a new stack of buffs. For ranged builds I don't find it as useful, I rarely ever end up with a ranged buff from this power making it less effective. So ranged 0/3, melee & hybrid 3/3.
Blade Storm: great for melee builds as you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting 5-15% damage in an AoE; particularly nice with Electric and Rapid. Ranged and Hyrbid can ignore it.
Stormstep Action: Disruptive shot will be used in any fight with an elite or any dungeon fight. 3/3 recommended for Buffing and Archery (and could be useful for Melee as well because 3s less cooldown is always nice).
Twin-Blade Storm: despite its name works on ranged as well, recommended for everything 3/3 because 12% more damage for hitting 2 or more enemies is good. (ie if you have Split Shot in bar you should have Twin-Blade as well because its basically handing you a 12% damage bonus for shooting AoE and a lot of the melee encounters are mutli-target as well).

Daily Powers
Note: all dailies work regardless of the stance you are in.
Seismic Shot: at least 2/3. Not as reliable as CWs pushes but its a great short range push power and nicely bunches things up for a range of tactics derived from our encounter powers. This is a ranged attack.
Forest Ghost: 3/3 even for Archers. For melee the applications are obvious, for archers not so much so let me explain; first you don't need to change stance, second it only uses 50% AP so its generally not available when its on cooldown only (unless you used Seismic), thirdly stealth so you can run past the mob and put some damage on them get away and take a potion and still have time to fire off 1 or 2 encounters or an encounter and aimed shot. Its also good for just avoiding a fight, but you cannot stealth run past everything like perma-stealth TRa.But you can Attack in this stealth without breaking it Making Melee Style Build's very effective with it.
Forest Meditation: 3/3 Max this skill for 100% deflection and CD immunity and If you Run Fey Thistle Boon or a Melee Build. Not only will natures blessing boost the healing this skill provides by 20% Fey thistle will turn you into a meditating fortress of death so this skill can actually be used in a very offensive manner.
Disruptive Shot: for Buffers and Archers this is a 3/3 power if for no other reason than the crazy interaction with Stormstep for cooldowns. Its dazing/interrupt effect is just gravy for hosing elite mobs and bosses not immune to CC.
Cold Steel Hurricane: is a melee sort of ranged sort of power that's just bad, or perhaps just not working. Maybe for melee spec builds its good but otherwise 0/3.

At-Wills
Rapid Shot/Rapid Strike: 3/3
Split Shot/Split Strike/3
Depending on what Style of ranger you run Some of these at will will be you main Instead of the Above two Bread and Butter At Wills
Aimed Shot/Aimed Strike: 3/3 for Archer/Nature. It takes a couple of seconds to fire but when you can start a fight by killing any non-elite in areas where they are tough enough to weather a Split-Shot spray (so Vellosk is where I start using it) and it crits for enough that 3 shots will take out most elites with 1 crit this is a hard power to pass over entirely; just don't expect it to always be on your bar, but sometimes its better than Split Shot.The Melee Version of this skill is kinda like TR's DF Its a bleed atm this is Best used while in forest ghost In a pvp melee Build IMHO it still needs a bit of work.
Electric Shot/Clear The Ground currently is only useful to Melee builds it has high synergy with master of Combat and Bladestorm/Twin Bladestorm

Encounter Powers
Marauder's Escape/Rush: 3/3 if you plan to use melee a lot, 2/3 otherwise. its a great power while leveling Archery through the first 20, but after that I find it struggles to get a spot on my rotation.
Hindering Shot/Strike 2/3 at least. Solid for leveling and the melee power works wonders with Marauder's for Archers. It stays in my rotation well into the 30's because its a fast 3 charges reasonable damage Encounter with a very handy melee power. Note Weak Grasping Roots is often irrelevant, strong grasping roots on the other hand is generally good.
Rain of Arrows/Swords1/3...because you have to, 2/3 once you figure out how to use it, 3/3 maybe for melee because Rain of Swords is actually pretty solid and has higher burst damage than Rain of Arrows (which is DoT).
Thorn Ward/Strike3/3 for Archery and for Nature leveling. Not sure about melee but its got reasonable burst damage. Note that until you have at least 2/3 for Archers it is not that strong (so if you put a point in it and wonder why you would put 2 you will have to trust me that at 3/3 its quite a nice damage boost).
Constricting Arrow/Steel Breeze 3/3 for Archery and Nature leveling. Its an AoE melee power, but the strength is in the interrupt/stun that Constricting Arrow has, those few seconds make a big difference for more ranged focused characters and timed right can wreck the big attacks of things that are not CC immune. Steel Breeze also gains stamina for hitting enemies, which is handy for getting out of there for Archers.
Boar Hide/ChargeThe first buffing power and a good melee power. If you are an Archery build skip it, Nature and Combat have a lot more use for it.
Split the Sky/Throw Caution3/3 for Archers. ?? for everyone else. Split is useful for setting up a zone for fights with a boss who spawns a lot of mobs, layering Split and Thorn Ward then mixing in Rapid/Split and Constricting/Commanding is usually enough to deal with those harder boss encounters. Throw Caution doesn't seem to be particularly strong as a buff considering it debuffs you as well (in theory not sure it even works as its hard to observe any changes with it).
Hawk Shot/Hawkeye: This is a tough one. However for a Nature build 3/3 as its a party wide DPS buff. Its ok for Archers as well, but even at maximum range the damage isn't that impressive.
Binding Arrow/Oak Skin: The ranged attack works by applying grasping roots to enemies close to you so you can move away, instead of stopping them while they are away in the first place, so for pure Archery skip this power or go 3/3 for 25-30' range. For Nature builds the buff is good, when you apply it at 100% effectiveness to a party. For melee its pass.
Commanding Shot/Stag Heart: 3/3 for Archery and Nature. Pretty sure its a skip from Melee again. Commanding Shot is a debuffer for shooting bosses and elites, Stag Heart at 3/3 gives 12% of target's total HP as temp HP, which is just less work for the DC and often provides others a buff.
Fox's Cunning/Fox Shift3/3 for everyone! The buff, Cunning, is a free 100% dodge for 5 people. Shift is an impressive DPS melee attack which hits multiple targets (thus benefiting from Twin-Blade) and also reduces their run speed while buffing yours. So for Archery, you take less damage and when they reach you 1 pass of Shift can end the fight or gives you enough movement advantage to open a gap for shooting again. For melee...dps. For nature, you are going to take the feat to drop the cooldown by 5s as well, meaning you will probably be able to run the buff every 3-5s if you set up your cooldown reduction right.


Abillity Rolls
Ok Now that we got the basics out of the way Let get right to it Time for Rolls Many people want to know what stat is Important or help the HR most well Lets talk about them. The HR Main stat's roll are DEX WIS STR as a HR you should have no more than 17 STR and at minimal you can live with having just 14 STR. The class is so good at stacking Armor pen its not funny we also have quite a few stamina regen feats as well so STR is kinda irrelevant IMHO. Your main two Stats will be WIS and DEX you will want to have at least 20 Minimum Of both Unbuffed by campfire there are a few build's that put DEX at 19 unbuffed but thats ok. Now depending on what kinda Build you want to run HR can also dip off into INT CHA and CON Depending on your race. Certain races at better at certain HR Builds Then Other races and i will talk about that in the race part of the OP.

Stat's What stats Should MY HR stack well what you stack will depend on what kind of Build you run but lets go over some things.The HR armor comes with an abundance of some of the best Offensive stats for PvP/PvE and have some of the best set bonuses i have seen in on any class. So it would be slightly better for you to hit your Offensive milestones with gear alone then Go for more defensive slots and stats for your rings but thats just my opinion.

Offensive Stats
The HR by far has the easiest time stacking Armor Pen You can hit the cap with little to no effort on your part Crit Strike is another easy to stack Stat not as easy as Armor pen but so easy enough that you can max it out with gear alone with t1 PvP gear you can get 2k+ without breaking a sweat. Power is even easier than Armor pen to stack. Almost all HR gear give High Amounts of Power ok lets move on. Recovery is The Last Offensive stats its by far the hardest thing to stack on HR Unless you're rolling in Forest Lord Gear or a mix of Forest lord/Warden gear.

Recovery: I was telling my self in all honesty what good does this stat do us when we have feats That cut down recharge time and directly using INT is better then actually stacking this stat. We have StormStep Agile Hunter Primal Crit Royal Guard Armor set with a built in Recovery Mechanic and feats that give us meaningful AP gain . If you want to directly speed up your daily recharges Stack this. Otherwise i change my stance on this Its the least Important Stat to stack unless you want a ultra-fast Recharging Build. Also Only stack if your a Combat Build Ranger as it helps Melee rangers stay consistent and Only when you reached a satisfying crit chance.


Crit Strike:Most Important Stat to stack for Melee rangers IMHO . But While it is easy to stack this stat you will have a base crit of 30% with High WIS and About 1k or more Crit of it from gear alone which is the sweet spot for a archer Build. Melee Builds On the Other Hand should stack as much as you can to Hit 50% Crit chance and even then thats easy thanks to bleeding precision so you really only need to stack it to 40%.You can get that Just using Grand warden set which Gives High base crit enough to give about 3k wurth with CN Bow and the best slavemaster and Necromancer Rings. So you don't actually need to Slot this gear alone gives enough of it not to mention pets and artifacts.

Power:I was told This is not the best thing to stack But when we can get caps on the others Offensive stats so easily why not?. We have a Built in crit AP Gain and Recovery Mechanics both in feats and armor. Hit your caps then stack as much of this stats as you can you have an abundance of armor pen to make it shine bright any way.

Armor Pen:IMHO you don't ever have to stack this on HR all of are T2 Bow sets have it as a set bonus and are best Armor set comes with a **** tone of it. So Unless you Going Full Forest Lord You shouldn't worry about stacking this Unless you PvP then go ahead and stack it till the cows come home


Summary: Hit your Milestones for Crit and Armor Pen then stack Power If any of your gear gives you Recovery take its as a sweet bonus as its only realy useful in nature Builds and even then we have Better Options Forest Lord and Royal Guard.

Defensive Stats
While its very easy to max out your HR Offensive stats and i mean easy. Their defensive stats are a bit harder to hit the Milestones for.I am not gonna sit here and tell you i know everything about what's good for HR but i will tell you that their Best offensive stats are so easy to hit the caps for i usually use defensive rings with defensive slots so is not to go overcap on a offensive stat.Try finding that zen between Offence and defence to get the HR you desire.

Deflection: This Stat is Good It can Mitigate Most the dmg you take from a single Blow Having a High Deflection chance can also be a good offense thanks to Fey thistle boon. This stat as well as having High defense will make surviving a lot easier.Having a 20% deflection chance is like adding 10% more dmg resistance that can't be touched by Armor Pen.

Defense: This is a good stat Ups your DMG resistance but armor pen slices though this stat like butter that why having good deflection is important.

Life Steal: This stat will be way easier to hit the cap in When the patch Drops get 10% and your golden Comes on a few select gear choices also.

Regeneration: This will also be easy to stack once the patch drops and artifacts are Introduced you'll want at least 900 to 1.3k worth This is very good for you Archers who want to sit back and PEW PEW

Hit Points: If you stacking Regen Having more hit points makes it better this will make you even harder to kill if you max out your deflect and regen stats.

Summary: I find Hit Points Defence Deflect The Three most Important defensive stats to prioritise Regen can be caped with specific Pets Boon's Armor and Artifacts So can Life steal

Boons
People want to Know what Boon are good for HR i really don't think many Know how good they are and what you can do with boons so Lets start. Boons are permanent character bonuses that can be obtained by progressing through campaigns. They were introduced with Module 1: Fury of the Feywild. Boons function much the same as feats - permanent character effects that stay with you forever. There are five tiers, and only one buff can be chosen at each tier. The first four tiers have only 2 choices, while the final fifth tier offers 4 choices. Unlike feats, your choices cannot be reset direct with Astral Diamonds, but reseting feats reset them too. They can be reset by a Retraining Token too. That was a recap taken from the wiki sue me.

Ok So Let me List what Boon i think are gonna be Big for HR some boons Up stats personally i like boons that can boost my deflection/Crit rate i will point out a few Boons that you Guys should keep a eye out for.

Shurandar Boons

T1 Boons
Dark Fey Warden: You gain 250 Defense.
Dark Fey Hunter: You gain 250 Power.

T2 Boons
Fey Elusiveness: You gain 250 Deflect.
Fey Precision: You gain 250 Critical Strike.

T3 Boons
Get the HP Boon we get enough AP as it is

Feywilds Fortitude: Your Max HP increased by 700.
Elven Haste: You now gain Action Points 2% faster

T4 Boons
Both These Boons are Meh get what ever floats you boat

Elven Tranquility: When being struck by a foe you have a chance to heal yourself for 400 HP. (Internal Cooldown of 60s)
Elven Ferocity: When striking a foe you have a chance to deal 400 Arcane damage. (Internal Cooldown of 60s)

T5 Boons

Fey Thistle: When you Deflect an attack you deal 400 damage to your attacker. (Proc on every deflected attack. Debuff on attacker and his Damage Resistance affect damage). This Boon is so ****ing good it makes you want to slap your mother This Boon Alone and Forest meditation Daily is like dropping a nice fat DoT spell on a area. Its a permanent NO CD Reflect that will make Players think twice about attacking you. i will have to say its staple for High deflect Melee/Hybrid rangers Not so much though for Archer Spec rangers But Still good.

Elvish Fury: When you kill a foe you gain 20 Power for 45 seconds. This buff stacks up to 30 times. I wouldn't wast time on this boon we get enough power as it is from gear.

Redcap Brew: Potions now heal you for 10% more. Good For any ranger But not necessary

Elven Resolve: Your Stamina or Guard Meter regenerate 10% faster in Combat. We already have feats that do this don't wast your time Unless your Shift freak ranger then this is right up your alley.

Dread Ring Boons


T1 Boons

Reliquary Keeper's Strength: You gain 125 Power and 125 Movement.
Conjurer's Gambit: You gain 125 Critical Strike and 125 Movement.

T2 Boons

Evoker's Thirst: You gain 250 Life Steal.
Illusory Regeneration: You gain 250 Regeneration.

T3 Boons

Illusion Shimmer: You gain 3% Deflection Severity.
Forbidden Piercing: You gain 250 Armor Penetration.

T4 Boons
Both boons here are good get witch ever complements your build best

Enraged Regrowth: When taking damage you have a chance to heal 1000 Hit Points over a few seconds. After this effect ends you have 250 more Defense for 10 seconds.
Shadowtouch: When dealing damage you have a chance to deal 1000 Necrotic damage over a few seconds. After this effect ends the target receives 25% less healing from spells for 10 seconds.

T5 Boons


Augmented Thayan Bastion: When taking damage you have a chance to generate a shield that absorbs 500 incoming damage and redirects that damage to a nearby foe. This shield lasts 6 seconds. Less attractive version of fey thistle But this mite be better for the purely ranged HR

Rampaging Madness: When you deal damage you gain a stack of "Madness". When you reach 50 stacks of "Madness" you gain 600 Power, 300 Life Steal, and 300 Regeneration. 10 seconds after gaining this bonus your stacks are reset. You may only gain one stack of "Madness" per second. If you Not caped already in any of the stats mentioned I gues you can get this Boon


Endless Consumption: When you steal health from your Life Steal stat, it has a chance to steal 3 times as much. If you stacking Life steal get it it will heal you for Good amounts


Burning Guidance: Your healing spells have a chance to burn enemies near the target for 120 Radiant damage. WE got No spells


Ok All that sums it up for the Boons List If you see some you like get it dont let me decide whats right for you.Btw There is More to Come

nolifekripparian

can u please post royal guard/cn set stats and bonuses please?i guess im not the only one that have never seen them,thank you

Side note: u wrote roll 18 wis but im pretty sure half orcs cant get +2 wis

voltomey

Part 2 Baby

Hunter Ranger Race and Armor Choices

For HR there are 6 T2 armor sets armor sets you can pick from 4 of them are straight forward 2 of them are Meant for CC One of the two CC armors has a 40 second CD which makes its Meh IMHO Any way all of the armor sets and bonuses are subject to change on the 5th.

T1 armors and stats

Forest warden
Set1 Bonus 400 Recovery
Set2 Bonus When you Buff a Ally you have a chance to grant them 500 Power Armor pen Crit Strike Or Recovery You always grant the stat of theirs thats is highest.
8 AC
1148 Deflection
1148 Recovery
733 defence
492 power
432 Life Steal

High Sentry
Set 1 Bonus 400 Crit Strike
Set 2 Bonus When ever you critically hit with a at will there is a 20% chance you next encounter will deal over 1k more Physical DMG
8AC
1148 Crit Strike
1148 Power
492 Recovery
492 Armor Pen
733 Defence

Glade Stalker
Set 1 Bonus 400 Armor Pen
Set 2 Bonus when ever you deal dmg there's a chance you lower the CD on all powers By 20%
8AC
1148 Armor Pen
1148 Power
492 Deflection
432 Regeneration
733 defence

T1 PvP Brutal Hunter
Set 1 Bonus 400 Armor Pen
Set 2 Bonus You Run 10% Faster and when you deflect you have a chance to Regenerate 1% of your hit points
8AC
1148 Power
1148 Crit Strike
733 Defence
492 Life steal
432 Regeneration

T2 Armors And Stats

Forest Lord
Set 1 Bonus 450 Recovery
Set 2 Bonus When you Buff a Ally you have a chance to grant them 500 Power 500 Armor Pen Crit Strike Or Recovery You always grant the stat of theirs thats is highest.
9AC
1271 Recovery
1271 Deflect
766 Defence
574 Power
504 Lifesteal

Grand Warden
Set 1 Bonus 450 Crit
Set 2 Bonus When ever you critically hit with a at will there is a 20% chance you next encounter will deal over 1k more Physical DMG
9AC
1271 Crit
1271 Power
766 Defense
574 Recovery
574 Armor Pen


Royal Guard
Set 1 Bonus 450 Armor Pen
Set 2 Bonus when ever you deal dmg there's a chance you lower the CD on all powers By 30%
9AC
1271 Power
1271 Armor Pen
766 Defense
574 Deflection
504 Regeneration

T2 PvP Master Predator
Set 1 Bonus 450 Armor Pen
Set 2 Bonus You Run 15% Faster and when you deflect you have a chance to Regenerate 1.5% of your Hit Points
9AC
1271 Armor Pen
1271 Crit Strike
1216 Defense
574 Power
126 Movement

T2.5 Armor and Stats

FiE
Set 1 Bonus 450 Crit
Set 2 Bonus You Direct damage Encounter Powers apply Grasping Roots To The Target. This can only happen once every 40 seconds
9AC
1239 Crit Strike
1239 Armor Pen
772 Defence
606 Recover
606 Deflection

Dread Legion
Set 1 Bonus 450 Crit
Set 2 Bonus When dealing dmg you have a chance to apply Illusionist grip to a target.Illusionist grip roots the target in place for 2 seconds. When the effect expires It will Jump to a new nearby target it will jump twice.
9AC
1312 Power
1312 Armor Pen
799 Defence
637 Crit Strike
637 Life steal



T2 Weapons and Total Stats

CN Bow set My fave Set Btw
Set 1 Bonus 450 Armor Pen
1848 Power
442 Crit Strike
206 Armor Pen
206 Deflection

T2.5 Weapon and Total Stats

Fallen Dragon Bow Set
Set 1 Bonus 450 Armor Pen
1872 Power
434 Life Steal
232 Crit Strike
232 Recovery

Fomorian Bow set
Set 1 Bonus 450 Armor Pen
1888 Power
405 Life Steal
206 Crit Strike
206 Recovery

Dread Legion Bow Set
Set 1 Bonus 450 Armor Pen
1866 Power
450 Armor Pen
218 Crit Strike
218 Life Steal

Race Choices and Effective Rolls My Opinions

Ok guys I belive you gotta play each race to its advantage and in my opinion make use of all the attribute points they can give. Let me explain BTW i am all for picking the race you like but for me its about stats. I will start by saying i don't think a HR should have more then 18 in strength with that said here are a few ways me and my guildies played are HR in attribute rolls. I am re-posting this here and i am adding a few more things to this. All rolls here have 18 str and can max out armor pen without much effort.

IMHO The best Races for DPS/Balanced Builds being focused in dex/wis/Str Go to Half-Orc/Drow/Human/ and Wood Elf. Try and roll 18dex 15wis and 15str imho that's a very strong roll with campfire you can hit 18str/wis 22wis/str and 25dex. Its also flexible enough to let you wander off Into Int Or Cha for more exotic builds with campfire you can get a 18 in Wis & Str with 18 into Int Or Cha and still have 25 dex.

And for Human i would just run a plain 18dex 13Str and 15Wis Generic DPS Build. The 3 extra feat points and 3% defense racial are quite lovely almost the same flexibility as the Drow Half Orc and Wood Elf Builds


If your leaning towards a more tanky play-style because HR is a very flexible class i advise Dwarfs Half-Elves and Halfling.

If your a halfling Roll till you get 17dex 14con and 15str with 13wis Put everything in Con and Wis and that will give you 21con 20wis/Dex and 18str. P.S Halflings can maximize deflection Builds also just to add on to so can half elf to a slight degree. If you want to maximize deflection with Hafling Roll 18 dex 15 wis 13 Strength and put all into dex and wisdom

If you pick Half-Elf AND Dwarf Roll 15str 14con 15wisdom and 15dex its odd i know but Put 3 in both Dex and Wis 6 in Con and Boom with campfire buff that's 20 dex/wis 21 Con and 18 Str. If the half elf racial bonus point goes into Con i believe they can have the highest con of any race with this class.

There are fast recharge and AP gain Builds for Sun and Moon Elves you can get fast Recharge Builds out of them By rolling 14Int 17dex 13wis and 14Str, Put 5 In Int 1 in Str and 6 in wisdom.That will give you 20Dex/Wis/Int and 18str with campfire buffs. The fast Recharge means they can use there dailies faster and a faster disrupting arrow is just sweet. I Recommend Royal Guard armor for Purely Ranged Archery builds focused on fast recharges well not just archer builds any Builds gets a big boost having a shorter down time. So this is a very strong race for HR as well.That action point racial they have is so sexy imho there is also a Boon and Pet that give action point gain also. I see lots of daily spamming and all around very creative Builds with this race. This race single handedly makes it so you don't need to ever slot recovery

If you are a Tiefling There a Odd race to pick HR with But Charisma Builds for people who like using Aspect Of pact for combat advantage Roll 15Str 15dex 14Cha and 13Wisdom Put 2 in dex 4 in wisdom and 5 in Cha that will give you 18 str 20/dex/Cha and 18 wisdom.

If they get around to fixing their racial then its even better There be a combat advantage dmg pet also and artifact. But make sure you put the other two racial points into con you should be able to hit 15 con with this build with out even investing any thing into it.


Any way this is just my personal play-style after testing a few things with each race i try and make use of all the races attribute states this is all my Opinion but hey i find this class exotic in it own right.

nolifekripparian

can u pls post a possible pvp build too?

voltomey

Part 3 Kids
LvLing up and path selection

Leveling up a HR From 1 to 30 is easy and it down right Feels OP at times From Its from 30 onward and what Path you pick + Gear Drops That will make or break your experience. Again i will take A post from obsidiancran3 just cause i find a lot of his post very informative and more well i should say well written then mine lolz.

obsidiancran3 wrote: »

What will make or break your HR leveling experience is gear drops.

My tiefling got good consistent drops and aside from level 30-40 it was pretty much as expected based on leveling every class to 60. Level 30-40 is an odd patch for the HR, probably the hardest 10 levels.

Leveling my Dwarf during double XP weekend was a nightmare, I was consistently being beaten to a pulp because of gear drops just leaving me in the cold. Every bit of bad HR gear I could want would drop, the actually useful stuff.... Nope. I ended up buying stuff from AH and stores just to keep her geared in a level appropriate way.

Which leads me to some quick comments on gear; while leveling Power/Crit/Recovery/Regen are your friends. HR gear is however full of deflect and defence and basically you can never get enough of it while leveling for it to matter. Oh and ArP is everywhere. If you can get a good selection of Power and Crit supplemented with Recovery and Regen on your gear you will have a better time leveling. (Yes Regen > Lifesteal because regen always tics and the more damage you have taken the more it heals for while Lifesteal needs to be huge and have you pulling big numbers on your damage to get even close to what you will get from 100-200 points of Regen.)

TY obsidiancran3 for your advice and Overall experience your hardship will not go Unheard Now time for Me to break down path choices and difficulty lvling with them It can be difficult depending witch one you pick.

LvL Difficulty Easy Dailies Forest Ghost/Seismic Shot/Disrupting Shot Encounters Raged ME/StS/TW Hybrid ME/StS/Hindering
Archery Ranger IMHO is by far the easiest Path to lvl up with Put your first points into Black arrow the crit Sev will turn Split Shot into a killer skill you should be Using Aspect of the pack and Falcon at this point. Make sure your gear has a lot of Crit the more you have the more that crit sev melts mobs. Your Encounters should be Thorn Ward ME And Constricting Arrow. It should Be easy LvLing from 30 to 40 with this Build If you find yourself getting beat on Try Using split the sky and Kite around Inside it's AoE.

From 35-40 If you a pure archer i suggest leveling up Ghostwalker Or Stormcaller Arrow Feats Hybrid's Should Take BloodThirsty its good stuff. The Trek From 40-45 Should not be a hard one you're basically still using the same skills encounters but take the Stormstep action class feature you should also have Disrupting Shot Now as well and at 45 All Archers Should Take The Correcting Aim Feat At this point You will Crit more consistently now.

From LvL 45-50 my man at arms pet kept getting killed so i switched to the healer she kites realy good now imho. But now that you're using the healer pet you can drop pack aspect she kites To much now to get full use of it like man at arms now pick up Falcon aspect till 50. When you hit 50 if you were having problems looking for gear vender gear works just fine The last 10 Lvls in my opinion are the hardest. Feat wise For Hybrid's Its a Shoot out You can take sniper aim or prime crit its up to you Then all you have left is you capstone feat master of archery Then you can spec into combat or nature how ever you wanna do it. For You strictly Archer Guys Sniper Aim is better feat at this point the more dmg the better also be sure to take Twinblade storm that with sniper aim and split shot dose a lot of dmg.

Dailies Should Be Disrupting/Seismic Shot Encounters For Ranged ME/Fox/StS and for Hybrid ME/Hindering/Fox
50 to 60 are the most boring last 10 lvl imho But its all downhill from here you should have your capstone feat so It should be good from here on out the last 10 feat points are up to you but for archer though i would put the last 10 in Prim crit and Natures Blessing.


LvL Difficulty Medium Dailies: Forest Meditation/Forest Ghost Or Seismic Shot Encounters: MR/Hindering/Split the sky
Combat Ranger Harder to LvL Up then archery Imho From lvl 30 You have Split The sky Lay that down and fight in it at all times and mobs will melt. At LvL 35 You should get Clear the Ground You should have a good Melee pet like Man at Arms out and have Aspect of the pack and Bladestorm . Also make sure you have the seeker feat shifting will keep you alive cause atm your deflection isn't that high to mitigate a lot of dmg so be make sure you have a combination of deflection and crit gear. Ok same pattern Kill Mobs with clear the ground and Rapid Strike Inside split the sky And you should be good.

40-45 Start getting more crit on your gear you should have gotten a feat called Retreat technique so you can use forest ghost and Forest meditation to keep yourself alive. Make Sure that when you hit lvl 45 you start packing more regen in you gear and that you have 5 points in elusive hunter at this point thats 10% deflection chance letting you free up for more regen gear your encounters will pretty much stay the same till 50.

Dailies: Forest Ghost/Seismic shot or Forest Meditation Encounters ME/StS/Fox
50 to 60 When you hit 50 make sure you have lethal Hunter feat that's 15% more dmg while in melee stance AT 51 Unlock you capstone Feat master of combat slot as much crit as you can along side regen make sure you get bleeding precision and Natures blessing when you hit 60 other then that is all down hill from 50 nothing to talk about really.

For nature Ranger its harder then the the Top two they dont have much in the way of Offensive buffs my advice is Get a healer pet and lvl up in the same manner as the archers path dose.Other then that it really will come down to gear choices for you guys.

voltomey

nolifekripparian wrote: »

can u pls post a possible pvp build too?

I can't test PvP properly to make a build for it sadly i can only make assumptions i will try getting my guild together on preview today i have a base ide for a PvP build though.

obsidiancran3

Ok here are my opinions on the class. I'm a casual gamer, but I love tinkering with builds and so I've tried a lot of things with the HR up to level 12, and while leveling my tiefling to 60, along with my current project of a Dwarf (37 at time of posting).

Observations on Stats:
Arguably the 2 best HR armor sets for DPS will get you to 24% ArP for PvE (and with a little effort very close to 40% for PvP) with a Str of 15 at level 60. However several sets of t2 armor offer minimal or no ArP, so check them out if you can before going ahead with minimal Strength.

DPS Stats
Initial Stats Str 13 Wis 15 Dex 17-18.
After those Cha for CA damage if you plan to use the Aspect of the Pack class feature or Int for faster recharge. Con as always is important, but I've found a 10 Con starting to be enough even without Toughness while leveling, however Con is more important for melee builds than the shooty ones I prefer.

Aim here is to have 23 or more Dex without campfire and at least 18 Wis with campfire, 20 is better. You are going to go Archery spec and you will crit for 100% of the damage you did thanks to the t2 gear ArP, and so having a good Wis increases the chances letting you use Enchants for Recovery and Lifesteal etc.

Nature (Buffing) Stats:
(Note this is not a PvP option imo due to loss of DPS to build buffs)
Firstly there is no ArP on the Forest Lord set!

Str & Wis 15, Dex 17-18 and as much Cha an Int as you can get with Con 10.

Goal here is 20 Str (with Campfire) for 10% ArP, which makes it relatively easy to reach 1500-1800ArP for the 24% reduction goal for PvE. 22 Dex with Campfire for reasonable damage along with 18 Wis for a solid crit bonus. Charisma and Intelligence get the rest of the pips not used in Str and Dex so that you speed up your cooldowns on your buffs and get more damage out of CA granted by Aspect of the Pack (see below for more on this).

Class Features
Aspect of the Falcon: if you plan to go Archery and are looking to maximize shooting 3/3, the extra 9' matters as its basically another shot (or 2 of rapid).
Aspect of the Lone Wolf: atm does not function however this should be a great feature for leveling shooters, I guess we will see when it works.
Aspect of the Pack: at level 16 get a Man-at-Arms and then stay within 1-2 shifts of him for CA on all attacks and +1% damage for each point of Cha over 10. I run 3/3 while leveling and recommend it for Nature Builds at all times basically.
Aspect of the Serpent: This is a great feature for Hybrid and Melee builds. While the enemy is closing, shoot 5 times. When they are in melee range make 10 melee attacks (5 to use your buffs and 5 to stack 5 ranged buffs) and then move back to range to finish the encounter and start a new stack of buffs. For ranged builds I don't find it as useful, I rarely ever end up with a ranged buff from this power making it less effective. So ranged 0/3, melee & hybrid 3/3.
Blade Storm: great for melee builds as you have a 1 in 4 chance of getting 5-15% damage in an AoE; particularly nice with Electric and Rapid. Ranged and Hyrbid can ignore it.
Stormstep Action: Disruptive shot will be used in any fight with an elite or any dungeon fight. 3/3 recommended for Buffing and Archery (and could be useful for Melee as well because 3s less cooldown is always nice).
Twin-Blade Storm: despite its name works on ranged as well, recommended for everything 3/3 because 12% more damage for hitting 2 or more enemies is good. (ie if you have Split Shot in bar you should have Twin-Blade as well because its basically handing you a 12% damage bonus for shooting AoE and a lot of the melee encounters are mutli-target as well).

Daily Powers
Note: all dailies work regardless of the stance you are in.
Seismic Shot: at least 2/3. Not as reliable as CWs pushes but its a great short range push power and nicely bunches things up for a range of tactics derived from our encounter powers. This is a ranged attack.
Forest Ghost: 3/3 even for Archers. For melee the applications are obvious, for archers not so much so let me explain; first you don't need to change stance, second it only uses 50% AP so its generally not available when its on cooldown only (unless you used Seismic), thirdly stealth so you can run past the mob and put some damage on them get away and take a potion and still have time to fire off 1 or 2 encounters or an encounter and aimed shot. Its also good for just avoiding a fight, but you cannot stealth run past everything like perma-stealth TRa.
Forest Meditation: I see others say its good but for me its a 0/3 power.
Disruptive Shot: for Buffers and Archers this is a 3/3 power if for no other reason than the crazy interaction with Stormstep for cooldowns. Its dazing/interrupt effect is just gravy for hosing elite mobs and bosses not immune to CC.
Cold Steel Hurricane: is a melee sort of ranged sort of power that's just bad, or perhaps just not working. Maybe for melee spec builds its good but otherwise 0/3.

At-Wills
Rapid Shot: 3/3
Split Shot/3
Sometimes you might not want to use them so...
Aimed Shot: 3/3 for Archer/Nature. It takes a couple of seconds to fire but when you can start a fight by killing any non-elite in areas where they are tough enough to weather a Split-Shot spray (so Vellosk is where I start using it) and it crits for enough that 3 shots will take out most elites with 1 crit this is a hard power to pass over entirely; just don't expect it to always be on your bar, but sometimes its better than Split Shot.
Electric Shot currently is only useful to Melee builds, because its actually better than rapid shot for melee as its melee dps can be larger than its ranged (as happens on my tiefling).

Next post Encounters...

obsidiancran3

Encounter Powers
Marauder's Escape/Rush: 3/3 if you plan to use melee a lot, 2/3 otherwise. its a great power while leveling Archery through the first 20, but after that I find it struggles to get a spot on my rotation.
Hindering Shot/Strike 2/3 at least. Solid for leveling and the melee power works wonders with Marauder's for Archers. It stays in my rotation well into the 30's because its a fast 3 charges reasonable damage Encounter with a very handy melee power. Note Weak Grasping Roots is often irrelevant, strong grasping roots on the other hand is generally good.
Rain of Arrows/Swords1/3...because you have to, 2/3 once you figure out how to use it, 3/3 maybe for melee because Rain of Swords is actually pretty solid and has higher burst damage than Rain of Arrows (which is DoT).
Thorn Ward/Strike3/3 for Archery and for Nature leveling. Not sure about melee but its got reasonable burst damage. Note that until you have at least 2/3 for Archers it is not that strong (so if you put a point in it and wonder why you would put 2 you will have to trust me that at 3/3 its quite a nice damage boost).
Constricting Arrow/Steel Breeze 3/3 for Archery and Nature leveling. Its an AoE melee power, but the strength is in the interrupt/stun that Constricting Arrow has, those few seconds make a big difference for more ranged focused characters and timed right can wreck the big attacks of things that are not CC immune. Steel Breeze also gains stamina for hitting enemies, which is handy for getting out of there for Archers.
Boar Hide/ChargeThe first buffing power and a good melee power. If you are an Archery build skip it, Nature and Combat have a lot more use for it.
Split the Sky/Throw Caution3/3 for Archers. ?? for everyone else. Split is useful for setting up a zone for fights with a boss who spawns a lot of mobs, layering Split and Thorn Ward then mixing in Rapid/Split and Constricting/Commanding is usually enough to deal with those harder boss encounters. Throw Caution doesn't seem to be particularly strong as a buff considering it debuffs you as well (in theory not sure it even works as its hard to observe any changes with it).
Hawk Shot/Hawkeye: This is a tough one. However for a Nature build 3/3 as its a party wide DPS buff. Its ok for Archers as well, but even at maximum range the damage isn't that impressive.
Binding Arrow/Oak Skin: The ranged attack works by applying grasping roots to enemies close to you so you can move away, instead of stopping them while they are away in the first place, so for pure Archery skip this power or go 3/3 for 25-30' range. For Nature builds the buff is good, when you apply it at 100% effectiveness to a party. For melee its pass.
Commanding Shot/Stag Heart: 3/3 for Archery and Nature. Pretty sure its a skip from Melee again. Commanding Shot is a debuffer for shooting bosses and elites, Stag Heart at 3/3 gives 12% of target's total HP as temp HP, which is just less work for the DC and often provides others a buff.
Fox's Cunning/Fox Shift3/3 for everyone! The buff, Cunning, is a free 100% dodge for 5 people. Shift is an impressive DPS melee attack which hits multiple targets (thus benefiting from Twin-Blade) and also reduces their run speed while buffing yours. So for Archery, you take less damage and when they reach you 1 pass of Shift can end the fight or gives you enough movement advantage to open a gap for shooting again. For melee...dps. For nature, you are going to take the feat to drop the cooldown by 5s as well, meaning you will probably be able to run the buff every 3-5s if you set up your cooldown reduction right.

Powers in General
The ranger is a little different to most other class in my experience and how you play will have a big impact on your choices. For an Archery and Nature spec the at-wills are the most important source of DPS, for melee its the Encounters. Consider that my 8497 GS tiefling has at-wills that do 1-3k, 4-5k, and 500-600 points of damage as her rotation. Most of her encounters are lucky to hit 1.5k, regardless of mode (and yes I have Endless Assualt at 3/3, not sure that is affecting tooltip though). But if I shift to melee the DPS on the at-wills falls away and the encounters goes up closer to 2k and is often multi-target.

Feats:
My choices are a little different to voltomey's but in essence his are all good advice as well so use whichever guide appeals in this regard.
Tier 1:
Weapon Mastery 3/3
Predatory Action 2/5 (because 2% more damage on Disrupting, Ghost and Seismic is handy)
Tier 2:
Agile Combatant 3/3 (because you will change stance, even if only to apply buffs and so 5s of 3% more damage is handy - basically your first volley should always have +3% damage).
Swift Footwork 2/3 (You can alternatively put these in Predatory and Lucky, but I like the extra Stamina regain for more reliable dodging with lower Str)
Tier 3:
Endless Assault 3/3 (because the encounters need more DPS)
Lucky Skirmisher 2/3 (truth is I don't plan to be getting hit that much so 3/3 isn't that necessary, but with how common deflect is on gear giving a little bump along is good).
Tier 4:
Disciple of Dexterity 3/3 (more DPS on everything)
Extra Action 2/5 (can also be allocated to other feats, but a 2% boost to AP gain helps keep them always available except when on cooldown)

Archery Build:
Black Arrow 5/5
Bloodthirsty 5/5
Correcting Aim 5/5
Snipers Aim 5/5
Prime Critical 5/5
Master of Archery 1/1
and either Nature's Blessing 5/5 or Retreat Technique 5/5 (if you take Retreat Technique put the 2 points from Extra Action into Lucky and Predatory, personally I'm going with Nature's for the moment because getting more effect from healing is handy)

Melee Build
Not done, so no advice from me, blame the lack of ability to respec for the last week.
Hybrid:
See Voltomey's advice above for Archery + Combat feats.

Nature:
Nature's Blessing 5/5
Forestwalk 5/5
Grace of the Fox 5/5
Thickness of the Stag 5/5
Blessing of the Oak 5/5
Master of Nature 1/1
and either Endurance of the Boar 5/5 or Black Arrow 5/5 or Retreat Technique 5/5 depending on your preferences.

Comments on Races
I've played Drow, Wood Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, Tiefling, Moon Elf, Sun Elf, and Half-Orc HRs to at least level 12. The Wood Elf was probably the easiest to set up for Archery and generally level. The dwarf has been an interesting experience (probably will not make 60 before the class goes live but I'll try) given that it is really unfavorable stat wise. The Tiefling I expect to be much easier to level on Live as I learnt after making her the importance of Int and Cha to the class (she was my first build so I was guessing when rolling stats). Because of the huge stat demand for the class Humans seem like they are going to be hard to get up there, it may be a case of 20 Dex to start and see where you can go from there. When the half-elf racial works with the class it will be interesting to see what it does with the +1 pip, if it goes to Int they will be another solid "off-stat" choice for the class.

My basic advice on Race is choose Half-Orc for Nature builds and maybe PvP, otherwise if you want to maximize your stat pay-off then its Wood Elves, Drow or Halflings.

voltomey

For a little lack of luck i have finished My melee Build Lack of respec is hurting but when its double exp and it took me like a day and a half to hit 60 again on a new ranger hell its easy. I lvl this one up for a Melee Build Half Orc BTW its racials are sick and HR just seem to be made for them well them and Drow and Wood Elf Arguably my fave race for Melee Ranger. OK this is also gonna be part pvp build It was kinda requested.

Recommended Race

Half-Orc I i love them sue me but again pick the race you want. Any way same stats rolls like the others nothing changes much in this department.
Roll 18 dex 15 wis 15 str at 60 it will have 24 Dex 21 Wis AND 17 Str with campfire buff it will have 25 dex 22 wis 18 str

Boons: something new yay i haven't fully had time to test boons sigh so some mite have Internal CD that i don't know of but here we go.

Shurandar:
Dark Fey Hunter: 250 power
Fey Precision: 250 Crit
Elvan Hast: 2% Action Point Gain
Elvan Ferocity: 400 arcane dmg when striking a foe
Fey Thistle: 400 dmg when deflecting an attack

Dread Ring:
Reliquary keeper strength: 125 strength Movement
Conjures Gambit: 125 crit movement
Illusion shimmer: 3% deflect sev
ShadowTouch: when dealing dmg you have a chance to deal over 1000 necrotic dmg over a few seconds.When the effect ends target receives 25% less healing from spells for 10 seconds.
Endless Consumption: when ever you steal life with your life steal stat its has a chance to steal 3 times as much.

Recommended pets any pets that boost you dmg by a flat % amount Buy a unconditinal ammount i personaly hate the panther pet. And a per that has a desired buff you want.

Recommended gear YAY something partly new in all of my build i don't know what the pants and shirt for HR has on them so deal with it.One more thing i will add HR Sets seem to go hand in hand to the kind of build they run

You can use Royal guard for PvP Its safer IMHO

Grand Warden+CN Bow Set Ancient Accessories thats give CriT Power and Recovery
CN set Bonus is 450 Armor Pen
Grand Warden Set bonus is 450 Crit
Its Second set bonus is: When ever you critically hit with a at will there is a 20% chance you next encounter will deal over 1k more Physical DMG

Total Sats From gear/boons Correct me if i mite be wrong and i didn't include artifacts

4110 Power
3000 Crit
1024 Armor Pen
766 Defence
574 recovery
206 deflection

WHEW and thats with nothing socketed

Class Features:
BladeStorm when dealing melee dmg 25% chance to deal an additional 5% of the dmg from your attack in the area around you

Twinblade Storm:when you hit more then 2 enemies you deal an additional 12% dmg: Who dosent want 12% more dmg on top of the 15% free you get from being in melee range.

Thats all you need for this build

Dailies:
PvP/PvE:Forest Ghost/Seismic Shot
PVE:Forest Meditation/Forest Ghost
PvE:Forest Meditation/Seismic Shot

Forest Ghost: I believe this can proc Blade Storm and master of combat But eh funnest part of this skill is while your stealthed you can still Unleash all your DPS without breaking the stealth and thats its an attack also.

Forest Meditation: People think this is bad but come now forest blessing will boost the heal of this skill If Fey thistle has no Internal Cooldown This is turned into a offensive daily.

Arguably Electric Shot and Aimed Shot are two of the most horrible ranged At wills you can have But there melee counter parts are so good for this kind of build. I dont like split shot melee version though i guess you can get a little funky with it.

Aimed Strike this skill is kinda like glooming cut it makes people bleed out. While In pvp This skill can be seen coming from a mile away. You can open with it from forest ghost or while a target is on their *** from boars charge.

Clear the ground: Your 360 hurricane skill it deals more dmg the close a enemy is to use The best use for this nice little gem of a at will is in melee build it can Proc Grand Wardens Master Of Combat and Bladestorm without much effort. With a Lightning Enchantment i assume you can hit untold lvls Of DPS with this.

Encounters: There Several You can use But personally i love Fox Cunning/Shift/Hindering/ME/MS

For PvP i use Fox/Boar/MS Cuse if you not carrying some form of control/snare your not doing it right.


Feats Trust me you will Shift for Immunity Frames ALOT IF YOU CANT HANDLE IT TURN BACK NOW This build is not for you. Go be a baby and PEW PEW FROM max ranged with one of the other above mentioned Builds.

T1 Weapon master 3 Toughness 3
T2 Agile Combatant 3 Swift Footwork 5
T3 Lucky Skirmisher 3
T4 Disciple of Dexterity 3

Combat feats
Seeker:your melee attacks generat 1% of your stamina
Retreat Technique:5 AP on shifts
Elusive Hunter: 10% deflect chance while in melee stance
Lethal Hunter:your melee skills do 15% more dmg
Bleeding Precision: 10% Crit In melee Stance
Master of combat: Your melee attacks have a 17% chance two strike twice. The second strike dealing weapon dmg and cannot be mitigated

Nature feats
Natures Blessing:Boost the effectiveness of Healing Towards you By 20%

Dungeon Build Quick Overview

360 Hurricane of doom

Sup All i am just getting around to Posting the overview of this build its basically a melee crit build you need High crit for it to be effective. Thats why Grand warden gear is perfect for it with all the crit it and CN bow set give you can easily push 3k crit without having to socket it any in gear. From the get go you should have at least a Crit chance of 30% With weaponmaster feat Wisdom At lvl 22 to 24 and at least 1k wurth crit Then you get the 10% crit chance from Bleeding Precision thats 40% Crit chance Add The other 2k worth of crit and thats mite push mite push its close to 50% without actually having to socket crit. The more you crit with this Build the more procs you get The more procs you get the more overall dmg you achieve.

How you might ask I tough melee dmg was pitiful for HR well Grand wardens set bonus works wonders with the At will Clear the Ground its a 360 melee skill that has a Nice sized radius and can hit mobs from a slight distance the closer the Foe is to you the more dmg it takes.The at Will can be spammed even faster than rapid strike this will proc grand warden thanks to being able to hit a higher number of Mobs at any given time turning your lower dmg AoE at wills Into High dmg AoE spike skill the two best encounters to use with this Are Hindering Strike and Fox Shift Both can already They will hit even harder with grand warden buff.

On top of that the Encounters have a chance to proc Blade Storm and Master of combat blade storm will Bladestorm will 5% of the dmg they do and turn it into AoE dmg around you. Master of combat will make then strike twice the second strike will do Unmitigatable weapon dmg.


Recommended

Rotation:
PvE: All you have to do is avoid red circle which is easy thanks to the amount of shift this build gives you if you play smart basically you're spamming Clear the ground for Massive AoE dmg make sure your aware when grand warden buffs you then use your AoE Encounters Fox Shift or Hindering Strike for the dmg boost. Clear the ground will have a Huge chance to proc Grand warden master of combat and bladestorm skills for massive unmitigatable dps.You have High deflection Regen and life steal and all of its 20% more effective Neer Unlimited shifts and AP thanks to seeker retreat techniques and swift footwork so if you're dying i don't know what to say.



PvP:This is a more skilled type of build you have to move and SHIFT a lot Buff yourself AND BE SMART. When i was testing this with my guild tonight In PvP it helped bring pack aspect and being sort of a support DPS you have 3 charges in this build Boar Fox and MS Fox is a run speed buff and a snare for the enemy so if you in a hard place use it and dip the hell off you can easily play cat and mouse with a person you have high Life steal deflection and regen its will take them a min or two to get you with proper management of mobility.

angrysprite

Now THIS is really useful information for a more casual, non min-maxer player like myself. THANK YOU for this. The explanations on how useful the individual powers and feats are priceless to me as it gives me better, more detailed information to form my ideas and planning on.

Really: thank you for this.

tickdoff

(Copy and Paste from one of the discussion threads, for your reading pleasure)

I have been having a lot of fun, and a lot of success, with my HR. I breezed through almost all of the content on my way to 60. I did slot a few enchants at lvl 20ish, but nothing more than rank 5s and I plan on using them on live as well (considering how easy/cheap it is to move them to new pieces of equipment).

Here is my build (play style notes will follow):

Moon Elf: Wanted to try out this race, but I will be rolling either Human, Halfling or Wood Elf on Live.

STR: 13 (+3) : 16
CON: 10 (+2) : 12
DEX: 20 (+6) : 26
INT: 10 (+2) : 12
WIS: 13 (+5) : 18
CHA: 10 (+2) : 12
I prefer WIS over STR for the extra +crit, but the AP from STR is also very nice, I think a HR can do very well with either STR or WIS as the secondary stat, or with a balance between them. Notes at end of post, I no longer advocate high STR unless you are "Nature Path".

Class Features: Aspect of the Serpent (3), Stormstep Action (3)
I enjoy the fast pace of frequent stance switching and Serpent makes it more effective. It is quite easy to get the required stacks with my power set-up and the damage boost is noticeable. Stormstep works wonderfully with some of our Dailys and the 3 seconds reduction in our encounter powers is extremely handy.

At-Wills: Rapid Shot (3), Split Shot (3)
I want to like Aimed Shot and Electric Shot, but right now I don't. ES just does not do enough damage unless you have a BUNCH of mobs close together (usually needs either a GF or CW to maintain that grouping), and Aimed Shot takes too long and is too easily interrupted for my play style. Rapid Shot is good, but it is still a little light in the damage department, hopefully it will be buffed soon. Split Shot needed a *slight* nerf, but they overdid it. Now it needs a slight buff. However, it still works well and it makes stacking the melee' buff of Serpent very quick.

Encounters: Marauder's Escape (3), Constricting Shot (3), Fox's Cunning (3)
Marauder's Escape/Rush is just too good not to use. The Escape is great to maintain distance and to dodge while the Rush gets me into melee' for some quick attacks and does good damage on the way in. Constricting Shot is a great power to use on anything that you want to interrupt and slow down and Steel Breeze (the melee' aspect) is a decent PBAoE that assists with stamina and does a great job of fueling my Aspect of the Serpent. Fox's Cunning is a great power, both solo in in groups. The damage that you can avoid with this power should not be underestimated. Fox Shift is a solid attack on groups and is even better against 1 enemy. Against groups it also helps stack my Serpent Aspect.

Dailies: Forest Ghost (3), Disruptive Shot (3)
Disruptive shot only takes 25% of our AP and recharges in about 9 seconds. It is basically another encounter power that does decent (but not great) damage and applies a small stun. With Stormstep Action it reduce our cool downs by 3 seconds. Between Constrictive Arrow and Disruptive Shot you can do good damage and really keep a caster from casting. Forest Ghost is a great aggro dropper that does decent damage along with providing some protection. A great combo is to Use FG and then charge in with Marauder's Rush and use Fox Shift. Since FS hits each enemy 1 time, and so does FG, the damage can stack up quite fast. Then use Escape and keep up the damage with Split Shot.

Complete list of powers:

Rapid Shot: 3
Split Shot: 3
Marauders Escape: 3
Seismic Shot: 3
Aspect of the Falcon: 3
Hindering Shot: 3
Rain of Arrows: 3
Forest Ghost: 3
Thorn Ward: 3
Aspect of the Lone Wolf: 1
Aspect of the Pack: 3
Constricting Arrow: 3
Aspect of the Serpent: 3
Boar Hide: 3
Split the Sky: 3
Hawk Shot: 3
Disruptive Shot: 3
Stormstep Action: 3
Binding Arrow: 3
Commanding Shot: 3
Fox's Cunning: 3

Feats:
Weapon Master:3
Toughness:3

Swift Footwork: 5
Agile Combatant: 3

Endless Assault: 3

Disciple of Dexterity: 3

Archery Path:

Black Arrow: 5
Bloodthirsty: 5
Correcting Aim: 5
Prime Critical: 5
Master of Archery: 1

Combat Path:

Seeker: 5
Agile Hunter: 5

---

Basic opener: Bow Stance-> Fox's Cunning->Split Shot->Constricting Arrow-> {Stance Switch}-> Marauder's Rush-> Steel Breeze-> Fox Shift-> [maybe some melee attacks, depending on how many mobs]-> {Stance Switch}-> Marauder's Escape-> Split Shot-> Disruptive Shot-> [evaluate situation].

EDIT: I have revised my opinion on initial Stat distribution. As others have pointed out, you will get all (or almost all) of the AP you need from the end-game gear and that makes STR less attractive. Oddly, STR becomes a better choice for a Nature Path (buff bonus) HR than a primary Archer or Sword HR. I will still be going with either Human, Elf or Halfling on Thursday, leaning towards Human right now.

voltomey

I am going to have to re edit some things I really do hope the class gets its class forums soon

caexar

Why does everyone dis on Rain of Arrows? You pure archers should be loving it! Anticipate, fire, root, and dash out. Some nasty damage on the tougher baddies which don't stop when you are forced to move? Yes please!
Problem could be maybe that you all aren't rooting/stunning the target after you fire it off? In the sport of Neverwinter rooting is the name of the game with the Hunter Ranger baby and if you ain't rooting, then you ain't winning and if you think winning don't matter here's a reminder

Rain, stun/root, dash

obsidiancran3

Why not Rain of Arrows?

1) Small AoE. 6' basically means if they take a step its missing them.
2) Everything I really want it to work on is immune to CC or has a teleport move so cannot be rooted.
3) Thorn Ward & Split the Sky do the same job better. Larger AoE, similar damage, and you can easily dodge so that even CC immune and teleporters remain in their AoE.
4) Because Fox's, Constricting and Commanding are superior to Marauder's and Hindering.

voltomey

Hinderings is only sexy cuase of its three charges not its weak grasping roots. That and its melee version hits for nice dmg.

caexar

obsidiancran3 wrote: »

Why not Rain of Arrows?

1) Small AoE. 6' basically means if they take a step its missing them.
2) Everything I really want it to work on is immune to CC or has a teleport move so cannot be rooted.
3) Thorn Ward & Split the Sky do the same job better. Larger AoE, similar damage, and you can easily dodge so that even CC immune and teleporters remain in their AoE.
4) Because Fox's, Constricting and Commanding are superior to Marauder's and Hindering.

1) That's why rangers have rooting powers... but I get it if you're play style doesn't utilize rooting.
2) That accounts for a very small portion of enemies in this game, including end game content. But a valid point.
3) Ok, I was with you up until this point here. Don't take this the wrong way, but did you truly pay attention to what the powers were doing when you played the game?
The damage that is listed is per tick damage, not total encounter power damage. Thorn Ward ticks 2 to 3 times less than Rain of Arrows does, which makes it do less damage despite the defense reduction which quite honestly is so minor it's almost imperceptible.
Secondly, you do realize that Thorn Ward only attacks 1 enemy at a time in the entirety of that massive area, and it is only the enemy closest to the ward. This means that that group of baddies only get hit 1 tick at a time to only one of them at a time. here is a video demonstrating it's crappiness. You'll note that even though both enemies are within the AoE, Thorn Ward takes it's happy time to do measly damage in a very slow time frame to only one enemy at a time. Lame.
Here is another look at it in a larger cluster of enemies, including a teleporter. As you can see, despite it having an "area of effect", Thorn Ward is in truth a single target power, not an area damager.
Thirdly, Rain of Arrows, in addition to doing more ticks of damage, at a much faster rate, with a lower cool down, also damages multiple enemies in it's AoE without losing any potency for number of enemies it hits. Now you may play your ranger differently than it (which I believe is obvious at this point) but I see not a single thing about Thorn Ward that is worth devoting a single point in for that power over Rain of Arrows. Even from a melee stance view point, Rain is superior to Thorn.
As for Split the Sky, this skill is great for groups, but in solo play it requires you to be hit to activate... which means that you would need to be in melee combat as an archer, which is correct me if I'm wrong, the exact opposite of the whole reason for being an archer to begin with. Further to it, split won't proc on an enemy unless you are standing in the AoE when they attack you, which means you shoot it over and enemy ranged attacker and stand outside of it's area, then it will do nothing to the enemies as they pelt you from range.
Don't get me wrong, Split the Sky is worth getting, but only for group play. It really doesn't benefit a solo "ranged" character much as it requires close proximity. Even for melee rangers, there are other better skills than this for solo play. I'm sorry, but Rain is just better.
4)I agree with Fox's being good(it's one of my encounters I use). I'd take Binding (when they actually fix it) over Constricting for way better damage and an AoE strong root effect, as for Marauder's my play style utilizes this skill to it's full potential and it is more valuable to me than Commanding.

Hinderings is only sexy cuase of its three charges not its weak grasping roots. That and its melee version hits for nice dmg.

That and the melee version is an AoE strong grasping root, and the fact that Binding is still bugged and not procing it's grasping on all hits, and weak grasping is great for slowing weaker adds...

nolifekripparian

i wonder if the best race for pvp ranger will be half-orc/drow or maybe halfling to go more defensive

voltomey

caexar wrote: »

1) That's why rangers have rooting powers... but I get it if you're play style doesn't utilize rooting.
2) That accounts for a very small portion of enemies in this game, including end game content. But a valid point.
3) Ok, I was with you up until this point here. Don't take this the wrong way, but did you truly pay attention to what the powers were doing when you played the game?
The damage that is listed is per tick damage, not total encounter power damage. Thorn Ward ticks 2 to 3 times less than Rain of Arrows does, which makes it do less damage despite the defense reduction which quite honestly is so minor it's almost imperceptible.
Secondly, you do realize that Thorn Ward only attacks 1 enemy at a time in the entirety of that massive area, and it is only the enemy closest to the ward. This means that that group of baddies only get hit 1 tick at a time to only one of them at a time. here is a video demonstrating it's crappiness. You'll note that even though both enemies are within the AoE, Thorn Ward takes it's happy time to do measly damage in a very slow time frame to only one enemy at a time. Lame.
Here is another look at it in a larger cluster of enemies, including a teleporter. As you can see, despite it having an "area of effect", Thorn Ward is in truth a single target power, not an area damager.
Thirdly, Rain of Arrows, in addition to doing more ticks of damage, at a much faster rate, with a lower cool down, also damages multiple enemies in it's AoE without losing any potency for number of enemies it hits. Now you may play your ranger differently than it (which I believe is obvious at this point) but I see not a single thing about Thorn Ward that is worth devoting a single point in for that power over Rain of Arrows. Even from a melee stance view point, Rain is superior to Thorn.
As for Split the Sky, this skill is great for groups, but in solo play it requires you to be hit to activate... which means that you would need to be in melee combat as an archer, which is correct me if I'm wrong, the exact opposite of the whole reason for being an archer to begin with. Further to it, split won't proc on an enemy unless you are standing in the AoE when they attack you, which means you shoot it over and enemy ranged attacker and stand outside of it's area, then it will do nothing to the enemies as they pelt you from range.
Don't get me wrong, Split the Sky is worth getting, but only for group play. It really doesn't benefit a solo "ranged" character much as it requires close proximity. Even for melee rangers, there are other better skills than this for solo play. I'm sorry, but Rain is just better.
4)I agree with Fox's being good(it's one of my encounters I use). I'd take Binding (when they actually fix it) over Constricting for way better damage and an AoE strong root effect, as for Marauder's my play style utilizes this skill to it's full potential and it is more valuable to me than Commanding.



That and the melee version is an AoE strong grasping root, and the fact that Binding is still bugged and not procing it's grasping on all hits, and weak grasping is great for slowing weaker adds...

Strong and weak grasping roots is just bad CC imho trying to apply it consistently is a joke the feat in ranged feat that provides grasping roots weak grasping is a joke if it were strong grasping roots on a 25% chance then i would say otherwise but grasping roots as it is now is Just not worth the effort. Why try rooting weaker adds when its easier to AoE them down Also split the sky is a far more effective snare then weak grasping roots,

nolifekripparian

grasping roots are better for pvp i guess,in pve u just cant cc adds like a cw

voltomey

nolifekripparian wrote: »

grasping roots are better for pvp i guess,in pve u just cant cc adds like a cw

you can snare with split the sky but your just better off Outputting as much dps as possible use seismic if you need a form of CC snare. Any way you provide much better support with Fox use it on recharge don't try to time it. Any way i will have my version of a nature build up soon I will also be giving more insight into HR armor sets and what's Good and Viable So much testing is not funny any way all of this stuff is subject to change on the 5th.

obsidiancran3

(I'm on my phone so not going to quote reply.)

Rooting Powers: if they actually rooted (aka immobilized) these powers would be awesome. As it is they are good in low levels and in certain situations.

CC Immune Enemies: while a small proportion of enemies they are among the most difficult enemies to deal with, using bad CC powers in place of good powers does not make them easier to deal with. Sure once you have every encounter memorised and know exactly what you need where you can switch powers to be ready for each encounter as it happens. (That's not my style though.)

Thorn Ward: I'm totally aware of how it works. Drop the zone spray split shot over everything and Ward speeds up the melting. 12s+ of melting goodness. 2 Thorn Ward shots will kill most weak adds even if nothing else hits them, so it quite quickly affects play, because its nearly always hitting something with minimal effort to set up.

Rain of Arrows: if anything stands in it for more than 2 tics you are doing well getting things to be there for 1 tic requires effort and timing. Don't get me wrong if RoA was at least 10' diameter I would have a different tune, but at 6' its not cutting it for ranged play. Note with a CW to gather everything up and stun it in place RoA would be amazing, but for solo play, not for me.

Split the Sky: Clearly you are not using a Man-At-Arms in solo play (ie leveling) and I play with 300-500 lag so I get hit even with a lot of dodging. It also seems to proc on attacking not hitting, at least that's my observation in the boss fights I use it for (though I could be getting hit by small adds and not noticing because I'm really only worried about the boss' big attacks). But I do mostly have it at 3/3 for party play and rarely run it for solo play excepting specific bosses (ones with elite adds mostly).

Binding Shot: works as intended not as desired. We want to shot that thing over there and keep it there (desired), the power shoots that thing beside you and keeps it there while you run away (intended).

One thing has become clear the HR is a very flexible class that matches and supports a lot of playstyles. I don't expect too much cookie cutter play with this class. (Just the prevalance of Seismic bugs makes this clear to me when I'm still runing into them many levels after I've left Seismic behind except for situational use.)

obsidiancran3

voltomey has hit the nail on the head, there is just a bucket load of testing yet to be done on the class, and evrything could change once it goes live.

When I look at the other classes I see a fairly homogenous set if powers that have clear applications and a fairly narrow band of optimal choices supporting a small variation in playstyle. WhenI look at the HR its a very different thing; there are 3 major playstyles and 2 o them have viable Paragon tree choices (melee really only has Combat as a tree choice, hybrid & ranged can go Archery or Nature (or even combat though that seems less efficient)). This means with a small number of us posting/discussing the class is a long way from explored.

Just the difference bewteen dash & grasp play advocated by caexar and my personal set & shoot style makes it clear there is a lot of exploring to be done in the class. The truth in our different opinions of the powers lies more in those differences in playstyle than effectiveness of the powers themselves. (cf Rain of Arrows vs Thorn Ward).

rosicrucianist

tickdoff wrote: »

Moon Elf: Wanted to try out this race, but I will be rolling either Human, Halfling or Wood Elf on Live.

STR: 13 (+3) : 16
CON: 10 (+2) : 12
DEX: 20 (+6) : 26
INT: 10 (+2) : 12
WIS: 13 (+5) : 18
CHA: 10 (+2) : 12
I prefer WIS over STR for the extra +crit, but the AP from STR is also very nice, I think a HR can do very well with either STR or WIS as the secondary stat, or with a balance between them. Notes at end of post, I no longer advocate high STR unless you are "Nature Path".

Hey Tickdoff, I had a quick question for you on race. I am considering going Moon Elf on the 5th, and focusing on skill recharge. How viable do you think this is, considering you played a Moon Elf in beta? Obviously I'd be putting more into INT.

voltomey

I moved this post to the frount page

obsidiancran3

rosicrucianist wrote: »

Hey Tickdoff, I had a quick question for you on race. I am considering going Moon Elf on the 5th, and focusing on skill recharge. How viable do you think this is, considering you played a Moon Elf in beta? Obviously I'd be putting more into INT.

I didn't go past 17, but I tinkerd with the Dex/Wis/Int build and found it quite effective. Every point of Int over 10 is a point of Recharge % so even getting to 15 makes a meaningful difference and I had no trouble doing that by 17th with no real loss to Dex/Wis.

voltomey

Ha i finished my write up for people who don't bother to go to the test server so they know the stats of the gear before launch still its all subject to change

obsidiancran3

Good stuff voltomey!

You know the more I look at it the more I think Royal Guard is the general go to armor set, even for a Nature build. Why? Well first that crazy ArP means 100% damage 100% of the time so you are contributing more to the groups dps even though you are the lowest DPS ranger build. Secondly the set bonus of shaving 30% off your cooldowns seems a lot more practical for getting your buffs out there especially compare to the chance to give 500 power (because really does anyone have more of the other stats routinely?)

That said the Fabled set looks good for Marauder Hybrids; Dash in, fox's, steel wind, dash out and everything should be rooted without having to depend on Hindering. A lot of effort to confirm that idea however.

pingconchere

I didn't notice this thread earlier, so I would've posted my info on here rather than a new thread.

I made this thread to see what the optimal crit chance would be to maximize the effectiveness of the Archery capstone feat. It's calculated to be around 41%, but that's not considering the feat that boosts crit % when landing a non-critical hit.

voltomey

obsidiancran3 wrote: »

Good stuff voltomey!

You know the more I look at it the more I think Royal Guard is the general go to armor set, even for a Nature build. Why? Well first that crazy ArP means 100% damage 100% of the time so you are contributing more to the groups dps even though you are the lowest DPS ranger build. Secondly the set bonus of shaving 30% off your cooldowns seems a lot more practical for getting your buffs out there especially compare to the chance to give 500 power (because really does anyone have more of the other stats routinely?)

That said the Fabled set looks good for Marauder Hybrids; Dash in, fox's, steel wind, dash out and everything should be rooted without having to depend on Hindering. A lot of effort to confirm that idea however.

I agree Also the T1 PvP set is slightly better then the t2 set because it has regen and life steal on it T1 pvp and Royal guard are the only 2 sets that have regen on them. There two of the best sets for HR all around t1PvP should be a melee rangers wet dream armor it comes with regen and lifesteal already on top of that when you deflect you regen 1% of your health on top of naturally regening and procking life steal.

caexar

Archers may actually do better with warden set since they can chain crit to keep the extra damage proc happening at a ridiculous rate. If I were a damage based archer I would be giving serious consideration to the warden sets. That or the dread legion set as that phantom rooting effect would synergize nicely with a ranged combat style. Plus it has sweet offensive stats.
Dash and slash hybrids like myself (how few of us there apparently will be lol) would benefit more from the PvP sets and the royal set due to the excellent defense and deflection synergy.

As for the fabled stuff, the stats it gives are stupid sexy and the set bonus rocks. Despite that though, you'll never see me give up hindering so it is somewhat diminished in my eyes however, is the ability price often enough on ranged attacks as well...
But 40 sec cooled down is meh.

I could easily see tanky melee build rangers using it.

obsidiancran3

I think it might come down to taste, but having played the ArP stacking game 6 times already I think I'd like to stack Crit for a change, and to be honest getting all my encounters off more often will produce more consistent results by letting me pop the effects of my encounters more often (as I'm not looking to them for main damage).