Best Feats for an HR archery build ?

reigeken

Hello,

I'm a bow-user only, and i'd like to know what is the best "feats tree" for my dps oriented type archer. Don't get me wrong, i read many builds/guides about it, but most of them are short in details, or simply not updated, which is not very helpful.

So if some of you guys are sharing the same orientation, it would be nice if you could explain which feats are the most suitable for me and why.

Thanks !

elminster

Try this

This one's all about making each shot count. You'll still swap to melee for buffs, but your primary damage is going to come from Rapid Shot and Encounters.

- Correcting Aim is going to boost your critical rate by 5% every time you don't hit a critical. Combine this with Split the Sky for maximum critical chance (StS doesn't hit critical)
- Prime Critical is going to reduce the cooldowns of all your skills by 0.5 seconds with each critical. Combine this with the above for rapid recharges and maximum up-time on Split the Sky.
- Black Arrow increases critical severity, self explanatory
- Master of Archery will proc every 40 seconds whenever you hit a critical (has an internal cooldown). Combining this with Rain of Arrows will apply the effect to every tick, not just the first hit. Each critical tick also procs Prime Critical.

reigeken

Looks very good, thank you very much for your explanations. I'd like to have more advices, maybe about elminster's feats or other suggestions ?

rabbinicus

If you plan on only being a shooty ranger, then Elminster's suggestions are solid. You should also look at Voltomey's guides that have been around for a while. They're pretty in-depth and worth looking at.

elminster

Kasenpoint also has a guide out there. It's a bit out of date at this point, but he covers a few things Voltomey doesn't. I used both of them for references when learning about my ranger and preferred play style. Just remember they are only guides, not manuals. Use them to get a better understanding of the class, then make your own decisions about how you think it should play. The best rangers have their own preferred play styles, not cookie-cutter builds

ximae

elminster already wrote off the archery musts, then u can decide if u want to explore a bit into combat/nature for t2 feats or play it a bit more sniper and also take snipers aim for more damage from afar.

i never used nature so wont coment there, but if u want to take some combat feats and play it a bit more hybrid also take bloodthirsty from archery.

as for melee feats, seeker is the only viable t1 combat feat and then either agile combatant (works well with prime critical for cd reduction) or wardens courage (works well with snipers aim for big fats hits from afar).

query523

Here at least EL and I are in full agreement. After that I took retreat (dodges save lives) and agile. I would wager El took Warden's.

elminster

You would wager correctly . I love TC when I'm running archery stance

EDIT: I am curious though as to why you took Retreat. I tested this out by shifting all over Protectors Spamclave and I didn't even twitch my AP bar. Thinking it had a combat requirement I took it into Dread Ring and ran myself almost dead trying to get it to twitch, still nothing. I can totally see taking Agile Hunter, but Retreat is such a waste of points I can't for the life of me understand why you took it.

query523

It is minimal but it is there. Maybe a bug? I can actually build a 1/4 bar by firing encounters and shifting before the gate drops in PVP matches. Sort of like that lighting-fu CWs use. Honestly I could see pulling it out if I respec as most of the time generating AP is a non-issue for me. I need to stop being stingy and buy the token.