So until this point I have been taking advice from you guys and trying out a lot of stuff with my HR. I already have two fully developed alts, a CW and a GF, and I found the HR to be the most fun, resourceful and challenging class to play with. I thought I'd give back some love now.
I am NOT a master HR and i do NOT claim that this is *the best* HR build out there. But I can say I have been playing in an big variety of (PUG) dungeons and so far I have been widely successful. By that I mean I spend very little time running away from mobs or dying (hehe!) and my damage output has surpassed that of many GWF with similar or higher GS than mine (sometimes up to 2k higher GS). Obviously, those players might well just plain suck, but still, it goes to show that this build is not useless.
This build also allows for players craving to do Pathfinder, although I have tested it with SW and it also works well.
Finally, I'm quite new here and although I have read many guides and posts, I haven't seen a build like this so far. I am so sorry if this is already well known out there and I'm just being plain dumb.
Without further ado, let's go to it:
GENERAL IDEA
This build leans strongly on the idea of fast stance switching in order to make use of all the bonuses that come with switching, as well as building some quick combos and power rotations. Another important idea is keeping rotations always going, needing little time using at-wills. May be you could call it a SERPENT ROYAL GUARD build, since it relies a lot on Aspect of the Serpent and the Royal Guard (or at least Glade Stalker) armor set. Everything else - archer or combat, SW or PF - is optional and up to your personal taste.
STRONG POINTS
* Very versatile, you can easily slot a few different powers on the fly in order to sacrifice dps and gain much higher survivability (in dungeons where your GS is barely enough or where tanks/healers are doing a very lousy job, for example)
* It CAN deal a decent amount of damage
* It does not attract as much aggro as spamming area affecting powers, and the considerable control power / escape routes of the build allows for dealing good damage and not being proportionally as much at risk
* Very fun to play with
* Needs near to no investment on Recovery, which frees you to invest on other offensive stats
WEAK POINTS
* Has a considerably steep learning curve and going from one power set to another (when you want to sacrifice dps for survivability, for example) can add heavily to that learning curve
* 100% dependent on having an especific armor set
* Less effective in parties where enemies get knocked around a lot because of other characters encounters (although very much still playable and effective)
LINK TO BUILDhttp://nwcalc.com/hr?b=p9b:27fvhs:1bx7hs,13cliii:15u000:15u551:100000&h=0&p=pfr
The power and feat build can go slight different directions, as long as you keep the key powers. I myself preferred a COMBAT PATHFINDER after extensive testing, but other people might not.
KEY AT-WILLS
Rapid Shot/Rapid Strike
Hunters Teamwork/Careful Attack
This build actually uses at-wills very little. You'll be using encounters 90% of the time if you do it right. All in all, Rapid Strike will fill in those time gaps when your encounter rotation is breathing for air (it has amazing synergy with Aspect of the Serpent because it fills the full Ranged buff so fast, and you don't even have to be in combat for that! it also combos with Royal Guard, rushing your cooldowns a lot); Hunters Teamwork on near death enemies / Careful Attack on tough mobs and bosses. Can you slot different at-wills? You can, and I did for a long time. The only reason I changed is because I hardly ever need them, so the occasional Hunters Teamwork and Careful Attack proved FAR more useful than anything else (and actually, they are nearly the only reason why my personal choice goes to Pathfinder).
KEY DAILIES
Disruptive Arrow
Disruptive Arrow is also something you use to "fill in the gaps" of your rotation more than anything. Naturally, it can be used to interrupt red attack, etc.
As the second daily, I myself like either Forest Ghost (in which case I'll make sure I always have the AP for it, and use it mainly as a escape route), Slashers Mark (good on some bosses) or Seismic Shot (if Arcance Singularity is being spammed a lot or the tank is really tanking).
KEY ASPECTS
Aspect of the Serpent
Aspect of the Pack
AotS is the one of the things at the heart of this build. At five stacks, it gives 15% extra damage on the next hit, and if you do it properly, you'll be getting somewhere around 9%~15% dmg bonus all the time.
AotP needs little exaplanation, since this build involves a lot of close combat so you'll be side by side with the fighters.
KEY HEROIC FEATS
Weapon Master (duh!)
Agile Combatant
Endless Assault
Disciple of Dexterity
All the rest is up to your own liking (tankier, more glass-cannon-like, faster, etc.)
KEY FEATS
Bloodthirsty (almost all your melees with come with free 15% dmg)
Agile Hunter (you'll be able to basically spam most of your ranged encounters)
What's on the link is what I'd use for Combat, and in the case of Archery, Correcting Aim, Prime Critical and Master of Archery are ideal IMO.
KEY ENCOUNTERS
Hindering Shot/Hindering Strike
Rain of Arrows/Rain of Swords
Thorn Ward/Thorn Strike
Ambush/Bear Trap [Split the Sky/Throw Caution]
Fox Cunning/Fox Shift
[many other encounters are viable and do try them out in different combinations with the basic idea of the build, you might addapt better with them - for example, Careful Attack --> Rain of Arrows --> Boar Charge --> Fox Shift --> Rapid Strike do wonders on controllable tough mobs.]
HOW DOES IT WORK
In ideal situations, I slot Hindering Shot, Rain of Arrows and Fox Cunning for encounters.The main idea is keeping the enemy in the Rain of Arrow area while switching between various powers and getting constant bonuses from that.
Before you get into combat, use Fox Cunning and then Rapid Strike till you fill up the five stacks of AotSerpent. Careful Attack on the enemy you want to kill first. Switch to ranged. Use Rain of Arrows in an area right next to you, where you know the enemy will come to engage you. Switch to melee during the RoA animation and use Hindering Strike (enemy will be stuck in the RoA area). Go Ranged, do one Hindering Shot for the sake of Bloodthirsty, go Melee and use Fox shift, which will leave the enemies disoriented for a while, all in the while keeping them in the RoA area. Back to ranged, another Hindering Shot (or Fox Cunning) and move back a little and go Rain of Swords. Rinse and repeat. Between Agile Hunter and Royal Guard bonuses, your cooldowns will be really short.
TL;DR: Fox Cunning --> Fill AoS with Rapid Strike --> Careful Attack --> Rain of Arrows --> Hindering Strike [or Thorn Strike] --> Hindering Shot [or Thorn Ward] --> Fox Shift --> Hindering Shot/Fox Cunning --> Rain of Swords --> Rinse and repeat
Variations: Thorn Ward and Split the Sky are two good ranged powers that could be spammed almost non-stop with this build (I use Thorn Ward instead of Hindering Strike sometimes, or instead of Rain of Arrows if enemies are being pushed around too much). What I don't like much about Split the Sky is that you can't spam Throw Caution (not recklessly at least), which gives you one less melee power to add to the rotation - and I really missed that. Ambush can replace Hindering Shot, and is actually great to confuse enemies while they are in the Rain of Arrow area, give a
nice bonus to the next attack, and Bear Trap is also good for pinning them where you want and, because it has two charges, it's easier to do rotations with it. But "manual dexterity"-wise, Bear Trap is quite difficult to use as fast as ideal, but do give it a try.
TIPS AND CONSIDERATIONS
1) Rain of Swords is not as useless as people paint. It affects a big area (yes, BIG area) in front of you - and NOT around you - and has no enemy limit. If you go Plaguefire, Rain of Swords can be particularly useful (as well as Thorn Strike and Hindering Strike).
2) Fox Cunning enters mainly to correct AoSerpent stacks and trigger Bloodthirsty, although the frequent dodge is obviously appreciated.
3) Don't worry excessively, especially in the beginning, with having exactly five stacks of AoSerpent all the time. When learning, worry more about getting the hang of the constant Ranged/Melee switching, triggering Bloodthirsty a lot. Having 3 AotS stacks at all times is more than enough. Use Rapid Strike to go back to five stacks fast.
4) I slot Ambush when I want to sacrifice DPS for survivability, since it gives you a lot of breathing time (especially when the smallish mobs swarming to you are the problem). If you slot it, a good follow-up power is Fox Shift, because it's strong and the Ambush bonus damage will be greatly felt.
5) Why do I claim this build is less risky than some other builds? Mainly because I don't spam area affecting powers, so I tend to draw attention of only a couple of guys - the ones I'm actually engaging.
6) If you get the hand of the rotation, your bonuses should look like this: combat advantages at all times; Ranged [RoA anyone?] with +10% Critical Severity and +15% damage (AotS); Melees with +30% damage (Lethal Hunter and Bloodthirsty) and +10% Critical Chance.
7) The high damage output I claim to get comes from needing near zero At-will use (Encounters tend to do more damage than At-wills =p) and the fact I can consistently keep someone in my Rain of Arrows area just about all the time.
ENCHANTS
I prefer the good old Vorpal, but Plaguefire is arguably as good or even better, especially considering how fast Rapid Strike can stack three debuffs on enemies. Never tested Lightning, too afraid of the attention it must draw =p
Soulforged for Armor (duh!)
COMPANIONS
Good old Ion Stone of Allure mainly. The rest is really up to you. I like Dancing Blade for Critical Severity and Owl/War Dog for less threat. Lilend is ok because you spam Disruptive Shots a lot. The new Cockatrice and Chicken sound ok too. Lots of other fun options. Really, up to your taste again.
STATS AND GEAR
Invest on ArP till you get somewhere around 20% (slightly more if you're big on Icewind Dale content). Recovery is not too important, because Royal Guard and Agile Hunter go a long way in keeping your rotations alive - and, consequently, getting AP is not hard either. Critical and Power are your main points of investment.
Defensively, I myself like around 1500 to 2000 Lifesteal and then the rest on Defense and possibly HP. Of course, Deflection doesn't hurt. It's not difficult to make this build tankier by slotting Elusive Hunter instead of Lethal Hunter and then Nature's Enhancement, for a total of +10% deflect chance and +5% Deflect Severity while on Melee Stance (that's A LOT!). Again, whatever you fancy more.
As I've said many times, the Royal Guard set or at least Glade Stalker is fundamental.
FINAL DISCLAIMER
Again, I don't claim to be a master hunter or even a very seasoned hunter at that. But I have put a lot of time into testing this build as well as writing this post. I do believe it can satisfy people who are craving to play with a PvE Pathfinder HR build. It is also very adaptable to each player's taste and style. I sincerely hope you guys appreciate the work, and I am totally open to constructive criticism.
Cheers!!!
Comments
I use the Royal Guard Armor and aim at reduced cooldowns as you do, but I´m following the Archery path and using Prime Critical instead of Agile Hunter to do that. My effective crit rate with 2500k Crit, 24 Wis and Correcting Aim is close to 50%.
Weapon Enchantment is Greater Plaguefire.
The set of powers I normally use is:
Careful Attack - Split Shot
Fox - Thorn - Rain
Forest Ghost - Seismic Shot
Aspect of the Serpent - Cruel recover
I usually focus on the high HP monsters in the fight, so I go with Rain of Arrows on a big static target or in the middle of the fray if many monsters are in the same area. Then Thorn Ward close to that. Switch to melee and Careful Attack the big guy. Then I move in and Fox Shift. Then Thorn Strike, Rain of Swords, back to ranged, Fox´s Cunnning. Rinse and repeat. Seismic Shot on as many monsters as possible, when it comes up.
I prefer Thorn to Hindering because I focus on big targets to get the full benefit of Rain (and not wasting damage because the critter dies before the end) and these guys are very often CC immune. By the way Thorn is fire and forget, so it keeps doing damage even if I´m running, shifting or helping a fallen party member back on his feet.
Cruel Recover is icing on the cake. It generates an endless stream of THP if you crit often enough (when Rain kicks in it´s amazing...).
I recently played a run on Temple of Spider and was able to stay right in front of Syndrith all the time without even dodging Blademasters and other adds. The only attack that could actually give me some problems was Syndrith´s "Sunburst" that threw me on the ground as it messed with my rotation.
Split Shot is still very good to fill-in gaps in the rotation or clean the small trash-mobs encounters you have in any dungeon.
Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
Thanks for taking the time to read and share, gabrieldourden
About Thorn vs Hindering, it's really kind of an internal debate I have with myself all the time. Thorn's ranged is far superior to Hindering's, but I love Hindering's melee - very strong punch, wide area, multiple enemies, ok cc power. Still, I often swap them around and haven't figured out 100% which I prefer.
About Cruel Recovery, it's really about swaping pure dps for tankiness. Mind you, I do realise that often times, being tankier translates into having higher dps, as you spend less time running or downed. I confess I haven't tried that one much, but I might give it a go. Only, what I find most fun about this build is exactly AotSerpent, do I'd really miss it =(
Archery x Combat, again I did run Archery first, and for quite a while (about two weeks). It's very good too. But I already have near 40% critical chance from my stats, so I feel the pure damage boost from the Combat tree seems more attractive than having the non-criticals increase the chance of criticals. Still, again is a matter of personal taste.
Finally, the only point I would not give up in my build is Rapid Strike, because it's so central in my build. It makes Royal Guard 30% CD reduction kick in so much faster!!! With plague fire, it's literally less than two seconds before you've stacked 3 debuffs on the guys. AotS gets filled from -5 to 5 in around 3 to 4 seconds. And Split Shot, well, I absolutely loved it when leveling up (which HR doesn't!!!), but I find it's animation too slow for this hectic build. But then again, all about each one's taste!!
Never tried Vorpal to be honest. On paper Greater Vorpal will give me approximately 19% extra damage compared to Plaguefire's 15% plus defense debuff so I guess Plaguefire wins. Perfect Vorpal would probably give me some increse but Plaguefire debuff works for the whole group and there are typically other two DPS there (sometimes even more). As I tend to focus on the big guys who are usually under attack by other members of the party the defense debuff is quite useful overall. And a Perfect Vorpal at the time being is simply too expensive for my pockets.
Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
Well, I normally don't charge Split shot, just use very short bursts. You get several hits with each one as the angle is wide as long as there are many targets and don't draw too much aggro as damage is low per monster. I agree with you that fully charged Split Shot is quite slow.
Born of Black Wind: SW Level 80
in starter points (with wood elf) i get maximized dex and wisdom (to get more crit)
the basis is dex to archery tree
str to combat tree
wisdom to nature Right?
but most guides says that nature tree sucks / and best builds are hybrid archery/melee
so did i wrong on allocating points, or the diference is minimal on combat (archery/melee with = dex/wisd)
im sorry cant create a new topic, can you answer me?
Don't sweat it, your choices are not bad at all, for any build.