Loadout for doing IWD dailies?

rontheneq

I am occasionally getting my butt handed to me during the IWD dailies (giants, omg). It's really irritating because my CW is my "other character" with almost 2k less GS and she has no problems whatsoever.

I use a level 30 tank pet that (up until now) has done a good job of maintaining agro and letting me stay ranged. The mobs seem to.... well, mob you, and switching to melee and trying to go toe-to-toe is disasterous. I am using aimed shot and split shot, I am thinking of switching to rapid shot because I am having a hard time finding the time to get aimed shot off. For encounters I have Marauder's up with Hawk Shot and Binding Arrow, I haven't experimented much with any others.

Any suggestions?

sexwax45

Rotation for questing in IWD I usually start out with Split the Sky usually between me and the mob it won’t pull agro, Split Shot fully charged and let them run to you, Thorn Ward right in their path, Rain of Arrows right in front of you for melee or on top of a caster, then kite the mobs through RoA using shift, Disruptive Shot enemy with the most health then a aimed shot for single target or throw couple split shots in there positioning yourself to hit as many enemies as possible and make sure your not gonna pull any other mobs, then repeat, and avoid being hit by using shift, it’s that easy. I would also suggest using DPS pet because the tank doesn't really hold for more then a sec, and the DPS will help you down that giant faster.

lirithiel

sexwax45 wrote: »

Rotation for questing in IWD I usually start out with Split the Sky usually between me and the mob it won’t pull agro, Split Shot fully charged and let them run to you, Thorn Ward right in their path, Rain of Arrows right in front of you for melee or on top of a caster, then kite the mobs through RoA using shift, Disruptive Shot enemy with the most health then a aimed shot for single target or throw couple split shots in there positioning yourself to hit as many enemies as possible and make sure your not gonna pull any other mobs, then repeat, and avoid being hit by using shift, it’s that easy. I would also suggest using DPS pet because the tank doesn't really hold for more then a sec, and the DPS will help you down that giant faster.

I pretty much do the same. Split the Sky and Thorn Ward between myself and mobs, pull with Split Shot, drop Rain of Arrows at my feet then let the encounters do the work while I dodge the attacks. Rinse and repeat. Aimed Shot is a bad idea in IWD as you are unlikely to get much free time to cast it. Rapid works better in my experience.

beckylunatic

I have the dire wolf pet, which means I can do things a bit differently than others. Any dog companion might also work well for this. Anyway, I slot Aspect of the Pack. Canine companions can prone opponents when they have combat advantage, and Aspect of the Pack now works correctly which means your dog can use the knockdown no matter where it is relative to your position. This is incredibly useful against anything that isn't control immune, because it allows you to use Aimed Shot. Companions with a hard taunt can help you get off Aimed Shot too, but you may keep stealing aggro back and forth from each other.

To open combat, Aimed Shot or Split Shot, depending. Aimed Shot can, for example, take a corrupted dwarf bolter right out of a fight before they notice you, rather than Split Shot hurting the entire mob of four just a little. And you really want to be using Aimed Shot in heroic encounters on the big meaty targets rather than pulling a ton of stuff with Split Shot to smash you into the ground. I'd only have Rapid Shot slotted if Aimed Shot was proving completely useless but the amount of use I get out of it is well worth the times when I can't manage to cast it. Initiating with Aimed Shot will also take a bigger bite out of a large target, which means it will die faster when it does start pounding on you.

For my solo encounter rotation, I try to hold Rain of Arrows until Master of Archery procs. Since the most dangerous enemies are melee, Rain of Arrows is cast on me, along with Thorn Ward. Everything that runs in to beat my face gets caught in this. Switch to melee stance and use Rain of Swords. Finish with Thorn Strike to clean up... everything should be hurting enough by this point that it's very effective. Oak Skin for the heal. By that point, encounters are probably about ready to start over if needed.

Dailies are Disrupting Shot and Forest Ghost, use as needed. Twin Blade Storm is my other class feature of choice.

On medium and large heroic encounters, I stay ranged. Master of Archery Rain of Arrows on the boss, keep Thorn Ward up on the boss, Aimed Shot, etc. Seems pretty effective, even if it doesn't make full use of abilities.

jonkoca

Seismic and ghost. Foxes, marauder and roa. Split and aimed. Keep mobile, force them to stand in roa when they fight you. Lone wolf and pathf. Action. Lazy, but I can't be bothered to switch.

Ioun stone out. When I didn't have one I used my blacksmith. I'm a tank pvp build anyway, so, the only things that kill me are the big guys in epic HEs. Lol, I tend to be optimistic about red circles.

rontheneq

Thanks for all the great recommendations! I am going to experiment with some different loadouts this weekend.

linoge63

I'm really green here, and any suggestions to it pls advise...

I start out a solo encounter with a ranged aimed shot punishment either on the one that will fall in that one shot or come close to it or on the baddest one of the bunch. That really launches those raider axe-men into a raging fit toward me with that huge jump , which is just fine for if he makes it past my totally maxed out man at arms, who launched himself at him just as fast, he gets to walk through or usually stand in the thorn ward...and then immediately meets my marauders rush timed to stop him on top or close to the ward. I dance and weave around the ward for a sec to let a couple of them arrive and keeping those that have, remain nearby for the ward ripping. Then I say hello with the nasty fox blades followed with thorn strike...and immediately jet out with M escape to generate action pts which more often than not causes that lovely sounding Balingggg which is super for I have left them usually looking about wondering where I am while im pulling off another aimed strike and preparing to face paste one of them with the black ice sphere and plant another thorn ward for them to walk into. The 2nd round of encounters isnt usually ready by this point so they eat a few split shots while i keep them positioned around my 2nd thorn ward....by this time though for a small raider and wolf group they are pretty much a petting zoo (which i let my very valued man at arms finish off) or Im already collecting their donations to my cause.

captainfarstar

I run Pathfinder with Lonewolf and Battlehoned, encounters are Constricting Arrow and Thorn Ward. I use the rat companion from drake seal vendor and just try to keep him healed .

With 2 pieces of purified gear I can solo two giants.

myth8892

archery pathfinder spec for pvp....
No companions, never have a problem soloing in icewind, could be that im maxed out ranked 10s and artifacts are in the upper 90s though...

rontheneq

Thanks for the advice, all. I still had a respec token from my "first time buyer's kit" so I respecced and paid very close attention to the feats, etc. For my loadout I ended up going Split the Sky, Rain of Arrows and Thorn Ward. Seismic and Forest Ghost for daily. Split Shot of course, and I have been experimenting with Rapid Shot and I think I like it better for the flexibility it gives me. I went Twin Blades for class and I currently trying Stormstep Action. I've tried using my level 30 owl but I am still having better luck with my tank pet. I have a blue dog I may level up.

I have seen a HUGE difference, so I appreciate all the tips. I just made it into the Dwarven Valley yesterday, that is 10 times tougher but I am sure it will get better as I get used to it and my gear improves. I also did a PUG Dread Vault for the first time and I was highest DPS.

kateshii

rontheneq wrote: »

Thanks for the advice, all. I still had a respec token from my "first time buyer's kit" so I respecced and paid very close attention to the feats, etc. For my loadout I ended up going Split the Sky, Rain of Arrows and Thorn Ward. Seismic and Forest Ghost for daily. Split Shot of course, and I have been experimenting with Rapid Shot and I think I like it better for the flexibility it gives me. I went Twin Blades for class and I currently trying Stormstep Action. I've tried using my level 30 owl but I am still having better luck with my tank pet. I have a blue dog I may level up.

I have seen a HUGE difference, so I appreciate all the tips. I just made it into the Dwarven Valley yesterday, that is 10 times tougher but I am sure it will get better as I get used to it and my gear improves. I also did a PUG Dread Vault for the first time and I was highest DPS.

Been experimenting as well since we get more skill points. I found for survivability hindering shot and rain of arrows is almost unbeatable. Close to melee range, use the melee hindering strike, rain of arrows on root spot, and either back away and kill or kite if there are more adds while RoA kills.

With Giants they are slow enough that you can usually dodge their white hits and red attacks and charge a aimed shot or rain of arrows and shift behind them when they swing.