Hunter Ranger

daaksanir · January 2016

Apparently, Trapper Tree is the only truly viable path to go if one wants to solo the dailies. I really don't believe that dailies in Sharandar, Wells of Dragon, Dread Ring and Icewind Dale should require groups. Is dailies, they are already a headache to grind. And many places like Sharandar, people loath to do. Rework those areas, redo the rewards so they are actually useful and make it so people can solo the dailies ... it's dailies, not heroics or dungeons. Speaking off, fix those as well, thx.

lirithiel · January 2016

Poppycock. Rethink your build if you are having problems. Everyone builds for damage but as HRs we are super squishy so survivability should be our main focus. A dead HR deals no damage after all, even if that damage is pishpoor. The right active companions are also crucial to pain-free soloing.

In dungeons, where people are obsessed with damage, Trapper is the only viable path to them, as it is without a doubt the highest damage-dealing tree of the three sadly. But for soloing, any of the three trees are very much viable.

ryfghbv · January 2016

I used to be a Combat HR, they were having a nice survivability and damage,they have deflect and life steal feats, but in mod 3 or 4, the feat that constantly heals you: Wilds Medicine get a heavy nerf and late in mod 6 get indirectly nerfed since it's calcualted in nominal hit points (which is around 22k) not max hit points, also it's stacks doesn't get refreshed, so you more likely won't get full heals of this feat. Halfed for pvp and halfed again for healing depression. The set that gives you 30% movement speed it's gone too, i used to have 50% movement speed and i was using it as a tactical/defense trait, but you still can deal decent damage, not as much as trapper or other classes, but if you like close combats and dots, it's still viable.

On the other hand, archery deals high single target damage, almost as much as trapper deals in AoE, but it's survivability is the worst in the game since you can't control your enemy or heal yourself, and having advantages only on range means in close range you have nothing to do, so you can expect to die pretty often.

lirithiel · January 2016

ryfghbv said:
I used to be a Combat HR, they were having a nice survivability and damage,they have deflect and life steal feats, but in mod 3 or 4, the feat that constantly heals you: Wilds Medicine get a heavy nerf and late in mod 6 get indirectly nerfed since it's calcualted in nominal hit points (which is around 22k) not max hit points, also it's stacks doesn't get refreshed, so you more likely won't get full heals of this feat. Halfed for pvp and halfed again for healing depression. The set that gives you 30% movement speed it's gone too, i used to have 50% movement speed and i was using it as a tactical/defense trait, but you still can deal decent damage, not as much as trapper or other classes, but if you like close combats and dots, it's still viable.

After the first nerf to Wilds Medicine it became useless to rely on. Unfortunately the lack of good feats in Combat tree forces us to take Wilds Medicine anyways. And I do miss that movement speed set bonus - more than the broken healing one.

ryfghbv said:
On the other hand, archery deals high single target damage, almost as much as trapper deals in AoE, but it's survivability is the worst in the game since you can't control your enemy or heal yourself, and having advantages only on range means in close range you have nothing to do, so you can expect to die pretty often.

Plant Growth actually makes for a pretty good defensive mechanic. Archers would probably use Cordon anyways and dropping a PG at your feet when you see the mobs approaching will get you out of trouble more often than not. Also clever use of Forest Ghost (when it works) is also a decent survivability tool.

rayrdan · January 2016

ryfghbv said:
I used to be a Combat HR, they were having a nice survivability and damage,they have deflect and life steal feats, but in mod 3 or 4, the feat that constantly heals you: Wilds Medicine get a heavy nerf and late in mod 6 get indirectly nerfed since it's calcualted in nominal hit points (which is around 22k) not max hit points, also it's stacks doesn't get refreshed, so you more likely won't get full heals of this feat. Halfed for pvp and halfed again for healing depression. The set that gives you 30% movement speed it's gone too, i used to have 50% movement speed and i was using it as a tactical/defense trait, but you still can deal decent damage, not as much as trapper or other classes, but if you like close combats and dots, it's still viable.

On the other hand, archery deals high single target damage, almost as much as trapper deals in AoE, but it's survivability is the worst in the game since you can't control your enemy or heal yourself, and having advantages only on range means in close range you have nothing to do, so you can expect to die pretty often.

i dont think it takes much to bring archery tree where it should be damage wise,
the problem of the tree is conceptual: damage is rather low on encounters, it does not promote instance switching so low damage is effectively halved again because you are not going to stay melee much.
the distinctive feat of the tree is stillness of the forest which encourage playing far from your party which is the first thing you teach to a noob to not to do.
the other t5 feat (rising focus) is effectively a 5% damage boost on full equip HR when they reach max stacks and only lasts 6 seconds. Pretty offensive compared to other dps tree (see gwf ones for major laughting).

about survivability, i m trying to solve the problem in pve being trapper for the control, with 10k lifesteal (thanks to savages and boons) and i just bought a chicken for speed boost when taking a big hit.

iandarksword · January 2016

I very rarely die when doing daily quests (outside of the WoD lairs, and usually it's the bosses.) I've sacrificed damage for a 20 Constitution score, but my damage is enough to get by as far as daily quests go. I also focused on defense and deflection over power and crit, but am trying to balance that as more enchant slots become available to my character. By no means am I a "hardcore" player, but I focus mainly on solo play because that's what I prefer.

bauggs · January 2016

Hi! Im 2.5-2.6ilvl archer spec hr did all solo contents dungeons dailies everything...so its doable and now its easy.
i had 1year break and now i played 2months and i think ill take new break now..
you need companion some lifesteal armor and deflect some.
dont go full damage when soloing find your balance attack/defense stats

darknessdestory7 · January 2016

im a 3.6k hr with high power and high crit my soloably is almost imposable to kill
The thing is with hr you need to time your attacks right in pve say VT i run in front 90% of the time because of my movement this allows me to gather the mobs to one area if i start to die i swap to fox cunning and hit everything at that point i root them with hindering strike and then growth the dps of this is so high that im getting always full hp
but THAT if i get hit at the same time im always moving i never sit still by the time these are up again i can then fox shift then fox cunning again. well your in fox cunning you are immune to damage means every 3 secs you become immune to damage well filling your hp up. with a high dps i can do alot on my own soloing some very nasty things like elol vt etc
its not about deflect or defence its about timing and attacking killing things asap if u wanna see my build look up lightjimmy77 90% of the time i can out dps even 4k sw or 3.5k gwf so you tell me what wrong with my build

dzaims · January 2016

You obviously didn't put any feat points into punctuation. ;-)

That aside, my puny 2.5K archer gets out-DPSed by similarly-leveled GWFs & CWs all the time. CoA only works against trash mobs, RoA only against stationary mobs, and the decently-DMG producing encounters have insane windup times, so forget hitting mobs on the move, especially if you're the one their aggroing on. Having to waste 2 out of 3 encounter slots for self-preservation is a wee much. So, I've found a niche as a party DPS/Kite/Debuffer (Plaguefire), and then only with guildies that like me. In PUGs, I usually get dropped faster than a used condom.

But, I'm just a casual player, maybe 8 hrs/wk, including daily periodic logins for invokes, professions, etc.

daaksanir · January 2016

The aggro we have as HR, especially in the Archer tree, seems insane. I last Skirmish I literally only had to hit mobs that a rogue had been doing serious dmg to, once with rapid shot and the mob would turn around and go after me. I spend 80% of the combat time running around. In the end I did a fraction of the dmg the rogue did, but had all the aggro.

I can make do soloing as an Archer spec, but it's no fun. I have dropped the class in favor of the GWF, perfect class for everything you want to do solo. I still use my HR, just only on guild events. It's sad that to survive and deal massive dmg, one is forced into Trapper spec. I choose my HR, because I wanted to be a range toon that focused on PvE.

Like I said. Dailies should be fun, easy and doable by all classes and specs. They are dailies, they are not breaking the economy or ruining the gearing process.

aslan3775 · January 2016

I LOVE my archer. It is a fun character to play, and tends to be less button mashing and more cerebral than my other characters (GWF,TR, DC). I definitely respect the people on this thread--their advice has proven valuable in getting my character to 2.4 or so. I can solo DR and Sharandar dailies without issue--IWD and WoD are much more difficult, and usually work better with a partner.

lirithiel said:
Poppycock. Rethink your build if you are having problems. Everyone builds for damage but as HRs we are super squishy so survivability should be our main focus. A dead HR deals no damage after all, even if that damage is pishpoor. The right active companions are also crucial to pain-free soloing.
.

Lir--I agree, and your past suggestions and threads have been valuable in getting my archer this far. I have to admit, though, at this level, I tend to rely on my soulforged much more with my HR than my other characters. With all the archons and new companions available, do you have suggestions for archer build companions? I took the earth archon for a defender and placed defense Sword Coast items on him (wish they came with Lifesteal rather than Regen

) and I am thinking about grabbing the Prospector to increase his aggro. I still tend to run with a healer companion (angel or medic, can't remember) though, since my Lifesteal doesn't proc that much yet and potions only work so well.

darknessdestory7 said:
im a 3.6k hr with high power and high crit my soloably is almost imposable to kill
The thing is with hr you need to time your attacks right in pve say VT i run in front 90% of the time because of my movement this allows me to gather the mobs to one area if i start to die i swap to fox cunning and hit everything at that point i root them with hindering strike and then growth the dps of this is so high that im getting always full hp
but THAT if i get hit at the same time im always moving i never sit still by the time these are up again i can then fox shift then fox cunning again. well your in fox cunning you are immune to damage means every 3 secs you become immune to damage well filling your hp up. with a high dps i can do alot on my own soloing some very nasty things like elol vt etc
its not about deflect or defence its about timing and attacking killing things asap if u wanna see my build look up lightjimmy77 90% of the time i can out dps even 4k sw or 3.5k gwf so you tell me what wrong with my build

I think at 3.6IL, most toons will have a high survivability

What I find intriguing is your suggestion of attacking with the correct timing, and using Fox Cunning while you fill up your HP--could you explain a bit more what you mean? Do you have high lifesteal so that while Fox Cunning is active, your hindering strike and plant growth are grabbing HP for you?

For daily solo type 'adventures', I tend to use Cordon/Plant Growth with Rain of Arrows/Rain of Swords (does swords really do anything?) and alternate between Fox Cunning-Shift and Split the Sky, sometimes throwing in Hindering for fast moving bad guys. Certain Spell Caster areas of Dungeons really seem to proc Split the Sky, and you can get that off without triggering their attacks---but HOLY William Tell, Batman, what an 'Insane Windup' for an encounter--almost as bad as Aimed Shot. It seems to get me by in the easier dailies, but I would appreciate suggestions because I definitely feel squishy on the more difficult dailies.

The other thought I had at this point is to get rid of all those Dragon Hoard enchants in my utilities and run with Dark--Movement over the occasional drop (can anyone say white pearl???). Is that what you did Darknessdestory7?

Again--thanks for help with this character class--

lirithiel · January 2016

aslan3775 said:

I have to admit, though, at this level, I tend to rely on my soulforged much more with my HR than my other characters. With all the archons and new companions available, do you have suggestions for archer build companions? I took the earth archon for a defender and placed defense Sword Coast items on him (wish they came with Lifesteal rather than Regen ) and I am thinking about grabbing the Prospector to increase his aggro. I still tend to run with a healer companion (angel or medic, can't remember) though, since my Lifesteal doesn't proc that much yet and potions only work so well.

For solo stuff I tend to rely on my Young Yeti, who wears the Loyal Defender gear. I rarely have problems in IWD and WoD running with Rain of Arrows, Thorn Ward and Cordon of Arrows.

The rest of my companions stay the same. For group content I run with Ioun Stone of Might (active), Blink Dog, Erinyes of Belial, Air Archon and Fire Archon, which comes in for the Yeti.

I heard the Earth Archon is a pretty good tank, one of the best and his active bonus is good for Archers as we should be a full health a lot of the time. Plus it gets boosted and increases the damage of the other Archons (not Fire though).

smalltownhick · January 2016

I have been playing NW since about module 1 with a TR and that character is still very good. Later when I started my HR it was my favorite character until module 6.
I used to be able to do any area (Sharandar, Dread Ring, etc) with ease now even in the easiest area it is almost unplayable due to both aggro and "squishiness".

Now my HR is a pathfinder with a TIL of a sad 1496. I went down the combat tree with Bloodletting, Advanced Stalking, Lucky Blades, Piercing Blade, Scything Blades and Blade Hurricane. In combat I mainly use Commanding shot, constricting arrow and longstrider shot to keep me away from the combat. One thing I wish the HR has is the tumble/dodge that the TR has.

I would love to hear specifics from long time players on how to adjust my HR to be playable again.

Hunter Ranger

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