Usefulness of HR Nature Build

tripsofthrymr · January 2014

I really like the idea of the Nature build ... focus on buffing the party, while still being a decent combatant.

In practice, I question the usefulness (as currently implemented).

There have been a few situations with new players where the group wiped, I switched all encounters to party buffs, and then we went in and won. That was fun and rewarding.

Most of the time, I play with well-geared, experienced players.

In a PK run last night, my HR came in dead last (behind even the DC) in DPS. Granted, the other players had better gear, the DC had +3K gear score on me and a greater vorpal (vs. my lesser terror). As a buffer I make choices that trade DPS potential for better party buffs. But really? Dead last?

In such a group the party buffs are utterly useless. The GWF will live just fine with or without Fox Cunning and Oak Skin on him.

Is a PK run with an OP party just the worst-case scenario for measuring a nature HR's usefulness? Should I look at my play style more closely to improve DPS? Is a Nature build just not viable for end-game content?

charononus · January 2014

I think the thing is to switch out your encounters for dps encounters when you are in a group that really doesn't need them. However if you get a group that does need some help, you then have the ability to swap in buffing and healing powers, especially in groups that run without a dc.

tripsofthrymr · January 2014

charononus wrote: »

I think the thing is to switch out your encounters for dps encounters when you are in a group that really doesn't need them.

In that run, I had the powers out that I thought would do the most damage.

charononus wrote: »

you then have the ability to swap in buffing and healing powers, especially in groups that run without a dc.

I often run no-DC on my GF. In such groups, they really don't need the DC or DC-like buffs.

charononus · January 2014

tripsofthrymr wrote: »

In that run, I had the powers out that I thought would do the most damage.

I'm really not sure how you got out damaged then by a DC. What power's specifically were you using, what gear are you using, and what feats have you taken because something really doesn't seem right about this. I can see you coming in 3rd to 4th on damage but not being beaten by a DC unless they were BiS and you were still in blue's perhaps.

elminster · January 2014

If the cleric was dps build with 3k GS in him I could see it, but virtually nobody runs a cleric in dps builds these days. Even then for him to beat out even a nature ranger, especially one in damage mode, would take a bit of work. What powers were you running? Specifically your at-wills and encounters ...

tripsofthrymr · January 2014

I was running Fox Shift, Split the Sky and Rain of Arrows. At will Split Shot (also Rapid Shot slotted).

My weapons are Bow of the Thayan Zealot and Blades of the Royal Guard. Gear Score 11,348.

charononus · January 2014

Few things.
First I hope you put your points into dex and wis, as those are what's needed for dps.

Make sure you picked up the final tier dex enhancement for damage. Also make sure you have Black Arrow from archery.

The TwinBlade Storm feature increases all dps not just melee dps as you could think from the name which means it will help split shot.

Split the Sky is a great power, now the one thing to this is that you didn't stat the party makeup if it was 3x CW 1x HR 1x DC for example it won't make a big difference as the damage requires being hit. (In fact if your stacking cw's the mobs are probably controlled too often) this means you need something like a GWF or GF in the middle of a pack for the most use from it.

Rain of Arrows is great, however the aoe is very small. This means that unless you have mobs grouped up tightly a majority of the time it's going to be useless. This is one of those skills I pull out to drop on stationary (semi) bosses heads as I deal with adds. I'd honestly recommend switching this for either commanding or putting fox shift in it's place.

Fox shift. On a nature or archery build, I think of this as a buffing power. Unless you are a combat build you for one should be staying out of melee range imo (most the time) Second this power hits hard in pvp once you concentrate all the hits on one person but doesn't hit that hard spread out to more people. It's not that much stronger than split shot for multiple targets, and you are now in range to get hit. For PvE I'd recommend Thorn Ward instead as fire and forget damage that will also provide a debuff to the enemies defense.

Last thing, your bow is pretty bad. IIRC someone did the math and that bow is worse than some level 60 blue bows.

tripsofthrymr · January 2014

charononus wrote: »

Few things.

Thanks for the detailed advice. It makes a lot of sense.

obsidiancran3 · January 2014

tripsofthrymr wrote: »

Is a PK run with an OP party just the worst-case scenario for measuring a nature HR's usefulness? Should I look at my play style more closely to improve DPS? Is a Nature build just not viable for end-game content?

Well being 2K below everyone else in PK is a pretty bad indicator, in fact much like the game is different between 10k with a HR and 13k, that step from 13k to 15k is a game changer as well.

As to powers etc: http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?554201-Obsidiancran3-s-Nature-Build-Guide has all my current thoughts on Nature Build. The start of post 1 has info on stats, end of post 2 talks (in brief) about my power bar selections, and post 3 gives further reflections on gear, powers and play style.

Big thing with Split the Sky, by the way, is if you have 2 or 3 CWs that are chaining their CC (Stop + Shard + Oppressive) well, Sky will end up doing nothing because the monsters will not get to attack at all. I've also ran into problems like the GF that always kites things out of the AoE of Sky and so on. Its a power that's usefulness really depends on what is happening with your party.

Usefulness of HR Nature Build

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