I find it funny all the chest thumping about melee skills, yet no one has given specific melee abilities and situations where they are actually better.
I'm not level 60 yet so there could be stuff I haven't seen. So far if I'm going to take a beating from face tanking something as a ranger, I have found rain of arrows to do far more damage then any melee ability. Or better yet once the mobs are on you, rain of arrows then marauder's escape, which leaves the mobs just standing in the arrows for a couple of seconds usually, then follow up with whatever to finish it up.
At my level, rain of arrows is just so stupidly OP. I'm waiting to see how things shake out at 60 and if there are any melee builds that really compare to archery. My gut tells me melee will remain extremely situational at best.
I find it funny all the chest thumping about melee skills, yet no one has given specific melee abilities and situations where they are actually better.
I'm not level 60 yet so there could be stuff I haven't seen. So far if I'm going to take a beating from face tanking something as a ranger, I have found rain of arrows to do far more damage then any melee ability. Or better yet once the mobs are on you, rain of arrows then marauder's escape, which leaves the mobs just standing in the arrows for a couple of seconds usually, then follow up with whatever to finish it up.
At my level, rain of arrows is just so stupidly OP. I'm waiting to see how things shake out at 60 and if there are any melee builds that really compare to archery. My gut tells me melee will remain extremely situational at best.
Rain of arrows is a whole lot easier to use as melee. You can get the full burn on them easy. Thorn Ward/Rain of Arrows, swap to melee fox shift, Rain of Swords, clear the ground if aoe, aim strike/rapid if single target. The numbers popping out of your screen are pretty amazing.
Mindflayer - Exodus
Daria - Dwarf Sentinel GWF (mistaken for Halfling a lot)
Karia (aka "The Pug") - Human Combat HR
Kayd - Human Conqueror GF - Retired
I find it funny all the chest thumping about melee skills, yet no one has given specific melee abilities and situations where they are actually better.
I'm not level 60 yet so there could be stuff I haven't seen. So far if I'm going to take a beating from face tanking something as a ranger, I have found rain of arrows to do far more damage then any melee ability. Or better yet once the mobs are on you, rain of arrows then marauder's escape, which leaves the mobs just standing in the arrows for a couple of seconds usually, then follow up with whatever to finish it up.
At my level, rain of arrows is just so stupidly OP. I'm waiting to see how things shake out at 60 and if there are any melee builds that really compare to archery. My gut tells me melee will remain extremely situational at best.
I sort of mentioned osme of the melee skills which are good in a previous post, but i will again.
Rapid strike, its actually better single target dps than rapid shot if ur hybrid/melee specced. It does x1.45 less damage but attacks x1.66 faster ( i actually stopclock watched it to figure it out).
Split strike, can be potentially be better very situationally if specced due it not having a target cap and attacking some 40-45% faster. Basiacally just in those moments u have plenty more than 5 mobs stacked up (remember it also goes pretty far in).
Hindering strike, Probably the hardest hitting aoe encounter we have plus strong roots.
Fox shift, best single target dps encounter or almost as good as hindering in aoe ( i rank it a bit lower due to the animation) plus speed buff and very good ap gain.
But yeah rain almost never leaves my bar but u can complement it very well with any of the encounters i previously mentioned as anytime facetanking in melee is more rain uptime on the mob.
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paladmethiusMember, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 71
edited February 2014
Lets see why I dont go melee.
1. Lead off with sniper shot, do around 15000 damage in one hit, follow up with foxes cunning and rain of arrows, one "hard" mob at level 60 is dead, another half dead, and the third to be widdled down with thorn ward
2. Melee, get engaged, chug potion, dance around, get clobbered...risk dying..
I am squishy, I have to be agile and deadly, a bow lets me do that.
This forum set up is absolutely horrible, I cant even figure out how to get my knight of the feywild title.
1. Lead off with sniper shot, do around 15000 damage in one hit, follow up with foxes cunning and rain of arrows, one "hard" mob at level 60 is dead, another half dead, and the third to be widdled down with thorn ward
2. Melee, get engaged, chug potion, dance around, get clobbered...risk dying..
I am squishy, I have to be agile and deadly, a bow lets me do that.
An aimed shot can actually do even higher than that, I think my record was 42k with debuffs on a boss with a normal vorpal. Yeah you won't have the debuffs for an opening shot, but just saying.
I got ya beat there Chronos. 53k with Pack, CW buff (whatever it's called), Commanding, Throw Caution, and I think there was a GWF buff in there somewhere too. I shudder what it would've hit with a vorpal lol
@ paladmethius: If you set it up right you won't have to get clobbered. If you scoot in with Marauder's, burst your damage skills (Fox Shift even gives you an invincible frame for a short time), then get out with Marauder's Escape you'll almost never take melee damage. Play smart and you won't have to worry about getting hit jumping in and out. Best part is you can still lead with that Aimed Shot to start the whole party with a nice big bang
1. Lead off with sniper shot, do around 15000 damage in one hit, follow up with foxes cunning and rain of arrows, one "hard" mob at level 60 is dead, another half dead, and the third to be widdled down with thorn ward
2. Melee, get engaged, chug potion, dance around, get clobbered...risk dying..
I am squishy, I have to be agile and deadly, a bow lets me do that.
As a full combat HR, I open with a full charge split shot to get rid of any weak mob, then drop thorn ward, boar charge the biggest mob, fox shift, then rapid/split strike anything left. Usually, I finish a pack with 2-3 elites in less than 12 seconds (the duration of thorn ward). Potion problem? Stacking regen and/or lifesteal is your answer.
I use melee all the time but i use it smartly i don't stay engaged for any lengthy amount of time just enough to get a few encounters off maybe hit a few with ctg or rapid then i shift past turn split then start firing more encounters maybe a disruptive then get back to melee you don't need to just melee even with just melee spec.
If you don't just stay in melee you don't get hurt just like if you don't just split shot everyone won't try to kill you.
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rougedrogueMember, Neverwinter Beta Users, Neverwinter Knight of the Feywild UsersPosts: 25
I use melee all the time but i use it smartly i don't stay engaged for any lengthy amount of time just enough to get a few encounters off maybe hit a few with ctg or rapid then i shift past turn split then start firing more encounters maybe a disruptive then get back to melee you don't need to just melee even with just melee spec.
If you don't just stay in melee you don't get hurt just like if you don't just split shot everyone won't try to kill you.
Yep. This. I am constantly switching and moving. I find if I start locking into a stance I run into trouble. Rangers require dexterous fingers, and hopefully no carpal tunnel.
Comments
I'm not level 60 yet so there could be stuff I haven't seen. So far if I'm going to take a beating from face tanking something as a ranger, I have found rain of arrows to do far more damage then any melee ability. Or better yet once the mobs are on you, rain of arrows then marauder's escape, which leaves the mobs just standing in the arrows for a couple of seconds usually, then follow up with whatever to finish it up.
At my level, rain of arrows is just so stupidly OP. I'm waiting to see how things shake out at 60 and if there are any melee builds that really compare to archery. My gut tells me melee will remain extremely situational at best.
Yep, I tend to skip posts with a lot of text in crazy colours. It's like the forum equivalent of green ink
Rain of arrows is a whole lot easier to use as melee. You can get the full burn on them easy. Thorn Ward/Rain of Arrows, swap to melee fox shift, Rain of Swords, clear the ground if aoe, aim strike/rapid if single target. The numbers popping out of your screen are pretty amazing.
Daria - Dwarf Sentinel GWF (mistaken for Halfling a lot)
Karia (aka "The Pug") - Human Combat HR
Kayd - Human Conqueror GF - Retired
I sort of mentioned osme of the melee skills which are good in a previous post, but i will again.
Rapid strike, its actually better single target dps than rapid shot if ur hybrid/melee specced. It does x1.45 less damage but attacks x1.66 faster ( i actually stopclock watched it to figure it out).
Split strike, can be potentially be better very situationally if specced due it not having a target cap and attacking some 40-45% faster. Basiacally just in those moments u have plenty more than 5 mobs stacked up (remember it also goes pretty far in).
Hindering strike, Probably the hardest hitting aoe encounter we have plus strong roots.
Fox shift, best single target dps encounter or almost as good as hindering in aoe ( i rank it a bit lower due to the animation) plus speed buff and very good ap gain.
But yeah rain almost never leaves my bar but u can complement it very well with any of the encounters i previously mentioned as anytime facetanking in melee is more rain uptime on the mob.
1. Lead off with sniper shot, do around 15000 damage in one hit, follow up with foxes cunning and rain of arrows, one "hard" mob at level 60 is dead, another half dead, and the third to be widdled down with thorn ward
2. Melee, get engaged, chug potion, dance around, get clobbered...risk dying..
I am squishy, I have to be agile and deadly, a bow lets me do that.
An aimed shot can actually do even higher than that, I think my record was 42k with debuffs on a boss with a normal vorpal. Yeah you won't have the debuffs for an opening shot, but just saying.
@ paladmethius: If you set it up right you won't have to get clobbered. If you scoot in with Marauder's, burst your damage skills (Fox Shift even gives you an invincible frame for a short time), then get out with Marauder's Escape you'll almost never take melee damage. Play smart and you won't have to worry about getting hit jumping in and out. Best part is you can still lead with that Aimed Shot to start the whole party with a nice big bang
As a full combat HR, I open with a full charge split shot to get rid of any weak mob, then drop thorn ward, boar charge the biggest mob, fox shift, then rapid/split strike anything left. Usually, I finish a pack with 2-3 elites in less than 12 seconds (the duration of thorn ward). Potion problem? Stacking regen and/or lifesteal is your answer.
If you don't just stay in melee you don't get hurt just like if you don't just split shot everyone won't try to kill you.
Yep. This. I am constantly switching and moving. I find if I start locking into a stance I run into trouble. Rangers require dexterous fingers, and hopefully no carpal tunnel.