I've been playing as PVE hunter ranger, Archery-Stormwarden (for my stats-distribution and current equipment please see below). At the moment I have to decide between Rampaging Madness and Endless Consumption for the last boon of Dread Ring Campaign. This brought me back to the questions:
- which is more effective/easier to stack for PVE-archers: lifesteal or regeneration?
- Which boon is better? Rampaging Madness or Endless Consumption?
Given that I have been dying quite alot/too fast during boss fights in epic dungeons, I really want to improve my survivability so that I can reduce the burden on other team mates (and especially our healer who had to heal me and our guardian fighter who often had to pull mobs from me and therefore tank too many mobs at once). I also have mid-level defense and deflect at the moment. Are there nice combinations between lifesteal/generation and defense/deflect (for example lifesteal+deflect might be a nice combo?)? Which stats should I improve?
Thanks alot!
Comments
Nearly all Boss Fights in epic dungeons need the HRs to do single-target DPS to the boss. You're simply too squishy to tank or kite adds, and no amount of lifesteal/regeneration/HAMSTER healing from the DC will keep you alive if you consistently aggro multiple adds. Someone should have told you that after the first run.
To your question as an Archery HR: lifesteal will net you more healing since your DPS is high. Only classes with low DPS and/or roles who do more buffing/healing/debuffing rather than DPS should take regeneration.
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Survavibility problem solved.
For the encounter, as I should not attack any of the mobs but only the boss, which encounters do you recommend? My main encounters sofar are split the sky, rain of arrow, thorn ward. But beside split the sky (which is however not effective against only boss), both other encounters also attack mobs around the boss and therefore pull the mobs to me.
By the way, do you also think rapid shot is better than aimed shot against boss? I love the mega high damage come from aimed shot but in fights without TR, I had to dodge boss attacks alot and so I often coundn't fire the arrow from aimed shot.
If you have a gwf and gf in a party, you shouldn't really get boss aggro. I find that for getting aimed shots off, Fox's Cunning is useful, it's auto-dodge and doesn't interrupt aimed shot, unless the attack comes with some nasty effect, like prone or freeze. I also have barkshield, so I can take couple of smaller hits (like form goblin archers) before aimed gets interrupted.
For archer I would suggest lifesteal and combine it with Endless Consumption boon. Rapid Shot just doesn't hit nearly as fast as Rapid Strike so Rampaging Madness isn't as effective as with a Combat HR. I recently switched from high regeneration to high lifesteal and I find the latter to be better for me.
Split Shot is still an aggro monster even after the Mod 3 nerf. I barely use it at all in either the new epic dungeon or skirmish because after just one shot the mobs gun for me, even with the 25% threat reduction from my Owl. I have Rain of Arrows and Split the Sky slotted as my AoE, and use mainly Rapid Shot for at-will. For boss fights I will slot Aimed Shot but even then I hardly have the time to cast it much.
I did a few epic LoL runs with the same group last night and found I did better overall damage with Rapid Shot than Aimed Shot.
Your stats will look better when you get whichever tier gear is best suited to you, whether Royal Guard, Grand Warden, Black Ice or Draconic set. High deflection is not needed as archer although I intend to stack it to above 1k soon anyway.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
If the boss is separated from the mobs, which encounter is better to reduce the boss's defence? Thorn Ward or Commander Shot? I like Thorn Ward for its extra damage but Commander Shot is also not bad as Stag Heart can support the other team mates as well.
Personally I prefer Thorn Ward over Commanding Shot. It's more damage overall and even if the animation sometimes bugs out, the casting time is still shorter than that of Commanding Shot. As archer I don't worry at all about melee encounters - switching stances means less time to pew pew
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
Aspect of the Lone Wolf is not good for parties. Aspect of the pack will give constant Combat Advantage boost to DPS, which equates to more overall DPS and faster dungeon runs.
As for the at-wills: during dungeon mob clearing, I'll have split shot and rapid-shot. For bosses, both Rapid shot and Aimed shot. It isn't very often that you have the opportunity to spam Aimed Shot because boss red zones and add red zones are just too prevalent. So rapid shot ensure consistent DPS.
However, there are a few instances where you can spam Aimed shot, so slot it in the place of Split Shot for those specific boss fights.
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Ah yes, I totally forgot about this! Thanks!
I think I will test between both to see which is better for me (if I manage aggro okay then Aspect of the Pack, if not yet then Aspect of the Lone Wolf at first). I think the other class feature can only be Twin-Blade Storm, right? Normally I use Twin Blade with Stormstep Action for reducing cool down (quite good sofar), but maybe for the whole team switching Stormstep Action to Aspect of the Pack will be better...
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Isn't Serpent only good for Hybrid play style? I used to play hybrid before mod4, but since mod 4 I only play Archery.
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Btw, which T2 Gears do you recommend for Archers? I planed on geting Dread Legion for T2.5 but I heard that it is quite difficult to get that gear so I'll work on T2 gears first. Many on the forum wrote that Royal Guard is one of the best gear sets (I guess because of the reducing cool down effect). But as that set doesn't give any Crit and gives regeneration in stead of life steal, do you think it is good for Archers?
There is some debate about which gear set is better, I run with the Royal Guard set and I have no issues with the absence of crit rating on the four pieces. It also means I can forego all ArP from the rest of my gear, aiming for stats like defence and lifesteal.
The most important thing in life is to be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. Always be Batman.
rain of arrow is very useful in boss fighting, split sky is too slow for boss fighting.
and try electric shot replace split.
Also forest ghost will help u when mobs all focus on u.
As for managing aggro in bosses, split the sky isn't a good idea. I keep it in because I'm lazy (Thorn, RoA, Split for everyday PvE). I would have said use constricting shot pre-mod4 for the 3 ticks (still prefer that mechanic) but commanding's not bad and what I've heard about fox shift makes me want to give it a try.
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