PvE Ranger Build (any suggestions?)

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

I have formulated a basic PvE build that i will run, and I am wondering what I can do to make it better, and if there is anyway to improve the build itself.

Here it is:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Power Shot[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Favorable Winds[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]

The Attributes would be:

Marksmanship: 15 12+2+1 (helm)

Wilderness Survival: 12 10+2

Expertise: 9 8+1

Protection Prayers: 2

As Far As bows are concerned, i would use one of the following:

[wiki]Drago's Flatbow[/wiki]

[wiki]Zelnehlun's Longbow[/wiki]

[wiki]Forgotten Longbow[/wiki]

If I were to use a pet, i would swap out [skill]Favorable Winds[/skill] for [skill]Charm Animal[/skill] and [skill]Whirling Defense[/skill] for [skill]Comfort Animal[/skill]

any suggestion, comments?

vespertine

vespertine

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

.at

conjure elements is quite popular nowadays..

[skill]Glass Arrows[/skill]
[skill]conjure flame[/skill]
[skill]Dual Shot[/skill]

depending on how offensive your build should be you could bring an IAS like

[skill]Tiger's Fury[/skill]


btw.. if you bring fav. winds i'd suggest to use the flatbow for IAS

hth

XvArchonvX

XvArchonvX

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

R/

First of all, drop Power Shot. It's one of the most underpowered bow attacks. Replace it with something that packs more punch like Penetrating Shot or Marauder's Shot. Favorable winds is also something that won't really help this bar. Unless you are running Barrage or are running with other rangers in your group it will be little more than a hassle to lay down and an advantage to enemy rangers in most cases. Using a recurve bow can allow you to shoot with a low arc.

samcobra

samcobra

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA

Mo/Me

[skill]distracting shot[/skill] the best skill in the game. ok? use it!

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

I see. Well I can't really spread around my attribute points anymore, so Conjure skills are just out of the question.

Here's an Update, tell me what you think:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Apply poison[/skill][skill]Read the Wind[/skill][skill]Distracting Shot[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]

I'm not too sure about this one, Here are a couple problems that I have:

1) Should I keep both preparations or just choose one, and if so which? RtW is more of a personal Favorable winds, so I guess it really isn't that much better than Apply poison.

2) Should i switch out RtW for another interrupt?

3) Is Distracting shot better than Savage shot in this build, becase it's more of a damage build, so I figured Savage shot would be better?

4) Is there enough E-Management?

5) Is there enough damage in this build?

Just a few questions, but answers are Appreciated

KazeMitsui

KazeMitsui

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

pretty sure its all up in yo face

[WHAT]

R/

1) you decide interrupts or condi spread thats your choice
2) again if you want to interrupt then yes keep rtw drop apply
3) if youre interrupt keep dshot and savage
4) if youre worried about emanagement drop some wilderness and buff up expertise or just dont spam your skills thats all and you have prepared shot so you should be good i would assume
5) in most ranger builds that i have come across its either gonna be damage, interrupts, or condi spread. the only build that maybeeeeeee (some could disagree) does all three is this

burning arrow
savage
distracting
apply poison
natural stride
mend touch
trolls
some sort of rez

and point spread is
expertise 12+1+1
marks 9+1
wilder 9+1
prot 3

and have a go at it its fun maybe if youre pve drop savage shot and add screaming shot or something...?

have fun test it

XvArchonvX

XvArchonvX

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by KazeMitsui
5) in most ranger builds that i have come across its either gonna be damage, interrupts, or condi spread. the only build that maybeeeeeee (some could disagree) does all three is this

burning arrow
savage
distracting
apply poison
natural stride
mend touch
trolls
some sort of rez

and point spread is
expertise 12+1+1
marks 9+1
wilder 9+1
prot 3 This is really one of the most popular builds, but for good reason. It is often found in many GvG builds, but also works great in PvE.

Personally, I use Prepared Shot in two instances. One is when I go into Domain of Secrets and I need a very energy stable build. In this case I use:

Prepared Shot {E}
Disracting Shot
Apply Poison
Screaming Shot
Natural Stride
Lightbringer's Gaze
Troll Unguent
Rebirth

The other instance is when I am going in an area where I want to deal elemental damage or bring a build that is not condition reliant such as Southern Shiverpeaks or Hell's Precipice. In this case I use:

Prepared Shot {E}
Savage Shot
Penetrating Shot
Screaming Shot
Kindle Arrows
Natural Stride (or Winter for Hell's)
Troll Unguent
Rebirth

In both builds, I run with full marksmanship, 9 expertise, and the rest in Wilderness.

To answer the OP's questions:
1) I would STRONGLY reccomend that you never run with 2 preparations in a build. If you use a recurve bow, you don't need read the winds. Apply Poison is an excellent preparation, but if you will be encountering enemies who will non-fleshy, I would suggest Kindle Arrows. The advantage of Prepared Shot is that you can run a relatively high energy build with a low investment in expertise. You can therefore use this to your advantage and run with a strong wilderness attribute level, which makes Kindle a stronger choice than RtW in many ways.

2) I would suggest Concussion Shot or another attack skill to replace your extra preparation. If you are running with Apply, Concussion Shot may be too energy heavy, but otherwise it has great synergy with a Prepared Shot build.

3) Personally I believe Distracting is in general better for PvP than PvE since most enemies will die before an extra recharge time would make a difference on them. The shorter recharge time of Savage also is an advantage for PvE like situations where there are a lot of enemies and therefore a lot of skills to interupt. However, if you are running a build with savage and are experiencing a low energy efficiency, trade it out for Distracting.

4) The best way to find energy stability of a build is to test it. Great Temple of Balthazar is a great place to do this, but as your build stands now, I think you should have more than enough energy stability and will likely have more energy coming in than you can spend.

5) I believe that there are other more efficient variations of this build that could give you more dps if you wish. I've found that with a 5 energy preparation, you can keep almost a continual chain of attack skill spam with Prepared + Penetrating + Screaming and not run into energy problems with a good attribute spread.

SnipiousMax

SnipiousMax

Perfectly Elocuted

Join Date: Sep 2005

Prepared Shot is a great skill, but unless you have at least 2 other higher energy skills to use in quick succession or something like conjure or brutal weapon as a secondary skill, then it's effect is a bit wasted. You shouldn't run out of energy with the second build you posted, even without Prep shot.

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by KazeMitsui
1) you decide interrupts or condi spread thats your choice
2) again if you want to interrupt then yes keep rtw drop apply
3) if youre interrupt keep dshot and savage
4) if youre worried about emanagement drop some wilderness and buff up expertise or just dont spam your skills thats all and you have prepared shot so you should be good i would assume
5) in most ranger builds that i have come across its either gonna be damage, interrupts, or condi spread. the only build that maybeeeeeee (some could disagree) does all three is this

burning arrow
savage
distracting
apply poison
natural stride
mend touch
trolls
some sort of rez

and point spread is
expertise 12+1+1
marks 9+1
wilder 9+1
prot 3

and have a go at it its fun maybe if youre pve drop savage shot and add screaming shot or something...?

have fun test it
Interesting, I think that i will be condition spread, so I'm going to drop savage shot and keep Distracting shot, as it is good to have a nice interrupt, and D-shot would "pack the most punch."

So now my skill bar should look like:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Distracting shot[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]

Quote: Originally Posted by XvArchonvX Personally, I use Prepared Shot in two instances. One is when I go into Domain of Secrets and I need a very energy stable build. In this case I use:

Prepared Shot {E}
Disracting Shot
Apply Poison
Screaming Shot
Natural Stride
Lightbringer's Gaze
Troll Unguent
Rebirth

The other instance is when I am going in an area where I want to deal elemental damage or bring a build that is not condition reliant such as Southern Shiverpeaks or Hell's Precipice. In this case I use:

Prepared Shot {E}
Savage Shot
Penetrating Shot
Screaming Shot
Kindle Arrows
Natural Stride (or Winter for Hell's)
Troll Unguent
Rebirth

In both builds, I run with full marksmanship, 9 expertise, and the rest in Wilderness.

To answer the OP's questions:
1) I would STRONGLY reccomend that you never run with 2 preparations in a build. If you use a recurve bow, you don't need read the winds. Apply Poison is an excellent preparation, but if you will be encountering enemies who will non-fleshy, I would suggest Kindle Arrows. The advantage of Prepared Shot is that you can run a relatively high energy build with a low investment in expertise. You can therefore use this to your advantage and run with a strong wilderness attribute level, which makes Kindle a stronger choice than RtW in many ways.

2) I would suggest Concussion Shot or another attack skill to replace your extra preparation. If you are running with Apply, Concussion Shot may be too energy heavy, but otherwise it has great synergy with a Prepared Shot build.

3) Personally I believe Distracting is in general better for PvP than PvE since most enemies will die before an extra recharge time would make a difference on them. The shorter recharge time of Savage also is an advantage for PvE like situations where there are a lot of enemies and therefore a lot of skills to interupt. However, if you are running a build with savage and are experiencing a low energy efficiency, trade it out for Distracting.

4) The best way to find energy stability of a build is to test it. Great Temple of Balthazar is a great place to do this, but as your build stands now, I think you should have more than enough energy stability and will likely have more energy coming in than you can spend.

5) I believe that there are other more efficient variations of this build that could give you more dps if you wish. I've found that with a 5 energy preparation, you can keep almost a continual chain of attack skill spam with Prepared + Penetrating + Screaming and not run into energy problems with a good attribute spread. This was very helpful, I got 3 major points from this post:

First ( and most obvious ) was the fact that there is no way that an extra preparation can be beneficial towards the build. I also found that you were "spot-on" when describing the situation, I hadn't even thought about the non-fleshy monsters I would encounter. So now my build would have two different branches on which I could expand:

Fleshy Condition Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Distracting shot[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]

Non-Fleshy Power Damage Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Sundering Attack[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Kindle Arrows[/skill][skill]Distracting shot[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]


Secondly, Savage is a more efficient skill to use as an interrupt, Seeing as it would act faster on my opponent and interrupt. Even with the higher energy cost, It has a better advantage with the lower recharge time

Fleshy Condition Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]


Non-Fleshy Power Damage Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Sundering Attack[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Kindle Arrows[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Whirling Defense[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]

Finally, Natural Stride is actually a VERY good skill for escaping. For a lower Blocking percentile, I get a speed boost and a MUCH faster recharge time. So
it would well replace Whirling Defense. Here is what my Final build should look like:

Fleshy Condition Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]


Non-Fleshy Power Damage Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Sundering Attack[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Kindle Arrows[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]



Quote:
Originally Posted by SnipiousMax
Prepared Shot is a great skill, but unless you have at least 2 other higher energy skills to use in quick succession or something like conjure or brutal weapon as a secondary skill, then it's effect is a bit wasted. You shouldn't run out of energy with the second build you posted, even without Prep shot. This is true, so mostly I will use the two skills [skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill] to follow it in succession, and therefore I hopefully won't waste my extra energy.

So now my FINAL Draft of the build throughout this post is:

Fleshy Condition Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]


Non-Fleshy Power Damage Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Sundering Attack[/skill][skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill][skill]Kindle Arrows[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Rebirth[/skill]

Marksmanship: 16 12+1+3

Wilderness Survival: 12 10+2

Expertise: 9 8+1

Protection Prayers: 2

Bow:

[wiki]Elswyth's Recurve Bow[/wiki]

Any Suggestions/More improvements?

KazeMitsui

KazeMitsui

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

pretty sure its all up in yo face

[WHAT]

R/

why not try keen arrow or crossfire or maybe even mauraders shot instead of the two copies of penetrating shot? or possibliy focused shot?

Threll

Threll

Academy Page

Join Date: Apr 2007

Missouri

Deranged Old Cows

N/

Mmmm... Crossfire. Yummy.

SnipiousMax

SnipiousMax

Perfectly Elocuted

Join Date: Sep 2005

One last suggestion for the OP. If you are using your secondary only for a hard rez, you might play around with Death Pact Signet. It's a bit of a gamble at times, but you can't beat having your monk up and full health and energy after he/she drops in a pinch.

Quote:
Originally Posted by KazeMitsui
why not try keen arrow or crossfire or maybe even mauraders shot instead of the two copies of penetrating shot? or possibliy focused shot? Keen Arrow is bugged and doesn't function correctly (unless they've fixed it recently), Crossfire is only 5 energy (while it's a good skill, it doesn't make good use of Prepared Shot), and Focused Shot would disable all his others attack skills.

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

^^
Got to it b4 me

I was considering going R/me for Epidemic

Fleshy would switch out

[skill]Natural Stride[/skill]

for

[skill]Epidemic[/skill]

and

[skill]Rebirth[/skill]

for

[skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

maybe non fleshy build can have

[skill]Death Pact Signet[/skill]

instead of

[skill]Rebirth[/skill]

what do you guys think?

KazeMitsui

KazeMitsui

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

pretty sure its all up in yo face

[WHAT]

R/

yea that sounds good

deathpact is a funny skill to use but yea its nice to use if its on the monk and youre at full health and energy or at least near full to both

better than rebirth unless you plan on running away and then hardrezing away from the mobbs up to you i would say.

and epidemic im not so sure about cause its aoe range is so small and yea... its small... no fun

Marverick

Marverick

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

R/

Prepared Shot does shine with Penetrating Attack & Sundering Attack as they do good damage and need energy management to be kept up. Concussion Shot is also pretty much necessary as you can daze targets (best PvE caster shutdown IMO) without running out of energy with Prepared Shot.

I would stick to RtW > Kindle Arrows in PvE because the +damage is armor ignoring, and the increased arrow flight time allows you to use a Flatbow to get the faster attack speed while not sacrificing for the short range of a Shortbow. Also if you max out Marksmanship, you won't be able to spec enough into Wilderness Survival to make Kindle worth it.

This is what I use for Prepared Shot builds. 12+3+1 Marks, 10+1 Expertise, 8+1 BM

[skill]Read the Wind[/skill]
[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill]
[skill]Concussion Shot[/skill]
[skill]Distracting Shot[/skill] or [skill]Epidemic[/skill]
[skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill]
[skill]Sundering Attack[/skill]
[skill]Tiger's Fury[/skill]
[skill]Sunspear Rebirth Signet[/skill] or [skill]Throw Dirt[/skill] or [skill]Epidemic[/skill]

Natural Stride isn't that great outside of random forms of PvP. If you're taking damage then your Monk is most likely putting RoF or Guardian or Spirit Bond on you, which will cancel out Natural Stride.



Sundering sucks on bows.... in fact why would you ever use Sundering in PvE? Mobs don't stack hexes or blind on you and there's no need to get lucky on a spike.....

samcobra

samcobra

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

USA

Mo/Me

uh... you don't spike in pve. that being said... natural stride is still amazing simply due to its ability for you to prekite. Its much better than throw dirt. Also, save yourself the beast mastery imo and go with marauder's shot. It pretty much ownzzzzzzz that would be something like a 15/13 split b/w exp and marks.

Marverick

Marverick

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

R/

Tiger's Fury gives you 33% more base damage. You could swap Sundering Attack with Marauder's Shot.

And yes I don't spike in PvE, however I don't know why people insist on using Sundering in PvE...

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

So what I'm getting from you guys, Is to switch out Penetrating attack for Marauder's attack. Also to use a different rez on my non-fleshy build, I have no objections so far to epidemic:

R/Me
Fleshy Condition Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Marauder's Shot[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Concussion Shot[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Epidemic[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

R/Rt
Non-Fleshy Power Damage Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Sundering Attack[/skill][skill]Marauder's Shot[/skill][skill]Kindle Arrows[/skill][skill]Concussion Shot[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Death Pact Signet[/skill]

Marksmanship: 16 12+1+3

Wilderness Survival: 12 10+2

Expertise: 9 8+1

Bow:

[wiki]Elswyth's Recurve Bow[/wiki]

suggestions?

TempusReborn

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Mar 2007

R/Mo

Heya!
Ive been playing about 9 months almost exclusivly as a ranger so Il try to help how I can.
First of all in PVE AoE Damage is by far the easiest way to kill things - Barrage is almost broken in how much it can take down compared to other elites. I realise this would mean a serious alteration to your build (or alternativly you could make two, one with your build you have now and one with a barrage build, run a mission twice and see which is the most effective)
With 9 Points in Expertise I dont see why you need Prepared shot - your just not going to run out of energy unless a mesmer degens you.
Lightning Reflexes is one of the most versitile skills - under obscene pressure you can emerge victorius with it especially if you also have whirling defence.

If you do wish to spike - which the poison and single shot skills suggest I recommend changing your elite to burning arrow. Coupled with Poison and with your Marksmanship you will inflict -11 health degeneration for 5 secs, then -3 for 3 secs before (another burning arrow) -11 again.

Dont put more than 3 points in wilderness survival just for poison arrows and troll ungent. Poison will last between bowstrikes if your attacking a single enemy with that amount in WS and its unlikely that you'll want to use Trolls ungent in combat.

If you like any of the suggestions I will be on GMT afternoon - I can take you to cap barrage and burning arrow as well as testing your build in 1v1 PvP in my guild hall.

Good Luck
Tempus Reborn

Marverick

Marverick

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

R/

Barrage is way overrated... It is only good in B/P groups where you have minions/pets to hold aggro into one mob and an Orders necro increasing your damage per arrow, or in splinter farming. It only does good damage if you can hit 3 or more foes consistently, which will not happen 75%+ of the time. You'd be better of with Apply Poison -> Burning Arrow -> Epidemic for AoE damage and good single target capabilities and interrupting.

geraar

Pre-Searing Cadet

Join Date: Apr 2007

Murf

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marverick
Barrage is way overrated... It is only good in B/P groups where you have minions/pets to hold aggro into one mob and an Orders necro increasing your damage per arrow, or in splinter farming. It only does good damage if you can hit 3 or more foes consistently, which will not happen 75%+ of the time. You'd be better of with Apply Poison -> Burning Arrow -> Epidemic for AoE damage and good single target capabilities and interrupting. ²

thats exactly how i run my ranger
i killed mursaat with it before being infused

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tempus Reborn
Heya!
Ive been playing about 9 months almost exclusivly as a ranger so Il try to help how I can.
First of all in PVE AoE Damage is by far the easiest way to kill things - Barrage is almost broken in how much it can take down compared to other elites. I realise this would mean a serious alteration to your build (or alternativly you could make two, one with your build you have now and one with a barrage build, run a mission twice and see which is the most effective)
With 9 Points in Expertise I dont see why you need Prepared shot - your just not going to run out of energy unless a mesmer degens you.
Well Barrage is nice, but I would rather have more energy than I would possibly need. I would much rather have extra energy than AoE damage, because if I do get into a "jam" I would like to have enough energy to keep up Troll Unguent & Natural stride, even if there is a Mesmer. But yea, You might be absolutely correct, but I won't know for sure until I try it. Might work well for my Non-Fleshy build.

*Note* I meant for Savage shot to be Concussion shot in my builds!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tempus Reborn Lightning Reflexes is one of the most versitile skills - under obscene pressure you can emerge victorius with it especially if you also have whirling defence. True, Lightening Reflexes is a great skill, but it being already said, Lightening Reflexes is just simply beaten by Natural Stride because of the fact that it recharges extremely faster. Also, I'd rather not use 2 skill slots on survival stances.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tempus Reborn If you do wish to spike - which the poison and single shot skills suggest I recommend changing your elite to burning arrow. Coupled with Poison and with your Marksmanship you will inflict -11 health degeneration for 5 secs, then -3 for 3 secs before (another burning arrow) -11 again. I have been away from the game awhile now, So what do you guys mean by spike? As it is, I would get pretty good damage while doing -7 Degeneration within short bow range (might just have to start using a short bow then). So I have a fairly decent & Consistent damage to Condition damage ratio. Screaming shot would last 21 Seconds with 16 Marksmanship, and since Apply Poison is a Preparation, I will always have poison on, so there is always -7 Degeneration on my foes while also doing lots of additive damage. Also i plan on using my 3 bow attacks one after the other, so I should keep Degen up.

Quote: Originally Posted by Tempus Reborn
Dont put more than 3 points in wilderness survival just for poison arrows and troll ungent. Poison will last between bowstrikes if your attacking a single enemy with that amount in WS and its unlikely that you'll want to use Trolls ungent in combat. Well, Wilderness Survival is there mainly because of Troll Unguent. Yes I know the poison is with each hit, but it is also nice to maintain the poison while reapplying Apply Poison. Also, I most likely WILL be using troll unguent in combat, simply because of the fact that it is a FANTASTIC skill. with 12 Wilderness Survival I would have 9 health regeneration, that's 18 hp/Second. Which makes for a very efficient self heal. It also helps both the monks and myself. The monks have a less amount of pressure to keep everyone alive, and I can keep myself alive easily.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tempus Reborn
If you like any of the suggestions I will be on GMT afternoon - I can take you to cap barrage and burning arrow as well as testing your build in 1v1 PvP in my guild hall.

Good Luck
Tempus Reborn I'm actually not playing the game itself at this time. The plan is to begin around June 15th or so. So I am using this time period now to figure out what I want to do once I start playing. I might just hold you to your offer later on though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marverick
Barrage is way overrated... It is only good in B/P groups where you have minions/pets to hold aggro into one mob and an Orders necro increasing your damage per arrow, or in splinter farming. It only does good damage if you can hit 3 or more foes consistently, which will not happen 75%+ of the time. You'd be better of with Apply Poison -> Burning Arrow -> Epidemic for AoE damage and good single target capabilities and interrupting. Barrage is a great skill in certain situations and general PvE is, IMO, not one of those situations. I would like to try out that condition farming build though.

-Thanks to anyone who has responded so far, This thread is very helpful.

KazeMitsui

KazeMitsui

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

pretty sure its all up in yo face

[WHAT]

R/

if i were you just keep the build it was before but yea maybe take out one of the sundering/penetrating attacks for mauraders since it does do quite a lot of dmg

seven

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2005

it is interesting that barrage is often considered not effective/too situational for general pve just because it requires a crowded "clump" of monsters to work. (personally though, i do not share this opinion as it worked well for me pretty much through all the campaigns except for some special missions with few targets like dopple, shiro, varesh, abbadon)

it is also interesting that people like and use other skills like epidemic/death blossom/spiteful spirit when they are just the same as barrage when it comes to the requirement for them to work effectively. they are just all adjacent-spread skills. even on a group as small as two adjacent enemies together, a generic brg-spln setup would do appreciable damage. it's a bit surprising that other classes don't usually look down upon their other adjacent-spread skills and label them highly conditional for use in general pve.

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by KazeMitsui
if i were you just keep the build it was before but yea maybe take out one of the sundering/penetrating attacks for mauraders since it does do quite a lot of dmg
Actually, I did that in the last build I posted:

So what I'm getting from you guys, Is to switch out Penetrating attack for Marauder's attack. Also to use a different rez on my non-fleshy build, I have no objections so far to epidemic:

R/Me
Fleshy Condition Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Screaming shot[/skill][skill]Marauder's Shot[/skill][skill]Apply Poison[/skill][skill]Concussion Shot[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Epidemic[/skill][skill]Resurrection Signet[/skill]

R/Rt
Non-Fleshy Power Damage Build:

[skill]Prepared Shot[/skill][skill]Sundering Attack[/skill][skill]Marauder's Shot[/skill][skill]Kindle Arrows[/skill][skill]Concussion Shot[/skill][skill]Natural Stride[/skill][skill]Troll Unguent[/skill][skill]Death Pact Signet[/skill]

Marksmanship: 16 12+1+3

Wilderness Survival: 12 10+2

Expertise: 9 8+1

Bow:

[wiki]Elswyth's Recurve Bow[/wiki]

suggestions?

Quote:
Originally Posted by seven
it is interesting that barrage is often considered not effective/too situational for general pve just because it requires a crowded "clump" of monsters to work. (personally though, i do not share this opinion as it worked well for me pretty much through all the campaigns except for some special missions with few targets like dopple, shiro, varesh, abbadon)

it is also interesting that people like and use other skills like epidemic/death blossom/spiteful spirit when they are just the same as barrage when it comes to the requirement for them to work effectively. they are just all adjacent-spread skills. even on a group as small as two adjacent enemies together, a generic brg-spln setup would do appreciable damage. it's a bit surprising that other classes don't usually look down upon their other adjacent-spread skills and label them highly conditional for use in general pve. Well there are also very good reasons why [skill]Barrage[/skill] isn't liked very much as an AoE damage skill. To name the few:

1) It is really more of a spam attack, and has no real use when in general PvE, and it really kind of sucks that you choose not to use a different Elite in Nightfall.

2) It is an elite skill, so skill such as Epidemic, and death blossom will work under somewhat similar cases as Barrage, but do it without wasting an elite skill.

3) In general PvE, you really aren't targeting more than 2-3 people at the MOST. which doesn't happen very often, but even when it does, that is only a 26-39 increase in damage, but that barley ever happens for more than a few seconds, so therefore, you are usually doing +13 dmg to a single target, which is easily outweighed by a regular skill, such as [skill]Crossfire[/skill]

4) If you do choose Barrage, you are missing out on preparations, which could actually make up for Barrage on their own.

5) Barrage is very Situational-dependent skill. If you have a build that can easily incorporate Barrage, it will only thrive in PvE about 20% of the time which probably won't be happening very often..

While, in my case, Epidemic will probably be working about 40% of the time at the worst. So therefore, Epidemic would easily make up for Barrage IN MY BUILD.

6) Barrage is a Dmg-only skill, while my elite skill is a dmg, and energy management skill. Therefore, Prepared shot would be better for MY PLAYSTYLE in PvE. I like to have a lot of energy in case I get into situations where I have to survive, or fell like spamming the crap out of a boss, and wasting all my energy .

7) On that note, Single-Targeting skills are much more effective at bosses...

That's all I can think of...

KazeMitsui

KazeMitsui

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

pretty sure its all up in yo face

[WHAT]

R/

sounds like youre all set and ready to play when you do come back

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

Darn Tootin'! just gotta get some stuff together, lquidate some of my assests, and check characters for birthday presies!! Really want a mini-rurik! On that note, does anyone know the current prices of Wintergreen CCs, Yuletide tonics, and CC Weapons (non-Wintergreen)?

I can't wait to start up again, it'll be fun, only 3 more weeks....

seven

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2005

well i guess we just have different experiences with it then. in general missions it works for me most of the time. i just personally found it easy to look for / clump them together with just proper hero flagging or a good guildie tank. i've tried a preapared-condition spread build before, and i can honestly say i still finished missions much faster with a generic splinter barrage.

on that note, with the investment in channeling, you can have access to utilities like warmonger's (to cast on your your melee partymates). and some nice armor-ignoring dmg for hi-lvl areas from nightmare and or bloodsong, to switch to when they are already few or just bosses left. you make the your most impact when it is dangerous with a large mob, but a bit balanced for the few left afterwards. besides, if they are already to few to clump up; then they should easily mopped up by the rest of your party anyways.

it just puzzling that a skill like epidemic, which also needs the same mechanic as adjacent enemies to work, gets a higher percentage. epidemic needs them to clump together for it to work. unless of course you're manually switching targets to spread the condition around. a difference in the splinter-barrage when compared to a long lasting ajacent spread hex/spell is that it only needs an instance of clumping to do most of its damage. not many mobs last for more than 3-4 repeats.

i have never found any energy problems with that setup. warmonger's may seem pricey, but compared to spamming dist/savage/conc; it is usually just cast once and forget, until it recharges. however, i do switch from vamp to zealous once the rare edenial/debilitating monster hits once in a while.

all i'm saying is just that not everyone hates it and thinks its situational i guess it just works for my playstyle.
btw, what kind of cc weapons are you looking for? (got some in the trunk)

Marverick

Marverick

Forge Runner

Join Date: Aug 2006

R/

Death Blossom does good damage to a single target, Apply Poison -> Burning Arrow also does good single-target damage and Epidemic is just a kicker for groups.
In contrast, Barrage does terrible single target damage and half-decent duo target damage.
Spiteful Spirit can be kept up on multiple things to do lots of damage even if everything is just by itself, and it also ignores armor and is passive.


Splinter Barrage does rip up mobs but it is a tad bit too conditional and sucks against <=2 targets. I'd just use a Dervish with Splinter Weapon to kill mobs as they do good single-target damage as well.

seven

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2005

the other channeling skills work pretty well when they are already <=2, as you shouldn't be using it anymore with the low number of enemies. bringing splinter barrage leaves you with 6 more (5 with res) slots to work with for <=2 monsters. going that route does not mean you are forced nor should use it on single targets as well.

even though barrage removes preps, that doesn't mean you can't carry preps when they are already to few to use barrage on.

I Might Avenge U

I Might Avenge U

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Dec 2005

California

R/

Wow, I got to play a bit this weekend actually, and my build is fairly decent, but I'm only level 5 right now. Even at level 5 I must say, I'm quite impressed. I get a fairly decent energy management, and I can kill most things with the Apply Poison>Screaming shot>Epidemic>Prep Shot combo. Plus with the release of Tomes, Everything in life works again . Great things tomes are..

Also, it turn out I got a Bone Dragon as a minipet on one of my chars for a B-day present. Good Omen I guess . EXTRA STORAGE FTW!!!