interrupting volley...er

this is entirely theoretical. i haven't tested it, since i don't have the resources *cough cough* money *cough* and lack of GW:EN *cough* *wheeze*for this build (oh! and nightfall *dies*), and i absolutely know it is not at it's full potential so here goes...

skills are set from a scale of 0 to 15

1.) Escape - Stance [Elite]
Energy: 5
Activation: 0 Duration: 1..8
Recharge: 12
Stance. For 1..8 seconds, you move 33% faster and have a 75% chance to block attacks.

2.) Volley - Attack
Energy: 5
Activation: 0 Recharge: 2
Attack. All your Preparations are removed. Shoot arrows at up to 3 foes adjacent to your target. These arrows strike for +1..10 damage if they hit.

3.) Antidote Signet - Signet
Activation: 1 Recharge: 4
Signet. Cleanse yourself of Poison, Disease, and Blindness.

4.) Warmonger's Weapon - Weapon Spell
Energy: 10
Activation: 1 Duration: 5..15
Recharge: 20
Weapon Spell. For 5..15 seconds, If target ally attacks a foe who is not attacking, that foe is interrupted.

5.) ?????????????????

6.) Troll Unguent - Skill
Energy: 5
Activation: 3 Duration: 10
Recharge: 10
Skill. For 10 seconds, you gain +3..10 Health regeneration.

7.) Nightmare Weapon - Weapon Spell
Energy: 5
Activation: 1 Duration: 12
Recharge: 10
Weapon Spell. For 12 seconds, target ally has a Nightmare Weapon. Target ally's next 3 attacks are reduced by 10..50 damage and steal up to 10..50 Health.

8.) Flesh of My Flesh - Spell
Energy: 5
Activation: 4 Recharge: 0
Spell. Lose half your Health. Resurrect target ally with your current Health and 5..20% Energy.


1.) beyond crazy defensive stance

2.) main attack. not meant for damage, only for Warmonger's and Nightmare buff, which both are meant for interrupt and armor ignoring damage/heal

3.) a ranger is useless if he's blind.

4.) easiest interrupting skill...ever

5.) someone plz give me suggestions!! ^^;;;;;;

6.) escape ---> troll = staple ranger mid battle regen heal, and since you don't need to put much, if any, points into marks, then this skill will be more powerful.

7.) Armor ignoring damage/126 heal when needed.

8.) hard rez. since this build has sufficient defense and sort-of-heals, then half health shouldn't be a problem if you cast troll and nightmare before you use it.



12+1 expertise (since most of the ranger skills are 5 energy, 2 energy is heaven.)

10 wilderness (8 pips of regen is wonderful. although i'm using all this for one skill, if my math is correct, this shouldn't be a problem at all)

10 channeling (if i did the correct math, then i will be so happy cuz i suck at math XP)

4 attribute points left. you can put them however you want in resto for a friendlier rez or in marks for a small increase in damage.

OBJECTIVE
this is NOT a damage dealer. Rangers need to bend over backwards, and lose alot of the utility i love about this class, to have excellent damage (WITHOUT the splinter/barrage overpowerfulness). This is a caster shutdown build, which is excellent since casters are such pains in asses to fight against (it's a compliment :P), especially monks and eles.

WEAKNESS
There will be about 8 seconds where you will just sit there spamming volley, which is useless so splinter weapon, even Natural Stride with changing the elite to Barrage, can be in the fifth slot if you're really impatient


overall, i like this build. It's a great asset to any team in an area with casters. Melee characters can't live for long without their caster buddies backing them up.

I can't wait to test it out after i get GW:EN....and Nightfall

Any constructive criticism is welcome, but no flaming. If you feel like you absolutely HAVE to flame, give me reasons and suggestions.

so yeah, critique and respond plz ^_^

I think that yes, you have indeed gone overkill on defense. I take it that you've essentially tanked Marksmanship entirely?

I'd probably be inclined to suggest the following:

Channeling: 10
Expertise: 11+1+1
Wilderness Survival: 6
Marksmanship: 8+1

This'll at least make sure you meet the requirements on a typical max damage bow - at the cost of one second's duration of Warmonger's and two pips off Troll Ungeunt. It does give ten unused attribute ranks, though - you can put them in Wilderness Survival, but it won't give you anything for it, or you could drop Wilderness still further and get Marksmanship up.

I'd certainly suggest, at the very least, using the primary-class skill that you want the most ranks in for your headgear. I know this isn't always possible in PvE (I currently have a Dervish with a Mysticism hood that I'm wishing I'd made Scythe Mastery) but it's the best way to make sure you get more bang for your proverbial buck attributes-wise.

I think the idea is a good one, but personally I think it would be better accomplished with a Ritualist casting those weapon spells on full-damage Barrage rangers.

Draxynnic: alright, well 1 second less of warmonger's for 23 more attribute points is not bad at ALL; i will definitely change that. i am also gonna get rid of Lightning Reflexes, but i don't know what to replace it with.

ah yes, the bow. well, as i've said before, this is not for damage, so *15-28 damage (9 marksmanship)* will not be a problem, but this scenario will be TOTALLY different if the bow gives you a necessary buff that needs points in marksmanship. Overall, i think a shortbow(for the shorter flight time and attack interval) and recurve (for the low arc and long range) are excellent for this build. I prefer a vampiric or zealous short bow and a defensive recurve bow of shelter/fortitude will help. good thing we have 4 different weapon sets

the main point of the build is caster shut down, and with volley, the preps won't normally be useful, trapping isn't the best with this build either (i only put points in WS for Troll Unguent). Marksmanship doesn't have any skills that mesh well with this build. there seem to be only damaging skills with the elite taken.

Splinter weapon would work well, but i would prefer not to take such an easy route, my opinion of course. Guided Weapon would be nice for more utility, but 15e energy is gonna kill me. I only chose lightning reflexes for the attack buff and a backup stance if escape is negated, however it really isn't all that needed because of the quick recharge of escape.


iridescentfyre: it would work better if a rit would cast it, however it is unreliable since you have no control of the skill. I, personally, do not like to use Barrage since Volley is a non-elite version of it, and this build is not meant for damage anyways. there are plenty of group members for damage when you're PUGing. *rolls eyes*

i did consider applying the aspect of this build for a rit primary. However, the stances would be very weak and inconvenient.



everyone: this build is for PvE btw :P not sure if it will translate well, if at all, into PvP

why no barrage?

Barrage takes up my elite slot.

sure it's nice, but i prefer Escape and Volley over Barrage and Natural Stride.

If you want an interrupter, use choking gas or dshot/savage shot for real interrupting. That way you'd do damage too outside of using nightmare weapon since you'd have higher than...0 marksmanship

Choking Gas is an excellent prep, and distracting shot/savage shot are great skills, but...that's three skills for a prep that lasts shorter than warmonger's (and who's recharge is longer than warmonger's), and two single target disrupting skills.

As i've said before, this build is NOT for damage. it is for inhibiting different casters at the same time.

I am more interested in finding a skill that will integrate well in this build..

i was thinking of Apply Poison, for the 8 seconds that you WILL be absolutely useless. Since the bow is a utility weapon, not a damage weapon necessarily, interrupts and condition spreading come natural for this class; just add a +33% poison duration bow *cough cough* /bonus tada!! *cough cough*. Since Volley isn't always needed to be effective, you can stack poison and interrupt to weaken and pressure single targets.

any ideas will be appreciated, just be openminded to a 0 marksmanship ranger. (that line really needs a buff btw :P)

barrage builds are better. its not terrible though.

thx coloneh.

my 0 marks ranger (i think that would have been a better title lol) and barragers are completely different in uses.

we have our different pov's. nothing wrong with that

Nice idea I'll have to try it out sometime. For the optional slot I'd personally take Splinter Weapon for a little AoE dmg, I actually prefer to use SW with Volley now as it frees up a slot for another elite such as BHA or in your case Escape.

Recently I've been running a R/Me BHA Epidemic build with Volley in it so I know how good Volley can be (in the right circumstances) for shutting down those pesky casters. As I think about it though BHA+Epidemic does something your build wont it allows your entire group to interupt those casters affected by daze, although I suppose a condition removal like Martyr can put and end to the fun really quickly.

Still definitely worth taking a look at.

ScorpiusX

its a good concept but you know what would be better?

Barrage + Great Dwarf Wep = gg

Knockdowns (interrupts) and +damage and decent duration.

ScorpiusX: yeah...that Dazed effect is pretty sweet.....well there are BOUND to be variants anyways so yeah. good luck to yah


Skyros: That IS a great combo, but that involves communicating with a PUG team member (and, for the most part, IT IS SO HARD >.<), with that skill cuz it's a "target other ally" weapon spell. X__X