Hard Mode Advice

Blu

Blu

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2007

Michigan

Blades of Burning Shadows [GoDT]

R/

Hi, I've using my ranger to VQ and such in HM.

I'm usually using a modified Sabway with a generic BHA ranger with SY and EBSoH, or using Racway with the IF SY spammer build in that thread. All my heroes are kitted out with optimal weapons and runes.

For some reason, I seem to be having a lot of party wipe in many areas. A usual fight goes like this.

When I tried Against the Charr, I pull charr mobs from a group, usually targeting the Flameshielders or Monk Charr. Soon, the warrior charrs start to kill off my party, I usually try to blind them but it doesn't always guarantee sucess. It really feels like SY (And any other defense) isn't doing much at all. This also happens in many of the other non-beginning areas.

Am I doing it wrong?

Siadina Sorrowchild

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2008

Garden of Pain

R/N

A lot of hard mode is good pulling. Your builds sould be good to run though i would like to see your skill bar. Also depends very much on which area you are in. 4 man 6 man or so.

I run BhA epidimic ranger with mm, WoHhybrid monk, and Koss. Usualy its just me so if able i grab Prot/healer Hencies and depending on the mobs either longrange peeps for heavly patrolled areas..keeps the accidental aggro to a min....or fighter/guardians/cuttthroat

So let me know area and skill set or two and i can help you better *grin*

Minime The Shadow

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

England (south)

Order Of Universal Spirit

R/

just a quick pointer, sounds pretty much what i use, but using SY with ranger, depending on your allegiance rank, can be pretty near useless

i like to take ebon vanguard sin with BHA, daze a key caster, let the sin in to do the dirty work, its a fire and forget situation, so u can then use ur hard interupts to stop meteor showers and other key skills.

hope that helps

Richardt

Richardt

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2007

http://friendsofloa.com/forum

Leader-Legion of Avalon [LoA] Alliance-Recruiting PM for info!

Vanguard Sin is a nice touch in the Charr lands.

The Charr are vicious for a number of reasons:

1) Massive AoE attacks
2) Rezzers are NOT the monks-you want to spike the Dominators and Avengers first. If the group has both, kill the Doms, and when the Avengers use FoMF hit them, then kill the Dom-both should be at half-life and will go down easily. Or take Frozen Soil (since you're a ranger that's the easiest route).
3) Degen-they like to use hexes and burning to bypass your armor.

I would place yourself and the paras in front, flag everyone else back and hopefully the warriors will get hung up on you while you devestate the Charr backline.

Thizzle

Banned

Join Date: Apr 2008

The best advice is don't die.

MasterSasori

MasterSasori

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2007

USA

[Thay]

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thizzle
The best advice is don't die.
You might as well give him advice on how to fly:

Jump into the air and try to miss the ground.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blu
Hi, I've using my ranger to VQ and such in HM.

I'm usually using a modified Sabway with a generic BHA ranger with SY and EBSoH, or using Racway with the IF SY spammer build in that thread. All my heroes are kitted out with optimal weapons and runes.

For some reason, I seem to be having a lot of party wipe in many areas. A usual fight goes like this.

When I tried Against the Charr, I pull charr mobs from a group, usually targeting the Flameshielders or Monk Charr. Soon, the warrior charrs start to kill off my party, I usually try to blind them but it doesn't always guarantee sucess. It really feels like SY (And any other defense) isn't doing much at all. This also happens in many of the other non-beginning areas.

Am I doing it wrong? First off, I haven't used the build you're referring to so I don't know how well it performs. What I do know is that [broad head arrow]+[epidemic]+[volley] is extremely useful and is even better if one of your necros pack [splinter weapon].

There is also the paragon friend build somewhere on this forum; I heard it works very well.

SY! maybe be awesome but the idea of SY! on ranger sounds iffy.

Marty Silverblade

Marty Silverblade

Administrator

Join Date: Jun 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterSasori
SY! maybe be awesome but the idea of SY! on ranger sounds iffy. Saw an interesting build the other day, not sure where, but it used Triple Shot/Dual Shot as the major adr builder, and along with [[FGJ] it would keep SY up constantly provided the target didn't block. I haven't seen it in action, but it's a nice theory.

natural sugar

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by Marty Silverblade
Saw an interesting build the other day, not sure where, but it used Triple Shot/Dual Shot as the major adr builder, and along with [[FGJ] it would keep SY up constantly provided the target didn't block. I haven't seen it in action, but it's a nice theory. There are a bunch of alternative SY! builds posted in this thread that are worth checking out.

If you're facing a lot of melee, its worth taking a blinder or throwing ward against melee on an Ele. The blinder/ward should be enough to cover your henchies against the warriors/dervish/etc. You might also want to use Aegis on the MM, I believe thats one of the variants on the Sabway MM.

SNIEVES

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2006

Dumfries, Virginia, USA

Happy guild moor

R/

Hi,

Congrats and goodluck on your harmode , vanquishing adventure, if you are playing a ranger, as i do, you defuntly would want to run a Broadhead arrow build with apply poson and epidemic, broadhead arrow is god sent and essential in hardmode, a good Broadhead arrow ranger is worth his weight in gold in hardmode, also, in areas with lots of AOE dmg, you might want to consider brining a paragon suppport build hero, also a good SS necro is extremly valuable, not to make any negative remarks on Sabway builds, but there are plenty of other builds that a very viable and solid, check for posts by a poster named Payne, he have played with him, and can vouch that his advice is solid, and builds are second to none !!!!

Gwendolyn Star

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by MasterSasori
You might as well give him advice on how to fly:

Jump into the air and try to miss the ground. not really. it sounds a little stupid at first, but not dying will make the game so much easier. and its really not that hard... strafe projectiles, kite melee, bring decent monks. start with not dying, then move on to killing.

shru

shru

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Apr 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Coloneh
it sounds a little stupid at first, but not dying will make the game so much easier. and its really not that hard... strafe projectiles, kite melee, bring decent monks. it sounds a little stupid at first, but flying will make getting around so much easier. and its really not that hard...get up high enough, jump, and avoid the ground.

all that aside, try giving him actual helpful advice, i.e. build info, strategies to help use the builds to their fullest potential, and tactics for certain tricky areas.
Just please, none of this "Don't die" or "Fail less" crap.

OP: Seeing as you have all the equipment and builds down, you probably just need to work on your pulling and targeting. I'd suggest going R/Me for epidemic when using Sab's heros so you can shut down multiple casters with AoE daze+volley spam (be sure to bring poison tipped sig for a cover condition). Also try pulling groups around corners so that they'll bunch up and provide easier targets.
With Charr, your first priority targets should be flameshielders, as once you aggro their group, they're likely to start using aegis and meteor shower, then quickly pick off anything that can rez. By that time you should be able to steam roll whatever is left.

DarkSpirit

DarkSpirit

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

Redmond

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blu
Hi, I've using my ranger to VQ and such in HM.

I'm usually using a modified Sabway with a generic BHA ranger with SY and EBSoH, or using Racway with the IF SY spammer build in that thread. All my heroes are kitted out with optimal weapons and runes.

For some reason, I seem to be having a lot of party wipe in many areas. A usual fight goes like this.

When I tried Against the Charr, I pull charr mobs from a group, usually targeting the Flameshielders or Monk Charr. Soon, the warrior charrs start to kill off my party, I usually try to blind them but it doesn't always guarantee sucess. It really feels like SY (And any other defense) isn't doing much at all. This also happens in many of the other non-beginning areas.

Am I doing it wrong? My advice to you is:

1) Dont ever complain about SY not being effective in certain areas, in the Paragon forum, as most Paragons there will attribute it to your fault. Thus, the "dont die", "dont fail" useless advice then the flames. SY is suppose to be "undefeatable" according to some people.

2) The truth is, SY is totally defeatable in some areas. There are many ways to bring a single SY H/H team down.

3) You may need to re-invent the build. Bring a necro with [[Rigor Mortis], bring hex removal, bring interrupts if you can, then target the charrs in the following order: Dominators, Flameshielders, Prophets, the rest. Also bring hex and condition removal if you can.

AshenX

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

Orange County, CA.

Black Flag

R/

I have had really good luck with an earth ele hero running ward against melee (and/or Aegis), eruption, sandstorm, and churning earth in their bar. It keeps the char melees from being too serious of a threat while i finish off the casters.

The melees spend their time blind, or having their skills blocked, or kiting from my heroes damage over time aoe instead of attacking effectively. Im not saying that this is better than Sabway (his builds are quite nice) but this works well for me and I generally prefer to run my own builds.

note: I agree completely with Darkspirit's order of targeting the Char with one minor caveat: After I get my party targeted on the Dominator I immediately switch over to the Flame Shielder so I can interrupt Meteor Shower and/or Aegis.

Laylat

Laylat

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

E/

I don't play a ranger, but hopefully my method of pulling will help you out. If you play using Sabway (and I highly recommend you do in the charr areas), make sure your minion master is not left behind. A lot of times, I would pull a group of mobs and [CTRL+ALT+SPACE] the target that should be taken out first (dominators) and my H&H would charge in and attack... only to be taken out by 1) spikes from the warrior charr or 2) AOE damage.

Having your minion master and minions in range will make it so that the initial spike (often the most deadly in encounters) will be absorbed by the minions. With your H&H attacking out the primary target, the warrior mobs are being hit with Death Nova. The enemy monks can not focus on healing one target... making the primary target more difficult to heal.

As mentioned before, Broadhead Arrow, Epidemic, Volley, and Frozen Soil will end the fairly quickly.

Another skill to utilize is pain inverter. I tyically cast it on the ele's after calling my primary target. Example:

I'm targeting Charr Dominator!
*Pulls, and runs back to team*
Agro established
*Casts pain invertor on ele*
Press t and attack the primary target.

Firestorm hitting a group of minions will result in the ele dying in 3 to 4 seconds.

For Henchmen, I'd recommend Herta, Mhenlo, [Mesmer; forgot his name (he uses Arcane Cunondrum(sp?) and Ineptitude)], and either Cyn or Lina [Prot henchmen].

Sorry if this sounds stupid and or too basic, but it's amazing how many times a wipe resulted due to my minion master's minion not within initial enemy agro range.

Oh, don't forget to use the seige devourer! Cheap, yeah, but it's there, so make good use of it. I highly recommend you *don't* use it if you have no minions.

Hope this helps, and good luck in your future vanquishing!

RavagerOfDreams

RavagerOfDreams

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2007

somewhere over the rainbow....

A/

play build wars

look up the monsters in that area then set up your heroes builds and your build accordingly

Adja1005

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2008

Scotland

R/

Been having a few issues with vanquishing the EOTN areas in HM with my Ranger aswell but i found the following to be somewhat helpfull...

1.) Always remember to have you're EOTN title tracks selected for the correct area, don't be using the Norn title in the Charr homelands like i did once...

2.) If running BHA in the Charr homelands i suggest you ignore the epidemic route and use the Ebon Assassin Support skill. It can seriously wipe a caster in seconds and since he lasts longer against Charr he'll cause havoc in their backline. Not to mention i find he aggros really well, pop him on a melee charr and they'll totally ignore the rest of the party.

3.) BHA isn't the only build a Ranger can use. Try high damage builds to seriously spike targets and make it easier for H&H to finish them off. I've found Glass Arrows + Triple Shot + I Am The Strongest = awesome spike damage even at a very low Luxon/Kurzick title. While its great to daze and interupt it can prolong a fight if you arent dealing much damage. So try out some spiking builds and you'll soon notice red bars dropping like flies.

4.) Pulling can make or break a group. Learn to pull more effectively and you'll live longer. I find it can be best if you take a minute to watch enemy patrols and then decide when and where its best to pull from.

5.) Research what you will be facing and adjust builds accordingly, if you know you will be facing heavy degen from conditons or hexes then equip some hex and condition removal skills on heroes or yourself.

6.) Using SY! on a Ranger just isn't as effective as when used on a Paragon, so chuck that build to the side and start playing a proper Ranger. Interupts, Conditions and Spike damage is what we are best at doing, leave the party defense to monks or paragons.

7.) Use that siege devourer, its there for a reason so whenever you get the chance you should get in and lay waste to everything that attacks you.

Belonah15

Belonah15

Academy Page

Join Date: Sep 2007

[Save Yourselves!] gives +100 armor against physical damage. It does nothing against health degeneration and life stealing.

If you are using SY! the Dominators and Hexreapers must be priority targets due to their Hexes and Degens. Dominators also uses [Power Block] - having your healer disabled for 10-15 seconds can result in a party wipe, especially if you pulled wrong.

You must also have Condition and Hex removal skills against the Charr. Anyway running around without some condition removal in EotN HM is not very smart. Try something like [Draw Conditions] with [Purge Conditions], and [Smite Hex] on your monk.

Laylat

Laylat

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Belonah15
[Save Yourselves!] gives +100 armor against physical damage. Are you sure it's physical damage? I thought it was all damage excluding armour ignoring and, like you said, life stealing.

Belonah15

Belonah15

Academy Page

Join Date: Sep 2007

Sorry I was being unclear.

Elemental (Fire/Cold/Earth/Lightning) and Physical (Blunt/Pierce/Slashing) are affected by armor - AL reduces those types of damage, as they are all considered "physical" damage. These are commonly applied via attack skills (using weapons) and certain offensive spells from Elementalists. Armor buffs like SY! will reduce the damage.

Holy/Dark/Shadow damage types are armor ignoring damage types. Necros deal Shadow damage commonly in Blood or Curses skill lines. Armor buffs will not reduce these damage types.

Some Necro and Mesmer hexes are untyped and depending on the conditions can be armor ignoring. Some factors in AL.

Skills like [Shielding Hands] and ["There's Nothing to Fear!"] are untyped protection and reduces all damage types, including life stealing.

At least this is how I understand the game mechanics.