Winnowing

Hey. I was playing last night in Sorrow's Furnace doing the High Priest quest when I noticed the ranger in my group was using the skill Winnowing (Physical damage adds +4 damage). Our group only had 2 warriors and a ranger so we weren't too large on physical damage dealers. He kept insisting it was a smart move, but to me it seemed to favor the enemy moreso then our party since there was a larger influx of constant physical damagers then our three-some of physical damage dealers. We actually ended up failing because our group foolishly split in half and after discussing with him he still decided to bring it and Winter (?). Do you think winnowing is useful in PvE situations when not focusing on builds like b/p in the tombs and I'm missing some hidden strength to it or is it a dud skill to be using?

Winnowing speeds up the battle, for the better or worse. If you're running pets, Minion Master, or any other source of high-packets of physical damage, it's fine.

However, yes, in a group unprepared for it, many ranger spirits are not something you want to bring, as they can be dangerous to your team as well.

The only time I'd take it is with my Minion Master setup, or when you have several Rangers using Barrage or other speedy bow attacks. Otherwise, the +4 physical damage doesn't really add a noticable difference.

If you get a Minion Factory going and get Winnowing up, that's some hardcore trouble.

We didn't have a MM or a load of secondary rangers with pets so there wasn't a lot of ancillary party members.

Winnowing + Frenzy + Eviscerate {E} + Apply Poison = Pwnage