got me thinking

[Clogan]

was playing my hunter today and i think there needs to be a look at them we take a shot and the enemy are in are faces in under a second add special firing times.

just seems like we are a very weak race personally i say reduce the timers on specials a little bit not enough to make us a pew pew class but to give us a chance and make the auto attack bow speed faster

just my ideas

[Shikon]

you might have a point on auto attack speed because that just seems really slow yes
spamming skills is faster =p

but i don't think specials should et a reduced cast/draw time.
in solo it might seem slow but if you have enough distance you can still take down a mob fast.

and if you would make skill spamming faster think what a hunter could do in a party you would probably dish out twice as much damage as all the other party members together. that just seems wrong to me even if hunters are supposed to be nukers =p

[Clogan]

yeah you make a fair point okay so scrap the special timer reduction but descrese the auto attack speed even if they reduced the dmg by a bit but sped it up i dunno but somthing

[Teriodin]

Once you get dual wield, mobs rushing into your face doesn't bother you any more - believe me :)

As for shot speed, I can kill any green mob before it gets to me and most light blue mobs die as they get to me from 1 hit. Normal blue mobs take a special or two and they are dead also.

I pull with Quickshot [using Strength Stance] so the mob runs slowly, I then hit it with Swift Bow (2 hits) and follow up with Barbed Arrow. If they are not dead when they get to me I usually use Swift Stroke, followed by Scourging Blow [needs Barbed Arrow to have hit to be really effective] if they were still breathing the extra damage on this last attack finishes most mobs off.

If something jumps me unexpectedly I have lots of options. If I'm not worried by the mob, my usual choice is Barbed Arrow in their face with Swift Stroke and Scourging Blow to follow - rinse and repeat until they die.

For tougher mobs jumping me, Low Cut - run - then use the Quickshot line...

Using traps makes my life a lot easier too, I can take most paired mobs that way.

I really feel hunter is working fine the way it is. I never run out of power and I rarely get low on health as long as I'm sensible. :D

[Arodor]

I pull with Quickshot [using Strength Stance] so the mob runs slowly, I then hit it with Swift Bow (2 hits) and follow up with Barbed Arrow. If they are not dead when they get to me I usually use Swift Stroke, followed by Scourging Blow [needs Barbed Arrow to have hit to be really effective] if they were still breathing the extra damage on this last attack finishes most mobs off.


All good but for me after the barbed arrow ill usualy use Penertrating shot and that usualy does the trick.... the thing is with hutner you cant just go stomping, its about time, preperation and knowing your limits, thats part of the fun, the best hunter players are the ones who chose their targets and fights so that the enemy has dropped before it gets close enough to swipe at you...... thats just my opinion tho ; )

But for me, I find a great deal of satisfaction to kill an emey before it gets to close, then to kill one after losing half health because he got to close

[Bucephio]

And the animal cry skill is fantastic. I can take out creatures 4 levels above me (That I've tried so far) and never go down to less than half health. I usually go Swift Bow, Barbed Arrow, Penetrating Shot, take a hit and then the animal cry thingy, a quick shot if swift bow hasn't become available, etc. It's a really fantastic skill and if you use it in conjunction with a trap you'll be able to deal with creatures very easily. Although they have balanced it a bit with insects who don't respond to it, and creatures that reduce agility.

And the bane of my life, those god damn birds.

[Halo Jones]

heh ebil birds :)

my combo is

trap, swift bow, barbed arrow, penetrating strike, swift shot, penetrating strike, scourging blow, then spam the other meele strikes and they're soon dead, dual weilding helps alot

I have the class trait to reduce penetrating strike down to only using 2 focus, a very effective assault

[Baksheesh]

All good but for me after the barbed arrow ill usualy use Penertrating shot and that usualy does the trick.... the thing is with hutner you cant just go stomping, its about time, preperation and knowing your limits, thats part of the fun, the best hunter players are the ones who chose their targets and fights so that the enemy has dropped before it gets close enough to swipe at you...... thats just my opinion tho ; )

But for me, I find a great deal of satisfaction to kill an emey before it gets to close, then to kill one after losing half health because he got to close

I have noticed that my quickshot seems not to be slowing mobs anymore. Anyone else noticed this? Spiders, Wolves and Half-Orcs in the weather hills at the moment and that yellow box just isn' popping up. Been like that the last two sessions.

I am probably missing something, but are alot of mobs resistant to quickshot slowdown?

Anyone else feeling like this skill is becoming less effective?

[Erowas]

set trap, barbed arrow(snare dot), swift, quick,quick,penetrating... then chump out some melee moves... makes anything yellow or below die before they land more than 1 hit ... usally

[fatallyflawed]

set trap, barbed arrow(snare dot), swift, quick,quick,penetrating... then chump out some melee moves... makes anything yellow or below die before they land more than 1 hit ... usally

Pretty much exactly the same as my combo, I have managed mobs upto 5lvls higher than me with this method.

[F6Knight]

people really gotta learn how to play their class before complaining on the forum ... the enemy does not reach you in 1 second. auto shot is fast enough, bows are strong enough. the hunter class is pretty strong to solo.

but i ll try to be nice this time and actually give some tips

always use strenght stance (solo AND in group). the other 2 stances are useless.
now i expect a lot of people to cry 'NO YOU FOOL, YOU WILL PULL AGRO FROM TANK' ... i ve had kinship tanks 2 levels below me keep agro with me going all out dps (intent concentration, swift bow + penetrating shot spams with strenght stance active). any decent tank will keep agro or regain it very fast if you would pull agro. if you pull agro then just stop shooting for a few seconds. any decent guardian will get agro back (if they have power for specials. pay attention to the guardians power bar. dont overnuke if the guardian has no power. its better to just use auto shots for a bit then)
you do not need the extra hit chance or the lower agro from the other 2 stances. you r a nuker and guardians can and will keep agro most of the time. so do your job and nuke with strenght stance.

most equal level mobs are dead or near dead when they reach me (unless i miss a lot on my opening combo)
but for those that cry that enemies reach them too fast or are too strong, here is my opening combo:
- range: at least 20m. preferably max or near max range
- swift bow: the enemy does NOT agro until the first arrow actually hits them (or miss, or they evade).
- quick shot: with strenght stance for the 40% slow. by the time it hits the enemy will be on his way to you but if you started combat at max range you got plenty of time left for other shots.
- note: i think the quick shot slow effect can be resisted even if quick shot does dmg. that might explain some people complaining that their quick shot didnt slow the enemy. (not sure though. never paid attention to it)
- let 1 auto shot happen
- penetrating shot (you need the penetrating shot deed to decrease focus cost from 3 to 2 // imho a very powerful deed)
- let 1 auto shot happen
- quick shot
- if you were at max range when u started the fight and if the enemy didnt use a charge skill (some boars/orcs have charge to increase their runspeed towards you) then the enemy should just about reach you when your second quick shot hits. leaving you with 2 focus again for another penetrating shot.
- penetrating shot (you need the penetrating shot deed to decrease focus cost from 3 to 2)
- finish with quick strikes/auto attacks and that melee skill that activates after a parry (lvl 24 or 26 melee skill)
- if the enemy has too much health left (due to misses or in case of elites/signatures) then i use intent concentration and spam penetrating shots and quick strikes in between melee auto attacks.


next are some general tips

i only use traps on elites/signatures or on groups of 2+ mobs
also never shoot the trapped mob (unless you r just using a trap to dmg/stop an elite/signature mob). trap holds them in place for 30 seconds. thats time enough to deal with adds and take some range again.
you can use traps on single non elite mobs but imho its a waste of time.

if you got too much trouble with enemies around your level then use the focus skill to get 9 focus before you even start the fight. then you can just spam penetrating shots every time it cools down after the initial pulling combo(penetrating is an instant without cast bar so it cannot be interupted unless you are stunned/knocked down)

use specials IN BETWEEN auto attacks. using fast specials in between auto attacks does NOT slow your auto attack speed. this works very well with the melee specials, penetrating shot and intent concentration since they are instants. quick shot got a pretty fast castbar and doesnt slow down auto attacking too much if you use it right after an auto attack and if its not interupted.

i can probably give more tips if i think a bit but at work and my colleages and boss are starting to look funny my way due to all the typing i m doing :p

[Halo Jones]

Interesting that you suggest using stance strength all the time.
I do not, I haven't really used it since stance precision became available. I prefer all my shots to hit, and now they all do, also given my class traits now, I utilise one to increase bow damage, a second to reduce the focus cost of penetrating arrow by 1 point, and a third that builds one focus point every 5 seconds that you're in precision stance. It makes a crossbow a slaughtercannon.

I used power stance up until precision became avaialble as I found mobs with higher level than me could avoid shots, or shots missed entirely, with precision they do not. Better to hit with more shots than cause a little more damage and have one miss.

The rest of your advice I find very sound.

[Bleachy]

I agree - I use precision stance when klilling mobs that are red to me and in some cases purple. I have found that I actually hit mobs when in this stance with precision stance. Anything lower than that and I use the Strength stance.

[Ueauvan]

at 32 i use precision stance 90% of the time, soloing high cons i can miss a lot otherwise. using the precise trait, ie 1 focus increase per 5 secs. swift arrow>swift bow>penetrating shot>mercy shot. works nicely on white/yellow cons north downs when they are 1200 odd hps