Going through the skills

[DanFraser]

I am a lvl 35 Hunter that is sticking with this class mainly because it is the only one that seems right for me (I've rolled a few other classes, but I don't like the playing style).

Anyway, I was just wondering what other players have set their skill order to for attacking mobs. I currently have my hotbar set up as -

1 Set Trap, 2 Focus, 3 Needful Haste, 4 Swift Bow, 5 Quick Shot, 6 Penetrating Shot, 7 Barbed Arrow, 8 Scourging Blow, 9 Agile Rejoinder, 0 Intent Concentration, - Merciful Shot, = Rain of Arrows

When attacking any mod i go through them all in that order, for normal mobs I tend to find I don't get past Quick Shot :) Elites (4k 28-32) take a bit longer and I switch through back to 4 and repeat through the order.

Things go smoothly for those solo one on ones. I can even just about manage 2 of the elites, though it does get a little worrying at times.

Does anyone have another way of doing it, any particular reason why? Any crits with how I've set myself up?

[zimoo]

Personally I don't use quick shot in a planned battle (only use it otherwise for the +1 focus, or the snare...though I only use strength stance in EM).

Needful haste I have not used once in the entire game...not once. My hunter characters have gained a total of about 90 levels and I've never started the trait for it :)

Basically these are my 2 fighting styles, although I do try to adapt and throw in random moves if I get bored of pressing the buttons in a sequence decided upon before the battle.

Soloing normal mobs:

-Focus generation
-Swift bow
-Barbed arrow
-Penetrating shot
-Scourging Blow
-Penetrating shot
-Swift bow
-Loot

Soloing elites:

-Focus generation
-Lay trap
-Heartseeker (or swift bow if on cd)
-Penetrating shot
-Run back a bit to gain distance on trapped mob/Start screaming at the computer because my trap didn't work on a level 43
-Swift bow
-Barbed arrow
-Penetrating shot
-Scourging blow
-Penetrating shot
-Cry of the predator (only elites I solo are turtles)
-Swift bow
-Penetrating shot
-Merciful shot
-Loot/DF

Just so linear and boring most times. My guardian is great fun, as the way the battle goes depends entirely on your blocks/parries/if you have aggro etc

[Bell of Eternity]

My tactics also depend on the mob. However, I've done the following selections for my character; the class trait that lower pen shot cost to 2 focus, good will, good fate, the class trait that gives a small power boost with intent concentration.

Soloing against trash mobs I always use strength stance. I open by focusing up, shoot a quick shot to lame them, and then just spam quick shot and penetrating shot. The mob is dead before it reaches me, next.

Soloing against normal mobs nearer to my level, I might lay a trap if it is meleer, or I feel I'm not wasting my time with the trap-laying. Focus up, and if the target is ranged I use swift, melee mobs I lame with quick shot. Next a barbed arrow for bleed, then a penetrating shot. Then just quick shot - penetrating shot spam and swift whenever it has recycled.

Now elite mobs, I always lay down a trap. I follow the same strategy as above, but open up with heartseeker and replenish bleed when necessary, and I definitely use needful haste to reduce induction and quicken my shots (note that needful haste has two effects). Intent concentration and pots to replenish my power when necessary. With luck on criticals, the elite may go down before I need to fall back on pot for power, depends on its morale of course. If it was an animal I used to throw in fear too, but it's pointless now after the change.

In some cases you simply have to pull two because mobs are stationary and too close to each other. In those cases I throw in rain of arrows whenever available, as it has no induction, and bleed the other mob while it is queued for my second kill. If three are attacking me it is usually due to botched pull or they managed to jump on me. Trash mobs will go fine, but close to my level and I may run depending on their relative power. I might even opt for melee attacks (which I don't normally touch at all) because they have no induction. Elites I only solo, if two get to me -> flee. In a hairy situation I'll also hit that 75% parry for 10 secs, and the final card to play is DF.

In boss fights where the enemy has something like 40K+ morale, and in groups generally, I go for endurance stance. less aggro and less power consumption that way. Precision I don't really ever use since my arrows seem to hit at an acceptable rate anyway.

[zimoo]

I don't use precision for hit chance personally, I use it for the extra focus gain (not much, but every little helps). It increases the chance of a crit with quick shot, which (with the right trait) has a high chance to give you 2 focus for every quick shot. Once a boss it at 25% morale I'll hit merciful shot, then spam quick shots until I can fire it again.

I have no problem with aggro, and power is rarely an issue (atleast before the patch, don't know how many minstrels will use heroism tale now). With -10% power bow chants, tale of heroism and herald of victory, you have to try REALLY hard to run out of power :p