Spear any good? What about crossbow?

[Salma]

Ok so I've recently started a hunter and got up to level 24 in just a few hours. My "main" char is a creep (R5 blackarrow) and I find the hunter a nice change (you know, having more than 5 abilities for a change).. anyway.
Now since I'm only 24, I'm still doing pretty well with regular gear but I was wondering, are many hunters actually using spears (because we get that ability at 20 or so)? I know we don't usually go into melee but is there maybe a particularly good spear that increases stats in a hunter-friendly way?
And then when it comes to bow vs. crossbow, is there a general consensus as to what is "better" overall?

[Bell of Eternity]

I choose my melee weapons based on the buffs they give me. I used to wield a spear because of this (doom of the silent judge or something), but I've replaced it with a sword offering better bonuses. Hunters need to melee rarely - and when they do melee, strikes are so weak you are better of taking chances with bow attacks and hope they don't get interrupted.

Bow versus crossbow is mostly a personal preference. You might come across a crossbow that is better than your current bow, and later on find a bow that trumps your crossbow. I stick to bows, they are thematicalyl more correct hunter weapon, and I've come across wider damage variety of bows than crossbows (I carry around common, fire, light and beleriand-damage bows).

[zimoo]

I use bows and spears. Spears because I love them so much, and bows because I don't agree with there being crossbows in Middle-earth.

Its quite common for spears to have power related stats, so they help out quite a bit in this regard. My current two melee weapons are:

Ornate Black Ash Spear - 42-47 light damage, 1.8 speed, 90 morale, 1.5 in-combat power regen, 15 agility, 1% parry
Mirrored Ancient Steel Sword - 45-65 light damage, 2.0 speed, 15 vitality, 1% parry, 15 might, 90 power

So between them I get a nice variety of stats, with enough damage to hit quite hard when we do melee (scourging blow + agile rejoiner basically).

Hunters need all stats. I remember when I first hit 50 and tried running CD as an agility-specced hunter (sitting at about 1800 morale and 1400 power). God I was such a liability. If I pulled agro I needed spam healing, in a long fight I needed the loremaster to send me power etc.

The only stat we don't need is fate I'd say. I've got an ornate black ash spear and two polished beryl bracelets for regen, which sees me needing to try hard to run out of power in a fight (chances are I'll also have the boss on me if I've run out of power :p).

This isn't as important at lower levels, as the stat bonuses are much more minimal. I got to level 50 with an entire set of quest rewards (most of which from about 15 levels ago).

[Bell of Eternity]

Well, I'm speccing up my hunter's fate, and the stat I neglect the most is strength. I let my agility hover around 350, and slowly switch into gear that gives me more and more +will, +fate, +vitality, and if they offer morale, power and in-combat regen rates on top of that all the better. I agree that in endgame parts, purely agi-specced hunter with low morale and power is a huge liability. They dish out good damage and crit a lot yeah, but elite+ enemies have more than enough morale to take it all and squish the hunter before dying.

Note: since the curve remains the same up until high numbers, if you come across a decision over, for example, 15 will or 45 power, go for 15 will. That gives you the same power boost (1:3 rate) plus other benefits of +15 will at the same time.

[Farstrike (temp)]

It doesn't really matter what type of weapon you use; the modifiers should be the only deciding factor (unless you prefer certain weapons for aesthetic reasons).

I'd even go with dual lolipops if they had better stats than my current weapons! :p

[Bell of Eternity]

I'll take them with the spiral red-white pattern, thankyouverymuch. :)

[Salma]

Thanks for your answers. I'm quite the pragmatic type so I'll go for best stats instead of what best fits. Though I really find a hunter with a crossbow and a spear somewhat odd.

[Dalin]

Spears are nice. The bleed dot they are (supposed to have) doesn't work in the slightest however.

Overall spears have a good minimum damage and a lousy maximum. If you have a good melee crit I'd use a sword instead of a spear. A spear and dagger give a very fast combo of melee weapons however and some nice ICPR. Ornate black spear and a mirrored dagger is among the best in that respect I think.

Crossbows are okish. Nothing special anymore and non of them is better then the bows that are for offer (imo). The only crossbow I currently have is one with ancient dwarf damage because besides the Rift one no bow with that seems to exist on 47+ levels.