Looking for a good group build

[Amarynth]

Hi there,

I've got a little problem: I'm looking for a group (and possibly raid) build. I've used the precision stance many times, but someone told me that this build is not every efficient.

My build is:
Critical Eye / Deadly Precision / Swift and True (for +10% crit damage)
Enduring Precision / Swift Recovery / Fast Draw / Strong Draw
Bard's Arrow / Rain of Thorns / BotR

What can I change?

Thank you for your help :)

Ama

[Belegathon]

First thing to look at is traitng anything bar one in the bowmaster line, as soon as you get into a group and switch out of strength stance you then get no added bonuses at all :(

Personally I find endurance stance and traiting to be as quick as possible (lower inductions etc) seems to be the most effective tactic. My numbers aren't as high as they used to be, but there are an awful lot more of them, and I've never even used 500 of my 3k power reserve, even on the longest boss fights.

I notice you ve got bow of the righteous, for me since the nerf this is a little pointless, I would go with the hunter carving thingy that lowers power cost, try to get threat down legacies on your bow of choice for groups, then you ve got a spare slot free for a more functional legendary trait (I'm using Improved Press Onward atm, surprisingly handy in groups).

[Telaron70]

I would say it's a pretty efficient build. I tend to run with that myself in groups, sometimes swapping in arrow storm or deep concentration. Whatever, I always keep 4 HM traits slotted for the speed. Deadly precision for the focus & critical eye for the ..erm ...crit.

I am beginning to like precision stance more & more for groups. A bit more dps than endurance & you're less likely to miss, especially on higher level mobs. Missing a few shots can significantly cripple your overall dps even if all your other shots are hitting high, so to me it's worth it. If you have enough icpr from jewellery that u can afford to slot the -threat tome then assuming your tank is half decent at his job, you won't be pulling the mobs off him. If you can get nice -threat legacies on your bow too then threat becomes a non issue, unless you are silly.

It's all a bit more complicated than just the correct traits - gear & LI's play a big part. There are an awful lot of permutations.

I think "the nerfs" have forced a change in the Hunter's role in groups. Instead of nuking the bad guys into oblivion the challenge is now to supply sutainable high dps, without draining group resources (ie needing too many heals or power from LM). I've had to alter my build quite a bit & I'm not quite there yet, but I'm a lot happier than I was a month ago.

[Ravbek Treehugger]

I have almost the same build but I have a controversial difference lol...I 5 in huntsman and use improved fleetstance instead of BotR...this gives me a 10% speed increase and therefore a bit more damage and a good bit of mobility which can be useful.

I have loads of power so this isn't really an issue in the instances.

[Scatha the Worm]

I have almost the same build but I have a controversial difference lol...I 5 in huntsman and use improved fleetstance instead of BotR...this gives me a 10% speed increase and therefore a bit more damage and a good bit of mobility which can be useful.

I have loads of power so this isn't really an issue in the instances.

./epic_facepalm

[Silmahad]

I have almost the same build but I have a controversial difference lol...I 5 in huntsman and use improved fleetstance instead of BotR...this gives me a 10% speed increase and therefore a bit more damage and a good bit of mobility which can be useful.

I have loads of power so this isn't really an issue in the instances.

ehm, this was irony, wasn't it?

[Silmahad]

Hi there,

I've got a little problem: I'm looking for a group (and possibly raid) build. I've used the precision stance many times, but someone told me that this build is not every efficient.

My build is:
Critical Eye / Deadly Precision / Swift and True (for +10% crit damage)
Enduring Precision / Swift Recovery / Fast Draw / Strong Draw
Bard's Arrow / Rain of Thorns / BotR

What can I change?

Thank you for your help :)

Ama

It's me again :-)

Good group build, that is almost the best thinkable for the most instances, at least the 6-men.

The only thing you can improve is to leave out critical eye, IF you have a Captain with you in group, cos his buffs will bring you up to the crit cap. The + crit from critical eye would result in an improvement of + 0,1 devastating crit chance...not that much, really. In return you could use Hail of Arrows.

In most instances you are able to use Rain of Arrows very often, sometimes it's just an essentiel part of your shot routine. Rain of Arrows needs relative less focus, but costs some power. Nevertheless, if you can bear the power costs, it's extra damage, plain and simple, even if you shoot only at one target.

The extra trait for Rain of Arrows (Hail of Arrows) improves crit chance (useless if you are already at the cap) and crit magnitude (small, but nevertheless a damage boost).

So:

A) Standard Group/PvE build:

1) without Captain buff:

BM (3): Deadly Precision / Critical Eye / Swift and True or True Shot or Hail of Arrows
HM (4): Enduring Precision / Swift Recovery / Fast Draw / Strong Draw
Legendary Traits: as you wrote above

2) With captain buffs:

BM (3): Deadly Precision / Swift and True or True Shot or Hail of Arrows / Swift and True or True Shot or Hail of Arrows
HM (4): Enduring Precision / Swift Recovery / Fast Draw / Strong Draw
Legendary Traits: as you wrote above

B) Raidsetup for long and power intensive encounters and Boss fights (I guess there will be Captain buffs always be available)

BM (3): Deadly Precision / Critical Eye (if you want focus buff instead of crit buff) or Swift and True or True Shot or Hail of Arrows / Critical Eye (if you want focus buff instead of crit buff) Swift and True or True Shot or Hail of Arrows
HM (3): Swift Recovery / Fast Draw (or Enduring Precision) / Strong Draw
ToF (1): Deep Concentration
Legendary Traits: As you wrote above

At moment the only raid encounter that makes precison stance somewhat usefull is the Filikul beast with the 2-Tank-method (with or without guardian shield or rez chain).

Watcher is 100% Stance:Strength
Filikul with burgler enrage is 100% Stance:Strength

So Enduring Precison might be a wasted trait there, cos you won't use that stance.

The thing with critical eye is for the 100% min-maxer, the perfectionist. I myself am too lazy to always change that in and out between solo/group/raid, I have it traited almost the whole time.

[European]

I have almost the same build but I have a controversial difference lol...I 5 in huntsman and use improved fleetstance instead of BotR...this gives me a 10% speed increase and therefore a bit more damage and a good bit of mobility which can be useful.

I have loads of power so this isn't really an issue in the instances.


I Tried that out lately too. After getting over the "but you can't do that stance unless you're going to kite, and you'll lose the stance once you're out of focus" misunderstandings, I found out how much fun it really is. If you like speed, you can't get any faster shooting than this, and it's quite effective too (You get the added bonus of better hitting when kiting, but I almost never kite, so for me it's not worth much. If you have Improved Fleetstance, needfull haste and the Lothlorien Dreamflower set effect all at once, the swiftbow fires at a bit over half a second (estimated). The animation is actually almost too quick to see. LOL

Improved Fleetstance also uses a lot less power than strength stance, obviously, so you can trade it out for Bow of the righteous, and still have both CC Legendaries avaliable.
Admittedly it's dps may be lower than using strength, but if you're planning on going up against many opponents at the same time, and there's a reasonable chance you'll get in melee, you may be better off using Fleet, as your inductions will be much harder to interrupt. (With the dreamflower set it's practically impossible for the 30 seconds it lasts. The Dreamflower set has the BEST short term effect, ever, in the game imho).

Anyway, I was surprised at how good Improved Fleetstance was, as I too hadn't read the "fine print" about the stance good enough, and had dismissed it totally. May not be the best stance, but definately more effective than precision. If it only wasn't a legendary....