Curse

loc87 · Jul 27, 2005, 04:50 PM // 16:50

I recently decided to attempt a melandru's arrows team pvp build, and I came up with this:
r/mo
1. melandru's arrows
2. judge's insight
3. tiger's fury
4. dual shot
5. penetrating shot
6. pin down
7. fav. winds
8. rez signet

Is there a way to increase its damage dealing capabilities, like switching to necro for weaken armor or something? Also, I would like to be able to sustain high damage for around 5 seconds, if it is possible ... and currently, this build's attributes are spread out ... what would be a good way to fix this?

Enigmatics · Jul 27, 2005, 04:51 PM // 16:51

You can add conjure flame or judge's insight.

Scaphism · Jul 27, 2005, 05:04 PM // 17:04

There's no easy solution to this problem.
If you want to be in 4 different attribute lines, the attributes start to look ugly.

If you want another damage boost, you need to split into a 4th attribute line.
You didn't list your attributes, but from the skills given you're in Expertise, Markmanship, and Wilderness Survival.

Your best bet for a damage boost would be Tiger's Fury- the increased attack rate will help your burst and sustained damage tremendously. The good news is that it's a ranger attribute, so you can use runes to affect it.

If you want ANOTHER damage buff on top of that, you need something like Judge's Insight, Conjure Element, or a necro debuff. Of the three, necro is the worst choice because of cast times and easy, available hex removal. (Cast times just get worse under Nature's Renewal too- you're literally going to stand around for 5s casting, another 2 applying Melandru's, and THEN you can start attacking).

Nature's Renewal will hurt your enchantment-based buffs as well, but you should be able to get some use out of them, but you just wont be able to rely on it. In my eyes it's not worth stretching into a 5th attribute line for an enchantment whose duration you can't control.

However, I'm glad it's hard to stack buffs- when Rangers could easily stack a prep, an enchantment, tiger's fury, and spam attack skills with no problems under expertise, they were too powerful, and their damage was toned down accordingly. Now you can still attempt the same, but without multiple superior runes it'll be very hard to get results anywhere near the same effectivenes.

Enigmatics · Jul 27, 2005, 05:15 PM // 17:15

I think he's already using Tiger's Fury... so that may become 5 attribute paths instead of 4.

ElderAtronach · Jul 27, 2005, 09:04 PM // 21:04

Yeah, running both TF and JI will leave you with serious mana problems. I'd seriously suggest ditching /Mo and going with a more useful secondary like Mes or Ele if you want to keep using TF. Also, fav. winds is a waste unless you're running a specialized team build. I'd swap it out with frozen soil, which is much more useful in PVP.

ComMan · Jul 27, 2005, 09:31 PM // 21:31

Personally, I run:

12 Marks (11+1)
10 Wilderness (9+1)
14 Expertise (10+4)
4 Beast Mastery (4...+1, but it doesn't factor in)

yes, I'm aware that there are better ways to spread my attribute points.

Melandru's Arrows {E}
Penetrating Attack
Distracting Shot
Tiger's Fury
Pin Down
Rez. Signent

and 2 open slots, depending on the situation. Most Casters will go down to Melandru's Arrows/Tiger's Fury/Penetrating Attack quickly enough.

If you really need another damage boost you might try taking both Penetrating Attack and Point Blank Shot and alternating them, since that won't spread your attributes any further.

ElderAtronach · Jul 28, 2005, 03:29 AM // 03:29

Dual shot is a better damage buff than point blank when you're using Melandru's arrows. The bonus for Melandru's gets added twice, and that can add up to some seriously wicked damage, better than whatever conjure can do.

ComMan · Jul 28, 2005, 03:43 AM // 03:43

I'm fairly sure that Dual Shot adds the +24 to each arrow and then subtracts 25% from the total.

loc87 · Jul 28, 2005, 01:31 PM // 13:31

Hmmm .. why point blank shot, which halves the arrow's range? why not something else like determined shot, power shot, or hunter's shot? And even if the bonus from melandru's is reduced, it's still going to have like +16, right? Also, why is favorable winds a waste?

cdepue79 · Jul 28, 2005, 02:03 PM // 14:03

When using MElandrus and Dual shot vs casters i often get numbers like -59, -52 . Too bad psn arrow wasn't elite melandrus and psn arrow would be nice.

Eonwe · Jul 28, 2005, 02:10 PM // 14:10

Melandru's Arrows is soooo sexy

Pippy Bloodstocking · Jul 28, 2005, 06:58 PM // 18:58

I came up with a build that was Ranger/Necro:

Melandru's Arrows
Any two bow attacks you like
Serpent's Quickness
Desecrate Enchantments
Rend Enchantments
Enfeebling Blood.
Anything Else you think works here

Only catch is: not everyone spams enchantments, and if you find a team that doesn't, you've become next to useless.

Or, you could skip the bow attacks and take Tiger's Fury and put your extra Marksmanship points over to Beast Mastery.

ElderAtronach · Jul 28, 2005, 10:27 PM // 22:27

Why would you have Rend on your Melandru's arrow build? They seem contradictory to each other. If you wanted to screw mass stacked enchants, bring nature's renewal, you're a ranger primary!

loc87 · Jul 28, 2005, 11:31 PM // 23:31

How about something like:
R/W
Expertise 10+4
Marksmanship 11+1
Wilderness Survival 10+1
1 unused point

1. Melandru's Arrows
2. Pin Down
3. Frenzy
4. Penetrating Attack
5. Dual Shot
6. Distracting Shot
7. Whirling Defenses
8. Rez Signet

How well will this build work in pvp? Also, should I drop one of the bow attacks for something like frozen soil?

Pippy Bloodstocking · Jul 29, 2005, 12:12 AM // 00:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElderAtronach

Why would you have Rend on your Melandru's arrow build? They seem contradictory to each other. If you wanted to screw mass stacked enchants, bring nature's renewal, you're a ranger primary!

Well, at the time I made that build, I hadn't gotten Nature's Renewal. If I had, I'd have done it that way. As it is, I get to piss off one person instead of up to 8. The idea would be to load Mel's Arrows, hit them a few times, then Desecrate Enchantments, and then Rend Enchantments to kick them when they're down. Or recast Mel's and keep doing steps 1 and 2 if the target's stubborn and won't die.

ElderAtronach · Jul 29, 2005, 01:08 AM // 01:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by loc87

Also, why is favorable winds a waste?

Favorable winds only affects arrows. Not wands or staves. If you're the only ranger on your team, 1 skill slot has been wasted on only YOU doing a piddly +6 damage a shot. The traveling twice as fast thing really is negligible if you're using a shortbow/halfmoon which I hope to GOD you are if you're running Melandru's for damage.

Stop thinking raw damage and start thinking strategically. Which would you rather have: a monk going down maybe a few seconds faster, or a monk that stays down while the other team wastes more time trying to kill a frozen soil spirit so they can raise the dead monk?

cdepue79 · Jul 29, 2005, 01:33 AM // 01:33

Frenzy is nice and spammable but i think if you can afford 4 pts in BM Tigers fury is better. Frenzy causes you to talke double damage, which may be ok if using flatbow/longbow since you can fire outside of your argo circle, but if you get closer using Frenzy you can go down quick.

loc87 · Jul 29, 2005, 03:17 AM // 03:17

hmmm .. so maybe a tweaked version would look like:
Expertise 10+4
Marksmanship 11+1
Wilderness Survival 9+1
Beast Mastery 4

1. Melandru's Arrows
2. Pin Down
3. Tiger's Fury
4. Penetrating Attack
5. Distracting Shot/Something Else?
6. Whirling Defenses
7. Frozen Soil
8. Rez Signet

Is there a point to switching distracting shot with something like fertile season, predatory season, QZ (to screw over the other team), or primal echoes?

UberRusty · Jul 29, 2005, 05:51 AM // 05:51

This is one of the variations of my Melandru's Arrows build. R/W btw.

1. Frenzy
2. Melandru's Arrows [E]
3. Dual Shot
4. Penetrating Attack
5. Favorable Winds
6. Point-Blank Shot
7. Power Shot
8. Rez Signet

Prep Melandru's, Favourable Winds, hit Frenzy and spam skills.

May run into mana problems SOMETIMES, but not too much.

EDIT: I also run a more damaging build that uses 10 second Tiger's Fury.

Yukito Kunisaki · Jul 29, 2005, 08:03 AM // 08:03

3 stats pumped to near max is quite versatile and is probably the recommended build...

10+2 & 10+1 primary stats, 11 secondary stat.

I don't see 4 stats being all that bad, it's 5 stats that I think would be problematic.

10+2, 9+1, 7+1 primary stat, 10 secondary stat.

so you've got 2 viable builds with high potential output:

12/11/11 or 12/10/10/8

I'm all for the 4 stat build because it adds a nice edge of unpredictability and can cover your weaknesses accordingly. I never go past 12 due to issues regarding my hp. I don't care what anyone says, when you get killed by bleeding, it's quite embarrasing not having the hp to live past that...