Curse

Umar ibn al-Khattab · Sep 18, 2006, 02:25 PM // 14:25

First post - be gentle

I've been playing Guild Wars for about two months now, and I have been working my way through the Prophecies capaign. Ever since I realized that you could Conjure I started playing a R/E (big suprise).

Right now I'm level 16 and getting my ass handed to me outside, and west of, Kryta.

I had been using this build of my own genius:

Hunter's Shot
Penetrating Attack
Choking Gas
Apply Poison
Troll's Unguent
Tiger's Fury
Call of Protection
Charm Animal

Beast - 8
Expert - 5+3
Wilderness - 8
Marksman - 6+3+1

Fighting would go as you would expect. Keep Call or Prot on my pet (it reduced damage by 8), Tiger's Fury whenever possible, choke spell casters, poison everyone else, spam the bowshots in between all of this.

I like to stay away from Spirit's b/c I feel like a waste killing 5 seconds for something that I am just going to run away from, and takes so long to recharge.

I'm using the Game of the Year Edition bow, which is req 9, 15-28, +15% over 50% health, and lengthens poison duration by 33%. A poison hit lasts for like 12 seconds.

I was doing pretty well, but I'd like to be able to do a damage spike and actually kill something when I am in a group (you know, help out), rather than tab space to poison everything within bowshot (or is that what I should be doing? Anyone chime in on poisoning everything as Warriors clean up vs just killing the casters in the back?)

So I came across some black dye, sold it for some instant cash flow, bought a fire string and a similar req/damage bow, and went for the Conjure line.

I took out Choking gas, poison, and my pet stuff. Added Conjure Flame, Read the Wind, Lighting Reflex, Serpents Quickness and Lava Front (bad guy AI is to move away from AoE spells, so if I'm getting creamed, Lava Front, bam, instant respite).

Right so I'm running around with my Conjure Flame'd fire bow, Read the Wind just before I'm in range, and switch between Lightning Reflex and Serpents Quickness.

I don't have any Elite skills, like I said I'm still in Kryta, cleaning up missions and quests. I switched off the of poison just after the Undead can't be poisoned debacle, holy crap did I feel useless in the missions around Lion's Arch .

I'm just looking for a second opinion on my build, because all I have been able to find are end game or PvP uber builds to check against.

Oh, I'm running around with a full set of Druid's armor, 40 defense.

Any help/second opinions would be greatly appreciated.

SnipiousMax · Sep 18, 2006, 04:42 PM // 16:42

I'd drop Troll Ungent. Pick either Choking Gas or Apply Poison (don't run both) and then stick with it. I'd consider dropping your pet for now (until you have a full compliment of attribute points) and Tiger's Fury might turn out a little enegy heavy for mid-game...

I'd also try to find a way to cut yourself down to one singular superiour rune.

Pick Me · Sep 18, 2006, 06:47 PM // 18:47

Try using:

Conjure Flame
Savage Shot
Dual Shot
Penetrating Shot
Lightning Reflexes
Serpent's Of Quickness
Troll Ungent
Rez Signet

Once you encounter non-undead (such as those outside of Northern Kryta Province - like Maguma Jungle) then get apply poison.

Taurohtar · Sep 18, 2006, 08:25 PM // 20:25

Being west of Tyria, I assume you mean the Maguuma Jungle.

Since you will have access to the Lion's Arch skill trainer, I'll create a mid-way build from Lion's Arch to Ascalon.

I suggest condition spreading, huge DPS (damage per second) and the attributes set so that defense and healing is possible. You have 110 attribute points at level 16, this should be enough for a build consisting of a damaging bow and self defence along with your main role, condition spreading.

Skills

Apply Poison
Hunter's Shot
Called Shot
Distracting Shot
Pin Down
Dodge
Troll Unguent
Resurrection Signet

Attributes - without runes. (With runes they can be modified)
Expertise - 3
Marksmanship - 8
Wilderness Survival - 8

Bow
Longbow from this guy, click here

This build should do a fair bit of damage from general arrow hitting, but the poisoning and bleeding is the basis of the build. I've only put 3 in Expertise because your 3 main bow attacks are all 5 energy cost, and 3 in Expertise reduces this to 4. With 8 in WS, troll Unguent is at +8 regeneration.

Since it's only a midway build, I wont go into the details too much, just keep Apply Poison on while in battle, and spread poison as much as possible.

Thomas.knbk · Sep 18, 2006, 08:50 PM // 20:50

I would seriously think again about using two superior runes. That gives you....250 health at lvl 16???? with only 40 armor that will get really hard, especially after kryta. That's all I have to say really cuz the only rangers I have played are hammer R/W's lol

Nivryx · Sep 18, 2006, 10:25 PM // 22:25

i know its your first post and all, and i don't mean any offense by this, but i will be rather blunt and don't blame you for any of this as your new to the class.

first off, try not to spread your attributes so much. i know pets are cute and all, but your no longer in the pre searing and they really aren't that great unless you have a specific purpose for them, such as barrage/pet in an appropriate place, or a complete beastmaster build.
2ndly, you don't have to have fire string on your bow to use conjure flame, you can use kindle arrows + conjure flame to get the same affect, although this does take up a bit more energy to keep them both up at the same time.
its always nice to carry a rez in pve, you dont want to be stuck as the last person left and officially being 'the moron who didnt bring a rez' although someone who is calling you a moron may be a w/mo who doesn't have one either, but hey, its not pinned on him so he doesn't care.
two preparations is generally bad, i've seen some builds run apply poison instead of poison arrow and then switch, i personally have never purposely had two on my skillbar (although when i took a 2 week break i forgot read the wind was a preparation and had kindle arrows as well =D )
try to put a bit more in your expertise, and your marksmanship when you take out the beastmastery attributes. you'll be able to spam more powerful attack skills more often this way.
anyways, thats just a general list of things. if you would like more help, perhaps in game, feel free to leave your in game name and ill try contacting you (im a bit anal about leaving my ign on forums)
ty and goodluck

Umar ibn al-Khattab · Sep 18, 2006, 11:56 PM // 23:56

Thanks for the general guidance.

It seems everyone agrees that 1-pets are either in or out, not kind of and 2-cut back on the runes.

I can deal without the pet (I didn't keep him because he was 'cute') but the runes...

Three extra skill points seems like a lot to me, prolly because I spread myself out to cover the pet, though, right. Yeah. I figured as much, just needed that little push to straighten me out.

I try to keep away from Kindle Arrows, mainly because it seems that there are better preps when I can just take a Fire Bowstring and be done with it.

I also didn't realize that Choking Gas and Apply Poison were both preps. Whoops.

I also not really feeling the interupt type shots. It seems I'll be targeting a monk/sorc, I'll see the skill bar pop up, I'll hit the key and shoot them right after they get the spell/skill off. Am I too slow or is my bow? Does this get easier later on with speed plus stances, or do I just need to practice it more?

I'm glad no one opted for me to take Spirits...I just don't get them for PvE, unless you are going solo and setting traps.

My char's name is Scion of Alain (Stephen King, anyone?) if anyone wants to guide me/say hi in-game.

EDIT

Amended Skills/Stats

Hunters, Called, Distracting shots
Apply Poison
Trolls Unguent
Lighting Reflex
Serpents Quick
Rez Sig

Expert - 8+3
Wilderness - 8
Marksman - 7+1

Health is up to 325, still using the GotY bow for extra poison length.

Nivryx · Sep 19, 2006, 12:45 AM // 00:45

just a note on interrupting, it takes lots of practice to become a good interrupter. the problem with monks is that a lot of their skills are 1/4 to 1 sec casts, which are terribly hard to interrupt without spamming your interrupts. mesmers also have fast casting, which makes their skills harder to interrupt. just takes practice though, one thing in kryta you can practice interrupting is the healing signet of any ettins that you may come across. learning what to interrupt helps out a great deal. read the wind (preparation) and a recurve bow can help out interrupting slightly, but then again not 100%necessary for casual pve play.

looking at your build the only question that comes to mind is why are you using serpent's quickness? from memory, hunters shot is a 3sec cooldown, called, is 3sec, and distracting is either 5 or 10 sec (i oft confuse it with savage shot).

a little bit of info though, if you have serpent's quickness up and then cancel it out with lightning reflexes, then sq will still reduce lightning reflexes. just a tip if you want to increase you want to get the fullest out of a skill. and good job putting called shot on your skill bar with apply poison to insure you hit =]

Umar ibn al-Khattab · Sep 19, 2006, 02:27 AM // 02:27

I do Serpent's stance before I start poison and reflex, yeah. It shortens the charge of the skills, and I can't really seem to find another skill to throw in there.

I got the bowshots, prep, healing, and stance. Unless I drop in something like Throw Dirt or Whirling Defense but the recharge is so long it seems that I'd be only using it once per encounter with mobs. Lighting Reflex seems to be the best stance (raise attack speed, percent chance of dodge) so I try to get that back as fast as possible.

BTW - Only using 5 energy bowshot is pretty awesome on the energy drain. Penetrating Shot/Tiger's Fury was sucking me dry and I didn't even realize.