Curse

ZennZero · Jul 29, 2006, 05:43 AM // 05:43

I have seen a ton of R/Ps, often (though not always) with pets in the arenas. What is so great about this build? It rather looks like a ranged bunny thumper to me. Anyone have any insight?

TheRanger · Jul 29, 2006, 05:55 AM // 05:55

They made one into a pre-made. So obviously people are trying it out like the Devish and Paragon builds.

Evilsod · Jul 29, 2006, 01:38 PM // 13:38

Bring 5 of them and an Order necro and you'll see why...

Sha Noran · Jul 29, 2006, 05:15 PM // 17:15

Their damage output is ridiculous, and the classes are too new for people to really know how to effectively counter it. 4 R/P's in TA is... painful.

XvArchonvX · Jul 30, 2006, 02:26 PM // 14:26

The main downside of a R/P premade build is that there really is no self heal or defensive skill of any type. This may be fine for some forms of PvP, but I found that a modified version of this build suits better for RA and other PvP where self sufficiency is essential. Here's the build I've been using:

Attributes:

Wilderness Survival = 10 (minor rune)
Beast Mastery = 10 (minor rune)
Expertise = 9 (sup rune and mask)

Equipment:

Zealous Spear of Fortitude (zealous mod is a necessity)
Any shield with -2 stance and +45 stance mods
(you won't meet the req for the shield, so you won't get the +16 AL, but the mods will still benefit you)

Skills:

Spear of Lightning
Wild Throw (Replace with Blazing Spear for more dmg output)
Vicious Throw
Tiger's Fury
Throw Dirt
Escape {E}
Troll Unguent
Rez Sig

Basically with this build there is less damage output due to the loss of the pet, but it is a lot more reliable since you don't have the liability of a possibly dying pet and also have a solid defense. The greatest weakness is still vulnerability to armor ignoring attacks, massive degen, as well as blind. Antidote sig could probably be put in the bar somewhere if desired.
As Sha said, the greatest advantage of this build is the ability to put out massive damage.

SnipiousMax · Jul 31, 2006, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by XvArchonvX

The main downside of a R/P premade build is that there really is no self heal or defensive skill of any type. ...

Yup. That lead alot of people to scratch their heads without giving it a chance. They are very solid. I like the build Archon.

XvArchonvX · Jul 31, 2006, 08:02 AM // 08:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnipiousMax

Yup. That lead alot of people to scratch their heads without giving it a chance. They are very solid. I like the build Archon.

Agreed, as much as I wanted to stick with using a Paragon primary for the most of the event, I kept coming back to the R/P for RA since I had so much success with it. I still enjoyed the primary Paragon for AB though due the effectiveness of shouts and skills like "Lead the Way". Thanks for the compliment btw, it comes highly regarded as being from someone who has contributed so much to these forums.

Narayanese · Jul 31, 2006, 02:05 PM // 14:05

I got into a group of 4 pack hunters in AB once, the speed you can take down someone with 4 R/P is amazing, and the target can't pre-kite as easily as against bunny thumpers. It's a solid build, thet's why so many played it.

Here are some calculations for you, considering a build consisting only of Tiger's Fury, Ferocious Strike, Charm+Comfort, and Spear of Lightning, with 12 BM and 12 SM, against a 60AL target.
Since the preview is over I can't test on the dummies, so I'm not sure if you can get off a Spear of Lighting every 2 or 3 seconds.

auto-attack with vampiric spear: (14+27)/2*1.35 + 3 = 30.7
spear of lightning: (30.7 + 17)*1.3 = 62.0
ferocious strike: 25/8 = 3.5
elder pet auto-attack: 24.4 (http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...88&postcount=3)

mean (SoL once per 2 sec): (30.7 + 62.0 + 24.4)/2 + 3.5 = 62.1 dps
mean (SoL once per 3 sec): (30.7*3 + 62.0)/4 + 24.4/2 + 3.5 = 55.0 dps

55dps isn't too bad

, and that's not counting adrenal skills you can bring (myself I used Blazing Spear and Cruel Spear for some spike damage). And you have 88AL vs physical and 118 vs elemental.

Narayanese · Jul 31, 2006, 02:07 PM // 14:07

double post

XvArchonvX · Jul 31, 2006, 03:01 PM // 15:01

Thanks for the numbers Narayanese. I don't have anything exact, but I remember testing out using only Tiger's Fury with Spear of Lightning, Blazing Throw, and Vicious Throw against the dummies(no pet). I was able to take out the 100AL dummy in about 11-12 seconds. I calculated this only by noticing that he went down just about a second or two after Tiger's Fury recharged, so it's by no means exact.

RoyalFloyd · Jul 31, 2006, 04:39 PM // 16:39

I don't know why but i used a more anti-casting approach with my R/P,

Spear of Lightning
Cruel Spear
Stunning Spear {E}
Disrupting Throw
Apply Poison
Tiger's Fury
Troll
Res Signet / Storm Chaser

Weapon: Zealous Spear of Fortitude (zealous is a must)

I had very much fun banging away spears on casters in AB. I love this builds' ability to spam dazed deep wound and poison. Combine dazed that with a nearly 1 sec firing rate of spears under tiger's fury and not much spells will get through. You can cover dazed with a deep wound (it's impossible to cover it with poison), or cover deep wound if u want.

Though this is not so solid as the above build, but i used this in AB so no worries. You can get rid of disrupting throw in favor of whirling defense or throw dirt if u want.

All said, blind, heavy degen or a clever warrior kills this build and a good condition removing monk will undo much of your efforts, but i like this build for the pressure that it builds on casters(monks especially).