Curse

Paeyne · May 29, 2006, 01:59 PM // 13:59

Hi all. I wanted to post this build but it is my first time and I am having some difficulty. I keep getting some weird data base errors. I am hoping that some nice person here will do it for me.

R/Rt - Brutal Predator

Beast Mastery 8+1=9
Expertise 7+1=8
Marksmanship 8+3+1=12
Communing 10
Restoration 8

There are no left over skill points. There are some who may be concerned at the moderate level of 4 of the 5 attributes but I can assure you that this build's skills are optimized and gain very little by taking them higher.

Skills:

1. Barrage
2. Brutal Weapon
3. Tiger Fury (or Bestial Fury)
4. Weapon of Warding
5. Resilient was Xiko
6. Predatory Season
7. Recouperation
8. Flesh of My Flesh

Usage:

This is a very inuitive build with an extremely high damage output. While Barrage, Brutal Weapon and Fury do not need to be always up at the same time, you will be doing some devasting damage while they are.

The linchpin of the build is the much underused and often misunderstood skill Predatory Season. Many don't use Predatory Season for two reasons, the 20% reduction in healing and the fact that if affects both friend and foe. After exhaustive testing I can say that neither reason is a very good excuse to not use the skill. During most of my testing with friends and Henchmen the reduction was not noticable. Most monks heal for huge amounts and are prone to overheal (healing for alot more then you are hurt). Having a 150hp heal reduced to 120 does not mean alot if you were only hurt for 100. Predatory season, in fact, helps healers by allowing them to concentrate on damage spikes rather than minor general damage. In this particular build, Barrage will gain you 5-25 pts of healing under Predatory Season per volley. Should you need a little extra general healing, skills like Recouperation, Weapon of Warding, Mending and Healing breeze are unaffected by Predatory Season. It is also not as good for the opposing side as you might think. When hunting, groups generally focus on one target at a time. That target will fall very quickly reguardless. The other foes will be at full health and gain nothing from the spirit. High damage barrages and AE spells from your group will easly deal with pockets of mobs if your group is co-ordinated. All that said, this spirit should never be used against any foe that raises minions. Minions attack swiftly and Predatory Season easily counteracts their degen for a considerable period of time. You will be overwhelmed very quickly.

This build has been thoroughly tested in PvE and works extremely well. I have done a limited amount of testing in PvP where it also performed well, however I would replace Barrage with Punishing Shot.

Morgan Blackwood - R/Rt

Zuranthium · May 30, 2006, 07:23 PM // 19:23

"Useless" springs to mind. Sorry.

Shantel Span · May 31, 2006, 12:11 AM // 00:11

Playing devil's advocate - why use this over NOT using it? How does it give your party an advantage?

Paeyne · May 31, 2006, 01:58 AM // 01:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shantel Span

Playing devil's advocate - why use this over NOT using it? How does it give your party an advantage?

I am not sure about this question as it could be said of many builds, but as it was a genuine request for debate, I will try and answer it.

Let us compare it to a very standard and popular build the Fire Barrage Ranger. This would be, Barrage, Conjure Flame, Distracting Shot, Throw Dirt, Dual Shot, Whirling Defence, Favorable Winds, Rez Sig.

It is my opinion that my build has definate advantages of this build.

Brutal Weapon and Conjure flame both give similar augmented damage levels. Conjure flame has the advantage of lasting longer. Brutal Weapon has the advantage of working with multiple damage types (allowing weapon switching) and cannot be removed by enchantment removing skills.

Whirling Defence and Weapon of Warding give similar protections. Whirling Defence gives 75% hit protection and a small amount of damage if you have foes adjacent to you and if you are being attacked by ranged. Weapon of Warding has 50% hit protection and gives a short burst of health regen while active. It also has the advantage of not being a stance. This means it can be used at the same time as Tigers Fury.

Throw dirt, of course, gives superior protection against a single foe. My personal opinion is that Resilient was Xiko with its health regen and condition removal is a better choice for this build.

I have already explained my opinion of Predatory Season. I have tested this skill exhastively (partially because everyone hates it so much) and I can honestly say there are few situations (although there are some) that this skill doesnt give you party and advantage. If you are facing a single boss, if you are facing degen foes or if you have 1 or more minion masters in you party you should be using this skill. Its chief disadvantage is the amount of grief you get from people in pugs who have have not tested it as much as I have (or even used it for that matter).

Tigers Fury has the advantage over dual shot of speeding up your Barrage as well as your single shots. There is also no damge reduction with with Tiger Fury.

I am not a big fan of Favourable winds. I found its advantage with a recurve bow to be negligable. In PvE you might be the only Ranger in the party and winds will only help you and the many archer mobs you will be facing.

You could use Distracting Shot with this build if you wished. I took recouperation because it is a party wide health regen and its power is undiminished by Preditory season.

Finally, I think Flesh of my Flesh is obviously superior to Rez Sig, especially with its low cost.

Hope that answers your question.

Aracos · May 31, 2006, 08:37 PM // 20:37

what would you recommand as a non-elite skill to replace Barrage, as i dont have a means to cap that skill yet?

Paeyne · May 31, 2006, 09:52 PM // 21:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aracos

what would you recommand as a non-elite skill to replace Barrage, as i dont have a means to cap that skill yet?

I used Focused Shot before I got Barrage. Its high damage, low cost, and quick recharge make it ideal. The disabling of attack skills is not a problem as you have no other attack skills.

If you don't have factions you could slot in a number of shots, but I would use something with a mana base of 5. Spamming a mana base of 10 with this build might run you into mana problems.

Aracos · Jun 01, 2006, 01:44 PM // 13:44

ok thx for the info

i have both Factions and Prophices, but i never made a ranger in either until now, so i was only limited to Factions skills