Hunter Guide post Book 3, Update 2

Marithil · by **Marithil** on Mon Mar 28, 2011 3:10 pm

There has been many changes to the Hunter class as most of us have noticed. The purpose of this guide is to inform hunters of the recent changes, give ideas about how to implement the changes into effective game play, and show my theory crafting on the character. This is also a discussion. Don't feel like this is the final word on hunters, there are many ideas, and ways to play this class. If you disagree with something I say, mention something, and give another idea. If you want to see Turbines Developers Diary for the update look here:

http://www.lotro.com/gameinfo/devdiaries/1031-update-2-hunter-developer-diary

Lets go over the recent skill changes

Blindside- Is now an interrupt. (this has been around awhile, but a reminder never hurt.)

Burn Hot- Costs about 20% of total power to use the skill, +20% ranged damage, -10% power costs, no longer removes remaining power after timer expires.

Heart Seeker- Damage of skill lowered, but amount of damage taken for bow Increased. Ends with a net decrease in damage by a small amount, Cooldown reduced to 2 minuets, induction cut down to 3 seconds.

Barbed Arrow- Bleed now takes on weapons damage type.

Fleetness (previously Fleet Stance)- Now is a buff instead of a stance. -60% moving miss chance, +10% run speed, 15 second duration.

Purge Poison- No longer requires you to face target to cure.

Penetrating Shot- Can be used while moving.

Improved Strength of The Earth- Does not need to be traited to use as the "Improved" version. Restores more power per second, but only has a 5 second duration, instead of it's previous 10. 1:30 Cooldown.

Press Onward- Now usable in combat no matter how you are traited. 5 min Cooldown, and restores a % of you total morale and power.

Trait Changes

Bowmaster

Barbed Fury- +2-% Barbed Arrow bleed damage (instead of longer duration)

Swift and True- +8% Swift Bow damage, +15% Improved Swift Bow 3rd shot damage

Swift Mercy (Previously Quality of Mercy)- 50% Merciful Shot Crit Multiplier, each usage of Swift Bow reduces the focus cost of the next Merciful Shot by 1 up to 6 times so it's free.

Fast Draw- moved to bowmaster trat line.

Shot Through the Heart- Acts like Scourging Blow. When your target has a Barbed Arrow Bleed effect, Heartseeker consumes the bleed and deals 500-600 extra damage.

Cool Burn (capstone)- +20 % Ranged Damage bringing total to +40%. Reduces the skill power cost to -80%, and reduces the Cooldown on Burn Hot to 2 minuets

Huntsman

Bow and Blade- This is no longer a trait, instead it is now a passive skill for hunters.

Enduring Precision- Adds 1 pip of focus every 8 seconds while in Precision Stance, instead of 10 seconds.

Rapid Recovery- -10 seconds Cooldown to Dazing Blow, -2 seconds Cooldown to all other melee skills.

Fast Draw has been moved to the Bowmaster line In favor if Deadly Precision.(which was moved to the Huntsman line.)

Deadly Precision- Added to Huntsman.

Deep Concentration- Moved to Huntsman line from Trapper of Foes line. Restores power when using Intent Concentration.

Fleetness Capstone trait- Adds to Fleetness -15% Ranged skill Inductions, adds 15 seconds to duration.

Trapper of Foes.

Barbed Hindrance (previously Bow and Blade)- +30% Barbed Arrow Slow effect

Explosive Arrow (capstone)- Cooldown now reduced by -150 seconds, which will make Distracting Shot a 30sec cooldown for a 30sec daze.

Trait Line Bonus Changes

Bowmaster

2. 10%crit multiplier

3. +3% Strength Stance damage and power cost
+15% Initial Barbed Arrow damage

4.+7% Damage and power cost while in Strength Stance.
-60 seconds Cooldown to Heart Seeker.

Huntsman

2. +2 seconds focus loss from movement

3. Stregnth of The Earth gives morale regen and increased power
-10% bow inductions

4. -10% bow inductions
20% chance for quick shot to give an extra pip of focus

Trapper of Foes

2. +60 ICPR (in-combat power regen)

3. -2860 Rain of Thorns resist.
-50% Trap Inductions
-5% Ranged damage

4. Penetrating Shot is now a single target root for 15 seconds.
-30 second Trap cooldowns.
-10% Ranged damage
Purge Poison skill now cures the entire fellowship, cooldown increases to
15 seconds.

Well there you go. Those are the skills, traits, and trait line changes. Next lets look at the changes to the legendary system, and what improved legacies we all have to play with. I am not going to talk about every legacy there is, only about the ones I find useful.

Legendary Weapons/Legacies/ Relics

Melee Legendary weapons Legacies

Major Legacies

Stance: Precision crit magnitude

Needful Haste

Minor Legacies

Swift Stroke Parry and Evade Buff

Deep Concentration Power Increase

Agile Rejoinder Heal

Vitality scroll

Ranged Legendary weapons Legacies

Major Legacies

Induction Bow Crit multiplier

Focus Bow Crit Multiplier

Induction Bow Power cost

Block Skill Modifier

Evade Skill Modifier

Minor Legacies

Burn Hot Damage

Heart Seeker Damage

Distracting Shot Resistance

Relics

I am not going to explain in here what you should or should not slot in your weapons. I will tell you mine, and give my reasons.

Settings

Tier 6 Gold Setting of Precision

+230 Morale +650 Ranged Offense

Extraordinary Setting of Endings

+7.5% Devastation Magnitude, +520 ranged/melee/tactical Crit, +114 In combat morale regen.

Gems

Extraordinary Gem of Hope

+260 Crit Defense, +230 Morale, +210 Power

Runes

Extraordinary Rune of Power

+650 Ranged Defense, +520 Offense(all), +22 Fate

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Marithils Hunter Theory Crafting

From this point I will simply add my own ideas and theories on the class.

My standing on Hunters is that they should be the #1 DPS class. To explain; that doesn't mean they should be able to trait how ever they want and still be #1. There should be a trait line that will allow a hunter to do massive damage, when it is needed. This does not mean you should be able to sustain that massive damage.

There are 2 main ways to DPS. Sustained DPS, and Burst DPS. I have always leaned more towards the sustained DPS. I love seeing Heart Seeker crit for 9000! But that is not the point of a hunter. The group will need a hunter for more than just pew pew. The way that I have set up my hunter is for burst damage when I need it, sustained for everything else.

Lets start with my Virtues.

Mari's Virtues

Justice- In combat Morale Regen, Out Combat Morale Regen, Morale

Determination- Agility In Combat Morale Regen, Morale

Loyalty- vitality, Armor, Power

Valour- Morale, Might, Out of Combat Morale Regen

Honesty- Power, Armour, fate

In different instances or raids I trade out for special Virtues. If I know I will be doing some tanking, ranged or melee, I throw on traits like:

Empathy- Armour, fate, fear resistance

Innocence- melee defense, poison resist, shadow resist

compassion- ranged defense, tactical defence, Out of Combat Power Regen

If I am going to need special resistances or defenses I usually run things like

Fidelity- shadow resistance, vitality, power

Zeal- disease resistance, poison resistance, melee defense

Class Traits

Huntsman

Swift Recovery
Deep concentration
Deadly Precision
Strong Draw
Enduring Precision
Resolute Aim
Improved Fleetness

[b]Bowmaster[/b]

True Shot
Swift and True
Fast Draw
Barbed Fury
Swift Mercy

(If you want any help traiting a hunter to be CC and go down the Trapper of Foes line, I would be happy to talk with you about it, however, that will not be covered in this guide.)

Game play, skill rotation, and squeezing every DPS drop out

Focus Burn

The theory here is sustained damage and still have the ability to do burst damage. This is what you will need to make this system work well.

Class Traits

Huntsman

Deadly Precision
Strong Draw
Enduring Precision
Deep Concentration
Resolute Aim/Swift Recovery (Instance Depending)

Bowmaster

Swift and True
Fast Draw/Swift Mercy(instance depending)

Legendary

Improved Fleetness
Bow of The Righteous
Press Onward/Rain of Thorns (instance depending)

Legacies

Melee

S:P crit mag
Deep Concentration (Maxed)
Needful Haste Duration (Maxed)
Swift Stroke Parry/Evade
Agile Rejoinder heal (maxed)

Bow

DPS (maxed)

Induction crit (maxed)
Focus crit (maxed)
Heart Seeker Damage
Burn Hot Damage
Block skill mitigation/ Evade skill mitigation (Or both)

The way it all works together

The problem with the new update it how hard it is to get ICPR, and other good stats out of our relics. I decided to throw that problem to the wind, gather as much Ranged offense as I can, and max out my crit. After that it was all about the morale and power pushing. I needed to get those buffed up really high. I still know that power can be a bit of a hassle sometimes, but not nearly as bad as some people might think. With Intent Concentrations buffed up power restore, it makes up for quite a bit. Here is my initial skill and shot rotation after the tank has aggro:

Focus- Improved Fleetness- Needful Haste- Burn Hot- Intent Concentration-

*With Intent Concentration fully buffed, you now have used all of these skills at the same time, but somehow still have all of your power back, with the Burn Hots -10% power cost buff running for 15 seconds.*

Swift Bow- Pen shot- Heartseeker- Blood Arrow- Pen shot- Quick Shot- Pen Shot- Swift Bow- Merc. Shot-

That is a tough rotation, I know. But it is doable, while still in the Burn Hot duration.

After that I hit Improved Strength of the Earth, get some power back, and hit Beneath Care, for that power restore. I switch into Endurance stance, and just quick shot until Beneath Cares duration has lapsed, then I go back to Precision Stance make sure I have full focus and....

Improved Fleetness- Swift Bow- Pen shot- Barbed Arrow- Blood arrow- Quick Shot- Pen shot- QS- PS- Swift Bow...and start it all over.

Obviously there are other skills and attacks I throw into my rotation when I feel it needs to be done.

The Keys

1. Make Intent Concentration as big of a power heal as you can.
a. Don't forget about Improved Strength of the Earth.
b. Use Beneath Notice for power, you shouldn't be pulling threat anyway.
c. If you still run into power issues, use Press Onward.
d. Don't be afraid of over using Blood Arrow, if you have a good healer. But stay alert to it's effects and don't use it stupidly.
e. Don't be afraid of Endurance Stance.

2. Keep that Improved Fleetness up as much as you can.
a. Improved Fleetness works very well with Needful Haste Burn Hot and Intent Concentration

3. Look at ALL the new relics so you can make up for what you think you are missing in other regards. (i.e. Low power or morale, ranged offense, Parry and Evade, damage mitigation, ICPR, or just pure stats)

4. Look at all of your new skills. Get to know them well, and think of how they can work together.

5. Use your consumables! Focus potions especially!

6. Ask questions! I am always more than happy to answer any questions. PM me, send me a mail. Tell Lach or Puai to give me a message, use the website.

7. Please respond to this if you think you can make improvements. This is still a bit new, so I am sure I can do better somewhere. Lets see where you think it is.

Burn Hot
(Note: I will not add any info about legacies because I believe the ones already mentioned should work well for both styles of play.)
Traits

Bowmaster

Swift and True
Swift Mercy
Shot through the Heart
Barbed Fury
Fast Draw/True Shot

Huntsman

Strong Draw
Deep Concentration/Swift Recovery

Legendaries

Cool Burn
Bow of the Righteous
Press Onward

Virtues

Remain the same

Tips and tricks

The basic theory behind this requires very little for me to tell you. Use Burn Hot and Heartseekers as often as you can. Pop Intent concentration as often as possible for a power heal, and Press onward when you really need to toss out the DPS. Also, keep those barbed Arrows up on your target as often as possible so Heartseeker can really roll in the damage.

This set up has a much slower feel to it, but the numbers that come from it can be amazing. Don't let them throw you off focus though, a key here is to stay focused on the next attack, power usages, and what you can do to help with power. (i.e. Pot, skills, Stances) Also a major concern with Burn Hot is threat gen. I recommend using the new Tome of the Whisper-Draw Hunter books.

I have much less to say about this set up because it is a far more simple way to play, in my mind. Not to say it is an inferior way, just not my favorite. You wanna kill something fast, this is the way you do it. But at the cost of everything else. Relics, defenses, morale, power, and your pocket LMs sanity. I do like running this when in some solo play, or if I know I will be grinding out virtues.

Thank you for reading another, long, boring Marithil guide! :p

Marithil · by **Marithil** on Tue Mar 29, 2011 1:19 am

Updated!

Allup_Enya · Joined: 06 May 2008 Posts:

Mari,
Great work on the guide. Been working on my guard and neglecting my Hunter. Read through below and got some great info and things I never thought of.
Will try them out and let you know my thoughts.
Much appreciated.
MoneyPenny