Hunter Ranger

Introduction

So after a bit of a break from Neverwinter in the last mod (Mod 25) and barely being active on the mod before that(Mod 24) recently I have been playing the game on a relatively regular basis. Recently have started to slowly optimize my build and get some new gear for my Hunter Ranger and decided to share my build with you guys. I have been playing Hunter Ranger for a while now and I have been playing it since mod 16 on and off. I recently decided to write up an updated build/guide and I will be updating this guide as I progress and optimize my build further. I will also be adding more builds and rotations as I progress. You can check out my previous guide for 22 here Hunter Ranger Mod 22 guide. That is however mostly outdated now the following will give you a better idea of what I am currently running.

The race and class feats

I have recently rerolled my race from a Dragonborn to Gith for my Hunter Ranger. Reason for this was mostly because gith gives a much needed stat for hunter ranger which is combat advantage (5%) this helps you to easily cap combat advantage, the reason to change from dragonborn was because power capping is a non issue currently with my build and I was lacking combat advantage. So I decided to switch to gith.

For the ability scores I put all into strength(STR) and dexterity(DEX). Strength translates to percentage damage for your class and dexerity translates to critical serverity both of these being important. Putting in points into charisma(CHA) didn't make much sense for me as it directly translates to forte percentage which is is split into Power , Accuracy and deflect for Hunter Rangers. Since its split into both offensive and defensive stats like deflect it makes less sense to get more percentage ratings on forte rather you would have the critical serverity which would ultimately end up being a higher offensive stat.

There is only one real path to do the most single target damage. It is the hunter paragon path, warden may be arguably competitive for AOE but other than that it is not really something you want to play for single target damage as far as damage is concerned!

The builds

Currently I will only be sharing my AOE/Multi-target build, I will be adding more builds as I progress and optimize my build further.

1. AOE / Multi-target Underdark

Overview

This build focuses on raw damage / flat damage stats for AOE.This build is not really optimised for single target damage and is not recommended for single target content. However it is a really good build for AOE content. I have managed to reach some really high DPS with this build on AOE content. This build has very little stacking stats and mostly counts on good positioning and fast rotations to do damage. Note that the shown stats are without any auras (Mystic / Pack / Runic) or buffs from pets(Tutor / Portobello) or any class buffs.

As for abilities in multi-target I use mostly Constricting arrow, Cordon of arrows and Hindering shot.For class feats I use Crushing roots and Seekers vengeance.

Rotation

As for AOE rotation I start off in the following way :

1. Forest Ghost/ Disruptive shot (For proccing more than disruptive feat and the arms)
2. Constricting arrow
3. Cordon of arrows (Targeted at the cc'd mobs)
4. Hindering shot (move close to mobs / behind mobs while you do this)
5. Mount power
6. Plant growth
7. Hindering Strike
8. Artifact/ Envenomed Journal
9. Split shot
10. Repeat from step 1 - 9 depending on cooldowns/availability.

The gears

1. Head - Enchanted Bregan D'aerthe Assasins Hat (10% Accuracy)
2. Chest - Exalted Maiden's Assault Hide (12% Damage in underdark while behind target)
3. Arms - Abyss Conquerer's Mauler Writguards (7.5% Encounter Damage after using daily)
4. Boots - Abyss Conquerer's Spellweaver Crackows (2% Combat advantage for each mob around you up to 20%)
5. Neck / Weist - Shroomwood set (7.5% accuracy and 15% Cooldown reduction on encounter use)
6. Rings - Sapphire Abyssal Loop (5% Encounter damage)
7. Rings - Amethyst Abyssal Loop (6% damage to multiple targets)
8. Shirt - Bregan D'aerthe Soildier's Tunic (8% Damage to Drow)
9. Pants - Defiant Dwarven Limb Pattern (Action point gain 25 on critical strike)
10. Weapons - Stormforged set
11. Artifacts set - StoryTellers set

The companion powers

1. Minsc (5.6 - 8.6% Damage)
2. Neverwinter Knight (7.5% Damage)
3. Raptors (~19% Power with x5 stacks)
4. Drizzt (3.8% critical strike & Severity)
5. Alchemist Experimenter (3.8% critical strike & 3.8% Combat Advantage)
6. Precision (Enhancement slot - 7.5% critical strike)

The Mount bonuses

1. Executioner's Covenant
2. Mender's Covenant
3. Artificer's Persuasion
4. Accursed Resolve
5. Gladiator's Guile
6. Quick Action (Equip Power)
7. Magnificiant Inspiration (Combat Power)

Class feats & Feats

1. Rate of change.
2. Thorned Roots.
3. Biting Snares.
4. ForestBound.
5. More than disruptive.
6. Seekers Vengeance (Active).
7. Crushing Roots (Active).

Enchantments & Overlords

1. Mythic Lightning Flash (7.5% Accuracy / 7.5% Crit chance)
2. Mythic Movement Bonus (15% Movement speed)
3. Devils Precision (5% Accuracy / 5% Crit chance)
4. Drow Slayer (10% Damage Against Drow)

Buffs & Guild Boons

1. Squash Soup
2. Flask of Potency
3. Sunlord's Gift Elixir
4. Optional - Any other guild food / food of your choice.
5. Accuracy / Power / Defence Guild Boons

Play style and tips

Hunter ranger is a class I really enjoy because it's the only true Hybrid class in neverwinter offering equally competitive damage on both it's melee and ranged stances. When you play a hunter its important that you embrace both these as it is the key to more damage. You ideally want to play like a melee class that is always as close as possible to boss.For hunter in order to do good damage you want to be as aggressive as possible even more so than most other classes if you really want to get that high output of dps. Being aggressive however requires good knowledge and awareness of dungeons and trials and a guess of you and your groups potential. When I say this to most they have a weird reaction to this because most think being aggressive is a bad thing... but really its not,it's about you taking more calculated risks and having more confidence in your abilities and class. It dosen't mean ignoring mechanics etc, It just means you optimise damage while doing mechanics. Examples for this would be constantly doing damage while doing mechanics like spread(you are a hybrid class make use of it's strengths). Another example would be like getting a full rotation on the halaster during ice phase before you go hide in ice and even while moving to position you can still use atwills. The more aggressive and more aware of these timings you are, you can optimize damage more.

As for your rotations it generally needs to be really fast. The more encounters you get off the more damage you do. Using atwills between the cooldowns of your encounters is really important too, most miss out on damage there where they forget to do atwills(aimed shots).

Single target rotation I start off in the following way :

1. Careful attack (optional)
2. Hunter's teamwork(optional)
3. Aimed shot (move close to boss / behind boss while you do this)
4. Hindering shot (procs predator feat).
5. Constricting arrow
6. longstriders
7. Gushing wound
8. Steel Breeze.
9. Hindering Strike
10. Artifacts buff/debuff(if applicable). (when you use this due to artificers CD your melee encounters are almost back up).
11. Dragonfire
12. Aimed shots/ Hindering shot / any encounters within 5 seconds.
13. Toad / TunnelVision / Veccna.
14. Slasher's mark. (This is almost used at same time with mount power).
15. Repeat from step 1 - 9.

(You also need to tab x2 between each encounter / at-wills to refresh the 15% buff from rate of change)

However like most things there is always exceptions. A rotation never takes priority over conditions and situations on a trial or dungeon, sometimes you can't get close to boss or use melee encounters In those situations just use ranged and atwills / improvise. Important thing is to keep hitting the boss and as the battle starts off and progresses there would be no true rotation. Use things on cooldown don't wait for one encounter while the other is off cooldown. Getting more encounters off will ultimately lead to more damage than a perfectly executed slow rotation. After the first rotation I generally tend to use things on cooldown I wont wait or hold on and keep a perfect rotation, in practice its not worth it.

Feedback and comments

Feel free to leave any feedback or comments. Please do also note this guide is still a work in progress and I will update all of my current builds into this eventually.