Build Improvements Requested: HM BHA Ranger

[Shayne Hawke]

[Broad Head Arrow][Distracting Shot][Savage Shot][Read The Wind][Pin Down][Natural Stride]["Finish Him!"][Sunspear Rebirth Signet]

I've been running this alongside Sab's and henchies for most of my Guardian missions, vanquishing all of Cantha, the expansion, and now getting into vanquishing Elona.

I'm curious if anyone had any suggestions on improving the build. I've thought about replacing a skill with Epidemic so that I could spread Deep Wound, Dazed, and Cracked Armor within a mob. I'm also wondering if there's anything I should do with my runes/insignias to bring my health up.

[Ministry Of Peace]

I would probably take out finish him, since
a.) it only works if they're below 50% health, at which point they're practically dead anyway
and b.)
you have to be within shout range, which you really shouldn't be as a ranger...

I would definitely go for epidemic, as well as something like throw dirt to spread a little blind around as well.

Also, you might consider using the asura skill technobabble to get daze, and go with barrage as your elite (to actually trigger the interrupts ^ ^) Alternatively, you could go with mini-barrage... (can't remember the actual name.. lol.. pve skill of some sort)

[Minime The Shadow]

personally i take expert focus over read the wind, and wouldnt take pin down, as in pve not many enemies kite.

also as you arent using a second profession, why not take a hard res?

i usually run Expert Focus, BHA, EBon Vangaurd Sin (knockdown and interupts anyone with daze, complete caster shut-down), DShot, Savage, Throw Dirt, then 2 others of your choice, Sometimes Pain inverter and Ebon Escape, other times a pet (just for extra hits to interupt with daze) and epidemic.

all viable, and its just down to what u are more comfortable playing.

hope that helps

Mini

[Tyla]

Needs more Epedemic.

Read the Wind for Volley. (RtW doesn't effect BHA anyway.)
Epedemic for Pin Down. (AoE Daze, Deep Wound and Cracked Armour if used at the same time. Although a small radius, Daze is a powerful condition nevertheless.)

[Shayne Hawke]

Needs more Epedemic.

Read the Wind for Volley. (RtW doesn't effect BHA anyway.)
Epedemic for Pin Down. (AoE Daze, Deep Wound and Cracked Armour if used at the same time. Although a small radius, Daze is a powerful condition nevertheless.)

I think I'm seeing the light in your suggestion. BHA + Epidemic = AoE Dazed, + Volley = AoE Interrupt.

The only reason I don't like that is because you suggest I remove RtW, which is essential to me if I'm using a Flatbow, and Pin Down, which I use to make BHA a little more successful of a hit.

[Zydonis]

I think I'm seeing the light in your suggestion. BHA + Epidemic = AoE Dazed, + Volley = AoE Interrupt.

The only reason I don't like that is because you suggest I remove RtW, which is essential to me if I'm using a Flatbow, and Pin Down, which I use to make BHA a little more successful of a hit.

First.. don't use a flatbow. Leave "Finish Him!" & Read the Wind out. Try Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support after dazing a priority target for nonstop interruption. And in HM, Pain Inverter is a great choice. In my experience Epidemic isn't as useful as most people claim, so I wouldn't pay much mind to that.

[The Meth]

Epidemic is really overrated, the AoE is too small to rely on it. A shutdown skill that only works half the time might as well not exist in my opinion, because if you can beat the 50% of groups it didn't help on there wasn't any reason to take it in the first place.

Finish Him works fine IMO, its great for quickly finishing off enemies. The energy cost is a big drawback, but being able to kill just about anything as soon as it reaches 50% health is great, especially as it can help you kill the biggest threat in the first 5 seconds of battle. Finishing off annoying targets that got a huge prot (even though it happens rarely) is nice as well.

Pain inverter is also priceless, as Zydonis mentioned.

Against the dungeon boss foes in EotN, who have 50% reduced condition time, you absolutely NEED 16 marksmanship and a +33% daze bow to effectively shut them down, so plan on making those changes when you get in the EotN dungeons.

Speccing into wilderness just for natural stride is a little unneeded, if you are in HM and under attack you should be getting enchants, so its taken off as soon as you use it to stop serious attacks. Instead, throw dirt is priceless for stopping enemies pounding on either you or your back line, or you can take all the points invested into wilderness and put them into a secondary profession and take either ward against melee or Enfeebling blood, both of which will help your team far more then 1 stance.

[Adja1005]

Epidemic and Natural Stride are somewhat overrated in my opinion, especially NS as the "...ends if you become hexed or enchanted" can be easily brought on in PvE.

I'd personally remove NS and the Sunspear signet and replace them with Dwarven Stability and Lightning Reflexes. D-Stability will keep L-Reflexes up almost constantly if you have a decent enough rank in the deldrimore title.

Pain Inverter as mentioned is a kickass skill to bring along in HM, especially against bosses who deal high damage.

I'd play around with the advice mentioned and see what you find works for your playing style. But personally i wouldn't go the Epidemic route, its a little overrated and requires mobs to be tightly packed. And in my experience mobs tend to split up quicker in HM than in NM.

[the savage nornbear]

[poison tip signet] [broad head arrow] [epidemic] [volley] [distracting shot] [lightning reflexes] optional [sunspear rebirth signet]

12chars

[distilledwill]

The Flatbow doesnt synergise well with Finish Him! unfortunately, as you will have to dash forward for it to have any affect.

As all others have said, epidemic is godly with BHA. Although, I like to use Apply Poison over Volley - just personal preference.


Another PvE skill worth investing in is [[Ebon Battle Standard Of Honor], great for bumping up your team damage.

[Hugh Manatee]

I used to run a R/Rt with BHA, Volley, Splinter Weapon, Sloth Hunter(daze makes it so the condition on sloth always works if they're casting, it's like super savage shot), Pain Inverter, Dshot, another PvE skill depending on where I am, usually a summon or the sin in a can, and Flesh of My Flesh or Death Pact, or an 8th skill, like vampirism, sort of shore up the party numbers and give another decoy if I have to run.

I used that and the sabway guys to do most of elona. I also occasionally used Gwen as a Fevered Dreams>Shrinking Armor>Accumulated Pain>Frustration with many interrupts, that way I could spread my daze, do more damage on interrupts or lock her on one caster while I kill another and such. The Second hero was Vekk, geared up with Unsteady Ground, Blurred Vision, Ward Against Melee, Churning Earth, and Eruption. That took care of melee and rangers, paragons ect. Third was either a curse necro, a MM, a healer or a Paragon.

[Stranger The Ranger]

I like using Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support after dazing a target so he can do the interrupting-part : P

[Tyla]

I think I'm seeing the light in your suggestion. BHA + Epidemic = AoE Dazed, + Volley = AoE Interrupt.
And with Splinter Weapon at 10 spec on an off character, you also get a big AoE boom.

The only reason I don't like that is because you suggest I remove RtW, which is essential to me if I'm using a Flatbow, and Pin Down, which I use to make BHA a little more successful of a hit.
I usually use BHA when the enemies have settled myself, or run in and fire an arrow right in their face since I run Nat Stride at 10 spec.

Since monsters don't usually kite, and stick there, I don't necesarily have to bring Nat Stride, but I like it to support myself and shake some stress off certain party members.

[distilledwill]

I usually use BHA when the enemies have settled myself, or run in and fire an arrow right in their face since I run Nat Stride at 10 spec.

Since monsters don't usually kite, and stick there, I don't necesarily have to bring Nat Stride, but I like it to support myself and shake some stress off certain party members.

Sounds like my strategy more often than not. I always take Nat Stride at 10 spec, it means that I can survive a bit longer and not be as much of a strain on healers if something breaks through the minion wall.

[Orange Milk]

Flat Bow, lol.

Recurve FTW, helps BHA and is better for the other two INTs on your bar.

I like Apply Posion as my Prep, daze the monk, sic the minions on him then posion the rest of the mob while INTing their self heals. Plus it's a cover condition for the Daze incase the monk has a weak condition remover that he gets off or another Monk is nearby.

In some places I do Serpents Quickness to get the BHA back up faster, but eh. Or even Drunken Master, while Drunk, thats a 90 sec 33% faster attack speed, sober it's like 15%.

Epidemic has it's uses in some places, but most of the time they don't group up enough and even then you Daze like 1 monk and 2 Rangers so who cares.

And yes, Natural Stride is a terrible stance.

Hard Rez is very nice.

[Luminarus]

PvE BHA I Run:

[Broad Head Arrow][Poison Tip Signet][Savage Shot][Distracting Shot][Finish Him][Ebon Vanguard Assassin Support][Rapid Fire] and for the last slot [Sunspear Rebirth Signet], [Pain Inverter] or [You Move Like A Dwarf]

[munkerino]

would both a pet and ebon vanguard sin support be better triggering daze? or is the sin support enough already

[The Red Messenger]

[dwarven stability][serpents quickness][barbed arrows][poison tip signet][broad head arrow][epidemic][pin down][natural stride]

dwarven + SQ means you can daze more often, or maintain it 100% on a boss...helpful for bosses that have the 2x natural condition recovery

maybe rapidfire instead of barbed arrows, because bleeding isnt all that important and is caused by the jagged bomber anyway

[Joe Fierce]

would both a pet and ebon vanguard sin support be better triggering daze? or is the sin support enough already while there's no such thing as too much of a good thing yes, the sin is more than enough, and as for a few people posting poison tip sig, it's great as another condition, but take this into consideration, it applies before BHA so it is no way a cover condition to keep daze on.

[fenix]

Firstly, Flat Bow with ANYTHING is terrible. Bring a Recurve, especially for BHA. I'd even be willing to suggest a Short Bow for BHA, then swap to a Recurve and step back a bit. Flat Bow is the worst though.

Secondly, Apply is a good option for BHA, as you get the auto condition cover. But really it's up to you. I like it just because you are transferring Daze + Poison to everything when you use Epidemic.

Obviously bring Dshot and Savage, those are pretty standard.

Aside from that, the rest is up to you. Some PvE skills are nice, especially You Move Like A Dwarf.


[Broad Head Arrow][Savage Shot][Distracting Shot][Apply Poison][Epidemic][You Move Like A Dwarf]

[aotdsyndrome]

Hey all :)
Sorry for doing a partial thread necromancy, but I finally reached this morning KoaBD r2 :)

http://i26.tinypic.com/n6ztsm.jpg

Anyway, I'm now thinking of starting Guardian, as BHA of course, and I'm trying to make final adjustments to my build.

So of course, the "essential skills" are: [BHA][Volley]
Now, the next step is choosing a cover condition, as any noob pve monk has a condition remover. The most popular seem to be [Poison Tip Signet] and [Apply Poison]. I've chosen [Poison Tip Signet] as I already have Volley on my bar.
Also, an essential for a ranger is a quick interrupt to throw around. Seeing as we already have [BHA], one more is enough: choosing between [Savage Shot] and [Distracting shot], I choose [Distracting shot] for the disabling effect, something [BHA] cannot do.
Seeing as I'm going to be fighting high level mobs and several hard-hitting bosses, the obvious choice is to bring [Pain Inverter] along.
Three skills left, then. As a ranger, the obvious is to choose a blocking stance, as it is the best way to survive :D. Here, the choice is harder: [Natural Stride][Whirling Defense][Lightning Reflexes] alot of choices... the majority of people on this thread however seem to think [lightning reflexes] is the best choice, however. Go for that.
Now, two choices left, and I haven't yet chosen a secondary profession.
This is another question I need answers too: if I'm going for Guardian title, should I have a self heal (if yes [troll] or [feel no pain], with r10 norn?) or a rez (normal [sunspear rebirth signet] or hard rez [fomf]/[rebirth])? Also, do you think that [epidemic] is such a great skill? The actual skill is great, but in practice I've noticed the casters rarely mob up enough to get them all dazed.
All this therefore leads us to:
[BHA][Distracting shot][Volley][Poison Tip Signet][Pain Inverter][Lightning Reflexes][Empty][Empty]

Thanks for reading through all that, and I hope you can give me feedback and say if my choices are wrong :p

This leads me to the second part of my post, less attached to the subject, but essential nontheless: the rest of my team.
Being in a small high-end pvp guild, I can rarely find people to do the missions with me, so I need to make up a good HH team (hero-hench).
My idea was to run me as BHA, then the three SABway necros (sab, i love you, your heroes have saved me countless times :3), then a nuker, a monk, a warrior and a support unit. The nuker and warrior can easily be a hero or a hench (Cynn is sexeh :p), and monk to a partial degree (Mhenlo... -_-'), but of course the best support unit is an imbagon/godmode para, which can only be run by a player. In this case, what do YOU think the best HH team would be to go with a BHA ranger?
Oh, and last question, can I just give the BHA job to a hero ranger and leeroy in with Ursan? ^^

Sorry again to have written such a long block, but I hope you can read through it and tell me where I've been right/wrong and how I could improve :)

Thanks alot, Liru

[Zydonis]

I would leave Poison Tip and Volley out. Poison Tip because, as said before, it doesn't cover BHA, and the poison affect itself isn't all that useful. Volley because it's pointless if you don't bring poison tip.

Troll or Feel No Pain depends on if you're going to pump wilderness or not, if not, feel no pain is the better choice.

For a rez, Rebirth. As you said, in theory, Epidemic is great, but in practice, it's rarely useful.

I generally use a modified Sabway when I H&H. I've never really used a BHA hero, but Zho seems to do OK.

[_Sniper]

Remember that the effect of Dshot don't isn't here if the target is under Daze.

[Abedeus]

But if your target dies before Broad Head Arrow recharges, you can dshot elementalists and mesmers.

[Rhamia Darigaz]

Natural Stride is overrated
i stopped reading your post there

edit:
Now, the next step is choosing a cover condition, as any noob pve monk has a condition remover.
ur right i brought this one RLY n00b monk in a group once and he kept removing daze from all the monstars!!! to this day i never leave home without a cover condition in pve, and the reason is definitely the n00b monks
btw his name was mhenlo dont invite him hes a n00b monk doesnt heal gud