Ah, the Hunter. It wasn’t with more than a little trepidation that I picked up this character and began leveling to 40 with this character after a long stint of going through Enedwaith and leveling reputation with my Guardian. However, after telling Goldenstar that she could go ahead and level her Rune-keeper and seeing her progress with it; I felt that it was time for me to go ahead and move forward with that character. And in the blink of an eye I was level 34.
To say that the Hunter was a breeze to level would be an understatement. The first time I ran Skirmishes with him I felt like I was cheating because it was so easy! Using a Warrior as my soldier (I wanted something out in front of me and decided to go double DPS) really allowed me to get through them with little to no problem.
As for my rotation; I’ve changed it based on user feedback and find it to work a lot better for me. Currently it is:
- Set Trap (If necessary)
- Focus
- Quick Shot
- Barbed Arrow
- Swift Bow
- Rain of Arrows
I then use other skills as necessary. I’m not completely set on this rotation, but at this level it’s been fairly effective. I will slip in other skills as necessary, but I find that most mobs are either within melee range or dead by the time Swift Bow or Rain of Arrows goes off. Eventually I’ll be looking towards The Pariah’s Style Guide to Huntering by The Pariah or Focus Burn 101 by Dr. Strangehunter for future guidance. However, at this level these guides are a bit harder to follow. All in good time, though.
Hunter skills Levels 30 – 38
| Skill | Skill Effect | Opinion | Level Obtained |
Merciful Shot |
A shot that does a massive amount of damage (357 – 409 at 40), but can only be used on a target below 50% morale. It requires 6 Focus. | An awesome skill; however it’s a huge drain on focus and usually overkill for normal or swarm mobs which make up the majority of my opponents. But man, is it fun to use. | 30 |
Guide to Bree |
A teleport that will take your fellowship to Bree. | Great skill, but like all teleports a bit too late in the skill tree in my opinion. | 32 |
Passage of Shadow |
This allows you to track “…the dead, the unseen, and ancient evil.” | I always enjoy tracking skills and this definitely has its place. | 32 |
Needful Haste |
A skill requiring 3 Focus that will decrease your Barbed Arrow Induction by .25 seconds, decrease your Swift Bow induction by .5 seconds, and decrease your Attack Duration by 25% for 30 seconds. | It’s not so great when you first get it, but once traited properly it equals to 30 seconds of uninterrupted DPS. | 34 |
Guide to Esteldín |
A teleport that will take your fellowship to Esteldín. | 34 | |
Set Snare |
This creates a trap on the ground for 60 second that will snare and place a DoT on an enemy that passes through it. In Fellowships it also has a chance to start a Fellowship Maneuver. | It’s not as good as Set Trap for group play or for pulling multiple mobs, but it can be useful for kiting single mobs that might be tougher than normal mobs. | 36 |
Beneath Notice |
Reduces your Perceived Threat by 60% for 10 seconds. | This is mostly for group play and should be used in cases where you pull more aggro than intended. | 38 |
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January 7, 2011 at 9:21 am
Thanks For Posting This! I’m at 26 With My Hunter…
January 7, 2011 at 9:28 am
You’re welcome!
January 7, 2011 at 9:29 am
My main is a lvl 47 hunter, and they are a blast. My rotation is a bit different though.
For same lvl mobs I use
-Focus
-Swift Bow
-Penetrating Shot
-Merciful Shot (If available)
Then if they aren’t dead I use barbed arrow then scourging blow to finish them off. The scourging blow gives a huge bonus when used after a barbed arrow.
January 7, 2011 at 9:32 am
I run in precision and have used the following, gleaned from years of playing plus reading the 101 guides
(Focus if possible)
Barbed Arrow (for the slow and bleed)
Swift Bow
Penetrating Shot
Rain of Arrows
Quick Shot
– if not dead and in melee –
Blindside (adds focus)
Low Cut
This has served me well for years, I throw in Blood Arrow when pen shot is on cooldown but nothing else has changed really…
January 7, 2011 at 9:54 am
I, too, use a Warrior as my soldier. I went through a rough period in the Mirkwood skirmishes where I just could NOT defeat the encounters. The full-on DPS route (and lack of heals) really hurt. As my gear has improved and I’ve continued to level the Warrior past lvl 65, we’re breezing through them now. However, there’s still a couple of encounters (mostly those who reflect damage) that I just can’t seem to handle in the Mirkwood skirmishes.
All of the other skirmishes are a piece of cake, though. I don’t regret my choice to use a Warrior at all. (anymore! Ha!)
January 7, 2011 at 11:58 am
Hehe, yeah there’s some that will definitely be a challenge. Maybe I’ll start looking into leveling a bannerman too for that heal.
January 7, 2011 at 10:51 am
My main is a hunter, and he was my first toon that I got to 65. I love the hunter class, except for the traitlines, but that’s another story.
Merciful Shot will unfortunately become less useful as you level. I hardly ever use it at 65, except when I need to remove a Corruption, but there is hardly a point now that Dazing Blow does the same thing, and it doesn’t cost 6 Focus.
There is a method called the focus burn technique, which is extremely useful. It essentially stems from the constant use of Penetrating Shot and Rain of Arrows, and later Blood Arrow. If starting from a full Focus bar, after Focusing and Set Trap, a hunter at your level would fire off
Penetrating Shot
Rain of Arrows
Swift Bow
Penetrating Shot
Quick Shot
Quick Shot
Penetrating Shot
Swift Bow
Penetrating Shot
Quick Shot
Rain of Arrows
and then this repeats, as you’re probably out of Focus
SB
PS
QS
QS
PS
QS
QS
PS
Hope this gives you something to play with next time you play this magnificent class!
January 7, 2011 at 11:59 am
Awesome! Thanks Gel!
I’m definitely looking forward to leveling him again. It really was a lot of fun and a good way to wind up a somewhat dreary leveling span.
January 7, 2011 at 11:04 am
I’ve got a lvl 59 hunter, who was my first LOTRO character. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the journey with him. To throw my two cents in regarding skill rotation, I’ve found the following very effective for soloing. It does rely on choosing class traits to reduce the power drain from the focus attacks, so you may need to do a bit of tuning:
- Set trap (If i think the mob(s) will get to me before its dead)
- Quick Shot from max range to slow the mob down
- Penetrating shot
- Swift Bow
Occasionally the mob will have reached me by then, but usually I can also get off:
- Rain of arrows (or PS if an AOE will pull stuff i don’t want)
- Barbed Arrow (important at this point for the focus it gives)
- Penetrating shot
Not many on-level mobs make it past that. If it does get to me, I’ll blindside it and squeeze off another PS.
I’ve actually got Blood Arrow to throw in there now, too, and Merciful Shot is a satisfying finish if you’ve only got one mob charging and you have some focus to burn.
Thanks for the podcast, btw – it’s been a weekly spot of enjoyment for more than a year now.
January 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm
You’re welcome Tanin, and thank you for the rotation! I’m always looking for new things to try out.
January 7, 2011 at 2:57 pm
Did you do your quest to obtain your Guide to Evendim? If not, you’re missing a port.
January 8, 2011 at 12:15 pm
Be a shame if he did — it’s a great skill. Even at level 58 I use Guide to Evendim a lot, both for the epic and Annuminas but also because it’s one of the more convenient trainer/skirmish camp teleports I’ve got. 21st Hall is pretty useful too, but it’s so crowded it’s more of a pain to use.
Tinnudir in Evendim’s kind of my go-to teleport if I just need to sell trash, hit the trainer or the camp, etc, before heading out somewhere else.
January 9, 2011 at 2:02 pm
Always and ever will be my favorite class! I’m a lvl 65 hunter on Landroval.
I have to disagree with GE on the Merciful Shot. I used it a lot, especially during major boss fights where we almost have him down. During one fight I and another hunter used Merciful Shot at the same time, pretty much ending the boss right then and there. It sure impressed our fellowship a great deal. I also use it when fighting elites as it take a huge chunk of thier hp away, allowing me to avoid defeat more than not.
When I first started out I played solo quite a bit and so followed the Bowmaster line fairly deep. Once I hit Moria I started retraiting to Huntsman because Bow of the Righteous (LT) and various Huntsman skills will offer boosts of power. On my bow I have traited heavy in power regen and threat reduction.
The only traitline I have not found a use for is Trapper of Foes.
January 10, 2011 at 5:11 pm
Good comments above and as a psuedo noob that only plays
about 6-7 hrs a week, i am glad to see that my skill rotation
mirrors what i read above. I have gotten my Huner to lvl 35 and
have hit a wall. He is currently on the East side of the
Northdowns, but not sure if i should stay there or bounce him to
another area, and i find it difficult to handle fights where there
are more than two mobs close together. When i try to pull off one,
the other two follow. Even with a trap laid out and using Quick
shot, one of them makes it to me and i am forced to use melee
skills. One thing that i would like to see in the futrue is a
self-heal skill, even if it takes away focus or loweres damage for
a set time. Thoughts?
January 11, 2011 at 3:06 am
First, I have to ask what is wrong in using melee skills? I’ve traited in mellee as well as ranged simply because I have been a solo player from the get-go. If they get too close to me, they’ll taste my steel by golly!
At 35 there aren’t a lot of mezzing or fear skills so this is what I’d recommend. Get yourself some weaponsmith made traps. If you are working on a fairly good sized mob of three or four (although three might be your max in ND) set down a triple-trap and then a few feet behind that your basic trap skill. Make sure you are equipped with a bowchant and a light oil and then aim for the guy with the lowest hp first. Burn him down and work on the next one. By this time you should have them trapped in your triple trap allowing you enough time to burn them down until they reach your traited trap. If any reach the last trap, you should have only one left to kill. At 35 I would also recommend carrying health and power pots.
Also, keep in mind that if one of the mobs falls in the beast catagory you can use the predatory yell to fear them long enough to take care of the close combat ones before it gets back to you. Merciful shot (when you get it) does a lot of damage when used towards the end of a fight, often saving your butt from an unhappy demise.
Needful haste will make you shoot faster so make sure you have that up too. Hope this helps!
Hunter sometimes takes a while to set up how you are going to play a situation before you actually do it.
At 35 you can head on in to Evendim.
January 11, 2011 at 3:16 am
Oh! and learn the art of kiting. I always thought that I had to stand there and get the tar beat out of me, but I’ve learned that I can stay alive longer if I can kite for a bit, turn and shoot, kite for a bit, turn and shoot. Even better to kite when your opponent is also ranged and you can hide behind a nearest tree (or rock), removing his line of site. In this way, the baddy has to run to you, putting down his weapon. When this happens it is time to fire away!! I learned to fight like this starting in Lothlorien and even more so in Mirkwood.
Another option is to run like the dickens after you have taken one down until you no longer have agro on you – then go back and pick off the remaining baddies.