[0.10.4b] Bow Marauder (The Shocker (tm)) [**TO BE UPDATED SOON 1.0.0**]

How important is taking Unwavering Stance to protect from stuns, especially in endgame? I'm close to level 50, near the end of A2 Cruel and haven't noticed getting stunned all that much yet. Would it be worthwhile to skip Unwavering Stance and maybe Iron Reflexes too, and maybe take Arrow Dodging instead to take advantage of the higher evasion? Or will being unstunnable become more important later on?

thanks for any feedback!

Between these two bows, which would be considered better?





I currently have both equipped and was checking the DPS between them. The first one has higher Frenzy and LA DPS by 25%, however DHarp has that extra Arrow.

I'm pretty sure the Highborn's DPS boost is mostly from faster attack speed too. Still, I can't decide which would be better to keep as my main weapon.

Depends on if you are having more trouble with single target or AoE situations. I played with a DH for a bit since I had one drop, and I am pretty sure the extra arrow from DH has the same no double hit limitation that split arrow or LMP with attacks has, so it will have less single target DPS. You could probably come up with better AOE damage since you can get double hits from the LA explosion damage. I think (without sitting down to calc it) DH actually works better for LA if you drop the LMP for FA and just shoot 2 arrows with no cost/damage penalty from LMP, but I won't swear to it. Could always use weapon swap to keep DH as your main AoE bow, then hit x to swap to the highborn for single targets.

The real answer is just use whichever one you want for now, because a random rare will outclass either in a relatively short time frame :p



[edit] for unwavering:
On my build that skips IR I also skipped unwavering since I figured some dodge was better than no dodge. I did think about sticking a tendril out to get arrow dodging, but I ended up just going for more DPS or HP instead. At 72, I think my chance to dodge even with graces is only low 20s, so I didn't feel it was worth the extra nodes to get to AD (which, granted, is further off my path than yours if you are following the more traditional build). In general I find that most of the ranged attacks that actually hit me are spells/elemental damage anyway

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Cerecel wrote:

How important is taking Unwavering Stance to protect from stuns, especially in endgame? I'm close to level 50, near the end of A2 Cruel and haven't noticed getting stunned all that much yet. Would it be worthwhile to skip Unwavering Stance and maybe Iron Reflexes too, and maybe take Arrow Dodging instead to take advantage of the higher evasion? Or will being unstunnable become more important later on?

thanks for any feedback!

Basically it depends on the size of your HP pool. The higher your HP, the less you get stunned. However for this build, getting US also means getting the handy Berserk node, and overall it doesn't cost much (the build would dip into the south-east section of the passive tree either way). What it means is that in a crucial moment when it really matters, you will be protected from something that might have otherwise killed you. That is my logic behind taking it.

Stun mechanics!

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ShadowyDream wrote:

I'm on pace to do my full write up either Friday or Saturday, but as I have said before, I am leaning towards an even glassier build, so I think you should be fine.

The build I am leaning towards has no IR or UWS, doesnt even bother to run graces, and will only have 117% health at level 76. I have only died 3 times since post A3 merc (23 times total), and of those 3 times, 1 was from a DC, and the other 2 were from extra fast whipping miscreants, which is the same enemy that has gotten my Tankier build's (very similar to your build) 1 post A3 Merc death. My glassy build does also pass directly by 2 different 8/8/12 clusters, and the 10str/12/12 line between RT and BM, and I do plan on grabbing some of that eventually, but not till I run out of adjacent dps nodes :p

cant wait for your write up.

i'm in act2 cruel w/1750 hp (Lvl48) and the only time i died so far is to Oak.
his leap slam kills my totem and his sweep kills all my skels in one swoop.

i think my bear traps did more dmg to him than my bow.

RaT/Iceshot would probably have been the better totem to use.

Yeah, I am pretty sure my totem did half my damage vs oak while i just ran around since 2 consecutive hits would have killed me lol.

Also, I'd recommend stockpiling some Regrets/respec points if you have gone ranger (or anything like my proposed build that does ranger/shadow), cause sounds like the next major content patch is March 6th. The duelist starting area is already very competitive with ranger for this particular build, and the devs have said they want to buff the duelist starting area. If that buff is included in the content patch it might switch where you want to go.

Might not matter as they might only buff the melee side, but it is semi-relevant so I figured I would point it out.

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ShadowyDream wrote:

Yeah, I am pretty sure my totem did half my damage vs oak while i just ran around since 2 consecutive hits would have killed me lol.

Also, I'd recommend stockpiling some Regrets/respec points if you have gone ranger (or anything like my proposed build that does ranger/shadow), cause sounds like the next major content patch is March 6th. The duelist starting area is already very competitive with ranger for this particular build, and the devs have said they want to buff the duelist starting area. If that buff is included in the content patch it might switch where you want to go.

Might not matter as they might only buff the melee side, but it is semi-relevant so I figured I would point it out.

thx for the heads up!
wont spend any more points till March6.

if things are too different, i might just start a new character since i'm only lvl 48.

A slight improvement on the skill tree for end-game:

Instead of grabbing the 3 nodes with 8% life on the ranger side of the tree, take the +10 str and the 2 nodes with 12% life on the marauder side (between RT and BM).

Same number of nodes, same life, 10 free strength.

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Pi314 wrote:

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ShadowyDream wrote:

Yeah, I am pretty sure my totem did half my damage vs oak while i just ran around since 2 consecutive hits would have killed me lol.

Also, I'd recommend stockpiling some Regrets/respec points if you have gone ranger (or anything like my proposed build that does ranger/shadow), cause sounds like the next major content patch is March 6th. The duelist starting area is already very competitive with ranger for this particular build, and the devs have said they want to buff the duelist starting area. If that buff is included in the content patch it might switch where you want to go.

Might not matter as they might only buff the melee side, but it is semi-relevant so I figured I would point it out.

thx for the heads up!
wont spend any more points till March6.

if things are too different, i might just start a new character since i'm only lvl 48.

If your only 48 I don't think you really need to stop spending points, there should still be a decent number of nodes elsewhere you can grab still. just saying if you are about to start that big chain of 6 stat only nodes to get into the ranger area or something , you might want to not spend those as you get them or something :p

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Pi314 wrote:

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ShadowyDream wrote:

Yeah, I am pretty sure my totem did half my damage vs oak while i just ran around since 2 consecutive hits would have killed me lol.

Also, I'd recommend stockpiling some Regrets/respec points if you have gone ranger (or anything like my proposed build that does ranger/shadow), cause sounds like the next major content patch is March 6th. The duelist starting area is already very competitive with ranger for this particular build, and the devs have said they want to buff the duelist starting area. If that buff is included in the content patch it might switch where you want to go.

Might not matter as they might only buff the melee side, but it is semi-relevant so I figured I would point it out.

thx for the heads up!
wont spend any more points till March6.

if things are too different, i might just start a new character since i'm only lvl 48.

Yeah, I'm still in my 30's, so that's fortunate for me. Just going to pick up IR, then head up to templar ED passives till the patch. (Fury bolts is nice, if duelist is worth investing in. If you're going irongrip.)