Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills: The Bowmaster

Well, folks, we’ve had some time to absorb the class changes that update 12.0 (otherwise known as the Helm’s Deep expansion) brought to us. To recap, skill traits were replaced with skill trees, and several skills were consolidated, removed or changed as a result. For the hunter, the names remained the same – Bowmaster (red), Huntsman (blue) and Trapper of Foes (yellow), but the way the hunter behaves between lines differs tremendously. In this post, I’ll go over the Bowmaster line and focus on some of the combat skills that have changed or are useful when running in this line.

Here are some of my other hunter skill guides:

Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills: Trapper of Foes

Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills: The Huntsman

The Bowmaster line is built around the strategy of scoring high-damage critical hits at long range in order to fell your foes before they can get close enough to hurt you. Pre-Helm’s Deep, most people played hunters using the Bowmaster strategy with complimenting trait builds, so that aspect of the build should not be new. However, a few new skills and enhanced specializations may require some tweaks to the rotations of even the most seasoned of Bowmasters. The max range of the Bowmaster is 40m compared to 30m for the other two specializations.

Here are a few skills (combat, mainly) that are available to the Bowmaster.

General Skills

Quick Shot

Quick Shot: Chance for additional focus point, up to 50%

Effects of quick shot are dependent on stance:

Precision – additional quick shot crit chance

Endurance – returns morale

Strength –  40% target speed reduction

Brax’s thoughts: Quick shot is pretty much the go-to shot to use when more powerful shots are on cooldown, or when managing focus, power or threat. The Bowmaster seems to be designed to be run in strength stance, and the additional slow applied to your target while in strength stance could be enough of an edge to allow you to burn them down before they reach you. 

 

Swift Bow

Swift bow – launches 3 arrows in rapid succession

 

Brax’s thoughts: Not much has changed with this skill, so it’s still a great high-damage shot. It’s also good for focus generation, but a somewhat long induction can be reduced by putting a couple of skill points into the Huntsman line. Use Swift Bow to build focus for your hard-hitting, focus consuming shots like Penetrating Shot or Upshot.

 

Barbed ArrowBarbed Arrow – Applies a bleed to target every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. 10% target speed reduction

 

Brax’s thoughts: Barbed Arrow is a nice ranged damage-over-time skill that will generate focus. The 10% speed reduction isn’t as nice as the 40% reduction supplied by quick shot in strength stance, but is a nice little perk if barbed arrow is already a part of your rotation.

 

Penetrating ShotPenetrating Shot – Big damage, no cooldown

 

Brax’s thoughts: Penetrating Shot has always been one of the best “bang for your buck” shots when considering damage vs power consumption. Now that there is no cooldown, rotate it in with Swift Bow, Barbed Arrow and Quick shot to consume and then re-build focus.

 

Merciful ShotMerciful Shot – Big damage, available only if target health is under 50%. Removes up to 3 corruptions. Can be traited to apply additional damage to targets with a bleed.

 

Brax’s thoughts: I got used to not using Merciful Shot much in the past, due to the 50% health requirement and amount of power it consumes. However, it does do massive damage and the corruption removal is nice. In the bowmaster line, your specialization will allow the use of Merciful Shot when the target is at 70% morale instead of 50%, making it useful much earlier in the rotation.

 

Distracting ShotDistracting Shot: 10 second daze applied to target

 

Brax’s thoughts: Distracting shot isn’t as useful in the Bowmaster line as in Trapper of Foes, due to a very long cooldown time. However, it’s always nice to have an extra daze in your pocket.

 

Bard's ArrowBard’s arrow: Applies 15 second fear to target

 

Brax’s thoughts: Bard’s arrow can be useful during solo play with a multi-mob pull, or in groups when you want to burn down one target while the other one runs around like an idiot. Fifteen seconds is a long time to not have to worry about a bad dude. When using Bard’s arrow, I most often use it to start a pull. If I’m using it when I’m already in-combat, I’m probably in trouble. But it could be a nice last-second “oh shoot” skill to scare a mob off and give you enough time to either heal up or run away.

 

BlindsideBlindside:  Mele attack, Interrupt

 

Brax’s thoughts: Blindside is one of my favorite mele attacks since it not only interrupts inductions, it also generates a good amount of focus. While Low Cut is probably still the most useful mele attack in Bowmaster, Blindside is a close 2nd.

 

Low CutLow Cut: Mele attack, reduces target run speed, small chance to apply bleed

 

Brax’s thoughts: This is another great skill to reduce target run speed, and it’s AoE. In the Bowmaster line, Low Cut can also be traited to apply a 3 second root to the target, so if those ugly orcs get too close, hit ’em with a low cut, back up, and finish them off!

 

Dazing BlowDazing Blow: 5 second daze, removes up to 3 corruptions from target

 

Brax’s thoughts: Honestly, I always forget that this skill removes corruption. I use it occasionally for the daze, and because the animation is one of my favorite Hunter mele’s 🙂

 

Set TrapSet Trap: Single ground-target trap that roots and can be used in combat

 

Brax’s thoughts: It’s nice that this is still a skill that all hunters get, regardless of where we put our points. It provides some element of crowd control no matter which tree you decide to run in. Traps can now be used in-combat, so dust off this skill, you may need it for pulls where you want to burn down an archer while rooting a mele mob!

 

CamouflageCamouflage: Toggle skill for stealth, movement breaks stealth. Specialization can increase stealth +8 and increase critical chance by 50% when shooting from camouflage

 

Brax’s thoughts: I used camouflage a lot when I was leveling during solo play where mob density was high and I needed to pick my way through without getting mobbed. With the bowmaster specialization, if you reach the 2nd to last tier, you are awarded a nice 50% critical chance increase when firing from camo. That’s a nice little buff for simply disappearing prior to taking your first shot! 

 

Bowmaster Specific Skills

Heart SeekerHeart Seeker: High damage, high induction time, Heart seeker is now a part of the Bowmaster line. Heart Seeker can now be traited to apply an 8 second bleed and reduce the target’s incoming healing by 50%

 

Brax’s thoughts: I prefer to use Heart Seeker in longer group bossfights due to the long induction. When you get to the point in the specialization that Heart Seeker that a bleed is applied, using it in this situation makes even more sense. Just be careful if your build doesn’t include much power, because Heart Seeker will chew through it quickly.

 

Pinning ShotPinning Shot: Applies a five second root to the target

 

Brax’s thoughts: This root has a 50% chance to break if the target takes damage after one second, so it’s not a great way to pin a target down unless you need some extra time to hit press onward for a quick heal. It’s only five seconds, so probably not long enough to pin one mob down while you burn a second, unless you’re really fast. Also, auto attacks will break the root, so if your intent is to root them for the full five seconds, make sure you target away from them quickly or stop your auto-attack as soon as you get the root applied. If you do decide to root one mob to burn the other, make sure you root a mele mob and a ranged one 🙂

 

Press OnwardPress Onward: This skill has been moved into the bowmaster line and restores a moderate amount of morale and power. Press Onward has a 3rd tier red tree enhancement called “perseverance” that has 3 ranks, and can increase the amount of morale and power returned by up to 15%

Brax’s thoughts: While the amount of morale and power returned using this skill is not overwhelming, it’s the only self-heal accessible to the bowmaster. It’s an induction skill, so it can be easily interrupted. As mentioned above, if used in combination with a Pinning Shot or Set Trap, you may be able to buy yourself enough time to Press Onward and save your skin. I find this skill most useful in group play, though, when long boss fights put power at a premium and tanks can keep mobs from hitting you while the induction timer is ticking.

 

Rain of ArrowsRain of Arrows: Ranged AoE attack

 

Brax’s thoughts: I use Rain of Arrows strictly in groups when I’m sure the tank has grabbed at least a majority of the targets. Two ranks of Rain of Arrows can increase the critical chance of the skill by 10%. The next tier skill (Hail of Arrows) will reset the cooldown of Rain of Arrows each time it crits. My experience has been that only one of the targets in the group is required to crit for Hail of Arrows to take effect. Thus, the more targets hit by your Rain of Arrows, the greater the chance for a crit and the better chance you’ll have to fire off another Rain of Arrows immediately. In other words, the larger the group of targets, the more effective your Rain of Arrows/Hail of Arrows combination will be.

 

Burn HotBurn Hot: Increases ranged damage by 20% and decreases bow skills power consumption by 10% for 20 seconds

 

Brax’s thoughts: Burn hot is a fantastic way to finish off a boss fight in a group when you’re absolutely sure that the tank will not lose aggro. That’s why I like to pop it towards the end of a long fight, provided I have enough power to do so, since Burn Hot requires a hefty amount of power to use. I haven’t really found a need to use Burn Hot when soloing on the landscape. The Bowmaster line burns down mobs fast enough as it is without spending over 1000 power on a 20% damage bonus.

 

UpshotUpshot (Capstone): Does additional damage for each focus point consumed

 

Brax’s thoughts: Upshot is a really nice addition to the hunter skills lineup. Not only does it do a good amount of damage that increases with additional focus, but there’s no induction, so you can fire it off any time, as long as it’s not on cooldown. In the linked video, I was able to fire an Upshot from Camouflage and get a crit that was over 10,000 damage…and that was using a level 85 bow. I’ll bet some of the best number crunching hunters will be able to one-shot Westemnet landscape mobs with devastating Upshots using better gear/stats than mine!

 

If you’d like to see further explanation of the Bowmaster specializations and see the skills in action, check out my video:

 

 

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Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills: The Huntsman

Well, folks, we’ve had some time to absorb the class changes that update 12.0 (otherwise known as the Helm’s Deep expansion) brought to us. To recap, skill traits were replaced with skill trees, and several skills were consolidated, removed or changed as a result. For the hunter, the names remained the same – Bowmaster (red), Huntsman (blue) and Trapper of Foes (yellow), but the way the hunter behaves between lines differs tremendously. In this post, I’ll go over the Huntsman line and focus on some of the combat skills that have changed or are useful when running in this line.

Here are some of my other hunter skill guides:

Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills: Trapper of Foes

Helm’s Deep Hunter Skills: The Bowmaster

The major selling point of the new Huntsman is the ability to fire on the move without penalty, even through inductions. Since you don’t have as much range or damage output as the bowmaster line, you need to rely on speed of both character and skills. If you’re playing the huntsman like a hunter was traditionally played pre-skil tree (that is, standing back and firing big, powerful shots), you’re probably going to wonder what all the fuss is about.

According to Turbine, the Huntsman is a “mid-ranged mobile harasser”. While traiting Huntsman, I’ve definitely felt mobile AND harassing, but haven’t really noticed the loss of range. Most enemies close fast enough to get within the Huntsman’s range quickly anyway, so you may only be missing out on the initial “pull shot” in solo play, and may not be able to stand as far back from the mobs in group play.  Personally, I’ve found the Huntsman line to be the most fun to play due to all of the movement and action involved, and also possibly the most survivable of the three lines thanks to a number of speed buffs/debuffs that make the hunter a viable damage kite. I certainly am not putting up the “big shot” numbers of the bowmaster line, but the speed with which I can get arrows off makes up for it. No more standing around and watching the induction bar for this hunter.

Here are a few skills (combat, mainly) that are available to the Huntsman.

General Skills

Quick Shot

Quick Shot: Chance for additional focus point, up to 50%

Effects of quick shot are dependent on stance:

Precision – additional quick shot crit chance

Endurance – returns morale

Strength –  40% target speed reduction

Brax’s thoughts: Quick shot is pretty much the go-to shot to use when more powerful shots are on cooldown, or when managing focus, power or threat. I prefer to run in precision stance so that I don’t have to worry about focus management as much.

 

Swift BowSwift bow – launches 3 arrows in rapid succession

 

Brax’s thoughts: Not much has changed with this skill, so it’s still a great high-damage shot. Reduction of induction time with hunstman traits make this a regular in the rotation.

 

Barbed ArrowBarbed Arrow – Applies a bleed to target every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. 40% target speed reduction

 

Brax’s thoughts: This is my new favorite speed debuff skill. When kiting as a huntsman, rely not only on your speed buffs/procs, but also your target speed debuffs to make sure that the bad guy can’t catch up with you!

 

Penetrating ShotPenetrating Shot – Big damage, no cooldown

 

Brax’s thoughts: Penetrating Shot has always been one of the best “bang for your buck” shots when considering damage vs power consumption. Now that there is no cooldown, rotate it in with Swift Bow, Barbed Arrow and Quick shot to consume and then re-build focus.

 

Merciful ShotMerciful Shot – Big damage, available only if target health is under 50%. Removes up to 3 corruptions. Can be traited to apply additional damage to targets with a bleed.

 

Brax’s thoughts: I got used to not using Merciful Shot much in the past, due to the 50% health requirement and amount of power it consumes. However, it does do massive damage and the corruption removal is nice. I use it situationally now.

 

Distracting ShotDistracting Shot: 10 second daze applied to target

 

Brax’s thoughts: Distracting shot isn’t as useful in the Huntsman line as in Trapper of Foes, due to a very long cooldown time. However, it’s always nice to have an extra daze in your pocket, and now that you can fire it off while moving, it may come in handy. 

 

Bard's ArrowBard’s arrow: Applies 15 second fear to target

 

Brax’s thoughts: Bard’s arrow can be useful during solo play with a multi-mob pull, or in groups when you want to burn down one target while the other one runs around like an idiot. Fifteen seconds is a long time to not have to worry about a bad dude. When using Bard’s arrow, I most often use it to start a pull. If I’m using it when I’m already in-combat, I’m probably in trouble. But it could be a nice last-second “oh shoot” skill to scare a mob off and give you enough time to either heal up or run away.

 

BlindsideBlindside:  Mele attack, Interrupt

 

Brax’s thoughts: Blindside is one of my favorite mele attacks since it not only interrupts inductions, it also generates a good amount of focus. Since traiting huntsman, I don’t find myself in mele range as often (since I’m kiting, now), but will occasionally run up to a healing mob and attempt an interrupt.

 

Low CutLow Cut: Mele attack, reduces target run speed, small chance to apply bleed

 

Brax’s thoughts: This is another great skill to reduce target run speed, and it’s AoE. So if those ugly orcs get too close while you’re kiting around, fire off a low-cut and watch ’em try to keep up!

 

Dazing BlowDazing Blow: 5 second daze, removes up to 3 corruptions from target

 

Brax’s thoughts: Honestly, I always forget that this skill removes corruption. I use it occasionally for the daze, and because the animation is one of my favorite Hunter mele’s 🙂

 

Set TrapSet Trap: Single ground-target trap that roots and can be used in combat

 

Brax’s thoughts: It’s nice that this is still a skill that all hunters get, regardless of where we put our points. It provides some element of crowd control no matter which tree you decide to run in. Traps can now be used in-combat, so dust off this skill, you may need it for pulls where you want to burn down an archer while rooting a mele mob!

 

Huntsman Specific Skills

BarrageBarrage: Damage increases with each use

 

Brax’s thoughts: This is one of the new skills from the Helm’s Deep expansion. It’s got a short cooldown, but eats up focus. Use it in your rotation like Penetrating Shot. Mix it in with Swift Bow, Quick Shot and Barbed Arrow in order to keep focus managed. Try to get as many Barrage’s in as possible, since the damage keeps increasing the more you’re able to use on a single mob. The damage increase does seem to be mob specific, so successive usage isn’t required for the damage increase to take effect.

 

Split ShotSplit Shot: Targets multiple foes, up to 5

 

Brax’s thoughts: Split shot is the only ranged AoE skill available to the Huntsman now that Rain of Arrows has been moved into the Bowmaster tree. Hence, you are now able to trait for Split Shot to damage up to five foes. Use it in groups when the tank already has all of the aggro, not in solo play to make a pull.

 

Strength of the EarthStrength of the Earth: Returns power and morale, and can be traited to increase focus as well

 

Brax’s thoughts: This is not a combat skill, but thought it was worth mentioning since it is now granted as a part of the Huntsman tree. This skill returns morale and power, can be used in-combat, and can now also be traited to increase focus, also. Although the quantities returned are relatively small, I use it a lot to help manage power in long group boss fights like the Turtle.

 

Blood ArrowBlood Arrow: Can be traited to restore 6% of maximum morale on critical hit

 

Brax’s thoughts: I used to never use blood arrow. Yes, it did major damage, but it also cost the hunter some morale – which is something I never seemed to have enough of! Now, Blood Arrow still does a nice amount of damage, but it also can be traited to return morale, and has a chance to unlock the skill….

 

ExsanguinateExsanguinate: Blood arrow has a chance to grant this skill that causes a large bleed on the target

 

Brax’s thoughts: These two in combination do a nice bit of damage without a major cost to power, plus if you’ve traited merciful shot (or heart seeker, which is a bowmaster skill) to do additional damage on a bleed target, you could really put some hurt on a mob using a Blood Arrow -> Exanguinate -> Merciful Shot combo. 

 

Scourging blow

Scourging Blow: Applies additional damage if target has barbed arrow bleed, stops the bleeding

 

Brax’s thoughts: Scourging Blow is probably one of my least-used mele skills, mostly because I try my best not to be in mele range when traited huntsman. It seems to fall behind Low Cut, Blindside, and Dazing Blow as beneficial to my play-style. Having said that, Scourging Blow does do a nice bit of damage for a hunter mele, so if you do find yourself backed into a corner with your other skills on cooldown, it might be a good one to use.

 

Rapid FireCapstone – Rapid Fire: Causes skills to have no focus cost or requirement, increases physical mastery rating, can be traited to include a stacking physical mastery buff

 

Brax’s thoughts: I’ll admit it. I didn’t get this capstone at first. It’s not even really a combat skill, is it? What is this, Lore-Master gets “Sic ‘Em”, and we’re stuck with … this?  But boy, was I wrong. I love this capstone. Hit it right before you want to smash a mob with a simple, quick, focus-free rotation of Penetrating shot/Barrage for a period of six seconds. Pen Shot has no cooldown, and Barrage has a one second cooldown. so you can pretty much fire away to your heart’s content. And don’t forget about the damage bonus for continuous use of Barrage! Not to mention, the Rapid Fire cooldown is a mere 90 seconds, so it can be used often. Even if you don’t burn the mob down before he gets to you, you can continue to fire on the run without a miss penalty, because – hey, you’re a Huntsman!

 

If you’d like to see further explanation of the Huntsman specializations and see the skills in action, check out my video:

 

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Pixel Army: The Magic Behind LOTRO’s 30,000 Orcs

Warning: If you are concerned about Epic Battle immersion, do not read this post. The following contains potential spoilers that you will not be able to scrub from your memory. Not even with a men-in-black flashy thingy. Not even with a timelord pocket watch. Not even if Superman spins the Earth backwards to a time prior to you reading the article. Well, actually, I’ve never tested that last one, but I’m assuming that it’s true.

Here you are, a hero of Middle-Earth, standing at the wall of the Hornburg as waves of orcs make their way towards the fortress. They break through the gate! As they pour through it, it occurs to you that if only you could flank them on the battlefield…lead a small band of Rohirrim into the fray, you might be able to draw them away from the families hidden inside. Until now, all who have ventured too far from the wall have suffered a quick and inexplicable demise. But this may be your one and only chance…forward!

By some luck you pass the point where others have failed, but the hoards beyond are not what you expect. They do not attack, and save a few they do not move, except to face you as you roam their ranks. But most peculiar, they barely appear to be orcs at all, but some sort of rejects from the Minecraft nether!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to ride out into the field of orcs during one of LOTRO’s new epic battles? If you did, you might be surprised by what you found. Though there are probably many new technologies in play to bring you the ‘epicness’ of the Battle of the Hornburg, one of the most unlikely, but in hindsight obvious, is not really a technology at all, but an optical illusion. A source has sent me some very interesting beta screenshots of the orcs that lie beyond the Epic Battle ‘wall of death* (a point on the map where you die instantly) that many of us have discovered by accident. The orcs in the battlefield are of various resolutions, many pixelated past the point of recognition. The end result is much like using cardboard cutouts on a movie set to make a crowd seem bigger than it actually is. Your computer doesn’t have to render 30,000 orcs, just 30,000 dark blobs that, from the wall, look like an army of orcs due to its distance from your character’s point-of-view camera.  Thus, it doesn’t matter to your eyes that the orcs aren’t at full resolution, but it does matter to the performance of your game session.

The following is a collection of shots from “behind the lines”. I’ve brightened them up only so they could be more easily viewed, otherwise, they have not been altered:

Blob
Fear me! I am blobulous!

 

Two Blobs
…and I bring my friends!

 

Line of Blobs
Everybody, single file. We’ll all get to see the black powder explosion if we take turns…

 

This army!
You and what army?

 

Helm's Deep view
This is what you see from the wall, this picture has not been enhanced, as the darkness helps to conceal some of the graphics tricks

Braxwolf Stormchaser

An Unexpected Vidcast – Episode 21

Poor ol’ Pashbo isn’t feeling too great this week, so he has kept things pretty brief.  But he has time for Pashrandir the poet to bring tidings of battle at Helms Deep, whilst Balimpo has an equally disturbing tale about lil Lilly from Stock.  Chumbly recites a few verse too, whilst Rubyrae brings us the store news.

Get well soon Pashbo!

We would love to include work from the LOTRO community within this vidcast.  If  you would like your LOTRO band to perform, would like us to include your own roleplaying video, send us a picture of your character with some text telling us what they have been up to, or want to plug a community event email us at anunexpectedvidcast@yahoo.com

Check out http://anunexpectedvidcast.weebly.com for more videos.

Helm’s Deep Known Issues

These were listed in the patch notes, but I thought it was a good to idea, to list them here as well..

 

Helm’s Deep Known Issues
Note: The majority of issues listed below are currently slated to be addressed in Update 12.1

Epic Battles

  • The following Secondary Quests are currently unavailable.
  • Deeping Coombe – Prepare to Fall Back, A Pillage Denied
  • Glittering Caves – Bombs and Bats, Cave In
  • Hornburg – Final Blockade
  • Helm’s Dike 6-man – A Stone Obstruction, Guarding the Watchtower

Promotions – Vanguard combat skills are missing audio and visual effects

Items

  • Several Gear Set Bonuses are not functioning correctly.

Relics

  • Level 85 and 95 Sealed Devices of Potency are granting Device of Protection when deconstructed.

Legendary Items

  • Several legacies are unable to be extracted, including Champion Minor Class Legacy:Strikes Line Power Cost and Major Class Legacy:Strike Skill Power Cost, Rune-keeper Minor Weapon Legacy:Chill of Winter Damage and Minor Class Legacy:Frost Damage, and Warden Major Melee Legacy:Light Damage and Minor Class Legacy:Light-type Damage

Legendary Item Legacies

  • Hunter – AoE Skills Maximum Targets legacy isn’t applying to Cry of the Hunter skill
  • Rune-keeper – Chill of Winter Debuff Duration legacy is not applying to Flurry of Words skill

Quests

  • Broadacres – Brigands in the Wild – Waves won’t spawn if attempting to speak to Frithild immediately after someone has completed the waves
  • Kingstead – A Summons to Magla – Magla will be phased out before the quest is completed if you’ve already started the Middlemead quest arc
  • Westfold – Session: Let’s Take the Hornburg! – Instance is locked.

Classes

Champion

  • Furious Swings set bonus is not applying +30% Blade Skill Damage to Blade Wall and Blade Storm skills

Guardian

  • Vicious Rebuttal does not increase the duration of Redirect

Hunter

  • Several skills cause the player character to sink slightly into the ground when used while moving; this includes Barrage, Blood Arrow, Exanguinate, and Penetrating Shot
  • Master Trapper references Set Trap and Snake Bite instead of Triple Trap and Piercing Trap

Lore-master

  • Dispel Corruption does not remove tiered corruptions
  • Loyalty is not applying a heal when it procs

Rune-keeper

  • Improved Final Word is not dispelling tiered corruptions