How does HW work?

I am trying to understand horizon walker for a dark hunter or ranger life.

It seems very... busy? Is it just all activate attacks? I have a lot of gear that would work rangery. This is derivative of Ung's post in general about aa/hw rogue/ranger build.

I guess hw might be interesting but I dont see where all this mad and glamorous damage is supposed to come from!

Thanks!

(total early morning brain cramp - don't post before coffee kicks in :rolleyes:)

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Originally Posted by C-Dog

It works just fine, thanks for asking. :cool:


Well, the simplest is that it's "Wisdom-based" damage, which dovetails nicely w some classes that have special abilities/DC's that are Wisdom-based.

Beyond that, HW takes advantage of "helpless" targets, which by default take +50% extra damage. Many classes/trees allow extra damage "vs. helpless" - HW capitalizes on that.

o https://ddowiki.com/page/Helpless

And, yes, it def is not just mashing buttons in-series. :cool: It requires that you learn what your attacks do (:eek:), understand how one attack sets up others, so you can make the most of what they give you.

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Wisdom based??? Are you talking about Falconry?

Horizon walker is dex based and specializes on favored enemies and marked targets. Very good for killing mobs 1 at a time. While leveling bows themselves aren't that good so this tree is more geared towards late/end-game play. When you can stack up all your FE damage with ED abilities like hunts end.

As for active abilities you really have: Mark Target, which is typically only used on mobs with larger hp pools like bosses and reapers. Opening Shot, ideally you start fights with this ability for the extra damage but mostly just used for the +3w. Misty step: Abundent step, use and abuse!!! Dex Trance: just have to keep this up 1x every 2 minutes for extra damage. Corner the Quarry: +4w attack that can on occasion banish something. Scattershot: Manyshot but for hitting 3 separate mobs, fairly hard to use this ability without knowing its limitations.

The big damage in horizon walker comes from how Favored enemy and marked target stacks up. Each Favored enemy you have gives you +2 damage per. So if you have 5 Favored enemies you get +10 damage. BUT if you have both the base mobs favored enemy and the marked target capstone you will instead get +20 damage. Using Reapers as this tree gives Favored enemy evil outsider it'll be: +10 damage(Evil outsider) and +10 damage (marked target) then all the other bonuses provided within the tree and however they stack up. Not entirely sure if the Extraplanar/marked target +6 damage stacks up with itself in similar situations.

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Originally Posted by Yamani

Wisdom based??? Are you talking about Falconry?

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Yes, yes I was. :rolleyes: No idea quite where or how the train of thought jumped that particular track, but it certainly did. nm! :o

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Originally Posted by Yamani

Wisdom based??? Are you talking about Falconry?

Horizon walker is dex based and specializes on favored enemies and marked targets. Very good for killing mobs 1 at a time. While leveling bows themselves aren't that good so this tree is more geared towards late/end-game play. When you can stack up all your FE damage with ED abilities like hunts end.

As for active abilities you really have: Mark Target, which is typically only used on mobs with larger hp pools like bosses and reapers. Opening Shot, ideally you start fights with this ability for the extra damage but mostly just used for the +3w. Misty step: Abundant step, use and abuse!!! Dex Trance: just have to keep this up 1x every 2 minutes for extra damage. Corner the Quarry: +4w attack that can on occasion banish something. Scattershot: Manyshot but for hitting 3 separate mobs, fairly hard to use this ability without knowing its limitations.

The big damage in horizon walker comes from how Favored enemy and marked target stacks up. Each Favored enemy you have gives you +2 damage per. So if you have 5 Favored enemies you get +10 damage. BUT if you have both the base mobs favored enemy and the marked target capstone you will instead get +20 damage. Using Reapers as this tree gives Favored enemy evil outsider it'll be: +10 damage(Evil outsider) and +10 damage (marked target) then all the other bonuses provided within the tree and however they stack up. Not entirely sure if the Extraplanar/marked target +6 damage stacks up with itself in similar situations.

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This is highly detailed and informative. Thank you for your time responding!

What I think I understood:

1. Max dex for trance
2. Get as many low hanging fruit favored enemies (minimum AP costs), as the count of favored enemies you have makes a significant impact on damage dealing (this appears to be specific to the capstone, where all marked targets are favored enemies)
3. very sloooooow to mow down trash, as its largely single target heavy (mark hard targets only, reapers/champions)
4. probably needs a party to work well in heroics, but stomps end game


Hopefully this is accurate.

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Originally Posted by C-Dog

Yes, yes I was. :rolleyes: No idea quite where or how the train of thought jumped that particular track, but it certainly did. nm! :o

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C-Dog, I have to tell you, I LOVE falconry. I have falconry on my dh (41 dh, 27 falconry, 12 tempest), and it is amazing.

I went full in on wis, but with my tome there is little difference between my wis at every level over my dex (5 points more wis?) so smoke trap dc isn't horrible. Between the two, I get +6 assassinate (which helps nearly everything in falconry, and a bit in dh as well), 5% quality, 25% competence stacking bonus to hp, a wis trance that synergizes with both my primary ap investments, slayer, and some other things that dovetail nicely.

It is probably my favorite universal, because it has style and panache. Yes, harper has a faster-to-trance, fey has psuedodragons, and inquis just splats things. But for that woodsy-feel, you can't beat falconry, especially when tied up to dh!