The ‘No Bones about it’ Hunter Guide

Hello and welcome to another of my guides. This time I’m taking a detour from the usual run of the mill “everything is perfect and we all love the character” stance that seems so prevalent in guides these days.
Well, I’m here to say the Hunter is a great character to play, but far from perfect. And while it’s my toon of choice through the betas and into release, it still has some work to be done (but at least it’s not a LM or Captain ) to fix it up to where it should have been at release.

In the past I've played games where all the characters and race combos were supposed to be equal, and if they weren't then they would be by the end game. Sadly, this is not always true. as shown in SWG, certain races in certain classes (like the Wookie beast handler) had an edge, in the beginning, middle AND end game being able to summon and control more than even their supposedly equal peers. While I hope that this is not the case here in LOTRO, certain races DO have some clear advantages over others in certain classes. The Hunter is by far my favorite class, and I've looked pretty deeply into it. What I've seen gives me hope that the end game is balanced, but I can tell you that the beginning and early middle games are skewed sometimes more than a bit. Read my guide and I'll show you why, and what combos work best in these critical stages.

I’m going to poke some holes into the theory, the race selection and the weapons. Then it’s off to the traits race and deeds and the role of Hunters in groups.

A little theory:
Since LORTO is not a PvP or RvR based game, no attempt has been made to balance the classes per see. Also for true solo-ability, some are better than others, while 1 or 2 really shine. The classes were sort of made to work together in at least in teams of 2. The hunter is a great solo class… but slow in comparison to others. Frequent stops to heal (leather armor) and the slooooooooooooow attacks the bow and xbow have when attacking frequently means you get to watch either your prey get stolen by an insta-attack/effect character, or your target walk behind or below something and break the line of sight. Laying your trap, then focusing and finally puling the 2.2 – 3+ second weapon adds up (I did mention slow). But when it all works we can pull some pretty good prey.
So is the Hunter is a good loner way out in the toolies?… Well maybe. At lower levels yes indeed! The hunter excels in the levels 14 – mid 20s doing the lone wolf thing, gathering resources and staying ahead of the crowd. But then things slow down. Foes with 2-3x the hits of the hunter become normal, and even though a well prepared hunter can still solo them, the leather armor and lack of close up fighting damage hamper the efforts to solo beyond the basic stuff of your level. As a result you see more hunters forced into groups in their 30s than earlier.

Race selection:
Every race can have hunter, but not all are equal!
Here is the chart of racial Attributes for Hunters: (fixed by Dirtymeat80)

* ________________________Dwarf_ ____Elf_____Hobbit_____Man
Morale___________________149__ _____89_____150______105
Agility____________________6________29______14_______14
Fate_____________________3_________3______11_______26
Might____________________23________8_______1_______23
Vitality___________________20_ ______10______25_______10
Will______________________14_______14______14________6
Critical Hit%______________1.4_______2.9 _____2.1______2.1
Fire Resistance____________5.1_____ __3.7_____5.7______3.7
Common Resistance________4.8_______3.0 _____2.4______3.8
Shadow Resistance________5.1_______3.7______6.7______3.7
Fear Resistance___________2.2______ _2.2______3.2______1.7
Wound Resistance_________2.5_______1.9_____2.7_______1.9
Disease Resistance________2.0_______2.5 _____2.2_______1.5
Poison Resistance_________2.0_______2.3______2.2_______1.5
Evade___________________1.1_______2.2______1.5_______1.5
Parry____________________2.3__ ____2.3_______1.6______2.5
Melee Effectiveness________28_______27_______27_______28
# of Highest scores_________4________6________7________4
# of lowest scores__________4________6________4________8

By these marks, the Hobbit is the best hunter with the most high marks, and the fewest low ones. Humans bottom out with the least for, and the most against. However most of these traits simply don't matter in the early game. Of the resistances only common really matters. Of the rest, only poison and disease make any semi regular appearances, and both are weakened to the point of being able to be ignored. Hunters also get the ability to cure disease in themselves and others in their teens.
Racial Traits also come into play with humans, dwarves getting redundant racial traits (travel to their home city) thus effectively robbing them of a trait later on. Elves get Rivendell which gives them 2 ports to this late game area! Elves and Hobbits get a racial sneak, which is completely pitiful but still handy in a few select situations. Elves also get a +2% damage with bows and 1H swords, which as a hunter you don’t actually notice because (A) your might is so low and (B)you have vastly more important traits to assign. Humans Also get a +2% on swords in general, and a +1% to parry, block and evade. Elves and Dwarves get a +20 to fate, Hobbits a +20 to Might and Men get a +20 to will. Each of these bonus traits means little, except the might as you can get it early enough to ease the Hobbits woes in melee in the early game.
Dwarves… What can I say; they are clearly the best at taking common damage and keeping going. Other than that though, they merely tie with Men in strength and Melee effectiveness. They tie with Elves and hobbit with Will. They lag Hobbits in Morale, bottom out with agility and fate, and have the worst chance of a critical hit. All I can say, is that unless you really really want a Dwarven HUNTER, skip them as a viable choice for early game (1-20), mid game (21-40) they are not so bad. I have talked with several who all agreed that getting out of their 20s was harder than it should have been.

Here is a breakdown of some of the prevalent traits and what not.
Elves- Useful home city port, racial sneak, +2% damage with bows and 1H swords, big self only racial heal higher Agility, minimal fate. Lower might
Dwarves- Redundant home city port, +2% with Axe. Small group heal.
Hobbits- racial sneak, increased range, play dead (-60% aggro), minimal strength, highest moral, best common saves, +2% with clubs, highest morale.
Men- Redundant home city port, +2% on swords in general, and a +1% to parry, block and evade, big self only racial heal, best melee traits, highest will

Fate does a lot of things, all of which seem pretty intangible. My hunter has a really high fate for her level, and the only benefit I see is a slightly higher power recharge out of combat. The Will Men get is a direct link to how many tricks they can pull off with their bow. However, until your mid 20’s you’ll probably never run your power out. And by then Men have only a smidgen more than any other race.
Frankly I’ll take a pass on a dwarven hunter in general. They have the worst agility, tied for worst fate, lowest chance of critical hits and evades and the list goes on. All the bread and butter of Hunters, the only thing they can do is take a hit.
Of the 3 remaining, you get the most clink for your gold from a Hobbit. The might issue is easily overcome (and for the most part unnoticed), and from there it's easy sailing. They do miss out on the +2% on swords, but instead get a +2% on clubs. Fair trade, considering you are praying to stun your foe anyway, and a dual wielding club Hobbit is nothing to sneeze at. They get the most morale and hits too. Their starting might is abysmal, but they over come it almost immediately while elves never recover. A crafty Hobbit will have a higher might than an elf by level 13, and never need look back Also since a hunter is a ranged toon, might is not a primary characteristic. A human is a good second choice if you are rolling a melee hunter, the trait for adding. A middle of the road race for this tactic, it doesn’t suck. A dwarf would be even better… but you might as well have made a champion, you get better armor, hits, attacks etc… and eventually the bow (you’re not using) anyway.
As for ports, every race does get one to their 'home' area. But the one that Hobbits one is not duplicated later by a Hunter port, thus they get an extra while every other race gets one already covered by being a hunter. So, they effectively these races lose a late game hunter skill. HOWEVER it should be noted that all the racial port except the Elves is useless by the time you get it. The elves get Rivendell and since it connect directly to the misty mountains to the north and Eregon (sp?) to the south it retains its usefulness.

Opinion: Roll a Hobbit for best results and survivability. The morale bonus alone is incredible. People pay hundred of silver to get an item, that takes up a precious slot to get half the morale that hobbits get naturally at the start.
Roll a Man if you like it up close and personal or Elf as a 3rd choice because they look neat. Or hey why not a dwarf, be different, but be warned!

Weapons:
Choices are simple, for melee you use a club or other stunning weapon. Sure swords look better, and daggers are faster, but clubs are fast too (1.9 - 2.1), and you can stun you opponent. Face it the true strength of a hunter is not in melee, regardless of the fact that they get dual wield. I’d swap dual wield for a shield without a thought. Might is low, and hunters just don’t do the melee damage needed to drop a foe very well. Most hunters never draw their weapons even toe to toe; they just keep quick firing if engaged or use another bow attack. There’s no reason not to. A bow is only .2 to .4 slower than a sword, and will do double the damage and more. An exception might be in a party where your out of power due to a power sucking boss (undead) or poor management. Then the auto attack with 2 clubs might be better while you pray for a stun or critical.
As for the bows or xBows debate, use both. Open with a swift shot xBow, where the horrible speed won’t penalize you and swap to your bow for peppering, pulling out the howitzer again for a rain of arrows. Hotkey these for fast swapping. If you just have to pick one or the other I’d say its time to reorganize your bags to make space for your real tools. If you must resist, and still choose one over the other, go with a xBow for fellowships, its lower agro and higher damage will work well, while a bow is a good all-round work horse.

Group play:
DPS machines. Pure and simple. I hear from frustrated hunters in groups used to being the jack of all trades, suddenly demoted to being ranged DPS. Get used to it. The book even says hunters are nukers, pure and simple. Few groups wait for our traps, or our focus to build limiting the resources we have on hand. Campfires are still used, and as a teleport bot we have our uses. But the primary roll of a hunter in a group is as the hammer. We can see into the fray, swap targets and drop adds before the tanks notice they are there. We pull from the healer/CC to save parties and play artillery. As a solo toon we rocked the wilderness, in a group we have a chance to swing the tide of battles and play the hero. We can pull at range, slowing the target, and let it mindlessly follow us into a crowd of guardians and champs. We can pull ranged foes the same way and duck behind obstacles forcing the lame AI to run themselves into the same wall of steel. ‘Find the path’, ‘Bright Campfire’, the tracking skills and the ‘Cry of the predator’ are all handy in a group. Rain of Arrows is extremely useful although you have to be careful you don’t pull something you definitely don’t want. Set your traits to take advantage of the group and you become the backbone watching over all, and toying with aggro’d mobs, yanking them around like a prowler stuck to a ceiling fan.

Addendums:

Crafts:
Crimitley you want crafts too? Fine, hunters have the ability to swiftly get out to places and get the goods before others do. So Explorer is a nice fit. Make your own armor bits, collect everything become rich. Good enough? Fine scholar is a nice choice too for the same reasons.

Some pitfalls to the hunter class:
Some of our passive skills suck rocks.
The use of Fire and light oils are terrible at the levels you get them. There is little to no noticeable difference using them or not on any foe. It has been noted (by Ara) that light oil is useful against 'certain ancient evil foes'. It adds up to 15% damage for 45 seconds. 15% is nothing to sneeze at and I would recommend carrying some if you know you are going into such a situation. The Jury is still out on the fire oils. (and liable to stay out) as I haven't found a hunter who uses them past their first few tests.
I did extensive hunting in the north Downs and the Lost Lands against shades, bears, wargs orcs etc.. all with light oil. No difference. I will go back out to the lone lands tonight and target all the battlecallers I can find there, as they are listed in the spanky new Lorebook as ‘Ancient Evils’. I’ll update afterwards
The endurance stance has seldom makes any difference in the aggro generated by my hunter over the levels since received.
‘Agile Rejoinder’ is about the most worthless skill we have. It’s only usable after a parry, and only for a few seconds. Since I got it at 24 I’ve been able to use it a handful of times. When I have used it, I’ve noticed it’s damage is pathetic. I’d posit that you are better off with the barbed arrow/slice combo, it always works, does more damage and you get an extra moment of bleed as well. Maybe on a human hunter with the trait to add to your parrying chance equipped it might make a difference. As an elf with the right trait equipped you could find it useful.. for 10 seconds once and hour ((Elf +75% 10 seconds 1 hr cool down). In short situations it would be useful as a situational skill. But if you are relying on it to drop your foes and keep you alive, I'd find a better fellowship or seriously rethink your soloing tactics.
Don’t get me wrong. Hunters can melee, we get leather armor and dual wield for a reason. Its just that we are really bad compared to an actual warrior class, and it should be done in emergencies only or for a lark when bored (expensive lark!). Meleeing regularly will cause 10x the cost to your repairs than just doing it when you have to. Turbine built the Hunter as a ranged Nuker, with some up close protection skills. Not the other way around, ultimately this why we don't get a shield.

Benefits:
Traps 'stack'. That is while a bear trap may suck, it’s still an extra trap. This means you can:

* Have your basic trap out, AND
Have a bear trap out, AND
Have a Multi-trap (2 or 3) out, AND
Revel in it! You can, with proper planning trap up to 5 things coming at you. Add your creature based fear effect for one more.... and, Viola! You’re handier than a Dwarf tossing Ranger on a crumbling bridge! [indent]"Basic/Improved and Multi-Traps (3 traps) share the same timer.
You can however use your own skill based trap PLUS Basic/Improved or Multi-traps at the same time." (Noted by Simren)


Bright Campfire: Works in and out of combat. While it can only be planted before fighting starts, once its down, it will continue to improve the morale and power regen of everyone in its range as long as it burns. Albeit at a greatly reduced level.

Find the Path:2 extra benefits.
a. Like bright campfire above it continues even in a non-combat state change, i.e. swimming and… riding horses. If you fire it up before you mount the horse it will still affect everyone around you off horse. I think that it also help horse speed, but when your on a horse its tough to tell. The leaves fly, the effects are there… but the 15% speed increase may or may not be in effect.
b. Also if you have 2 hunters in a party, both can active the skill and they overlap. This means that even if one of them gets attacked the field stays up and everyone, including the one under attack still benefits from the boost. As soon as your out of combat state, reactive and your over lapping again!

Note: I removed the trait under Hobbits showing them as having increased range. I can find nothing to substantiate this, and there is no record in the Lorebook supporting it.

General advice: as you level, while I know we all look for better Bows and weapons, but don't neglect your armor. If yo have 2 quests that give you similar bows, see which one gives you better armor. As Leather wearers we're already more than a bit squishy, so your armor becomes a priority. If you let it lag behind, you will feel it more than a heavy armor wearer will. Sometimes if you know you have a choice between a new bow and a pair of leggings, you might keep your old bow for an extra quest or two while snagging the better armor. There are more quest bows than levels, many are duplicates with different names...

Conclusion:
This is not a guide for a level 50 hunter. In truth by the time you hit end game, no difference has been noted, and hopefully never will. This guide is for the trip between, and the realities that some race/hunter combos are harder to advance than others.
That’s it, enjoy and remember these are all observations made by one person over the months of playing hunters under different races. YMMV and all that drivel.
post by gronga@http://forums.lotro.com