Another Soldier Question

[Clacket99]

OK so I am not going to ask what soldier I should use, I am using a bannerguard.

My question is... What you all trait with a bannerguard and why.
Now my hunter is only lvl 31 so I dont have a lot of slots open yet, but I want to train the right skills at the right time, as I get slots available... in other words, I dont want to dump lots of points in a skill, then realize the other skill was a better choice.

I do realize that diff things work for diff peeps but I am lookin for a rough idea.

Currently he has
Cry of enduring
Inspiring shout.

Training is Sharpened Blades

And the second half of my question is... did you all choose Eagles Flight (+ ranged offense) or Bow Master (+ Ranged critical)
If I understand right Ranged critical makes your crits hit harder, not that you will crit more right?
My thinking is that at 30, without a lot of agility yet, I dont crit as often as I will later, so I am currently Eagles Flight.

[Kannos1600]

Ranged Crit is for how often you will proc a Crit Hit.

Crit Magnitude Bonuses will deal more damage. Such as Focus Bow Crit Multiplier or Induction Bow Crit Multiplier on a Legendary Bow.

I would go on the Bannerguard bonuses and traits if I knew more but felt I would at least help on the Ranged Question.

[kerryak]

I run w/ the BG. I make her a little mini-tank w/ a HoT, but ultimately, just so I get the precision buff by standing near her (w/o her having to cast/use an ability - it's completely passive. I don't trust companion AI much.)

I trait:

Summon the Foe, Inspiring Shout, Bold Strike, Ultimate: Banner of +OMGpenetratedefenses, er, Precision.

boundless morale, resurgent morale, heavy armor, and melee resistance.



--
I use Eagles Flight, Piercing Might, and Duck Aside/Taking Cover (I switch these in groups), personally. Skirmish buffs are still subject to the cap, so rcrit doesn't help much.

[Duredhel]

I run w/ the BG. I make her a little mini-tank w/ a HoT, but ultimately, just so I get the precision buff by standing near her (w/o her having to cast/use an ability - it's completely passive. I don't trust companion AI much.)

I trait:

Summon the Foe, Inspiring Shout, Bold Strike, Ultimate: Banner of +OMGpenetratedefenses, er, Precision.

boundless morale, resurgent morale, heavy armor, and melee resistance.



--
I use Eagles Flight, Piercing Might, and Duck Aside/Taking Cover (I switch these in groups), personally. Skirmish buffs are still subject to the cap, so rcrit doesn't help much.

This is all good advice. At early level's +rcrit will still help but at L65 there are plenty of ways to reach near-cap on +rcrit, making this trait a bit of a waste. Better to pick up something else that won't get lopped by the cap.

I, too, ran a BG and one thing to remember, it is NOT a dps class so don't bother with skills/traits that buff their damage output. They make for not-so-bad tanks so just focus on that along with the heal-over-time skill. Back in January when I last played this character the soldier AI was pretty miserable, making any soldier skills marginally effective, but I believe they are getting (or have been) ironed out.

[Clacket99]

Thanks for the replies.

I opened up his second skill box last night so I threw in his taunt (Summon the foe?) and jumped it up a couple levels... now I dont rip all 4 mobs from him and just get one or two.. so I imagine that will get even better as he gets more points.

I do these in S:S should I drop that and go S:P and maybe he can tank even better? I dunno right now its only an issue when I am fighting the encounter elites. I dont care how long I wait to attack first hit I rip from him.

Ok so if I stay with my ranged damage bonus... will that extra damage translate to a bigger crit hit when it does hit? Or would you all reccomend I swap over to the ranged crit chance since my level is so low and I am FAR from the crit cap.

[kerryak]

Thanks for the replies.

I opened up his second skill box last night so I threw in his taunt (Summon the foe?) and jumped it up a couple levels... now I dont rip all 4 mobs from him and just get one or two.. so I imagine that will get even better as he gets more points.

I do these in S:S should I drop that and go S:P and maybe he can tank even better? I dunno right now its only an issue when I am fighting the encounter elites. I dont care how long I wait to attack first hit I rip from him.

Ok so if I stay with my ranged damage bonus... will that extra damage translate to a bigger crit hit when it does hit? Or would you all reccomend I swap over to the ranged crit chance since my level is so low and I am FAR from the crit cap.

Nah, stick w/ S:S unless you're putting the level up higher and need it. The slow is too awesome when you combine it w/ an AoE tank. The AoE won't catch 'em all (even if you name your Bannerguard Ash or something else dealing w/ Pokemon.) Kill the ones that make it past the tank first. After that, stand 40m away, pull one off, w/ the slow effect it'll usually die well before it gets to you.

Also, put on the 'see targets target' option under Option>Combat. This will let you see what your BG is tanking. (also is invaluable in knowing what's going on in a group - but this is an awesome use for it solo.) w/ the AoE taunt, (s)he'll be able to keep the attention of multiple mobs, which is great. w/ the single target taunt as well, whatever they're beating on will have additionally stickiness. For that reason, if there isn't an obvious pansy-mob that's just screaming "I have half the morale of these other clowns - kill me first!" .... I usually peal off the 'perimeter' mobs that just have the AoE agro, and leave my BGs target to the end, b/c it's the MOB least likely to beat on the NPCs. I like having the BG tank for that reason - HoTs for me, and keepin' **** off those NPCs. You're there for marks, NPCs saved is a condition for more marks. Win Win.

How many personal slots do you have @ your level - just the one? If you can use the Rcrit to reach the cap in skirms, definitely use it. Ranged Offense is nice to have, but if you can take your crits from 12% to 15%, you'll generate more focus while doing more damage. Pip generation is where it's at. It's not so much a "damage A vs damage B - which is greater?" thing, it's about making sure your hunter is eating Pips cereal - part of a balanced breakfast needed for a full day of slaughtering MOBs.

[Clacket99]

How many personal slots do you have @ your level - just the one? If you can use the Rcrit to reach the cap in skirms, definitely use it. Ranged Offense is nice to have, but if you can take your crits from 12% to 15%, you'll generate more focus while doing more damage. Pip generation is where it's at. It's not so much a "damage A vs damage B - which is greater?" thing, it's about making sure your hunter is eating Pips cereal - part of a balanced breakfast needed for a full day of slaughtering MOBs.

Yeah just the one. I dont think the second one opens up till in teh 40's. Good deal I didnt know about the focus generation. It wont cost me much in points to swap and heck I will prob use the other one down the road anyway.

BTW is there a place that tells me what the various caps are? I gather from readong that agility etc is 650 (though i dont know what 1 agility equals...) but what about crits and stuff is there a place I can read about those caps?

And... whats up with the pokemon reference? /groans

[Dom12]

BTW is there a place that tells me what the various caps are? I gather from readong that agility etc is 650 (though i dont know what 1 agility equals...) but what about crits and stuff is there a place I can read about those caps?

Check out the stats section in the WEHSN sticky to see what each stat actually gets you (note: the values in that post are specific to hunters. Here's a similar breakdown that notes where stats are different depending on your class).

I could've sworn I had a post around here that listed caps, but I can't find it right now. But the basics are: core stats (agility/fate/vit/will/might) cap at 650 currently (max level * 10). BPE & crit cap at 15%. Common (and presumably each of the non-common types) Defense (also known as mitigation) caps at 40% (for med armour, 30% & 50% for light and heavy respectively). Ranged (and melee & tactical) Offense does not have a cap that I know of. The second tier stuff like partial BPE & dev crit do not have a cap that I know of.

[Clacket99]

Yep I read that sticky but I dont know how to decipher it...

Agility
1 = 2 evade rating *
3 ~ 2 partial evade rating *
1 = 1 parry rating *
3 ~ 1 partial parry rating *
1 = 2 melee/ranged crit rating *
1 = 10 ranged offense rating

What the hell does that mean?

Is it every 1 point of agility = 2evade, 1parry, 2melee/ranged crit rating
every 3 points = 2 partial evade and 1 partial parry?

so if I have 99 agility do I have
198 evade
99 parry
198 melee/ranged crit
66 partial evade and 33 partial parry?

and what does 198 evade mean vs a on level opponent? 19.8% chance to evade?

I can read all the stickies I want but if I dont understand it they dont help me. I read alot of the posts here and they reference stuff like this... I struggle to understand sometimes.

[Dom12]

Yep I read that sticky but I dont know how to decipher it...

Agility
1 = 2 evade rating *
3 ~ 2 partial evade rating *
1 = 1 parry rating *
3 ~ 1 partial parry rating *
1 = 2 melee/ranged crit rating *
1 = 10 ranged offense rating

What the hell does that mean?

Is it every 1 point of agility = 2evade, 1parry, 2melee/ranged crit rating
every 3 points = 2 partial evade and 1 partial parry?

so if I have 99 agility do I have
198 evade
99 parry
198 melee/ranged crit
66 partial evade and 33 partial parry?

You got it.

and what does 198 evade mean vs a on level opponent? 19.8% chance to evade?

No worries. It got a bit messy when they moved to the rating system we have now. I think the formulas are in the WEHSN thread too (they're linked in my sig too), but I know those can be a bit daunting. Basically converting your rating to a percent is dependent on a) your level* (actually the level of the mob you're fighting), and b) how much rating you already have.

To your specific example, at L31, if you have 198 evade rating, that's equal about 1.6% evade chance. However, if you had 1000 rating and added 198 more, you'd only gain about 1.4%. Now if you're L31, but you're fighting a L33 mob, your 198 rating would only be worth about 1.5% (similarly, the 198 added to 1000 would be a 1.3% gain). So that should be clear as mud now! Like I said, it is messy.

I can read all the stickies I want but if I dont understand it they dont help me. I read alot of the posts here and they reference stuff like this... I struggle to understand sometimes.

While we have a prime example in a certain thread about stances giving examples of how not to get help, for the most part, if you have a question, you'll usually find someone willing to give what help they can. And by all means, if you have further questions on this, I'll do what I can to explain it further.

*If you mouse over a rating on your character journal in-game, it will show you the percentage. This is based on fighting on-level mobs. As you level, if the rest of your stats were to be constant, you'd notice that the percentage goes down with each level, despite the rating remaining the same. On the surface, it appears that you are losing proficiency "Gee, when I was 30, I had 7.8% evade with my 1000 rating. Now I'm 32 and I only evade 7.3% of the time even tho I still have 1000 evade rating!??!" But the fact is, when you were L30, your evade vs L32 mobs was only 7.3%. And at L32, your evade vs L30 mobs is still 7.8%. So you're not really losing proficiency.