WH in new reality - not all is lost

[abezverkhiy]

Hey guys,

So far my feedback on playing WH using a new set of tools - new stealth duration 30 sec is OK when you play in a warband. You quickly hide when wb makes a push, sneak around enemy wb, kill one-two stragglers and vanish in chaos of the battle. Re-apprear to nuke weakened frontline with Reversal of Fortune and Burn Heretic and retreat. OK, this is playable. There is however the same old hurdle - most warband leaders do not want WHs. I am happy to be in a guild where we have our own warband and our leader does not discriminate against WHs but there are still plenty out there whose autoband settings are set to not to accept WHs. So, the problem still needs to be addressed by developers to make wb's want WHs. My suggestion is this - bullets in Confession tree are useless atm, re-work them into something that does a point blank effect on hit - either a small nasty AOE effect (debuff or DOT, maybe a random one) or a melee AOE buff for your frontliners. This will make WHs more WB friendly and compensate them nicely for loss of time in stealth.

To continue with 10 hits breaking stealth - if you are in warband and watch your positioning that should be no great trial. I was only kicked out of stealth twice yesterday during a 3 hour session.

Now switching to a small party or solo mode. This is a whole different kettle of fish. 30 sec is a tight time frame when witch hunter does what he is - HUNTs. You need to use terrain even smarter than before. The hunt is good around bottleneck areas like breach in wall in Praag next to Garrison of Skulls (where destro crosses a stream running to the keep), plenty of locations in Black Crag or Praag again. KV is a good area too. But open areas like Eataine or Reikland become even more difficult for witch hunters when playing solo or in a small party. I mean you can still move without stealth but be mindful of long range attacks of magus, sorcerer, squig hunter, zealot, shaman. So we are still effective in rough terrain but in open space we are less effective than before.

Another observation - about a year-two ago WH should be more worried about melee opponents. Now the tides have shifted and I surrender some parry in favor of dodge/disrupt. Keep in mind that effective parry/dodge/disrupt cannot be reduced more than 50% of your current value. So, if you stack 30% disrupt (even more is doable) then your effective disrupt will never be less than 15% no matter how much strikethrough and Intelligence they have. And for a class that has non-instant casting time on many abilities having 15% of their attacks avoided is a big deal.

Addons can help. I am a big fan of Aura and I set two big icons to pop on my screen - when I am in stealth it is a big stealth icon with a timer and another is Vindication tactic when it procs (with timer too).

[live4treasure]

From your description, you are definitely not playing the way you should be playing a WH in a warband. It's understandable why warband leaders wouldn't want witch hunters if this is how the average WH player thinks they should play in a warband.

[abezverkhiy]

Same I can say about someone who plays DPS when he is expected to heal.

But out of curiosity, lay out how you would play WH in a warband.

[Draugris]

Why is it always the non-WH who feel entitled to tell an experienced WH how to play. I don´t get it.

[rorswar]

I think it’s great that he found a way to play his WH and that it’s not all “the sky is falling” like it seemingly was last few weeks.

He learnt, he adapted and that should be applauded. Whether it’s how a WH should be played (I’m assuming the other person refers to a AOE dragon gun spec), doesn’t really matter… as long as his WB / Guild lead is happy with what he contributes.

[abezverkhiy]

Why is it always the non-WH who feel entitled to tell an experienced WH how to play. I don´t get it.

Oh thank you mate. I dunno myself. One thing I know for sure - if I would be paid a dollar every time I was told how to play by a non-WH I would be a millionaire.

[M0rw47h]

Why is it always the non-WH who feel entitled to tell an experienced WH how to play. I don´t get it.

Oh thank you mate. I dunno myself. One thing I know for sure - if I would be paid a dollar every time I was told how to play by a non-WH I would be a millionaire.

I'd replace those +22 talis, especially Initiative.
Also, +% dodge/disrupt Genesis is pretty bad on WH, +melee power may be better...

[abezverkhiy]

Why is it always the non-WH who feel entitled to tell an experienced WH how to play. I don´t get it.

Oh thank you mate. I dunno myself. One thing I know for sure - if I would be paid a dollar every time I was told how to play by a non-WH I would be a millionaire.

I'd replace those +22 talis, especially Initiative.
Also, +% dodge/disrupt Genesis is pretty bad on WH, +melee power may be better...

Hey mate just replaced ini for ws, we thought in a similar direction - ini was from my past 80+ parry build. As for the Genesis - I am trying to reach as much disrupt as possible (experimenting) to see if it is going to give me better edge in long fights vs magus/zealot/sham

[M0rw47h]

Oh thank you mate. I dunno myself. One thing I know for sure - if I would be paid a dollar every time I was told how to play by a non-WH I would be a millionaire.

I'd replace those +22 talis, especially Initiative.
Also, +% dodge/disrupt Genesis is pretty bad on WH, +melee power may be better...

Hey mate just replaced ini for ws, we thought in a similar direction - ini was from my past 80+ parry build. As for the Genesis - I am trying to reach as much disrupt as possible (experimenting) to see if it is going to give me better edge in long fights vs magus/zealot/sham

From dps Zealot pov: you kill me fast, or you don't kill me at all.

[Paxsanarion]

Hey guys,

So far my feedback on playing WH using a new set of tools - new stealth duration 30 sec is OK when you play in a warband. You quickly hide when wb makes a push, sneak around enemy wb, kill one-two stragglers and vanish in chaos of the battle. Re-apprear to nuke weakened frontline with Reversal of Fortune and Burn Heretic and retreat. OK, this is playable. There is however the same old hurdle - most warband leaders do not want WHs. I am happy to be in a guild where we have our own warband and our leader does not discriminate against WHs but there are still plenty out there whose autoband settings are set to not to accept WHs. So, the problem still needs to be addressed by developers to make wb's want WHs. My suggestion is this - bullets in Confession tree are useless atm, re-work them into something that does a point blank effect on hit - either a small nasty AOE effect (debuff or DOT, maybe a random one) or a melee AOE buff for your frontliners. This will make WHs more WB friendly and compensate them nicely for loss of time in stealth.

To continue with 10 hits breaking stealth - if you are in warband and watch your positioning that should be no great trial. I was only kicked out of stealth twice yesterday during a 3 hour session.

Now switching to a small party or solo mode. This is a whole different kettle of fish. 30 sec is a tight time frame when witch hunter does what he is - HUNTs. You need to use terrain even smarter than before. The hunt is good around bottleneck areas like breach in wall in Praag next to Garrison of Skulls (where destro crosses a stream running to the keep), plenty of locations in Black Crag or Praag again. KV is a good area too. But open areas like Eataine or Reikland become even more difficult for witch hunters when playing solo or in a small party. I mean you can still move without stealth but be mindful of long range attacks of magus, sorcerer, squig hunter, zealot, shaman. So we are still effective in rough terrain but in open space we are less effective than before.

Another observation - about a year-two ago WH should be more worried about melee opponents. Now the tides have shifted and I surrender some parry in favor of dodge/disrupt. Keep in mind that effective parry/dodge/disrupt cannot be reduced more than 50% of your current value. So, if you stack 30% disrupt (even more is doable) then your effective disrupt will never be less than 15% no matter how much strikethrough and Intelligence they have. And for a class that has non-instant casting time on many abilities having 15% of their attacks avoided is a big deal.

Addons can help. I am a big fan of Aura and I set two big icons to pop on my screen - when I am in stealth it is a big stealth icon with a timer and another is Vindication tactic when it procs (with timer too).

Thank you for sharing King! Glad you found a away to enjoy WH, I will most likely try the same when I can find a warband willing to take me