For an updated, complete guide to the Hunter, check out our Hunter Class Guide Overview and its associated pages.
Custom Build: The Lone Hunter
By Darkgolem
In Lord of the Rings Online (LOTRO) there are multiple ways to build
ones character. The most important choices involve deciding what race,
equipment and traits you wish to prepare. With the variety of
selections you have in these areas, you can customize your character to
fit certain roles when playing LOTRO.
The lone hunter is a hunter build which focuses upon being good soloing
for as long as possible. When playing a lone hunter, one must
have a willingness to grind upon occasion. Grinding (or killing
monsters outside from a quest for experience only) is an acceptable but
sometimes boring method leveling, though it can be very profitable.
Choosing a Race:
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Hunting_in_Ered_Luin.jpg">
alt="Hunter In Ered Luin"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album11/Hunting_in_Ered_Luin.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 174px;" align="left">Hunters
have all 4 races available. The primary statistic for a
hunter is agility, since this affects your ability to
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=584">hurt
opponents in
ranged combat. Since a hunter is geared (when adventuring
alone)
toward killing opponents before an opponent has an opportunity to close
into melee range, the lone hunter build will be an elf (who starts as a
hunter with an 29 agility). This results in the lowest morale a
hunter can start with (elves start with a morale of 89), but overall
the high agility will be most advantageous.
Choosing Equipment and Deeds:
There are certain deeds and pieces of equipment which are more or less
advantageous for any particular build. In many cases, these are
no duh, obvious things which might be better for lots of builds of
any particular class. A
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=365">great
bow is a must have for any type of
hunter, not just the lone hunter build, for example. Other items
tend to be more specific for a type of build. In the case of the
lone hunter, the focus is on agility items over any other time of item,
even better armor or similar. This might differ for other builds,
since they have a different focus. A hunter build which is
oriented toward melee combat might very well have might items in
addition to ranged items as preferred equipment.
There are always things you might find while playing a particular build
which fit better into your build than listed here.
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/modules.php?full=1&set_albumName=album13&id=Troll_s_near_Ost_Guruth&op=modload&name=Gallery&file=index&include=view_photo.php">
alt="Hunting Trolls"
src="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/files/gallery/albums/album13/Troll_s_near_Ost_Guruth.jpg"
style="border: 2px solid ; width: 250px; height: 173px;" align="right">For
example,
there are healing items (which grant you morale if you hit an opponent,
occasionally) which might be a useful item for a solo hunter build
(since hunters cannot self heal). However, these are not included
in the below guide, because they are not items that you can find except
as a random drop, and therefore are not reliably acquired.
The Rundown
When building a hunter for solo play, it is important to remember
that
in LOTRO at a certain point, soloing isnt very fast nor
very effective. This occurs around level 30. This doesnt
mean
that you cannot solo past that point, it is just more difficult.
As such, the lone hunter soloing build goes from level 1 to 30, not 1
to 50.
Below are listed virtues and their benefits, note that location based
href="http://lotro.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=369">deeds
(which gain these virtues) are not shown by when to get them by
level, since they are not dependent upon gaining a skill, but can be
gained by going to certain areas, and doing quests / defeating certain
mobs in areas.
Hunter Traits
Precision
500
Critical Hits
+1 with Critical Hits
Seconds
Bow Induction -.01 Seconds
Draw
Level 15 Class Quest: The Hunters Path
Arrow Induction -.01
Seconds
(Ered Luin)
Barghest Slayer (Bree-Land)
Slug Slayer (The Shire)
Warg Slayer (advanced) (North Downs)
Snow Beast Slayer (Advanced) (Misty Mountains)
of the Fallen (Bree-Land)
Wight Slayer (Bree-Land)
Gaunt-Man Slayer (Lone Lands)
Redeemer (Advanced) (North Downs)
Limrafn-slayer (Advanced) (Evendim)
Wight-Slayer (Advanced) (Angmar)
Power Regen,
Vulnerability
Farms of the Shire
Villages of the Earth-kin (North Downs)
Ruins of the Trollshaws
Wight-slayer (Advanced) (Trollshaws)
Ruins of the Misty Mountains
Bastions of Hole (Angmar)
Vulnerability
Morale Regen
of
Ered Luin
Hero of Ered Luin
Bree-Land Adventurer
Tales of the Lonely Road (Lone Lands)
Of Glories Long Past (North Downs)
Resistance
Vulnerability
of Ered Luin
Life of a Bounder
Tales of the Lonely Road (Advanced) (Lone Lands)
Wander of Evendim
Warden of Evendim
Peril of the Mountains (Misty Mountains)
Vulnerability
Vulnerability
Note About Class Traits: In the case of the lone hunter,
the goal is rapid use of swift bow and barbed arrow. Barbed arrow
has a speed reduction built into the attack, and swift bow just does a
ton of damage. There is a very noticeable difference in the
amount of damage you do when you can attack quickly with swift bow
compared to when you do not have the related traits. In addition,
because you are more likely to be attacked in melee when you are
soloing rather than in a fellowship, you want to get your strong
attacks through their induction cycle as quickly as possible. The
fast induction time these attacks give you make a big difference.
The stronger traps simply give you even more time to get attacks off
before opponents reach melee range.
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