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Stegodon
Jul 20, 2012, 08:46 AM
Ok so with the recent Emergency Downtime of PSO I took a Great deal of time to review and analyze Most if not All hunter discussions on this Forum and this is a Collection of information I have gathered and wanted to throw into one place to help anyone out.

This will not show raw stats or comparisons or detailed analysts of data. Its just a quick rough outline of Do's and Dont's of Hunters. Some information can be viewed as opinion. All information is taken from posts on this forums. And that being said Thank you very much to anyone again who contributes to this community.

Alot if not all information I've learned has came from these 2 Threads.
Hunter Discussion: http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196837
Mag Info: http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197304

Both of these threads are up in the like 40+ pages of reply's I read thru them all, to save your time and efforts here is a ROUGH breakdown of alot of knowledge.

Weapons:
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Wired Lance
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Pros-
1. Wide range of attacks, allowing great AOE damage.
2. Long range of attacks, allowing damage to enemies at a safe distance.
3. Very powerful PA's some for large AOE damage others for heavy single target damage.
4. Skill Point allows PA's to do a addition 30% damage.
5. Some attacks hit behind enemies when close allowing for weakness attacks.
6. Partnered with skill tree points into S-Atk allows access to PA's like Heavenly Dive to do upwards of 3000+ damage to certain enemies, and Bosses weak points

Cons-
1. Moderate attack speed, with Moderate damage spread.
2. Contrary to Pro 5 Hitting some enemies in the back is a disadvantage.
3. Some PA's leave you exposed for attacks for extended time frames.
4. PP regin is lacking due to slower attack speed.

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Swords
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Pros-
1. Highest Damage on weapons currently for hunters.
2. Skill Tree point allows for tremendous upgrades to PA attacks such as faster charging of abilities, Extra Hits.
3. Large arc attack for AOE.
4. Attacks and most PA's are able to be dashed or Guard Canceled.
5. Easy to Equip based on MOST hunters Mags primarily stated to Striking.

Cons
1. Slowest attack speed results in bad PP regen.
2. Most AOE PA's toss enemies away resulting in lower DPS while u fetch each monster for the kill.
3. Very Hit and Run mentality for alot of bosses based on attack speed.


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Partisan
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Pros-
1. Some high damage, high AOE PA's
2. Currently 2nd strongest weapon type for hunters.
3. Faster attack then Wired Lance and Swords, Granting faster PP regen.
4. PA's make suitable for safe distance damage.

Cons-
1. Some PA's utterly worthless compared to others.
2. Small Arc for AOE damage.
3. Skill Tree Point is arguably useless Half the time if not more.

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GunSlash
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Pros-
1. Currently Fastest attack speed weapon for hunters allowing fastest PP regen.
2. Arguably highest DPS weapon for Boss's due to PP Regen and PP Dump rate.
3. Can convert to ranged weapon.
4. Diverse set of PA's good for AOE or single target.
5. PA's good at immobilization (stun).
6. Allows for a very diverse style of gameplay.

Cons-
1. Moderate Damage.
2. Incapable of blocking.
3. Must rely on dodging skills.
4. Damage output on regular field enemies (non boss) are sub par compared to other weapon classes.
5. Ranged weapon and Some PA's damage is based on your R-Atk stack which for most Hunters is fairly low.

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Skill Tree:
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There's no point to list out each skill individually, Visit this website and click the Descriptions box and details box to observe each skill. http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/)

Noteworthy Talents:
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-Fury Critical:
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This skill has been tested, Criticals technically don't exist. This skill Makes the range between your Minimum and Maximum damage smaller. So without if your hitting for 250-600 with the skill it will dampen the gap to more of 325-600, Depending on how many points invested. Will it give you more DPS? yes it will. Is it worth the points? No its not. Your MUCH better off putting more points into S-Atk or JA Bonus.
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-Warcry:
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This skill has a LONG cooldown, Unless you invest 10 points into it. As far as hunters and agro are concerned. If you have a level 40 hunter and you have been in a Party or Multi Party you have learned that 95% of the time if your start the fight and don't back off the DPS the monsters typically stay agro'd onto you anyways. Is this skill worth it? NO
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- Automate Halfline:
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Each point into this skill raises the CHANCE that it will use a MATE ITEM (Healing Item) in your inventory when your HP Passes the 50% mark. What does this mean? Ever had a Dragon or Rockbear 1 shot you from landing on your or grabbing you? If this skill works it will use a healing item the same time damage is taken to try to save your life. Is it worth it? At level 10 probably. Is it worth it right now? No its not. Your 10 points are much needed in other skills for the time being. And if you would like to sample this skill. Add some healing skills to your mag they work EXACTLY the same and don't cost SP to use and actually activate fairly often.
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Weapon Specializations:
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- Partisan Gear: Increases the Range of your Photon Arts.

- Wired Lance: Increases the Damage of your Photon Arts by 30%

- Sword Gear:
1. Nova Strike and Rising Edge: Cuts down charging time from 5s to 1s
2. Sonic Arrow: Hits 1/2/3 times depending on the number of charges
3. Stun Coincide: Increases duration of the stun
4. Twister Fall: Increases shock wave count from 1 to 3
5. Cruel Throw: Increases raw damage
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- 3 Choices of Builds:
All builds can be slightly modified to meet the the needs of the player, and are very customizable. As well all skills have been extensively tested to assure effectiveness.

1. JA Damage
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-Pros
1. Seems to slightly have the highest DPS of all builds.
2. Primarily focused around non stop attacking with lots of quick reactions.
3. Gives access to Fury Stance +10

-Cons
1. The lack of S-Atk in MOST cases will limit you from high level armors and possibly some weapons.
2. Built around JUST attacks, meaning if your just holding down your left click you wont see any gain.
3. JA Talents are % based. Meaning the damage increase will greatly depends on your weapons equip.

http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/hunter.html?01HU!IOI2ebInqnGKcAdqj

2 points unused for Either weapon specializations or Just Reversal.
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2. S- Attack
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-Pros
1. Grants access to MOST if not all Rare Hunter weapons based on mags stats.
2. Combined with the Partisan or Wired Lance offers Very High PA damages.
3. May grant easier access to Rare Armors.
4. S-Atk talents are NOT % based, meaning if you don't have the absolute Best weapons you still see the full effect of the talents.

-Cons
1. You may gimp yourself by not getting Fury Stance 10 or by not getting S-Atk 2 lvl 10
2. May have to sacrifice much needed points to access Partisan & Wired Lance Specializations.

- I won't post a link for this build because is somewhat controversial, At the currently level cap of 40 with 5 quest SP. It leaves you with a unending arguement. Do I put 10 Points into Fury Stance to increase damage? or Max out my S-Atk Skills and only have 5 to Fury Stance. MOST will say Fury Stance Anything less then 10 points is worthless due to the Decline in defence vs the damage output gain. However the last 3 points of the S-Atk talents raise it the most.
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3. Tank
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-Pros
1. Very high Survivability.
2. Access to MOST if not ALL high end rare armors.
3. Shouldn't have any problems with any monster encounters.

-Cons
1. Low stats in Striking or S-Atk may lead to limited weapon choices.
2. Not much use for tanks so far in Most areas of the game.
3. Low end damage will make soloing distasteful.
4. Even in a Party/Multi MOST monster agro is based on damage, which you will not output vs most.

This tree is undesirable by most because being able to dodge ALL attacks given the right timing, makes the defence stat in general close to useless.

http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/hunter.html?01HU!IOI2IbGNqoj4Xwi

You will notice I did not put any points into warcry. Because it does not Instantly agro all enemies, and it takes at least 6+ points for the cooldown to be worth its time.
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Mags
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A completely AMAZING mag guide can be found here
http://www.pso-world.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197304
I will not discuss mag evolutions and skills what not just primarily the benefits of going certain paths.

That being said. I have 6 Mags total, 3 max level other 3 very close. Let me warn everyone. ALOT if not ALL speculations of future updates. Gear, Drops, Requirements are unknown. Someday yes level cap will be raised, and with that we will all gain more stats. So if you think you have a PERFECT plan to make a amazing mag. In the short future everything will change with new items, levels and stats.

My best and Only advise for making a good mag, is Take Off all your items and armor. Look at your base stats at level 40 with your skill tree. Go to the Shop. Determine right then and their what rare items/weapons you want to use regardless if you have them or can afford them. And now build that entire mag to encompass those Required Stats.

Nothing is more frustrating then not calculating it out. Hitting 150 max mag level and relizing you cant wear the Item/Armor/Weapon you want by only a few stats. At this level and point their is little to nothing you can do to fix it.

And getting a mag to 150 takes ALOT of money(in items you could be selling) and a GREAT deal of time.

Striking
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Most hunters will resort to this mag, Which primarily consists of feeding your mag nothing but Hunter weapons all the way to level 150. This general in most cases will grant around 85+ish striking and 65+ish ability.
-Pros
1. Well suited to use MOST if not ALL hunter weapons.
2. High Damage and High PA's
-Cons
1. Will not have access to any rare armors
2. More then likely will end up with Delphinus as a 2nd evolution. Which personally i would HIGHLY recommend against. Every couple of min he will pick your target enemy up in the air and drop him for minimal damage. Honestly it just interrupts my combos and is hella annoying. If your stat and level correctly going for a Leo is a MUCH smarter choice.
3. Personally I Dislike Delphinus's Photon Blast. It tends to hit few enemies and only strikes twice when solo blasted.
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Ability
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Ability mags for hunters allow for diversity and in my opinion Better Photon blasts and mag abilities.
-Pros
1.Will be able to use Some rare armors based on stat allocation.
2. Again based on stat allocation can use MOST if not ALL hunter weapons.
3. Stronger and in most cases faster charging Photon Blasts.
4. Stronger PA's.
-Cons
1. May have slightly less overall DPS.
2. Low end Rare armors are super expensive.
3. If stated incorrectly some high end rare weapons may be unusable.
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Defensive
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Defensive mags spawn primarily from Ability > Striking > Defensive traits. Usually getting a mag to lvl 100 then adding in defensive stats after tends to be key.
-Pros
1. Will be able to use Some or most Hunter rare armors based on stats.
2. Will have greater survivability.
3. Rare armors look cool (just being honest)
-Cons
1. Some weapons may be unusable.
2. Damage will be slightly lower.
3. If your a pro at dodging and Just Gaurding... Whats the point of armor....

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Alrighty, with all the information hopefully some questions got answered without anyone having to search indepthly for them. At the end. Its a game, have fun with it, Use what items and weapons and skills and mags you prefer and that match your play style. Enjoy

Sigmund
Jul 20, 2012, 09:12 AM
This is pretty neat, if only this existed back when I started playing Hunter. =/
I don't agree in some areas, but overall the information is accurate.