Runes of Magic US / AU

If your S/D/R just go R/S for now, you'll level up unbelievably faster and be viable endgame.

If you're playing S/D because you like it, I would just recommend playing it, and figuring it out as you go. I'd love to explain to you what to use and what to do, but it's really moot with the current scout situation.

There is a rotation(s) for each class combo that you can maximize your dps with, or support abilities, but currently I don't have the time, Perhaps later in the week I can give you a full response. But that's the best I can do for you right now.

oooo, finally a thread i am actually knowledgeable about!!

first off, snake poison arrow is one of your highest dps skills in pve, and should be ur goto in pvp(right after VA of course). stuns are more useful than people think...

for s/d, pretty much stat like any other scout, with dex and heavy PA, mixing in strength sometimes...

Elites:

15 – Curse Breaker – Useful when you need it, breaks all curse debuffs. Nobody will really notice if you never use this, but helps to keep the strain off the healers in a curse-ridden instance. Great utility skill for pve, no use in pvp...

20 – Snake Poison Arrow – One of the best skills a s/d gets. Should come right after VA in your rotation, to always stun the target. With skill, this can help a lot with the CC if a mob goes astray. In pvp is where this skill really shines. Ranged 3 sec stun, and if timed right with neck strike, a 6 second stun-combo is possible. Remember, they can’t kill you if they can’t hit you. In pve, this is one of the highest dps skills you will get, so it should come early in your rotation, and every time it is up.

25 – Unbinding Magic – Useful if it works. Unfortunately, the range of debuffs this skill works on is very limited, but still a worthwhile skill to put in an “unbind” macro along with gloves and rum.

30 – Elven Eye – Huge crit boost here. Should be kept up 24/7 during fights (I’ll explain this next)

35 – Devour Blood – A group mana regen attatched to VA. Keep VA at a high level and use it often. If timed well, the mana regen will cover the cost of Elven Eye, allowing the crit buff to be up 24/7. Not much mana for healers or mages, but still a decent amount of regen for wardens and knights.

40 – Focus – Should be kept up 24/7, but don’t get fooled into trying to stack wisdom, your mana pool will grow too large, and elven eye will suck more mana than devour blood can regen. Small PA buff, but every little bit counts. Also, even with this skill, you will get more PA with a pure dex/PA build than trying to mix in wisdom(unless you use wisdom instead of stamina, but then you just die more often, and even then, strength is even a better choice than wisdom). Though if you plan on making pvp gear with mdef, then this helps reduce the loss of PA a bit.

45 – Archer’s Blessing – Damage reduction attached to shot. Not much to say, it’s nifty, helps people survive, and should really be up every time it’s off CD, as you should be using shot often.

50 – Ancestor’s Blessing – 8% perm damage reduction is pretty nice, but the best part of this skill is the aggro reduction. It doesn’t reduce your own aggro, it reduces the aggro of the #2 position on the aggro table. Good to use if you notice your top dps(it won’t be you, so don’t even worry about that) getting a little close to the tank’s aggro.

60 - Efficiency Guidance – Devour blood also regens rage, focus and energy. Not tons, but it regens a bit. May be bugged atm, ik it wasn’t working properly when it first came out, dunno if it’s been fixed.

70 – Soul Blessing – Enhanced Archer’s Blessing, not much else to say.

More to come with rotation, buffs, ISS and tips...

ISS:
Equipped:
Archer’s Glory (HoS)
Arrow Shield (WA)
Keen Will (Dalanis mem vendors) and/or Shatterstar Storm (ZS/DL)

Extracted, but not equipped:
Create Tendrils (RT) or Shadow of a Thousand Feathers (ToSH)


Buffs:
Always on:
Savage Blessing
Focus
Frost Arrow
Marriage Food (all attributes, dex/str)
Damage Mitigation (when taking damage)

Sometimes on:
Hero Pot
PA/pdam Food
Grassland Mix
Mem pots (HP, PA)
Zodiac Pet

Boss burns: (in order)
Target Area
Crit Damage Food
Elven Eye
Blood Arrow
Fire Training or Soldiers, Attack! (Communicate with party for both buffs)
Crit Pot
Strong Stimulant
Archer’s Glory
Arrow of Essence



Gear:
Armor: leather(duh), statted with dex/PA, str/PA, and mixing in stam/PA when needed.
Weapons: clean stat your mainhand, bow should be tiered. Both should be +16. crossbow is higher dps than bow, so crossbow is preferred.


Rotation:
Most scout skills are all about the same dps, so mix them all in, filling in with shot as needed. Stay away from wind arrows, as it will drain focus too fast, in addition to being low dps. Always use VA, and SPA when they are up. Be careful with piercing arrow and reflected shot around adds, but otherwise, they should be a staple in your rotation. Also use mana drain shot, as it is decent damage since the buff.


Tips:
Just with Keen Will and Ancestor’s Blessing, you will have -12.6% perm damage taken. Add on Archer’s Blessing and you have -21% damage taken ¼ of the time. You have enough damage mitigation skills that you can use one every time you expect to take damage, and at least have little mitigation every time. This lessens the dependency on statting stamina (it’s still a good idea to have some).

At the very least, once you hit 55, you should get a rune war bow or a rune catapult from DL, as it makes free arrows anytime you need. At level 60, you can get Create Tendrils from RT, which does the same thing.

Make sure you are in range of the boss before using Archer’s Glory, as you will spend your entire burn buff period walking to get in range otherwise.



probably forgetting some stuff, will have to let it sit for a bit and see whats missing...

more to come with macros and stuff...

i should just put this all in a guide...

This info is really helpful to me as well. I'm a Mage/Scout/Druid that was mostly aiming to play M/S and D/S but I find S/D to be fun and useful as well.... but I honestly have no idea how to play Scout. Reading this thread cleared up a lot for me, thanks.

no problem if any1 has further questions, just ask.

also, is this info worth putting into a separate s/d guide thread? i dunno, if people want it i will, just don't know if any1 cares...or i could just treat this as the unofficial guide thread and continue to post here...