lucenera
Lurker
Squig Herder: A (small) guide to shoosting
Since there is no SH guide so far I will create a low level one. From 1-15. This is also from the perspective of a shooty SH.
PVE
-You are a great Soloer against equal and slightly higher mobs! You have a built in tank that taunts for you, and your survivability is great especially when your squig takes most of the damage for you.
-Plink and squig types here are your bread and butter. Use plink like spam and let your main squig (the default one) with the taunt ability. You are the damage dealer in this setup. So spam away on the plink ability. Also if the mob is about to kill your squig snare him with Stop runnin ability to give you time to summon another squig. At this point your default will still be on his cooldown timer so I suggest you bring out either the gas squig (for his +100 armor bonus) or the Horned squig for his damage output. Combine these squigs with Git em and Cut em for some nice burst damage. If you can manage it squeeze in Yer bleeding before he gets into melee for some nice damage text scrolling.
-In PVE don’t use your other types of squigs (horned, spiked, or gas) because your damage output will accrue aggro faster than your groups tanks can hold it. Causing you to be the mobs target (and you cannot last that long in Melee especially against hero or champion mobs) In fact your goal in this build is to stay out of melee unless it is your only option.
-In a good group and with your taunting squig up you can pull a ton of mobs quickly with run n shoot. You almost never take damage as your still running out of range of melee when u pull them. Also a good group will prolly kill him once your squig taunts and sticks the mob in place. I love taunting squigs. U must take care not to over pull and create a train of mobs that will peal off onto your healer. Remember not to pull more mobs than People with taunts + your squig -Sit inside PQ’s
-PQ’s are the fastest way to lvl and get gear, WHICH U NEED. So sit yer but down and slay some mobs for infl. Grab any quest that includes killing PQ mobs. This only stacks the deck in your favor as far as xp, infl., and your gear are concerned. If you are soloing and a PQ has progressed out of the 1st stage (and there is no one there to tank the hero for you) Then bounce to another same chapter pq. There are usually several per chapter well minus the first two chapters I think... If you max your influence, immediately move on to the next one after receiving your rewards. Always pick the highest Damage and Ballistic skill weapon you can get. This increases your damage output and your survivability (more damage equals less time they are pounding on your squig and less time waiting for your squig to self heal)
-Champions and hero’s usually cannot be soloed by SH’s. Unless you are an amazing kiter and able to keep them near their spawns (otherwise they just retreat and insta-heal)
Gear
-Always go for max ballistic skill items. If your spear offers a bonus to ballistics, use that one till you find a better one.
-Always pick the highest Damage and Ballistic skill weapon you can get. This increases your damage output and your survivability (more damage equals less time they are pounding on your squig and less time waiting for your squig to self heal)
-Pqs are a nice place to pick up beginning gear, and in this class every little bit helps. I would highly recommend this method to pick up gear for levels 1-7 ish. Depending on zone you can buy some decent rvr gear if you are the right level and renown rank.
-After lvl 7 I would still recommend PQs but at the same time start to look hard at the vendors for RVR gear. T2 has some nice gear for you round lvl 14. Drops will come in handy but don’t count on them.
-If you plan to play heavy PVP then look for a balance of BS, Wounds, and Whatever else you want in that order. High BS means less times the iron breakers will be able to outright block your snares, as well as more damage per hit. If your going to go All PVE I would recommend high BS followed closely by a balance of wounds and initiative, as you will be hit more when it counts. IE middle of some dungeon with lots of higher lvl mobs spawning where you have already been, preventing you from rejoining your group quickly.
Scenario
I LOVE this class for scenarios. So useful.
-Think of yourself as a weapon of mass distraction, and you will be close to mastering this class.
-Side note; Always put your pet on aggressive in scenarios!
-In PVP type situations Squigs should be summoned by situation. If you want harrasers then go for the horned squig which is an up in your face cannot ignore pest. If you want high damage output then go with the Spike so that he can up your critical chances. If you want AOE ish effects use the gas squig as his attacks can target 3 ppl at the same time with his ability.
Squig uses
-Horned squig. Target the healer with this guy. Look for a healer of about similar lvl or lower to you and sic im. DO NOT SIC THEM ON WARRIOR PREISTS! This will only fuel their combat based healing. Look for runepreists or archmages. You can fire on the healers as well to further distract them, but do not look for a kill unless the target is blue to you or you are focus firing with others to overcome their healing. Note Use your squig and shooting together when possible, but you can be effective if you just distract the healers with the horned squig and focus fire something else that somebody else is also focusing on.
-Spiked Squig. Use this guy to help focus fire a tank or anyone down to size. Used in combination with Yer Bleeding and snare effects to keep the person from running effectively, you can HELP take a tank out. Only use this if you see others wailing on the tank. Do not use this if the tank is wailing on you Run away quickly and snare.
-Gas squig. Use this guy if there are frequent masses of melee. Usually happens only if both sides are heavily stacked with melee types. The gas squig offers a bonus to armor and multiple targets for damage. Use this guy in combination with the Run n shoot’s AOE tactic for damage to the masses and earn a lot of renown and exp. More ppl u damage the more xp and renown… AOE snare works really good with this tactic as well, just don’t get too close and get snared yourself. (this is a good tactic for Mourkain Temple.) or any scenario in which you are expecting quick flanking and taking damage from weapons and not magic.
-If you have a spiked squig out ALWAYS TARGET THE BRIGHT WIZARD! Stick on him till he dies. He can easily swing the tide of battle if left alone. Pester him, force him out of LOS to your tanks. Make him focus on you. By that time hes prolly almost dead anywho. YOU HAVE A CHANCE OF KILLING THESE GUYS!
T1 Gates of Ekrund
-Great little map for you to have fun in IF YOU PLAY IT RIGHT.
-Stay your butt off the lower level, and if you get stuck there hide behind a super huge tank.
-Stick to the upper levels and the sides of the Gate
-Sit your but on the top lvl and plink away. Use shifting tactics based upon your squig timers. IE your horned dies first, then pick spike to focus fire, then pick gas once your spike dies if there is a large mass beneath you. If not then get the horned one back on the healers. Remember distraction.
-side note. Time your squigs health. If your squig is about to die, use Farty Squig to explode him in the middle of the enemy. This also insta casts your next squig. Great ability.
-Help your melee guys out, snare anything and everything around them. Make their job easier as they can only damage if they are in melee. So keep their targets within range.
-Don’t keep firing away at that one guy who keeps getting healed. Find the healer and plink him for a while. Let tanks take care of tanks and u keep the healers focused on themselves, which lets the opposing tanks fall to your tanks.
-If you do not have a squig up you are dead wrong. Squigs account for half your damage and 2/3’s of your distracting abilities.
-Dot the tanks with yer bleeding. Its always fun.
-If your doing your job and staying out of combat on the shelf and your side is winning and pushing the order back you can travel along the sides of the gates and stay out of melee range while keeping squishies still in harassing range. Keep targeting the healers or the pyromancers.
-run and shoot is always key to mobility in these stages, especially while repositioning. If your targets are out of range reposition and use run and shoot at anything else within range. (keep damaging/snaring/pestering something at all times)
RVR
Similar to PVP scenarios, but not enough for me to leave it at that small similarity. I will write more on this topic as i gain more experiences in this. As of yet RVR lakes have been dry for me, as such I feel i am not qualified to write about this just yet.
More coming as it happens. HAHA.
Any tactics and combos feel free to post them here. I am all about min/maxing even with a fun career.
Since there is no SH guide so far I will create a low level one. From 1-15. This is also from the perspective of a shooty SH.
PVE
-You are a great Soloer against equal and slightly higher mobs! You have a built in tank that taunts for you, and your survivability is great especially when your squig takes most of the damage for you.
-Plink and squig types here are your bread and butter. Use plink like spam and let your main squig (the default one) with the taunt ability. You are the damage dealer in this setup. So spam away on the plink ability. Also if the mob is about to kill your squig snare him with Stop runnin ability to give you time to summon another squig. At this point your default will still be on his cooldown timer so I suggest you bring out either the gas squig (for his +100 armor bonus) or the Horned squig for his damage output. Combine these squigs with Git em and Cut em for some nice burst damage. If you can manage it squeeze in Yer bleeding before he gets into melee for some nice damage text scrolling.
-In PVE don’t use your other types of squigs (horned, spiked, or gas) because your damage output will accrue aggro faster than your groups tanks can hold it. Causing you to be the mobs target (and you cannot last that long in Melee especially against hero or champion mobs) In fact your goal in this build is to stay out of melee unless it is your only option.
-In a good group and with your taunting squig up you can pull a ton of mobs quickly with run n shoot. You almost never take damage as your still running out of range of melee when u pull them. Also a good group will prolly kill him once your squig taunts and sticks the mob in place. I love taunting squigs. U must take care not to over pull and create a train of mobs that will peal off onto your healer. Remember not to pull more mobs than People with taunts + your squig -Sit inside PQ’s
-PQ’s are the fastest way to lvl and get gear, WHICH U NEED. So sit yer but down and slay some mobs for infl. Grab any quest that includes killing PQ mobs. This only stacks the deck in your favor as far as xp, infl., and your gear are concerned. If you are soloing and a PQ has progressed out of the 1st stage (and there is no one there to tank the hero for you) Then bounce to another same chapter pq. There are usually several per chapter well minus the first two chapters I think... If you max your influence, immediately move on to the next one after receiving your rewards. Always pick the highest Damage and Ballistic skill weapon you can get. This increases your damage output and your survivability (more damage equals less time they are pounding on your squig and less time waiting for your squig to self heal)
-Champions and hero’s usually cannot be soloed by SH’s. Unless you are an amazing kiter and able to keep them near their spawns (otherwise they just retreat and insta-heal)
Gear
-Always go for max ballistic skill items. If your spear offers a bonus to ballistics, use that one till you find a better one.
-Always pick the highest Damage and Ballistic skill weapon you can get. This increases your damage output and your survivability (more damage equals less time they are pounding on your squig and less time waiting for your squig to self heal)
-Pqs are a nice place to pick up beginning gear, and in this class every little bit helps. I would highly recommend this method to pick up gear for levels 1-7 ish. Depending on zone you can buy some decent rvr gear if you are the right level and renown rank.
-After lvl 7 I would still recommend PQs but at the same time start to look hard at the vendors for RVR gear. T2 has some nice gear for you round lvl 14. Drops will come in handy but don’t count on them.
-If you plan to play heavy PVP then look for a balance of BS, Wounds, and Whatever else you want in that order. High BS means less times the iron breakers will be able to outright block your snares, as well as more damage per hit. If your going to go All PVE I would recommend high BS followed closely by a balance of wounds and initiative, as you will be hit more when it counts. IE middle of some dungeon with lots of higher lvl mobs spawning where you have already been, preventing you from rejoining your group quickly.
Scenario
I LOVE this class for scenarios. So useful.
-Think of yourself as a weapon of mass distraction, and you will be close to mastering this class.
-Side note; Always put your pet on aggressive in scenarios!
-In PVP type situations Squigs should be summoned by situation. If you want harrasers then go for the horned squig which is an up in your face cannot ignore pest. If you want high damage output then go with the Spike so that he can up your critical chances. If you want AOE ish effects use the gas squig as his attacks can target 3 ppl at the same time with his ability.
Squig uses
-Horned squig. Target the healer with this guy. Look for a healer of about similar lvl or lower to you and sic im. DO NOT SIC THEM ON WARRIOR PREISTS! This will only fuel their combat based healing. Look for runepreists or archmages. You can fire on the healers as well to further distract them, but do not look for a kill unless the target is blue to you or you are focus firing with others to overcome their healing. Note Use your squig and shooting together when possible, but you can be effective if you just distract the healers with the horned squig and focus fire something else that somebody else is also focusing on.
-Spiked Squig. Use this guy to help focus fire a tank or anyone down to size. Used in combination with Yer Bleeding and snare effects to keep the person from running effectively, you can HELP take a tank out. Only use this if you see others wailing on the tank. Do not use this if the tank is wailing on you Run away quickly and snare.
-Gas squig. Use this guy if there are frequent masses of melee. Usually happens only if both sides are heavily stacked with melee types. The gas squig offers a bonus to armor and multiple targets for damage. Use this guy in combination with the Run n shoot’s AOE tactic for damage to the masses and earn a lot of renown and exp. More ppl u damage the more xp and renown… AOE snare works really good with this tactic as well, just don’t get too close and get snared yourself. (this is a good tactic for Mourkain Temple.) or any scenario in which you are expecting quick flanking and taking damage from weapons and not magic.
-If you have a spiked squig out ALWAYS TARGET THE BRIGHT WIZARD! Stick on him till he dies. He can easily swing the tide of battle if left alone. Pester him, force him out of LOS to your tanks. Make him focus on you. By that time hes prolly almost dead anywho. YOU HAVE A CHANCE OF KILLING THESE GUYS!
T1 Gates of Ekrund
-Great little map for you to have fun in IF YOU PLAY IT RIGHT.
-Stay your butt off the lower level, and if you get stuck there hide behind a super huge tank.
-Stick to the upper levels and the sides of the Gate
-Sit your but on the top lvl and plink away. Use shifting tactics based upon your squig timers. IE your horned dies first, then pick spike to focus fire, then pick gas once your spike dies if there is a large mass beneath you. If not then get the horned one back on the healers. Remember distraction.
-side note. Time your squigs health. If your squig is about to die, use Farty Squig to explode him in the middle of the enemy. This also insta casts your next squig. Great ability.
-Help your melee guys out, snare anything and everything around them. Make their job easier as they can only damage if they are in melee. So keep their targets within range.
-Don’t keep firing away at that one guy who keeps getting healed. Find the healer and plink him for a while. Let tanks take care of tanks and u keep the healers focused on themselves, which lets the opposing tanks fall to your tanks.
-If you do not have a squig up you are dead wrong. Squigs account for half your damage and 2/3’s of your distracting abilities.
-Dot the tanks with yer bleeding. Its always fun.
-If your doing your job and staying out of combat on the shelf and your side is winning and pushing the order back you can travel along the sides of the gates and stay out of melee range while keeping squishies still in harassing range. Keep targeting the healers or the pyromancers.
-run and shoot is always key to mobility in these stages, especially while repositioning. If your targets are out of range reposition and use run and shoot at anything else within range. (keep damaging/snaring/pestering something at all times)
RVR
Similar to PVP scenarios, but not enough for me to leave it at that small similarity. I will write more on this topic as i gain more experiences in this. As of yet RVR lakes have been dry for me, as such I feel i am not qualified to write about this just yet.
More coming as it happens. HAHA.
Any tactics and combos feel free to post them here. I am all about min/maxing even with a fun career.
