Advice for Stormcaller Ranger

[bustersword]

Hi all,

 

Recently bought a copy of Pillars and it's expansion White March - absolutely loving it so far!

 

I'm looking for a build for a Ranger focusing on getting the most out of the Stormcaller Bow. I want to focus on getting the most DPS out of it, but without neglecting the useful stuns and Returning Storm procs.

 

For stats I'm thinking the following:

 

M: 18

C: 8

D: 18

P: 18

I: 13

R: 3

 

And for talents: Wounding Shot, Resilient Companion, Marksman, Weapon Focus: Adventurer, Apprentice's Sneak Attack, Stalker's Link, Stunning Shots, Twinned Arrows (Does anyone know if Heart of the Storm works with the shock damage and returning Storm?)

 

It would be great to get some advice on the above and also what the optimal equipment is to get the most out of the build.

 

 

 

[Boeroer]

Stormcaller is a hunting bow - you need WF Peasant for that.

 

Stats are OK. You could dump con to 3 and put it into INT for higher stun/wounding/marked prey duration.

 

Twinned Arrows, Stunning Shots and Driving Flight(!) are perfect for Stormcaller. That way the Returning Storm triggers superoften and you hit more foes with the -6 shock DR effect with a single shot. If you want even more DPS, don't waste talent points on smth. rel. weak like Apprentice's SA, pump your pet instead. A Wolf with Vicious, Resilient and Merciless Companion plus Predator's Sense is a DPS monster, especially if you use wounding and stunning shots. I also strongly recommend Stalker's link. There's a torc that adds +20% damage to that talent.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Boeroer

[PrimeJunta]

Stormcaller is soulbound so it doesn't matter which WF you pick, it'll be applied anyway. So WF Adventurer is fine. I'd pick WF Noble though as it gives you both Rod and Sceptre for alternative damage types against critters immune to Pierce.

[Boeroer]

Right - forgot that, sorry. Good point with the damage types. But there's just two foes in the game that are immune to pierce and shock st the same time - if I recall correctly.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Boeroer

[bustersword]

Thanks, completely forgot about the pet and how much damage it can do.

 

3 con seems quite risky but definitely make this ranger a stunning machine.

 

Anyone know if heart of the storm is worth taking given all the lightning that's being thrown around? Also, would my focus be on getting aspd dex gear?

[Boeroer]

At the moment the shock base damage of Stormcaller doesn't get affected by Heart of the Storm (same with Bittercut/corrode and Firebrand/burn). AndreaColombo filed a bug report. Hopefully this will get fixed soon.

As for the Returning Storm from Stormcaller: I really don't know. Never tested that myself.

Edited November 30, 2015 by Boeroer

[Wolken3156]

Personally I ran with:

1 - Marked Prey (Free bonus damage once per encounter on one enemy is quite nice, its also a good way to have a Ranger and their pet burst down one dangerous target)

2 - Resilient Companion (Extremely important to help the pet survive the front lines)

3 - Predator's Sense (Vicious Aim or Swift Aim is better if you're not at level 13. Just respec for it)

4 - Vicious Companion

5 - Stalker's Link (Free accuracy bonus plus it becomes fantastic if you can find a Stalker's Torc)

6 - Merciless Companion (With this and the other pet damage buffs, your pet should now be damage dealing king)

7 - Driving Flight

8 - Weapon Focus: Noble (I used to go Peasant and just smack things with a Quarterstaff for Pierce immunes, looking at it though, the Rod/Scepter thing definitely seems like a better idea)

9 - Wounding Shot (Defensive Bond is also a good option, especially for Cragholdt)

10 - Apprentice's Sneak Attack

11 - Stunning Shots

12 - Marksman (You could take it earlier if you wanted, I just prefer boosting the pet early on rather than the Ranger)

13 - Twinned Arrows

14 - Faithful Companion (You could take it earlier if you wanted, the pet is dangerous when dominated)

Edited November 30, 2015 by Wolken3156

[Boeroer]

Looks great for a Stormcaller Ranger. You could even go for Penetrating Shot instead of Apprentice's Sneak Attack if you want to really demolish high DR foes quickly - but I also did it without Penetrating Shot. Slowed down my Returning Storm generation.

[bustersword]

Thanks for all the help so far! 

 

Just respecced my ranger and it's working brilliantly so far. Now thinking about what the optimal party is to get the most of the ranger.

 

At the moment I have Aloth (cc/dps), Durance (buffer), Eder (frontline), Zahua (frontline) and Hirivias (dps). Wondering if I should switch out someone for Kana to get the Sure-Handed Ila Nocked Her Arrows with Speed chant, but I think that in terms of overall utility he isn't as useful as the other guys.

 

Any thoughts on a good party?

[Boeroer]

Druid with Returning Storm, Relentless Storm and Spiritshift+Wildstrike Shock is your best buddy. Also has lots of dot spells that help your pet with Predator's Sense.

Wizard with some shock spells is also nice.

A chanter with The Dragon Shlashed also triggers Predator's Sense - but he has only poor shock based invocations. The Sure Handed Ila chant is good at lower levels, but I quit using it after I got the two good, fire based lvl-3-chants.

 

A dual wielding monk with Lightning Strikes and a shocking lash on his weapons might also be very happy to engage the foes that Stormcaller hit. The faster he attacks the better the effect. His 50% shock damage against 0.5*(shock DR - 6) will be great since most of the time this means very low DR - especially against foes in plate.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Boeroer

[Z09]

At the moment the shock base damage of Stormcaller doesn't get affected by Heart of the Storm (same with Bittercut/corrode and Firebrand/burn). AndreaColombo filed a bug report. Hopefully this will get fixed soon.

 

It still doesn't work. 

[Blunderboss]

 

At the moment the shock base damage of Stormcaller doesn't get affected by Heart of the Storm (same with Bittercut/corrode and Firebrand/burn). AndreaColombo filed a bug report. Hopefully this will get fixed soon.

 

It still doesn't work.

Whaaaat....

So Not only Annihilation doesnt work at all but now this , i was hoping to give my bleak walker paladin Bittercut and pick him +Corrode damage talent....

Anyone has a list of these known bugs that arent getting fixed anytime soon ? Kinda bumer , to find out that half of stuff i had planed for my playtrough doesnt work because of bugs .

 

EDIT :

From what i was told today on forum it seems both of these are fixed by now , hopefully... Altough cant be sure untill someone does the numbers but lets take devs word for now

Edited March 15, 2016 by Blunderboss

[id3a]

 

At the moment the shock base damage of Stormcaller doesn't get affected by Heart of the Storm (same with Bittercut/corrode and Firebrand/burn). AndreaColombo filed a bug report. Hopefully this will get fixed soon.

 

It still doesn't work. 

 

It still doesn´t work with 3.01 patch?

[mathmatics]

Pretty sure this is not working, as intended.

[Boeroer]

It works. For a long time now. All weapons which do elemental damage only (e.g. Firebrand) or preferably do elemental damage plus physical damage (like Stormcaller or Bittercut) get +20% base weapon damage mod (like Savage Attack does, but without the ACC malus of course) from the fitting talent. It doesn't matter which damage type gets applied in the end. Stormcaller for example will do +20% damage if you take Heart of the Storm. It doesn't matter if it does shock or pierce damage when it hits an enemy. It's always +20% with Heart of the Storm.

 

Note that it doesn't work with weapons which preferably do physical damage plus elemental damage - like Durance's Staff. It has crush/burn and therefore doesn't work with Scion of Flame. If it would have burn/crush instead it would work.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Boeroer

[mathmatics]

Wow 20% thaat would make heart of the storm a very good talent to respec to when you get Stormcaller. Do you happen to know which patch fixed this?

[Boeroer]

Not exactly. I guess 2.03 - but don't pin me down to that. It's not in the patch notes. 

 

It's even better to take Spirit of Decay for Bittercut and put a corrosive lash onto it. This not only boosts the sabre's base damage by 20% but also the corr. lash, meaning that it will do 30% lash damage instead of 25% (25 * 1.2 = 30. So you will profit two times from that talent.

Edited November 30, 2016 by Boeroer

[mathmatics]

Not exactly. I guess 2.03 - but don't pin me down to that. It's not in the patch notes. 

 

It's even better to take Spirit of Decay for Bittercut and put a corrosive lash onto it. This not only boosts the sabre's base damage by 20% but also the corr. lash, meaning that it will do 30% lash damage instead of 25% (25 * 1.2 = 30. So you will profit two times from that talent.

 

Wow that is a great suggestion that will directly affect my current party. My rouge is duoing Resolution and Bittercut. This is my first play though.

 

Edit: do you know if any stats effect weapon procs. Like is there a way to get Stormcaller to proc more often other than attack speed?

Edited November 30, 2016 by mathmatics

[Boeroer]

Yes I do.

Stormcaller procs more often with Driving Flight and Twinned Arrows. Driving Flight lets you hit two enemies with one arrow while Twinned Arrow lets you hit one enemy with two arrows. Both work together - so you will generate four hits with one shot: Two Arrows will fly towards the initiual target and both will hit another enemy that stands behind the initial target. All hits that occur will not only count towards the proc chance but will also trigger Stunning Shots and cause the shock DR reduction as well.

 

So basically you will rise the proc chance from 10% per shot to ~35% per shot if there's more than one enemy in range. With Stormcaller, you want to fire fast (you can take Outlander's Frenzy to compensate the loss of Swift Aim which doesn't work with Twinned Arrows) plus Gauntlets of Swift Action AND use Driving Flight and Twinned Arrows.

 

Those abilitites also work with other ranged spell chance items lite The Golden Gaze by the way.

 

Spell chances as well as on-crit effects work with most AoE or multiple-hit abilities: Torment's Reach (monk) will hit multiple enemies and influence proc chance as well as Carnage (barbarian), Blast & Citzal's Spirit Lance (wizard), Driving Flight and Twinned Arrow (ranger). Maybe there's more that I can't remember right now. Sadly, Clear Out and Charge (fighter) don't work like that. 

Edited November 30, 2016 by Boeroer

[JerekKruger]

Wow that is a great suggestion that will directly affect my current party. My rouge is duoing Resolution and Bittercut. This is my first play though.

 

Yeah Bittercut is, even with the recent sabre nerf, a top tier weapon. It's a contender for best weapon in the game I think.

 

One of the things that's not at all obvious is that Spirit of Decay adds 20% damage even when Bittercut uses its Slashing damage rather than its Corrode damage. This is because Corrode appears first in it's damage description i.e. it's "Corrode/Slashing" rather than "Slashing/Corrode". If it were the other way round, it wouldn't get the bonus damage even if it was using its Corrode damage (I believe that Durance's Staff is "Crush/Burn" so doesn't get +20% damage from Scion of Flame).

[Mygaffer]

It works. For a long time now. All weapons which do elemental damage only (e.g. Firebrand) or preferably do elemental damage plus physical damage (like Stormcaller or Bittercut) get +20% base weapon damage mod (like Savage Attack does, but without the ACC malus of course) from the fitting talent. It doesn't matter which damage type gets applied in the end. Stormcaller for example will do +20% damage if you take Heart of the Storm. It doesn't matter if it does shock or pierce damage when it hits an enemy. It's always +20% with Heart of the Storm.

 

Note that it doesn't work with weapons which preferably do physical damage plus elemental damage - like Durance's Staff. It has crush/burn and therefore doesn't work with Scion of Flame. If it would have burn/crush instead it would work.

So I know this is an older post but I've just tested Heart of the Storm with Sagani and Stormcaller and Heart of the Storm does nothing to Stormcaller's damage.

 

Have you tested this yourself?

[Kaylon]

 

It works. For a long time now. All weapons which do elemental damage only (e.g. Firebrand) or preferably do elemental damage plus physical damage (like Stormcaller or Bittercut) get +20% base weapon damage mod (like Savage Attack does, but without the ACC malus of course) from the fitting talent. It doesn't matter which damage type gets applied in the end. Stormcaller for example will do +20% damage if you take Heart of the Storm. It doesn't matter if it does shock or pierce damage when it hits an enemy. It's always +20% with Heart of the Storm.

 

Note that it doesn't work with weapons which preferably do physical damage plus elemental damage - like Durance's Staff. It has crush/burn and therefore doesn't work with Scion of Flame. If it would have burn/crush instead it would work.

So I know this is an older post but I've just tested Heart of the Storm with Sagani and Stormcaller and Heart of the Storm does nothing to Stormcaller's damage.

 

Have you tested this yourself?

 

How have you tested? The increase isn't displayed on the character's screen, but if you check the actual damage you do you should see the increase (unless it was changed in a recent patch).

[Boeroer]

If you do some math with your weapon's base damage, MIG and the other damage mods you will see that you will do 20% more weapon base damage. You will have to do a lot of attacks though to catch enough values in order to have a good spread. Because - as Kaylon said - the bonus damage is not displayed as a seperate value anywhere. It also doesn't show on your char screen. You have to watch and examine the damage values in the combat log.

 

I myself tested it at length with Bittercut and also a bit with Firebrand. I didn't test it with Stormcaller myself, but based on the things other players reported I have no doubt it works the same there - unless OBS broke with with the latest patch or so - but I don't think so.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Boeroer