Is a Falconner, build around Max Ravens possible????

[lextalionis]

Since we've had the revalation that Creeper can kill things now, I was wondering if possibly the same were so with Ravens. I'm sure Ravens wouldn't be the whole build or anything, but what are the advantages of max/ obseenly high ravens and what playstyle and skills would naturally go along with it?

[InsaneFarmer]

Well I've personally tried using ravens last ladder season which i had with +9 to skills, level 29 ravens. they were blinding everything with one hit but did a ridiculously low amount of damage. for the sake of parties, i'd say that the dim vision curse is better for blinding and just about everything else is better for damage. Now don't get me wrong, if you made a werebear/ravens hybrid i'm sure that might work, if only as a great distraction, it seems the blind lasts longer and longer at higher levels as well, in fact, i noticed that at level 29 my ravens were blinding things for very long amounts of time, which was useful, by the way i had a werewolf/ravens build.. but since i was killing things generally faster than a werebear might, you might consider ravens being better for werebear

[Parapsycho]

I agrree with what IF said. Ravens are pretty weak as far as offense is concerned, but that doesnt mean they cant be the cornerstone of your build. Here is one Im considering:

20 Raven
20 PC
20 Fissure
20 Firestorm
20 Volcano

This build would use fissure and PC as the primary attacks, and ravens to slow and blind enemies....
Also, ravens do do pretty good damage overall, its just that its spread out over such a wide area, that its not really as effective.
So Ravens are good, just not as a primary attack...

[Dreamsmith]

I have a pure summoner hunter, and although Ravens are certainly not my primary or even secondary source of damage (my bow and my wolves or bear count there), I wouldn't dream of not maxing this skill. It's definately worth the points. It should get your first five at the very least, and get more after you get some decent damage skills going. As a hunter, I maxed HoW as soon as I could to maximize my bow effectiveness, but if I hadn't been as concerned about my archery, I'd have pumped Raven to max earlier than I did. (As it was, I maxed HoW, Dire Wolves, and Grizzly before I finished maxing Raven, but my companions and I were more than effective enough that I could have done that in a different order and maxed Raven first or second, and still been quite effective.)

I should add, this has been one of my easiest characters to play in Hell, second only to my Necromancer. Summoners rock...

[IntemptestaNox]

I assigned 99 points to Raven in SP. They do about 103 damage per hit, but have about 110 hits; you'll never be able to use it for damage in Hell.

[Beowulf]

I have a pure summoner hunter, and although Ravens are certainly not my primary or even secondary source of damage (my bow and my wolves or bear count there), I wouldn't dream of not maxing this skill. It's definately worth the points. It should get your first five at the very least, and get more after you get some decent damage skills going. As a hunter, I maxed HoW as soon as I could to maximize my bow effectiveness, but if I hadn't been as concerned about my archery, I'd have pumped Raven to max earlier than I did. (As it was, I maxed HoW, Dire Wolves, and Grizzly before I finished maxing Raven, but my companions and I were more than effective enough that I could have done that in a different order and maxed Raven first or second, and still been quite effective.)

I should add, this has been one of my easiest characters to play in Hell, second only to my Necromancer. Summoners rock...


I find more then one point in raven useless...part of being a hunter is getting the most +skill possible and with my + skill I have lvl 16 or 17 ravens and they are fine.

[Dreamsmith]

I find more then one point in raven useless...part of being a hunter is getting the most +skill possible and with my + skill I have lvl 16 or 17 ravens and they are fine.

Hmmph. Getting a few +skills items is nice for any char, but probably less useful for hunters than most others chars, which tend to be much more skill dependent than hunters. It's certainly nice, but hardly "part of being a hunter".

[Beowulf]

Hmmph. Getting a few +skills items is nice for any char, but probably less useful for hunters than most others chars, which tend to be much more skill dependent than hunters. It's certainly nice, but hardly "part of being a hunter".

Umm well everyone I know that play hunters or huntermentalists usually try and get the most +skill possible to get the most damage out of their bear or dire wolves as possible....afterall it is the summons and not the bow that makes the hunter....the bow is a secondary source of damage.

How is having a lvl 37 bear with a lvl 37 HoW not useful? Even with these I still manage to do well over 2k damage with my bow. Add to that a merc that does about 3k damage and a fissure and volcano that each do close to 1k....I see the need to the most +summon skill that one can afford.

[Bob_TheMadCow]

There is a difference between optimising a build for damage & survivablity, and just playing a char to have fun. Both are valid courses. If you're just having fun, then more base points in ravens would be good. Lvl 16 gives 100% ctc blind on a monster of equal lvl to your hunter. If you know you will have lots of +skills, lvl 1 ravens is sometimes enough.

Each to his own.


I personally would go with Hunter's being rather skill dependant, as their primary damage source is usually their pets, whos damage is skill based. Even if you are trying to get as much damage out of your own bow as possible, that will mean getting higher level of HoW, which means more +skills in your summoning tree anyway.

[Beowulf]

Exactly as Bob says you play with what makes you happy...a traditional hunter uses as much +skill as possible...have fun with it and if you want to be different I encourage it I just hate it when someone tells me basically I do not know how to play a hunter or huntermentalist considering I was one of the first people to help create the build.