Lord Reguluss Short Sweet and to-the-point Strategy Guide (?) to Ninja/Trick Arrow
Rather than redo my previous guide to Ninja/Trick Arrow, why dont I let you decide how to slot yourself up and decide which powers you like. Ill just supply you with some strategies that have worked for me. Onto the fun!
So, Ninja/Trick Arrow too complicated for you? Well luckily for you if you are reading this short-ish guide I have played my Ninja/Trick Arrow religiously and have performed the Russian way of fixing things: Beat it, whack it, smack it, slam it with a hammer, and punch it until it works.
My favorite Mastermind is my Ninja/Trick Arrow, possibly one of the most challenging Mastermind combinations to play. It was a pain to level, but that was back when I was a complete noob and had no belief in support. Back then all the numbers are orange, green, and red. So as far as going through the early levels as a Ninja/Trick Arrow, I can only speculate because I discovered how wonderful TA is at level 26 or so and I then started doing amazing in both PvE and PvP. Let me tell you right now, it is not the fastest way to kill something. There are a lot more combinations out there that will kill in PvE faster than a Ninja/Trick Arrow.It is slow until you get your first Resistance Debuff and your Jounin, but after that it begins to get interesting. This build is a late bloomer so if youre willing to start off slow, I can promise you that it will pay off in the end if you learn to use the build correctly. But with that aside, since you have so many options at your disposal as a Trick Archer, you can salvage bad situations effectively. If something goes wrong with other combinations, it could result in your untimely demise. In my opinion, to play a Ninja/TA you need to have the following down:
A) Pet Control
B) Area of Battle
C) Quick Reflexes on Key-binds (or Macros) and Powers
I like challenges in games, especially if they're unnecessary. So lets go over them.
A) Pet Control First off, you should learn what I call the Ninja Distance Attack principle which this:
If I position my Ninja X amount of feet away from my target, what attack is he going to most likely use?
This is important to force your Jounin into placing caltrops patches, to fight against Genin Shuriken spams, and, in later levels, getting the Oni to use his controlling chain to basically take one or two enemies out of combat. (Ring of Fire, Char, Ring of Fire [repeat]). A good way to try this out is to use the Practice Dummies in Rikti War Zone. A better way is to go to the Arena with another Mastermind or a strong friend and start messing around with the distances. Keep in mind, power usage is not guaranteed, but if your Jounin is right next to the guy then chances are he is going to start swinging his sword around. If your Ninja is using ranged attacks and you dont want him to, try putting him on passive follow for a few seconds and let his aggro drop then send him into melee and see if he starts kicking. Same applies to the Oni. If he is using his flashy yet weak melee attacks, send him out of range for a few seconds and then send him to attack again. Hell probably start ranging them. (It is much easier to switch from Melee to Range than vice versa).
B) Area of Battle This one is fairly easy if you got the first one down. Your Trick Arrows are all AoEs except for Ice and Entangle Arrow. The Area of Battle is the about 20 foot area where you try to keep the enemy within using slows to keep them in and you and the Oni stay back to immobilize and hold enemies trying to escape. Keep all the enemies within the area and you can put your Genin and Jounin on Aggressive mode and let them choose their targets within the mob. On top of all that, with the recent fix to Oil Slick Arrow, you have a new best friend to burn your enemies with. Even if they are ADD, they enemies arent going anywhere if youre on top of the controlling If you keep them in the sphere (AKA blatant duhs)
1) Your Controls will affect more people.
2) Your Onis Rain of Fire and Breath of Fire will be much more effective.
3) Your Melee Ninjas will behave better and you can let them fight as they want to.
4) You are less likely to aggro more mobs if a mob is contained in a space of control.
Pertaining to number 3, Ninja ADD-ness is not only accepted, but I also recommend it. If your ninja are spread out then AoE attacks will be less of an issue and it is much easier to take down a mob fast and keep up with your minions if they are all attacking a separate enemy which leads into C.
C) Quick Reflexes on Key-binds (or Macros) and Powers This comes with practice. Are you able to keep an eye on each minions status? If a minion is in trouble or fighting something much to take down (like a Genin vs. a red conned Lt.) then you can decide on the best course of action. I put the life of my Minions above mine until the situation becomes dire because I am cognitive and can therefore deduce if a battle is going poorly. Here are some things I think about in combat:
Is your minion about to be hit by an attack? Keep an eye on his power tray and see if there is an attack coming towards him. If so, pull him out of combat and heal him or contain the threat to him by holding the foe.
Is your minion slowly being surrounded by enemies? Pull him away from the dangerous zone for a second or send a second ninja to aid in his battle.
If the battle is going ill, can you pull to a safe zone and recover? Try slowing the enemies advance with glue arrows and resummon and heal before you set up a second Area of Battle and try again.
Have you discerned the biggest threat in a Mob? If you have your Ice arrow and you slot your Oni for holds, you can keep up to an elite boss perma-held during a fight. The Oni can keep a boss held by himself if you slot him right. Keep the big guy out of combat so your melee ninjas can take down the weaker enemies first then finally gang up on the last enemy. If you keep a boss or tough lieutenant down, that may mean less AoE damage that he or she can cause your pets. Remember, the fewer attacks there are, the more less your ninja have to dodge.
Remember to make key-binds and get Aid Other. Youre going to need both to prevent your Ninja from flat lining. Always be one step ahead of an enemy attack and anticipate damage to keep your health bars filled.
Well that is enough for someone to chew on I suppose. A long guide gets tiring, but if it too short it is tossed in the trash for being shallow. If you have any questions just PM me or something or look up some of the Key-bind and Macro guides for more info on those if you need help. I definitely recommend Pet Mastery 101. Its not like I wrote it or anything
Lord Reguluss Short Sweet and to-the-point Strategy Guide (?) to Ninja/Trick Arrow
Rather than redo my previous guide to Ninja/Trick Arrow, why dont I let you decide how to slot yourself up and decide which powers you like. Ill just supply you with some strategies that have worked for me. Onto the fun!
So, Ninja/Trick Arrow too complicated for you? Well luckily for you if you are reading this short-ish guide I have played my Ninja/Trick Arrow religiously and have performed the Russian way of fixing things: Beat it, whack it, smack it, slam it with a hammer, and punch it until it works.
My favorite Mastermind is my Ninja/Trick Arrow, possibly one of the most challenging Mastermind combinations to play. It was a pain to level, but that was back when I was a complete noob and had no belief in support. Back then all the numbers are orange, green, and red. So as far as going through the early levels as a Ninja/Trick Arrow, I can only speculate because I discovered how wonderful TA is at level 26 or so and I then started doing amazing in both PvE and PvP. Let me tell you right now, it is not the fastest way to kill something. There are a lot more combinations out there that will kill in PvE faster than a Ninja/Trick Arrow.It is slow until you get your first Resistance Debuff and your Jounin, but after that it begins to get interesting. This build is a late bloomer so if youre willing to start off slow, I can promise you that it will pay off in the end if you learn to use the build correctly. But with that aside, since you have so many options at your disposal as a Trick Archer, you can salvage bad situations effectively. If something goes wrong with other combinations, it could result in your untimely demise. In my opinion, to play a Ninja/TA you need to have the following down:
A) Pet Control
B) Area of Battle
C) Quick Reflexes on Key-binds (or Macros) and Powers
I like challenges in games, especially if they're unnecessary. So lets go over them.
A) Pet Control
First off, you should learn what I call the Ninja Distance Attack principle which this:
If I position my Ninja X amount of feet away from my target, what attack is he going to most likely use?
This is important to force your Jounin into placing caltrops patches, to fight against Genin Shuriken spams, and, in later levels, getting the Oni to use his controlling chain to basically take one or two enemies out of combat. (Ring of Fire, Char, Ring of Fire [repeat]). A good way to try this out is to use the Practice Dummies in Rikti War Zone. A better way is to go to the Arena with another Mastermind or a strong friend and start messing around with the distances. Keep in mind, power usage is not guaranteed, but if your Jounin is right next to the guy then chances are he is going to start swinging his sword around. If your Ninja is using ranged attacks and you dont want him to, try putting him on passive follow for a few seconds and let his aggro drop then send him into melee and see if he starts kicking. Same applies to the Oni. If he is using his flashy yet weak melee attacks, send him out of range for a few seconds and then send him to attack again. Hell probably start ranging them. (It is much easier to switch from Melee to Range than vice versa).
B) Area of Battle
This one is fairly easy if you got the first one down. Your Trick Arrows are all AoEs except for Ice and Entangle Arrow. The Area of Battle is the about 20 foot area where you try to keep the enemy within using slows to keep them in and you and the Oni stay back to immobilize and hold enemies trying to escape. Keep all the enemies within the area and you can put your Genin and Jounin on Aggressive mode and let them choose their targets within the mob. On top of all that, with the recent fix to Oil Slick Arrow, you have a new best friend to burn your enemies with. Even if they are ADD, they enemies arent going anywhere if youre on top of the controlling If you keep them in the sphere (AKA blatant duhs)
1) Your Controls will affect more people.
2) Your Onis Rain of Fire and Breath of Fire will be much more effective.
3) Your Melee Ninjas will behave better and you can let them fight as they want to.
4) You are less likely to aggro more mobs if a mob is contained in a space of control.
Pertaining to number 3, Ninja ADD-ness is not only accepted, but I also recommend it. If your ninja are spread out then AoE attacks will be less of an issue and it is much easier to take down a mob fast and keep up with your minions if they are all attacking a separate enemy which leads into C.
C) Quick Reflexes on Key-binds (or Macros) and Powers
This comes with practice. Are you able to keep an eye on each minions status? If a minion is in trouble or fighting something much to take down (like a Genin vs. a red conned Lt.) then you can decide on the best course of action. I put the life of my Minions above mine until the situation becomes dire because I am cognitive and can therefore deduce if a battle is going poorly. Here are some things I think about in combat:
Is your minion about to be hit by an attack? Keep an eye on his power tray and see if there is an attack coming towards him. If so, pull him out of combat and heal him or contain the threat to him by holding the foe.
Is your minion slowly being surrounded by enemies? Pull him away from the dangerous zone for a second or send a second ninja to aid in his battle.
If the battle is going ill, can you pull to a safe zone and recover? Try slowing the enemies advance with glue arrows and resummon and heal before you set up a second Area of Battle and try again.
Have you discerned the biggest threat in a Mob? If you have your Ice arrow and you slot your Oni for holds, you can keep up to an elite boss perma-held during a fight. The Oni can keep a boss held by himself if you slot him right. Keep the big guy out of combat so your melee ninjas can take down the weaker enemies first then finally gang up on the last enemy. If you keep a boss or tough lieutenant down, that may mean less AoE damage that he or she can cause your pets. Remember, the fewer attacks there are, the more less your ninja have to dodge.
Remember to make key-binds and get Aid Other. Youre going to need both to prevent your Ninja from flat lining. Always be one step ahead of an enemy attack and anticipate damage to keep your health bars filled.
Well that is enough for someone to chew on I suppose. A long guide gets tiring, but if it too short it is tossed in the trash for being shallow. If you have any questions just PM me or something or look up some of the Key-bind and Macro guides for more info on those if you need help. I definitely recommend Pet Mastery 101. Its not like I wrote it or anything