Silas Loves Pointy Sticks and So Can You!

Tadaaaaaa!

Welcome to the latest installment of SilasGuides! Please keep all limbs inside the rambling power descriptions at all times and please refrain from doing that thing you always do. We're all sick of it.

Trick Arrows, dood. Another one of those hardcore offensive debuffy sets where you keep the team from getting smooshed by debuffing and blowing the would-be smoosher to bits. Awesome as hell.

Fair warning though, TA is very nuanced and tricky (hardeeharhar) and generally people won’t be super aware of what you’re doing so if you love feeling sorry for yourself and making passive aggressive comments in team chat then AWESOME! You won’t find much praise for your efforts running a Trick Arrows, but you’re not doing this for praise, are you? You should be doing this because Trick Arrows rocks the goddamned house and destroys stuff real good. If you want praise for your efforts, go moderate an in-game channel.

…
Bwahahaha. Oh man, awesome.

Seriously though. Without further ado:

Why Trick Arrows is Great and You Want to Sleep With One:

• Um okay dude first of all I do not know what your deal is but I wouldn’t recommend you do that, these things explode and stuff. Unwise.

• If you just want to play a Trick Arrows, then I can help you. Check this out, my droogs:

o Awesome AoE debuffs to neuter spawns and make them real tender for the killings

o High AoE damage and debuff power which is totally awesome, even if it doesn’t work 100% of the time. It still works almost always you guys, discouraged is not a thing you should be.

o Fast recharging AoE -res and -def debuffs

o Lots of control (most notably in the form of a HUGE AoE hold and -regen)

o Great thematic pairing with Archery (which happens to rock butts)

o The sticks are so pointy.

o Unlike Dark or Rad where stuff isn’t debuffed as soon as they run out of the DN/RI/EF radius, almost all of the TA debuffs are persistent due to their click nature. Hit something with a TA debuff, bam, its debuffed for the duration. End of story. This provides an immense amount of versatility.

o Lots of delicious proc oppertunities.


Entangling Arrow: foe immobilize -fly -slow

Slotting Recommendation: the values on this are pretty good at base so it doesn’t need a huuuge amount of attention and is perfectly content to play by itself alone in the sandbox. BUT! Don’t let it do that because it’s a very handy power. Make sure you get decent values for accuracy and immobilize duration.

How to Use: For all kinds of things. For keeping a boss out of melee where he would punch your head, for stopping runners, for keeping stuff in your debuffs, for stopping AVs from running all over the place (which they like to do once you’ve hit them with all your debuffyness). Early on this is reasonably effective control but later on you’ve got more reliable options. If you want something to stay put somewhere for whatever reason (which is quite often the case with a heavily location based set like TA) use this.

Flash Arrow: targeted foe -perception -tohit

Slotting Recommendation: I personally went with 4 Dark Watchers for the bonuses and because imo Flash Arrow doesn’t need too much enhancing. The -tohit is nice to stack on top of whatever defense you/the team has but the -perception is unenhanceable.

How to Use: to cause epileptic fits. This causes (oddly enough) a huge flash. Its not too distracting but some people (we call them weenies) are bothered by it. The -tohit is, as I mentioned, relatively minor but worth throwing out to stack with defenses and -perc is great, especially on cramped maps to stop other spawns getting cranky as you melt their buddies.

Glue Arrow: targeted AoE -slow -recharge

Slotting Recommendation: Max out the recharge. The slow debuff on this is pretty hefty at base and paired with Oil Slick Arrow will bring most baddies to the slow cap. If you’ve got a spare slot its not a bad idea to put a slow enh in just to make sure (for higher level mobs or stuff that resists slows) but not strictly necessary.

How to Use: This is one of your two major keep-stuff-where-it-is powers. Since TA is very heavily location based, you’ll be getting a lot of use out of this. While everything about this power makes you think it would be a location AoE, its not. It’s targeted, so use it on the dude in the middle of a spawn. The debuff will stay on mobs for a while even after they’ve left the patch, so don’t hesitate to use it.

Ice Arrow: foe hold -recharge -speed

Slotting Recommendation: The values on this at base are reasonable. I personally skipped it but only because I took Stunning Shot from Archery. If you don’t have a different ST mez from somewhere else, I would frankenslot this to get good acc/rech/hold values.

How to Use: Anytime you need to take a single target out of the fight, pew. Fairly easy to stack on a boss. Pretty straightforward power, really.

Poison Gas Arrow: ranged AoE, -dmg, sleep

Slotting Recommendation: I went with 5 Fortunata Hypnoses. The placate proc is pretty awesome in this and while the sleep is nothing to write home about, the set bonuses are pretty great, it’s a cheap set and gives good enhancement values. The -dmg is sadly unenhanceable, but will be made more effective by your -res powers so yay.

How to Use: Solo, it works pretty well as a sleep. On teams it’ll get broken almost instantly and you have better options to take a spawn out of the equation. Use it as a -dmg debuff. Throw it out early in your attack cycle, even if you know the sleep will be broken early. The damage debuff is pretty respectable and is more effective if the enemy is -res debuffed (something you have a lot of) so Good Times™.

SPEAK OF THE DEVIL!

Acid Arrow: ranged AoE -res (all), -def, minor DoT

Slotting Recommendation: Max out the accuracy, recharge and get good values for the defense debuff. You want this to hit and you want it to recharge fast. The AoE is sadly fairly small (unlike Sleet/Tar Patch/Freezing Rain) so you’ve gotta throw it around a lot. Lysosomes, frankenslotting, global recharge, Achilles -res proc. Get in on this action, son.

How to Use: Again, the AoE is small (about as big as the radius on a damage aura, if that means anything to you) so make sure to target a dude fairly central in a spawn to maximise its effect. I almost always open with this and use it as soon as it’s back up again. It’s a fantastic power and just wants to share its flesh-melting acidic love with the world, so won’t you let it?

Disruption Arrow: location AoE -res

Slotting Recommendation: This one is fairly cut and dried. This is autohit so you only need to bother with the recharge. While the debuff on this isn’t persistent its still worth throwing out to stack with Acid Arrow and to debuff enemy resistance even more. 2-3 recharges, this badboy recharges pretty quickly to begin with but the more the merrier. Unless you’re a mob who just had their resistance shot to **** in which case I guess it is pickles on parade for you and your buddies.

How to Use: Chuck it out into the middle of a spawn to make ‘em die faster. Simple, effective. Bear in mind that since the debuff isn’t sticky you should always use it in conjunction with something to keep the mobs in it (y helo thar Glue Arrow)

Oil Slick Arrow: location AoE -speed, Knockdown, DoT (fire) -defense

Slotting Recommendation: This is the pinnacle of your debuffing/controllery/killy goodness. Max out the recharge on this, or bring eternal shame to your family. You play a superhero MMO, don’t you think they’re ashamed enough of you? The answer is yes, max out the recharge on this, it has a looooong recharge and is very worth it. The other thing you want to enhance is the damage. I frankenslotted dam/recharges from the targeted AoE sets as well as a recharge IO and an Achilles -res proc. This gives great damage values, maxed out recharge and the -res is delicious, especially since it’s a large AoE. The slow and -def are high at base and you’ve got other powers which do them better, so don’t bother.

How to Use: Always and often and all the time, god, its gooooooooood. Just…a lot, okay?

First of all, as a location control/debuff. Throw it under a spawn to make them slip and slide and get hit more easily and be slowed and die faster if you put an Achilles proc in it. This alone is pretty great. But then…

The slick can be targeted and defeated. If defeated by fire or energy damage (easy since it is about as tough as an Elec Armour Stalker) the slick ignites. And by ignites, I mean IGNITES. This is where the fire damage comes in. Its like Burn, but massive and keeps stuff in the area itself. It’s fantastic. This causes you to laugh maniacally and the team to wonder where the hell that spawn went.

Disclaimer: sometimes the spawn doesn’t light. It used to be much worse and has mostly been resolved, but you will still encounter issues lighting it. In my experience, 9/10 times it will ignite successfully, but that 1/10 times still makes me >:C Another thing to bear in mind is that it will cause pets to run around like headless chickens because well, if intern programmers didn’t break things then devs wouldn’t have anything to fix. C’est la vie.

EMP Arrow: Targeted AoE -hold -regen self -rec special damage vs robots

Slotting Recommendation: Max out the recharge, fair amount of hold duration. It lasts pretty long at base, but since this is an emergency spawn-shut-down power you want it to shut things down for as long as possible. The damage is unenhanceable which is good because if you could enhance it some people would and then I’d have more people to scorn and scorn doesn’t grow on trees, you know.

[bHow to Use[/b]: troublesome spawn giving you the pip, guv’nah? Hit them with this. Huge AoE mez. Bam. It’s an awesome hold. The other EMPs in the game are all PBAoE whereas this is ranged so you can fire it from safety to disable a spawn. Bear in mind that this does debuff your recovery but it’s not a big deal since TA is fairly light on endurance. Since this and OSA are both on long recharge timers and serve more or less the same purpose (totally disabling a spawn) its good to alternate them on teams.


How to Not Be Awful:¨

• Bear in mind which powers summon stuff that sticks around. These being: Glue and OSA. Stuff hit by these debuffs will stay debuffed for the its duration even if they leave the patch. Only stuff hit by the initial cast of PGA/Acid will be debuffed, and mobs will only be debuffed by Disruption Arrow while in its area. What this means is that you need to use your powers in conjunction with each other. Glue and OSA to keep stuff together for Disruption/Acid/etc. It’s like, synergy or some ****, dood. Wild.

• Because OSA works in a kindof screwy way (it summons a pet in a place which does stuff which summons another pet which does other stuff) you can get creative with it. Specifically, (and props to Luminara for this little gem) even if you light the slick shortly before it disappears, the Burning patch will still be summoned for the full duration. So while its mostly best to ignite the patch ASAP so stuff is slowed while they melt, its something to bear in mind.

• I briefly mentioned this earlier but its worth repeating and explaining in more detail. Because of how resistance works (resistance resists damage, resistance debuffs and damage debuffs) so if a critter has been debuffed by PGA, debuffing its resistance makes that damage debuff more effective. An AV hit with PGA, Disruption and Acid (especially if it procs) will hit like a kitten in addition to going down hard, something something oral sex.

• While Trick Arrow has debuffs, controls and debuffs like whoah, you might want to invest either in defense bonuses or Aid Self because you have relatively little to mitigate incoming damage.

• Since the Oil Slick can only be lit by energy or fire damage, if you don’t have access to either of those types from your primary you should either go tech or magic origin, since either of those origin powers will do the trick and relying on teammates to light it is fail.

• Because of the weird way Glue Arrow is placed, be mindful of who to target for it. If the mobs like to melee, firing it at a dude in the front of the spawn is a good idea because then it’ll slow them all as they run towards you.

• OSA and Disruption Arrow are location targeted which means you can be a tricksy little cheatyface with them. What I mean by this is that unlike Acid/Glue/Flash/PGA/EMP, you do not need Line of Sight to drop them. Feel free to drop them from behind walls. Dropping OSA and Disruption under a spawn from behind a wall, popping out to throw out Acid and to light the slick then popping back into cover to fire off Rain of Arrows (which is also location based) is delightful.

• While you can use EMP as your -regen debuff (and it is a strong debuff) it’s a little unwieldy because of the recharge. What I do for AV/GM fights is to open up with EMP so that their regen is debuffed from the start and stuff around them is held. Usually by the time it wears off you’ve got the rest of your debuffs out and the stuff around the AV/GM is dead so the teams damage is focused so the lack of -regen isn’t a big deal. Then just make sure you keep Acid/Disruption up to keep their resistance shot and enhance PGAs damage debuff.

• Use Acid Arrow all the damn time. I know I stressed this before, but it’s a phenomenal power but the small debuff means you’ve got to use it a lot to spread it around. This is especially worth it if you’ve got the Achilles proc in there. While you can’t necessarily see if the proc went off because Acid causes the -res SFX arrows by itself, you’ll notice the difference in damage.

How Silas Be Doing It:

Behold!

What Goes Well With Trick Arrows:

Most obviously, Archery. The two sets using the same weapon is awesome, it fits thematically and Archery rocks the house so it’s all good times. Rain of Arrows is obscene when dropped onto a spawn you’ve debuffed, especially as a corruptor because it SCOURGES. Corruptors rule, you guys. Defenders are boring and lame, make a corruptor today! Blazing Arrow is also a backup to light the Oil Slick if your origin power misses (emphasis on backup because you’ll normally want to use Blazing on something that warrants its damage).

The only other set I’d recommend to go with TA is fire. You’ll have absolutely monstrous damage output, and igniting the Slick will be a cinch. I’ve seen Rain of Fire dropped on a debuffed spawn with Oil Slick under them and man, it is brutal. The downside to this is you have 0 mitigation from your primary, so you’ll have to be more careful. Also redraw. While mechanically not an issue, as a principle it does bother some people.

What’s important in picking a primary (or secondary if you’re BORING) is that you’ve got high damage (especially AoE). It’s a huge shame to not have lots of damage and AoEs to take advantage of all the debuffed spawns.

So yeah. Make a TA today, doods.

Acknowledgements: Luminara, for writing an incredibly comprehensive, excellent guide for TA and Archery and their infectious TA enthusiasm. I would recommend anyone interested in TA read Luminara's Trick Arrow Enchiridion.

Once again, nicely done Silas.

I've got a lowbie Archery/TA that needs some playtime and this will help me polish of my build.

-Llew.

Another great write up.

Thanks for your efforts, Silas.

Thanks for the review of the pointy sticks!! TA is highly misunderstood (especially to people like me). Education is the key to harmony with other AT's.... (insert inspiration music here).

Trev.

I love your guides, dood.


The titles always rock, too.




-Star

Very cool guide. I may just make one.

hhmm I might have to dust off my Stoned Arrow toon.

Stray I think you forgot the Behold