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Due to the new Sniper revamp, this guide is no longer up to date.
I don't have time to play anymore so sadly I won't update the full guide to a complete in depth version.
However, the rotation I use for new Sniper is here:
sylph rotation:
u need sylph, camou, (ulti), and 20 arrows
1) windshot [-10]
2) camou [+10]
3) windshot [-10]
4) ulti
5) windshot [-10]
flower rotation:
u need piercing shot, flower, roa, and to be at 0 arrow (used up ur arrows before this)
1) flower
2) roa [+4]
3) cs [+1]
4) piercing shot
5) left click x10 [+10]
6) cs [+1]
7) roa [+4]
8) windshot [-10]
9) left click [+1]
10) windshot [-10]
or in the case when camou is up
8) windshot [-10]
9) camou [+10]
10) windshot [-10]
11) left click [+1]
12) windshot [-10]
filler rotation:
simply get to 10 arrows by only left clicking and cs, then shoot a windshot
(dont use roa, piercing shot, flower, or camou)
ur overall battle should look like this:
1) sylph rotation
2) flower rotation
3) filler rotation
..) repeat flower+filler until sylph is up
4) flower rotation but dont shoot windshot (end at 20 arrows)
5) go to 1 and repeat
The following guide is old, see above.
Introduction
About Me
Hello, Fox here~
I'm an active Sniper player and very passionate about the class. I have been a Sniper player since I started playing DN in early 80 cap, and have seen many versions of Sniper. I love the calculated, micromanagement and decision making oriented playstyle of Sniper and I wish to share my knowledge with everybody!
I have previously made a Sniper guide for preparing veteran Sniper players to transit from T5 Sniper to Awakened Sniper. Lately there have been more players making Sniper and maining this class and the previous guide is rather difficult for those who just started. Thus here we are, a comprehensive guide!
I hope this guide will be helpful for those who want to learn more about Sniper! All feedbacks are welcome~
About Sniper
Sniper is the physical branch of Sharpshooter, a powerful ranged DPS class that uses Agility as their main stat.
Being the longest ranged DPS class in the game, Sniper can safely DPS far away and face very little threat from enemy's close range attacks. While being very stationary when DPSing, Sniper has sufficient evades to stay safe and reposition.
Unlike most classes which rely on multiple skills and different (or set) skill rotations, Sniper essentially does not have cooldowns on core skills. Sniper uses wind arrows as their resource, which allows them to fire powerful Wind Shaft. Sniper gameplay is all about properly micromanaging wind arrows and skill cooldowns to achieve the maximum DPS potential.
Sniper is currently strong among DPS classes. As an Agility class, Sniper requires less funding to reach a good amount of DPS compare to Strength and Intellect classes.
Sniper shines especially in long continuous battles. In nests Sniper has difficulty reaching their full potential, however in raids Sniper can truly show what they are capable of.
Skill Information
General Skill Build
This is a skill build I recommend. It has everything a Sniper needs in all kinds of contents.
https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0-00-----0--0
Check out Alternative Skill Builds section for other viable skill builds that may better suit your needs.
Skills
DPS Skills
These skills are used for DPS purpose. Know what they do and how important they are.
Wind Shaft: Fire a giant wind arrows that stops at the first enemy hit and continuously deals damage. This is your main DPS skill and will most likely made up about 50% of your total damage. Activate by using regular Charged Shot and hold down Left Mouse Button while having at least 10 wind arrows.
Siege Stance: Enter Siege Stance, your Left Click, Right Click, Charged Shot, Aerial Chain Shot, and Rain of Arrows are enhanced. Moving or jumping will cancel it immediately. You will spend most of the time in Siege Stance in order to gather wind arrows to fire Wind Shaft.
[Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows: Fire Rain of Arrows quickly in a frontal cone. This is your go-to mob clearing skill and filler DPS skill when firing Wind Shaft is not an option.
[Siege Stance] Charged Shot: Fire two consecutive Charged Shots. This is your go-to filler DPS skill during arrow collection.
Arrow Barrage: Fire 22 arrows. This is your ultimate and it does decent chunk of damage, however it still does less than a single Wind Shaft. Use it when it is off cooldown.
[Instant] Rain of Arrows: Create a "ghost" that shoots Rain of Arrows. This is a skill to use when you are doing mechanics that disable you from shooting, however it does mediocre amount of damage. Activate by using Rain of Arrows after Fake Shot.
Hawk Ballista: Warden's ultimate, summons a hawk spirit which explodes. This does less than Arrow Barrage, however it is AoE so in situations that requires AoE nuke this is your best friend.
Piercing Shot: Shoot a piercing arrow and causes enemies to bleed for 60 seconds. A low effort and low reward DPS skill. The damage is very bad for its cast time, thus it is optional.
Charged Shot: No longer useful. Use [Siege Stance] Charged Shot instead.
Rain of Arrows: No longer useful. Use [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows instead.
Aerial Chain Shot: No longer useful. It is mostly used as an evade and sometimes to apply its debuff.
Buff/Debuff Skills
These skills are used to buff yourself or debuff enemies. Know their cooldowns and duration.
Walking Target: (Debuff) 20% damage amplification on enemies for 60 seconds. Your most important debuff to keep track of, and should always keep this debuff on enemies. Low cooldown and very long duration. Refresh it regularly but not too frequently. Learn when enemies cleanse debuffs and reapply it immediately.
Spiritual Focus: (Buff) Increase your Agility and Intellect by 50% for 180 seconds. Your most important buff to keep track of, and should always keep this buff on yourself. Low cooldown and very long duration. Check your buff bar frequently to make sure this buff is on. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and reapply it immediately. Reapply when you cannot DPS enemies.
Fury of the Owl: (Buff) Increase your critical damage by 10% for 300 seconds. Your most important buff to keep track of, and should always keep this buff on yourself and allies. Low cooldown and very long duration. Check your buff bar frequently to make sure this buff is on. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and reapply it immediately. Reapply when you cannot DPS enemies or when teammates need it.
Deathbloom: (Buff) Increase your Final Damage by 50% for 18 seconds. Your very important buff to keep track of, and should always have this buff on when you DPS. With a cooldown plate, this has a 3.6 second downtime. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and time this properly to avoid it being cleansed.
Sylph's Aid: (Buff) Increase your damage by 25% for 22 seconds. Your very important buff during burst window. Its cooldown (45 seconds) is twice as long as its duration, thus it cannot be wasted or else your DPS will suffer. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and time this properly to avoid it being cleansed.
Camouflage: (Buff) Increase Wind Shaft action speed for 10 seconds. Use this buff before using Wind Shaft to make its animation faster. Cooldown (24 seconds) is decently long. Learn more about the proper usage of this buff in Gameplay section.
Wisdom of the Owl: (Buff) Increase your critical damage by 20% for 15 seconds. Use this buff during Triple Windshot to further amplify your damage. Cooldown (90 seconds) is exactly twice as long as Sylph's Aid, thus you can use this every other Triple Wind Shaft rotation.
Aerial Chain Shot: (Debuff) Lower enemy critical resistance by 20% for 10 seconds. Very low priority skill that does low damage and has a long cast time. For most of the time this debuff is provided by other party members and thus you should not be using it for DPS or debuffing purposes, and should only be using it as an evade.
Evasion Skills
These skills are used to evade from enemy attacks and to reposition yourself. Know their cooldowns and their purposes.
Aerial Chain Shot: Your primary aerial evade. It is the most preferred skill for evading stomps and long lasting ground attacks, while also applying its debuff in the process.
Tumbling Shot: Your secondary aerial evade. If Aerial Chain Shot is on cooldown, use this instead. It can also be used alongside with Aerial Chain Shot (Tumbling Shot first then Aerial Chain Shot) to extend your air time.
Fake Shot: Shoot yourself backwards. Your primary skill to make distance from enemies.
[Siege Stance] Aerial Chain Shot: Shoot yourself backwards slightly. An alternative way of making distance from enemies when you are in Siege Stance.
Sliding Shot: Slide and shoot arrows while providing iframe. When you are locked in a skill animation (especially [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows) use this to quickly break the animation and iframe incoming attack. Activate by using Spacebar during any skill.
Kicking Skills
These skills are used to kick objects.
Spin Kick: Your Right Click. Primary kicking force.
Twin Shot: A low cooldown spammable kicking skill.
Alternative Skill Builds
Skeletal Build: https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0--0--------0
This build provides all the must-haves for Sniper, with 33 SP leftover to customize.
Build 1: https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0-00--------0
Sacrifices Piercing Shot, its awakening, and Class Mastery III. Ankle Shot provides a bit of crowd control in case its needed, as well as various pushing skills in base tree.
Gameplay
Introduction to Sniper Gameplay
The entire Gameplay section will be very long and may be tedious to read, but I believe that understanding how Sniper is different from other classes fundamentally will help you grasp its unique playstyle, and improve your gameplay as a result. I strongly suggest to take the time and read it if you cannot quite understand why Sniper plays the way they do. Remember, Sniper is a very micromanagement and decision-making oriented class. Understanding it will allow you manage better and make decisions easier.
For most classes, DPS skills are the focus of their gameplays. You will be focusing on managing cooldowns of important skills, and how to chain skills together to make the best use out of them.
What's different about Sniper is that, with Siege awakenings, you essentially have no cooldown on any important skills (you can reduce cooldowns with each arrow hit). Thus it becomes a game of decision making: all skills are available to use all the time, what should I do? Wind Shaft does by far the highest damage out of all skills, but it requires 10 arrows to use. How do I balance between spamming no cooldown skills and using Wind Shaft?
Hopefully with this guide I can give you a clear idea of how Sniper works.
Two Viable Playstyles: RoA and Wind Shaft
There are two viable playstyles: RoA and Wind Shaft.
RoA Sniper is certainly closer to other "traditional" classes. There is a very simple skill rotation to use and it is your main DPS. Your skill rotation focuses on using [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows, and then resetting its cooldown to allow the rotation to start again immediately. This is the beginner friendly playstyle and can be learned very easily. However, it has flaws (such as forcing you to point blank, animation lock, etc) and limits Sniper to perform to maximum. Most Snipers consider this as the "inferior" playstyle, but it is a must-know playstyle since it performs much better in short contents.
Wind Shaft Sniper is the playstyle that gives Sniper the signature micromanagement and decision-making feeling. It focuses on collecting arrows and firing Wind Shaft after collecting the required amount. The basic can be learned quite easily, however to master it is rather difficult. This is considered the "superior" playstyle and can output higher DPS than RoA Sniper. However, the main flaw of Wind Shaft Sniper is that it requires continuous battle to shine, and thus is not suitable for short contents (since enemies die too quickly to collect enough arrows).
RoA Sniper
Introduction
RoA Sniper focuses on using [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows as your main DPS skill, and then resetting its cooldown afterwards.
Since it does not require a specific setup and your DPS is separated into small segments, this is the primary playstyle in a lot of situation, despite it considered to be worse:
- In contents less than 10 minutes. Wind Shaft Sniper requires continuous battle, however in contents less than 10 minutes, bosses die too quickly to go into invincible mechanics, rendering Wind Shaft Sniper unable to obtain arrows.
- In dungeons. Sniper doesn't need the single target DPS provided by Wind Shaft, instead wants AoE of RoA to clear out mobs.
- In raids to kill mini bosses (most commonly IDN Kodiak Grizzlies). Sniper wants to preserve arrows to DPS the main boss, thus in situation where you need to kill side enemies, it is good to use resourceless RoA Sniper playstyle.
How It Works
[Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows shoots arrows at a forward low angle, with a fast (about 2-3 seconds) animation. In comparison, regular Rain of Arrows shoots arrows upwards and lands far away (which requires Sniper to be at a set distance away from target), and it also has a long animation to finish shooting all arrows.
[Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows does not have the indirect landing penalty. Regular Rain of Arrows only does full damage if enemies are hit by arrows landing. It does very little damage if hit by arrows in flight. However, [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows does not have this penalty, which means you can be at any distance and all arrows will do full damage.
Siege Stance per hit reduces Rain of Arrows cooldown by 1 second. If you point blank and right click (shoots 10 mini arrows), it will reduces Rain of Arrows cooldown by 10 seconds immediately. Which means with two point blank right clicks, Rain of Arrows cooldown is reset and can be used again.
Strategy
Position yourself point blank in order to hit all 10 mini arrows to reset Rain of Arrows cooldown. Reposition constantly to keep yourself point blank to the boss.
Since this rotation can be started any time, use your buffs (Deathbloom and Sylph's Aid) whenever they are off cooldown to maximize DPS.
During Sylph's Aid duration, if you have 15/20 arrows, perform Double/Triple Wind Shaft (see Wind Shaft Sniper section for Triple Wind Shaft). If Arrow Barrage is off cooldown, fit it into Sylph's Aid duration as well.
Battle Flow
- Core Skill Rotation: RoA
- Repeat until Sylph's Aid is off cooldown
- Sylph's Aid
- If you have 15/20 arrows, perform Double/Triple Wind Shaft
- If not, continue to repeat Core Skill Rotation: RoA
- Repeat
Core Skill Rotation: RoA
- [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance right click x2
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot
Afterwards, Rain of Arrows cooldown has been reset and the whole rotation can be used again
Wind Shaft Sniper
Introduction
Wind Shaft Sniper focuses on collecting arrows and firing Wind Shaft as your main DPS.
This is the primary playstyle for long continuous battles (raids). This is the playstyle that is difficult to master and can let Sniper reach their true potential.
Since you can reset Charged Shot cooldown easily, Wind Shaft is only limited by how fast you can obtain arrows. Activities (for example usage of filler skills) that slows down arrow collection, reduces how many Wind Shaft you can fire and ultimately reduces your DPS. However, [Siege Stance] Charged Shot has a really fast animation and generates 1 arrow, thus correct usage of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot will provide a bit of extra DPS and not slow down arrow collection.
How It Works
A full 16 hits Wind Shaft does 24400%, significantly out damage other skills. With proper prediction and boss movement knowledge, you can reliably land full hits Wind Shafts.
Siege Stance now has a really fast action speed, and can be further amplified by Harmonize or Shard of Will. This makes Siege Stance left clicking the fastest way of collecting arrows.
Since you are getting arrows at a set rate, it is important to spend arrows (by firing Wind Shaft) with as many steroids as possible. Triple Wind Shaft allows Sniper to fire three Wind Shafts in a short amount of time and utilize important buffs (Deathbloom and Sylph's Aid).
Strategy
Position yourself mid range. Learn enemies' attacks and find the best position to use Siege Stance without getting interrupted frequently.
Siege Stance and left click as much as possible. Avoid using filler skills that slow down your arrow collection. Remember Wind Shaft does 24400%, and other filler skills are jokes compare to that. Time wasted on using filler skills, delays getting 10 arrows for Wind Shaft, and ultimately lowers your DPS.
Pay attention to your arrow count and Sylph's Aid cooldown. When Sylph's Aid comes off cooldown, you want to have 20 arrows, Deathbloom and Camouflage off cooldown, to allow you to perform Triple Wind Shaft.
Thus, when Sylph's Aid is still on cooldown for a while, your goal is to collect 10 arrows and Wind Shaft as frequent as possible. However, as Sylph's Aid is getting closer to coming off cooldown, stop spending arrows and instead focus on getting 20 arrows in preparation for Triple Wind Shaft.
Battle Flow
When Sylph's Aid is far from coming off cooldown:
- Arrow Collection
- Wind Shaft when you have 10 arrows
When Sylph's Aid is about to come off cooldown (less than 10 seconds left)
- Arrow Collection
- Do not Wind Shaft
When Sylph's Aid is off cooldown
- Core Skill Rotation: Triple Wind Shaft
- Arrow Barrage if it is off cooldown
Core Skill Rotation: Triple Wind Shaft
To perform Triple Wind Shaft, you need: 20 arrows, Shard of Will, Deathbloom/Sylph's Aid/Camouflage all off cooldown
- Sylph's Aid
- Deathbloom
- Camouflage
- Wisdom of the Owl (if it's off cooldown)
- Wind Shaft
- Siege Stance left click x3
- Wind Shaft
- Siege Stance left click until you have 10 arrows
- Wind Shaft
Arrow Collection
Arrow collection is a very complicated process and involves a lot of quick decision making.
For beginners, you can skip this part and use the easiest way of arrow collection: simply hold left click in Siege Stance until you get desired amount of arrows.
For advanced arrow collection, here is the idea: since Siege Stance does a low amount of damage, simply left clicking does very little DPS, and causes Sniper DPS to drop significantly during arrow collection. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot has a very fast cast time and also generates 1 arrow, thus it can be used as a substitution for one left click.
However, the difficulty lies in that by using [Siege Stance] Charged Shot, it ends Siege Stance and also puts Charged Shot on cooldown. If used improperly, it can slow down you arrow collect, because Siege Stance is still on cooldown, or cause you unable to Wind Shaft due to Charged Shot on cooldown.
Here is an example of using [Siege Stance] Charged Shot during arrow collection:
Currently 0 arrows, aiming to collect 10 arrows
Method 1 (correct):
- [Instant] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance left click x3 (3 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (4 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x6
Method 2 (incorrect):
- [Instant] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance left click x3 (3 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (4 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x3 (7 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (8 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x2 (10 arrows)
Although we reach our goal of collecting 10 arrows, due to using [Siege Stance] Charged Shot too close to finishing arrow collection, Charged Shot still has about 5 seconds of cooldown, rendering unable to Wind Shaft.
Method 3 (correct):
- [Instant] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance left click x3 (3 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (4 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x4 (8 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (9 arrows)
- Siege Stance right click (10 arrows)
Notice how method 3 is different from method 2. By using a Siege Stance right click to finish collecting the last arrow, we also reset Charged Shot cooldown and allow us to Wind Shaft immediately
Video of Both Playstyles
Here is a video demonstrating skill rotation of both Wind Shaft and RoA playstyles.
This video was recorded before Wisdom of the Owl changes. Refer to Triple Wind Shaft section.
How to Maximize Sylph's Aid DPS
Sylph's Aid is the second most important DPS steroid Sniper has, only behind Deathbloom. However, unlike Deathbloom which has a near permanent uptime, Sylph's Aid only has a 50% uptime and a long 45 seconds cooldown. In a perfect world, to maximize Sylph's Aid DPS is very simple: Triple Wind Shaft provides the maximum DPS within its duration. However, there are many situations that it is not possible, and the two most deciding factors is 1) not having 20 arrows, and 2) enemy is about to become invincible. It takes a lot of experience to know exactly what to do in each situation, and here I will explain my thought process.
Always have 10 arrows
... before Sylph's Aid comes off cooldown. There is a 23 seconds downtime in between, you should always look to gather at least 10 arrows. Not having 10 arrows causes you to unable to Wind Shaft, and thus having to delay it.
If boss is doing an invincible mech, you should always spam [Siege Stance] Charged Shot, [Siege Stance] Aerial Chain Shot, and [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows to generate arrows.
Try to avoid mechs during Sylph's Aid
A lot of mechs cause the boss to become invincible, and thus wasting some duration of Sylph's Aid. Learn the battle flow of each boss and decide when is the best time for it, in order to get uninterrupted Triple Wind Shaft. This takes a lot of experience and knowledge of the nest.
When boss is about to do a long invincible mech
Always use Sylph's Aid. By the end of a long invincible mech (>30 seconds), your Sylph's Aid will come off cooldown again, and there is no point in saving it. Depending on how much time you have before boss starts this mech, here are what you should do during Sylph's Aid:
- Only a few seconds: simply spam RoA Rotation
- 5 to 10 seconds: enough to shoot 1 Wind Shaft, then use rest of the time spamming RoA Rotation. Notice in this situation you only need 10 arrows. If you foresee this coming during arrow collection phase, you can forgo left clicking for faster arrows and instead do RoA Rotation, giving up some arrows (as long as you still have 10 by the time Sylph's Aid is up) while doing some good damage.
- 10 to 15 seconds: enough to do 2 Wind Shaft. Instead of the usual Triple Wind Shaft Rotation, right click once after the first Wind Shaft to reset Charged Shot cooldown and Wind Shaft again immediately. Then use rest of the time spamming RoA Rotation. You must have at least 17 arrows for this, so if you foresee this coming, you should focus on getting arrows in advance and do not have the luxury of previous situation.
- 15 to 20 seconds: this is the awkward one, where it is very long, but not long enough to pull off full Triple Wind Shaft. In this situation, you have a lot more freedom. If you choose to start it with 10 arrows, you can do Wind Shaft into a few RoA Rotations and Wind Shaft again, thus allowing the previous arrow collection phase to be the slower RoA Rotation instead of left clicking. If you start with 16 arrows or more, you can do the same as previous situation, and then add in Arrow Barrage or a few more RoA Rotations afterwards.
A common situation of applying this is free teammates mech of RuDN 2nd Boss. Depending on how fast you get to safe zone, by taking a quite look at countdown timer (and also how fast his bar is dropping) you can quickly decide what to do during Sylph's Aid.
When boss is about to do a short invincible mech
If you use Sylph's Aid now, by the end of it you won't have Sylph's Aid back up, and can potentially hurt your future DPS. This is where your own judgment comes in: is using Sylph's Aid now and getting off partial DPS, worth the sacrifice of delaying next Sylph's Aid? The answer heavily depends on how much damage you can do with this short amount of time, and how important the next Sylph's Aid is.
If there is only a few seconds left and the next opening is great for Sylph's Aid, then surely, saving it and focus on arrow collection in order to perform Triple Wind Shaft in the next opening, is the right call.
However, not all situations are easy to decide as that. The best way to do this is through tons of practice and gather experience, as the right answer varies from nest to nest, from team to team.
Tips & Tricks
1) Point blank Siege Stance right click once to quickly reset Charged Shot cooldown. This is especially useful when you mess up arrow collection: having enough arrows to Wind Shaft, however due to improper usage of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot and have Charged Shot on cooldown.
2) Walking Target whenever the debuff is about to wear off/cleansed by enemy. Keeping the debuff on is your number one priority, so learn how to time its duration and learn when enemies cleanse debuffs.
3) Piercing Shot whenever you use Sylph's Aid, but do not use it again without Sylph's Aid. The bleeding damage uses your physical damage when it is applied, thus you should only use Piercing Shot when you have highest physical damage (by having Sylph's Aid on)
4) Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and avoid Sylph's Aid and Deathbloom being cleansed and wasted. Sylph's Aid and Deathbloom are your most important steroids and losing them is very punishing.
5) [Instant] Rain of Arrows at the start of arrow collection. It does a nice amount of damage and does not interrupt your arrow collection.
6) If you know there aren't enough time for a full Triple Wind Shaft, reset Charged Shot cooldown immediately after first Wind Shaft and Wind Shaft again to salvage as much Sylph's Aid damage as you can
7) In Garden of Eternity, while waiting for party members to be ready, use [Siege Stance] Charged Shot, [Siege Stance] Aerial Chain Shot, and [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows to generate arrows. This is the only way to generate arrows without a target present. Try to have 20 arrows before entering to initial battle with Triple Wind Shaft immediate available. You should also do this during looting of previous run.
8) Always find ways to collect arrows. Siege Stance and attack other objects (for example, pillars in TKN) to collect arrows, if enemies aren't attackable.
9) If there is a tank, stay away. Sniper has superior range compare to other classes, and if there is a tank holding enemies aggro, then staying away from the tank will likely put you away from most attacks.
10) Likewise, if there isn't a tank, try to put Deathbloom on a good position and stay away from Deathbloom after it establishes aggro with enemies. Deathbloom acts very similarly to an unmovable tank.
11) In Siege Stance, switching from left clicking to right clicking (or vice versa) will have a delay. Rather than switching, use Siege Stance again to avoid this delay.
Gearing
Skill Crests
Essential:
Lucky Shot Critical Damage
Deathbloom Cooldown
Charged Shot Action Speed
Rain of Arrows Damage
Optional:
Arrow Barrage Damage
Techniques and Skill-up Crest
Wind Shaft Sniper:
Charged Shot +2: Must have. Wind Shaft makes up around 60% of your total damage. Skill-up Crest + [ Costume Weapon or 90/93 Technique Earrings ].
Rain of Arrows +1: Recommended. A decent chunk (around 10-15%) of your total damage. 90 Technique Necklace or 93 Technique Ring.
Siege Stance +1: Optional. A decent chunk (around 6-10%) of your total damage. 90 Technique Earrings or 93 Technique Ring.
RoA Sniper:
Charged Shot +2: Must have. Wind Shaft makes up around 45% of your total damage. Skill-up Crest +[ Costume Weapon or 90/93 Technique Earrings ].
Rain of Arrows +1: Must have. Rain of Arrows makes up around 25% of your total damage. 90 Technique Necklace or 93 Technique Ring.
Siege Stance +1: Optional. A decent chunk (around 6-10%) of your total damage. 90 Technique Earrings or 93 Technique Ring.
Stats Overview
High Priority:
Final Damage: The best and most expensive stat. It is a multiplier and it resists diminishing return.
Elemental Attack: Very affordable multiplier. Sniper should always elemental convert and get the benefit from party buffs and debuffs.
Crit Damage: Increases your damage when critical strike.
Physical Damage: Your offensive benchmark. Sniper is a physical class and this is the first thing to judge.
Agility: Sniper's main stats, and 1 Agility converts to 0.75 Physical Damage. The best way to increase your Physical Damage.
Medium Priority:
HP: Your defensive benchmark. There are HP requirements for different contents, and you should aim for those.
Vitality: Increases HP indirectly.
Defense: Resistance against enemies physical attacks.
Magic Defense: Resistance against enemies magic attacks.
Low Priority:
Strength: 1 Strength converts to 0.25 Physical Damage and 1.75 Crit Damage. Very inefficient way of increasing Physical Damage and Crit Damage.
Lowest Priority:
Crit: Chance to critical strike. As an Agility class, maxing Crit is very easy and should not be a concern (however Crit capped is your highest priority if you are not maxed yet).
Intellect: 1 Intellect converts to 0.25 Magic Damage, 1.75 Crit Damage, and 0.8 Magic Defense. Very inefficient way of increasing Crit Damage.
Magic Damage: Completely useless. Sniper is a physical class.
Items Overview
Note:
Items within the same bracket are relatively close in terms of power.
All the power rankings of items are estimations.
Gearing is very complicated and a lot of times the strength of an item is also related to your other gears. I strongly suggest only take this as a guideline, and do your own research (gear simulator) as you gear.
Weapons:
RuDNL > [ Hero's Medea (+20), IDNL (+10 or higher) ] > RuDNU (+12/13) > IDNL (9 or lower)
Armors:
From best damage output to worst:
RuDNL > IDNL > Hero's Medea > RuDNU
From best defensive ability to worst:
RuDNL > Hero's Medea > RuDNU > IDNL
Necklace:
RuDNL > 90 Technique Necklace (Rain of Arrows, high Agility) > IDNL
Earrings:
RuDNL > IDNL > Technique Earrings (Siege Stance/Charged Shot, Vitality/Fire/Ice or high Agility)
Rings:
RuDNL > IDNL > Technique Ring (Deathbloom/Siege Stance/Rain of Arrows, Physical Damage/Light/Dark)
Gems:
Windswept with Vitality
Seal gem: medium-low priority
Crests:
8 Must Haves: Destructive, Windswept, Ultimate, Offensive, Life-giving, Health, Sturdy, Adorned
Optionals for expansion: Brutal with Agility, Focus, Limit, Arrow Barrage Damage
Talisman:
Without expansion:
200%: Ultimate, Windswept
175%: Destructive, Brutal
125%: Life-giving, Health
100%: Sturdy, Adorned
With expansion:
200%: Ultimate, Destructive, Windswept
175%: Elemental, Wise, Brutal
125%: Life-giving, Health, Sturdy
100%: Adorned, Limit
Calculations and Misc Information
This section is for those whose like technical details. If you are not so into maths and what not, then feel free to skip this part.
Skills
Piercing Shot awakening:
Piercing Shot awakening causes enemy to bleed for 60 seconds, deals 800% of your Physical Damage every 2 seconds.
This looks amazing on paper, however the bleeding does not apply Final Damage, Elemental Attack, Crit (and thus no Critical Damage nor Lucky Shot), or any debuffs.
Due to Piercing Shot'sreally bad cast time and its mediocre bleeding damage, it is not a good DPS skill to use. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot has a similar cast time and is almost always available on demand, thus we will compare it to Piercing Shot awakening.
Piercing Shot awakening:
Since bleed takes your Physical Damage at the time of casting, it is best to use Piercing Shot during Sylph's Aid. Sylph's Aid has a 45 seconds cooldown, thus each cast of Piercing Shot bleeds for 45 seconds:
45 x 800% / 2 = 18000%
[Siege Stance] Charged Shot:
At level 21, Charged Shot does 1306%. EX gives 30% bonus damage. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot shoots twice:
1306% x 130% x 2 = 3396%
The next part of calculation will depend on your stats. In this case we will base on stats that are very easy to achieve:
- Crit: 89%
- Critical Damage: 210%
- Elemental Attack: 20%
- Final Damage: 0%
Crit multiplier (including Crit, Critical Damage, Fury of the Owl, and Lucky Shot) = 11% + 89% x (210% + 10%) x (50% + 50% x 95%) = 299.8%
Elemental multiplier = 120%
Final Damage multiplier (including Deathbloom) = 150%
Damage Amp Debuff multiplier (including Walking Target) = 120%
Now calculate the total damage:
3396% x 299.8% x 120% x 150% x 120% = 21989%
Which is means, one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot does more damage than Piercing Shot's bleeding over next 45 seconds.
The stats we choose is also very easy to achieve. As your stats get higher, [Siege Stance] Charged Shot will be even further ahead. This also does not include any party buffs (ice stack, elemental debuff, curse).
In conclusion, Piercing Shot awakening simply does too little damage to be worth using.
Class Mastery III:
CM3 also suffers the same problem: Piercing Shot has really bad cast time. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot will also be used as comparison.
CM3:
Piercing Shot at level 16 does 218%, CM3 increases it by 300%:
218% x 400% = 872%
Small Wind Shaft does 10% of regular Wind Shaft:
1306% x 130% x 90% x 16 x 10% = 2444%
In total, CM3 does:
872% + 2444% = 3316%
[Siege Stance] Charged Shot:
As calculated above, does 3396%
Thus one cast of CM3 does roughly same damage as one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot. However, CM3 also applies Piercing Shot's bleeding, which we calculated above to be a bit less than one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot. Altogether CM3 does roughly twice the damage of one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (= 6792%).
However, CM3 costs 1 arrow to use, while [Siege Stance] Charged Shot gives 1 arrow, which is a net difference of 2 arrows. Each arrow contributes 1/10th of a Wind Shaft:
1306% x 130% x 90% x 16 / 10 = 2444%
Consuming 1 arrow effectively reduces 2444% (as it will be used in future to contribute 1/10th of a Wind Shaft), CM3 only does 6792% - 2444% = 4348%.
On the other hand, [Siege Stance] Charged Shot does 3396% + 2444% = 5840%
In conclusion, CM3 is not worth using as well. Since both awakening and CM3 are bad, it is perfectly fine to not take Piercing Shot at all.
Stats
Agility vs Physical Damage:
Two very common options in 3rd stats (crests and talismans).
This highly depends on how much agi% you have (but does not depend on how many phys% you have).
Currently a very common set-up has the following:
- 7x Wind gems = 28%
- Wind plate = 10%
- Epic costume = 8%
- 4 set Hero costume accesories = 6%
- 2x Genesis Rings = 10%
for a total of 62%.
Sniper has a 0.75 conversion ratio from Agility to Physical Damage, as well as 50% Agility boost from Spiritual Focus. Thus 1 raw Agility converts to:
162% x 150% x 0.75 = 1.8225 raw Physical Damage
Old plates and talismans (93 and below) heavily favors Agility over Physical Damage:
93 plate, 3rd stat agi = 499 Agility = 499 x 1.8225 = 909 Physical Damage > 3rd stat phys = 624 Physical Damage
93 talisman, 3rd stat agi = 667 Agility = 667 x 1.8225 = 1215 Physical Damage > 3rd stat phys = 734 Physical Damage
However, on level 95 plates, Physical Damage is better than Agility:
95 plate, 3rd stat high agi = 1039 Agility = 1039 x 1.8225 = 1893 Physical Damage < 3rd stat high phys = 2719 Physical Damage
The same trend applies for expedition plates as well as future talismans.
In future, 95 dragon gems will no longer have agi%, thus giving Physical Damage even more advantage over Agility.
In conclusion, gearing in 95 cap it is advised to get 3rd stat Physical Damage over Agility.
(Note: of course, if possible, 3rd stat Final Damage and Critical Damage are much better options)
Critical Damage Scaling:
Due to Lucky Shot, Sniper has slightly better Critical Damage scaling than most classes:
From 200% to 300% Critical Damage, regular classes gain 47.1% DPS
From 200% to 300% Critical Damage, Sniper gains 48.0% DPS
Although it is a very small gain, it makes Critical Damage a bit more valuable on Sniper than other classes. With much easier access to Critical Damage in 95 cap (plates, talismans, gems, etc), Critical Damage is the 2nd most important stat to increase.
In general, 2.5% increase in Critical Damage is equivalent to 1% increase in Physical Damage. This is very useful when deciding 3rd stat Critical Damage vs Physical Damage/Agility.
Final Damage Scaling:
Due to Deathbloom, Sniper has worse Final Damage scaling than most classes:
From 0% to 100% Final Damage, regular classes gain 100% DPS
From 0% to 100% Final Damage, Sniper gains 66.7% DPS
This means that:
- Sniper can perform very well with next to no Final Damage. Combining with the fact that Sniper is an Agility class with Critical Damage steroids, Sniper is one of the few classes that with minimal gearing can output much higher DPS than other classes with the same minimal gearing.
- Many Final Damage gearing options are simply not good on Sniper. Many of these options trade flat damage (Agility, Physical Damage) in favor of multiplier (Final Damage). In the cast of Sniper which has inherent 50% Final Damage, many of these trade-offs are not good. For example, for many classes 7-set lgrades is easily surpassed by 5-set lgrades + 2-set ultimate theano, while for Sniper 7-set is simply better unless in extreme cases.
- This does not mean that forgoing all Final Damage is acceptable. While gearing, Sniper should still get all "easy to obtain" sources of Final Damage, and only giving up Final Damage options that will cost you high amount of Physical Damage. In end game gearing, Final Damage still outshines all other stats, despite Sniper having worse Final Damage scaling.
I don't have time to play anymore so sadly I won't update the full guide to a complete in depth version.
However, the rotation I use for new Sniper is here:
sylph rotation:
u need sylph, camou, (ulti), and 20 arrows
1) windshot [-10]
2) camou [+10]
3) windshot [-10]
4) ulti
5) windshot [-10]
flower rotation:
u need piercing shot, flower, roa, and to be at 0 arrow (used up ur arrows before this)
1) flower
2) roa [+4]
3) cs [+1]
4) piercing shot
5) left click x10 [+10]
6) cs [+1]
7) roa [+4]
8) windshot [-10]
9) left click [+1]
10) windshot [-10]
or in the case when camou is up
8) windshot [-10]
9) camou [+10]
10) windshot [-10]
11) left click [+1]
12) windshot [-10]
filler rotation:
simply get to 10 arrows by only left clicking and cs, then shoot a windshot
(dont use roa, piercing shot, flower, or camou)
ur overall battle should look like this:
1) sylph rotation
2) flower rotation
3) filler rotation
..) repeat flower+filler until sylph is up
4) flower rotation but dont shoot windshot (end at 20 arrows)
5) go to 1 and repeat
The following guide is old, see above.
Introduction
About Me
Hello, Fox here~
I'm an active Sniper player and very passionate about the class. I have been a Sniper player since I started playing DN in early 80 cap, and have seen many versions of Sniper. I love the calculated, micromanagement and decision making oriented playstyle of Sniper and I wish to share my knowledge with everybody!
I have previously made a Sniper guide for preparing veteran Sniper players to transit from T5 Sniper to Awakened Sniper. Lately there have been more players making Sniper and maining this class and the previous guide is rather difficult for those who just started. Thus here we are, a comprehensive guide!
I hope this guide will be helpful for those who want to learn more about Sniper! All feedbacks are welcome~
About Sniper
Sniper is the physical branch of Sharpshooter, a powerful ranged DPS class that uses Agility as their main stat.
Being the longest ranged DPS class in the game, Sniper can safely DPS far away and face very little threat from enemy's close range attacks. While being very stationary when DPSing, Sniper has sufficient evades to stay safe and reposition.
Unlike most classes which rely on multiple skills and different (or set) skill rotations, Sniper essentially does not have cooldowns on core skills. Sniper uses wind arrows as their resource, which allows them to fire powerful Wind Shaft. Sniper gameplay is all about properly micromanaging wind arrows and skill cooldowns to achieve the maximum DPS potential.
Sniper is currently strong among DPS classes. As an Agility class, Sniper requires less funding to reach a good amount of DPS compare to Strength and Intellect classes.
Sniper shines especially in long continuous battles. In nests Sniper has difficulty reaching their full potential, however in raids Sniper can truly show what they are capable of.
Skill Information
General Skill Build
This is a skill build I recommend. It has everything a Sniper needs in all kinds of contents.
https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0-00-----0--0
Check out Alternative Skill Builds section for other viable skill builds that may better suit your needs.
Skills
DPS Skills
These skills are used for DPS purpose. Know what they do and how important they are.
Wind Shaft: Fire a giant wind arrows that stops at the first enemy hit and continuously deals damage. This is your main DPS skill and will most likely made up about 50% of your total damage. Activate by using regular Charged Shot and hold down Left Mouse Button while having at least 10 wind arrows.
Siege Stance: Enter Siege Stance, your Left Click, Right Click, Charged Shot, Aerial Chain Shot, and Rain of Arrows are enhanced. Moving or jumping will cancel it immediately. You will spend most of the time in Siege Stance in order to gather wind arrows to fire Wind Shaft.
[Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows: Fire Rain of Arrows quickly in a frontal cone. This is your go-to mob clearing skill and filler DPS skill when firing Wind Shaft is not an option.
[Siege Stance] Charged Shot: Fire two consecutive Charged Shots. This is your go-to filler DPS skill during arrow collection.
Arrow Barrage: Fire 22 arrows. This is your ultimate and it does decent chunk of damage, however it still does less than a single Wind Shaft. Use it when it is off cooldown.
[Instant] Rain of Arrows: Create a "ghost" that shoots Rain of Arrows. This is a skill to use when you are doing mechanics that disable you from shooting, however it does mediocre amount of damage. Activate by using Rain of Arrows after Fake Shot.
Hawk Ballista: Warden's ultimate, summons a hawk spirit which explodes. This does less than Arrow Barrage, however it is AoE so in situations that requires AoE nuke this is your best friend.
Piercing Shot: Shoot a piercing arrow and causes enemies to bleed for 60 seconds. A low effort and low reward DPS skill. The damage is very bad for its cast time, thus it is optional.
Charged Shot: No longer useful. Use [Siege Stance] Charged Shot instead.
Rain of Arrows: No longer useful. Use [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows instead.
Aerial Chain Shot: No longer useful. It is mostly used as an evade and sometimes to apply its debuff.
Buff/Debuff Skills
These skills are used to buff yourself or debuff enemies. Know their cooldowns and duration.
Walking Target: (Debuff) 20% damage amplification on enemies for 60 seconds. Your most important debuff to keep track of, and should always keep this debuff on enemies. Low cooldown and very long duration. Refresh it regularly but not too frequently. Learn when enemies cleanse debuffs and reapply it immediately.
Spiritual Focus: (Buff) Increase your Agility and Intellect by 50% for 180 seconds. Your most important buff to keep track of, and should always keep this buff on yourself. Low cooldown and very long duration. Check your buff bar frequently to make sure this buff is on. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and reapply it immediately. Reapply when you cannot DPS enemies.
Fury of the Owl: (Buff) Increase your critical damage by 10% for 300 seconds. Your most important buff to keep track of, and should always keep this buff on yourself and allies. Low cooldown and very long duration. Check your buff bar frequently to make sure this buff is on. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and reapply it immediately. Reapply when you cannot DPS enemies or when teammates need it.
Deathbloom: (Buff) Increase your Final Damage by 50% for 18 seconds. Your very important buff to keep track of, and should always have this buff on when you DPS. With a cooldown plate, this has a 3.6 second downtime. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and time this properly to avoid it being cleansed.
Sylph's Aid: (Buff) Increase your damage by 25% for 22 seconds. Your very important buff during burst window. Its cooldown (45 seconds) is twice as long as its duration, thus it cannot be wasted or else your DPS will suffer. Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and time this properly to avoid it being cleansed.
Camouflage: (Buff) Increase Wind Shaft action speed for 10 seconds. Use this buff before using Wind Shaft to make its animation faster. Cooldown (24 seconds) is decently long. Learn more about the proper usage of this buff in Gameplay section.
Wisdom of the Owl: (Buff) Increase your critical damage by 20% for 15 seconds. Use this buff during Triple Windshot to further amplify your damage. Cooldown (90 seconds) is exactly twice as long as Sylph's Aid, thus you can use this every other Triple Wind Shaft rotation.
Aerial Chain Shot: (Debuff) Lower enemy critical resistance by 20% for 10 seconds. Very low priority skill that does low damage and has a long cast time. For most of the time this debuff is provided by other party members and thus you should not be using it for DPS or debuffing purposes, and should only be using it as an evade.
Evasion Skills
These skills are used to evade from enemy attacks and to reposition yourself. Know their cooldowns and their purposes.
Aerial Chain Shot: Your primary aerial evade. It is the most preferred skill for evading stomps and long lasting ground attacks, while also applying its debuff in the process.
Tumbling Shot: Your secondary aerial evade. If Aerial Chain Shot is on cooldown, use this instead. It can also be used alongside with Aerial Chain Shot (Tumbling Shot first then Aerial Chain Shot) to extend your air time.
Fake Shot: Shoot yourself backwards. Your primary skill to make distance from enemies.
[Siege Stance] Aerial Chain Shot: Shoot yourself backwards slightly. An alternative way of making distance from enemies when you are in Siege Stance.
Sliding Shot: Slide and shoot arrows while providing iframe. When you are locked in a skill animation (especially [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows) use this to quickly break the animation and iframe incoming attack. Activate by using Spacebar during any skill.
Kicking Skills
These skills are used to kick objects.
Spin Kick: Your Right Click. Primary kicking force.
Twin Shot: A low cooldown spammable kicking skill.
Alternative Skill Builds
Skeletal Build: https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0--0--------0
This build provides all the must-haves for Sniper, with 33 SP leftover to customize.
Build 1: https://dnskillsim.herokuapp.com/na/...-0-00--------0
Sacrifices Piercing Shot, its awakening, and Class Mastery III. Ankle Shot provides a bit of crowd control in case its needed, as well as various pushing skills in base tree.
Gameplay
Introduction to Sniper Gameplay
The entire Gameplay section will be very long and may be tedious to read, but I believe that understanding how Sniper is different from other classes fundamentally will help you grasp its unique playstyle, and improve your gameplay as a result. I strongly suggest to take the time and read it if you cannot quite understand why Sniper plays the way they do. Remember, Sniper is a very micromanagement and decision-making oriented class. Understanding it will allow you manage better and make decisions easier.
For most classes, DPS skills are the focus of their gameplays. You will be focusing on managing cooldowns of important skills, and how to chain skills together to make the best use out of them.
What's different about Sniper is that, with Siege awakenings, you essentially have no cooldown on any important skills (you can reduce cooldowns with each arrow hit). Thus it becomes a game of decision making: all skills are available to use all the time, what should I do? Wind Shaft does by far the highest damage out of all skills, but it requires 10 arrows to use. How do I balance between spamming no cooldown skills and using Wind Shaft?
Hopefully with this guide I can give you a clear idea of how Sniper works.
Two Viable Playstyles: RoA and Wind Shaft
There are two viable playstyles: RoA and Wind Shaft.
RoA Sniper is certainly closer to other "traditional" classes. There is a very simple skill rotation to use and it is your main DPS. Your skill rotation focuses on using [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows, and then resetting its cooldown to allow the rotation to start again immediately. This is the beginner friendly playstyle and can be learned very easily. However, it has flaws (such as forcing you to point blank, animation lock, etc) and limits Sniper to perform to maximum. Most Snipers consider this as the "inferior" playstyle, but it is a must-know playstyle since it performs much better in short contents.
Wind Shaft Sniper is the playstyle that gives Sniper the signature micromanagement and decision-making feeling. It focuses on collecting arrows and firing Wind Shaft after collecting the required amount. The basic can be learned quite easily, however to master it is rather difficult. This is considered the "superior" playstyle and can output higher DPS than RoA Sniper. However, the main flaw of Wind Shaft Sniper is that it requires continuous battle to shine, and thus is not suitable for short contents (since enemies die too quickly to collect enough arrows).
RoA Sniper
Introduction
RoA Sniper focuses on using [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows as your main DPS skill, and then resetting its cooldown afterwards.
Since it does not require a specific setup and your DPS is separated into small segments, this is the primary playstyle in a lot of situation, despite it considered to be worse:
- In contents less than 10 minutes. Wind Shaft Sniper requires continuous battle, however in contents less than 10 minutes, bosses die too quickly to go into invincible mechanics, rendering Wind Shaft Sniper unable to obtain arrows.
- In dungeons. Sniper doesn't need the single target DPS provided by Wind Shaft, instead wants AoE of RoA to clear out mobs.
- In raids to kill mini bosses (most commonly IDN Kodiak Grizzlies). Sniper wants to preserve arrows to DPS the main boss, thus in situation where you need to kill side enemies, it is good to use resourceless RoA Sniper playstyle.
How It Works
[Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows shoots arrows at a forward low angle, with a fast (about 2-3 seconds) animation. In comparison, regular Rain of Arrows shoots arrows upwards and lands far away (which requires Sniper to be at a set distance away from target), and it also has a long animation to finish shooting all arrows.
[Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows does not have the indirect landing penalty. Regular Rain of Arrows only does full damage if enemies are hit by arrows landing. It does very little damage if hit by arrows in flight. However, [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows does not have this penalty, which means you can be at any distance and all arrows will do full damage.
Siege Stance per hit reduces Rain of Arrows cooldown by 1 second. If you point blank and right click (shoots 10 mini arrows), it will reduces Rain of Arrows cooldown by 10 seconds immediately. Which means with two point blank right clicks, Rain of Arrows cooldown is reset and can be used again.
Strategy
Position yourself point blank in order to hit all 10 mini arrows to reset Rain of Arrows cooldown. Reposition constantly to keep yourself point blank to the boss.
Since this rotation can be started any time, use your buffs (Deathbloom and Sylph's Aid) whenever they are off cooldown to maximize DPS.
During Sylph's Aid duration, if you have 15/20 arrows, perform Double/Triple Wind Shaft (see Wind Shaft Sniper section for Triple Wind Shaft). If Arrow Barrage is off cooldown, fit it into Sylph's Aid duration as well.
Battle Flow
- Core Skill Rotation: RoA
- Repeat until Sylph's Aid is off cooldown
- Sylph's Aid
- If you have 15/20 arrows, perform Double/Triple Wind Shaft
- If not, continue to repeat Core Skill Rotation: RoA
- Repeat
Core Skill Rotation: RoA
- [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance right click x2
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot
Afterwards, Rain of Arrows cooldown has been reset and the whole rotation can be used again
Wind Shaft Sniper
Introduction
Wind Shaft Sniper focuses on collecting arrows and firing Wind Shaft as your main DPS.
This is the primary playstyle for long continuous battles (raids). This is the playstyle that is difficult to master and can let Sniper reach their true potential.
Since you can reset Charged Shot cooldown easily, Wind Shaft is only limited by how fast you can obtain arrows. Activities (for example usage of filler skills) that slows down arrow collection, reduces how many Wind Shaft you can fire and ultimately reduces your DPS. However, [Siege Stance] Charged Shot has a really fast animation and generates 1 arrow, thus correct usage of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot will provide a bit of extra DPS and not slow down arrow collection.
How It Works
A full 16 hits Wind Shaft does 24400%, significantly out damage other skills. With proper prediction and boss movement knowledge, you can reliably land full hits Wind Shafts.
Siege Stance now has a really fast action speed, and can be further amplified by Harmonize or Shard of Will. This makes Siege Stance left clicking the fastest way of collecting arrows.
Since you are getting arrows at a set rate, it is important to spend arrows (by firing Wind Shaft) with as many steroids as possible. Triple Wind Shaft allows Sniper to fire three Wind Shafts in a short amount of time and utilize important buffs (Deathbloom and Sylph's Aid).
Strategy
Position yourself mid range. Learn enemies' attacks and find the best position to use Siege Stance without getting interrupted frequently.
Siege Stance and left click as much as possible. Avoid using filler skills that slow down your arrow collection. Remember Wind Shaft does 24400%, and other filler skills are jokes compare to that. Time wasted on using filler skills, delays getting 10 arrows for Wind Shaft, and ultimately lowers your DPS.
Pay attention to your arrow count and Sylph's Aid cooldown. When Sylph's Aid comes off cooldown, you want to have 20 arrows, Deathbloom and Camouflage off cooldown, to allow you to perform Triple Wind Shaft.
Thus, when Sylph's Aid is still on cooldown for a while, your goal is to collect 10 arrows and Wind Shaft as frequent as possible. However, as Sylph's Aid is getting closer to coming off cooldown, stop spending arrows and instead focus on getting 20 arrows in preparation for Triple Wind Shaft.
Battle Flow
When Sylph's Aid is far from coming off cooldown:
- Arrow Collection
- Wind Shaft when you have 10 arrows
When Sylph's Aid is about to come off cooldown (less than 10 seconds left)
- Arrow Collection
- Do not Wind Shaft
When Sylph's Aid is off cooldown
- Core Skill Rotation: Triple Wind Shaft
- Arrow Barrage if it is off cooldown
Core Skill Rotation: Triple Wind Shaft
To perform Triple Wind Shaft, you need: 20 arrows, Shard of Will, Deathbloom/Sylph's Aid/Camouflage all off cooldown
- Sylph's Aid
- Deathbloom
- Camouflage
- Wisdom of the Owl (if it's off cooldown)
- Wind Shaft
- Siege Stance left click x3
- Wind Shaft
- Siege Stance left click until you have 10 arrows
- Wind Shaft
Arrow Collection
Arrow collection is a very complicated process and involves a lot of quick decision making.
For beginners, you can skip this part and use the easiest way of arrow collection: simply hold left click in Siege Stance until you get desired amount of arrows.
For advanced arrow collection, here is the idea: since Siege Stance does a low amount of damage, simply left clicking does very little DPS, and causes Sniper DPS to drop significantly during arrow collection. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot has a very fast cast time and also generates 1 arrow, thus it can be used as a substitution for one left click.
However, the difficulty lies in that by using [Siege Stance] Charged Shot, it ends Siege Stance and also puts Charged Shot on cooldown. If used improperly, it can slow down you arrow collect, because Siege Stance is still on cooldown, or cause you unable to Wind Shaft due to Charged Shot on cooldown.
Here is an example of using [Siege Stance] Charged Shot during arrow collection:
Currently 0 arrows, aiming to collect 10 arrows
Method 1 (correct):
- [Instant] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance left click x3 (3 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (4 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x6
Method 2 (incorrect):
- [Instant] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance left click x3 (3 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (4 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x3 (7 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (8 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x2 (10 arrows)
Although we reach our goal of collecting 10 arrows, due to using [Siege Stance] Charged Shot too close to finishing arrow collection, Charged Shot still has about 5 seconds of cooldown, rendering unable to Wind Shaft.
Method 3 (correct):
- [Instant] Rain of Arrows
- Siege Stance left click x3 (3 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (4 arrows)
- Siege Stance left click x4 (8 arrows)
- [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (9 arrows)
- Siege Stance right click (10 arrows)
Notice how method 3 is different from method 2. By using a Siege Stance right click to finish collecting the last arrow, we also reset Charged Shot cooldown and allow us to Wind Shaft immediately
Video of Both Playstyles
Here is a video demonstrating skill rotation of both Wind Shaft and RoA playstyles.
This video was recorded before Wisdom of the Owl changes. Refer to Triple Wind Shaft section.
How to Maximize Sylph's Aid DPS
Sylph's Aid is the second most important DPS steroid Sniper has, only behind Deathbloom. However, unlike Deathbloom which has a near permanent uptime, Sylph's Aid only has a 50% uptime and a long 45 seconds cooldown. In a perfect world, to maximize Sylph's Aid DPS is very simple: Triple Wind Shaft provides the maximum DPS within its duration. However, there are many situations that it is not possible, and the two most deciding factors is 1) not having 20 arrows, and 2) enemy is about to become invincible. It takes a lot of experience to know exactly what to do in each situation, and here I will explain my thought process.
Always have 10 arrows
... before Sylph's Aid comes off cooldown. There is a 23 seconds downtime in between, you should always look to gather at least 10 arrows. Not having 10 arrows causes you to unable to Wind Shaft, and thus having to delay it.
If boss is doing an invincible mech, you should always spam [Siege Stance] Charged Shot, [Siege Stance] Aerial Chain Shot, and [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows to generate arrows.
Try to avoid mechs during Sylph's Aid
A lot of mechs cause the boss to become invincible, and thus wasting some duration of Sylph's Aid. Learn the battle flow of each boss and decide when is the best time for it, in order to get uninterrupted Triple Wind Shaft. This takes a lot of experience and knowledge of the nest.
When boss is about to do a long invincible mech
Always use Sylph's Aid. By the end of a long invincible mech (>30 seconds), your Sylph's Aid will come off cooldown again, and there is no point in saving it. Depending on how much time you have before boss starts this mech, here are what you should do during Sylph's Aid:
- Only a few seconds: simply spam RoA Rotation
- 5 to 10 seconds: enough to shoot 1 Wind Shaft, then use rest of the time spamming RoA Rotation. Notice in this situation you only need 10 arrows. If you foresee this coming during arrow collection phase, you can forgo left clicking for faster arrows and instead do RoA Rotation, giving up some arrows (as long as you still have 10 by the time Sylph's Aid is up) while doing some good damage.
- 10 to 15 seconds: enough to do 2 Wind Shaft. Instead of the usual Triple Wind Shaft Rotation, right click once after the first Wind Shaft to reset Charged Shot cooldown and Wind Shaft again immediately. Then use rest of the time spamming RoA Rotation. You must have at least 17 arrows for this, so if you foresee this coming, you should focus on getting arrows in advance and do not have the luxury of previous situation.
- 15 to 20 seconds: this is the awkward one, where it is very long, but not long enough to pull off full Triple Wind Shaft. In this situation, you have a lot more freedom. If you choose to start it with 10 arrows, you can do Wind Shaft into a few RoA Rotations and Wind Shaft again, thus allowing the previous arrow collection phase to be the slower RoA Rotation instead of left clicking. If you start with 16 arrows or more, you can do the same as previous situation, and then add in Arrow Barrage or a few more RoA Rotations afterwards.
A common situation of applying this is free teammates mech of RuDN 2nd Boss. Depending on how fast you get to safe zone, by taking a quite look at countdown timer (and also how fast his bar is dropping) you can quickly decide what to do during Sylph's Aid.
When boss is about to do a short invincible mech
If you use Sylph's Aid now, by the end of it you won't have Sylph's Aid back up, and can potentially hurt your future DPS. This is where your own judgment comes in: is using Sylph's Aid now and getting off partial DPS, worth the sacrifice of delaying next Sylph's Aid? The answer heavily depends on how much damage you can do with this short amount of time, and how important the next Sylph's Aid is.
If there is only a few seconds left and the next opening is great for Sylph's Aid, then surely, saving it and focus on arrow collection in order to perform Triple Wind Shaft in the next opening, is the right call.
However, not all situations are easy to decide as that. The best way to do this is through tons of practice and gather experience, as the right answer varies from nest to nest, from team to team.
Tips & Tricks
1) Point blank Siege Stance right click once to quickly reset Charged Shot cooldown. This is especially useful when you mess up arrow collection: having enough arrows to Wind Shaft, however due to improper usage of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot and have Charged Shot on cooldown.
2) Walking Target whenever the debuff is about to wear off/cleansed by enemy. Keeping the debuff on is your number one priority, so learn how to time its duration and learn when enemies cleanse debuffs.
3) Piercing Shot whenever you use Sylph's Aid, but do not use it again without Sylph's Aid. The bleeding damage uses your physical damage when it is applied, thus you should only use Piercing Shot when you have highest physical damage (by having Sylph's Aid on)
4) Learn when enemies cleanse your buffs and avoid Sylph's Aid and Deathbloom being cleansed and wasted. Sylph's Aid and Deathbloom are your most important steroids and losing them is very punishing.
5) [Instant] Rain of Arrows at the start of arrow collection. It does a nice amount of damage and does not interrupt your arrow collection.
6) If you know there aren't enough time for a full Triple Wind Shaft, reset Charged Shot cooldown immediately after first Wind Shaft and Wind Shaft again to salvage as much Sylph's Aid damage as you can
7) In Garden of Eternity, while waiting for party members to be ready, use [Siege Stance] Charged Shot, [Siege Stance] Aerial Chain Shot, and [Siege Stance] Rain of Arrows to generate arrows. This is the only way to generate arrows without a target present. Try to have 20 arrows before entering to initial battle with Triple Wind Shaft immediate available. You should also do this during looting of previous run.
8) Always find ways to collect arrows. Siege Stance and attack other objects (for example, pillars in TKN) to collect arrows, if enemies aren't attackable.
9) If there is a tank, stay away. Sniper has superior range compare to other classes, and if there is a tank holding enemies aggro, then staying away from the tank will likely put you away from most attacks.
10) Likewise, if there isn't a tank, try to put Deathbloom on a good position and stay away from Deathbloom after it establishes aggro with enemies. Deathbloom acts very similarly to an unmovable tank.
11) In Siege Stance, switching from left clicking to right clicking (or vice versa) will have a delay. Rather than switching, use Siege Stance again to avoid this delay.
Gearing
Skill Crests
Essential:
Lucky Shot Critical Damage
Deathbloom Cooldown
Charged Shot Action Speed
Rain of Arrows Damage
Optional:
Arrow Barrage Damage
Techniques and Skill-up Crest
Wind Shaft Sniper:
Charged Shot +2: Must have. Wind Shaft makes up around 60% of your total damage. Skill-up Crest + [ Costume Weapon or 90/93 Technique Earrings ].
Rain of Arrows +1: Recommended. A decent chunk (around 10-15%) of your total damage. 90 Technique Necklace or 93 Technique Ring.
Siege Stance +1: Optional. A decent chunk (around 6-10%) of your total damage. 90 Technique Earrings or 93 Technique Ring.
RoA Sniper:
Charged Shot +2: Must have. Wind Shaft makes up around 45% of your total damage. Skill-up Crest +[ Costume Weapon or 90/93 Technique Earrings ].
Rain of Arrows +1: Must have. Rain of Arrows makes up around 25% of your total damage. 90 Technique Necklace or 93 Technique Ring.
Siege Stance +1: Optional. A decent chunk (around 6-10%) of your total damage. 90 Technique Earrings or 93 Technique Ring.
Stats Overview
High Priority:
Final Damage: The best and most expensive stat. It is a multiplier and it resists diminishing return.
Elemental Attack: Very affordable multiplier. Sniper should always elemental convert and get the benefit from party buffs and debuffs.
Crit Damage: Increases your damage when critical strike.
Physical Damage: Your offensive benchmark. Sniper is a physical class and this is the first thing to judge.
Agility: Sniper's main stats, and 1 Agility converts to 0.75 Physical Damage. The best way to increase your Physical Damage.
Medium Priority:
HP: Your defensive benchmark. There are HP requirements for different contents, and you should aim for those.
Vitality: Increases HP indirectly.
Defense: Resistance against enemies physical attacks.
Magic Defense: Resistance against enemies magic attacks.
Low Priority:
Strength: 1 Strength converts to 0.25 Physical Damage and 1.75 Crit Damage. Very inefficient way of increasing Physical Damage and Crit Damage.
Lowest Priority:
Crit: Chance to critical strike. As an Agility class, maxing Crit is very easy and should not be a concern (however Crit capped is your highest priority if you are not maxed yet).
Intellect: 1 Intellect converts to 0.25 Magic Damage, 1.75 Crit Damage, and 0.8 Magic Defense. Very inefficient way of increasing Crit Damage.
Magic Damage: Completely useless. Sniper is a physical class.
Items Overview
Note:
Items within the same bracket are relatively close in terms of power.
All the power rankings of items are estimations.
Gearing is very complicated and a lot of times the strength of an item is also related to your other gears. I strongly suggest only take this as a guideline, and do your own research (gear simulator) as you gear.
Weapons:
RuDNL > [ Hero's Medea (+20), IDNL (+10 or higher) ] > RuDNU (+12/13) > IDNL (9 or lower)
Armors:
From best damage output to worst:
RuDNL > IDNL > Hero's Medea > RuDNU
From best defensive ability to worst:
RuDNL > Hero's Medea > RuDNU > IDNL
Necklace:
RuDNL > 90 Technique Necklace (Rain of Arrows, high Agility) > IDNL
Earrings:
RuDNL > IDNL > Technique Earrings (Siege Stance/Charged Shot, Vitality/Fire/Ice or high Agility)
Rings:
RuDNL > IDNL > Technique Ring (Deathbloom/Siege Stance/Rain of Arrows, Physical Damage/Light/Dark)
Gems:
Windswept with Vitality
Seal gem: medium-low priority
Crests:
8 Must Haves: Destructive, Windswept, Ultimate, Offensive, Life-giving, Health, Sturdy, Adorned
Optionals for expansion: Brutal with Agility, Focus, Limit, Arrow Barrage Damage
Talisman:
Without expansion:
200%: Ultimate, Windswept
175%: Destructive, Brutal
125%: Life-giving, Health
100%: Sturdy, Adorned
With expansion:
200%: Ultimate, Destructive, Windswept
175%: Elemental, Wise, Brutal
125%: Life-giving, Health, Sturdy
100%: Adorned, Limit
Calculations and Misc Information
This section is for those whose like technical details. If you are not so into maths and what not, then feel free to skip this part.
Skills
Piercing Shot awakening:
Piercing Shot awakening causes enemy to bleed for 60 seconds, deals 800% of your Physical Damage every 2 seconds.
This looks amazing on paper, however the bleeding does not apply Final Damage, Elemental Attack, Crit (and thus no Critical Damage nor Lucky Shot), or any debuffs.
Due to Piercing Shot'sreally bad cast time and its mediocre bleeding damage, it is not a good DPS skill to use. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot has a similar cast time and is almost always available on demand, thus we will compare it to Piercing Shot awakening.
Piercing Shot awakening:
Since bleed takes your Physical Damage at the time of casting, it is best to use Piercing Shot during Sylph's Aid. Sylph's Aid has a 45 seconds cooldown, thus each cast of Piercing Shot bleeds for 45 seconds:
45 x 800% / 2 = 18000%
[Siege Stance] Charged Shot:
At level 21, Charged Shot does 1306%. EX gives 30% bonus damage. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot shoots twice:
1306% x 130% x 2 = 3396%
The next part of calculation will depend on your stats. In this case we will base on stats that are very easy to achieve:
- Crit: 89%
- Critical Damage: 210%
- Elemental Attack: 20%
- Final Damage: 0%
Crit multiplier (including Crit, Critical Damage, Fury of the Owl, and Lucky Shot) = 11% + 89% x (210% + 10%) x (50% + 50% x 95%) = 299.8%
Elemental multiplier = 120%
Final Damage multiplier (including Deathbloom) = 150%
Damage Amp Debuff multiplier (including Walking Target) = 120%
Now calculate the total damage:
3396% x 299.8% x 120% x 150% x 120% = 21989%
Which is means, one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot does more damage than Piercing Shot's bleeding over next 45 seconds.
The stats we choose is also very easy to achieve. As your stats get higher, [Siege Stance] Charged Shot will be even further ahead. This also does not include any party buffs (ice stack, elemental debuff, curse).
In conclusion, Piercing Shot awakening simply does too little damage to be worth using.
Class Mastery III:
CM3 also suffers the same problem: Piercing Shot has really bad cast time. [Siege Stance] Charged Shot will also be used as comparison.
CM3:
Piercing Shot at level 16 does 218%, CM3 increases it by 300%:
218% x 400% = 872%
Small Wind Shaft does 10% of regular Wind Shaft:
1306% x 130% x 90% x 16 x 10% = 2444%
In total, CM3 does:
872% + 2444% = 3316%
[Siege Stance] Charged Shot:
As calculated above, does 3396%
Thus one cast of CM3 does roughly same damage as one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot. However, CM3 also applies Piercing Shot's bleeding, which we calculated above to be a bit less than one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot. Altogether CM3 does roughly twice the damage of one cast of [Siege Stance] Charged Shot (= 6792%).
However, CM3 costs 1 arrow to use, while [Siege Stance] Charged Shot gives 1 arrow, which is a net difference of 2 arrows. Each arrow contributes 1/10th of a Wind Shaft:
1306% x 130% x 90% x 16 / 10 = 2444%
Consuming 1 arrow effectively reduces 2444% (as it will be used in future to contribute 1/10th of a Wind Shaft), CM3 only does 6792% - 2444% = 4348%.
On the other hand, [Siege Stance] Charged Shot does 3396% + 2444% = 5840%
In conclusion, CM3 is not worth using as well. Since both awakening and CM3 are bad, it is perfectly fine to not take Piercing Shot at all.
Stats
Agility vs Physical Damage:
Two very common options in 3rd stats (crests and talismans).
This highly depends on how much agi% you have (but does not depend on how many phys% you have).
Currently a very common set-up has the following:
- 7x Wind gems = 28%
- Wind plate = 10%
- Epic costume = 8%
- 4 set Hero costume accesories = 6%
- 2x Genesis Rings = 10%
for a total of 62%.
Sniper has a 0.75 conversion ratio from Agility to Physical Damage, as well as 50% Agility boost from Spiritual Focus. Thus 1 raw Agility converts to:
162% x 150% x 0.75 = 1.8225 raw Physical Damage
Old plates and talismans (93 and below) heavily favors Agility over Physical Damage:
93 plate, 3rd stat agi = 499 Agility = 499 x 1.8225 = 909 Physical Damage > 3rd stat phys = 624 Physical Damage
93 talisman, 3rd stat agi = 667 Agility = 667 x 1.8225 = 1215 Physical Damage > 3rd stat phys = 734 Physical Damage
However, on level 95 plates, Physical Damage is better than Agility:
95 plate, 3rd stat high agi = 1039 Agility = 1039 x 1.8225 = 1893 Physical Damage < 3rd stat high phys = 2719 Physical Damage
The same trend applies for expedition plates as well as future talismans.
In future, 95 dragon gems will no longer have agi%, thus giving Physical Damage even more advantage over Agility.
In conclusion, gearing in 95 cap it is advised to get 3rd stat Physical Damage over Agility.
(Note: of course, if possible, 3rd stat Final Damage and Critical Damage are much better options)
Critical Damage Scaling:
Due to Lucky Shot, Sniper has slightly better Critical Damage scaling than most classes:
From 200% to 300% Critical Damage, regular classes gain 47.1% DPS
From 200% to 300% Critical Damage, Sniper gains 48.0% DPS
Although it is a very small gain, it makes Critical Damage a bit more valuable on Sniper than other classes. With much easier access to Critical Damage in 95 cap (plates, talismans, gems, etc), Critical Damage is the 2nd most important stat to increase.
In general, 2.5% increase in Critical Damage is equivalent to 1% increase in Physical Damage. This is very useful when deciding 3rd stat Critical Damage vs Physical Damage/Agility.
Final Damage Scaling:
Due to Deathbloom, Sniper has worse Final Damage scaling than most classes:
From 0% to 100% Final Damage, regular classes gain 100% DPS
From 0% to 100% Final Damage, Sniper gains 66.7% DPS
This means that:
- Sniper can perform very well with next to no Final Damage. Combining with the fact that Sniper is an Agility class with Critical Damage steroids, Sniper is one of the few classes that with minimal gearing can output much higher DPS than other classes with the same minimal gearing.
- Many Final Damage gearing options are simply not good on Sniper. Many of these options trade flat damage (Agility, Physical Damage) in favor of multiplier (Final Damage). In the cast of Sniper which has inherent 50% Final Damage, many of these trade-offs are not good. For example, for many classes 7-set lgrades is easily surpassed by 5-set lgrades + 2-set ultimate theano, while for Sniper 7-set is simply better unless in extreme cases.
- This does not mean that forgoing all Final Damage is acceptable. While gearing, Sniper should still get all "easy to obtain" sources of Final Damage, and only giving up Final Damage options that will cost you high amount of Physical Damage. In end game gearing, Final Damage still outshines all other stats, despite Sniper having worse Final Damage scaling.
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