Hunter Guide

Contributed by Nemori

There are six basic kinds of hunters and specific strategies that apply to each, as well as overall hunter fighting strategies.

Location, Location, Location
First you need to find a good place to fight your hunter. This might be in your clan hall, in a major city, or in a little known place. It is easiest to fight your hunter next to a room that is either safe or nomob so you can flee into it when needed without the bother of your hunter following you and attacking you. Fighting next to recalls isn't generally a good idea as a small percentage of the archon and hero population likes to "steal" people's hunters (attack them when they are at pales visibly or something) and take your token. Avoid fighting in public and watch out for suspicious characters hanging around and watching you fight.

Fighting outside is another option, but if you are in a form the hunter will most likely cast "hands of wind" on you every other chance he gets so this isn't the most effective for form fighting, but is okay for soloing and if you don't mind paying close attention/fleeing a lot without a safe/no-mob room to flee into.

Attack strategy
Due to recent(2006) changes in dispel magic, that spell is no longer useful against most hunters. It used to be standard to cast dispel magic against hunters and that would be the standard first attack was to dispel them first. Now, most hunters can not be dispelled by the spell so it is usually a great reagent waster as if you are lucky enough to cast it successfully it may take so long it is not worth it. You can choose to try a few times depending on your mood though and you might hit it lucky(summoners are easiest to dispel).

First step (after you've decided whether you'll try to dispel or not) is to spell up the hunter. Faerie fire and weaken(including the bard version) are the first spells you want to cast; these will always land. Than you will want to follow up with curse, slow/hinder, and plague. All of these will be difficult to land, depending on the hunter, and so will take multiple casts.

Hunters regenerate very quickly and will heal themselves when they get close to dying. This means a few things; first you will want to use a decently high damaging weapon, and/or if that is not available and you have decent sp try to use a good attack spell (flame wind, enervation, tremor, reflective fireball, ice wind - are just a few suggestions). Second, do not leave him alone for very long. If you need to flee don't leave him there or he'll start regenerating/healing.

Counterspell used to be effective against hunters but with recent changes to counterspell it is not so effective.

Hunters like to employ the dispel/kill tactic, which means by one method they will dispel your sanctuary than cast the kill spell on you which is insta-death. Make sure you always wear your sanc when fighting them and have a multiple line alias ready to go when your sanc is dispelled, if not also some highlighting trigger if that is your thing so that you catch it and don't die to that.

Personally, I flee when I am silenced and will attack/flee to avoid getting any more spells on me as hunters like to cast silence and web a lot, and both at one time is a one-two punch for me. If I am webbed in battle, I devote each round to healing instead of attack spells, and if both I resort to focusing entirely on casting cure light. If you are a bard I suggest you use the actual 'cure light' spell not bard heal as bard heal with music at 100% will not always break through the web filter and cure light at 100% will so you will be glad when you have mastered it.

Hunters now also hang about after they kill you, so if you can get a resurrect within a minute or two you might be able to return and fight your hunter again.

What's your type?
Hunters come in six tasty flavors, and all of them want to know where a torthubian pinnaud is when you need one.

Summoner: These guys summon little elementals to fight with them. They *can* be dispelled with a cast, but chances are still pretty low. They can also be poisoned. So you can try to dispel, then go with the usual order of spells but add poison. You'll want to wait for them to fill up their form first (approximately 9 elementals) than you can employee various strategies. If you are a psionic, you can spook away their elementals. If you can throw, you need to throw a flash bomb at them outside of combat (either calm/throw, or throw before they attack). If you can neither throw nor spook than I suggest you find a 2nd good camping spot that they can't "walk" to and they will rift to you leaving their form behind. Sometimes they'll lose their form and make a whole new one, so employee one of the strategies from above. They can also be webbed and plagued.

Druid: You'll know it's a druid when it starts casting invocations and evocations at you. These can be pretty difficult for many. If you can successfully slow it that will help you but these have decent hp, decent regs, difficult spells (they like to ooze you a lot), and are also really darn good at resisting a lot of your spell-ups/webs/etc. They can be plagued but you'll find it mighty difficult.

Bomber: These throw high damage bombs at you, and lots of flashies to blind you frequently. Don't trust yourself silenced in combat with them because they'll throw a flashy and then you'll be silenced AND blinded. They can not be webbed, and dispel rarely works anymore. Counterspell also appears not to work.

Witch: Witches cast lots of nasty spells like energy orb and extinction that you will want to "wait out" in your safe/no-mob room. Other than that they work similarly to the "normal" hunter type.

Normal: These hunters are usually sneaking and/or hidden. They have no special abilities to them, and can be webbed, plagued, and counterspelled.

Energy-immune: These used to be "immune" to the energy damage of the Archon's favorite Holly Wood Wand, and used to show as "no effect" with your attacks. They have been changed, but are similar to their old counterparts. They don't have fireshield, but only one asterisk (*) for sanctuary and so are easily distinguishable on site from the other types. They are elemental immune so frost/flame wind/ice wind/reflective fireball/ice whip etc will have no affect on them. They can be plagued, and have low hp. A good way to fight them is quickly spell up (they can not be dispelled, or counterspelled) and land plague if you possibly can. If you are a wizard, enervate them. Otherwise use harm or tremor or some non-elemental spell for damage and they will quickly be taken down. If it is a feisty one you can actually plague and enervate them enough that they will lose their sp and you can just pick them off by hitting them and keeping their sp gone.

Ethereal: These do not have names and appear as "someone." You can only 'see' them with sense life. The only way to dispel them is by using a dispelling weapon (i.e., holy wrath flail). You can not cast any spell on them accept area effect spells: ice wind, flame wind, tremor, thunderclap. Be prepared to beat on them a lot, bash, flee, cast area affect spells, or throw HE mixes if you like.

Conclusion
This should have been mentioned earlier, but preparation is key. Have a few decently damaging weapons to pick from(whether you want to hit it with your maxed axe/wand/two-handed axe is up to you, or you can work on your nunchaku). Have some good attack spells ready and practiced. Be prepared for your hunter to follow you around, rift to you, and also (annoyingly) summon you(when not in safe). You should have cure blindness memorized, and possibly cure disease and cure poison. Cure light is also a must when you are either silenced or trying to conserve sp, also handy when slowed. Spell delivery amulets are a nice addition that make casting spells like flame wind work in combat, which if you are a bard and have access to it is a very nice reagentless(though st wasting) attack spell, 2nd only to ice wind if the hunter is shield blocking your flame wind. Most of all, have fun and don't get too pissed off when the hunters slaughter you. You will die to them, and sometimes you will have bad weeks of dying a lot, and they will get sometimes harder and sometimes easier with level. Having a form helps lower your death, depending upon your personal style and how much you enjoy form fighting.

Other tactics I haven't mentioned much here are throwing, mixes, and archery. Archery might be effective from a non-tank position in a form, and HE mixes might be handy for damage. Having calm mixes might help occasionally, and flash bombs are nice for blinding the summoner's elementals (though no hunter can be blinded, sometimes they are unintentionally blinded by flame wind, but casting or throwing will not help you).

What's the word?
Hunters like to use a lot of hot lingo, that will you hear a lot as you are fighting them. Here are some examples to get you started on that hip hunter vernacular.
'Frail, weak Archon...' X, the Archon Hunter says. 'You are unworthy of such stature. Allow me to lower your point of view.'
'Before I was trained at the arts, creatures like you would have frightened me...' X, the Archon Hunter says.
X, the Archon Hunter says, 'Flee, little one, and remember the might of the Ithrix race next time the folly of arrogance sinks into your small mind.'
'You otherworlders are all alike.' X, the Archon Hunter says.
X, the Archon Hunter exclaims, 'I've fought flying grivnerrs tougher than you!'
'My quarrel is not with thee, dog!' X, the Archon Hunter exclaims.
'Where is a torthubian pinnaud when you need one?' X, the Archon Hunter asks.
'I'll be back, [your name here] - in an even more powerful form!' X, the Archon Hunter exclaims.
'Am I to fear your magic [your name here]?' X, the Archon Hunter asks.