this guide will give you tips on how to make a good pvp scout. ok, there is no way to make a good pvp scout unless you're actually a good player; but in ESSENCE, this is the build you should have, should you wish to be any good in pvp. right, so... i will cover the stats you need, skills, tactics, etc. if you fail to understand any of this OR wish to argue with me regarding my choices, i or whoever is on my account at the moment shall proceed to randomly own you, should we see you in any pvp areas. why? well to prove my point, obviously. anyway, here it goes.
STATS...
DEX - ah, your primary stat. a scout without dex is like an olympic sprinter without legs. you will obviously be pumping a ton of this whenever you can, and you will pump it more than you pump your own... nevermind.
SEN - always a good stat to have. i find that having a ratio of 2:1 or 2:1.5 dex-sen is a very good combination. why? because criticals are wonderful to have, especially with the skill buildup and tactics that this type of scout shall employ.
STR - a little extra meat is never a bad thing unless you're Roseanne Arnold. you're going to want only enough of this to survive a few hits more from those annoying people who just don't seem to miss. i'd say about 50 base max whenever you feel comfortable with your amount of dex and sen.
CON - despite what some retards might say, scouts do need some con. anywhere from 40-50 base con is enough to hold you past Lv150 assuming you have max Hawker Spirit. this will also prevent you from missing high dodge characters if you have a bow with good hit rate (160-180 hr)
SKILLS...
Bow Mastery - max this asap. you'd be stupid not to, as this is what defines being a scout. max it, Lv20
Combat Mastery - now, i haven't maxed this yet, nor do i plan to anytime soon. Lv12 will suffice so you can max Hawker Spirit
Hawker Spirit - this skill is what determines whether you win or lose against another dex character. max it to Lv10 as soon as you start struggling against such characters.
Speed Shot - not too useful at earlier levels, though i assume it has it's uses in certain situations. this could help while fighting muses when you run out of mp (which happens more often than not). not yet tested, all assumption. keep it at Lv3 for the time being.
Aim Shot - the most important skill to get while you're still a lowly hawker is this one. why? because it's the stepping stone to the grand daddy of all scout skills, Eagle Shot. max it, Lv10.
Trap Shot - a very underrated yet highly useful skill. most scouts don't even give this skill a second glance. max it, Lv10. it'll save your life.
Poison Arrow - another underrated skill. if maxed, it could pose a HUGE threat to classes who are most known for their ability to stay alive for extended periods of time. max it, Lv10.
Triple Shot - not essential until you reach about 150 base sen. i've kept it at Double Shot Lv10 up till now, and i don't plan to get it to Triple Shot Lv20 until after i've maxed Poison Arrow.
Eagle Shot - ah, yes. this skill is what determines the winners from the losers. a medium chance of stun, about the same as a Leap Attack. it deals good damage and is a huge threat to many. use the force, young padawan. max it, Lv10.
the rest of the skills are down to personal preference. these are just the ones essential to being an awesome pvp character.
PVP...
vs Scouts - there are three types of scouts... the Eagle Scout, the Hawk Scout, and the Hybrid. let's go over both.
... Eagle Scout: has Eagle Shot, doesn't have Hawk. this one's a huge threat because he most likely has the same skill arsenal as you do, and it's not going to be easy. it's all dependent on luck and build. just spam skills and hope more of your status effects connect than his/hers.
... Hawk Scout: has Call Hawk, doesn't have Eagle Shot. give him a head start because you feel sorry for him. no way he'll beat you unless he gets real lucky and you fall aslep (irl), or if your gear completely sucks ass compared to his.
... Hybrid Scout: has Eagle Shot and Call Hawk. a little harder than the Hawk Scout but not nearly as hard as the Eagle Scout. why? because the only extra threat is his Eagle Shot. the Hawk should miss every hit on you if you have decent dodge so you could sit and have a cup o' tea while it tries to hit you, so that's not your worry. he'll also have less offensive skills than you do so you'll be spamming much more and doing much more consistent damage.
vs Mages - now this is really hard. there's no real way to win if you're not quick with your reflexes and your mouse. the best way to deal with a mage is to keep him/her on his/her toes. run around, shoot eagle shot every now and then until stun hits. once stun hits, follow up with a Poison Arrow right away then continue spamming skills until either stun wears off or they die, whichever comes first. don't EVER let them near enough to use Staff Stun, or if they have it maxed, Lightning. use Eagle Shot's long range to your advantage and keep them at that range. otherwise, you might as well save your sp and watch them kill you. (Trap Shot helps in this situation as you can considerably slow down their moving speed giving you extra time to run away after shooting an Eagle Shot).
vs Clerics - erm... it's normally impossible to kill a full INT cleric, but i am not normal. once again, use Eagle Shot at a distance until they're stunned, then finish them off. if you run out of mp before they get stunned, you're in for a long fight. it then boils down to if you run out of hp before s/he runs out of mp.
vs DEX Clerics - this ranges from very hard to very easy. very hard if you have bad luck and none of your status effects are taking place. very easy if you get lucky with your status effects. you don't even need stun to work in this fight. Trap Shot and Poison Arrow are your best friends. if Trap Shot succeeds in slowing their aspd down, they'll hardly hurt anymore. DEX Clerics rely on the speed of their attacks to do damage. once you take that away, they'll be restricted to a few pot shots in between heals. when they're at this point, Poison Arrow would do the trick in getting their mp pool down much quicker.
vs Raiders - much harder than DEX Clerics, imo. they're fast and their skills hurt... a LOT. only a few hits would send you packing, and there's no way to run from them because they're as fast or faster than you are. spam skills and hope to land a few status effects right off the bat. your advantage of distance is lost in this fight due to cloak, but right when they decloak, hit them hard and fast. that's your only chance. count on stun and slow, they're essential in this fight.
vs Knights - this could get difficult if it's close-quarters combat. when fighting knights, i like to refrain from randomly spamming skills that would end up doing little damage anyway. wear them down, use high damage skills with fast recast times. what skills are those? poison and triple shot. they're slow so you don't really need to stun them or use trap shot unless you just want to get it over quickly. poison arrow, run around a bit until it wears off, repeat. should do about 1k+ damage per poison arrow. easy win. if you don't wanna be cheap and don't run, you'll die. it's that simple. they'll outlast you, and if they can hit you, you'll die quickly to their stuns.
vs Champs - this is a joke. run around, shoot, ignore space attack since it's recast time is hella slow. hell you don't even have to use skills, just rely on your crits.
i'll add more to this guide when i see fit to do so. until then, i'm too lazy and you should be doing fine anyway. and no matter what anyone says, Hawk is useless at higher lvls. it can't even hit people your lvl when you're around lv100+.
