Dungeon Defenders Huntress Guide

Dungeon Defenders Huntress Guide by Zeerimu

Background
Trained in reconnaissance, the sleek and slender Huntress deploys deadly traps and explosives, but don’t let her physique perplex you. This elegant she‐devil is trained in ranged weaponry and is sure to always hit her mark. Raining down arrows and ammo from above, the enemy never sees her coming.

Defenses
Gas Trap ‐ When activated, enemies become engulfed in coughing gas, stunning them for the duration.
Proximity Mine Trap ‐ When activated, an explosive blast instantly devastates all nearby enemies.
Inferno Trap ‐ When activated, a blazing cloud of fire surrounds enemies and damages them over time.
Ethereal Spike Trap ‐ When activated, a single enemy is skewered for massive damage.
Darkness Void Trap ‐ When activated, enemies become consumed by darkness, rendering them unable to attack, and making them lose their current target.

Abilities
Piercing Shot ‐ Unleashes an ethereal arrow that penetrates enemy after enemy damaging all in its way.
Invisibility ‐ You become completely invisible to enemies while active.

Weapons: Crossbows
Repeating Fire ‐ The Huntress’s mechanical weapons shoot repeating projectiles at a high rate of fire, though depleting her loaded ammunition.
Reload ‐ The Huntress can reload her weapon’s ammunition clip manually, or whenever her weapon runs out.

Strategy: Solo
While playing alone, the Huntress must be extremely mobile in her efforts to hold off the onslaught. Due to her lack of barricades, her only ways of slowing progression of enemies stem from the Gas Trap and Darkness Void Trap. That being said, placement of these traps is crucial. As a player using the Huntress in a solo campaign, you must be extremely observant regarding chokepoints and areas of enemy convergence. You must also be constantly roaming, repairing your traps and using weapon attacks and character abilities wherever necessary. Due to multiple height levels on each map, the best way to concentrate your resources is to station your character at a high focal point allowing her to shoot in multiple directions with limited movement while positioning yourself to get to traps fast as they are diminished via use. The disable activated by a Gas Trap will work great in combination with Inferno and Ethereal Spike Traps. Proximity Mine Traps will be best allocated in narrow hallways and crossroads of enemy pathing, allowing the damage to hit as most mobs as possible. That all being said, the use of her Invisibility move will make or break your attempts at completing the campaign on your own. This ability will allow you to move with ease around the map, repairing traps as necessary and using weapon attacks to knock out stragglers that your traps fail to eliminate.

Synergy: Co-op
The Huntress will most likely be used in team efforts the majority of the time due to her specific role and abilities. However, to what extent she is used is up to your party. Based on her attacks and traps, she can be used in two possible fashions: a typical constant damage doer, like that of a hunter in WoW or an archer in any hero-based RTS, or an extreme support player in charge of repairing hard to reach towers and placing traps at crucial places throughout the map. Assuming you choose the prior, your focus regarding talent allocation should be in player stats and damage. Her abilities should be used as often as possible (since her use of mana will be limited without placing traps and repairing), and her effectiveness will rely significantly on her weapon and mobility throughout the map. If you decide to go with the latter option, then talent placement should be directed to tower power and hero casting speed (remember, increasing casting speed decreases the time needed to repair – and build – traps, towers, turrets, and auras). Your use of the Invisibility talent will be crucial to your success, for this move will allow you to move through waves of enemies without being seen. It should be noted that YOU CAN REPAIR AND BUILD TOWERS WHILE INVISIBLE. This grants the Huntress the ability to be used where other players cannot, as well as for her to get around and collect mana, armor, and weapons even if the combat phase is still in effect. Regardless of which direction you decide to take your character, you should always be focused on doing something, whether its repairing, shooting, collecting, building, assisting, etc. On certain levels and difficulties, players will be required to fight airborne enemies, making the Huntress extremely vital to a team that may have limited anti-air defenses. Finally, don’t underestimate the value of her Darkness Void Trap, especially on a team. Mobs have a built in aggro system, and this trap will be extremely useful when it comes down to making sure that your defenses stay alive for as long as possible.

Summary
Overall, the Huntress presents an interesting addition to any team while making the solo campaign as exciting and adventuresome as possible. Her ability to support others while doing consistent damage to multiple enemies from a distance and repairing towers under stealth makes her an extremely important part of any party she is involved with. The direction you take her – talent wise – will determine how you as a player complete the missions, but it will not affect her pricelessness regarding team play and success. It will be interesting to see how the community best uses her and to what effectiveness and efficiency.