Albion Online Hunter Weapons Guide

Albion Online Hunter Weapons Guide by Elenol

Hunters

  • Bow Fighter
  • Spear Fighter
  • Nature Staff Fighter
  • Dagger Fighter
  • Quarterstaff Fighter

Bow Fighter

Bows emphasize mobile ranged combat (kiting).

Q

  • Multishot – cone attack; moderate damage; instant
  • Deadly Shot – good damage; cast time
  • Poisoned Arrow – moderate DoT; instant

W

  • Explosive Arrows – add AoE damage to next 5 auto attacks; instant
  • Frost Shot – jump backwards; slow nearby enemies; instant
  • Speed Shot – light damage; add movespeed; instant

Passives:

  • Slow Poison – proc small slow on each auto attack
  • Energetic – proc small energy restore on each auto attack
  • Aggressive Rush – proc damage boost every 4 auto attacks
  • Attack Speed – proc attack speed boost every 6 auto attacks

E

  • Bow (2h) – next 15 auto attacks build damage & attackspeed; instant
  • Warbow (2h) – heavy damage; skillshot; instant
  • Longbow (2h) – heavy AoE damage; channeling
  • Whispering Bow* (2h) – increase attack range & attack damage for 8s; instant
  • Wailing Bow* (2h) – heavy damage line attack; skillshot; instant

Armor

All bows can benefit greatly from Ambush (assassin). The usual leather options can be great for solo and small group play as well. When part of a group, however, cloth armors can be used in some cases. A Longbow or Wailing Bow in cloth armor can be a game changer for heavy AoE damage. But your team must find a way to keep you safe.

Boots

Warbows prefer kiting above all else. Look at Dodge (assassin), Blink (cleric) or Delayed Teleport (mage) for some solid options. The Bow is the one possible exception to bow builds in general. With a skill like Giant (guardian), Bows can often go toe to toe with almost anyone using their potent E ability.

Helmet

Poison (mage) is a solid option for almost anyone and that includes bow users — especially the kiting Warbows. Cleanse could help a kiter remove cc. A brawling Bow might consider Retaliate (hunter) to help defeat other strong brawlers. In a group fight, Meditation (assassin) can help recharge potent abilities faster. Force Field and Howl are other options under the cloth and leather trees.

Summary

If you take away a little range and damage potential from crossbows and add more mobility and kiting potential, you have your typical bow.

So there are 3 different styles for your bows:

  • Warbow for solo and small group kiting
  • Bow & Whispering Bow for solo & small group sustain damage
  • Longbow & Whispering Bow for zerg fighting

Longbow is the most sedentary bow and is amazing for PvE and difficult to use for PvP. It requires a strong team and good positioning and timing.

The rest of the bows to varying degrees thrive on dealing damage on the move (none more than the Warbow). The Slow Poison passive in combination with a W skill of Frost Shot or Speed shot in combination with mobile boots can make it very difficult for enemies to close on a strong Bow Fighter. This is especially brutal for Warbow users who have a strong skill shot to use while on the run.

Bow and Whispering Bow have some of the strongest single target sustain damage potential if built around their E skills.

A Greathammer is a good example of a counter to most bow builds. It has innate gap closers and a strong slow to mitigate the kiting.

A strong kiting bow user can be a good counter to most Axe and Dagger builds, which tend to reign supreme in brawls, but can struggle with good kiting.

Spear Fighter

Spears rely on potent auto attacks and long reach attacks.

Q

  • Lunging Strike – decent damage; line attack; increase auto attack damage; slows enemies
  • Spirit Spear – no damage; self buff; increase attack reach; increase auto attack damage

W

  • Forest of Spears – cone attack; good damage; channeling
  • Inner Focus – self channel buff; raises move speed, damage, cc duration for 5s
  • Cripple – good damage; slows; removes enemy speed buff; can raise movement speed

Passives:

  • Slow Poison – proc slow each auto attack
  • Life Leech – proc heal each auto attack
  • Aggressive Rush – prog damage increase every 4 auto attacks
  • Attack Speed – proc attack speed increase every 6 auto attacks

E

  • Spear (1h) – dash attack; good damage
  • Pike (2h) – good damage; good root
  • Glaive (2h) – variable damage; fling target
  • Heron Spear* (1h) – skill shot; good AoE damage; AoE stun
  • Spirithunter* (2h) – skill shot; moderate damage; pull attack

Armor

If you have a healer, Haste (hunter) synergizes very well with the potent spear auto attacks. If you do not have a healer, the usual solo armor skills should work well enough: Inferno Shield (all leather) and Bloodlust (mercenary), for example. If using an artifact spear, Ambush (assassin) can set up skill shots well.

Boots

Spears are very solid weapons for staying engaged on a target, but their raw power can lag behind some other weapons. Giant (guardian) and Shield Charge (knight) can help mitigate that weakness. All the mobility options can be useful for kiting melee or staying engaged with ranged (spears are uniquely well suited for both roles simultaneously). Really any boot can work with a spear.

Helmet

I like Retaliate (hunter) and Poison (mage) because they’re simple and once again they help shore up the great spear weakness which is their raw power deficit. There are a lot of helmets that can be used very well though depending on your build and situation.

Summary

You know you are doing spears right if your enemies feel like you’re trolling or cheesing in a fight. Spears do not have the raw power of most other melee weapons, but they do offer some of the most flexibility of any weapon in the game. It is possible to kite a melee and it is difficult for a ranged character to kite a spear user. The key is to play to your opponents’ weaknesses.

Before we go any further, I must emphasize here that anyone learning how to play a spear really should pick up Spirit Spear for their Q ability. Lunging Strike has far more damage potential, but you’re giving up a great deal of what makes a spear so annoying to fight against. Spirit Spear allows you to increase your attack reach and damage as a self buff. You can be running away from a melee while you buff yourself and then turn to fight them. You can get kited by a bow for a few seconds and buff your attacks for when you eventually catch them. It allows you to have nearly the reach of some ranged weapons, which allows you to kite melee. Despite being a ‘weak’ skill, it is the key to making spears so freaking fun.

When fighting against a Spear Fighter, it’s useful to learn what the different weapons look like, because that makes a big difference in the style of your opponent:

  • Spear – aggressive; good for chasing; vulnerable to brawler counterattacks; strong vs ranged; weak vs melee
  • Pike – defensive; good vs melee; weaker vs ranged
  • Glaive – defensive; great vs melee; weaker vs ranged
  • Heron Spear* – defensive; balanced; group fighter
  • Spirithunter* – balanced; great pull attack; group fighter

If you are a competent melee fighter can likely take a Spear, but may struggle vs some other spear weapons. Fortunately, most other spears are easier to run away from.

If you are using ranged, you have a chance of successfully kiting a Pike or Glaive, and those weapons are easier to escape from anyway. The other 3 weapons are terrifying, however.

Nature Staff Healer

Nature is for HoTs and AoE heals.

Q

  • Rejuvenation – HoT; instant
  • Rejuvenating Mushroom – places healing mushroom on ground; cast time

W

  • Poison Thorns – DoT; AoE; instant
  • Revitalize – heal; HoT; cast time
  • Cleanse Heal – HoT; AoE cleanse
  • Protection of Nature – raise resistance and healing received; instant

Passives:

  • Adrenaline Driven Charity – proc heal boost every 4 spells
  • Energetic – proc energy restore every auto attack
  • Calmness – raise resistance every 5 spells
  • Hit & Run – proc movement bonus every 4 spells

E

  • Nature Staff (1h) – AoE heal; cast time
  • Great Nature Staff (2h) – raise resistance; proc heal when attacked
  • Wild Staff (2h) – zone; AoE HoT
  • Druidic Staff* (1h) – delayed heal; instant cast
  • Blight Staff* (2h) – channel HoT; reflect damage

Armor

Everlasting Spirit (cleric) can be useful when part of a good group, but it is fragile. For solo and small groups, Ambush and Bloodlust (assassin and mercenary) can synergize with Natures’ HoTs and DoTs quite well.

Boots

There are no wrong boots. If you can make Invisibility (mercenary) work right, it can synergize with HoTs and DoTs just like other invis skills for solo play. When playing with a group, mobility skills are suggested.

Helmet

Ice Block (cleric) synergizes with HoTs and DoTs. There are quite a lot of good options, however.

Summary

Nature Staves require more predictive healing than the potent reactive healing of Holy Staves.

Your inability to burst heal is the great weakness of nature staves. But if your team learns to work around this glaring weakness, then your team will find that nature staves are awesome.

Lets first take a look at what a Nature Staff can do that a Holy Staff generally cannot.

  • You can load up on HoTs before a tank initiates onto the enemy
  • You can toss resistance buffs on a tank before they can load up on an enemy
  • You can load up HoTs on a teammate before they go into stealth
  • You can cast a lot more heals on the move (fewer cast times)

Now what you cannot do nearly as well.

  • You cannot easily save a target that got burst to low hp

Comparing these two lists, you might think that Nature Staves have a lot more going for them, but it’s actually a lot harder for a group to fight competent enemies with that one glaring weakness coming up time and time again.

Nature Staves thrive in solo play or in group play where your group is better able to dictate the terms of the fight (proactively initiating combat and disengaging). Tanks will never seem so dominant as when playing alongside a competent nature staff healer who loads them up with HoTs and buffs before they dive into the enemy.

Your fragile cloth buddies will never feel so frustrated by your inability to save them when they get caught.

If your enemies don’t have much heal mitigation (commonly from axes, but many weapons including daggers and cursed staves have heal mitigation), Nature Staff is an excellent complement to any Arcane Staff or even another healer with a Holy Staff. Heal mitigation quickly makes stacking support weapons a risky bet, however.

In summary, if your group has a very solid grasp of positioning and timing with engage and disengage, then Nature Staff is really powerful. Holy Staff will feel a lot better with a group that is more reactionary or is less organized.

Dagger Fighter

Daggers are all about burst damage.

Q

  • Sunder Armor – good damage; lower enemy defenses
  • Assassin Spirit – self buff; increase damage, but lowers defense

W

  • Throwing Blades – light damage; good range; buff damage & speed
  • Dash – good dash
  • Forbidden Stab – good damage; reduces enemy healing
  • Infiltration – delayed dash attack; AoE sleep

Passives:

  • Deep Cuts – proc DoT every 4 auto attacks
  • Life Leech – proc heal every auto attack
  • Attack Speed – proc attack speed boost every 6 auto attacks
  • Aggressive Rush – proc damage boost every 4 auto attacks

E

  • Dagger (1h) – massive boost to auto attacks for 5s
  • Dagger Pair (2h) – massive burst damage; small cast time
  • Claws (2h) – massive damage and root
  • Bloodletter* (1h) – dash attack; massive damage
  • Black Hands* (2h) – brief stun; knockback; massive damage

Armor

Daggers have some of the highest damage potential in the game. All leather armors are good choices. If you can get away with it, Berserker (mage) can be a brutal burst of damage at low hp, but it is difficult to pull off.

Boots

Boot selection depends a great deal on your choice of W and your playstyle (defensive or aggressive). Plate boots offer skills like Wanderlust, Shield Charge and Giant that give a lot of raw power so you can take advantage of your damage skills. Mobility options such as Dodge (assassin), Blink (cleric) and Delayed Teleport (mage) allow you to choose your fights, but limit your ability to win them.

Helmet

Dagger playstyles can vary wildly from a competent brawler to a burst assassin who must stall the fight while E skills recharge. Meditation (assassin), Force Field (all cloth), Poison (mage) and even Ice Block (cleric) can all help stall a fight and get the heavy burst skills back. If you’re aiming for a brawler, consider Howl (all leather) or maybe Retaliate (Hunter). As usual, most helmets can be useful if used right.

Summary

Daggers can pack the most damage of any weapon, but they are often susceptible to competent cc and kiting.

Let me start by saying dagger weapons are all about their E skills. Their other skills are fine, but everything about daggers is designed to set up a strong burst via their E. If you are able to use your E to full effect, then you will likely win. If you are unable to get a good E, you will likely lose.

Let’s start with fighting against daggers first. How should we avoid their potent E attacks?

  • Dagger – avoid sustained auto attacks via cc, retreat, invis, ice block, etc
  • Dagger Pair – stall the fight when Q builds up (reset stacks) via cc, retreat, invis, block, etc
  • Claws – almost anything breaks this E including any dash, blink, stun, ambush, ice block, etc
  • Bloodletter* – ice block, block, dodge roll… this is hard to avoid though
  • Black Hands* – I require further testing here.

Furthermore, all daggers are susceptible to Inferno Shield and Reflect skills when using their E in a predictable manner.

So how to use daggers well? Well, unfortunately daggers are difficult to solo until you unlock some skills. So for a beginner guide, we’re gonna treat daggers as powerful brawler weapons that require a cc buddy to help lock an enemy down to set up your brutal E abilities. Go all in on the brawler mentality and follow your tank wherever he goes.

In the distant future, let’s imagine you reach skill 15 in daggers and unlock Assassin Spirit Q. Let’s use a Dagger Pair for illustration. You can build up stacks of Q while chasing or running away from a target (much like our Spirit Spear previously). At max stacks, you can then go for your E attack with an insane burst and go back to stalling the fight. With enough mobility skills slotted, you should be able to flexibly dip in and out of a fight while landing insane bursts of damage every 15 seconds or so.

Quarterstaff Fighter

Quarterstaves utilize a variety of slows, microstuns, knockbacks and gap closers to harrass their opponents.

Q

  • Concussive Blow – moderate damage; brief slow; eventual microstun
  • Cartwheel – dash attack; minor knockback; can increase defenses and movespeed

W

  • Empowered Slam – moderate PBAoE damage
  • Stun Run – increase movespeed; next auto attack procs long stun
  • Heavy Cleave – heavy cone attack; slight cast time
  • Forceful Swing – light damage PBAoE; good knockback; lowers enemy damage

Passives:

  • Stunning Strike – proc microstun every 5 auto attacks
  • Temporary Threat Bonus – increase threat briefly PvE
  • Life Leech – proc heal every auto attack
  • Deadladen Fighting – proc raises cc duration every 4 auto attacks

E

  • Quarterstaff (2h) – light damage; long single target root; knockback all other enemies
  • Iron Clad Staff (2h) – spin for several seconds; knockback nearby enemies; light damage
  • Double Bladed Staff (2h) – dash attack; AoE damage; good slow
  • Black Monk Stave* (2h) – dash attack; pulls all enemies; light damage
  • Soulscythe* (2h) – line attack; good damage; pulls enemies in air; slows

Armor

Quarterstaff Fighters must first decide their role. Knockbacks and microstuns do not benefit from plate armor like a long duration stun would, but quartstaves tend to emphasize front line combat and initatiating, so light armors can be dangerous. Leather Armors with Inferno Shield generally can allow a quarterstaff to thrive as an off tank brawler. Swapping to Plate Armors is often necessary in many group situations, as survivability in leather gets tricky.

Boots

All plate boots and most leather boots do a good job helping a quartstaff fighter stick on their target and stay alive long enough to be a nuisance. Quartstaves are some of the least bursty weapons in the game, so boots that emphasize stalling a fight or hiding are not ideal.

Helmet

Depending on your role, Howl (all leather), Retaliate (hunter), Cleanse (mercenary), Poison (mage) and Block (soldier) can all be used to good effect.

Summary

If hammers and maces offer the most potential tanking abilities, then quarterstaves aren’t far behind at #3.

While quarterstaves can play as the main tank with the right team comp, the weapon group probably generally functions best as a sturdy off tank brawler. It doesn’t offer quite the same long duration, heavy cc skills that maces and hammers can bring to the table. It does have a hefty arsenal of light, mobile cc, knockbacks and microstuns to really irritate the opposing team. While hammers and maces can always benefit from heavier armors (more +cc duration is always useful), quarterstaves cc often do not benefit as much from +cc duration. This means leather armors are a very viable option if you are able to survive. This puts the enemy in an awkward decision point. You’re just enough a threat that you can’t be ignored, but you’re not the highest focus priority.

In this way, quarterstaves in group fights can sometimes feel like axe and sword users. You have to be sturdy enough to take some hits and engage the enemy backlines, but any time you think you can get away with leather armors, you also have real, viable damage output potential.

All in all, quarterstaves are as annoying to fight against as swords. They’re a very balanced weapon group. You can’t load up against a weakness while avoiding a strength like almost any other weapon. They have solid mobility, a myriad of light cc options and generally reasonable enough damage output. While quarterstaves are not at all overpowered, fights do just often end up being raw slug fests where you hope to come out on top trading hits.

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