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Introduction
The Shadow Hunter is the 8th class to be added to Trove and the first to use the new Bow weapon type. It corresponds with the new Radiant Ruins biome which is accessed via Sky Portal in club worlds. The Shadow Hunter is a ranged, physical damage class that is capable of doing VERY high damage from exceptional range while utilizing traps for defense which stun all enemies caught in them for a short duration, making it useful in group events like Shadow Arenas.
Advantages
- Very high burst damage
- Longest range in the game
- Can “wall hack” (Shoot enemies through walls)
- Abilities pierce enemies
- Can stun enemies forever with enough energy regen
Disadvantages
- Difficult to master
- Very vulnerable when out of energy
- Ult is sometimes unreliable
- Relies on passive to do a lot of it’s damage
- Takes time to charge shots
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Role of a Shadow Hunter
The Shadow Hunter gets most of it’s damage from it’s passive’s marks. Because of this, it’s DPS can greatly suffer when enemies don’t have marks on them. When this happens, a Shadow Hunter should just focus on using auto attacks and throwing traps to stun enemies. Whenever an enemy is marked by your passive, you should always hit it with a fully charged shot unless you’re in a bad situation like low energy plus mob aggro.
Shadow Hunter in Solo Play
In Solo Play, the Shadow Hunter can become very vulnerable especially to groups of mobs. Without energy for traps, the Shadow Hunter has no method of survival in combat other than jumping which cancels energy regen. Because you will almost constantly need to be throwing traps if you don’t kill the enemies in your first few shots, you should try to avoid jumping and instead abuse your exceedingly high range to kill mobs before they get to you. When doing lairs/dungeons, you should also try to kill mobs through walls since they have no chance of retaliating. When engaging combat, you should place a trap down where you are standing and then start attacking the mobs, since by the time they get to you, your energy should be full and they would’ve walked onto a trap. When this happens, you should get ready to roll and then immediately throw another trap. This will usually become your bread and butter combo in Solo Play; rolling and throwing traps.
Shadow Hunter in Group Play
In a group, the Shadow Hunter can play a little more aggressive since mob aggro will most of the time be on other players like Candy Barbarians or Dracolytes. You could either focus on dealing damage by spam casting your RMB and auto’s or keep enemies stunned so your teammates can safely dispatch of them. Depending on what you decide to do, a Shadow Hunter should always be placing down traps since that is your only form of defense if mobs start targeting you. Timing your rolls help keep you alive if you get aggro’d, but most of the time it will be your traps that save you and buy you enough time to re-position far enough away from the mobs. Try to save your ult for when mobs are all tightly grouped together, since on impact your ult deals damage to all nearby mobs instead of piercing like your RMB’s attack.
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Breakdown of Skills
[Passive] Dark Whispers: Periodically adds a Shadowmark to a nearby enemy.
A Shadowmark is a symbol over mobs heads which grant you an outline of them through walls as well as making you do MUCH more damage with your Radiant Arrows. Your passive will only mark 1 target at a time and has a delay in between marking so make sure you’re taking advantage of it!
[Active RMB] Radiant Arrow: A piercing shot that is deadly to Shadowmarked enemies
On it’s own, it doesn’t do much more damage than your standard auto attacks, but when it is fully charged can pack a punch, especially against Shadowmarked enemies. It has the same range as your auto attacks and also pierces through enemies so make sure you can line them up to make it as effective as possible! It can also be quick cast by just rapidly pressing the RMB if you don’t feel like charging it up. Another method is casting it in between auto attacks effectively doubling your attack speed until you run out of energy. Fully charging this while your ult is active will make your ult much more effective!
[Active 1] Sun Snare: Throws a blinding trap that triggers on proximity
Similar to the Draco bombs, you throw these little things down and lure mobs onto them. They’ll explode and do some damage, but you will find them more useful because of the stun they provide! Each trap uses about 75% of your energy so make sure you have a lot of energy regen to keep putting traps down. They last 10 seconds so you’ll be able to have quite a few down at once, and with enough energy regen you can keep enemies stunned forever!
[Active 2] Arrow of the Goddess: Shadowmarks all enemies and empowers Radiant Arrow
All enemies around you will receive a Shadowmark, and your next Radiant Arrow will deal increased damage BUT will NOT pierce enemies! Instead, it explodes on the first enemy hit and deals massive damage around that area, so be careful when aiming it! You have about 10 seconds after activating it to shoot a Radiant Arrow, otherwise it will disappear!
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Gearing Up
Because the Shadow Hunter deals physical damage and relies heavily on energy regen, you should build it like a Neon Ninja. A lot of attack speed and Physical damage to keep DPS up especially when you don’t have your ult or out of energy for a Radiant Arrow. High energy regen so you could constantly throw traps and shoot the occasional fully charged Arrow. And for a 4th stat, some jumps, health, or health regen could come in handy to make you less vulnerable to mob’s attacks.
Weapon
- Physical Damage
- Energy Regen
- Health Regen
- Jump/Attack Speed
Face
- Physical Damage
- Health
- Health Regen
- Attack Speed
Hat
- % Max Health
- Max Health
- Health Regen
- Attack Speed
Ring
- Physical Damage
- Energy Regen
I say Jump or Attack Speed for the Weapon because it comes down to preference. I, personally, like having jumps so I would rather have that than more attack speed. But regardless, you should focus on Physical Damage and Energy Regen. If you don’t have the resources to get a set of Shadow Hunter gear, Neon Ninja gear could be a good substitute, until the Shadow Hunter gets their own set.
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Combat Guidelines
Fighting as a Shadow Hunter, you need to understand that you play the role of a sniper. Very long range with very high burst damage, you need to keep distance between you and your target. Before you start a fight, you should always place a trap down where you are standing, then hit them with a fully charged Radiant Arrow. Continue to shoot them until they get stunned by your trap, at which point, you need to get ready to dodge as soon as the stun wears off and immediately throw another trap. You should continue to shoot while backpedaling to give some more distance between you and your target.
Always be ready to roll, and always be ready to throw traps. As a safety precaution, you should always have 1 trap down somewhere at all times and always stay near your traps. Although, fighting like this is an ideal method, it’s not the only method. Keep in mind, you can shoot through walls! Playing it safe and waiting for your passive to mark mobs to be followed up by a Radiant Arrow might be a bit slower, but it ensures your safety since this way, mobs can barely retaliate. I would not recommend fighting mobs while jumping since this halts energy regen which is crucial for the Shadow Hunter to survive. Throwing traps and evading or killing mobs through walls is probably your best bet.. but if you want you could even tower up a few blocks and shoot mobs that way.
Your ult can be very deadly, but it requires a little messing around with to understand how it works. While your standard Radiant Arrows pierce through all mobs, your empowered Radiant Arrow will stop on the first target and then explode. It still deals massive damage and is worth casting but only when you know you’ll make the most out of it.. meaning it hits as many enemies as possible. If you get a lot of aggro, throwing a trap and stunning the mobs will buy you enough time to charge up a Radiant Arrow, but you need to make sure you are always backpedaling. If you have mobs all grouped up, hovering in the air with a few jumps while you charge your ult will help give you a good angle to shoot it from to make it as effective as possible.
Conclusion
Although the Shadow Hunter could be a very strong class and is very fun to play, it comes with it’s downsides and could be hard to master. It will take time to understand the combos and get the timing down, but once you do it will become a very enjoyable class and one with a very unique play style! It’s similar to the Neon Ninja and Ice Sage with the fact that it requires a lot of kiting while also dishing out some damage at the same time. Playing safe and just using your energy to stun lock mobs is an option, but it’s also not your only option! Now,if you haven’t given the Shadow Hunter a go, I highly recommend it especially since you can 1 shot things in Uber 3! Just don’t expect to master the class immediately!
