Build:Hex Hunter

**Hex Hunter** is a Character Build in *Outward*, created by Sk0ooma.

## Full Build Details

Use my "Hex Eye" technique to quietly apply hexes from a long range before detonating in a single massive blast. Hunter's Eye combined w/ any bow will increase the lock on range of Jinx by a significant amount, and by stacking cooldown reduction (CDR) Jinx will become spammable, allowing you to quickly apply many hexes to enemies.
Jinx has a "memory" and will target up to the last TWO enemies it hits, meaning it will alternate back and forth on cast...what this means is that you can target enemy A with a hex, then target enemy B, then disengage and go hide behind something and continue to cast Jinx since it does not need a clear line of sight and both enemy A and B will receive the hexes. Follow up with all of the elemental boons to increase damage then Torment and/or Rupture to utterly obliterate any enemy.

### **Overview**

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   **Toughness:**  ►▰▰        [2/5]

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   **Magic Damage:**  ►▰▰▰▰▰   [5/5]

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   **Physical Damage:**  ►▰▰▰       [3/5]

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   **Movement Speed:**  ►▰▰▰▰▰   [5/5]

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   **Mana Management:**  ►▰▰▰▰     [4/5]

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   **Stamina Management:**   ►▰▰▰▰     [4/5]

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   **Health Management:**  ►▰▰▰▰     [4/5]

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   **Mechanical Intensity:**  ►▰▰▰       [3/5]

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   **Utility:**  ►▰▰         [2/5]

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### **Stats**

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   **Health:**  120

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   **Stamina:**  120

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   **Mana:**  120  (5 points @ Leyline)

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### **Skill Overview**

**Faction**: Logistics Expert, Infuse Mana

**Boons**: Blessed (skill), Cool (skill), Mist (skill), Possessed (skill), Warm (skill)

**Cabal Hermit**: Reveal Soul, Mana Push, Weather Tolerance

**The Speedster**: Efficiency, Probe, Metabolic Purge, Daredevil, Prime, Unerring Read, Blitz

**Kazite Spellblade**: Steady Arm, Fitness

**Philosopher**: Sigil of Fire, Mana Ward

**Rune Sage**: Rune: Dez, Rune: Egoth, Rune: Fal, Rune: Shim

**Warrior Monk**: Brace, Slow Metabolism, Focus

**Wild Hunter**: Enrage, Hunter's Eye, Evasion Shot, Sniper Shot, Survivor's Resilience, Piercing Shot

**Hex Mage**: Torment, Bloodlust, Rupture, Lockwell's Revelation

**Mercenary**: Shatter Bullet, Frost Bullet, Fast Maintenance, Armor Training

**Rogue Engineer**: Backstab, Sweep Kick, Pressure Plate Training, Opportunist Stab

### **Skill Breakdown**

**Hex Mage:**

* ***Important skills:***

**Tier 1:**

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 ***Torment***

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**Tier 2:**

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  Bloodlust

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**Tier 3:**

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  Rupture

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  Cleanse

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  Lockwell's Revelation

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The first breakthrough is, unsurprisingly, Bloodlust to unlock the advanced skills in the Hex Mage tree. This provides one of the key active skills in this build, Rupture, in addition to a potential 15% or 30% elemental damage bonus depending on the player's level of fatigue with Lockwell's Revelation. The Hex Mage tree is unsurprisingly crucial to this build. Obviously, Rupture should be taken over Blood Sigil here. Every other skill in this tree should also be purchased with the exception of Nightmares. Given the vast distances that must be covered in Outward, generally by sprinting, the reduced burnt stamina recovery can be a serious issue. Burnt mana is generally more easily mitigated through normal casting and the Bloodlust vitals recovery passive.

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**Wild Hunter:**

* ***Important skills:***

**Tier 1:**

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 ***Enrage***

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 ***Hunter's Eye***

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 ***Evasion Shot***

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 ***Sniper Shot***

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**Tier 2:**

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  Survivor's Resilience

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**Tier 3:**

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  Piercing Shot

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The second breakthrough is Wild Hunter for Piercing Shot and Extreme Bleeding, however if you would prefer to focus more on the magic side and utilize your bow less you can optionally substitute Shamanic Resonance in the Cabal Hermit tree. This primarily provides access to 10% increased elemental damage from boons, for a total of 30% elemental damage from boons.

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**Speedster:**

* ***Important skills:***

**Tier 1:**

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 ***Probe***

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 ***Efficiency***

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 ***Metabolic Purge***

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**Tier 2:**

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  Daredevil

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**Tier 3:**

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  Prime

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  Unerring Read

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  Blitz

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The final breakthrough is Daredevil from the Speedster tree. This enables a damage per time maximization strategy for difficult fights. The active skills in this tree are essentially unimportant. However, it may be nice to pick up Blitz for the increased sprint speed to improve the player's ability to run away from danger. An alternative breakthrough would be Sacred Fumes for access to the Primal Ritualist tree. This would provide much more defense and a nice cushion for any players who feel they may need it. This will also provide access to BOTH Welkin Ring and Haunting Beat on the battlefield at the same time, further boosting your potential for active hexes. The choice of the Primal Ritualist skill tree over the Speedster skill tree is that of defense and flexibility over raw power.

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As for the other skill trees, it is generally beneficial to purchase any skill that does not require a breakthrough (except Nightmares or certain Specialist skills). A key skill to acquire, however, is Hunter's Eye, regardless of whether Wild Hunter or Cabal Hermit was chosen as this will allow one to lock on to enemies from a much greater distance with a bow, and therefore apply hexes to their foes with Jinx more safely, i.e. "Hex Sniping".

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The faction of choice is Sorobor Academy, mostly for the 10% cooldown reduction from Logistics Expert, which is highly valuable in maximizing damage. The additional 5% movement speed is also useful for avoiding danger. The Heroic Kingdom of Levant is a reasonable alternative for increased burst damage. However, Sorobor Academy is the superior choice for overall damage output.

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### **Equipment**

The increased lock on range (or, optionally, manual aiming) is utilized to apply hexes to the enemy outside of their detection range. The 10% damage bonus to every element makes the Astral Bow the optimal choice.
After enchanted with Snow, this weapon becomes God tier when used with  Soul Rupture Arrows. Apply Assassin Elixir and fire 3-4 arrows to inflict Extreme Poison, Aetherbomb, scorched, Curse, Slow Down, and Crippled. Watch the enemy slowly struggle to make it to you before they either die from poison or internally combust!

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 Recipe: Short Handle + Short Handle + Waning Tentacle

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Tenebrous Helm with Order of Discipline: This provides a cumulative elemental damage bonus of 25% (5% Ethereal, 10% Lightning, 10% Decay), which is only slightly inferior to the 30% cumulative bonus of the Scarlet Mask or White Priest Mitre. The Tenebrous Helm with Order of Discipline remains superior as it also provides 10% movement speed and 10% Mana Cost Reduction, which are highly valuable in this build. You can alternatively use Scavenger Scarf w/ Unassuming Ingenuity OR Scholar Circlet w/ Arcane Unison, as the scarf looks the best and comes with a small bonus to Cooldown Reduction, and the circlet is ugly but has the highest Cooldown Reduction in the game.

* Antique Plate Garb:

The Antique Plate Garb already offers high elemental damage. With Spirit of Harmattan, this bonus is an unrivaled 10% Ethereal, 15% Fire, and 25% Decay bonus! If damage bonuses on all elements are taken to be approximately equal in value, this 50% net bonus is a greater bonus than even the 45% of the Scarlet Robes, is equal to the 50% cumulative elemental bonus on Rust Lich Armor and is also superior to the 40% bonus of the Spirit of Cierzo enchantment. In comparison to the Scarlet Robes or Rust Lich Armor, the Antique Plate Garb lacks Mana Cost Reduction, but makes up for this by also lacking a penalty in stamina, movement, or status effect build up. Furthermore, the 5% Cooldown Reduction is of significant value as cooldown compounds exponentially with itself, damage, or damage bonuses, rather than linearly. Therefore, the Antique Plate Garb with Spirit of Harmattan is the optimal body armor.

* Tenebrous Boots:

Speed and Efficiency: This enchantment is highly desirable both for the additional 5% Cooldown Reduction and the 7% move speed, which will aid the player in keeping their enemies at a safe distance. The two armor pieces compatible with Speed and Efficiency are Tenebrous Boots and Runic Boots. Of these options, the Tenebrous Boots, which provide a cumulative elemental damage of 15% (5% Ethereal, 10% decay) in addition to Mana Cost Reduction, are far superior to the Runic Boots, which provide additional protection but no damage bonus and inflict mobility penalties. As mentioned earlier, maintaining distance from the enemy is essential for this build and additional damage is always beneficial, hence the superiority of the Tenebrous Boots. One might ask about the Scarlet Boots, which provide an additional 15% cumulative elemental damage. However, this benefit does not make up for the loss of Cooldown Reduction, Mana Cost Reduction, and movement speed provided by the Tenebrous Boots with Speed and Efficiency.

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**The armor and skills have been chosen to optimize damage, Cooldown Reduction, and speed. Therefore, it is not recommended that the player engage in any sort of close combat voluntarily.**

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## Combat and Resources Strategy

Against weaker enemies, combat is relatively simple. Begin by casting Jinx at extreme range by locking on or manually aiming with the bow, or by sneaking closer to the enemy, or both. Pay attention to the visual hex effects to determine which hexes have been applied. If the enemy is far away, it may be helpful to manually aim with the bow to see in greater detail. Depending on your foe's elemental vulnerabilities, the applied hexes, and the extent to which the player has acquired all the damage bonuses, it is likely sufficient to only apply two or three hexes. Once sufficient hexes have been applied, stop manually aiming or sneaking (if doing so), and cast torment then rupture in quick succession. If the player has judged their damage correctly, the enemy will almost instantly die in a satisfying manner.

Against stronger enemies, there are a few strategies. First, the player should refrain from casting rupture unless this will kill their foe. Otherwise, the player may find themselves stuck fighting an angry enemy who is subject to no hexes. This would prevent the further application of consistent damage with torment (which does not remove hexes). In fact, if the player anticipates that a single use of torment followed by rupture will not kill an enemy, then it will be necessary to use torment several if not many times. This is the point at which cooldown reduction becomes important for sustained damage. In fact, any amount of cooldown reduction increases the value of additional cooldown reduction until the cap is reached. For example, the first 20% cooldown reduction allows for the next torment to be cast in four fifths of the normal time. However, the next 20% cuts the time to three fourths of that. This is why cooldown reduction should be prioritized over damage bonuses. A 20% damage bonus always does a fixed amount of damage if previously at 0% or 60% damage bonus. A 20% cooldown reduction bonus when already at 60% cooldown reduction, effectively doubles damage output. Given this logic, it is prudent to gain cooldown by becoming Alert with Daredevil by drinking Alert or Spiked Alert potions before difficult battles. The player must be cautious when attempting this as the Alert levels will also increase damage taken. It is not recommended that the player gain alert levels by using probe as they have neither the skills nor equipment to effectively do so, and Alertness Potions are cheap anyway. Note that continuous casting of torment is limited by the mana pool. Therefore, it is recommended that the player consider taking more than one point in mana at the leyline. Four or so may be an ideal number.

An alternative strategy for stronger enemies is to set up a trap with totems (Ghost Drum of Sky Chimes). Simply place the totem(s) before activating torment, then wait for the enemy to walk into your killzone to damage them appropriately. Note that this strategy will not work against foes who prefer to fight you at range. Also, don't ignore the utility of totems. With even a single totem out the player can use it as a shield wall to defend against long range enemy projectiles or set up a more destructive Rupture.

When it comes to consumables, the only truly necessary one is the Alertness Potion. This facilitates victory in difficult situations by greatly increasing damage output through frequent use of torment. For mana regeneration, a reasonable strategy is to remain tired to some extent. This can be accelerated by consuming Dreamer's Root, and the added benefit of a damage bonus with Lockwell's Revelation. Another convenient consumable is the Shimmer Potion which will add some additional elemental damage.

Finally, with regards to combat: Remember that this is Outward, NOT Dark Souls. There is no shame in justified cowardice. Should all else fail, run!

## Applying hexes

**Totems**

Haunting Beat and Welkin Ring apply Haunted and Doomed respectively. These are immediately applied to any enemy within the purple and yellow rings surrounding the totems. You further apply Scorched and Curse with three hits (more if the enemy has  Status Effect Resistance) from Astral Bow. Strafing Run is perfect for quickly getting enough attacks in to apply both hexes. As an added bonus the Snow enchantment applies Slow Down, which isn't a hex but makes kiting easier. Especially if you also hit the enemy with Evasion Shot to apply Crippled.

**Torment**

Once hexes are applied, you can start using Torment which triggers a related reaction for every elemental Hex inflicted on all nearby Enemies:

* Curse: 20  Decay damage, inflicts Poisoned
* Doomed: 20  Lightning damage, inflicts Weaken
* Haunted: 20  Ethereal damage, inflicts Sapped
* Scorched: 20  Fire damage, inflicts Burning

**Rupture**

Once your enemy is weak enough, it is time for the big finisher. Rupture detonates all Hexes on all nearby Enemies for related effects and removes Hexes from enemies.

The detonations are AoE blasts, and the damage and impact of the blast depends on the Hex:

* Curse: 50  Decay damage and 33  Impact
* Doomed: 50  Lightning damage and 33  Impact
* Haunted: 50  Ethereal damage and 33  Impact
* Scorched: 50  Fire damage and 33  Impact
* For hex detonations, the damage is applied before the corresponding Hex is removed, so the real damage is 62.5 instead of 50 (assuming the enemy had 0 resistance to that element)

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**Note that on big enemies and/or bosses, you can use rupture whenever it comes off cooldown, because the totems instantly apply their hexes again. And a few shots from your bow apply the other two. But be sure to time it well for maximum damage.**

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