Talk:Needling Shot

Since there is no variation in the lower attribute rank, i think it's safe to assume that the damage per lvl will continue with an additional 1 damage per rank- Only a Shadow
 * never safe to assume anything with the progressions, anet likes to mess with the curve outside of 0-12. --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 12:49, 9 August 2006 (CDT)

Being a 1 second cast time bow attack, would this work like Quick Shot, firing instantly? --hellochar 12:23, 9 August 2006 (CDT)
 * not instantly, but not the normal 2 second firing animation. lots of ranger spike teams use this to finish a spike with a rapid set of arrows. --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 12:49, 9 August 2006 (CDT)

Doubt
Well, I may be having a false perception... but, with marksmanship at 16 attribute points Needling Shot makes 21 damage, nevertheless, without Needling Shot the average damage is, surely, more than 21 for a 100 armor target (tested in the Isle of the Nameless)... think there are critical hits -which enhance plain damage- which are nulified by Needling Shot! What is it which makes this skill usefull? ... Is it that arrows go faster and missing is less likely? Is it to be certain of making 21 damage average at an exact time which you may need it? Thank you.--mariano 09:39, 28 August 2006 (CDT)

I love this skill, its good with Kindling Arrows. I imagine it'd be even more powerful as a R/E, where with a Fiery bow (and ele's fire skill) u can easily do 60 dmg a shot, combined with ur normal attack..insane--karthego


 * This skill is "useful" as Protector's Strike is useful. However, since I believe Rangers aren't exactly a damage powerhouse anyway, this skill is near...worthless, in my opinion. Also, it isn't near as useful as Protector's Strike is, with a 1s cast time. EDIT: Fine, it is useful in some cases, for example ranger spike. But on an ordinary ranger, without a spike that 20~ damage is not very useful.LightningHell 09:26, 7 September 2006 (CDT)
 * the use of this skill is in the fact that it can be fired every second as a finishing spree, add read and favorable and it's twice as fast and more damaging then a standard bow attack. it is a bit of a heafty trade, though. --Honorable Sarah [[image:Honorable_Icon.gif]] 10:14, 7 September 2006 (CDT)

It's great with just Read, especially for finishing off high armor targets. Arshay Duskbrow 21:46, 24 September 2006 (CDT)

So, for 5 energy you get an arrow that does less dmg than a normal arrow! as a bonus, you can instantly spend ANOTHER 5 energy on an arrow that does less dmg than a normal arrow if your target is below 50% health. Leetsauce. -Thomas 10:57, 21 October 2006 (CDT)

Expertise. A user of Needling shot would depend on skills such as Read the Wind/Glass Arrows, Vampiric Strings, Favorable Winds, Order of Pain, Mark of Pain, and perhaps Barbs. Since most of the damage does not come from bow damage, but more from the +damage, the fact that it itself does little damage matters little. Glass Arrows would be my choice since it means more expertise and less marksmanship, and this allows for major runes too. Remember that this is armor ignoring. --Silk Weaker 11:58, 21 October 2006 (CDT)

Exactly. It's not 5 energy, it's 2 with proper Expertise. With Read the Wind and a vampiric bow you can do around 35 armor-ignoring damage per second. Even above 50%, that's often more than you can do with normal attacks against high armor targets, and you can use it every 4 seconds. But it also has other uses. You can use it to chain attacks together, because Needling obviously does NOT have an aftercast delay. Marauder's + Needling + Punishing is the secret of my success. Or use it after normal attacks for chaser damage. Or daze your target and it becomes a speed-buffed 4 second interrupt, or a continuous one below 50%. Use it to peg kiting foes with condition preps. Needling Shot is a Ranger's swiss-army knife, and one of the best Ranger skills to come out of Factions, in my opinion. Arshay Duskbrow 21:24, 22 October 2006 (CDT)

Crits with this
From Talk:Disrupting Accuracy:

"Although it doesn't do any extra damage, my Needling Shot often returns the energy for being a critical hit..."

Anon/logged out user put this up or I'd bring this to their talk. Should we mention this in the article and/or the List of skill anomalies? --Armond Warblade (talk) 20:08, 22 October 2006 (CDT)

diversion
instant recharge seems too work even when using this skill under diversion hex... may be this should be added to primary page as well?