New to SoA

[Brutal Justice]

I am currently leveling a huntsman and a bane and I have a couple questions.

 

I am using info as a base from several of the builds on here provided for huntsman and am pretty happy with the build so far.  I don’t see many using bile spray and arctic breath.  I was hoping to use VG-HB-AB-bile as an opening aoe barrage then switch to single target.  I haven’t decided on the attack order, just those 4.

 

I mostly team so I care more about aoe burst than aoe dps sustain.  Is there something better than this combo for an aoe opening?

 

I am enjoying the bane as well but I have more questions about them since there seems to be less information on them than any other build.

 

Is opening with a crit from shatter ideal since you only get a 1/2 crit?   Or is it better to just open with VG? I also saw a statement that the pets constantly pull you out of hidden.  Is this because they draw aggro to you and that aggro breaks your hide, or because if they attack it drops your hidden status simply by relation?  

 

The hidden status doesn’t seem to be much of a game changer with 1\2 damage  crits.   What is the biggest reason for skipping them on a bane?   They still add single target damage and even though they are unfocused they still add aoe damage to your minimal aoe capabilities.   

[Brutal Justice]

I am only lvl 42 on the huntsman so far but I have decided to go with bile and without arctic breath.  I am satisfied with the aoe damage from bile but it interrupts the flow of the toon so much that I am not even going to try out arctic breath.  

 

It’s possible that once I have a full IO build and more recharge that I might drop bile as well.  The flow and smoothness of using just the rifle feels so good.  I’ll hold off on the full vomit build until the inevitable crab.  

 

I have been focusing on the huntsman and the bane has been sitting dormant at lvl 26.  However, I have cloaking device on the huntsman so I tested with the pets if they would pull me out of hidden.  They can attack and take aggro while I maintain my hidden status so I don’t see an issue with having the pets on the bane.  They  also seem to lag far enough behind that I will still be able to close into melee and take the alpha before they arrive at the group.  They really will arrive like reinforcements after the battle has begun.  

[Six-Six]

Welcome to the Brood 😃

I hope I can help you with some of your queries.
 

I would toss in a couple of more powers,  namely Frag Grenade and Burst. The reason for this the more primary attack powers you have, the smoother your chain will be because you don't have to redraw your weapon. Having said that, you may find it better to use the primary powers in succession, and then the Patron powers or vice-versa. I'm not too familiar with Mako's, but with the Mu, my attack chain is Ball Lightning-Static Discharge-Mu-lightning and Heavy-Burst-Venom Nade-Frag-Burst-Single Shot. By the time I'm halfway through the second chain, the first is ready to fire again. It's quite hard to make the huntsman an AV killer, but he is an awesome support. So having single target attacks comes in handy in taking care of stragglers/survivors from the initial onslaught.

Your AV killer is the bane. On my bane, I only have 5 attacks that hit really hard. the chain is Shatter-Bash-Pulverise-Crowd Control-Bash-Pulverise. I sneak in Shatter Armour whenever there's a gap. My bane can one-hit LTs at +3, so while the chain is really smooth, the hiccup is Jaunting to the next target. the mace feels slower, but it definitely hits harder. and with tough enough build (which is easy on a spider) I can take on two AVs simultaneously without fearing for my life.

Depending on how you slotted your powers, Shatter will give you the biggest damage including the crit from being hidden, so I open with that. Alternatively, you can soften them up with Venom Nade then placate for a crit (not sure if that works in practise, though).