Hunting for a Hunter Build

Quick Thoughts...

By: George Argyropoulos

a/k/a Dragon_Bane   

>>New updated article here<<

The Hunter is our 'auto' hull. We should probably stop thinking of these as second tier hulls because after last raid, we really can't. Unfortunately we are sort of left in limbo with regard to how we should rank our hull choices going forward. This means that many players feel the need to build both fleets now, more than ever before. This has made the Hunter a point of interest. Ren has made a build video that can be seen here and covers alternative options as well as his build.

The strength of the Hunter is going to be its stacking ability. With 5 in the fleet it should look something like this (I used the Explosive resistances for this example):

That looks like a pretty damn stout tank. On top of that, with 4 in the fleet, you are going to have a Splash Damage Reduction of  87%! Add to that the fact that each Hunter adds +200 ship deflection to each. Damn. We then have to look at the rest of the picture. Since the Hunter is fully unreactive, the stacking slow/stun affects in the new targets are negligible to the hull. This leaves a bit of room to play then. This is what I have come up with: (LIVE EDIT - PLANS HAVE CHANGED. NEW ARTICLE COMING SOON. EVADE IS KEY FOR THIS BUILD!!)

>>New updated article here<<

It may be a little unconventional. I've heard some interesting comments from people I've shared this with. So let's get to it.

Weapons:

Houndstooth Depth Charge : 

This is a given with the native stats on the hull. With a native 75% concussive reload, a 175% concussive damage buff and a 20% splash buff, this is the weapon of choice (and design) for this hull.

Anti-mortar Systems :

As many people know by now, I like overlapping and concurrent firing defense systems in many targets, this one is no exception. I use 2 different anti-morts to have overlapping coverage and reload so that the coverage is maximized. I take advantage of the different ranges, salvo counts as well as the different reload times of both antis so that (hopefullly) I maximize the amount of mortars I can destroy coming from the Gluts. I may need to add another on each hull, I won't know for sure until I have the fleet built and tested.

Armor : 

Charged. Yes. I do not believe these are 'luxury' items any longer, particularly when we are discussing the upper echelon of targets. Depending on how this plays out, I may go 3 X - 1 CT. (EDIT: LOAD OUT IS CHANGED CT IS PRIORITY)

Specials : 

AA-3 :

Ablative Armor III is, at this time, the forerunner as an Armor special choice from what we have seen thus far. In testing, explosive damage seems to be the primary damage in the targets.

Advanced Concussive Payload :

While it is a hair less in damage than SAS-V or Strike Warheads, but, ACP offers that wonderful reload that more than makes up for the smaller damage buff in DPS (damage per second).

PBX Payload : 

Given the Houndstooth, and how well Sealed Fire Charge worked on the Hellwraiths, this seems an obvious choice.

Now we get into the Specials that are being debated. Ready?

Magnus Drive 3 :

I like this special. In the targets I found that while it might be a pain to stop and start, it was worth it so that I could maneuver around the target easier, particularly when multiple Gluts were firing their mortar barrages at me. At rank, the Hunter will have a turn speed of 52.5, and we do not know what the Flag will provide as yet. Another consideration for this is that native Splash reduction. With the extra speed, you may be getting out of the splash radius of some of the enemy fire, or enough that the splash reduction would help tremendously. The other choice here would be Speed System VI or Hydraulic Resistors. Speed System 6 instead.

Explosive System IV : 

I went with this over Combustion System II because I liked the reduction of spread as well as the increase of projectile speed. I'm on the fence for this, but since I went with a splash special, I opted for the slightly larger projectile speed of this over CSII.

Expanded Fulmination Payload :

The Houndstooth is a dumbfire weapon. As such, I want to mitigate the basic problem of firing on a moving target. This can be done through either projectile speed or splash. I chose splash since the Houndstooth looks to have a decent projectile speed. This special boosts my splash with a +75% buff stat, as well as reduce the spread by another 5% which will give me a total of -25% which reduces the spread of the Houndstooth to 75. We will see if this needs to change. If it does, I'd likely swap out ESIV to CSII first to see if that would be enough. Guidance Scrambler 3 instead.

And that's it. That's the current plan so far. Hopefully this gives you guys some ideas going forward!

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