Last but not least, I’d like to cover the Huntress and the Ranger.
The Huntress is very different from the other three classes. For one, she doesn’t use towers or auras, but traps. Her main attack fires her main ranged weapon and her secondary fire reloads said weapon. Yes, unlike the other three, she has an ammunition count to worry about. While she has unlimited ammo, it takes her precious seconds to reload. Her Piercing Shot ability shoots an arrow that shoots through its enemies, similar to that of a Squire’s harpoon. Her Invisibility ability makes her invisible to her enemies.
The Ranger is her counterpart and is available via downloadable content (DLC). He has the same traps as the Huntress but sports different abilities. The Piercing Spreadshot ability is similar to the Huntress’s Piercing Shot except it shoots more than one projectile. His Invisibility Field ability is similar to that of the Huntress’s Invisibility ability except that he can project it around himself, his friends, and nearby defenses.
Bottom to Top: Explosive, Poison Gas, Inferno, Darkness, Ethereal Spike
Traps:
*A note about traps; they have a limited use. Traps have a detonation count which is determined by the detonation count statistic under your character talent tree. The higher the detonation count stat, the more detonation counts you’ll start out with when you summon a trap. A trap is detonated when an enemy steps on it and after the trap’s effects are released there is a recharge period. The recharge speed is also determined by your character talent tree. The more points you put into leveling up your recharge stat the faster your traps will reset. Traps will trigger other traps so be careful of your placement!
Explosive – Does physical damage to the enemy and any enemies within a certain radius.
Poison Gas – Unleashes a poison cloud causing all enemies to halt in their tracks and choke until the gas cloud dissipates. Enemies resistant to poison walk right through it.
Inferno – A circle of flame erupts from this trap upon its activation. It does consistent fire damage to all walking through it. Enemies immune to fire are not harmed by the trap.
Darkness – Enemies lose their current target while under the effects of this trap.
Ethereal Spike – Shoots a powerful bolt of electrical energy into a target, killing most foes. Unlike the other traps, flying enemies can trigger this trap.
Strategies:
Soloing with the Huntress / Ranger is especially difficult at the lower levels. You aren’t as powerful and your traps only last two or three activations before they disappear. If you plan to solo with this class, you’ll want to put as many points as you can into your trap detonation count. While you can repair your traps and replenish their count, doing so on larger maps will be almost impossible if you don’t have a lot detonation counts to begin with. You won’t make it across the map in time to replenish counts, especially if you’re held up doing other things. Soloing requires some extra strategic thinking. You have no barriers to permanently halt the enemy and the trap that does temporarily halt enemies doesn’t work on those immune to poison. You’ll want to stagger your traps from the enemy spawn point to the crystal being careful not to overlap the explosion radius with another aura as one trap will set off the other prematurely. I primarily use Explosive traps as they are cheap and affect all enemies as they do physical damage. I lay a path of Explosive traps so that enemies that walk over one that is still resetting will be picked off by the next in the chain until the first trap resets. You could also place a Poison Gas trap at the beginning of your chain so that enemies that are spawning group up. When the cloud wears off, you’ll have a nice big group of enemies that can be taken out by one Explosive trap. You could also place a Poison Gas trap on top of an Explosive or Inferno trap, allowing them time to reset and activate again before those stuck over the trap move on. Ethereal traps are the only traps that automatically trigger when air units enter their zone so they are good to have when you’re facing wyverns, otherwise you’ll be hunting those on your own. Placing one or two Ethereal traps by the crystal along the wyvern’s flight path will usually be enough to take them out. If they are traveling in pairs however, you’ll want to be there to pick of the survivors. You can detonate traps manually, if necessary, but I rarely find the need to.
The Huntress / Ranger can be a powerhouse if you spec into personal damage instead of her traps.
When teaming up with others you’ll have more flexibility when leveling up your character. A Huntress / Ranger specializing in his / her own attack power is viable so as long as you have teammates able to slow down or stop the enemies for you. Those who focus on DPS (Damage Per Second) will be able to unleash major damage when needed. Invisibility will also be useful in being able to repair any tower, trap, or aura that is under heavy fire without being attacked yourself.
You can view video play sessions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BndLNnWyV70
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