New player HOX Build feedback/feasible?

Hi, I’m a fairly new player (stopped shortly after launch issues back in the day) and have always had a love for AoC.

I’ve done a fair bit of research on HoX builds and based on how I’ve been playing/leveling so far I tweaked one to look like this:

http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae151b2c81b32a1af421b38d1c2ca1afa41b3f01b5201b5841b1fe1b5e81b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc881bcee1b8a11c3301bd541b9cc1bdb41c2641c2001be1a1bf441c138

Any constructive feedback is welcome. I’m mostly playing solo (on crom) as I am working on unconquered achievements and taking it cautiously.

I’d love to find a way to get some phoenix cloak duration, but not sure if its truly needed or what would sacrifice for it.

i would say, use this spé for soloing (not for raid or 6amn tho), gives u nice insta roots, nice aoe, nice dot, and longer transformation (u want to be transformed all the time).

http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c81af421b38d1c19e1c2ca1afa41b3f01b1991b5201b5841b1fe1b5e81b6481b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc881bcee1b8a11b96a1bd541b9cc1bdb41c2641be181bf44

I think the build u use is weak both in raid, u miss key feat for more damage and u dont need the insta roots.
And for soloing where u dont have the longer transformation, and the nice kb resistance

A few notes:

  • Burning Words is quite useless, and can actually be even harmful in some circumstances (eg: T2 Chata).

  • Lingering Hell and Touch of Hell are not very useful either. Might be cool to have cd reduction on charge, but 6 points are too many for just that. Also, in most circumstances, it’s safer to pull with Flame Lash, than to charge in.

  • Horrible Visage of Xotli can be skipped too. The stun will break immediately after HfB anyway.

  • Rage of Xotli is also a waste of points. HS is meant to be just a filler, for the rare occasions where all other combos are on cd.

So, I’d use this: link

If u interested in SOLO PVE http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c81af421b38d1c2ca1afa41b3f01b4bc1b1991b5201b5841b1fe1b5e81b1341b6481b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc881bcee1b8a11b9691bd541bdb41c2641bf44
If u interested in Raiding with max dmg http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c81af421b38d1c2ca1afa41b3f01b4bb1b1991b5201b5841b0081b1fe1b5e81b1341b6481b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc8c1bcee1bd541bdb41c2641bf44
But, if u are new player, u will be interested in build “for everything” and i recommend u build like this http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c81af421b38d1c2ca1afa41b3f01b4ba1b1991b5841b5e81b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc8c1bcee1b8a11b96a1bd501bdb41c2641ba321ba971be7d1bb5e or if don’t take phoenix use this one http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c81af421b38d1c2ca1afa41b3f01b4ba1b1991b5841b5e81b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc8b1bcee1b8a11b96a1bd541bdb41c2641bf441bafa1be7d1bb5e
For all this build u need to use Red Shadow of Xotli from AA.
If u wanna try possession, u can try build like this http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b643ec64194642c06444e64579644b0643841adb01b8401b7dc1bc881bcee1b8a11c32f1b96a1bd501bdb41c2641ba311be1a1bafc1bee11c1381be7d1bbc41bfac1bb5e1b2601c00c
For possession better use From the beyond from AA

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Seems like all the hoxes here do not have the T5 Rune. Hellstrikes matter only with it, but then a lot. Will post you something when I am home.

Like i promised:
http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c51b32a1af421c19e1c2ca1b3f01b4bc1b1991b5841b0081b5e81b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc881b7781bcee1b9051bd541b9cc1bdb41c2641bf441bafc

with Pillars:
http://joharaoc.eu/feat?link=v19_12b1adb41ae181b2c51b32a1af421c19e1c2ca1b3f01b4bc1b1991b5201b5841b0081b1fe1b5e81b6481b6ac1b8401b7dc1bc881b7741bcee1b9051bd541b9cc1bdb41c2641bf44

@Fireblow I didn’t get your results without HS6 before the rune, but i think it depends a lot on how you fit in morphs/casts, which changes a lot with HS6.

Also it’s just 100% dmgincrease on finesse hits :slight_smile:

Thank you all for the feedback. I’ll be going through each link today instead of working :smiley:

And yes, I’m still leveling (carefully as unconquered) and just about 50 now.

Honestly, no clue what T5 rune even means… like I said, essentially brand new to the game. I played during the rough launch 11 years ago and didnt have a chance to come back until now.

I can promise you Hell strikes does not only matter if you have the T5 major rune. Go to Vistrix T5 and try Hell Strikes 6 rotation versus Pillars rotation and HS6 will outperform it. This is also the case in T6 on a lot of bosses without rune.

It’s basically a “free” dps buff
HoX one is (in my opinion) the second strongest T5 Major rune behind barbarian one.
How to get it: Get kill achievment from all four T5 bosses once on the character you are going to buy the rune on --> spend 90 T5 tokens and voila, you got a free dps buff
Some of these major runes from T5 are totally useless because they are either so small buffs, or there are other major runes that are simply better (e.g exile/arena rune)

Now what does it buff: All T5 runes are different, however a lot of them have similar traits. HoX one gives:

  • +6 seconds duration to Burn to Death DoT (Crazy good)
  • 10% extra dmg to BtD
  • A 100% finesse hit on Hell Strikes 6 (It’s an additional hard hitting hit at the end of the combo basically, which is doubled in t5-t6 raids)

There’s also minor T5 runes which you only need achievment from the first two bosses in T5 in order to buy, also costs like 1/3 less relics, however I’d recommend people to stay away from that one and just aim for the major rune. The minor runes gives like half of the boost compared to major ones.

Thanks! Very helpful and yes those effects seem baller. I’m no where near that of course at level 50 haha.

Oh alright. You have a lot of content ahead of you at least then. Try to not only take the shortcuts even though it’s very likely that will happen. When you get to level 80 try to experience some of the group content that is in this game so you don’t only spam RF ten times a day.

Try to find a guild or group of people that are willing to do group content because it’s here you learn the most about both the game in general and your class.

How does it change with HS6 compared to Pillars? I don’t see why. “Depends how you fit in with morphs/casts” --> well that applies to both pillars and HS6? In fact if you ask me I find it even easier in HS6 because of better timings for me at least, so no I do not buy that one. The reason why HS6>Pillars on some bosses are because of the insanely high protection on certian bosses. Vistrix got 9k prot and you’re lucky if you get a pillars crit over 2k here

Just checked a quick Vistrix parse from the other day where one hox used Pillars and the other one I communicated with used Hell Strikes 6. The one using HS6 destroyed the other HoX using pillars (ok this might be because it’s a better player in general) -> but, the highest hit the pillars HoX got on a pillars was 1,8k (crit) and he used six pillars 3 the whole fight, and even some pillars 2 but those were even worse.

i fit in 2 pillars while 1 BTD downtime without missing a HFB or 1xHS6+1xmorph/cast or have 1 pillar + cast/morph. HS6 without T5 Rune can be really crappy sometimes. Also pillars provide a Dot which adds to the combodmg.

Also i specc different for pillars and HS6, which allows me to use the spells with different timings.

Back then before the T5 rune i didn’t get the same results as you did. Also comparing 2 different players with different gear and different speccs and skilllvl doesn’t make any sense.

Fitting in two Pillars in one BTD downtime means you’re doing it wrong in the first place. You’re refreshing the Pillars DoT way too early.

Also I am aware that it was a vague comparison which I also stated in my post. It was just to show you how crap Pillars can be on bosses with high prot, and that HS6 outperforms Pillars on high prot bosses (7k prot or higher) even without the rune.

And you’re supposed to use both Hell Strikes 6 & 3 by the way, when using HS rotation.
It’s fairly simple: BtD --> Hell Strikes 6 --> Hell Strikes 3 and repeat. If you ever want to mix in morphs/spells you just replace it with either Hell Strikes 3 or 6 depending how many spells you want to do.

You are playing the hox completly different to how i play it.

But tell me which combo fits to pillars in btd downtime without leaving to much lost time or overextending the downtime to the next btd and doing better dmg? HS3 are crap.

Before i played with T5 Rune my combo rota was like

BTD6 - pillar3 - Fire Lance - BTD6 - pillar2 HS5 - repeat

Ofc all CD reduces on pillar combo that are available (AA, spec).

I prefer HS2. HS3 feels a bit too long. Also you skip HS2 if you’re doing something else in between that doesn’t give you space (like demon maw, inferno).

BtD–>Pillars3–>FireLance
Btd–>Pillars2–>Molten SteelSlashV or w/e rank it is
^Pillar rotations with cd reduction
If you ever get into a situation where you have one second of doing nothing while waiting for BtD cd, or having to start up a full combo I’d recommend you to try Fire Lance opener and then just go into BtD because it has stupidly high dps on the opener hit. Can easily crit over 2k.

BtD–>HS6–>HS3
^HS rotation

HS3 is not crap as a filler, and I can easily say this because the best hoxes in the game such as for example Usurperius (Eigengrau) agrees.

Best Hoxes in PVE? :see_no_evil:

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I am not a pvper but I do think he is the best one in PvP too without knowing too much of the PvP community :smiley:

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