Strategy behind Smokescreen vs. Magnetic Trap on higher trials

[Benedicto]

I gambled playing BH this Silver ANB, and I use BH only for dailies and gold farming. Last time I used BH competitively was when the Assault set was still the meta. This ANB I used Magnetic Trap instead of Smokescreen in my last push because I feel more comfortable in grouping mobs while spamming RF and Snipe, but having a hard time in bosses especially Garm, which didn't let me finish TL134, that I could finish her easily if I had Smokescreen, but if I replace Smokescreen, I have to eliminate one mob group at a time because of running in every direction and wastes my time. As a noob in using BH, can any BH expert give some tips in higher trials in using either of the two skills?

[peshta]

Maybe this will help

[Ozymandius]

Nice example of Stalker BH strategy!

[Travesty]

Spam smokescreen to minimize incoming damage, and use 2x Maggie to gather/control the mobs instead of mag trap.

[TheExorcist]

Travesty
Dear Sir
Maggie? it's a long long time i've used Maggie
i think is it late 2017? suddenly Maggie being nerfed when i started to play this wonderful game with a warrior.My mistake at that time for not reading the forum proper and bought 3 Maggie. haha
since then no Maggie. now not anymore
erm ..i better follow your suggestion and later start to used "Maggie" for my "precious" one and only Stalker Bounty Hunter
Thank you

[Travesty]

For me it took a lot of practice after switching from Mag Trap to 2x Maggie. I was used to the cadence of spamming Mag Trap whenever I wanted but the cool down on Maggie's Vortex is much longer and you only have two Vortex instead of three Mag Traps. I also had to get used to Smokescreen stopping auto attacks.

[100licad]

SS works best if used with vortex spam, but it can work with free companions, last two ANBs I went on a budget (to save for gold League) and results were not so bad, I just die too much using MT instead of SS later on.

[Ozymandius]

For a Stalker BH Smokescreen is the preferred ability for two reasons:

1. It provides a 5 second damage boost of 30%
2. It can blind enemies for up to 8 seconds and boosts dodge rating by 4000 for 5 seconds.

The sequence is to round up a manageable number of enemies (which will vary based on trial level and your maneuverability/Vitality), hit them with Vortex, then a rapid sequence of Smokescreen, Rapid Fire for additional damage boost, and Snipe while the damage boosts are still active. Then move before the survivors can counterattack. If you have three healers and at least 50% cooldown reduction, you can pretty much spam this sequence as often as you need it. I tend to use Vortex as a "must have" ability when dealing with Elite mobs and a "nice to have" ability when dealing with enemies that can counterattack from a distance, such as ghosts [life drain], archers, etc.

Theoretically, you can proc Smokescreen to avoid some major attacks (e.g., Kara's purple arrows), but I find that depending on Smokescreen as my primary defense to be unreliable. For reasons that I do not completely understand, there are times when it works very well as a defense strategy and other times when it seems to fail miserably (e.g., if an enemy is already engaged). Even if you accidentally get hit by a random arrow, the defensive shield seems to fail instantly. I find it more reliable to just dodge major attacks and to use Smokescreen primarily as an attack boost.

I never considered Magnetic Trap to be a Stalker BH ability, though I have seen a number of players using it in ANBs lately. I think that is mainly because, you do not have to invest in the extra healers (can just use free companions) and it is easier to use than Smokescreen (which takes a bit of practice to master). Without multiple healers, I can certainly understand the need to do a lot of running around, but that is what BH is good at (i.e., hit a target and move before they can counterattack). If you are used to playing Warrior, it will take a bit of time to reorient your playing style. BHs just don't have enough armor to fire from a stationary position, you have to keep moving. Check out the video links posted above, the BH never stops moving...

[100licad]

Stops for a very short time to spam attacks benefiting from SS vortex stun and snipe stun, but moves most of time

[Argon]

Thank you guys for this thread, this is exactly what I needed to read through with the perfect link. Very very impressive videos from 100licad showing noobs like me why top bhs use SS. And reinforcing my decision to stick with magtrap because I'm going f2p and would need a lot of training to halfway master SS.

[100licad]

I believe highest mag trap BHs in season 4 reached 154, including LodWig on mobile.

[Argon]

Wow! And how high did you get with SS on mobile? Also how do you farm XP in AnBs? I needed to run tl80 with full push gear to finally get a time below 1 min. So far i think i need to run the tls i can do in less than 2 min. Don't want to play stalker though, every AnB i ran BHs i always ended going stalker (did 2 with stalker all the way) but there's simply no boom factor with snipe, and only going for milestones on a second account means i don't need to switch

[100licad]

I reached 157, I strongly believe 158 can be done on mobile, maybe next season. I suck badly at exping, reached CL 1650s in bronze and silver and 1540s in gold. I play bronze and silver on budget (about 1k gems each) and in gold I spend a lot of gems. Doing trials I can do under 2 min starting with TL 80.

[Argon]

I'll save the gems for gold too. So the dps loss isn't that bad when using MT instad of SS. Having more auto attacks due to no SS breaks and less moving around compensates for a part of the loss.

[Calin Chc]

I finished the season beating TL153 with magnetic trap and three healers on high end PC. Tried many other things, different jewelry, different gemstones, different abilities. Nothing felt more comfortable, somehow I did much worse with smoke screen. But that's just me.

[Benedicto]

I was also curious in the exp farming during ANBs. my CL averages were just 1700+, 1500+ and 1200+ for bronze, silver and gold. How'd they gain 1900+ even in gold?

[Ozymandius]

Only run trials that you can complete in 90 seconds or less. You maximize your XP earned per minute and you collect more gear drops to salvage for crafting. In Gold 6, some players were crafting Fire Lily and/or Vial of Wind Spirits at level 2 to cut down their time to reaching level 70 and thus crafting level 70 gear (one player claimed that he/she hit level 70 in 15 minutes). Unless the Devs close that down by nerfing lower level trinkets, that will become the new normal.

[Benedicto]

Last ANB gold I used lily + VoWS to clear level 70 in 11.5 minutes, but my CL total was just 1600. I'll try next event to farm at lower trials, because my average trial completion was 2.5 minutes at TL90 and 95.