This guide is designed to help you learn to bounty hunt to a very high skill level which should allow you to mix it up with the best in the game but remember when you accept bounties you enter the world of the pvper’s. Player verses Player combat is a challenging and involving part of the game. The best part of it is the interaction with other player’s. You will meet new people, make new friends and enemies, and hopefully earn respect through your actions.


The Basics


Pre bounty prep

Setups:
Before you start bounty hunting you will need to get yourself a pvp setup. If your just starting out then you want to get one solid setup. It is very important for a good pvp setup to be balanced. You can go with defence or armour but whatever you use you will need a healthy amount of attack and damage to back it up.
I personally prefer defence. So an example of a balanced defence setup would be 1/3 in defence, 1/3 in attack and 1/3 in damage (as close to as possible) or 40% in defence, and 30% each in attack and damage.
If your working with armor replace defence with armor.

Buffs:
There are many useful buff when bounty hunting. How useful each buff is depends on the setup your using but the following is a list of buffs I wouldn’t leave home without.

Random Protection:
Last Ditch: Chance to restore 20% of your HP
Force Shield: Chance to reduce damage taken to 1
Shockwave: Chance to make opponent miss there next attack

All Round Stat Increase:
Enchanted Weapon: Ingress to the weapons stats
Enchant Armor: Ingress to armors stats
Keen Edge: Increase to attack for each complete set you have equipped

Defence Set:
Flinch: Reduces your opponents attack
Constitution: Increases your defence

Armor Set:
Sanctuary: Increases to your armor
Terrorize: Decrease to opponents damage

Against high defence:
Dark Curse: Reduces your opponents defence

Against high armor:
Shatter armor: Chance to reduce opponent armor by 75%

Other Great buffs:
Empower: Increases chance of enchantments working
Spell breaker: Chance to randomly remove opponents buff


Accepting suitable bounties

Only accept bounties you can finish. It’s good to challenge yourself and hit above your weight class but know your limits. One of the most insulting things you can do it quit a bounty half way through. It’s frustrating for you and the person getting cleared.

When looking at targets on the bounty board you will see it shows how much experience the target has left to lose, “XP Loss Remaining”. When a bounty is new (not started) that number will end in 50. This is very important, its how bounty hunters can tell if they are first on a bounty. (e.g. / 123,450) the rest of the numbers don’t matter but the last two digits have to be 50 or it’s already underway. *note very low level bounties (under level 18) will end in 00)


Stats matchup:

If you don’t already know this, pay close attention. This is useful for every part of the game.

In order to hit my target my attack must be greater than there defence.

In order to kill my target in one hit my damage must be greater than their armour and their HP combined.

So my target cannot kill me, I must either have more defence than their attack or more armour than their damage.

So in short
Attack >> Defence
Damage >> Armour
Defence >> Attack
Armour >> Damage


Timing:

There is two minutes between bounty hits it is important to get your hit in on time. There is nothing worse than getting beaten to a bounty with just a few seconds to go.
When a new bounty comes on the board you have to accept the bounty, click on the players name, go to attack players then click to attack. This takes 10 to 15 seconds and in that time any number of players can be doing the same thing so you can never be sure you are the first to the bounty so every second counts! Don’t get lazy.
I have a slow laptop and I have found a way to counter the lag and still get my hits in at the perfect time. Work out how long it takes a page to load on your computer, mine takes 3 seconds, then click to attack that long before the two minuets is up. So I will click to attack at 1 minute and 57 seconds, that way the attack lands at the perfect time.


Advance Bounty Hunting


Gear changes:

If you really enjoy bounty hunting and want to get more involved in it you may want to invest in some different setup. These don’t have to be expensive; it can be made from items you pick up as long as you have the right stats in the right place. By having different setup it will open up the amount of bounties it is possible for you to take on, with the right gear you will be able to take out a higher level player with ease.
*note the gear can be inexpensive but you will need to add extra back pack space and for ease you will want to add quick combat set, this will make it possible to dance which we will come to later.


Suicidal setups:

A well rounded safe setup for bounty hunting will do enough attack/damage to kill an opponent while at the same time has enough defence/armour to protect yourself if you miss.
Sometimes you just want to challenge yourself and take on the biggest player you can find. There is nothing better than completing a bounty on someone much bigger than yourself. To do this it is not always possible to play it safe and often you will need to use a suicidal setup.
This will either be full attack or full damage (depending on if the target is using defence or armour). In this situation you should have enough stats to kill the player but if, first strike (enchantment), last ditch or force shield (buffs) kick in for them then you will be in trouble. If you take on a bounty like this then you should expect to lose a fair few attacks bit trust me it will all be worth it when it’s over.


Multiple bounties:

Starting to feel confident? Getting board waiting for two minutes to pass so you can attack again? Why don’t you try picking up multiple bounties at the same time? When I accept a bounty I quickly do the first hit then go straight back to the bounty board to see what else is on offer, if there are no new bounties available I will constantly refresh the page until something new arrives, all the while keeping in mind the two minutes until my next attack.

Without FS helper you can safely pick up four bounties at the same time but if you’re not already using FS helper you really should start, it is useful in every part of the game.

With FS helper. First you need to go to your preferences and close to the bottom you will find bounty hutting preferences, at the top of that box you will find “show active bounties” tick that box to enable it. From now on when you accept a bounty the name of the target and a quick link to attack them will show in the top right of the page. With this enabled you can happily accept up to seven bounties at a time, though you should work up to this because it can get very hectic if you’re not used to it.
*note when accepting multiple bounties be sure to use the best Unbreakable buff you can find.


Dancing on the Bounty Board:

Dancing is a term bounty hunters use when talking about a well contested fight on the BB. Dancing consists of both the defender and the attacker changing equipment, setups and buffs in order to get the upper hand on there opponent . For many people this is the most fun and challenging part of bounty hunting. It is unlikely you will be very successful at dancing unless you have multiple setups available and also have these setups saved for quick access in the ‘combat sets’ tab on your profile (Under Inventory) We will now look at this from both the attacked and defenders point of view.

Dancing: (attacking)

Three window approach:
When attacking a skilled, well matched, and online opponent there is only one method I would suggest. The three window approach. As the name suggest the first thing you need to do is open three windows.

One window should be set to your profile page and ready to quick change your combat set.
Another window should be open viewing your opponents profile page. This is so you can keep an eye on their setups and stats and see the moment they change their gear.
The last window should be open on the attack player page ready to attack your opponent at a moment’s notice.

Once you have your three pages setup you are ready to go. Refresh your opponents profile page, if needs be go to your profile page and quickly change your setup to beat your opponents, when you are happy you have the best setup to attack equipped quickly go to the attack player page you have open and …… ATTACK, fast.
*note, If you find a good setup to defeat your opponent, change back out of it as soon as the attack is over. Every setup can be beaten but if they don’t see what you’re using then they can’t plan a counter.

Dancing: (defending)

Two window approach:
Much like the three window attack. One window on your profile ready to quickly change your combat set. The other window is open on their profile page looking at their stats waiting for them to change. This is the least effective way of defending and only work if your opponent is very slow and changing setups

Random changes:
As the name suggest you randomly change between best setups as fast as you can. There is no guarantees using this method but it is extremely hard to attack.

Suicidal setup:
Often this will produce the most wins but I have to say this is the least fun. It is very useful if you are busy and unable to devote much attention to dancing. This method involves equipping your best suicidal setup (I like to go 70% attack 30% damage) and making sure you have the best buffs available Including the highest level Last ditch, Force shield and Empower (for first strike and dodge)

Anticipating attacks:
This is a little something I have offten do. If your bounty hunter is good and confident they will attack you every two minutes on the dot. so I use a stopwatch (found on most mobile phones) to time from the second the attack turns up on my log, that way I will know when the next attack is coming. Seconds before the attack is due to land I will change into a setup I think has the best chance of winning, the moment a log message turns up I will change back, with any luck you will get back into the original setup before the attacker even knows what’s happened.
It’s likely after winning a few attacks in this way the attacker will take his time to see what you’re doing but it is fun while it last and can be very effective if you get your timing right.



Hint and Tips


Smashing High Armor Setups:

In order to beat a player with high armor you will need more damage than there armor, right?.......er no……not true. If a player has high armor and low attack then all you need to do is get enough defence so they can’t hit you and your damage equal to 50% of their armor. In this situation they are unable to hit you apart from a lucky 2% but you will kill them if piercing strike, critical hit or shatter armor kick in. Piercing strike is very common enchantment and you will be surprised how often it kicks in.

You can even use the same method if you can only cover 25% of their armor with your damage, it will be more difficulty and you may have a few combats unresolved but the chance of sharer armor kicking in or piercing strike and critical hit activating at the same time is still more than the 2% chance they have of breaking through your defence.
*note the only buff to counter this is Savagery but it is not a common buff.


Reflection:

Did you know a level 1 player with no equipment on can defeat a level 1000 player with the best buffs and equipment? And it can be done with the use of only two buffs? These two buffs are last ditch and Reflection.

Last ditch - chance to survive death in combat.
Reflection - Enemy’s damage inflicted is added to your next combat strike.

The trick is in the way last ditch works. When last ditch activates you actually take the damage and then have 20% of your HP restored. That means all the damage they did to you will be added to your damage and be flying back at their head. This can destroy armor setup and cause some incredible upsets.
*note it does not add anything to your attack stat so if you don’t have enough attack to hit them it won’t do anything.


Dealing with deflect.

I have found from experience that Deflect will activate a lot more if you attack early, before the two minuets is up. The best way to deal with this is to only click attack once….after the two minuets are up. I suggest using a stopwatch to time your attacks on an opponent with deflect on him. This will minimise the time lost between attacks as well as giving yourself the best chance to actually land your attack.

This goes without saying but Spell Breaker can be used to remove deflect so always try and get it if you’re going for a bounty hunting session.

I often use a stopwatch when bounty hunting. I have found it’s a very accurate way of timing attacks and also when accepting multiple bounties it is useful to know how long you have to look at the bounty board before your next attack is due.


Offline setups

When you spend time pvping you will learn that most setups are venerable. High defence can be destroyed with a DC pot and I have already shown you how high armor can easily be broken. That is why the best offline set is a suicidal set. If you don’t have any friends and no one buffs you then First strike and dodge enchantments can get you some wins. If someone is willing to buff you when you show up on the bounty board then last ditch and force shield will make a suicidal offline setup extremely hard to deal with. I normally go 70% attack and 30% damage this forces most players to use an armor setup to take you on and piercing strike will get you a surprising amount of wins.


Myths About Bounty Hunting.


Should I ask the target if you can take their bounty?

No never. If you do this the chances are another bounty hunter will start it without asking by the time you have gained permission you will have already lost out.


Should I give gold back after a bounty?

It is up to you how you want to play the game but if you’re returning gold in the hopes the target won’t counter you, don’t bother. I have found from experience that the type of player that counters will counter you no matter how nice you are.


Conduct of a pvp player:

For some players there only contact with pvp players is being hit for gold every so often. This can cause people to think that pvp is only for bullies but there is actually a lot of mutual respect and unwritten codes of conduct between pvp players. No one can tell you how to play the game but here are a few hints that will save you from looking like a noob, pissing off the wrong people and embarrassing yourself and your guild.

If you have got yourself on the bounty board, good for you, enjoy your trip. By all means dance with your bounty hunter but when the bounty is completed show respect for their skill, thank them for their clear. Understand there just trying to collect some bounties like you. It is very uncalled for to counter a bounty hunter who has cleared you with 10 stam hits.

Using deflect on the bounty board will only cause more problems for you. If you have deflect you will be on the bounty board for longer and there is more chance of your bounty being started by multiple players, so you lose more experience. Deflect on the bounty board will only tinkle off your bounty hunter and don’t forget your bounty hunter is doing you a favour by giving you a fast clear. Why slow them down?