Skill Focus: Winnowing
Introduction
Skill Location
Skill Description
How it Works
Using the Skill
Impact
Specific Combos & Team Builds
Potential Conflicts
Summary
Introduction
Among the Ranger skills, the nature rituals which create spirits are some of the more unique spells in the game. They affect everyone within range, making them a double-edged sword which may end up helping the enemy more than your own team. However, in the right situation, these spirits can be powerful keys to your success. For this skill focus article, I'll be exploring one of these nature rituals, Winnowing.
Skill Location
This skill can be obtained by undertaking the "Into the Unknown" quest found in Augury Rock. This is an ultra-easy and quick quest, so there's no reason not to do it. Otherwise, it is available from the skill trainer Bartoch in Droknar's Forge, or later from the skill trainer in Ember Light Camp.
Skill Description
Skill Name: Winnowing
Description: Create a level 1...10 Spirit. For creatures within its range, creatures take an addition 4 damage whenever they take physical damage. This spirit dies after 30...150 seconds.
Cost: 5 energy
Activation: 5 seconds
Recharge Time: 60 seconds
Linked Attribute: Wilderness Survival
Skill Type: Nature Ritual
How it Works
Upon completing the 5 second activation, a nature spirit is created. All creatures within the spirit's range are affected by it. Players can determine if they're affected by Winnowing by the Winnowing icon that appears at the top of the screen. Whenever any creature under it's effect is hit by physical damage (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing), that creature suffers 4 extra points of damage. This equally affects all allies and enemies within range.
More on Spirits
Spirits created by ranger nature rituals are immobile creatures that appear translucent. Their health and lifespan is directly tied to the linked attribute of the ranger that invoked the ritual. The area of effect is slightly larger than twice the radius of the radar aggro circle. Spirits can die from damage dealt by enemies. If the team creates a 2nd copy of the same spirit, the original one is immediately destroyed.
Using the Skill
Winnowing takes 5 seconds to cast, so it's usually something you'll want to do before a battle, rather than during. However, there are situations where you will want to use it in the middle of combat. With it's 60 second recharge time, it's usually not a skill you'll be casting often. With a possible duration exceeding 2.5 minutes, some battles (especially in PvE) may be over before the spirit expires.
Since the skill affects both your team and your enemies equally, it may initially seem that such a balanced skill is only useful in shortening combat. However, there are a number of ways you can tip the balance to favor your team instead of your enemies. The key to making this skill effective revolves around increasing the number of physical attacks your opponents suffer and/or minimizing the number of physical attacks your team suffers while the Winnowing is in effect. There are multiple methods of doing this:
Superior Numbers
If you have more attackers dealing physical damage than your enemies have, you're team will gain a bigger advantage from Winnowing. In PvE, it is quite common for the team to outnumber a typical small group of enemies. In addition, you can increase your party size by bringing pets, or by using minions. Also, a team comprised of mostly warriors and rangers can easily outnumber the enemy physical damage dealers. Another way to achieve superior numbers is to simply wait to cast it until later in the battle after your team has eliminated enough enemies.
More Attacks
If you deal more physical attacks than your enemies do while Winnowing is in effect, you'll again have a bigger advantage from Winnowing. Methods to increase your numbers of attacks include attack speed boosts like Flurry or Frenzy, or bow attacks that fire multiple arrows like Dual Shot or Barrage. On the flip side, you can slow enemy attacks using a skill like Shadow of Fear to gain a similar advantage.
Avoid suffering physical damage
By reducing your teams chances of being affected by physical damage, you can minimize the downside of using Winnowing. Skills like Aegis, Ward Against Melee or Blurred Vision are all examples of ways you can minimize your team's chance to get hit by physical attacks, and thereby avoid the extra damage from Winnowing.
Sometimes you luck out and face a group comprised of entirely caster types where only your team gains any benefit from Winnowing. In PvE, this happens quite often against certain types of foes. For example, Breezekeepers are often encountered by themselves, and their spell casting and ranged attacks gain no benefit whatsoever from Winnowing.
Impact
Just how useful is 4 extra points of damage per physical attack? I've seen a few comments on various websites which doubted that Winnowing can really help very much. What they fail to consider is the number of attacks during the duration of the spirit, and they often overlook the multitude of ways you can turn Winnowing into a largely one-sided skill. Consider a simple 8-man team using 2 warriors and 2 rangers. For simplicity, assume the warriors attack once every 1.33 seconds and rangers get off an attack every 2 seconds. Let's also assume the ranger w/ Winnowing has only 10 ranks in Wilderness Survival (110 second duration). In the span of 110 seconds while Winnowing is active, warriors can each attack 82 times and the rangers can fire 55 bowshots each. That's a total of 274 possible attacks. Adding 4 damage per attack due to Winnowing translates into a potential for 1096 extra damage inflicted on the enemy. With more physical damage dealers and/or methods to increase attack rate, the potential goes up even further. A number of other variables including your opponent's team composition, skills, position and tactics will greatly affect how much actual damage Winnowing deals. Nevertheless, there exists a potential for a huge amount of damage over time from just a single use of Winnowing.
Specific Combos & Team Builds
Favorable Winds is another ranger spirit that adds damage, but this time only to ranged attacks. The extra damage from it stacks with Winnowing. Teams looking to maximize spike potential from ranged attacks will often bring both of these nature rituals. Typically, one ranger will bring Favorable Winds and another will bring Winnowing. This allows both spirits to be cast simultaneously at the beginning of a battle. This tactic also works when using minions with ranged attacks.
Trapper groups will often bring Winnowing along with other spirits like Quickening Zephyr and Energizing Wind. Winnowing adds some extra punch to each of the Spiked Traps and Barbed Traps that get placed.
Minion Factory is a PvP team build that relies on producing an overwhelming number of minions. With such superior numbers, Winnowing is a natural fit, allowing each of the countless minions to deal an extra 4 damage per attack. In PvE, if you find yourself teamed with a Minion Master necromancer, you can help achieve a similar effect by bringing Winnowing.
IWAY is another PvP team strategy. It revolves around having mostly warrior/rangers using "I Will Avenge You" to increase their attack speed as their pets die. With the large number of physical damage dealers and the increased attack speed, Winnowing makes a natural fit for this team.
Potential Conflicts
Since only one Winnowing spirit can be in effect for your team at any given time, and the duration is lengthy, it is best to only have one character on the team bring this skill. Otherwise, the other copies will be largely unused and waste valuable skill slots.
The damage must be a physical type to trigger winnowing, so elemental upgrades should not be used on weapons. This means that any Fiery, Icy or Shocking weapons should be left in your pack.
If your team is outside of the effect, but your enemies are within, you turn it into a one-sided effect. However, achieving this position on the battlefield is not always easy, and foes may end up close enough to the spirit to destroy it easily. Beware of suffering this exact fate against enemies that fall back to just beyond the range of the Winnowing. Their bowshots hitting your team will cause extra damage to you, but your shots at them will not. Aside from recasting a spirit, a team has no way to prematurely end the effect. The only options at that point are to move out of it's range, or suffer the consequences.
Summary
By leveraging superior numbers, faster attacks or avoiding physical damage, a team can use Winnowing to their advantage. If you are willing to spend 5 seconds of activation time, 5 energy and a slot in one of your team's skillbars for an effect that has the potential to deal 1000's of points of extra damage to your opponents, then you might want to consider bringing Winnowing.
