When you think Hawkeye, you probably think archer. When you think strong melee hero, you probably don't think of Hawkeye. But I'm here to tell you the truth, and that is Hawkeye as an archer is a lie! That bow is for hitting people in the face! This build can be used in all sorts of end game content, and can dish out a ton of damage.

 

Build Explanation

 

This build is all about getting in an enemy's face and whacking them to death with your bow. Kickeye also has good terminal clear because he has a few good skills for clearing trash and mobs around bosses, and his dash applies a strong dot.

 

 - This is your spender/left-click attack, and more importantly IT SWINGS THE BOW IN THEIR FACE. It hits hard and has a small chance to hit even harder. You should always be using this unless you're using a cooldown power or you have to dodge an attack. 

 

 - This is not only your dash, it also applies a strong damage over time, making a good power for trash clear. Unfortunately, Ronin Lunge is not properly tagged as a dash so you don't get the extra charge from spending 150+ points in the time gem.

 

 - Thanks to the Overwhelming Force talent in the fifth row. Wave of Arrows transforms into this powerful cooldown layer that gives us a few powers for the price of one, also making it your second best aoe clear. Overwhelming Force fires trick arrows, Shrieking Arrow, and a nerve gas arrow, which are all aoe/clear powers. Thanks to the nerve gas arrow, Overwhelming Force applies a ground dot. When fighting bosses, start with this power.

 

 - This power is a decent cooldown layer, but more importantly, it provides +15% critical chance to your melee attacks. When min/maxed, thanks this 15% buff and the Can't Miss talent in the first row, your melee attacks have over 80% crit chance.

 

 - Fun little power that spews a bunch of arrows in a very short period of time.  On top of being a good cooldown layer, it's decent at clearing a line of weak enemies. Be careful when using this power against mobile enemies. It has a narrow hitbox and can easily whiff.

 

 - Very powerful cooldown layer. Thanks to the Thread the Needle talent on the third row, you will fully charge this power by tapping the button or key, no need to hold it. It also pierces through enemies in a line so it's okay trash clear too.

 

 - This power is not only a decent damage buff, but it also makes you invisible, taking aggro off you. Use this when you start combat against elites and bosses before using any other powers, then use it off cooldown.

 

 - Very large and strong aoe dot on a short cooldown thanks to the Streamlined Model talent in the fourth row. This is your best trash and mob clear power. Use it on big clumps of enemies or to start a fight against a boss.

 

If you're having trouble surviving, you can swap  for . This is a dps loss, but it's not big, no more than 5-10%.

 

Rotation

 

The rotation is pretty simple, it's mostly using powers off cooldown with a slight twist.

To start:  ->  -> -> ->  ->  -> until powers are off cooldown. The one twist is after each , you'll want to apply the dot from . If you're near a wall, it's easy, you simply dash once. However, you'll normally need to dash twice, once forward, then another back to your target. Make sure all of your other powers are on cooldown before Ronin Lunging.

 

Gear

 

As you can see, most of the uniques are not Hawkeye's, but there are substitutes for all of the gear if you don't have what's listed in this guide. There are also plenty of artifact substitutes.

 

Slot 1: With crafting, Fragment is now accessible, it's simply a matter of playtime. If you cannot craft a fragment, then  and  are good substitutes. I don't know which one is better dps, but I would recommend the Rifle because it has health.  is also good, but if you can craft a bow, you can also craft a Fragment. They're both pretty close in dps, but Fragment wins out and has a lot of ttl and survivability to boot.

 

Slot 2: Nothing beats out the raw damage rating + stats of Kraven's Vest, but Hawkeye's own  and are decent substitues. Quiver has better damage, but Serum has a lot more health, so it's really a matter of preference.

 

Slot 3: Hawkeye's own  is way too much crit rating, ranged damage, and crit damage for anything else to compete.

 

Slot 4: Almost nothing beats  for fighting + intelligence heroes, but Hawkeye's own   are decent.

 

Slot 5:  is great dps and also provides vulnerability, letting us choose a better skill than Explosive or Freeze Arrow. If you don't have one,  is fine, and there's an artifact you can use for vulnerability. Speaking of artifacts...

 

Artifacts: 

FYI, you can get an Elektra Bandana for 120 orders of the hand from the event terminal. It won't be cosmic, but Elektra Bandana/Mask is the #1 artifact slot.

 

Good substitutes:

 - This actually got very similar results to  when I tested. So similar it might be borderline identical dps. It's also a matter of reroll patience and armor drives, which means it's simply a matter of time before you can acquire a cell.

 - Use this if you do not have for the vulnerability. Replace either  or  . You can get this artifact from Dani Moonstar, the danger room vendor, so it's simply a matter of merits and reroll patience until you get one. Save up the merits and a cosmic version. It can also drop from the Sentinel wave in the Midtown patrol. 

 - The classic. Always a good dps artifact, but it's not top 4 for Hawkeye.

 - Another armor artifact. It's a matter of reroll patience and armor drives acquiring this.

 - This is a good hybrid survivability/dps choice.

 

Cosmic Artifact Affixes: DO NOT USE -10% SIGNATURE COOLDOWN. Hawkeye has a 15 second cooldown signature which lines up perfectly with Elektra Bandana/Mask's 30 second cooldown. Get +1 all attributes for dps then a combination of health, defense, deflect, and/or dodge for the other three.

Budget starter artifacts: , , , and. These are all common drops and easy to find.

 

Legendary: Nothing competes with Axe, but if you want to tank up, you can use  . For ilvl 70, use .

 

Insignia: I unfortunately don't have an Elektra, but that is the ideal insignia. Other good insignias are Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Captain America, and Taskmaster. Eric O'Grady and Falcon are decent. Any insignia that provides unconditional damage (or easy conditional damage like Falcon) is at least okay. You always want crit damage as the primary stat, but boss damage and brutal damage are both good secondary stats. If you want ttl, then health is a good secondary stat.

 

So Hawkeye can be pretty squishy before you get a Fragment so replacing  with  is fine. 

 

Infinities and Synergies

 

Infinity:

I have a little under 1200 IP. However, most pepole don't have IP this high so here's what I would prioritize.

• 0-152 IP - 38 points in Temporal Loophole in the Time Gem.
• 152-302 - 6 points in Fighting in the Soul Gem
• 302-452 - 150 points in Mental Focus in the Mind Gem
• 452-602 - 75 points in Strike Through in the Power Gem.
• 602-752 - 150 points in Potency in the Reality Gem.
• 752-802 - add the last 12 points in Temporal Loophole
• 802-826 - 1 point in each of the infusion nodes (they're on the right in each gem).
• 826+ - Intelligence in the Mind Gem. You can also invest in Mind Over Matter in the Mind Gem and/or Superhuman in the Power Gem. If nothing else, invest 6 points in each because that will get you +1% critical and brutal thanks to weird rounding errors.

 

Synergies: Beast, Ultron, and War Machine for Intelligence and Fighting, then the physical dps nodes and Blade because this build scales heavily with attack speed.

 

Videos

All videos are 1177-1179 IP.

1:21 TTK 

 

Cosmic Kurse Full Clear - 1:12

 

Cosmic Ultron - 1:49