Maeve, the Marksman

Background
Along the outskirts of Artara’s human kingdoms lie lawless villages that attract the unwanted and unwelcome. Maeve grew up in such chaotic towns, fighting, stealing and doing anything necessary to survive.Though I have not known her personally very long, Kane has worked alongside her for some years. The casual manner and constant bickering between them, evidence to a close friendship. Kane tells me at age 16, concealing her identity behind a carnival mask, Maeve illegally entered the last kingdom-wide archery competition. Her goal to win a small purse and all the food she could carry. So far beyond the other competitors’ skill was hers, Daedric himself took notice and demanded an immediate audience. When authorities moved to imprison the youth for her defiance of high-law, the king intervened, conscribing her into a special division of his personal guard. An uncanny natural talent with bow and crossbow, Maeve took up arms for king Daedric. Through loyalty, determination and skill she rose through the ranks of the king’s guard securing an official title as high-courier. Out of public view, among allies and foes alike, her reputation as professional marksman, assassin, and thief are well known. This reputation is no secret to me. Nor is her nature to challenge authority and even refuse orders… or that she has a history of accepting missions of personal gain without the king’s knowledge. Her deep-seated desire for power and wealth does not evade me. Yet, I don’t hold this ambition against her. Not from one born of such hardships in these trying times. For this, when given the opportunity to return to the tower, I did not hesitate to mobilize her among my men. Maeve is a cunning and calculating opponent in battle. Kane speaks reluctantly of her hesitation to enter the battlefield, if a more profitable course of action is afforded her. But he is quick to point out, once she is committed to a fight, there is no one else he’d rather have at his side… besides myself… so he claims.

Base Stats
Being one of the two heroes you start with, Maeve begins the adventure at level 1, with 3 unassigned base stat points accrued at level 1.

Skills

Maeve's Skills



Playstyle
Maeve is a pure damage hero. Her skills let her deal damage and manage her aggro. As with most heroes, Maeve has trouble with mana generation at first, as there is the tendency to want to use skills as often as possible. Her skills do fire, air and physical damage. While she can focus on being elemental damage based she will generally be better at focusing on doing physical damage whether she focuses on her attacks or skills.

Depending on the player's playstyle, Maeve can be a highly mobile damage machine. One of her most powerful skills, Rain of Arrows, "hits" many times but for small amounts and as such benefits from having a high armor penetration. Having no inherit way to debuff defenses on targets, Maeve relies on gaining stats from gear and/or help from other heroes to maximize her damage output. Her hunter's mark is unique in that it provides a universal debuff on target's damage. While inherently fragile, she can be built to be a difficult target to reach but will still need to be defended by others.

Stats to chase
There are many ways to maximize Maeve's damage output. Depending on if you're focusing on her skills (and which ones) or focusing on her attacks (and what kind of damage, i.e. physical, elemental, void). Early game she is mana starved and getting mana recovery will go a long way. Probably most important is her weapon, as it is the single best source of either armor penetration or magic penetration depending on her damage output and is the foundation of her basic attacks. Arguably, one of the highest damage skills in the game is Rain of Arrows, and it requires maintaining a high armor penetration to keep it viable as it hits many times but for small amounts. While there are ways to have her focus on doing elemental damage the synergy of her skills doing physical damage and keeping her basic attack physical is plain. Might, Speed, Mastery, Armor and/or Magic Penetration, Mana Recovery and Critical Chance all can/have significant impact for Maeve.