Overview

The weaver is the CC class of the creeps with a series of debuffs, slows, and a single target root. 

Skills

Traits

Class Traits

Recommended Corruption Traits

Balanced:  Light mitigation, Tactical Resistance, Physical Resistance, Damage for Power, Stealth Detection Boost

Survival:  Health for Power, Health for Damage, Light Mitigation, Physical Resistance, Tactical Resistance

Tactics

[Arachnophob, Elendilmir]

• Spider vs Captain, Guardian, or Champion
  • DoT kite them. Their ranged attacks are almost non-existent, so constantly keep Tainted Bite/Kiss on them while staying out of their melee range. Accomplish this by running from them as they run from you, letting your poison DoT do all the work. Keep them stunned and webbed as much as possible, as during these times it is ok to stop running from them and auto attack them. Be especially careful when fighting champs, as they can hamstring you, making kiting rather impossible. It is ok to actually melee captains and Champs while they're stunned, just get out of melee range before the stun wears off. It is not ok to melee stunned guardians as they can just Turn the Tables on you, and stun you. Poisoning them and using TDS to bury yourself is a surefire way to get a a full DoT duration on the Captain/Champ/Guard as most of them will just wait on top of you, although coming out of the ground can be tricky as you will be in melee range and, if it's a champ you're fighting, you could possibly be subjected to a snare
• Spider vs Burglar
  • A spider has no chance of winning here, the most that can be had is a draw with the spider chasing the burg away. Use the same tactic when fighting fighting burgs, as if your fighting a hybrid between a champ and a guardian. That is, DoT kite them, don't stun them, keep away from them as they can snare you, and consequently stun you, which most likely will result in your death, and keep them webbed as much as possible. Sooner or later the burg will either HiPS and either try to go for you again, from stealth, or run away using any number of escape abilities. Also, they burglar snare is not quite melee, it can hit a target a small distance away from the burg, so give them a wide berth when fighting them. That said, it is best to just web the burg and run for it, as you will just waste both of your time, unless you or he calls for backup, at which point either you will die when the burg's buddies arrive, or the burg will escape when your friends arrive
  • No spider above rank 5 should lose to a burglar. DoT kite them and keep your distance with your speed. If they do manage to close the distance on you to DiTE, you have several opportunities to escape into range again: 1. If he does not reapply DiTE, you can play around in melee range for awhile until it wears off, then outrun him. 2. He cannot break out of roots, so you can hold him off at a distance until your DiTE wears off. Against two burgs, you should attempt to keep one rooted while you focus on the other. 3. The WtE slow should last longer than DiTE.  Kite him through it a few times before it disappears. 4. Of last resort, Trapdoor Sanctuary and wait for DiTE to wear off. If you're afraid of him stunning you when you exit the burrow, pop a Brand or speed pot. Now that your defenses are taken care of, you should focus on your offense. DoT kiting will never eventually kill a burg, unless he is being foolish. The rank 6 Hatchlings will be your primary damage source. Make sure to stack two poisons on top of it to ensure that it pops. I go with Tainted Kiss/Latent Poison, since those are most easily applied. You can also attempt to Poison Spray to get the agility debuff. Hatchlings bypasses evade, but not block, so you are capable of piercing TnG with it.
• Spider vs NPC
  • A spider has several options to deal with NPCs. Trapdoor Sanctuary works identically to the Ministrels'and hobbits' feign death skill. It will reset aggro'd NPCs, provided you are the only player on their aggro table. If there is another player keeping the NPC in combat, you will remain on the aggro table with the same amount of hate. If you have the highest hate, the NPC will attack the player directly below you until you come out of burrow: then it will jump back to you. There is an alternative method to reset NPC aggro without expending its cooldown (also possible with feign death), but it may be considered an exploit, so I will not describe it here. I will often use my Hatchlings against NPCs.  They are more efficient at damaging and tanking them than against freeps.
• Spider vs Ranger
  • The weaver has the equivalence of a LM's power drain against a troll: Hatchlings, followed by Latent Poison will drain a ranger to 1 power, provided both are not resisted/b/p/e. Furthermore, Tainted Kiss will prevent a ranger from stealthing and Entangling Webs will lower his damage output. Weavers are the best weapon to use against a ranger.

[Vyxe, Elendilmir]

From the raid leader's perspective Weavers offer some root ability and some valuable damage over time against targets trying to flee but to maximize their usefulness, thought must be given to Web the Earth.  This is a short duration AoE slow somewhat like a gimped Tar.  Because its cooldown is far longer than its duration, it must be used judiciously.  There are several possibilities in using Web the Earth to control the battle

• Freep Charge:  Use Web the Earth either in front of the charge to slow the Freeps or behind your own lines such that the creeps under attack can kite the freeps through it, slowing them down
• Preventing the Retreat:  When you think that the freeps are about to break, get weavers behind their formation in the likely retreat paths.  When the retreat occurs, Web the Earth and you'll catch a lot more freeps
• Rearguard Defense:  When inside of keeps and holding the rearguard against returning freeps on horses, Web the Earth in a tight corridor can slow down a horse charge which is trying to get upstairs to the CG room, allowing more time for the rearguard to dismount more of them 

In keep assaults, weavers are useful in subdueing dangerous melee NPCs by pulling them away from the raid then rooting them for 30 seconds while the raid deals with everything else.

[Jamers, Landroval]

Solo 101

Note: This guide assumes a rank 6 Weaver. Soloing at lower ranks is possible, but it is fairly difficult. If you are inclined to try it, it is possible to be a solo purist (no fighting next to other groups or raids) at rank 1. I recommend trying solely for the challenge and a good way to measure how much you have gained by the time you reach rank 6.

Skills Used:

• Hatchlings (HS)
• Latent Poison (LP)
• Tainted Kiss (TK)
• Smothering Webs (SW)
• Snaring Web (web)
• Entangling Webs (EW)
• Clinging Webs (CW)
• Web the Earth (WtE)
• Poison Spray (PS)

Optimal Skill Sequence:

TK --> HS --> SW --> LP --> EW/CW --> PS --> WtE

It's really that simple. Let's dissect this a little bit.

First off, we use Tainted Kiss then Hatchlings as we close in on our target. Typically you will have webbed your target (hopefully I don't have to discuss that part...) and are now closing in. The target might be still mounted, or in the process of dismounting.

As soon as possible, use Smothering Webs to knock down your target. Immediately apply Latent Poison. By using Latent Poison on a knocked down target, you are bypassing their BPE checks. Note it can still be missed or resisted.

Now, if the target is a Champion, use Entangling Webs. Otherwise use Clinging Webs to soften them up and drop their evasion. Follow either one with Poison Spray to soften them up even further.

By this point the knock down will be over, and if nothing was resisted, they will have a poison DoT on them, as well as Latent Poison and Hatchlings counting down. If the freep you are fighting is melee-based (ie, Champion, Guardian, etc.) kite them around. If the freep is potent at range (ie, Hunter, Lore-master) stick on them like white on rice while using Piercing Attack.

If Latent Poison passes its resistance checks, and both Latent Poison and Hatchlings PROC (Programmed Randomed OCurrence), and the freep does not remove any of the poisons, the freep should be stunned for 10 seconds as the Hatchlings appear and begin attacking. During this time, if you already aren't in melee range, you should quickly close to within melee range and use Piercing Attack.

As soon as the Latent Poison stun ends, drop Web the Earth so that the freep cannot out run your Hatchlings. Use your best judgement as to whether you should stay in range or kite the freep at this point.

If something goes wrong, and either Latent Poison or Hatchlings or both fail, you must make a decision of whether you think you can last until those skills are usable again. If so, use Web the Earth and kite melee freeps until you can retry those skills, or stay within melee range of ranged freeps.

This has worked well for me, and indeed, when everything works, you will be amazed at the burst damage you and your Hatchlings will have done.

[Nidor, Brandywine]

I raid and solo, so I go for a Jack of All trades build.

Corruptions:

I use a Health for Power 2, Health for Damage 2, Stealth Detect (burgs have begun to annoy me again), Physical Resist 2, Tactical Resist 2 (both of those resists help me against Burgs and LMs, which are my favorites to solo).

I switch out Stealth Detect and Light Mitigation 2 on a fairly regular basis. like Bashel noted, w/a rank 7 weaver can be running around w/41% light mitigation and Light Damage is still quite popular. Many Champs use mirrored weaps, and quite a few hunters also use Light Oil or Light based bows. Also, rangers are not quite as annoying w/that level of Light Damage mitigation since Fly True is Light based damage as well. Light Mitigation also helps you out against some of the LMs more damaging attacks and IIRC most of the Mini's damaging attacks as well. IMO Light Mitigation is a good all around corruption to use for damage type corruptions.

My Morale corruptions get me to about 5600 morale including the Class health bonus as well. If a friendly Uruk throws Imposing Presence my way, it jumps to just a little over 6k morale. I find w/pots that is adequeate for most situations.

For my Class Traits:

armor boost...must have. we are already quite squishy...need all the armor we can get

health boost....see above (plus it magnifies the boost from the corruptions)

Clinging Webs...I use this debuff a lot, need to use a class trait slot to use the skill

Enhanced Tainted Kiss & Piercing Attack...+30% & 20% damage respectively. helps soften the impact of the Health for Damage corruption trait. Big bang for the buck in terms of damage. Helps you more in solo situations than raids, so if you are more inclined to raid, you would more likely be going for more ranged damage so you could slot Enhanced TK and drop the enhanced PA and use the slot for something else.

the above is what I run with...other comments on Class Traits below:

Regeneration...pathetic amount to burn a racial trait on. You get IIRC 120 morale per minute w/the +2 regen...food is better regen and only costs you 5 silver. Might be useful if you fight in TA all the time, since you could get a +3 ICMR buff in addition to your class buff. I won't ever slot this unless they buff this one up to a decent level.

Swift Weave... some weavers use this to ensure they are able to get their webs off on charging melee types or in solo fights. IMO w/WTE you don't need to cut your web inductions. Lay down WTE and kite them....40% slow w/wte is enough for you to get enough distance between you and your prey to get off any webs you need.

Steelweave....the longer durations for Clinging webs and Entangling webs this trait gets you could be enough to slot this in place of say, enhanced PA. The snare is pretty useless though...it still breaks pretty easily, even w/Steelweave IMO. I rely on my slow (WTE) much more to keep prey nearby than my Ensnaring Webs.

Solo Strats:

Pre rank 6...very difficult. We lack significant DPS to worry a freep who is 50 and well geared. If you can make a freep worry, then they will run first. Once they run, you get to score all the unanswered damage you want on them so you are safe from defeat, it becomes a question of can you damage them enough before they reach safety. TK can be run and gunned, so spam it while you are chasing runners, you don't have to stop to use TK.

General Strats in Solo fights:

use your 1st heal pot as soon as your health falls enough for you to get the full benefit. This gives you an opportunity to use another pot after you've been fighting for 2 min...many fights I have last 2-3 min, so using a pot at the right time can make all the difference between being able to finish the fight or being forced to withdraw.

Also, if you are approaching the end of a fight, and the freep you are fighting starts to smell a possible victory they may be apt to press a situation where they may be in a weak tactical position (perhaps low on power or health as well)...then u get a heal boost and things have changed instantly and now they are severely at a disadvantage. You can now press your advantage.

I've won many fights by enticing the freep to stick to the end, getting weaker and weaker themselves then pop a heal pot and now I've got double whatever their morale is currently. By that time, it's usually too late for them to make a break for it, and you can finish the fight in a stronger position toe to toe or finish them off if they try to run.

Debuff first. I use my root to hold a freep fast until I'm able to get all my debuffs on them that I can. Debuffs don't do damage, so they don't have a chance to break the snare. Once you've debuffed them all you can, then commence damage attacks.

Use Smothering Webs to force their hand. Many of our debuffs are induction skills, and for a debuff like Poison spray, it's easier to get it on a freep if the are standing still..or kneeling still.... SW can be combined w/LP to string a couple of stuns w/in 10 seconds of each other too. When hatchlings are out, this can be quite deadly. W/o hatchlings, it still helps but the amount of DPS you pump out solo vs you along w/your 3 kids is a huge difference. However, the power drain of LP still aids your cause, especially on power hungry freep classes.

Some of this won't be applicable until you are at least rank 6, but IMO that is when Weavers come into their own as a viable solo. So IMO pre rank 6 your best strategy is to raid up to get to 6 as quickly as possible.

Raid Strats:

Hit whatever target is called out by the raid w/Clinging Webs. The debuff reduces Parry and Block by 15%, making it easier to hit them. that might make the diff between out DPS'n the incoming heals they may be getting.

Hit every burg you can w/TK. the DOT keeps them from stealthing, unless they use hips. a visible burg is annoying, and an invisible burg is dangerous. DPS down the raids targets, but frankly your dps won't be missed by the raid once you've landed a TK on them, so switch off once you've set TK on the raid target and start keeping the burgs 'honest'...lol honest burgs...as if...