Are Rangers a viable class?

[e11]

My first playthrough was as a heavily armored paladin, with Great Weapon Mastery and the Gloves of the Growling Underdog. This made for a very effective combat beast, and I'm afraid of going into a playthrough as anything less effective. I've always liked Rangers as a CONCEPT, but how well do they function in BG3?

[Mr Fred]

The gloomstalker/thief or assassin (thief if dual wielding handcrossbow) multi is a very popular build with a lots of front loaded dmg if you take the time to always start with a surprise round.

[Dork_Stalker_310]

One of my playthroughs was Gloomstlaker with 4 levels in Thief and I can confirm what Mr Fried said above - it's extremely fun and versitile way to play. I've heard Hunter is really good too. Overall, I feel like Ranger is everything I want from Rouge class, only without downsides.

[DargonBlak]

https://deltiasgaming.com/best-baldurs-gate-3-multiclass-rogue-build/

[Xrystus]

Don't be afraid to multiclass. Try this:
5 levels of ranger, two-weapon fighting get hunter subclass with the colossus slayer feature. This is for extra attack at ranger 5.
3 level of rogue, pick up thief subclass. This gives you 2 bonus actions so you can use your bonus action attack twice. (4th level for ability score increase)
This turns you into a vicious dual-wielder with 4 attacks per round, not to mention bonus action dash. Colossus slayer and sneak attack allow for solid base damage.

[Metallicus]

Ranger is one of the best 'skill monkey' classes and is the most fun for ME to play. I love the class. It might not be optimal, but it is the one that best fits my play style.

[yaerav]

If you want to go single class, then it might feel llike tough going at first, but after you, eventually, get whirlwind attack and, especially, volley, that feeling will very much change, max level pure rangers are powerhouses, especially when facing masses of enemies.

But if you want to multiclass the character, then tere are good reasons why people here were so fast to react with "gloomstalker/assassin", because that combination is really a delight to play!

[Ars Nova]

Quite literally everything is a viable class. I'm not even saying this in an elitist "git gud" manner, but you can beat the game on tactician with even the 'weakest' class. You just need to understand combat, how to analyze terrain, play situations to your advantage, and play off your classes strengths.

That said, Ranger is a perfectly viable class. Especially Beastmasters. Like most classes in 5e, they start off weak, but their summons get a lot stronger starting at level 5. Permanent Longstrider is also extremely powerful.

[The Sylvan Learning Center]

Ranger is NOT viable please don't troll the OP

[seeker1]

Play a drakewarden. Requires a mod. Very viable to have a dragon companion.

But yeah, the vanilla subclasses can be viable, too.

[Xrystus]

Originally posted by The Sylvan Learning Center:

Ranger is NOT viable please don't troll the OP

What's with you and trolls?

But in all seriousness, ranger is fine. They are extremely versatile, and should be played as such. They tend to be able to answer most situations and can fight at any range.

[MozarteanChaos]

Originally posted by The Sylvan Learning Center:

Ranger is NOT viable please don't troll the OP

your reasoning?

[Gorem]

I sort of wish they gave the Ranger actual ranged abilities. Would have been fun instead of realising that the best way to play a ranged character with ranged weapons, is to just make them a fighter again. As you get ranged trip skills that allow for advantage from all attacks also at range or range disarm.

Most ranger guides have them multiclass, as its also one of the only ways to play a thief character (to me, the weakest classes are Ranger/thief as you always multiclass, could you imagine not having an extra attack when playing as just thief?).

As it stands, going pure Ranger is making a character weaker on purpose as they fill no rolls and are weaker then just making that same character a 3 attacking stronger hitting fighter. Both in Melee combat and ranged combat. I feel it has a lot to do with ranger being too much of a Role playing class in a game where you can't do that. This is D&D without the imagination of players coming up with out of left field ideas.

At max level, the only single way to make a ranger viable is have them be a Hunter and have them use the gravity effect to bring enemies next to each other. That's it. Until you have your aoe attack at lvl11, you are unviable.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

Archery + Spike Growth is extremely OP.