Anyone tried a Ranger?

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Ì was a bit thinking about it. But after Shield Maze, i don't want to be dependend on companions. The first two chapters are ok with the Pet polymorphed in to a black / blue dragon from experience.

I don't know how a Rangers dps output is compared to a wizard / lich or cleric / angel. I thought about Trickster. So you can get an Agile Bow with Arcane 2 and maybe Perception 2 for crit line. Stealth 3 so you are immune to most spells.

Alternative i would also play a melee build, but no angel or lich mythic path anymore. But melee also has to have good AC. I always can go with witch of the veil as ranger to reset fights and shoot em from far away.

Any experience with Ranger or melee builds in wotr?

[Ichthyic]

great straightforward class for this game. lots of good composite bows. demonslayer ranger is probably the absolute easiest thing to play that you can make an unfair viable build out of. and this is the first game I have seen that actually included the Ranged Cleave feat, so you become a trash mob clearer as well. Rangers are a great class in this game. and yes, trickster class is what you want for the improved improved etc crit feats. there is a bow in the game that deals multiple types of energy damage every shot... at full trickster crit + elemental barrage.... you will annihilate most things.

[Invisible]

For a archery charcter I would go for slayer, because of sneak attack. Rangers give you the "favored enemies", "study target" can give you buffs for every type of enemy.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

That bow is not that one from Kingmaker or? I mean, technically i could get it with Nature 3, but really late.

[Ichthyic]

You know what this game is missing, I suddenly realized? the ability to forge magical enhancements on top of your armor and weapons. I thought for sure when I first started that the blacksmith in CH1 was going to offer you the option at some point. surprised nobody has modded that in yet. I mean, sure, you can add anything with toybox, but it wouldn't really be hard to just mod it straight into the game so you can use a blacksmith to mod your gear.

[seeker1]

There is an arcane archer prestige class in the Pathfinder rules. It's really cool, think it goes back to 3E days, wish the game had it.

I tried out eldritch archer, the magus archetype. Pale shadow of the arcane archer. Who can do far more than just add garden variety magical bonuses. I do like the way they can "load" spells into their ranged attacks, but the implementation of that is ... meh. If I could shoot some orc with an arrow that then triggers a cone of cold hitting everybody behind him ... would be awesome ... but you can't.

If the game had an arcane archer, that would be my go-to ranged character in every party. Well, partly because they can do hail of arrows, or make arrows of slaying that can kill certain enemies that fail a save. Good stuff.

That said, there are some very nifty magic bows with some interesting unique properties, plus the magic quivers of arrows.

Oh, and answering the OP question, I've never made a ranger MC (BTW, the game has two ranger companions, if you count Delamere), but I have made - more than once - a Hunter merc for my party. I like the Hunter.

[BIG E.]

Originally posted by Invisible:

For a archery charcter I would go for slayer, because of sneak attack. Rangers give you the "favored enemies", "study target" can give you buffs for every type of enemy.

I am pretty sure Rangers have access to swift action spell "Instant enemy" which declares the enemy you cast it on as your highest AB favored enemy. So you can just stack favored enemy on a single type of enemy and you basicly have your highest AB when you need it.

You also get access to animal companion which can be extremely powerful if you plan on playing unfair.

Also if you are going Ranger melee or otherwise go trickster. Trickster is the best possible mythic path you can choose for any pure attack based DPS since you will get access to extremely strong Trickster improved critical feats(make sure you have mythic level 4 before level 13) and free wizard spellbook.

[Gorwe]

Of course! Aru is Ranger, after all. And it is ... broken OP tbh. Maybe it wouldn't be if you didn't have Sense Vitals, but you do, so it is.

[Conquista]

ranger can cast sense vitals for sneak dice

[Gorwe]

Originally posted by Conquista:

ranger can cast sense vitals for sneak dice

On TOP of a PET AND FAVORED ENEMY! It is ... oh lol, hello there!

[Cutlass Jack]

I had great fun playing a Freebooter/Thug with Menacing style. Gave me that Pirate feeling as my 'crew' cut down the enemy as they ran away in fear.

[Gorwe]

Originally posted by Cutlass Jack:

I had great fun playing a Freebooter/Thug with Menacing style. Gave me that Pirate feeling as my 'crew' cut down the enemy as they ran away in fear.

Yeah, I should know. Mine was Trickster on top of everything. Was really efficient and, eventually, fun.

[Mindeveler]

I'm not seeing a solo ranger being competitive late-game, at least on higher difficulties.
Chapters 1-2? Yes, demonslayer may pull it off thanks to the pet and kiting enemies with longstrider. I've actually thought about doing that too.
But late-game you need a ton of buffs for both AC and AB (not to mention death ward and the like), for both yourself and you pet. So you'll either have to scribe & buy a ton of scrolls or hire some spellcaster merc(s).

It should be doable if you play on normal or something like that though. Maybe even on core.

Then again, there is still an issue with skills. Ranger is neither an INT class nor a kineticist who can afford plenty of skill focuses. It will be hard to cover all the skills.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Originally posted by Mindeveler:

I'm not seeing a solo ranger being competitive late-game, at least on higher difficulties.
Chapters 1-2? Yes, demonslayer may pull it off thanks to the pet and kiting enemies with longstrider. I've actually thought about doing that too.
But late-game you need a ton of buffs for both AC and AB (not to mention death ward and the like), for both yourself and you pet. So you'll either have to scribe & buy a ton of scrolls or hire some spellcaster merc(s).

It should be doable if you play on normal or something like that though. Maybe even on core.

Then again, there is still an issue with skills. Ranger is neither an INT class nor a kineticist who can afford plenty of skill focuses. It will be hard to cover all the skills.

AC and space are the problems. With high enough persuasion, you get them shaken through persuasion 1, dazzling and shatter defense unless they are immune. But they won't let you shoot a full round, so you have always to kite em in later stages.

Something like Vital Strike is there way better combined with shrouded step, but that has other issues, because no AoE at all. Even with Arcane 2 and an Agile Bow and enough crits, the late game enemies won't really die in one round. It's a mess compared to AoE classes like Wizard or Kineticist, that have it way easier with long lasting AoE spells.

Well skill points, with int 14 i still get 6 each level, so that's not a problem.

[Mindeveler]

"unless they are immune"
that's where the problem starts.
Quite a lot of enemies are immune to shaken. At least I don't see a lot of shaken enemies even though my BFT casts frightful aspect on my pet tank/damage dealer who is always on the frontline surrounded by enemies.

Shrouded Step is such a huge cheese i vowed to avoid it.
It's compatible with most ranged/aoe builds (Victor Creed even tried Last Azlanti Solo Unfair as WotW recently, he survived until gargoyle attack on player's camp in act2) but using it, especially the way it can be done without triggering combat is...meh.

[Baldurs_Gate_2]

Is greater invis still bugged? I mean, you could just dispel true seeing / see invis with scrolls or if you have the spell, but if it's bugged, it doesn't matter, they won't be flat footed.