best kind of ranger?

[DrwHem]

most of my party is defense oriented because i feel like i survive longer that way. the only class i have none of is the ranger because in my past experiences they are very squishy. im looking for a 10th member and just wanted to get some opinions on a good synergy for my defense focus party.
Currently i have 4 tanks: 2 Destroyers, 1 Fighter, 1 Sentinel
and 5 damage based: 1 Swordmaster, 2 Breserkers, 1 Harpooner, 1 Hunter

[Hassohappa]

I like the Strategist, get several free attacks from forcing disengages is nice, it makes weapons like Lucilla more useable as well because you can weakening blow on a Destroyer to engage, then set up the swing, then force the swing with the disengage. Disengaging your units also often helps to generate more VP by re-engaging with Valorous Duel or any of the ones that require you not to be engaged to trigger.

Cutthroat looked pretty straightforward in terms of just stabbing things to death, Poisoner seemed pretty lackluster.

[" THE BLOODY-NINE "]

My strategist is indispensable. He's worth 5 other mercs combined. Also gets to go twice with 12'th level skills. So he's like 10 mercs rolled into one. Are you kidding me? Your missing out on an entire facet of the game.

[" THE BLOODY-NINE "]

Poisoner. Fun. takes out the clustered groups on the periphery. Works alone. Indispensable.

[Doom_Cookies]

Originally posted by Hassohappa:

Poisoner seemed pretty lackluster.

Poisoner is arguably the strongest of the Ranger specializations (they're all really strong, though). You can eventually build them to be able to stack 19+ stacks of poison in an AoE, and there's a legendary dagger from an arena that consumes poison stacks for massive bonus damage. The single target damage output of a poisoner with that dagger is similar to a Berserker's while also having the benefit of splashing poison around to other targets in the process.

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OP, since you have so many tanks and units that like to be Engaged, either Cutthroat or Strategist are likely to be the best routes for a Ranger in your group. Cutthroat is specialized in taking out enemies (and can chain kill them) while they're engaged, and Strategist uses their signature smokebomb to disengage all enemies in an AoE while causing your units that had them engaged to deal an Attack of Opportunity against them.

That said, Assassin also pairs well with Harpooner, since they both have mechanics that apply/interact with Bleeding. Assassin really wants to attack enemies that already have Bleeding applied. It has less synergy with your team overall than the above two, however, as their special ability does not benefit from attacking from behind/engaged targets.

Poisoner will still work for your team because it does its thing well regardless of team composition, and it can help your tanks take out engaged (and not) targets similar to the Strategist, but via Poison rather than Attacks of Opportunity. Like with Assassin, however, it doesn't have any particular synergies with your team's overall composition.

Overall, to reiterate, I believe that Cutthroat or Strategist would synergize best with your team.

[Tanaka Khan]

Assassin

[ShepherdOfCats]

I boost my poisoner's movement as much as possible (while still not completely ignoring other important stats). Usually start the battle with him. Move towards enemy, throw poison vial on a cluster of enemies, find two (or more if lucky) within range to use the ringleader's dagger I give the poisoner, then move back as much as possible to stay out of range of the enemy's movement. Also have run to disengage in case he does get tagged into melee.

Poison is so critical when you start facing those enemies with those annoying melee counters. Just keep away until they die.

[Kruppe]

Originally posted by DrwHem:

most of my party is defense oriented because i feel like i survive longer that way. the only class i have none of is the ranger because in my past experiences they are very squishy. im looking for a 10th member and just wanted to get some opinions on a good synergy for my defense focus party.
Currently i have 4 tanks: 2 Destroyers, 1 Fighter, 1 Sentinel
and 5 damage based: 1 Swordmaster, 2 Breserkers, 1 Harpooner, 1 Hunter

depends really - do you have your group of nine split into mini groups of four and five?

if so a good approach might be to set them up so one group is 'fire based' and one group is 'poison based'; if you do that then the poisoner would suit - some folks set up their mini groups by poison, bleeding, and fire - so whichever mercs you pick it's not the 'class' of the merc but setting them up with the appropriate gear, weapons, belts, oils, etc... hope that is helpful?

[n3mes1s]

Rangers are squizy sure but what do you want? they are killing machines!!! you inflict more DPS with them than half of your entire party. If they werent squizy (and no more than archers) they will be completely op!!!!

The problem is that it depens on your build. Rangers are that specialized. If your build is based on bleeding go for the assasin, if you just want a fast dps builder go for the plain cutthroat, etc. The only one i hate is the poisoner because well, poison clouds?? no thanks. I have enough already with the ones in-game. And dont forget about back-stabbing. I mean, the damage you inflict in a well made ranger, with enough critical damage from behind is tremendous if you are focusing your build on that.

[Aouregan]

I tend to use my rangers as freely operating, aka unengaged, field medics and backstabbers.
With their extra attacks from behind they can easily shred opponents (especially with the helmet that gives extra damage to poisoned opponents). Also high movement numbers are paramount.
If you select them to get valor points for ending turns next to enemies without being engaged you can totally sustain them. And them never being engaged, plus high movement, means that you can have them run to dying party members when needed and pop a first aid, preventing those guys from dying of poison or bleed on their turn.
Having one of your Rangers be a strategist is also a heaven's sent a lot of times. Got a big blob of people all engaged with each other? Pop a smoke bomb and watch your group tear the enemies apart in one turn.
If timed right, this can insta pop an enemy surrender option when needed the most.
With their (hopefully) high movement, they are also ideal to engage any pesky archers at the edge of the map, if needed, such as bombers, or so.
Skills to look out for: Either first Aid or the Sprint skill, which makes them auto disengage.

[zAcEz]

Cutthroat need a lot of VP support or sacrifice 1 oil slot for Brave oil as well as have a team to setup for him. Feels great when can chain kill 4+ enemies that are already engaged, but early game will still need at least 2 attacks by another unit to pull it off. IMHO too much effort.

Poisoner is niche, you either build your team around him or dont. Also, will need to be at least level 8 to use consistently.

Strategist is great if you are consistently get enemies to engage in a cluster. Also, he starts being effective at level 2.

Assassin is better for late game, a lot of flexibility & no need for others to setup for him.

[Cotaks]

Cutthroat all the way till you can do assasin, or just cutthroat all the way. Skill cost 2 points, this means you kill an enemy for 2 points. Keep the default dagger, and use blacksmith if you need a better one. At start equip him with a torch for 3% crit, later equip him with throwable knives, so he can kill and kill of targets that survived with like a few hp left.

First few rounds i didn't like ranger at all, now i can't without having atleast 1 in my party. And in my eyes 1 is enough, tried 2 but one is mostly afking till i can use him, but 1 ranger is a must need i would say, to good to pass on.

[" THE BLOODY-NINE "]

Is their any weapon your using for the strategist, Other than eldenguard with a torch? Incredibly effective. Does anything else even compare?

[Aouregan]

To be fair, I do tend to use the default poison daggers for my strategist (and torch). I do not use him/her that much for fighting and rather for breaking up mass fights and healing.
I really think the most use of a strategist comes from the mass disengage and opportunity attack. I need to mention that I am also not too advanced in the game as such (levels 6 or 7 is what I tend to linger around).

[" THE BLOODY-NINE "]

True. Yet I take out about 6 or more on average " squishyish " enemies with the elden and torch strike combos, heal and then smoke bomb for a few more kills.

[zAcEz]

Originally posted by " THE BLOODY-NINE ":

Is their any weapon your using for the strategist, Other than eldenguard with a torch? Incredibly effective. Does anything else even compare?

I like the Inquisition Cinqueda, lets the ranger one-shot kill elites that stack too many buffs.