tips on ranged combat build pls

[HoboForEternity]

i started a new character which is a praetor with stats:

5 7 5 7 8 8

so far:

dodge 4
bow 4
etiquette 3
persuasion 4
streetwise 4
crafting 3

and others 0.

what should i do to not suck in ranged combat? my previous combat characters use melee (dagger + crits + poison + dodge for my assassin and gladius + shield + crafting for mercenary)

this is also my second hybrid diplomacy + fighting character. i keep getting killed because enemies get near me and always lose an AP because i have to keep walking away + their counter attack. it is hard to fight in enclosed space, and even at wide area, enemies keep catching up and surround me.

my previous melee characters were great and i'm already used to their general styles and strategy. ranged combat is new to me, so can i have any help?

[attiladafun]

Its all about tactics. Save some points for movement, run if you have to, use whatever advantage you can get. Even if you have to poison them then run until they die. Also choose your bow and arrows carefully. I used an early bow the whole game. The unique one you can buy.

My bow build character was the most powerful one I ever created. I was taking out anyone in 2-3 hits. If they werent champions then they died in 1.

[Asuzu]

Man, I am a bit rusty since haven't played in a while, but let me think.
The most ridiculously powerful character I made was space marine style: 1h crossbow + shield.

Starts off a bit slow, but gets rolling very quickly, eventually you have power armor and bolter and nothing can even get close to you. Ranged enemies are a joke too because shield. Killed Thor-Agoth in like 1 or 2 rounds, don't remember.

Anyway, the build was something like
str 5 (for imperial guards)
dex 10 (?)
con 4-5
per 8
int 8 (was hybrid to do as much content as possible, if u drop int you can make even more powerful char)
cha 4

I went high dex for more AP to shoot with, that's like 3-4 shots with Bolter per round, it hurts.
I think was like 3-4 crossbow 2 block 2 critical strike (was pushing critical to 4 for Teron infiltration)
Skills were sneak, crafting and alch, then pushed lore. Stopped crafting around 8 with blue steel bots.

Did all Teron stuff including infiltration.
Poison bolts are awesome.
Serious enemies like Arena champ and Zamedi demon you got to be creative, start fight without shield using bolas for insane opener or liquid fire to stop them from rushing you.

Overall when you get more crossbow skill, you just headshot everyone and they die like fruit flies.

[Shining Hector]

Been trying a ranged character, it definitely has its pros/cons. I think it might be easier to make a competent hybrid with crossbows, as you can use strength as a total dump stat with no real effect on combat (damage is not str based). You should really do dodge if so, since block is str based. I'd go with AG anyway, as Fulvio gives you a huge +15 ranged not matched by any other guild, plus you can get in with 4 str.

Crafting is also markedly less useful (and thus can be easier skipped), as you can't craft any speciality items (scoped, etc.), and can only apply 2 bonuses vs. 4 on melee weapons. If you want to use The Bolter or other specialty crossbows, crafting only helps make ammo, and then it's not as useful there, either. Since crafted ammo uses up metal never to be seen again, you're also not going to have ammo of the same metal for routine fights as you would for crafted melee weapons, and you can't craft bonuses to ammo. You also can't use sharpening stones for crossbow as far as I can tell, which further reduces crafting's utility. Upshot is you can skip crafting altogether without taking as much of a hit to combat effectiveness and put the points elsewhere.

Different ammo types are a nice option not shared with melee weapons. You can make headshots with barbed ammo to take down the dude with no helmet, then switch to piercing once he's down to take down his heavily armored buddy.

My current trial is an 4/10/6/8/8/4 assassin with hand crossbow for 2 headshot/reloads every round. Once he gets The Bolter this will become 3 headshot/reloads per round. Can shoot adjacent targets, too, so you don't have to reposition when someone closes directly next to you, which is a pretty huge benefit vs. most other ranged weapons.

[Asuzu]

Originally posted by Shining Hector:

Been trying a ranged character, it definitely has its pros/cons. I think it might be easier to make a competent hybrid with crossbows, as you can use strength as a total dump stat with no real effect on combat (damage is not str based). You should really do dodge if so, since block is str based. I'd go with AG anyway, as Fulvio gives you a huge +15 ranged not matched by any other guild, plus you can get in with 4 str.

Hmm interesting points man.

Well, I was going for egoistical ending, so that's why I sticked with IG.
You do get ranged training as IG, but very very late in the game in their main fortress.

Can actually betray AG and still go for IG too, but the ensuing fight with AG boys IS SO BRUTAL I swore never to do that again lol.
Also the power cores I get in the pass as IG always seem to matter a lot to get power armor up to snuff right away.

So I think I will try a hybrid down this road.

[Shining Hector]

You can skip the entire battle with dex >= 7 and critical strike >= 3 by chugging Carrinas' neurostimulant and assassinating the assassins in dialogue I think.

[HoboForEternity]

6 8 4 7 8 7 that's my second roll and she actually fared better than before, finished the game, mostly diplomatic way, but managed to get some fights with help of tools and alchemycal stuff. i fought the arena until the 2 ordus

finished basileos's quest and hundred swords quest. killed the thugs in the slums of madooran, killed lord senna, then helped hector, etc.