Are pistols viable for a Ranger?

[Spritefall]

I've started a few different playthroughs of PoE, but never quite finished. I'm hoping for my next character to be the one that makes it through the whole game, plus expansions.

I was thinking of playing a ranged damage dealer that uses a pistol. I like dogs and heard that Ranger was buffed considerably since I last played, so Ranger with Wolf companion sounded cool. Unfortunately, when I was looking through White March talents I learned that their best talent was Twinned Arrows, which is obviously exclusive to bows. Is there any good reason to use a pistol?

If a pistol Ranger is no good, I'd love to hear about good alternative classes. Also, if anyone knows where to find the first decent pistol (I know about Disappointer) that would be much appreciated.

I will be playing Path of the Damned, Expert Mode Off (I like the friendlier UI), with only full NPC party members. So I won't be solo, but I won't have custom characters. Thank you.

[Wasted_46]

that might be only me but I dont think pistols are viable at all. Thing is, whatever your aim is, you will find a better class of weapons.

- lots of per-shot damage from far away: arquebus or arbalest
- medium dmg but faster: warbow or crossbow
- really fast shooting: hunting bows
- tons of weak projectiles add up for massive damage (aka. cipher gun): blunderbuss
- best ranged weapons in the game, in terms of damage: unique hunting bows or really good arquebuses
- best ranged weapons in game, in terms of enemy control: a couple unique warbows and hunting bows, or any arbalest
- best ranged weapon in game, period: Stormcaller (thats a hunting bow)

Pistols are in this weird niche where you never be like "damn I wish I had a pistol."

(btw if you enchant the disappointer to fine, the terrible prefix will disappear and you will actually get a really good gun for that stage of the game.)

[Spritefall]

Thank you Wasted_46. Is the difference between pistols and better weapons bad enough to be a liability in PotD? I like them for thematic reasons and a kind of cowboy character, but if they're really that bad I might have to go back to the drawing board.

Edit: Oh, thanks for the hint on Disappointer!

[Wasted_46]

Originally posted by SimonRed:

Thank you Wasted_46. Is the difference between pistols and better weapons bad enough to be a liability in PotD?

I'm not sure. Thing is, PoTD is not TERRIBLY hard if you know what are you doing. I usually plan my builds with the endgame bosses (adra and alpine dragon, concelhaut) in mind, so nothing but the best of the best will do for me. But I guess if you dont plan on taking them down on PoTD, then I guess pistols are okay if you party is otherwise decent.

On the other hand, I dont have too much experience with pistols and I also dont have too much experience regarding playing PoTD with the original NPCs only.
On paper they don't look too bad, it's just that I never had the urge to use a pistol instead of Borresaine or Persistence or Stormcaller or Scon Mica or Pilambo per Casítas. (those are unique ranged weapons) because they deliver in any kind of situation I might face.

(I guess the Forgiveness is pretty decent at the satge of the game where you get it)

[Spritefall]

Thank you! I really appreciate the advice. I think I will give it a try, but keep all the other unique ranged weapons I find in storage. If I'm struggling badly midgame, I will respec at the inn to one of the better weapons. Best of both worlds I hope.

[Gregorovitch]

I go bows with ranger 'cos of the speed - laying down Wounded Shot for the pet asap - and also 'cos of the Stormcaller soul weapon, it's pretty good. But mostly 'cos it just feels right for a ranger to use a bow.

Pistols have an advantage in that they are quicker to fire than arqubuses but still do the big fire arms damage which is incredibly useful against very high DR monsters. Mostly I use them as secondary weapons for, say, a paladin or a rogue, when they need to stand off in choke points etc or when I need big damage per hit to overcome high DR against something like a dragon.

[Spritefall]

I agree with bows being the iconic ranger weapon. The devs probably had the same thing in mind, looking at Twinned Arrows. My male character in Divinity: Original Sin is a Bow Ranger that talks to animals. I wanted to kind of recreate him in PoE, but with a twist. That's where the cowboy thing comes in. It's rare to find fantasy games where you get to use guns. I'm hoping for the DR penetration to make it at least worthwhile, if not entirely balanced with hunting bows. Thanks!

[Nuee]

"- tons of weak projectiles add up for massive damage (aka. cipher gun): blunderbuss"
I think range has a huge affect on the blunderbuss and its devestating up close.

I like guns in general on everyone EXCEPT my ranger for a first shot alpha strike. Then I shift my wizards to wands and Eldar to twin sabers. Leaving Kana using an arbalest and Durance with an arquebus when hes not casting spells. Kana is also defensively geared to serve as back up tank if needed to keep the squishies a bit safer.

Funny a war hammer is two handed. In medieval times I believe it was one handed much like a rock axe climbers use. Key feature was the pointy end that could punch through a helm. I think a great hammer was the two handed version.

I did read somewhere that the pistols are good as an alt for bypassing DR on high DR opponents however, although an Arquebus is as high DR bypass (probably meant for my build of Eldar who I built ruffian for dual sabers).

[Harukage]

Pistols are viable as a back up range weapons when you take ruffian weapon specialisation. Namely i mainly use them with my rogue toons and Eder in a variety of situations. Pistol also reload faster than arquebus.

[Spritefall]

Thanks everyone. I've been trying to research more on my own as well. From what I can tell using story NPCs might be even more of a viability issue than which weapon I use. I'm just nervous because I haven't gone deep into PotD before. I am thinking about having "2 + 4" custom characters to story characters like one of the guides said, as opposed to "1 + 5" like I thought. I hope I will still get a good amount of character dialogue.

[Nuee]

Have to admit the side chatter makes me laugh.

[Wasted_46]

Originally posted by Nuee:

"- tons of weak projectiles add up for massive damage (aka. cipher gun): blunderbuss"
I think range has a huge affect on the blunderbuss and its devestating up close.

could be. I never really researched this. I just know I'm doing 60-70 dmg consistently in one shot with my ciphers. They tend to be in the back row too.

Funny a war hammer is two handed. In medieval times I believe it was one handed much like a rock axe climbers use. Key feature was the pointy end that could punch through a helm. I think a great hammer was the two handed version.

warhammer is one handed.

[Gregorovitch]

Originally posted by SimonRed:

Thanks everyone. I've been trying to research more on my own as well. From what I can tell using story NPCs might be even more of a viability issue than which weapon I use. I'm just nervous because I haven't gone deep into PotD before. I am thinking about having "2 + 4" custom characters to story characters like one of the guides said, as opposed to "1 + 5" like I thought. I hope I will still get a good amount of character dialogue.

Personally I would not worry too much about that. I use exclisively story NPCs on PotD (my choice is PC barbarian, Eder, Pllegina, Sagani, Aloth and Durance) and really have no probs at all. Tactics are far more important than anything else, and so long as a character isn't totally rediculuous in terms of stats, and none of the story NPC's are even if they are not technically optimized, it's how you build them through the levels that matters.

I would go custom if I wanted to play a particular clss/build that wasn't available as an NPC to create a specific party line up I wanted to play. Not becasue I was frightened the story NPC's weren't up to snuff for PotD, 'cos they're fine for it.

[Wasted_46]

Originally posted by SimonRed:

Thanks everyone. I've been trying to research more on my own as well. From what I can tell using story NPCs might be even more of a viability issue than which weapon I use. I'm just nervous because I haven't gone deep into PotD before. I am thinking about having "2 + 4" custom characters to story characters like one of the guides said, as opposed to "1 + 5" like I thought. I hope I will still get a good amount of character dialogue.

What Gregorovitch says is true.

Anyways, if you wanna keep some of the orignal NPCs but not others, here is a littlie opinion about their viability on potd:


Edér: You can build them as an okay tank and damage dealer too. He will never be as good as a custom deathlike or orlan fighter, but there are a couple wpn+build combinations that are just OP on any fighter. Tanks are a littlie worse on potd in general, but if you want a figher tank in your party, Edér will do fine.
Durance: He is as good as priest spells are good on potd. And priest spells are pretty good. You can build him as an offtank or the dude with the arquebus, he will be mediocre at anything but hey, he's the guy with the priest spells.
Sagani: Ranged rangers are in a really good place in PoE right now. I'm sure you can make a better custom ranger as her, but you might wanna keep in mind that she is not bad at all (in fact I'd dare say shes the best ingame NPC right now)
Pallegrina: I woudnt bother. Her stats are mediocre (she's totally okay as a 2nd damage dealer on non-potd tho), and she cannot wear helmets. Paladin is a must IMO, but just build a better one from scratch.
Kana: Again, he is as good as you value a chanter on PoTD. Despite what the ingame tips say, I wouldn't tank with him at all. He is okay as the "dude with the big gun". I'm sure you could build a better chanter yourself, but stats are not terribly important on a chanter. If you value chants highly, then you will want one and that's that.
Aloth: He is good as a control wizard but not as a damage dealer one. If you want DD, build a wood elf with might. (then again if you want control, build an orlan with perception).
Hivraias: Yet again, he is as good as the druid spells are on potd. They are not very good IMO. If you cannot live without relentless storm, I guess he is okay.
Grieving Mother: She is basically the worst of the NPCs. The old version (with 17per) was a keeper, but right now you literally couldnt make a worse cipher.
Zauha: I don't have too much experience with him but I heard he is a pretty good monk.
Devil of Caroc: I dont think there is any build where you can melee her, but if your party misses a ranged rouge then I guess shes okay. Not that your party would miss a rouge if your main is a specialized ranger.

[Spritefall]

Originally posted by Gregorovitch:

I would go custom if I wanted to play a particular clss/build that wasn't available as an NPC to create a specific party line up I wanted to play. Not becasue I was frightened the story NPC's weren't up to snuff for PotD, 'cos they're fine for it.

That's good to hear. I am used to party banter and interjections from other games. I enjoyed the PoE story characters from playing up to Act II before. Thanks!

Originally posted by Wasted_46:

What Gregorovitch says is true.

Anyways, if you wanna keep some of the orignal NPCs but not others, here is a littlie opinion about their viability on potd:

Sounds great. My party will most likely be Ranger PC, Sagani, Aloth, Eder, Durance, and Pallegina. I would technically prefer Hiravias to Durance, but I'm guessing Druids cannot properly replace a Priest? Might make a Custom Priest as an alternative. No problem with Durance as a character, just trying to make a "Good" alignment kind of party.

[Nuee]

"warhammer is one handed."

Your right I must have been thinking of another game where they were not for some odd reason. Sorry for the mistatement.