spice up a ranger build?

[spineduke]

I'm playing Sebille with a crossbow and while her damage is great, the gameplay is getting one dimensional (get on high ground, buff up and then shred enemies)

any ideas to add some variation to it? i need something that could work at range

[Azgardis]

Make ranger / summoner / buffer. Ofcourse, it will not so op, than standart warfare / crit archer, but it will be much more fun and flexible, especially in mixed damage party. Also his total damage with incarn will be pretty nice anyway. Every turn u will chose what to do: summon incarn and buff it, use bow to quickly shred armor and help you war / rogue / necromage, use special arrows to help your mages and make surfaces, use control arrows (knock or charm), teleport this pesky warrior to your incarnate / warrior for devastating whirlwind next turn, etc.

[KalkiKrosah]

Archer + Summoner Hybrid

The incarnate can tank some shots for you as well as provide some utility on the battlefield. Totems can do just the same. Summoning does not require you build your character a certain way either. So no need to respec. You can always just "unlearn" the summoning skills and ability levels and reallocate them later on.

[Chaoslink]

I’m surprised at all the summoner suggestions. I personally find summoning to be even more boring than the archer just shooting stuff and with such a significant skill demand, summoning would drain a lot of effectiveness from the archer side of the build. It basically is a summoner build with a bow for when the summoner gets bored.

I’d very much recommend trying an elemental archer using buffs (instead of consumables) to adapt your damage to the fights. You still spend a lot of the time just shooting, but it’s more involved as you can examine enemies to figure out their weaknesses and adapt your damage to your enemy.

[danbjp]

Archers need more cc and they'd be more fun; I use battlestomp a lot, and if an enemy loses their armour, they're on their back for the rest of the fight.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by danbjp:

Archers need more cc and they'd be more fun; I use battlestomp a lot, and if an enemy loses their armour, they're on their back for the rest of the fight.

What do you mean?

They have water + static arrow
Water + freeze arrow
steam + shock
Charm arrow
Knockdown arrow
slow arrow

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

I’m surprised at all the summoner suggestions. I personally find summoning to be even more boring than the archer just shooting stuff and with such a significant skill demand, summoning would drain a lot of effectiveness from the archer side of the build. It basically is a summoner build with a bow for when the summoner gets bored.

I’d very much recommend trying an elemental archer using buffs (instead of consumables) to adapt your damage to the fights. You still spend a lot of the time just shooting, but it’s more involved as you can examine enemies to figure out their weaknesses and adapt your damage to your enemy.

I mean, it only takes one turn to set up an incarnate. In the long run more CC, plus the utility incarnate brings to the fight. It may not be optimal but you'd get more options at least. And you wont be hindered by the usual just support summoner. Could be fun, I don't know how it would work beyond act 2 though. One more character for my list =/

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

I mean, it only takes one turn to set up an incarnate. In the long run more CC, plus the utility incarnate brings to the fight. It may not be optimal but you'd get more options at least. And you wont be hindered by the usual just support summoner. Could be fun, I don't know how it would work beyond act 2 though. One more character for my list =/

Before act two, it’s basically a summoner with a bow. To keep summoning strong, you can’t really invest anything else. After act one is over and the incarnate is turned champion, you can start building the archer part of the build, but it’ll still be weak due to the lack of investment. It really ends up being a summoner that shoots elemental arrows to create surfaces. I’d hesitate to call it an archer by that point. It works, but it’s not really spicing up the archer so much as replacing it with a summoner that uses a bow for using the consumables.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

I mean, it only takes one turn to set up an incarnate. In the long run more CC, plus the utility incarnate brings to the fight. It may not be optimal but you'd get more options at least. And you wont be hindered by the usual just support summoner. Could be fun, I don't know how it would work beyond act 2 though. One more character for my list =/

Before act two, it’s basically a summoner with a bow. To keep summoning strong, you can’t really invest anything else. After act one is over and the incarnate is turned champion, you can start building the archer part of the build, but it’ll still be weak due to the lack of investment. It really ends up being a summoner that shoots elemental arrows to create surfaces. I’d hesitate to call it an archer by that point. It works, but it’s not really spicing up the archer so much as replacing it with a summoner that uses a bow for using the consumables.

What would be spicing up an archer then?

[Chaoslink]

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

What would be spicing up an archer then?

Basically comment #4 up there. Or for anyone that's seen any of the like 14 copy pasted links to me describing the build around here... Elemental archers combo with mages can be pretty fun to mess around with. None of that spam crafted arrows nonsense, just watching as you combine a few buffs to double your damage output for a few turns and be able to wreck most enemies with a character that deals both physical and magic damage simultaneously enough to be a true hybrid damage build that doesn't have to make huge sacrifices to efficiency to do it. Fits any team, is easy to build (basically just needs a couple of skill points for a few spells) and isn't really complicated to use.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

What would be spicing up an archer then?

Basically comment #4 up there. Or for anyone that's seen any of the like 14 copy pasted links to me describing the build around here... Elemental archers combo with mages can be pretty fun to mess around with. None of that spam crafted arrows nonsense, just watching as you combine a few buffs to double your damage output for a few turns and be able to wreck most enemies with a character that deals both physical and magic damage simultaneously enough to be a true hybrid damage build that doesn't have to make huge sacrifices to efficiency to do it. Fits any team, is easy to build (basically just needs a couple of skill points for a few spells) and isn't really complicated to use.

Any other way of spicing it up?

[spineduke]

Originally posted by Godwoken Dovahkiin:

Originally posted by Chaoslink:

Basically comment #4 up there. Or for anyone that's seen any of the like 14 copy pasted links to me describing the build around here... Elemental archers combo with mages can be pretty fun to mess around with. None of that spam crafted arrows nonsense, just watching as you combine a few buffs to double your damage output for a few turns and be able to wreck most enemies with a character that deals both physical and magic damage simultaneously enough to be a true hybrid damage build that doesn't have to make huge sacrifices to efficiency to do it. Fits any team, is easy to build (basically just needs a couple of skill points for a few spells) and isn't really complicated to use.

Any other way of spicing it up?

i think its really on Larian to do something more with the ranged combat - hopefully the new Divinity game will expand on it.

[fulf]

hybridize with either pyro or geo.
explosive trap is essentially a 1ap fireball for elemental rangers.

[Beryll Argent]

Geomancer and the Torturer talent, maybe Polymorph as well.
Worm Tremor with Torturer is awesome, and both Geomancer and Polymorph can grant a lot of physical armor in conjunction.

My current main-character has most skill-points still in finesse obviously, that skill-combination along with ranged, and just enough intelligence to wear the magical armors. It's highly effective.
You could also probably add Necromancer to be able to heal yourself if you do get damaged.