what to do?

[goodspeed]

Ive seen a bunch of rangers, honestly I never thought of them as any sort of dmg class. But lately more and more ive heard wrong.

Basically what's their use in a group? And no im not trying to create something from the lord of the rings lol

I've just no idea how to build one. If possible i'd like to mainly use a just a bow (or crossbow now that it looks like they're fixing repeaters in 11) When I think of a ranger I think of a dude who's main offensive dmg comes from the bowstring, not someone who whips out a couple of swords and becomes a fighter.

Not sure what an arcane archer is but if it requires sp odds are id be a pain in the ass.

So any advice on a good build? Is the class good pure or better with a splash of something? Mainly just looking to be dmg. It's quick, it's easy, don't need to look after others.. Thanks.

[Hobgoblin]

look up helves angels


hob

[k1ngp1n]

not someone who whips out a couple of swords and becomes a fighter.

Whipping out a pair of swords is at the very heart of what it is to be a ranger. In PnP you chose either TWF or Ranged and specialized in it. Both could whip out a shield and sword if needed. In DDO you get both.

[smithtj3]

If you lock yourself into bow only anymore, prepare to be ostracized by the DDO community. If you learn the tactics necessary to use a bow to good effect than you can probably keep people in your groups and raids from hating you but you aren't going to be leading the kill count unless it's Sins of Attrition or another quest that involves many monsters and narrow hallways.

I'm probably one of the few people who still plays a finesse dexed based ranged rangers at end game on Ghallanda. . . at least I don't see too many others anymore. My DPS ranks up at the top of most PUG raids and epic quests but I also two weapon fight quite and bit, albeit with rapiers. If you wanted to look at a ranger build that has garnered quite a bit of renown the 18ranger/1monk/1rogue would fit the bill.

As for the traditional (though having fallen out of favor) dexterity based finesse bow ranger, you gain a substantial bonus to hit with both bow and blade but lose a few points of damage per hit as a result. On my build, with dexterity maxed at start with level ups being divided as evenly as possible between dex and str, I hit everything up through shavarath on a 2 and above ragardless of what I'm holding. On epic content that will drop to everything on a 4 and above in some situations. My philosphy was that only hitting 18 out of 20 attacks would cost me more in the long run than doing a couple points of damage less per hit but hitting 19 out of 20 attacks.

The arcane archer PrE (or AA as it is abbreviated) is the way to go for bow damage. I was a deep wood sniper for a long time just because I didn't know what an AA could do so. The spell points necessary is about as minimal as it gets. Conjuring arrows costs nothing and grants you unlimited ammunition. The imbue capability costs around 50SP and at the final tier gives you 500 points of untyped damage on a natural 20 against ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Both the arrow conjuration and the imbue ability are timerless and will last until you rest. I'll also mention here that if you want to stress ranged combat, going 20 ranger is the only way to go due to the capstone giving you a solid boost to firing speed.

A few of the other less understood feats to the non ranger community is the improved precise shot. It allows you to shoot through theoretically unlimited adversaries assuming they are all position in a roughly linear manner. You combine this with many shot and you will accomplish one of two things, a field of carnage or a massive swarm of almost dead enemies hell bent on killing you.

If the bow is something that interests you then go for it, nothing lets a group know what's what than a bow ranger plowing through 97% of the trash on Sins of Attrition with nothing but a Lighting II bow. Represent.

If you PM me I can track down my character build for you.

[MindCake]

[...] honestly I never thought of them as any sort of dmg class.
[...]
When I think of a ranger I think of a dude who's main offensive dmg comes from the bowstring.
[...]


There's your problem. You're not only not seeing the whole picture. You're actively trying to avoid looking at the whole picture.

By the way of an analogy.
If you took a strawberry cake. And decided it's defining feature are the strawberries. Then proceeded to ignore everything but the strawberries. Which are fruit. And fruits are healthy. You could come to a misguided conclusion the strawberry cake is the healthiest snack ever, low fat, full of vitamins, only a little bit of sugar...



with level ups being divided as evenly as possible between dex and str
Any particular reason for that?

Because unless you started with over 16 STR you could drop your initial dex, boost your initial str, put all level ups into DEX, and end up with the same STR and DEX, AND have a couple more build points spare for the other abilities (or even the same, if dropping DEX by 1 would let you raise the STR by 2).

[Rydin_Dirtay]

When I think of a ranger I think of a dude who's main offensive dmg comes from the bowstring, not someone who whips out a couple of swords and becomes a fighter.

You mentioned LOTR, and that is more of a LOTR mindset about a Ranger. A geared Tempest can "bring it" pretty well with the swords. A Ranger patrols the countryside, equally deadly with sword or bow. It can be a really versatile, self-sufficient, and fun class.

[smithtj3]

Any particular reason for that?

I don't recall exactly. A. I put all level ups into Dex and I'm just not remembering correctly or B. I had every intention of putting all my level ups into dex but then I started second guessing myself after reading post after post of, "STR IS FOR WINNERS!!! If you go dex, we'll burn your house!". You bring up a good point though and I should go back and look at that.

[goodspeed]

After reading into it, ranged seems to suck after 14 when everything teleports and kicks ur ass.

So in the end it's a fighter with better bow use. Kinda sucks. Was wanting to get away from the other 3 melee classes id made.