Arshan
08-24-2011, 06:45 AM
First of all, this build comes from a friend of mine, the titlequoted Iccir, who actually wanted to make a decent ranger life for his completionnist toon. I dont know if he really mind if i share it, i guess it's not a secret or whatever, but it is actually a very solid build. I've been playing a blitz on my main (life 3) on Sarlona, and a couple of melee TRs, i really felt in love with that RANGER, while most of the other melees expect tempests to be "wannabe melee dps".
It's first of all a ranger, but only ranger by the name. Dont expect this toon to play like a casual tempest. This toons play like a barb, and we can compare it to the (famous : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=264744 - note : i'll try to stick to your setup in term of build presentation nick, i find it really clear and relevant for a melee build) blitz in term of playstyle.
The main goal of this build is to dps of course, but some variations on the feats can offer various possibilities, and a great versatility potential, due to the ranger line that offers many free feats... with no stats requirements. You basically takes everything which is good from tempest, and let the rest behind.
Speaking of dps, we almost necesseraly speak of huge strenght. I broke the 90 pretty easily with some buffs, and you can expect a really easy sustained 70 when tanking or other. The barbarian past life feat granting you extra bonuses on rages is something you can really rely on for this build.
True Neutral Half-Orc : 12 Ranger (Tempest II) / 6 Barbarian (Frenzy I) / 2 Fighter
Note : the + on the stats means that you can easily sustain a wee more, but i take the lowest number you can get with one of the ideal gear setup. I assume the abishai set fits very well to the build, but a combo red helm + madstone is also awesome. A mix of both works wonder too. Will speak about gear later on
On a 36 points build :
STR = 65+ [20 + 5(Lvl), 3(Tome), 6 or 7(Item) 3(Exc.), 3(enhancement), 2(Ram's might), 2(Rage Spell), 2 (Yugoloth) 14(Rage and Frenzy+HO) 2(Madstone) 2(Guild) 3 (Abishai Might)
DEX = 20+ [12 + 2(Tome), 6(Item) ]
CON = 48+ [18 +3 (Tome), 6-7(Item) 3(Exc.), 2(Rage Spell), 2 (Yugoloth) 10(Rage), 4(Madstone)]
INT = 8 [6 + 2 (Tome)]
WIS = 14 [8 + 2 Tome +6 Item]
CHA = 14 [6 +2 Tome + 6-7 Item]
Taking human instead of half orc is also an excellent choice, due to the extra feat. Feats lack is one of the weak point of the build.
You would then go for 18 str and 18 con base, and the remaining points can be slot in dexterity if you plan to rely on evasion that can actually ALMOST be decent, but i would maybe recommend to put that in charisma if you plan to use intimidate or UMD. My friend and i are running in epic marilith chain and we are GLAD to not rely on evasion for this sexy frogskin.
Since there are a lot of way to lvl this toon, i dont necesseraly recommend to follow what i'll advise next, though doing it this way was fun and rewarding.
I personnaly went for 1 ranger, then 1 barb, then full ranger until lvl 13 to have tempest II as soon as possible. The barbarian lvl was here to run quicker and to grant me the profeciency with THF weapons for lvling until lvl 12.
Then i took my 2 fighter lvls (14 and 15) to balance the lack of feats i experienced during these 12 first levels.
Then you can simply go barb until 20, and enjoy your frenzy. This way is in my opinion the most efficient, mainly because you get your TWF feats for free on the way to tempest II, allowing you to use your litII peshes as soon as you feel like it. While if you wait too much to take your ranger lvls, you may have to stay THF a little longer. SoS is good to lvl, but the 20% proc off hand on a tempest II is very sexy on litII.
Here are the feats and the orders i took these :
1 : Power Attack
2 : Dodge (note : you need 13 dext to take this feat so you'll have to take a whatever feat, eat a +1 tome and go swap feat to get dodge)
3 : Mobility
4 : Spring attack
5 : Improved Critical : Slashing
6 : Khopesh profeciency
7 : Thoughness *
8 : Berserker's fury (barbarian past life)
9 : Cleave
* Thoughness is here what i would call a remotable feat. Indeed, the build ends up with a easy 500 HP (including thoughness item and GFL) at lvl 20. So it's easy to work on 550 base with a GS HP item and some basic buffs. If you just want to go for dps, i GREATLY recommend to take quickdraw. As i said previously, the build really misses feats, so you have to make choices (human is a good way to avoid that lack of feats... though less dps). Paladin past life is also great to fit there.
My choice went for thoughness cause i plan to tank. Indeed i sit on a 620 base HP, so it's very easy to go scratch the 850, or even 900+ when well buffed (i hit once 1030 with full buffs, not sustainable at all, but that gives you an idea). With some healing amp you are really fine on horoth.
Since i heavily suck at computing to hit, hit points and stuff, i can't give your concrete values but what i've seen by myself.
Normally buffed, you can expect + 55 to hit on average, +60 on favored enemy.
For the damages, a solid +50 in general, but with some buffs you easily reach +70 +75 on favored enemy.
Saves :
Here are my base saves with +2 good luck. I let you compute by yourself how much you can get with GH and some buffs.
Fort : 34
Reflex : 22
Will : 15
Will isnt sexy at all but you know a lot of barbs with 40+ will saves ? :p Reflex can be buffed easily but i dont care at all about it, except maybe when i lead von6, you can totally have a parasitic +10 reflex saves slotted in these very particular situations.
Enhancements :
Ranger 19 AP
Favored Damage III 6AP
Tempest II 6AP
Dexterity II 6AP (it's a prerequisite for tempest II... just saying :p)
Sprint boost 1AP
Barbarian 28 AP
Extra Rage II 3AP
Extended Rage II 3AP
Power Rage II 3AP
Hardy Rage II 3AP
Power Attack II 3AP
Thoughness II 3AP
Constituation II 6AP
Frenzied Berserker I 4AP
Fighter 3 AP
Haste Boost I 1AP
Strenght I 2AP
Half Orc 24 AP
PA III 6AP
Extra Action Boost III 6 AP
Strength II 6AP
Rage str II 3AP
Racial Toughness II 3AP
Here are 74 Action Points. Feel free to take what you need with the 6 points remaining. Some brute fighting can be useful if you plan to tank. ( I had it then i dropped it cause 20% threat with claw set is WIDELY ENOUGH for any situation when you are geared). If you miss to hit, the favored enemy to hit is good too. Skill : intimidate if you want to intimi... You have plenty of choices anyway.
Skills
I'll prolly scare many people, but i didnt go for UMD. I assume that rages and madstone kinda ruin umd, and since i have all my gear, i dont need to use items requiring a lot of umd. I actually went for intimidate, that can be useful sometimes. I didnt use it so far, maybe a LR incoming ?
I would basically recommend to choose a skill or two you want to max and work on it.
Gear
Once again i'll refeer to the great blitz post by Nick Robinsonchia : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=264744. The gear setup i recommend is EXACTLY the same.
I dare a copy/paste (with a few changes.) :
Head - Epic Helm of Frost/Red Dragon helm w/ GFL
Necklace - Shintao (note : the +6 wisdom is USEFUL since it allows you to cast your spells without having to hotswap something to have enough wisdom ^^)
Trinket - Epic Bloodstone/Litany/Epic Brawn Spirit u11 (if u plan to use intimidate)
Cloak - Epic envenomed Cloak w/slotted Toughness
Goggles - Tharnes/Greensteel HP Item
Gloves - Epic Gloves of the Claw/ Epic Charged Gauntlets (if you dont plan tanking... imho the 30% healing amp on claw is too sexy to be avoided by charged but well... if u dont tank)
Belt - Ravager
Boots - Epic Boots of Corrosion /Madstone
Bracers - Epic Bracers of the Claw/Epic Scorched Bracers (why not if you want a 5 Pieces abishai set after all...)
R1 - Ravager w/ +2 exc Str
R2 - Shintao/Kensai w/ +20% Healing Amp
Body - (Epic or not, base item is awesome too) Marilith Chain/Red Dragonscale. w/slotted Luck and + 6Dex
That's it, please forgive me for the lack of accuracy in all my numbers, and also, i hope the similarity with the blitz thread wont hurt or annoy anyone. I also hope haggis, i mean Iccir, wont mind seeing me spreading the build he forced me to try (no he didnt, i was glad to try it ! and even more to play it now) since he knew it was awesome by having the same. So thanks to Iccir !
To put it in a nutshell, this ranger IS a ranger, that doesnt play at all like a casual ranger, since you are raged and hitting like a brute all the time.
It may remind you of...
http://thumbs.myopera.com/sz/colx/S-Priest/albums/98449/Minsc.png
GO FOR THE EYES BOO, GO FOR THE EYES !
Ya, this build just misses a hamster
It's first of all a ranger, but only ranger by the name. Dont expect this toon to play like a casual tempest. This toons play like a barb, and we can compare it to the (famous : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=264744 - note : i'll try to stick to your setup in term of build presentation nick, i find it really clear and relevant for a melee build) blitz in term of playstyle.
The main goal of this build is to dps of course, but some variations on the feats can offer various possibilities, and a great versatility potential, due to the ranger line that offers many free feats... with no stats requirements. You basically takes everything which is good from tempest, and let the rest behind.
Speaking of dps, we almost necesseraly speak of huge strenght. I broke the 90 pretty easily with some buffs, and you can expect a really easy sustained 70 when tanking or other. The barbarian past life feat granting you extra bonuses on rages is something you can really rely on for this build.
True Neutral Half-Orc : 12 Ranger (Tempest II) / 6 Barbarian (Frenzy I) / 2 Fighter
Note : the + on the stats means that you can easily sustain a wee more, but i take the lowest number you can get with one of the ideal gear setup. I assume the abishai set fits very well to the build, but a combo red helm + madstone is also awesome. A mix of both works wonder too. Will speak about gear later on
On a 36 points build :
STR = 65+ [20 + 5(Lvl), 3(Tome), 6 or 7(Item) 3(Exc.), 3(enhancement), 2(Ram's might), 2(Rage Spell), 2 (Yugoloth) 14(Rage and Frenzy+HO) 2(Madstone) 2(Guild) 3 (Abishai Might)
DEX = 20+ [12 + 2(Tome), 6(Item) ]
CON = 48+ [18 +3 (Tome), 6-7(Item) 3(Exc.), 2(Rage Spell), 2 (Yugoloth) 10(Rage), 4(Madstone)]
INT = 8 [6 + 2 (Tome)]
WIS = 14 [8 + 2 Tome +6 Item]
CHA = 14 [6 +2 Tome + 6-7 Item]
Taking human instead of half orc is also an excellent choice, due to the extra feat. Feats lack is one of the weak point of the build.
You would then go for 18 str and 18 con base, and the remaining points can be slot in dexterity if you plan to rely on evasion that can actually ALMOST be decent, but i would maybe recommend to put that in charisma if you plan to use intimidate or UMD. My friend and i are running in epic marilith chain and we are GLAD to not rely on evasion for this sexy frogskin.
Since there are a lot of way to lvl this toon, i dont necesseraly recommend to follow what i'll advise next, though doing it this way was fun and rewarding.
I personnaly went for 1 ranger, then 1 barb, then full ranger until lvl 13 to have tempest II as soon as possible. The barbarian lvl was here to run quicker and to grant me the profeciency with THF weapons for lvling until lvl 12.
Then i took my 2 fighter lvls (14 and 15) to balance the lack of feats i experienced during these 12 first levels.
Then you can simply go barb until 20, and enjoy your frenzy. This way is in my opinion the most efficient, mainly because you get your TWF feats for free on the way to tempest II, allowing you to use your litII peshes as soon as you feel like it. While if you wait too much to take your ranger lvls, you may have to stay THF a little longer. SoS is good to lvl, but the 20% proc off hand on a tempest II is very sexy on litII.
Here are the feats and the orders i took these :
1 : Power Attack
2 : Dodge (note : you need 13 dext to take this feat so you'll have to take a whatever feat, eat a +1 tome and go swap feat to get dodge)
3 : Mobility
4 : Spring attack
5 : Improved Critical : Slashing
6 : Khopesh profeciency
7 : Thoughness *
8 : Berserker's fury (barbarian past life)
9 : Cleave
* Thoughness is here what i would call a remotable feat. Indeed, the build ends up with a easy 500 HP (including thoughness item and GFL) at lvl 20. So it's easy to work on 550 base with a GS HP item and some basic buffs. If you just want to go for dps, i GREATLY recommend to take quickdraw. As i said previously, the build really misses feats, so you have to make choices (human is a good way to avoid that lack of feats... though less dps). Paladin past life is also great to fit there.
My choice went for thoughness cause i plan to tank. Indeed i sit on a 620 base HP, so it's very easy to go scratch the 850, or even 900+ when well buffed (i hit once 1030 with full buffs, not sustainable at all, but that gives you an idea). With some healing amp you are really fine on horoth.
Since i heavily suck at computing to hit, hit points and stuff, i can't give your concrete values but what i've seen by myself.
Normally buffed, you can expect + 55 to hit on average, +60 on favored enemy.
For the damages, a solid +50 in general, but with some buffs you easily reach +70 +75 on favored enemy.
Saves :
Here are my base saves with +2 good luck. I let you compute by yourself how much you can get with GH and some buffs.
Fort : 34
Reflex : 22
Will : 15
Will isnt sexy at all but you know a lot of barbs with 40+ will saves ? :p Reflex can be buffed easily but i dont care at all about it, except maybe when i lead von6, you can totally have a parasitic +10 reflex saves slotted in these very particular situations.
Enhancements :
Ranger 19 AP
Favored Damage III 6AP
Tempest II 6AP
Dexterity II 6AP (it's a prerequisite for tempest II... just saying :p)
Sprint boost 1AP
Barbarian 28 AP
Extra Rage II 3AP
Extended Rage II 3AP
Power Rage II 3AP
Hardy Rage II 3AP
Power Attack II 3AP
Thoughness II 3AP
Constituation II 6AP
Frenzied Berserker I 4AP
Fighter 3 AP
Haste Boost I 1AP
Strenght I 2AP
Half Orc 24 AP
PA III 6AP
Extra Action Boost III 6 AP
Strength II 6AP
Rage str II 3AP
Racial Toughness II 3AP
Here are 74 Action Points. Feel free to take what you need with the 6 points remaining. Some brute fighting can be useful if you plan to tank. ( I had it then i dropped it cause 20% threat with claw set is WIDELY ENOUGH for any situation when you are geared). If you miss to hit, the favored enemy to hit is good too. Skill : intimidate if you want to intimi... You have plenty of choices anyway.
Skills
I'll prolly scare many people, but i didnt go for UMD. I assume that rages and madstone kinda ruin umd, and since i have all my gear, i dont need to use items requiring a lot of umd. I actually went for intimidate, that can be useful sometimes. I didnt use it so far, maybe a LR incoming ?
I would basically recommend to choose a skill or two you want to max and work on it.
Gear
Once again i'll refeer to the great blitz post by Nick Robinsonchia : http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=264744. The gear setup i recommend is EXACTLY the same.
I dare a copy/paste (with a few changes.) :
Head - Epic Helm of Frost/Red Dragon helm w/ GFL
Necklace - Shintao (note : the +6 wisdom is USEFUL since it allows you to cast your spells without having to hotswap something to have enough wisdom ^^)
Trinket - Epic Bloodstone/Litany/Epic Brawn Spirit u11 (if u plan to use intimidate)
Cloak - Epic envenomed Cloak w/slotted Toughness
Goggles - Tharnes/Greensteel HP Item
Gloves - Epic Gloves of the Claw/ Epic Charged Gauntlets (if you dont plan tanking... imho the 30% healing amp on claw is too sexy to be avoided by charged but well... if u dont tank)
Belt - Ravager
Boots - Epic Boots of Corrosion /Madstone
Bracers - Epic Bracers of the Claw/Epic Scorched Bracers (why not if you want a 5 Pieces abishai set after all...)
R1 - Ravager w/ +2 exc Str
R2 - Shintao/Kensai w/ +20% Healing Amp
Body - (Epic or not, base item is awesome too) Marilith Chain/Red Dragonscale. w/slotted Luck and + 6Dex
That's it, please forgive me for the lack of accuracy in all my numbers, and also, i hope the similarity with the blitz thread wont hurt or annoy anyone. I also hope haggis, i mean Iccir, wont mind seeing me spreading the build he forced me to try (no he didnt, i was glad to try it ! and even more to play it now) since he knew it was awesome by having the same. So thanks to Iccir !
To put it in a nutshell, this ranger IS a ranger, that doesnt play at all like a casual ranger, since you are raged and hitting like a brute all the time.
It may remind you of...
http://thumbs.myopera.com/sz/colx/S-Priest/albums/98449/Minsc.png
GO FOR THE EYES BOO, GO FOR THE EYES !
Ya, this build just misses a hamster