Build advice - Elf ranged archer

[Slapphappy]

Looking to do my next TR intro a ranger. I want to primarily be shooting a longbow, but will TWF as needed. Just going to lvl 20 to TR again. Looking for some advice...

Thinking Elf for grace (dex to hit and damage) and for other enhance...
Thinking NG to use Axiomatic, anarchic, and holy arrows. (yes, I did bother to collect many, many arrows into storage over my lives )

For stats thinking..
Str - 14
Int - 8
Wis - 12
Con - 14
Dex - 20
cha - 8

For feats thinking...
(1) PB shot,
(3) WF:ranged
(6) precision
(9) IC:ranged
(12) toughness
(15) power crit
not sure what i'll take at lvl 18

Thinking pure ranger since I prefer pure builds, but not too rigidly.

Thoughts and advice?
Drop to 18 dex and go to 14 int and add a rogue level for disable/locks?
What are the trade-offs adding the monk levels to get 10K stars?
Any bows or gear I should farm before I TR?
what else should I think about?

Thanks!

[unbongwah]

Thinking NG to use Axiomatic, anarchic, and holy arrows.
You don't need to be Good-aligned to use holy arrows. Pure Good weapons have a UMD requirement.

Wis - 12
Unless you're making a monkcher, WIS is pretty much always a dump stat on rgrs.

(3) WF:ranged
(12) toughness
(15) power crit
I would skip these feats: Toughness is only worth +30 HPs by lvl 28; while WF:R+Power Crit is only a +1 to-hit +2 Seeker bonus, which is a poor ROI for two feats.

Drop to 18 dex and go to 14 int and add a rogue level for disable/locks?
https://www.ddo.com/forums/showthread.php/423116-Tempest-Trapmonkey-for-new-players

What are the trade-offs adding the monk levels to get 10K stars?
Pros: higher sustained ranged DPS thanks to alternating between Manyshot and 10K Stars.
Cons: more stat-constrained than regular rgrs (due to needing high WIS as well as other stats); can't wear armor (PRR/MRR changes make even lt armor desirable); need at least 6 monk lvls for 10K Stars, which limits your other class options.

I haven't updated it in a while, but also see my elven ranger thread.

[Armoton]

Don't know about gear, but as for bow you might want to get this from Temple of Vol in Phiarlan.

http://ddowiki.com/page/Item:Silver_Longbow

[bsquishwizzy]

Looking to do my next TR intro a ranger. I want to primarily be shooting a longbow, but will TWF as needed. Just going to lvl 20 to TR again. Looking for some advice...

Thinking Elf for grace (dex to hit and damage) and for other enhance...
Thinking NG to use Axiomatic, anarchic, and holy arrows. (yes, I did bother to collect many, many arrows into storage over my lives )

For stats thinking..
Str - 14
Int - 8
Wis - 12
Con - 14
Dex - 20
cha - 8

For feats thinking...
(1) PB shot,
(3) WF:ranged
(6) precision
(9) IC:ranged
(12) toughness
(15) power crit
not sure what i'll take at lvl 18

Thinking pure ranger since I prefer pure builds, but not too rigidly.

Thoughts and advice?
Drop to 18 dex and go to 14 int and add a rogue level for disable/locks?
What are the trade-offs adding the monk levels to get 10K stars?
Any bows or gear I should farm before I TR?
what else should I think about?

Thanks!

First, I've got an elf AA with Grace. As far as I'm concerned - max Dex and all - that's a lotta points for a whole lotta of nothin'. You run into definite issues with stuff with high AC / PRR / DR in melee. You only hope really is with a bow or weapons effects.

I also took two levels of rogue. But to be honest, it's hard to invest the points into Disable Device and Open lock to be really effective on stuff in elite. Trapping is mostly gear, but not entirely gear. So you come up short. The upside is with a max DEX, if you blow a box you have Evasion to save your skin.

I've done pure AA, A couple of barb / ranger splits, and now I'm working on a ranger / rogue. The one that didn't underwhelm me was something like Barb 11 / Ranger 8 using Occult Slayer and parts of AA and DWS. Melee was actually pretty good, the weapon bond with healing was very nice (using human with about 20% healing amp at lvl 20), and Multishot was the opening salvo for any boss I'd encounter. After that, flip to dual-wield and go to town...

But pure ranged? Not getting me all warm and fuzzy at this point. Cooldown for multishot is too long, slayer arrows help a little, but you need a rather deep spell pool for staying power. I will tell you that taking the Empowered Healing feat should be heavily considered, and you should be carrying the best Sustenance item you can get (Cannith Crafting) so that your Cure Moderate Wounds spell is as effective as possible. Likewise, healing amp is highly desired to maximize each cast.

As for bows: Silver Bow is tops. Also consider Petrifying War Bow, and Bow of Sinew. Nicked Longbow at low levels isn't bad, but also Giant's Roar for the shaken effect and the red augment slot.

If you are looking to use genuine arrows, my suggestion is load up on Slayer arrows, get a Quiver of Poison (minimum), and/or craft various +1 arrows from Cannith Crafting. I find that loading up a thin quiver with three different types of arrows makes ranged DPS a little more bearable. Plus, essence-wise, they are relatively cheap to craft. When they run out, fall back on your summoned arrows, or House D sturdy arrows.

My next try is going to be a ranger / wizzy mix (a guild-mate is considering ranger / sorc). My thought is that between ranger spells and low-level wizzy spells I'll have a lot more options than I do now. Plus, I like wizzies, so it's a little more natural for me. It should net me Blur, Flame Arrows, and a few other goodies.

[EllisDee37]

I'll be rolling up one of these after the range pass, so I've been thinking about how to build it. I'll be going with all bow, all the time, on an elf dex build pure 20 ranger. For feats I'm thinking:

01: Point Blank Shot
03: Precision
06: Dodge
09: Improved Crit: Ranged
12: Empower Healing Spell
15: Mobility
18: Quicken (or Toughness if just doing a past life)
(21: Combat Archery)

I go back and forth between Precision and Point Blank Shot for the level 1 feat. (The other taken at level 3.) There's a fair amount of undead to kill, so Precision is solid there. But +1[W] damage at level 1 is probably stronger than 25% fort bypass.

There's a surprising lack of feats worth taking for a pure longbow ranger because ranger grants so many of them for free. Rangers have enhancements to improve both dodge and mobility, so those feats seem reasonable. For me I'm thinking just take toughness at 18 since I'll be spending only a day or so in epics to max out shirardi (currently tier 3, I think) and then on to the next life.

For weapons I have a silver longbow and bow of sinew ready to go. Before 8 I'll just use crafted, probably +0 holy of bleed (ML2 w/masterful) and do most of my DR breaking with AA stances.

[EllisDee37]

My real question is, what level should I target getting dex to damage?

You can just barely squeeze it in by level 4 if you spend all 16 points in the elf tree. But that means no stances for DR breaking (eg: bludgeoning), no returning arrows (though I'll stock up on House D returners for the +3 anyway), and no self-healing with animal empathy until four levels later.

Hmmm. I guess it's easy enough to list the "killer apps" and then see what level all can be taken:

16 elf: dex to damage
11 ds: exposing shot (comes with empathic healing)
21 aa: paralyzing arrows
----
48 AP = level 12

That seems like a no-brainer to me, getting all three by level 12. What order would you take them in?

EDIT: In terms of how necessary dex to damage is, I'm considering starting with 16 str, 20 dex, 14 con, 8 int/wis/cha. So strength won't be that far behind dex for the first several levels, especially when you add in ram's might.

I'm thinking empathic healing first, then race to paralyzing arrows (taking exposing shot at level 6) by level 8, then switch to elf for four levels to get dex to damage by 12.

EDIT 2: Looking more closely at enhancements, I'm not in love with any of the tier 5s. I guess deepwood stalker to tier 5?

[unbongwah]

16 elf: dex to damage
This costs 18 APs: 15 to unlock the top tier, 2 to take Weapon Training IV, 1 to take Grace. And while you're at it, you might as well take Skill, so that's 19 APs.

My usual advice for people contemplating purely ranged pure rgrs is...don't go purely ranged. :cool: But if you're looking for things to spend your feats on other than melee feats, might I suggest the Shadow DM? Self-Displacement on a pure rgr is hella nice; and it gives you something to spend your APS on in the elf tree which are more interesting than, say, extra DEX. See my elven ranger thread.

[EllisDee37]

My usual advice for people contemplating purely ranged pure rgrs is...don't go purely ranged.As a real character, agreed, but as a flavor choice for a single past life, it should be fine...right?

[unbongwah]

Every time I try to go purely ranged on a rgr, I get frustrated by the slow ROF (outside of Manyshot, ofc) and just switch to my blades. On a monkcher, things improve significantly once you have 10K+MS, but that's obviously not an option here. I suppose if you cycle through all the special ranged atks in DWS and AA, you...have a lot of buttons to push, at least. :rolleyes: I continue to believe my INT-based HE rgr w/repeaters+Harper will be a better sustained DPS ranged rgr, at least at heroic levels. I should probably test that at some point, though...

[nibel]

Looking to do my next TR intro a ranger. I want to primarily be shooting a longbow, but will TWF as needed. Just going to lvl 20 to TR again. Looking for some advice...

As a player who loves ranged combat, and would play an archer or similar archetype in basically any game I have a chance, I will say this:

Don't play a pure archer if you intend to TR as soon as you hit 20. A pure repeater user works up to 20, but archery don't get steam until high heroics. Slaying Shot, the AA base stances (for DR breaking as needed without switching arrows/bows), improved critical, a great bow (Silver Bow, Bow of Sinew, or Unwavering Ardency for heroic levels), and 4-arrow manyshot (requires BAB 16+). I don't think I ever played a pure bow user that didn't felt too gimped until level 16-18.

Said that, I totally encourage you to try out and prove me wrong.