Bow Wielding Ranged Damage Ranger

[havocnorm]

I agree. Plus, you really don't want to be that close to your enemy because, while you hold a bow, you get a -4 to your Armor Class when a melee swings at you. Thus, I don't see the point of Point Blank anyway. Stay as far away from your opponent and you should survive better.

For wis if you plan on using stuff in your arcane tree the wis modifier applies now just saying

[dunklezhan]

Ranged combat is pretty handy but it isn't fast or especialy devistating.

A melee combat character is just a lot better at doing damage quickly and moving through a quest.

That doesn't mean ranged combat is bad, it just doesn't fit in with the "blast through dungeons as fast as we can" kind of play style that is the bulk of high level play for the hard core players.

There are some monsters and situations where ranged combat just isn't effective and there are a lot of parties where they arn't going to play in a style that makes much use of ranged combat advantages.

I have a ranged paladin/ranger that I quite like but I spend as much time with a sword as with the bow. Fortunately with an elf it is pretty easy to specilize in bows and yet still be very good with melee weapons. He's only level 7 at the moment but he's a blast in the adventure areas and can handle those much better than many of my other characters can due to the ranged combat and general self reliance for energy resists and healing.

I can't speak to high level play, but in heroics my AA has 2 modes: solo and group.

In group, he still uses the bow, but now its paralyzing or terror arrows, depending on how the group works and whether having a feared mob bringing friends is a considered a problem (always ask!). The CC is actually far more useful in terms of a contribution. Everyone kills faster when mobs are paralyzed.

Solo play, I use my elemental imbues mostly - the DPS is pretty solid, and I'm solo so kiting and taking my time is fine.

Where it's really sweet is when you have another AA/DWS/repeater artificer/repeater mechanic in the party - then the overlapping CC/Damage just murders enemy casters and ranged so fast, leaving the melees only needing to handle the mobs that close the distance. Everyone takes less damage, everything still dies really fast.

As I said, that's heroic. Into Epic... I have no idea, I've never tried to play a ranged toon in epic, except for my current warlock, who can certainly handle EH but definitely not EE.