Is it possible for a Range solo build with disarm/spot/open lock?

[happypuppy]

First of all I dislike melee, I usually play caster in all the games I play.
Most people zerg or the vets know the dungeons like the back of their hand, I wish to go at my own pace and actually explore the dungeon and be surprised at what happens (ie fake chest, ambush, the medic is a spy).

So I'm looking for a build where I can solo on normal using a range Weapon, since I don't know where traps are I would like to disable them and open locks. I've read some things about range combat that is not so good but doable.
I have no problem casting spells or cc, the only problem I have is taking TWF or something like that. A Ra/Ro would be the obvious choice but most of the builds I read have TWF or some melee in it.

My dream build would be Range weapon+trap+lock and maybe if it doesn't screw my char some sort of spells or cc but I'm guessing that's too much.

So any help, suggestion, advice would be much appreciated.
Also today or tomorrow I'm becoming a VIP, while in most games I hate dungeons this game has made them exciting

[GordonAbney]

Rangers get TWF as part of their class progression (they get the best of both worlds in ranged combat AND TWF). You don't have to use it.

[Angelus_dead]

So I'm looking for a build where I can solo on normal using a range Weapon

Using a ranged weapon is a fairly bad idea. The effectiveness is very much below melee weapons.

Don't take my word for it: Try it out. Go into Collaborator and kill some cultists first with a bow and then with a greataxe. See how much slower it is? And the bow only gets worse from then on.

[elldur]

Personally I have found a ranger build to be about the most efficient for surviving in solo play. If you are not opposed to a lower strength build you may wish to consider a halfling ranger rogue. The important aspect of this build is to provide enough intelligence to keep the rogues skills up, since most players recommend only 1 level of rogue. (14 intel seems to be a minimum unless you have access to some tomes) Rogue is taken at first level, incidentally, as this is where you receive the most skill points.

It is harder to accomplish everything you need if you have not unlocked the 32 pt. build, but with a supreme tome of ability available to level 3's in the new DDO store you can now go a lot further to making a realistically viable character.(this tome adds +1 to each of your abilities) Remember also that rangers get access to divine type spells at level 4 but they need at least 11 wisdom to be allowed to choose a spell.

The important point about playing a ranger is to always have enough ammunition, and to scout the dungeon or wilderness terrains to locate good spots to shoot from in relative security. Level 6 of ranger opens up the line of enhancements that allow for specialization, but most require pre-planning from lower levels, and even creation, to ensure that you can achieve what you desire. There is a site named www.rjcyberware.com/ddo that helps to pre-plan a character. There are many threads, as well as a request-a-build thread, that might already have just the thing you are looking for; type in 'ranger build' to search. By the way, halflings get a bonus for thrown weapons and there are some darn good "returning" throwing weapons out there.

Good luck and welcome to DDO!

[happypuppy]

First thanks for saying it's not hopeless. Ok i've been doing some more reading and you suggested a Halfing.
Wouldn't it be better to choose a Drow? I get nice passive bonuses like Keen senses and Spell saves besides the stats.
With a Drow I can get my stats to look like this, took your advice about Int and Wis.

8, 16, 14, 14, 12, 14

Don't know if my Cha is low or good, also didn't knew I could cast spells as a Ranger (awesome).
About skills which are useful to max and what are secondaries for my type of build?
At first I get 40pt which I can go crazy but then I only get 8 when I go Ranger, should I dump it all on search, spot, disable device, open lock, umd. Just wondering if it's worth to max them all.

I did search the forums for build templates but it's mostly people putting down range weapons and saying TWF and WF. For now I'm not worrying about feats it's pretty straight forward for the bow damage.

Thanks

[Angelus_dead]

Wouldn't it be better to choose a Drow? I get nice passive bonuses like Keen senses and Spell saves besides the stats.

The "senses" are completely worthless and the saving throws are less than what a halfling could get.

8, 16, 14, 14, 12, 14

That's a laughably low strength. Strength should be your highest or second-highest; check out the level 1 ranger class features to see why.

I did search the forums for build templates but it's mostly people putting down range weapons and saying TWF and WF. For now I'm not worrying about feats it's pretty straight forward for the bow damage.

There's a reason everyone says ranged weapons are bad. If you won't believe popular opinion, fine, but go give it a try yourself. Test a few Korthos quests with ranged and then melee and see what happens.

For now I'm not worrying about feats it's pretty straight forward for the bow damage.

If you want bow damage you must be an elf. Not drow. There is no other choice.

[Callavan]

Using a ranged weapon is a fairly bad idea. The effectiveness is very much below melee weapons.

Don't take my word for it: Try it out. Go into Collaborator and kill some cultists first with a bow and then with a greataxe. See how much slower it is? And the bow only gets worse from then on.

Um... pardon my froobish ignorance, but could you explain exactly why you'd want to use a bow at melee range? I always thought those were for sniping...

[Bosco]

First of all I dislike melee, I usually play caster in all the games I play.
Most people zerg or the vets know the dungeons like the back of their hand, I wish to go at my own pace and actually explore the dungeon and be surprised at what happens (ie fake chest, ambush, the medic is a spy).

So I'm looking for a build where I can solo on normal using a range Weapon, since I don't know where traps are I would like to disable them and open locks. I've read some things about range combat that is not so good but doable.
I have no problem casting spells or cc, the only problem I have is taking TWF or something like that. A Ra/Ro would be the obvious choice but most of the builds I read have TWF or some melee in it.

My dream build would be Range weapon+trap+lock and maybe if it doesn't screw my char some sort of spells or cc but I'm guessing that's too much.

So any help, suggestion, advice would be much appreciated.
Also today or tomorrow I'm becoming a VIP, while in most games I hate dungeons this game has made them exciting

My suggestion is a real high dex heavy or light repeater rogue with a fearsome robe so you can reverse kite them when you get hit. It will be painfully slow to take down a lot of the mobs after level 5 or so but you can do it.

Get your umd up so you can use wands and scrolls. Not my cup of tea but it may work. Adding maybe six levels of fighter into the equation may help. It would get the one rank of kensei so you can specialize in the wep and to damage and free up some feats. Then again 18 levels of rogue might get you the vorpal attacks, aka insta kill, this may work but not sure if range applies to assassin 3 or not.

[Angelus_dead]

Um... pardon my froobish ignorance, but could you explain exactly why you'd want to use a bow at melee range?

What makes you ask that?

I always thought those were for sniping...

DDO isn't a sniping game. I've heard TF2 is good for that...

[Beld]

doable, but you will need to keep your eyes out for a decent bow as your progress. And you will need to melee sometimes, when enemies are in melee range and you have your bow out backing up, you are easier to hit and take more damage (I think, not 100% sure tho, maybe some more veteran player knows). But my ranger is TWF specc'd and built and he can still own with a bow from the right locations/situations.

P.S. Once you get Manyshot at Ranger lvl 7, for 20 seconds every 2 min, you can rain death from above

[happypuppy]

@Angelus_dead
Yeah I know melee is superior but I still want use a strictly range build, it's my playstyle. Not a melee type of guy but I don't know if you are really reading what I'm typing.

doable, but you will need to keep your eyes out for a decent bow as your progress. And you will need to melee sometimes, when enemies are in melee range and you have your bow out backing up, you are easier to hit and take more damage (I think, not 100% sure tho, maybe some more veteran player knows). But my ranger is TWF specc'd and built and he can still own with a bow from the right locations/situations.

P.S. Once you get Manyshot at Ranger lvl 7, for 20 seconds every 2 min, you can rain death from above

Well ok that's something nice to hear, I will still try to avoid melee but if it really calls for it I will show them my swords

[Callavan]

What makes you ask that?


DDO isn't a sniping game. I've heard TF2 is good for that...

What makes me ask that is that bows aren't a melee weapon and you're suggesting that someone try them out in a melee situation. That seems rather silly to me. So I asked why you'd want to do it. Come to think of it, why would you even suggest it?

Never played TF2, though I'd have assumed they eschew bows in favor of deadlier and more accurate weapons. I *have* come across plenty of sniping situations in DDO, though. That's what I use bows for. I certainly don't whip them out in a sword fight... unless I click the wrong button by mistake. lol

[isldur]

The "senses" are completely worthless and the saving throws are less than what a halfling could get.


That's a laughably low strength. Strength should be your highest or second-highest; check out the level 1 ranger class features to see why.


There's a reason everyone says ranged weapons are bad. If you won't believe popular opinion, fine, but go give it a try yourself. Test a few Korthos quests with ranged and then melee and see what happens.


If you want bow damage you must be an elf. Not drow. There is no other choice.

Your kind of a dink aren't you.




OP
You will rule with a good bow early. It will become less useful as you level, tho not quite as bad as some think. Especially if you use sneak and hide in shadow ect. Charisma will be your dump stat. You get the use of healing wands and spells as you level as a ranger.

You should put the bow away if things get close as you will receive -4 to ac when a mob is in melee with you.

Get the silver bow from the vampire quest or off the auction house as soon as you reach level 6.
Enjoy the game.

[Uska]

Ranged is sadly to gimped for you to truly count on it as your primary damage solo or even grouped most of the time, you can use it to soften mobs some what or even kill some but you will always be better off doing melee this is sad but true.

[Angelus_dead]

What makes me ask that is that bows aren't a melee weapon and you're suggesting that someone try them out in a melee situation.

Nope: I told him to try it in a quest situation. Fighting monsters indoors is what this game is about. I could have picked Misery's Peak or Baudry Cartomon or anything. Actually, Baudry is a really good demonstration! He should try it too... but I chose Collab because a new character can reach it very soon.

If you say that Collaborator is a "melee situation", then you'd have to apply that description to most of DDO's combat.

Never played TF2, though I'd have assumed they eschew bows in favor of deadlier and more accurate weapons.

Not so much.

That's what I use bows for. I certainly don't whip them out in a sword fight...

Clearly you've missed the subject of this thread. It concerns a player who hopes to use a bow for the large majority of his combat encounters.

[Angelus_dead]

Your kind of a dink aren't you.

Your kind of a troll aren't you.

[isldur]

Your kind of a troll aren't you.

Please explain why I'm a troll

[Brennie]

While I'm also on the "Bows Stink" from personal experience, you can easily acheive the build you are looking for.

Start 1 level of rogue, and then follow up with a multitude of levels in ranger. Elves will excel here due to their racial enhancements to bows.

Charisma is your dump stat, useful only for UMD. Strength, on the other hand, gets applied to your bows attacks thanks to ranger "Bow Strength" feat at first level. An 8 strength would give you -1 damage to bow attacks regardless of being ranger or not. Max dex (or if points are tight, let it sit at 18 or 19), get 14 int, and then dole out the rest into strength and con. Eventually you will want to be able to acheive 14 wisdom, but you will only need 11 (INCLUDING ITEMS!) by level 4. You can easily pick up a +1 wisdom item to get that, if you start with 10 wisdom.

You *will* need to max out your Spot, Search, and Disable. Just for the sake of roundness, you will also likely want to max out Open Lock. Hide and Move Silenty are very optional for group play (Where most of your sneak attacks come from simply not being the target), but in solo play you will also want those maxed.

Invest in Ranger Skill Boost in order to take out tricky search and disable checks in harder (or elite) dungeons. Rangers get poor "action boosts", so you might want to snag rogue haste boost or damage boost enhancement. Obviously, pick up your racial and ranger dex, and elven bow mastery enhancements. Eventually, you will most definatly want to get Arcane Archer enhancements, so look those up in the compendium and see what pre-reqs you need to take care of.

Because Ranger takes care of your feats, you have some wiggle room there. Point Blank shot, shot on the run, Weapon Focus: Ranged, Improved Critical: Ranged are all good things to look out for.

Another completely different route is to pick up a Heavy Repeating Crossbow. They do great damage, but do not benefit from elven bow enhancements, Arcane Archer enhancements, or some of the ranged feats (Manyshot, for example). They also require spending a feat to gain profeciency.

And one last thing: remember that you must be within 10 paces (Give or take) in order to qualify for sneak attack damage with a ranged weapon!

[Vahyor]

I rolled a pure ranged character just to try something different. I can say that it is extremely slow getting through a quest compared to your standard melee build, but if you're not in it just to rush to cap it can be very fun. You will also be very survivable and use very little in the way of resources (Tangleroot elite solo @ level 5 without suffering a single point of damage) if you play it smart.

Just make sure that if you ever plan on grouping even a little, that you have a decent set of melee weapons to use, because groups won't be happy to have you in the back with a bow all the time.

[Callavan]

Nope: I told him to try it in a quest situation. Fighting monsters indoors is what this game is about. I could have picked Misery's Peak or Baudry Cartomon or anything. Actually, Baudry is a really good demonstration! He should try it too... but I chose Collab because a new character can reach it very soon.

If you say that Collaborator is a "melee situation", then you'd have to apply that description to most of DDO's combat.


Not so much.


Clearly you've missed the subject of this thread. It concerns a player who hopes to use a bow for the large majority of his combat encounters.

Collaborator is most assuredly a melee situation. You're locked in a room full of cultists and not much of a chance for kiting them in a straight line long enough to make good. That does not describe a quest like Misery's Peak, where you've got long lines of sight and plenty of room to line up your shots and knock 'em down. Two entirely different situations.

The subject of this thread doesn't say anything about locking yourself into close combat and whipping out your ranged weapons. The OP begins with the words "I dislike melee..." In light of that, your suggestion to test ranged combat by starting a quest in which you're locked in a room to fight a bunch of close combat seemed pretty ridiculous to me.

I'm not entirely sure I'm the one who missed the point there, given the OP. He said he wants to be able to USE a ranged weapons, not that he plans to hack his way through rooms full of melee opponents with a bow like a simpleton. I assumed he has the power to tell when ranged combat just won't cut it.

If I assumed wrong, I apologize, and in that case I'd advise the OP that while ranged combat is a lot of fun to set up, it definitely pays to have a good sword handy, cause you're going to have to drop the bow and go hand-to-hand quite often. Yes, there's a lot of melee combat in DDO, but just because dungeons happen to be indoors doesn't mean there aren't any good bowfights to be picked. My rogue has had very good results sneaking up on kobolds that happen to be standing downrange in long corridors...

tflol