Favored Enemy Enhancements

[chadj82371]

I'm just curious what are the opinions on the favored enemy enhancements? I think the damage enhancement would be a must have but was wondering about the usefulness of the "to hit," resistance, and defense enhancements. Collectively, the entire line of enhancements is a lot of AP to spend so I'm wondering if some of them are better spent elsewhere. Thoughts?

[Falco_Easts]

Well worth the cost for Attack, Damage and Defence IMHO.

[Sweyn]

Get them all, honestly, at lvl 20 with my 18/1/1 ranger, with getting all those Enhancements, all HV, ect, i still had more enhancemts left over that I didn't know what to do with. In all honestly, you DO have enough points on a ranger, and they only make your toon better

[chadj82371]

Thanks. With the current build I am working on I can fit them all except Favored Resistance III but was wondering whether people thought they were worth it.

[kingfisher]

its build specific imo, if you are an ac build then yeah go for the fe-defense, if you dont care about ac the points are better spent elsewhere like ranger devotion, elemental resistance, etc. always max fe-damage. get a couple ranks in fe-resist and fe-attack if you have the spare action points.

[kelabb]

I've often wondered whether these enhancements are worth it, or (as I always build human) are the APs better spent in Human Versatility, where the benefits are applied to ALL mobs, not just the favoured?

I have a bit of a reroll problem, I keep rerolling (or at least creating a new toon) around level 4-6 either to correct past mistakes or because I fall out of interest in the toon, or I simply get another idea. Now this means I have no experience mid game to late game to know from experience whether this question is valid or not. It really seems like a lot of AP spent to max attack, defence and resistance against what, 4 enemy types?

I've just built a ranger, so I might just put my AP where my question is and ditch the FE enhancements for HV instead and report later.

[Falco_Easts]

I've often wondered whether these enhancements are worth it, or (as I always build human) are the APs better spent in Human Versatility, where the benefits are applied to ALL mobs, not just the favoured?

I have a bit of a reroll problem, I keep rerolling (or at least creating a new toon) around level 4-6 either to correct past mistakes or because I fall out of interest in the toon, or I simply get another idea. Now this means I have no experience mid game to late game to know from experience whether this question is valid or not. It really seems like a lot of AP spent to max attack, defence and resistance against what, 4 enemy types?

I've just built a ranger, so I might just put my AP where my question is and ditch the FE enhancements for HV instead and report later.

Bonus to damage on all the time as opposed to a 20 second clickie? If you choose your FE correct, a lot of the mobs you face will fall into that category.

[kelabb]

Bonus to damage on all the time as opposed to a 20 second clickie? If you choose your FE correct, a lot of the mobs you face will fall into that category.

Good point, Falco.

So what are your FE suggestions?

[Shishizaru]

Good point, Falco.

So what are your FE suggestions?

Undead, Giant, Elemental, Constructs, Evil Outsider are pretty common picks.

Evil Outsider is the main one you want to have as they comprise a good deal of end game enemies.

[Falco_Easts]

Good point, Falco.

So what are your FE suggestions?

I generally take
1 - Reptillian (swap this out for Giant once you leave the harbour)
5 - Undead
10 - Evil Outsider
15 - Construct
20 - Elemental (good as any )

[chadj82371]

I generally take
1 - Reptillian (swap this out for Giant once you leave the harbour)
5 - Undead
10 - Evil Outsider
15 - Construct
20 - Elemental (good as any )

I'm curious, if you don't go pure ranger, which of these would you drop? My main is a Ranger 15/Rogue1 atm so I will only have 4 FE total. I think I left out Giant from your list (can't check atm) but wondered if leaving out elemental would have been a better choice?

[Falco_Easts]

I'm curious, if you don't go pure ranger, which of these would you drop? My main is a Ranger 15/Rogue1 atm so I will only have 4 FE total. I think I left out Giant from your list (can't check atm) but wondered if leaving out elemental would have been a better choice?

I would drop elemental if I could only take 4 and keep giant.

[Sweyn]

I'm curious, if you don't go pure ranger, which of these would you drop? My main is a Ranger 15/Rogue1 atm so I will only have 4 FE total. I think I left out Giant from your list (can't check atm) but wondered if leaving out elemental would have been a better choice?

Either giant or Ele, although, since a lot of elementals have un bypassible DR, i would keep ele

[Blazer]

I'm curious, if you don't go pure ranger, which of these would you drop? My main is a Ranger 15/Rogue1 atm so I will only have 4 FE total. I think I left out Giant from your list (can't check atm) but wondered if leaving out elemental would have been a better choice?

Keep elemental. Between their DR and the fact you can't crit them, the +12 damage you'll get will help bring them down that much faster. Giants class creatures are very present in much of the game, but they usually die pretty easily. Honestly, unless you want to do a lot of Necro/Abbot/SoS farming, you could ditch Undead after a certain level. You could then keep Giant if you really wanted or pick up something else entirely.

As for your enhancements, I agree with kingfisher, it depends on what your build is. If you're hitting a good AC as Sweyn is with his ranger, then points in FE: Defense are definitely worth it. If not, you can skip it. Personally, I don't invest too heavily in FE: Resistance, usually just one tier. Ditto with FE: Attack (disclaimer: my ranger is elf and uses rapiers so I value the racial to-hit more since it works on every mob, not just the FEs).

[WeiQuinn]

I usually pick up Evil Outsider since they seem to be everywhere at end-game.

I also pick up Undead, Constructs and Elements because they are Crit Immune on my multi-class Rangers.

For my 5th FE on my pure Ranger, I think I picked Aberrations.

As for the enhancements, I have2 tiers of each on all my Rangers (or will when they are the appropriate levels). I think my Strength based Ranger/Rogue/Monk will be pucking up all 4 tiers of FE: Damage.

[chadj82371]

I realize that this may be a dumb question but do the FE damage bonuses apply before the crit multiplier? I'm assuming they do but was just wanting to confirm.

On a similar note, what about bane damage (as in "x weapon of greater y bane"). From what I've noticed on the combat log it looks like that does not get multiplied but, again, just wanted to confirm. Really, this is what raised the first question for me since bane damage doesn't appear to multiply and FE damage, to me, seems sort of like the same 'type' of damage as bane damage since it only impacts a certain type of creature.

Thanks.