Gear Plan for Leveling Your First Ranger?

[Veriss]

Leveling up my first DDO character, a type of poor man's version of the Exploiter, currently 8 rgr/1 ftr/1 rog with +STR and Tempest focus.

Some of the gear discussion in the build threads goes over my head with all the abbreviations and nicknames used so it's hard to absorb that information in a useful way.

I've been trying to stretch the usefulness of my Rogue splash and keep my spot, search, disable and unlock skills topped up as I level as well as trying to make sure that I have a +INT item on at the same time as a +Search or +Disable item to max out the benefit, also +DEX or +WIS as appropriate. Sometimes those exact pairings can be hard to find on the AH.

For example, if you have the +4 INT goggles, the +10 disable gloves can be easy to find but the +10 minute seeing rings can be a lot harder to locate for reasonable sums so you end up with the goggle version which defeats the plan. My concern is paying too much for the ring version only to find that in a couple of days a named +INT item goes somewhere else so I just wasted time and plat.

Is there a general rule of thumb for what slots are easier or smarter to acquire gear for as I work through the mid levels and prepare for the end game levels? I'm thinking that stat gear is more important and skills gear should be found to fit around the stat gear like this:

WIS = Head?
INT = Eyes?
STR = Ring1?
DEX = Ring2?
CHA = Cloak?

Which slots will be the best swap slots or is there a guide to observe? Which slots might be sort of set in stone because of the essential end game gear?

I guess I should also ask at what point will my rogue splash no longer allow me to be a trap monkey regardless of the care in gear selection and I should focus on things that help DPS and survival?

No need to be gentle, I know I'm still a newb here for now.

Veriss

[Hobgoblin]

i have a level 16 explotior build and can still get all the traps, and i dont see that changing untill maybe epic,

gear is more problmatic, i usually use a ring for my int slot, with goggles being traps/disable. my dex item are spec gloves, and i use bracers for str with a con ring and belf of gfl,

hope that helps
hob

[Propane]

Depending on the amount of skill points you have to work with - you could let open lock slip a little - Search must be kept MAX though....

[grodon9999]

i have a level 16 explotior build and can still get all the traps, and i dont see that changing untill maybe epic

I've nailed many traps in epic, if you can break a 50 Spot you'll be fine.

[Mercureal]

I have your basic build at level 20 and I can still deal with traps in every quest I find, you just need the right gear. That said, traps seem less common at the higher levels.

For rogue skill gear, search and spot are easiest to find on goggles, of course, and open locks is easiest to find on gloves. Disable comes on both gloves and goggles, but I haven't noticed it being more common on either.

For stats, Int is generally goggles, Dex is gloves or boots, Strength is gloves/belt/bracers, Con is belt/neck, Wisdom is hat or neck, and Charisma is hat or cloak.

There are exceptions to all of the above for skills and stats, of course - anything can be found on a ring, and there are named items with bonuses that fall outside the above categories.

I wouldn't worry too much about end game gear right now because, by the time you get there, if you want to change your whole setup you'll easily have the money to replace all of your skill/stat gear. You may even find yourself changing around your setup in early levels, depending on items you find or buy. There's a lot available at the clothing and jewelry vendors and on the AH. Remember that each vendor in the marketplace has a separate inventory for each instance, so there's a lot of items there to go through.

As a general rule, with regards to rogue abilities, the key gear spots to juggle are goggles and rings. Intelligence is the key stat here and isn't as key for combat as Strength/Dex/Con. I wouldn't worry too much about Wisdom, as you shouldn't have any problems spotting traps unless you really neglect your Spot skill. So, just make sure that your search and disable items don't conflict with your intelligence boost and you should be good.

A last point, you really don't need to max your open Lock skill. With items, skill boosting enhancements, Heroism, and +4 or +5 tools, plus the ability to endlessly re-roll, you can leave your skill at 6 or 7 ranks and get any lock in the game. Example:

Level 10 Character Open Lock Skill

- 7 ranks (4 at creation, plus 1 every other level up to 7)
- 6 from Thieves Tools (available at the Free Agent vendor once you have the favour)
- 5 from 20 Dex (which you should have at this point with the stat gear available)
- 1 Voice of the Master trinket from Delera's Tomb
- 2 from Heroism (potion or clickie item)
- 3 from ranger skill boost
- 7 from skill boost item

= 31 base, plus results of d20 roll
= 32-52 OL skill

Everything I listed is easily achievable by level 10, and is probably enough to open any lock you'll find in the game all the way up to level 20. And you can boost your skill several points higher without ever putting any more skill points into it.

[Veriss]

Thanks everyone, your responses help a lot.

I was embarrassed in STV hard once when we had to try every trick in the book, including fox's cunning wands, bard songs, etc. to eek out one or two more search points to finally succeed on search checks for a few traps there. I ran it the next day with better rogue gear and popped each trap first try and again on elite it went smooth as silk - was a big lesson learned.

Ever since I have been determined to avoid that embarrassment, frustration and wastage of time and goodwill by trying to keep my gear maxed for level but it can be hard to find the proper stat/skill pair ups.

I was hoping someone had divined a pattern for optimal gear slot usage but I can see it won't be that easy.

V