Another ranger PL build: shuriken ranger

[Makkuroi]

Hi, Im planning for a ranger PL and want to reactivate some of my shuriken gear for it. I also have staves and a few shortswords in TR cache, so ill probably use these early on.

Class combination should be Ranger/Monk/Rogue, race probably drow, halfling or shadar-kai (havent bought it yet but interesting for some of my missing PLs since i like rogue). Dex based, maybe staffy at low lvls, shuriken later on. Shortswords could also be considered (ninja spy, benefit from ranger), but id have to craft some low lvl ones as I only have razorend and celestia in cache. 1-3 rogue, 3 monk and 11 ranger should be priority, last 3-5 levels could be anything, probably going 6 monk. The biggest problem here seems to be that I get IPS very late.

Any suggestions and ideas? Im ready to swap fighting style and enhancements several times if needed, but dex based is a must.

[Archangel666]

Past Life: Ranger Passive Past Life You were a Ranger in a past life. You occasionally find small animals in your backpack. Each time you acquire this feat you gain +2 damage with ranged weapons and +2 to elemental resistances. This feat can be stacked up to three times.

In DDO, a ranged weapon is a missile weapon (like a Longbow or Heavy Crossbow), but does not include Thrown Weapons.

Just an FYI.

[Makkuroi]

I know, going for completionist, though. I want to do ranger PL before Arti PL.

[unbongwah]

You may wish to consider bard instead of monk: basically trading Adv Ninja Training and 10K Stars for crit bonuses, extra doublestrike, and possibly ranged Coup de Grace. Have a look at Critzilla.

[Makkuroi]

imho advanced ninja training is what dex-based shuriken is all about... plus the monk levels help with staves early on. Swash is nice but Id have to get different gear for that. Oh, and I noticed I need 3 rogue for shadow dodge, so base would be 3 rogue 3 monk 11 ranger.

[Caprice]

Definitely consider Shadar-kai then. You're taking Rogue levels, which SDK forces you to take. You don't have great weapons ready for low levels and the build is going to mature really late, so jumping straight to 15 gets you past a lot of those makeshift levels. You have an interesting offhand choice for your shuriken at 15, since Razorend has Tendon Slice and that's one of the few weapon effects that transfers from an offhand weapon to a thrown weapon in the main hand. The Iconic Past Life isn't bad either.

If you are going to level through the epics (as required for an ITR) then I think I'd also aim for Ranger 11 / Monk 6 / Rogue 3. Unfortunately you have to pick one of

• IPS,
• Shadow Veil incorporeality & 10K Stars (& free Adept Forms), or
• Shadow Dodge

to delay to 20. Shadow Dodge is the least attractive to me personally, but since it is a requirement for you then you may want it frontloaded.

Ranger grants Rapid Shot, Precise Shot, and Improved Precise Shot, and Drow covers Shuriken Expertise, so you need IC:Thrown, Point Blank Shot, Precision, and Quick Draw to fill out the heroic throwing feats. You'll get 3 feats from Monk, the 3rd of which will be 10K Stars. You can take Precision as a Monk feat but none of the others, leaving one "Martial Art" feat open; any of Deflect Arrow, Zen Archery (for weaving in Manyshot with a bow), Dodge, Toughness, or possibly PA (if you want to mix in some meleeing) are possible. You can't take Empower Heal until you get Ranger level 8, or any other metas until Ranger level 4. Monk 6 grants Adept of Forms. With a Monk splash I'd want to fit in at least Master of Forms, and preferably Grandmaster too.

So I'm thinking leveling as Rogue at 1, Ranger 1-8 (levels 2-9), Monk 1-6 (levels 10-15), Ranger 9-11 (levels 16-18), and finish Rogue at 19-20 to make the feats fit in well. That leveling order lets you take: 1: PBS, 3: QD, 6: Quicken, 9: Empower Healing, 10: (Monk) Precision, 11: (Monk) ??? to suit, 12: IC:Thrown, 15: Master of Forms, (Monk) 10K Stars, 18: Grandmaster of Forms, 21: OC, 24: CA*, 26/27/28: ??? to suit. I like my Quickened & EmpH'd Cocoons so I've out those in, but Dodge & Mobility might be a better choice for leveling. Precise Shot is granted at level 5, IPS at level 18, you get the TWF chain at 3/7/18, and Adept of Form is granted at 15.

If you aren't doing SDK then you might not want to wait until level 11 for Evasion. Maybe something like Rogue 1-3, Monk 1-3 (lvls 4-6), Ranger 1-11 (lvls 7-17), and finishing with whatever else you want. That frontloads your Evasion, Shadow Dodge, extra throw chance with shuriken, and some of your Monk dodge and runspeed bonuses, without pushing IPS all the way to 20. I assume that you'll hold at 18 and at least you have IPS before that. You should drop Quicken & Empower Heal for this. You could take Adept of Forms at 6 (since you won't get it granted til 20). You won't have the BAB for IC:Thrown until level 10 and you can't take Master of Forms until character level 12 so you'll need to slot something else at level 9 like Dodge (or Mobility if you took Dodge at level 5 as your Monk bonus feat). If you are TRing at 20 or shortly after I'd probably skip Monk and go Ranger 12-14 for the extra core enhancement at 18 and the level 4 spell at 20.

Are you thinking of going Tier 5 DWS for all the nice ranged attacks (e.g. Sniper Shot, Aimed Shot, Merciful Shot, Leg Shot), Killer, and the Heavy Draw stance, or something else?


* TBH I actually don't like CA much for a thrower but you have the DEX and there's nothing better available for DPS.

[Caprice]

Correction: Shadar-Kai needs to pick up Shuriken Expertise as a feat. Duh. That should go in for the second Monk bonus feat.

[Makkuroi]

Thanks a lot for your ideas on leveling order and feats, this will save me a lot of work. I guess I should really buy shadar kai, it would also fit the ameliorating acrobarb and maybe even my druid build... I hope there will be a discount on iconics during holidays (please!).

Last time I did shuriken I had an elf shuriken/monkcher hybrid (12 monk 6 ranger 2 arti) build with slaying arrows and dex to damage with bows from elf. Not sure which way to go this time but sniper shot is a must have. SDK wont allow for dex to damage on bows, though, so probably going pure shuriken.

[Caprice]

FWIW I would say that Drow is better for the build in the long run but you have to level through a bunch of less effective levels. If you are just after Ranger PLs you can do either quite well I should think so if you don't want to wait for sales to buy Iconic you can do quite well in the meantime. You've made me want to roll one myself.

[Makkuroi]

FWIW I would say that Drow is better for the build in the long run but you have to level through a bunch of less effective levels. If you are just after Ranger PLs you can do either quite well I should think so if you don't want to wait for sales to buy Iconic you can do quite well in the meantime. You've made me want to roll one myself.

Its just a PL build, once im through with completionist (2016) ill probably return to staffie. I also dont have to wait for Iconics, Im just lvl 19 on my current bladeforged rogue life and I dont think Ill be 28 before christmas with my current gaming time.

[Makkuroi]

Since SDK went on sale today (turbine marketing seems to read my threads) and i got my seeds together, I just went ahead, bought it, and ITRed into the build, now 1 rogue 3 monk 11 ranger. I took some less useful feats (dodge, deflect arrows) since i can only take master of forms at 18, but otherwise im quite satisfied. Stats are like 20 dex, 14 con/int/wis, 10 str 6 cha. Maybe ill swap deflect arrows for quicken which i didnt take yet. Not fully geared yet but got the wheelon bracers (+8 dex) and triple pos GS shuriken so there shouldnt really be a problem.