The Tempest Ranger, by Illuminati

[Osharan_Tregarth]

It is one of the best build for soloing. Especially after 9th with evasion. The only problem that I run into is will power saves. Keep getting held now that the fragment of the silver flames is nerfed. With only a 7 I am thinking on taking Iron will at 12th to help with it. Not sure though I would rather take something fun.

I believe that when they finally add the freedom of action spell in it will be ranger castable, but I'm not sure what level we'll get it at.

[The_One_Pie]

The Tempest Ranger, by Illuminati
Begin Stats:

20 - Dex (16 Pts)

End Stats:

34 - Dex (+4 Enhancement, +2 Enhancement, +3 Lvl’s 4/8/12, +3/4 item/buff, -1 Linen Handwraps)

I couldn't get 34, the most is 33 without linen handwraps penalty.

20 base +4 Enhancement, +2 Enhancement, +3 Lvl’s 4/8/12, +4 item/buff = 33

In less optimize equipment:-

20 base +4 Enhancement, +2 Enhancement, +3 Lvl’s 4/8/12, +3 item/buff, -1 Linen Handwraps = 31

This mean 10 dex mod instead of 12.

[Jaysensen]

With the L10 Cap, you can get 34 with a +2 Dex Tome and +5 Dex item. I had 34 at L10.

20 Start
3 Ranger dex
2 Drow dex
5 item
2 tome
2 lev 4&8 level increase
------
34 dex. e***** +1

In all honesty, Im proud of the min/max dex, but I think that more STR in the start would have been fine. 32 dex would have been fine. 30 dex would have been fine. The base BUILD is solid.

With L12 Cap, you can get 36 Dex with the +1 to Dex at L12, +6 Dex item (Ive seen trade LFMs for +6 items), and +2 Dex Tome.

20 Start
3 Ranger dex
2 Drow dex
6 item
2 tome
3 lev 4&8 level increase
------
36 dex. e***** +2

Seriously. Its not necessary. If you drop elf dex for FE Damage, or anything for that matter, youll be fine. Just tune your toon to how you play and what you like to do. If you choose to super-min/max, get a dragon robe - thats 5 NON-dispellable AC. Im sure if you can get a +2 tome and +5 dex item, you can get a robe.


With the changes to TWF, even with 14 modified str, I frequently outkill and by some correlation out damage toons with twice my strength. Even some THF barbs. Im not grouping with Emu or Ricksha but I do fine. I eat up a TON of SP from melee, but I save a ton by grabbing aggro from mob casters away from non-evasion melees.


Precision
If you do Elite Content, dont drop precision. Its VERY helpful for confirming criticals. Its +4 to your to hit. Confirmation is a second to hit plus any seeker and enhancement. If you are stat damaging, it may be a good idea to leave precision on.

[The_One_Pie]

Im trying a dwarf vesion of this build, because I had a RR dwarf wounding dagger of puncturing. Im taking toughness in place of elf dex enchanment. With that being said, the number of DEX from various item is crucial to me. That's what draw me into this build. I probably end up with 29 dex or 30 dex if I could get my hand on +5 dex item. I m still hesitate to consume a +2 dex tome for this dwarf. He's lv 8 now, and had 146 hp and 36 ac. He probably never going to have backflip due to the miscalculation of dex mod.

[Heels]

What are the thoughts on this build, with a 32-point buy halfling?

Feasible, good, bad, ugly, indifferent?

Am only 200 favor or so away from the 1750, figured I might make one of these for fun times

Heels

[QuantumFX]

On Monday night i took a PC with the drow build into Tempest Spine Elite. I was the lowest level PC in there at level 9. The only person to beat me in the kill count was the cloudkill spamming L12 sorceror. I only died once due to accidentally hitting autorun rather than strafe right. Can't wait for L11 and the next monthly update for the Freedom of movement spell.

[Kaerok]

jsni said : "Then I'll go punct/punct with Rapier/SS or Rapier/Dagger. That will rock."

I am so newbie in ddo world but:
Why go with dagger in off hand if you can go with a SS (SS is piercing dagger is slash, or am I wrong?)

Is TWF much more damage than 1 weapon + shield? (was it 4 attacks vs 7?)

Can you get AC 40 with TWF?

What is the penalty in you hit&damage with TWF in 12?

Do TWF defense helps you with AC?

Is there any item which gives you perma Shield (spell)? I have seen that with protection from evil.

Thx for help with all my confusion.

[jsni]

Good point on the SS. I am currently now Rapier/SS, both Acid of Punct. Fun combo.

I just got a choasguarde (have to UMD=20 to make it work...done like this... +7 ranks + 3 cartouche + 6 skill boost +2 herosim + 2 eagles splend...note that I took a high starting cha for this reason...i can get to 21 with luck gloves). So I UMD'd the chaosguarde! The ac breakdown is now:

10 base
10 dex
7 shield (+5 hvy of stability)
5 bark
4 armor (mage armor clickie, 5@ 6 min each!)
3 deflection (spec ops)
2 dodge (chaosguarde)
1 feat (Dodge...trade for precision with dragonshard)
42 TOTAL AC!! That Rocks!...its 35 with TWF or with ranged. 40 next to your pally friends!!!

The purpose of TWF with this build is to do MAX STAT DAMAGE. This build doesn't deal much damage what with the low strength and the wimpy x2 crit multiplier. Your paladin and fighter friends with Kopesh's and Smite Evils will do much more damage than you will, BUT you can drain MUCHO con pts in just a few swings! Take Precision as discussed earlier and you are added bonus to your crit confirms and you are rocking!

With a +1 rapier and 30 dex, no buffs, i show +23 to hit.
With a +2 rapier and +1 ss in off hand with 30 dex I am +22/+21 to hit.

This is with Greater Two Weap fighting granted feat at 11th.

TWF Defense is a wasted feat.

There are shield clickies and potions available.

[QuantumFX]

To deal with the will saves grab the Nightforge helmet out of BAM. A +2 Wis and +5 Will save buff is really nice. You don't really need the necklace as heavy fort robes drop more often than armor.

[Alizan]

Can someone please explain further how UMD is viable with a ranger build? Starting with 1 at maxed and only being able to put in .5 per level I don;t see how u could reach a high enough number that could be usefull.

[Bicarbonate]

Can someone please explain further how UMD is viable with a ranger build? Starting with 1 at maxed and only being able to put in .5 per level I don;t see how u could reach a high enough number that could be usefull.

Ranger action boost raises UMD among other things. Also rangers get a lot of skill points with few truely 'useful' things to put them in, just a bunch of occasionally nifty tricks.

[Zed_Leppelin]

jsni said : "Then I'll go punct/punct with Rapier/SS or Rapier/Dagger. That will rock."

I am so newbie in ddo world but:
Why go with dagger in off hand if you can go with a SS (SS is piercing dagger is slash, or am I wrong?)

Daggers are piercing, not slash.

also, and I'm sure many are already aware, but as a service to those who are not...

FYI, to all the stat dmg'ers out there... (especially the lower-mid lvl ones)
Whisperdoom's Fang - end static reward from Tangleroot Gorge
Damage: 1d6 +1 Pierce, Magic *most daggers are 1d4 dmg*
Critical: 19-20 X2
Weapon Type: Dagger
Enfeebling: 1d6 Strength dmg on a critical hit.
Min level: 4

So it's a +1 Dagger of Enfeebling that hits like a shortsword, or a shortsword that looks like a dagger!

And since most folks end up running the Splinterskull series in Tangleroot a few times at the least, it's super easy to get. A nice, free stat dmg weap, nicely set up for weap finessers and usable early.

Enjoy!

[jsni]

UMD Builds for Tempest Ranger:

+7.5 ranks at lvl12 (or very close, within half pt)
+6.0 skill boost (nerfed from +10 prior to mod 3)
+4.0 Greater Heroism (Planar Gird, elsewise +2 regular heroism)
+3.0 Golden Cartouche (static reward, Delera's Tomb before mod3 nerf)
+1.0 Luck Gloves (static reward, Threnal South, before nerf)
+2.0 Charisma mod (need 14 CHA...I have 10base+3item+1from buff)

I don't have greater heroism, just a regular heroism clickie, so I only get +2.0 and I don't have the luck gloves. My UMD at Level 11 is:

+7 ranks
+2 heroism
+3 golden cartouche
+6 skill boost
+2 cha
+20 Total UMD which lets me equip Chaosguarde and some special weapons. Its also really cool when you res one of your party members (16+20=36....a 25% chance of success).

So, at level12 you can exceed UMD 20. This was achieveable much earlier when the skill boost was +10, but they nerfed it.

[Grenfell]

So my variant of this is now sitting at 9, and I'm wondering about weapons.

Frankly, we don't get enough weapon sets to really make a TWF shine. I'd like to drop a few weapons and go with a core set and stay there. So I was curious what you guys have on your tempest rangers, and when you pull them out?

For example, I have Greater Elemental Bane -- never use it, since I'd rather just wound/puncture them down.

I have Precision, and as a result, I find that I'm doing stat damage 90% or more of the time. So I'm thinking... essentially, I'd just need a set of puncturing/wounding weapons, a set for undead (right now, i just use dual Sunblades), and... maybe a set of +5's???? But nearly every situation that comes up, I'm thinking, "Stat damage". Are you finding this as well?

I'm carrying somewhere north of 15 weapons, and it seems a bit much when I have to swap around weapon sets constantly.

Thanks,

/gren

[Illuminati]

I think for now I mainly use:

-Stat kill set
-Holy set
-Stat / Shield set
-Ice/ Shield Set

I would like a few more sets for Fire, etc.

On the bow front I use the greater banes mostly or a Holy of Pure Good. I will use wounding here and there or Paralyze (I know).

Honestly, since Mod 3 I do find myself TWF more often.

So my variant of this is now sitting at 9, and I'm wondering about weapons.

Frankly, we don't get enough weapon sets to really make a TWF shine. I'd like to drop a few weapons and go with a core set and stay there. So I was curious what you guys have on your tempest rangers, and when you pull them out?

For example, I have Greater Elemental Bane -- never use it, since I'd rather just wound/puncture them down.

I have Precision, and as a result, I find that I'm doing stat damage 90% or more of the time. So I'm thinking... essentially, I'd just need a set of puncturing/wounding weapons, a set for undead (right now, i just use dual Sunblades), and... maybe a set of +5's???? But nearly every situation that comes up, I'm thinking, "Stat damage". Are you finding this as well?

I'm carrying somewhere north of 15 weapons, and it seems a bit much when I have to swap around weapon sets constantly.

Thanks,

/gren

[Illuminati]

BTW, look out for Rapiers that are Race Restricted. They usually have a super high hardness (21-31) and have a lower DC to UMD.

I just picked up a +2 Acid of Pure Good, Hardness 21 Durability 175/175 with a DC of 16 (Human only).

[Jaysensen]

I find myself DPSing usually, acutally. Depends on how many melees I recruit. With 4 Melees, DPS is the way to go. With two melees wounding is probably 10x more efficient. If I PUG the last spot, I often find someone without a wounder so we DPS. Rarely do I find all 4 melees have wounders. Khyber has a lot of terrible melees.

I usually build new weaponsets depending on the quest. I have one of my hotkeys for my shield and hit that all the time. TWF is quite viable with the recent changes. I hot bar every weapon but save my sets for TWF.

This build is an offensive machine so I tend to all out TWF 90% of the time. And if properly built, a highly durable one ^^

[whysper]

Re: weapon sets. I usually find it is much better to conceptually use
those for your off-hand parts and then have another bar that has all
weapons singly along with a shield. (The combos of course *do* have
a main hand listed too.)

For example, my offhand four are usually a Wounder, an Icy Burst of
Pure Good, a Holy Burst with the last slot varying between a Ghost
Touch, an Adamantine, Muckbane or an X of Pure Good.

With a total of 10 weapons excluding bows and Muckbanes, this gives
me 9!(4) = 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 = 30 combinations with the most complex key
combination to activate being something like 2-Alt+0 and the shield available
immediately.

[Grenfell]

Re: weapon sets. I usually find it is much better to conceptually use
those for your off-hand parts and then have another bar that has all
weapons singly along with a shield. (The combos of course *do* have
a main hand listed too.)

For example, my offhand four are usually a Wounder, an Icy Burst of
Pure Good, a Holy Burst with the last slot varying between a Ghost
Touch, an Adamantine, Muckbane or an X of Pure Good.

With a total of 10 weapons excluding bows and Muckbanes, this gives
me 9!(4) = 9 + 8 + 7 + 6 = 30 combinations with the most complex key
combination to activate being something like 2-Alt+0 and the shield available
immediately.

This is what I do as well. But I'm finding it annoying to constantly have to hunt for that offhand weapon to build weapon sets. Which is why I wanted to reduce the core set down as much as possible.

Right now, I'm looking at:

Tyrzza's Bane (+4 Rapier of PG)
+1 Shock Cold Iron SS of PG
+1 Shocking Burst SS of PG*
+2 Holy Dagger of PG*
+5 Short Sword*
+5 Rapier*
+2 Wounding Dagger*
+2 Wounding Rapier
+1 Keen Rapier of Puncturing
Muckbane (x2)
+5 Adamantine Light Mace*
+4 Adamantine Short Sword*
+1 Ghost Touch SS of PG*
+4 Ghost Touch SS*
+4 Frost Rapier
+2 Dagger of Greater Chaotic Outsider Bane*
+1 Dagger of Vertigo 8
Sunblade (x2)*

The * are offhand possibles. That's just far too many sets there, and I'm trying to whittle them down. I'm probably going to dump the Banes, the Vertigo weapon, the +4 Frost, the +4 Adam SS. Possibly getting rid of one Sunblade. Looking at the +2 Holy Dagger of PG; it's sweet, but... do I really need it? I don't know if I need to keep the +5 set, or if I can manage with Tyrzza's Bane and some offhand weapon.

Given the above, what would your four standard offhand weapon sets be? Mine right now are:

+2 Holy Dagger of Pure Good (w/ Shock Burst SS of PG)
+2 Wounding (w/ Puncturing Rapier)
Sunblade (w/ Sunblade)
+4 Ghost Touch SS (w/ +1 GT of PG)

Note, however, that I have no adamantine set, no muckbane set, no anti-reaver set, and really no elemental-dps set. I could use another six weapon sets at a minimum.

/gren

[Balkas]

Everybody should have a +5 Sneak Attack weapon for their offhand at times when you really need to hit stuff since it adds to your primary also.

What kind of Dark Magic did Illuminati pull to get this stickied?