Favored enemies - which one to choose

[Ultinoob]

Hello

I found out that with a pure build ranger gnome it is possible to get 9 favored enemies. This is 18 more damage to each of these. But which one should i choose? which ones would you choose?

[unbongwah]

The short answer is: "pick the FEs most appropriate to the content you plan to run."

http://ddowiki.com/page/Favored_enemy

I usually start with Undead, Giants (which also covers ogres & trolls), and Evil Outsiders (in that order), which does a pretty good job of covering heroic content thru late-teens (in particular Gianthold and Vale). After that, it's very much a matter of personal preferences: Constructs is good for running House C quests; Aberrations is good for Xoriat quests; elf is good for MotU quests; etc.

If you are planning to pick up extra FEs using Enhancements, pay attention to which ones are available to you (DWS and Harper FEs are separate subsets) and use your feats to complement your options. [I wouldn't bother spending a ton of APs to max out your FEs, but that's a separate matter...]

[EllisDee37]

I would choose the following:

Ranger 1: Undead
Ranger 5: Construct
Ranger 10: Giant
Ranger 15: Evil Outsider
Ranger 20: Elemental

Deepwood Stalker Tier 5: Elf

Primal Avatar Tier 2: Aberration

Harper Tier 2: Monstrous Humanoid (Dragon if you run dragon stuff)

Gnome: Reptillian (I wouldn't spend the AP to reach tier 4, so I'd skip this one)

[unbongwah]

Ranger 5: Construct
Ranger 10: Giant

Why construct before giant? Are there really that many Warforged & golems in low-level content? TBH it's been a while since I ran such a lowbie toon.

EDIT: forgot Construct and Living Construct (aka Warforged) were separate FEs. And after I linked the wiki page no less!

[EllisDee37]

Why construct before giant? Are there really that many Warforged & golems in low-level content? TBH it's been a while since I ran such a lowbie toon.

Constructs are everywhere in old eberron quests, to the point where it's almost unusual to run a quest without them. They aren't as ubiquitous as undead, but they're probably the #2 most common favored enemy in the game.

Those metal dogs are everywhere, often in numbers. Iron and clay golems are also pretty common. Warforged really only show up in a few quests (VON4, threnal) so they aren't a major concern. Animated armors can be annoying (spies, that final harbor quest getting to Faerun) and of course the marut in VON3. Also marks and crystals, like in partycrashers and shroud.

I don't worry about giants as much because they have no fortification.

[Enoach]

One thing to consider is that the Enhancement gained ones are easier to change then the Feats. Each life you can get a single feat swap for free by answering some questions about dragonmarks. Also, via Epic Reincarnation is another time to switch based on the content you are planning on running that epic life.

I like Undead and/or Reptilian myself. But Giant and Goblinoid are good options

Enhancement available Favored Enemies
Deep Gnome: Goblinoid or Reptilian
Gnome: Gnoll or Reptilian
DWS: Animal, Dragon, Dwarf, Elf, Giant, Gnoll, Goblinoid, Halfling, Human, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Orc, Plant, Reptilian, or Vermin
Harper: Aberration / Construct / Dragon / Evil Outsider / Giant / Monstrous Humanoid / Undead
Primal Avatar: Aberrations / Constructs / Undead

So my first recommendation is to use Feats for the ones not available in your enhancements, and favor the more common as feats, giving you flexibility with the enhancements.

[Qhualor]

Tough to say really because it weighs heavily on the content you mostly run. By default I always choose

Undead
Giant
Evil Outsider

Than its a toss up with

Elf
Animal
Human

At times I have even taken

Elemental

[willox2112]

I would seriously consider Human for your enhancement FE. Humans are the most common enemy in the game. Look at your Monster Manual

[Ultinoob]

First of all thanks for all your inputs. They are appreciated. I went through my monster manuals and counted each favored enemy i had personally slain - not the party and not my account but personally.

Totalt
Aberration 422
Animal 645
Construct 5
Dragon 0
Elemental 138
Giant 282
Humanoid 152
Magical beast 378
Ooze 3
Monstrous humanoid 16
Outsider 131
Plant 982
Elf/Drow 777
Dwarf 0
Halfling 12
Human 1940
Warforged 0
Undead 592
Vermin 598

This life i started at level 17 - i ate an ottos box. I did the Harbinger of Madness and Disciples of Shadow on level 17 and the druids deep and Web of Chaos and the high road on level 18-20. On epic i mostly do von 3 and druids deep and high road and Wheloon Prison. I also did wizard king and somehing i cant remember. I plan to do grim and barret and ToEE before my first racial tr as a gnome. oh yeah and devil assoult.

According to this the FE are in order:
1: Human
2: Plant
3: Elf/Drow
4: Animal
5: Vermin
6: Undead
7: Aberration
8: Magical beasts
9: Giant

I am not saying i am gonna use this specific order but it gave me a nice overview of what i have fought. Maybe others can use the same approach. As i plan to take another ottos box i think this is the list i am going for.
But again thx for your inputs. Have fun

[C-Dog]

As the above list shows, some types are common but not a big threat - Vermin, for instance. Frequency is not the only factor, but also how hard they are to kill, and how important it is to kill them fast.


I'll also mention that "Reptilian" is only Kobolds, Trogs and the rare Lizardman. NOT dragons, which are their own FE category.

Just in case anyone thought otherwise. 0

[phillymiket]

But a giant boss and a rat are not equal foes.
Part of my thinking is, where do I need it most?
Undead don't crit as much and can be deadly, so I chose that to help.
Giants can be bosses, so I choose that. Same with Evil Outsiders.
Maybe you won't kill as many but each will count more.
Humans and elf are great no matter how you look at it; they are everywhere and bosses.

Vermin, animals and all that other stuff are all mostly trash easily killed, right?
Why bother?

[Qhualor]

keep in mind the FE feats can be swapped out too. you get 1 free feat exchange per life and if you have level required Siberys Draganshards (every 3 days) or AS (I think bypasses the 3 day timer) you can do that too.

so you could take FE Monstrous Humanoid for Sahuagin on Korthos and than use the free feat to get Reptilian for Kobolds and Trogs in Harbor/MP. tedious, but that's why I say it greatly depends on the content you mostly run.

also to note, not everything is in the MM. haven't kept up with whats missing in quite awhile, but it can be a decent indication at least.

[Ultinoob]

You are right. It is not just the amount of them you have to kill but also how hard they are to kill. My list does not take that into account. As EllisDee37 listed i think i am gonna go with that.

[mrphlegm]

Lawful outsider is the most important one

[EllisDee37]

Lawful outsider is the most important one

This is a big one that isn't on any of the older lists, or on my list as I spaced this.

Reapers are Lawful Outsiders.

[unbongwah]

keep in mind the FE feats can be swapped out too. you get 1 free feat exchange per life and if you have level required Siberys Draganshards (every 3 days) or AS (I think bypasses the 3 day timer) you can do that too.

If the OP is planning on spending APs to get extra FEs, then IMO a better way of doing it is using your rgr feats for your permanent FEs and your APs for your "temporary" FEs; i.e., the ones you only want for specific quests, since it's much easier and cheaper to reset APs than swap feats. E.g., take FE Dragon from Harper when you want to farm Tor or VON 6, swap it out when you're done. Hence my earlier comment.

[Qhualor]

If the OP is planning on spending APs to get extra FEs, then IMO a better way of doing it is using your rgr feats for your permanent FEs and your APs for your "temporary" FEs; i.e., the ones you only want for specific quests, since it's much easier and cheaper to reset APs than swap feats. E.g., take FE Dragon from Harper when you want to farm Tor or VON 6, swap it out when you're done. Hence my earlier comment.

That too, but that also means taking enhancements you may not really want. Like my ranger doesn't spend any points in Harper. I have tons of Siberys Dragonshards and every 3 days while leveling is just easier for me without having to reset enhancements. Either way works though.

[Blastyswa]

I personally always choose mine based on what I know I need the most DPS on. Since endgame has many dragon raid bosses, I typically take dragon at 20 (Since it isn't really needed before then). At level 15 I take Constructs, that way it's in time for Shroud/LShroud if I need it and also House Cannith quests. At level 10 I like to take Evil Outsiders, since you don't really see a huge number of them before about level 13 quests, Level 12 if you count Invaders since it's only one quest. At level 5 I like to take Giant; while you won't fight too many giants until Gianthold, this also helps with other large enemies, and it's nice in epics. At level 1 I take undead since you encounter these in content from 1-30. For Gnome I'd do reptilian to cover the kobolds you'll be fighting for all of eternity as well as troglodytes, for Primal Avatar I'd select Aberrations since that's another large group and beholders are something you want to kill quickly, for Harper I'd choose Monstrous Humanoid because they appear frequently, and for Deepwood Stalker I'd select either human or vermin. As others have pointed out vermin usually die quick, but there are some situations with lots of spiders to wipe out (Caught in the Web comes to mind) and they also appear so frequently that it can be nice to have that damage bonus in so much content. So, my list is basically:

1. Undead
2. Giants
3. Evil Outsiders
4. Constructs
5. Dragon
6. Aberrations
7. Reptilian
8. Monstrous Humanoid
9. Vermin OR Human

[Thrudh]

This is a big one that isn't on any of the older lists, or on my list as I spaced this.

Reapers are Lawful Outsiders.

Are they Lawful neutral or Lawful evil?

Evil Outsiders FE doesn't apply to them?

[EllisDee37]

Are they Lawful neutral or Lawful evil?

Pretty sure they are lawful neutral.