Noob ranger question

[Elindel22]

Hi. I have always wanted to play an arcane archer.

When I am stuck in melee with my bow, am I better
off using melee weapons? Dual handed ?

Is there a penalty for using your bow in melee?

And is the arcane archer soloable at higher levels ?

Where can I get a good build guide ?

Thanks guys.

[Garix]

Hi. I have always wanted to play an arcane archer.

When I am stuck in melee with my bow, am I better
off using melee weapons? Dual handed ?

Is there a penalty for using your bow in melee?

And is the arcane archer soloable at higher levels ?

Where can I get a good build guide ?

Thanks guys.

Starting with the last question first.

You won't go to far wrong with this build.

Soloable all the way to cap and back.

No penalty for using a bow in Melee range. If you're going to change to using a weapon when mobs get that close, then Two Weapons Fighting (as a ranger you get all the feats for free) is the way forward. As you get better gear and more used to the character you'll find yourself pulling out the melee weapons less and less.

Good luck.

[unbongwah]

Also see my elf ranger thread and CThru's White Feather Sniper.

When I am stuck in melee with my bow, am I better
off using melee weapons? Dual handed ?

Rangers get all of their ranged and TWF feats free by ranger level 11. So any ranger can alternate between archery and melee at will. You're a little feat-constrained, but the real limiting factor is usually the Enhancement system. You have a finite number of Action Points to spend and the ranger trees are fairly backloaded (i.e., the best DPS bonuses are high up in the tree which requires a lot of APs). Meaning if you try to make a ranger who's equally good at both combat styles, you wind up with a ranger who is mediocre at best, IMO. The game mechanics encourage you to specialize in one or the other.

Is there a penalty for using your bow in melee?

If you mean "within melee range," then no. In fact at close range you benefit from Point Blank Shot, so you actually do more damage than when outside of PBS range.

The drawback is you will find archery has a painfully slow rate-of-fire, particularly early on. So you may just find it less frustrating to switch to melee in close quarters, particularly if you solo a lot.

[Swimms]

Hi. I have always wanted to play an arcane archer.

When I am stuck in melee with my bow, am I better
off using melee weapons? Dual handed ?

Is there a penalty for using your bow in melee?

And is the arcane archer soloable at higher levels ?

Where can I get a good build guide ?

Thanks guys.

The build linked by Garix below your original post was the one I used for two Ranger AA lives and it was super easy. The single target DPS was quite amazing, the only downside (if you want to call it that) is a lack of pure AOE damage. Once you get the hang of lining up the mobs with Precise Shot (Your targeted ranged attacks will now pass through friends and foes alike, to strike your target.) the aoe trash clear is not a problem. One of the best parts about the build is it requires almost no time spent buffing/shrining and you never run out of spell points so you can jump into a quest, cast a few quick buffs and then off you go, I almost never used a shrine while soloing most heroic content on elite and epic content on hard.

I never used a melee weapon, it was all bow all the time, also that guide is one of the most well written guides out there, its hilarious.