Ranged Ranger Build (No Arti or HW)

[Isillion]

Hi All

Character has +8 supreme tome and has just completed 1st life as a tempest 20 ranger (currently sitting at level 30 - created 2007!!). I want to crank out 2 more ranger past lives but want a ranged build (bow, crossbow or thrower). I can't remember everything that I do / do not have access to (I'm FTP) but the important bits are that I do NOT have Arti or HW (or wood elf). I DO have Inquisitive, Harper, Falconry (also have shadar-kai, scoundrel, morninglord and deep gnome iconics). I was trying to think of something INT or WIS based rather than DEX and generally looking for ideas! I like the idea of starting at 15 as I do have a wallwatch set as well as a bunch of Barovia and other bits and pieces. Not adverse to DEX build but was thinking without HW it wouldn't be as good as INT or WIS (wrong thinking?)

mmmm other things of note ........ player is distinctly average and gets cranky if he has to maintain short term buffs (30+ seconds is ok as long as there's only a couple of them!). Didn't like having to keep DoD up every 10 seconds

Thanks in Advance!

[unbongwah]

Carpone just posted a HW-free archer build so feel free to mine it for inspiration.

[Isillion]

Carpone just posted a HW-free archer build so feel free to mine it for inspiration.

Thanks for the reply. I meant to mention that I had seen that build and was considering it as a default option. I think the thing is that I haven't played a ranged character in many years and although I have Inquisitive, Falconry, Deep Gnome etc. I'm yet to use them, so I have no feel for them.

I guess I was hoping for something 'better' (if possible) than the first life build but without having an Arti or HW to lean on.

[Agr33n3]

Thanks for the reply. I meant to mention that I had seen that build and was considering it as a default option. I think the thing is that I haven't played a ranged character in many years and although I have Inquisitive, Falconry, Deep Gnome etc. I'm yet to use them, so I have no feel for them.

I guess I was hoping for something 'better' (if possible) than the first life build but without having an Arti or HW to lean on.

It is hard to beat inquisitive dps, especially after level 12 when you get 18 seconds of shooting dual crossbows without reloading. The next highest damage I believe would be a bow build (between pure ranger and some interesting splits using Horizon Walker), though your idea of 'better' might not be based on the highest damage potentials.

As a first life character, I would highly recommend a Bow Ranger. There are a ton of guides online for pure Dex-based rangers, and several awesome guides by Strimtom and others as well. I am not aware of any ranged builds involving Barbarian, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard, though I am sure you can split these and use a universal enhancement tree.

One thing to keep in mind is that your attack speed is partially based on BAB, so classes with less than 1 BAB per level will be even slower at getting IPS and any kind of AoE.

Here are a list of ranged builds I can think of. The one's with asterick's I feel are more new/returning player friendly, use less/no tomes and have lower stat requirements.

Inquisitive* (usually rogue/arti splits, sometimes some ranger or divine class for heals like 18 Fvs/2 Arti.)

VKF Thrower (again, usually some rogue splits. Universal tree users benefit a lot from rogue splits for trapping skills and sneak die.)

Xbow Arti* (makes use of Harper Agent for KtA and INT to damage. Without INT to damage, the physical damage scaling lacks substantially. If you have Harper, this build is awesome, getting CC, dps, and heals for both constructs and fleshies)

Alchemist Thrower (a glass cannon that also uses Harper Agent. The healing and poison vulnerability are nice, but you have extremely low HP and MRR)

Thrower Bard (not at all a meta-build, but some VKF throwers splash 3 Bard and Swashbuckle for an extra 2 Crit Range and Dashing Scoundrel)

Bow Fighter (I do not have experience with this but I'd imagine it is similar but less damage than a Fighter/HW build).

Shuriken Monk (Shuriken monk is REALLY slow to start. I do not recommend to low-life toons or those without extensive knowledge of Shuriken-specific mechanics)

Bow Paladin (honestly a sub-par dps build, but has heavy armor)

Bow Ranger* (Pure if you go to epics, or throw in 1/2 rogue for traps/early evasion and +1 S.A. die)

XBow Rogue (I have seen some do well with rogue x-bows, but they suffer a lot without 4 levels of Arti for Endless Fuselade, so you have to use heavy/light xbows instead of a Great one.)



Hope this helps!