Curse

Shwitz · Aug 15, 2005, 08:08 PM // 20:08

I can't decide what to do with my ranger. I played thru most of the end game PvE as a skirmisher (dealing out a fair amount of health degeneration), using Poison Arrow, Penetrating Shot, Hunter's Shot, Pin Down, Ignite Arrows, Lightning Reflexes, Troll Unguent, Storm Chaser for sticky situations. I would Pin Down anyone chasing the casters, hit them with poison and bleeding (from Hunter's), and then pound them with Penetrating and Hunter's until they died or I ran out of energy. After a while I decided to delve into my secondary prof (Elementalist) and try a Conjure build. I toyed with both flame and ice, using Firestorm for AoE when I was a fire-slinger and Ice Spikes for a little AoE and snaring when I was playing with the water line, but I was not satisfied. I went back to my pure ranger skirmishing. I found, as a skirmisher, that I could not sustain my attacks. I ran out of energy after a while and had to mix in a lot of normal bow shots, and Lightning Reflexes, as most know, has an incredibly long recharge and a fairly short duration.

I tried trapping for a while and didn't like it. It's effective in some PvE areas, but I don't think I'd want to do that all the time.

Then I switched to a monk secondary for the re-usable resurrect skills, since I wasn't using my Ele secondary anyway.

Right now my ranger is a Quick Shot kinda guy. He's currently equipped thusly:
14 Expertise (+1 Exp Mask, Superior Exp rune)
12 Marksmanship (+2 Major Rune)
10 Wilderness Survival (+1 Minor Rune)
8 Beast Mastery (+1 Minor Rune)
Skills -
Kindle Arrows
Tiger's Fury
Quick Shot
Distracting Shot
Pin Down
Throw Dirt
Favorable Winds
Resurrect/Res Signet

Druid's Armor and a Zealous Shortbow of Fortitude complete the set, with a Fiery Longbow of Fortitude on weapon switch.

I'd love to go back to skirmishing if I could make it sustainable in PvP. My Poisoner's Composite Bow of Fortitude was fun. However, I found energy management to be a problem. So, to my point...

I know there is a lot of debate about Quick Shot builds, and I've found some success with the one I'm using. I am not totally satisfied with it, though. Is there any way to get a sustainable DPS without using a Quick Shot build? Quick Shot is nice and all, but Tiger's Fury seems to speed my attacks up nicely if I use a Shortbow. What other elites have you other rangers out there found useful to build around? I've capped 'em all. Looking for sustainable damage. Punishing Shot seems like a nice one, with added interruption being a nice bonus. I'd also consider using Marksman's Wager or Barrage if I could find a way to add damage to my attacks without using preparations... but with all the enchantment stripping going on, in both PvE end-game and PvP, I haven't found a secondary profession that provides a good damage buff that I can sustain.

I look forward to your input.

ElderAtronach · Aug 15, 2005, 09:35 PM // 21:35

Try Melandru's Arrows. I fell in love with it after using it. IMO, it just outstrips QS and Barrage. You can dot a whole team, and spike select targets with it, it's very sustainable, and you can use your other bow attacks in conjunction with it.

Experiment with warrior secondary (but still use a bow). Frenzy is a nice substitute for TF given its lower mana cost, especially if the other team puts you low on their priority list. Switch to whirling defense if you come under attack. You won't have any many mana problems at all, and you can even switch to studded leather for better protection against spikers.

Shwitz · Aug 15, 2005, 09:44 PM // 21:44

I toyed with Melandru's Arrows one time, haven't used it too too much. My one issue with it is the added damage is only against enchanted foes. I know that Monks and Elementalist are almost always enchanted one way or another, but again, there's a lot of enchantment stripping going on, which would diminish MA's usefulness. Sure, I'd cause bleeding with every shot, but the added damage is the main use, right? I'll toy with it some more, see how it works in the competition arenas. Anyone have any suggestions on a 2nd profession to accompany a ranger using Melandru's Arrows as the elite?

As for Frenzy... that double damage really scares me off. Sure, I could pack Whirling and switch, but then I'm occupying 2 skills slots with stances... I'm very wary of anything that can cause me to die twice as fast if I don't see that spike damager turn my way quick enough.