Curse

Baxen · Feb 24, 2006, 04:36 AM // 04:36

I know that ranger spiking is designed to be used as a team build, with multiple rangers spiking one target, but would a lone ranger spiker be effective in random or team arenas for damage output? Could a ranger spiker build be used without other rangers to back it up? I want to start using rangers as damage dealers, so if not ranger spike, what is a good damage dealing ranger build? (maybe barrage based)?

Jenosavel · Feb 24, 2006, 06:05 AM // 06:05

The point of a spike is to not give the monk time to respond, killing a target before a single heal can get off. Therefore, when fighting against a spike team killing one or two of their spikers can effectively cripple the spike and will ultimately defeat the team. Ultimately spikers are not high damage dealers; they just deal their damage so fast that they effectively nullify the presence of the enemy monk (or a good spike does anyway). With that said, no, one ranger couldn't effectively spike by itself.

The ranger has so many damage dealing capabilities I don't even know where to start. One thing's for certain though: Marks is nice, but it alone isn't enough. To maximize your damage output combine it with Wilderness preps or a pet. Keep in mind if you choose the pet option though that while their damage output can get quite high, their AI hurts them quite a bit when dealing with intelligent opponents. Also, without expertise your damage will be lacking. You rely on spamming those skills, and expertise is what will allow you to do it.

Other than that, all I can say is don't spread your attributes too thin. The difference between 12 and 16 in a weapon attribute is a lot more than one might think after the increased chance of critical hits is taken into account.

Ultimately, it's somewhat hard to go wrong with a ranger. Start with the best you can think of, play with it, and tweak things when you get a feel for what's working and what's not. The above advice is basic, but you don't need much more than that to do well with a ranger!

LaserLight · Feb 24, 2006, 07:41 AM // 07:41

Jen's right in regards to the fact that Marksmanship alone typically isn't enough to deal the kind of damage you want to. Given that though, there is indeed a great deal you can do with Rangers. I myself play a Conjure Frost Barrage with a few semi-unusual tricks, and I can average fifty, sixty or so total damage for each Barrage shot. And I know for a fact that such is average as opposed to exceptional. Ranger attacks tend to stack surprisingly well, much more so than Warrior attacks, since they were designed to do it. Really, anything does tend to go with these guys.

S E V E R · Feb 24, 2006, 09:21 AM // 09:21

I tried a R/E build balancing marksman for special attacks, wilderness survival for kindle arrows and fire magic for conjure fire on a fiery bow. It took 2 superior runes to make the dmg effective but worked out quite well. Wouldn't recommend it as a solo build though