I was thinking about changing things up for Uthgard live and trying a Ranger...

I'm more familiar with Alb and caster classes but just wanted to do something different and I like the idea of a solo stealth class as my play time often does not lend itself to long runs with a group.

I understand there are challenges...

I guess my question is what is the best approach for leveling up a ranger if the odds are most of the time you will be solo (how to spec)?

To throw a curve ball, note I find PvE a means to an end, I definitely want to finish with a RvR based spec. I'd like to be viable in the bgs (if anyone is in them) as well.

Thoughts/ideas/suggestions?

If you say solo I hope u meant solo adding you ll get raped all day long by assassins. So If you want to solo as a stealther better roll a night shade

I would say you should seriously consider full autotrain as rangers need every point they can get.

PvE lvling whilst auto training bow might not be too bad, you will just be a lightweight blademaster - plunk a few arrows into a mob then melee it down, PF damage add will help a fair bit with this, stick to yellows n blues (do kill tasks to begin with). Or better yet group, you will have to at the later levels.

Battlegrounds? dunno, you could spec stealth and be a ninja BM and ambush squishies running past! Lower level BG's are far more forgiving than 50 RvR. You might be surprised who you can kill, plus even with autotrain bow you can still finish off casters with it etc.

I have been looking at ranger specs myself, you need to think 'Sniper, Melee or Hybrid'.

Also, pathfinding is a hard one to decide on, I appreciate that plenty of players on here say 'the delve value is gimp' ' use charges!' etc...however PF buffs are on a 20 min timer, and will be better than pots (per Uthgard info devs said pots are 1 use and do not stack either?) so good luck carrying enuff of those around

I still feel that a decent level of PF buffage will be a big advantage - there will bound to be players running around lightly buffed or not buffed at all, due to the inherent server limitations on pots / charges at this patch level. Plus the damage add will be vital in melee I feel, to have any chance.

1 caveat to all this is assassins will see you from MILES away...so try and be on your guard at all times!

So:

Melee I think would need some RR's for it (IP / Purge / MOP / Dodger etc) so perhaps do not start with this.

Sniper I would say luri, 48 PF for best dex etc, heavy on the bow (45+) etc / 48PF means your melee skills will suffer tho.

Hyrid probably something like: 40 PF / 35 stealth / 35 bow / 29 pierce / 18ish CD

All of the above is IMHO ofc

PS: Apologies for the wall of text

At higher realm ranks Avoid Pain is pretty baller if you go the melee or hybrid route. You are essentially a god every 60 seconds, 10 minute reuse timer only, I believe. Very high point investment to get AP3, but I'd take it over IP anyday.

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quantic wrote:At higher realm ranks Avoid Pain is pretty baller if you go the melee or hybrid route. You are essentially a god every 60 seconds, 10 minute reuse timer only, I believe. Very high point investment to get AP3, but I'd take it over IP anyday.

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Like others have said Pathfinding is alot more powerful than most people are thinking. The reason is everyone is so use to having buffbots and strong alchemy buffs and being able to carry alot of alchemy buffs. Thats not the case here.

Those pathfining buffs are giving you alot here. Most players will only try to carry the 2 spec potions because they only hold 1 charge, 10min dur and such limited space. Also consider the base potions are kinda weak at only +20

No consider this the higher you spec in pathfinding the more your buffs get betetr beyond the delve info. with a 40+ in pathfinding you are going to have more than +50 dex/qui and +50 str. Now since you dont have to worry about potions for these 2 buffs you have the room to carry potions for (+30 str/con) and (+20 dex). This generally means you are going to have about +50 more str, +40 more dex, and +20 more qui from buffs than most of your opponents. also consider that you will have yellow or red damage add (7 or 9 dps) on top that

I am actually thinking about trying 50 path finding for the last str buff on my melee ranger build (this would also slightly increase the dex/qui and af buff.

pirhana7 wrote:

quantic wrote:At higher realm ranks Avoid Pain is pretty baller if you go the melee or hybrid route. You are essentially a god every 60 seconds, 10 minute reuse timer only, I believe. Very high point investment to get AP3, but I'd take it over IP anyday.

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Like others have said Pathfinding is alot more powerful than most people are thinking. The reason is everyone is so use to having buffbots and strong alchemy buffs and being able to carry alot of alchemy buffs. Thats not the case here.

Those pathfining buffs are giving you alot here. Most players will only try to carry the 2 spec potions because they only hold 1 charge, 10min dur and such limited space. Also consider the base potions are kinda weak at only +20

No consider this the higher you spec in pathfinding the more your buffs get betetr beyond the delve info. with a 40+ in pathfinding you are going to have more than +50 dex/qui and +50 str. Now since you dont have to worry about potions for these 2 buffs you have the room to carry potions for (+30 str/con) and (+20 dex). This generally means you are going to have about +50 more str, +40 more dex, and +20 more qui from buffs than most of your opponents. also consider that you will have yellow or red damage add (7 or 9 dps) on top that

I am actually thinking about trying 50 path finding for the last str buff on my melee ranger build (this would also slightly increase the dex/qui and af buff.

Agree with this, full auto-train can give you the following:

40 PF
35 Stealth
40 Bow (Can drop bow to 35 and take Blades to 39 for Spectrum Blade and go Celt instead of Luri potentially)
34 Pierce (or Blades if you prefer)
19 CD

Spec buffs are 125% of delve I believe? Happy to be corrected on this point if I am wrong

Potentially with above spec drop auto-train to lv40 and drop 1 pt of CD - less ballache in PvE

For levelling up I just some some quick parsing. At lvl30 it's better to have higher PF than CD.

I tested 2 specs (auto training bow)

Spec 1:
30 PF
28 Pierce
9 CD

Spec 2:
21 PF
30 Pierce
20 CD

Spec 1 outperformed spec 2 quite easily. Using a full end bar and only using bumblebee (anytime pierce) Spec 1 managed 29.6DPS and Spec 2 managed 26.4 DPS.

The higher buffs seem to help way more than higher CD.

Doesn't camouflage negate the assassins seeing you from so far away?

Flidias wrote:Doesn't camouflage negate the assassins seeing you from so far away?

It does, but 10 min cool down after combat is why people don't take it seriously I think.

peter1986 wrote:For levelling up I just some some quick parsing. At lvl30 it's better to have higher PF than CD.

I tested 2 specs (auto training bow)

Spec 1:
30 PF
28 Pierce
9 CD

Spec 2:
21 PF
30 Pierce
20 CD

Spec 1 outperformed spec 2 quite easily. Using a full end bar and only using bumblebee (anytime pierce) Spec 1 managed 29.6DPS and Spec 2 managed 36.4 DPS.

The higher buffs seem to help way more than higher CD.

But you say spec 2 managed more DPS which is higher CD

peter1986 wrote:

Flidias wrote:Doesn't camouflage negate the assassins seeing you from so far away?

It does, but 10 min cool down after combat is why people don't take it seriously I think.

isnt camouflage the counterpart to see hidden?

an infi without see hidden and same stealth-lvl shouldnt see a ranger form far away.

Buildwall wrote:

peter1986 wrote:For levelling up I just some some quick parsing. At lvl30 it's better to have higher PF than CD.

I tested 2 specs (auto training bow)

Spec 1:
30 PF
28 Pierce
9 CD

Spec 2:
21 PF
30 Pierce
20 CD

Spec 1 outperformed spec 2 quite easily. Using a full end bar and only using bumblebee (anytime pierce) Spec 1 managed 29.6DPS and Spec 2 managed 36.4 DPS.

The higher buffs seem to help way more than higher CD.

But you say spec 2 managed more DPS which is higher CD

typo: spec2 was 26.4

but isn't that just mainhand damage? Aren't you forgetting offhand?
Or am I wrong in assuming that offhand hits more often/ with higher CD spec?

Having now leveled (mostly solo) into the mid 40's as a Ranger, I can safely say that the damage add certainly seems to account for more sustained damage then straight melee damage. I (auto training) was 34 Pierce and like 20-something Pathfinding till I hit 40 when I respecced; once I put Pathfinding at my level and lowered Pierce to 25 I definitely noticed I was doing better in melee. The damage add effects off-hand damage AND bow shot damage (something I think people forget: a crit shot that hits for 400 damage will have a solid +damage from that damage add being present).

It can't be overstated either that with this server not being buff-bot central, having access to 3 very useful self-only buffs always running... (that AF shield is meh)... is rather nice. Run str/con, dex + con potions... and you're pretty damn good.

Also... every point spent in Pathfinding is a multiplier for making the buffs stronger then their delves, a fact again I think many people forget. I **don't** think going 50 Pathfinding is worth it lol... but I'm a bigger fan of the line now then I was just reading people's opinions on it here on the forums.

I'd personally LOVE for someone to test an outlandish --non melee spec-- line... something like: 46/48 pathfinding, 34 Celtic Dual, 30-35 bow, 35 stealth, rest in weapon ... and compare the damage variance from doing that against more dual wield swings with the damage add.