Advice for Ranger build

ThwockSplort · Post by **ThwockSplort** » January 5th, 2008, 2:44 am

Hi,
Just got the game and enjoy a lot.

Trying to build a Ranger type. Normally I have a bias towards Ranger types from the old Baldur's gate games because they always seemed too weak and frail and their magic wasn't great.

But I'm trying one now and I wanted to get some tips. Here's what I have so far:

LEVEL 4 DRUIDIC RANGER
STR 15
DEX 20
END 18
SPD 15
INT 9
WIS 14
PER 13
CONC 17

DIV 3
L ARM 2
CART 1
MERC 1
SPOT HID 1
BOW 6
CLEAVE 4

I wanted a good bowman with a little magic. I don't think I'll take it too high. Just enough to get some minor buffs and healing.

How important is moving silently? That's a ranger-ee thing but if you can't really sneak attack someone then what is the point? You don't get XP for sneaking past someone either. Same with hide in shadows.

I was thinking maybe alchemy might be a good route too for poisons and free potions. Or would that spread me too thin? Is having a decent Merc important too?

TIA.

Nepharis · Post by **Nepharis** » January 5th, 2008, 3:41 am

Alchemy is typically a must, but you can buy it up to 5, and usually find a book for another 2, and hang on to any rings of the brewmaster or whatever they're called. Alchemy skill of 10 is key, for making heal/mana III, so with a ring and a book or two rings you don't ever need to put skill points into it.
(I like 5 levels from trainer, two from book, two +3 rings, and two skill points to get me to 15, so I can get the +3 imbue, but you don't need to worry about that for a while-ish.)

I've never found mercantile to be very useful.. seems like a waste of skill points. I'd say pump DIV early (7 or 9, maybe), as mid-to-high level Bless will make early battles so much easier (and not to mention healing and leatherskin). I'm currently playing a fighter and fooling around with bows... they can be expensive, but worth it.. especially with bless, you'll be able to cut down most enemies before they get to you.

Besides Divination.. I would pick two of {armor, bow, cleave} and focus most points on those. Remember though that the only effect of high armor is damage reduction (chance of half damage), which may not be useful to you if you're going with ranged attacks. A high weapon skill is mostly useful for criticals (% crit chance = skill level, I believe.

Might want to get some more perception, which is useful for mana regen. Meditation can make the regen rate ridiculous (I think my first character, druidic magick user or something, regen'd a mana point every 4 turn or something).

Bottom line is don't spread too thin, and do what seems fun. The game is balanced well enough that you should be okay, you might just have to pick your battles carefully.

Let us know how it goes!
~nepharis

ThwockSplort · Post by **ThwockSplort** » January 5th, 2008, 2:54 pm

Very cool, thanks for all the tips.

It's looking like I'm going more towards a Drudic Ranger more than the classic hide and sneak ranger. I think I will pump my Div more. I'm looking forward to Entangle being able to actually entangle something.

I'm glad you can buy alchemy later. I think I will start on that after I can buy it or find a book.

I can see my mana becoming an issue so I will start pumping perception and maybe get meditation.

I don't think I will put any in Move Silent or Hide but I've wondered if that is useful for being able to move around a pick your battles. Ultimately, you have to kill stuff for XP and you don't get any for sneaking past them. Is it useful for keeping monster from ganging up on you? Does this game have backstabs? I didn't see anything in the manual.

ArkansasIMCista · Post by **ArkansasIMCista** » January 6th, 2008, 4:02 am

ThwockSplort, if you are hidden in the shadows you can whack someone but they can't hit you back because they can't see you.

For night fighting or combat in a dimly lit dungeon it can be awesome when combined with Predator's Sight. You can see the nasties, hit them without a darkness penalty, and watch them stumble around trying to find you. Sadly though, there is no backstab bonus.

acoustibop · Post by **acoustibop** » January 6th, 2008, 11:02 am

Actually, even without Predator Sight, you can press the Tab key to see where the enemies are - bit more of a guessing game, but they don't have Tab keys...

ThwockSplort · Post by **ThwockSplort** » January 6th, 2008, 8:58 pm

Thanks Arkansas. Hiding and smacking does sound cool. I'm seeing a fighter/thief build later. So do you have to sit passively and wait for them to walk by or can you use a move silent and move a bit?

acoustibop · Post by **acoustibop** » January 7th, 2008, 3:12 am

If you're silent, you can move around as you like, ThwockSplort.

chamr · Post by **chamr** » January 8th, 2008, 5:59 pm

Actually, you can do this without any Move Silent. The higher the Hide Shadows you have, the further you can be away from a wall or tree and remain hidden, plus, when you get it high enough, even hitting a foe will not reveal you.

I'm guessing that Move Silent will prevent the baddies from following you around in the dark even when you're Hidden. But that's more of an annoyance than a "must have". Plus, sometimes you want them to follow you so you can give 'em another whack!

I'd second the "dump Merc" advice. Unless that's a big focus of your character, it won't do much good with a few points in it. Having said that, I've started an experiment with a theif that steals everyone's stuff and then uses a pumped up Merc to make huge profits. Too early to see if it will work out yet...

Keep up the Div. Entangle (less so as you get into the late game), Bless, Cat's Eyes, Leatherskin and Healing are all great. Level 9 should be good enought for most if not all the game.