Woody the Woodland Assassin (60 Ranger)

[whatriot]

First off, despite the name, this is a ranger build, but to all intents and purposes, it functions like a ranged assassin.

Weapon: Sling (you'd be mad not to with a Furchin)

Race: Halfling
Subrace: Furchin
Alignment: NN (not important)

Starting stats (subrace):
Str: 8
Dex: 14 (16)
Con: 12 (16)
Int: 12
Wis: 18 (22)
Cha: 8

Furchin gets the following bonuses:
WF Sling, EWF Sling, Fast, 50% cold imm

Take Wisdom at every stat gain:
1 Blooded, Outsider
3 PB Shot
5 Aberrations
6 Zen archery
9 Called Shot
10 Elementals (yes, you can crit some of them)
12 Lightning Reflex
15 Rapid Shot, Magical Beasts
18 Blind Fight (blind/deaf can happen together, this can keep you alive)
20 Giants
21 Wis 1
23 Epic Prowess
24 Wis 2
25 Bane of Enemies
26 Shape Changers
27 Wis 3
29 Vermin
30 Wis 4, Animals
32 Monstrous Humanoids
33 Wis 5
35 Reptilian Humanoids, Beasts
36 Wis 6
38 Fey (optional, pick something else if you fancy)
39 Wis 7
40 Humans (optional, pick something else if you fancy)
42 LSA Tumble
45 LWF: Sling
48 Wis 8
51 Wis 9
54 Wis 10
57 LSF Listen (this is not essential as you can max 127 without it, take Epic Fort if you are more cautious).
60 Leg Reflex

Concentration 10
Craft Weapon 60
Tumble 60
Hide 63
Listen 63
Discipline remainder

The following are all unbuffed, wearing mostly URs, in town (no demi or arti).
CS is DC58 basic (+1 for double demi and +1 for Wis arti)
AC 133
Hits 1100
Fort 59
Reflex 60
Will 69

Final Stats (double-demi, wis arti, +12 gear)
Str: 24
Dex: 32
Con: 36
Int: 28
Wis: 70
Cha: 24

It's very easy to gear and very easy to play (once you have CS obviously, so lower levels are a pain). I took this build to Tia at 55 and Dis at 58 (I was just looking for the xp ) and it was highly effective.

Oh, and you get some really nice ranger spells too (huge wisdom, pure build).

Weaknesses:
Obviously you don't want to try and tank anything that pulls in massive str/dex/disc checks (PFs, Males, Maelephants, Bouroza), but that's not your job. Furchins are fast - run away to a safe place. Most things will struggle to get past the ac assuming you ensure you aren't flatfooted.

[jonuhey]

You dont mention what tome youre using/used (guess it was abjuration???).

Also, I would say sling is a poor choice for a zen archer ranger, there are 4 set ranger bows (acid, fire, cold and acid) that you can use being a somewhat "childish" AA ( ) when you dont have any other mob to CS, and sling has a really low range of dmg. Another thing about using sling is that you wont be able to use a mote from abo (not that big thing untill you are doing abo runs anyway...)

Using furchin you wont have maxed DC at double demi + wis arti, going with a +6 sub (like anarch that gives armor skin for free) would be better for a CS ranger. Thou, I guess even stargazer would do the job as well, cause you could take epic dodge during LLs, and epic dodge + high ac + high conceal is really good.

Another thing, is that your AB will be already good enough, drop those points from craft weapon and put them in Parry to make you able to stay alive after some crits.

Edit: nvm the thing about maxed DC

[whatriot]

Abjuration would be the tome I would choose for the additional elemental DR, but I don't think it is critical to the build.

I feel that sling is a good choice: As a Furchin, it saves you 2 feats and leaves you with a spare hand to use any of a multitude of excellent torches (100% immunity to an element... Crit immunity... and all reasonably accessible, compared to Aboliths).

The build has a very high CS and a good spread of favoured enemies - I see the role of this toon as a quick killer of anything that is crittable, doing a little bit more damage pretending to be an archer is not the plan.

Anarch gives you 2 points from Armour Skin (which you could take in this build anyway instead of LSF Listen) and then costs you 2 weapon feats. +6 wis over +4 is not useful unless you wish to use another arti instead of wisdom or you go to Abo's, get a mote and make this a bow build.

I think Stargazer is an interesting suggestion, although you are then down 3 feats (2 x weapon, 1 x ED) and the whole thing starts to get a bit feat tight - still worth trying for the ED, as you say, potentially useful with high ac.

I think parry is a waste, given that an ideal choice of torch would be a Ruby Rod. AB ensures a quick CS result and even a small reduction in misses there is important I feel.

[StrykerOfChaos]

Take off LSF Listen, because the Legendary Skill Focus Feats fall into the +50 gear/song cap. Either take ESF Listen, which doesn't, or take something like Epic Fortitude like you mentioned.

Extend Spell is also a pretty nifty choice, not that you can get level 5 slots using the Pit of Moliation Ranger Breach Ring, plus it will help you stay buffed in the long run.

Otherwise, looks like a standard zen ranger, just using a sling instead of a bow.
The damage isn't all the great either way.

[whatriot]

LSF is within the +50 cap, but 127 is also within the +50 cap from the base skill + stat bonus, so there is no need to extend the cap by +10 from ESF, but LSF saves you trying to find the full 50 from gear/song (which could be an issue in the lower levels after 1x demi).

But as I said, this is a free feat slot really, so take what you fancy.

[StrykerOfChaos]

ESF gives you +10 to the skill outside the cap is all...so it's a free 10 points. so, if you get +50 in gear it's like having +60. That's all. ESF + song + 20 in gear is the same as Song + LSF + 10 in gear.

[starlandra]

so nice to see furchin getting some love

[simpetar]

I think Crest of Vile Darkness is far better for this kind of build than Ruby Rod. Unless you get hit by aoe dispelling, it kinda equals PW ring, because being pure ranger, you have levitation and WB from spells and 30% to elements. Also it frees up slot for off hand and if you equip something like Torch of the Unwary + Pads of Shadows, your damage will note a significant boost. And last, but not least, the ring is lot easier to get

cheers
simpetar

[whatriot]

Feb 23, 2009 0:53:11 GMT StrykerOfChaos said:

ESF gives you +10 to the skill outside the cap is all...so it's a free 10 points. so, if you get +50 in gear it's like having +60. That's all. ESF + song + 20 in gear is the same as Song + LSF + 10 in gear.

I understand your point Stryker, but this build is at listen 90 before it wears gear or has bard song, so it only needs +37 to hit the 127 skill cap. +50 or +60 is not a limit, so I thought +20 from LSF was more useful than +10 from ESF (less listen gear required). As I understand it the skill cap is net of hells penalties and skill bonuses?

[Yomi]

I believe it is:

MIN( 127, Skill points + Ability Modifer + SF + ESF + Other Feats + MIN( 50, Equipment + LSF + bardsong + spells + other bonuses ) - MIN( 50, Hells Penalties + other penalties ) )

Given you put 63 points into listen and have a 27 wisdom modifier pre-artifact/demi, it looks like it's 90 points as you said. Take the worst hells case where you're single demi, no artifact, in Nessus. I use the example of Torch of the Unwary which my monks use a lot because of the sneak attacks, but the added +20 Listen helps also. Substitute other listen gear if you can think of any (there's not much out there). Best results for listen would of course be with both feats but I assume that's not viable.

Buffs	No feats	ESF Listen	LSF Listen
none	65 (91+0-26)	75 (101+0-26)	85 (91+20-26)
song	85 (91+20-26)	95 (101+20-26)	105 (91+40-26)
song+Torch	105 (91+40-26)	115 (101+40-26)	115 (91+50*-26)
song+LSF C/C	110 (91+45-26)	120 (101+45-26)	115 (91+50*-26)
song+Torch+C/C	115 (91+50*-26)	125 (101+50*-26)	115 (91+50*-26)

This is also the worst case. If you were in the equivalent of non-demi Maladomini then all those 115's and above would be saturated at 127. No surprise, LSF is better when you don't have many buffs/gear, ESF better as you get more.

[Yomi]

On the topic of Listen, I think it's a huge deal. In the lower hells levels with well built tanks, conceal misses are in the 30-45% range, while misses due to AC are about 5-8%. (Admittedly there is a bias in that conceal is checked first). The upper two levels have many fewer concealed mobs so the numbers are more like 10% conceal, 7% AC. Once you hit Min the conceal numbers start going up. Elysium seems to be similar to lower hells (lots of conceal). Based on this, I have been working more on trying to max listen for my tanks.

On Zen rangers, I don't think any of them are going to be doing a whole lot of damage. The old style ones with one AA (e.g. Celestial Archer of the Grove) can use the DB bows but only get 6d10 bonus damage instead of the 15d10 of a normal AA, and you can't afford to dump points into strength like they can. The ranger bows that a shortbow using ranger uses have a nice +10 listen bonus but the damage doesn't compare at all to the longbows. I'm pretty sure the same is true of the sling. However as the OP pointed out it's a bit beside the point as the called shot are the real point -- Gelugons, Amnizus, Cornugons, Hamatulas, Spinagons, etc. are all good things to be killing quickly.

I wasn't really sold on Zen rangers until I saw Lythe with a bow using one. Very much a ranged assassin -- yes the damage was horrible but the DC was extremely high: my melee ranger has a DC of 57 (66 dex after double demi + PoM gloves), a zen archer can reach 61 and possibly 63 (if you could get 74 wisdom). It's very good at killing things if done right. As far as I know he hasn't posted the build. I think any comments from Lythe on the build would be interesting to hear.

Edit: clarify DC.

[whatriot]

Thanks Yomi, that was very useful and not how I thought it was working. The build actually gets 92 listen basic (halfling, skill affinity listen = +2). I'm thinking I will stay with LSF as once the pain of single demi has passed it should be easier for me to keep listen maxed without worrying about gear.

I can say that if I get in the happy position of double demi, tagging Aboliths and obtaining a mote, I would seriously consider moving to Anarch with a shortbow as DC63 is just too hard to walk away from. But I think for me and most other players, picking up an unloved Furchin, putting on Sissy battlegarb (I had ac 129 in some really average UR gear pre-50) and finding a Sissy or Uro sling is a hell of a lot easier and still good fun.

[Lythe Featherblade]

Looking at your numbers, are you sure on your DC? With 66 wis I'm getting a DC of 59, arti would bump you from 64 wis (58 DC) to 66 wis (59 DC) and then double demi to 70(60 DC), but you can also get PoM gloves for +1 on top of that. 61 is the absolute highest DC a zen ranger can currently reach, the advantage to something like anarch is you don't need a wis arti when you hit double demi to hit the max (or single demi plus arti, but you're still looking at harsh penalties). Or you could only take 8 great wis feats and the arti, and have more room to play with on your build.

For the damage, the one upside to slings is you're doing blunt damage using divine pings, so slightly better damage than a bow with hunter's points, and there are a few mobs like the baatorian green steel golems in the hells where you are actually doing very decent damage (at least with hunter's points). You lose out on 6 ac vs Uro bows, but have the option of a torch in the offhand for some very nice +stat or +immunity. I went doppleganger for the looks and needed that +6 ac, but with a BUR subrace you should be fine without it. I also managed to fit searching into a UR subrace, but not without a few sacrifices.

On the listen issue, I'm hitting 127 with just bard song and no CC needed, no extra feats for listen.

And of all my characters, my zen ranger is the only UR race now (by choice, rest are all BUR), does the least damage, can make neither str nor dex checks when it counts, but is still my favorite to play.

I might post some more when I have more time

[whatriot]

Sorry, you are right Lythe - I'm wearing PoM gloves. - I'll go correct the numbers.

I think it is the advent of the Abolith Mote, which I am lead to believe can give another non-capped +2 to wisdom that allows a +6 bur race to reach 74 wisdom with arti and double demi, this gives you 2 more DC, as 32 is the point that the next bonus DC per +8 wis comes in.

[simpetar]

As for the maximum DC, keep in mind that if you are using HGE, you have access to Foebane spell which adds "+2 on the next CS attempt". And due to your high wisdom (getting close to that of top end casters) and equipment, you will likely have plenty of slots for it.

cheers
simpetar