Post by arek on Dec 29, 2011 5:47:38 GMT
The Ssithrak Executioner is a Pure level 60 STR Ranger. It is designed to be able to both deal large amounts of damage and also have a good Called Shot DC (54 at 60/Immo with no Ego/CS Gloves, up to 57 at 2x Demi with Ego and CS Gloves), meaning it can also quickly instakill many monsters. Defensively, it tops out at 128 AC pre-demi, going up to the mid-high 130's after Demi. All this, plus immunity to critical hits from a spell make this a very solid tank/killer.
So...why ranger? Well, as indicated above, Rangers on HG are one of 2 classes that can instakill monsters (the other is the Assassin). This build, with a +14 STR item, will get a Called Shot (insta-kill) DC of 54, which is fairly good. They also get good Defensive bonus, in this case getting +18 Wisdom AC pre-demi (2x wisdom modifier capped at half of your ranger level while wearing light armor - robes don't count - and using a weapon which can be wielded in the off-hand.), which is what allows it to get decent STR-tank AC without a shield.
Why STR? Well, rangers get solid Armor Class (chance to avoid getting hit) without relying on a big dex bonus or a shield, so going STR doesn't hurt a ranger as badly as it does other classes, even with dual-wielding. STR also allows a ranger to be a pretty amazing damage dealer, especially against favored enemies.
On weapons: The best weapon for this build, hands down, is the Katana. This is because of a high-level katana (the Stygian Razor) that exists in-game and grants Overwhelming and Devastating Critical in Katana. The downside to Katanas is that they are extremely popular weapons and thus very highly sought-after and valuable. Other decent options are Scimitars, Bastard Swords, Warhammers (also rather valuable, and not slashing, so you'd be forced to use the trans tome for BT), and Rapiers (again, not slashing), to name a few. Using Scimitars, Warhammers or Rapiers also frees up a pre-epic feat (they're Martial weapons, so WP: Exotic isn't needed for them - take Blind-Fight instead). My personal recommendation, however, is to use Katanas, and just run DB until you have at least one DB katana, and when you get there run Stygia until you net a Stygian Razor, so that is what this build shows. You're free to use pretty much any dual-wieldable, medium weapon on this (you can also use small weapons, but expect your damage to be considerably lower using them).
Now for the build:
Base race: Human
Subrace: Lizardfolk
You need to type the subrace in the subrace field exactly as shown. "LIZARDFOLK" won't work. Neither will "lizardfolk". It has to be "Lizardfolk", exactly (without quotes).
Stats at creation/after subrace
STR: 15/17
DEX: 14/14
CON: 8/10
INT: 16/14
WIS: 14/14
CHA: 8/8
Level Progression:
Feats marked as (R) are Ranger bonus feats.
Artifact: CON. This gives you +2 CON, which is +1 fortitude and +40-45 HP (LLs don't count unless you take them after using the artifact), along with "hard" poison immunity that works against many forms of poison that item-level immunity doesn't cover.
Tome: Choose between Enchantment (+13 GMW for your own weapon, provided it's slashing) or Transmutation (allows you to keen any weapon, useful for buffing others). I recommend enchantment unless you decide to go with a non-slashing weapon, in which case you'll have no choice but to go Trans.
Useful/semi-useful spells (Spells marked "HGE Spell" require HG Enhanced due to either being only available with HGE or due to not normally being Ranger spells):
According to the latest version of Shard's Build Tool, this build can get up to 94 AB with full Craft Weapon, no arti, and no demi. Along with that, it shows up as getting 126 AC without gird under the same circumstances. For saves, it gets 62F/60R/63W, which is acceptable for Hells. These scores, however, are a bit low for the Abyss. If you're going to go there, you'll need 2x Demi for saves, and you'll want to swap Armor Skin for Epic Reflexes.
Possible Changes/Improvements:
Tips for levelling:
Tips for playing:
And the most important thing? HAVE FUN
--Arek
So...why ranger? Well, as indicated above, Rangers on HG are one of 2 classes that can instakill monsters (the other is the Assassin). This build, with a +14 STR item, will get a Called Shot (insta-kill) DC of 54, which is fairly good. They also get good Defensive bonus, in this case getting +18 Wisdom AC pre-demi (2x wisdom modifier capped at half of your ranger level while wearing light armor - robes don't count - and using a weapon which can be wielded in the off-hand.), which is what allows it to get decent STR-tank AC without a shield.
Why STR? Well, rangers get solid Armor Class (chance to avoid getting hit) without relying on a big dex bonus or a shield, so going STR doesn't hurt a ranger as badly as it does other classes, even with dual-wielding. STR also allows a ranger to be a pretty amazing damage dealer, especially against favored enemies.
On weapons: The best weapon for this build, hands down, is the Katana. This is because of a high-level katana (the Stygian Razor) that exists in-game and grants Overwhelming and Devastating Critical in Katana. The downside to Katanas is that they are extremely popular weapons and thus very highly sought-after and valuable. Other decent options are Scimitars, Bastard Swords, Warhammers (also rather valuable, and not slashing, so you'd be forced to use the trans tome for BT), and Rapiers (again, not slashing), to name a few. Using Scimitars, Warhammers or Rapiers also frees up a pre-epic feat (they're Martial weapons, so WP: Exotic isn't needed for them - take Blind-Fight instead). My personal recommendation, however, is to use Katanas, and just run DB until you have at least one DB katana, and when you get there run Stygia until you net a Stygian Razor, so that is what this build shows. You're free to use pretty much any dual-wieldable, medium weapon on this (you can also use small weapons, but expect your damage to be considerably lower using them).
Now for the build:
Base race: Human
Subrace: Lizardfolk
You need to type the subrace in the subrace field exactly as shown. "LIZARDFOLK" won't work. Neither will "lizardfolk". It has to be "Lizardfolk", exactly (without quotes).
Stats at creation/after subrace
STR: 15/17
DEX: 14/14
CON: 8/10
INT: 16/14
WIS: 14/14
CHA: 8/8
Level Progression:
Feats marked as (R) are Ranger bonus feats.
- 1: Ranger
- Feat: Blooded
- Blooded is what we call an "enabler" feat. In this case, it enables you to take Legendary Skill Affinity: Tumble which, in turn, allows you to take Tumble as a class skill in Legendary Levels.
- Feat: Strong Soul.
- Strong Soul is a Placeholder feat. We'll exchange this for Dauntless in-game.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Vermin
- Rangers get a number of bonuses against Favored Enemies. The first is damage - +1 damage to start, and (if I understand correctly) +1 more damage for every 5 levels taken after gaining a specific enemy.
- Vermin aren't very prominent in the late game, tho they do exist, and they are a "creature feature" in one endgame area. They are, however, very prominent in lowbie levels, so this enemy is taken at level 1 for that reason.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon. Also put a single point in Animal Empathy.
- Listen reduces the effective conceal of enemies by a percentage based on how much you have. 63 listen provides the same effective reduction in conceal blind-fight does, provided you're not deafened. More is, of course, better. Being deafened reduces the effectiveness by half (avoid deafness if possible).
- There are many discipline checks in this module. Some of them knock you down, some disarm you, some remove your armor and/or shield, and some can even destroy your weapon, armor, or shield. You don't want any of this happening to you, so max it.
- Concentration not only makes it easier for you to buff in combat, which you'll need to do on occasion, but it also helps in some areas against some very nasty disabling checks. For these reasons, it should be maximized.
- Craft Weapon increases your Attack Bonus, which is your chance to hit monsters, by 1 point for every 40 overall points you have, including bonuses. With maxed Craft Weapon, you get +1 buck naked, and can expect +2 with just bard song. +3, however, is much harder to get, but possible with good enough gear. You need this, since without it your AB is a bit low.
- Craft Armor works just like Craft Weapon, but for Armor Class, which is your chance to avoid being hit. You need this to shore up your AC, which is a bit low pre-demi.
- The point in animal empathy allows you to use the skill, which in turn allows you to dominate some animals in-game, if you use gear that increases it. Ask in-game how to best use this ability. Once you're around L30-40, you can reincarnate and get rid of this, but there's not much else you can do with that point either.
- Feat: Blooded
- As soon as you get on the Docks, before you do anything else, say "!charedit" (without the quotes). When the dialog comes up, choose to exchange Strong Soul for Dauntless or Slippery Soul, then choose Dauntless and confirm the choice if it asks.
- Dauntless gives +2 to your Fortitude and Reflex saves, both of which prevent many disabling and even deadly effects, and is needed for Legendary Valor, later. Don't forget to make this exchange, or your reflex save will be very low at 60!
- 2: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 3: Ranger
- Feat: Weapon Proficiency: Exotic.
- WP: Exotic is needed in order to wield Exotic weapons. Since this build uses Katanas, which are exotic, it needs the feat.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Weapon Proficiency: Exotic.
- 4: Ranger
- Stat: Strength
- This is a Strength-based build, meaning that Strength is what determines your Attack Bonus (AB), which is your chance to hit monsters, and also your Called Shot DC, which is your chance to instakill monsters. Both of these are very important to this character, so take Strength every time the game asks you which ability score to increase.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Stat: Strength
- 5: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Reptilian Humanoids
- Kobolds have probably already started making an appearance for you. This will make killing them easier. It also helps to have this on a few LL runs as well.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Reptilian Humanoids
- 6: Ranger
- Weapon Focus: Katana
- Weapon focus provides +1 to your Attack Bonus (AB) when wielding the chosen weapon. Since AB represents your chance to hit your enemies, you want as much of this as you can get.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Weapon Focus: Katana
- 7: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 8: Ranger
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 9: Ranger
- Feat: Improved Critical: Katana.
- Improved Critical doubles the critical threat range of the weapon chosen. With this and Keen, the Katana gets 12-20/x2. If you can get Overwhelming and Devastating Critical from an item (like the Stygian Razor), this will improve to 11-20/x3.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Improved Critical: Katana.
- 10: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Dragons.
- In addition to some very prominent dragons appearing in Hells and other endgame-level runs, you're about to start running into your first lowbie dragons at this point, so lets grab this for the extra damage.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Dragons.
- 11: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 12: Ranger
- Feat: Iron Will.
- Iron Will increases your Will save by 2 and allows you to take Legendary Will later, all of which helps get your will save over 60 at 60. The primary role of your Will save is to prevent Amnesia. Since amnesia wipes all of your spells, you do NOT want to have that happen to you if you can avoid it, so you want your Will save as high as you can get it. 60 is enough in the Hells, but more is needed in some other endgame areas, so this gets more. :-)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Iron Will.
- 13: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 14: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 15: Ranger
- Feat: Called Shot.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Animals.
- There are many animals in the game, tho they're mostly in lowbie areas. This will help you to kill those faster.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Called Shot.
- 16: Ranger
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 17: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 18: Ranger
- Feat: Extend Spell
- Extend Spell allows you to cast more of your spells, and allows your buffs to last longer, both of which can be very important.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Extend Spell
- 19: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 20: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Outsiders.
- This is the first enemy you're probably not going to see in-game for a while, tho it does appear on a few LL runs. It is, however, the single most dominant race in the Hells, so you really want it as a favored enemy, and taking it relatively early means you'll do more damage to these enemies.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Outsiders.
- 21: Ranger
- Feat: Epic Will.
- Epic Will gives +4 to your will save, which is necessary to get your will save over 60, so take it.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Epic Will.
- 22: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 23: Ranger
- Feat (B): Epic Weapon Focus: Katana.
- Epic Weapon Focus improves your AB by 2, which is nice. It is also required for Legendary Weapon Focus later.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (B): Epic Weapon Focus: Katana.
- 24: Ranger
- Feat: Great Strength I.
- Each Great Strength feat you take increases your Strength by 1 point which, in turn, increases your AB and your CS DC. Again, you want as much of this as you can get, tho you also want to maintain an even STR score, so this build takes 7 of these feats.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Great Strength I.
- 25: Ranger
- Feat (R): Bane of Enemies.
- Bane of Enemies does 2 things for you: First, it increases your AB against Favored Enemies by 2, and second it grants 2d6 extra damage against favored enemies. Since your favored enemies list covers many of the toughest monsters in the game, this is a fairly large help.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Bane of Enemies.
- 26: Ranger
- Feat (R): Epic Prowess.
- Epic Prowess increases your AB by 1 point, and it also synergizes with Legendary Weapon Focus, later.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Epic Prowess.
- 27: Ranger
- Feat: Great Strength II
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 28: Ranger
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 29: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Aberrations.
- There are quite a few Aberrations in the game. This covers them.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Aberrations.
- 30: Ranger
- Feat: Great Strength III
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Magical Beasts.
- Like Aberrations, there are quite a few Magical Beasts in the game. This allows you to CS those, and to do extra damage to the ones you can't CS.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 31: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 32: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Elves.
- Elves aren't, as far as I know, all that prominent in endgame areas, but at this level you're about to run into a whole bunch of 'em, so this is a great Favored Enemy to have at this point.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Elves.
- 33: Ranger
- Feat: Great Strength IV
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 34: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 35: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Shapechangers.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Half-Elves.
- There aren't many Shapechangers in the game, but those that exist tend to be high-priority CS targets. Half-Elves aren't all that common endgame either, but there is one LL area that heavily features them, and you're probably already into an area where elves and half-elves are very dominant.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 36: Ranger
- Feat: Great Strength V.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 37: Ranger
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 38: Ranger
- Feat (R): Humans OR Elementals
- This is one I'm not real sure on. I don't know of very many Elementals you should be hitting, and I'm not sure I've ever seen a Human in a run. Gnomes (for toyshop) might even be a good choice here, tho I'm not sure.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Humans OR Elementals
- 39: Ranger
- Great Strength VI.
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 40: Ranger
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Monstrous Humanoids.
- Monstrous Humanoids make appearances in a few places endgame, and some are even CS'able, so this is definitely worth taking.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat (R): Favored Enemy: Monstrous Humanoids.
- 41: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- 42: (Ranger)
- Feat: Legendary Skill Affinity: Tumble
- LSA: Tumble allows you to take Tumble as a class skill in later levels, which will allow you to eventually get 63 ranks in Tumble, for +12 AC and a potential of 122 Tumble with buffs, which is enough to halve the amount of time you're KD'd by stat checks about 75% of the time.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Listen, Discipline, Concentration, Craft Armor, and Craft Weapon.
- Feat: Legendary Skill Affinity: Tumble
- 43: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 44: (Ranger)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 45: (Ranger)
- Feat: Legendary Weapon Focus: Katana.
- Legendary Weapon Focus provides +2 to your AB when wielding the weapon chosen, plus a further +1 AB with that weapon if you also have the Epic Prowess feat (which you do), for a total of +3 AB.
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- Feat: Legendary Weapon Focus: Katana.
- 46: (Ranger)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 47: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 48: (Ranger)
- Feat: Legendary Will.
- Legendary Will gives you +7 to your will save, which will give you a total will save of 63 at 60.
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- Feat: Legendary Will.
- 49: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 50: (Ranger)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 51: (Ranger)
- Feat: Epic Reflexes
- Epic Reflexes increases your Reflex save by 4, allowing you to hit 60 Reflex at 60, which is important to keep you from being disabled in many ways in LL and endgame areas.
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- Feat: Epic Reflexes
- 52: (Ranger)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 53: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 54: (Ranger)
- Feat: Legendary Valor
- Legendary Valor increases your Fortitude and Reflex saves by +5, which is a bonus you'll need in order to get 60+ on both saves. :-)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- Feat: Legendary Valor
- 55: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 56: (Ranger)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 57: (Ranger)
- Feat: Great Strength VII.
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 58: (Ranger)
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 59: (Ranger)
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline.
- 60: (Ranger)
- Feat: Armor Skin.
- Armor Skin grants you +2 to your AC, which allows you to hit 126 AC pre-demi, which is passable.
- Stat: Strength
- Skills: Max Tumble, Concentration, Craft Weapon, Craft Armor, Listen, and Discipline. Any leftover points can go wherever you want to put them, there won't be more than 8 or so, so they probably won't help with anything. Just don't put them into Spellcraft, since that can cause you to get a penalty to your saves in some areas (due to having a negative spellcraft score, which can't happen if spellcraft is left untrained).
- Feat: Armor Skin.
Artifact: CON. This gives you +2 CON, which is +1 fortitude and +40-45 HP (LLs don't count unless you take them after using the artifact), along with "hard" poison immunity that works against many forms of poison that item-level immunity doesn't cover.
Tome: Choose between Enchantment (+13 GMW for your own weapon, provided it's slashing) or Transmutation (allows you to keen any weapon, useful for buffing others). I recommend enchantment unless you decide to go with a non-slashing weapon, in which case you'll have no choice but to go Trans.
Useful/semi-useful spells (Spells marked "HGE Spell" require HG Enhanced due to either being only available with HGE or due to not normally being Ranger spells):
- Level 1:
- Inquisitive Eye (HGE Spell): Useful to cast on your searcher if he/she doesn't have enough gear to get +50 search.
- Camouflage: Useful to cast on players right after they've died, tho Mass Camouflage is better for buffing between fights. Note: this isn't all that useful for *you* because you don't have Hide skill (there is no room for it in your skills without dropping some other needed skill).
- Inquisitive Eye (HGE Spell): Useful to cast on your searcher if he/she doesn't have enough gear to get +50 search.
- Level 2:
- Barkskin (HGE Spell): Grants up to 17 Natural AC, depending on your level. Useful if you use an amulet with nerfed or no AC, or for casting on a Shifter if requested.
- One with the Land: Useful for conserving ring rests in any natural outdoor area (Rona, Elysium until the last map of both), it teleports you to an area that's safe to rest in. Keep just one memorized in the aforementioned areas. :-)
- Protection from Elements: Called "Minishunt" by most players, this spell, instead of its normal effects, will grant up to 20% immunity to all elements, which is useful for covering elemental immunities. Keep multiples of this memorized, so that you can not only keep one on yourself but can also cast it on players who need extra elemental immunities.
- Barkskin (HGE Spell): Grants up to 17 Natural AC, depending on your level. Useful if you use an amulet with nerfed or no AC, or for casting on a Shifter if requested.
- Level 3:
- Blade Thirst: Grants +12 and Keen to slashing weapons, becoming +13 if you took the Enchantment tome, or effecting non-slashing weapons with a transmutation tome. Also grants extra Positive damage against Favored enemies when self-cast.
- Invisibility Purge: Starting at Level 46, reduces the concealment of enemies by up to 8%. Keep enough of these memorized to have it up at all times once you get into the Hells.
- Lesser Restoration: Is now a swift action, meaning it can be cast in combat without stopping you from attacking, tho you can't both use this and Called Shot in the same round.
- Blade Thirst: Grants +12 and Keen to slashing weapons, becoming +13 if you took the Enchantment tome, or effecting non-slashing weapons with a transmutation tome. Also grants extra Positive damage against Favored enemies when self-cast.
- Level 4:
- Foebane (HGE Spell): Grants +2 to your next Called Shot attempt. Seems nice on the surface, but probably best cast between fights for +2 to your first attempt of the next fight due to having to stop attacking to cast it.
- Freedom of Movement: Required in a few areas in order to avoid being entangled, and it also provides a nice boost to movement speed, allowing you to get to your next target faster. Keep a couple of these memorized in most areas, and more (so that you can cast them on your party) in areas requiring it to avoid entanglement (Toyshop, Rona, or ask if you're unsure).
- Mass Camouflage: Useful enough to keep 1-2 memorized, for casting whenever the party stops to buff up. This buff, however, is for your party, not for you, since you'll get little benefit from it.
- Polymorph Self: No longer actually polymorphs you. Instead, the various "forms" each provide some form of buff, as follows:
- Giant Spider: Poison Immunity for CL/2 Turns.
- Pixie: (WIS Modifier/2) Dodge AC and Levitation (after L41) for CL/2 Turns.
- Troll: (Wis Modifier) Regeneration for CL/2 Turns.
- Umber Hulk: Stun immunity for CL/2 Rounds.
- Zombie: 50% Immunity to Negative Damage and Water Breathing (after L41) for CL/2 Turns, plus Immunity to Critical Hits for CL/2 Rounds after you get 40 base STR (Level 48, iirc).
- Giant Spider: Poison Immunity for CL/2 Turns.
- Foebane (HGE Spell): Grants +2 to your next Called Shot attempt. Seems nice on the surface, but probably best cast between fights for +2 to your first attempt of the next fight due to having to stop attacking to cast it.
According to the latest version of Shard's Build Tool, this build can get up to 94 AB with full Craft Weapon, no arti, and no demi. Along with that, it shows up as getting 126 AC without gird under the same circumstances. For saves, it gets 62F/60R/63W, which is acceptable for Hells. These scores, however, are a bit low for the Abyss. If you're going to go there, you'll need 2x Demi for saves, and you'll want to swap Armor Skin for Epic Reflexes.
Possible Changes/Improvements:
- I'm not certain about that Favored Enemy list, it could probably use some improvement, both in the order and in what's taken. Suggestions in that department would be very welcome.
Tips for levelling:
- Level with a group whenever possible. You'll get more experience that way, and you'll have a fun time, too.
- Explore. In addition to 4 places you must visit before getting to certain levels in order to get items you'll need in later areas, there are also some secrets out there for Rangers. While these aren't necessary, they'll be nice to have when you're leveling from about level 35 to level 50 or so.
Tips for playing:
- If this is your first toon on Higher Ground, I highly recommend reading The Newbie Guide, as it contains some valuable info.
- If you've never played a tank before on HG (regardless of whether or not this is your first toon), I also recommend reading Tanking for those with a low INT score, since it gives some nice tips on how to play a tank.
- Rangers depend heavily on Called Shot. With that in mind, the easiest way to use it is to set up a quickslot with the following text macro: "!action CS opponent" without the quotes. Once you've done that, you start attacking a monster you want to CS, wait a few seconds, then hit your macro. After that, just hit your macro button every 6 seconds until the monster you're targeting dies.
And the most important thing? HAVE FUN
--Arek