Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2017 23:14:31 GMT
Decided it was about time to post another build!
Rangers are great because you can pull off a 2H version (via medium weapon on a small-sized toon) without the stellar gear usually required. The real trick is to ignore Called Shot entirely and focus on being a good utility tank instead; the conceal-drop from a maxed Invisibility Purge boosts the entire party's melee damage output very significantly. Some numbers to illustrate this:
TL;DR - Invisibility Purge is awesome.
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This particular build is tailored for Limbo P2. It needs some Paragon levels and demi-iterations but can be adjusted to work a little earlier and is generally more forgiving than some of the other 2Hers. I'd say Level 72 with x2 Demi is a very reasonable time to build it. Some stats below, at Level 80:
Offence: Not on the same level as a 2H 'glass-cannon' like a Paladin or some of those Harper Scout-splashed guys, but still quite impressive;
*You have 110 AB and against your Favored Enemies you get some extra Physical and +4d12 Positive dice from Blade Thirst.
-> You can hit the P1 Githzerai (who have 0% Positive immunity) like a truck.
-> Using a L50 Fire/Pos weapon you deal ludicrous damage against the Undead guys. Combined with Invisibility Purge, you can solo Trillochs faster than an entire Ranger-less party can.
*DC 55 Called Shot, you will not insta-kill much with it... but throw it in for the CON-reduction (the target loses 6 CON on successful saves)
Defence: Quite awesome. You really should not be dying much with this, despite being a '2Her';
*147 AC with 66% conceal from Camouflage.
*75F/75R/69W saves with Improved Evasion included. You don't have enough Fort/Will to skip Weird immunity unfortunately, but you will be sturdy for most of the random checks around the place.
Utility: You pack that awesome 8% Invisibility Purge I was banging on about at the start!
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Build Adjustments: There's really quite a lot of wiggle room with the build, some of the more obvious adjustments include:
*Disarm can be fitted in for you Disarm lovers, personally I only see a difference in nub parties where everyone flatfoots so I don't value it highly
*Can certainly fit in Extend Spell to make buffing a little more relaxed
*Use CON artifact if you will be playing a lot of Hell/Abyss
*Adjust the Favored Enemies to suit the areas that you will be playing in
*Drop Blinding Speed and take another Favored Enemy (if you really feel you need more!)
*Saves are a bit over the top, you can drop a bunch of them (especially Iron Will and Epic Reflexes) to free up some extra feats
*Consider Sneak Attack pandect instead of Called Shot for a little extra damage
*Drop ESF Listen and use an Augmenter of the Salamander - I preferred to spend a feat and keep the aug-slot open.
*The distribution of the Paragon points was carefully selected based on the gear I was planning to wear on him, you should change it to whatever suits you but I would advise putting +20 into Listen; it gives you a bit of breathing room in terms of fitting Listen gear.
-----
It's quite straightforward to play as it is, so I'm not going to go into too much detail on that - wear sensible gear, cast your buffs and Invisibility Purge, then hit stuff.
Feel free to ask any questions! If the question is "Can I drop X feats to pick up Y feats?" the answer will almost always be yes.
Rangers are great because you can pull off a 2H version (via medium weapon on a small-sized toon) without the stellar gear usually required. The real trick is to ignore Called Shot entirely and focus on being a good utility tank instead; the conceal-drop from a maxed Invisibility Purge boosts the entire party's melee damage output very significantly. Some numbers to illustrate this:
Black Slaad has 90% base conceal - with 127 Listen you hit against 76% conceal = 24% of your attacks go through
After Invisibility Purge, it has 82% conceal - with 127 Listen you hit against 60% conceal = 40% of your attacks go through
40%/24% = 1.67, so Invisibility Purge has increased the number of attacks going through to the Black Slaad by 67%!
That is an absolutely enormous DPS boost, granted to every tank in the party.
Or for a more common example for the Hell-runners, let's look at Malebranches with 75% base conceal:
127 Listen hits against 47% conceal = 53% of attacks go through
After Invisibility Purge, it has 68% conceal - with 127 Listen you hit against 37% conceal = 63% of attacks go through
63%/53% = 1.19, so here the party's DPS has increased by 'only' 19%.
Still a big-ass number, approaching half the size of the 2H multiplier, and in a comparable tier to infliction from a Lash.
After Invisibility Purge, it has 82% conceal - with 127 Listen you hit against 60% conceal = 40% of your attacks go through
40%/24% = 1.67, so Invisibility Purge has increased the number of attacks going through to the Black Slaad by 67%!
That is an absolutely enormous DPS boost, granted to every tank in the party.
Or for a more common example for the Hell-runners, let's look at Malebranches with 75% base conceal:
127 Listen hits against 47% conceal = 53% of attacks go through
After Invisibility Purge, it has 68% conceal - with 127 Listen you hit against 37% conceal = 63% of attacks go through
63%/53% = 1.19, so here the party's DPS has increased by 'only' 19%.
Still a big-ass number, approaching half the size of the 2H multiplier, and in a comparable tier to infliction from a Lash.
-----
This particular build is tailored for Limbo P2. It needs some Paragon levels and demi-iterations but can be adjusted to work a little earlier and is generally more forgiving than some of the other 2Hers. I'd say Level 72 with x2 Demi is a very reasonable time to build it. Some stats below, at Level 80:
Offence: Not on the same level as a 2H 'glass-cannon' like a Paladin or some of those Harper Scout-splashed guys, but still quite impressive;
*You have 110 AB and against your Favored Enemies you get some extra Physical and +4d12 Positive dice from Blade Thirst.
-> You can hit the P1 Githzerai (who have 0% Positive immunity) like a truck.
-> Using a L50 Fire/Pos weapon you deal ludicrous damage against the Undead guys. Combined with Invisibility Purge, you can solo Trillochs faster than an entire Ranger-less party can.
*DC 55 Called Shot, you will not insta-kill much with it... but throw it in for the CON-reduction (the target loses 6 CON on successful saves)
Defence: Quite awesome. You really should not be dying much with this, despite being a '2Her';
*147 AC with 66% conceal from Camouflage.
*75F/75R/69W saves with Improved Evasion included. You don't have enough Fort/Will to skip Weird immunity unfortunately, but you will be sturdy for most of the random checks around the place.
Utility: You pack that awesome 8% Invisibility Purge I was banging on about at the start!
-----
Jade Poliwhirl
40 Ranger, Any Alignment
Halfling
STR 14
DEX 18
CON 8
WIS 12
INT 14
CHA 8
-> Kolyarut
STR 19 -> 40 [+17 levels +2 Feats +2 Arti]
DEX 23 -> 26 [+3 Levels]
CON 10 -> 14 [+4 Ranger]
WIS 10
INT 16
CHA 6
Skills at 60 -> 80:
Concentration 12 -> +15 Paragon
Craft Weapon 50
Craft Armor 63 -> +20 Paragon
Discipline 63
Hide 63 -> +5 Paragon
Listen 63 -> +20 Paragon
Parry 63
Tumble 60
Pre-Epic Feats: (7 + 5 Favored Enemies)
Blooded
Power Attack
Cleave
Great Cleave
Exotic Proficiency
WF: Bastard Sword
IC: Bastard Sword
[x5 Favored Enemies]
Epic Feats: (7)
Armor Skin
OC: Bastard Sword
DC: Bastard Sword
Epic Will
Epic Reflexes
Epic Fortitude
ESF: Listen
Bonus Epic Feats: (10 Ranger)
Bane of Enemies
Epic Prowess
EWF: Bastard Sword
Blinding Speed
[x6 Favored Enemies]
Legendary Feats: (7)
LSA: Tumble
LWF: Bastard Sword
Legendary Luck
ESF: Craft Armor
Great Strength 1
Great Strength 2
Iron Will
Paragon Feats: (6)
PWF: Bastard Sword
Paragon Balance
Paragon Adaptivity 1
Paragon Adaptivity 2
Paragon Adaptivity 3
Paragon Luck
Favored Enemies: (11)
Outsider - All Slaads
Aberration - All Kaorti, Gibbering Orb
Construct - Amorphion, Umbral Blot
Shapechanger - Keketar, Hagunemnon, Imentesh
Vermin - Trilloch
Undead - P2 Undeads
Elemental - P2 Elementals
Magical Beast - Chaos Roc (small-sized toons can't attack Chaos Rocs at the moment, but fingers crossed for a fix next patch!)
Giant - Unfinished Titan, Anarchic Storm Giant
Monstrous Humanoid - All Githzerai
Elf - All Feral Elves
Artifact: STR
Pandect: Called Shot
Tome: Illusion
110 AB, 6 APR (with Wrap), 55 DC Called Shot
147 AC + 66% Conceal
Saves: 75F/75R/69W + Improved Evasion
8% Invisibility Purge
40 Ranger, Any Alignment
Halfling
STR 14
DEX 18
CON 8
WIS 12
INT 14
CHA 8
-> Kolyarut
STR 19 -> 40 [+17 levels +2 Feats +2 Arti]
DEX 23 -> 26 [+3 Levels]
CON 10 -> 14 [+4 Ranger]
WIS 10
INT 16
CHA 6
Skills at 60 -> 80:
Concentration 12 -> +15 Paragon
Craft Weapon 50
Craft Armor 63 -> +20 Paragon
Discipline 63
Hide 63 -> +5 Paragon
Listen 63 -> +20 Paragon
Parry 63
Tumble 60
Pre-Epic Feats: (7 + 5 Favored Enemies)
Blooded
Power Attack
Cleave
Great Cleave
Exotic Proficiency
WF: Bastard Sword
IC: Bastard Sword
[x5 Favored Enemies]
Epic Feats: (7)
Armor Skin
OC: Bastard Sword
DC: Bastard Sword
Epic Will
Epic Reflexes
Epic Fortitude
ESF: Listen
Bonus Epic Feats: (10 Ranger)
Bane of Enemies
Epic Prowess
EWF: Bastard Sword
Blinding Speed
[x6 Favored Enemies]
Legendary Feats: (7)
LSA: Tumble
LWF: Bastard Sword
Legendary Luck
ESF: Craft Armor
Great Strength 1
Great Strength 2
Iron Will
Paragon Feats: (6)
PWF: Bastard Sword
Paragon Balance
Paragon Adaptivity 1
Paragon Adaptivity 2
Paragon Adaptivity 3
Paragon Luck
Favored Enemies: (11)
Outsider - All Slaads
Aberration - All Kaorti, Gibbering Orb
Construct - Amorphion, Umbral Blot
Shapechanger - Keketar, Hagunemnon, Imentesh
Vermin - Trilloch
Undead - P2 Undeads
Elemental - P2 Elementals
Magical Beast - Chaos Roc (small-sized toons can't attack Chaos Rocs at the moment, but fingers crossed for a fix next patch!)
Giant - Unfinished Titan, Anarchic Storm Giant
Monstrous Humanoid - All Githzerai
Elf - All Feral Elves
Artifact: STR
Pandect: Called Shot
Tome: Illusion
110 AB, 6 APR (with Wrap), 55 DC Called Shot
147 AC + 66% Conceal
Saves: 75F/75R/69W + Improved Evasion
8% Invisibility Purge
Build Adjustments: There's really quite a lot of wiggle room with the build, some of the more obvious adjustments include:
*Disarm can be fitted in for you Disarm lovers, personally I only see a difference in nub parties where everyone flatfoots so I don't value it highly
*Can certainly fit in Extend Spell to make buffing a little more relaxed
*Use CON artifact if you will be playing a lot of Hell/Abyss
*Adjust the Favored Enemies to suit the areas that you will be playing in
*Drop Blinding Speed and take another Favored Enemy (if you really feel you need more!)
*Saves are a bit over the top, you can drop a bunch of them (especially Iron Will and Epic Reflexes) to free up some extra feats
*Consider Sneak Attack pandect instead of Called Shot for a little extra damage
*Drop ESF Listen and use an Augmenter of the Salamander - I preferred to spend a feat and keep the aug-slot open.
*The distribution of the Paragon points was carefully selected based on the gear I was planning to wear on him, you should change it to whatever suits you but I would advise putting +20 into Listen; it gives you a bit of breathing room in terms of fitting Listen gear.
-----
It's quite straightforward to play as it is, so I'm not going to go into too much detail on that - wear sensible gear, cast your buffs and Invisibility Purge, then hit stuff.
Feel free to ask any questions! If the question is "Can I drop X feats to pick up Y feats?" the answer will almost always be yes.