1.1 PoTD Ranged DPS builds?

[tedmann12]

Hello guys,

 

Once 1.1 is fully out I plan on doing some type of ranged rogue build. Is Rogue/Ranger an effective combo? After the changes in 1.1 what ranged DPS builds would you recommend? I suppose it doesn't have to include Rogue, but I do like using a rogue.

 

Looking to use guns or bows. Have some decent DPS and some cool abilities.

Would love to hear suggestions!

[Crumbleton]

Scout like you said is fairly good. What do you want your character to be good at , anything more specific?

[Climhazzard]

The nerf to the keybreak scepter hurt the offhand scepter monk concept pretty badly.  It's still good for enemies with really high armor of which there are a number in the new PotD, but otherwise I can't recommend it anymore.  I hope some decent scepters get added into the game in the expansions.

 

Scout is stronger than ever though, with guns of any type.  A gun toting scout might eventually be on the list of MC I make.

Edited June 4, 2018 by Climhazzard

[1TTFFSSE]

Problem with rogue is that you need to be within 2.5m for backstab I think. 

 

Melee is no brainer go Assassin but ranged is more tricky - I would rather always go Zerker now on ranged class for alacrity bonuses and mobility later.

 

I would go:

Zerker/ Ranger

Zerker/ Cipher

Zerker/ CasterX (Wiz, Druid, whatever but Wizard best)

Zerker/ Monk (long pain build)

 

 

Basically all you do is use the Barbarian Zerker to be perma alacrity boosted from frenzy and then use the other classes attack abilities. Later you get I think a nice mobility ability in the Barbarian tree which is nice for kiting on your ranged squishy as well. 

[tedmann12]

I am intrigued by the ranged berserker idea.

 

I kinda hate this confusion affliction though, because I feel I have to spend so many points in INT just so it doesn't drop my int to like 5, which would crush my frenzy duration.

 

What are your suggestions for stat allocation? And since Frenzy doesn't add the 30% of hits converted to Crits on ranged weapons, is it worth it simply for the +2 armor penetration and +2 armor rating bonuses?

[CountGrishnackh]

I am intrigued by the ranged berserker idea.

 

I kinda hate this confusion affliction though, because I feel I have to spend so many points in INT just so it doesn't drop my int to like 5, which would crush my frenzy duration.

 

What are your suggestions for stat allocation? And since Frenzy doesn't add the 30% of hits converted to Crits on ranged weapons, is it worth it simply for the +2 armor penetration and +2 armor rating bonuses?

2 AP is always good, Getting 2 Armor for free means you can drop to lighter armor. Devil of Caroc Breastplate can get rid of the debuff, as can Svef. Theres also an amulet (i think) that increases buff duration by 35%

[1TTFFSSE]

I am intrigued by the ranged berserker idea.

 

I kinda hate this confusion affliction though, because I feel I have to spend so many points in INT just so it doesn't drop my int to like 5, which would crush my frenzy duration.

 

What are your suggestions for stat allocation? And since Frenzy doesn't add the 30% of hits converted to Crits on ranged weapons, is it worth it simply for the +2 armor penetration and +2 armor rating bonuses?

On ranged zerker you want starting Int around 20 with items etc if you are going for the casting classes (cipher/wiz/druid). If ranger/ monk I would go 15 starting int or so. 

 

Also I tested Frenzy with fast weapons / modals like Hunting Bow or dual wield pistols and it is insanely fast ... of course my toon has maxxed dex, perception and intelligence. I have a witch (cipher) so between zerker damage boosts and soul whip I can dump might to 10-12 but max int/perc/and dex.

[tedmann12]

 

I am intrigued by the ranged berserker idea.

 

I kinda hate this confusion affliction though, because I feel I have to spend so many points in INT just so it doesn't drop my int to like 5, which would crush my frenzy duration.

 

What are your suggestions for stat allocation? And since Frenzy doesn't add the 30% of hits converted to Crits on ranged weapons, is it worth it simply for the +2 armor penetration and +2 armor rating bonuses?

2 AP is always good, Getting 2 Armor for free means you can drop to lighter armor. Devil of Caroc Breastplate can get rid of the debuff, as can Svef. Theres also an amulet (i think) that increases buff duration by 35%

 

How does the devil of caroc armor get rid of the debuff?

 

I looked at it online it looks like it just has -20% recovery time and "+2 max power pool" (whatever that means?)

[Crumbleton]

It has resistance to intelligence afflictions as an upgrade

[tedmann12]

That's amazing, wow. How do you upgrade it?

[Sanctuary]

That's amazing, wow. How do you upgrade it?

 

Like every other weapon or armor that can be upgraded.  You simply enchant it...

 

Anyway, I don't know what's up with the "20 INT" recommendation, because you don't need anywhere close to that amount, caster or not, aside from maybe a Cipher that you are primarily using for CC. 

 

A Ranger/X class wants to prioritize Perception, Dexterity and Might in that order.  Scout is OK, but all you're really getting out of it is the Sneak Attack bonus, which is fine for the 3-5 shots you'll get out of it, and it might be useful for bursting down 1-2 priority targets at the start, but I'd recommend either full Ranger, Ranger/Barbarian (No subclass for the Barb) or even Ranger/Wizard.  Less upfront burst, but a lot more damage in the long run. 

Edited June 5, 2018 by Sanctuary

[Kaylon]

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

[Sanctuary]

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

 

What exactly does a Rogue bring that a Barbarian doesn't?  Rogues have Sneak Attack, while Barbarians give 25% haste as well as Barbaric Smash, which is better than any of the Rogue skills you can get with a multiclass.  Ranger also has Driving Flight and a higher Accuracy than either the Chanter or Rogue (Aside from the Assassin bonus from stealth).  Most of the Barbarian damage increases are gained very early too, and then later the on kill passives are some of the best in the game.

[Climhazzard]

 

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

 

What exactly does a Rogue bring that a Barbarian doesn't?  Rogues have Sneak Attack, while Barbarians give 25% haste as well as Barbaric Smash, which is better than any of the Rogue skills you can get with a multiclass.  Ranger also has Driving Flight and a higher Accuracy than either the Chanter or Rogue (Aside from the Assassin bonus from stealth).  Most of the Barbarian damage increases are gained very early too, and then later the on kill passives are some of the best in the game.

 

 

 

Blind (with great upgrades), hobble (with good upgrades, costs 1 resource), sneak attack, deathblows, deep wounds, escape, smoke veil... 

 

Not to say rogues are better or worse than barb, but rogue is honestly a great multi class for ranged characters.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Climhazzard

[Eraflure]

Don't forget finishing blow, fantastic single target damage especially after the patch.

[Sanctuary]

 

 

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

 

What exactly does a Rogue bring that a Barbarian doesn't?  Rogues have Sneak Attack, while Barbarians give 25% haste as well as Barbaric Smash, which is better than any of the Rogue skills you can get with a multiclass.  Ranger also has Driving Flight and a higher Accuracy than either the Chanter or Rogue (Aside from the Assassin bonus from stealth).  Most of the Barbarian damage increases are gained very early too, and then later the on kill passives are some of the best in the game.

 

 

 

Blind (with great upgrades), hobble (with good upgrades, costs 1 resource), sneak attack, deathblows, deep wounds, escape, smoke veil... 

 

Not to say rogues are better or worse than barb, but rogue is honestly a great multi class for ranged characters.

 

 

Hobble, really?  Deathblows comes extremely late too for multiclassing. Also not exactly easy to setup reliably.  Blind essentially only really matters for the Rogue itself for more Sneak Attacks, but if you're playing Assassin (why wouldn't you be as a ranged Rogue?), you're better off spending all of your resources on restealthing for the Assassination bonuses.  If you want a ranged Rogue that excels at burst damage, you would want an Assassin/Bleak Walker anyway.  Or hell, just go Assassin/Barbarian and get the best of both worlds, but I was assuming the OP was focusing more on the Ranger side of things.

 

edit: Finishing Blow was always good, even before the patch, but essentially on Verteran or below when scaling wasn't working correctly.  I don't know what difficulty the OP plans on playing, but I wouldn't bother with it on PotD.

Edited June 5, 2018 by Sanctuary

[rheingold]

I'd go rogue/cipher. Assasin or default rogue spec. Cipher I'd go beguiler or default. Does great damage, can switch between melee and ranged incredibly easily, and has cc. Probably not the most powerful build, but one of the most versatile, and still pretty potent. Loads of fun as well. Arquebus for first shot from stealth then Serafen's blunderbusses.

[Ganrich]

 

 

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

What exactly does a Rogue bring that a Barbarian doesn't? Rogues have Sneak Attack, while Barbarians give 25% haste as well as Barbaric Smash, which is better than any of the Rogue skills you can get with a multiclass. Ranger also has Driving Flight and a higher Accuracy than either the Chanter or Rogue (Aside from the Assassin bonus from stealth). Most of the Barbarian damage increases are gained very early too, and then later the on kill passives are some of the best in the game.

 

Blind (with great upgrades), hobble (with good upgrades, costs 1 resource), sneak attack, deathblows, deep wounds, escape, smoke veil...

 

Not to say rogues are better or worse than barb, but rogue is honestly a great multi class for ranged characters.

Hel-hyraf + pierce the bell can be the difference of tickling the enemy and overpenning them. Such a good combo. 5 point AR/Pen swing is really good. Especially if they have 2 afflictions and you have death blows + deep wounds. 2 afflictions is easy with Debilitating Strike upgrade, and dirt cheap from a guile standpoint.

 

Confounding Blind is so good, and it surprises me no one really talks about it. Every attack causes a stacking Deflection debuff on target while the buff is active. I've gotten some enemies to -13 Deflection in 1.1. You do the math on what is happening to their life bar.

[1TTFFSSE]

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

I disagree .. maybe from a solo/ self=sufficient jack of all trade pov you are right but in terms of raw ranged dps I would but my money on 

 

-Zerker/Devoted

-Zerker/Ghost heart

-Zerker/ Assasin

-Zerker/Cipher

-Zerker/ Helwalker

 

Of course the chants that give you support like reload speed/ fire whip are really good from chanter but I'd run them on a support toon and not on the main dps toon.

 

Edit: also I think Hunting Bow may out-dps dual pistols but exact tests need to be made to see. 

Edited June 5, 2018 by 1TTFFSSE

[Climhazzard]

 

 

 

The best dps ranged character is the dual pistols chanter/rogue, by a large margin... You'll have eventually all the possible buffs from chanter, recovery+reload speed chant, burn lash chant, crowd control, armor debuff, pets and all the passive dmg bonuses from the rogue, invisibility, etc... Pick Maia's armor, the hat with bonus to reload speed, ring of the marksman, the speed gloves, the pet with 10% ranged dmg and all items with +dex you can find and with pistols modal you can easily go under 2s attack (even after the patch I think). A monk(helwalker)/rogue can achieve slightly better dps but he's very squishy...

 

What exactly does a Rogue bring that a Barbarian doesn't?  Rogues have Sneak Attack, while Barbarians give 25% haste as well as Barbaric Smash, which is better than any of the Rogue skills you can get with a multiclass.  Ranger also has Driving Flight and a higher Accuracy than either the Chanter or Rogue (Aside from the Assassin bonus from stealth).  Most of the Barbarian damage increases are gained very early too, and then later the on kill passives are some of the best in the game.

 

 

 

Blind (with great upgrades), hobble (with good upgrades, costs 1 resource), sneak attack, deathblows, deep wounds, escape, smoke veil... 

 

Not to say rogues are better or worse than barb, but rogue is honestly a great multi class for ranged characters.

 

 

Hobble, really?  Deathblows comes extremely late too for multiclassing. Also not exactly easy to setup reliably.  Blind essentially only really matters for the Rogue itself for more Sneak Attacks, but if you're playing Assassin (why wouldn't you be as a ranged Rogue?), you're better off spending all of your resources on restealthing for the Assassination bonuses.  If you want a ranged Rogue that excels at burst damage, you would want an Assassin/Bleak Walker anyway.  Or hell, just go Assassin/Barbarian and get the best of both worlds, but I was assuming the OP was focusing more on the Ranger side of things.

 

edit: Finishing Blow was always good, even before the patch, but essentially on Verteran or below when scaling wasn't working correctly.  I don't know what difficulty the OP plans on playing, but I wouldn't bother with it on PotD.

 

 

 

Yes, hobble, that attack can be upgraded to setup deathblows by itself, and only costs 1 resource.  If you're dual wielding the second hit will have sneak attack and deathblow modifiers.  Plus these attacks interrupt.  And if you hadn't noticed, they have damage/penetration/accuracy bonuses in 1.1, it's not just burst damage if it only costs 1 resource, you don't need to be an assassin, just blow people up from maximum pistol/blunderbuss/arquebus range.

 

I still recommend scout, for driving flight, the pet offtank, gunner, and accuracy passives, but there are plenty of viable options.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Climhazzard

[Hamhaus]

If you wanna use a bow or crossbow, I recommend going Devoted-Fighter/rogue. The core abilities would be Disciplined Strikes, Penetrating Strike, Pierce the Bell, and any passives that improve damage/crit/hit (like Dirty Fighting and Confident Aim).

 

When it comes to bows and maybe even crossbows, you want as much penetration as you can possibly have. So any ability that improves PEN is important.

Edited June 6, 2018 by Hamhaus

[Lokithecat]

You can build a very rogue oriented party, just with the basic companions.  With Eder as a Swashbuckler, everything he tanks will be vulnerable to sneak attack, which doesn't have any sort of Range restriction, unlike Backstab.  Everyone benefits from Distraction, and Sneak Attacks.

 

The damage bonus from free Perma sneak attack is higher than Barbarian frenzy Might + Haste (although Berserker's penetration might tip the scales, most Barbarian stuff doesn't help a Range build, no Carnage, etc...).  The ability to apply lots of debuffs (Confounding Blind = Deflection destroyer) from range makes a Scout (Rang / Rog) really impressive.  I find the pets just aren't worth the trouble, and the class penalty of Sharpshooter feels too large, I usually go Ghost heart. 

 

Arbalest (Giant crossbow) modal is really worthwhile, aside from immune prone enemies, you can basically lock 1 person down, unable to act, until the massive DPS kills them.

[evilcat]

Scout was viable before, and with 1.1 Rogue gets +25% dmg to various abillities. So it is even better. Bear pet. Sharpshooter .

You may however drop Ranger for Monk Helwaker, Devoted Fighter.

Edited June 6, 2018 by evilcat