Dual Wield Ranger (Drizzt Do'Urden) Build?

[Yeknomious]

So... I would like to do something VERY UNORIGINAL. Roleplay as Drizzt Do'Urden!

 

Is it possible to build a melee dual wield ranger? I've been looking for a noob friendly build but can't find one.

 

I know I want to play as a pale elf ranger with the lion companion (closest thing to Guenhwyvar) from the Deadfire Archipelago. Background would be hunter.

 

I'm not sure on the stats to take though or whether the build will be remotely viable with the skills the class has access to - they all seem revolve around ranged weapons.

 

Any help would be appreciated. In the mean time I'm going to jump in with a practice game and see if I can fumble through! 

 

Cheers in advance.

Edited October 19, 2020 by Yeknomious

[Yeknomious]

For now I'm going to drop the ranger build and go with a dual wield rogue based on a build by Madscientist.

I will try the dual wield ranger build again if I can get my head around the game!

[baldurs_gate_2]

It's possible in the second game, because there are actually better abilities for a melee build. But Rangers are pretty weak tbh, even more in melee range.

[Boeroer]

Rangers are fine if you don't forget to use the Animal Companion which can be build to hit like a truck in PoE (not so much in Deadfire). So the Ranger char himself won't do as much damage as a Rogue, but if you add the Animal Companion it's another story.

Rangers get access to Swift Aim which also works with melee weapons (unlike Vicious Aim). With it and dual wielding it is rel. easy to achieve a 0-recovery build which is not dependent on active speed buffs which can be effective and really fun. 

In order to get the most dmg out of your Animal Companion you need Vicious Companion, Merciless Companion, Predator's Sense and Brutal Takedown. Brutal Takedown seems meh but is actually not because it only has to overcome 1/4th of enemies' DR (for reasons unknown) which makes it awesome against all fat-armored foes.

Animal Companions' base damage scales with character level which leads to pretty brutal dmg numbers at higher levels. It's important to unlock Predator's Sense as often as possible in order to gain the most from that high base damage. 

You can unlock Predator's Sense with any damage-over-time effect like Wounding Shot for example, but it's most easy to use a wounding weapon. Unfortunately the only one-handed melee wounding weapon is the dagger Drawn in Spring. While that's one of the highest dps weapons of the game and therefore great to have, it also comes too late to spin a while build idea around it. But maybe one can just substitute that with some other sources of raw dmg in the party until you get it - or just use another weapon like sabres entirely and leave the DoT-part to the druid of the party for example. As I said you'll also have Wounding Shots which will unlock Predator's Sense in melee as well. When in doubt you can use Envenomed Strike (talent), too.

If you use Brutal Takedown on a target and then keep hacking/biting on it with Ranger + Animal Companion it's done very quickly. The initial prone from Brutal Takedown also helps. 

For optimizing your attack speed and reaching 0 recovery with dual wielding and Swift Aim you can play with this online tool:

https://naijaro.github.io/poe-speed-calculator/

 

[draego]

Ye in the late game my animal WOLF would do about 70-80 on hit and over 100 damage on crit which if your a ranger with flanking + stunning shots (ranger ability) + all animal companion talents and abilities Boeroer mentioned, should happen pretty often. And i did a drawn in spring ranger for a run. It was fun i would use my ranger / animal to flank and take out squishies casters and ranged guyes when i could. i dont really remember all the abilities i used before i got drawn in spring . i prob used other abilities and spells from others to trigger predators sense like boeroer mentioned. If you go two handed build you can get a wounding weapon faster with Tidefall Greatsword. Rangers can definitely dish out the damage plus they are the only class to get skill of Stun on Hit which is really powerful for a weapon on hit affect. i mean not wizard powerful but really good for just and auto attack debuff affect. 

Rangers arent weak but they are more of an auto attack class and they are a high micro class with maneuvering your animal and ranger around. I liked that about them but some dont. Also in the base game without mods your animal damage doesnt show up as part of ranger damage totals so its hard for some to see what the actual damage a ranger can do. 

Edited October 22, 2020 by draego

[Boeroer]

Players often forget that summons are very impactful because having an additional body is impactful. Well having an additional companion is as least as impactful. But the focus is always on the Ranger. Naturally the Ranger alone can't be as offensively powerful as a Rogue - that would be totally unfair since the Rogue doesn't have an Animal Companion. And still at the end of the game the Ranger comes pretty close even without the Animal Companion. 

Stunning Shots with a dual wielding setup and Swift Aim (aiming for 0 recovery) is extremely good. You can stunlock any enemy (who's not immune to stuns).

[draego]

I just skip swift aim and chug potions of Potion of Deleterious Alacrity of Motion  + two weapon style + a low thin armor + durganized  = more than enough for 0 recovery. with calculator you can even just use potion of power and still have enough for vulnerable attack. i know that takes some time so swift aim is for if you are trying to get it early on but i just like being able to choose a different talent

Edited October 23, 2020 by draego

[Boeroer]

That also works. I personally don't use consumables much so I always try to make things work with ability and talents only. 

Instead of Swift Aim one could also use Outlander' Frenzy or Frenzy from the Sanguine Plate. 

[baldurs_gate_2]

But that is supposed to be a party build or? Because as solo, you have to rely on summons, that the enemies won't just kill your pet fast. What is the best pet for that? I am using a boar because it is more sturdy.

[Desmodeus]

I actually ran sagani as a dual wield melee ranger once. Quite viable but lack overall power of twinned arrow/powder burn builds. Though it might have been my weapon of choise - danulya spear + heath harvest