Interesting builds involving melee Ranger?

[Griffonheart]

Just a whim. I haven't seen a melee Ranger build, and the class has so few melee related skills. I mean, we got range Monk, presumably there's a melee Ranger mix too?

[Boeroer]

I played a very good (imo) solo Stalker/Bloodmage with a Morning Star (Willbreaker). The idea was that I would lower enemies' Fortitude and Will with the Morning Star and Miasma, my Bear did Takedown Combo on the enemy and my Essential Phantom with Draining Touch weapon could then hit easily (because Drainng Touch targets Will instead of Deflection) for high damage. Rinse and repeat.

With WIllbreaker's enchantment that grants 25% miss to graze (awesome) and Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (again 25% miss to graze) and the general high ACC of Ranger/Companion it was always so easy to hit even the toughest bosses (excluding Megabosses, didn't do those). For example I soloed Neriscyrlas on PotD  without any resting bonuses or consumables. 

The two additional sturdy bodies were great, too. My Geomancer went for high AR and not too bad deflection. In combination with the Wizard buffs he was very sturdy.

 

Another fun concept was Stalker/Helwalker with one-handed Stalker's Patience spear in combination with Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming. It has a nice enchantment that removes recovery after a crit (20% chance). With Ranger's high ACC and some crit chains with Swift Flurry etc. the recovery skipping went pretty great. Best against low defense enemies like casters and so on.

 

SC Stalker with Fire in the Hole + Scordeo's Edge using Whirling Strikes (+ Driving Flight) is wild. It's more like a melee/ranged hybrid, but the combo is great because it also allows to use Hunter's Fang etc. with the blunderbuss which gives you plenty of stacks with just one shot (if enough enemies in range).  

Edited April 27, 2021 by Boeroer

[Griffonheart]

30 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

SC Stalker with Fire in the Hole + Scordeo's Edge using Whirling Strikes

Wait, so you literally "dealing Full Attacks to each enemy within range" with your blunderbuss? Like shotgun to the face on everyone?

[Boeroer]

Indeed. And because of the AoE of Fire in the Hole and Driving Flight and Fire in the Hole's build-in bounce (Chain Shot) you will do 3 AoE blasts for every target in range  It's a ton of attack rolls... try with Avenging Storm...

And one attack to each target with Scordeo's...

St. Drogga's Skull instead of Scordeo's is also nice. It has a chance to trigger AoE dmg, too.

 

 

Edited April 27, 2021 by Boeroer

[Griffonheart]

7 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

St. Drogga's Skull

Don't have that one, but this build makes it sound like a SC Stalker can do a huge amount of damage just by using two aoe guns, instead of Scordeo's or Stalker's Patience. Wouldn't Whispers of the Endless Paths achieve similar result, assuming you hit each enemy with a cone?

[Kaylon]

• kind wayfarer/stalker (bear companion) using Stalker's Patience - great tank with strong pet
• ghost heart/trickster using Scordeo's Edge and Grave Calling/Rust's Poignard - great damage dealer and disabler

[Boeroer]

55 minutes ago, Griffonheart said:

this build makes it sound like a SC Stalker can do a huge amount of damage just by using two aoe guns

No, because Whirling Strikes requires you to wield at least one melee weapon. As soon as you equip two ranged weapons (or one single handed ranged weapon) you won't be able to use the ability (greyed out).

If you want to do huge amount of damage as an SC Ranger with mortars alone then pick SC Ranger (whatever subclass) and skill Arcana so that you can use scroll of Avenging Storm and then use Serafen's Hand Mortar with the enchantment Blinding Smoke. Use Driving Flight and Twinned Shot and you will destroy most enemy groups with one Twinned Shot (because Blinding Smoke hits will trigger Avenging Storm). But that's not a melee build anymore of course. 

 

1 hour ago, Griffonheart said:

 Wouldn't Whispers of the Endless Paths achieve similar result, assuming you hit each enemy with a cone?

No, because the cone shape of WotEP doesn't work very well with the circular AoE of Whirling Strikes. You will actually hit not that many enemies.

You can use Keeper of the Flame though. Its flame AoE attack will hit you, too - but you can either raise reflex really high or wear Edérs armor (has an enchantment that makes you potetially immune to reflex attacks) or wear Rekvu's Scorched Cloak with an injury (in that case the flame AoE will even heal you). 

 

I also liked Stalker/Paldin with Bear or Boar. Brand Enemy unlocks Predator's Sense for cheap, Exalted Edurance raises AR of you both, AR and deflection bonus of Stalker stacks with Paladin's passives, Lay on Hands can heal the animal companion, Flames of Devotion + Ring of Focused Flames has +20 ACC which stack with Ranger's ACC bonuses and so on.

Also cool imo: Stalker/Druid if Animal Companion and Spiritshift Form are the same animal. I prefer Stalker/Ancient I think.

[Rev7718]

4 hours ago, Boeroer said:

I played a very good (imo) solo Stalker/Bloodmage with a Morning Star (Willbreaker). The idea was that I would lower enemies' Fortitude and Will with the Morning Star and Miasma, my Bear did Takedown Combo on the enemy and my Essential Phantom with Draining Touch weapon could then hit easily (because Drainng Touch targets Will instead of Deflection) for high damage. Rinse and repeat.

With WIllbreaker's enchantment that grants 25% miss to graze (awesome) and Gauntlets of Greater Reliability (again 25% miss to graze) and the general high ACC of Ranger/Companion it was always so easy to hit even the toughest bosses (excluding Megabosses, didn't do those). For example I soloed Neriscyrlas on PotD  without any resting bonuses or consumables. 

The two additional sturdy bodies were great, too. My Geomancer went for high AR and not too bad deflection. In combination with the Wizard buffs he was very sturdy.

 

Another fun concept was Stalker/Helwalker with one-handed Stalker's Patience spear in combination with Swift Flurry/Heartbeat Drumming. It has a nice enchantment that removes recovery after a crit (20% chance). With Ranger's high ACC and some crit chains with Swift Flurry etc. the recovery skipping went pretty great. Best against low defense enemies like casters and so on.

 

SC Stalker with Fire in the Hole + Scordeo's Edge using Whirling Strikes (+ Driving Flight) is wild. It's more like a melee/ranged hybrid, but the combo is great because it also allows to use Hunter's Fang etc. with the blunderbuss which gives you plenty of stacks with just one shot (if enough enemies in range).  

Would you be so kind and elaborate more about the one-handed Stalker/Helwalker build? Just the weapon? No shield?

[Elric Galad]

4 hours ago, Boeroer said:

SC Stalker with Fire in the Hole + Scordeo's Edge using Whirling Strikes (+ Driving Flight) is wild. It's more like a melee/ranged hybrid, but the combo is great because it also allows to use Hunter's Fang etc. with the blunderbuss which gives you plenty of stacks with just one shot (if enough enemies in range).  

Wait, Hunter's Claw and its upgrades work with Melee + Ranged ? I would have thought melee Full Attacks only lead to 1 melee attack with melee + ranged combination !

[dgray62]

Since I just posted this in another thread, I thought I'd help Boeroer out and post it here too. Boeroer posted this build on the second page of this thread.

[draego]

Dont know if its really interesting but i did a Scout Stalker/Rogue two weapon build. pretty fun i did a lot of stealth stuff and avoided tons of fights so cant say its was uber strong but had lot of fun. during fights i played kinds flanking rogue with my wolf. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by draego

[Boeroer]

9 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

Wait, Hunter's Claw and its upgrades work with Melee + Ranged ? I would have thought melee Full Attacks only lead to 1 melee attack with melee + ranged combination !

Yes, if you put a melee weapon into your offhand and a blunderbuss (for example) into your main hand and attack from range it will use the ranged weapon. And since that has 4 projectiles you can get 4 stacks or more with Driving Flight. With Fire in the Hole it's even more because AoE + bounce + Driving Flight. I once achieved a full stack (20) with only one use of Hunter's Claw on a tight group of enemies. I didn't test if Hand Mortar's Blinding Smoke also counts as hits (as it does for Resonant Touch and Avenging Storm). If so it would be even better.

 

[Boeroer]

9 hours ago, dgray62 said:

Since I just posted this in another thread, I thought I'd help Boeroer out and post it here too. Boeroer posted this build on the second page of this thread.

Thank you. I will take the liberty and link directly to the post in question (less searching): 

 

[Boeroer]

10 hours ago, Rev7718 said:

Would you be so kind and elaborate more about the one-handed Stalker/Helwalker build? Just the weapon? No shield?

Yes, no shield. Also works with shield of course (especially small shield + modal) but I wanted a build that uses one handed style (since there are so few where it makes mechanical sense). The reasoning is that the +12 ACC and the additional crit conversion from one handed style will help you to proc crits and crit chains with Swift Flurry/HBD more often which leads to recovery skips more often. 

Also fun with Sungrazer. The one-handed usage makes sure you kill with a crit quite often which triggers its very strong AoE on crit-kill quite often, too. 

And of course the good old Sun & Moon. 

But I preferred Stalker's Patience. First because of the name (I mean Stalker wearing Stalker's Patience come on ) and the also because I wanted to double down on that recovery skip because its fun once it works. 

I used one if the flails against pierce immune foes though.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Boeroer

[Rev7718]

59 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, no shield. Also works with shield of course (especially small shield + modal) but I wanted a build that uses one handed style (since there are so few where it makes mechanical sense). The reasoning is that the +12 ACC and the additional crit conversion from one handed style will help you to proc crits and crit chains with Swift Flurry/HBD more often which leads to recovery skips more often. 

Also fun with Sungrazer. The one-handed usage makes sure you kill with a crit quite often which triggers its very strong AoE on crit-kill quite often, too. 

And of course the good old Sun & Moon. 

But I preferred Stalker's Patience. First because of the name (I mean Stalker wearing Stalker's Patience come on ) and the also because I wanted to double down on that recovery skip because its fun once it works. 

I used one if the flails against pierce immune foes though.

That´s perfect. Thanks!

[Elric Galad]

1 hour ago, Boeroer said:

But I preferred Stalker's Patience. First because of the name (I mean Stalker wearing Stalker's Patience come on ) and the also because I wanted to double down on that recovery skip because its fun once it works. 

Also good with Predatory senses. +50% damages for the pet is neat.

Scordeo's Edge is good to stack accuracy too. I don't think another weapon can go that high.

A secondary reason to use Scordeo's Edge on SC Ranger is Stunning Shot. Once you have accumulated accuracy from whirling strikes with Scordeao's Edge (and possibly Blade Cascade if you're lucky), you have up to +40 acc (+50 vs foes under 50% health) and interrupt on Crit. With Dual Wielding you attack fast and can poke a lot. And now I learn that you can easily stack additional accuracy with Hunter's Claw for those boss fights... !

[Boeroer]

14 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

Also good with Predatory senses. +50% damages for the pet is neat.

Neat indeed.

14 minutes ago, Elric Galad said:

Scordeo's Edge is good to stack accuracy too. I don't think another weapon can go that high.

A secondary reason to use Scordeo's Edge on SC Ranger is Stunning Shot. Once you have accumulated accuracy from whirling strikes with Scordeao's Edge (and possibly Blade Cascade if you're lucky), you have up to +40 acc (+50 vs foes under 50% health) and interrupt on Crit. With Dual Wielding you attack fast and can poke a lot. And now I learn that you can easily stack additional accuracy with Hunter's Claw for those boss fights... !

Yes, Scordeo's Edge is very good (too good imo). I rarely use it though because you have to side with Aeldys and often I don't feel like doing that. And because every power build and their animal companion use it.

[Elric Galad]

21 minutes ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, Scordeo's Edge is very good (too good imo). I rarely use it though because you have to side with Aeldys and often I don't feel like doing that. And because every power build and their animal companion use it.

Ishiza's build :

Photo libre de droit de Perroquet Pirate banque d'images et plus d'images libres de droit de Faune - iStock (istockphoto.com)

[Not So Clever Hound]

You could call it The Parrying Parrot or something like that. Cute.

[Haplok]

2 hours ago, Elric Galad said:

Scordeo's Edge is good to stack accuracy too. I don't think another weapon can go that high.

Rapier (+5 inherent Accuracy) with modal (+20) can. The modal might not stack with everything, though.

https://pillarsofeternity2.wiki.fextralife.com/Rännig's+Wrath even has another +4.

With the modal active its barely slower then a normal speed weapon, like a saber.

Granted, its much weaker damage-wise, not to mention the broken Blade Cascade on the right build.

Edited April 28, 2021 by Haplok

[Griffonheart]

3 hours ago, Boeroer said:

Yes, Scordeo's Edge is very good (too good imo). I rarely use it though because you have to side with Aeldys

Is there an alternative? Stalker's Patience?

Wouldn't Stalker/Helwalker take too much damage, consider Stalker doesn't have comparable survival skills?

[Boeroer]

Stalker/Helwalker can get up to +4 AR if he must. That's plenty if combined with a heavy armor.

But I don't consider this to be a tanky character and I also didn't play it as one. You could take the bear and let it tank damage for you I guess. As Stalker not only you but also your Animal Companion gets +1 AR (and +5 deflection). The bear already has +2 AR to begin with so it's +3 AR for him. And if you take Resilient Companion the Bear has stellar +5AR (for an AC anyway). Use Hardy Companion in situations where it might go down and it will regain health and get another +2 AR for a short duration (maybe enough to finish off the attacker). Actually it's not too short with Tuning Wheel I guess.   

I played this more like a flanker though. Animal Compaion and you apply flanked (-10 deflection, -1 AR) which also works in your favor (Swift Flurry/HBD etc.).
  

[dgray62]

You could also use the Griffin's Blade for the 50% chance to daze nearby enemies on crit. This will happen a lot given your very high accuracy and will protect both you and your pet, since hits from dazed enemies will almost certainly under penetrate.

[Theosupus]

I had fun with a SC stalker w/ the two spears (Stalker's Patience & Mohorā Tanga) with maxed stealth and survival. Skipped mega bosses with him though. He was a beast w/ mobs but just ok with bosses. Your pet is pretty decent with all the passive talents you can afford as a melee ranger too.

[Griffonheart]

On 4/29/2021 at 7:18 AM, Theosupus said:

I had fun with a SC stalker w/ the two spears (Stalker's Patience & Mohorā Tanga) with maxed stealth and survival. Skipped mega bosses with him though. He was a beast w/ mobs but just ok with bosses. Your pet is pretty decent with all the passive talents you can afford as a melee ranger too.

Nice, and it profits from Stealth+Survival. Why SC though?