Merits of a SC Rangers and their concussive tranquilizer ability?

[Vasvary5050]

I'm wondering what people think of SC rangers. For the most part I've found them to be pretty lacklustre, except I really like their tier 6 ability concussive tranquilizer, which you can get at level 11 with a SC ranger but have to wait until level 16 with a MC ranger. Whilst it's very situational, there are some fights where it is a very handy ability. I'm just hitting level 11/12 on my current run and debating whether to put a ranger in the team and curious what other people think about SC rangers.

[thelee]

I think SC ranger can be alright, but you definitely get pigeon-holed a bit. Stunning Shots coupled with tons of accuracy bonuses and Driving Flight can wreck a lot. There's also a melee alternative with Whirling Strikes, but I personally haven't tried it myself.

It's a shame because otherwise mostly the story of high-level ranger abilities is that while they can be powerful, they are pretty niche because of their high resource cost. For example, Heart Seeker can be very powerful, but 4 bond is a lot!! That's 4x Concussive Tranquilizer. And I feel like I always value Concussive Shot/Tranquilizer, since even if there's no buff to clean, a guaranteed interrupt when you need it is A+.

[Constentin Lévine]

18 minutes ago, thelee said:

they are pretty niche because of their high resource cost.

It is sad that SC rangers are the only SC martial classe with no refounding ressources ability or passive.

[Boeroer]

6 minutes ago, Constentin Lévine said:

It is sad that SC rangers are the only SC martial classe with no refounding ressources ability or passive.

true

29 minutes ago, thelee said:

There's also a melee alternative with Whirling Strikes, but I personally haven't tried it myself.

Whirling Strikes is pretty good, especially with AoE weapons. Iirc you can even trick a mortar into the full attack (use one melee weapon like Keeper of the Flame and Fire in the Hole+Chain Shot in the offhand) which then also works with Driving Flight, doing a ton of attack rolls on everybody around.

Twinned Shot (+Driving Flight) is nice if you really want to proc something that has a rel. low chance - like the AoE of Current's Rush or Ondra's Wrath from Watershaper's Focus.

Those are fun but expensive - and imo not enough to pick an SC Ranger. 

Only exception for me is SC Arcane Archer (with Cmmunity Patch that fixes the PEN issues of the imbue shots): up to three Death Rings per shot (initial hit, 1st bounce from Watershaper's Focus or Fire in the Hole, 2nd bounce from Driving Flight) is fun and pretty dang good. It is friendly fire and destroys enemies who are near death. SInce you are triggering up to three instances that destruction happens pretty often because 2 instaces already bring a lot of enemies near death while the third one then destroys them. Too bad SC Ragers can't pick Spirit of Decay... 
 

[NotDumbEnough]

Yes, Current's Rush in offhand is insane if you use Whirling Strikes. Brought it to SSS and instantly wiped many encounters even on upscaled PotD; the more enemies there are the more likely you wipe them out instantly.

[Constentin Lévine]

And like has said @thelee, Heart Seeker can be very powerful : with a weapon that have 3 or 4 projectiles, instead of 3 or 4 Heart Seeker proc with the attack, that spread a kind of Enfeebling Wave, each projectile having this own enfeebling line. But it is expensive.

A good alternative for (or in addition) Concussive Shot is Thrust of Tattered Veils, it is auto-hit and interrupt for sure.

For Concussive Tranquilizer, the war bow Veilpiercer should be a good weapon for the ranger you are planning to do : -10% beneficial effects on scoring hit or crit, 50% chance to recover immediatly on scoring crit, your potential amount of accuracy, and enemies beneficial effects are strongly menaced.

[NotDumbEnough]

Yes, Veilpiercer is also quite good. You get your recovery negated If you get a crit on either the primary target or the bounce, so you can spam Twinned Shots like a machine gun. It's very expensive but can also end fights very quickly.