[RANGER BUILD] Path of the Damned, Trial of Iron, (81 dmg crit at level 4)

[luzarius]

Class: Ranger

Race: Wood Elf

Difficulty: Path of the Damned

Mode: Trial of Iron

Companion: BEAR Tank

 

Custom Companions: NONE

 

@ Level 4

- 81 crit dmg from FINE ARQEBUS/Burning Lash using wounded shot

- The wounding shot also applies a DOT  of 81 dmg over 12 seconds

 

Pros

- Use wounding shot, If you hit an enemy for 50 dmg, that 50 dmg becomes dot dmg as well, perfect against high DR enemies (shades).

- Your sole purpose is to punch through the damage reduction of high DR enemies.

- High punching damage with Arqebus, Vicious Aim + Wounding Shot.

- Switch to hunting bow against lesser mobs, Arqebus vs high DR enemies.

- Bear companion has high movement speed and can indirectly keep aggro of some mobs while your tank engages the rest of the enemies.

- Bear companion can tank well with Durance's healng consecrated ground.

- Can punch through DR of shades and apply dmging dot on them.

- It rocks when you hit with the arquebus, very rewarding! The build up and anticipation is great.

 

Cons

- Low constituion means keep this character all the way in the back of your line, don't bother pulling with this character, too risky.

- Against shades you need to surround yourself with other companions and put back against a wall, corner up if need be 300 style.

- If this character gets engaged and you can't risk a disengage, have durance immediately cast withdraw on you especially if you're hurt.

- It sucks when you miss with the arquebus!!

 

Armor

- Simple Clothing for maximum ranged attack speed.

 

Tactics

- Against high DR enemies use Arqebus + wounding shot.

- Against lesser mobs use hunting bow or pistol.

 

NOTE: Dexterity is actually 19 not 21 (under the effect of rautaui sweet pie which adds +2 dex)

 

 

 

- Your priority should be enemy mages, archers, dps, sellswords, shades, bosses, etc.  Don't worry too much about lesser enemies unless they are all that's left.

- IMPORTANT: Have Eder or your DPS ready to move behind enemies to flank them, this lowers enemy deflection so you can land more hits.  You have to be right behind the enemy then look for the flanked status on the enemy. This is important especially if you're playing POTD difficulty for the fights at the start of the game (camp). If you don't flank, you're just prolonging the fight which means more damage to your health.

- FOOD, use food before fights that give damage reduction (ale) and +10 endurance minimum.  Food is cheap eat and drink hearty before battle!

- Use Hatchet & Large Shield for tank, Hatchet gives you even more deflection. If no one is attacking you then switch to a average or fast speed weapon with accuracy. This same concept applies to any other tank or offtank in the party.

- Use choke points when you can with tanks in front (duh), focus fire one enemy when possible (duh).

- CORNER UP if you have to.

- Make sure your tanks are engaged with all the enemies before you use your other companions for anything. Once the enemies are settled in their positions, then make your DPS/Healing move.

- Priests basic combo is that consecrated ground healing thing he puts down and the armor of faith buff that increases the party damage reduction, A priest best attack is the Iconic projection which heals and damages enemies, spam the hell out of that.

 

Insta Kill SpellWright

 

 

 

Insta Kill Archer

 

 

FLANK IF YOU CAN

 

 

FOCUS THEM CASTERS

 

 

 

Cant EDIT:  Please don't bypass the language filter, even in tags.

Edited April 23, 2015 by Cantousent

[dudex]

couple things..

 

where does the aoe come from?? (im guessing you meant DOT not AOE)

 

when did rangers get sneak attack to get the 1.5x damage from hobbled enemy? am i missing something?

[peddroelm]

try "marking prey" the target first for a surprise .. you big damage number's lover ..

[b0rsuk]

It's refreshing to see someone do the Raedric Hold the brute force way.

 

luzarius:

What does your Character page says about hits and criticals ? How many hits, criticals ?

 

Wounding Shot is bugged in a couple of ways.

1. Contrary to its description, it doesn't cause raw damage over time !!! Only hobbled effect.

2. Accurate Wounding Shot only adds accuracy to the hobbling effect (vs Fortitude), not the shot

3. It says Hobbled is defended against with Deflection, but if you check combat logs it clearly says Fortitude.

4. Possibly more bugs

 

I learned these by reading bug reports on Technical subforum.

 

If you chose Weapon Focus: Soldier (for Arquebus), you can try Arbalest as well. Arbalest criticals will knock enemies prone.

 

If you don't mind even more slowdown for better power and accuracy, I think Careful Attack adds even more accuracy ? Does it work with both ranged and melee ? Anyway, you still have a lot of accuracy to gain:

 

talents:

Weapon Focus: Soldier

Marksman

 

skills:

+10 accuracy vs targets engaged by your bear

Binding Roots (5 per rest, Stuck effect gives -20 to Deflection)

 

misc:

Marking (weapons with this ability give +10 accuracy to allies attacking the same target). Give Eder a laser pointer ;-).

Edited April 23, 2015 by b0rsuk

[luzarius]

couple things..

 

where does the aoe come from?? (im guessing you meant DOT not AOE)

 

when did rangers get sneak attack to get the 1.5x damage from hobbled enemy? am i missing something?

 

thx for those corrections!

 

try "marking prey" the target first for a surprise .. you big damage number's lover ..

 

I've been wanting to get this ability for a while, finally got it tonight and it's excellent.

 

It's refreshing to see someone do the Raedric Hold the brute force way.

 

One thing I learned about no death rulesets (dead is dead, trial of iron, ironman etc), you can't skip any fights and need to be tested to see where you stand. Better to die sooner than later.

 

 

luzarius:

What does your Character page says about hits and criticals ? How many hits, criticals ?

 

 

 

 

Wounding Shot is bugged in a couple of ways.

1. Contrary to its description, it doesn't cause raw damage over time !!! Only hobbled effect.

2. Accurate Wounding Shot only adds accuracy to the hobbling effect (vs Fortitude), not the shot

3. It says Hobbled is defended against with Deflection, but if you check combat logs it clearly says Fortitude.

4. Possibly more bugs

 

That wounding shot does apply some kind of damage over time, because often times when i shoot something and hit, it dies a few seconds later when no one else hit it.  As for raw damage over time, I'm not sure about that.

 

#2 - I didn't know that, good to know. I just learned tonight that wounding shot can crit, i had no idea.

 

 

I learned these by reading bug reports on Technical subforum.

 

If you chose Weapon Focus: Soldier (for Arquebus), you can try Arbalest as well. Arbalest criticals will knock enemies prone.

 

If you don't mind even more slowdown for better power and accuracy, I think Careful Attack adds even more accuracy ? Does it work with both ranged and melee ? Anyway, you still have a lot of accuracy to gain:

 

talents:

Weapon Focus: Soldier

Marksman

 

skills:

+10 accuracy vs targets engaged by your bear

Binding Roots (5 per rest, Stuck effect gives -20 to Deflection)

 

misc:

Marking (weapons with this ability give +10 accuracy to allies attacking the same target). Give Eder a laser pointer ;-).

 

I'll look into careful attack, more accuracy would be welcome to crit as often as possible.

Edited April 23, 2015 by luzarius

[Blovski]

Nice build, OP : )

B0rsuk... wow... that's many bugs. Knew I was right to be suspicious of it.

[peddroelm]

1. Contrary to its description, it doesn't cause raw damage over time !!! Only hobbled effect.

Actually at the shot glance I took towards it I can attest with 100% certainty that is does cause a DOT effect on target .. (at least it did the few 2-3 times I tried it with men editor - had access to test char health variable - it was loosing health in ticks ) .  I do intend to determine exactly how much and at what time intervals for both this and other DOT abilities, at some later date ..  

Edited April 23, 2015 by peddroelm

[b0rsuk]

Correction - Careful/Cautious attack doesn't do what I thought it was doing, it's +10 Deflection, I thought +10 Accuracy.

 

-------------

 

This build is too silly for me to try, but Defensive Shooting gives +20 Accuracy at point blank. There's also Close Shooter for +10% damage.

[chickenhed]

Great info OP. Always neat to see some ranger builds on PotD. 

 

Totally curious, though. Now that you've played a bit on PotD with a ranger, do you feel that if you were a rogue, things would be even easier? Or is the pet pretty much crucial on Trial of Iron?

[luzarius]

Great info OP. Always neat to see some ranger builds on PotD. 

 

Totally curious, though. Now that you've played a bit on PotD with a ranger, do you feel that if you were a rogue, things would be even easier? Or is the pet pretty much crucial on Trial of Iron?

 

The problem with rogue is you don't get the bear companion.  That bear companion is crucial to keeping durance, aloth and your ranger safe.

 

Still, I want to try and make a rogue work on POTD, but it's hard cuz if I go to flank with the rogue, the enemy will turn around and just hit my rogue for lots of dmg.

[MoxyWoo]

Just wanted to add Vicious Aim seems to work for scrolls.  Least I tested out the Missile one I had lying around so was interesting to get a +14 accuracy boost.

 

Example:  My wood elf ranger was firing at 70 accuracy, using the missiles I got 84 despite it only having a +10 bonus.  I think its bugged since I had only a fine weapon of +4, but either way, scroll use for rangers seems really good now.

[Eos]

- It rocks when you hit with the arquebus, very rewarding! The build up and anticipation is great.

 

Most important aspect of going ranged DPS imo. Also, because you want to wear simple clothing anyway, you can put on some of the more "fancier" ones and look like a pimp while cruising around saving the country

[Incendax]

Correction - Careful/Cautious attack doesn't do what I thought it was doing, it's +10 Deflection, I thought +10 Accuracy.

 

-------------

 

This build is too silly for me to try, but Defensive Shooting gives +20 Accuracy at point blank. There's also Close Shooter for +10% damage.

I know it says Defensive Shooting exists on the wiki, but whenever I level a Ranger to 12 through console commands, I never get the option to take that talent.

 

Which is a shame, because I was brainstorming a Tank Ranger for Solo Triple Crown. 

[Exoduss]

I see Bow and Arquabus mentioned in the guide , thease are 2 weapons you should never use on ranger EVER!

[luzarius]

Cant EDIT:  Please don't bypass the language filter, even in tags.

 

Sorry, I didn't even think about that, just wanted to make some jokes, make people laugh

 

[AlphaMagnum]

How far have you taken this build?  Bursting for 60-80 damage a shot is great when it takes out the 60-80hp casters early on (like in Raedric's Hold) but does the damage output hold up as enemy health increases?  As far as I can tell, you'll max out with the following:

 

+45% (Superb Weapon) +36% (Might) +20% (Vicious Aim) +50% (Crit, assuming Doemenel's talent)

 

That's +151% damage or an effective multiplier of 2.51x base damage.

 

2.51 * 36 = 90 max physical crit damage (pre-DR), which means roughly 22 lash damage (pre-DR).  I guess Marked Prey will give you another 36 Lash damage pre-DR as well.

 

Each source will deal with DR separately so you'll probably end up around 120-130 max damage depending on enemy DR.  Is that enough to take a lategame enemy out of the fight?

[luzarius]

How far have you taken this build?  Bursting for 60-80 damage a shot is great when it takes out the 60-80hp casters early on (like in Raedric's Hold) but does the damage output hold up as enemy health increases?  As far as I can tell, you'll max out with the following:

 

+45% (Superb Weapon) +36% (Might) +20% (Vicious Aim) +50% (Crit, assuming Doemenel's talent)

 

That's +151% damage or an effective multiplier of 2.51x base damage.

 

2.51 * 36 = 90 max physical crit damage (pre-DR), which means roughly 22 lash damage (pre-DR).  I guess Marked Prey will give you another 36 Lash damage pre-DR as well.

 

Each source will deal with DR separately so you'll probably end up around 120-130 max damage depending on enemy DR.  Is that enough to take a lategame enemy out of the fight?

 

Hmm, I'm not sure. I'll report my progress though as I play.  I tried a few other classes for a bit, but as of tonight I restarted a fresh game with this same ranger build. So far ranger is my favorite out of all the classes.

 

I tried Monk & Rogue and had lots of trouble.

[luzarius]

What do you guys think about arbalest vs arquebus?

[AlphaMagnum]

Arbalests have slightly less killing power but prone on crit and you can get a useful unique (Hold-Wall) whose speed boost might actually let you surpass the Arquebus in terms of damage per second.

 

I really wish there was a useful unique Arquebus in the game, but unfortunately they all seem to suck lol

[constantine]

@luzarius, man I've switched Sagani to your build and she hits really hard ! Her wounding shots contribute lots in a battle !

 

 

thanks for the nice suggestions

[peddroelm]

How far have you taken this build?  Bursting for 60-80 damage a shot is great when it takes out the 60-80hp casters early on (like in Raedric's Hold) but does the damage output hold up as enemy health increases?  As far as I can tell, you'll max out with the following:

 

+45% (Superb Weapon) +36% (Might) +20% (Vicious Aim) +50% (Crit, assuming Doemenel's talent)

 

That's +151% damage or an effective multiplier of 2.51x base damage.

 

2.51 * 36 = 90 max physical crit damage (pre-DR), which means roughly 22 lash damage (pre-DR).  I guess Marked Prey will give you another 36 Lash damage pre-DR as well.

 

Each source will deal with DR separately so you'll probably end up around 120-130 max damage depending on enemy DR.  Is that enough to take a lategame enemy out of the fight?

at first glance  merciless hand adds 25% not 30% ..Could equip Rabit foot's 10% to compensate ..

Bigger omission is Wounding Shot's DOT component that always applies as long as you hit with the weapon (even if you miss the hobbled effect) ..Don't know yet precisely how to calculate its damage but for now *1 extra weapon damage should serve as a decent approximation .. 

And unless this is a solo you can use the other party members to add to alpha strike potential .. Paladins can hit hard from range with FOD for example.

[luzarius]

Just want to say, out of all the builds I've made, this one is the best IMO and my favorite.  Ranger is extremely powerful and seems to be great for POTD, TOI, blind IMO.

[mahe4]

I see Bow and Arquabus mentioned in the guide , thease are 2 weapons you should never use on ranger EVER!

would you care and tell us why?

[Voltron]

My level 5 Rogue with Fine Arquebus in Roderic, PotD. No potions, no food, no damage/might buff spells used.

 

Just Critical Hit against flanked Sellsword with Fine Arquebus (no lash enchant, no additional enchant at all).

 

With Lash enchant it would be even higher but I forgot to enchant it .

 

 

Build:

 

Race: Human. Class: Rogue. Might: 18, CON: 3, DEX: 18, PER: 18, INT: 17 RES: 4

 

Would be better/more cirtics if I took Wood Elf, but this is Role Play run so I took human.

 

Just wanted to show at same level Rogue can do same without Lash enchant with lower accuracy and Sneak Attack is easy to apply thanks to Aloth spells, Fighters Prones and Kana's Skeletons (used just for flank status). Can't wait to get Griefing Mother for Mind Binding and AOE flank status .

 

Here is couple of other hits in Roderic against couple of enemies, Sneak Attacks, Fine Arquebus:

 

 

EDIT: how to make images smaller on forum? Or do I need to change its size manually after takin screenshot?

EDIT2: I just resiezed this 2nd photo, better I think now.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Voltron

[Doug]

Why so much intellect?