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

[the streaker]

 

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?

 

 

I'm not him, but I can tell you it's horrible advice. The arquebus is the only weapon you SHOULD be using on your ranger, unless you don't want to do the highest ranged DPS possible in this game.

[Crucis]

 

- 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

 

 

There's just something ... wrong ... with the idea of a Ranger pimping around the country wearing those silly looking Vallian duds. 

 

Seems to me that a proper ranger needs some less citified clothes. 

[Voltron]

Why so much intellect?

 

For debuffs, if needed, to last longer and for dialogue options. As a Sniper that stand behind whole party there is no for high CON and RES. Perception grants more intterputs so why not and INT is for DOT/debuffs duration.

Edited May 3, 2015 by Voltron

[luzarius]

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.

 

Have you tried doing a sneak attack + backstab w/Arquebus, I wonder how devastating that would be lol.

Edited May 4, 2015 by luzarius

[Atchod]

Arquebus ranger is a joke anyway . What would be your arguments to take arquebus over arbalest? Arbalest - Faster reloads more damage prone on crits , better weapon choice early etc etc . Arquebus - looks rangerish and thats it ?

[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.

 

Have you tried doing a sneak attack + backstab w/Arquebus, I wonder how devastating that would be lol.

 

 

Backstab requires you to be 2m from targets. It is doable, but then you are better with Blunderbus. I like to keep my sniper as far as possible so he don't get hit with AOE spells which are throw on tanks. 3 CON does hame limitations :D Lol, I just imagined Deathblows Backstab on Paralyzed enemy with Blunderbuss......insane. And I don't take Backstab since it is situational for sniper rogue. On melee in party- it is insane with Sabers!

 

 

Arquebus ranger is a joke anyway . What would be your arguments to take arquebus over arbalest? Arbalest - Faster reloads more damage prone on crits , better weapon choice early etc etc . Arquebus - looks rangerish and thats it ?

 

 

Let me show you:

 

Fine Arquebus

• DR Reduction: 6 DR bypass, -0.3 to Crit Damage multiplier
• Fine: +4 Accuracy, x1.15 Damage

Fine Arbalest

 

• Fine: +4 Accuracy, x1.15 Damage
• Reduced Crit Damage: Crits can inflict Prone, -0.3 to Crit Damage multiplier

 

Do you see this 6 DR bypass? On PotD there is a lot enemies with DR 10+ and DR 5-6 is super common. Arbalest can inflict Prone but you are better with DR anytime.

 

Why do you think best weapons on PotD are Estoc, Mace, Saber or Arqebus- becasue of DR pass and more damage (Saber).

 

But if you like Arbalests- just play with them. I personally think Arquebus sniper looks more cool so I use it And with Penetraiting Shot this 11 DR....mmmm....delicious...

Edited May 4, 2015 by Voltron

[luzarius]

Don't forget you can enchant clothing to give it a boost:

 

This is dyrwoodan clothing, looks good on the female characters. Added FINE to it for +2 damage reduction and a +1 dexterity bonus.

 

 

 

Arquebus ranger is a joke anyway . What would be your arguments to take arquebus over arbalest? Arbalest - Faster reloads more damage prone on crits , better weapon choice early etc etc . Arquebus - looks rangerish and thats it ?

 

It's the firing animation and sound effects, it's just so fulfilling in addition to the DR bypass.  It feels good penetrating those shades (lol). 

 

You can equip both arq & arb if you want in both slots and use them according to the situation. The soldier focus gives accuracy to both I believe.

 

 

There's just something ... wrong ... with the idea of a Ranger pimping around the country wearing those silly looking Vallian duds. 

Seems to me that a proper ranger needs some less citified clothes. 

 

LOL, I just saw this woops. That dyrwoodan clothign looks good though! lol

Edited May 6, 2015 by luzarius

[luzarius]

Just want to give a strategy update:

 

YOUR RANGER BEING ATTACKED BY MULTIPLE ENEMY ARCHERS/RANGED

 

If your ranger starts getting attacked in this manner, don't mess around, immediately have Durance cast withdraw on you and just go into a defensive mode until your ranger comes back into action.

 

Armor

 

1) Aloth - Simple clothing armor,  so he can rapid cast his wand attacks with penetrating blast.

2) Ranger - Simple clothing armor, so ranger can shoot as fast as possible.

3) Durance - Brigandine or plate armor with hatchet & shield ready to go if need be, crossbow as main weapon

4) Kana - Brigandine or plate armor with hatchet & shield ready to go if need be, crossbow as main weapon

5) Eder - Plate or Brigandine (plate most of the time) with hatchet & large shield, ranged weapon if need be in extra slot

 

Spells

 

ALOTH - Miasma of Dull mindedness

 

This spell lowers the enemies deflection, reflex & willpower.  That lets your Ranger's ranged attack hit more often with higher chance to critical.  Sometimes this spell can miss, so attack the enemy on which it sticks.

 

 

WAITING FOR THE SHOT

 

Don't be hasty to fire off your arqebues or arbalest shot.  Wait until the enemy is either flanked or debuffed before attempting to land a wounding shot.

 

This applies to any comapnions with a crossbow or slower ranged weapon.

Edited May 6, 2015 by luzarius

[the streaker]

Arquebus ranger is a joke anyway . What would be your arguments to take arquebus over arbalest? Arbalest - Faster reloads more damage prone on crits , better weapon choice early etc etc . Arquebus - looks rangerish and thats it ?

 

Wat? Arbalest has no DR penetration, lower average damage than arquebus, and is nearly the same speed. Both have -0.3 crit modifier. The only bonus is +5 accuracy. It's nowhere near a clear choice, in fact the advantage goes to the gun if you ask me.

[luzarius]

 

Arquebus ranger is a joke anyway . What would be your arguments to take arquebus over arbalest? Arbalest - Faster reloads more damage prone on crits , better weapon choice early etc etc . Arquebus - looks rangerish and thats it ?

 

Wat? Arbalest has no DR penetration, lower average damage than arquebus, and is nearly the same speed. Both have -0.3 crit modifier. The only bonus is +5 accuracy. It's nowhere near a clear choice, in fact the advantage goes to the gun if you ask me.

 

 

I'm starting to learn that maybe equipping both Arq & Arbalest may come in handy since weapon focus soldier skill adds 6 accuracy to both.

 

You can use a slightly faster arbalest to kill lesser enemies then use the arq for high DR enemies, leader type enemies.

 

Example: You don't want to waste an ARQ shot on a Xaurip, so instead use arbalest against Xaurips.  BUT for the Xaurip champion, you'll want to use ARQ + wounding shot while it's flanked or has been debuffed.

 

I'm not totally sure about this strategy though, going to try it tonight.

Edited May 6, 2015 by luzarius

[Raven Darkholme]

A ranged rogue can do 188 damage on level 4 with an arbalest btw. :d

Just happened to me with my lazy party. (2 fighters 2 palas, cipher, rogue)

[luzarius]

A ranged rogue can do 188 damage on level 4 with an arbalest btw. :d

Just happened to me with my lazy party. (2 fighters 2 palas, cipher, rogue)

 

That is awesome!

 

My only concern with rogue is survivability.  In the start of the game at level 2, I try to kill three xaurips with the rogue in valewood, but the rogue ends up missing too much even with the weapon focus adventurer using a pollaxe and gets owned by the Xaurips.  If a rogue has that much trouble vs three xaurips at level 2, how is he going to handle a critical moment at higher level if he gets a few enemies targetting him?

 

for POTD, TOI, is a rogue worth it? As a ranger you get the bear companion which is an extra meat shield to form a defensive wall.

Edited May 6, 2015 by luzarius

[b0rsuk]

Or you can use Arbalest to crit big enemies prone, and Arquebus to kill small ones outright. I think Soldier is my favorite weapon focus. Two 2-handed weapons, one of which is reaching, two good ranged weaponss. The only thing that stinks is one 1-handed one, and no accurate weapon.

[Kilrach]

My first playthrough is on PotD with a ranged rogue and have managed to not get knocked out at all.

 

@Raven: How'd you get that damage at lvl 4?

[Raven Darkholme]

 

A ranged rogue can do 188 damage on level 4 with an arbalest btw. :d

Just happened to me with my lazy party. (2 fighters 2 palas, cipher, rogue)

 

That is awesome!

 

My only concern with rogue is survivability.  In the start of the game at level 2, I try to kill three xaurips with the rogue in valewood, but the rogue ends up missing too much even with the weapon focus adventurer using a pollaxe and gets owned by the Xaurips.  If a rogue has that much trouble vs three xaurips at level 2, how is he going to handle a critical moment at higher level if he gets a few enemies targetting him?

 

for POTD, TOI, is a rogue worth it? As a ranger you get the bear companion which is an extra meat shield to form a defensive wall.

 

Depends on your group I guess, since mine is a lazy grop with 3 main melee and 1 flexible, the rogue doesn't really get targeted. Solo is different, but the pet gets skewered solo and the rogue can shadow beyond and escape.

 

My first playthrough is on PotD with a ranged rogue and have managed to not get knocked out at all.

 

@Raven: How'd you get that damage at lvl 4?

 

Sneak attack crit with fine arbalest, marksman + the talent that ignores 5 enemy DR

[Kilrach]

I didn't get Penetrating Shot but my sneak attack crits were probably 80-ish. What difficulty were you playing?

[Raven Darkholme]

I thought PotD is the only difficulty there is? ;P

I guess I got lucky, after that big hit it never was above 100 again.

[Kilrach]

Hmm either way, I'd love an explanation on how that number got so big, -5 DR wouldn't give an extra 100 damage for a SA crit lol

[luzarius]

Backstab does 2x damage right? I'm not savy with the rogue, but if he did sneak attack, backstab that's usually GG isn't it?

[Raven Darkholme]

Yeah, but you need either very high stealth or invisibility to land it. But the damage should be going through the roof with backstab, if I ever get to a point where I don't know what talent to pick I will try it.

[Voltron]

 

A ranged rogue can do 188 damage on level 4 with an arbalest btw. :d

Just happened to me with my lazy party. (2 fighters 2 palas, cipher, rogue)

 

That is awesome!

 

My only concern with rogue is survivability.  In the start of the game at level 2, I try to kill three xaurips with the rogue in valewood, but the rogue ends up missing too much even with the weapon focus adventurer using a pollaxe and gets owned by the Xaurips.  If a rogue has that much trouble vs three xaurips at level 2, how is he going to handle a critical moment at higher level if he gets a few enemies targetting him?

 

for POTD, TOI, is a rogue worth it? As a ranger you get the bear companion which is an extra meat shield to form a defensive wall.

 

 

I am half way with my Sniper Rogue so I can tell you that yes he is worth: He can crit on 90-120 on DR 22+ targets  with Deathblows, even higher if you debuff target. Accuracy is not an issue with Marksman and Weapon Focus. Besides rogue and ranger have same accuracy, Ranger can boost it with Vicous Aim +10 (at price of attack speed) or with pet, but here is the thing:

 

Why the hell I would need pet or watch it die super fast against Shades/Vithraks/Spiders/Ogres and many other things? When I start fight I send Egar to front with Durance and maybe other tank or not, depending on areas I am going too (open- two tanks, closed/bottlenecks- one tank). And Having me, Wizard, Cipher behind. You just throw AOE conditions on enemies and start sniping them and they die super fast. Throw some Cipher Blunderbus shot in between and Wizard FireBall and you have fun . Make sure you make your Cipher for Blunderbuss build so he can generate focus enough to sustain AOE conditions like Mind Binding, Flank, Blind and other in fight.

 

And bear is just meat shield. Edar is Iron Shield and custom made tank is TITANIUM Shield. Pet dies super fast (evn bear- he has only 14 DR, up to 16 with talent?) and need to be baby sit by Durance all the time. Edar or Paladin girl can just sit there and take everything, so why need a pet? Durance can spend this time throwing buffs at party. Better even, if I had a pet, it wouldn't even be there in front, since you want Edar on front to block/tank.

 

Now all you need to do is Switch between your 2 or 3 or 4 Arquebuses as rogue (depends or Race and build), kill biggest threat target super fast and after that just reload and watching BIG numbers poping out

 

On level 5 rogue in Roderin on PotD I scored 110 critical hit on Archer or Roderic Guard (with lash enchant fire this time, since I enchanted it finally ). And it was from Sneak Attack only!

 

Later in game when you have Deathblows and Cipher you have this awesome Cipher spell- Fractured Volition http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Fractured_Volition - which leaves target Hobbled and Weakened. So on boss with Deathblows it is boss.

 

On goup of enemies: Chill Fog from Wizard and http://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Phantom_Foes or Mind Binding gives you constant AOE Deathblows.

 

Priest can boost your Accuracy with buffs no problem if you feel you miss it (I didn't). And you have 20% Hit Convert to Critc. Throw to it this priest bless that gives you another 15% Hits convert to Crit- nice stuff around :D.

 

And yes at the beginning it is not as easy as Ranger since you don't have pet. But as soon (and this is super soon) as I get Egar, Aloth and plate armor for Egar- why would I need pet? :D

 

Try Sniper Rogue- really, really powerfull and lot of fun watching stuff being OHK or 2OHK in PotD

 

Hmm either way, I'd love an explanation on how that number got so big, -5 DR wouldn't give an extra 100 damage for a SA crit lol

 

I hit 110 crit with Rogue on leve 5 with Fine Arquebus with Fire Lash on Roderic Archer or Roderic Guard (can't remember). No Penetrating Shot even, since I didn't unlock it yet. 110!! I tought my previous 81 crit (no lash enchant) was nice, but this 110 was my record in Roderic on level 5!

 

It all depend on rolls but Sneak Attack helps a ton and later Deathblows pop more insane numbers :D.

 

And no, I don't have backstab talent- I keep my sniper far away so it would be useless for him .

Edited May 6, 2015 by Voltron

[Kilrach]

Yes my sniper rogue one shotted Osrya 105 damage with an Exceptional Crossbow with Fire Lash, so your number is believable (I personally think xbow is the best ranged weapon as mentioned in other similar threads).

 

But that 188 damage seems ludicrous - it must be with backstab no?

[Raven Darkholme]

Yes my sniper rogue one shotted Osrya 105 damage with an Exceptional Crossbow with Fire Lash, so your number is believable (I personally think xbow is the best ranged weapon as mentioned in other similar threads).

 

But that 188 damage seems ludicrous - it must be with backstab no?

No without and yes its ridiculous, but wouldya believe I just had a 47 graze which would be near the same on crit, no?

[Kilrach]

A decent sniper rogue would have consistent crits of an average of 90-ish (depending on weapon of choice and with/without Penetrating Shot), so yeah