Ranger pets and talents are sooo bad :(

[Voltron]

Seriously, I was trying today both party and solo ranger. The only good thing about ranger is their DOT attack and bidnig roots.

 

Their damage is not that high with range weapons and I think I could get more from range Rogue set up for firearms.

 

But worst thing about them are their pets. They are awuful! Like in any other RPG they are useless past beginning of the game.

 

Why:

- They stats are bad! Deflection is bad, resistances are bad

- They scale HORRIBLE, horrible! At 12 level ranger (test build, after ACT 2) pet (boar or bear for best tank) is dying like crazy to anything. Its CCed with easy, it DPS with easy or dominated and run and attack me....

- Pets talents are just waste. I need to invest at least 4 talents for my pet to stard doing not half bad damage in PotD or live long enough for me to reload firearm. That means that I have to gimp my ranger to put talent into pets!

- Pet choice is boring and generic as hell. Bear? Well, ok. But wolf? Deer? Seriously?! It is fantasy game! Where are Giant Wolfs, Crystal Spiders, Giant Tigers, Snakes, Wyrms or some cool beasts. Why always some stupid wolf. When I play PotD and I see my Wolf charging Ogre I am so sad that I exit game.

- Ranger are not even top range DPS. Rogue is better and you can build other classes to do decent job (firearm Cipher anyone?)

 

I tried to play one and I just can't.

 

If Rangers were more like Beast Masters in WoW, where you pet could really hold his own as your tank or support you as DPS or do some nice CC that be great. But PoE Ranger pets are just liability for me.

 

Wish apart from WoW even one RPG could introduce viable and cool Ranger/Pet class in game.

 

Did anyone played Borderlands as Pistol/Sniper Mordekai with Bloodwing build? That was great synergy ranger/pet build.

 

Obsidian, I know its late alrady but dam give ranger some love and ESPECIALLY his pets, who just suck hard... :/

 

I always like cool "Hunter with his deadly predator companion" image in my head, but so far apart from WoW no RPG could deliver it as viable option.

Edited April 30, 2015 by Voltron

[Guest]

Yeah, I must be doing it wrong. Sagani is a ****ing beast in my game.

[Keneth]

Part of the reason why people hate druids in D&D is because they get a bona fide fighter along with them as a class feature (animal companion).

 

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with having to sacrifice upgrading your ranger to upgrade your pet.

 

I do, however, agree that there should be some much better choices both in what pets are available and how you can improve them.

 

It's a little depressing that you're a master of beasts and you can't tame yourself anything even remotely resembling one.

[Jojobobo]

I found them a bit underwhelming, and even the bear is pretty sucky at tanking (even with Resilient Companion) for any decent stretch of time. Ciphers seemed to do ranged much better.

[b0rsuk]

I heard Animal Companions shared Endurance with their owners in beta. I can imagine it could be frustrating at times, but if that's the price for having a beefy companion, wouldn't you pay it ? Can someone from beta team tell us how it worked ? I imagine it demanded a lot of micromanagement.

 

But even that could be improved. "Master's Call" is great for saving your animal companion. It could be learned automatically by ranger on level 1, but without the "knock down enemies prone" effect. The knockdown effect would be available as a late game talent.

[Voltron]

Part of the reason why people hate druids in D&D is because they get a bona fide fighter along with them as a class feature (animal companion).

 

Personally, I don't see anything wrong with having to sacrifice upgrading your ranger to upgrade your pet.

 

I do, however, agree that there should be some much better choices both in what pets are available and how you can improve them.

 

It's a little depressing that you're a master of beasts and you can't tame yourself anything even remotely resembling one.

 

What is wrong is not that I have to upgrade pet- problem is even if I fully upgreade pet, he still sucks hard! For example in WoW or Borderlands if I choose to focus mainly on building for my pet- it really grew strong, it was tanky, it has decent DPS and a lot of CC skills. So investment in pet was good.

 

But here pets are just too weak. And they scale sooo baaad. Bear and Boar on 12 level ranger should have at least 80-90 deflection on PotD and around 18-20 DR and 70 resistances, with talents or without- doesnt matter. Right now they have so low stats, even with all talents and so low Endurance and DPS that they are just 100% useless.

[b0rsuk]

Vicious Aim: +10 Accuracy

Stalker's Link, or whatever it's called: +10 Accuracy

Ranger's base accuracy is 30, +5 from average.

 

So very soon you can have a Ranger who has base +25 Accuracy relative to others. And there are plenty of ranged weapons in the game that stun or knock down on crit. What else do you want ? There's a hunting bow, war bow, all arbalests do that, scepter of prone, rod of stun, there might be an arquebus from a warden reward. The hazel wand triggers Jolting Touch.

 

Marked Prey is +40% damage on a single target. Bad ? Stunning Arrows - bad ? Driving Flight with a powerful ranged weapon makes you deal 150% damage essentially.

 

Also, PotD is the least tested and least balanced difficulty level. Quick and dirty.

Edited April 30, 2015 by b0rsuk

[MadDemiurg]

Rangers are decent shooters, but companions should scale better. Now they are essentially a running marklight for stunning shots/stalker's link that can tank somewhat decently if you buff it with pain block. They should get +12 accuracy and +12-24 to all defenses @ level 12. DR and dmg bonuses look more or less fine. Same for druid's spiritshift (not that druids are weak without it but I want to play a decent shifter for once).

Edited April 30, 2015 by MadDemiurg

[Voltron]

Vicious Aim: +10 Accuracy

Stalker's Link, or whatever it's called: +10 Accuracy

Ranger's base accuracy is 30, +5 from average.

 

So very soon you can have a Ranger who has base +25 Accuracy relative to others. And there are plenty of ranged weapons in the game that stun or knock down on crit. What else do you want ? There's a hunting bow, war bow, all arbalests do that, scepter of prone, rod of stun, there might be an arquebus from a warden reward. The hazel wand triggers Jolting Touch.

 

Marked Prey is +40% damage on a single target. Bad ? Stunning Arrows - bad ? Driving Flight with a powerful ranged weapon makes you deal 150% damage essentially.

 

Also, PotD is the least tested and least balanced difficulty level. Quick and dirty.

 

Ok. Range Rogue:

 

50% from Sneak attack, if flanked or conditions so in party that is not a problem.

1xPer encounter Blind strike (Sneak Attack) + 0.25 damage

2x Per Encounter Cripliing Strike (Sneak Attack) + 0.25 damage

Dirty Fighting plus Vicious Fighting = 20% Hits convert to Critics.

Witherin Strke- target Weakened 1x plus 0.25

Deep Wounds- DOT, weaker than Ranger one, ok, but it is still here.

Backstab wtih Blunderbus anyone?

 

Finishing Blow and Devastating blow for low Endurance bosses, Accuracy and great damage bonus.

 

Also Escape for fast run behind tank or Shadowing Beyond for positioning and fight reset.

 

In party I would take Rogue for range sniper. Accuracy is not that big issue if you take Wood Elf plus Marksman.

 

Ranger just do not cut for me as ultimate range DPS. He has some nice skills, yes, but not enough to be "Ranger" imo.

 

And I would take ranger anytime if his pets would not suck and be better to choose from. Wish I could have Crystal Spider as pet....

Edited April 30, 2015 by Voltron

[b0rsuk]

Speaking of more exotic companions, I would like a...

 

... ranged companion, like a small wurm. I think Josh said a while ago in one of development updates "all animal companions are melee".

 

... a llama. With a face spitting attack that inflicts Blind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeLgXiunKYM

 

...a Honey Badger. Tremendous fortitude and intelligence. Can be upgraded with a talent to cast level1 druid spells. You can see a badger casting a spell at 3:20+.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c36UNSoJenI

Edited April 30, 2015 by b0rsuk

[Crucis]

Meh, I'd rather have no animal companion and replace all the AC related class abilities with additional class abilities aimed at improving Rangers' ranged abilities, since that's how the class is presented in the game.

[gkathellar]

I heard Animal Companions shared Endurance with their owners in beta. I can imagine it could be frustrating at times, but if that's the price for having a beefy companion, wouldn't you pay it ? Can someone from beta team tell us how it worked ? I imagine it demanded a lot of micromanagement.

 

But even that could be improved. "Master's Call" is great for saving your animal companion. It could be learned automatically by ranger on level 1, but without the "knock down enemies prone" effect. The knockdown effect would be available as a late game talent.

It made you die all the time, because you sacrificed the main advantage of being a ranged combatant.

[Blovski]

Seriously, I was trying today both party and solo ranger. The only good thing about ranger is their DOT attack and bidnig roots.

 

Their damage is not that high with range weapons and I think I could get more from range Rogue set up for firearms.

 

But worst thing about them are their pets. They are awuful! Like in any other RPG they are useless past beginning of the game.

 

Why:

- They stats are bad! Deflection is bad, resistances are bad

- They scale HORRIBLE, horrible! At 12 level ranger (test build, after ACT 2) pet (boar or bear for best tank) is dying like crazy to anything. Its CCed with easy, it DPS with easy or dominated and run and attack me....

- Pets talents are just waste. I need to invest at least 4 talents for my pet to stard doing not half bad damage in PotD or live long enough for me to reload firearm. That means that I have to gimp my ranger to put talent into pets!

- Pet choice is boring and generic as hell. Bear? Well, ok. But wolf? Deer? Seriously?! It is fantasy game! Where are Giant Wolfs, Crystal Spiders, Giant Tigers, Snakes, Wyrms or some cool beasts. Why always some stupid wolf. When I play PotD and I see my Wolf charging Ogre I am so sad that I exit game.

- Ranger are not even top range DPS. Rogue is better and you can build other classes to do decent job (firearm Cipher anyone?)

 

I tried to play one and I just can't.

 

If Rangers were more like Beast Masters in WoW, where you pet could really hold his own as your tank or support you as DPS or do some nice CC that be great. But PoE Ranger pets are just liability for me.

 

Wish apart from WoW even one RPG could introduce viable and cool Ranger/Pet class in game.

 

Did anyone played Borderlands as Pistol/Sniper Mordekai with Bloodwing build? That was great synergy ranger/pet build.

 

Obsidian, I know its late alrady but dam give ranger some love and ESPECIALLY his pets, who just suck hard... :/

 

I always like cool "Hunter with his deadly predator companion" image in my head, but so far apart from WoW no RPG could deliver it as viable option.

The big problems boil down to three:

 

1. Animal Companions have no athletics, this means they're usually running around with half endurance.

2. Animals have terrible Int. This makes their abilities kinda redundant.

3. No hugely meaningful bonuses to AC survivability from the AC feats.

Rangers have better accuracy than rogues and marginally more interesting abilities for a ranged character, imo.

[Schyzm]

yah, I'm not a fan of the animal companion thing in general, but if you're going to have them let them get beefy so rangers can use them in fights more. or I thought it'd be nice if they could just keep coming back from being "knocked out" after a certain amount of time.

[draego]

The devs did mention that they would fix the animal companion fatigue in coming patch 1.05. 

Edited April 30, 2015 by jnb0364

[Voltron]

The devs did mention that they would fix the animal companion fatigue in coming patch 1.05. 

 

Which will only make them less annoying, however still useless...

[luzarius]

Listen, if you like Ranger's then keep playing, you'll eventually figure it out. If you want the spoiler then check the link my signature.

 

Ranger is one of the best classes for Path of the Damned, Trial of Iron, blind playthrough.

[b0rsuk]

You know as well a I do the excess Ranger accuracy turns into crits. Rangers can also be wood elves, that's even more crits. Animal Companion deals damage over time.

 

1. Make "Master's Call" automatically learned at level1

2. Make "Master's Call" 1/encounter instead of 2/rest

3. Make "Master's Call" not attack or knock down enemies

4. Add a late game talent which adds attack and knockdown to "Master's Call"

 

Result: more survivable Animal Companion.

[Crucis]

yah, I'm not a fan of the animal companion thing in general, but if you're going to have them let them get beefy so rangers can use them in fights more. or I thought it'd be nice if they could just keep coming back from being "knocked out" after a certain amount of time.

 

I think that the issue with letting AC's get "too good" is that it would effectively let you get an additional significant member of the party for free.

[Schyzm]

 

yah, I'm not a fan of the animal companion thing in general, but if you're going to have them let them get beefy so rangers can use them in fights more. or I thought it'd be nice if they could just keep coming back from being "knocked out" after a certain amount of time.

 

I think that the issue with letting AC's get "too good" is that it would effectively let you get an additional significant member of the party for free.

 

 

one of my dreams in the future is that the ai gets more "disruptive" abilities like clear out and is smarter about who is a threat and who isnt (like disengaging from my super tank can't possibly matter). then having "beefy" things wouldn't be so good.

[Blovski]

Yeah, ACs do not need to be a free tank that automatically scales any better than they would now. I would like specialising in the animal companion talents to give them small bonuses to DR, deflection, Constitution, Intelligence so there's a meaningful survivability difference between an AC with specialisation and one without. I would also like, possibly as an expansion thing, the Ranger to have some way to heal them (I'd like a mutual Vampiric Bond, really).

[xhandy]

 

I think that the issue with letting AC's get "too good" is that it would effectively let you get an additional significant member of the party for free.

 

 

I think high defenses shouldn't be ruled out.  Pets can't use items or increase engagement limit.

 

Actually, I'd say give tanking pets significantly larger health pools than party members but uneven defenses, none quite as good as party members and some fairly awful, depending on species.  This makes it a short-term OT that healing is less effective for, and more situational than a party member.

[b0rsuk]

I haven't tried Defensive Bond yet, but it sounds really nice for melee ranger. It increases defense against area attacks by 15, 25 upgraded. I doubt it works against attacks that are not instant, though. For example if a Rolling Flame or Iconic Projection hits both the ranger and companion, there's a delay between them. I doubt the ability waits to see if both are affected.

[SilchasRuin]

Honestly the main thing that animal companions need right now is better accuracy and 3 in athletics. It's pretty dumb that all animal companions have 0 in athletics so they get minor fatigue really fast (I used IE mod to give 3 athletics to my ranger's wolf and make its stats more in line with the wolf in the bestiary, while maintaining the 65 overall stats animal companions are supposed to have). The fact that at base their accuracy is like 20 lower than the ranger's is problematic for using them to deal damage however, and I'd like to see that buffed.

Edited April 30, 2015 by SilchasRuin

[b0rsuk]

Animal Companions got nerfed in 1.03, when their Intelligence has been lowered from 10 to 5. This affects Takedown skill, the Stag, and the Lion.