Just got back after a long absence. Have they fixed the ranger and druid classes yet?

[Faerunner]

I got this game right after it came out.

 

Despite being the two classes I was looking forward to most, the ranger and druid classes were a huge let-down. 

 

Ranger: Despite being marketed as one of the main damaging classes, the ranger's DPS was nothing to write home about. Neither was the animal companion. (But I kept playing anyway, because I love animals.)

 

The Druid was an even bigger let-down. Despite all the pre-release updates gushing about the spiritshifting abilities, it turned out to be very weak. It was only mildly effective during the first few levels of the game, but then it failed to scale up with the character. That, combined with the complete lack of special abilities to boost it the way you got tons of abilities to boost your spellcasting, meant you quickly had to abandon it and stick to spellcasting exclusively. (I know I sound greedy and ungrateful since the druid was one of the best spellcasters at the time, but it was the spiritshifting ability I really wanted. I would have gladly taken the option to focus on spiritshifting over spellcrafting, and sacrificed being able to become a first-rate spellcaster to become a second-rate warrior if only it meant spiritshifting didn't get me killed every battle.)

 

There was some talk about the devs eventually balancing them better, but I quickly finished my first playthrough then moved onto other games and projects while I waited. Now I'm back, and I'd like to know if anything has changed since I've been away? Or should I aim to finish my cipher or chanter instead?

[Elric Galad]

Yes, they fixed shapshifting. It does really good scaling damages now.

 

And they really buffed the pet too. It is now hard enough to survive PotD. In addition, ranger gers twin shots at lvl 13 which basically doubles their ranged DPS for a small penalty to accuracy. Rangers are arguably the top martial DPS now.

[interf]

I haven't played with a Druid, but I can get absurd DPS out of a ranger. It's perfectly capable of soloing PoTD.

[PrimeJunta]

Rangers are awesome. You can build them in several different ways too. Gunner, fast-shooter, beastmaster, or sword-and-board all work.

 

Druids are also awesome, although they never were broken as such.

[DreamWayfarer]

While your druid will always be better at casting than melee, the scaling added to spiritshift managed to make it viable to center your talents on beast form damage and play as a temporary rogue after the enemies are properly debuffed by your spells.

Edited January 29, 2016 by DreamWayfarer

[Mocker22]

Druids always had a very powerful repertoire of spells. But yes the shape shifting got buffed. I really like Hiravas now. He has good CC and debuffs, nice spell dmg, and huge spike dps with shape shift. I take Weapon focus peasant, dual wield style, both wild strike Shocks, Scion of the storm, and apprentice sneak attack. The shock is very synergetic with the druids powerful shock spells and if you have a ranged dps character using stormcaller, make sure they plunk targets before a shapeshifted druid attacks.

 

Rangers rock. They have some very nice abilities to buffup their ranged power but I would take a lot of talents for the pet. The combined dps is very good. As stated above you have a few different specs available to you. For a powerful and simple build I would do a Wood elf with hunting bows(there are a couple great ones) with a wolf companion for dps. My only turn off to ranger is that it takes some micro-management to keep the pet alive and dealing good dmg. That said, Sagani and Hiravas might be my two favorite NPCs.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Mocker22

[PrimeJunta]

Ranger and paladin synergise beautifully. Lay On Hands can keep the pet fighting for really long, and since pets have no health bar there's no strategic cost.

 

Coincidentally paladins also have scads of possibilities for different builds.

[DreamWayfarer]

Ranger anyone and paladin synergise beautifully.

 

I guess you meant this. Support chars are supposed to synergise with other party members. The only classes I think of that do not synergise that much with Paladins are chanters and priests, who happen to fill a very similar role.

[Elric Galad]

 

Ranger anyone and paladin synergise beautifully.

 

I guess you meant this. Support chars are supposed to synergise with other party members. The only classes I think of that do not synergise that much with Paladins are chanters and priests, who happen to fill a very similar role.

That's true but I agree with the above : paladin support is extremely valuable for squishy melee DPS like pet and melee rogue.

 

With proper micro, you can keep them alive, and pet is even a decent off-tank. However, they frequently get hurt. Then lay in hand and reviving exhortations become wonderful. Paladins may not be the best overall support class, but they are the best single target healers...

 

Furthermore, pet high DR synegizes well with zealous endurance and their infinite health pool make "endurance loss/big heal" strategy optimal.

 

Pet synergizes also with cipher pain block for the same reasons. And also with cipher ectopsychic echo 'cause you can send them in the middle of the crowd.

[Abalon]

Yep zealous endurance is amazing for my ranger party combined with lay on hands deflection boost and my fido, ie Antelope is a tanking machine

Edited January 29, 2016 by Abalon

[Elric Galad]

By the way the 2 pets quoted above are the best : wolf for offense and antelope for defense. But it is friday evening and I'm too tired to argue why )

[PrimeJunta]

I guess you meant this. Support chars are supposed to synergise with other party members. The only classes I think of that do not synergise that much with Paladins are chanters and priests, who happen to fill a very similar role.

 

No I meant paladins synergise especially well with rangers.

[Faerunner]

Oh, I'm so glad to hear! I love the druid and the ranger and I was afraid they'd never get fixed.

 

 

Rangers rock. They have some very nice abilities to buffup their ranged power but I would take a lot of talents for the pet. The combined dps is very good. As stated above you have a few different specs available to you. For a powerful and simple build I would do a Wood elf with hunting bows(there are a couple great ones) with a wolf companion for dps. My only turn off to ranger is that it takes some micro-management to keep the pet alive and dealing good dmg. That said, Sagani and Hiravas might be my two favorite NPCs.

 

Way ahead of ya! The animal companion is the main reason I love this class, so it'll be the focus of my build. =)

 

LOL They're still pretty fragile? Some things never change. XD Oh well, that's where buff and healing companions come in.

 

While your druid will always be better at casting than melee, the scaling added to spiritshift managed to make it viable to center your talents on beast form damage and play as a temporary rogue after the enemies are properly debuffed by your spells.

 

That's perfect. That's all I really wanted.

Edited January 29, 2016 by Faerunner

[Wolken3156]

LOL They're still pretty fragile? Some things never change. XD Oh well, that's where buff and healing companions come in.

Early game they are. Midgame they're able to take a bit more punishment and by endgame they actually become a somewhat effective tank, especially if your pet is a Bear or Antelope.

 

The real scary thing with pets are Charm and Dominate spells. If you're like me and focus on pet talents, your pet hits like a freight train, and is the most dangerous enemy faced when charmed or dominated XD