Advice on a ranger party =)

[hingerson]

I just started playing Pillars of Eternity, and after having looked around the web for awhile for my first play though I've decided to try a mostly ranger party, so far I have 4 rangers. I realize for a lot of people this is dumb or not the way the game was supposed to be played but so far im having fun. I really know nothing about pillars of eternity as this is my first time and I'm wondering for this group should I do 5 rangers and maybe a chanter or what do you guys think? Any advice on gear or things like that would also be appreciated thanks.

[Gromnir]

step 1:  replace all your rangers with priests.

 

no need for a step 2.

 

we kid.  that being said, midway thru the beta, the ranger became our least intriguing class. in spite o' considerable improvements having been made to poe rangers, we have never surrendered our ranger revulsion.  am aware that it is possible to build effective melee and ranged rangers in poe, but we loathe the animal companions.  for Gromnir, poe ranger animal companions went from overpowered to underpowered to eye-roll annoying.  the signature feature o' the ranger has the same appeal as does gargling broken glass. 

 

we will follow this thread with some (albeit limited) interest as we realize that our dislike o' the poe ranger is largely legacy-based.  the current ranger, on paper, is not only viable but powerful.  even so, the only ranger we ever have in our party is sagani... and we only have her in our party long enough to complete her companion quest.  ocd is a cruel mistress.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Crucis]

Well, Gromnir, animal companions are powerful again, but at the cost of at least 3 of your potential 8 talent points (Resilient Companion, Vicious Companion, and Merciless Companion), which is rather costly.  Oh, I suppose it's not too, too bad for a ranged ranger, but when you try to build a melee ranger, it can start looking quite costly.

 

I personally wouldn't recommend the OP play multiple rangers in the same party because it will lead to some crazy micromanagement issues due to the fact that each ranger is actually 2 characters, the ranger and his animal companion. 

 

My recommendation for the OP would be to play with the game's pre-made Companion NPC's rather than player-made mercenaries, particularly on his first run through the game.

[Stasis_Sword]

What difficulty are you playing on?

 

Whenever having multiple characters with the same class you want to diversify roles. So make one a sword and board "tank" ranger, one the two handed specialist ect... Also cross class talents like gallant aura can help make up for some missing classes. Tidefall is an awesome weapon for a melee ranger. Remember you get several benefits when a ranger attacks the same target as their pet

 

In my opinion you biggest challenge will be having no AOE damage and no CC abilities. Cipher, wizard, druid or priest would be my top recommendations to help.

[KDubya]

A Chanter (Kana) would help the four Rangers with some useful buffs and enemy debuffs. At level 9 getting the +25% fire lash chant will be great for the Rangers and the pets.

 

A Paladin Pellegrinna) could help the team out as well with the Zealous Endurance chant to increase the pet DR and a few Lay on Hands to heal the pets.

 

Have one Ranger set up for melee and give them the Shod in Faith boots to keep the pets healed up.

 

Have one Ranger use Persistence and apply a DoT to all enemies to activate the +50% damage talent for the pets.

[Elric Galad]

Chanter's dragon trashed would save you a lot of headache cause it is the most reliable way to always have a DOT active on your targets. That or barbarian with Tidefall.

[Blades of Vanatar]

I have gone with 3 Bow Rangers all with Bears, 2 Druids with Bear shifting and a Barbarian with a pike(Tallgrass). The Rangers were the key. With all of the awesome bows in this game PotD was only challenging when fighting bosses. And I don't min/max stats. Make your ACs as defensive as possible and make sure your Rangers have a secondary ranged weapon that does other than piercing damage. The Druids were the micro piece to the party, not the Rangers.