I'm back... I want to stay.

[Ben No.3]

Can do pretty good with high damage weapons due to +2 mig; racial accuracy is so good when applied and by now, poison and disease defense is pretty valuable ... So yeah they might actually suit your crossbow ranger pretty well

[Slack83er]

That sounds GOOD. 'Cos I really love dwarves... even if in this game they're not properly drawn imho... too skinny..

Crossbow dwarven ranger.... like it...

[Jojobobo]

The reason why I asked about Driving Flight earlier is I'm pretty sure a Ranger with an arbalest and Swift Aim could chain prone effects, they can certainly chain Blind as standard through Silver Flash through my testing (though it's a little useless given that you blind your pet too - and it only works with Swift Aim so no Powder Burns unfortunately if you want to chain blind) and the reload isn't much different though it is slightly longer. With Silver Flash I used Swift Aim, Int 26 (18 base + 1 Old Vailia + 3 resting bonus + 4 Gwyn's Band) and Dex 22 (18 base plus Viettro's Footware), Gunner and Gauntlets of Swift Action and found you can chain it on blind effect crits (with the idea that blind crits perpetuate more crits by hitting on the lowered reflex once you score the first).

 

With Aedrin's Wrecker you're looking at two possible nasty CC effects, and with Stunning Shots possibly a third separate roll. If this does work on Driving Flight that's two guys potentially out of action quite easily - which with the high base damage of arbalests would be pretty neat. Definitely something to think about, and it certainly avoids some of the problems with Silver Flash even though it doesn't hit such a large group (which you probably don't really need it to on a Ranger, considering Binding Roots).

[Boeroer]

Stunning Shots work with Driving Flight. I'm not so sure about on-crit effects of weapons.

After you get Stunning Shots all the on-crit effects on weapons like overbearing or stunning are obsolete though. Silver Flash is an exception because blind stacks with stunned.

 

Boreal Dwarves are good as DPS guys. +15 ACC against two creature groups is nice. As I said in another thread, you can combine that with the Bartender's Ring and Beast Slayer (and/or Cloak of the Frozen Hunt) plus a kith slaying enchantment on your weapon to improve your damage quite a bit against any kind of creature.

 

Edit: thanks Loren for the data. I now remember that arbalests were slower than pistols and blunderbusses, not arquebuses. Those are still the slowest. Sorry - I seldomly reload those things but use Quick Switch and/or the Coil so I seldomly experience reloading with guns.

Edited September 23, 2016 by Boeroer

[Slack83er]

Good to know dwarves ar good. I'm a huge fan of 'em. Now only to decide bg and starting stats...and I'm ready to go! 

[Jojobobo]

Stunning Shots work with Driving Flight. I'm not so sure about on-crit effects of weapons.

After you get Stunning Shots all the on-crit effects on weapons like overbearing or stunning are obsolete though. Silver Flash is an exception because blind stacks with stunned.

Wouldn't it permit you three separate rolls though - in which case it ups your chances of getting the maximum length stun/prone? I get that stun and prone don't stack - but adding two additional chances to score one of these debilitating effects on top of stunning shots seems worth it in terms of probability. I'd say the issue is long reload weapons aren't great for kiting - as the reload animation needs to be done while standing still (though it can be stopped and started, so if you get half way through the animation then you'll pick up where you left off when you're still again - which I have to say looks very weird). This means more kiting than normal, and probably doesn't work well in conjunction with stun/prone-locking enemies as all that running around is delaying the time between shots.

 

It also seems a little pointless to stack blind and stunned, as the only effects which are suppressed by stunned are -accuracy and -move speed, which won't have an effect while they're not moving from stunned in the first place.

[Boeroer]

@ Jojobobo: Yes, you are right - there would be a slighty higher chance to get a stun-crit result when you score a weapon crit before (and only then) - but since you will cause stun anyway with any weapon on hit I would then focus on a weapon enchantment that has more to add. Like Wendgär's predatory enchantent for example or Good Friend's coordinating one. Coordinating is a very nice enchantment for a ranger because he wants to attack the same target as his pet anyway (because of stunning shots & stalker's link for example) and then can benefit from +4 ACC and +25% damage all the time. There are not too many things that can boost ranged weapon's damage, so that's nice. Or Twin Sting of course which I find to be very nice - especially the Plague of Insects part.

 

Hehe - you are right with blind and stun - they do kind of stack but it's not very effective.

 

---

 

A bit of theorycrafting (Slacker83 shouldn't read this if he doesn't want to get too confused )

A Boreal Dwarf with Stunning Shots, Stalker's Link (+10 ACC), Bartender's Ring (+20% dmg to spirit and vessel), Stalker's Torc (+20% dmg), Beast Slayer talent (+25% dmg), Appr. Sneak Attack (+15%), Archer's Gloves(+10%) and Good Friend (+4 ACC / +25% dmg) with kith slaying (+4 ACC / +25% dmg) enchantment will have the following "passive" ACC/dmg bonuses when attacking the same foe as his pet (not including the math for more crits because of stunned, the ACC survival bonuses with 10 survival, Marked Prey or quality enchantments like fine, exeptional etc. - those would add on top of the following):

 

- Primordial: +29 ACC / +70% dmg 

- Wilder: +29 ACC / +70% dmg

- Spirit: +14 ACC / +90% dmg

- Vessel: +14 ACC / +90% dmg

- Beast: +14 ACC / +95% dmg

- Kith: +18 ACC / +95% dmg

 

Now add marked prey, +15 survival (except against kith) and the quality enchantments and do some math with crossbows' base damage and you can see that it's quite awesome.  You could also stack +40% bonus against flanked targets with boots and survival, buit it's a bit of a hassle - I like the +ACC from survial more.

 

I think for a ranger Good Friend is even better than Wendgär once it's enchanted to superb. With stunning shots and your sky high ACC you cause crits all the time - you don't even need Wendgär's 10% hit-to-crit conversion I guess. 

 

Twin Sting is also very nice because of it's raw damage, the auto-superb enchantment and the two shots without reloading (you shouldn't move between thoise two shots because then it doesn't work). The best thing is of course the Plague on Insects that has a much higher chance than 25% when you use Driving Flight: ~43% instead of 25%. So nearly every second shot will trigger this special version of Plague of Insects - great!

 

@Slacker: Boreal Dwarf as ranger + crossbow is a good combo. Both in terms of power as well as lore and roleplaying. I would take a wolf or stag (let's call it moose in this case ) as animal companion. 

Edited September 24, 2016 by Boeroer

[Ben No.3]

From a roleplay point of view, a bear might be fitting as well. It is also quite useful for pet tanking.

[Slack83er]

Lol... moose Bear fits well with a dwarf.... mmm I'll think about it. 

Regarding the rest of the post Boeroer.... I'm not really into number crunching, especially since I'm not an expert. I'll just play and enjoy!

[rheingold]

@boeroer - "moose" it's a fantastic name for an animal companion I now now what my next run will be - a boreal dwarf ranger with really low intelligence who's antelope companion is called "Moose"

He is not the most reliable hunter in his tribe, no one ever knows what he will actually bring back. His most well known dish is "pot luck".

Edited September 25, 2016 by rheingold

[Boeroer]

Hehe. Sounds nice. Make sure to pick up Persistence - it's wounding is great with low INT.

 

@Slacker83: I guessed so. That's why I said you shouldn't read that special part.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Boeroer

[Slack83er]

So today I've been off work, and started my new pg. It's just an all-round boreal dwarf ranger, with 16 dex and 16 per, bear companion (it's not called moose, my fault haha) and I'm 4th level now. His damage is ok, and the bear just tanks there along with eder. Thus far, he's ok. I come from Vailia and have hunter bg. Found my first good crossbow... but maybe i'll choose arbalests just because in the flavour text it says it's dwarven  

Any advices to go on or just keep playing?

[Ben No.3]

Considering the wonderful math we recently saw on this thread, you might consider respeccing and putting more from dexterity into might if you go aralbest. But generally, I'd regard the crossbow as the better weapon, but trust me, I hear you when it comes to sacrificing character's power for character's roleplay

Edited September 26, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Slack83er]

Question: Is 4th level too early to attempt raedric's castle?

[Boeroer]

Depends on difficulty and whether you have full party or not. Even then I'd say it's pretty tough at lvl 4 for a beginner.

[Slack83er]

I've completed the place, no matter the level...maybe the bear companion really did his part of the job I'm no full party atm, just me, bear, eder aloth and durance. I'm wondering if I could change something... the bear is good tank but low dmg, in the social interaction I'm no good talker, and my party seems to die easily from anything which is called "paladin".... 

Advices? If I have to restart, no prob, I'm not so far....

[Boeroer]

The paladins and champions in Raedrics Hold are very tough. No need to change anything. Your bear will do a TON of damage after you give him "Merciless Companion", "Vicious Companion" and "Predator's Sense" while using Wounding Shot on the targets the bear attacks. Alternatively, you can use any ability of any party member that causes a "damage over time" effect on the target the bear attacks. If he has Predartor's Sense, he will rip everything apart after two or three hits which suffers from such a DoT effect. Even paladins...

[Slack83er]

I thought of this DoT effect, at first it seemed not so powerful... I'm still low level, and don't have many talents or feats..

As for the talking abilities? It seems most require Res18 (i'll never reach) or Int16 or the like... What do I get to change if I respec? Main stats? Talents?

[Boeroer]

Well to be honest I personally think the dialogue options you gain with high RES or INT or whatever stat are not worth any hassle. They don't change the outcome of the dialogue 90% of the time - and then it's mostly to avoid a fight or to make a fight easier (missing loot). Who wants that?

 

And there are also a lot of checks with PER, some with MIG, even a few with CON. You can't cover them all. You will not skip any content because of that or miss any item or so. It's just to have another option for answering - and then most of the time the answer of the npc is the same as if you took another (non stat-checked) line.

 

But if you deperately want to retrain because of dialogue options you can put 15 in all of those stats you think will matter for dialogue and leave the rest at 10 for example. With items or resting bonuses or food it's rel. easy to gain 16 to 18 in any of those stats then.

 

Wounding Shot with an arbalest is actually pretty good. The 100% bonus damage is great and helps to put down sturdy foes. And Wounding Shot also triggers Predator's Sense and Merciless Companion (aka pet's Sneak Attack) at the same time. With this combined approach, any enemy will go down quickly.

Edited September 27, 2016 by Boeroer

[Slack83er]

Wounding Shot with an arbalest is actually pretty good. The 100% bonus damage is great and helps to put down sturdy foes. And Wounding Shot also triggers Predator's Sense and Merciless Companion (aka pet's Sneak Attack) at the same time. With this combined approach, any enemy will go down quickly.

 

Now I understand my mistake: I don't have Wounding shot, I got marked prey. That's the reason I don't do Dot... then I got Swift Aim... I did wrong didn't I?

[Ben No.3]

Well to be honest I personally think the dialogue options you gain with high RES or INT or whatever stat are not worth any hassle. They don't change the outcome of the dialogue 90% of the time - and then it's mostly to avoid a fight or to make a fight easier (missing loot). Who wants that?

 

 

Pfff... Roleplay-Philistine

 

Then on the other hand, I'm not even at 10% of your impressive in-game time

Edited September 27, 2016 by Ben No.3

[Boeroer]

Marked Prey is also good. You can take Wounding Shots next time or see that another party member gets some DoT ability. Like Envenomed Strike or some spell or chant which does damage over time (Combusting Wounds - wiz, Concelhaut's Corrosive Siphon - wiz, Autumn's Decay - dru, Insect Swarm - dru and so on). For example the chanter's lvl 1 chant "Come Sweet Winds of Death" would serve perfectly well. Just let him sing that phrase all the time and the pet has permament Predador's Sense while the chanter is not too far away. The chant is pretty neat by itself, too. It does raw damage and slowly grinds down even heavy armored foes like those paladins. And it has this nice synergy with rangers's pets. If you have it, you can even skip WOunding SHot if you want (although it still does good damage with such a hard hitting weapon like crossbow or arbalest).

[Slack83er]

Thanks for the advices, I'll try.

[Slack83er]

I was considering INT... what purpose does it serve 'cept dialogue on a ranger? I don't have spells, or abilities which last long or have AoE or the such... can any of you clarify?

[Dr <3]

For example it prolonged the dtun time of stunning shots. That alone is a good reason.

 

Apart from that is handy if you use scrolls for eample