Starting a Ranger

Ranger
Starting a... Enhancements Tactics Equipment Spells

Overview

Every Ranger gets free training to be effective both with a bow, and with paired melee weapons, although most choose to concentrate on one of the two specialties using one of the two powerful Ranger enhancements.

The Ranger Tempest's training in using two weapons at once, progressively reduces the normal handicaps for this style, and eventually ensures that the off hand is attacking 100% of the time. The Arcane Archer learns dedicated archery skills, and in particular the ability to generate magically imbued arrows.

However, even an Arcane Archer knows when to pull out a pair of swords when their enemies are too close, while the meanest Ranger Tempest can still be relied on to target a distant boss or enemy casters with some well placed arrows when required.

See the "Final Comments" section below for playing tips on your new Ranger.

Minimum recommended stats

Rangers get all of their class feats, even if they don't meet the Dexterity requirements. However, there are optional feats that do have minimum requirements. The only way to meet these requirements are by starting with the required characteristics or by increasing them with Tomes and level up bonuses to increase characteristics. Items, spells and enchantments NEVER count for satisfying Feat prerequisites.

• Strength: No minimum requirement but Strength generally increases melee hit and damage and bow ranged damage (because of the Ranger Feat: Bow Strength) so it's usually good to have more Strength. However, as of Update 19, some builds don't need Strength, see individual builds for more info. Str 13 is required for Power Attack; most rangers will want to start with at least that.
• Dexterity: Archer Rangers use their Dexterity modifier to hit and since Update 19, Tempest Rangers can use their DEX modifier for to hit and damage bonus of light weapons and Scimitars and Deepwood Stalkers can take an enhancement to use their Dex modifier for damage if they have the Weapon Finesse feat or any of the enhancements that allow you to use DEX modifier for hit bonus with the particular weapon.
• Constitution: 14 is a recommended minimum.
• Wisdom: No minimum requirement; however wisdom is required to cast ranger spells. Total wisdom of 10 + 1 per level of spell is required; however, this can be achieved using items. Rangers get 4 spell levels, so 14 is the maximum required. New players can start with 10 or 11 to be safe, experienced players can start with 8 and use items and tomes. It's possible to equip a WIS item, buff up, and then switch it out for something more useful. It's also possible to cast Owl's Wisdom, even from a clickie, to achieve the requisite WIS.
• Intelligence: No minimum requirement but you will need to increase your INT if you want to take feats that have Combat Expertise as a requisite (Improved Trip, for example). INT also increases your skill points.
• Charisma: No minimum requirement but important for Use Magic Device skill if one chooses to use it.

Race

• Dwarf: Dwarf rangers are hard to kill thanks to their high Constitution, racial toughness enhancements, and improved saves vs. magic. Their racial weapon feats and enhancements to axe/hammer/pick damage do synergize well with some Tempest builds.
• Elf: Elves have great Dexterity but comparatively few hit points due to low Constitution and no racial toughness enhancements. Racial bonuses to bows are great for archer builds and they are the only race that can use their DEX modifier for damage with bows, thanks to their Grace enhancement. Racial bonuses to longswords, rapiers and scimitars bring their melee DPS into parity with Khopeshes.
• Halfling: Save and AC bonus, great if you are built for defensive purposes. High Dex is okay for Arcane Archer builds. Strength penalty makes them less than ideal for STR Tempest builds. They can also take Dragonmarks which allows them to use Spell-like abilities to heal themselves limited times per rest.
• Human: Good fit to any class. A Bonus Feat, extra Skill points and flexible Human Adaptability/ Versatility Enhancements are great for Rangers. One of their Dragonmarks also allows them to get a Spell-like abilities that work like Expeditious Retreat, Dimension Door and Teleport.
• Drow:It's not recommended that you roll a Drow ranger just because you are excited with your 400 favor reward. That being said, Drow do have Racial Bonuses to DEX, CHA and INT (which is great for splashing Rogue or maxing UMD) Spell Resistance and Elven Enchantment resistance (which helps with low ranger Will saves.) Drow are okay for Arcane Archers builds, but they lack the possibility to use their DEX bonus to damage that Elves have. Their racial bonuses to Rapier and Shortswords make them an interesting choice for DEX based Tempest, though their lower CON diminishes this somewhat.
• Half-Elf: Half-Elf is generally not recommended, unless you are aiming for a specific Dilettante build. Otherwise, Half-Elf really doesn't offer anything other races do.
• Half-Orc: Their racial enhancements do not synergize with ranger, which is a two-weapon fighting oriented class. However, the bonus to Strength is nice (for melee and Bow Strength), Racial Power Attack enhancements increase their damage with melee weapons, stat penalties to CHA and INT aren't anywhere it really hurts on most Rangers.
• Warforged: Warforged have natural resistances (Energy Drain, Hold Person and Troglodyte Stench being noteworthy), good Constitution, Inherent Fortification and increased hitpoints. Similar to a Half-Orc, they have a melee enhancement that is more suitable for two-handed fighting, but it's not as bad as them, they also receive racial Power Attack enhancements to aid Melee damage.

Skills

Skills can vary greatly for a ranger as they are a very flexible class capable of specializing in a number of different directions.

Important Skills

In alphabetical order, these should be maxed out when possible:

• Balance: It's better to be standing, when you want to fight, rather than getting tripped and being useless in combat.
• Heal: Heal increases the amount of hit points you heal with your healing spells. Even though Rangers are nowhere near primary healers, it's important to be able to heal yourself, when soloing or when the group healer has to focus on tanks or other non-healing classes.
• Spot: Even melee rangers are better with a bow than most non-rangers. Make sure you can drop those hidden mobs. Also important if you have a level in rogue to find those traps, unless you know perfectly where they are going to be.
• Use Magic Device: Reaching as high as 20 makes most restricted items usable. With 30+, raising people from the dead is possible! Keep in mind that you can (temporarily) boost this score with Ranger Skill Boost enhancements or Human Versatility Skill Boost Enhancement.

It should be noted that ranger has great synergy with rogue. Tempest rangers often start with a level of rogue, or even a deeper splash with only 12-15 levels of ranger. This opens up a few more skills:

• Search: A ranger class skill. It's very important for a Rogue or Artificer to find traps and their control panels, can be somewhat useful for other Rangers to find secret doors.
• Disable Device: With +5 Thieves' tools and maximised disable item, this isn't quite as critical as search. Still recommended to put lots of points, because it's possible to blow up control boxes of traps if your skill is too low.
• Open Lock: It is always great to open those extra chests or locked doors. Less useful at higher levels, if you don't put a considerable number of points here

Secondary Skills

In alphabetical order, improve these skills when you can:

• Jump: Don't invest too much on this. You can cast Jump spell buff, and it caps at 40. Especially Rangers with high strength (Tempests, some archers), should put very little points here or possibly none at all, since they can get 30 from Jump spell and 10+ from their Str bonus, while having nearly no penalty from their light armor.
• Hide and Move Silently: Allows you to move through lots of enemies undetected.*
• Search: Allows you to find hidden doors when a rogue isn't available. See above if you multiclass a rogue.
• Tumble: Allows you to make agile movements during combat and reduces falling damage.
• Concentration: Concentration helps you cast spells, while being attacked, without interruption. Most of Ranger spells are buffs, but we also have healing spells, which can be sometimes useful during combat, when a dedicated healer isn't available.

(*) The spells Pass Without Trace and Camouflage give up to +20 bonuses to Move Silently and Hide skills, so after first level, you may want to ignore these skills entirely. This is especially true since by mid to late game, the vast majority of mobs have some combination of Tremor Sense, See Invisible or True Seeing, rendering these skills moot.

Favored Enemies

Possible Favored Enemy choices; you get to choose one at level 1 and an additional one at levels 5, 10, 15, and 20 for five total.

• Aberration (useful at higher levels - Mindflayers, Beholders, Scorrow and Rust Monsters are all Aberrations)
• Construct (occasionally useful at mid and high levels)
• Elemental (somewhat useful at mid and high levels)
• Evil Outsider (essential at high level)
• Giant (useful starting at mid-level. Remember, Ogres and Trolls are Giant class!)
• Goblinoid (early to mid-level for Hobgoblins and Bugbears)
• Undead (There are Undead at every level of the game)
• Reptilian (You will fight legions of Kobolds and Troglodytes at every level of the game and in Challenges)

It is worth noting that not all Favored Enemies appear in equal numbers, or have the same "bang for the buck." For example, there are only 2 monsters in Reptilian (Kobold and Troglodyte) but there are hordes of these monsters all throughout every level of the game (including end-game content and Challenges.) Similarly, some groups have large numbers of included enemies (Animal, Magical Beast) but show in smaller numbers and are relatively weak opponents.

As a jumping off point, consider (in order): Undead, Reptilian, Giant, Evil Outsider and Aberration. Adjust to taste and experience.

Rarely taken are: Animal, Chaotic Outsider, Dragon, Dwarf (includes Duergar), Elf (includes Drow), Gnoll, Halfling, Human, Lawful Outsider, Magical Beast, Monstrous Humanoid, Ooze, Orc, Plant, Vermin

Spells

This section lists only a subset of ranger spells. The full list is available here.

• Level 1
  • Camouflage: Good for when you're feeling all sneaky.
  • Jump: Reach high places more easily!
  • Longstrider: Gets you where you want to go faster.
  • Ram's Might: +2 STR and damage (effectively +3 damage), and stacks with Bull's Strength/+STR items!
  • Resist Energy: Protection from 10-30 points of energy damage per hit
• Level 2
  • Barkskin: Increases your AC, up to +5 (natural armor bonus).
  • Camouflage, Mass: One person is good; everyone is better.
  • Cure Light Wounds: Primarily for self-healing when a cleric isn't available.
  • Protection from Energy: See: Resist Energy, although it directly absorbs it instead (up to 120 points of damage).
• Level 3
  • Cure Moderate Wounds: See: Cure Light Wounds, but better.
  • Neutralize Poison: Obviously enough.
  • Remove Disease: Ditto.
• Level 4
  • Freedom of Movement: A great spell to counter Hold Person (earth elemental's Earthgrab is not included since update 11).
  • Cure Serious Wounds: The best healing you can cast yourself.

Multiclassing

Rangers don't have a flashy capstone and they are a rather front-loaded class, thus they are suitable for multiclassing.

• Rogue: 1 or more levels for trap skills, UMD, sneak attack, haste enhancements (also evasion if ranger levels are below 9)
• Artificer: alternative to rogue, grants extra spell points (haste boost can be twisted on epic levels; half-elves can get sneak attack from rogue dilettante)
• Fighter: 1 or more levels for feats, enhancements
• Monk: often 2-6 levels for feats, unarmed combat, stances, and AC (also evasion if ranger levels are below 9), Ten Thousand Stars (monkcher), See also: Exploiter
• Wizard: A multiclassed Ranger might want to take 1 level of Wizard to increase their spell point pool (increased by INT modifier) and get Magical Training feat for free, as well as a free feat from Wizard bonus feats list, which can be Quicken Spell or Mental Toughness. Wizard also have some interesting tier 1 enhancements, including bonus hp (in Pale Master), bonus spell points and Spell-like ability Invisibility from Archmage enhancements. Wizard level also gives you +2 Will save, which is generally the lowest of Ranger saves.
• Cleric: Similarly to Wizard multiclass, Cleric gives you free Magical Training feat, as well as some basic bonus spell points (increased by WIS modifier), as well as some interesting Enhancements, including bonus hp, bonus sp and wand mastery.

Other classes might decide to dip in ranger. Rangers offer decent chassis: average HP, two good saves, full BAB and lot of skills. Useful break points are:

• 1-2 for favored enemy, two ranged feats, TWF feat, and access to cure wands without UMD
• 4-6 for early spells, prestige enhancements, manyshot, improved TWF
• 11 for full TWF line, Improved Precise Shot without meeting dex requirement, third level spell
• 15 can hardly be considered a "dip" but has all the spells and favored enemies of 18 with 3 more level slots open.

Although the capstone for ranger is fairly lackluster, it is worth bearing in mind that if pursuing the Arcane Archer enhancement that the final upgrade to the conjured arrows requires a level 18 ranger. Thus if pursuing the end state of this enhancement, do not splash more than two levels elsewhere.

Tempest

General Tempest Tips

After Update 19, Tempests can choose to either max Dexterity or Strength, since they can use both for both Attack Bonus and Damage bonus, though you can only use Dexterity for both with Light weapons and Scimitars and only with appropriate core tempest enhancements.On the other hand, if you are a pure Ranger Tempest, you get a capstone bonus of +2 Dexterity as well as being able to take bonus Dexterity in Arcane Archer and Deepwood Stalker trees. Your Dexterity bonus also increases your Ranged Attack Bonus and with a high tier Elf enhancement it can also increase your Bow Damage. Strength increases your Bow damage at all times, but doesn't increase your Attack Bonus at all.

Regarding weapons - Khopeshes are the obvious first choice for Strength-based Tempest as soon as you get the proficiency feat, but other weapons will do in a pinch, if you don't have any good khopesh available. Dexterity based Tempests are limited to Scimitars/Rapiers and other light weapons. For ranged weapon - no good ranger should use a crossbow because the free Bow Strength feat applies the ranger's strength bonus to their damage rolls with a longbow or shortbow, and negates the crossbow's higher damage class.

Managing weapons to bypass the various DRs of the enemies you're going to be facing is also an important part of being a Tempest. Bludgeoning weapons for skeletons is a must for a couple of lower level quests. If you can find a Metalline weapon of Pure Good or Metalline Flametouched weapon, it can bypass DR of not only constructs, vampires and various aberrations as normal metalline weapon does, but also demons and devils which need combination of good + cold iron or silver respectively. Your bow can also be a good way to bypass DRs as its damage type stacks with your arrows' damage type so Good type bow and Cold Iron arrows can bypass demons' DR. Don't forget that with at least first rank of House Deneith favor, you can buy arrows of every material in large quantities.

Tempest Ranger Build (Full Ranger Dexterity Tempest)

Race (Full Ranger Dexterity Tempest)

• Human - While Tempest is not feat-starved anymore, human is still a solid choice for a new ranger. Other nice choices are Elf, Drow and Halfling. Change build accordingly.

Stats (Full Ranger Dexterity Tempest)

• Strength: 14—Enough for Power Attack and bow damage, no need for more. Also helps with melee until you get appropriate enhancements.
• Dexterity: 16—Your main ability, put all level-ups here.
• Constitution: 16—Hit points are important.
• Intelligence: 8 -- Should be enough to cover your skill points needs.
• Wisdom: 10—You should be able to find a +1 wisdom item until level 4.
• Charisma: 8 -- This is a dump stat unless you are pursuing Use Magic Device.

Feats (Full Ranger Dexterity Tempest)

• Important
  • 1-Toughness
  • 3-Power Attack (you can take it as Human bonus feat at level 1, but you might be having troubles hitting enemies)
  • 9-Improved Critical - choose either Slashing for Scimitars or Piercing for Rapiers and Shortswords
• Optional, choose whichever suit your playstyle and whatever level you feel like
  • Least Dragonmark of Passage - with a couple of enhancements, you'll be able to cast free Dimension Doors and Teleports
  • Dodge - Mobility - Spring Attack - used to be mandatory for Tempests, nowadays it adds a bit of survivability and enables to move freely while attacking, eats a lot of feats though
  • Two Weapon Defense - a bit of survivability
  • Sap - Good crowd control, not really important at lower levels, very nice at end game
  • Magical Training or Mental Toughness - improves your spell point pool, magical training also gives you Echoes of Power so you never truly run out of sp (though you can get Magical Training from the Arcane Archer enhancements tree, so take Mental Toughness if you plan to take that)
  • Quicken Spell - Allows you to cast spells faster and without fear of interruption, at the price of increased spell point cost (when casting with Quicken Spell, you don't need Concentration skill at all)
  • Weapon Focus - Power Critical - a bit of a damage increase
  • Point Blank Shot - you should be really using your melee weapons up close
• do NOT take Weapon Finesse, you get it for free as a core Tempest Enhancement

Enhancements (Full Ranger Dexterity Tempest)

(only take this as a guideline, this is not a full build)

• Tempest
  • All core enhancements as soon as your level is high enough.
  • Whirling Blades - take at every tier
  • Action Boost - either Haste for damage boost, Sprint for survivability (i.e. running away) and a bit of time saving
  • Bleed Them Out - really nice at lower levels, use only on creatures that bleed (i.e. not constructs or undead)
  • Dance of Death - good AoE damage
  • A Thousand Cuts - nice single target DPS cooldown
  • Dexterity - 2x (only half as good as Whirling blades, since it takes +2 Dexterity (4 Action Points) for a +1 to hit and damage bonus)
• Deepwood Stalker
  • Similarly to Bleed Them Out, Exposing Strike (core enhancement) is a very nice attack, also serves as Bluff
  • Some nice spellpower bonuses in this tree, also faster sneaking, if that suits your playstyle
• Arcane Archer
  • Conjure arrows is nice for an endless supply of arrows
  • Energy of the Wild - nice for increasing your sp supply
• Human
  • Human Versatility - Damage - you can use this at the same time as Haste Boost from Tempest tree (don't take any further core enhancements)
  • Human Adaptability - Dexterity (don't take any further core enhancements)
  • Improved Recovery
  • Dragonmark Enhancements, if you've taken a Dragonmark
  • Action Surge - Dexterity - Human Versatility increases your damage even more

Skills (Full Ranger Dexterity Tempest)

• no skill is really critically important, the best choices are probably
• Balance
• Concentration
• Heal
• Spot
• Hide and Move Silently if you wanna go for sneaky Ranger, though that might be better multiclassed

Tempest Ranger (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

This build is close to the pre-U19 Tempest. It takes the best out of Tempest and adds some nice polish and utility on top. It can serve quite well as a "trapper", at least for all heroic levels and most, if not all, epics, while being able to dish out serious damage too. It can also choose one more class to multiclass (18 levels of Ranger is all you need) to add an extra flavour. The main choices are explained up here. It really doesn't matter which you choose as the rest of the build is pretty much the same for any multiclass.

Level Progression (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

• Start as a Rogue for level 1, choose the second multiclass at any level you feel like adding a bit of a twist to your character. If you are choosing a spellcasting class (Wizard or Cleric), take it only after having at least 8 levels of Ranger (so minimum character level 10), so you already have Cure Light Wounds spell. Good levels for melee multiclassing (Fighter, Monk) are also levels 8 and 13, just after getting a tier of Two Weapon Fighting feat.

Race (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

Human - for bonus skill points Dragonmark of Passage (take it as your free feat) and Healing Amplification, use Khopeshes, or if no good ones available Scimitars/Longswords (or rapier before getting Improved Critical) Dwarf - Axe damage increase, use Dwarven Axes (you'll get Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Dwarven Axe for free at your first Ranger level) or Battleaxes

Stats (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

• Strength: 16 Strength makes your blades bite often and bite deep. Put all level up points here.
• Dexterity: 8 You don't really need Dexterity, your points are better spent elsewhere
• Constitution: 16 Rangers should be in the thick of things. You have two weapons, go use them.
• Intelligence: 12 Note that Use Magic Device, Search, Disable device, and Spot can easily use up your skills. Try to have some other skills as well, without being stingy with these.
• Wisdom: 10 Players using a monk level (or half-elf dilettante feat) may want more, players confident in obtaining reasonably powerful wisdom gear may prefer to put the points in intelligence.
• Charisma: 8 Since Use Magic Device is a rogue class skill, this build can put it up to 20 ranks. Expect to want a charisma boosting magic item since you really can't afford to put points here.
  • Dwarf can take 14 Intelligence because of his higher starting Constitution (the points you save on getting CON to 16 make up for the -2 CHA and can increase the INT as well), this makes up for Human bonus skill points

Feats (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

• Feat choice is pretty much the same as for DEX Tempest - see here
• Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Khopesh - only for Humans, arguably the best weapon choice for STR based Tempests
• Oversized Two Weapon Fighting - removes the penalty for not using a light weapon in offhand, not really important, but can be nice
• Favored Enemy: - you only have 4 favored enemies because of the multiclass and only get your second choice at character level 7, so if you choose Reptillian for the early levels, it might be wise to swap it for Undead at around level 4-5 and take Giant at level 7. For 12 and 17, your best choices would be probably Evil Outsiders and Aberrations. Change according to your preferences and what quests do you plan to do.

Enhancements (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

• Ranger and Human enhancement choices are pretty much the same as with DEX based Tempest (of course taking Strength instead of Dexterity), don't spend all your points in these trees though
• When multiclassing to Fighter, take Haste boost in Kensei tree and Sprint boost in Ranger tree, they don't share uses nor cooldowns!
• Clerics have bonus spellpoints and hit points, as well as Wand mastery and Divine Might (only useful with a Charisma bonus)
• Wizards also have bonus spellpoints and hit points in their trees (the Deathless Vigor enhancements increase hit points twice as much as the Cleric Toughness enhancements, but cost twice as many action points)

Skills (Multiclass Strength Tempest)

• Search, Disable Device - must have for a "trapper", Spot - very important too, but if you are very sure you know every location of every trap, you could save here
• Use Magical Device - a Rogue class skill, you can get the full 20 ranks here, but prepare to pay 2 skill points at every level for it, allows to use equipment outside your race/alignment, allows to cast spells from scrolls like Teleport, Raise Dead or even Heal
• Open Lock - not really necessary, but nice to have
• Concentration - if you're taking the Quicken Spell feat (for example when multiclassing to Wizard), you don't need this
• Heal - increases potency of your healing spells
• Jump - take ranks only at 1st level, when you don't know where else to spend points, you add your STR modifier to your Jump skill and you can cast Jump (spell) to increase it by 30
• Balance - if you have any skill points to spare

Archer

Building an Archer

The Archer is an agile and skilled scout with minor spellcasting abilities. With his keen senses he can detect traps, secret doors or enemies before anyone else. Once combat starts the archer usually stays behind to support the party with his bow, but even in melee he has learned to wield two weapons with deadly precision. The archer wears only light armor but is quick in his movement and can sneak past enemies when necessary.

This specialization is recommended to those players who prefer smiting enemies from a distance rather than close up. Even so, any ranger can fight effectively with two weapons, so melee fighting is always an alternative when your enemies are within striking distance. Once Manyshot has run out, Rangers often do more damage with two weapon fighting than using a bow, even if they have gained the Point Blank Shot feat.

Archers need high Dexterity to hit with ranged attacks, and might be tempted to take the Weapon Finesse feat to enable attacks with rapiers and shortswords to enjoy the same bonus. However, well-built rangers should keep their strength up as well, because it improves the damage; making Weapon Finesse a bad choice.

The Arcane Archer has dedicated archery skills, and in particular the ability to generate arrows with special effects.

No ranger should use a crossbow because the free Bow Strength feat applies the ranger's strength bonus to their damage rolls with a longbow or shortbow, and negates the crossbow's higher damage class.

Recommended enhancements

• Ranger Favored Attack/Damage
• Ranger Dexterity
• Ranger Devotion (if self-healing)
• Ranger Sprint Boost (first level is enough)
• Arcane Archer enhancements
• Racial enhancements

Feats

• Weapon Focus: Ranged Weapon
• Point Blank Shot
• Toughness
• Improved Critical: Ranged
• Shot on the Run feat chain provides a marginal benefit and is not recommended

Archer sample build

See also - I would like to create an Archer. Should I pick a Ranger or a Fighter?

Human Ranger (28 pb)

• 16 str
• 16 dex
• 15 con
• 8 wis
• 8 int
• 8 cha

Bonus ability points into strength. Use class enhancements to increase dexterity.

Feats:

• 1 Weapon Focus: Ranged
• 1 Toughness (Human bonus feat)
• 3 Point Blank Shot
• 6 Mental Toughness
• 9 Improved Critical: Ranged
• 12 Improved Critical: Slashing or Piercing
• 15 Power Attack
• 18 Maximize Spell (for self-healing via CSW)

Skills:

• Balance, Concentration, Spot, UMD, ...

Archer Fighting Tips

Other fighting classes can hide behind their heavy armor and extra hit points but Archers need to play smart.

The point of using arrows is not usually damage, which over time is usually less than melee damage, but the enormous advantage of being able to hit enemies who cannot hit back at you because you are out of reach. Pick off vulnerable foes one by one to minimize damage from return fire, unless you are using a paralyzing bow, in which case spread the effect around.

Remember though—as a Ranger—your bow damage comes from three different factors: your strength (through Bow Strength), your bow's attributes (various pluses and effects), and your arrows. By selecting an appropriate bow and appropriate ammunition, you can often better match your damage with what's required for an enemy. For example, if you are fighting an enemy using the Stoneskin spell, switch to a Metalline bow to overcome the damage reduction. If you are hunting fire elementals, you can switch to frost arrows for double damage. Unlike melee weapons, a bow and arrow combination let's you use up to 6 different prefixes, suffixes, and/or pluses at once toward an enemy. (Highest plus between bow or arrow, bow prefix/suffix/material, arrow material/suffix).

There are also explicit situations where the ability to hit the enemy from a distance means more than safety. The most obvious is in returning fire to ranged mobs standing out of reach, but even more useful is the ability to grab the 'aggro' of enemy casters or the boss from a distance. You may be able to destroy them from afar with manyshot, but if not, have a good plan for how to deal with them afterward.

The combination of Improved Precise Shot with Manyshot can be like a machine gun on a group of vulnerable foes. The technique needs practice, as you have to get the timing right, have them nicely lined up, and target the one at the back.

Lastly, don't forget those Two Weapon Fighting feats that you get for free. Consider leaping over the frontline fighters to attack high priority targets like casters, or the enemy archers standing at the back.

Kite wisely!

Kiting is getting a monster to chase you, while you run backwards firing at it. This is a common tactic for solo archers, and can work well in groups if you can kite them through a firewall, a blade barrier or a waiting group of your fellows. But careless kiting in a group will anger your fellow players since they will typically not be able to hit a monster while running after it and you. Tell them what you are planning, and if you are in trouble, run towards your friends, not away from them.

How to Keep the Arrows Flowing

Dedicate one inventory slot to Arrows. Put your equipped Quiver on Auto Gather. As you shoot the arrows will fill your quiver. I also keep 10 Quivers 250 arrows. This gives 25 X 100 Arrows + 250 Per Quiver (add Magic Arrows to fill up even more).

Additionally, if you have a high-plus bow and the money to do so, you can get additional general use arrows by buying and carrying base arrows, +1 arrows, and masterwork arrows in the same quiver. With a +1 or higher bow, these arrows are functionally the same and will allow you to have 1200 arrows in a regular thin quiver that will sequentially load for general use. This way, for specialized arrows like "Undead Bane" or "Arrows of Lesser Dwarf Bane", you can slot those into a wide quiver and switch them out during lulls in battles when you need that something special. Carrying 4 thin quivers filled this way and two wide quivers allows you 4800 general purpose "spamming" arrows and up to 200 each of 12 specialized types.

Tip: Especially useful at lower levels is investing 3 Action Points into Arcane Archer enhancements to get Conjure Arrows. This provides an unlimited number of auto-refilling +1 arrows. These arrows are only destroyed when you log out for an extended period of time, so you'll find you only have to cast it while in-town and then only rarely. At later levels, you might find yourself switching to physical arrows and quivers to manage all those specialized arrows you'll gather over your adventures.

For specialized arrow types and quivers, seek favor with House Deneith or indulge in crafting. Although the Deneith quivers are Bind to Character, if you load one with Bind to Account ammunition (such as Cannith crafted arrows/bolts), it will change to Bind to Account allowing you to transfer it via a shared bank.

Cannith Crafting is a great source of ammunition. You can create elemental, bane, or Holy arrows (and bolts) in stacks of 100. Unlike most items, creating ammo requires no collectibles other than essences and common Siberys Dragonshard Fragments, and you don't have to disjunct another item first.

Final Comments

Ranger is a Generalist

One of the more common traps Ranger players fall into is the "all or Nothing" thinking. If they are a Tempest they ONLY do Melee, and if they're an Archer, they ONLY do ranged. This is a tragic, rookie mistake. The Ranger is a GENERALIST. To quote the character creation page:

"Rangers are extremely versatile combatants... Rangers switch between bow and melee combat, shooting until the enemy closes to melee range, then switching weapons. They are the best class at two-weapon fighting, using a weapon in each hand. In addition, they can make very good scouts, sneaking ahead of the party and gathering information on enemies."

In short, don't be "Pure" Archer or "Pure" Melee. To maximize returns, you will need to do both effectively. Tempests will need to ensure their ranged damage is passable, and Archer builds will need to maintain their melee damage output to be effective.

Archers will use ManyShot to destroy enemies from a distance, mopping up the survivors with melee while on cooldown.

Tempests will "cherry-pick" with ranged, drawing out enemies one at a time or in small groups, then demolishing them with Melee DPS.

Two-Weapon Fighting notes

Two-Weapon Fighting strategy doesn't operate like Two-Handed fighting strategy. You are dealing in VOLUME of attacks, not damage-per-swing animation. With this in mind, and knowing that Rangers are the ONLY class with 100% off-hand attacks and 0-penalties to dual-wielding, weapon choice becomes crucial.

Vorpal, Disruption, Banishing, Smiting, "On Hit/ On Crit/ Stacking Damage/ Destruction/ Curse Spewing" and similar weapons become much more valuable than the equivalent two-handed weapon, since there are MORE attacks happening (and with Tempest III, 10% double-strike with the main-hand weapon.) Vorpal is worth noting again, since as of Update 17, Vorpal weapons add +0.5 to base weapon damage, in addition to their Death Effect on a Natural 20 roll. (i.e. A Vorpal longsword does 1.5[1d8] base damage, instead of the normal [1d8].)

In short, you want to swamp your enemies with the largest number of dangerous weapon prefixes and suffixes you can possibly combine.

Know Your Role

RANGERS DO NOT TANK RAID BOSSES.

Most Rangers simply do not have the AC, PRR or HP to endure the punishment of a Raid Boss, especially on Elite, at level (even with Evasion.) The role of a Ranger in most raids is to control/ kite "trash mobs" away from the "heavy" melees (Barbarians, Fighters, Paladins) that are in close, or away from the Healers and Casters in the back row supporting them. As a self-sufficient class, Rangers are ideal for this purpose. When there are few or no trash mobs to kill, switch to ManyShot and support with Ranged damage. It's not glamourous, but it helps the groups run much more smoothly.

It is hoped you will enjoy playing a Ranger in the future, as well as dissolving the stereotype image that Rangers as mere archery specialists. The majority of the warriors you will party with will often marvel at how quickly a Ranger can mow through hordes of mobs taking little to no damage, while spellcasters are often thankful when you suddenly leap over monsters to their rescue.

Equipped and played properly, Rangers can easily lead any party in kills (and thus drive Barbarians and dps monks crazy.)