Ranger Start Tree feedback

The Ranger is a million times better. Bow, Sword & Board, and dual wielding are all well supported. However, there is still a bit left to do.

Dexterity is still a terrible stat, and as the pure dex character this hits the Ranger the hardest. Since evasion is inherently unsuitable as a primary defensive stat, throw in an offensive stat. 1% weapon crit chance for every 7.5 dex would massively ease the skill point burden any sort of crit build incurs, and would help make dexterity a more attractive option relation to Resolute Technique.

Reaching the crit nodes is still hell for a melee character besides the Pressure Points cluster.

There are still way too many tax nodes. Mana Geysers might as well be next to Minion Instability. Revenge of the Hunter and Acrobatics take way too many points to reach given how many points they eat up for only modest returns. The resistance clusters are pretty weak, but they would be usable if they weren't so expensive just to get to. Consolidating a few of the most points-heavy clusters and cutting a few tax nodes could easily free up some very-needed 6-8 points that Rangers will need if not taking IR.

Making the gap between the Ranger and Shadow less sucky would not only help Claw/Dagger/Crit rangers, but would make it easier for Shadows to reach the evasion/hp and acrobatics clusters needed to give Shadows a reason to use something besides CI and/or IR.

And please, do something with the Wrecking Ball cluster. Ranger's don't need or want generic 2-hander nodes. Just swapping the entire cluster with the Blade Master cluster would fit both better, as Duelists could use the cluster for either 2-handed swords or axes, and Rangers could use it to bolster either 1-handed or 2-handed swords.

Melee ranger problem at high level: resists

-The resist nodes are too far off from anything useful. I highlighted the resists and the path to it to illustrate that the melee ranger has to waste a lot of points in a direction he doesn't need to go to. that's 8 points to gain 12 all resists :(

I suggest you put a resist cluster close to ranger. I marked 2 areas as potential resists that are near.

resists on the skill tree are wasted points in end game since the gear is enough for this there, so those are neglectable nodes basically, and should not be ON the way to useful cluster, they should remain as an option so that the player can really make a choice during leveling.

( And yes, the most "direct" way between shadow and ranger sucks ).

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Fruz wrote:

resists on the skill tree are wasted points in end game since the gear is enough for this there, so those are neglectable nodes basically, and should not be ON the way to useful cluster, they should remain as an option so that the player can really make a choice during leveling.

( And yes, the most "direct" way between shadow and ranger sucks ).

you are wrong in everything you say.

first, both the templar and the marauder have resists in accessible and USEFUL places right at their starting area. The duelist and the witch have resist nodes near connecting branches to other classes also.

second,i have a melee ranger and at lvl 81 i still have problems with resists in any elemental weakness map.

the other classes don't make a choice about resists. it's just 1-2 points away while the ranger has to spend 8 points for shitty resist nodes in the middle of nowhere! just look at the passive tree by yourself.

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second,i have a melee ranger and at lvl 81 i still have problems with resists in any elemental weakness map.

sorry, I obviously meant, with at least an okay/good gear.
Plus you can run purity.


Marauder/Templar are strength aligned, they have tanky options, they should get more resists.
Witches do not have easy resists.
Shadow have the only advantage of having nullification nodes.
Duelist are the same as ranger, and a lot of rangers are going near diamond skin anyway.

For any life based ranger, one of the 2 clusters for resists is close and easy to get.

And +6% all resist IS neglectable.

speaking of resists at high level in the passive skill tree is like a joke, honestly.

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Fruz wrote:

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second,i have a melee ranger and at lvl 81 i still have problems with resists in any elemental weakness map.

sorry, I obviously meant, with at least an okay/good gear.
Plus you can run purity.


Marauder/Templar are strength aligned, they have tanky options, they should get more resists.
Witches do not have easy resists.
Shadow have the only advantage of having nullification nodes.
Duelist are the same as ranger, and a lot of rangers are going near diamond skin anyway.

For any life based ranger, one of the 2 clusters for resists is close and easy to get.

And +6% all resist IS neglectable.

speaking of resists at high level in the passive skill tree is like a joke, honestly.

why would marauder have more resist just coz they are str? it makes no sense.

it is a good thing to have a resist node hear ranger start area. if it really bothers you, just don't put any points in it. some of us would enjoy to have resist available for specific builds without wasting 8 points for 12% as it is now.

i don't see why you're bashing the idea. if you don't care about resist then no harm done, you can ignore the nodes.

Strength means tankyness in PoE, just see what strenth charges do and how the nodes are in the strength part of the tree.

I'm not just bashing the idea, I'm just saying that it's probably meant to be like it is atm, and there is no real reason why we should have this, it doesn't change much, that's all. I don't think that GGG will change it after the rework they have done recently.

Having resists righ after the 1H+shield / 2W cluster seems a little bit unbalanced to me, seems too easy ( other classes apart from mara/templar don't have this, well Shadow kinda do but you need to invest points in ES/evasion to get it early ). Having a tanky cluster ending with an equivalent of nullification would be a good solution maybe, but would seems a little bit strange on a pure class since the two class having this are hybrid.

you're forgetting that ranger has evasion nodes, melee nodes AND shield nodes in the starting area. ranger is also close to acrobatics. this means that they intended to have an evasion tank possible. not only armor based marauder/temp are meant to be tanks. this is why resists would be a great addition to the area.

ranger has the perfect recipe for evasion tank except the resist. if armor tank needs resist, so does evasion tank.

armor tank don't have the possibility to dodge spells, we do =P.
( well at least for non CI people -__-" )

I used to think the extra resist the Marauder gets for no effort was unfair too, but melee really has all sorts of its own problems and it kind of evens itself out in the end. It gives them some semblance of a chance in getting some MF out of the Offense-Defense-MF% triforce. That's how everyone should view skill point resist: it's MF.

Anyway. Let's talk Deadly Precision and Cruelty.

I think Deadly Precision should be moved closer to around where Unwavering Stance is, and Cruelty should be moved to be near Blood Magic. As mentioned often, the Marauder<->Duelist transition area could use a little juice (less axe accuracy for the love of god pliz), and rapiers could use a little boost in support of their crit archetype. At the very least, it'd put all melee crit on roughly the same level as all spell crit.

(I don't think it could get away from itself even with Cruel Blade hanging around; just too many points are required, and such characters would still be made of glass..)

On good design, the Flaying and Nightstalker sets are probably among the best. They're deep with a lot of points to invest, they're strong so they're not a waste of points, and they're close by one another, so they're not a waste of points. Even further, they're unobtrusive - their gate nodes are attached to spell damage stuff with little to no extra cost which is correct because there's no overlap in benefit of having both.

I don't know what the Duelist analogue of this group, Headsman and Splitting Strikes, did to make it deserve to be so bad.

..... that I'm now more interested only in the extremities and root of the Ranger Tree instead of the base is a very good sign about its current health.