[1.xx] Islidox's Build tips/critique section for Rangers

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Hummy wrote:

Im running through normal and im doign fine spamming poison arrow and rain of arrows but im guessing just aoe'ing everything down isn't going to cut it once I get into a harder difficulty.


Also I just completed silks quest what support gems should I have in relation to my normals sorry for all the questions like I said I want to play it properly :p

I'd say that poison arrow not a AOE skill, I use it on single targets. By itself 1-st lvl of poison arrow add 30% from physical damage as poison (that is chaos damage source) and place a dot that on higher lvls become quite powerful. For now I supported it with add cold damage.

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Lankycheese wrote:

Thanks for your reply earlier Islidox.

As I said I've been basing my build off your Frenzy 2, but I've had some ideas as I've been playing through it as where to go to now to finish it off. I'm currently on level 47 and haven't dipped into many damage nodes yet but I will have to lock in my final build soon.

Frenzy Based Elemental

My main attacks are frenzy for single target, and rain of arrows for AoE, with a bit of poison arrow thrown in to spread some DoTs around. I really like iron grip as a key stone and even with my small ammount of strength it adds more physical damage than any other node (~48% with this strength).

The main question I have with the build is if it is worth spreading to the elemental damage nodes. They seem very valuable adding 10% each, and even though I plan on getting most of my damage from physical skills, apparently with all the great elemental bonuses on items it ends up coming out ahead. I'm wondering if it's still viable to have this mix of physical and elemental increases, or if it is better to just go for all one or the other? Keep in mind I'm pretty attached to frenzy, but am willing to part from RoA to another AOE such as Lightning or Split arrow.

Also if I go this more elemental route is it still worth taking heavy draw? Maybe changing the heavy draw nodes to the Golem's blood nodes to get even more life?

Thanks for your feedback.

EDIT: My other idea has sticking with physical but focusing more on the crit nodes.

Frenzy with crit

I just don't get why you use frenzy skill for elemental bowman? Frenzy by itself add only physical damage and attack speed. Better to use Blood Rage in this case and stuck frenzy charges from that skill, but attack with elemental skills like poison arrow, lighting arrow and so on.
Idea like this:


For the crit ranger I'm not sure that all those 10 points near Iron Grip worth it. With those 10 points you got:
60 Str (1 point of 10 Str is excess one), 20 Dex, +18% Res to Cold/Fire/Lighing and Iron Grip itself. 3 nodes of +8% HP could be taken near Greater Impact.
I'd take extra +8% Evasion and Armor near Leather And Steel because it is +16% Armor in your case and it is quite high (You took +10% +10% +30% Evasion, which is 16.6% Armor per point spent).

And Idea like this: More crit, more frenzy and frenzy duration, same armor and life.

i havent started my Ranger yet.

I was going to go elemental ranger then found:
- unique quiver -> +50% physical dmg
- rare 3linked green socket bow thats +48% physical dmg

so it looks like i'm taking the physical dmg ranger route?

Other suggestions???

+% projectile damage = +% weapon elemental damage for LA??

no matter what type of damage the projectile (elemental or physical or spell)?

hey guys...

for ele bow ranger...

whats the best AOE attack and Single attack..

Current AOE is Lesser Multi Lighting Arrow
Single: Normal Attack or Burning Arrow or Ice Arrow.

Which one do you guys recommend BA or IA for single or something else
and AOE?

THanks.

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Pi314 wrote:

i havent started my Ranger yet.

I was going to go elemental ranger then found:
- unique quiver -> +50% physical dmg
- rare 3linked green socket bow thats +48% physical dmg

You have both items already? ;)

Plz read first post in this thread:

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Islidox wrote:

Welcome exiles, new and old!

Obviously you've come to this forum to discuss builds of your favorite class (or should be your favorite class). With the onset of OB, you're wondering what sort of builds will be feasible, hardcore or softcore (default). To that end, there are several things you need to keep in mind before jumping into the build specifics.

As your first character in a brand new league/realm, you will have nothing at your dispoal, nothing in your stash, to help you build those powerful builds you had in closed beta. Gone, nada, zero. As such, your builds should keep in mind several things:


1. Be as Gear Independent as possible

- Do not rely on skill gems (e.g. Elemental Hit) or support gems (Greater Multiple Projectiles [GMP], Chain) that can only be found by looting or trading with others.

- Do not rely 5Link/6Link (5L/6L) equipment to make your build survivable. Work with 3Ls and 4Ls with the hopes of eventually getting a 5L/6L. Your main skills must be able to work with 3Ls at the very least.

- Do not rely on trading with people for things you need; this is a brand new economy and everything will be hyperinflated. If you need specific support/skillgems, consider rolling another toon that will receive that skill/support gem.

- Do not rely on obtaining uber weapons/armor. Chances are, you might be using magic (blue) items even in the last difficulty mode.

Hmm, I've been thinking about doing an elemental crit bow ranger, but I'm really completely unsure how to go about making my passive tree for one, could anyone help me out? Maybe with just 60 skillpoints or so.

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MrHamm wrote:

hey guys...

for ele bow ranger...

whats the best AOE attack and Single attack..

Current AOE is Lesser Multi Lighting Arrow
Single: Normal Attack or Burning Arrow or Ice Arrow.

Which one do you guys recommend BA or IA for single or something else
and AOE?

THanks.

bear trap is insane for single target, even without support gems. otherwise i use frenzy with support gems that have a relatively low mana cost increase.

@skillzxd: level them all up. Unless you're using Eldritch Battery keystone, don't use Clarity.

@Zewy7: If you're going for the Critical Ranger, it would be worth it picking up those elemental damage nodes in the Shadow tree. If you're a general Elemental Ranger, you get more bang for buck going for the Catalyze notable and other EWD passives.

@MrHamm: Poison is chaos damage, which isn't an elemental type. And max them all.

@Moryg: It's hard to say. Once I get my Ranger to endgame, I'll start to compare it with other Ranger's DPS.

@volanchik: Your BM Frenzy/crit Ranger does not have anywhere near enough life to sustain it. This is probably why VictorDoom (the person who came up with a Frenzy crit ranger) opted to use mana/manaleech because passives where needed to sink into damage/crit.

@Pi314: Use different utility skills to distract mobs: totems, summons, traps. Or keep kiting - run, shoot a bit, run back, shoot some more. For AoE, I'd go with Split Arrow + Added Cold Damage. There's also no way really handle chaos damage except with lots of HP and if your lucky, some chaos resistance. Also, if you have some really great gear, you can use it on another build or your current one - that's your choice.

@Hummy: If you're going Elemental, use Elemental bow skills like Burning Arrow, Lightning Arrow, Ice Shot. More to follow later.

@Lankycheese: The builds look decent. Just make sure you plan your build so that you reach the more important clusters/notables first before venturing into ele/crit damage. Frenzy can work if socketed with the correct support gems, such as Added Fire Damage which derives a % of your physical damage and turning it into fire damage added on top of your original damage.

@andersonvarotti: Projectile damage affects all types of damage.

@Flubadoo: There's builds located further down the first page.

I've read that LA bow rangers do more dmg than physical rangers. WHY?

LA adds 50% of Physical Damage and it's splash dmg is 70% of the 50. thus the splash dmg does 50% x 70% = 35% of the physical dmg for up to 3 nearby targets.
so LA does 1.5x + .35x + .35x + .35x = 2.55x total dmg

LA + LMP + fork = (4+2) x 2 <assuming Fork works after LMP> = up to 12 monsters hit per shot


Split arrow should do way more dmg with the critcal strikes.
it starts off with 2 additional arrows and can do a total of 4 more when you are Lvl38.

1 + .8x + .8x + .8x +.8x = 4.2x total dmg (assuming they all hit)

Split arrow + fork = up to 10 monsters hit at Lvl 38

it's midnite and i cant do any more math.
hopefully, i'm making sense?

G-nite...