Ranger Racing

Hi guys,

I was wondering, is there anyone else who races Bow Rangers? I know some people do, because you can check out their characters after the race.

My Vaal Kill Race was fine, I think I might be in the class top 20. Usually, I buy Fire Trap and work with that, plus Split Arrow and Burning Arrow until after Merveil. I wonder if Ice Shot is better, but I haven't tried it in a while.

Well, here's my time: 1:20:55, you need to add a minute or so because I logged off/in a couple
times:


Vaal Kill (imgur)


Ciao,
udergl

"

udergl wrote:

Hi guys,

I was wondering, is there anyone else who races Bow Rangers? I know some people do, because you can check out their characters after the race.

My Vaal Kill Race was fine, I think I might be in the class top 20. Usually, I buy Fire Trap and work with that, plus Split Arrow and Burning Arrow until after Merveil. I wonder if Ice Shot is better, but I haven't tried it in a while.

Well, here's my time: 1:20:55, you need to add a minute or so because I logged off/in a couple
times:


Vaal Kill (imgur)


Ciao,
udergl

dunno about the state of bow ranger, but it should be buffed next patch with new s k i l l s

I don't know about Shrapnel Shot - to me Ice Shot looks like it has the same effect. But you could be right, maybe they release it with a high base damage.

The other thing that is interesting for Bow Rangers is attack speed - I wonder if I should go for attack speed and skill into Frenzy when I go for Vaal or longer. :)

Ciao,
udergl

I'm a bow ranger when I race, although I'm really lazy with my attendance I tend to come top 3-10 and have won two demis from it.

Starting with fire trap is the way to go, it provides flat damage and lasts quite a while before you have to ditch it if you use a lapis amulet.

The next thing I get is Poison Arrow, again for the flat damage. With the combination of it and fire trap you can keep a good pace even if you don't find any bow drops.

Finally, LMP Ice Shot swapping to LMP Lightning Arrow at merveil. Fire trap starts to fall off around Prison, so having a weapon-scaling attack is required. In the early game, both Ice Shot and LA are better than split arrow because of the overlap of AOE. I pick LA when available because the restriction of only 3 targets per explosion doesn't matter that much in Normal where pack sizes are small.

In terms of skill tree I tend to prioritise damage because you have to kill fast to go fast. In longer/rippier races I take some of the life/ev nodes near the start (going backwards from the IAS node), but generally it's pure damage all the way. I used to get Point Blank, but haven't found a good way to path to it post-2.0 that doesn't sacrifice damage. The 50% more damage at close range is incredible for boss killing, which is what Ranger is weakest at.

I don't think shrapnel shot will buff ranger very much in terms of racing. It's still weapon-based and thus inferior unless you get a good drop.

You're on the right track, keep participating and you'll start to consistently get top 20. The ranger ladder isn't very hard to rank well on.

EDIT regarding attack speed: It's nice, but it's a bit of a noob trap. Ranger starts to have severe mana issues around about level 17, which is why I spec for damage: it's mana efficient and you kill a lot more things in one hit which gives you faster clearance even if you don't get to move again quite so quickly. One-shotting a pack at 0.9 aps is much faster than two-shotting a pack at 0.7 aps.

IIRC the patch will also be buffing low level Bows themselves, that will help.

Hey thanks, Hemmingfish,

I used to go for Ice Shot in 1.3, with Fire Trap and Poison Arrow for AOE. Interesting to hear that you still find it superior to Split Arrow (I am/was not sure about Ice Shot). Seems to me I need to try starting with FT and Ice Shot.

And you don't get Added Cold but take LMP instead? Even for shorter races, or only for longer ones past Merveil? I also need to try that out.

I'm still rather slow after Act 1, but I'm getting there. The party race was ok just now, even if I ripped to Piety - I couldn't be bothered to flat out level, so I went for some fun instead. She got me with her Lightning Warp, and I didn't have enough life, it seems. 628 at lvl 29.

Thanks for the advice!

EDIT: My tree in the "party" race (went alone).

I'd love to see the low level Bows buffed, unsane. :)

Ciao,
udergl

hey there, also racing bowranger usually somewhere around/in the class top10.. ive used to go ice shot -> lmp too but for the most races this season im using rain of arrows & added cold.
i start with ice shot and fire trap, then poison arrow. added cold with ice shot and then at lvl12 replace ice shot with roa. when i have a spare lmp i sometimes take ice shot & lmp as secondary attack or with a 3link i put added cold on both on them. varies a bit but usually i end up with roa+cold and coz most times i lack the 3L, i swap roa with ice shot for bosses and bandits.
i also stream my races, as said, im not the best racer, prolly coz im always very tired and baked when racing :) but if you still wanna have a look -> www.twitch.tv/dazeus

"

udergl wrote:

Hey thanks, Hemmingfish,

I used to go for Ice Shot in 1.3, with Fire Trap and Poison Arrow for AOE. Interesting to hear that you still find it superior to Split Arrow (I am/was not sure about Ice Shot). Seems to me I need to try starting with FT and Ice Shot.

And you don't get Added Cold but take LMP instead? Even for shorter races, or only for longer ones past Merveil? I also need to try that out.

Sometimes in Merveil kill races I'll get added cold for the reduced gear reliance, but I haven't done any conclusive tests as to whether having a faster boss kill by a few damage points makes up for a slower time killing packs to get there.

628 life is fine for Piety, but make sure you're abusing the hell out of resistance rings. Since you can't be picky with gear with resists (sockets prioritise over all) you need to pick up some resistance rings as you go through the acts. These provide all the defence you could ever need, even if they're just whites.
They're also handy for unorthodox things that give you an edge, such as wearing dual ruby rings so you can simply run through unstable larvae in the Cavern of Anger. Normally people are wearing sapphires because of Merveil, but the larvae are far more rippy and Merveil is easily killable with 0% cold res.

"

udergl wrote:

And you don't get Added Cold but take LMP instead? Even for shorter races, or only for longer ones past Merveil?

Note that you can purchase the other off the vendor for a Transmute. Sell un-id blues/rares for Transmute shards.

"

Hemmingfish wrote:

Since you can't be picky with gear with resists (sockets prioritise over all)

Hmm, can't say i agree. I mean nowadays with the increased likelyhood of 2-3 sockets at extremely low level, sockets are practically always a non-issue for your random gems. Of course, you have to prioritise your 3L even if you have a nice resistance rare for that slot, maybe that's what you meant.

"

unsane wrote:

"

Hemmingfish wrote:

Since you can't be picky with gear with resists (sockets prioritise over all)

Hmm, can't say i agree. I mean nowadays with the increased likelyhood of 2-3 sockets at extremely low level, sockets are practically always a non-issue for your random gems. Of course, you have to prioritise your 3L even if you have a nice resistance rare for that slot, maybe that's what you meant.

Yeah that's what I meant. Once I find a piece of equipment such as a helm that lets me do my 3L I almost never swap it out for the duration of the race, regardless of how outclassed it gets (unless another nicely linked piece drops)