Ranger BEWARE BEFORE you level a ranger

"

Koivu wrote:

You forgot to get berserking and perfect aim, so add 23% more attack speed and 31% more projectile damage to the ranger. You don't compare builds and have one of them just kinda trail off into str nodes without reaching anything else lol

Edit: Try this instead Ranger build D 40 points

"

Zealflare wrote:

"

Koivu wrote:

You forgot to get berserking and perfect aim, so add 23% more attack speed and 31% more projectile damage to the ranger. You don't compare builds and have one of them just kinda trail off into str nodes without reaching anything else lol

Edit: Try this instead Ranger build D 40 points

FYI, that is 41 points, not 40. Thanks for pointing out the berserking part, I've edited the duelist build C and moved the point in berserking to blood magic instead.

I was talking about how far a ranger vs duelist can progress in the same path (blood magic+RT in this case) while avoiding any excessive amounts of offensive nodes along the way, concentrating on defensive ones. A ranger can get RT faster than a duelist would, but in return they are left without any sort of balance between offense and defense.

You spend 5 points to get 31% projectile damage/12% accuracy/8% attack speed, 4 points for 48% evasion. Next 3 points for 4% attack speed, 30 dex, 16% hp. (12 points total)

A duelist spends 11 points getting 28% attack speed (6% for bow only), 8% physical bow damage, 36% projectile damage, 32% armor and evasion, removal of movement speed penalty, 20 dex.

Comparing just the first 11/12 points alone, and you can see how much advantage a duelist would have over a ranger. This is not even considering the type of bow builds yet. Any bow builds that does not involve traveling into the Shadow area, you can do better/faster on a duelist (or even marauder). That 4 points into 48% evasion is a considerable waste, since you are already getting a huge chunk of evasion % from dex, and most bow builds will want to spec into the duelist tree anyway for leather and steel + acceleration. On the contrary, nobody would bother spending 4 points for 48% evasion, especially for builds that travel to the middle, since they can just spend 3 points (10, 10, 30) for 50% evasion.

As mentioned earlier, the main advantage to make a bow build starting from ranger, is the easy access to Perfect Aim's set of nodes, on top of fairly easy access to the duelist nodes. So if you ever want to make a bow build that takes as much offense-based nodes as possible, then ranger would be the optimal choice. Otherwise, for min-maxing purposes, you're just better off as a marauder/duelist.

"

mlvnk83 wrote:

Game balance shift frequently during this beta stage. Agree that there bound to be some discrepancies and from the discrepancies some opportunity for min maxing. I don't agree however the sentiment that we should join the 'favourite of the month' bandwagon. Why would u ditch your character every time there is a change to the game balance? It is not reasonable in my perspective. Well, unless you have a lot of free time.

"

AthenaUS wrote:

My guide has been updated, please see this thread for the new details
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/268330

Also for the skeptics out there, I played a ranger on Hardcore until it died at level 85. I have extensive experience playing the ranger as I had a second "backup" at level 70.

I can tell you my LA duelist is at level 80 currently, and all I have to say is I am glad I died on my ranger. The duelist is just so much better in every way. I even deleted my 70 ranger.

So I am someone who has experienced both sides and is speaking from an unbiased opinion.

"

mrpetrov wrote:

"

AthenaUS wrote:

I want to save many future archers the trouble of having to re-roll by selecting a ranger. The new buffs to the dueslist tree make that class farrrrrrrr superior archers regardless of wether you go the standard LA or not.

Check out my Duelist Archer (Lightning arrow) guide here BEFORE you roll your ranger..
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/268330

I think you're overstating it. In my humble view, a Ranger can get *both* the duelist starting nodes and the Ranger starting nodes by the mid 80s+/90. However, a Duelist will never get some of the juicy Ranger starting nodes. If you have a longer term view, I'd argue Ranger remains the marginal best choice, but concede Duelist has the better early-mid game build.

Petrov.

"

VideoGeemer wrote:

"

mrpetrov wrote:

"

AthenaUS wrote:

I want to save many future archers the trouble of having to re-roll by selecting a ranger. The new buffs to the dueslist tree make that class farrrrrrrr superior archers regardless of wether you go the standard LA or not.

Check out my Duelist Archer (Lightning arrow) guide here BEFORE you roll your ranger..
http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/268330

I think you're overstating it. In my humble view, a Ranger can get *both* the duelist starting nodes and the Ranger starting nodes by the mid 80s+/90. However, a Duelist will never get some of the juicy Ranger starting nodes. If you have a longer term view, I'd argue Ranger remains the marginal best choice, but concede Duelist has the better early-mid game build.

Petrov.

There's no way it takes a ranger that long to get into Duelist starting area. In the 40s at most, and even that's only because other things along the way are more important. Any later than that is because the player is choosing to stack life or head toward a further goal on the tree.

Ranger is fine, just consider Duelist start as a place to go in the mid-game.

"

mrpetrov wrote:

Indeed - I wasn't intending to suggest it takes Ranger that long to get to the Duelist start - obviously it doesn't. I should have been more careful with my words (this is the internet) and added "justify getting" after the word "can".

P.