Level 30-60 High Crit Bow Ranger.

I wanted to see just what I could squeeze out of the ranger in the way of crit and this is what I came up with, I plan to try this out shortly.

So, by level 60 this build promises:

+265% critical strike chance, +120 critical strike chance with bows(total +385% to crit chance with a bow)

+130% critical strike multiplier, +70% crit multiplier with bows(total of 200% to crit multiplier with a bow)

12% increase attack speed with bows

+30% arrow speed

+12% accuracy(before dex)

+27% projectile damage

+90% phisical damage with bows

35% arrow piercing

bow knock back on crit

+18% evasion(before dex)

+1 max frenzy and power charge(with the +4% evasion per frenzy and the +15% power charge duration)

130 dex(for +260 accuracy and +26% evasion)

70 int(+35 mana and +14% ES)

and finally Arrow Dodging,


Here's the build by level 30: (provided I have gained 3 passives from quests)

Here at level 30 I would have total of +135% to crit chance and +160% to crit multiplier while using a bow. The path at up to this point is pretty straight forward.

Level 60: (provided I have gained a total of 6 passives from quests)
From level 30 I just head upward grabbing the clusters on the way and going for the blood thirst cluster before getting mental agility last.

Survivability: Provided I can avoid most damage by manually getting out of the way, Arrow dodger and my evasion is all I have to rely on from the passive tree, so I have to rely on gear to fill in the gaps. I should try to build up an ES buffer and my resists as much as possible, and aim for life leach gear with hp and mana regen. Really this passive build is a spring board for a number of different skill/gear builds.

Any suggestions of what skill/gear combos to use would be appreciated.

Edit: Okay I know Voll's Protector and magnate are must haves, to make full use of my 4 max power charges.

The pathing on the lvl 60 tree looks fine. You do need defense though, and you're only 5 points away from picking up both Nullification nodes, which are incredibly good. Gear ES/EV and you should be ok with decent play.

Mana could be a huge problem if you use Volls, and could be a problem even if you don't, since you're not able to pick up any increased mana passives with this build. You're going to rely heavily on +mana from gear. Accuracy on gear might also be important, considering how low Dex the build is. Getting a high crit dmg roll on an amulet is a must.

In general, I'd like to hear how this works out if you do it. I've always been skeptical of crit based bow builds because you have to sell out to get all the crit passives for mediocre crit chance due to the unexceptional base crit of bows (5%). Without power charges up, you're looking at 24% crit (34% with the charges), though it would go up to 29/41 if you had a bow with +20% crit chance on it. It's not bad with some crit modifier, but I worry that the base damage these crits are building from will be too weak. But I could be wrong!

EDIT: You can get more crit chance from gear but its not much: 30% from an amulet and 50% from Maligro's gloves IIRC (and those gloves are some of the most expensive items atm)

EDIT2: Spreadsheeted a bit to check into crit builds, they're actually DPS optimal (well, at least the ones I checked out at lvl 90). However the ones I built were elemental builds, not sure if physical can be any good. Here's what ended up being the best mix of DPS and defense per the spreadsheet http://tinyurl.com/cyfohny

As you can see it ignores pierce and king of the hill, not sure what could be given up to get them(the area near the shadow start with 24% projectile damage and 18% attack speed is just WAY too awesome to miss, for example).

The problem with knockback for me is that you're going to 2-shot must stuff anyways, so its only useful against really really really tough bosses (since most bosses you'll kill stupidly fast with Diamond). So not sure if its worth the points.

"

you're only 5 points away from picking up both Nullification nodes

Well I'm 3 points from one, the other you have to go all the way around that cluster, it's not a full circle.

I'm going to try a few different attack combos but I think I'll go for frenzy with lmp, maybe fork and/or point blank too. With voll's and frenzy I'll be building both frenzy and power charges. I may be able to use clarity, mana regen, and mana leach/mana on kill/mana on hit to get enough regen to be able to spam it even if my mana pool is really small by that point(I might risk using the blood magic gem with clarity). At the moment I'm level 15 in HC and using split arrow and poison arrow a lot, I also have the other elemental shots as backups. My main plan at the moment is to be careful not to level my gems too quickly so they stay fairly cheap and rely on my weapon for the main dmg.

Well I'm level 30 in this build now, though I had to deviate from the original level 30 build to help deal with some mana issues and decided to go for the 35% piercing early.



You may notice I have one more point in this build, I decided to kill all 3 bandits to compensate for the 30int node I grabbed.

This is indeed a very fragile build and it keeps you on your toes. I barely survived the oversoul, I have to use zombies as a distraction, and I hate flicker striking or leap slamming mobs. With this build it's all about keeping your distance. I quite often enter an area and begin spamming split arrow to kill the mobs off screen. Enclosed spaces are not very good either.

But I am still alive in HC and just got the medicine chest in cruel.

It should be noted that I used goldrim till just recently, currently using slitherpinch, and will be using goldwyrm at 34. I still need to get hold of a voll's by 35.

Update time, I'm now level 38 and still alive. I had to respec some at level 35 to utilize my nice new Voll's Protector.

I don't mind this so much as I respeced to nodes I was going for anyway so it doesn't change the build, just requires a mid progress rearranging.

I now quickly snowball up to 4 frenzy and power charges when I come to a group, my new diamond flask helps to get that ball rolling(I may try to get a 2nd). I have 152 ES that helps me take a hit or two as I get the F*** out of dodge. My zombies are stronger but as I only have barely enough mana to summon them it takes about 9 secs to get all 3 out, I regen my mana very fast but can only fire 2 frenzy every few secs. As I level further my mana issues will balance themselves out though.
I was able to take mervail to 1/2hp from off screen before she even started shooting at me. from there it was a duck and weave fire fight till her second form where she was easily kited down. This is really turning out to be an artillery build.

My plans are to go super heavy with uniques. I want to get 2x Dream fragments, Heatshiver, Magnate, Sidhebreath, and lochtonial caress(this one mostly so I can share my charges with my zombies and party members). These with my Voll's, and goldwyrm. Past 60 I may try for a chin sol(I don't really like the 2 unique quivers).

If your curious my rangers name is Raenie on HC.

Due to the skill tree reset and the breaking of the former build links, here is my current build as of level 44.
I'm still alive on HC and just starting Ruthless.

My projected level 60 build.

And I just died at 45 to brutus on Ruthless due to a desync. I was circling him wide, poping him with puncture/frenzy when suddenly he teleports and one shots me.

Beta will be beta.

You are in dire need of some +mana passives, but they're quite far away. And I think you're going to end up pretty frustrated without any defensive nodes, unless you have godly ES gear waiting for you. If you want to use ES, then I'd drop a lot of your offensive development towards lvl 60 and get some ES nodes: the Nullufication circle near the shadow start, the Unnatural Calm and Arcane Focus near the Witch start are both nice. Plus there's some increased mana near Arcane Focus.

I say this as someone who just played a ranger to 60 trying to rely on ES and no HP nodes, and even WITH all the defensive nodes I mentioned my defenses were pretty bad until I got solid ES gear (400 chest, 400 hat). Hopefully you have a Discipline gem as well.

Well I have a lot of mana regen in my gear, and enough ES to take a couple of hits. Otherwise I have to rely on getting out of the way or keeping my distance. This is why I hate flicker striking or leap slamming mobs, but I also have my zombie trio to help distract things. It's gotten me to 45, though I admit it's been slow and I've had more close calls than I can count but it's also been pretty fun. If I ever get the rest of my unique set I'll be awesome...