ranger build, and questions for fellow rangers

[Codin]

Ok, I know everyone kind of has their own play stile, and thats what I love about the ranger class. You can go either way, more on the hunting side, or more on the nature side, and still kick *** if you just combine the abilities correctly. But I have 3 very important questions for fellow rangers out there. #1, what do people recommend for attribute distribution? I hear a lot of rangers out there complaining about running out of mana....So how would you want to distribute points? Generally with a hunting build, you only put as many points as you have too into int, and then the rest pour into str and dex for your added piercing and physical damage(and the forums seem to lean more towards the theory that str, i.e. physical, does more dps then pouring into dex for piercing, which i dont quite understand since in game it says str is only for melee weapons and not ranged) So in short, question to #1 is how much int does a ranger class need, and what are peoples experiences about certain abilities draining too much power? Question #2 is that at max of 16 points, the wolves only have 90 energy each....And at only 1 point maul takes 24 energy cost every time it goes off, which ive heard is quite frequently. Leaving little mana for the kick ***, 'Strength of the Pack' ability that takes 25 energy. Just makes me a little skeptical if its worth building all the way up the nature tree in the nature mastery when you could only spend 4 points in the nature mastery just to pour points into heart of the oak, and call of the wild and then free up a lot more points for focusing on the hunting tree. Just an idea for pre- level 50. Any comments on the wolfs' tanking abilities pre- survival instinct and strength of the pack? Any comments on if the 10meter radius is enough to be effective when hunters tend to try and keep their distance? #3, has anyone experimented with the nymph to see if the dps there is worth looking into trying to fit into the build? Maxed out strength of the pack would give awsome +68% damage for 15 seconds, but to me the nymph that uses piercing damage, combined with call of the hunt, study prey, and art of the hunt would be like having a second hunter, as well as taking some of the aggro attention off of you from having another pet. Again, i have not tested these theorys as I do not have a ranger high enough level too unfortunately, but thought that any other ranger's input would be awesome in exploring tactics and class build. One idea would be a build like TitanCalc by stonedonkey - A Titan Quest Calculator - Ranger (http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.asp?mastery=Ranger&master1=4&master2=7&m1=32-4-16-12-1-1-0-1-1-0-6-0-1-16-0-12-1-0-1-8-12-0&m2=32-0-0-6-0-12-0-0-8-0-0-8-0-0-0-10-0-0-0-0-6-0)
but im affraid the abilities would be too mana intensive taking away from a lot of your dps by being forced to put points into int instead of str/dex. Comments?

[Infares]

Okay a few things:

Pets are statted differently in normal than they are in epic and legendary. In later difficulties they get way more HP and energy to work with.

Question 1: I'd go full str/dex half and half. The reason Strength is better for bow DPS is because all damage of a particular type is calculated the same, whenever you see the word "Damage" that damage is increased by Strength.

Also, Bows and Spears etc. aren't completely piercing weapons. They do "Damage" (strength), a certain percentage of which is converted into Piercing damage, and then your Dex adds some piercing damage to that. Strength converts to damage in much greater amounts than Dex converts to Piercing damage, and even a bow does more "damage" than Piercing damage, and then that Damage is converted to piercing damage due to the nature of the weapon. Strength adds both damage and Piercing (since bows and other piercing weapons convert straight damage into piercing) wheras Dex only adds piercing damage, and not as much as Strength adds normal damage.

I hope that's a good enough description of that, lol. If you're worried about losing Energy to your skills, get a green neck or finger item and add a spectral matter, it's a monster charm dropped by ethereal monsters such as ghosts and wraiths. I would NOT recommend adding int as you don't actually have any elemental damage from your skills as a Ranger.

Question 2: Keep in mind if you can get a skill shrine or some + nature gear or all skills gear, that at Call of the Wild 18/16 you get your 3rd wolf, very very handy. Your wolves will be your tanks, but you need to dedicate a great deal of skill points to making them so. Primarily, max Call of the Wild, just 1 point in Maul (until much later, I'll get to that) max Survival Instinct, and Strength of the Pack. Your wolves' energy regenerates pretty fast actually even in normal so I wouldn't worry, plus of course you'll have 3 wolves so the chance that at least one of them has the mana for Strength of the Pack is high.

In addition to the wolf skills, for Survival Instinct to reach its full potential in allowing your wolves to tank for you, you need to max out Heart of Oak, which increases their max HP by a lot and by extension also increases how many HP they have when they enter Survival mode at 33%. This is very important because even if Survival is at 15+ for 80% damage absorption, if the wolves only have 600 HP at 33% life they're not likely to live that long compared to a wolf that has over 1000 HP at 33% life, hence Heart of Oak.

Question 3: Nymph should be your last stop on the Ranger train, she does pure piercing damage (not converted damage like you do) and so doesn't gain anything from Strength of the Pack. However, with maxed main skill and Nature's Wrath she does both Piercing (buffed by Study Prey, Exploit Weakness, Art of the Hunt) and Elemental (Plague, Flush Out) so she can be a very viable secondary damage source alongside you and the wolves. Wolves are your priority though, and Nymph should be where you sink extra points that you don't have any other use for, same with going back and finishing Maul. Nymph + NW > Maul though so that should be your priorities.

[Codin]

Awsome! Thanks for taking the time to reply Infares. I think the ranger class is a deadly one, and very fun to play. My main concern was about point distribution into int since that cannot be undone. I guess I'll learn to carry lots of energy potions as needed, lol. Whats your opinion on scatter shot/puncture shot? It seems to own in normal, and rocks considering your almost always fighting more then 1 mob, other then bosses.

[Infares]

Awsome! Thanks for taking the time to reply Infares. I think the ranger class is a deadly one, and very fun to play. My main concern was about point distribution into int since that cannot be undone. I guess I'll learn to carry lots of energy potions as needed, lol. Whats your opinion on scatter shot/puncture shot? It seems to own in normal, and rocks considering your almost always fighting more then 1 mob, other then bosses.

The whole marksmanship tree kicks ***.