Serious issue : Help pls

[Dreez]

A few days ago i started my ranger. Put 7 points into nature first to get
my 2 wolves up aswell as 1 point into HoO. Then i started with maxing out
woodlore while putting 1 point into a few other good skills.

This is my current build at level 16, jsut entering Minoan Labyrinth.
http://www.titancalc.com/TitanCalc.a...-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

The problem is that during the fight against the boss down in the catacombs
in Athens, i probably had the hardest time ever killing that boss. My wolves
keept killing themselves, he kept draining my mana, and on top of that, he
almost constantly had 2 full groups of summoned wraiths nuking me.

After about 40health & 20mana pots... 10 minutes later, i finally wore him
down and continued. My weapon is Storm Strike.

So this fight got me thinking. If i had such a hard time against this lowbie
boss, how would i fare against the troublesome minotaur... or worse, the
pet-turning Telkine with his lifeleechers.

I have read alot about Rangers and according to a lot of players, they are
'late bloomers', so my question is - 'how late'?. Because if i get to the boss
in the labyrinth at level 17, he will 2shot each wolf and then im pretty much
toast since wolves aren't good at regaining agro once resummoned.
(wolves suxx at holding agro overall).

So have i done anything wrong with my build that makes my ranger so weak
he takes 10 minutes to barely kill the first boss, or are rangers really this weak
in the start of the game?.

I have save 4-5 Legendary bow's which i was hoping to use on this toon, but
as it looks right now, she's becomming a mule rather then project.

Any 'elite' rangers out there who feel like sharing their infinite wisdom

[gorgus]

hey

hm, where to start?

if you're playing plain TQ:IT (no XmaX, DoN, Uber etc), you shouldn't need Nature until the end of the game.

your main area of interest must be only Hunting.

now, that that's clear, let's move on to attribute points. i always get my Dex high around 200, and then go with 1:1 Str : Dex, and i do just fine. you get your Str and Dex high enough on maxing the mastery tier alone.


next we'll discuss skills and skill trees, importance wise speaking.

1. Study Prey isn't really necessary on Normal. Flush Out is useless for the bow users.

2. Ensnare - forget it.

3. Call of the Hunt is the boss killer for the mastery - only one point, though, no need for more. Exploit Weakness should be maxed, it gives huge piercing damage.

4. Marksmanship - this is your attack skill. this means the entire tree must be maxed, BUT GO ASAP FOR SCATTER SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!

5. Take Down - forget it, it's for meleers.

6. Gouge - forget it.

7. Volley - max it, it goes hand-in-hand with Scatter Shot.

8. Art of the Hunt - max it. Find Cover - max it. Trail Blazing - 1 point there, or according to desired movement speed.

9. Wood Lore - max it.

10. Herbal Remedy - a good skill to have around, gives some sweet health regen and also good poison resist. i like maxing it and laughing in Cerberus' face

11. Monster Lure - not needed in Normal. 1 point when you really start to get overwhelmed (which should never happen )


this should get you to Epic without any trouble.

now, on to skill points distribution order:

1. max Wood Lore, it gives good attack speed.
2. 1 point in Marksmanship, 1 point in Puncture Shot then rush for SCATTER SHOT.
3. max Volley.
=this is where you start owning=
------------------------


4. max Art of the Hunt tree (except maybe Trail Blazing - remember what i said above).
5. 1 point Call of the Hunt, max Exploit Weakness.
6. 1 point Herbal Remedy.


skill point spread should be 1 skill:2 skill tier, after maxing Wood Lore.

after you' finished developing Hunting, get Heart of the Oak from Nature, i found that you won't really need wolves, you' be pwninating and owning everything in the game, with the help of good gear also.

on a Ranger, the Nature mastery doesn't count to much, Hunting is one of the bestest masteries around.

now, if anyone has a better idea for the build, please, be my guest.

[Dreez]

Thanks. i'll give it a go and hopefully get to use my nice bows.
I will most probably grind Labyrinth to lvl18+ before i take on the minotaur.

[gorgus]

oh, one more thing: don't get too bothered by the fight with Alastor (that's the name of that boss). it's known to be the toughest fight 'till the Minotaur. .

a safe way to take him down with a Hunter is to stay at the door to his chamber, and shoot from there. be careful not to stray very far, 'cuz it closes and traps you inside

[Irma2]

I have read alot about Rangers and according to a lot of players, they are 'late bloomers', so my question is - 'how late'?.

Athens Normal at the latest, although you can get your first points in Scatter Shot and Volley before that (around Ambrossos), especially if you play using the X mods. Once you have several points in these two skills (shortly followed by Puncture Shot), you will own for ages.

All Hunting builds own because of the combination of Marksmanship, Volley, Art of the Hunt, Study Prey and (occasionally) Call of the Hunt. There are skills and trees in the support masteries, such as Lucid Dream, Battle Standard, Deathchill aura, Plague, Squall, etc that help Hunters to do even more damage. But the core damage still comes from Hunting.

Wolves are fairly far down the support mastery priority list in Normal. As a Ranger, I'd far rather take Plague. The Wolves become better in Epic and Legendary. But even then, their primary help is in distraction and increasing your damage (through Strength of the Pack). The Wolves themselves never do the killing for a Hunter. It would have to be one seriously weak Ranger who relies on Wolves to kill.

[gitar3]

I have read alot about Rangers and according to a lot of players, they are
'late bloomers', so my question is - 'how late'?.

I would say pretty late, maybe in late epic, or in legendary.

Or as soon as you get "Call of the Hunt" and its synergy "Exploit Weakness" AND Nature's "Refresh" max or near max.

With enough -%recharge items and Refresh helping out, you could have "Call of the Hunt" on all the time.

Call of the Hunt: last around 50+ seconds at max, 60+ with +skills items. 180 seconds of cooldown.

Refresh: takes off around 52 seconds of cooldown at max, takes off 60+ seconds with +skills items. Cooldown around 35 seconds.

So with something like Tracker's Hood, you could shave off around 65 seconds off Call of the Hunt cooldown timer. This leaves around 115 seconds of cooldown. Refresh takes off around 50 seconds off that. So CotH cooldown is now around 65 seconds, which is just about how long CotH last, give or take a few seconds depending on skill levels and equipment setup.

[Dreez]

Thanks for all the help guys. I almost gave up this toon down in Labyrinth,
i was killing that slow. But once i finished draggin my face through the mud,
respecced and got access to scattershot, i started owning.

Right now i am lvl34, farmed Typoon a few times, Wusao Telkin a few times
and run around with full Hunter's Armor and the mighty
Froststorm.

Killing everything i see. My Hunter tree is maxed out apart from a few points
missing in Marksmanship. During epic i will most probably move towards maxing
out HoO and Refresh.

Thanks for the help.