Pet classes

[Irma2]

Bow builds need to kite throughout, archers can't withstand melee attackers in any difficulty in my experience. I would rate the Ranger (Nature), Haruspex (Dream) and Brigand (Rogue) as the best pure bow builds, with Sage (Storm) and Avenger (Earth) a short way behind. Another two - Slayer (Warfare) and Warden (Defense) are very accomplished bow & spear hybrids.

Bone Charmer fills a unique role as it's the only spear Hunter that can make optimal use of Take Down's -% HP properties. So, even though Spirit has no AoE attack to apply with a spear (neither does Hunting) and would appear to be best played as a pure archer, it is still appealing to play the build as a bow & spear hybrid.

Generally I favour bow & spear hybrids as I find them more versatile than pure ranged or pure melee. The way the game is structured, certain mobs and bosses are more easily or safely tackled from range. Typhon is a premium example. While the fight against him in Normal might require dozens of red potions for a melee fighter, he can easily be defeated at range without you taking any damage at all. And I mean that quite literally - zero HP damage, no need for even one potion.

But then, there are also mobs and bosses which have annoyingly high chance to block or avoid projectiles. Dragon Liche, Manticore, Dactyls and Lamians are just four bosses/mobs that I'd rather take on in melee. Along with the Hydra, although that is not because of its defense against projectiles but rather the power of its ranged attacks. Which, happily, it declines to use when you're right in its face.

There is also the First Domain in the Tower of Judgment, where projectiles are just flat broken and have an effective range of about two feet. In that case, I'd rather switch to melee and save myself a lot of frustration.

[AaronRex]

Great info here, thanks!