Weapon question - Ranger

[ScottBerta]

I’m a level 27 ranger. I currently have Wurmslayer, Winter’s Fury, Guard Captains Mallet, and Lamentation. Out of these four what should I use primary and secondary for maximum dps? I also have 34% haste belt.

[Man0warr]

None. Buy a Woodsman's Staff and use that probably until your 50 at least - probably 60 or until you have offhand epic.

[Anxarcule]

He speaks the true true

[Crede]

Yea woodmans until 50 then epic OH and sboz primary or blam stick primary

[Toxigen]

None. Buy a Woodsman's Staff and use that probably until your 50 at least - probably 60 or until you have offhand epic.

[Snaggles]

A woodsman, exquisite 2h or Herbalist’s Spade is going to outdamage almost any weapon setup from 30 until almost 50. Your dual wield cap is low and the ratios aren’t as good as a 2h. The spade is going to ruin your animal reverse kiting fun but for most that tapers off at around 50 anyways. The downfall is consistency since a 2h double max hit can really change the course of a fight where a string of minimums can have you behind the eightball. Over time it all averages out but the curve for quick 1h’s is less jagged.

I had a woodsman and cloak of crystalline waters until 58 prior to the 2h update. It worked great with nukes but even back then without casting was passable dps. The epic (or epics) is a fun goal but a droppable solid 2h works great.

[Stonewallx39]

I’m a level 27 ranger. I currently have Wurmslayer, Winter’s Fury, Guard Captains Mallet, and Lamentation. Out of these four what should I use primary and secondary for maximum dps? I also have 34% haste belt.

If you want to stick with the 2 1 handed weapons (because not everyone is min/maxing) then Wurmslayer in MH and winters fury offhand.

You’ll want to calculate the ratio of your main hand including damage bonuses but at lvl 27 that’s not a factor yet.

Plenty have made it far using one handed weapons, and while 2hb is better DPS you’ll never get judgement from me for playing the way you like (woodsman is fugly and dual wielding looks cool) in this 20+ year old elf sim.

[Loadsamoney]

Woodsman is, pound for pound, the best DPS you're going to get as a Ranger until you can at least get your Epic off-hand, but you might not be willing to invest so much in a weapon that only one class can use. Springwood Stave is a much cheaper alternative for relatively similar DPS, albeit a loss of 7 in swing speed. It's a 31/35 ratio for Woodsman vs a 31/42 ratio for Springwood, but also a cost difference of 4kpp vs MAYBE 75pp at most.

Silver Swiftblade is also a good two-hander for a Ranger, trading raw damage per hit for swing speed, and it's dirt cheap as well. It remains a good weapon until at least 50 because of 2h bonus damage, which this weapon gets more mileage out of because of its fast ratio.

But if you're like me and must dual-wield, then Wurmslayer in main hand and Winter's Fury in off-hand. Generally your fastest weapon should go in the main hand, while your hardest hitting should go in the off-hand, but Wurmslayers ratio is far too good to relegate it as an off-hand weapon. I'm using Dual Lammies still at 30 and they continue to serve me well, albeit getting riposted so often isn't pleasant.

If you want to buy a good two-hander that you can give to another class later, try this one: https://wiki.project1999.com/Argent_Protector

Paladins and Shadowknights love that thing, and it makes a good Ranger two-hander as well.

[Man0warr]

If he's got those 1H and 34% haste then I don't think 4k for a Woodsman's Staff is a big deal.

[Loadsamoney]

If he's got those 1H and 34% haste then I don't think 4k for a Woodsman's Staff is a big deal.

As far as upper weapons go I don't think 4k is terrible, I just don't like the fact that it's Ranger only. If he plans to play another class in the future, like a Shadowknight or a Warrior for instance, then I recommend getting a 2-hander those classes can use as well. It then becomes an investment that will further pay off later.

Argent Protector costs the same as a Woodsmans Staff, has almost as good of a ratio at 42/49, STR/HP/AC for tanks (and WIS/INT/Mana for hybrids), and three other classes can utilize it when his Ranger is done with it.

[ScottBerta]

It’s more or less I prefer to use 1handers. But I may go out and buy the Woodman’s Staff just to use for fun. Ideally I’d like a Wavecrasher and Edge of the Nightwalker or SoZ but that would all be a bit more pp.. Although 40k does seem a lot for 20% haste but who knows.. Bro and I are duoing ranger and rogue so slow would be nice.

[Loadsamoney]

You've already got Winter's Fury. By the time you can afford SoZ, why wouldn't you just get Swiftwind at that point? You're going to want to do the legwork for your Epic regardless at some point. Winter's Fury or Wurmslayer would make a good placeholder after that, at least until you can get Earthcaller.

But if you really want to spend that much on a weapon, I'd recommend Blade of Carnage before SoZ.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Blade_of_Carnage

[Snaggles]

Rogues and rangers can fear kite animals or aggro kite non-animals. If you can snare it and it doesn’t summon you can kill it. Or just pick easier targets and use root to trade off taking hits as needed (proximity aggro).

Personally, I’d probably skip the wavecrasher. They seem very tough to sell and by the time slow really matters (50+) a swarmcaller will proc for twice the % effect. I duoed with a rogue in grobb in the low 50’s and while the Swarm didn’t always proc early it did cut downtime significantly when averaged over time. Later a slow proc weapon of that nature comes in handy coupled with some journeyman’s walking sticks in some of the toughest places. Your rogue buddy can get a free slow proc no-drop weapon in droga doubling your chances for an early proc.

As for 1h vs 2h there are optimal setups for certain level ranges. That said, many rangers hit 50 in classic with EBW’s. Later some hit 60 with jade maces. It’s your game; fun isn’t always about optimal parses…especially as a ranger.

[Loadsamoney]

Wait, what's an EBW? Electrum Bladed Wakizashi?

Isn't the Ebony Bladed Sword the go-to option for an unfunded Ranger on Kunark, particularly at 25 when the procs kick in?

[Lartanin63]

If you already have these I'd use lammy in main hand and fury in offhand.

[Keebz]

People sleep on Wurmslayer. It is very good in that mid level range.

[Loadsamoney]

Frostbringer isn't a bad weapon either.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Frostbringer

It's about on par with Winter's Fury, trading a tiny bit of damage and some Str/HP for a little extra swing speed and AC, and a decent proc (damage is meh, but it lowers enemy AC too). Pairs well with Swiftwind.