I've soloed rather well as a ranger until just recent (lvl 43-ish)
Stock up on those bandages until you can start healing yourselves folks. I followed a simple rule the entire way to my current level (44). Heal yourselves until 90% health before each fight. This can become tedious I know, but when soloing you may never know what happens. I've broken this rule many times and died as a result because of unlucky miss streaks, full DD nukes, etc.
I started off with decent gear as a level 1. But most importantly a Silver Swiftblade (500-1000pp value) which is
insane dps until level 20. I did
crushbone til
12-14ish (dont remember) then I went to
Kerra Isle in
Odus (weird i know) i solo'd the entrance mobs and sometimes would duo with a druid friend I had at the time. At
14 or 15 I moved on to
Erud's Crossing (the zone between Erudin and Qeynos on boat). There are more kerrans but these are all pure melee so they are cake. Just know which ones are the higher leveled ones. That island took me to level
21 or
23 I believe.
One important side note is that I mentioned that Silver Swifty is good until 20, earlier. It's still great dps
past that but I chose to use a Springwood Stave (500-1000pp value) just for the increased damage. And it was a huge difference in DPS. Plus, the idea behind using a 2hander (for me, anyway) are those
big hits. This came in handy for me when fighting healing mobs. I found that solo DPS quick weapons is like a weak DoT and those healers will almost
always heal through your attacks. But with heavy hitting weapons, the damage
does come slower but when it does their health just
drops.
Early to mid 20s I used the Upper Guk/Lower Guk (
dead side) zoneline as my next solo spot. It's safe, plus on the other side of the zoneline there may be some higher-ups willing to help you out with buffs, etc.
Mid to late 20s I moved on to Sol A. I started from the zoneline (to Lavastorm) and slowly worked my way toward the Foreman room. Then I would run back to the zoneline and start over.
Now, this is kind of where I "cheated" in purchasing a Woodsman's Staff which took me back 10kpp.
However, if you take into consideration all of the other high-end weapons that other melee classes rely on for increased DPS, and how much they cost (seb croaking dirk, tranq staff, etc) this buy granted me the most bang for my buck.
This is where things began to slow down for me. Thus far I had been using bandages til 50% then healing the rest of the way.
But the problem is, as a ranger our BW skill gets capped at 100 until further notice (40, i believe. then it raises to 150, until level 50?? Could use some guidance here) >.<
From level 30 until 44 I chose Mistmoore. It's an ourdoor zone and
harmony comes in
VERY handy here to avoid pulling trains on yourself. Like Sol A, I began at the entrance and worked my way up to the graveyard, then back again. Until I advanced in levels and could take harder mobs. Mid 30s landed me in an area
beneath the Castle Entrance (near Entyni sp?). Upon reaching late 30s/early 40s I advanced near Caitliff and crawled through those tunnels
single pulling the gargoyles.
Alright. So in your travels as a ranger you
may stumble upon mobs who like to
slow you. These mobs
also tend to heal. So, when using an already slow 2hander this occurrence can prove to be fatal. Luckily we are given a low-level, low-mana
root spell where you can park this shamanistic foe
behind a corner and wait out the detrimental effects then give it another go.
Yes, I claim to solo in all of these areas without much complication.
However!.... whether it was due to boredom, friends wanting to tag along, or the urge to go to town on mobs while grouped, I did
not grind levels 1-44 completely alone. I'm simply stating that it can be done if you can handle the downtime on solo expeditions.
Feel free to PM with any questions you might have. Safe travels
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