Starting stats

[Snaggles]

Originally Posted by DeathsSilkyMist [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Of course. Starting stats do not matter much in the long run. Dumping all your starting stats into INT as a Ranger won't cripple your character.

That is why I typically tell people to plan for endgame, just because it reduces the risk of regret. I didn't plan on ever getting to 60 and raiding with any character. But later on I changed my mind.

Luckily STR is the easiest stat to get gear-wise in this timeline, especially for melees. So it isn't difficult to get the STR you want with EC gear. Honestly an EE Bag + Large Burlap Sack and a few Sharalok packs is already amazing in terms of weight reduction. That's less than 1000pp worth of bags too.

To clarify, right now with my gear the way I’m happy I would have 171 STR and 220 STA with the 20 base STA points. I could adapt with different picks but it wouldn’t be “better” just different.

If people aren’t MR freaks it’s way easier to cap STR. Or if you actually wear the Tracker helm. Humans tend to wear them for the dragon hat fashion.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Snaggles [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

To clarify, right now with my gear the way I’m happy I would have 171 STR and 220 STA with the 20 base STA points. I could adapt with different picks but it wouldn’t be “better” just different.

If people aren’t MR freaks it’s way easier to cap STR. Or if you actually wear the Tracker helm. Humans tend to wear them for the dragon hat fashion.

Indeed! Helm of the tracker is great. Humans like the truesight too lol.

My perspective on "better" is simply how often the starting points benefit your character over total playtime. If you never cap your WIS, the 20 points into WIS will benefit you for 100% of your character's playtime. A stat like STR will get capped from time to time as you get higher level from buffs, unless you plan on soloing exclusively. So you may only benefit from the STR starting points like 80% of your total playtime.

[bcbrown]

Yeah, if you start your ranger with BiS EC tunnel gear and a fungi, starting stats won't matter while leveling. If you do that then strength would be a bad decision. I'd probably go wisdom in that case but stamina is also a fine choice. I wouldn't sleep on dex for the procs though, but that would be just because it's fun to see procs, not necessarily because it's strictly better.

Seriously though, swarmcaller procs are going to be the most important RNG from 45-60. Anything to make that happen as earlier in the fight as possible will improve your experience the most. You just can't ever count on a proc, and going from 75 dex to 255 dex still won't make a huge difference in procs. But no other stat will have a bigger difference in any encounter without a slower in your group.

I went strength on my ranger, and I haven't regretted it yet. If you're not twinked to the gills it's a great option. And by the time you start capping strength you'll be wanting to get resists up, and higher starting strength means you'll be able to swap one or two more slots over to resists.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by bcbrown [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, if you start your ranger with BiS EC tunnel gear and a fungi, starting stats won't matter while leveling. If you do that then strength would be a bad decision. I'd probably go wisdom in that case but stamina is also a fine choice. I wouldn't sleep on dex for the procs though, but that would be just because it's fun to see procs, not necessarily because it's strictly better.

Seriously though, swarmcaller procs are going to be the most important RNG from 45-60. Anything to make that happen as earlier in the fight as possible will improve your experience the most. You just can't ever count on a proc, and going from 75 dex to 255 dex still won't make a huge difference in procs. But no other stat will have a bigger difference in any encounter without a slower in your group.

I went strength on my ranger, and I haven't regretted it yet. If you're not twinked to the gills it's a great option. And by the time you start capping strength you'll be wanting to get resists up, and higher starting strength means you'll be able to swap one or two more slots over to resists.

You don't need BiS tunnel gear. https://youtu.be/71aYAD9aB5A?si=ePJ1Qd8Mhh1X-ICI

I leveled a Ranger from 1-20 in like 15 hours without a strict plan. I've never really leveled in the qeynos area before.

My character has like 15k worth of gear, the best item being Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate. 8k-15k worth of twinking isn't a huge lift for many P99 players these days. Both servers are top heavy.

At the end of the day, you get 160 STR and 160 DEX from FoS plus Avatar. You'll cap both of those stats just fine if you end up playing your character a lot. If you get bored and stop playing at 30, your choice didn't really matter anyway.

I wouldn't reget whatever choice you make though. As I said, starting stats don't cripple a character.

[bcbrown]

Yeah, leveling to 20 with an ikky and 280 hp at level 1, starting stats definitely won't matter. If that's what you have, go wisdom or stamina.

Having gone +20 strength wood elf, in BiS EC gear with my resist swaps and FoS I'm at 253 str.

You really can't go wrong with any stat allocation. Strength for untwinked leveling. Dex for fun with procs. Sta to make it not quite so obvious how shitty a tank you are (self deprecating humor! just kidding!). Wisdom to realize that stats don't matter.

[Keebz]

I did 10 STR / STA on green launch. If I did it again twinked I'd probably go WIS. So I'd say STA and / or WIS are good choices for min / max. STR is practical though, esp. if you don't plan on raiding much. DEX is useless.

In choosing human you've already won, so don't sweat it too much.

[Cecily]

Literally none of these stats matter. I did 5 str dex sta wis first ranger and I think 20 sta on the next 2. I like idea of +20 wis. I did 20 int on my SK. 20 dex is neat on a character that would get a primal eventually.

[Cecily]

Originally Posted by Keebz [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I did 10 STR / STA on green launch. If I did it again twinked I'd probably go WIS. So I'd say STA and / or WIS are good choices for min / max. STR is practical though, esp. if you don't plan on raiding much. DEX is useless.

In choosing human you've already won, so don't sweat it too much.

No.

[Crede]

Originally Posted by bcbrown [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah, leveling to 20 with an ikky and 280 hp at level 1, starting stats definitely won't matter. If that's what you have, go wisdom or stamina.

Having gone +20 strength wood elf, in BiS EC gear with my resist swaps and FoS I'm at 253 str.

You really can't go wrong with any stat allocation. Strength for untwinked leveling. Dex for fun with procs. Sta to make it not quite so obvious how shitty a tank you are (self deprecating humor! just kidding!). Wisdom to realize that stats don't matter.

Yea it’s pretty hard to cap strength without getting into ridiculous starter gear like vindi earring, bentos face guard, etc and even then you’re prob still not capping it without some buff help if you’re not an ogre. I think it’s always the best choice unless you absolutely know you are raid gearing that char then I’d lean into the hybrid mana stat because the mana returns on wis/int are extremely good. I have mixed feelings about dex. I used to be all about it but it just never seems to matter when you actually need a proc.

[Goregasmic]

I kind of feel like rangers were supposed to be all about that dex life but they were hell bent on making bows trash, which is unfortunate since an early earth/swarmcaller proc makes a world of difference but a dex ranger would be hot garbage since itemization doesn't really allow for it. If you don't compromise too much on str/ac/sta/hp you'll be sitting around 130dex with the best EC gear and if you got a fungi you're even lower.