Lune's Ranger Tips

[Messianic]

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

This guy knows his stuff. I would quibble about the focus on STR, I go HP/STA/DEX/STR. I know STA doesn't really matter at low levels, but dex is important and the thing about STR is you get a ton of it anyway on gear without trying.

Silver swiftblade is the single most important buy a young ranger can make. Archery is kind of useless, but in later levels if you've skilled up it can let you solo things with patience. As you level, get a tolans bracer, and a tolans hat. Get a swarmcaller. If you can root/snare a melee mob, you can kill it with arrows eventually.

Do you have any evidence that Dex is more impactful than STR? Str has a noticeable impact on DPS via max hit, but particularly for non-bow combat I have no idea why you'd pay attention to dex at all.

[fadetree]

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

Do you have any evidence that Dex is more impactful than STR? Str has a noticeable impact on DPS via max hit, but particularly for non-bow combat I have no idea why you'd pay attention to dex at all.

I like dex for procs, which keep me alive as a primarily solo ranger. The effect of dex on procs is well established.

[Itching]

Is it worth leveling up fletching or should you just stick to cheap arrows / tolan's bracer 46+?

[SCB]

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

Is it worth leveling up fletching or should you just stick to cheap arrows / tolan's bracer 46+?

If you're soloing, fletching is definitely worth the cost even to just 100+. If you don't intend (or can't twink enough to) solo at all, I wouldn't worry about it. Tolan's is a waste of cash no matter how you slice it. If you can afford a Tolan's Bracer, you can afford to A) max fletching and B) get way more efficiency out of your arrows, saving you more time than a Tolan's bracer.

If soloing, fire an arrow, cast a nuke, fire an arrow again as soon as nuke finishes, run, rinse and repeat. Once mob is low enough in hp, dot up and finish in melee. ("Low enough" depends entirely on your gear level/charlevel)

[Pan]

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

Is it worth leveling up fletching or should you just stick to cheap arrows / tolan's bracer 46+?

I'm really stodgy/picky about ranger-ing (as you can probably see in this thread).

But if you don't bring 350 range to the table (group/raid), you're doing it wrong, imo.

That said, Tolan's arrows are great for day-to-day use.

(also, you don't need to fletch 150 range arrows - see Wiki for "Flight Arrow")

[Yinikren]

My only addition is that (at 48) I consistently parse higher with one handers (Fayguard Parrying Blade/CSS) than I do with a woodsman's staff, including the lack of spells since I don't cast much with one handers out.

I occasionally get strings of good hits with a 2H and do some respectable dps (45-50) but that is quickly evened out by a string of three or four misses or hits for 13. Average dps with a Woodsman's Staff for me at 48 is around 30. Average for my 1Hs is closer to 35-40, consistently, at 84% Haste.

IMO, at this point in the timeline, 2H damage bonuses and dps isn't what its cracked up to be. Velious should fix that.

YMMV.

[Itching]

Okay am I just in the dark or something, what program do you guys use to parse logs/DPS?

[Lune]

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

Wurmslayer + any offhand > Woodsman's staff for tanking in groups (which you should be doing pre-50) imo.

Can still spam flame lick between swings, and you'll hit for as much dps.

For solo: vastly different story of course.

Let's say for the sake of illustration you are level 40.

The 1-hand damage bonus is (level -25 /3).

The 2-hand damage bonus at 40 is (level - 25 / 2).

So, for the Wurmslayer: (40 - 25 / 3) = 5

And for the Woodsman's Staff: (40 - 25 / 2) = 7.5

The Woodsman's Staff will swing 8 times for every 7 times the Wurmslayer swings.

Max damage is Weapon damage x 2 + damage bonus

So over a period of 28 seconds:

Wurmslayer: (50 x 7) + (5 x 7) = 385
Woodsman's Staff: (62 x 8) + (7.5 x 8) = 556

Add in a CSS offhand. A 40 ranger will have a dual wield skill no higher than 210, probably lower, which will swing 50% of the time. Formula = (Skill + Level/500 = Chance)

CSS: No damage bonus, so it's simply max hit dps over 28 seconds, divided by half: 140 Damage,

Wurmslayer + CSS: 525
Woodsman's Staff: 556

Keep in mind your casting will clip your offhand swings and potentially lower that first number slightly. When tanking, the Woodsman's Staff will deal better riposte damage, and the dual wield combo will mean you get riposted more. As you get into the 50's, I think dual wield combos catch up to the Woodsman's Staff, but are still a little bit less amenable to casting. (Though I will admit haste gets a little ridiculous and casting will delay swings even with a slower weapon). I hope my math is correct.

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

My only addition is that (at 48) I consistently parse higher with one handers (Fayguard Parrying Blade/CSS) than I do with a woodsman's staff, including the lack of spells since I don't cast much with one handers out.

I occasionally get strings of good hits with a 2H and do some respectable dps (45-50) but that is quickly evened out by a string of three or four misses or hits for 13. Average dps with a Woodsman's Staff for me at 48 is around 30. Average for my 1Hs is closer to 35-40, consistently, at 84% Haste.

IMO, at this point in the timeline, 2H damage bonuses and dps isn't what its cracked up to be. Velious should fix that.

YMMV.

I had the opposite experience parsing a Woodsman's Staff against a Lupine Dagger/CSS extensively in the mid 50's. But I didn't have nearly the amount of haste you do, and I couldn't begin to explain how all of that really plays out in practice. There was one session where I consistently out-dpsed a ranger using his epics in Sebilis by casting constantly (We had c2). Yes, my Sebilis group had two rangers.

I think it's safe to say dual wielding is fine, possibly better, in the 50's/high 40's, but I wouldn't do it at lower levels if you have a Woodsman's Staff available.

[Yinikren]

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

nm math was wrong



I had the opposite experience parsing a Woodsman's Staff against a Lupine Dagger/CSS extensively in the mid 50's. But I didn't have nearly the amount of haste you do, and I couldn't begin to explain how all of that really plays out in practice. There was one session where I consistently out-dpsed a ranger using his epics in Sebilis by casting constantly (We had c2). Yes, my Sebilis group had two rangers.

I think it's safe to say dual wielding is fine, possibly better, in the 50's/high 40's, but I wouldn't do it at lower levels if you have a Woodsman's Staff available.

Yeah, plus RNG and all that could vary the numbers a lot. Mainhand damage bonus is very underrated as far as dps goes, but my main hand only had 1 less delay than yours and a silly 29 damage proc. At some point I may have to get a hold of another staff and see how the parses change as levels (and the damage bonus) goes up.

[Ciroco]

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

But I didn't have nearly the amount of haste you do, and I couldn't begin to explain how all of that really plays out in practice.

It doesn't. It's haste; it has no effect on the relative DPS of any weapon(s).