Ranger solo gameplay style

[Snaggles]

Rangers have a TON of tricks but they really bloom late in the 50’s. It’s also a class with practice and expensive/exclusive gear the performance spectrum varies a lot. I remember the best and worst rangers vividly [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]. What they lack is a way to interrupt casters (besides procs) and a way to recover hps quickly. Throw in a healer and that duo can conquer almost anything even if less efficient than some combos.

Facetanking works ok with lower level old world mobs especially with a fungi. Casting Call of Flame and Firestrike (and later Calefaction) between swings with a 2h is also one of the better ways to take down casters hoping they don’t land bigger hits than you.

I never had the plat for good gear on the ranger (woodsman to 58) but still soloed to 60. I did a combo of fear kiting animals, short range bow rot (almost melee range) with the tolan’s bracer, and root jousting (turning on/off attack and waiting for the cool down). The last is quite efficient and I found while trying to proc the Swarmcaller I often would end up killing the mob before slow procced. I did a bit of this with an earthshaker too since that weapon can return a very high amount of damage per attack round.

It’s a very high mobility/dynamic hybrid. Less plodding than a SK or definitely a paladin, also higher risk. Being a bit of an underdog is fun as well, just keep at it! You still have tricks in dungeons but have clipped wings compared to outdoors. I’d bring a buddy (any class really) to make it more enjoyable unless you are trying to prove a point or impress sadistic Twitch viewers. It’s gonna take a lot of arrows...

[Stonewallx39]

Just make sure to pick a human with an eyepatch, that will improve your aim 17.777%...

All jokes aside you will spend a lot of time medding and regenerating back to full. Choosing a wood elf would give you hide allowing you to step away for 10+ mins while you med. Personally I couldn’t get over the looks of my wood elf and rerolled a human (obs with the eyepatch).

You didn’t mention which server, but during velious era rangers get fear animal which can be tedious but is also efficient. You’re basically just regenning mana after the fight instead of both hp and mana (mana regens waaaay faster). You also do more efficiently damage from behind the mob so kills will be theoretically faster.

Track is a superpower. After playing a tracker you will feel like part of the game is missing playing anything else. It’s just so cool and useful in unexpected ways. I recommend binding to a movement key with forage and sense heading while you level. Then Just find a nice corner of your screen to stick the window in.

Don’t underestimate bow kiting either. With Sow pots and eventually your own Sow spell you can kite down all kinds of major reds ( most useful for the random non casting named you come across). This is because archery doesn’t have the same check for lvl difference that melee and spells do. Where you have the same chance of hitting, and hitting for max damage as you would against a blue or green. Remember to pick up a reduced weigh quiver if you want this option as that will give your bow the equivalent weight reduction as haste.

[Kirdan]

rangers get hide as a class skill, no need to be a puny elf

[Pint]

Don't listen to all these nuts. If you try to solo an untwinked ranger past the 20s you will be doing a shit ton of rooting and shooting/rooting and healing. I know this bc my ranger had epics and full sky gear in kunark and has tov gear now at lvl52 and even then fights include rooting and healing. Tbf you are asking about soloing on a hybrid in classic eq in 2021 so you just might have the tisms necessary to slog it out though so gl.

In answer to your other question, rangers can get decently strong and solo some cool content at the high end but you actually are better off with a knight at 60 with bis gear if you want to play that game. I know this bc I've tried it on both on 99 with bis gear and the ranger still underperforms in comparison.

[jolanar]

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

Don't listen to all these nuts. If you try to solo an untwinked ranger past the 20s you will be doing a shit ton of rooting and shooting/rooting and healing. I know this bc my ranger had epics and full sky gear in kunark and has tov gear now at lvl52 and even then fights include rooting and healing.

You are fighting too hard mobs if that's true. One of the perks of a ranger is that they CAN kill higher end mobs than a monk. But it's not efficient from an exp/hour perspective.

[Jimjam]

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

Don't listen to all these nuts. If you try to solo an untwinked ranger past the 20s you will be doing a shit ton of rooting and shooting/rooting and healing. I know this bc my ranger had epics and full sky gear in kunark and has tov gear now at lvl52 and even then fights include rooting and healing. Tbf you are asking about soloing on a hybrid in classic eq in 2021 so you just might have the tisms necessary to slog it out though so gl.

In answer to your other question, rangers can get decently strong and solo some cool content at the high end but you actually are better off with a knight at 60 with bis gear if you want to play that game. I know this bc I've tried it on both on 99 with bis gear and the ranger still underperforms in comparison.

What are you fighting with this ranger?

[Crede]

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

What are you fighting with this ranger?

I wouldn’t say it’s what you’re fighting, but Pint is right it’s just painfully obvious how bad rangers are 45+ at face tanking content compared to a knight, regardless of how hard you twink one. When it comes to higher end solo content on a hybrid, Pallies win at this by a landslide, Sks really only start to be decent with epic, and rangers just never really ever get there. Fear kiting is your best bet on sk/ranger but I find that to be a miserable experience on a melee.

[jolanar]

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

I wouldn’t say it’s what you’re fighting, but Pint is right it’s just painfully obvious how bad rangers are 45+ at face tanking content compared to a knight, regardless of how hard you twink one. When it comes to higher end solo content on a hybrid, Pallies win at this by a landslide, Sks really only start to be decent with epic, and rangers just never really ever get there. Fear kiting is your best bet on sk/ranger but I find that to be a miserable experience on a melee.

If you have raid gear, clicky spell haste, and a weapon that procs slow and you still have to back off and heal every fight then it absolutely has to do with what you are fighting.

[Pint]

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

What are you fighting with this ranger?

Najena > sola > solb is my preferred route to 60 but I did branch out a lot with my ranger as I never intended to get him last 52. I also killed in kedge, perma, com, velks, kael, kc off the top of my head. I can kill stuff anywhere with epics/sky cloak and velious ac/100hp items but it still required too much downtime to be enjoyable (for me). You can solo anything to 60 in eq, I just think it's misleading not to let someone know that in the year 2020 if they want to roll a hybrid, grind to 60, then gear it for dungeon crawling solo then they better not want to get to the crawling till the year 2022 assuming their play time is high. The high end ranger I used mostly in hate and their mitigation just kinda sucks, dps is decent but doesn't bridge the gap.

[DoodyLich666]

I wish you could make barbarian rangers.