Best solo melee class?

[DeathsSilkyMist]

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

Yes, but the more time the target is snared the less recasts are needed. Dooming is a much slower snare percentage which helps with landing more melee hits.

Invoke last a bit over twice the time (and casts 1 second quicker) so you spend less time getting hit or casting fear before the current one breaks.

Dooming/invoke will result in a faster kill than engulfing/fear and a better quality of life. I’d rather find a spot you can use it properly.

Ideally using undead fears as they are even quicker and more efficient but undead stuff tends to be in dungeons or in Kunark. Undead mobs tend to cast and Kunark ones have more hps than most equivalent live mobs. Outside Karnors of course where each fear is viable.

Blood Ember Gauntlets + Boots are typically more efficient than casting Snare/Fear, as SK's are often limited by mana more than HP. This is especially true if you have Fungi Tunic, Epic, Racial Regen, etc. I still use Blood Ember Gauntlets + Boots for fear kiting at 60.

Getting hit a bit more isn't a big deal when you can just regenerate it while standing via Fungi Tunic, Epic Proc, Racial Regen, etc. The goal is to sit as little as possible, which means trying to spend less mana.

Meditating less means more time killing. Faster kill times do not always equate to more kills per hour, as you need to take recovery time into account as well.

Once you learn how to use short duration fear + engulfing darkness, there isn't really a need to go back to Dooming Darkness + Invoke Fear. I don't have any issues with htting mobs while they are snared via Engulfing Darkness.

You also open up more camp options, as you can fear kite in smaller areas. I fear kite in Howling Stones North for XP on the ramp. Your short duration fear is just long enough to where the mob won't run into the corridor most of the time.

[TytosOfEight]

I’ve noticed a lot of people who “play” rangers either don’t understand the class or just aren’t very good at it. It’s kind of cringe. In group content, my ranger consistently kills faster and takes less damage than my monk, even though both are similarly geared (mostly BiS or second BiS). My ranger has a bit more HP, while my monk has higher AC. The real difference? Earthcaller is overpowered.

I prefer my monk for places like Seb Disco because he can flop there, but in almost every other scenario, my ranger is the clear winner. To test this, I recently parsed 30 Geos on both characters, testing the difference of 100 AC. The result? My ranger took less damage overall, thanks to Earthcaller. Even during leveling, my ranger outpaced my monk, despite my monk being better geared. Around level 50, my monk’s progress slowed, but my ranger just kept trucking with Swarmcaller.

Another example: I was recently taking on the back four Guardians in Skyshrine. On my monk, I had to bandage/clicky heal after every fight. I swapped to my ranger, used Harmony to split, and downed all four before even needing to med. No contest.

Sure, a BiS monk with 1600 AC will tank better in raid content, but for group content, if Earthcaller lands, my ranger takes less damage. Oh, and I regularly tank HoT, Fear, Hate, and ToV trash on my ranger. Slap on an Aary shield and a 100 HP weapon, and you’re golden.

TL;DR: Rangers are underrated in group content, especially when played well. Earthcaller/Swarmcaller make them surprisingly tanky and efficient.

[kjs86z2]

"i have a nearly bis melee they're not a bad class"

k

[zelld52]

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

My ranger has a bit more HP, while my monk has higher AC. The real difference? Earthcaller is overpowered.
.

Wait, so you're telling us a mob that's slowed 50% will do less damage than an unslowed mob?

Dude, you're about to change the game with this insight. All you need to feel powerful as a ranger is a 200kp perma farmed item from Plate of Hate

For real though - how could you possibly compare slowed vs. unslowed fights.

Monks have the best melee damage mitigation in the game. It's not debatable. They have the highest defensive skill caps, they get block - and they get stonestance.

If the same mob was slowed with the same percentage - the similarly geared monk is taking less damage 11 out of 10 times. I duo'd from with my friend on his monk and ranger with similar gear on my shaman. The monk never needed heals - while the ranger needed an occasional heal. Same exact mobs, same exact camp. Ranger got beat up. Monk did not.

Again - not debatable. It's mathematics.

Monk:
Defense 252
Block 225
Riposte 225
Dodge 230

Ranger:
Defense 220
Parry 220
Riposte 185
Dodge 170

[kjs86z2]

Originally Posted by zelld52 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wait, so you're telling us a mob that's slowed 50% will do less damage than an unslowed mob?

Dude, you're about to change the game with this insight. All you need to feel powerful as a ranger is a 200kp perma farmed item from Plate of Hate

For real though - how could you possibly compare slowed vs. unslowed fights.

Monks have the best melee damage mitigation in the game. It's not debatable. They have the highest defensive skill caps, they get block - and they get stonestance.

If the same mob was slowed with the same percentage - the similarly geared monk is taking less damage 11 out of 10 times. I duo'd from with my friend on his monk and ranger with similar gear on my shaman. The monk never needed heals - while the ranger needed an occasional heal. Same exact mobs, same exact camp. Ranger got beat up. Monk did not.

Again - not debatable. It's mathematics.

you aint too smaht is you

[zelld52]

Originally Posted by kjs86z2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

you aint too smaht is you

oh fuck i thought i blocked you lemme fix that. idiot.

[sammoHung]

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

I’ve noticed a lot of people who “play” rangers either don’t understand the class or just aren’t very good at it. It’s kind of cringe. In group content, my ranger consistently kills faster and takes less damage than my monk, even though both are similarly geared (mostly BiS or second BiS). My ranger has a bit more HP, while my monk has higher AC. The real difference? Earthcaller is overpowered.

I prefer my monk for places like Seb Disco because he can flop there, but in almost every other scenario, my ranger is the clear winner. To test this, I recently parsed 30 Geos on both characters, testing the difference of 100 AC. The result? My ranger took less damage overall, thanks to Earthcaller. Even during leveling, my ranger outpaced my monk, despite my monk being better geared. Around level 50, my monk’s progress slowed, but my ranger just kept trucking with Swarmcaller.

Another example: I was recently taking on the back four Guardians in Skyshrine. On my monk, I had to bandage/clicky heal after every fight. I swapped to my ranger, used Harmony to split, and downed all four before even needing to med. No contest.

Sure, a BiS monk with 1600 AC will tank better in raid content, but for group content, if Earthcaller lands, my ranger takes less damage. Oh, and I regularly tank HoT, Fear, Hate, and ToV trash on my ranger. Slap on an Aary shield and a 100 HP weapon, and you’re golden.

TL;DR: Rangers are underrated in group content, especially when played well. Earthcaller/Swarmcaller make them surprisingly tanky and efficient.

Earthcaller is indeed OP but as someone whos played both a monk and a ranger: the ranger definitely does not tank unslowed mobs better than a monk. Shid, my rogue tanks an unslowed mob better than my ranger does. Even with 1200AC my ranger gets clapped sometimes when I can't land the Earthcaller proc. Difference is the ranger can root and shoot if HP becomes dicey and wait for the chloroplast / fungi tunic regen to get them back up to a reasonable range.

I don't have BiS gear on either but for instance as a joke I was tanking dock mobs in the hole naked with just epic fist equipped on my Monk, and didn't even need heals. Granted I had a group with me DPSing down, but my ranger needed a dedicated healer to tank for the same group. Also when my monk reached 1300 AC something weird happened and fights got way easier. I haven't got that much AC on my ranger, is it the same for them?

[TytosOfEight]

Originally Posted by zelld52 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wait, so you're telling us a mob that's slowed 50% will do less damage than an unslowed mob?

Dude, you're about to change the game with this insight. All you need to feel powerful as a ranger is a 200kp perma farmed item from Plate of Hate

For real though - how could you possibly compare slowed vs. unslowed fights.

Monks have the best melee damage mitigation in the game. It's not debatable. They have the highest defensive skill caps, they get block - and they get stonestance.

If the same mob was slowed with the same percentage - the similarly geared monk is taking less damage 11 out of 10 times. I duo'd from with my friend on his monk and ranger with similar gear on my shaman. The monk never needed heals - while the ranger needed an occasional heal. Same exact mobs, same exact camp. Ranger got beat up. Monk did not.

Again - not debatable. It's mathematics.

I don’t get your logic here. Was the purpose of this thread to compare a class that can slow vs. one that cannot slow? Or, was it about comparing the overall class? Title is best solo class, not best class once someone else has slowed the mob. My ranger can 50% slow mobs and a monk cannot. They can slow with clickies but for not nearly as much or as consistently.

Oh, and BTW, Swarmcaller is like 400 plat and does the same thing: 50% slow.

[zelld52]

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

I don’t get your logic here. Was the purpose of this thread to compare a class that can slow vs. one that cannot slow? Or, was it about comparing the overall class? Title is best solo class, not best class once someone else has slowed the mob. My ranger can 50% slow mobs and a monk cannot. They can slow with clickies but for not nearly as much or as consistently.

Oh, and BTW, Swarmcaller is like 400 plat and does the same thing: 50% slow.

youre comparing apples to oranges. you made a comment about how rangers take less damage than monks.

[bcbrown]

Originally Posted by zelld52 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

youre comparing apples to oranges. you made a comment about how rangers take less damage than monks.

He soloed 30 geos on each and found that the ranger took less total damage than the monk. That seems like apples to apples. Easy access to a 50% slow (via swarmcaller) is a big part of the solo ranger's toolkit. I'm sure you understand the difference between taking less damage on a per-swing basis and taking less damage overall when considering spells and procs. It's the former that seems to me to be apples and oranges when soloing.