High DPS Build?

Hi everyone, I have a level 19 ranger/necro. I just got full druid armor (+70 from droks), I'm wearing Markmanship mask with Superior Marksman rune. I'm halfway to level 20. I have a major vigor rune, so my hp's are 436. I do alot of playing with my buddy who is an level 20 elementalist and henchman. We don't have any of the expansions yet, just the basic game.

So my question is, what is a good high dps build? and what skills do i use? I have a level 15 pet but from what i've heard, using 2 skills to have your pet up isn't an effective way for ranger dps? I always have my rez signet up for when all the healer henchman die, so that would be losing 3 skill boxes.

I dont have any elite skills yet, i usually use the AOE necro Slow spell when there are alot of mobs, or when alot of them are beating on me or the healer. Is that a waste also?

Oh my 2 bows I use are as follows:

I carry around:

Fiery Flatbow of Warding
Fire damage: 15-28
Damage: +19% while health is below 50
Armor: +7 elemental
Damage: +20%

And when I think to hit f2 to switch weapon sets I switch to:

Graygore's Shortbow
Piercing: 15-28
Damage: +15% when health is above 50
Lifestealing: 5
health regen: -1
Marksman: +1
Damage: +20%

Thanks for any info you can give me.

Uzadon

unless you have a hammer and a pet, ranger DPS sucks. You could go the ol' quick shot/kindle arrows/conjure flame route, but I'd rather have a warrior.

Oh, barrage has excellent DPS.

firstly, welcome to the game and if you dont know about this site, this is your new bible: http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page

secondly, you will usually find that on most non-caster classes, you are better off only using your secondary for utility skills. you dont have the energy to cast energy heavy skills in say the ele and necro lines. you are a ranger, stick to that.

since you only have prophecies, a lot of the newer and spiffier skills arent available to you, but there are still plenty to choose from. the one you will see come up the most is the elite skill

[skill]Barrage[/skill]

its a very good skill in certain situations, but sees a lot of hate because so many ppl run it everywhere and truly dont know how to use it or refuse to use anything else. but it still can be a powerful skill.

if you dont want to go barrage, kindle arrow along with conjure flame and some quick spammable attacks works nicely as well. but, as thom said, the ranger isnt the dps machine that a warrior can be unless you want to run a thumper build (R/W with a hammer and pet). make sure you dont neglect interrupt skills in an attempt to achieve a higher dps. you just end up gimping your build.

You could also cap the elite Burning Arrow (no idea how you guys put the pictures in here...) and use that with Apply Poison. It puts out a nice amount of degeneration on your target and you'll mobs dying pretty quick.

Burning Arrow is, unfortunately, a Nightfall only skill.

Like what everyone else has already said, a ranger does not do DPS very well. In certain conditions Barrage shines, but that doesn't happen all the time. What rangers do well is be versatile, with one skill bar you can condition, degen, interrupt, escape, and possibly spike. Healing can be a bit iffy, but that's what a running skill is for.

Unfortunately you need Nightfall for Burning Arrow, and he says he doesn't have that. But yeah, Burning Arrow is great, especially in Hell's Precipice and Realm or Torment where Barrage isn't a good idea.

For the pictures, use the bb tag [ skill ]Skill Name[ /skill ], without the spaces in the brackets. Found out about it by accident when quoting a post for reply.

Vampiric hornbow

[skill]Dual Shot[/skill]+[skill]Punishing Shot[/skill]

have fun

Irresistible Blow
Hammer Bash
Crushing Blow
Bestial Mauling
Rampage as One
Comfort Animal
Charm Animal
Resurrection Signet

Expertise 8 + 1
Beast Mastery 10 + 1 + 2
Hammer Mastery 12

=High DPS

Quote:

Thanks for your replies, damn i'm used to rangers in Everquest being high dps. =) Oh well, guess i'll have to try some of the other builds too, and get Nightfall. Should I skip Factions for now?

Imo you should get all 3 campaigns to be good. but NF should go first cause of [skill]Barbed Arrows[/skill] and [skill]Forked Shot[/skill]

Quote:

Prophecies ... Punishing Shot Elite combines damage plus an interrupt. Poison Arrow Elite can be captured in Witman's Folly once you get to Droknar's Forge. Favorable Winds, Read the Wind, Penetrating Attack, and of course the ever popular Apply Poison, Barbed Trap, and Kindle Arrows. I leveled up with a pet, still have my old Melandru's Stalker. Beast Master with one arrow interrupt works pretty well too. Experiment with what is available and find out what works for you. A Ranger is a very versatile character with spirits, traps, a pet, and a bow, and interrupt capability too. Often, DPS is less important than interrupting.

Quote:

I use for max dps:

[skill]glass arrows[/skill] [skill]savage shot[/skill] [skill]distracting shot[/skill][skill]forked arrow[/skill][skill]marauder's shot[/skill][skill]troll unguent[/skill][skill]natural stride[/skill][skill]mending touch[/skill] or [skill]resurrection signet[/skill]

If you have factions, have fun with these,
only shines against groups though

[skill]Barrage[/skill] [skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

~15 Marks
14 Expertise
Vamp Hornbow

[skill]Favorable Winds[/skill]
+
[skill]Read The Wind[/skill]
+
[skill]Penetrating Attack[/skill]
+
[skill]Quick Shot[/skill]
+
[skill]Sundering Attack[/skill]

Spam like this:
Penetrating -> Quick -> Sundering -> Quick -> Repeat

Rangers arent really designed for DPS... but yea, this works... kinda :P Just dont spam it too much or you'll be out of energy soon.
Pene/Sunder Attack are quite overlooked... both skills are quite decent, really.

Oh, and dont use Barrage... It's one of the most overrated skills in GW history =.= ... Well, it fails anywhere other then crouwded PvE Areas and certain farming builds...

Barrage/splinter for groups. Conjure flame+kindle+quick shot for single targets. Barbed arrows+poison arrow for heavy degen. Hammer+pet for all purpose damage.

Love how nobody reads his post.

He has ONLY PROPHECIES.

Why try to do high DPS anyway? Rangers excel at being flexible, offering shutdown and other bonuses.

If you want high-ish DPS using prophecies skills the preparation +quickshot stuff is ok, Barrage is super with grouped foes, but you may want to try something non-DPS based.

Try trapping for example, or maybe a choking gas build - it can be fun to shut down groups of foes, especially versus creatures like hydras that might otherwise tear inexperienced parties apart. I prefer my ranger to any other character, in part as I can play pretty much any role.

Factions would be a good buy for you if you're getting another campaign, here's why.

In response to the [skill]Barrage[/skill] + [skill]Splinter Weapon[/skill] post earlier, it's absolutely devastating to large groups.


*Note these results ARE typical in high level areas, I routinely do even more damage in other areas.

Here's my generic build, which may be edited depending on the area you're using it in, note the interrupts for killing bosses and other tougher enemies. The build is only optimal when facing groups:

Barrage
Splinter Weapon
Distracting Shot
Savage Shot
Antidote Signet
Lighting Reflexes
Dodge
Flesh of my Flesh

Marksmanship 12 + 3 + 1
Expertise 8 + 1
Channeling Magic 10

For high level areas you should note most of your damage will come from the splinter, you may want to run 12 in expertise rather than marksmanship for longer Barrage spam.

Hope the build helps =D

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

For single-target damage, I'd say probably [skill]dual shot[/skill] + [skill]kindle arrows[/skill] + [skill]favorable winds[/skill] + [skill]conjure flame[/skill] (on a fiery bow). It hits very, very hard. Throw in Quick Shot and you have some very high dps.

For AoE I'd just switch in [skill]Barrage[/skill] as your elite, dump kindle (useless w/barrage) and bring [skill]Mark of Rodgort[/skill].

edited for skill pics, oh...and its Forked *Arrow*...not 'shot', that's why it didn't work on the pic ([skill]Forked Arrow[/skill])

granted i know rangers don't do high dps, the most i can do is

prepared shot {E}
keen shot
crossfire
an increase attack speed here
RTW
defense skill
heal skill
and rez

took a vamp hornbow along for this

you could probably take out one of the attack skills for marauders. I think I ran a build without defence though (i do not recommend this) and took another attack. so with IAS and prep shot and constantly spamming skills..i do respectable damage. It's not enough, though. I preferred running burning arrow with interrupts.

then again, with defense, it leaves you hungry for more attacks, and without defense, well, again i don't recommend that.

for proph only: try out barrage, despite the hate it gets. Also, cap Punishing shot, it's a great skill. As listed in the previous posts, poison arrow is great for spreading conditions. quick shot + apply posion is good too.

from my perspective, even though I know I listed a damage build, rangers are a very good support class with their interrupts and conditions.

hope this helped.

- ume

If you are either using hench or in groups, as a ranger you might think about being more of a utility class instead of a damage dealer. Ranger's have great interrupt ability and conditions. I keep the following three skills on my build always unless doing very specialized tasks:

[skill]Broad Head Arrow[/skill]
[skill]Tiger's Fury[/skill]
[skill]Throw Dirt[/skill]

The first two when combined with a short bow can completely shut down a casting class (ele, mes, some necros, some dervishes, and most significantly monks) while your teammates or henches do the damage.

Throw Dirt with decent expertise can shut down melee classes for a respectable amount of time as well. Then throw in any damage skills you want. Apply Poison is always a plus too.

Note: Broadhead is from Factions, so if you are still only in Prophecies it won't help you, but you can take choking gas or something else with similar capabilities.

Oopsy, missed the proph only bit

I guess that means your stuck with Barrage related builds. Penetrating Shot is sadly the best you'll get in Prophecies... even though its absolutely crap compared to the Nightfall and Factions bow skills, the Proph ones really need a buff.

Quote:

Guys, read his post. He only has Proph. That means don't suggest non-Proph stuff. Try to help the dude out.

it's true that Rangers arent the king of DPS, they arent meant to but there are ways, even with just Prophecies to deal a hefty amount of damage. as people here have said Barrage is the most popular option(especially coupled with the new Factions and Nightfall skills) but even without them... however non of you mentioned the Trapper!!!
trapping can deal a large pack of damage to an area and you can continue doing so endlessly, assuming you have the elite [skill]Oath Shot[/skill](Prophecies only so dont worry) to keep recharging your traps.
basically you have [skill]Dust Trap[/skill] [skill]Flame Trap[/skill] and [skill]Barbed Trap[/skill] as your traps and Oath Shot to keep recharging them. the rest is utility. you can go /Mes for [skill]Mantra of Resolve[/skill] to neglect the "easily interruptable" while you lay the traps, especially useful for offensive trapping, which means you go to the mob and trap around them. while less useful and needed for defensive trapping, luring the mob to your traps. you can bring spirits such as [skill]Energizing Winds[/skill] to reduce the cost of your traps, you dont care about the extra recharge due to Oath Shot, [skill]Muddy Terrain[/skill] to slow down your enemies and keep them inside your traps, [skill]Healing Spring[/skill] or [skill]Troll Unguent[/skill] as your self heal and whatever else you want, condition removal such as [skill]Antidote Signet[/skill] or something from a secondary profession is also highly recommended.

While trappers in theory can deal strong damage, their dps in practice is generally low since it relies on an enemy standing in a trap for a long period of time. Also, muddy terrain is generally a bad idea to use as a snare since it hinders your party just as much as the enemy. It's really a skill that only finds use in certain PvP builds that aren't very mobile. Mantra of Resolve also isn't a very good option anymore since it got nerfed a long while back even though it used to be an excellent choice. Oath Shot with Whirling is really the only legitimate way to trap with Prophecies only skills unless you are using a specific farming build (which is where trapping is used the most anyways).

If Factions and Prophecies is available, Enraged Lunge with Brutal Strike does some excellent single target dps and paired with Otygh's Cry, it is unblockable as well.

I have to agree... traps are nice. But they're best described as 90s of prep and 5s of cold stark terror especially when farming. The ONLY trap which really contributes and stacks up for DPS purposes is dust trap. All the rest are reliant on the conditions they spread as their primary damage vector. And any conditoin based attack is fundamentally limited in it's DPS by the degen limits. And it doesn't matter how many times you apply burning per second it's still only 14dps... (max of 20dps no matter how many conditions you add).

Dust trap is best for damage and utility (it better at 2.5x the normal 10 energy cost!), w/ flame trap a close second. But flame traps frankly don't stack up well. Neither to barbed or spike traps or that BM poison trap that nobody uses! All the rest of the traps are much moreso utility skills (daze, blind, cripple, knockdown.... or very weak degen bleed/poison).

I disagree that oath is the only way to go w/ prophecies. Ever since the 20->25s nerf I feel it's somewhat subpar and only marginally usefull for fast charging 60s recharge spirits... it's utility for fast recharging traps w/ a lower recharge than it has been hurt as well as it's old ability to constantly keep whirling up for an eternity if you used it immediately after activating the stance.

You can make a pretty decent combat trapper using 2 non-elite defensive stances. EG: whirling + Lighting for prophecies only, then pack 4 traps. If you use LR first... it gives you plenty of time to lay 4 traps (including an elite one like spike or smoke), when they cycle switch up to whirling and do it again (whirlings longer duration means it's still there when dust trap finally decides to recycle too)... and w/ LR's 30s recharge now, it'll be ready agian for the 3rd set of traps. (not many fights go for longer than a minute in PvE... and in PvP this is still pretty teneble as you have 41s of 75% block every 60s. 66% uptime on a 75% defense is pretty good. Alternatively natural stride works well in there too if you need kiting ability and are willing to accept the higher chance of interupts w/ 50% block over 75%.

Really, if you're after straight DPS about the only way to go is to add a pet to another weapon... spear, bow, hammer.... it's the closest thing to 'dual wielding' in the game if you view the pet as an off-hand weapon. However in order to do so, you'll be giving up almost all your utility in the process.

Even rage as one still functions on a R/P running adrenal attack skills plus a pet. If you give up the vamp spear for a zealous you can really rake in the energy at the same time as well.

Yeah tbh if your gonna play Ranger you need the other campaigns. While i loved playing mine in Prophecies... in comparison the skills for it are absolutely bollocks now. Barely any of the bow attack skills get a mention anymore.

I'd suggest a Thumper then. The skills are all prophecies.
Bow damage isn't really useable without Prepared + Penetrating + Sundering Shot.

Beastmaster 10+3+1
Expertise 8+1
Hammer Mastery 12

Ferocious Strike {e}
Tiger's Fury
Counter Blow
Crushing Blow
Brutal Strike
Call of Haste
Comfort Animal
Charm Animal

I would buy Nightfall over Factions for skills like

[skill]burning arrow[/skill] or [skill]prepared shot[/skill]

But then again Factions has its skills...

[skill]glass arrows[/skill] or [skill]broad head arrow[/skill]

For a Prophecies only one i go:

[skill]Echo[/skill][skill]Dual Shot[/skill][skill]Penetrating attack[/skill][skill]Savage Shot[/skill][skill]Read The Wind[/skill][skill]Favorable Winds[/skill][skill]Comfort Animal[/skill][skill]Charm Animal[/skill]

With a Vampiric Hornbow.

U can echo one of the attacks (normally Dual shot, Penetrating when in High AL areas, Or Savage when in large amount of Casters areas)