Rangers And Archers?

It was always wierd everytime I saw a ranger he/she was an archer. So here's my question if you are ranger do you have to be an archer.

A ranger's only weapon choice for its profession is a bow which is linked to the attribute Marskmanship. If you go with a Warrior secondary then you can have a sword, axe, or hammer. If you go with a caster secondary, then you can have a stave or wand. You can still use other weapons even if you don't have the attribute linked to them, but you won't be getting their full effects and damage.

So the answer is no, you don't always have to be an archer if you're a ranger primary.

No. I played a Ranger/Warrior with a sword and I owned in the tombs. I also saw some Korean R/W's that did sword or hammer too. Not to say Korean is anything better than us...or worse...Does that sound racist? Don't answer that...

No, you don't have to be an archer to play a Ranger. It's just that Rangers have the attribute that's linked to bows, Marksmanship, as well as a lot of skills that only work with bows. You could play a Beastmastery Ranger, a Trap Ranger, or play to your secondary and use spells or, if you're a Ranger/Warrior or Warrior/Ranger a melee weapon just as easily. A bow is just the weapon that most Rangers will gravitate towards because it's the easiest one for them to pick up.

just out of curiousity, what would be a good build for a warrior ranger? when i try to think of some, i end up thinking it'd just be better to do a warrior/? instead... ill look around the forums for other posts on it, but if you wanna share your knowledge with me go ahead and post

as a primary warrior, you might go with str/sword. then use your ranger secondary for some complimentary skills. Tiger's Fury is a nice alternative to Frenzy or Flurry. Some folks like Troll Unguent as a healing option. Personally, I would find an excuse to fit Apply Poison into the build.

People go R/W instead of W/R because you can use Expertise, which is the best primary in the game as of now. With a high Expertise you can use all the Warrior energy based attack skills really cheaply, and can get a nice DPS. Also, Rangers have a higher overall AL on some of their armors (I think Warriors can go up to 85 with +10 to physical, but Rangers can go up to 90 without any mods).

you can also play as a beast master, traps ranger but you'd suck.

You could do it though.

No, on my first character(R/W) I used primary sword and it was decent, but I personely I believe bow is better now after more expierence and using R/Me.

Not racist at all, you just said that some Koreans believe Rangers do well in melee. It's a mind thing, not the fact that they're Koreans.

Oh, and sorry I answered that.

I have a Ranger/Monk but for when I am really up close I have used a sword and shield. Is this a no-no?

you can switch to that, but I'm fairly certain you'll get better bang running with your bow still as the sword is running at it's lowest possible damage output since you have no attributes in swords or in strength.

I think you'd get a better return in close situations running something like lightning reflexes to get faster attack and dodge and stay with your bow.