Rangers and UAC

[Viekn]

Any rangers out there using UAC? I hadn't used it for awhile and started using it on a rogue I was building and decided to try it out on a ranger. I plan to use it with hide/ambush later on, but right now I'm just using it in the open until level 30-40 and it's working pretty well. Just like to see what others might think of it with a ranger and what your experiences have been. Thanks.

[Cereal Killer]

I've used it on a rogue and a ranger. It works okay for the ranger, but it's much better for the rogue since he can muster up around 20 more MM in the long run thanks to access to punch/kick mastery and shielded brawler.

[Viekn]

Let's pretend I'm going to get to level 75 (or even cap!). Any ideas whether that 20 MM will make much of a difference at that level? Also, without the ability to get shielded brawler (hence I don't guess I'd ever use a shield) will that start to leave my DS lacking too much at a certain level?

[Cereal Killer]

You'll be fine up to at least 50 with no shield if you spell-up properly. That washes out like 10 MM of the rogue's advantage. After that, in my experience, it starts getting a lot harder due to the new maneuvers, spells, and spellburst areas you start running into.

20 MM is the difference between a killing blow and a painful one. Think of it like being forced to use stance advance instead of offensive for all of your attacks. It can still work, just not as quickly. Rangers work too well as archers for me to have continued using UAC on him once the fixskills came back up.

[droit]

It's kind of the same problem that other melee rangers run into: not a lot of offensive boosts. You just have to do what other melee rangers do at that level, and use your extensive list of spell setups to overcome the difference.

I think UAC is perfectly viable as a ranger, but it really excels as a secondary weapon style. A ranged/UAC ranger can take down just about anything.

[Viekn]

It's kind of the same problem that other melee rangers run into: not a lot of offensive boosts. You just have to do what other melee rangers do at that level, and use your extensive list of spell setups to overcome the difference.

I think UAC is perfectly viable as a ranger, but it really excels as a secondary weapon style. A ranged/UAC ranger can take down just about anything.

Thanks Droit. I'm assuming a secondary weapon style is usually only a viable option post cap though, right?

[droit]

It's doable if that's pretty much your whole build. I'd assume overtraining spells, lores, SMC, heavy tertiaries would all be minimized, but Ranged/UAC sure is a lot of fun.

2x brawl would be 12/3 per level, plus you'd want CM which most ranged users don't bother with. Add 2x hiding, some MoC for those sweet, sweet UAC mstrikes and it starts to add up.

[Viekn]

Level 12 now. I may switched to ranged when I hit 50/60, but for now I'm really liking UAC. Question though...Currently I just use UAC in the open and I do great. I'm looking at adding stalk/hide and ambush, but tp's are a little short now. At what level will ambushing UAC from hiding start to become more necessary than it is now? If my goal is to more or less aim for a punch to the head from hiding, how will doing only 1x ambush affect that?