Archer Ranger, what to train in now?

[Herachio]

Here is the info for my Archer Ranger, I'm wondering what I should use the excess points for. AS and DS aren't currently a problem and mass calm and resist nature wouldn't really do much good right now either. I could have him double in hiding and add as much Ambush as I could or just double in Ambush nearly but the only benefit to Ambush without hiding would be 1 AS every 2 ranks, right? Could add lores I suppose or survival for skinning. Just wondering what everyone thinks.

I'd really like him to be better at open aiming but I think that's just going to take more trains, right?

Mental TPs: 58
Physical TPs: 446

Race: Dwarf Profession: Ranger (not shown)
Gender: Male Age: 0 Expr: 519740 Level: 21
Normal (Bonus) ... Enhanced (Bonus)
Strength (STR): 83 (26) ... 83 (26)
Constitution (CON): 72 (26) ... 72 (26)
Dexterity (DEX): 84 (17) ... 84 (17)
Agility (AGI): 84 (12) ... 84 (12)
Discipline (DIS): 76 (23) ... 76 (23)
Aura (AUR): 84 (7) ... 84 (7)
Logic (LOG): 77 (18) ... 77 (18)
Intuition (INT): 70 (10) ... 70 (10)
Wisdom (WIS): 80 (15) ... 80 (15)
Influence (INF): 29 (-20) ... 29 (-20)
Mana: 68 Silver: 0

>skill
(at level 21), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Armor Use..........................| 111 27
Ranged Weapons.....................| 146 46
Physical Fitness...................| 96 22
Dodging............................| 96 22
Magic Item Use.....................| 70 15
Harness Power......................| 93 21
Spirit Mana Control................| 50 10
Perception.........................| 146 46

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 3

Spell Lists
Ranger.............................| 18

[BriarFox]

What society is he in? If it's GoS, then you might give serious thought to 2x PF. If you see him in heavy armor, then 2xing armor up to 50 ranks (double chain) or 70 ranks (aug chain) would be a great choice. A CMAN like Disarm, Feint, or Sweep might prove useful to you. Summoning lore would be a decent choice, but it's pricey, even more so because you'd be converting. A few tertiary skills would serve him well, also: 15 ranks of climbing and 5 ranks of swimming for instance, or 10 ranks of SMC or AS.

Unless you really want to go the sniping route, don't bother with hiding (except maybe 10 ranks). Ambush is great for AS (1 AS per 4 ranks over 40, btw), but the benefits are most notable at 2x at cap (+40 AS), and it's rough to do it early, so use those points elsewhere for now.

To boil that down even further, I'd go for chain-class armor or PF, especially if you're in GoS. CMAN is a good next choice, along with a few tertiaries.


I'd really like him to be better at open aiming but I think that's just going to take more trains, right?

Yes, but you should be getting pretty good at that around 25-30, as long as you're not aiming for the hard targets. Shoot for a leg, then the head.

[Asha]

If you're not going to hide, get chain.
I only 1x PF and the GoS sigils work fine along with shadow mastery.

[Herachio]

What society is he in? If it's GoS, then you might give serious thought to 2x PF. If you see him in heavy armor, then 2xing armor up to 50 ranks (double chain) or 70 ranks (aug chain) would be a great choice. A CMAN like Disarm, Feint, or Sweep might prove useful to you. Summoning lore would be a decent choice, but it's pricey, even more so because you'd be converting. A few tertiary skills would serve him well, also: 15 ranks of climbing and 5 ranks of swimming for instance, or 10 ranks of SMC or AS.

He is in GoS and I have thought about adding more PF which wouldn't even cost much but he has no trouble running the sigils he needs right now with just the 1x. He currently has some 8x DCP brig and I don't have any chain armor over 4x let alone padded so I might stick with the brig for now. Do a lot of Ranger archers wear Chain if they don't hide even with the spell hindrance? How high in Chain class do archer rangers normally go?


Unless you really want to go the sniping route, don't bother with hiding (except maybe 10 ranks). Ambush is great for AS (1 AS per 4 ranks over 40, btw), but the benefits are most notable at 2x at cap (+40 AS), and it's rough to do it early, so use those points elsewhere for now.

Lets say I go ahead and try Sniping. Will I have more success hitting eyes from hidden? He could fit in 2x S/H and pick up 29 ranks Ambush right now. Think that would allow him to hit the hard targets now?


Yes, but you should be getting pretty good at that around 25-30, as long as you're not aiming for the hard targets. Shoot for a leg, then the head.

So, without a sighted bow, there isn't anything else one can do to be better at open aiming except more trains to up the perception? Besides the few spells that are mentioned in your guide?

[BriarFox]

He is in GoS and I have thought about adding more PF which wouldn't even cost much but he has no trouble running the sigils he needs right now with just the 1x. He currently has some 8x DCP brig and I don't have any chain armor over 4x let alone padded so I might stick with the brig for now. Do a lot of Ranger archers wear Chain if they don't hide even with the spell hindrance? How high in Chain class do archer rangers normally go?

If you start using Major Bane and Major Protection regularly, or converting stamina to mana to use Spike Thorn more often, you'll want more stamina, I think, but that might be a ways off. Your brig is pretty great, but a good set of 7x chain would do more to protect you than the 8x dcp brig ever will, so I'd still go for the chain armor. Most rangers in chain stop at augmented chain; personally, I prefer hauberk.



Lets say I go ahead and try Sniping. Will I have more success hitting eyes from hidden? He could fit in 2x S/H and pick up 29 ranks Ambush right now. Think that would allow him to hit the hard targets now?


That's a tough question. All else being equal, success from the open is based only on perception, and from hiding it's based on perception and ambush. I *think* it's probably weighted to 2x perception/1x ambush for good success at level, which would be equal to 2x perception from the open. So, if you could 2x ambush, you'd have a slight advantage with aiming from hiding -- if I'm right about the weighting.

More generally, though, I'd just suggest using 610 as a setup, then shooting things in the head or neck.



So, without a sighted bow, there isn't anything else one can do to be better at open aiming except more trains to up the perception? Besides the few spells that are mentioned in your guide?

Be unencumbered, be over the level of your target, and be unwounded -- again, anecdotal observation without data, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. I keep meaning to do some field tests on those factors.

[Herachio]

Okay, so I decided to try out sniping and see how much better at aiming he is. He now has 2x S/H and 1x Ambush and while I havne't really tested out sniping I would swear that he is now hitting the head way more often from the open than he was before I added these skills.

Is everyone absolutly sure that Ambush does not help with open aiming?

Oh, getting to keep the +30 Camouflage bonus for multiple shots is good reason to get S/H. Although, I didn't test it before I had the S/H skill so I'm not sure how many shots I would have stayed hidden before.

[neimanz1]

you could probably stay hidden 70 to 80 percent of the time. But of course it depends on what you hunting