TWC training?

[Artha]

Can someone give me a decent TWC training plan? This is what I have now, but I get the feeling that it could be better. Granted, I have unrealistic stats because they're placed to get me levelling as quickly and easily as possible.

Current plan:
1x armor, PT, hiding, spells, HP, dodging
2x edged, ambush

[Edited on 10-9-2004 by Artha]

[Stunseed]

Maygog is the only prominent Ranger I know of who uses TWC as a viable form of combat. I don't even know if he plays, we were killing each other during Beta. He looked impressive.

[Psykos]

Originally posted by Artha
Can someone give me a decent TWC training plan? This is what I have now, but I get the feeling that it could be better. Granted, I have unrealistic stats because they're placed to get me levelling as quickly and easily as possible.

Current plan:
1x armor, PT, hiding, spells, HP, dodging
2x edged, ambush

[Edited on 10-9-2004 by Artha]

Drop ambush add mstrike.

[Artha]

Alright, I put ambush at 1x and MOC at 1x. I have a bunch of extra points but I'll find something to do with them, I'm sure.

[Psykos]

Originally posted by Artha
Alright, I put ambush at 1x and MOC at 1x. I have a bunch of extra points but I'll find something to do with them, I'm sure.

Ambush is pointless for TWC (At least I think so) I'd rather focus mstrike something for 12 hits than ambush it for two.

Psykos

[Artha]

You can't more than 1x MOC, and I had a bunch of points left over. I figure if I 1x I'll get the DS pushdown eventually and that + 608 will be pretty nasty.

[Psykos]

Originally posted by Artha
You can't more than 1x MOC, and I had a bunch of points left over. I figure if I 1x I'll get the DS pushdown eventually and that + 608 will be pretty nasty.

Oh this is a ranger, yea -- I'd 1x both.

[Artha]

The other option is having no ambush and 2x TWC.

[Drew]

I was just thinking about switching Chiv to TWC the other day, here's what I came up with:

Armor Use: 1x (till 27, or 30 if you think that's needed)
Edged: 2x
TWC: 1.8x
Combat Manuevers: .66x till 30, then 1x
Ambush: 1x
Dodging: None till 30, then 1x
Physical Fitness .85x till 30, then 1x
Climbing and Swimming: .66x
Stalking and Hiding: 2x
Perception: 1.25x
First Aid: .5x
Survival: 1x
Spells: At level thirty: 630 and 107 then 1x


I know that's relatively complicated, but that's ranger training for you, I also think that for someone without a shield both wall of thorns and blues are very important so I wanted to have both as soon as possible.

There's enough points there to be a good skinner. You can get dodging training later on in life, I'm positive before 30 it's completely unneeded for a ranger.

I put more perception in than most rangers get because, I think that you REALLY want to hit where you are aiming for with TWC, because you are less likely to stun than you are with THW.

Some options:

Less spells: Just 1xing in spells would give you some extra points, I still don't think that needs to go into dodge, the next thing I'd build up was extra ambush. Ideally I'd like to have 1.5x perception and 1.5x ambush, even 2x ambush if I could afford it.


No skinning: I'd probably put that into ambush again.





EDIT: If you want MOC, drop 4 ranks of those extra 100 spells and you can get 30 ranks of MOC (looking at it, for 30 ranks of multi-ops I'd probably drop those four spells and get a bunch of 107 imbeds). I'd have to play with it a bit, but I'm not sure how much multi-ops you'd actually use, I'd rather have two aimed shots at the eye or even the head then 4 unaimed shots, but once again, I'm not sure.

[Edited on 10-9-2004 by Drew]

[Psykos]

Drew's plan actually looks really good for a ranger.

[Artha]

(at level 5), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat..................| 54 11
Armor Use..........................| 30 6
Combat Maneuvers...................| 20 4
Edged Weapons......................| 66 14
Ambush.............................| 30 6
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 5 1
Physical Fitness...................| 25 5
Arcane Symbols.....................| 15 3
Magic Item Use.....................| 3 3
Harness Power......................| 30 6
Stalking and Hiding................| 58 12
Perception.........................| 45 9
Climbing...........................| 20 4
Swimming...........................| 20 4

Spell Lists
Ranger.............................| 6


That about right? I figure anything this character could skin, Aone could skin better and faster, so there's no real need for it. So instead of doing that, I got some AS and MIU.

[Drew]

My plan had enough points (at Chiv's stats) for 7 MIU I just forgot to mention that, so if you are doing something like what I suggested, you should be able to get that.

Arcane symbols is a waste for a young ranger IMHO, if you need any wizard/elemental spells imbedded just let me know.

[Maygog]

with fixit's coming try getting 8 or more trainings in dodge then you age . With that much dodge WOT and moblies (and a maxed dex stat) I was very.......dodgey?

TWC is a very TP taxing path...plus you lose skin quality in a big way. But I loved the toe to toe...stance dance way of it. Choose your weapons carefully.

Miss the game....hope ya all are having fun with 635

Maygog

[Czeska]

My ranger at 11 trains. She uses 2 longswords and can mstrike for 4 hits in 7 seconds. I love her.

Two Weapon Combat..................| 105 25
Armor Use..........................| 58 12
Combat Maneuvers...................| 54 11
Edged Weapons......................| 105 25
Multi Opponent Combat..............| 25 5
Physical Fitness...................| 54 11
Dodging............................| 54 11
Harness Power......................| 54 11
Spirit Mana Control................| 20 4
Survival...........................| 58 12
Perception.........................| 25 5
Climbing...........................| 35 7
Swimming...........................| 5 1

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit.......................| 1

Spell Lists
Ranger.............................| 11

[StrayRogue]

Rangers below 20 suck with TWC. However Kuaike has done it pretty well. She took Ambush and hiding, used daggers. Your DS will stink until you get some spells, better armor, and a defender weapon.

[Czeska]

I don't know, at 11 trains my ranger can solo hunt in Vereri. With spells, i've had her AS over 200 easy (no bards or clerics, just spells). I have no complaints, and I have no desire for hiding and ambushing, I'll stick with Camo on its own and use the tp's elsewhere.

[Lobster]

This was posted on the play.net rangers forum a couple of days ago:

I'm a TWC ranger that 1x in dodge and has plenty of MOC. Maybe I might be able to help...maybe.

(at level 45), your current skill bonuses and ranks (including all modifiers) are:
Skill Name | Current Current
| Bonus Ranks
Two Weapon Combat 194 94
Armor Use 111 27
Combat Maneuvers 142 42
Edged Weapons 194 94
Brawling 5 1
Ambush 90 20
Multi Opponent Combat 120 30
Physical Fitness 147 47
Dodging 142 42
Arcane Symbols 50 10
Harness Power 145 45
Survival 90 20
Stalking and Hiding 147 47
Perception 120 30
Climbing 50 10
Swimming 50 10
First Aid 40 8

Spell Lists
Minor Spirit 7

Spell Lists
Ranger 40

I've been hunting shan for the last 4 or so trains as a Two-Weapon OHE Mstriking Ranger and I haven't had much of a problem. I usually hunt self-cast with mass blurs and guards about 50% of the time, so its not like I'm spell tanking. The only times I die are when one warior disarms while another tackles me for 20+ seconds or when a shan ranger manages to spike me(usuall because I walk into a room and they already have it prepped and I get spiked again while in a long stun. I've probably died 5-6 times in the 4+ trains I've hunted there and been doing the TWC-mstriking thing.

I've actually looked at trying a Two-Handed weapon range, because the skill costs are cheaper than TWC with pretty much the same concept. All I do is drop a vine then feint(5 ranks) the critter...when the vine pulls the critter down I focused mstrike(if the feint was successful) or simply attack. Next I simply feint again and if that is successful I mstrike. If not I repeat. If something deadly(shan ranger) comes in I can either spike it or the other critter on the ground, which is usually badly injured. I'll either have 2 critter down, which is perfect for mstrike or 1 dead and the live one is getting pulled down by the vine.

I use other tactics as well, but when I'm not having much luck or have some bad injuries this process lets me hunt with little worry of death. Three come in and I think seriously about leaving.

The only difference between the Two-Handed path and the TWC one is mstriking with a Two-Handed weapon is you'll have longer RT than I do...I don't know how bad because I've never tried it. Focused mstrike with a Two-Handed weapon is something that I imagine does unbelievable damage if you catch the critter in the wrong stance...or laying on the ground vined.

You can do this easily as long as the focused mstrike isn't giving you insane RT. personally, I'm in love with focused mstrike and might eventuall go for 55 ranks for 3 focused strikes instead of the 3 I have now.

Good luck and I look forward to seeing the results if you try it.

PS. I'm not sure if this could be done as easily with a new character, but at 45 trains it was perfect for my FIXSKILLS.

-some ranger