Ranger Archive
Thread: Help wanted ... solo hunting
I hate to say it, but get a pet. With one, you can take on far tougher creatures than you can without one and you can use them to help with "crowd control."
I really hate to resort to pets, but that's what the game dictates.
mcglonec wrote:
I hate to say it, but get a pet. With one, you can take on far tougher creatures than you can without one and you can use them to help with "crowd control."
I really hate to resort to pets, but that's what the game dictates.
Agreed. However, with the eventual nerfing of Creature Handler "dabblers", it is a good thing to revist effective soloing.
I use a droid mostly these days. Just helps me refamiliarize myself with how combat works without a meat-sheild. I really do love my pets, but no matter how well I role play the scenario, it won't help me keep my pets once the devs swing the nerf bat yet again.
So where does that leave us? Well, Traps. Yea Traps! They really do work. Helped me solo a Mutant Baz NItch last night on Dath. How did I do it? Well, it wasn't easy, as well it wasn't aquick fight. Since I ama Pistoleer especially. My best range (10 - 20 meters) leaves me too close for comfort. However, when prone even at that distance, I get a good 4 to 5 rounds of combat done before they go nuts and see me. Once they did see me, Adhesive Mesh for a quick snare, and a Phen Dart to add to it. After those traps succeed, it's all about the specials. I have some med skills, and some really good Stim Bs. Truth be told, I could have not used the traps and just healed every third special, and I am usually good to go.
The key is finding the right damage for creatures, as well as being careful not to spam your combat queue so you can heal yourself.
It's also smart to choose your prey wisely.
Well...I tested out a few things last night on Yavin.
You can avoid pulling groups of social creatures using the following technique. Keep in mind,I have no unarmed exp.
Unequip Pistol (no mask scent or camo on). Run to 30mfrom the creature furthest out from the lair. Wait for it to detect you (?) - Ususally get the stalking message first. Move to about 20-25m from creature and wait for it toreally become aware of you(!). Back off to 30m and be ready to pull back further as it comes for you. Repeat until it comes away from the lair. Once I have the creature about55m outfrom lair or the nearest creature,I throw a snare trap and reequip the pistol.
Generally,I pull them as singles about 90% of the time with this method although sometimes it take a while to get them to come. This is also useful when in groups to pull single pull particularly large creatures from a group nest and avoid unnecessary casualties.
Drake_Khoren wrote:
Question: Have you guys (and girls) noticed an increase in the effectiveness (read: chance to hit) of your traps as you move up the ranger trapping tree?
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In my opinion, no. I have not noticed any difference in the effectiveness of my traps now that I am Master Ranger from when I first attained Master Scout. I have more traps to choose from but they still fail at the same rate they always have.
Question: Have you guys (and girls) noticed an increase in the effectiveness (read: chance to hit) of your traps as you move up the ranger trapping tree?
I used to solo all the time as I made my way to Novice Ranger but I've since taken the "easy" way out and taken CH skills as well, although I'm not a Mauler Handler - My panther (GSP) is my workhorse and I've been slowly working my way to handling two of them (1.4.1.4). I can drop a Kimo with one but I headed for two because I like to think of myself as a "big game hunter" and a second cat would make that far easier to achieve. The idea of two hunting cats at my side is in keeping with my vision of my character and I've actually spent a lot more SP's than if I'd chosen the mauler approach (which would have been far more effective, although having seen the initial list of changes I'm glad I didn't!)
However, that said - I'd like to master ranger one day and to do that something would have to go. With the upcoming changes it's possible that that something would be creature handling (and my much loved panthers!) although I'll be waiting to see what the practical implications actually are when the changes hit live.
In any event, I'd like to start making more use of my traps again and so again state my original question: Do you see a significant increase in the hit rate of your traps as you progress up the trapping tree in ranger?
Your input is appreciated.
Many thanks.
Zebri Kharan.
I would suggest you either master rifleman or master CH. I am a ranger with one slot left to go before master. I am also a Master CH which I started a while after starting my ranger skills tree. I just felt that both of these professions and their skills within them really work well with being a ranger. I happen to be a big animal lover so I decided to master CH as my third and final master. It is a very good fit. You are able to do some pretty tough hunting with nice variety of beasts to aid you, but with the cover and plus to shooting skills rifleman is not bad if you're really desire to play hard in PvP and not have to worry about controlling and keep your pets from getting killed.
Jolandir