Ranger Archive

I currently have 0/0/4/0 in Ranger, 3/3/2/4 in Creature handler, 0/0/3/1 in Pistoleer, and some medic skills ontop of that. Creature handler is a great profession, it lets me solo things if I don't feel like dealing with a group, and it's really fun to go out and tame babies using /track with my Ranger skills. I've been thinking about it for a long time, and my character, -Quint Flynn- IS really supposed to be a Ranger (As a character he is.) But I'm not sure if I should dump CH for it, or if I do, dump it now, or should I master CH first THEN dump it? (For holocron/FSCS unlocking purposes.)

I kind of want to take a Melee profession if I do take Ranger, but do Melee get that creature to hit bonus? I can only really afford the skill points to master one weapon profession like Rifleman, swordsman, or Pikeman. Or I could take a few trees from either of them.

I was thinking about mastering Rifleman, but how good is it? Would I be better off mastering Swordsman or Pikeman? or would I be better off taking half of Rifleman and half of Swordsman?

Mastering Ranger would be pretty easy if I started working on it while I was a CH, trapping would be a breeze, and I already got enough scout XP for 1 and 2 of wayfaring, I'm not really worried about mastering ranger.

So anyway, my whole question is, should I go for Master Ranger? if I do, what combat professions compliment it best? Thanks in ahead of time

-Quint Flynn- of Starsider.

If I were you I'd keep CH skills to some degree. I've seen guys go out and solo Rancors on Dathomir with Bounty Hunter Pistol skills, but this doesn't represent most people. At the very least, keep 1-1-0-0 CH. A Greater Sludge Panther on Dathomir is almost as effective as any other pet.
We don't really know if melee'ers get the creature to-hit bonus. This is one of the issues that NRaas has listed on his "State of the Profession" post.
I see more Rangers that have Rifleman skills than any other combat profession. I've read that with the concealment tactics that the profession gives you, you can solo nearly any creature without a pet and the creature will never even know you were there. I personally am an Expert Bounty Hunter because I like to do strong damage very quickly. But at a certain point it's all up to your own preference.
So for your final question: should you master Ranger? I would. I'm trying. It's great for doing what I like to do best: run out into the middle of nowhere and kill everything. And do it effectively.

Concealment is that good eh? holy ---- i'm going to love my original decision in becoming a ranger.

Heh i kinda like the message that "i'm being stalked by a rancor" or whatever animals, that's adding a whole new degree of excitement for me when maskscent breaks.

Did i mention that so far I love being a Ranger?

Right now I have Master Ranger, with BH and CH. I was orignally thinking of dumping CH and going with LLC4 from the BH line(Title of Avenger).....but since i like to solo, and i think pets are a great help to my soloing, i might keep CH 1-1-0-0 and BH 0-0-0-2. The LLC does more damage then my FWG or DX2 did when i was a pistoleer, so i find that i can solo more effectively.....and I can actually stand a fighting chance in PvP.

Keep in mind this just suits my style of play, and i bounce around from BH LLC to BH Pistol just for fun and a change of pace. There are alot more combinations that work out great as well. Im sure you will find alot of them on the forums, but the best way to find out if they work for you or not is to go out there and try em out for yourself. Find one that you are happy with and your all set. Take care and good hunting!

I would plan to keep 1/1/0/0 of CH as long as possible, but there will soon be a much needed nerf on CH dabblers that will prevent you from controlls strong creatures with the first few trees. I plan to dump CH once that kicks in.

My other question was, what weapon skills should I take? I'm mainly considering Rifleman or Swordsman.