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Introduction
So you want to be a ranger? Rangers are the most kickass class in 4E, so I am not surprised. As a ranger, you will be dishing out about twice the damage that everybody else is dishing out to single targets. In addition to really nailing the big baddies, you can also do a fairly good job with Area of Effect attacks, as well as debuffs that stun or immobilize your enemies. In this guide, I discuss various aspects of the Ranger class, as well as how to build a good ranger. I cover levels 1-20. Epic levels have fewer choices (just pick Demigod) so I don't treat them. Now that you have decided to play a Ranger, you need to decide what kind of Ranger you want to play. The two considerations are, what weapon do you want to use? and what will be your multiclass? But first, a short explanation...
Melee or Dual-wield: Your most important ability is Strength, and your secondaries are Wisdom and Dexterity. You can sacrifice a secondary for the purpose of multiclassing. You have the highest damage output of any character. Pick Two-Blade Fighting Style. I prefer Wisdom as a secondary stat, because more melee powers are based on Wisdom than Dexterity. However, you won't have any ranged capabilities if you do it. Your choice. If you do dump dexterity, consider taking the heavy armor feats. Archer: Your most important ability is Dexterity, and Wisdom is your secondary ability. Strength is irrelevant; dump it in favor of Constitution. If you want to go into an Archer class, pick Archer Fighting Style. But that's a really poor choice otherwise, and it won't help your Archery at all. So if you're planning to multiclass out of Ranger for Paragon, then use the Two-Blade Fighting Style. The Two-Blade Fighting Style gives a bonus feat, and the unique advantage of being able to use a Bastard Sword in each hand. The Archer Fighting Style gives a bonus feat. It's a no-brainer. There is a third style, which may get hard to swing at later levels: Hybrid: Your two primary stats are Strength and Dexterity, but you should have a reasonable Wisdom as well. Pick Two-Blade Fighting Style, unless you really want an Archer paragon class. This is really possible for the first few levels, because most of the powers are usable with melee as well as ranged weapons. However, you will soon have to start choosing powers that only work with bows, or only work with melee weapons. Still, it is a good choice because, even at level 30, you will be using lots of At-Will powers, and all of those are usable with either bows or melee.
Ability scores.
Your primary stats need to be as high as you can afford. If you're an Archer or Dual-wielder, an array like 18-13-13-10-10-8, 18-14-11-10-10-8 is what I would use. Another good array is 17-1414-10-10-8. If you're a hybrid, you should proably go with 16-16-13-11-10-8. The main rule of thumb is that you always dump three stats (if not four). You should not invest any points at all in your three dump stats. In other words, your three lowest stats should be 10-10-8, although in some cases a leftover point will give 11-10-8. At levels 4,8,14,18,24,28, you get to increase two of your stats by one point. You should always increase your primary stat(s). This means that if you're a hybrid, you're always increasing Strength and Dexterity. If you're not a hybrid, you should probably increase one of your secondaries.
Race.
Try to choose a race which will give +2 to your primary(ies) stat(s). Do not play a halfling. Archer: human, eladrin, elf. The elf is very good, with a +2 to dex and wis, and the reroll is amazing. Half of the monster races (MM276-279) have +2 to dex. Melee or Dual-wield: human, dragonborn. MM races are bugbear, minotaur, orc, longtooth shifter and warforged. Hybrid: if you are restricted to the Player's Handbook races, then you are out of luck. Pick one of human, eladrin, elf, dragonborn, and obviously either your Strength or Dexterity will not get a bonus. If you're allowed access to the MM races, consider the bugbear, with +2 to Str and Dex. Some particularly interesting choices in the MM: The bugbear and minotaur are allowed to use Large weapons. This means that your Large bastard sword or Large longbow will deal 1d12 damage instead of 1d10, which is is an average of one extra point of damage per [W]. The bugbear is perfect for hybrids, with +2 to Str and Dex. The longtooth shifter is the only race with +2 to Str and Wis. Consider that race if you're going to play a dual-wielding Ranger with Wisdom as your secondary, which is good for many of your
powers and for multiclassing into cleric. Its encounter ability (+2 damage and regeneration 2 when bloodied) is also one of the best combat abilities there is, comparable to or even better than getting a weapon one size bigger. It's also a race with a lot of flavor.
based, so if you're a melee ranger and have dumped dex, then this could be for you. The utility powers are all awesome, starting from level 2, you won't know what to take! If the attack powers didn't suck so hard, I would even say that it's worth Paragon multiclassing into this just so you get more utility wizard spells. The big problem is the implement, except that now you can't get a pactblade. If quick draw works for you, then great. If not, there would be just the perfect paragon path for you, the Wizard of the Spiral Tower (WotST). Unfortunately, there is no way of specializing in an implement, so technically, the Paragon feature "Corellon's Implement" is not accessible. If you can convince you DM to let you take that anyway, then go ahead. Put the longsword in your off-hand and slice away. In summary: the best multiclass choices are Cleric and Wizard. At paragon, the prime pick is a Ranger path, Pit Fighter or (for melee type only) Kensei. Secondary good picks are: a Cleric paragon path, Wizard of the Spiral Tower (subject to negotiation with your DM) or maybe even Wizard Paragon Multiclassing, which may help with the implement because you can then use Magic Missile instead of a bow, since MM counts as a ranged basic attack. This Ranger has Dex and Int as primary stats, which does not bode well for Fortitude defense.
Choosing Feats.
Just remember two things: 1) damage bonus is essentially multiplied by the number of attacks, and 2) bonuses to hit are essentially bonuses to damage, in the sense that they impact your expected damage just the same as damage bonuses do. With Feat and Powers, there is one omnipresent trap: situational abilities. For example, the Precise Hunter Ranger feat grants your allies a +1 attack bonus against a foe when you score a crit. This will be fairly uncommon (strictly speaking, 1/20th of your attacks) and is a minor bonus, and your friends will forget to apply it. Instead, take something that you use all the time. Heroic Must-have feats: Action Surge (Human), Dragonborn Frenzy (Dragonborn), Power Attack (if melee), Weapon Focus (+1 to damage, +2 at paragon, +3 at epic), Weapon Proficiency (Bastard, if needed). Good feats: Lethal Hunter (it only adds 1 damage per turn, not per attack), Two-Weapon Fighting (+1 damage to main weapon, at level 1 it's worth about half of Weapon Focus), TwoWeapon Defense, multiclass feats, elven precision (Elf), racial weapon training (e.g., Dwarven Weapon Training; remember that the +2 to damage does not stack with Weapon Focus). Consider Armor Proficiency if you dumped Int and Dex. Mediocre feats: Blade Opportunist, Combat Reflexes: your opportunity attacks will be basic attacks, without any iteration -- unless you take the Paragon feat Heavy Blade Opportunity to
deliver Twin Strikes instead of basic attacks; but this is an expensive situational combo. Special: If you're hybrid, or if you have an implement you keep switching in and out, think about Quick Draw. Paragon Must-have feats: Back to the Wall (melee, +1 melee attack, damage, AC), Blood Thirst (+2 to damage against bloodied foes). Good feats: Armor Specialization (Hide, or whatever you're using), Running Shot (Elf, if archer). No-brainers: The following feats should be taken by any class, this has nothing to do with Ranger: Fleet-Footed, and either Combat Anticipation or one or more of Great Fortitude, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes (these feats are not cumulative with Combat Anticipation!)
Careful Attack: IT'S A TRAP! You can calculate the expected damage from this as explained above, and you will see that the only situation where it is beneficial to use over Twin Strike is when you would hit only on a natural 20 for a critical, and even then, the difference is minor. If you would hit only on a 21, then twin strike is better. If you would hit on a 19 or lower, then twin strike is better. Encounter: Two-Fanged Strike is the best. 2x! 1[W]+Stat. +Wis if both attacks hit. Evasive strike is a smash with a move for 2[W]+Stat. AoE (melee): Dire Wolverine Strike 1[W]+Str. Daily: Sudden Strike (melee) is the best iterative: 1[W]+Str and 2[W]+Str, and weaken the enemy. For archers, the best is either the AoE Split the Tree (2 targets, ranged), 2[W]+Dex, or Hunter's Bear Trap (Smash, melee or ranged), 2[W]+Stat. Split the tree is interesting because it lets you use the better of two attack rolls against both targets, which is equivalent to a rather large bonus to hit. Level 3 encounter: Cut and Run and Thundertusk Boar Strike (2x 1[W]+Stat) are both good, with different cookies. The smash is Shadow Wasp Strike (2[W]+Str). Level 5 daily: Two-Wolf Pounce (melee) is the best, at 2[W]+Str, 1[W]+Str, plus a secondary attack on another target, 2[W]. Ranged only has two smashes that are 3[W]+Dex, half on miss, plus cookie. Level 7 encounter: Claws of the Griffon (melee) and Spikes of the Manticore (ranged) are each 2[W]+Stat, then 1[W]+Stat. AoE: Sweeping Whirlwind (melee), 1[W]+Str. Level 9 daily: Attacks on the Run OMGWTFBBQ! 2x 3[W]+Stat, half on a miss. What more do you want? If you really, really must, there's two AoE: Spray of Arrows (archer) and Swirling Leaves of Steel (melee), 2[W]+Stat. Level 13 encounter: Pinning Strike is 2x 1[W]+Stat and immobilizes target. For melee, there is also Armor Splinter and Knockdown Shot, 2x 1[W]+Str + cookie. Armor splinter combos well with Blade Cascade below, because it gives the opponent a penalty on AC. Level 15 daily: For melee, there is the famous Blade Cascade. You keep attacking until you miss, each time is 2[W]+Str. The expected damage for this, is the expected damage for a single hit (including the probability of a critical hit), times the expected number of hits. If the probability of missing is p, then the expected number of hits is (1/p)-1. So when the probability of missing is 25% or less, this power becomes very powerful. In other words, you should only use this power when you can hit your opponent on a 6 or higher. But when you are facing such a weak opponent, why should you use this power? So, the correct way to use this power is to maximize your probability to hit, by using every means at your disposal. If spending an action point gives you +4 to hit, then do it. If you've got power attack, turn it off. And of course, if you've got another ability that can help you hit your target, such as Armor Splinter (level 13 above), then use that first. If you have a Warlord ally, get him to give you a bonus. Finally, if you have an ability that lets you reroll an attack roll (Elf), then this is probably the best use for that ability. This last point is probably the most important, as it gives you an expected number of hits if (2/p)-1, i.e., a reroll can double the damage of this power. However, be careful. If you only hit half the time (e.g., on an 11 or higher), this power is mediocre. For archers, both Bleeding Wounds and Confounding Arrows, 3x 1[W]+Dex, plus a damage cookie, are good. Bleeding Wounds is half damage on a miss, and ongoing 5/10/15 depending on the number of times you hit. Confounding arrows stuns and dazes (dazes on a miss). Level 19 daily: Best is Cruel Cage of Steel (melee), 2[W]+Str, then 2[W]+Str, then 1[W]+Str, plus cookie, half on miss. Archers get Two-In-One Shot, 2x 2[W]+Dex, half on miss. AoE (melee) is Wounding Whirlwind, each target gets 2x 1[W]+Str, half on miss.
and make a Wizard. As you gain levels, you take more and more Dual-Wielding Ranger abilities, and at level 11, you either take a Ranger Paragon, or you Paragon Multiclass into Ranger. Paragon Multiclassing into ranger is uniquely good because it allows you to replace one of your lame dailies with Twin Strike, the best daily in the game. This is why Paragon Multiclassing from Ranger into (say) Wizard is not as big an improvement as Paragon Multiclassing from Wizard into Ranger, because the Wizard at-will powers are not as good as Twin Strike. But even for Fighters, Paladins, Warlords and Clerics, multiclassing into Ranger is often a good idea. Because primary stats don't line up, Warlocks have a harder time doing it, but even then it's worthwhile.