Initial Ranger reactions to 11.2

[Brimstone]

I JUST got to A2 Cruel, so I'm no help either. I've pretty much given up on Evasion, even after the reworking of the tree; the all-or-nothing nature ends up nothing too often for my liking.

http://goo.gl/fIWKgT That's more-or-less where I'm going now, as a SWAG at the tree in the last four or five minutes. It's a work in progress, to say the least.

[shoju]

Level 60, Oak is Dead, Last Quest in A2 to do. I now have 7 Frenzy Charges. I'm very pleased. I didn't die to Oak, but it took 8 + minutes, and my totem and bear traps did most of the work while I just ran around like an idiot. I can't stand toe to toe with Oak. It makes me a little nervous about the vaal fight to be honest.

[Frag]

Why? Overlord is ridiculously easy to kite, only issue with the fight is if you can't handle 3-5 shots from the adds coming up or are so low on HP that you can't take a sudden rockfall. Every single other object in that fight is quite easily telegraphed and I know you have the reflexes for it.

[shoju]

If I take a single hit from Vaal, I'm dead. The adds are easy.

The big problem will just be getting enough time set aside so that I can take the time to do it. Because at this point, I'm probably looking at a 30 minute fight with the way I'm going to have to kite.

[shoju]

Just going to put it out there.

As a Frenzy Ranger, I much prefer something slower than a Thicket Bow. Even at the same "DPS", it comes back to DPM, and while giggling maniacally at the prospect of attack every .28 seconds as opposed to every .41 seconds, my mana pool likes the slower bow. The Leeching works better with the slower.

[shoju]

So, if anyone has chaos orbs in anarchy, I will gladly buy them from you with whatever I have.

I got a sweet 5 link to drop, and now I'm going to try and roll it from the garbage stats it has now, into something respectable.

[shoju]

I might not continue to dump orbs on this 5L. I've dropped 20 Chaos Orbs on it, and I can't seem to get anything "good" out of it, while selling some things at stupidly low prices to get more Chaos Orbs.

I think I'm just going to cut my losses, and try to sell it. Looking over my inventory of gems, there isn't really a "Game Changer" to add to a 5L that I have at this point anyway.

plus, I just found a 6S / 5L ES Chest as well, so I'm probably going to update my store with those. I'm still cruising along. Just hit 62. I'm planning on making the run through the pyramid to Vaal next time I play. That will get me into A3 Merc, where I can farm farm farm farm farm farm farm farm farm to try and get my resistances to a point where I can take on Piety. I'm hovering in the 40's on Fire and Cold, yet I'm WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY over (20-30% over) on my Lightning Resistance) I just can't seem to make much headway in crafting gear.

I also picked up a couple of new Uniques. I picked up a Quill Rain, which, if I'm reading correctly, would be pretty freaking awesome for an EK build, or for some sort of Elemental Bow type thing, where you get all your damage from auras? I don't quite understand how it works. but it looks cool. At this point, I've got a lot of low level uniques, I could probably put together some sort of elemental templar.

Juding from the gear that I have, I could go EK with the bow, and Doedre's Tenure, Or I could go all "elemental" and use

Ondar's Clasp,
Blackheart,
Quill Rain
Honourhome

And work on getting gear that adds elemental damage, for something... Rain of Arrows / Split Arrow type deal?

Anyway, back on the topic of my Ranger:
This is my current gear I'm pretty pleased with it. I'm just not sure that I'm "OMG THIS IS AMAZING STUFF", especially considering that I need to get more Cold & Fire Resistance, and at some point, I would REALLY like to wear the Blood Dance Boots I found.

[shoju]

I'm... deflated after Vaal. I think there is either a bug with the adds + Ondar's Guile, or the Shadow Minions are in fact casting spells as opposed to firing a projectile.

I got OBLITERATED over, and over, and over, and over, on the spawn of the adds, because even though Ondar's Guile should push me over the 95% Evasion Cap VS Projectiles, they were DESTROYING me in the first volley.

As I have continuously said. I hate that fight. Fuck that Fight. It's the worst fight in the game.

Pardon my crudeness. I just can't accurately express my displeasure with that encounter with out it.

[Chesspiece_face]

I got OBLITERATED over, and over, and over, and over, on the spawn of the adds, because even though Ondar's Guile should push me over the 95% Evasion Cap VS Projectiles, they were DESTROYING me in the first volley.

I'm not sure how they measure Spell vs. Projectile but I do know that the damage from those attacks are Chaos, so by default you are going to take more damage from them than others.

Having experienced them as pure evasion and after switching to CI-ES/Evasion I have a feeling that their attack counts as both Projectile and Spell. After switching to CI almost all of the damage from those attacks is nullified but I still take very minor damage from each hit leading me to believe that the tiny portion that is physical may count as a Projectile and may then be evaded, but the other large portion of the damage that is Chaos counts as a Spell and thus is not evaded.

[shoju]

Level 63, and things are going swimmingly. I just finished rescuing tolman, and I have the first two busts. I'm back into acrobatics. I have the first node, and the first "upgrade". I figure I'm going to round those out, and then decide if I need more life, or more DPS.

I feel like my DPS is starting to lag a bit. I'm putting out ~1600 DPS when I'm "Wound" up (Full Frenzy Charges), though I'm not sure how much my curse is helping me. I'd really like to find a Temporal Chains Curse to mess with at times, since Proj Weakness is very Offensive, and I'd like to have the option of a Defensive Curse as well.

I figure once I get to the docks, I'm going to spend a fair amount of time farming there, and then farming the Catacombs before I take on Piety. I REALLY need to find a way to cap out my resists prior to taking her on.

[shoju]

Well, I tried to start a conversation in the Ranger Forum, but alas, I didn't get anyone to start talking. So I figure I will see if I can get some conversation going here.

10 Things I've learned about the Ranger Since the Life Change, and Tree Overhaul.

I've taken the time in Anarchy to play around with the Ranger, a class I'd not really played in depth prior to the release of Anarchy. I haven't really collected my thoughts, but I figure I will drop my observations here.

I started out as an Evasion Ranger, Hit Cruel, Hated it, went armor. After the Evasion Changes, and the free Respec, I've gone back to Evasion, I'm into Merciless, and things are going pretty well.

Some things I've learned along the way:

• When Playing with Mana instead of Blood Magic, The Thicket Bow is just not the bow to use for this build. I use both Life Leech, and Mana Leech linked to Frenzy, and the Thicket was leaving me OOM. When I switched over to a slower bow, of similar DPS, I found that I'm ready to ditch a Mana Flask, because I don't need as many anymore.
  
  The mechanics behind the reasoning are simple. Fast Bow = More Casts per second to achieve the DPS = More Mana Cost on an already high cost skill. Slower Bow, with comparable DPS = Less Casts per second = Less Mana spent = Higher damage per hit = More Mana Leeched per cast.
  

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• This is personal preference I'm sure, but Rain of Arrows w/ 7 Frenzy Charges is the Best AoE Bow DPS for me.
  Rain of Arrows is just a fun skill IMO. I played a Hunter in WoW as an alt, and It reminds me a lot of Volley. coupled with Mana & Life Leech, rounding up a good group of mobs is also a great way to get topped back off, and fill up the flasks.
  

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• Blind is a much better support gem than I ever gave it credit for when looking at it.
  I was struggling pre-ranger changes with groups of mobs. My Evasion was low, and I was folding quickly. Then I picked up a blind support, and tossed it on RoA to see if there was a noticable difference on damage intake.
  
  Turns out? There is. I love it.
  

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• Lightning Arrow, while not supported by my build, is a great totem to get enemies to peel off of you. I recently encountered the Molten Giant in Crematorium + an Exile (the ice shot? ranger). LA Totem was able to keep Hateheat (is that his name?) at bay while I dropped the Exile. I'd recast it around the room to keep him chasing. By the time I was done with the Exile, He was around 40% health. I was REALLY surprised by the damage efficiency. After that, i'm pretty sold on using it as a ranged distraction. I've thought about linking a Blind Gem to it as well to improve it's survivabilty.
  

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• Ondar's Guile is a must. after the Respec, I forgot to grab this skill. I don't know why, I'll blame it on my age. My old addled mind just forgot. The difference with, and without it, is night and day.
  

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• The Armor / ES reduction on Acrobatics doesn't make me anymore inclined to use non EVA gear. I still have the chest I was wearing Pre-Ranger changes (when I was still going Armor). I love the chest, but I'm actively pursuing something better. The 50% penalty means I'm just looking at it, and not happy with it, as opposed to not putting it on.
  

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• I wish that there would have been some resistances added in the Ranger area during the changes. Here I am, mid 60's (I know, not impressive), and my resistances are still lagging behind. Part of that, is because I apparently have angered GGG, and cannot roll good upgrades. The other part of that, is that I might be expecting a lot after playing Templar's and Witches, and being pleased with the Ele Resists that they are able to pick up along the way in their passive tree.
  
  It would have been nice to have something comparable in the Ranger Area. I think even the Marauder Passives have been resists than Rangers, and there's are lagging behind the Witches and Templars.
  
  In actuality, it's probably because, previously, I would have just strapped on a pair of Prismatic Rings, and been close enough to Resist cap that I wouldn't feel this "weird" about my resists.
  

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• I still feel like there is an overemphasis on life nodes. It might be my unfamiliarity with ARPG's (this is my first), but I still feel like I am going to end up finishing off the Acrobatics area, and going to get more life nodes instead of investing in more DPS (which is what I feel I "need") the changes to the Ranger Tree helped, but I'm still staring at 7 Life Nodes that I'll probably end up picking up, because I need more health.
  

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• I wish that the game had a better way to tell me what monsters are shooting projectiles, and what monsters are casting spells, so that I know when I can stand my ground, and let my (capped) Ondar's Guile evasion help me, and when I need to run for the hills because ZOMGTHEREAREALOTOFSPELLSCOMINGATME. Case in point: The adds on the Vaal Oversoul fight. I was convinced that Ondar's Guile wasn't working. Come to find out, those are spells being cast, not projectiles being spit at me.
  

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• I wish that Quiver types "meant more". As it is currently, I keep quivers, and ID / Roll them based on Ilvl, not because the static mod means anything to me. I value Light Quivers more, because the Dex is added Evasion, and Added Accuracy, but past that, I don't care much. Belt types are more interesting than Quiver types at this point. (At least to me)
  

So, with the 10 things I've Learned, I'll leave you with 2 things, that you can mock and ridicule me about in true 'interwebz' fashion.

1.) My Build. It's really a "homemade" type thing. If other people are running something close to this, it's purely by accident that I'm close to them.

This is where I will be when I get to Piety

This is where I plan to be after killing Piety, in the early 80's

2.) My Gear
It's "ok"

I'm still weighing cutting a Mana Flask. I will probably give it a shot when I get to the docks, and mess with some other flasks that I have stored up. I have a pretty sweet Movement Speed Flask, I'll probably try first.

[MonTy]

Well, I tried to start a conversation in the Ranger Forum, but alas, I didn't get anyone to start talking. So I figure I will see if I can get some conversation going here.

Enjoyed reading your progression of this ranger. One of my favorite things to do in PoE is read through custom build threads and their trials while progressing. I feel like you've come to a decent conclusion and place with your Archer, although without better gear you'll have a hard time progressing past lvl 70 maps. Nothing wrong with that, not every character is made to get to absolute end game.

Rain of Arrows is indeed incredible. Being able to snipe your targets, namely necromancers, is invaluable compared to the spray and pray tactic of Lightning Arrow. If you use Conc Effect or Point Blank, the single target DPS is also quite good.

I've come the opposite direction. After a lot of failed custom builds, I'm in the mood to progress to higher end map play with a tried and true strong build. I've been following a cookie cutter lightning arrow / life build, and I've flown through the game. Went from lvl 1 to 66 in two days, under 20 hours, and Lunaris farming is getting me XP quick. Here's the build link.

I traded down my Onslaught currency, which is like six to one, so I was able to purchase a Lioneye's Glare and gave him my retired 83 leap slammer, so my gear is very strong for early map content.

The problem I have, and sorry to sidetrack this into a post about my ranger, is that I don't foresee myself getting much higher DPS unless I go Auras. But then I need to get two six links, alpha's howl, and use Blood Magic to socket my other spells. Crazy to think of how much I've progressed, yet I still have a ways to go. Two six links?!?!? :P

Anyhow, keep us posted on your Ranger.

[Brimstone]

Why not take that 6%-to-all resist node over near Beef?

I've followed a similar path to yours - evasion, armor, and back to evasion; with Iron Reflexes 4 nodes away, it was a cheap-ish experiment, but after the nerf it just wasn't worth giving up Ondar's. At 51, I'm sitting here and headed somewhere around here, give or take a node. Depending on how my life totals feel when I get there, I may run up to the Evasion node behind the Ranger start area instead of the life node with Thick Skin.

I've been mostly using added cold damage-culling strike-frenzy and split arrow-mana leech-[rotating cast of characters], mostly because I can't roll a decent 4l or better to save my arse. I do run RoA (with Blind and Faster Attacks linked right now), but to be honest I mostly use it to pop totems, necromancer types and pots/baskets/whatever. I keep forgetting the awesomeness that is Projectile Weakness; that is, until I run up against a curse-immune mob and wonder why it takes so long to die! I wish I could handle running more auras, but for now Grace will have to do. I have run a BM'd Anger/Wrath or Haste, but right now I don't have the links for it, plus I kind of enjoy the full-life speed boost I'm getting from Daresso's Salute. (Even without the boost, I'd be hard-pressed to replace the resistances.)

Still - still having fun. I just started A3 cruel and already am on the lookout for some gear upgrades - as if there was ever a different state of being in a game like this. I really, REALLY need to track down some 4L or better gear soon; I've been carrying around a number of support gems in my "spare" unlinked slots that would really help out.

[shoju]

Well Thanks

I have to say, that this ranger has been far more of a project than I thought it would be when I started. I really thought for a bit that I was going to give up on it. The Ranger Tree Revamp has been a MAJOR life improvement for people playing non conventional builds. There are still those moments where I wish I were playing something more conventional, but This has been an odyssey for sure.

I am definitely hoping that I can progress to a point where I can see "how far" I can get before Anarchy ends, and I'm thrust down to Standard. Anarchy may be "easy", but not having access to some things has really made me a better player. No Onyx Amulets, No Prismatic Rings, has really altered my strategy on gearing and the passive tree. It's kept my dps lower in a couple of ways, and has impeded my progress gear wise as well. It's a nice challenege for someone like me.

In WoW, I knew loot tables, and drops better than anyone. Playing a game like this is really a change to my thinking, and has probably led to some of my frustration with the crafting / currency system. (which I still LOATHE). I try to be a min/maxer whenever I can, but this game is definitely a whole new ballgame for me.

I was hoping that it would satisfy my gaming urges, and it has. I'm still trying to get that same thrill I had in WoW from soloing content though. I think to find that though, I'm going to have to get a 2h'd Life Leeching Marauder into Maps, and get REALLY good with it.

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Why not take that 6%-to-all resist node over near Beef?

I've followed a similar path to yours - evasion, armor, and back to evasion; with Iron Reflexes 4 nodes away, it was a cheap-ish experiment, but after the nerf it just wasn't worth giving up Ondar's. At 51, I'm sitting here and headed somewhere around here, give or take a node. Depending on how my life totals feel when I get there, I may run up to the Evasion node behind the Ranger start area instead of the life node with Thick Skin.

I've been mostly using added cold damage-culling strike-frenzy and split arrow-mana leech-[rotating cast of characters], mostly because I can't roll a decent 4l or better to save my arse. I do run RoA (with Blind and Faster Attacks linked right now), but to be honest I mostly use it to pop totems, necromancer types and pots/baskets/whatever. I keep forgetting the awesomeness that is Projectile Weakness; that is, until I run up against a curse-immune mob and wonder why it takes so long to die! I wish I could handle running more auras, but for now Grace will have to do. I have run a BM'd Anger/Wrath or Haste, but right now I don't have the links for it, plus I kind of enjoy the full-life speed boost I'm getting from Daresso's Salute. (Even without the boost, I'd be hard-pressed to replace the resistances.)

Still - still having fun. I just started A3 cruel and already am on the lookout for some gear upgrades - as if there was ever a different state of being in a game like this. I really, REALLY need to track down some 4L or better gear soon; I've been carrying around a number of support gems in my "spare" unlinked slots that would really help out.

I have a very love/hate relationship with the resist nodes. 6%, just doesn't seem to blow my hair back enough to consider it worth it. Especially when comparing it to the Templar / Witch area resist passives that are just Better in any measurable way.

Here, have 10% ele damage, AND 10% Resist.
Here, have some resist, AND Armor, AND Energy Shield.
Oh... What? You use a shield? SWEET. HERE Have more Resist for just making that decision about how you want your character to work.
Here, have % increased damage in an Element, AND resists for that element as well.

IMO, if they really want to balance out the tree, and see higher numbers of Rangers in the Ladder (The Ladder Watch App shows that Ranger is the least represented class overall in Ladders, by a large margin), they still need to address this. Either by further nerfing the Resists in those areas OR (and my preferred method personally) Give more resist "grab bag" nodes in the other areas of the tree.

[shoju]

Dinged 64, Finished up the Gemling Queen, Have the WP's for Solaris, and The Docks.

My gear is really lagging. I'm going to spend the next 4 levels (at the very least) farming the docks, rooting, hoping, begging, praying, for new gear, or for enough orbs to drop that I can buy some upgrades.

I have 4 maps, and I thought about giving one a run, since I have the lab open. I'm.... just a little worried that I wont be able to do it.

[shoju]

I decided to try a map this morning. I figured it would give me a good bench test of where I am at 64, since that's about the time that I hit maps with my summoner.

I ran a Dunes Map. 50% larger, 20% more magic monsters. Well... like the wiki says, that doesn't mean much outdoors as far as size. It was noticeably bigger, but I didn't think it was that much bigger. And the Magic Monsters.... Well, I ended up with a couple of loads of blues, and a few rares. but nothing ZOMG>

As far as the gameplay, I think I did fairly well. I died 3 times, which isn't too swift. The first Death, was because I had a pack of Magic Mobs + 2 rares, And I failed to realize which one had the Phys Reflect Aura fast enough to not Rain of Arrows myself to death.

The other 2 deaths, were to the Blacksmith... I had never seen him heal back to full and start leap slamming before. (That makes me feel better about my summoner). He slammed me to death (1 was probably a slam -> Land -> Swing) But I was dead. And the other death to him was the oh so awesome Desync.

So.... What did I learn? Well.. I learned that I can do maps. I cleared the map, and moving forward, I know when I need to be more careful. It was a good step. I am going to wait to run anymore maps until I get a bit more gear, but I felt good going in and not getting the floor completely mopped with my corpse.

I'm also thinking about making a few changes to my build. Mind Drinker in the Shadow Area is calling my name. I think I could almost get to the point where I could go with 1 very nice Mana Flask if I could pick up Mind Drinker, and get my Mana Leech Gems the last couple of levels, and some Quality.

[shoju]

I got a Diamond Flask. I wasn't sure if anyone from here would be interested in it. I can't seem to get a good idea of what they are trading for to do anything with it.

I've also got a few 5L's in Anarchy for trade / give / whatever.

I'm now 65, and I'm at the same spot I was with my Summoner about this time. My gear is really starting to show it's age, and I'm just not seeing anything that's an upgrade. My chest is "ok", and my bow is "good"? (it's 193 DPS, so the next step will be a top end bow)

But, my resists are still lagging, and every level is killing my evasion. I've lost 5% evasion over the past few levels. So, between the loss in evasion (which surprisingly actually shows), and the lack of resists, sometimes, I'm just going SPLAT in the docks, and I did the Catacombs once, but because of how slow I had to go, it just wasn't worth the time to XP.

I could definitely use new gloves, Helmet, Quiver, Rings, and possibly a new neck. I'm not sure. It seems pretty good, but I'm unsure. My belt passes the sniff test, but it could also be improved.

I'll keep looking, and crafting, but at this point, I'm feeling a little frustrated

[shoju]

Hit 66, did some changing on the build, got my dps up about 500 more, and got my Resists almost maxed off of passives (was not happy to do that.) but I figure I can regret them away later, once I know that I have the resists from gear.

So, here I am, 66, sitting with resists, and a few maps. I'm thinking I'm going to head back to the catacombs, and see if I can farm up a few more maps, and get ready to make the final push to Gravicious (Who has been my second least fav fight in the game on the ranger, behind the always sucktastic Vaal), and then Piety.

This is the current build
Current Gear