Ultimate DPS for raiding ranger?

[RaunII]

<p>I am building my ranger from the ground up for guild and open raids. I want to be the highest hitter, the highest parser,ect.  I am currently lvl 32 with the Agility line almost maxed out. from what I have been told the next line to work on is the INT line. I have been wearing crap gear and using AP4's untill i hit lvl 50+, at which time I will do the quest for the raincaller bow and upgrade my spells/gear.</p><p>What Ranger AA line should i go down? I know predator line is AGI/INT, but after i finish the pretador trees whats next? also, what do you parse with that line?</p><p>Does the int affect poisons so much that i should actually buy INT jewelry? is it worth compromising strenth?</p><p>When raiding do you ever go into the fray or do you stand back and use bow attacks only? </p><p>What spells need to be upgraded to master 1 first when i hit 50 and post lvl 50?</p><p>Is haste what i should be looking for most out of my stats?</p><p>Basically, how much do you parse and why do you parse that high/low?</p>

[eevviill0]

im also a lvl 32 ranger so i can only give you a few tips. during in and out of raiding you should be at a mark(5 meters or something)where you can melee attack and ranged. For max dps in ranger line i would say double and poisons lines. INT does affect poisons also.

[Merkad]

@ RaunII - I am not so sure your desire is feasible, certainly not easily. I truly believe Rangers have the necessary elements to be top dps (not top hitter, you cannot get around Decapitate and Manaburn), but you would not believe the amount of effort it takes to get there...or luck. Well, I will try to address your points, keep in ind, this is imo. I agree with maxing agi/int before the Ranger tree, while it is nice, I think the dps boost from the subclass tree is higher, especially seeing as how you won't have a good bow yet. The Rain Caller is just an "ok" bow for what you are talking about, it is an awesome bow for soloing, and a cheap bow for dueling. Sans your ancients teachings, there is no need to get any 50-56th master with the sole exception of Primal Agility (41% perma anti hate buff), and the ancient teachings are debatable, especially from a dps perspective with good gear. On the Ranger tree, just take the Double Attack line, the Extension line, and the Caustic Poison boost skill. The order does not matter much, you are low level so AAs should be coming fast. Personally, I took Double Attack first, but I really like the 15 second Focus Aim (our primary dps skill). Int affects poisons and spell based procs, get it , it is good. Str is better though, unless you are approaching the point of diminishing returns. I stand fairly close to the mob, but use archery primarily. Our melee skills are not things to neglect though. Intoxication only works off a melee attack, so I usually prep it to go with Mortal Reminder at the start before hitting ranged auto attack. Also, things like your Master Strikes are well worth investing in and using, I have 27 of the Lore and Legends done now, and for a zone like EH, quite a few can be used. While you may have some grand plan for what spells to acquire in what order, I think you will ultimately be driven by market rarity. Buy what you can when you can...better yet, join a guild where members give masters to other members for the betterment of the whole. And take Focus Aim M2 at 64th. Haste is better than dps imo, but since we buff haste a typical raiding Ranger will have 68 or more haste solo, so we normally go with +dps, which most of us only have 18 of. Ideally, you want both as high as possible, the problem usually is that Rangers get the needed weapons/ammo at a much later point in the game, after it has been long established that your assassin/brigand is a better dps group member, it ends up taking a bit of effort to change peoples' minds. I work second shift, so I am a late night replacement raider for my guild, sans the weekends. My last real raid was Sunday, the 3rd of March. After 1hour 52 minutes of combat time I had 1800dps (1799.25), I am typically my guilds top parser (certainly ext, can't beat Manaburn most of the time). I have the 5th best bow currently known (ASWB) and Bazkul for ammo, 89AAs (missing the caustic boost and 1 Honed Reflexes for dps). I am missing one regularly used master (Precise Shot). Off the top of my head, I can think of a half dozen things I could do to improve my dps, though some require things beyond my guilds current level. In short, I believe Rangers can be the best, but I can tell you that even where I stand, I have a long ways to go. Merkades, 70th Ranger. Siege, Najena.

[EQ2Magroo]

If you want to be the highest parser, then there are a bunch of factors to consider. 1. Stats - max out your AGI and INT lines in AA. Use equipment and potions to max out your STR. Don't worry so much about resists or WIS/STA if you're just raiding. For the Ranger AA line, you'll probably want to max out Rain of Arrows side of tree, the Focus Aim parts, and add some increase to Caustic poison (basically avoid pathfinding, evac line) 2. Poison - you must use the best poison you can. Caustic poison is great because it does all its damage up front, the DoT poisons may not get their full proc cycle in if the mob drops quick. You must also use a hate debuff poison, especially considering the caustic poison can jump you right up the hate list very quickly. A nice slow or defense debuff poison should finish off your selection. 3. Food - don't forget to use food with stats to increase your STR/INT too. Every little helps ! 4. AA/CA attacks - don't spam the CA attacks, try to time them in between your AA attacks. Can be difficult, but even doing something as simple as waiting a brief moment before firing off the next CA can increase the number of AA attacks you get off. 5. Get a bow with high damage output - The bigger the bow damage the better. Raincaller isn't great for this being around 400 I think. There are lots of bows in the 800 area, although they are hard to get. 6. Don't hang around waiting to attack ! - This can be tricky to judge, but I often see people not attacking when the tank has told people to go. This could be lag, but could also be not concentrating. When the call comes in, hit the Range AA skill, then start your attack sequences. You might want to prep Focus Fire first, but I often wait for the first AA to go off before hitting it, as you don't want a massive hit first off (may pull aggro). There is a careful balance here between starting quickly, and controlling the aggro. 7. Arrows - nearly forgot, use player made arrows ! I think general opinion is field point are best bet overall. 8. Masters - ah, I did forget this. Upgrade everything from 57 upwards to AD3 for sure, and get Focus Aim as your lvl 64 M2. After that, get masters as you can, but expect to pay a lot for them. Personally I won't pay more than 5PP for a master spell. I mean, 30PP for Hawk Dive ? Why would I bother ? Masters are the last little icing on top, but even with AD3s you should be pushing for the top places in your raid. If you're not, then Masters aren't going to magically jump you to the top. Having said all this, I usually get about 1,000 DPS in a raid and the only Fabled piece of gear I have is Raincaller. Once I get some decent equipment I would expect this to climb. For comparison, the other Rangers in raid come in with anything from 400-1000 DPS and most of them have much better gear than me. So you can see a lot depends on your AAs and the way you time your attacks.

[kielblade]

HI I'm a 70/100 Ranger. I'm also agree whis Magroo. But one you have forgoten.<img src="/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> It's importend to get the masterspell Prime Agility lvl 53. This is you permanent deagrro Buff A3=39% M1=41%(or 42%) the different isn't high but the 2 or 3% are well to get highst DPS whis out agrro. Gaeas 70 Ranger Draconis Extinctor  <a href="http://eq2-draconis.de/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2-draconis.de/</a> Innovation P.S. Strike hard not fast  <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  (look at Magroo's post Point "4" ) P.P.S. use /weapon to see you current delay to maneged your CA' and AA ase well

[LoreLady]

Load intoxication before the fight - mortal reminder - throw up ranged auto attack - focus aim - Unload. You will get 300 more dps this way.

[Domyr Farseeker]

<p>Some really good advice in this thread...I have to agree with pretty much everything said so far. </p><p>I'd like to add that if you really want to get the most out of your Ranger, play to your strengths. IMO, the 'big hit' isn't one of those strengths - Decap, Nova, Burn, etc. are going to disappoint you repeatedly if your watching for your Sniper Shot to top the parse. A nice crit and a poison proc from Rain of Arrows on a big group of mobs can occasionally get you some oohs-and-ahhs, but don't focus on the flash.</p><p>What we do really well is put out consistent, steady, power-efficient damage with relatively easily managed aggro. Since I've respec'd my AA's for raiding, I've consistently topped our zone-wide parses. I've had nights where I've only parsed at the top of a couple of individual encounters, but ended up way ahead of the pack in zone-wide damage at the end of the day. Don't worry too much about burst damage and big hits.</p><p>The bulk of our damage is going to come from ranged auto-attacks, caustic poison, and Quick Shot. Don't fight it - maximize it. A nice steady rhythm of CA's built around our ranged autoattacks and self-buffs will put out much more damage than frantic, spastic button-mashing. Learn which CA's provide the most punch without interrupting our auto ranged attack. If it takes long enough to cast that you miss a ranged AA, you should probly park it and use something else.</p><p>Maybe more than any other class, Rangers need to finesse game mechanics to maximize dps. It used to be proc mechanics, now it seems to be crit mechanics and bow damage. Look past the damage rating on your bows - max damage, delay and min/max ratios are more important than the displayed damage rating. Learn how those stats affect your autoattack damage, CA damage, poison procs, and crits. Work out your tactics to fit the bow your using. </p><p>Maximize your self-buffs through Masters and AA's, max your ranged crit AA's, and work toward extension and double-shot. Do whatever you can to maximize STR and INT through gear, adornments, potions, food, and group makup. Use the best poisons you can get at your level and crafted arrows. </p>

[Malchore]

<p>I think there is a distinction between "Be the best ranger I can be" and "Always win the parse".</p><p>Rangers are single-target.  Our AE abilities have long recast times; only now-and-then will we get big parse numbers because of AE.  Rogues have a big advantage because they have some nice AA abilities that push their AE skills.  And of course, the Sorcs and Summoners have their innate advantages as well.</p><p>I'm not raiding yet, but with all the heroic instances I do I rarely win the parse.  In fact, I'm behind quite a bit.  That's mostly because the guys I run with intentionly pull large groups of mobs at once and let their AE fly.  They have a lot of Blue AEs (any target in area), which means I have my one and only Blue AE, every 90 seconds.  No way I can compete and I have no choice but to have low DPS numbers, despite the fact I did a the majority of damage to the ONE target I was attacking.  I'm fortunate these guys understand the mechanics enough to know I'm single target and don't hold low parse numbers against me.</p><p>In raids, I assume is where we get some satisfaction against single x4 epics.</p>

[Mono]

<p>Raiding as a ranger can be hard work sometimes where u won't always top every parse u can do or get close in many circumstances. You'll benefit from a nice group i normally go Berzerker for str buff then dirge and illusionist i'd rather have the illusionist over the dirge if they have haste and also illusionary arm. ALso inqis for the dps we don't have a brusier : ( or i have a coercer either way.</p><p>Get parse it'll teach you how to raid effectively you'll see that auto damage does  alot of damage so try not to miss them avoid hitting focus and then using invis unless your using longblade and at the end cycle of focus aim. If you haven't get honed reflexes its a lvl 35 bloodlines spell will haste u coupled with killing instinct will give dps boost and haste so always a benefit. The rest comes with practise and really learning your class. Unfotunatly we're not a spam and parse kind of class. It requires a bit more than that. I have a seperate combat window just with my attacks in and i can always see when i've landed an auto attack. If i'm not critting as much i might change gear such as switching from fabled gear to kithicor gear with + 2% crit chance and also maybed using elixir of tactics. </p><p>Use poisons caustic is very good however i've been lucky enough that my guild dropped the reciepe from tender of seedlings and its 500 poison dmg every 6 seconds so can't wait to use that. Ammo well i have T8 if one drops from Deathtoll beg/steal/plunder your raid guild for it.</p><p>Don't ignore you're int so many peeps do. And lastly use potions to bump either str or int.. If you want to see your weapon stats then type</p><p>/weapon ... try playing around with your str and you'll see how much it effects it. And lastly is to get a good or high hitting bow Sarnak from hos or LBOC from Matron or Rigid from woushi or Star Darkened longbow... also theres that other bow Longbow of the Grove from the spirithoof in EM. But they really are a case of luck. </p><p>Best of luck stick with it.. i really enjoying raiding with my ranger i have other alts and love them for different reasons but raiding with a ranger is simple.. don't have to buff peeps just point and shoot and if u gank aggro on a huge crit (which will happen) run to the tank and hit elude works a treat..  : )</p><p>OH and get masters and the best gear you can,, although we must be one of the only classes i know who can do good dps in no gear at all rofl.</p>

[kielblade]

here for all Ranger /join butcherblock.worldranger There are many Ranger and if you have some Question there will be the anther too<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Mfg Gaeas 70Ranger Draconis Extinctor  <a href="http://eq2-draconis.de/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2-draconis.de/</a> Innovation

[RaunII]

<p>Thanks to everyone for the tips. I dont expect to be on the top of the parse all the time, but I do want to hit over 2k dps consistently. my current main is a lvl 70 zerker with only 63 AA points and has been topping our guilds raid parses with 1200ish on single targets and 2500ish on group mobs. I figure if I can get a zerker to do that with only a fury in his group to buff him, with the right group set up and the right set up on my ranger those numbers should be easy to beat.</p><p>thanks again for the help, Roen of Blackburrow</p>

[Nak]

<cite>RaunII wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Thanks to everyone for the tips. I dont expect to be on the top of the parse all the time, but I do want to hit over 2k dps consistently. my current main is a lvl 70 zerker with only 63 AA points and has been topping our guilds raid parses with 1200ish on single targets and 2500ish on group mobs. I figure if I can get a zerker to do that with only a fury in his group to buff him, with the right group set up and the right set up on my ranger those numbers should be easy to beat.</p></blockquote>your raid has some l33t dps

[RaunII]

<p>actually our guilds dps bites the big one, my zerker is on top parse followed by a fury that parses 1k-2k...the rest parse like 700...one of the necros sometimes breaks 1k but not often,lol.</p><p> I am hoping to hit at least 2k on singles...the only way my zerker hits 2500 is with open wounds on group raid mobs like the green gardener or the epic x4 in gates...his solo dps is around 1k-1.5k, i am hoping to easily beat that with my ranger. i hear a ranger is alot more usefull on single mobs and on raids in general, all my zerker can do is off tank and dps, he doesnt have any really good buffs and no debuffs.</p><p>one last question. should i go down the double attack line on the ranger tree first or should i go down predator tree int line for poison procs? the enhance flaming shot tree is looking very tempting.</p>

[AfflictedOne]

<cite>RaunII wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>actually our guilds dps bites the big one, my zerker is on top parse followed by a fury that parses 1k-2k...the rest parse like 700...one of the necros sometimes breaks 1k but not often,lol.</p><p> I am hoping to hit at least 2k on singles...the only way my zerker hits 2500 is with open wounds on group raid mobs like the green gardener or the epic x4 in gates...his solo dps is around 1k-1.5k, i am hoping to easily beat that with my ranger. i hear a ranger is alot more usefull on single mobs and on raids in general, all my zerker can do is off tank and dps, he doesnt have any really good buffs and no debuffs.</p><p>one last question. should i go down the double attack line on the ranger tree first or should i go down predator tree int line for poison procs? the enhance flaming shot tree is looking very tempting.</p></blockquote><p>Well basically what people have already said is the best dps AA setup for a ranger.  But from looking at the numbers you posted about your guilds dps.... I don't think you'll see 2K dps from your ranger but on very rare occasions.  Those numbers to me say that there are little to no debuffs on the mobs that your guild is fighting.  And without really good debuff chains it's doubtful that a ranger will top 2K with anything but the best equipment.  Debuffs really are that important.  Even with good debuffing a ranger requires some of the best equipment to hit really high numbers.  Since at least 50% (usually 60%+ with top end rangers) dps comes from autoattack damage a bow is very important and the good ones are very hard to come by.  Most other scout/mage classes don't have to worry about equipment as much in my experience.  Not the mention that it's usually easier to get for them. Rangers also need very specific groupings to get said dps.</p><p>As for your zerker not having any good buffs.  Well they are one of the best group buffers for melee dps groups.  You have haste/dps proc and 120ish strength which is huge. Also they can be incredible OT's which is very important on most of the newer raids.</p><p>As for the int/double attack question.  Go for the int first in my opinion cause poison procs should happen way more than you use the combat arts from the double attack line.</p><p>Also don't take this post the wrong way... I'm not downing rangers.  Just think someone needs to be straight up about the fact that for rangers to top the parses and hit the big numbers you see people talking about takes a very long time commitment... it doesn't happen overnight. </p>

[Pezz]

<p>I currectly switched over to become a ranger. So I still have a lot to learn about the make of the dps on the ranger. You all put out a lot of awesome info on how to up your dps but I do have some questions. </p><p>Why are we doing the int line instead of the str line?     Is it so are poison will crit, i don't know. I know the int line is awesome for the Assassins. Also is all are int we add for the poison dam from the Caustic poison.</p><p>Are the parses from raids or from reg mobs?</p><p>I can't even make the parse and if I do I'm at the bottom. Top ten on the parse hits about 1.5k+ dps </p><p>In eof raids I get 800 to 1200 dps and spike around 1.5k. <-- ya bottom of the parse</p><p>We only show top 10 on parse.</p><p>I have a 70 swash and had an 70 assassin until I switched and i didn't have to work at all to get on the parse and hit the top 3 spots but [I cannot control my vocabulary] I'm sweating my [I cannot control my vocabulary] off just to get the little dps I have and not even make parse. I will be trying what all of you said and hopefully that helps me a lot. </p><p>Now don't shoot me down to bad now. </p><p>PS Why can't we get are sniper shot instant cast like decap??? :} Oh ya one more thing even with the agi maxed I seems that I still cast slow as hell, well that's how it feel to me.</p>

[Taubin]

Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote><p>Oh ya one more thing even with the agi maxed I seems that I still cast slow as hell, well that's how it feel to me.</p></blockquote>Stupid question time, please don't call me a n00b too badly...  Does AGI affect our casting speed?  And, if so, how much?  I might have to get my agi higher (currently 513/346 STR/AGI self buffed).  Oh, and secondly, what was the point of diminishing returns? (number wise at 70)  Thanks

[Pezz]

Taubin@Everfrost wrote: <blockquote>Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote><p>Oh ya one more thing even with the agi maxed I seems that I still cast slow as hell, well that's how it feel to me.</p></blockquote>Stupid question time, please don't call me a n00b too badly...  Does AGI affect our casting speed?  And, if so, how much?  I might have to get my agi higher (currently 513/346 STR/AGI self buffed).  Oh, and secondly, what was the point of diminishing returns? (number wise at 70)  Thanks </blockquote> i meant the agi aa line

[Prandtl]

<p>Most rangers have found that the AGI and INT lines have the best return on predator AA's.  The STR line has some nice skills, but it is geared more towards a melee'er.  The agility line has poise at the end.  The 35% reduction in cast times really help.  </p><p>As far as maxing DPS goes, several other thread offer good advice.  The lions share of our DPS comes from autoattack, so its wise to not chain cast CA's. If a CA is casting when an autoattack come up, it gets delayed or even skipped if too many CA's are stacked.  Also, use focus and our haste and DPS buffs regularly.  I try and time my focus with our brigands debuff.  In addidtion, try and get the best bow and arrows that you can.</p>

[Taubin]

Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote>Taubin@Everfrost wrote: <blockquote>Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote><p>Oh ya one more thing even with the agi maxed I seems that I still cast slow as hell, well that's how it feel to me.</p></blockquote>Stupid question time, please don't call me a n00b too badly...  Does AGI affect our casting speed?  And, if so, how much?  I might have to get my agi higher (currently 513/346 STR/AGI self buffed).  Oh, and secondly, what was the point of diminishing returns? (number wise at 70)  Thanks </blockquote> i meant the agi aa line</blockquote> Thanks for clarifying, I had a mental block lol this is the reason I shouldn't post when I've had no sleep  <img src="/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Pezz]

Taubin@Everfrost wrote: <blockquote>Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote>Taubin@Everfrost wrote: <blockquote>Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote><p>Oh ya one more thing even with the agi maxed I seems that I still cast slow as hell, well that's how it feel to me.</p></blockquote>Stupid question time, please don't call me a n00b too badly...  Does AGI affect our casting speed?  And, if so, how much?  I might have to get my agi higher (currently 513/346 STR/AGI self buffed).  Oh, and secondly, what was the point of diminishing returns? (number wise at 70)  Thanks </blockquote> i meant the agi aa line</blockquote> Thanks for clarifying, I had a mental block lol this is the reason I shouldn't post when I've had no sleep  <img src="/smilies/499fd50bc713bfcdf2ab5a23c00c2d62.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></blockquote>np i would of thought the samething

[LoreLady]

Pezz@Nagafen wrote: <blockquote><p>I currectly switched over to become a ranger. So I still have a lot to learn about the make of the dps on the ranger. You all put out a lot of awesome info on how to up your dps but I do have some questions. </p><p>Why are we doing the int line instead of the str line?     Is it so are poison will crit, i don't know. I know the int line is awesome for the Assassins. Also is all are int we add for the poison dam from the Caustic poison.</p><p>Are the parses from raids or from reg mobs?</p><p>I can't even make the parse and if I do I'm at the bottom. Top ten on the parse hits about 1.5k+ dps </p><p>In eof raids I get 800 to 1200 dps and spike around 1.5k. <-- ya bottom of the parse</p><p>We only show top 10 on parse.</p><p>I have a 70 swash and had an 70 assassin until I switched and i didn't have to work at all to get on the parse and hit the top 3 spots but [I cannot control my vocabulary] I'm sweating my [I cannot control my vocabulary] off just to get the little dps I have and not even make parse. I will be trying what all of you said and hopefully that helps me a lot. </p><p>Now don't shoot me down to bad now. </p><p>PS Why can't we get are sniper shot instant cast like decap??? :} Oh ya one more thing even with the agi maxed I seems that I still cast slow as hell, well that's how it feel to me.</p></blockquote>I sent ya a PM awhile back, I have helped several rangers + other classes get alot more dps out of there class.. Just send me a tell.

[redbarron]

<p>I took a differnt approach...i did STR/AGI and on the Ranger Tree maxed all of the Double Attack stuff.  Im also working on the 5% hit bonuse and will be putting the last few points in poison and the proc rate.</p><p>I also dont use DW weapons..while our MT is good at holding aggro..on the few times I take aggro having a good shield has saved my butt more times then id like to recall.   I use the 1H Claymore the Qeynos Kilij and the Shield of the Wite Dragon.  I belive with the shield it gives me a few extra seconds to cast my dehates.</p><p>I average around 1400dps and have spikes around 2300dps with a max at 2600dps on a 40sec fight and i dont a Fabled bow yet thats really great. . .But i do have the level 70 Ammo.</p><p> I think the biggest thing I do that changes my dps is between CA's I pause for 1 sec before casting.  When I do this i normaly get 28-30% just off my auto attack...and i only use Stream of Arrows only when i dont have alteast 3 CA's up, once 3+ are up i cancle it.</p><p>Also i really dont use the Stealth spell to go invis...I uase our attack to drop.</p><p>Just my 2cents</p><p>Bridgette 70 Ranger from the Bazaar server</p>

[Desrani]

<p>1-Handed and Shield vs Dual Weapons.</p><p> This is one thing I have been wondering about and have been seeing more and more raiding rangers with this setup. Well looking at the Rangers from the more devoted Raiding Guilds anyway.   </p><p>All the people who use te one handed I have seen are using the Qeynos Kili (Claymore reward), is this weapon better than Dual Weapons?</p><p>Going down Claymore now but was going to chose the DW to help with DPS, is this wrong?</p>

[Gareorn]

<p>I dual weild fabled daggars ATM mainly because of the str and int stats.  If I had a sword/board combo that did more for my DPS than my daggars, I'd definately use it.  And there are some really nice sword/board combos out there.  But since I only have my own inventory to work with, it's DW daggars for now.</p>

[Sham07]

If u check ur parses ull see that the bigges damage providers after auto attack are poison, quick shot and claymore proc (if u got kilij) -> all spell procs that crit like hell when ur int speced. The reason why u dont wanna use DWers instead of claymores is that melee autoattack just isnt necessary for your dps. If u use kilij and time ur melee CAs between your ranged AAs u dont lose autoattack damage but win the proc from the claymore which provides ~4% of my damage atm. This does require some skill but it definitely adds to your dps when used right. DWers with proc is a differend story thou. If they go off your bow like Maestros flame u might see some dps increase there as well with 2 procing DWers. Havent found those yet thou so cant say if theyr > claymore.

[EQ2Magroo]

<cite>Desrani wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>1-Handed and Shield vs Dual Weapons.</p><p> This is one thing I have been wondering about and have been seeing more and more raiding rangers with this setup. Well looking at the Rangers from the more devoted Raiding Guilds anyway.   </p><p>All the people who use te one handed I have seen are using the Qeynos Kili (Claymore reward), is this weapon better than Dual Weapons?</p><p>Going down Claymore now but was going to chose the DW to help with DPS, is this wrong?</p></blockquote>I think you're seeing more and more Rangers going to 1H + shield because in groups/raids our melee auto-attacks attacks are pretty much pointless. You only really need to be doing Ranged AA + Ranged CA + Melee CA. You might get a few melee AAs off, but a 1H weapon (i.e. a slow one) will work just as well as a pair of fast dual-wields. You also get the added bonus of perhaps living a bit longer if you grab aggro, which might be enough for the tank to get it back and you survive. My advice would be when grouping only select melee equipment based on stats and any nice procs, and ignore the speed/dps of the items. It's a bit trickier decision for soloing, and a lot depends on your play style and if you have any stun procs/poisons that will keep mob at ranged distance.

[Prandtl]

<cite>Desrani wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>1-Handed and Shield vs Dual Weapons.</p><p> This is one thing I have been wondering about and have been seeing more and more raiding rangers with this setup. Well looking at the Rangers from the more devoted Raiding Guilds anyway.   </p><p>All the people who use te one handed I have seen are using the Qeynos Kili (Claymore reward), is this weapon better than Dual Weapons?</p><p>Going down Claymore now but was going to chose the DW to help with DPS, is this wrong?</p></blockquote>They Qeynos Kilj is one of the few weapons that will proc off a bow attack.  I think the ___ psi from Feerot is another.  Just another source to eke out some dps

[kielblade]

ok AA Line: Agi and int is best for a raid Ranger. Agi has the cast-time redu. and rangedcrit Int has the spellcrit!! not only your poisen has a chance to get crit also all procs are has a chance to get crit thats the point to take int line. If you more a solo ranger take the str-line.(but if you will playe a solo char make a new one like shwashy ore sk/pala) Gaeas 70 Ranger Draconis Extinctor  <a href="http://eq2-draconis.de/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://eq2-draconis.de/</a> Innovation

[Garlicyesterday]

<p>1h claymore is probably 1 of the best weap u can have atm...well i havent seen other weapons procs dps on paper but as example...</p><p> i hadent played my ranger since eof came out, he is only at 55aa, went on a pick up raid last night, crappy treasure bow i use, was at around 400int, and the proc from kilij 1h claymore at the end = 12% of my total dmg ....(avg proc 1200-1800dmg)</p>

[Katsugen]

<p>If the Kilij proc wasn't borked then I can almost guarantee you most all rangers would be using DWs. Since SOE hasn't fixed it there are alot of ppl using it since it gives a huge proc to ranged atks. If you want the best dps and it doesn't bother you to use a questionable exploit that is the melee weapon for you. </p><p>And for those that will complain about my terminology, I define exploit as using a known bug that goes against designers intent, to better ones character.</p><p>And I'm sure those that complain about the terminology will now argue designer intent, and I know point you to the Kilij proc description and just about every other melee proc description. And if that is not conclusive enough I have been asking for conformation of this by a dev for sometime. No response as of yet, and don't bother trying to link me to the "proc guideline" that Archonix posted it's not accurate by any means.</p><p>-Katsugen</p>

[Starwindz]

if thats the case then there would be no reason to have the description "procs off successful attack" and "procs off successful melee attack" when they both mean the same thing

[Kradun]

<cite>Katsugen wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>If the Kilij proc wasn't borked then I can almost guarantee you most all rangers would be using DWs. Since SOE hasn't fixed it there are alot of ppl using it since it gives a huge proc to ranged atks. If you want the best dps and it doesn't bother you to use a questionable exploit that is the melee weapon for you. </p><p>And for those that will complain about my terminology, I define exploit as using a known bug that goes against designers intent, to better ones character.</p><p>And I'm sure those that complain about the terminology will now argue designer intent, and I know point you to the Kilij proc description and just about every other melee proc description. And if that is not conclusive enough I have been asking for conformation of this by a dev for sometime. No response as of yet, and don't bother trying to link me to the "proc guideline" that Archonix posted it's not accurate by any means.</p><p>-Katsugen</p></blockquote>He's not lying. Test it yourself. QFE

[TerriBlades]

<p>I for one would like to see this broken mechanic brought in line with all the other melee weapon procs out there. The fact there are only what? 2 maybe 3 (Kilij, Ice Forged Sais, and I think one more) melee weapons out there that proc from ranged should be a fairly good indicator that its not intended. I mean, if they are going to change procs across the board like they did, they it should be consistant. </p>

[Safana.]

There is already a thread about it, and although i have a kilij i think its a bug with this and with the ice forged sai cause the dmg is not the only part of the proc and therefore it procs of ranged by mistake.

[Sham07]

Good thought S. I think thats pretty much the reason why we see Kilij proc off ranged. I do not think that well ever get an official response on that. For me its pretty much like surveillance which was "tolerated" as long as it didnt interfer to much with the enviroment. By not making their intend clear the devs pretty much left the opportunity open for themselfes to nerf it when necessary... and watching back now to what we got the last months i think with EoF the surveillance nerf became necessary. I love my Kilij. I love it for the fact that a rangers unique playstyle is reflected in a unique gear setup with 1h & shield that provide to my dps. Standing in the sweet spot and time my ranged auto attacks but still benefit from the melee gear ive chosen adds something to the class that seperates us from rogues/assassins. Its not overpowerd. Its a nice bonus u can get an advantage from IF (and ONLY if) you know how to play the class.

[LoreLady]

Go ask a GM personally, they will give you an answer.. Its intended. Same with the birdie breaking stealth..

[Sham07]

Thats definitely good news. Thanks for sharing the inside info M. Still thou.... /tell from one player to another doesnt make it "official". It just proves that theyr not intending to change it at that point. The question has been asked many times and while the devs react realy fast in most things now they always seemed to dodge the answer in that matter. So Rothgar.... u using Kilij? What u think? ;P

[Hexus]

<p>Another thing that I have not seen, albeit I skimmed through the post:</p><p> With the new macro system, it is easier than ever to set yourself up to maximize your buffs.  If you want to be high in DPS you're going to have to work a bit for it.  Right now I'm parsing in the 1800-2.3k range in Freethinkers.  I do have the T8 ammo but I have not been fortunate enough to get the high end bows, I'm still using Torn Ligament Longbow because the [Removed for Content] in unrest won't drop the better legendary bow and Tarinax will NOT give us Bazkul for any amount of complaint.</p><p> First set up an INT macro, this is for when you are going to apply your poisons.  Find each piece of gear for each slot that has the most INT on it and set it to equip in your INT macro.  You may have to make 2 macros for this depending on how much backup gear you have and how much INT gear you have.  Make sure each slot has an item with + INT in it, even if it's as low as +5 int, it adds up when all your slots have something in it.  You will run this macro each time before you apply your poisons.  Poison damage is only based off of your intelligence when you FIRST APPLY the poison, it is not retroactive with your intelligence if it goes down afterwards.  This strategy also works if you want to throw on your Noxious AA ability right before the fight and use Noxious/DoT from range before you open up the RA's and auto-ranged.</p><p> Next make a STR Macro.  This is for when you are going to throw on Archer's Frenzy.  For some reason and through much testing, Archer's Frenzy DMG is based off of STR instead of INT.  If you throw up Archer's Frenzy with a bunch of INT buffs you're going to lose out on some big DPS.  Use the same format as you used on your INT macro.</p><p> The macros to equip all your gear basically take as long as it takes you to click the button for all the gear in the macro to be equipped.  Yes it's a lot of paging through and a lot of button clicking and it's easy to forget, but you DID SAY YOU WANTED TO MAXIMIZE YOUR DPS DIDN'T YOU??!?!?!</p><p> Last you make your Raiding Macro, where you equip all of your raid gear so you are ready for the fight.</p><p> I also use this method for my resist gear, I'm set up with a whole bar of macros that I can page to at any time to apply poisons, buff myself, and get ready for the next encounter in any given raid.</p><p>Something to think about, it's helped me add 3-400 dps in a matter of 1 day of making the macros.</p><p>Hexus Lupis</p><p>REALLY OLD Ranger (Beta EQ 1)</p><p>Valor - Kithicor</p>

[Shaulin Dolamite]

<p><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Is the macro system working peoperly now? When it went live I tried it but still was only doing the 1st and last step : (</span></p>

[EQ2Magroo]

Are you sure that's correct Hexus ? I've not checked yet, but this doesn't seem a sensible way for the system to work and screams exploit to me. Adding 400DPS"for free" is not trivial, and I'm suprised this is even possible. I usually have 700+ STR and 300+ INT when fighting, often more with a well balanced group, and as far as I'm concerned my damage should be based on what stats I have now, not what I had 2 hours ago. <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> If this really is an intended game mechanic then why aren't we taking it even further ? Let's get "buff groups" together where we can max out our skills before casting stuff like Archer's Frenzy and applying poisons ?  In fact, whilst I'm at it I might as well just go beat up some grey mobs and wait for my imbued ring of STR and my cloak to proc, which together with a potion should give me some crazy STR value and then recast Archer Frenzy. The good news is that I feel much better about my DPS numbers now. If everyone else except me is using this method to buff themselves then my DPS actually looks quite good now <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> EDIT: Just to say I've tested this as it definately makes a difference to the numbers displayed on your maintained spell icons. For example, with Archer's Frenzy, I get the following damage/STR numbers: STR 187, Dmg 369 STR 510, Dmg 458 STR 737, Dmg 497 STR 810, Dmg 503 As my STR is always at least 600 when soloing (without any spell procs) then I'm not too fussed, we're only talking small DPS numbers here, certainly less than 10 DPS (100 extra dmg x 6 procs/min) With regards to poisons and INT, I see the following number for my Grandmaster's Caustic Poison: INT 252, Dmg 759 INT 406, Dmg 839 INT 423, Dmg 847 This looks like a bit more useful, about 100 more dmg from the poison each time it hits. However, whilst there is definately an increase on the numbers on your maintaned spells window, and this persists even when you unequip everything,  I haven't actually parsed it yet to see if this is simply a display bug, or if the system really is "broken" in this way. I only play on PvE servers, the results may vary on PvP servers though. I won't be testing this any further, as I feel that if this is broken, then it's taking advantage of a broken game mechanic to get an advantage...hey, what do they call those ? EDIT2: It's been said before, but I'll say it again. Your equipment and stats can only take you so far with DPS. If you can't quite reach the heights everyone else is claiming, then it may be because your group makeup is not optimal. Always try to get a good STR buff and DPS/Haste buffs from group memebers. If you can get anything to reduce casting times, that will help too. Don't fixate on your actual DPS numbers either, depending on how they are calculated you get big variations. Just aim to be top on each parse, but don't sweat it if you get beaten by a wizzy or assassin now and again. At the end run a zone wide parse. If you're not in the top 2 or 3 then you need to look at what you are doing wrong, otherwise don't worry.

[Khorkina]

<cite>Hexus wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Another thing that I have not seen, albeit I skimmed through the post:</p><p> With the new macro system, it is easier than ever to set yourself up to maximize your buffs.  If you want to be high in DPS you're going to have to work a bit for it.  Right now I'm parsing in the 1800-2.3k range in Freethinkers.  I do have the T8 ammo but I have not been fortunate enough to get the high end bows, I'm still using Torn Ligament Longbow because the [I cannot control my vocabulary] in unrest won't drop the better legendary bow and Tarinax will NOT give us Bazkul for any amount of complaint.</p><p> First set up an INT macro, this is for when you are going to apply your poisons.  Find each piece of gear for each slot that has the most INT on it and set it to equip in your INT macro.  You may have to make 2 macros for this depending on how much backup gear you have and how much INT gear you have.  Make sure each slot has an item with + INT in it, even if it's as low as +5 int, it adds up when all your slots have something in it.  You will run this macro each time before you apply your poisons.  Poison damage is only based off of your intelligence when you FIRST APPLY the poison, it is not retroactive with your intelligence if it goes down afterwards.  This strategy also works if you want to throw on your Noxious AA ability right before the fight and use Noxious/DoT from range before you open up the RA's and auto-ranged.</p><p> Next make a STR Macro.  This is for when you are going to throw on Archer's Frenzy.  For some reason and through much testing, Archer's Frenzy DMG is based off of STR instead of INT.  If you throw up Archer's Frenzy with a bunch of INT buffs you're going to lose out on some big DPS.  Use the same format as you used on your INT macro.</p><p> The macros to equip all your gear basically take as long as it takes you to click the button for all the gear in the macro to be equipped.  Yes it's a lot of paging through and a lot of button clicking and it's easy to forget, but you DID SAY YOU WANTED TO MAXIMIZE YOUR DPS DIDN'T YOU??!?!?!</p><p> Last you make your Raiding Macro, where you equip all of your raid gear so you are ready for the fight.</p><p> I also use this method for my resist gear, I'm set up with a whole bar of macros that I can page to at any time to apply poisons, buff myself, and get ready for the next encounter in any given raid.</p><p>Something to think about, it's helped me add 3-400 dps in a matter of 1 day of making the macros.</p><p>Hexus Lupis</p><p>REALLY OLD Ranger (Beta EQ 1)</p><p>Valor - Kithicor</p></blockquote>Poison damage is NOT based on the int when you first apply it. Just give it a simple test, max your int and apply poison, strip off everything except bow, you'll see the actual poison damage is lower. For me it's 800+ with max int gear, then hit mob 500+ when i only equip bow. So does our offensive stance, i haven't checked Noxious AA tho... but i'm sure the damage of poison/offensive stance check your CURRENT int/str stats. Btw the best target to try this is those gray guards in your city, they have a lot hp and almost can't hit you. Just don't kill them or... dont kill too much :p

[Drodin]

<cite>Sham07 wrote:</cite><blockquote>For me its pretty much like surveillance which was "tolerated" as long as it didnt interfer to much with the enviroment. By not making their intend clear the devs pretty much left the opportunity open for themselfes to nerf it when necessary... and watching back now to what we got the last months i think with EoF the surveillance nerf became necessary. </blockquote> As I understand it, the "nerf" to surveillance came with a fix in pvp where it could be used to pull pets into combat or something along those lines.  Or at least thats the excuse they came up with....PVP ruins everything <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> About the Kilij, I could understand a nerf for it, but dont want to see it. If anything they could combine the damage and debuff into the combat art trigger and have it just go with that.   So many things (not just melee weapons) totally overlook the fact that melee for us is pointless, to a large extent anyways.  Mistmoore's Cloak is a great example, every type of crit except ranged =/  I think now there are probably enough things with ranged crit to be enough for just 1 class, but there are also some quest rewards that only offer melee crit and that pretty much sucks.  It might be nice to just have 2 kinds of crits, physical and spell, havent completely thought it through, but combine melee and ranged, then healing and damage spell.  Would totally screw up AA's, but It sucks asking for stuff to be tailored to benefit just one class, or obviously benefit one class so much more than any other.  I understand mages are seeing this type of imbalance too with some items but thats not really related lol.

[Star]

<cite>Khorkina wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Hexus wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Another thing that I have not seen, albeit I skimmed through the post:</p><p> With the new macro system, it is easier than ever to set yourself up to maximize your buffs.  If you want to be high in DPS you're going to have to work a bit for it.  Right now I'm parsing in the 1800-2.3k range in Freethinkers.  I do have the T8 ammo but I have not been fortunate enough to get the high end bows, I'm still using Torn Ligament Longbow because the [I cannot control my vocabulary] in unrest won't drop the better legendary bow and Tarinax will NOT give us Bazkul for any amount of complaint.</p><p> First set up an INT macro, this is for when you are going to apply your poisons.  Find each piece of gear for each slot that has the most INT on it and set it to equip in your INT macro.  You may have to make 2 macros for this depending on how much backup gear you have and how much INT gear you have.  Make sure each slot has an item with + INT in it, even if it's as low as +5 int, it adds up when all your slots have something in it.  You will run this macro each time before you apply your poisons.  Poison damage is only based off of your intelligence when you FIRST APPLY the poison, it is not retroactive with your intelligence if it goes down afterwards.  This strategy also works if you want to throw on your Noxious AA ability right before the fight and use Noxious/DoT from range before you open up the RA's and auto-ranged.</p><p> Next make a STR Macro.  This is for when you are going to throw on Archer's Frenzy.  For some reason and through much testing, Archer's Frenzy DMG is based off of STR instead of INT.  If you throw up Archer's Frenzy with a bunch of INT buffs you're going to lose out on some big DPS.  Use the same format as you used on your INT macro.</p><p> The macros to equip all your gear basically take as long as it takes you to click the button for all the gear in the macro to be equipped.  Yes it's a lot of paging through and a lot of button clicking and it's easy to forget, but you DID SAY YOU WANTED TO MAXIMIZE YOUR DPS DIDN'T YOU??!?!?!</p><p> Last you make your Raiding Macro, where you equip all of your raid gear so you are ready for the fight.</p><p> I also use this method for my resist gear, I'm set up with a whole bar of macros that I can page to at any time to apply poisons, buff myself, and get ready for the next encounter in any given raid.</p><p>Something to think about, it's helped me add 3-400 dps in a matter of 1 day of making the macros.</p><p>Hexus Lupis</p><p>REALLY OLD Ranger (Beta EQ 1)</p><p>Valor - Kithicor</p></blockquote>Poison damage is NOT based on the int when you first apply it. Just give it a simple test, max your int and apply poison, strip off everything except bow, you'll see the actual poison damage is lower. For me it's 800+ with max int gear, then hit mob 500+ when i only equip bow. So does our offensive stance, i haven't checked Noxious AA tho... but i'm sure the damage of poison/offensive stance check your CURRENT int/str stats. Btw the best target to try this is those gray guards in your city, they have a lot hp and almost can't hit you. Just don't kill them or... dont kill too much :p </blockquote>QFE It is *NOT* based on your stats when you apply it at all. I just did some testing.... Applied poisons with all my gear on then fought some mobs and saw what it hit for. I then took off every peice of gear I have with int and fought again and poisons were hitting for significantly less damage. The macros Hexus describes are pretty much pointless.