Solace MUD Official Forum

A compellation of opinions and advice, useful for starting up a ranger and wondering what to do (opinions of players who wanted to share their knowledge):

1) Specializations

Delmor:
My honest advice is, specialize in flails. There are strong swords around the world, but less people are capable of using flails, which makes who ever can ise them better for damaging. Few can parry flails and you cannot use shield block does not work against flails and works worse against whips.

Geryon:
A ranger should choose flails. Eyejab, strip weapon and lash are crucial skills. And if you want to defend yourself - you always have your staff and stand off.

2) Affinities

Delmor:
Another advice, chose your affinity according to your roleplay... lots of people told me I should be bison cause his resistances plus mionotaurs resistances would make me overpower, but i chose bear because i imagined myself more offensive then defensive when I would be fighting. If you imagine yourself as a skilled hunter, perhaps you should be wolf or panther or even falcon(I do not know what falcon affinity does..) and if you imagine yourself as a resistant person that stands firmly where she wishes to defend, perhaps bison. These are just...well... one way of thinking.. I think your character will be much more fun and efficient if you know why he is the way he is. Why panther and not wolf? because one is stronger then the other... I do not believe in that, i think one has its utilities and other has its other utilities. I being bear gave quite more damage than other rangers of my rank... but one didn't have lag when camouflaging, other would be better in resisting...

Bear: Boosts strength, constitution, health, hitroll and damroll
Bison: Health, resistances, armor
Panther: Reflex Saves, camouflage with no lag
Wolf: Reflex Saves, Hitroll, and dexterity (slight chance of making a double amount of attacks per round)

Geryon:
A ranger can choose an animal to have an affinity with. Different affinities provide different powerups. Say, bison is more healthy and resisted against physical attacks, panther can move camouflaged etc.

ukka:
panther - camouflage without lag, creeping without skill, ambushing better.
bison - some resistances, health and probably saves.

3) Feats
*Balance, Toughness, Toughness
*Balance, Forester, Toughness
*Balance, Toughness, Uncanny Dodge

hawk affinity:
permanent fly (at least you can walk on water), infravision during night, will and reflex saves

What about feats? Which are best to take for a ranger? And which would best suite mobile, dexterous elf and which ones hulking, brute minotaur?

balance forester toughness
or
tougness forester toughness
for every race.

or
toughness forester uncanny dodge
for dex races

Actually it depends much on the style of playing, the clan you're going to join (if any) and affinity taken.

first circle - 'hide tracks' if you're going to visit hard exploration zones (edge, nether) often, also helps greatly against stalking. 'balance' to compensate for the lack of recovery. 'toughness' if you don't know what else to take, or really lack health.
second circle - 'blind fighting' for solo playing. 'forester' for more supportive-type characters.
third circle - 'animal companions' for charmie-oriented rangers. 'uncanny dodge' for high-dex guys. 'toughness' for meaty guys.

'snake blood' - can't remember off the top of my head what circle it belongs to, but it can also be useful, some good weapons with poison damtype do exist, and almost no class has specific resistance against poison, making it very effective.
'horse nomad' - probably not very effective here as it improves 'parry'+'shieldblock' with the latter being not very popular amongst rangers.

It is arguably better to concentrate on a single idea. For example - 3*toughness for a meat tank (can yield great results for a minotaur), balance+blind fighting+uncanny dodge for a dextrous forest warrior, something+forester+animal companions (with a hope to find manual of the wild and get spider bracelet) for necromancer-type ranger with 4 (6) animals camouflaged and waiting to ambush someone.

So you dont need to pick forester in the 1st circle to gain the group camo bonus?
And does horse nomad really aid shieldblock? This would be extremely valuble info to a mounted cleric.

No, you don't need to pick forester for 1st circle. Second question, I can't answer.

Horse nomad feat is useless because there are SOOO much methods to put you down from horse. And constant fleeing and mounting is no fun.

Maybe if improve horse nomad feat a bit - make you don't fall from horse if it's bashed or tripped or... even strangled or blackjacked maybe! That will be a valuable feat and will make sense for elves to pick it up...

Hi, new ranger here, and having fun, but need some advice and have some questions.

I'm level 19 now and up to this point ive been killing mostly trolls and getting tired of the area, any advice on when/where to move on to?  I'm neutral alignment.

Do animal companions always take xp?  Do all pets take xp?

I ran into this item "a casing of ebonwood bark" the other day and think its pretty cool and goes with the whole ranger thing, I was wondering where this drops and is it possible to get it at my level?

Also, is there a staff better then the ranger summoned staff I can get at this level?  Does the ranger summoned staff scale with level?

Also when do I start hunting for manuals?

Thanks in advance,
-An inquisitive young ranger

The most popular areas at these ranks are draconian moors (for good-aligned group) which are west from Emerald forest, and forest with bears (not sure if it fits your rangers role) south-west from crossroads for evil-aligned one.

All the charmed creatures who fight along with you take experience. The only exception is the steed you are mounted on. They will not take xp, however, if you leave them to wait you somewhere else.

The exact locations and ways to get high-levelled stuff is beyond the newbie section, I think. Try to find it out in game.

Yes, the ranger staff do scales up with level. In fact, the only drawbacks of it is that it strikes with physical damage and that it crumbles. There are many not bad staves you can get on this level, especially if you specialize in flails. Try to ask about them in game too.

You can start hunting for them any time you wish :) But in most cases you have to be above 20-25 to kill the mobs with them.

Wolf: Reflex Saves, Hitroll, and dexterity (slight chance of making a double amount of attacks per round)
Is that to be taken litterally? So that with 3rd attack dual wielding you have a chance to make 12 attacks in 1 round?!

Wolf affinity gives decent bonus to Reflex saves and Hitroll. About dex - not sure.

And I think that dual-wield gives you only one additional attack per round.

And about that slight chance to make double number of attacks ... it should write slight to none. I have been playing wild elf ranger with wolf affinity for some time and not once have made double amount of attacks. :(

It's more like one extra attack in round, not double.

Thanks, Quino! :)

But I have one more question - its about Forester feat. It prevents other rangers from detecting you? Does it also allow you camouflage your pets? Whats the differense between circle 2 and circle 3 Forestrers?

No, every person with acute vision still can see you.
Don't know what's the difference between 2nd and 3rd circle feat, but even 2nd forester allows you to camouflage not only your pets but also your groupmates.

One more question about affinities.
I have chousen bear, and recieved a message that my strenght was increased. I had already maximum strenght and it did not change ofcourse.
Should I take it literally? Or should I delete and create new character with lowered str to recieve my bonus? :)

That's the question I can't answer..
But even with maxed strength you should feel okay if you have some invisible bonus to it, because simple plague+poison from some tough mob will reduce your strength (poison -3; plague -5), and you can drop your weapon because of lack of strength. So it's always nice to have dex and str overmaxed.

I agree. The question is - if there is such a bonus? Ill try to check it with poison.

Yes, there is an invisible bonus :) Not sure how much it is though.

For example, beast assassins in dragon style always have max strength no matter whether plagued, poisoned and dranied...

Also I have mastered overhead and still dont do legsweep with it. Should I master legsweep also? (COMBO is on)

mastered legsweep follows overhead in 1/4-1/3 cases (as i noticed)

Psst, ppst! I did, several times!  And yes, it was surprising in a good way, really powerful sometimes, I never regretted picking it. ::)

I'd name it as a very viable spec option for rangers of all kinds, in different ways (mino vs elf, etc).  Whip/flail spec may offer lash and similar moves, but that doesn't mean by any measurement it's the only real spec to take.  Just think about how you want to play your character.

Addition: There was a log a while back from a kender beast assassin who soloed the Edge, largely thanks to necrophysiology.  So it has its uses, even other than trashchars. ;)
Anyone have that log, by the way? Was pretty entertaining to read.

flail/whip spec > sword spec.

lash is the best lagging skill.
eyejab and strip = overpower. Rangers dont have disarm(well ambush disarm doesnt count)
choke is almost useless in pk. WAY TOO LOW chance. Pull is also way too low chance considering how easily it can be avoided(flee)

and sword gives nothing to ranger that he does not have innate.
stand off is better than flourentine.
overhead is better than cross slice
riposte is nice but isnt worth losing flail spec.
flurry is hard to compare to overhead, but those are even i believe.

no flourentine in offence :/ though this doesnt hurt rangers so bad. This really hurts fighters.

I think you are forgetting something. With sword specialization, you can dual wield, and with staffs, a ranger has less attacks. So, with sword spec, you have a good number of attacks, and the skills that he has innate, all together. That is not possible with flail spec.
Besides... lash is not the best lagging skill... I dueled Mnru some times, and one of them he kept lashing me only to find out it did no good to him.

Besides, if flail spec and staffs are so much better then sword spec for rangers, then for fighters also, hmm? So all fighters should never take swords and get only staff and flail spec. But you see lots of them with sword spec.
Don't thing it is so simple to say one is better then another... depends alot on the preferences of each person.

Not on preferences, mostly depends on race. Its not very wise to take sword specialization for elves - many nice swords have considerable weight (acid singer for example) - you could not use it due to low strength. And nice dexterity means, that most of the attacks will be dodged not parried - poor riposte and flourentine as a result. And do not forget that skills of sword spec depends on stance - its not very good - no direct damage in defencive stance just lunge or crush(bash)...

Also need to take into account strength of race for parrying. Dex rangers with flails is nice because of the dodge, but strength rangers might find the extra defense from parry + swords nice also. High strength races with swords = more parry = more riposte. Also minotaur with overhead + mount is very nice damage. Oh, and imho 2nd feat forester is really close to a must, camoflouge companions is very nice.

Forester is nice but think again.Ranger usually has area-caster foes (necros,invokers,outcasts...)So camouflaged companions does not so useful as they seems actually.Snare is nice but if you will make an ambush after snare even using fade enemy could cast an area spell and plans will change.Choke is not a bad skill at all.Many friends must remember Rakkase's chokes also Manita's.Choke may be your best  friend  while reraiding or stopping an enemy healer,area-caster,damage dealer,holder,thrower etc..To use choke effectively you must have a durable character (great dodger or high resisted,protected one) so you can use your initiative to choke someone who annoying you worstly(i mean numberous foes of course)For Solamnic rangers summoner foes are worst while defending clan your animal companions may be totally useless cause of summons so do not trust your lions so much.i  wrote balance as a first feat cause of assassins,crushers etc,,You dont have a skill like recovery and balance will be your best friend against em.Except of minotaurs overhead is not so great damage dealer  trust me,cause of collecting protections against magic(especially against holocausts and scourges) wont be able hitting well (trust me again)These are some truths about rangers.There is no solid rules about create an effective ranger as you see ,you can create a fantastic one more than one way.I just want to share my experiences to you.

And i think its very simple.

What will you do when you meet a person with protective shield and fly? cross slice him till you die?
And that's only thing you can do.

With whips you can steal his weapon, lash to prevent nasty spells, lash in hope he wont flee too soon.
Eyejab to lower his defenses. Try to pull him from crossroads to forest room and hope he doesnt notice you fight better in forests.

Yes swords are dual wieleded, but if in offensive stance with swords there is no flourentine, in defensive stance there are much less attacks and you cant cross slice or flurry. So what the point of this dual wielding? Rangers dont even have lunge to use from defence or while mounted.

Any experienced player will say that sword spec is much worse than flail spec for rangers.
The only reason i see for sword spec is heretic and flurry with huge damrolls in hope for instakill with 1 flurry. Yet this one will suffer much from invokers, since he cant delay their spells at all.
And will be frowned upon by a lagging teammate, since two laggers=very low chance to flee.

Fighters can wield swords and crush, while ripostes do the job, and while they are hasted(adrenaline) they have bonus to almost all skills, and that helps alot.
Yet for any fighter i'd choose flail spec. I'd say its really required nowdays. And it is the best spec.

Of course this is wrong when one option is better than other, those should be equal.
Well imms dont care much they're too busy :)

with forester, can you camoflage while mounted???

No

What does this mean?

Your affinity to the bison makes you resistant to stunning.

Does it have to do with stuns like drumming maces and meteor swarm?

As far as i know it just lowers chances to be bashed.

help 337
Rangers may choose 1 specialization out of sword or flail (please note that
   this is just flail, rangers can not train skill in whips).


forest blending        100% awareness              100% axe                      1%
dagger                   1% flail                   66% spear                    1%
sword                   60% whip                     1% staff                    1%
recall                 100%
You have 4 practice sessions left.

comments?

p.s. do rangers need bash if they have lash? if so, what for?

it is a newbie guide ezus. I've never played ranger and as I get it lash is same as bash but ignoring ps and ros. I understand such questions are very funny for you, but still... what is a difference between those skills? (I had an idea that lashing cant dismount opponent, and bash can. Still never excess to ask)

bash and lash are not the same... lash ONLY lags an opponent, while bash lags, throws him/her on the ground, prevents spell casting (rarely). Lash ignores ps, but since it only lags and does nothing else the benefit equals zero. Still, there are a few upsides of specializing in flail and it's up to you to discover them... ;)

Seems things have changed a little... What about now? Two out of four: Flails, swords, staff and ranged.
I feel I would miss flail specialization a lot... but I am a little more inclined towards staff, I think, and I am really curious about ranged specialization. What do you guys feel?

ranger sucks unless you're a mino or human...

Yep... ok then...
Considering I'm a sucker and that I like rangers no matter the race, what would you suggest for a Dex oriented ranger?

a kender! :) I meant to say ranged sucks unless human or mino. it was a typo.

So basically, you're saying "take staff and flails"?

Can you tell me where to find the info for rangers, on using crossbows, how to load, using the bow, how to load, shoot and the rest? I seem to be typing in the wrong infor, or asking wrong question for info, as I am NONE the wiser about it all!! yeah yeah yeah .. :P no smart comments :P Thanks :)

wield bow or crossbow
get ammo from quiver (quiver is a container, it shoudl contains proper ammo, bolt for crossbow, arrow for bow. You can buy ammo, create it with ranger skill or loot it)
arm it
(arm bolt)
then shoot
shoot <direction> <mob>

thank you. Where do you find the quiver? I have tried several stores and so far .. no luck!

The general store in Palanthas

or wandering knight holds it.

I think Emerald Forest has quivers for sale. You know, with the ancient ranger bear?

You can also arm your bow taking the arrow or bolt directly from the quiver:

arm arrow from quiver

Take a look at the help files:

Help arm
help shoot
help ranged
etc...

arrows or bolts affects damage or they all equal?

It is fireproof and resists corrosion.
Ammo type is arrow.
Its attacks take the form of magic.
When worn, it
   modifies damage roll by 23
etc

there is good help file for this topic

I can find no information on what 'type' of ammo is available to create with the ranger ammo skill...

Hrm if i use the letter 'a' instead of 'arrow' or 'arrows' or even 'ar' it makes arrows...

Arrows for bows and Bolts for crossbows i guess

yes.

rangerammo arrow quiver
rangerammo bolt quiver

Yuo can not carry bolts and arrows in one quiver if I recall right.