0.9.5c-e Bow Ranger Build Enabler (Not a Build)

Ah that's true, i forgot it's not straight up 100% knockback. :/ If going for knockback, i would heavily prioritize all the +crit chance passives, and crit chance gear. Knockback is about keeping enemies at a distance, where a bow ranger wants them. Very useful, and even more so in HC. I think a knockback bow ranger should be fun, but it will have to be built very carefully/specifically (more below), in the east/north areas.

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FaceLicker เขียน:

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unsane เขียน:

Yeah it's not a build, just highlighting offensive bowazon clusters.

Heh, my bad :p

Heh not a problem, i could have made it clearer. Improved the thread title.

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scorpitron เขียน:

one possible tactic i used often was to allow myself to draw aggro/get surrounded then spam rain of arrows on myself. [...] the build went very well imo.

Heh, that is one ballsy, crazy-ass build for HC. :D


BTW looking at flashpoint's images, i noticed it's a mistake to go SW from the ranger start the way i indicated in the OP. You get 2 useless strength nodes. It's best for bowazons to head straight to the east and then wrap around from there, similar to how he did.

Makes all increased movement speed nodes really freakin far, but maybe i overvalue them anyway.

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flashpoint เขียน:

Aw man I finished doing the math craft to level 60 a few days ago and hit 44 too... gotta compare maps and hope mine's still semi-accurate, it's just purely DPS based around Frenzy Charges.

I just did a side-by-side comparison of 0.9.4c and 0.9.4d and the tree looks completely identical in the ranger quadrant. Flowing Dexterity in the central section looks like the only relevant change, if any.

I made a bunch of improvements to my original map, check the OP for the image:

* removed the start link to SW, linked through SE highway instead
* highlighted the SW ias line of nodes i had missed
* linked/highlighted critical strike damage multiplier cluster just above ranger start i had missed
* linked/highlighted the 6th class crit parallel clusters i had missed
* discovered/linked/highlighted an incredible +75% crit chance central cluster (perfect for knockback build)
* highlighted + crit chance nodes in red, with numbers (for knockback builds) - 14 nodes for +215% in all!!
* linked/highlighted frenzy charge clusters (purple)
* changed color of accuracy clusters/solitary nodes (blue), since they apparently aren't very good
* linked/highlighted 10% damage 6th class starting node
* linked to central Flowing Dexterity (+30) and Conduit
* made visible central area for IR/IQ/30str/int/dex, Blood Rage; as well southernmost Armor Master
* added subtle green shortcut links (see below)

Note that if you don't mind wasting the occasional point in str/int/dex/evasion, and/or know where you want to go, you can take several massive shortcuts instead of make wide arcs. The solid green lines are more for long-term builds planned down to the very last node with no waste.


Jeeze, i'm spending more time in spreadsheets, paint programs and forums than i am acutally playing the game!

Thank you for posting this. I find it very useful!
My ranger is now lvl 24. It's nice to know a good way to start spamming nodes in the very start of the game.

Happy new year!
^_^

I'm 56 now, just hit Act 2 Merciless, and I've got 3 spare points, I've finished the pre-planned map early, so I get the extra point killing the bandits and it brings me to lv 62 in order to finish this next 10 steps map.

4 Choices to choose from I left for you to see
ignore the green on Iron Reflexes, that's not apart of any future steps
should have left the Key in the image too, pink 4% is Evasion per Charge
http://i.imgur.com/a6QER.jpg

and here's the math behind each choice, I fixed the math for the frenzy speed
http://paste2.org/p/1847078

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unsane เขียน:

Makes all increased movement speed nodes really freakin far, but maybe i overvalue them anyway.

I'm having a good time with just keeping frenzy up and running around at 50% speed(-4+30+(6*4 or 24)), 70% when Phase Running with the 4% Run per frenzy charge passive and some 30% boots. (I traded for these, I had 15% from a vendor before)


I essentially have a little bit better than the bow used as the baseline 114-300

Thanks! Nice to know there is a 75 critical strike chance cluster to go with my knockback

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flashpoint เขียน:

I'm having a good time with just keeping frenzy up and running around at 50% speed(-4+30+(6*4 or 24)), 70% when Phase Running with the 4% Run per frenzy charge passive and some 30% boots.

Yeah that all sounds plenty good enough. Only -4% from armor eh. Hadn't paid attention, just saw mine is -8%! :( Is -4 the minimum? Can you link your armor?

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unsane เขียน:

Yeah that all sounds plenty good enough. Only -4% from armor eh. Hadn't paid attention, just saw mine is -8%! :( Is -4 the minimum? Can you link your armor?

I believe it's EVA, EVA/ES, ES is only -4% while ARM, ARM/ES, EVA/ARM/ES, EVA/ARM is -8%
Oh and it's chest armor that dictates the percentage, take it off and you get no speed penalty

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unsane เขียน:

Threw this together to grok my first bowazon

Thank you for this! I can see a lot of work went into it.

It's not exactly the path that I've been following for my Ranger, but you've highlighted many Skills I'm choosing. I printed a copy of it to use as a reference. (I'm relatively new to the Beta and still have much to learn).

You might want to add a little more explanation in your OP. Forgive me for being a little slow, but there are a couple of things I don't understand. (Yes, I know this is not a build guide and you're only showing Ranger-related Skills).

1. Your paths are marked with a solid green line. What are the open green and open dotted green lines? Alternate paths?

2. I'm assuming the bounding boxes indicate groups of nodes that you suggest for the Ranger. I notice that some of the nodes included in the boxes are unmarked. Some have red Xs and some have blue Xs. What is the purpose in that? Does it relate to your color legend. If so, it isn't necessary since you've annotated the bounding boxes. (To me, the Xs would indicate nodes you suggest not taking).

3. I'm sure there's documentation on it. I just haven't gotten around to researching it yet. What is the advantage of connecting to a Conduit?

Thank you for any clarification.

p

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Perusoe เขียน:

1. Your paths are marked with a solid green line. What are the open green and open dotted green lines? Alternate paths?

They are "instant gratification" shortcuts. Open and open dotted is the same thing - the image tool makes them look different depending on the angle. I explained their meaning in the list of changes (i'll link it in the OP as it's buried in the thread).

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Perusoe เขียน:

2. I'm assuming the bounding boxes indicate groups of nodes that you suggest for the Ranger.

The yellow boxes are not suggestions. They indicate node clusters that make at least some sense for a bow ranger. It's totally up to each person to decide if a given cluster is useful.

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Perusoe เขียน:

I notice that some of the nodes included in the boxes are unmarked. Some have red Xs and some have blue Xs. What is the purpose in that? Does it relate to your color legend. If so, it isn't necessary since you've annotated the bounding boxes. (To me, the Xs would indicate nodes you suggest not taking).

The red and blue Xs are merely to help ppl who:

red: are building around Knockback and want to see exactly where each + critical chance node is

blue: want to avoid accuracy nodes and see where the solitary ones are

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Perusoe เขียน:

3. I'm sure there's documentation on it. I just haven't gotten around to researching it yet. What is the advantage of connecting to a Conduit?

Many Rangers build around Frenzy Charges (Blood Rage, Frenzy, passive skills - purple). Many players like to play co-op. Conduit allows you to share your gained e.g. Frenzy charges with party members. A party member who has no frenzy charge passives will essentially get 10% faster cast speed and 10% faster attack speed. Players can see what charges give them on the character sheet.

Thanks unsane! That helps a lot.

p

I pretty much stayed at 60% dmg reduction while leveling up with Iron reflexes on, I'm at 63(finished? with dps map) and thought about going into defensive stuff like +eva% but then I used warlords mark.. which sucked but I did notice endurance charges gave me lots of dmg reduction so I switch to enduring cry and now I get an easy 10% dmg reduction (71%, over 61%) and +10 res all.

at 71%, 4% away from cap, I think +HP% would be more wise if I were to go defensive
http://i.imgur.com/2JeFH.png
I believe I've only grabbed the +Evasion per frenzy charge and Run Speed per frenzy charge as defensive passives, besides Iron Reflexes