D&D 5E [GUIDE] Into the Woods We Go: The Ranger Guide

[Gladius Legis]

If I do an update to the Ranger guide it'd probably just be a new thread and new title at this point. And probably only when the alternate class features (which will be how they're doing the "revised ranger") come out.

I'll comment at length on the Xanathar's subclasses later, but for now, snap-judgment ratings: Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker, Monster Hunter.

 

[mellored]

I'll comment at length on the Xanathar's subclasses later, but for now, snap-judgment ratings: Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker, Monster Hunter.

Agreed.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Xanathar's Ranger spells graded:

1st-level
Absorb Elements: Rangers now get to enjoy the resistance to elemental damage on reaction that Wizards and Eldritch Knights had been enjoying for a while. Woohoo.
Zephyr Strike: Walk around without drawing OAs and make one attack with advantage and extra damage with a big boost in speed after. Terrific mobility boost and especially valuable for melee builds who need to weave through enemies to get to who they want.
Beast Bond: A spell with the expressed purpose it seems of making Beast Masters suck a bit less. They still suck, but this is mandatory for them. Everyone else can give it a hard pass.
Snare: A magic trap spell with a very small radius that you probably won't use often enough to be worth one of your precious limited known spells.

2nd-level
Healing Spirit: Up to 10d6 healing spread out among whoever needs it most with a 2nd-level slot. Becomes 20d6 with a 3rd-level (same as the Paladin's Aura of Vitality!), 30d6 with 4th-level and so forth. Arguably the best healing spell in the game now.

3rd-level
Flame Arrows: Lasts up to an hour or up to 12 arrows or bolts. As long as you cast it BEFORE you start battle, this is typically better on the action economy vs. Hunter's Mark.

4th-level
Guardian of Nature: One form gives STR-based melee Rangers some much-needed love, the other is more for your typical DEX builds. Both are quite good.

5th-level
Wrath of Nature: Massive area of effect (60-foot cube), with a host of nice crowd-control effects.
Steel Wind Strike: Nice to have a melee-weapon based AoE, although the damage is still slightly less than Conjure Volley (which could be cast with a thrown weapon). The extra mobility to close to an enemy in melee instantaneously is nice. Not bad, but not great, either.

Overall, Rangers got treated pretty nicely in the spell department.

 

[FrogReaver]

If I do an update to the Ranger guide it'd probably just be a new thread and new title at this point. And probably only when the alternate class features (which will be how they're doing the "revised ranger") come out.

I'll comment at length on the Xanathar's subclasses later, but for now, snap-judgment ratings: Gloom Stalker, Horizon Walker, Monster Hunter.

I'd rate horizon walker worse than you have. His level 3 ability sounds amazing till you realize it actually competes somewhat with hunter's mark. It also competes with a dual-wield ranger even worse than hunter's mark. Later on it at least scales so there's that...

 

[FrogReaver]

Xanathar's Ranger spells graded:

1st-level
Absorb Elements: Rangers now get to enjoy the resistance to elemental damage on reaction that Wizards and Eldritch Knights had been enjoying for a while. Woohoo.
Zephyr Strike: Walk around without drawing OAs and make one attack with advantage and extra damage with a big boost in speed after. Terrific mobility boost and especially valuable for melee builds who need to weave through enemies to get to who they want.
Beast Bond: A spell with the expressed purpose it seems of making Beast Masters suck a bit less. They still suck, but this is mandatory for them. Everyone else can give it a hard pass.
Snare: A magic trap spell with a very small radius that you probably won't use often enough to be worth one of your precious limited known spells.

2nd-level
Healing Spirit: Up to 10d6 healing spread out among whoever needs it most with a 2nd-level slot. Becomes 20d6 with a 3rd-level (same as the Paladin's Aura of Vitality!), 30d6 with 4th-level and so forth. Arguably the best healing spell in the game now.

3rd-level
Flame Arrows: Lasts up to an hour or up to 12 arrows or bolts. As long as you cast it BEFORE you start battle, this is typically better on the action economy vs. Hunter's Mark.

4th-level
Guardian of Nature: One form gives STR-based melee Rangers some much-needed love, the other is more for your typical DEX builds. Both are quite good.

5th-level
Wrath of Nature: Massive area of effect (60-foot cube), with a host of nice crowd-control effects.
Steel Wind Strike: Nice to have a melee-weapon based AoE, although the damage is still slightly less than Conjure Volley (which could be cast with a thrown weapon). The extra mobility to close to an enemy in melee instantaneously is nice. Not bad, but not great, either.

Overall, Rangers got treated pretty nicely in the spell department.

I don't think zephyr strike is blue. I'd rate it situational as hunter's mark provides better damage than it (especially when you get extra attack). It's useful to have on hand but won't be something you cast all the time IMO. Otherwise I think I agree.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Xanathar's Ranger subclasses:

Gloom Stalker: Love that its flavor concept got expanded from the UA articles beyond JUST the Underdark. It's pretty much THE ambush master among Rangers, and arguably among everyone. Its alpha strike features are more reliable, if not necessarily more damaging, than the Assassin. Very, very strong subclass.

• Gloom Stalker Magic: Lv. 3/5/9/13/17. Rope Trick can be handy, and Fear and Greater Invisibility are simply great.
• Dread Ambusher: Lv. 3. WIS mod to initiative, good. 10-foot speed buff 1st turn of combat, good. Extra attack with extra damage on said attack, freaking amazing. This Ranger is an alpha-strike master because of this, and it's a lot more reliable and party-friendly than Assassinate. (Although, this plus 3 Rogue levels for Assassinate ... hehe.)
• Umbral Spirit: Lv. 3. Free darkvision! (Or 30 feet extra darkvision if your race already had it.) And you get to screw over your enemies' darkvision!
• Iron Mind: Lv. 7. Free WIS save proficiency. (Or INT or CHA if you already had it somehow.) Good.
• Stalker's Flurry: Lv. 11. Of course they weren't just going to give you the Fighter's third full attack, but this is still pretty damn nice. Unless your hit chance in a battle is already above 75%, you're actually fairly likely to get the third attack from this. (e.g. Typical 65% chance to hit = 42% chance to hit with both your attacks per round, so a 58% chance you'll miss at least one attack and thus get the third attack from this.)
• Shadowy Dodge: Lv. 15. Impose disadvantage on an attack against you as a reaction. It's alright. not quite Uncanny Dodge. Still, with so much other really awesome stuff from this subclass, you can handle one average-ish feature.

Horizon Walker: Enhanced mobility is the name of the game for this subclass. One thing to note is that dual-wielding with this subclass is pretty much fruitless; go Archery or Dueling instead.

• Horizon Walker Magic: Lv. 3/5/9/13/17. All of the spells on this list are at the very least solid, including Protection from Evil and Good, Misty Step, Banishment ... and then there's Haste at Lv. 9. Lovely, lovely Haste.
• Detect Portal: Lv. 3. Obviously depends on your campaign as far as how useful this will be. If you're in Planescape, for example, this would obviously be really awesome.
• Planar Warrior: Lv. 3. Sort of an odd duck as far as Ranger damage features go. It's the reason that dual-wielding is pretty much a no-go for this subclass, since you have to use your bonus action every single turn to get the damage boost from this (go Dueling to make up any lost damage). And if you use Hunter's Mark you'll run into the same action economy problems as dual-wielders do. It also doesn't play nice with Crossbow Expert, so you should really stick with the longbow if heading the Archery route and save yourself a feat. That said, the damage boost isn't bad, and it's actually pretty solid at Lv. 11 for what it is.
• Ethereal Step: Lv. 7. A low-grade, short-rest recharge Etherealness is good for walking through walls and other such physical obstacles.
• Distant Strike: Lv. 11. Outright insane mobility boost during your Attack action. You're also better at dealing with hordes, getting a third attack on your action if you attack two separate enemies.
• Spectral Defense: Lv. 15. Basically Uncanny Dodge. Yeah, 10 levels later than the Rogue, but that's one of those better-late-than-never abilities.

Monster Slayer: A very specialized subclass, working best against spellcasting foes. Nothing really spectacular mobility or damage wise, though.

• Monster Slayer Magic: Banishment and Hold Monster are good. The other spells are ... OK.
• Hunter's Sense: Lv. 3. Learn what the enemy is and what its immunities, resistances and vulnerabilities are. OK.
• Slayer's Prey: Lv. 3. Only uses a bonus action at the start of battle, 1d6 damage on first hit every turn (including enemy's turns). You can stack Hunter's Mark in the second round after, though that means you wouldn't be using dual-wielding or Crossbow Expert until Round 3.
• Supernatural Defense: Lv. 7. Saving throw and grapple escape boost against your Slayer's Prey. OK.
• Magic-User's Nemesis: Lv. 11. A short-rest recharge Counterspell-type effect (but with a WIS save instead of an ability check) that also cancels enemy teleporting in general. Obviously, pretty situational, though nice when you get to use it.
• Slayer's Counter: Lv. 15. Free attack (ranged or melee) vs. your Slayer's Prey if they make you roll a save for any reason, with auto-success on the save if you hit. Pretty good.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I'd rate horizon walker worse than you have. His level 3 ability sounds amazing till you realize it actually competes somewhat with hunter's mark. It also competes with a dual-wield ranger even worse than hunter's mark. Later on it at least scales so there's that...

Horizon Walker has really good spells, though. That counts for a lot.

Melee Horizon Walkers shouldn't dual-wield. They should take Dueling. And they actually come out even at Lv. 5. (Dual-wielding + TWF style adds 1d6+5 STR/DEX = 8.5; Planar Warrior + Dueling style adds 1d8+2+2 = 8.5.)

 

[mellored]

I'd rate horizon walker worse than you have. His level 3 ability sounds amazing till you realize it actually competes somewhat with hunter's mark. It also competes with a dual-wield ranger even worse than hunter's mark. Later on it at least scales so there's that...

With 60% chance to hit and 2 attacks.

Hex
2d6*60% = 4.2
Horizon walker
1d8*84% = 3.78

Horizon loses 0.42 damage and 60' range but gains 4 absorb elements, a healing spirit, and an extra spell choice.
Not needing to spend spell slots is very good. Though the low range hurts a bit.
Also, they stacks. So if you start battle 90' away and use hex the first round, then you can use planar warrior the next. Probably not the best choice.


TWF
1d6+4*60% = 4.5
Horizon Walker + dualist and shield.
1d8*84% + 4 * .6 = 6.18

+1.68 damage and +2 AC.
Another solid upgrade. Though a bit harder to swap to a bow with a shield.

 

[Gladius Legis]

I don't think zephyr strike is blue. I'd rate it situational as hunter's mark provides better damage than it (especially when you get extra attack). It's useful to have on hand but won't be something you cast all the time IMO. Otherwise I think I agree.

Hunter's Mark is sharply less valuable against multiple enemies. The same type of battle where Zephyr Strike excels with the added mobility (esp. for melee). That's not what I'd call situational.

 

[mellored]

Dreaded Ambusher works action surge. 2 attack actions = 2 extra attacks + 2d8 damage.
Toss in samurai (your already at fighter 2) for a strong nova.


Does dreaded ambush work with haste?