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Requirement: You must be wielding two melee weapons.
Trigger: You hit with a melee basic attack on your turn.

Strictly speaking, the Scout could choose to make the initial attack with the off-hand weapon. A weapon feat or magical property of the off-hand weapon might make that a reasonable choice in some cases, in spite of the lower damage.
 


Free Action: [...]A creature can take a free action to use an attack power only once per turn. Creatures don’t normally have attack powers that can be used as free actions, but some powers and other effects grant the ability to use an attack power (usually a basic attack) as a free action. For example, a character might have two different abilities that let him or her make a melee basic attack as a free action when their respective triggers occur. If both abilities are triggered on the same turn, the character can make only one of the melee basic attacks during that turn. (from Errata July 2010)

Both Power Strike and Dual Weapon Attack are free action attack powers.

I think it's just a mistake from the preview.
 
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Put me down as another person dissapointed in the continuing obsession with dual-wielding rangers.

But plus one to WotC for a dex-based melee ranger. I always felt the str-based dual wielder was particularly egregious in 4th ed, with the image right there on the page being of a graceful elf. At least this class now fits that image of a ranger. So with original and essential ranger, we cover a range (ha, range! get it?) of characters. Now just as soon as we can make someone realize that wilderness warriors don't need to be fixated on two-weapon fighting, we'll be all set.
 

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I apologize for missing the fact that you have to hit with the first attack but I only used the offhand attack because it was the least damaging. Even if the scout only hits with the first attack they would still do more damage than the ranger if they also only hit with one attack. I will admit that it is not as bad because of the reliability of Hunter's Quarry but the damage IS creeping up. I also believe that the two-weapon ranger needed a boost in damage, I just don't want it to go solely to the eRanger.

It's not so bad that I would choose the eRanger over the cRanger though. It makes me wonder if they will still change Hunter's Quarry to working once a turn instead of once a round like the rogue's sneak attack since it seems like they are only changing something that shows up in Essentials.
 

They are, but Power Strike doesn't let you make a melee basic attack, it lets you add damage on the top of a successful attack, so I'm not really sure if that restriction applies in this case.

The rule says "A creature can take a free action to use an attack power only once per turn."

But you're right that it was to limit the number of MBA in a turn.

Solution: Change Dual Weapon Attack to "No Action". Voilà.
 

Put me down as another person dissapointed in the continuing obsession with dual-wielding rangers.

My love affair with "rangers" comes from Tolkein, not Greenwood. For me, the iconic image of a ranger is Aragorn swinging his huge blade like a madman, defending his little friends from the orcs at the end of The Fellowship of the Ring.
 


Yes to

1/turn hunter's quarry please! This will help with keeping up with non-Essentials rogues, who are now doing a lot of damage with 2/3x SA each round if you have a warlord and/or minor action attacks (or AP) + readied actions to apply it again on the monster's turn.

This scout seems fun + flavorful but no nova potential. We still have to see if they eventually get better with their offhand weapons, but ya I love the flavor of Longsword + Handaxe!

DoubleAxes should work well with this too, and it's great that Elves are finally quint-essential (ahem) dex melee capable out of the box (with no 1/2 dex damage MBAs either).

Seems like with the at-will stances and such there is a lot of fun to be had playing this. There's hardly any ranged attacks with this though. Might have to play a human Scout and take Throw and Stab for the free at-will from the base ranger to combine it and get your handaxe out there. But the synergy is great for this. Oh wait, handaxes suck with Dex, don't they. hmmm...probably better to stick with light blades everywhere on this build.

I just wish there was a melee/dex ranger that was good at ranged attacks too. Perhaps the hunter with Throw and Stab. Or a human with Twin Strike, pumping Dex, and uses Twin Strike only for his double dex-based ranged attacks. That could work too. You only need one ranged weapon for Twin Strike, correct? Like if you were Longsword + Handaxe guy, dex-based, and threw your 1 hand axe twice using Twin Strike, that works too right?

Having a single stat at 20 for multiple attacks melee + ranged would be a lot of fun, without ruining your other stats.

Although I don't see what Wisdom has to do with this. Maybe I should read it again. I wish there were more primal magic based stuff at higher levels. Being primal means you can get stuff like Second Skin, although not being str-based means forget about trying to PP into classic melee ranger paths.

Someone on another board had the idea of using an Exe axe for your main axe, and a gauntlet axe for your offhand. No reason you can't use two-handed weapons on your primary MBAs, then let go of your grip as a free action and chop as the subsequent attack. But not sure if I would allow Headman's Chop to apply with a gauntlet axe if you knock the target prone. Seems a bit cheesy.

But fun!!
 

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