If you were to optimize a 2-weapon ranger...

[Morrus]

... what would you do?

Assume 16th level (since that's the level of the character I need to generate).

Which feats, powers, etc. would you take? What do you consider the essentials? What equipment would you buy?*

*Note - I'm unfortunately limited to only 12th level treasure, not 16th level (i.e. the equipment a starting 12th level character would have). No, I don't know why, either.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Personally, I think the best bet is to pump Str and Wis, ensure you take the fighter multiclass feat and take Pit Fighter as your paragon class.

This will give you lots of chances to add damage to your attacks, and as a two weapon attacker, you get lots of attacks.

In addition, since twin strike will always be a good option for you at this level and with those bonuses, I believe that it is good to take powers which let you get off immediate reactions and immediate interrupts, since those all give you additional chances to lay down your pit fighter smack (as I believe the expression goes).

Others will give you more details, and possibly better advice, but I think the suggestions above would give a pretty kick-ass 2 weapon ranger at 16th level.

Cheers

 

[Aenghus]

You didn't state allowed sources so I will assume all official books.

The options as I understand them are the aforementioned Str/Wis pit fighter, or a Str/Dex Stormwarden. The first has higher peak damage when novaing, the latter deals damage on misses, particularly with twin scimitars and the Scimitar Dance feat(Dex mod damage on misses with scimitars)

Normally, Wintertouched/Lasting Frost feats are an option in combination with frost weapons. However +3 Frost weapons are 13th level items, so you start with only one at +3.

If allowed a doublesword is the optimum choice for the pit fighter build, as well as the Stormwarden if scimitars aren't being used. Only one side of a doublesword has a property, so this doesn't work perfectly with the wintertouched/lasting frost combo.

Races - you want a Str bonus race(incl human), I think Shifter is Str/Wis if allowed, otherwise it's a matter of taste.

 

[Klaus]

Find ways to improve your flat damage bonus, as opposed to increasing the damage dice. You'll be using Twin Strike a lot, and that doesn't add your stat modifier to damage. Eladrin Soldier, Weapon Focus, brutal weapons... go crazy.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Wear scale armor, get the specialization, take Two weapon defense, pump STR, invest in wis but do make sure Dex is at 16 (so you qualify for the high crit feat at epic which is just 4 level away). That way you have a pretty good defense without sacrificing your offense.

The Ruthless Punisher is my favorite Paragon path for an agressive melee ranger. Same damage as the pitfighter, but an actual ranger PP so you don;t have to waste a feat on MC fighter. And the Named Dread utility is outright badass, both in mechanic and style. Walking into a room, naming yourself and scaring your opponents for the encounter? Righteous.

The Pathfinder is pretty darn strong too actually. People get too focused on damage; if a 16th level pitfighter ranger matched up in a duel against a pathfinder, every other stats being equal, the pathfinder wins most of the time because the temp hp he gains is usually higher than the extra damage of the pitfighter. The pathfinder is a ranger that can stand at the front side by side with the fighter and last as long.

Blade dancer also has my favor. Any of these three PP will do you good in their way.

Magic item wise, the Ironamrband is a no brainer because it adds +2 to all attacks and a ranger makes a lot of them. The fencers boot are also great. Weaponwise, you have a problem; you need two. I loath myself for saying this because I hate the Doublesword, but I must point out that for a feat it gives you +1 to AC and more importantly allows you to pick just one magic weapon instead of two. I have a feeling that your number of items is limited so it`s a big deal. It would be worth it even without the defensive property in your case.

 

[Iron Sky]

I currently have a level 13 Ranger and here's what he'll look like at level 16. We used rolled stats, but I converted it to point buy. We also are only allowed to use the first 3 core books and the Adventurer's Vault, so you might have more options with other books.

His focus is on doing damage, since once we hit paragon we added two players and both are defenders. He's only been bloodied once in Paragon.

I changed his gear to level 12 treasure as well so he's compatible with your game.

His basic tactics are to get in, hit with the close bursts, then skirt around the edges taking out cold-vulnerable damaged foes. Be sure he ends up next to two enemies whenever possible so he can do his automatic 10 damage to one, 5 to a second.

He has a multitude of encounter powers that allow him to shift out of the fray once he's out of burst powers and stay out of the head of it, using his boots to teleport out if things get too hot. His defenses are also pretty solid (excepting his puny will) so he can survive in melee for a while.

Use Rain of Steel if it looks like a tough fight with lots of enemies then stay in the thick of it as long as you can. The fighter multiclass feat encounter (+1 to hit and mark) is a good one to use on Disruptive Strike(especially if they're attacking someone else, extra -2 to hit!) or Cascade of Blows.


In practice, he's only been dropped to 0 once in 13 levels. He rarely gets bloodied and, especially once he gets enemies cold-vulnerable, can do huge amounts of damage with pretty decent amounts even if he misses (does 20 damage to a single target + 5 to a second target even if he misses).


This is by no means the only way to build a ranger, especially with martial powers out, but it's the way I'm going with my character.
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder======
Logan Banner, level 16
Elf, Ranger, Stormwarden
Build: Two-Blade Ranger
Fighting Style: Two-Blade Fighting Style
Student of the Sword: Student of One-Handed Weapons

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 21, Con 11, Dex 21, Int 11, Wis 16, Cha 9.

Starting Ability Scores
Str 17, Con 10, Dex 15, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8.


AC: 29 Fort: 26 Reflex: 27 Will: 23
HP: 108 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 27

TRAINED SKILLS
Nature, Perception, Stealth, Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidate.

FEATS
1: Quick Draw (Key since you have two weapons to draw and sometimes might need to switch to your bow in a hurry).
2: Weapon Focus (Heavy Blade)
4: Two-Weapon Fighting
6: Student of the Sword
8: Wintertouched (CA vs cold vuln FTW)
10: Adept Power (For Rain of Steel - works great with the Stormwarden auto-damage shtick - I've done 50+ damage in a round when it was active and that with missing on every attack)
11: Lasting Frost (Cold vuln FTW)
12: Scimitar Dance (5 damage on miss FTW)
14: Lethal Hunter (d8 quarry)
16: Blood Thirst (+2 damage vs bloodied. If you want more defense, get Two-weapon Defense instead)

POWERS
1, At-Will: Hit and Run
1, At-Will: Twin Strike (Bread-and-butter)
1, Encounter: Dire Wolverine Strike
1, Daily: Jaws of the Wolf
2, Utility: Yield Ground (When hit, shift 3 and +2 defenses)
3, Encounter: Disruptive Strike (Interrupt enemy attack, they take -5 to hit)
5, Daily: Two-Wolf Pounce (retrained to Rain of Steel at Adept Power)
6, Utility: Weave Through the Fray (Enemy moves close, shift 3)
7, Encounter: Sweeping Whirlwind (burst and push)
9, Daily: Attacks on the Run (Big 1-2 target damage + movement)
10, Utility: Expeditious Stride (Minor action +move)
13, Encounter: Armor Splinter (replaces Dire Wolverine Strike) (Pre-blade cascade debuff)
15, Daily: Blade Cascade (replaces Jaws of the Wolf) (The big cahuna)
16, Utility: Evade the Blow (Daily interrupt and shift when hit)

ITEMS
Magic Longbow +1 (because you need to make ranged attacks sometimes)
Frost Scimitar +2, Frost Scimitar +3 (cold damage FTW)
Amulet of False Life +2 (when bloodied, get healing surge temp hp as minor)
Magic Earthhide Armor +3 (basic with a fort buff)
Feystep Lacings (paragon tier) (reflex boost and emergency teleports)
Iron Armbands of Power (heroic tier) (+2 damage to all melee attacks!)
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder======

 

[Morrus]

His basic tactics are to get in, hit with the close bursts, then skirt around the edges taking out cold-vulnerable damaged foes.

Is that not a little specific? I don't think we've met any cold-vulnerable foes yet while playing 4E, and if we do they'll be pretty rare.

Can you attach the actual character file?

Incidentally, in the first session treasure was upgraded to 16th level equivalent. I guess the DM just wanted us to find it rather than buy it, though he let us choose what we found. So treasure is, essentially, normal, and not 12th level any more.

 

[Kez Darksun]

The Frost Weapon property lets you, at will, have your weapon deal Frost damage. This kicks in Lasting Frost to give whoever you hit with that weapon cold vulnerability. That lets you use Wintertouched to grant yourself Combat Advantage against the now-vulnerable enemies.

 

[Iron Sky]

What he said ^^ =)

 

[Morrus]

Oh, I see! Marvellous!