So far this ranger looks decent.
I will applaud allowing martial classes to once again be good with ranged weapons without pigeon holding them into archer classes. This ranger can mix in ranged attacks with his two weapon style very seamlessly.
YET...what I love is that the incentive is to get into melee. One problem I had with the 4e core ranger is that archery is just so powerful. Not only are you doing as much damage as the melee ranger (heck often more) but you can be 20 squares away in complete safety and attack who you please.
This ranger can do the same...but for maximum benefit has to get into his opponent's face.
I like the mix and match of dual wield styles, that's pretty nice. I do question whether +2 dmg is worth missing out on a +1 to attack...though with power strike the larger die weapons get a tad more extra benefit that might help.
For those comparing this ranger to a twin strike one, one other thing to note is that this ranger must hit the same opponent with both attacks, with twin strike you could hit two.
I find this especially important because of minions. Minions are normally the bane of strikers...but the core ranger with twin strike can do pretty well. This ranger would have more difficulty.
I will applaud allowing martial classes to once again be good with ranged weapons without pigeon holding them into archer classes. This ranger can mix in ranged attacks with his two weapon style very seamlessly.
YET...what I love is that the incentive is to get into melee. One problem I had with the 4e core ranger is that archery is just so powerful. Not only are you doing as much damage as the melee ranger (heck often more) but you can be 20 squares away in complete safety and attack who you please.
This ranger can do the same...but for maximum benefit has to get into his opponent's face.
I like the mix and match of dual wield styles, that's pretty nice. I do question whether +2 dmg is worth missing out on a +1 to attack...though with power strike the larger die weapons get a tad more extra benefit that might help.
For those comparing this ranger to a twin strike one, one other thing to note is that this ranger must hit the same opponent with both attacks, with twin strike you could hit two.
I find this especially important because of minions. Minions are normally the bane of strikers...but the core ranger with twin strike can do pretty well. This ranger would have more difficulty.
