Ranger vs Warlock

[Falling Icicle]

Warlocks and Rangers, being both strikers, are pretty easy to compare. It's looking to me like the Ranger is superior. For example, the Warlock's primary power, Eldritch Blast, simply gives him a basic ranged attack equivalent in damage to what a ranger has with his longbow by default. The ranger's at-will attack power takes that and adds an extra +4 to hit with it.

Eldritch Blast also has half the base range of a bow, and also seems to lack the ability to shoot at double range. Effectively, this means Rangers can shoot targets 4x as far away as Warlocks can. I hope this range is a typo, as even Magic Missile has a range of 20.

The Ranger's Hunter's Quarry also adds more damage than the Warlock's Curse (1d8 vs 1d6). This could be due to the Lethal Hunter feat. I'm not sure.

Also, is it just me or does Eldritch Blast deal physical damage now? It lists no type, just like physical attacks, and makes no statement about being magical damage. Interesting.

 

[fafhrd]

Eldritch blast targets reflex, so you're comparing apples and oranges. The two classes seem fairly distinct even with the common role.

 

[Incenjucar]

Where's the part where the ranger can cross a ravine by killing someone?

 

[Falling Icicle]

Eldritch blast targets reflex, so you're comparing apples and oranges. The two classes seem fairly distinct even with the common role.

Ah, good point. I hadn't noticed that. I guess that means Warlocks will have an easier time hitting slow, high AC targets while rangers will have an easier time hitting agile, low AC targets.

 

[Darth Cyric]

I'd say they both have their advantages and disadvantages.

A Ranger with a bow has greater range than the Warlock does.

Hunter's Quarry and Warlock's Curse can both only (initially) be applied to the closest enemy.

Warlocks can curse more than one enemy, assuming they get close enough/he moves correctly. Rangers, however, can only have one quarry at a time.

There's a start.

 

[fafhrd]

Ah, good point. I hadn't noticed that. I guess that means Warlocks will have an easier time hitting slow, high AC targets while rangers will have an easier time hitting agile, low AC targets.

I think I missed this a couple of times while test running 4e. One oddity is that an unarmored rogue could have a higher reflex defense than AC due to the base bump to reflex the class gets.

 

[ZombieRoboNinja]

Where's the part where the ranger can cross a ravine by killing someone?

"Fey Step"

 

[Spatula]

errr what? AC = reflex defense + armor bonus, from what I've seen.

It was mentioned that there was a mistake in the ranger's +4 to hit power, that the damage should have been lower. But aside from that, the warlock is more tactically flexible, and probably trades off some damage-dealing as a result. The ranger deals damage, and nothing else. The warlock can deal damage, but can incapacitate or hinder foes as well.

 

[small pumpkin man]

I'm not going to compare the daily and per encounter power, but you're missing out on a couple of things here. The Warlock has prime shot which helps the attack bonus part, she can attack attack both ref and will while the ranger can only attack AC, and has actual defensive abilities (shadowwalk for concealment, eyebite for invisibility). Note that people who actually played the game said the Ranger did good damage, but was a glass cannon and lacked any semblance of control over the battlefield.

Not that I find any of this particularly helpful, since we're only comparing two example characters, as opposed to actual power lists.

 

[mach1.9pants]

errr what? AC = reflex defense + armor bonus, from what I've seen.

I am pretty sure that:
AC for light armour = DEX/INT + armour + shield (leather AC+3, Hide AC+4 probably)
AC for heavy armour = armour + shield (chain AC+6, scale AC+7, plate AC+8)
Shield heavy +2 to AC and Reflex (I assume Lt Sh +1)