Vote for your favorite Paragon Path - Part 4: Ranger

[mkill]

New day new poll. Next in line is the Ranger, everyone's favorite twin striking martial striker. But which is your favorite Ranger-based Paragon Path?

As with the other polls, the champion will move on to the next round.

Other polls:
Cleric - Fighter - Paladin - Ranger - Rogue - Warlock - Warlord - Wizard - Swordmage - Forgotten Realms - Avenger - Barbarian - Bard - Druid - Invoker - Sorcerer - Warden - Eberron - Artificer -

 

[Dice4Hire]

everyone's favorite twin striking martial striker.

Well, he is the ONLY one, I guess. But still not my favorite

I went with Horizon walker. Not overly powerful, but a good mix of abilities, especially for a high wisdom ranger. I like how the powers are both melee and ranged, not always the case with Ranger PPS.

 

[mkill]

I play a Dragonborn 2WF ranger who uses flails. Why is it so hard to find a decent PP for that? I don't know why, but there are two friggin' melee ranger PPs for Eladrin (!?) and not a single one for Dragonborn What's even more shocking, one of these, Blade Banshee, is really really good.

There is one for Tieflings, but unlike the Tiefling Warfiend for the Fighter, which is surprisingly good, Hellborn Shadow is below average. It has a pretty nice encounter power, but you're still better off with a different PP - or rather, a different race or a different class.

Back to my Dragonborn. Stormwarden is out, because he doesn't have much Dex, but I noticed another nice one: Pathfinder.

Pathfinder (not the RPG...) is actually pretty sweet, but it fell below the radar when everyone was salivating over Stormwarden. Key is the 16th level feature: Whenever you deal Hunter's Quarry damage, get the same amount + Wisdom modifier in temp hp. Now, Rangers can easily get 2 or 3 attacks against their quarry per round, which translates into a 80%-90% chance to get their quarry damage. With the Lethal Hunter feat that means 2d8 + Wis temp hp per round, and 3d8 + Wis temp hp at Epic.

Wow. That's one of the best temp hp features in the game, right after Infernal Warlock.

(If you're an elf, which is unlikely for a melee ranger, you can take the Hunter's Advantage feat for another small boost)

 

[Destil]

Pathfinder is pretty much an off-defender, as it also gets you some marking powers. If you take two-weapon defense and use a double weapon and get chain or scale you should be able to make a pretty tough character with it.

 

[Mengu]

Sylvan Archer is my favorite. It's not the most powerful, but it's got just the right amount of power and flavor for me. The extra boost to perception is nice. Ignoring being blind with an action point is handy. Dealing wisdom damage with quarry damage is good. The immediate interrupt that's better than Disruptive strike is awesome for protecting your allies and dishing out damage all at the same time. Flexibility with Quarry distance is great, especially in fights with an arch enemy. And the level 20 daily just makes you and the DM work in a way that makes certain fights much more personal for the character.

 

[Turtlejay]

I'm surprised Stormwarden isn't winning. Isn't it the universally acclaimed champion? That said, I like Avalanche Hurler and Sharpshooter both a lot. I went with Sharpshooter.

Jay

 

[Destil]

I'm surprised Stormwarden isn't winning. Isn't it the universally acclaimed champion? That said, I like Avalanche Hurler and Sharpshooter both a lot. I went with Sharpshooter.

Jay

Stormwarden is all about auto damage. Auto damage (with no dice) doesn't add broken bonuses from a dozen sources. Therefore stormwarden doesn't register in the DPR chat CharOp mentality.

That said I voted for it. It's cool.

 

[mkill]

Stormwarden is all about auto damage. Auto damage (with no dice) doesn't add broken bonuses from a dozen sources. Therefore stormwarden doesn't register in the DPR chat CharOp mentality.

Well, it was a charop favorite back when we only had the PHB1 to play with. Now, it doesn't match something like a Eladrin Ranger/Blade Banshee feycharger, or whatever optimization strategy you prefer.

Even worse, as a 2WF ranger, you don't really want to keep enemies close to you. Most of your powers are skirmisher-like, move in -> attack -> move out. I'd even argue that the auto-damage is more of a punishment / control feature to keep enemies away from you, rather than a damage source (similar to the Avenger's Censure).

Third, it's only viable for a small subset of Rangers, which is Str/Dex 2WF rangers. If you decide to go 2WF Str/Wis or 2WF Str/Con, there is nothing to see here. And since 2WF is a hard requirement, Beastmasters, Archers, Hunters and Marauders can't enter, and neighter can PCs multiclassed into Ranger. (I hope we'll get errata that remove all style requirements from Ranger PPs, but I won't hold my breath).

Now, what I find surprising is that both gold and silver go to archer ranger PPs right now, and they seem to be way more popular than 2WF or beastmaster PPs.

 

[deganawida]

I voted Giantslayer. I love the flavor of that PP, and love envisioning the "Ride the Giant Down". Overall, one of my favorite PPs.

 

[renau1g]

I voted Avalanche Hurler because it's so cool, but I often hear Pit Fighter as a pretty high damaging PP as well.