A good ranger dual wield build?

[Groburn]

Hi all. I'm looking for a decent pure ranger build with two weappn fighting path. He's a dwarf and would preffer him to be with axes. Also is the ranger/hunter kit any good? What are the advantages of the hunter kit?

[Groburn]

Ok i actually found the thing i was looking for. It's a ra26/cavestalker4. With natural bond and epic animal companion he'll still have a full animal comp progression right? Also is favored power attack worth it since the build will have expose weakness AB shouldn't be a problem. And my question remains about the hunter kit? Is it better to go with it for that build or it's not worth losing spellcasting?

[Wyatt]

I do not think the hunter base class has been put into the game yet. As for a dwarf ranger I would consider ranger 27/cavestalker 3. You can still get full caster and favored enemy progression, cavestalker makes sense for dwarves from a lore standpoint, and it adds a bit of power to the build via tumble, allowing hips in natural caves and other cavestalker goodies. Other than that, take dex to 16 so you can max ac with mithral breastplate and cats grace and pump strength for damage.

Take feats that improve armor like protective ward and the two weapon defense line. Grab epic prowess/expose weakness in early epics. You should have feats left over to either bolster your animal companion (natural bond and epic animal companion) or help increase your own combat (power attack, combat expertise, knockdown...). Lots of options.

[Groburn]

Bad thing about all is that i can only take regular two weapon defence . Ranger style doesn't make me able to take improved /greater twd. I'm also going for low int build. Int10 so i wouldn't be able to take CE but i can take power attack and favored PA. How about feats in late epics? Should i go for epic strength ? Is armor skin worth it ?

[chad878262]

Some general advice:

The feats you will want to aim for no matter what: LoH, Protective Ward, Oversized TWF, Practiced Spell Caster. If you have 13+ INT CE and ICE are also very good for a pure Ranger, if not Two Weapon Defense is also great.

Wyatt is correct, 16 DEX is the 'sweet spot' every ranger should have, after that I recommend 14 WIS so you are not item dependent, CON of 11-14 depending on if you want to use bears endurance or a +3 item and max STR. In epics Armor skin is not a bad one, but make sure to get epic prowess/expose weakness and then go Great STR. End on odd STR and if you have a spare epic feat grab armor skin. The biggest weakness Rangers can have if they don't build properly is low AC so you definitely want to address it where you're able.

[chad878262]

Bad thing about all is that i can only take regular two weapon defence . Ranger style doesn't make me able to take improved /greater twd. I'm also going for low int build. Int10 so i wouldn't be able to take CE but i can take power attack and favored PA. How about feats in late epics? Should i go for epic strength ? Is armor skin worth it ?

Protective ward give +2 AC at Ranger 24, so only getting regular TWD is fine... CE/ICE is really nice, but not needed (though I would get UMD so I could use wands of IMA/Shield when needed.

[Zanniej]

I do not think the hunter base class has been put into the game yet.

I think he's aiming for the new kits that are implemented. However, in my short search I couldn't find any conclusive info on how the class kit for the Ranger works.

Bad thing about all is that i can only take regular two weapon defence . Ranger style doesn't make me able to take improved /greater twd. I'm also going for low int build. Int10 so i wouldn't be able to take CE but i can take power attack and favored PA. How about feats in late epics? Should i go for epic strength ? Is armor skin worth it ?

Armor skin is barely worth it. If you have a feat spare you could look at protective ward, or luck of heroes at first level (if you didn't take it yet).

If you put your dex at 16, you can pretty much max out strength with everything you've got.

[mrm3ntalist]

The Hunter kit is not available. It is there just for testing.

There is an issue with all class kits. It is best to avoid using them for now.

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

Actually I think that Ovesized Two Weapon Fighting is not a wise feat to take for this kind of build, mainly because of the fact that there are +3 Hide & Move Silently shortswords available for purchase (on top of +3 EB). That is +6 to hide and move silently on a build which already struggles with stealth skills. I don't know if there are other types of weapons available with similar bonus but IMO this is too good to pass up.

Regarding the build, with dispel fix in place you will want to stop at exactly 26 levels of Ranger. Why? Because with Practiced Spellcaster feat you will get full 30 CL, 24th level of Ranger nets you another +1 to dodge AC from protective Ward, 25th level of Ranger grants you another FE group, and 26th level will give you another epic feat.

For the other 4 levels you will want a class with Tumble. For a race with Darkvision, Cavestalker is by far the best choice as you get additional AC, some skills, Tumble and most importantly widened HiPS use. All this for practically no investment.

For a non darkvision race, Divine Champion is a rather good choice - Tumble access, +2 to universal saves and +2 feats. Other good options are WD and Assassin.

[chad878262]

I would disagree with the short swords of stealth since that is not where your damage comes from with a STR ranger. I will say you don't need to go with OTWF as you could wield a Battle/war axe and use a hand axe in the off hand. However, if you want to be a double waraxe wielding guy you'll need the feat. Once you get Ranger 17 for HiPS (and with CaveStalker you'll have hips in natural indoor areas as well) it's a decent way to get an AB increase briefly, but I recommend weapons with bonus damages rather than stealth bonus. No matter what you do you aren't ever going to be a world beater at stealth, but there is plenty of other gear to help such as the greater/epic cloaked amulet and some really nice epic shop stealth gear.

[Wyatt]

I agree with Chad. If you really need the feat, go with waraxe/handaxe. Otherwise dual waraxes is fun. There are some nice ones on the server and dwarves are unfortunately not super common so they aren't crazy expensive. As a ranger you don't really need to rely on sneaking other than for the initial flurry.

[AlfarinIcebreaker]

Speaking of which, are there for example handaxes or kukris with bonus to MS/Hide with at least +3 EB?

[Akroma666]

Speaking of which, are there for example handaxes or kukris with bonus to MS/Hide with at least +3 EB?

Yessir, one on the epic shop with +1d6 sneak dice as well. (kukri)

[chad878262]

There's also the shadow master kukri which has a greater and epic version floating around. I don't know of any hand axes with stealth, but there are some with nice ranger bonuses like spot/listen/survival.

[loucolouco]

Im building something similar and i think it might help.

i went with wood elf could be dwarf and would look great also.
21 ranger 6 monk 3 tempest.
stats
str 18 24
dex 18 20 (can let it on 19 for GTWD and spend on str so you can use great str feat for another feat)
con 12
int 6
wis 14
cha 8

going for 2 great axe (a skinny elf using 2 greataxe looks so badass and would also do a short dwarf using them)
monk robe or no armor at all.
why 6 monk? wis ac, speed, and the great feat Improved knockdown for free(since i have 6 int i would never get it) evasion and some few other bonus.
no need for umd to use any monk itens although would be good to have some to use scrolls or wands to buff.

Tempest 3 give more ab and ac only. Could be changed to cavestalker although i will use tempest.

feats i got:
OTWF
Monkey grip
weap focus great axe (could be greatsword but holding 2 great axe looks like the killing machine )
all weapon defense, improved and great
dodge mobility spring (reqs for tempest)
epic animal companion and animal bond (can also be changed if you dont mind having a completely useless animal companion) even with these 2 feats animal companion will be only lvl 24... weak but can take some hits...
epic prowess or great str (here depends if you go for 20 dex or 19 dex)

skill
30 tumble
33 parry
20+ hide and MS.
The parry is the only doubt i have... does it worth or forget about it and buff hide and MV to max?

AC will be good enough since youll get wis bonus(also more spells), dodge, GTWD, tempest and monk ac bonus.

AB will not be the highest because of the 2 great axe but with tempest and weap focus end epic prowess it wont hurt that much. here again can be changed for smaller axes and skip monkey grip and get dwarf axe and a hand axe and get better AB with less damage output. But since youll have better AB youll land more hits.. in the end you might be doing similar damage.

Other problem is the lack of feats since 3 of them i spend only to get tempest and 1 for monkey grip.

Hope that this build gives you some more ideas on yours...