Twinking a new Ranger?Follow

So, I'm looking at 28 views and no replies... Any advice will do people, and you don't have to answer every question at once, just any answers you have or think you have would be much appreciated.

Thanks again everybody!

Edit:
Like for starters the most important and immediate question i have is: Is it worth my time to do the Crescent Reach quests right now, or can i just grind through here?

Edited, Mar 19th 2012 9:21pm by Falcoisgod

Defiant gear is globally dropped (you probably already know about it), and is the way to go until 80+, in general.


SoD Earth progression to get J5 merc access. Other stuff before that, can be bought / made / whatever, if you prefer not to do it, or even simply skipped on alot of it. EDIT: DoN progression is good to do also for some really nice AAs, but can be done at anytime. LDoN Aug progression will require shrouding if you go above level 82 or 83. Headshotting at 80 is a good way to go for the themes with humanoids (Commonlands one has the most, iirc).


At low level (less than 60th level) go with a Tank Journeyman merc. They will basically powerlevel through up to the 50s, and even 60s a bit, if you stay with it. Make sure, in the group window, you set the merc as Main Tank role (Right-click on merc name, Roles - Main Tank).

Jman mercs are basically raid geared or high-est end group geared, especially at lower levels. Apps are casually group geared, so there is a significant difference. The higher the tier, the more confident they are and less likely to run from scary situations.


I'd stick with the hotzones. Basically, Crescent Reach - Blightfire - Goru'kar - Blackfeather - etc. It's less running around, good xp, and lots of descent stuff to do.

Weapons are the only real twink items you should need, as defiant armor is fairly common and you'll probably pick up most of it just leveling. You may need to buy some pieces here and there as you see fit.

As far as quests and stuff, do the TSS Charm of Lore and Wanderlust aug for it quests. The NPC Boawb starts a quick series of 2 quests that result in a clicky resist buff and takes <5 mins, including the run time to find the starter NPC (near banker on 2nd floor). If you don't want to spend cash, the weapons quests in Blightfire are good to do. Do the Orc Ore Hauler's Haversack quest for a good weight reduction bag, at level 20, if you're so inclined.

When you get to Goru'kar and able to easily kill the giants (as the named ones are quite a bit tougher), you can do Scout Madu's aug quest series, for some really nice for the level augs. There is also a subquest for the Charm of Lore in Goru'kar that involves killing Giants.

Epics are good quests (especially 1.5 and 2.0 at 65+ and 70+) for a Ranger to do.

There's alot more descent quests in TSS expansion for some descent augs, but they're not must haves, just most are fairly easy, and even the ones that aren't are at least very worthwhile to some classes.

There's probably more progression stuff that's required 80+, but I'm not sure on all of it, and it should be a bit before you get there, so I'll just leave it out.

EDIT: Note that the following weapons list is pretty crappy. Using Advanced search will yield better results. I just had a twink spreadsheet made up and assumed the weapons would be good ratio, and not simply have AC on them. Some are great tho; Horn of Hsagra and Swiftblade of Zek. Twinkable Weapons quick list (No Rec. / Req. level, Trade-able, Wood Elf Ranger useable):
The Horn of Hsagra
Gleaming Shai`din Naginata
Reviviscent Combine Blade
Insignia of Broken Skull
Swiftblade of Zek
Bitter Blade of the Icepaw
Long Sword of Ethereal Energy
Stone of the Darkened Peaks
Warders Blade
Glowing Red Stone
Wrapped Entropy Serpent Spine
Mechlo Power Source
Polished Shai`din Naginata
Argent Protector
Dathor Great Hammer

***** Some Links *****
Serpent Seeker's Charm of Lore
Looking for Aug Quests
Sweeping the Steppes: Gnolls good quest for mid-level weapons
PoK NPCs that sell defiant jewelry: Iason Yureska (Level 50+ items) and Keefe Stearns (Level 5-49 items).
Franklin Teek in PoK offers quick hot zone tasks with belt/shoulder/back defiant gear rewards.
Re: Fabled Ranger Weapons

Yther Ore.

Edited, Mar 24th 2012 2:07am by Yther

Edited, Apr 1st 2012 4:21am by Yther

Yes, I recommend J1 Tank for everyone upto 50s or maybe higher. The deal with J1s, is they have superior regen and resists, and can easily solo hard reds (7 levels above the merc), and even most red named upto the 50s. I used to use Clerics for melee / tank player characters, until I found out the tanks were basically as good or better than my best twinked Warrior character.

As long as you're killing, looting, and selling most of the time, you make enough cash to support the merc (unless you've found a really poor set of mobs to exp on). Just remember to suspend them when running to sell or buy new spells, etc. that's taking up much time away from killing.

By the 50s or 60s, or I usually switch to whatever is appropriate for the played toon's class. If you go with dps mercs, App5 maybe fine. I haven't noticed alot of dps loss between App5 and J1. There's a bit, but not a ton (guessing around 20%, as it's noticeable but not dramatic). The J1 rogues are alot tougher defense wise though, but even teh App5s do descent when they have to tank. The App5 tanks are also descent tanks, but if you try consistently red cons, you'll run into needing to heal them (or down time for them to med).

My usual, now-a-days, boxing setup, is a J1 Tank and A5 Rogue for mercs at low levels, then switching in the low 60s to whatever is really needed for the classes. If you're selective with an App5 Tank, you can prob minimize the downtime / healing, but accidental multiples or mobs with DoT spells really take them down, compared to a the J1 tank.

EDIT: At silver, App5 tank would be my recommendation to 50s also, even with a Warrior player class. I've done at least one War with a War merc, and it was very fast. The problem with Clerics is they run out of mana too fast until 20s or higher, and aren't really effective until they get a complete heal in the 40s. Wizard mercs have the same OoM problem at low levels, and why I go with a Rog as a secondary (they have a little bit more dps than the tank, and don't fight over aggro that way).

EDIT 2: App5 Rog on burn stance has good dps, and the J1 tank keeps aggro most of the time. Sometimes vs. named or something, I'll have to switch the Rog to normal stance at the start, but that's not common, and is more about me protecting the Rog from needing healed / med time.

Yther Ore.

Edited, Mar 21st 2012 6:27pm by Yther

Edited, Mar 21st 2012 6:34pm by Yther

At App5, I'd probably go with 2 tanks. That also seems to fit good with the Clr and Enc. I'd probably go with a Wiz merc for the Wizard. I haven't personally tried them except at low levels, but hear they are good at the mid-to-higher levels, and with an Enc to keep them cracked up, they shouldn't have the mana problem by then.

Probably any combo of a tank + any non-healer merc would work. Two tanks is just good in case of emergency, and you can probably keep on passive and alternate them as Main tank to keep their Endurance up, and get twice the discipline use out of them. I suggested the Wiz merc for the Wiz just to keep them in the same line (ranged dps), and would probably be better molo also (Root+nuke or Kite+nuke, and set the real Wiz up as puller to keep the merc one planted in a single spot). I'm just guessing here though, as I don't have any higher level Wizzies yet (although I've enjoyed the one I started, just haven't leveled it yet).

EDIT: Although my tendency with 2 tanks is just let them burn up the endurance and discs together. I usually only alternate mercs, when it's two healers to keep their mana pool up. A clr merc along with a tank merc will make the mercs self-sufficient (people do this for AFK xping, although it's frowned upon). I've actually left a molo toon afk to xp with a tank merc, but it's very slow having to wait on respawn time and only get a few mobs a time, but works, especially nice, if you just have to get up for 15-20 minutes, and just don't want to miss a spawn cycle.

Yther Ore.

Edited, Mar 21st 2012 7:21pm by Yther

Just to put in my two cents: I've been playing my Ranger a lot lately, grinding out AAs in Blackfeather and The Steppes. I've found that a Rogue mercenary is REALLY nice for kiting. They'll follow behind the snared mob and dps pretty heavily. Just make sure you toss an extra snare on the mob now and again to make sure you hold aggro

There are some nice aug quests in/for goru'kar mesa. Do those. Also in the SW part of Mesa there is an named treant (Ternsmochin). Kill it for 100 point Life Tap aug.

BTW, I'm answering here based on the assumption that you are, indeed, running a lvl 10 Ranger. Just thought I'd, y'know, throw that out there.