Hello everyone, I’m new to this game. I had a little experience in the last decade, but my old character never even made it out of the first location. I stopped playing at level 16 in 2010.
I don’t know what inspired me to come back, but it happened. And I fell in love and rediscovered this game for myself. I’m still a complete noob and I’m mainly leveling different classes to level 20, clearing Tortage through quests and the main storyline, and then switching to other characters. I’ve tried many of them, except for the Demonologist, Priest of Mitra, Necromancer, Barbarian, and Conqueror.
The classes that impressed me the most, in terms of unique gameplay, were the stealth classes: Assassin and Ranger, because of their unique mechanics not typical for other classes. I also really liked the Guardian with a spear, since no one else in the game can use it effectively for melee combat! The Bear-Shaman and Dark Templar are also very impressive due to their similarities to character archetypes in other games I grew up on, like WoW and Lineage 2. I’m bewildered and in love with all of them and still haven’t decided who I will play.
However, right now I’m actively learning the Ranger. And I really want to create my own melee build. Veterans will probably laugh at me, and many have already done it in the game, saying that it’s just not a viable scenario. However, I play for my own enjoyment and I’m not chasing the meta, but trying to find a unique experience for myself as a gamer. In this regard, I am looking for people who share the same “ailment” as me, in order to ask for help in creating such a melee-ranger build. I would be very grateful for any help, please don’t throw tomatoes at me. Thanks!
Got to wait, they don’t look over-ripe yet !
Just so you know, your damage potential will be highly impaired because all melee weapons except daggers will not scale correctly with dexterity, they are strength based weapons. Even the few ranger special dexterity swords (tigers faction, t4, t5, etc) do not produce a lot of damages.
The class is really meant to be played with a bow or crossbow, there are almost no high level combos to use . . .
Wow, I’m really glad to see new players still joining AoC — welcome! And yeah, @Cappa is right. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to play a Ranger as a viable melee class. If you want to stay within the Rogue archetype and go melee, your options are Assassin or Barbarian. And if you also want strong stealth capabilities, then Assassin is the way to go.
Don’t understand what the problem is with the damage scaling from STR. Yes, with level progression, STR will increase less than Dex, okay. This can be compensated for with gear, can’t it? I would really like to learn more about the special DEX swords for the Ranger that you mentioned: “even the few ranger special dexterity swords (Tigers faction, T4, T5, etc.)”.
Also heard about the broken off-hand mechanic for the Ranger after one of the updates; the off-hand is disabled by default (unlike the Barbarian and Conqueror, who have a base 25% chance to attack with the off-hand). And I presume that raising this percentage from zero is an almost incredible task, which is why it is better to use a sword/shield.
In this regard, another question: why on earth did they give them the ability to wield a dagger in the left hand? What is the point? For example, there is “Shield Bash” for a shield. But what’s the meaning/purpose of a dagger off-hand?
I would like to reiterate that I am not looking for the “meta” or trying to create “the most effective” character on the server. Just want to realise my vision of a melee-ranger, and I would be grateful for advice how to do this more effectively, especially in case of the skill tree.
I levelled a melee ranger to lvl 36 once, using only sword and shield. While fun, the DPS drop compared to the mob health was quite dramatic at around 34-35, and I didn’t bother much beyond dinging 36. I can see levelling a Ranger with only melee as a fun challenge, and do keep us updated here if you do stick with it, but I can’t see it as anything viable in the long run.
