Can a ranger twinked thusly tank for groups 1 - 50?

[Safon]

Full set of Rubicite, FBSS, Dual Lammies, and the other slots filled with 500 - 2k items.

[Chippy]

Instead of Ruby get some tolan's higher AC, Rubi stuff is pretty shitty given the era we are in.

[Waedawen]

Back in the day when 50 was max I had a dope ranger friend. Rubi bp, fbss, SSoY / Root Sword combo, held better agro, tanked more damage, and dealt more damage than any other tank in sol b.

[webrunner5]

Oh there is not doubt that a Ranger can get the job done. You HAVE to have a pretty well equipted Cleric to heal them. They take a lot of damage compared to a Ogre. As a Cleric I just don't like them in a group. They are a mana sink to me. CH is overkill for them, if you wait too long they die before it hits, and lesser heals are just not mana efficent. So you are either over healing them or jumping up and down with lesser heals. Either way you are always behind mana on them.

I play a Ranger but there is a reason they can't get a group.

[Rooj]

My ranger tanked from 1-50, and at times I had some fairly crappy gear, lol.

Also to webrunner5, my ranger has no problems getting groups, /shrug.

[sbvera13]

Very few rangers gear as a tank, thus the complaints from clerics. With good gear (tolans, obsessive AC hoarding) they can leveling groups as well as the other classes, given that the skill caps havn't been reached yet.

[Waedawen]

Oh there is not doubt that a Ranger can get the job done. You HAVE to have a pretty well equipted Cleric to heal them. They take a lot of damage compared to a Ogre. As a Cleric I just don't like them in a group. They are a mana sink to me. CH is overkill for them, if you wait too long they die before it hits, and lesser heals are just not mana efficent. So you are either over healing them or jumping up and down with lesser heals. Either way you are always behind mana on them.

I play a Ranger but there is a reason they can't get a group.


Playing my druid back then, I can tell you this is entirely false.

A well equipped ranger, especially given the equipment that has become available since, will crush sol B mobs with his nice dps, ac, ds, and ykesha & root procs. Hell, since we were a ranger / druid combo and he could tank well enough, we would duo the spectres in Feerrott -- a 30 point damage shield tears them apart.

Once again - a ranger in str gear? No. A ranger itemized for HP and AC with proccing weapons, however, is quite a potent threat to the Oldworld dungeons like Sol B and LGuk.

[Lazortag]

Rangers can tank just fine from 1-60. They hold aggro well and their mitigation/hp is fine. Whether you can tank in groups isn't a matter of how good your hp and mitigation is relative to conventional tanks (wars, sk's, pallies), but instead whether your hp and mitigation is good enough for pulls to still be efficient and for exp to be reasonably fast. Here's a list of classes that usually satisfy this condition:

Pally, Monk, SK, Warrior, Ranger, Bard, Shaman.

Usually if you suggest a ranger, bard or shaman for a tank in an exp group people will raise their eyebrows, but I've pulled for groups with the above classes as tanks in zones like Charasis and the exp was still pretty fast (definitely faster than the average pug). Be open minded and don't just deny someone a group invite because they aren't an SK, Pally or Warrior.

edit: I agree with what people say above though that the ranger should be wearing tank gear though.

[Scavrefamn]

The difference between Knight vs Ranger is double the difference between Warrior vs Knight.



2 coppers.

[Aroith]

With good gear a ranger is a great tank at lower levels, but later on you will just get worse and worse compared to the 3 other tanking classes.

[webrunner5]

Hell a Bard is a worse Tank than a Ranger. Heck A Cleric is really not that bad as a Tank. They just can't kill anything lol. Play a top guild Cleric like I did in the day for 4 to 5 years, Raids and all, and tell me all about it.

I know on here you have to take what you can get. I have never turned someone down to Tank, even a Bard. But don't tell me a Bard or a Ranger is going to be your top pick if you had a choise as a Cleric healing them. Give me a big, ugly, fat Ogre Warrior.

But like I said a Ranger can kick some butt DPS wise. But you just have more down time. One problem, and it is not their fault, is you tend to use a Ranger as a Tank and a puller in a group. Even some CC. So they are getting hit form all sides.

Back in the early EQ days my main was a duel epic level 55 Ranger. 2000 to 2002. So I am not against them. Then I did the Cleric thing for 4 to 5 years after that. They just are not my favorite Tank to heal as a Cleric.

[madcowmisha]

Hey, been reading and thinking on this thread, and I wanted to get yalls opinion, both good and bad on my alt Ranger. Currently at lvl 20, he's wearing a mix of Mithril and such, wielding a Lammy/Wurmy with a FBSS. His stats unbuffed are: Str 181, Agi 115, Dex 103, AC 456. All skills maxed. Just wondering if this set up is 'ok' to tank? At lvl 37, I plan on picking up some Tolan's and what not for the ac, as I have 2 Yaks ready to go!? Like I said, looking for good and bad input, so I can plan accordingly.

Taulmaril

[webrunner5]

You need to get your Dex up. It is one of the more important stats on a Ranger solo. I am really not that much into Duel Weild weapons until like level 50ish on Rangers. The Woodsman Staff, and the Nature's Wrath, and the Swarmcaller would be my weapons to use in those levels. You have more time to cast spells between hits also with those weapons. Plus if you are in a group not the Tank, you will not draw as much agro. But as a Ranger you will still draw a ton of agro. Why they ever gave Rangers a Taunt ability I will never know.

Yeah Tolan's is the way to go. Expensive. The BP is pretty scary price wise. Treeweave had good AC on it and strength. You don't ever need a lot of mana on a Ranger even solo. So you could lean more to the Tank mentality.

I still believe to this day that Sony never intended Rangers to really get hit in this game much. Just be a Snare, shoot arrows sort of class, and be king of Tracking. Their epic should have been a Bow from hell. Not that their epics are bad. I think they are the best pair in the game. Imagine them on a Warrior. Even in the modern live EQ now Rangers still are not that great as a Tank class. Flameing Arrow and Heartshot is their claim to fame now. Both arrow spells. Along with Endless Quiver and Trueshot, all arrow thingys. I just don't think they have ever figued out what to make them in the long run. Beastlords come to mind also. Rangers are sort of the "Redheaded Stepchild" of EQ.

You have a tough life ahead of you in this game. But I have one on here myself. I guess we are both crazy.