Ranger: which self buffs are worthwhile?
 

As a Ranger I have quite a few buffs I could keep up on myself, but it's not overly clear which ones are worth the effort.

I pretty much take it as a given that my AC+DS buff and Skin buffs are worth it for the extra AC, with the light DS or HP being a nice side benefit. It helps that these are long lasting anyway. But maybe this is a poor assumption. How much AC actually matters?

SoW obviously.

Now for the shorter lasting buffs that are somewhat more annoying to keep up at all times:

Firefist- this gives +12 ATK. Is this worth it? I tried some parsing today and over the course of a few hour solo session it parsed out to be 5% more DPS but the sample size feels too low to say anything definitive. Is it possible for 12 ATK to give that much DPS? Doesn't seem right.

What about strength? This should affect ATK as well as max hit right?

Call of Sky feels worth it, at least to me as a 40's Ranger. I can expect it to fire off enough times to be a pretty efficient nuke.

summoning DSM

10th ring
nev cloak
see invis
ultra vision
five flowers
SoN
CoTP

If it aint on this list, it isn't worth acquiring or casting. While you're levelling you can get away with having harmony, sow, and flame lick memmed and 5 empty spell gems until 60 just fine.

Best of all just abandon the ranger at 60, strip him except some EC hitpoint gear and make him a weaponshield bot. Best thing for them.

It really depends what you are doing since the spell book is very flexible. Call of Sky/Fire is nice dps at your level, at 60 I still it with jolt as a caster interrupt. The only buffs I always have up are the ones that might save my life or the ones people ask for frequently. Later when the buffs last longer it’s less annoying to keep them up; I still rarely use the spike coat line and Call of Earth but they last forever. The Shield of __ DS is a mana hog for the duration but can be helpful if otherwise if the player is getting hit a ton (the more per second the better it is).

Up to 50 I’d be spending most my mana on snare and panic animal. Tigerraptors near Skyshrine got me to 49 easily. I’d prob get a shrunken goblin earring and use that instead of Firefist. As a junk buff in slot one to protect SoW and other costly buffs. Also for the attack and global cooldown clickie. Going back to the “save your life” mantra that plus root in slot #1 isn’t always needed but can save the day.

Depends on what you're trying to do. If I'm soloing and face tanking or jousting, then it's skin line, _coat line, fire fist, call of sky, and wolf form.
ATK buffs really make a huge difference, and it's really the only thing that rangers are great at buffing.
If you're fear kiting or grouping, then it doesn't matter too much, just do your +ATK buffs for increased DPS.

lol

and i thought i was an elf elitist

My static spell loadout has always been:

1: heal
2: snare
3: root
4:
5:
6:
7: harmony
8: thorns

Those 5 spells are always up with slots 4/5/6 rotating around depending on what is going on. Typically flame lick somewhere in the lineup. Jolt too depending on content.

Buffs I keep up: coat DS (long), skin, CoE (after you get it), SoN (after you get it), strength and sow. After 55 I have kept regen up. Depending on circumstances both short DS buff and call of fire are ver mana efficient.

Clearly heal, snare, flames �� ��, root, another root, anything can happen thursday, thorns, bug nuke ��

Only buff I have always slotted is sow, I would slot lev too but I have the cloak. When farming skelingtons in paineel I keep strenght of nature, call of fire and storm strenght slotted.

Call of earth, strenght of nature both great buffs that are over ride gob ear and ring 8, gotta carry an ac set, mr set, dex set, diferent weapons, its impossible to get enough pr, theres no room in my inv and im not even carying mats for fletched arrows.

I feel like an enchanter complaining about not enough spell slots.

Cant imagine why anyone would play ranger on a pve server though they are pretty much useless.

All of your self buffs are great. I am 60 and when I solo, I just self buff. Str, Agi, Shielding, Thorncoat, Thorns, Regen, SoN, CoTP, CoE, firefist, wolf form, levi (cloak). Eye patch of plunder for Captain Nalot's Quickening as well for the haste.