Third most challenging class to play SSF

[Vivitron]

Originally Posted by Baldwooky [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

A ranger could definitely get a Tantors Tusk or Wurmslayer EZ.

Tantor's Tusk would be a sick SSF weapon. I imagine it would take a lot of arrows to kill him. You would probably need to figure out his spawn mechanism or find him on a quake; I've never seen him sitting up.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Baldwooky [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Its not ranger, wow.

Solo self found, eh, ever hear of tracking?

As someone that has mained all hybrids, I can tell you uniequivically that SK is far harder than ranger to solo up and way, way harder to self gear. In fact, rangers are one of the best at self gearing.

I love how FD is some OP tool to some of you. Its not, Harmony is a way better tool to a soloist. SK's have literally 1 way to effectively level, and they do it slowly. Rangers can do that same thing all the way to 60, plus about 10 other things.

But the answer is actually Cleric. And I've soloed one before when neccasary. Once you hit the 50s in kunark, mob HP spikes up, and you basically go OOM on a single blue.
No quadding, no mana regen, no nothing but an undead DD and retribution, which isn't mana efficient enough to even kill mid blues.

Paladin has free self healing at 45. They're out.

Its either Cleric or SK.

FD is not the sole reason SKs are great at soloing.

For one, SK's get fear kiting. This means they can kill mobs while taking very little damage, constently. Meleeing does more damage than bow kiting, so SK's will be killing faster.

SKs have access to big races like trolls. More stats and extra HP regen right out of the gate.

They get a pet too. It isn't the greatest pet, but the extra damage is more significant when you don't have great weapons.

FD + Snare allows SKs to pull singles just like Harmony, but they can do it indoors as well.

Having both Invis spells (undead and regular) and FD means SK's can bypass more mobs in more areas, including dungeons.

FD is good at saving time, since you don't need to run to the zoneline when you get unintended agro, or lose a fight.

Just about the best weapon any hybrid can get for SSF is https://wiki.project1999.com/Blacken..._Bastard_Sword , which is dropped in a dungeon. SK's are more effective in dungeons.

I agree Rangers can get some good gear at the very end. They can do Forager cycle in TT for Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate, and they can probably get Swarmcaller from Karnor.

But remember that a Troll/Iksar is already going to have +4 or +7 (depending on level) standing regeneration for free when a Ranger is in the level range to farm a Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate. Fear kiting is already filling the role of slow (Swarmcaller) in the sense of reducing melee damage. A SSF character isn't really in the position to do things like soloing a Cliff Golem, where slow would really be needed.

[Toxigen]

anything w/ root and gate cant be that hard

hard != boring / slow

[Jimjam]

Ranger is fun - skilling up fletching, trying to force a trueshot… making magic arrows to kite the ghoul messenger and get a short sword of morrin. Similar story for an orc impaler. Can use iksar beserker club.

Lots of cool soloaboe gears that make an impact.

[Troxx]

I think you’re underestimating how quickly you can bow kite something dead. Especially when the alternative is a knight (low dps to begin with) with crappy SSF weapon and no worn haste.

Standard vendor arrows, self-made quiver haste, and a self crafted bow along with a SSF very high delay (but otherwise crappy ratio) 2hander to milk that dmg bonus …

Killing with a bow really isn’t that bad.

Have you ever played a SSF melee toon? It’s painful and you have to get by with really crappy gear.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Troxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I think you’re underestimating how quickly you can bow kite something dead. Especially when the alternative is a knight (low dps to begin with) with crappy SSF weapon and no worn haste.

Standard vendor arrows, self-made quiver haste, and a self crafted bow along with a SSF very high delay (but otherwise crappy ratio) 2hander to milk that dmg bonus …

Killing with a bow really isn’t that bad.

I am not saying bow kiting is bad. Nor am I saying SSF Ranger is bad. I also think that a Ranger has some advantages at leveling for the first 40 levels or so over Knights, since Rangers get their key spells/skills sooner than Knights. This means they can do cheesy tactics earlier than Knights in outdoor zones, which are fairly common in the lower level range.

That is why I said Paladin is probably the hardest of the 3 hybrids to level for the first 40 levels or so earlier in the thread. They get all of their key spells/skills the latest of the three hybrids, and they don't have fear kiting or bow kiting to cheese mobs early on. Paladins start to really get good once you are in the later levels, when your buffs and heals start to mitigate a lot of damage.

However, the idea: "Harmony can sometimes pull faster, therefore Rangers are better/faster killers" is missing the key components of kill speed and recovery times. If you pull faster but kill/recover slower, then you may not be faster than a Knight at the end of the day when looking at kills per hour or total experience gained. Knights can level in dungeons and outdoor zones equally well. This means you need to take ZEM into account. Even if Rangers can get 2-3 more kills per hour via bow kiting, the Knight may still win out in the end in terms of total experience gained. You are going to get a lot more experience per kill in Sol A vs. an outdoor zone typically speaking, for example.

If you or someone else wants to show DPS numbers and kills per hour numbers showing a Ranger vastly outpacing a Knight, I would be happy to concede the point. I don't think anyone here (including myself) has this data on hand. It's experience and gut feelings talking.

[Troxx]

The numbers I can parse aren’t really relevant as I’m not in SSF gear on either my paladin of Ranger. I can say that whatever the gap between my melee and bow dps geared as is, that gap will be a lot smaller on a SSF toon.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Giant_Grub_Digger

-that For a 49 delay weapon for the archery damage bonus
-the same str arrows I’m currently using.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Thunderhoof_Quiver
https://wiki.project1999.com/Runed_Oak_Bow

-33% WR for archery haste
-good magic bow

… both of these items drop off the same centaurs. One is level 20 and the other is level 33-35.

It’s pretty easy to get a decent bow/archery SSF. Much easier than getting the equivalent caliber weapons that you might find for sale for 20-50pp in EC tunnel.

[Troxx]

I guess all I gotta say is this ... once you have done a SSF rogue or warrior no other class comes close to approaching the same difficulty. They are the most gear dependent classes with the least flexibility in what they can accomplish.

-Casters don't really need gear and they all have pretty legit ways of soloing. Cleric gets harder towards the end but still easy compared to the 2 worst.
-Bards need literally nothing but vendor instruments to reach 80% or more their total character power.
-Monks can level in rags and have fists that scale up better than any SSF weapons they might have available for a long time

Of the 3 that remain, debating which one is the worst is going to end up with a lot of different answers and all of them for good reasons. When you get down to it, though, they're gonna get the job done so much more painless than a rog or warrior it's not even funny.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

Originally Posted by Troxx [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Of the 3 that remain, debating which one is the worst is going to end up with a lot of different answers and all of them for good reasons. When you get down to it, though, they're gonna get the job done so much more painless than a rog or warrior it's not even funny.

Agreed!

[WarpathEQ]

I voted paladin just because the other 2 have options to kill mobs without face tanking them.