what it's the best melee solo class??

[Tenlaar]

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

If you take bards out of the equation

Originally Posted by mix8160 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

i dont want play bard..

[snots]

And sitting there with auto attack plinking away is "fun".

OP i would ignore everyone in here. I've seen nothing ut garbage advice from people who twink the hell out of their chars. making a monk as first char would be so dumb. You can't even hardly loot anything and you'd ned cash for constant bandags.

Just dumb, dumb advice here.

The solution: 1x small sewing kit, 1x skinning knife, silk threads, silk swatches, animal pelts, leather padding.

This is how you make your own gear, your own bandages, your own cash, all while never going above the weight limits.

[xKoopa]

What classes have soloed ragefire? Oh yea monk did that just sayin

[Aadill]

Monk or Ranger. Monk inside, Ranger outside. Monk has higher mitigation and DPS, Ranger has utility.

Monks don't need gear except HP, which will take some time to acquire. As far as any AC a lot of monk's mitigation is natural but AC comes from pretty much any and all items. Wu's at this point is super cheap. Iksar monks have AC bonus and a few extra quests that are bonuses. As far as weapons, ANY weapon of which many are cheap, are great for decent DPS as a monk.

Both classes can go from 1 to 60 soloing. Downtime for the monk is probably shorter than the ranger.

Rangers can create pretty much their entire gearset SOLO using handcrafted bullshit bought from merchants or from farming hides. There are a large number of weapon and armor quests as well. I bowkited or small-grouped many of the Ivy Etched pieces during P99 classic in the 20s-30s range, even when facing higher level mobs. Hell, if you pick Ranger I'll even help you quest that stuff and some weapons just for the nostalgia, even though they might be crap in comparison nowadays.

[Jimjam]

If you pick Ranger, do some levelling in steamfont. Pick up some components to try get lucky on a trueshot longbow.

Keep an eye open for high level druids helping with rogue epics; first you can loot a nice off hand weapon from the mob they kill. Second you can have them help you kill meldrath for an ivy etched tunic piece.

[Muggens]

The Best melee class solo as in the most effective in dps, survivability etc is of course the Monk class, but what is best for the goose might not be so good for the gander if you know what I saying

[Ivory]

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

But bows are objectively terrible DPS. Archery is overall objectively terrible until Luclin.

You fool!!! Archery is one of the strongest forces in Norrath! I do about the same damage with my swords as I do with my bow in a group....if I go trueshot, I go far beyond that!

Sure I don't have a self haste / epic....but my weapons aren't so shabby.

Cecily can tell you! Yesterday we teamed up and I was demonstrating the power of the bendy branch fighting foragers in trakanon's teeth.

Which is a perfect example, a "normal" ranger trying to just sit and melee down a forager solo wouldn't be able to make it. But I, as an archer, could kill them easily and at a good pace.

Cecily, 5 levels higher (60 vs 55) and max hasted to 90% haste (compared to my self 50% bow haste) with her using epic weapon and some other super great high end weaponry.....compared to me using my skydarkener..... she killed it at double the rate I did (but my mob was rooted! So I lost my double bow damage bonus!).

I think once I catch up in levels and equipment, that would be a lot closer (still, it isn't so bad considering I don't have downtime and can do it safely....even at 60, Cecily was getting pretty hurt, I don't think a normal melee ranger at my level with normal equipment would have been able to do it without rooting and backing up to heal mid-fight).

Basically.....bows are awesome, archery is awesome, everyone should be an archer and be awesome [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

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[Ivory]

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

Cecily's results are interesting. There are numbers. Facts. Not feelings based on how "awesome" things are. I didn't realize they had fixed the worn haste issue. That surely helps. I'd also like to see how a 60 Ranger would do bow kiting vs melee at comparable weapon levels.

I also would like to see how a 60 ranger with rallos zek bow and sky cloak stacks up :3

I don't have a problem with you playing how you want, but people come here for facts. Even a 5% differential in DPS would be huge.

It depends in what scenario. If you are fighting a high end raid boss, then yea "maximum DPS till it dies or we die!!" is the strategy while tanks tank and clerics cleric. If you are interested in min/maximum DPS for end game raid encounter, why are you playing a ranger (other than the group buff, but a raid only needs 1 ranger then)? :|

Still, the ONLY way a ranger is competing with monks / rogues at raid level bosses is by using a bow-like weapon and their trueshot for 2 minutes of glory. And even then, a rogue is gonna win :P

Luckily! There is a huge game outside of just the highest end raids and min/max DPS in a tank and spank encounter!

Soloing, small groups, even just casual hunting in a group a bow can decently keep up (but still, likely a bit better dps to jump in and melee if someone else is tanking / healing....and less work).

Like going to plane of mischief as a ranger, where enchanters and druids use charmed pets to tank most of the time....a bow is pretty handy to being able to contribute there.

Basically, bows are awesome! Especially for a young ranger leveling up....unless you are mega twinked, you aren't going to be able to solo better than if you put in a bit of effort and get at LEAST a trueshot. If you can get a light velium or huntsmans bow by 35, you will be fine (especially if you get a nice quiver and a nice cheap held haste item).

If you have 100k+ for super twinking and fungi and stuff.....then I would still put it into getting the loot rights to a skydarkener ASAP (procs at 35 I hear). You get that and you can solo up to 50 better than any melee twinked ranger (since you will be AE kiting non-stop :P). But that is just if we are talking about "twink melee ranger vs twink archer ranger".....archer ranger still wins :P