There will be two sections to this, first the information without using any "exploits" (e.g. tactics screen, and two summons), the second part will be all about the "exploits."
First there's the obvious, as a Ranger you can summon an animal to fight with you. The choices are a Wolf, a Bear and/or a Spider. You are only supposed to have ONE out at a time per character but there is an exploit that will allow you to have two (details later).
Now about the pets:
Wolf - Not much to say, does some damage, can't take much damage. The regular wolf has Howl, upgraded (by fourth skill in the Ranger line) you also get Shred.
Bear - It's a tank, it actually has a skill called "Tank" which is a passive that adds a large amount of health and a small bonus to armor. The regular Bear has Slam and when upgraded it also has Rage.
Spider - The spider seems to be the middle ground between the wolf and bear for most things. The regular Spider has Web and when upgraded also has Poison Spit.
Things that any Ranger should know:
The first and (imho) MOST important thing any ranger needs is this mod:
http://www.dragonage...le.php?id=166
If you choose to use all or some of it, that is up to you but it allows you to keep summons through area transitions, makes me so happy
All mage buffs will affect pets but ONLY if cast AFTER the pet is out. So if you summon a pet, recast all buffs (e.g. frost weapon, fire weapon, haste, etc...).
Pets will NOT use abilities on their own (without setting tactics, allegedly an "exploit").
Your pets level will always be at least 2 levels below your own. Whether or not you have the final talent in the ranger line affects your pets level such that without at level 12 your pet will be level 9 and at level 25 your pet will be level 18. With the final talent when you are level 12 your pet is level 10 and at level 25 your pet is level 22. Also with the talent the only level your pet does NOT gain a level when you do is level 21, both level 20 and 21 your pet is level 18.
"Exploits"
The reason for the quotation marks is because I don't agree that all of these should be viewed as exploits, but not everyone agrees.
Tactics screen - Most people know about this I think, but getting to it is annoying to say the least.
- How to get there: First of all prior to your summon being level 10 (level 12 PC with final Ranger talent) there is no way to access the tactics screen without the two summon bug (explained later). Once your summon is level 10 you will see the "1 tactics slot acquired" banner show up, if you click on it before it goes away it will open the summons tactics screen, obviously this is very useful.
The most useful thing about the tactics screen is obviously that your summons will use their abilities themselves (according to the tactics you set). Although there's another very useful thing which is probably another "exploit" that is the extra skills your pets have.
Wolf's FULL skill set - Regular wolf has Howl, Dread Howl, Shred, and Overwhelm. Upgraded Wolf has Growl and Charge as well.
Bear's FULL skill set - Regular bear has Slam and Rage, upgraded bear also has Overwhelm.
Spider's Full skill set - Regular spider has Web and Overwhelm and upgraded also gets Poison Spit.
All of these abilities can be set to tactics and will be used in battle without any micro necessary. Though you better make the tactics good because the summons "extra" skills can't be used manually.
NOTE: Tactics can NOT be saved for pets, each time you resummon you will have to reset the tactics. This is another strong reason for the mod mentioned at the start, tactics will stay with the summon between areas so long as the summon stays.
Two Summon Bug
This one I consider an obvious exploit, but it can be lots of fun.
How to do it:
- Make sure the icons for the summons you want are on your skill bar.
- Do NOT move
- Start summoning the first one.
- Pause while casting first summon (easier to do this way your first time)
- Click the icon (or press the number) for the second summon you want.
- Unpause and touch nothing until you've completed the second summon and both are out.
Yes, this means with a rogue PC and Leliana and Zevran in the party you can have 6 summons out at once all with Overwhelm, and 3 wolves using Dread Howl (rare time you won't miss a mages CC much).
Note: There is one interesting side effect of having two summons out you can access the character, skill, talent, inventory, and tactics for your summons anytime you want in the exact same ways you would any other party member.
Conclusions
Without the Mod to keep summons out between areas or "exploits" - Rangers are incredibly annoying, and not worth the hassle.
Without any "exploits" but using the mod - Rangers are mediocre but as far as specializations go I would say Rangers are pretty good, especially for a rogue archer, besides Rogue PCs tend to have more talent points than you really need after all the books and quest related bonus points. Still kind of annoying microing the summon abilities though.
Using Tactics screen but no extra skills and the mod - As above minus the annoyance of mico managing summon abilities.
Extra abilities, tactics and mod - Now the Ranger is starting to shine, virtually every petty annoyance that Rangers suffer from is gone. Take the wolf and it's almost like having Dog with you at all times, though a little bit weaker (PC Dog doesn't have warrior skills). You can never go wrong with Overwhelm, throw in another CC ability (each summon has one) and life is grand.
Two summons, extra abilities, tactics and mod - If you're doing this, well you're not exactly "playing as intended" anymore but your Ranger is bringing almost as much DPS and utility as a mage. You've got two summons which can CC at least 2 enemies each for differing amounts of time (overwhelm + web/dread howl/slam). Meat shields are always great and even the auto attack DPS of a rogue+2 summons is massive, definitely the best single target DPS you can get from one party member (counting summons as the Ranger's DPS). It will be the best 4 talent points you ever spent on a rogue.
It's up to you if you use the "exploits" or not, but even without the exploits Rangers can be a great asset to any party.
Modifié par Dhraconus, 09 décembre 2009 - 03:41 .
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