Honestly I think rangers kinda got a raw deal in DKS. I'm at L25 working on Orobas Fjords quests and have yet to see a truly convincing bow. The Bow of Nericon is the one Raze just mentioned that you buy from Sam, and it's the best one I've seen so far. Still, it pales in comparison to most of the better one-hand melee weapons, and of course you get to use 2 of those. Dual-weilding seems clearly the way to go, to the extent that I think Larian will have to work on the combat system a bit for D3. Unless I'm completely missing something, dual weild is so far superior to every other weapon option that it makes it a serious mistake to try any other setup.
However, I still use bow a fair amount on enemy rangers and mages. I've had the best luck going for crit rate with bows. Also don't waste any charm slots on any of your gear with Heightened Reflexes. If you get 4 HR that's all you got, but if you get 4 DEX you got the 4 HR from the DEX pts, in addition to getting the ranged damage and ranged defense boosts. The same holds true with Conditioned Body and Indomitable Will, don't bother with those either (although not that you would if you're a ranger, but I'm just saying the same principle applies).
But I think in the end the honest answer is, you're just plain not going to make a ranger that's going to outdamage a well-equipped dual weild. It's all about dual weild getting 2 sets of charms/enchantments and every other setup getting 1. My best bow does about the same damage as ONE of my hand weapons, and it doesn't quite attack as fast, so the math is pretty simple. Can you make an effective ranger? Absolutely. Can you make one that has the absolute best possible damage output in the game? I don't think so.
Also, as annoying as it may be, it really helps to use the reload trick Cowking mentions above when talking about the Killer Bunny. This guy hits like a freight train btw, so be ready to move fast when he pops, his melee will still chew you up at L25. But any enemy character with a name will likely give a high-end item when killed, so it's a good idea at least at low levels to save when such a character (I always get good low-lvl drops from Antumbra at the end of Buad Blood in BV) is about to die, and reload until they drop something good for your build. It's tedious, but effective. Just make sure you save BEFORE they die, once the loot bag has appeared the drops are locked.
Last edited by Togarth; 04/08/11 07:18 PM.
