Another level or two would likely have helped with your ranger. The opponent at the end of Maxos temple is level 15, so it would be better to at least be level 13 or 14 when you enter. You will eventually have to finish off everything in Broken Valley, so that point would be as good a time as any (you can also enter the fjords early and level there very fast, and fairly easily as a ranger).
Did you have your creature summoned when you approached the slayers? It should have got the attention of at least one of the slayers (especially if you moved back out of their immediate range, though not far enough your creature would break off the fight to follow). An intelligence potion could have helped with the effects of the Stun Arrows.
Playing a Ranger I got my Vitality up to 14 and relied on equipment bonuses and Life Line enchantments for the rest of my hit points. At level 15, without any equipment on, my other stats were 2 Spirit, 21 Strength (I started off thinking I would do some unarmed combat as a backup to the bow, but after the beginning of the game I never needed to), 36 Dexterity and 7 Intelligence (a low intelligence only caused a real problem in a couple places, due to Stun Arrows).
I invested in Mana Efficiency and found between that and Increased Mana enchantments (once I started getting armour with more than one enchantment slot) that I had more than enough mana even without putting and stat points into spirit and few in intelligence.
Exploding Arrows does help take out opponents faster, though in some cases it can attract more attention than you otherwise would have gotten, making fights more difficult. Way of the Ranger helps a lot; I'm not usually a fan of temporary boost spells, but at level 40 I got a bow with this skill bonus and tried it out, and promptly put another 5 skill points in myself (it made Splitting Arrows a pretty good group attack even at longer ranges, and even more of a close range one hit kill).
I described my playthrough of a ranger in the spoiler filled topic
Who's playing DKS on nightmare difficulty ?If you can not boost Duel Wield with your next skill point, level 1 of Evade is helpful (higher levels do not give as much of a bonus per skill point). I gave some skill/stat advice in the topic below.
Anyone help a newb with Warrior build ... ???The best defence against Stun Arrows is to not get hit; you can run and/or jump at an angle to an archer, so he has less chance of hitting you, and if you get close (Rush Attack, or possibly Hide in Shadows, etc) they will switch to a melee weapon, which they are generally less proficient at. You can pause the game to cycle through the available targets, to focus on the archer first (or the healer, or opponent with the lowest hit points, etc).
Other than a high intelligence (possibly from a potion), your next best defence would be a high vitality (and armour rating in general), to be able to withstand attacks while you are stunned. I'm planning on starting another warrior character someday, and will try going without any boosts to intelligence or spirit.
A high healing rate also helps. Keep an eye out for high level Healing Aura enchantments. It took me awhile to find a level 10 enchantment (didn't want to use anything less, since any level requires a malachite gem, which are limited, especially at the start of the game), but even lower level ones add up if you find them on multiple pieces of jewellery. I avoided other level 10 enchantments that used malachite gems, and had plenty left over at the end of the game (65, reloading at malachite veins and for FoV quests which could give gems as a reward). My next game I'm either going to use more Healing Aura enchantments or not bother reloading.
Poison Arrows can usually be ignored if you are not taking too much other damage at the same time. A potion or food can help with the effects. You might have to jump back a bit when you first start running into archers that use poison, but another few levels and it will be a minor inconvenience. Eventually your character's incessant complaints about being poisoned in some situations (ie groups of archers or a sewer where low lying areas are filled with poison fog) will be a little annoying considering you are not taking any damage.
In the original release of D2:ED, the only ranged attack option I had (with my strength based duel wielding warrior) was a bow, though mid to late game I only used it for breaking barrels, etc. You should at least keep Rothman's bow (with a Wisdom bonus) to equip before turning in quests. In DKS there are several unique bows you can buy, which will do decent damage even without a bonus from dexterity (generally as a warrior you are just attacking at a distance to draw opponents to you, anyway).
If you are not sure where to put skill points, start keeping a few in reserve. If you want to try out a ranged attack (Rush Attacking into the middle of a group isn't necessarily the best approach, especially at the start of the game), you can save the game, put 4 or 5 points into Magic Missile, etc, and try it out, reloading if it doesn't fit your playstyle or work as well as you hoped.
Have your creature start using a mage head (Magic Missile / Magic Blast), as soon as you find one. It can take care of opponents on walls, etc, though generally you can either use Rush Attack or find stairs or a ramp, etc, to reach opponents.
The cost to mindread goes up as the game progresses, as does the experience from opponents. Late in the game (level 37) I had lots of spare skill points, and put 14 into Mindread, making future mindreads cost free. Earlier in the game I mindread everyone, and it didn't hurt my level any (I did delay turning in side quests where possible, which helps get slightly more experience from opponents, and kept equipment with Wisdom bonuses to use before turning in quests).
Your 'one major bonus secret' is a fair rule of thumb, but I don't know if you can count on it. It has been awhile since I played, but there are a couple smaller places with no secrets; some places have multiple minor secrets...
You might want to skim though a
walkthrough for each area after you have completed it, if you want to make sure you didn't miss anything major.
Yes, a balanced weapon will get a physical damage bonus from strength and magic bonus from intelligence. A high strength character will be better off with a pure or predominantly physical weapon (though even with lowish intelligence characters I still always went with Increased Magical Damage for a second weapon enchantment slot).
Welcome to the forum.
. I also always play on hard and i don't like turning it down to get past awkward situations.
