I usually like to play my Ranger as more of a utility character. Generally I start them with summon spider to bring a meatshield into play early. Their arrows can be very versatile (fire, poison, knockdown, etc.) and because of that I usually get their crafting skills up so they can make them. Crafting can also be helpful for other reasons so the ranger fills that role.
In my current playthrough my ranger is level 5 I think and won't really out DPS Jahan or two handed Madora. But he brings immense utility and cc into fights which is very, very helpful.
