If you are one those rangers that gets to raid regularly and has a lot of fabled gear and master 1's, this probably isn't going to help you much. If you are like me, however and have mostly player made gear with a couple of decent dropped items and adept 1 or 3's, you might find some of this information helpful. Following are some things that might help you solo more successfully.
First, learn to think outside the box. Yes that's a cliche but nonetheless true. Think about what happens in a typical ranger solo pull. You stealth, choose target and position, fire off sniper shot (if you are high enough) or your version of concealed shot, devitalizing and if you at are the extreme range of your bow you might get a third shot off. After that, something big, ugly and pissed lumbers up to chat with you. Now you melee and try to get in a lunging joust (or whatever version you have) , back up and try to get off a shot. Cheap shot will let you get a shot off or a stealth and backstab. Hopefully the mob dies somewhere around this time and you don't have to melee a lot more. Then you heal up, power up and repeat.
There is one important point that sticks out sharply in the above scenario. In all of the fighting, you didn't do a heck of a lot of ranging did you? A lot of the fighting is in-your-face melee style fighting yet we as rangers don't give a lot of thought to this aspect of our character. You got a bow buff at level 13 or so and odds are you haven't turned it off since then, except to experiment a bit. Cancel that one (arrow frenzy or whatever version) and don't have a heart attack yet. Open your persona and look at your stats. Hey, defense is up. Now add in your defensive buff. Yes, actually use it. Hey, more defense. Avoidance is getting pretty decent too by now.
But you LOST your precious bow buff! The one that does extra damage with each shot! Yes you did. Big, hairy deal. How many shots in all that fighting did you get off? Of those, how many procced the damage? Not a heck of a lot, given the defensive losses you put up with to keep that buff on. Try soloing with your defensive buff up. You do a lot of melee and this is where that particular buff (dance of trees line) will shine. (Big hint: putting 5 AA points in the Ranger Tree Dance of Trees will reduce your defensive melee penalties to ZERO. Hmmm, and that little buff adds 51 agi among other things, at my level).
By the way, you are using all 3 poison lines right? Not high enough to use 3? Ok, so use whichever ones your current level allows. But ALWAYS have poison on and get the absolute highest damage you can afford. I currently use caustic poison (499 damage per proc), agi debuffer which also drops the targets defense and a stun poison. Whatever combination you use just be certain to invest in the best you can get. It always pays off here.
Now, heart attack number two. Take a look at your weapons. Very likely you are using dual wield in either slashing, piercing or some combination. Here is where it gets scary. Put those in your pack and invest in a one hand slash and roundshield. No, I'm not on drugs and am not all that crazy. There are a couple of very good reasons to solo with a one hander/shield combination. First is the fact that most procs occur off the primary weapon only. Poisons, debuffers, etc work this way. The secondary weapon, unless it has a proc of its own, is merely added melee damage. Second is the fact that adding a roundshield will send your avoidance through the roof. Using my character as an example, when I have Arrow Frenzy up, using dual wield daggers, my attack is 1333 and my avoidance is 3610 with a 24.4% chance to avoid. This is with 99% player made gear. Using a one hand slash (Doomrage Blade) and shield (Bulwark of the Brave) and using Dance of Trees, my attack is 1140 (193 attack loss) and my avoidance goes to 7282 (3672 point increase, which at my level means I have 57.7% chance to avoid attacks from a same level target) Not to mention I gained 102 mitigation by equipping the shield (and some great stat increases).
Ok, why a one hand slashing weapon though? Take a look at both slash vs. pierce weapons. For some reason, most comparable weapons will show the slash with higher damage ratings. Yes, the piercers will usually have a faster attack rating but not by a lot (Doomrage rates at 1.6). Admittedly there will be an initial investment and weapons aren't cheap. The Doomrage Blade I use is currently priced at 1 PP on Guk and the Bulwark of the Brave at 36 GP as of 12/11. Using this setup in defensive stance, I now have a much easier time soloing and my poisons proc at what seems to me to be the same rate as before. My damage has not suffered discernably and I have far less downtime between pulls. I can solo blue and white con no arrow mobs quickly and efficiently. Obviously ^ or greater mobs provide a challenge, but then they are supposed to.
Tip: Did you invest AA points in Point Blank Shot? If so, try this. Next time you use it soloing, fire off PBS then quickly!! back up and fire off a rapid cast bow shot. 99% of the time you will get enough time to get a shot off. I use this technique with every fight and it adds a nice amount of damage.
Tip: Get OFF the carpet or mount! You need to move quickly when soloing and being mounted has a HUGE decrease in backing speed.
These are some of the techniques I have found that have helped me to solo much more easily, efficiently and quickly. Hopefully there might be one in here that can help you too.
Tyrendt
First, learn to think outside the box. Yes that's a cliche but nonetheless true. Think about what happens in a typical ranger solo pull. You stealth, choose target and position, fire off sniper shot (if you are high enough) or your version of concealed shot, devitalizing and if you at are the extreme range of your bow you might get a third shot off. After that, something big, ugly and pissed lumbers up to chat with you. Now you melee and try to get in a lunging joust (or whatever version you have) , back up and try to get off a shot. Cheap shot will let you get a shot off or a stealth and backstab. Hopefully the mob dies somewhere around this time and you don't have to melee a lot more. Then you heal up, power up and repeat.
There is one important point that sticks out sharply in the above scenario. In all of the fighting, you didn't do a heck of a lot of ranging did you? A lot of the fighting is in-your-face melee style fighting yet we as rangers don't give a lot of thought to this aspect of our character. You got a bow buff at level 13 or so and odds are you haven't turned it off since then, except to experiment a bit. Cancel that one (arrow frenzy or whatever version) and don't have a heart attack yet. Open your persona and look at your stats. Hey, defense is up. Now add in your defensive buff. Yes, actually use it. Hey, more defense. Avoidance is getting pretty decent too by now.
But you LOST your precious bow buff! The one that does extra damage with each shot! Yes you did. Big, hairy deal. How many shots in all that fighting did you get off? Of those, how many procced the damage? Not a heck of a lot, given the defensive losses you put up with to keep that buff on. Try soloing with your defensive buff up. You do a lot of melee and this is where that particular buff (dance of trees line) will shine. (Big hint: putting 5 AA points in the Ranger Tree Dance of Trees will reduce your defensive melee penalties to ZERO. Hmmm, and that little buff adds 51 agi among other things, at my level).
By the way, you are using all 3 poison lines right? Not high enough to use 3? Ok, so use whichever ones your current level allows. But ALWAYS have poison on and get the absolute highest damage you can afford. I currently use caustic poison (499 damage per proc), agi debuffer which also drops the targets defense and a stun poison. Whatever combination you use just be certain to invest in the best you can get. It always pays off here.
Now, heart attack number two. Take a look at your weapons. Very likely you are using dual wield in either slashing, piercing or some combination. Here is where it gets scary. Put those in your pack and invest in a one hand slash and roundshield. No, I'm not on drugs and am not all that crazy. There are a couple of very good reasons to solo with a one hander/shield combination. First is the fact that most procs occur off the primary weapon only. Poisons, debuffers, etc work this way. The secondary weapon, unless it has a proc of its own, is merely added melee damage. Second is the fact that adding a roundshield will send your avoidance through the roof. Using my character as an example, when I have Arrow Frenzy up, using dual wield daggers, my attack is 1333 and my avoidance is 3610 with a 24.4% chance to avoid. This is with 99% player made gear. Using a one hand slash (Doomrage Blade) and shield (Bulwark of the Brave) and using Dance of Trees, my attack is 1140 (193 attack loss) and my avoidance goes to 7282 (3672 point increase, which at my level means I have 57.7% chance to avoid attacks from a same level target) Not to mention I gained 102 mitigation by equipping the shield (and some great stat increases).
Ok, why a one hand slashing weapon though? Take a look at both slash vs. pierce weapons. For some reason, most comparable weapons will show the slash with higher damage ratings. Yes, the piercers will usually have a faster attack rating but not by a lot (Doomrage rates at 1.6). Admittedly there will be an initial investment and weapons aren't cheap. The Doomrage Blade I use is currently priced at 1 PP on Guk and the Bulwark of the Brave at 36 GP as of 12/11. Using this setup in defensive stance, I now have a much easier time soloing and my poisons proc at what seems to me to be the same rate as before. My damage has not suffered discernably and I have far less downtime between pulls. I can solo blue and white con no arrow mobs quickly and efficiently. Obviously ^ or greater mobs provide a challenge, but then they are supposed to.
Tip: Did you invest AA points in Point Blank Shot? If so, try this. Next time you use it soloing, fire off PBS then quickly!! back up and fire off a rapid cast bow shot. 99% of the time you will get enough time to get a shot off. I use this technique with every fight and it adds a nice amount of damage.
Tip: Get OFF the carpet or mount! You need to move quickly when soloing and being mounted has a HUGE decrease in backing speed.
These are some of the techniques I have found that have helped me to solo much more easily, efficiently and quickly. Hopefully there might be one in here that can help you too.
Tyrendt
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