Stalker Rangers Q

[gunther]

What do each of those do? Is blind worth it? Which skills are highly recommended?



Can you dual-wield throwing knives? What about dagger and one-handed sword and javelin?

What's the best skills to upgrade if you're using throwing-knives?
Are throwing-knives better or bows?

[isolde]

You can very well see what each skill does if you move the mouse over it. If you need clarification about something particular, then ask specifically.

Most important skills or ones I would choose first are the mastery in your weapon (depending whether it is javelin, knives or dagger) AND shield mastery. After level 20, it is good to take one of the spirit skills. I would go for ambush or retaliate, blind is the rarest to activate.

From the passive skills - I would say stealth is great if you fight a lot of archers, it decreases their range. Evade is a bit of a mystery to my but I am going to guess it increases your chance to evade unless you have reached maximum possible. Ignore armor is useful only in rare cases - mostly when you fight monsters with A LOT of armor and you hit with your weapon's minimum damage.

Currently, I think you can dual wield ONLY daggers. I might be wrong.
The best skill to upgrade with any weapon is the mastery with that weapon.

You cant compare throwing knives and bows. Both I think are a bit weaker than javelins and bows for example, but it depends on your preference. If you choose to fight with both, you would need a bit different strategy to be successful, thats all.

[Geomaticus]

Javellins are stronger than bows at range 1, but bows (with Eagle Eye and volley) can make up for the lost damage. The main problem with Javellins (in my opinion) is the reduced damage (by 50%) after round 12. If you don't win by that point, you're going to have a tough time beating your opponent with such a weak weapon.

[isolde]

Javellins are stronger than bows at range 1, but bows (with Eagle Eye and volley) can make up for the lost damage. The main problem with Javellins (in my opinion) is the reduced damage (by 50%) after round 12. If you don't win by that point, you're going to have a tough time beating your opponent with such a weak weapon.

That's exactly what I meant by having a different strategy I think a ranger can be just as successful with a bow as with javelins, he just needs to fight slightly different enemies. Shadow hunters are not necessarily weaker, they just do much better against animals thanks to the hunting skill and eagle eye and volley. I ve fought both with crossbow and a bow, and I think the crossbow is definitely a stronger weapon and allows to fight a wider range of enemies.

[Geomaticus]

re: crossbows
But the minus dex minus ag sucks!

[gunther]

You can very well see what each skill does if you move the mouse over it. If you need clarification about something particular, then ask specifically.

How do I do that if I have not specialized yet? I want to know what skills are given for each path and EXACTLY what they do so I can weigh between the two choices to avoid the scenario where I click on (eg.) stalker because it sounds cool and then realize that it does not benefit me at all as I use a bow.

So, can you clearly state which path is better for (eg.) people who rely on merc and those that don't and based on their weapons or the characteristics of the specialization.

Define 'characteristics': (eg.) stalker, with armour-ignore and two skills dedicated to critical hit, is similar to an assassin.

[Geomaticus]

You asked many questions in the same post...

So, can you clearly state which path is better for (eg.) people who rely on merc and those that don't and based on their weapons or the characteristics of the specialization.

Yes you can, but the possible combinations are too many to count:
-those that choose one ranger path and use mercs
--those that choose one ranger path and use ranger mercs
--those that choose one ranger path and use warrior mercs
--etc.
-those that choose the other ranger path and don't use mercs
-those that choose the other ranger path but really really like bows and using mercs but prefer to fight animals because they are also tanners and need the hides but aren't strong enough to beat more than 3 at a time.....
etc. etc.

So, clearly there is no 'better' path to choose as it depends upon the equipment you use, the types of mercs you use and the enemies you choose to fight and many other parameters. Regardless, you can pick either path to follow, and adapt to it OR pay the 25diamonds to switch to the other one.

As for the skills that you can use in each path, when you reach lvl 14, you will be given a choice, and below each choice, you will see the list of skills and can mouse-over each one to determine the best fit for you.
Even then, you don't have to make your choice right away. You can continue on to play without making the choice, and your unused skill points will accumulate and you can apply them when you are ready (they don't expire).

Here's a tip that I used and suggested to a few of my friends. You are now lvl 11 and have probably already put in enough skill points into the 5 default skill types and each new point you get from now until lvl 15 will probably applied to something that is not needed (eg. I already filled up my critical hit skill bonus so I should put the point into something else....). Don't use them. Save them until you reach lvl 15, then when you pick a path, you won't have the standard 1 point to apply to the new cool skills, you will have 3 or 4 or 5. It might be more useful for you to put those points directly into a weapon specialization rather than poison or herbalist stuff. That's up to you.

Hope that helps.

[Sheremetev]

As a leading merc theorician, I support Isolde's statements about the crossbow- this thing rocks in higher tiers (with the proper skills ofcourse).

[gunther]

Here's a tip that I used and suggested to a few of my friends. You are now lvl 11 and have probably already put in enough skill points into the 5 default skill types and each new point you get from now until lvl 15 will probably applied to something that is not needed (eg. I already filled up my critical hit skill bonus so I should put the point into something else....). Don't use them. Save them until you reach lvl 15, then when you pick a path, you won't have the standard 1 point to apply to the new cool skills, you will have 3 or 4 or 5. It might be more useful for you to put those points directly into a weapon specialization rather than poison or herbalist stuff. That's up to you.

Hope that helps.

Yes, that was what I was thinking as well! The part about lvl 14 is very very helpful, many many thanks. Perfect too, I have no intention of wasting diamonds, heheh...