Can we talk about the Ranger's abilities (or lack of)?

Suggestions
#1

I’ve spent ~ 150 hours playing ranger and have come to the conclusion that the class really only has one viable buildout: Precision shot and poision arrow.

Why not use fire arrow?
You’re not going to use fire arrow because your job isn’t crowd control. You’re not going to use fire arrow because the cooldown is extremely long. You’re not going to use fire arrow because a single precision shot is going to do far more DPS.

Why not use spread arrow?
Basically the above.

Why not use darkness/smoke arrow?
Smoke arrow has a time and a place: when you’re in the middle of a raid and you want to play a hilarious prank. Other than then, smoke arrow gets ZERO use.

Can we get a real discussion going about a ranger ability rework? We don’t need much, but having just a LITTLE extra utility - like an interrupt! Would go a long way.

2 Likes
#2

Doesn’t ranger have 2 interrupts? Or are you asking for a third one?

1 Like
#3

No, I don’t know if you’re thinking of a different class but the ranger doesn’t have a single interrupt. Technically the “trap” side ability stuns/immobilizes, but this is unfortunately not viable to throw in any sort of dungeon. Another thing that desperately needs a rework.

Edit: I’ve been corrected - although not documented, Charge shot allegedly interrupts.

#4

Pretty sure that the charged pierce arrow and the trap are both interrupts.

2 Likes
#5

A charged arrow is an interrupt. The trap is an interrupt and is viable in dungeons as an interrupt.

1 Like
#6

The wiki doesn’t mention that a charged arrow does an interrupt (https://wiki.orbusvr.com/Ranger#Description) I’ll definitely check this out though. As far as trap being viable - last time I checked, the trap doesn’t stun elites and 100% wouldn’t work on a boss…

#7

It doesn’t stun them, but it does interrupt elites and bosses.

#8

Although it us true that the trap and charged shot both do interrupt, they are very much a lot worse then the interrupt of the other classes. This is whythey suck for the ranger:

  • ranger needs range, throwing a trap to stun a target from far is not an easy or even viable plan at all. And even if someone would master that, then it is still an insane long cooldown on it. Like 1 minute?
  • charge shot is part of ranger rotation for their dps. They are already theoretical lowest dps class and having no on demand method viable method for their stun is not great. Add on top of it that a monster that needs to be interrupted takes reduced damage (link shield even no damage). Being forced to shoot your highest damage shot (a.k.a. charged shot) on the moment your damage is reduced (or even none) sounds like the stupidest design choice you can imagine.
3 Likes
#9

Perfectly summarized. The ranger is billed as a distance attacker. Throwing a trap isn’t feasible in most instances. Using charged shot to interrupt (not officially documented?) means predicting an enemy’s rotation. As a DPS class, you’re making a significant sacrifice if you need to time your charged shot, not to mention an off-the-charts reaction time.

2 Likes
#10

ranger has an east interrupt

#11

but sometimes i am unable to interrupt because I was doing my rotations so it is very annoying

not that I play the game anymore

#12

Predicting the rotation won’t lose your dps too much in some instances. Only a little. Like minotaur stunning. But you still lose minor dps and in other cases like ‘Link Shield’ your completely fucked if no-other class/player is able/capable to stun. Your dependant on other classes which stucks imo.

#13

Ranger interrupt is bad generally. the trap is a minute cooldown and has to be thrown, Ranger needs at least 15 meters minimum for there damage orbs and 30 meters for some of the talents (I use the 30 meter talent so will always be far away). Mobs interrupt roughly every 20 - 30 seconds? (as a guess) so the trap isn’t a viable option even if you can throw and aim it like a god (its extremely hard to do plus the trap has other issues enough that people forget it even exists).

The charged shot is the more viable option but still sucks for an interrupt. it takes 2 seconds to charge without fast charge talent, with the talent it takes 1 second. It then has roughly an 8 second cooldown and is one of the main sources of damage for a ranger - it adds a debuff to mobs that increases all players damage to it by 5% and if hit into a ‘weak spot’ counts as 2 weak spot hits. So to use a charged shot purely for the interrupt on mobs is a lot of damage loss (as mobs seem to take reduced damage/no damage when they need to be interrupted).

Taking into consideration tiles that most rangers use, the charged shot is used with the piercing arrow so interrupting either losses your tiles that rotation or makes the charged piercing become wasted when shot into say a link shield interrupt. Also (from my experience) once your slightly off rotation its extremely hard to get back without skipping at least a second rotation.

That last paragraph is only true if your charged shot is actually up for the interrupt as generally you want to use it asap or your wasting DPS and with the roughly 8 second cool down its easy to not be able to use it the whole time the interrupt bar is there.

Sorry for the slightly rambly post but as a ranger main its an annoyance for me that ranger is the only class that can’t reliably interrupt on demand.

4 Likes
#14

Would you opt to get rid of smoke arrow if it was replaced with an interrupt shot?

#15

People would still just use poison and pierce. That would just make one useless arrow into another useless arrow.

1 Like
#16

I think a permanent third arrow just for interrupting could be an option. like sift said if its replacing the others it likely not going to be used.

2 Likes
#17

I like that idea because it adds some much-needed complexity to the ranger. Having to balance another arrow into your rotation would help raise the skill cap. It would be great if they could rework the trap or replace it with this new ability, but that might be asking a lot of the already overworked dev team.

Although, in the end, I’d still be happy getting rid of smoke arrow in exchange for any other abillity…

#18

Apparently spread arrow does the highest DPS, per the Orbus Wiki?

“…if you’re close enough (or skilled enough) you can actually strike the same enemy with all five arrows. Doing so is the largest amount of damage that you can deal to an enemy in a single shot”.

Has anyone actually tested to see if this is the case? I don’t think I’ve ever hit one enemy with all five arrows, not that I’ve intentionally tried…

#19

I don’t think the Wiki is run by the Devs. It’s written by players, and not always the most knowledgeable.

#20

Ranger is a distance fighter so spread shot would not be the highest DPS in the normal way you’d be playing ranger. Maybe highest damage ability up-close (even so, precision shot would yield better results) but the cool down would off-set any dps for that ability, that and you’d have to be up-close to get every arrow to hit so it’s not exactly effective in dps.