Ranger spell review

[Estie]

I started a ranger on live...and black breath cures stuff. Since that was topic to get changed, I wonder if the nightly on live is the newest one ?

Edit: finally got my hands on a non-bow launcher and it says 1,5 shots/round with the sling, so I guess its the right one.

[ewert]

Originally Posted by Nick

[*]Pebbles/shots never break

My new character's first weapon find of note is a sling of extra might x3 with mid 10s on both hit and dmg.

Needless to say, DLs 10-20 have never been this easy. XD

[jevansau]

Trying out a ranger on build 194, and seems pretty good.
My impressions may have been altered by finding 2 great launchers though.
A Buckland sling x4, +12 dam, +9 shots, +5 dex at DL13 (feeling 6)
A Lothlorian long bow x5 +22 dam at DL31 (feeling 6)

Still trying to get a feel for how Decoy works now, but the spells do feel like a good progression now.
Given how rare launchers are (usually) not being restricted to bows really helps.

[Pete Mack]

I am still playing 4.2.2. Herbal healing is utterly junk. First: rangers dont optimally melee Ringwraiths. Second: it doesnt even affect Hallucination. Third: ridiculous high fail rate. 4. Healing breath without restoration is of only moderate use. Blackguard spell is way better.

[mrfy]

I've been playing a Ranger character and got him up to level 50. First, had mediocre bows, then found an artifact sling, +6 shooting speed, +2 shooting power. Wow.

With shots and pebbles never breaking, I'm finding it easy to just keep loading up on better and better ammo, replacing ones of lesser quality. Seems OP.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by mrfy

I've been playing a Ranger character and got him up to level 50. First, had mediocre bows, then found an artifact sling, +6 shooting speed, +2 shooting power. Wow.

With shots and pebbles never breaking, I'm finding it easy to just keep loading up on better and better ammo, replacing ones of lesser quality. Seems OP.

Yep, looks like randarts need to be nerfed again

[jevansau]

Originally Posted by Nick

Yep, looks like randarts need to be nerfed again

To be fair, a buckland can be better than that.

One thing I have noted is that in recent releases randart launchers are rarely that great as the main source of damage, although they often have other useful aspects.

While I was very lucky early with launchers in my last game, I never found anything as good as that *5 +22 Lothlorien.
One artifact longbow that was ~15% worse and a another buckland that was maybe 20% worse, was as good as I found in a completed game.

[Pete Mack]

@Nick--
That sling is basically a Buckland with other stuff thrown on. Randart launchers are great for pure warriors or pure casters--they invariably make better stat sticks than the two standart shortbows. But for pure damage, only very rarely do you find a Belthronding or Bard.

[Selkie]

So to be clear, which version do I need to play to try the ranger changes?

[mrfy]

Originally Posted by Selkie

So to be clear, which version do I need to play to try the ranger changes?

Latest pre-release. I get it from https://github.com/angband/angband/releases