1. Power Build: Ranger

11/24/2016

Ranger (Bairdotr pulls this off at a C- level):

1. Scoundrel/Expert Marksman/Water/Fire/Air/Earth/Charisma/Witchcraft- 1
2. Bow/Witchcraft/Water/Expert Marksman- 2
3. Water/Expert Marksman- 4 (Post level 15)
4. Bow-5
5. Witchcraft- 4
6. Expert Marksman- 5
*7. Bodybuilding/Willpower- 1-3

1. Far Out Man
2. Light Stepper
3. Pet pal
4. Stench
5. Sidestep
6. Glass Cannon
7. Elemental Ranger

Dex +2 (7/9/11)
Int + 2 (7/9/11)
Per + 1 (6/7/8)

OVERALL: One of the most powerful builds in the game, IMO the strongest build in the game and no one you can get as a companion builds into this well, which is why this gets my top pick for your first source hunter. Period. Strong Early-Mid-End.

How to Play Early Game: you will be using a lot of elemental arrows with a mixture of whatever spells you can get your hands on and normal physical attacks. Remember, elemental arrows NEVER miss, and some such as "slowdown arrow" are super easy to make (oil barrel + arrow head) and happen to work on almost all enemies. Poison Arrow is also an easy one (ooze barrel + arrow head) and when shot at someone on fire will also cause explosions. Give yourself a single point in earth/air/water/fire/witch/expert marksman/scoundrel ASAP and pick up the novice skills teleportation/blitz bolt/bitter cold in air, boulder bash/midnight oil/spider in earth, burn my eyes/flare/wildfire in fire, regeneration/rain/slow current in water, splintered arrow/ranged power stance/ricochet in expert marksman, walk-in-shadows/winged feet/fast track in scoundrel, and oath of desecration in witchcraft. As soon as possible make +1 Charisma gear (Belt= Magical Tooth + Rope, Necklace= Magical Tooth + Thread, Rings= Magical Tooth + Ring Kits) and keep it in her backpack.

How to Play Mid Game: Be sure to pick up "burn my eyes" in fire magic ASAP in town if you haven't already, as this will be needed to spot traps as well as hidden treasure more and more as the game progresses; it has a huge turn count which means you can and should have it cast on your ranger at all times (if you still can't spot stuff be sure to make perception potions [eye + empty vial]). Adept skills to look for are ice shard/mass slow/summon ice elemental/cleansing water in water, destroy summon, summon armored undead decapitator (for its poison immune- an upgrade to the Summon Spider) drain willpower and/or rupture in witchcraft, and finally barrage/farseer/vampiric arrow in expert marksman.

How to Play End Game: you will be primarily fighting from a distance as you will become a glass cannon with a bow and powerful magic. (Why bow vs crossbow? http://steamcommunity.com/app/373420/discussions/0/357284767229948204/ ) You won’t be using nearly as many elemental arrows by the end and basic physical attacks should rarely be used, if ever. Master skills to look out for are Hail Attack in Water, and Rain of Arrows plus Arrow Spray in Expert Marksman and Soul Sap in Witchcraft. Adrenaline should be used to replace Fast Track to make the build even more stupid OP.

56 Comments

Steve

11/25/2016 11:22:39 am

Why should the ranger have a point of charisma and charisma gear to combo with stench? Why not just give your grenade wizard charisma instead? Also, it says to get expert marksman and water up to 4 post level 15. I'm level 10 and have everything in steps 1 and 2 and am sitting with 3 points. Why wait till after 15 before making use of my points?

Also (this is an unrelated question) I read everywhere you wancrafted weapons and gear but I keep finding stuff like daggers with 25% chance to free and stun on them...etc. Apparently you can't craft that onto a weapon. I have no idea when a crafted weapon is superior to a looted or bought weapon?

Ssenkrad_II

11/25/2016 11:36:34 am

The Ranger also has PetPal, a 5 in charisma + the talent "PetPal" opens up all story line branches/choices. The Dual Wielder's need for his talents is far greater and thus can't waste a talent in PetPal.

You need 4 points to level up a skill from 3 to 4 and you have 3 points at level 10- you want to go ahead and put 4 points into water as soon as you can (so level 11) that would be fine- and then go ahead and put 4 points in E. Mark at level 15. If you put those points somewhere else you will not have enough points when you hit level 15 to get E. Mark and Water to Level 4- if you put 4 in one of those skills before level 15 all you gain is 2 new adept skills (which isn't make or break), which is not worth confusing people IMO- people would then be asking "what is the point in bringing this skill to 4 right now when I can't even use Rain of Arrows yet!?".

As soon as you get 6 tormented souls (normally for me around levels 7-11) crafted weapons will be better than anything you can find. When you get ANOTHER 6 tormented souls (normally around levels 15-17) craft another set of weapons at that level. When you get your last set of 6 tormented souls (between levels 18-22) craft your last set of weapons in the game. Crafted weapons will have the highest raw damage in the game by far (add tenebrium to the weapons for the first two batche and then elemental damage for the last set) and will also come with extra bonuses that are much better than anything you can find on a weapon... My "end game" stats video will be up soon and in the guide and I go over what gear to look for and show you the numbers so that it is clear why...

11/27/2016 07:00:53 am

Excellent, thanks for the quick reply! Great guide btw.

Boch

11/26/2016 08:22:30 am

Great guide man, could you plesae re-upload the images of the skills for each of the 4 classes? I found that really useful

zion6

12/5/2016 10:17:51 pm

Your Visual color guide at top shows taking Malediction and Summon Dead Warrior in Witchcraft, but your updated skills guide says not too...

12/5/2016 10:41:53 pm

For the Ranger you will have a 4 in Witchcraft which means you have the potential to learn all novice skills as there are only 6 novice skills total. There isn't any huge use for those skills so I choose not to list them sometimes or even go as far as to say to "avoid them" purely because they are not useful for a slew of reasons. Bottom line is that technically a Ranger with 4 in the skill can learn all novice Witchcraft skills (even if you don't actually USE them) and a Shadowblade/Dual with a 2 in the skill can learn all of them save for one (they will be able to learn 5 and there are 6 total) in which case I say "don't take summon undead warrior" purely because you will be picking up "summon armored undead decapitator" which is a clear upgraded version of the spell across the board.

Foumantoo

12/6/2016 08:57:52 pm

Do you recommend 2 Con rings for a Ranger? I currently have 2 Perception ones I found-never sure what stat is more important

12/6/2016 09:01:12 pm

BTW-I have only 2 tormented souls so far Level 8 and crafted weapons for all, but haven't added a Soul to any. I assume IO should use what I have till I can upgrade all of em-who would you upgrade before others? Also-what level do you open up the Goblin Village?

sprakkattak

1/5/2017 01:04:23 am

One of your tips is to not put points in Loremaster for the 4 main champions, instead use it on mule. But how can you examine enemies strength and weakness if you dont have loremaster equipped during battle? Do you equip +loremaster gear first before engaging to battle and switch gear when starting battle?

1/5/2017 09:32:09 pm

Never had a need. Most "weaknesses" are either self evident (water/ice does well against fire creatures) or is explained to you (crushing damage does more to undead) and by the time you hit 15 those master level skills destroy all.

Bob

1/5/2017 08:57:18 pm

You have Adrenaline replacing Fast Track for both the Ranger and the Leadership Knight, but only 1 point in Scoundrel for both. With the level 1 skills in Scoundrel (fast Track, Walk in Shadows and Winged Feet) you will not be able to replace with Adrenaline as only 3 Novice skills are allowed at Scoundrel level 1

1/5/2017 09:34:53 pm

You are correct, 1 point in Scoundrel does allow you to have three novice skills and you listed them: Fast Track, Walk in Shadows, and Winged Feet.

When you hit level 15 I have Adrenaline replacing Fast Track, you are also correct ie your three skills: Adrenaline, Walk in Shadows, and Winged Feet.

I am not understanding the problem?

1/6/2017 06:35:13 pm

I see now I can "forget" a skill-I didn't know that.

thetrueavatar

1/22/2017 05:47:13 am

Just a silly question but in my game winged feet is an adept level skill so I can't learn it with only 1 point in scoundrel. Is is something change recently in the game or once again this silly xcbags addon that do this change ?

1/22/2017 10:49:12 am

Winged feet/Hover feet is a Novice skill. There were no new updates since the creation of this guide and according to Larian there will be no more updates. If its Adept in your game then it is the mod.

1/8/2017 05:39:05 am

Hello, I have reached level 7 and add my 5th talent available. However sidestep need 4 in Expert Marksman while I'm still at level 1. Should I just jump directly to glass cannon or is it too soon regarding the hp amount ?

1/8/2017 05:48:59 am

In fact, I'm wondering why my 2 main Char have one talent more than the others(5 available at level 7). Is that normal ?

1/8/2017 10:01:58 pm

Are you using mods? You only get 7 talents in the entire game (level 22), five at level 7 doesn't sound right...

1/9/2017 02:28:10 am

The only mods I'm using is XC-bag for inventory management. However, I have noticed that developpers of mod tends to mix a lot of things into their mod... I will fix that with the cheat engine then...
BTW: do you know a mod that only rise difficulty and nothing else ? I have taken a look into epic encouter but once again it revamps the entire game balance

mac

1/30/2017 03:51:15 pm

Can you (or do already have) a copy of the builds as you have in the video. The part that I see does not seem to be as concisely as what you are showing in the video.

Mac

1/31/2017 12:06:54 pm

Also, since the Ranger will be going Glass Cannon, shouldn't they have something in Constitution, since a shield is not being used?
Keep in mind I'm a noob to D:OS EE, will start playing 2/1/17

2/1/2017 11:08:12 pm

I guess that's one the reason why sidestep and stench are taken. This should already reduce the amount of attack. Moreover as ranger you're out of the melee and so should also reduce the amount of melee attack taken. You can also use walk in shadow to prevent some damge. Glass cannon is also taken quite late in the game probably to ensure we got a suffisant hp pool. Only some guess cause I didn't watch the full video

2/4/2017 05:00:28 pm

Not needed- for the reasons thetrueavatar listed. Early game you will be using +1 con rings and will be taking glass cannon mid game after first taking stench and sidestep.

1/31/2017 04:25:13 pm

Duh, silly wabbit me, the picture above has the info I was looking for, disregard my first post.

Thanks,
Mac

Rigolax

2/24/2017 12:44:05 pm

Hi Ssenkrad_II.

Very new to this game (better late than never) and I find your guide (written as well as the youtube videos) incredibly interesting.

I'm just wondering if there are skills and spells that would be, to you, top choices to start the game with in the builds you posted. I'm a bit overwhelemed by the possible selection.

Don't know if you'll have time, or would want to reply to such a newbie question, but anyway thanks for all the amount of information you already shared. Very much appreciated. Cheers.

2/25/2017 12:48:14 am

Skills are already sorted by priority. About spells, your only limit is the current level of the skill and your money. Until level 7 you won't get that much money but at level 7 your mule should have maximized its crafting/blacksmithing skills. This will grant you nearly infinite gold.
At the beginning the best choice is to start with spider summon and regeneration for healing. Then would keep choosing crowd control first such as blitz cold because those are the most important to face multiple target. Please note that SSenkrad_II has listed spells to choose first above in section How to Play Early Game.
For instance boulder bash/midnight oil/spider is really a must have at the very begining. You'll put oil on enemy then use a fire arrow to burn the ground around them wich is powerfull. Having summoning is a big improvement at the very beginning cause you'll lack of action point. The spider will increase your damage and mitigate the damage taken..

2/25/2017 02:45:58 am

First, thank you for the explanation, thetrueavatar. My bad having written skills as I only meant questioning about spells. Crystal clear about skills.
Regarding spells however, if I felt it was written in the priority order, one thing disturbed me :

in the Ranger build, the first five "schools " are Scoundrel/Expert Marksman/Water/Air/Fire. So If I was to get these five at character creation, it seemed weird to take the three Earth spells as they will cost a higher amount of AP due to not having any point in Earth yet.

I think, best for me is to test a bit till I got the knack of it. Then I will be able to start with more understanding.

Thanks again.

ihavetubes

4/14/2017 09:51:01 am

in the start of the game you only get 5 points. You say put points in 1. Scoundrel/Expert Marksman/Water/Fire/Air/Earth/Charisma/Witchcraft- 1. thats 8 skills right there.

4/14/2017 10:27:01 am

The section right before this section "Build Guide: How To" explains this and other FAQ you might also have!

Also the "Character Creation" section!

If you still have questions don't hesitate to ask

TCM

5/21/2017 06:27:44 am

New to the game - great help from your work. Thanks. Confused about scoundrel fr Rangers. They have a bow equipped but I thought you needed a dagger equipped to get the scoundrel skill to come into effect.
Would like some clarification please.

5/25/2017 02:30:38 pm

You need a dagger equipped in the main hand to use Scoundrel dagger abilities (ie. daggers drawn). All other Scoundrel abilities you do not need a dagger equipped.

Karma

6/27/2017 10:12:37 pm

Why not take all skilled up or bigger and better?

GJS

7/20/2017 02:42:58 pm

Exactly my question. Is Light Stepper indeed such important (you'll have tons of Perception anyways)? It would be probably better to take "Pet Pal" at the creation and then All Skilled Up at lev3 (or Stench and then Bigger and Better - +1 PER for all puropses seems better then +2 only for traps/secrets).

Mikasa

9/10/2017 05:14:50 pm

This guide, and the individual who created it, is full of valuable information and it shows in this build; this build is very strong and well thought out. With that being said, having done a couple of play-through's at this point I would say the biggest area for improvement in this build is in the AP department.

Without talents like Lone Wolf or Glass Cannon, the early part of the game is difficult because of how limited you are with AP. Due to zero points in Con or Spd your maximum, starting, and turn action points are miserably low and will hold your ranger back. In the early game, focus on gear with Con, Per and Spd and use your skill points to keep your Int and Dex at levels that allow you to cast your skills at 100% and use gear to give you the AP you need to use them.

This build guide instructs players to invest points in the elemental skills equally with the marksman skills; I disagree. In the early-mid game it's much more efficient to invest in bow and expert marksman and witchcraft to the extent that you can summon the undead warrior (who will be your go-to summon for most of the game) without having the AP penalty. Arrow Spray is the rangers strongest single-target skill and unlocks at level 12 (Expert Marksman 4). Arrow Spray, Barrage, and Splintered Arrow are going to do way more damage than anything else and should be focused on obtaining. I would suggest making sure you can get Arrow Spray at Lv12 and Rain of Arrows at Lv15.

As you transition from mid to late game, you'll start to want those other elemental skills and can start investing in them.

Hope this helps!

LeXtruX

10/21/2017 12:56:51 am

I'm assuming you are making use of the books that give points in the game as well with this guide? Because by the time you are supposed to chose Sidestep as a talent, you can't have Expert Marksman 4 yet, at the earliest, you are 1 level away, it's the same for Elemental Ranger, which you CAN get 1 level after hitting Marksman 5, but that's ignoring your build by skipping Witchcraft. It's rather confusing

10/21/2017 01:20:52 am

On a side note, your mule her name is pronounced bear daughter

88luckyfrost

12/2/2017 06:54:45 pm

Hey I love your builds working great for me a few questions first will you be making any divinity 2 builds I'll be needing them soon also I went to far to soon and now the end of time has fireballs coming down in it and I haven't even killed boreas and no portals are opening up with the star stones ive been getting will they auto open after I finish the quest to stop the fire balls

Pwnd

9/16/2018 11:13:47 am

Why dont you have leech? I heard its op

Vaalna

9/27/2018 11:03:04 am

Hi, love your content, probably silly question, but what is the advantage of running this build with 4 points in hydro and so much magic emphasis when your damage is from special arrows and abilities? Would boosting dex to 23 ultimately not yield more damage mid to end game?

TKGriffiths

1/15/2020 04:04:29 am

The point is to fire Rain of Arrows + Hail Attack in the same turn to destroy/incapacitate a whole group enemies before they even get a turn. For single targets (bosses) or tightly clustered enemies you can use Arrow Spray at point blank range instead which is even more absurd.

Khaine

3/14/2019 10:49:34 am

Hey, bit late to the party on this game but something about this guide is confusing me. What order should you take the spells and abilities? Surely you don't take all the earth ones first, then fire, then air, then scoundrel. That would mean taking all the ranger spells/abilities last.

Geralt

5/1/2019 01:55:42 pm

The same confusion for me. It is great guide but some elements like starting skills etc. Would like to know this. Guess the guide could be written better to be more clear.

5/2/2019 05:18:40 pm

Your starting skills does not matter. You can get all level 1 skills in the first town by either buying them or stealing them.

5/1/2019 02:07:40 pm

The section right before this explains how to read the builds. As far as creation there is a video listed "character creation" which goes over how to build your character from the start using this build.

You upgrade the skillpoints in order of importance after character creation, importance is listed in build guide.

The actual skills are taken as soon as you have the appropriate skill level and have found the skill book. Finding skill books can be hard for some people who don't check sales people often enough. This is covered in multiple sections and in multiple videos as it is a broad topic. The single best place for skill books are the elementals which has its own section in the guide.

5/2/2019 02:31:50 am

Ssenkrad i understand. Just noticed there are no "starting skills" I mean when i look on your guide i see list starting with Boulder Dash. But it is sorted not by what i need to take first or when i making character before i will start playing. Of course on the end it does not matter but on the start it matters. This section need to be added in my opinion. I am newbe whant to staty game and what exacly character i should start:
F.e. i took +1 in Scoundrel/Expert Marksman/Water/Fire/Air
I took +2 dec +2 int +1 per but i dont think I should took just 3 earth, especialy i did not took already earth skill. And i guess it confused more ppl - just giving you feedback. The same feedback would be for other characters.

Too be honest I still did not started game, but planing to do it:)

5/2/2019 02:39:23 am

And my main dilema/question is what i should take on start: f.e. Summon Spider, Walk in Shadows, Restoration or others set...

5/2/2019 05:16:32 pm

@take all level 1 skills at once. You can get them all at once in your first town. You can steal them also.

Jokse

11/24/2019 10:14:45 pm

What's the point of having charisma on her? Do we really ever need 5 charisma for anything, if we can just reload the RPS every time we lose?

1/15/2020 04:01:50 am

5 Charisma and Pet Pal is necessary to get the Charisma exp from the Spider Queen. You can't even attempt it without 5 Charisma.

NeoXare

2/12/2020 07:01:49 am

Hi, why you increase the inteligence like the dexterity?

anon

11/26/2020 12:04:16 am

For the magic skills, increasing their damage and chance of CC effect success

Vanessa Newton link

1/12/2021 09:25:56 am

Lovedd reading this thank you

Bugaga555

2/25/2021 11:07:22 am

You know unlike other people I despise this build. This is no way best build or "power" one. I have no idea how strong this character will be at endgame and I do not care. I want powerplay during ENTIRE game, not after level 15 or 20. What I see here you spread here all around and try to get everything, which is impossible. Average Joes are usually most terrible characters. I wasted my time with this abomination.

lobo viejo

9/16/2021 11:11:11 am

I love these builds! I used them back when the enhanced edition first came out. Just started getting back into the game and was so glad to see they are still available online, Thanks!

Tyco

8/26/2022 05:22:08 am

I would personally recommend trying Invulnerable over Soul Sap as the Witchcraft Master.

The reason is you can use Adrenaline -> Invulnerable, which overwrites the Adrenaline debuff. It's free AP + Invulnerable two turns. Battles end easily with just this power build.

Vaati

11/28/2022 11:17:57 am

Hiya, awesome guide! Is this build so powerful because the master level marksman skills (rain of arrows and arrow spray) scale more because of bow level 6? Or is the damage based purely on dex?

1. Power Build: Ranger

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