Low level ranged damage is...abysmal?

jobanab

My ranger is only level 8 right now and the max hit I've had from Swift Shot has been...4. My Executing Strike or whatever it's called hits for around 25-29 almost every time. Opening Shot vs the melee strike is quite weak.

It turns out we are not a ranged deeps class and shouldn't try to be one?

Zaroua

Ranged damage at low levels is heavily influenced by arrows. Get yourself some bronze arrows and the dmg difference won't be as bad. That being said, the damage numbers on the melee skills are just plain higher than on the ranged skills.

Rivorn

Ranger is NOT a ranged class. You are a melee class with the option for range if it makes sense. You can kite with it or avoid damage shields, or do damage while the mobs are coming in, or to apply barbed arrow, but it is not the main way for anyone to ever do damage on a ranger.

Arkaeus

jobanab - yes, finishing blow is strong in melee. But I think ranged dps is mostly coming from auto firing. We shouldn't be better than actual archers but I am personally content to be a hybrid dps that can melee and ranged weave.

dawnonmyluck

You can Auto attack -> Swift Shot -> Leading Shot -> Swift Shot (because reset) -> Auto attack in like 2-3 seconds total. As an engage/pull, it does pretty good damage to start off the fight imo. It's a good chunk of burst dmg

I agree the ranged damage past that initial burst isn't amazing, but that's fine. We're not meant to keep pelting monsters with arrows the whole fight, imo. Unless we're kiting or pulling, we should be melee. The melee abilities hitting for much harder only reinforce this, and we get those melee spells very early.

Cheezo

Upgrading arrows help a lot. I don't know why but I've noticed a major jump in damage going from regular wooden 0 damage arrows to copperhead arrows +2 damage. The amount of higher end damage rolls on auto shots increased dramatically.

Spend an hour or two cutting wood and mining and get that fletching up and you should see similar results.

BooksTheDruid

Cheezo I haven’t started making arrows yet - what’s needed to do it? What trades, etc?

Arkaeus

BooksTheDruid fletching kit from a fletcher. Then wood + brittle stone from a blacksmith and voila, +1 arrows

jobanab

Arkaeus brittle stone is extremely rare now. it used to be as common as resin but I now sometimes only get at best one stone per mine. I mined 2 stacks of copper yesterday and netted 5 stone to make half a stack of arrows. I ended up having to buy a stack of stone, which I never did in Beta.

you're really better off just skipping right to copper arrows after the drop rate changes.

Arkaeus

jobanab I buy infinity brittle stone from NH blacksmith for 2c a pop. 20c for 1k arrows. The skill gap to making copper arrows from wood arrows so it sounds rather inefficient. Did you really fletch your way to copper arrow that way?

jobanab

Arkaeus on my low pop server in EW there's been literally zero stone at either the shady, blacksmith or mining vendors

Arkaeus

I gotta fact check myself and say that in fact the blacksmith does not have infinity stone. now we're down to 200 stone and 0 copper scraps in Night Market on NA West. this might be an annoying problem. 😉

injury

I believe your bow will also factor in on how much damage you do, notably when it comes to the abilities that do a % of the weapon damage. There are a handful of good low level bow drops, or if you are looking for another avenue, getting your fletching up and crafting a longbow is another way to get a stronger bow quicker.

Hektyr

I would Like to point out that a lot of weapon skills in the game are based on ratio Damage (Damage/Delay). So finding a bow that has a good ratio + upgraded arrows help a lot.

If your unable to find a good bow, then fletching has some decent bows that you can craft (you will be upgrading the skill from making arrows anyways).

I do agree its lower towards the beginning which can be rough if your use to staying at range during beta. However, as your level goes up then melee and range start to even out. Your Swift Shot and Finishing Blow both end up at 226% by max level. I am level 25 at the moment with the Fine Wood bow + Bronze Arrows and it hits about on par with my melee skills.

Cyan

On a level 2 archer fighting a blue mob I pop Dexterious giving me 47 DEX and have 25 archery.

I missed 7 ranged attack in a row and did multiple 1 damage hits. What is going on