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Now that the recent ranged update’s had some time to settle, I’d love to hear your thoughts. What feels satisfying to use? What still needs some attention?
Ricochet
Overwatch
Ballistic Shot
Sniper’s Eye
Invisible Blade (with throwing weapons)
There are fixes in the pipeline for the inability to take Tangle Shot.
We’re also working on some quality-of-life improvements—most notably, automatic replacement of throwing stacks when they run out.
First, thank you so much for these! It's nice to have a few more choices to make for ranged builds.
I'm currently playing an exclusively PVE-inclined sneak archer so, take that bias with a grain of salt, but I feel as though Sniper's Eye could very easily be made a permanent feature rather than an activated one. It's tricky to get a feel for what a viable sneak attack range looks like without it changing with an ability; and the advantage is relatively small (most opponents will close that extra distance relatively quickly, and you'll be losing the sneak attack once you're targeted anyway).
The stuff you're sacrificing for it on a rogue bonus feat (signature weapon / gruesome technique / crippling strike) all arguably offer more benefit and are always available once selected, which makes it a hard sell to pick up sniper's eye instead.
It's possible there's a use case I'm missing, but I'm struggling a little to justify taking it even though I really want to.
So far, I love ricochet. Looking forward to see how the tangle shot works. Would also be neat if it was possible to somehow increase the sneak range, with a feat, as long as it had some kind of requirement to get? (And perhaps not full sneak bonus?)
Ricochet is wonderful. I think overwatch and ballistic shot need something more to make them more impactful. Right now they're no where near as useful as ricochet. I would like to see tangleshot DC changed to Level/# and only require that it taken on ranger level. At current, it's only really viable for deep rangers.
Love the changes to the ammo types! I do wish there was some way to nui up a circle for calculating sneak attack range.
Been playing around with tangle shot now, the only thing I'd change is to increase the time to around 5-7 seconds as 3 seconds is far too little, and does hardly anything I have noticed. (Especially since it has a 30 second cooldown)
What's the formula of the DC for Entangling Arrow?
Ballistic Shot should be made as an attack mode instead of an instant attack, with a bit bonus ab and extra damage in long range. We would enjoy this much more if so.
For now, ballistic shot is less attractive, 10 damage with 1 shot, or 2 damage per round with an extra attack every 30s is not a bit deal for epic archers. It's something, but not necessarily at a cost of a feat.
An alternative option is to correspond its damage with the time the user stayed still and works like a ranged version of spirital charge(with less extra damage). Or shot an arrow that penetrates throw enemies (potentially an unstable aoe).
The Details:
# Ranged Instant Attacks
Ranged instant attacks operate differently from melee versions. When used, the character must remain stationary during the attack animation—any movement will interrupt it.
Characters affected by Haste or Blinding Speed execute these attacks more quickly. These feats can be selected as general feats, fighter bonus feats, or ranger bonus feats.
Ricochet (6 second cooldown | 3 seconds when hasted)
The character can attempt to ricochet their projectile between enemies, gaining one additional bounce for every six character levels.
Each successive bounce reduces the attack bonus of the next bounce by 5.
Ballistic Shot (30 second cooldown)
The character fires a carefully aimed projectile that gains power over distance, dealing increased damage the farther it travels.
Additionally, the shot is influenced by elevation - gaining bonus damage when fired from higher ground and suffering a penalty when shooting from lower ground.
Overwatch (30 second cooldown)
The character designates an area to monitor, readying their weapon for incoming threats.
If an enemy enters the covered zone and is within line of sight, the character instantly fires a projectile at them. Afflicts an additional 1d3 damage for every 5 character levels
Entangling Arrow (30 second cooldown)
Ranger Exclusive
The character fires a specially crafted arrow that snares its target on impact.
The target must succeed on a Reflex save or have their movement speed reduced by 90% for 3 seconds.
int nDC = 10 + (GetLevelByClass(CLASS_TYPE_RANGER, oPC)/3) + GetAbilityModifier(ABILITY_DEXTERITY, oPC);
10+RangerLevel/3 + Dex modifier
Feedback:
The Good:
Ricochet: Really fun to use you maybe only get a bounce or two in PVP but in PVE this is a ton of fun. Best ability of the bunch it feels rewarding it's readily available and it really helps you clear lower level content quickly when helping out lower level players. I cannot recommend this one enough I think it's in a perfect state of not too dangerous for PVP but good for PVE.
The Bad:
Entangling Arrow: Realistically you are looking at a max DC of 34-35 which is okay. Less great if you factor in most rangers will take a near mandatory fighter dip if they are playing archer ranger which will lower the DC to around 31. 3s slow really doesn't do anything in PVE. It's impact on PVP is very okay. If you factor in that you need to stop before shooting any of these abilities then a 3s slow on the off chance it is successful won't exactly help you kite someone.
Overwatch: 30s cooldown. For a minor amount of bonus damage. I don't think it's worth it in its current state. It doesn't really compete anywhere near the potential damage bonus richochet gives. And the fact it is on a 30s cooldown makes it a hard choice for a selection. It could also use additional visual indicators to see the range because you can normally shoot farther than the trigger distance for this ability.
The Ugly:
Ballistic Shot: It's hard to tell the distance and the bonus damage applied. This could be useful to have a readout in the system chat just so you have an idea of how much damage you are getting. It has a low cooldown but at that point most people would far rather spam richochet than even bother touching this button. The ten bonus damage at max I don't think is exactly useful. This in my opinion is the worst of the abilities. It competes with richochet and it's just a single target ability that isn't good. This is the only ability where I think a rework to how it could be used is warranted. It's the worst of the bunch.
Suggestions for change:
Richochet: I wouldn't really touch this up or down I think it's a good feat. Adds something fun to a non-aa ranged toolkit. I think that it's the strongest of the group of feats but that is only because the others struggle to compete.
Entangling Arrow: I know the kneejerk reaction would be to buff DC's slightly and make the slow longer. Both of which would help this However, I think it could use bonus damage added to it as well to make it a little more useful for PVE. I believe adding an additional xd6 bleed damage or physical damage to the attack would make it a more enticing choice for Rangers. At the moment I'd rather just go back to getting a spell focus than using this.
Overwatch: 30s cooldown it has the bonus damage that I believe entangling arrow should have as well but that bonus damage maxing out at 6d3 is average at best. I think this could be improved in two different ways. Either doubling the bonus damage or letting it hit more than one target. I think the best solution would be to let it hit more than one target acting as an arrow ping to multiple targets scaling on character levels.
Ballistic Shot: As a prior commenter suggested I think turning it into a stationary stance would be the best solution for it. Have the stance break if you move and put it on cooldown. If you changed it to the stance I think leaving everything as is with the bonus damage would be fine. If it would be preferable to keep the ability as is. I think the damage needs to be increased and let it ignore concealment.
I play Valks the Kobold
It costing feats, while not impossible, makes things a hard sell since feats are also prequets, AB, damage.
And the question of 'why use this instead of just shooting' comes up for me a lot.
Thanks for the feedback! (Sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get responses)
Gears are churning for updates to Overwatch, Ballistic Shot, and Entangling to make them feel a bit better. I can't go into details yet, but once the mechanics are finalized/approved, I'll post a reply with the changes.
98lbs of sad carryweight wrote: Wed Apr 16, 2025 5:33 pmIt costing feats, while not impossible, makes things a hard sell since feats are also prequets, AB, damage.
And the question of 'why use this instead of just shooting' comes up for me a lot.
Currently, the only ability worth using is Ricochet. While it's niche in some use cases, it excels in others.
A Rogue with Choking powder + Ricochet can clear a group of mobs at mach speed. Add gruesome on top of it, and you can likely land every bounce.
I think it's great to see the new feats and they are interesting. Thank you. In terms of balance, I think they're on the weak side except for Ricochet.
I'd love if the Point Blank pre-requisite could be removed - in some builds it's taken quite late when relying on getting it from Ranger (and then one is forced to use an epic feat, which is big ask).
Heroic Spirit wrote: Fri Apr 18, 2025 7:22 pmGears are churning for updates to Overwatch, Ballistic Shot, and Entangling to make them feel a bit better. I can't go into details yet, but once the mechanics are finalized/approved, I'll post a reply with the changes.
With the current nerf to Ricochet deployed what is the timeline or details on the buffs to the under performing abilities. Currently still the only ability I see people use in earnest is Ricochet.
I play Valks the Kobold
It would be cool if all these feats were combined behind a tableau of attacks similar to dirty fighting. That way you could tailor your action to the scenario and let players feel less bad about sinking a ton of feats for multiple situational abilities.
