Favorite Ranged Class (BG1/BG2)

Ekital

Mine is currently a Wizard Slayer For BG2 (With the wizardslayer arrow dispel mod) and Archer for BG1

In BG2 I'm currently using:

Mana Bow +4
Red Dragon Scale
Balduran's Helmet
and Boots of Avoidance

It's actually one of the most pleasurable characters I played up until now. Has anyone else used Wizard Slayers as their main ranged character?

Lord_Tansheron

Ranged WS is an option to be sure, but I find that they're still held back by their inherent flaw, i.e. once you're actually hitting a mage, they're dead anyway.

I prefer Archer all the way. Their damage output is outstanding in BG1 and early to mid BG2, and it's only in later BG2 and ToB that it tapers off. At that point you can still equip them with a wide variety of ammo for every occasion, making them useful snipers to interrupt or kite problematic enemies. They're also my favorite Beholder-hunters, with high APR (Army Scythe or Tuigan Bow) and the Critical Strike HLA.

Ekital

Lord_Tansheron said:

Ranged WS is an option to be sure, but I find that they're still held back by their inherent flaw, i.e. once you're actually hitting a mage, they're dead anyway.

I prefer Archer all the way. Their damage output is outstanding in BG1 and early to mid BG2, and it's only in later BG2 and ToB that it tapers off. At that point you can still equip them with a wide variety of ammo for every occasion, making them useful snipers to interrupt or kite problematic enemies. They're also my favorite Beholder-hunters, with high APR (Army Scythe or Tuigan Bow) and the Critical Strike HLA.

However you can always Dual class a WS into a thief and get the ability to wear all items ;p.

mylegbig

I enjoyed playing my ranged elven fighter/mage. Not the greatest damage, but can take care of anything with disabling spells + melf's meteors.

zur312

my fantasy ranged character would be if its possible
assasin/mage poison/fire tooth crossbow/bolts of lightnig so poison/fire/lightnig damage + all mage can do

niiiiiiice

ZanathKariashi

Pure Kensai with Firetooth (dagger) and/or that +4 throwing axe I can never remember how to spell...Klaourgh...or something.

(my favorite, but it's pretty cheesy, since the Kensai bonuses aren't supposed to apply to ranged attacks. The being able to used thrown weapons is actually legit though, any thrown weapon that has a melee component is explicitly allowed).


As far as wizard slayers go, in no media can they apply their abilities to ranged weapons, so no I don't really use them as such. Just for the occasional use when melee is the least efficient choice at hand (mostly at low levels to take advantage of the higher base attacks, while HP totals are still pretty low).

RnRClown

Archer was the first kit I got excited about. Oddly, I never got around to playing an archer. I always got side tracked with a different playthrough.

nano

Sounds awesome. I've been meaning to try a Wizard Slayer archer. Their debuff penetrates mirror image and stoneskin, right? Granted you still have to pierce all the other crap but it's still one less thing to worry about. They don't have the amazing damage bonuses of an archer, but you can dual class them (and not be stuck with slings) which is fairly important for me. I find dual classing more interesting than a single class because I feel like I have more control over the character's development.

Dino

I dont think WS debuff penetrates Mirror Image, but Stoneskin yes.

Luckily, my main char dualed to Thief at lvl 7 and can thus use Detect Illusion to get past Mirror Image.

Schneidend

Vanilla Fighter with Grandmastery in Darts. You may laugh, but try making your saving throws against Darts of Stunning or Darts of Wounding when there are 5 of them coming at you per round.

RnRClown

Zal, the fastest dart thrower in the west. The day darts got real!

ghostowl

whats the most optimum build for axe throwing? Is there even a throwable axe that you can depend on for the rest of the game without resorting to melee weapons?

[Deleted User]

ghostowl said:

whats the most optimum build for axe throwing? Is there even a throwable axe that you can depend on for the rest of the game without resorting to melee weapons?

Kensai is optimum for axe throwing, as their bonuses apply to thrown axes. Get grandmastery in axes and max out Strength and Dex as much as possible (Strength is probably more important, I'd go Half-Orc). Not sure what you mean by a "throwable axe that you can depend on." In BGEE you can buy an unlimited supply of Beruel's Retort from Taerom, while the throwing and returning axe doesn't come until late. In BG2, on the other hand, there are three throwing axes available early on (one of which is +3), and midway through ToB you can get K'logarath, which has a knockdown effect. That said, some enemies simply can't be hurt by missile weapons, or have very high missile resistance, so it's not practical to never resort to melee.

nano

Wow, I had no idea there even existed a returning axe in BG1!

(For those like me who don't want to look it up, it's dropped in the caverns underneath Candlekeep by the party of assassins that Sarevok leaves behind.)

Eudaemonium

nano said:

(For those like me who don't want to look it up, it's dropped in the caverns underneath Candlekeep by the party of assassins that Sarevok leaves behind.)

You're brother is so good to you, leaving these nice trinkets behind for you to pick up.

Schneidend

RnRClown said:

Zal, the fastest dart thrower in the west. The day darts got real!

If I were making BG:EE I think I would have given Zal Darts of Wounding.

ghostowl

@Kaigen

Thanks. Kensai thrower sounds interesting. It just doesn't seem to fit into roleplay very much though. I might try a Fighter, or a Barbarian. It's too bad you can't stick with ranged weapon throughout the whole game...

[Deleted User]

@Ghostowl You can always use the same axe in melee range if you want to stick with the same weapon, but yeah, there really isn't a ranged weapon that can be used against every enemy.

Wolk

@Schneidend and thus end everyone games at that battle!

Schneidend

Wolk said:

@Schneidend and thus end everyone games at that battle!

Mwahahahaha!

I dunno. He just seems really weak now. Zal used to be the bane of my existence when I was a kid.

Corvino

I had a rather powergame-y thought for a second and rolled up a halfling to see if they get a racial bonus to thrown weapons, which I thought for some reason they would have.

A 19 Dex Halfling fighter/thief with specialisation and a racial bonus to thrown could be a very nasty dart thrower at low levels. Unfortunately they don't get a racial bonus. Foiled again.

Eudaemonium

They get one to slings, I believe.

Corvino

True @Eudaemonium, but that's marginally less fun than darts!

Schneidend

Halflings get a bonus with thrown weapons in IWD2, I think. Either that, or 3E.

[Deleted User]

Corvino said:

True Eudaemonium, but that's marginally less fun than darts!

True, but on my most recent playthrough I discovered the subtle power of slings. "Subtle" in this case meaning Jaheira with the Gauntles of Ogre Power putting two sling bullets into your skull per turn with a combined +5 to hit and damage (+3 from Arla's Dragonbane, +2 from +2 bullets) plus Strength plus Specialization.

Cowled_wizard

I heard thrown daggers get str bonus and two attacks per round base on BG2EE... what kind of damage are we talking about then? Fighter 5 stars daggers = 2apr+1apr fighter13+ +1 grandmastery = 4 attacks per round + str bonus... doesnt look bad at all.

What base apr do throwing axes get?¿

What about the thrown hammer +3? are there any other ?

Corvino

Thrown axes & hammers are only 1 base APR which is a bit limiting compared. Throwing daggers are looking interesting, limited mainly by the availability of the Firetooth dagger (Underdark) and the Boomerang dagger (kind of needs the Limited Wish spell unless you're a bit evil), the returning magic ones.

FinneousPJ

Fortunately throwing daggers don't weigh insane amounts like axes and hammers do.

Schneidend

I believe some of the thief merchants in BG2 sell poison throwing daggers. They aren't magical, but they'd still be deadly for all but the most fantastical of fights.

[Deleted User]

In vanilla BG2, throwing daggers (including the magical ones) did not get the strength bonus to damage, which meant that despite their 2 apr, they tended to be outdamaged by throwing axes and the Dwarven Thrower (the only throwing hammer). BGEE has added a strength bonus to damage for throwing daggers, and if this applies to the magical ones in BG2EE, it's going to shake things up a bit in terms of ranged weapon rankings. Certainly Fire Tooth and the Boomerang Dagger will out damage any of the throwing axe options (though Azuredge retains utility against undead), and they may out damage Tuigan/Gesen/Firetooth(crossbow) in the right hands, though Gesen and Firetooth retain the utility of being able to hit as +4/+5 weapons.

Schneidend

I think the main advantage of being an axe guy is that you can also use the mighty battle axe for when things get up-close. Switching to a melee dagger is considerably less attractive.