MinMax question: what's the best ranged damage dealer you can make?

SmilingSword

I'm thinking of making a insanely over powered ranged CHARNAME and I'm just wondering which of these would be the most ridiculous.

Caeria

I'm biased because archers are my favorite class to play. But, it's still my recommendation. That said, mostly any class besides spellcasters can do decent ranged damage when equipped and stuff correctly.

SmilingSword

I'm kinda leaning towards the sling fighter because I made Sarevok do that on one playthrough and he was really really really scary, like even more scary than usual. Thing is that was in ToB, so I don't actually know if it's better than the others or not.

Caeria

Fighters with slings can be lethal. I have actually done it once, and it's pretty consistently powerful throughout the game, especially since there are +4 bullets actually in the game. Some people don't think that's a big deal, but I do. Plus, there are some pretty good slings out there.

lunar

Archer with a sling is the deadliest combo in high levels.
Sure, pure fighters can get grandmastery in slings, but archers get kit bonuses for damage and to hit. When you use whirlwind hlas, number of attacks is meaningles.

At high lvls, archer levels will give +8 damage, a 22 or so str (belt or natural) will give +10 damage, sling+4 plus +4 bullets give +8 damage, so a single sling shot will do 30 damage easily. Top that with greater whirlwind, that is 300 damage per round.

Skatan

I recall reading a thread discussing a kensai dagger-thrower doing shitloads of damage. Never tried one myself though.

Lord_Tansheron

Overall, my nod goes to Archer.

Kensai has a higher damage ceiling at the highest levels, but Archer has a smoother progression curve throughout the game. I just don't like the fact you get the best throwing weapon only in the Underdark, while you get an unreasonably good bow pretty much the moment you set foot into Athkatla.

But it's very close.

semiticgoddess

Note that Archers have a distinct advantage over Kensais in that they can use Vhailor's Helm, which nearly doubles their attack power.

It's also worth pointing out that damage is not the only advantage of the Archer kit, as Called Shot can be used to guarantee failed saves for Feeblemind, Darts of Stunning, Kuo-toa Bolts, and Ray of Enfeeblement, all of which are effectively fatal for those without the immunities or the magic resistance.

If you have Fire Seeds or the Frag Grenades and Scorcher Ammunition, a Wizard Slayer might be more useful overall, as the spell failure often makes an even bigger difference in the most important battles and those area-effect weapons can apply it through all mage defenses as well as magic resistance.

If you're going for straight damage, though, an Archer is not the best you can manage. That would be a Blade with Offensive Spin and Improved Haste using Minute Meteors, stacking the Improved Bard Song for bonuses to damage.

Gotural

In my opinion the best ranged damage dealer of the game is by far the Blackguard, Poison Weapon deals at least 12 damage per hit without save (that's the equivalent of a level 36 Kensai right from Candlekeep!!!!!) it bypasses Stoneskin, Mirror Image and so forth, it also bypasses PfMW if you use mundane ammo and your THAC0 will already be so low that I think the bonuses from Archer/Kensai are worthless.

You can also use a sling, cast DUHM to get 25 Str, GWW for 10 APR, enjoy the rampage.

Finally you can use Vhailor's Helm to create a simulacrum, fire a few poisoned Arrows of Detonations or poisoned Frag Grenades and watch the world burn.

Skatan

semiticgod said:

If you're going for straight damage, though, an Archer is not the best you can manage. That would be a Blade with Offensive Spin and Improved Haste using Minute Meteors, stacking the Improved Bard Song for bonuses to damage.

AFAIK you can't stack off.spin with IH. Also, considering the OT, I'm not sure MMM's were part of the survey. They do indeed do alot of dmg though, you're entirely correct there.

FinneousPJ

@Gotural Almost, but min-maxing I would have to say Assassin->Fighter dual class.

Abi_Dalzim

Relative to the other choices, an Archer also has Hide in Shadows, which adds a lot of tactical flexibility in terms of either preventing opponents from closing with you, or in negating spells cast your way. I think that's an underrated Ranger feature.

semiticgoddess

In light of @Gotural's post, a Blackguard would likely be the best option up until mid-SoA because of Called Shot, or late ToB because of the Scorcher Ammunition and its higher APR... which is debatable at best considering how easily poison shuts down mages. Even then the Blackguard would be at least an extremely close second. Unless Stoneskin blocks poison, which I've seen in vanilla with SCS, but not EE.

DJKajuru

I've heard that the archer kit specialised in Slings can deal a lot more damage than regular bows.

Ganda

Archers really are awesome for ranged damage in general, but I have to say a fighter with high strength, a sling and GWW can be beastly too.

TheArtisan

Kind of a cheaty way of having more dps but in terms of dps I think an assassin/fighter with poison weapon and grandmastery in darts/short bows, switching to using slings once HLAs become available for Whirlwind Attack.

Ganda

Taking the OP slightly out of context maybe... but an Assassin -> Mage dual can use poison weapon, cast offensive range spells and MMM or Energy Blade in between auras.

Probably not what was being asked though.

Musigny

semiticgod said:

Unless Stoneskin blocks poison, which I've seen in vanilla with SCS, but not EE.

They changed the rule in EE. I think they were not satisfied with the absence of interaction between mirror image and poison.
As a result, in EE, poison bypasses stonekins and it seems it can propagate through the mirror images. Even more nonsensical, IMHO.
Conveniently, it makes the newly-introduced blackguard very efficient and it removes the main singularity of the assassin kit.

[Deleted User]

My vote is Kensai wielding throwing daggers (worse comes to worse, I believe you can pickpocket the Boomerang Dagger off of what's-his-face in Delosar's Inn early for a good throwing dagger). Barring that, I'd go with somebody poison weapon-capable. That said, I've got an Archer playthrough coming up next, so maybe my eyes will be opened.

Abi_Dalzim

Kaigen said:

My vote is Kensai wielding throwing daggers (worse comes to worse, I believe you can pickpocket the Boomerang Dagger off of what's-his-face in Delosar's Inn early for a good throwing dagger). Barring that, I'd go with somebody poison weapon-capable. That said, I've got an Archer playthrough coming up next, so maybe my eyes will be opened.

Have fun, and remember, Improved Haste is your friend.

OlvynChuru

Use an ankheg. Sheesh, those guys hurt.

biffyclanger

if you are using item upgrade mod, spear throwing Kensai

semiticgoddess

I suppose, if you are willing to use any character and any tactics, the best ranged damage possible per round would be an Assassin/Mage, dualed at 21, using the Scorcher Ammunition (which strikes twice) with Improved Haste and Firetooth +5 and Poison Weapon stacked 36 times with Improved Alacrity and the Wand of Lightning trick, for exactly 9,040 damage per round, assuming the enemy fails every save vs. breath. And a little more if the enemy fails its saves vs. death.

But that only works for vanilla since Poison Weapon doesn't stack in EE, so for EE, it would be a bard stacking the Improved Bard Song 36 times (?) using all level 6 spell slots for Mislead, duplicated 6 times with the Wand of Lightning trick, using the Scorcher Ammunition and Improved Haste with the Gauntlets of Extraordinary Specialization equipped, for 3,320 damage per round.

Or, if you don't use those exploits but still have lots of luck, I guess that would be Sarevok with the Scorcher Ammunition and yada yada, with a Deathbringer Assault on every hit, for over 2,000 damage per round due to Deathbringer Assault, plus a few hundred more due to normal damage. Over maybe over 4,000 if Scorcher Ammunition makes the Deathbringer Assault trigger twice.

Or replace with the Frag Grenades if we're counting multiple enemies at once.