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In ways this is similar to the Dwarven Ranger Build with a few differences... But first the build...

After bonuses

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Obviously, they take Scimitar WF, TWF and TWDefense, and eventually scimitar dance... This plus storm warden equals a whole lot of extra damage going on... However, you will have to be more careful in combat... Make sure you take durable, try to attack mainly marked opponents and make sure your cleric likes you.

The dex works nicely for helping out storm warden.

Plus with Ice weapons and wintertouched feat, of course.

Here is a sketch at 16th Level

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So, for Twin Strike (with a pair of +3 Frost Scimitars, you are looking at)

At will Twin Strike (on a miss)
5 Damage from each scimitar (+5 each if the target has been hit by your wintertouched ability)
5 Damage against one target of your choice for your 11th (+5 if they are wintertouched)
and 5 lightning damage against two adjacent enemies for your 16th level ability...

This means that, theoretically, you could do 30 Damage without even hitting anything... even if you dont manage to get someone hit up with cold vulnerability from wintertouched (or they are immune to cold) you are still doing 20 points of damage...

So, I am curious what people think about this build. If you need me to flesh it out more i will, but i think you get the jist, i am also curious how you think it compares to the dwarven TWF build.

Thanks for the heads up... Did you actually play this character? if so could you tell me just how squishy he was or wasnt?

Also, if you are going to be maxing out Dex and STR, does it really make sense to go pitfighter with only a 12 wis? wouldnt it make more sense to go Kensai and get the +4 to damage (higher than this character's wisdom is ever likely to be)...

Also, What do you think the pros and cons are vs. the Dwarf version?

Looks like you have to be pretty creative already to come up with a build that hasnt come up yet...

As far as the Bugbear goes, yeah, that is a very cool ranger... you could even get quickdraw and dable in TWF powers and archery powers (the main draw back being a need for 3 magic weapons).

I am limited to PHB races, though.

Kaganfindel hit the nail right on the head here: the build difference is a choice between high, consistent DPR (Stormwarden, maxing Str/Dex), or very high one-shot damage (Pit Fighter, maxing Str/Wis). And I haven't played a Str/Dex Ranger yet (mine is a Longtooth Shifter maxing Str/Wis), but it looks pretty good, so far as the builds I've seen.

Kaganfindel wrote:

The debate is whether a STR/WIS bastard sword pit fighter ranger or a STR/DEX scimitar storm warden is more effective. Considering only at-will attacks and not assuming that attacks always hit, the SW edges the pit fighter out, but apparently the pit fighter has better burst damage against a single target.

I've done a complete DPR anaysis of two level 30 rangers, one a Pit-Ranger and one a Storm Warden. The Storm Warden came out better against anything over 36 AC (which at level 30 is probably everything).

I assumed a single target over 7 rounds of combat, using all 4 Encounter powers and 1/4 of the averaged damage for the Dailys (so it assumes you're using the Dailys every 4th fight). Any left-over rounds went to At-Wills.

Of course, that's averaged damage not burst damage.

Edit: I guess I could create a burst damage scenario in which the Rangers use all their 3 or 4 best attacks in a row with an Action Point. It that a useful assessment though?

OK give me a day and I'll work it out...I'll even throw in Follow-up Blow for some extra pain. So it will be:

Human Pit-Ranger uses Follow-Up Blow, then Armor Splinter, pops an Action Point with Action Surge and uses Blade Cascade.

vs.

Human Storm-Ranger (Fighter multi), uses Reaper's Stance, then then Armor Splinter, pops an Action Point with Action Surge and uses Blade Cascade.


Thanks to Follow-Up Blow the Pit-Rangers potential damage will be much higher (potentially 14 hits) but will be VERY dependant on good dice rolls. I'll work out the average damage rather than the maximum.