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Our group just finished our last campaign and is starting a new one from level 1.  I was all set to go with my human two blade ranger when suddenly: disaster!  No defenders in the group and no one was comfortable playing one.  We have a druid, a wizard, a cleric, a rogue and an archer ranger.  I responded my changing my character at the last second to a ranger/warden hybrid.  I have the DM's permission to retool him for the next game if I need to since this was so sudden.   Here's what I have so far:

STR 18
CON 11
DEX 16
INT 10
WIS 13
CHA 8

Trained in Endurance, Athletics, Stealth, Nature and Perception.
Feats are Hybrid Weapon Talent (Two Weapon option from ranger) and Heavy Blade Expertise
Equipment of note is hide armor, two longswords and a longbow.

AC 16, Fort 15, Ref 15, Will 13

At Wills:
Twin Strike
Warden's Lunge
(No third at will; I took heroic effort instead.)

Encounter:
Offhand Blow

Daily:
Jaws of the Wolf

I know Warden's Lunge gets a bad rap but this allows me to actually do real multimarking every turn if necessary since hybrid wardens only mark a single adjacent enemy each turn.  My basic strategy is to get in early and mark two enemies, and if there is a high value, low defense target use offhand blow and an AP for twin strike or jaws of the wolf to either cripple or kill them outright then keep the marking up and have the two controllers in the party work to keep things near me while the strikers (both ranged) stay at a distance.  

My plans for building him up are as follows:

1) Make use of sudden roots/heavy blade opportunity/twin strike/grasp of the world serpent to knock prone on his OA
2) Keep at least one warden encounter that makes it difficult to get away, like Roots of Stone, Grasping Wind, etc, one of which will be retrained to at level three when I pick up ruffling sting, at least one minor attack power and one damage/buff/debuff power like leaves.  Similar structure for dailies, keeping at least one warden form I can use to manage difficult encounters and at least one nasty ranger attack (blade cascade, etc) I can use to murder high threat targets early.
3) Take the Adroit Explorer paragon path to allow an extra encounter power from my list, giving me the chance to pick up two defendery encounter powers and two strikery encounter powers, as well as an extra action point each day which will help me perform two roles at once.
4) Take the avenger multiclass feat for double rolls, heavy blade mastery if we make it to epic and as much as possible to take advantage of crits since I will be rolling so many d20s on my turns.
5) Use utility powers to activate ranger's quarry as a free action to alleviate the action starved nature of rangers.
6) Use any remaining feats to increase initiative and survivability.

I really want to keep ranger in here if at all possible; I love playing rangers but have not yet had the chance to in 4e, which is disappointing since they got such a huge buff from d20.  Here's what I'm looking for from the community:

1) Is this going to be viable while keeping ranger?  Warden is negotiable; I can do a ranger/fighter or something else instead.  Keep in mind that while this should not be an incredibly high threat game I want to be able to do a good job as the defender and still play my ranger.
2) Is there anything mechanically wrong with what I've proposed?
3) Are there any places I have messed up strategically? 

Aug 30, 2012 -- 9:07PM, Jugulator007 wrote:

Fists of lightning for level 10 utility?  Excellent use for it (one of the few other than brawler).

Yeah, +dex damage per attack for one encounter per day is stellar.