Fun and decent ranged classes?

[bw10]

if your goal is to have fun defined by taking most killing blows and memorable moments id say sh on destro and bw on order

[Fenris78]

A question to the SW: Does he have an offhand item or a two-handed item?

SW brings a main hand sword, wich is used every time you deal a melee AA, and an off-hand bow for ranged AA (in skirmish stance only).

Both weapons are considered one-handed, but dont provide passive 10% parry bonus, except in assault stance (wich is part of assault stance bonuses).

Sword AA is used in every stance, but got buffed while in assault stance (stat conversion + AA bonuses).

[Avernus]

A question to the SW: Does he have an offhand item or a two-handed item?

SW brings a main hand sword, wich is used every time you deal a melee AA, and an off-hand bow for ranged AA (in skirmish stance only).

The moment you switch into assault stance - you lose your ranged AA. Not sure that it was that way in live.

[Lion1986]

I can give tips on pure dps ranged classes. (never experienced shammy/AM)

SORC/BW:
Kamikaze dps. The class mechanic is so stupid that you wonder what kind of mental disesase the original Mythic devs had when making it.
they NUKE (especially in single target when catching enemies off guard) but they self nuke themselves in the process. Suck at 1v1 and generally priority targets in any organized scenarios. They will die even with guard and heals simply because they help the enemy killing themselves via mechanic. Still fun to see lotsa numbers though.

MAGUS/ENGI
Overall damage compared to above classes is low. They favourt a static gamestyle in a dynamic game (seriously...).
They have the longest range in game (125ft) which in siege scenarios are godsend. Their aoe damage is pathetic. I play rift magus for the fun, but honestly, these 2 classes are the worst atm due to the heavy nerfs they did receive in the past (and if I got correctly they gonna remove pet buff aswell in future, so more nerfs for a irrelevant class)

SW
Despite the "SW is useless" meme ppl scream about, a Festershima shadow warrior can down even tanks at 100ft distance without much sweat (in high level gear). What was nerfed to the ground was broadhead arrow aoe spec, making aoe SW a meme. Stick to single target, pick enemy dps or, if vengeful, enemy tanks, and watch them literally implode.
Very hard to master class, but once done, you are a walking nightmare.

[Farrul]

SW
Despite the "SW is useless" meme ppl scream about, a Festershima shadow warrior can down even tanks at 100ft distance without much sweat (in high level gear). What was nerfed to the ground was broadhead arrow aoe spec, making aoe SW a meme. Stick to single target, pick enemy dps or, if vengeful, enemy tanks, and watch them literally implode.
Very hard to master class, but once done, you are a walking nightmare.

The same can be said about SH poison arrer spec, except they have a bit less burst ( i've seen poison arrer crit in the 3ks ) but way higher survivability through all their escapes and comes with a pet that deals extra damage and even get an execute for free on their Festering arrow equivalent, overall singetarget damage is likely in favor of SH's.

As for aoe SW i agree the devs need to buff that spec in their upcoming class rebalance kinda sad the state its in ( hint: 75 range/increase base damage of skills ).

@OP depends enterily what your definition of fun and decent is. In organized groups you will have the most fun with Bright Wizards/Sorcs they outperform everything else ranged when supported. When ''Zerg surfing'' (that means solo but not alone , i.e group fights) Snipe SW/SH are excellent and get TONS of kills ( you'll see they are always amongst the top killers in the zone when a decent one joins).

Finally if you want to solo roam, Magus is the best of the bunch, engineer & maguses are decent to park during siege battles but their current static mechanics are not in flow with the dynamics of the game ( fast moving).

Edit: I did not include AM/Shamans since they are healing archetypes, if you enjoy that hot/dot gameplay then ''dps AM''s ' are excellent zerg surfers and good solo roaming, shaman is god tier ( that means overpowered indeed) as solo roaming in a hybrid dps/heal spec and because of that swarms the server ( dont be one ).

[Seravajan]

@Farrul: thanks for the small guide.

I have leveled up a sorc up to CL40/RR43. But it feels like being glass without a cannon. The damage is so pathetic. 2 to 5 hits at me and I'm dead. But on enemies, I would've to cast 20 to 30 DDs to even see any noticeable damage. And the DoTs are dealing no noticeable damage. The biggest issue is to gear up at that level.

Currently testing a SW.

The Engi looks like to has a lot of utility but the endgame I heard is bad for them.

[Avernus]

SW
Despite the "SW is useless" meme ppl scream about, a Festershima shadow warrior can down even tanks at 100ft distance without much sweat (in high level gear). What was nerfed to the ground was broadhead arrow aoe spec, making aoe SW a meme. Stick to single target, pick enemy dps or, if vengeful, enemy tanks, and watch them literally implode.
Very hard to master class, but once done, you are a walking nightmare.

You ARE useless by yourself as festerbot. Unless you are shooting some annihilator geared SH, all this damage spike is easily outhealed. Yeah, you can spec full glass cannon and try to compete with BW, but don't expect to have any survivability (yep, you gonna be even worse than BW). And, unless you are using M2+WW from your SM, trying to festerbomb tanks is...questionable.

The ONLY thing you are somewhat good as festerbot is assist party, but BW timestamp is still stronger. Overall, as festerbot, you are crappy copy of BW without self damage and healing debuff that can get you killed (65ft range...facepalm, no,72ft isn't helping). Nice ranged knockback though (will be nerfed, ty devs).

[bw10]

guy asks for a rdps recommendation. people start going at each others throat to recommend **** sw which is propably the most useless class in the game overall and also massively overrepresented. get a grip people

[Farrul]

@Farrul: thanks for the small guide.

I have leveled up a sorc up to CL40/RR43. But it feels like being glass without a cannon. The damage is so pathetic. 2 to 5 hits at me and I'm dead. But on enemies, I would've to cast 20 to 30 DDs to even see any noticeable damage. And the DoTs are dealing no noticeable damage. The biggest issue is to gear up at that level.

Currently testing a SW.

The Engi looks like to has a lot of utility but the endgame I heard is bad for them.

No problem . I have never leveled a sorc so can't be of any help there, what i can tell you from years of experience is that a geared sorc has the scariest timestamp burst in the entire game, literally blowing ppl up within seconds ( there once was this premade sorc with 10k kills 0 deaths).

SW damage (even BiS Festering arrow which is ok'ish singetarget burst) won't match that of a sorceress, but has the advantage of remaining somewhat effective in a solo/zerg surfing role since they do not self harm and got better escape tools/utility.

As for engineer they have ok-ish aoe capabilities but it is a lot of ''fluff damage'' which won't be super effective tbh compared to a BW and their singletarget spec suffers tremendously due to being pure physical damage, this limits them to snipe squishy low armor targets unlike the others who can assist effectively on armor. Still nice to park during siege battles though for some long range capabilities.

[Lion1986]

SW
Despite the "SW is useless" meme ppl scream about, a Festershima shadow warrior can down even tanks at 100ft distance without much sweat (in high level gear). What was nerfed to the ground was broadhead arrow aoe spec, making aoe SW a meme. Stick to single target, pick enemy dps or, if vengeful, enemy tanks, and watch them literally implode.
Very hard to master class, but once done, you are a walking nightmare.

You ARE useless by yourself as festerbot. Unless you are shooting some annihilator geared SH, all this damage spike is easily outhealed. Yeah, you can spec full glass cannon and try to compete with BW, but don't expect to have any survivability (yep, you gonna be even worse than BW). And, unless you are using M2+WW from your SM, trying to festerbomb tanks is...questionable.

The ONLY thing you are somewhat good as festerbot is assist party, but BW timestamp is still stronger. Overall, as festerbot, you are crappy copy of BW without self damage and healing debuff that can get you killed (65ft range...facepalm, no,72ft isn't helping). Nice ranged knockback though (will be nerfed, ty devs).

i disagree. A good SW that knows his role can down tanks in seconds. Also as per healers in scenarios they can pinpoint good healdebuffs and focus fire with a BW to score a kill.