Go go Power Ranger?

[Akimbo]

So I've done a bit of investigating into a Ranger build, I had one last ladder and he was pretty fun, but was based around physical damage and holy shock. Now it's time I remade him, so far I've come to the following conclusions:

Aura of Holy Fire + Explosive arrows - It's a nice Idea, but I'm pretty certain the damage just wont cut it.

Ice Bow + Synergy + Holy Shock + Synergy - This looks like the best way to go for pure damage, with an infinity merc for the -res and more importantly -92% to the enemy defense.

Holy Freeze (18 from bow)
Holy Shock (20-40 statted)
Resist Frost )
Resist Shock )- Synergy all maxed ofc
Salvation )

BoTD Hydra/Windforce + Fanatacism/Holy shock + Infinity merc. - This is closest to what I ran last time, the damage is actually pretty high but I'm not sure about it.

Fanatacism (20-40)
Holy Shock (20-40)
Resist Shock )__ Maxed Synergy.
Salvation )
Smite/holy shield for whacking bosses.

So do people have any more ideas?

Opinions on the builds I'm going to try?

Must have equipment?

All I can really think of is razortail for piercing at the moment, anyone know other gear that would add to my cold damage? Also if I went the Ice way, which has low physical damage, what armour should I take? I have a spare fortitude, but I don't think the %ed from that would make much of a difference to my damage if it's low to start with. I'll probably spend another day looking through everything on arreat summit to see if I can squeeze more damage out. Doesn't Valk Wing have like +15% cold damage?

With Conviction I should be able to hit enemies without too much hassle whatever I use, considering Ice is also an ITD bow do you think I should be more careful here?

[mystified]

itd does not work with bosses but convivtion should make things fine.
i am testing on sp too, but i am having difficulty too. however having fana + dex investment helped somewhat, at cost of losing ice for faith leaving me with holy shock only.

btw ormus robe also has added +elemental dmg, across all 3 elementals too

[Akimbo]

itd does not work with bosses but convivtion should make things fine.
i am testing on sp too, but i am having difficulty too. however having fana + dex investment helped somewhat, at cost of losing ice for faith leaving me with holy shock only.

btw ormus robe also has added +elemental dmg, across all 3 elementals too

Yeah I'm thinking of popping a point into smite and having grief/nice shield on switch for bosses.

Been looking for a good calculator for working out aura damage when it has full synergy etc. but can't seem to find one. I'm pretty convinced that Ice is the way to go, with dual damage aura. Of course the build will bloom pretty late.

Think I'll have to go back to what I used to do, sit down with a notepad, and write down potential builds, so I can be sure of how many skills etc. I'll be spending and what it leaves room for.

[mystified]

not sure about ice. fully synergied with +dmg, it will net only about 1200 ish avg dmg.
in which case dream helm would be viable source of dmg....which i consider too low.

two of best ones i came across 'in perfect sp world' was

faith + holy shock= ias, ar, phys and elemental dmg with holy freeze as backup aura

brand + holy shock + loaded fire dmg charm = nice fireworks, decent phys dmg and explosion gives dual dmg. lacking ias was covered using faith merc and ar charms whcih i made easily as this was sp

i tried kuko (upped it) and buriza for piercing and exploding but....it wasn't all that. i guess i got used to mass dmg somewhat...

[Akimbo]

After finally finding the skill synergy calculator at d2skills (http://www.d2skills.com/) I first checked what holy shock damage would be at level 20, with full synergy:

Holy Shock lvl 20
+20 resist lightning
+20 salvation

= 1-3931 damage to attack.

Then I checked what level 18 holy freeze would give me with full synergy:

18 Holy Freeze from Ice runeword
+20 resist cold
+20 salvation

= 836-863 damage to attack.

That's cold damage before you take into account +% cold damage from the bow itself and other items. Not forgetting of course level 12 conviction from an infinity merc for another -135% resists. I think I'll have to take the plunge and give it a try.

[mystified]

i don't think u calculated synergy right. +skills do not affrct for synerfy. according to my calc hf dmg is only around 1200 factoring in average ice bonus

[Akimbo]

Damn my bad, I think I'll probably try that route anyway though, if it doesn't work out I'll donate the Ice bow to my FA Amazon, and remake my Ranger :p




- Edited original calcs. to not include +skills.