Frost Ranger a viable build?

[Pukankite]

Keeping in mind Wizendraw exists in classic [I'll party with an enchantress , so that leaves no prob to have a Hellcast/Ravenclaw as an extra weapon], I think it is a worthwhile character to make.Anyone got any experience with one?

[WarlockCC]

Click and hold for every individual monster, it'll be a challenge for your mouse at least.


I think it depends on how you define worthwhile, but I think I would have fun with such a build.
Remember though that your frost damage is much less on ranged weapons.

[Pukankite]

Meh , I've played all kinds of rangers back on LoD , so I'm pretty used to the click n' hold routine ;]. That's why I implement Ravenclaw + Conviction in the entire build.

The original plan was as follows:
20 Resist Cold
20 Salvation
20 Holy Freeze
10 Conviction
Some Vigor [You ought to run away a lot with this char]

Also : I fail to find a Wizendraw at EuSCCL. Anyone got one for trade? [I'll post in the trade thread aswell]
*Pukankite

p.s. Concerning Wizendraw, Magic Arrows always hit , right?

[HegemonKhan]

frost ranger works great (of course can't damage cold immunes solo).

if u were to make a fire+cold ranger u can clear norm act 1 through hell act 4 solo with minimal gear, having the bows/xbows.

the 10 conviction doesn't help at all as u can't scroll through auras anymore. u can ONLY have ONE aura effect on (including on monsters) from a single character.

vigor isn't really required for running away. holy freeze's slow will do a great job of keeping u safe. u don't need vigor.

about magic arrows, i'm not sure if its always hit or not. the new patch might ahve made all the (arrow skills) require AR now to hit. not sure if autohit is on any of the arrow skills anymore. note that "autohit" means that (i think) it bypasses AR to def calculations (much like ITD=ignore target defense), but that still leaves clvl to mlvl calculations meaning u can still miss and don't forget can be blocked by shield (for pvp, since no monsters have block) or "dodged" (skill) which some monsters have.

i had a few old threads/posts about such rangers. if u interested, let me know, and i'll try to re-find them for u.
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for skill wise all u need is holy freeze and its synergies (60 skill points total. 3 skills to max total. 3 x 20 = 60). than u can do whatever u want with remaining skills (if u want vigor to move around faster that fine or whatever u want).

[Pukankite]

Well , the Conviction is for when I use enchant + ravenclaw ,not Holy Freeze.

Anyways , I guess it's a viable choice to play through. And sorcs like Conviction aswell, so it's a pretty party friendly char.

[HegemonKhan]

ah. than conviction is good.

my bad,

didn't realize your conviction was for weapon switch (ravenclaw/hellcast) with/for fire damage (enchant or if u were doing a duel build for solo play, cold + fire, holy fire)

[fledgeling]

Ive seen a holy frost zealot leveling in CS in my last few CS games and his damage seemed to be completely pathetic; perhaps it would be better single player with enchant, but Im not really convinced.. (pun?).
If you'll actually make him, perhaps write the conclusions here.

I got bored of my bonesnap cold based zealot; the damage seemed to be too low, but I only maxed sacrifice, not holy freeze; so perhaps he could do allright.

[EagleEntek]

If you go max ar for dmg, theres no reason why you couldnt use a large dmg ballista or gothic bow for physical dmg added to the cold attack - in my experience wizendraw didnt seem to offer much over these alternatives.

Gob toes, rattlecage, howltusk, cleglaws gloves are all alternatives similiar to phys dmg bow ama's, as the monster flee means you dont get hit close up so much - groups are slowed with the cold aura, makes you pretty safe - even cold immunes are slowed - with a big physical dmg bow you can take em down (albeit slowly).

Pure elemental chars will always suffer in hell from immunities but the point of hell is party play so a ranger of any type (pala, ama) will NEED a party to clear the whole game out anyway.

The beauty of this char is you can switch at any time to a shield and throwing weapons - the frost aura travels on throwing knives too - sadly the dmg sucks with low phys. dmg weapons in hell past act 1 - hence the reason i suggest no to wizendraw and yes to pure dex build and big ballista.

[fredsta54]

shock ranger kills the fastest and u can do shock and cold, rouges bow is the best bet. having good ar and peirce can make the diffirence in ur killing speed.


Fred