Gadgeteer vs ranger - & other questions ...

[Pangur Ban]

I have an imported party from Wiz 7 - and I'm thinking of changing my valkyrie into either a ranger or gadgeteer, for my second run through of the game.

Which class is better at high levels?
How well does the search option substitute for the rangers scout ability?
If you change class to a gadgeteer, where can you get an omnigun?

Pang [img]graemlins/cat3.gif[/img]

[Silaya]

Hi Pang !

I have both a ranger and a gadgeteer in my (first) party. And I love both

The ranger because of his ranged criticals "A magnificent kill i would say"

and the gadgeeter because of the many strange items you can buildt.

So I think it is a question of preference.

The ranger makes more damage, but the gadgeeter can use his items...

And to your last question: at my first try I changed a rogue into a gadgeeter and he got his omnigun immediatly "from the goods"... It was just there

Hope that helps

Silaya

[Merulus]

* A ranger can get critical hits with any ranged weapon (but only with ranged weapons – the ranger does not have the critical strike skill). At high levels, a skilled ranger will often fire a two or three times a round, making criticals reasonably common (my ranger averaged one critical every two or three battles).

* A gadgeteer’s omnigun isn’t much better than a sling at low levels. However, at level 5 and 9 it gains a 10% chance to blind, at level 11 it gains a 5% chance to KO, at 13 it gets a Repeater (+1 shot per round), at 18 and 23 it gets a 2% chance to instakill, and in it’s final form each and every status ailment in the game has a 1% chance of occurring. This is in addition to any special properties of the ammo you are using (an omnigun can use any form of ammo except for shuriken and rockets by the end of the game).

* A ranger scouts all the time (even when running) allowing you to find hidden items, spot invisible creatures, and discover secrets.

* A gadgeteer cannot scout (though they do generally have high senses, so can search reasonably well if you tell them to). However, a gadgeteer can build both a searchlight and an x-ray scanner. The searchlight casts detect secrets, and the scanner casts x-ray. X-ray not only finds invisible enemies; it can also find them through walls and display the location of every creature in the zone on your map, rendering a ranger’s scouting skill useless. Depending on how you play and where you go, you can build both of these gadgets by level 10 or thereabouts.

* After level 5, a ranger can learn to cast alchemist spells. Since rangers generally have high initiatives, this can be very useful for putting up that element shield in the first round of combat. A ranger can also function as an emergency healer, and in a magic-heavy party perhaps even an offensive caster (I’ve never tried this, but it seems reasonable. Anyone care to confirm?). Blinding flash and chameleon can also get you out of all kinds of nasty situations.

* A gadgeteer cannot cast any spells. However, his gadgets can cast several useful offensive spells early on (terror, sonic boom, noxious fumes, energy blast), several useful buffing and healing spells in the mid-game (heal all, armorplate, guardian angel, eye for an eye), and several very powerful offensive mage spells in the late game (prismic ray, asphyxiation, tsunami, boiling blood, earthquake). Even better, these are all effectively unlimited since they rely on stamina only (sonic boom and eye for an eye being the exceptions – they also require new components).

* With enough alchemy skill, a ranger can mix several potions. Heavy heals, pickmeups, poison and disease cures, restoration and renewal potions… Even things like canned elementals, resurrection powder, and pandemonium powder. Of course, you’ll have to really push your rangers alchemy skill to get all of that.

* With enough engineering skill, a gadgeteer can build some weapons. Doubleshot slings, double and tripleshot crossbows, and I believe doublestrike daggers (though the daggers are currently bugged – whenever I try to make one I end up with an unusable dagger). If you’re not pushing your gadgeteer’s engineering skill, you’re doing it wrong. [img]smile.gif[/img]

* Typical battle for my ranger: I never managed to learn much alchemy, so the entire battle would consist of firing arrows at the enemy. Roughly three shots per round, one instakill every two or three battles. If the creatures managed to put up a missile shield (or if I ran out of ammo), I would switch to a spear and enter close combat. Combat damage with arrows was minimal; you really had to hope for criticals. Combat damage with the spear was fairly good (I was using a dread spear), but still not as good as the other fighters or hybrids.

* Typical battle for my gadgeteer: Before the battle even starts armorplate, detect secrets, and x-ray would all be up. When combat begins, I open with a gadget (noxious fumes at low levels, asphyxiation at high levels – killing or nauseating several creatures outright), and then begin shooting my omnigun (resulting in frequent blind/KOs). If I run out of ammo or someone gets wounded, I switch back to gadgets (heal all or whatever). Spell damage is excellent, ranged damage varies (poor early on, roughly comparable to ranger in late game), and the support and healing magic is a lifesaver.

I personally think that the ranger and gadgeteer work quite well together (Ever see a ranger with a tripleshot? Nasty.) since they peak at different points in the game. However, if I could only pick one I would go with a gadgeteer. I think you could make a case for taking a ranger for either a magic-heavy party or a newbie-party (rangers are much easier to use), but other than that the gadgeteer is more useful in just about every situation.