I'm new to the game... just getting to the point of farming Sissrat for nice new toys. It was cake on my Fighter... I was able to turn up the Difficulty right away and am now rocking the Insane without much trouble.

But I cant turn up the fight on my Ranger... My Ranger does much more Damage then my fighter... but its hard to pour all of it into the Boss because the little mobs keep getting in the way. Is there any tips are tricks people are using to burn down the boss in a hurry without wasting shots on fodder mobs that will just be respawned and get in the way again? I figure about 1/2 my shots get burned into these guys on a single run, its a big waste a Damage.

I'm finding that out as well, and to tell you the truth it sucks, not only am I wasiting DMG on useless trash mobs, but in order to actually hit the boss all I have been farming is sissi and snow cheif I have to literaly be right on top of the boss to make sure i'm able to hit him without getting any loss end mobs, this makes me burn pots because I take so much dmg not so much on sissi because of poision resistance, but with snow cheif he can hit me anywhere from 500- 2k dmg.

I added Shadow Lightening to my left click with +shadow damage gear. Works rather well against him and once he's down then i do mop up for the rest.
Must remember to grab a poison resist next time though. I keep forgetting that I don't have almost all the skill's on my new toons:)

Gary

I don't have the best gear for my ranger, but when i ran sissy, i could do it fairly easy with only a few pots spammed. I would just go after the blademaster, get as close as possible, and get him out of the way, then do the same to sissy, get as close as i could to eliminate the fodder getting between us. The fodder might be hitting me, and i might spam a pot or two, but sissy goes down fast, so i can then go after the garbage in the room.

I do have a lot of trouble with the snow chief, even at level 25, he hits for serious dmg, and all the fodder gets in the way. I am hoping with my new rb xbow, i can do better.
Just my strategy, not perhaps the best.



Edited by Oglind (09/25/07 02:14 PM)

For a short answer, no. There is no sure way to prevent the fodder from getting between you and your target due to the usage of a ranged weapon. As a fighter class, you must close this distance and eliminate the possibility of something squeezing between you and the future dead boss while Rangers normally have a fair amount of space between. Fighters also have, in most cases, more Defense and Health to help them ignore the fodder.

One suggestion has been given already. That would be to get as close as possible, and stay there, until the boss dies. This allows for you to have minimal interference between you and the boss. The main downside to this is that most ranged bosses will constantly move causing you to move and readjust so that you are in position again. With this scenerio happening, you will take even more damage when running around then you would elimnating the fodder in your way and then causing as much damage to the boss before the next round of fodder enters the battle. It works best with melee type bosses since once set, they will hardly move until 1 of you loses.

Outside of just ignoring the fodder and letting them take a few shots for the boss, my best suggestion would be to try using Rightous Stomp from the Warrior skills. It is not always effective but can help scatter the fodder for you.

For Abaddon and the Shadow Queen, I always target them first. For the rest, I follow these steps.

1. Kill any and all healers no matter what. Insane HDoL 3 runs are much easier when you stick to this rule.
2. Kill the most troublesome minor critters. Normally the ones who knock me down constantly.
3. Kill the Bosses next. (HDoL 3 is Kor then Tug while HDoL 6 is GateKeeper then Queen.)
4. Take out the yard trash.

Keep trying various things and you will find a sure way to handle it with your gear and play style. Just don't forget that you can use any and all skills from each class providing you have the proper level. And if it is low health that is causing you pain, try a re-spec pusing a tad more to health or pick up some Chain/Plate with a decent End bonus.

In DR, the only thing that will limit you are a refusal to experiment with different things and trying to solo HDoL below lvl 20.

What i do is keep shooting boss or whatever im aiming for and let my weapon kill what gets in my way. Such as the fodder when im farming bosses, i just aim for the big guy and clean up the trash after.

ahh the old sissi day's =]
what i did as a ranger is, i ran straight up to sissi and just unloaded on him. as he would move away i would do the same. so basically run right up to him and do your thing. bring some health pots or use poison resistance and you shouldn't have a problem.