This post is, in part, meant to get something going in the ranger forum...

I've been doing a lot of Rats runs lately and I decided to try out the highest DPS/+crit rate I could muster. My runs were a bit faster, but I was spending more on pots and thereby reducing my loot rate.

I then went back to my resistance set-up (concentrating on ice, divine, and shadow resist gear). This reduces my DPS and kill speed, but, at nearly 1k per pot, saves me roughly 20k per run.

So what strategies do you find most effective for different dungeons/bosses?

*This includes groups, though I'm mainly referring to solo running- obviously with a tank and AoE mage in group, or even another ranger, you can afford to take more chances.

I play a level 40 Ranger, My sig has a link to show what i had on last, I use the resists from the trainers + I bring extra gear to switch out if theres more of one mob. Note the resists are the passive ones, I only use the spell types with bosses.

same thing with weapons, the skills & spells I do have on my hot bar are for ICE/ divine mobs Im thinking about selling off the demon sniper cuz its not doing the amount of damage my 2 other xbows do, +'s its way below level to use on mobs i was messing around with. Tho I did go from 3k starting gold to what I have now.

But Im still learning the game, & my pots dont cost 1k yet, & my loot that I pick up is yellow. I mainly solo, really use the Trigger frency alot. to cut down most of the peons & caster types the warriors I have to dance around & spray them if they dont come with the pack.

I've actually been thinking about this as I am farming rotgut from level 30 until at least level 50, maybe 55. My focus has been a bit more on whether or not I should go with poison or crit ranger build.

So far I've had more luck with poison as the % crit increase at early levels just isn't enough to change much. I've ound that versus rotgut, hgher defence does seem to matter a bit, I use about 25% more pots when I am decked out in full leather than when I am decked out in bone splint. This might be a bit skewed though as I end up with less endurance with leather and alot more agility. so far my findings seem to debunk the theory that max DPS is the best build for boss farming. I do seem to go through the runs faster as a poison build, but that's also because I have more aoe in which to kill the roadies and groupies with.