Ranger Build - The Prey Tracker - Dragon Age: Origins (DAO)

Ranger Build - The Prey Tracker

This build offers a fantasy of Archer Ranger using its pets to track down foes. The build revolves around a few core aspects.

First - the Ranger pets. They can be very effective if used correctly. Wolf can lunge on an enemy and disable them. Bear is excellent for being a tank that can soak up a lot of damage, and draw the enemy's attention. Spider is kind of okay, but as it does not have any control options it is inferior to others.

Next, is your second specialization which is Bard. It will buff allies and the summoned beast with improved damage and critical chance. This will depend on Cunning, in which the build will invest heavily.

Lastly, all of this will culminate into a powerful archer build with all the buffs, high critical chance, and solid damage. This will depend on the gear you can access, so I recommend getting the gear from the recommendation list.

If this sounds like what you are interested in, let's go more into the build!

Character Creation

If you are into optimizing there are a few things that you can do to optimize your build a bit.

Race

So, all the races can have rogue classes and have very interesting backstories for that. However, I do think for optimal setup two of those are better:

Class

The choice here is obvious:

Background

To be fair there are quite a few background choices. Elves and Dwarves get two of each. Here are my recommendations

Attributes

For the start of the game, all points should be invested - +5 Cunning. Although this will delay the access to required equipment, reaching 20 as soon as possible will allow you to unlock all chests in the early game, and see traps.

Skills

I recommend one of the following:

Talents

There are 2 main talents that I would prioritize.

Quest Priority and Locations

Once you have finished Ostagar and Lothering, the world will open up and you can visit multiple areas. Below I will cover some progression recommendations, to obtain a few core items needed.

If you do not have Specializations unlocked:

1. Stoner Prisoner and Return to Ostagar have a few core items to the build, particularly Repeater Gloves.
2. Circle Tower - additional attributes for progression and to reach the required strength threshold to save attribute points.
3. Talk with Leliana a few times in camp and get her on the positive side. Ask her about Orlais and spies. This will unlock Bard's specialization.
4. Should be able to purchase the Manual: Ranger from Bodahn Feddic in the camp for 15 Gold.
5. Your preferred quests

Full Build Setup

In this section, I will go with in-depth explanations of each important selection for attributes, talents, and skills. This will give you a better understanding of what role each decision will have on your overall build. The explanations can also be used to better decide your picks for optimizations.

Attributes

In this section, I would like to review the recommended attributes for Ranger Build. You will be required to pick them every level up, so optimizing and not wasting any of them will prove vital for the build.

Skills

The goal in my opinion is to get Combat Training and Coercion to a maximum. This will cover all the aspects that the main character would need in my opinion.

Specializations

The build uses two specializations which both improve the build:

What about a second specialization? To be fair, there are two options that you can pick:

Talents

In this section, I would like to go through recommended talents for the Ranger Build. Overall, the early game is the hardest, when there are many options on how to progress. I will give some description of my picks and how they interact with the build.

Ranger Tree

Bard Tree

Rogue Tree

Dirty Fighting Tree

Below the Belt tree

Deft Hands tree

Power of Blood

These talents are obtained automatically if you drink a blood vial in Soldier's Peak.

Archery Tree

Melee Archer

Pinning Shot

Rapid Shot

Equipment

The gear you use with Ranger Build will play a crucial role in combat. There are various combos that you can go with.

Below, you will find the gear that should be used with the build. Generally, the lower the item is in the table the lower its priority and the earlier you can get it. So the top ones are the best picks.

Weapons

Item	Description
The Sorrows of Arlathan	Gives all core stats that the build needs - improved critical chance, attack speed, and damage. This does require to finish Witch Hunt DLC.
Far Song	One of the best bows in the game provides core stats needed for build improvement - critical damage boost, critical chance, and damage with rapid aim effect.
Whitewood Bow	Comes with a good damage boost, making it a decent early and mid-game weapon for Archer.
Falon'Din's Reach	A decent bow that comes with a Rapid Aim bonus and improved damage. It also has the highest-tier materials.
Bregan's Bow	It's one of the best early-game bows, just be sure to get enough Dexterity.

Helm

Item	Description
Helm of Honnleath	One of the best helmets in the game giving +2 to all attributes.
The Long Sight	Provides +5% ranged critical chance boost for stacking.
Armsman's Tensioner	Comes with a Rapid Aim effect. It is useful if you are playing with recommended mods and Repeater Gloves -3 seconds effect is fixed to 0.3s. Otherwise, skip it.
Quicksilver Arming Cap	+2 Cunning to improve damage directly and from various talents.
Free Scout Arming Cap	Provides +2 Dexterity which is less important than cunning in the late game.
Longrunner’s Cap	Adds 0.5 stamina regeneration.

Armor

Item	Description
The Felon’s Coat	The best armor in terms of direct boost to damage. It offers +6 Dexterity and other relevant bonuses.
Battledress of the Provocateur	This does trade blows with The Felon’s Coat. It can be obtained very early. Although it provides less dexterity it comes with a boost to dodge. I think it is less important for ranged characters, compared to melee rogues.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Leather Armor	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set. I would avoid using just armor, as its bonuses are disappointing.
Shadow of the Empire	Not as good as the others, because provides only +2 dexterity. Moreover, it gives additional strength that is not as useful once you reach the required threshold.
Dalish Armor	Great armor early in the game. Can be bought in Dalish Camp. Moreover, you can equip it with other items for the Dalish Leather armor set bonus.

Gloves

Unfortunately, there are not many worthwhile gloves.

Item	Description
Repeater Gloves	The best gloves in the game for archers if playing without mods. It gives -3s animation duration, overcoming most of the archer bugs (I cover them in the build mechanics section). Otherwise, if you are using recommended mods I would put these to lower priority as they only give -0.3s.
Red Jenny Seekers	Gives +15% to critical damage.
Backhands	Similar to Red Jenny Seekers, however, gives only +10% to critical damage.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Gloves	Give's +1 to Dexterity. Best to wear with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set, but can be worn alone
Dalish Gloves	Use these gloves together with the Dalish Leather armor set

Boots

Item	Description
Cadash Stompers	Gives +2 dexterity and ranged critical chance, the best boots for an archer. However, you will need 22 strength to equip the item.
Silverhammer’s Tackmasters	Gives +2 to Dexterity. Best boots for the Rogue in terms of damage.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Boots	You can also wear them without Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set as they give bonus Dexterity.
The Lion's Paw	Provides a bonus dodge chance. It's a useful stat but not crucial for long ranged builds which can avoid attacks.
Bard’s Dancing Shoes	A decent boost to defense, to make it easier to avoid enemy attacks.
Dalish Boots	Great early boots that you can obtain cheap in Dalish Camp. Use these boots together with the Dalish Leather armor set

Accessories

Item	Description
Andruil’s Blessing	Comes with a +2 to all attributes bonus improving all the stats the build needs.
Guildmaster's Belt	+3 Cunning, which is a significant boost to damage and also provides a bonus chance to dodge attacks.
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	You will need to finish Witch Hunt DLC to unlock this accessory. Gives +1 to all attributes, spell resistance, and improved dodge chance.
Longbowman's Belt	Provides +2% critical hit chance.
Dalish Hunter's Belt	Both of these belts give a boost to stamina regeneration. This is a low priority but still somewhat relevant, especially in the early game.
Dalish Leather Belt

Amulets

Item	Description
The High Regard of House Dace	The best amulet in terms of offensive power as it improves Cunning.
Pearl of the Anointed	The +1 to all attributes is a significant boost, especially at the start of the game.
The Spellward	Considered one of the best amulets in the game as it gives dodge chances and spell resistance. Still, I am more in favor of offensive stats on amulets for a build using long-ranged weapons.
Magister's Shield	Improves defense and spell resistance.
Mark of Vigilance	Provides defense and resistance bonuses.

Rings

Item	Description
Key to the City	One of the best rings in the game. It will be contested by many builds, so just listing it here as an option.
Dusk Ring	Sacrifice 1 point in strength (this should not be a problem in the late game) to gain +3 Cunning.
The Lucky Stone	+1 to all attributes that improve all the core stats of the build.
Harvest Festival Ring	Improves dexterity and strength. The ring is perfect to gain attributes to wear the best armors in the game and save attribute points.
Silverleaf	+1 Cunning which is not much, but still a relevant addition to the build's core talents.
Ring of the Warrior	Improves dexterity and strength.
The Wicked Oath	Improves critical damage and armor penetration.
Keeper’s Ring	+1 Dexterity for improved damage, attack, and defense.

How to use the Build

In this section, I would like to go through some general tips on how to correctly utilize the build.

Main mechanics

In this part, I would like to go through the core mechanics of the build. Using them you can construct your preferred playstyle and utilize everything that the various talent and equipment picks have to offer.

Sustained Talents

The build does not use many active talents so it's easy to use sustained abilities with minimal impact on the offensive potential of the build.

1. Song of Courage - the main Bard song, that will improve your and party member damage.
2. Aim - gives bonuses to damage and critical chance, greatly improving combat potential. Sadly, this does slower attack speed which can be addressed with some items that I recommend.
3. One of the beasts - I do recommend Summon Wolf or Summon Bear depending on the what kind of fights you are doing. Generic - use Wolf, bosses - Bear.

Optional sustained abilities. These can be activated depending on the situation or party composition:

• Song of Valor - the song can be used early in the game to improve mana and stamina regeneration early on. Still, the bonuses are quite low and should be dropped later in the game.
• Tainted Blade - works with ranged weapons. It does slowly drain health, which can be risky in some encounters. I do recommend some discretion when using it.

Cunning - Damage, Lockpicking and Traps

The main stat of this build is Cunning. Thanks to Lethality it is used for damage calculation instead of strength. Why is this important?

• It improves armor penetration which results in more damage against heavily armored enemies.
• Improves the Song of Courage effect giving even more boost to damage.
• Improves Tainted Blade effect.
• Increases the lockpicking and trap disarm capabilities.

So as you can see, with a single talent the build receives a significant boost to damage and utility during world exploration.

Shale and Rock Mastery

If your main character is an archer probably you will want to maximize all of its damage-related stats. Due to this, it is important to have Shale in the group.

Shale has a Rock Mastery aura. This buff provides +5% to ranged critical chance. Moreover, when she uses Rock Barrage the bonus is increased to +10% ranged critical chance.

That is not all. If you use Hurl Rock party aim speed also increases in total by -2 seconds.

So having Shale in the party will maximize everyone’s offensive capabilities especially if they are an archer. There is one problem, the aura radius is quite short, so your archer should be standing nearby to receive its effects.

Summoned Beasts and their effectiveness

This section is relevant if you have picked Ranger specialization for Leliana. I would like to go through some important mechanics to best utilize these beasts.

Summoned Beasts - Tactics slots

One core problem with the Ranger beasts is that you have to take control of them to use their talents. There is a workaround on the PC. Once you summon, on the left side there will appear "tactics slots acquired".

Once you click on it, you can add various actions and logic when to use them. So set up the tactics, and be sure to save them to presets. I do recommend doing this on Wolf as in terms of talents it is the most powerful pick:

Once you click on it, you can add various actions and logic when to use them. So set up the tactics, and be sure to save them to presets. You will have to do this every time you summon the beast. This is irritating, but sadly, this is the implementation. For this reason, I recommend using Bear only, it has the most HP and can act as an effective tank.

Archery Bugs

So Archery comes with plenty of bugs, some of them bad, others good. Overall, I do recommend using recommended mods, it makes Archer work as intended albeit a bit weaker in some cases.

First thing, effects like Haste and Swift Salve reduce attack speed... This is how it works currently. Second, the Arrow of Slaying multiplier effect is also all over the place. The simplest fix for all of this is to use Repeater Gloves. They give -3s animation time (which is also bugged) but at least fix all the attack speed problems.

Maximizing Critical Chance

So Archer builds rely on auto attacks. To improve your damage it is a good choice to maximize critical chance which will make them even more deadlier. The problem is that various active talents have long animations which result in damage over time decrease.

Let's go through the sources of critical chance increase:

• Shale - sustained ability Rock Mastery
• Aim - sustained ability giving bonuses to important offensive stats.
• Song of Courage - bonuses based on cunning attribute
• Bows - The Sorrows of Arlathan, Far Song
• Equipment - Cadash Stompers, The Long Sight, etc.

So with all of these active you should easily reach 50%+ which will make at least half of your hits critical.

High Dodge chance

To increase the build survivability you can stack Dodge Chance from various items. This is a perfect option to overcome low defense and incoming enemy physical attacks.

• First Enchanter's Cowl - +10% Dodge Chance
• The Lion's Paw - +10% Dodge Chance
• The Spellward - +10% Dodge Chance
• Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering - +10% Dodge Chance.
• Reaper's Vestments - 10% Dodge Chance.

So with a 30% dodge chance, you can avoid three out of ten attacks. This does not account for any defense-related avoidance, which would further boost the survivability.

Early Game Combat

• Use your ranged attacks to lure enemies one by one. Just make allies stand still with Hold command. This is especially useful in Ostagar and Lothering.
• Pinning Shot is great to disable a single foe.
• Rapid Shot is excellent talent until you get Repeater Gloves. With a low critical chance, having a high attack speed is better.
• If an enemy gets close just use Dirty Fighting to stun them.
• Use Summon Wolf and setup tactics (I cover how to do this in the mechanics section), once you get Bear you can use it instead.

Late Game Combat

In general, the build just simplifies. "The most effective playstyle" is just auto-attacking. However, it does become tedious after a while, so I still recommend using some actions:

• Arrow of Slaying - generally it is not an effective talent to use. You need to target enemies with specific level differences. However, it does give a satisfying feel when used on Lieutenant enemies with a large damage number. I would not use it on bosses.
• Shattering Shot - this one should be used against boss enemies. This will reduce their armor improving your damage against them.
• Scattershot - one of the strongest talents in your arsenal. Can stun multiple enemies making the encounter a piece of cake. Try to hit a large group of foes.
• Make sure to have Aim, Song of Courage, and The Tainted Blade active for maximum damage boost.
• Don't forget to keep summoning Wolf against normal encounters where it can disable multiple foes with Dread Howl (If you have access to the animal tactics screen on PC). For bosses, Bear is better with its huge pool of HP.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Best Ranger Build, post for Dragon Age: Origins. If you are looking for a Tracker type of build that utilizes beasts to overwhelm foes, try it out. Even without summons the Bard specialization offers sturdy buffs and archery talents with good gear that will melt almost any foe.

Feel free to leave feedback below.