There are 6 classes currently available to play in Dark and Darker, and the Ranger is one of two ranged classes. But, unlike the other ranged class, the Wizard, Rangers have infinite ammo and are more about pure precision over clever spellcasting.
For almost the entirety of the 3rd playtest of Dark and Darker in December 2022, the Ranger was regarded as one of the strongest and most popular classes to play. This is interesting, as archers aren't all that popular or iconic all too often. So, let's go over exactly why that was, how to create this overpowered build, and what aspects of the class make it so strong.
The Archer's Good & Bad Side
Half of the classes in Dark and Darker are tankier, and the other half are pretty squishy, so it's right down the middle. While the Cleric, Fighter, and Barbarian can take a few hits with no problem, the Wizard, Rogue, and Ranger are all pretty weak in terms of their constitution.
But, in exchange, the Ranger is pretty much unparalleled at medium to long-range. But, where else does this class excel, and where does it fall short?
Pros
- Is able to fight against the majority of PvE enemies almost entirely safely.
- Can kill an opponent without them even being able to react with the right Skill setup and precise aim.
- Is able to add another layer of distraction to opponents chasing them using their traps.
- Has passive healing with the Field Ration Skill
- Is a class with great interaction speed meaning doors, campfires, revive shrines, and traps all activate faster.
- Is able to build one specific melee configuration that covers its one weakness of having no melee options.
- Easy to fight with a team without hitting them.
Cons
- Is very vulnerable during reloads.
- Sort of boring in terms of interesting skills related to archery. Doesn't have any sort of unique arrows such as fire arrows, poison arrows, or even explosive arrows.
- Has no way of increasing their movement speed or decreasing the enemy's, so once the distance is closed, they're in real trouble.
- An almost impossible class to play for those with less-than-stellar aiming abilities.
- Very bad in tight spaces.
- Has to be much more precise than Spell-casters like Wizards have to be on average, as their ranged attacks have much wider hitboxes.
The Ranger Skills That Matter
The Ranger is one of the rare examples in Dark and Darker where just about every Skill is worth using. Whereas other classes have some good Skills and some bad ones, Ranger's range from amazing to still good at worst.
But, overall, out of their best Skills, players tend to favor these ones in order of least to most used:
- Field Ration: Starts the Ranger out with a food item that restores 25 health on use.
- True Shot: Arrows fly faster, and spend less time in the air which means less time for the enemy to react or attempt to swing at the Ranger in return.
- Quick Fire: Fires three arrows in quick succession, this is where Ranger can almost instantly kill an opponent they've got a good aim on.
- Quick Shot: Just increases how fast the Ranger can fire for 5 seconds, which can easily be the duration of the entire fight if they hit every shot.
The Perks That Serve The Ranger Best
Once again, Ranger has it good in that most if not all of their Perks are very useful. Out of the 9 possible Perk options, about 7 of them easily fall into the category of 'fantastic', which is another reason why people think the class is too strong. But, from least to most used, these are the most popular Perks that players use in builds:
- Ranged Weapons Expert: A general damage buff when using bows is always going to be a great choice to use.
- Kinesthesia: Allows the Ranger to avoid attacks or reposition while aiming, which happens more than one might think.
- Sharpshooter: The best choice for very-precise players, as this makes headshots even more deadly.
- Nimble Hands: Speeds up the shooting animation by 15 percent, which, considering how many arrows a Ranger fires per game, is unabashedly overpowered.
Basically, any Perk that has anything to do with reducing animation time or increasing headshot damage is a shoo-in Perk to use.
Does An Archer Care About Armor?
Like the other two squishy classes in Dark and Darker, Rangers aren't really armor-dependant, which may seem surprising in a dungeon-crawling game. They have a few gear pieces that are specifically tailored to them, but in general Rangers usually just equip whatever gives them the highest defense and the least amount of movement speed reduction. As for the three items that are of the Ranger type, there are:
- Doublets (also equippable on Rogue and Fighter)
- Ranger Hoods
- Warden Outfits
Weapon-Selection For Ranger, Spoiler Alert They're Mostly Bows
Now, as one would expect, when it comes to Weapons the Ranger is all about Bows. There are Crossbow and regular Bows available in Dark and Darker, but in general, the Bow builds seem to be more reliable than the Crossbow ones. These are the Weapons Ranger players should keep in mind, ordered from least to most commonly used:
- Rapier
- Spear
- Crossbow
- Recurve Bow
- Survival Bow
- Longbow
Basically, always look for some Bow better than the starting one, and if a player does find a Crossbow, it's a great secondary Weapon when a big burst of immediate damage is needed.
Final Tips For Aspiring Rangers
In general, the Ranger has a pretty simple playstyle; shoot arrows at things, aim for the head, run if things start coming closer, and if they're players then close any doors and place traps while running away. Other than that, it really depends on the player themselves. Pure Spear builds and pure Crossbow builds can absolutely work too, but they require some pretty specific configurations.
Also, as far as stats go, Ranger players should keep an eye out for gear that buffs True Damage, Agility, Max Health, or Action Speed. To finish things off, here are a few more 'general' tips for the class:
- Look For The Sneakiest Angles: Half the fun of playing Ranger comes from getting amazing headshots from angles opponents would never expect or be able to react to fast enough. For example, a lot of Rangers like to climb the ladder in the library area and snipe from above since no one looks up often while playing.
- Leaving Two Traps In A Row Can Actually Work: When running away as Ranger, it's all about annoying the opponents as much as possible. Leaving Traps in spots they wouldn't expect can cause people to make silly mistakes from pure aggravation. And, one trick that seems to work surprisingly well is leaving two Traps, one right behind the other. More often than not, players chasing will get caught by the first trap, hurriedly release the first Trap so as not to lose their Ranger target, and then they'll take one step forward and get trapped again.
- When Running Away, Use The Zone: More often than not, when a Ranger is kiting PvP opponents, it's great to go through the Zone while doing so. Once the Ranger gets back into the safe area, the players chasing after them will be trying to get out of the Zone ASAP and can't afford to be as cautious around corners, etc. Not only that, but if the Ranger just keeps firing at them from the area where they're trying to get back to safety, it'll make them panic even more.
- Work With The NPC Enemies: And finally, remember that most other classes are almost entirely melee-focused. Because of this, Rangers can simply run around enemies when getting chased by other players, and then quickly turn and fire at the players to lock them down, giving the enemies enough time to aggro onto them.
Dark and Darker releases in late 2023 on PC.