A picture speaks a thousand words, a sequence of pictures speaks more than that (but I finally gave up)

I find it very excruciating in doing screengrabs and upping them in my blog. Perhaps it's down to my tendency to switch off. Then again, I've already given up hope that I was actually born normal. With that being said, there have been rumors of a new class possibly coming out this year. Going by the way Cryptic does things atm, it seems that we will be seeing 3 mods per year instead of the customary 2 mods per year. At the same time, perhaps the devs need to freshen things up with new patron deities and playable races. Below are my preferred options.

Classes: Wild Druid, Harper Bard, Arcane Sorcerer
Races: Gold Dwarf (under the Dwarf race), Gnome (Deep Gnome and Svirfneblin), Wild Elf (under the Elf race)
Patron deities: Mystra (because she's officially back), Finder Wyvernspur (because every bard needs a god), Eilistraee (because she's also officially back)

Because I discovered I enjoy messing around with things yet to be created by others, I decided that Crazy Tenser as a label/tag will be used for my random moments of insane brilliance. Also, it's not my fault that Tenser was crazy enough to research a magic potion for Harkle Harpell.

Note: Because I enjoy the feeling of hiding an ace or two in my hand, I'll only add in the Crazy Tenser tag as a statement of intent.

Add note: I never watched the latest Terminator movie, but I'll have to admit Emilia "it makes romance absolutely IMPOSSIBRU!!!!" Clarke didn't look the part of Sarah Connor. In Game of Thrones, she looks like a monarch. Alongside the Terminator and co, she looked like a sweet girl recently graduated from Trauma Center London. At least Gal "Wonder Gal" Gadot had to serve mandatory military service in the name of defending Israel from Hamas and Hezbollah.

Yep, this face truly makes romance absolutely impossible.
Any association with House Targaryen is deeply regrettable and purely accidental.

So what am I gonna do with this post?

Basically, I'm gonna share a few things concerning my reworked characters.

Because Arylos will always be the hero of Neverwinter no matter what others say, he remains as my main character. And besides, how many hunter ranger users are actually crazy enough to use the combat tree? I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one, but I'm also very damn sure that I'm one of the very few sons of a gun choosing this high-risk option.

For Myrreas, I'm currently doing the scoundrel tree for his solo PvE and executioner tree for his raiding game.

As for Cyrea Durothil, I did a Total Recall by opting for divine oracle instead of staying put as an anointed champion. It was a blast and it still is, I'll give myself that. I swear I think like a German Löwe instead of a Singaporean lion.

Arylos: Why you should be using Skirmisher's Gambit in the first place

I'll have to admit Skirmisher's Gambit is deceptively good. This is especially so if you're going stormwarden with Clear the Ground as your staple at-will. In fact, plenty of the hunter ranger encounter powers carries the burst property. Which means bonus critical chance upon execution and hit. So long your artifact weapon set bonus involves above decent damage increment, climbing the dps ladder shouldn't be a problem. I won't say Drizzt Do'Urden would be able to out-dps Wulfgar, but at least you'll see the numbers getting decently high.

Crit happens

(provided you have a vorpal)

In order to make the damage increment count, however, I'll need to get his crit as high as possible. This is where the lack of jailbreak options comes in. The final boons for the Maze Engine campaign has to be the best ones so far alongside the final boons for Dread Ring. For starters, you have Baphomet's Might which has a chance to increase your crit by 2000 upon hit. And to think the devs have to nerf it shortly after the module came out. As for the aforementioned jailbreak tactic, I chose to eschew Displace Fate in favor of Baphomet's Might.

At the same time, I ended focusing on the offensive boons. If there's any boon adding numbers to crit and crit severity, that boon would be my first choice. Problem is, recovery boons are hard to come by with only Elemental Evil and Icewind Dale offering such boons. For Elemental Evil, I ended up choosing crit (Searing Aggression) above recovery (Blazing Resilience) for obvious reasons. The same goes for the final EE boon where I opted for Gale of Retribution (chance to heal up to 2.4K hit points and gain 1000 crit when getting hit) over Wall of Wind (chance to heal up to 2.4K hit points and gain 1000 recovery). For Icewind Dale, it's Sleet Skills (+2% crit severity) over Rapid Thaw (+400 recovery). Between defense and power, I'll always opt power. Between Reliquary Keeper's Strenght and Conjurer's Gambit, however, I chose the latter (any association with Archer is purely coincidental despite Arylos being based off him).

Ultimately, vorpal is absurdly useful when used in conjunction with Skirmisher's Gambit. The crit severity will just escalate like no tomorrow. Period. Alternatively, you can opt for either holy avenger or lightning. The former provides a much needed defensive game without compromising on the choice of gear and boons. For lightning, the cooldown reduction per hit is super useful. It's not just about maximizing your chances to proc Flurry. At the same time, the hunter ranger has the fastest hitting game due to the at-will powers. Not just range, but also melee. Also, Fox's Shift is a multi-hit move combined with invincibility during the moving animation.

If you're out to use vorpal, I strongly recommend Skirmisher's Gambit. Otherwise, you'll need to consider whether a reduction of 10% crit chance in exchange for 50% increased crit severity is truly worth it.

There's only this deep you need to penetrate

(no lewd jokes allowed here, Dany or no Dany)

As for armor penetration, it's a 50-50. For Dread Ring, I needed Illusion Shimmer. More than the trickster rogue, the melee hunter ranger is more reliant on deflection. And besides, 3% armor penetration bonus amounts to only 300 in armor penetration stat (note: unlike other stats, 100 armor penetration is equivalent to 1% damage resistance ignored). This was also the reason why I opted for Draconic Armorbreaker (400 armor penetration=4% damage resistance ignored) since Arylos would always be using the defensive stables guild boon (basically the rule of thumb for 90% of dps builds with the temple lifesteal boon more for exceptional cases).

Why you should be power hungry

That is so long you don't commit arson like a Targaryen tyrant...

For guild boon, it's barracks. In fact, the barracks boon building has to be every guild stronghold's bread-and-butter due to power being that only stat which matters on a universal basis. Come to think of it, I won't be surprised if there are guilds having more than one barracks in order to stack the power game. Unlike Westeros, being power hungry in Faerûn isn't that harmful so long no one worships Cyric.

Also, there's a need to create at least one source of direct boon damage. In other words, Elven Ferocity and Vengeful Heat.

Note: Combat advantage boons are a must for every melee hunter ranger.

Going defensive on defense

(because you don't expect Guts to survive an actual fight with Nosferatu Zodd without defense)

On the defensive end, it's stable for the guild boon. Unlike barracks, no sane guild would build two stables. Every guild stronghold can only hold up to 4 permanent boon buildings. Wasting a plot for another stable is nothing short of stupidity because armor penetration is basically useless once the damage resistance bypass breaks the 70% mark. In fact, any decent armor penetration based dps build should just cap it at 60+% with the rest being invested on power. Even for PvP, 80% damage resistance bypass is good enough, beyond that will just be overkill.

If it's possible to choose deflection, I'll take it. Illusion Shimmer is a classic example of that. Due having the worst dodge game (beyond the fact that dodging won't break the offensive momentum), melee hunter rangers need deflection to stay alive. In fact, this was the reason why I opted for Enraged Regrowth over Shadowtouch. I was focusing so much on the offensive boons that I need to something to fall back on constantly. Coupled with Gale of Retribution, it means a stacking game is quite possible. Also, Wilds Medicine is your only best bet of surviving a fight beyond the need to use Oak Skin. In fact, chances are that you won't survive a mid-damage hit without the latter.

Beyond defense and deflection, lifesteal is also a must. This is due to Assassin's Covenant, that mount insignia bonus most useful for mid to low tier dps. Thankfully, I don't have to worry much about regeneration because incoming healing tends to be the parallel boon to any lifesteal severity option. Coupled with the fact that I dropped 2 points into Dragon's Revival and I'm pretty much safe here.

As for control resistance, this is something vital. In raid instances, you'll never know when you'll get CC'd. Getting slowed or immobilised, in particular, can be a pain in the neck. Run through epic Temple of the Spider and you'll know what I'm talking about. And no, I'm not interested in getting a drow girlfriend. I value my sanity and life very much, tyvm.

On the stamina end, I threw in 5 feat points into Swift Footwork. This is because a change in gear means choosing Demonic Swiftness (+3% action points gain) over Demonic Endurance (+10% stamina regeneration during combat). In fact, the Sword of Kelemvor loadout here is not exactly known for excessive stamina.

Because Arylos has officially restored his full relic artifact weapon set, what it means is that incoming heal has become the core of his defensive game. This is also exactly why I chose Planar Vitality as the final Cloaked Ascendancy boon for this loadout. There's no point choosing Vision of Beyond due to Skirmisher's Gambit reducing the crit chance. Not to mention as well that as a melee hunter ranger, you're supposed to be stabbing the enemy from behind whenever possible (ironically, I never put a single point into Scoundrel Training due to all 3 points going to Disciple of Dexterity). Aberrant Power and Aberrant Slaughter are out of the picture for two reasons.

1. Aberrant Power requires your character to take hits like a tank.

2. Aberrant Slaughter works like Demon Slayer. Yes, killing those mooks outright can be fun. But that's it. I'm not about play lottery on the basis of 5% success chance. Useful for hdps and tank, but that's all.

For hit points boons, it's all about Feywild Fortitude and Dragonheart. I'd take Glacial Strength for that 3.2K hit points if not for the fact you don't need to kill things personally in order to proc boons like Elvish Fury and Vengeful Heat (and yes, I got both).

Then there is Icy Wrath, which can give you up to 2000 bonus damage. Adding together Enraged Regrowth and Cold Shoulder, of course.

Healing
(because you're not the trolling incarnate known as Deadpool)

This is where Rousing Warmth comes in. The constant incoming heal proc'd by the relic set bonus means one thing. Your chances of triggering bonus damage dealt (up to 3000) is very damn high. Coupled with Wilds Medicine and you're guaranteed a Rousing Warmth more often than you'd like to think. For the melee hunter ranger, this can't be any better. Even without Oak Skin, that is. In fact, this was why the Sword of Kelemvor loadout placed heavy emphasis on incoming heal boons. This is also the main reason why Arylos' dps game has become surprisingly good. Against a hdps build, the difference is around 1 million damage dealt. It may sound like a big gap, but the gap would have been far greater if not for a Rousing Warmth constant proc. In fact, there are moments where the gap is less than a million. Try imagining this with a hdps control wizard or archer hunter ranger.

As such, there's not much need to have Oak Skin beyond this being strictly optional (unless your party doesn't have a healer). In fact, one thing I discovered about Oak Skin is that it tends to disrupt my dps momentum. As any mid-dps build user can (and will) tell you, such a scenario would mean giving the rest more dps. Which is already bad enough given the presence of any hdps character in your party. Of course, this is not to say Oak Skin is useless. If you have either the Fey set or Lifeforged set, Oak Skin can be quite useful. If you have the Aboleth or Mirage set, there's not much point using Oak Skin since these two sets are strictly dps.

Relic set not found

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Relic set is generally the best artifact weapons you can ever get. Unless you're running on an executioner trickster rogue or a healer build, relic set should be the highest end. Even if you're to compare Lifeforged with relic as a hdps great weapon fighter, the dps difference will still be there. Of course, this is not to say Lifeforged should be binned by any build beyond the tank. For hdps great weapon fighters, the 5% increase in defense can mean a great deal due to great weapon fighters being good at only one thing: Getting up close and personal. At the same time, great weapon fighters tend to be rush reliant. Which means unless you can minimize the need to run, relic set will just compromise your dps with increased movement speed and reduced incoming damage as the tradeoff. Something which Lifeforged can quite obviously override at the expense of lower defensive buff.

If you do not have a relic set (and besides, I won't be surprised if it's now harder to farm for the reagents needed), Lifeforged should be the way to go for any melee hunter rangers. Getting 5% defense bonus is like increasing your defense by 2000. Coupled with the fact that the Fortified effect will also add in 10% of your defense to your power and your melee hunter ranger wouldn't be worried about how much damage the mob will score on you. Unless of course, you're actually too dumb not to choose the stable guild boon for defensive purposes. Combined with Brynnyr's Demise/Oak Skin/both, and you're all set to go. The melee hunter ranger is much more survival reliant due to the lowest dodge distance in-game, hence there's a need to up the defense so that the deflection can ensure a decent combat durability.

As for Aboleth and Mirage sets, I consider them as more range friendly due to their pure dps properties. Unlike other dps builds, melee hunter rangers require a delicate balance between damage and defense. You can't go too far into the dps because a low dodge distance means a lower chance to jailbreak in any case of AoE nuking or the aggro breaking free.  At the same time, you can't go too far into the defensive end because you'll definitely end up at the bottom of the dps ladder due to obvious reason. For Fey set, it's more for trappers. Even then, that'd require Oak Skin and stance switching to maximize the usage (read: an increment in damage, outgoing heal, and action point gain).

Lifeforged set bonus can ensure a proper balance being struck. In fact, this is also why some hdps great weapon fighters may prefer Lifeforged to relic. Unlike the relic set, Lifeforged will guarantee you increase in both power and defense. In fact, if we're to go by the power and damage maths, Fortified can easily give better damage than Fey-Touched so long the power increment is above 1200 (i.e. 1200 power=3% damage increment).

Originally, I planned to get Lifeforged because trying to be clever via a Fey set actually cost me that much-needed efficiency. Then I realized my relic set was already halfway through the restoration process. So might as well I don't waste the time and effort taken. Yes, it cost me quite a lot of astral diamonds (most of the reagents can now cost you anywhere from a five figure sum to six in the auction house). But hey, the dps is totally worth it. Even if I still chose Lifeforged, the dps won't be that great. Also, Rousing Warmth.