Pillars of Eternity: Ranger Character Class Guide (Tips, Tricks & Strategies)

Pillars of Eternity, a classic RPG, with many of the classic classes, including the ranger, but how does it differ in build from other games? Rangers are known for being the woodland scout, and protector of the wilds. Sometimes they are even joined by a creature to support them in combat.

Rangers in this game start with a plus one to their stealth and two to their survival skill. This coupled with their soul-bonded animal companion, makes a tough ranged character. So here’s how to build a ranger for success.

Race Choices in Pillars of Eternity

As rangers, in this game, are meant to function as a ranged attacker with a sort of “summons,” races with certain starting stats will be better than others. Rangers are built mostly upon the attributes, might, perception, and dexterity. With this in mind, let’s go over the best race options for this class.

Elves make a good choice for a ranger with their starting stats as a plus one to dexterity and perception. On top of this, the subrace Wood Elf is a particularly good choice as it gives the character the ability Distant Advantage which gives them a bonus in accuracy, deflection, and reflexes when attacking someone who is four or more meters away. The Pale Elf subrace doesn’t have a bad ability for a ranger, just not as useful. They get Elemental Endurance which gives them a resistance to burning and freezing damage.

Dwarves are another great choice, despite starting with a negative point in dexterity, they gain a plus two in might and one in constitution. Their subrace, Boreal Dwarves, gets the ability Hunter’s Instinct, which gives the player a bonus to their accuracy when fighting primordial and wilder enemies. The other subrace, Mountain Dwarves, doesn’t get as useful as an ability but is still an option. Their ability, Hale and Hardy, gives them a resistance to poisoned and diseased attacks.

Orlans, looking quite wild themselves, are a good choice despite their negative point in might. They start with a plus two to perception and one to resolve. The subrace, Hearth Orlan, gain a great ability for rangers called Minor Threat, which turns 10% of their hits on an enemy to criticals when a teammate is also attacking that enemy. The subrace, Wild Orlan, gets the ability Defiant Resolve which isn’t quite as useful but gives them a +10 to their defense after receiving a will based attack.

Finally, Godlike are another good choice with their plus one to dexterity and intellect. The best subraces of Godlike for the ranger are Moon and Nature Godlike. Moon Godlike get the ability Silver Tide which causes them to create an AOE heal every time their endurance goes down by a quarter of its total. Nature Godlike starts with the ability Wellspring of Life which gives them a plus three to their might, two to constitution, and two to dexterity when below 50% of their endurance.

Culture and Background Choices in Pillars of Eternity

Culture and background also affect their character’s starting stats. Their country of origin gives them a boost in a particular stat while their background gives them a boost in specific skills that the character would have been trained in. While these shouldn’t stop players from making role-playing choices, it should help give the player an idea that will still allow for role-playing.

The Deadfire Archipelago is a great choice with its plus one in dexterity. This land is infested with pirates and the like, so the best background options here are the drifter, explorer, hunter, and raider. The drifter starts with plus one to mechanics and stealth. The explorer starts with a plus one to lore and survival. The hunter starts with a plus one to survival and stealth. Lastly, the raider starts with a plus one to athletics and stealth.

The Living Lands is another good choice, giving players a plus one to their might stat. This land, much like the name implies, is barely civilized, remaining mostly woods and mountains. The best background options here are the colonist, drifter, explorer, and hunter. The colonist starts with a plus two in the survival skill.

Lastly, The White that Wends is a good choice that gives the player a plus one to their perception attribute. This icy northern country embodies the idea of living in the north pole. The best backgrounds here are the drifter, explorer, and hunter.

Attribute, Talent, and Ability Choices in Pillars of Eternity

Finally, it is time to invest points and choose talents and abilities. Before that though, the character must decide what their soul-bonded creature will be, as each has different stats and attacks that will affect the character’s playstyle. Soul-bonded creatures, unlike a summons, literally shares their health with the ranger. The player will get six different animal companions to choose from. The choices are the antelope, bear, boar, lion, stag, and wolf.The antelope has superior defenses with a plus seven to their deflection, fortitude, reflexes, and will. This makes the antelope a great option for players who need a ranger that is a bit more forgiving. The bear is great for an aggressive playstyle, as they gain a plus two to their damage threshold in every form. The boar is a decent option, raising their might by 20% when their endurance goes below 50%. The lion is another great option for an aggressive player with an AOE ability that has a chance to terrify enemies. The stag has a goring attack where they damage all enemies within a line they rush, making this a great option for a more stealthy and ranged player. The wolf, much like the bear, gains a plus two to their base damage and a +12 to their defenses when disengaging. Most of these options are fairly equal with minor differences. Likely, the bear, lion, stag, and wolf are in the top though.After this, all the ranger has to choose are talents and abilities, the best of which will be listed below.

Talents:

• Viscious Companion – Causes companions to deal more damage per attack.
• Swift and Steady – Works off of the ability Swift Aim, reducing its accuracy penalty and allowing the player to let off shots faster.
• Accurate Wounding Shot – Causes shots to be more accurate.
• Brutal Takedown – Causes takedowns by the companion to deal crushing damage.
• Thorny Roots – The ranger’s ability, Binding Roots, deals piercing and slashing damage.
• Faithful Companion – Improves companion’s defense against will based attacks.
• Merciless Companion – Improves companion’s defense against all damage types.
• Strengthened Bond – Increases the shared defense bonus given by the Defensive Bond ability.

Abilities:

• Marked Prey – Marks a target so that the ranger deals 20% more damage against that target for the next 30 seconds.
• Wounding Shot – If successful, hobbles the target.
• Predator’s Sense – Deals 50% more damage against targets effected by DOT.
• Swift Aim – Increases attack speed by 20% and 50% reload speed while lowering their accuracy by seven points.
• Vicious Aim – Lowers attack speed by 20% and reload speed by 20% while adding 10 points to their ranged accuracy and 20% to their ranged damage.
• Defensive Bond – Adds 15 points of defense to the ranger and their companion from AOE damage.
• Stalkers’ Link – Adds 10 points to their accuracy when the ranger and companion are attacking the same enemy.
• Heal Companion – (White March pt. II exclusive) Heals the companion by 40 points.
• Revive Companion – (White March pt. II exclusive) Revives companion with 50 endurance.
• Master’s Call – Deals 15-20 points of slashing damage and knocks the enemy prone.
• Play Dead – Knocks the companion prone, while giving them 20 points of endurance, a damage shield, and makes them impossible to be targeted.
• Twinned Arrows – (White March pt. I exclusive) Penalizes the ranger with negative 10 points in accuracy when using a war bow or hunting bow while adding an extra projectile per shot.
• Vengeful Grief – (White March pt. II exclusive) When either the ranger or the companion is knocked out, the other of the soul bonded will experience grief. In this case, the grief will cause them to deal 20% more damage, move at one more meter per second, and attack 20% faster.

Pillars of Eternity is available on Mac OS, Linux, PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

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