I notice this topic hasn't been updated in YEARS. What is currently the best class for Ranger Leveling? And why? Thanks Rydansythril Permafrost server
Don't use one myself but I hear a lot of rangers using an inquisitor one for heals and some minor DPS buffs.
I've been using the Paladin merc. And he's quite awsome. Two drawbacks I've noticed. One: He won't heal you nor himself. Sometimes his HP will be down to a sliver and he'll just stand there, staring at you. You have to stand around for a few minutes allowing his out-of-combat regeneration to do it's thing. (And you can't give him food, I've tried.) He will use his Lay On Hands if your HP gets low, but it has to be pretty low, something like 20% or less before he'll cast the ability. But the nice thing is, he'll rez you. The second is he won't "Turn" the mobs so their backs face you. This is to be expected, as the merc is just a dumb npc. But it makes it tricky to have to position yourself because you can't predict where the mob will end up.
The Paladin merc is awfull, the Sk one is hands down far superior in every way on the tank front. Of the healers the Inq is better than rest.....but in my honest opinion the Monk has been my best merc companion on a ranger. The Monk picks up and holds aggro, does decent dps, stays alive and even heals.... I thought I'd give it a try and it just works.
The Paladin will Rez you. Not sure the SK or Monk can do that. And I find that I tend to die when in Heroic dungeons. When I use a merc I don't target a mob and order my merc to attack. Especially in dungeons, that's a good way to have your merc swarmed by mobs and die. And if the merc dies, I know I'm going to join him shortly. Instead I body-pull mobs one at a time. I pull them back far enough that when I'm hit, my merc will auto attack and won't cause all that extra aggro.
I was trying the paladin merc. Only thing it seemed to do is use all its aggro siphoning abilities to ALWAYS keep aggro off me, and I'm using raid gear. Unfortunately my defense is much better than the paladin merc so its not of much use.
Sk merc for me. Heals better than pally and aggro is ok. Still can be downtime though. Generally if you're not max level with good gear like Neiloch then a tank is better to keep the damage off you. Inquisitor is ok but as ranger defence and health is usually pretty low, you can end up dieing before inq heals land. I now have Kenny the elite merc shaman. Haven't tried him since latest hotfix, but his aggro retention isn't great. If he heals me better now he should be good as his own survivability is first class. Only level 80+ epic x4s give him trouble, although they squish me pretty quick as he doesn't hold aggro well like I said. I probably won't dismiss him ever just because he's rareish.
I hardly use a merc soloing if I do I pull out the dirge. If I am boxing my inqi I'll use the Pally one b/c is can hold agor better then any of the others, my inqi keeps him alive and I burn the mob down.
I use the Guardian. He at least gets and keeps the Mob focused away from the Ranger, So she can do Her Arrow shooting thing.
