I've been playing a Blitz BG recently that has, incidentally, been a special type of ranger deck (most of the champions with Blitz end up being Rangers). It does pretty well but kind of crutches on Time Slip to get high damage. Anything with Resistance: Physical or Ghost is almost laughably difficult to destroy because of the over-reliance on Attack: Physical (part of the problem is my deck has few sources of Magical damage, which is my fault). A single Wandering Zombie, for example, takes forever to remove from the game. I'd say the biggest "problem" with a ranger deck is that they don't feel like a theme, if that makes sense. There is little reason to include lots of rangers together in a deck apart from "flavor" as the reason. There are some abilities like Reinforcment and Protective that work in the theme but that is hardly a reason to make a deck of them. Edit: I'll try out a more standard Ranger deck and get back to you as what I've been playing is an odd sub-theme of Rangers.
Is this a good time to make Darius' Favor a ST/KF rune? The equip isn't amazing or anything but would give the deck something. As far as I am aware, the only non-champion rune that might be special in a KF Ranger deck is Combined Arms which gives every Ranger Battlemaster 2 (since that doesn't stack, every champion having Battlemaster is overkill, but it is something)
I've only played a few games with my non-blitz heavy ranger deck. Here are my thoughts... 1) Even with some token non-rangers added, there are a ton of physical attacks in the deck. As mentioned earlier, a pure ranger deck will not have many answers for physical-hate abilities and incorporeal champs. I faced a Vindrax, for example, and needed three champions, Inhibit Power, Burning Oak Seed, and three rounds to successfully kill it. 2) I included Combined Arms thinking that handing out Battlemaster 2 to all my champs might be helpful. I never wanted to spend 40 nora for it. I did hope there would be some Archer, Rangers or Warrior, Rangers to make the spell better but there were no rangers with those extra classes. Combined Arms, one of the only runes to give Rangers something special, was taken out of the deck for better rune includes. 3) From a flavor-perspective, I imagine rangers as being ones who use traps and snares to create advantages for themselves on the battlefield. The deck has none of this. Rangers are also usually quick and, thankfully, KF rangers are pretty quick. 4) Ranger decks do have some of the background requisite stuff a theme should have access to like Shatter and Detection and some flying champions. 5) Though KF generally is one of the worst factions for champion based AoE abilities, rangers decks are really low on those abilities. Thankfully Aurora Inspector has both Attack: Magical and Magic Beam. 6) If desired, Hunter's Charm and Elite Blade could easily be changed to give Rangers some kind of added benefit. As mentioned previously, Darius' Favor could also be made a KF/ST split rune. 7) As a positive, ranger decks are one of the few KF themes that have a number of champions with 50+ HP on base. These guys are some of the more resillient KF champs out there. With that said, there are no in-theme healers. KF has plenty of other sources for healing, of course. A ranger medic would be nice!
The problems are as Xirone listed as well as: - Rangers don't really have anything to tie them together, kind of like Garus. They're all decent on their own, but there's nothing that makes them cohesive (things like stellar horizon, class wizard in magic amp or fire for effect, archery bale and archer commander for archers) and part of one big machine. - They also lack some distinct niche they would fill (magic amp has its powerful spells, archers the overwhelming range and nice selection of DoTs: charred, eviscerated, chilled, poisoned within the theme) just like Garus. They all simply share their class (in garu case they share a race) but there's nothing unique going for them. - They also lack any sort of special spell that would focus on them other than Combined Arms - Mages have stellar horizon and, partially, nature's wrath, while archers have fire for effect. There's nothing for rangers. Xirone pointed it out but I thought I'd mention it as well.
Biggest thing I always found when i tried to play them was they have literally only attack: physical.
One thing I have noticed recently is that KF has almost no themes that promote including multiple champions of the same theme. Devotee of De'lim decks kinda have a mechanic that promotes multiple in-theme champs but that is about it. Elves, fairies, garu, magic amp, plants, archers, wizards, and rangers generally don't benefit from high numbers the way zombies, worms, or spiders do. Most themes in KF are self-imposed and usually benefit from including many non-theme runes. I'm not saying rangers should have a racial ability that spawns 40 HP rangers whenever they get a kill but something to make them a theme may be nice.
There are a few sources of magical and fire damage scattered about these days but those are few in number.
I'd say that Magic Amp does promote higher numbers as nearly every wizard in there includes amplify magic so having more of them makes it easier to make your damage numbers insane. You're correct though that none of KF themes has any sort of swarming mechanic or - apart from magic amp's amplify magic - reward for getting more champs out.
Ranger Outpost Artwork: A well-built structure made of wood and stone. It is camouflaged well and blends in with its forest surrounding. Near the fortified entrance is a lone ranger guarding a cache of blades and bows. Flavor-Text: Built tactically throughout the far flung reaches of K'thir's outer territories, ranger outposts have been used for eons for mobilization in times of need. Effect: Starting on your next turn, champions with Class: Ranger can be deployed on spaces adjacent to this relic. If this relic is deployed on Vegetation, this relic comes into play Shadowspawned. Nora Cost: ????
Just wanna bring up the idea of giving Queen Anaru "Swarm: Lerper". Maybe make it "Swarm: Young Lerper" and let it be a ranger to fit both the beast and the ranger theme.
Yeah. And it wouldn't really be much to ask for, if we take a look at some of the other swarm units out there.
I know this thread isn't intended to be a "let's make Rangers awesome" thread but here one more idea. Create a Ranger that has an ability similar to Skeezick Rapture. It seems very thematic for there to be a ranger who helps allies have Poison attacks or Acid attacks. It would certainly help the attack: physical champs!
Why not something similar to starfire as well? Perhaps something like this: "Focus Fire: This unit makes a basic attack for 50% of its damage against target champion within range 3-6. If successful, every friendly champion with class: ranger within 6 spaces of target unit performs a basic attack for 50% of its damage." This would fit both archers and rangers. I made it 50% to reduce potential insanity of such an attack.
Regarding what xirone said. A champion that can grant blitz and mobility to target ranger would be awesome. But yeah thematically it's also probably pretty difficult to make non physical damage Rangers cause they're your pretty standard guy with sword runes.
Ill try them out after work today as well so i can attempt to contribute something more than just speculation
Well we could just have good old standard guys with swords, except ENCHANTED swords which give random attack types for usefulness. Maybe some sorta silly spell that gives every ranger +2dmg and a random attack. Or just give new rangers non physical.
