Dual wield or small shield for a noob ranger?

[Avi N'dor]

When I recently leveled up to 5 I got the small shields ability. I bought one small shield and tried melee with it. It didn't seem to block anything, or did it, I couldn't really tell?!
So I'm now just using two daggers, or actually one curved dagged and one ferrite dagger. I seem to get hits with both hands from time to time which is nice but the reason I'm asking is that as a ranger I can't take much damage so more protection would be nice. Would a small shield be better after all at my level (now at 6) tha dual wielded?

 

[old.Halfmad]

think every ranger I've seen has been using dual wield. You cant spec in sheild styles etc and as you get your pathfinding up you'll be hitting faster with your 2 blades and using both more often.

my thoughts

 

[old.NorME]

yes but i also heard, DONT use any points in celtic dual

get ur pierce up.. same as my ns really. I only fight with 2 weapons but have no points in celtic dual. only piercing

 

[Chameleon]

I have put my NS spec points into piercing, envenom, stealth, rather than Celtic dual. I weild 2 weps and it works great. Imho dont bother with a shield.

 

[old.Halfmad]

aye dont touch dual wield at all. I've never put points into it but I hit so fast that I dual wield quite a bit now

 

[old.Fae]

celt dual is chance to hit with both weps at once and isn't great.
pierce is the damage done with your weps so is far more important.

Im at 28 and no spec in dual at all works ok.

 

[old.Dunham]

With my final template I've got some rest points of which I put already some in CD and I prefer a 33-40 % chance of hitting with both weapons to a 25,5% percent chance of doing so, especially when hitting super-fast with pierce at the last levels.

But all-in-all it's everybody's decision and it won't make that much difference.

 

[Avi N'dor]

Thanks for tips guys!

I think I sell the shield and hold on to my two daggers for while then Celtic dual is a thing of the future, if at all, because just now I want to get my bow and pathfinding up a bit.

That charplanner is great. I've run down a couple of possible routes and I think I have a clear picture of my template up to level 12 or so. After that time for more thinking...

Oh and do you have any tips for good loot dropping monsters for level 6 ranger? Orchad nippers are my current favourite.

 

[old.Dunham]

For lower levels (<15) I wouldn't spend much effort in getting class-according drops since you outlevel them too fast. Just get leveled and keep your money/equipment fine.

When solo try to find a 2nd ranger of your level +/- 1 and team up using simultaneous crit-shot to rock orange monsters => great XP and better loot than soloing yellows 'n stuff.

P.S.
these simultaneous crits do work very fine with Nightshades too. (just to those who think NS are crap grouping with
)

 

[Perplexed]

Until you get to lvl 10 (which is when you get the chance to spec in CD), you have NO chance whatsoever to swing with both weapons at once, so use a shield.

I still carry a shield about (lvl 37). It's useful to carry around for RvR travelling as you've got a 30% chance to block arrows. When I'm actually fighting something i switch to two weapons.

Remember, you get an extra 0.25% chance to swing with both weapons per lvl. So if you were lvl 50 and had unspecced CD, you'd have 25%(base) + 0.25%*50 = 37.5% chance, which is enough for me