Blood Throne: the Ranger in Depth!

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• To read the Fighter in depth article, click here.

• To read the Barbarian in depth article, click here.

The Ranger is a classic fantasy archetype and one I was very excited to design. When I play RPGs I almost always default to Monk and my second favorite pick is the Ranger, so this one was near and dear to my heart.

Initially we designed the class as a pet class, meaning they came with a companion. This would have made them more in the vein of a Hunter class for those who played WoW, but due to budget and space restrictions on the core box we had to move the Wolf Pet to the Hero Expansion. This was one of those interesting issues you come up against when making a board game you do not really think about in the design phase. However, no worries, your ranger will have the option for a pet if you get the Hero Expansion!

This meant the base Ranger class would be closer to the original archetype of a well rounded warrior that was an expert with bow (or any ranged weapon, really) but also in melee, a sort of woodman, scout type character, similar to Aragorn in Lord of the Rings. I feel this was a blessing in disguise as when a fantasy gamer thinks of a Ranger they think of a character that likely has a ranged weapon of some kind, usually a bow, and also can dual wield melee weapons. 

So, the Ranger ended up being an extremely well rounded class when it could have easily turned into the sit and shoot hero. To be fair, in play testing that is how many players end up using the Ranger, but as players get more experienced with the game they start to utilize the Rangers extensive repertoire of abilities instead of focusing on them as a static turret.

In regards to the Ranger class archetype, they are in the martial grouping with the Fighter, Barbarian and Rogue, and their more specific archetype is ranged damage dealing. So each faction will have a class that fills this role but does so in a different way with a different theme. For contrast, the Warlock is the ranged DPS specialist for the Iconoclasts and is available in the Hero Expansion (and also an amazing model!). Whereas the Ranger uses physical weapons to deal damage at long range, the Warlock uses metaphysical abilities to accomplish the same goal and has a suite of other abilities that make them feel unique while still fulfilling that essential job within the party structure.

The Ranger is essentially all out offense in both ranged combat and melee, and has some tricks up their sleeve to reflect their specialized training. They have very few abilities to increase their durability though, so be wary of how you play your Ranger as while their damage output is impressive, they are not built to take a punch.

Equipment Restrictions

Unsurprisingly as a ranged specialist, the Ranger must take a ranged weapon in their main-hand slot. They also may not wear heavier than light armor. They must take Ranger Weapons in their off-hand which are described in the lore as a pair of melee weapons. This serves two purposes, for one it avoids players coming up with goofball combinations that are unintended from a rules perspective but also leans into the idea of the Ranger class concept. Aesthetically this allows you to have a Ranger with the classic pair of swords or as in the case of Grey Wolf, the core box Ranger, a tomahawk and knife. 

Rules wise this is a back-up weapon, meaning it can be taken in the off-hand slot even if a two-handed weapon is selected for the main-hand. Ranger Weapons are base damage 4, which is higher than most back-up weapons, and have the Defensive keyword, meaning they can Parry once per activation without gaining the Disarmed status effect (meaning you cannot attack with them in the subsequent turn). We designed them this way to reflect the Ranger fighting with two weapons at the same time, but had it only take up a single weapon slot. It is a cool feature only the Ranger gets!

As for the ranged main-hand option you can pick whatever you wish from the list of weapons in the Hero Expansion. For most this will be a long bow, which Grey Wolf comes with, as it is base damage 5, long range (meaning you have line of sight range) and the Accurate keyword which increase your odds of hitting from a base of 75% on Action Dice with no modifiers up to 86%. 

However, there are other options such as the Short Bow which is identical to the long bow apart from doing base 4 damage and having a lower initiative penalty, meaning if you selected a Short Bow you would shoot before a model with a long bow. Another popular choice is the Crossbow which is also base damage 5 but instead of the Accurate keyword has the Armor Piercing keyword, meaning you automatically activate critical hits on your action roll. And not to forget the Black Powder weapons you can select as well, but we will save that discussion for a later time. Suffice it to say if you want a Daniel Day Lewis style ranger from the Last of the Mohicans movie, you can!

Class Ability

The Ranger class ability is Scout. This lets them make a 3 movement point pre-game move. This is a great way to move them into an advantageous position before the action starts or out of line of sight in response to an enemy hero that has deployed in a position to see your Ranger in a PvP game. At level 6 this can be upgraded to Master Scout, allowing for a 5 MP pre-game move. Great for getting in position to try and snag an objective early in the game!

Primary Skill Tree

The Ranger’s primary skill tree is as stated ranged DPS. Let’s dive in! 

Careful Aim is available at level 1 and is a simple but effective class skill. The Ranger makes a ranged attack at +1 Advantage. This will be a staple card in your Ranger deck.

Ranger’s Senses is also available at level 1 and provides one of the Ranger’s most useful abilities. This skill grants the Ranger the True Sight inspiration, allowing them to see models that are hidden, invisible and through smoke for one turn. This is a skill that doesn’t always come up but when it does it is absolutely amazing. Certain monsters such as the Goblin Ambushers and classes like the Rogue depend on being able to become invisible to operate at maximum efficiency. Also, models create smoke clouds or hazards that block line of sight and are very powerful. So long as the Ranger took this skill in their deck, they can ignore these staple defenses!

Heavy Draw comes at level 2 and like Careful Aim is a staple card in the Ranger deck. You make a normal ranged attack and add +1 Power, increasing the damage output. Simple but effective and a skill you will be using a lot.

Dual Shot comes in at level 8 and is very strong. It allows you to shoot two enemy models as one action so long as they are within short range of one another. Each shot is taken at Disadvantage. This massively increases the potential damage output of the Ranger. Since ranged weapons can only be used once per activation this effectively doubles the potential damage the Ranger can do so long as there are enemy models close to one another. 

Hail of Doom comes in at level 10, the Ranger’s ultimate ability. This skill is insane if you can catch the enemy clumped up! You pick a square and target that and every square within reach range of the target square with a ranged attack. The potential damage output is utterly devastating! 

Secondary Skill Tree

The Ranger focuses on melee DPS as their secondary skill tree. That’s right, all DPS all day! The Ranger is built to dish out the damage dice at a distance or up close and personal. 

Ranger Kick comes in at level 1 and is an amazing skill for this class. Not only does it deal damage targeting Fortitude which is useful if the target enemy has high Evasion, but it pushes the target model 2 movement points. This is so incredibly useful for the Ranger as if a model is being engaged, they cannot use any weapons with the Ranged keyword. Having this card lets you boot a monster or opposing hero in the chest and get them off of you so you can promptly shoot them in the face or run for the hills without taking a free strike. For a Ranger that is played as a move and shoot hero this card is essential. If you plan on playing as a turret, you can skip this one but it is still useful for when things go wrong and your Ranger gets tagged in melee.

Whirlwind Attack comes at level 4 and allows the Ranger to hit all opposing models within Reach range of the Ranger, including models they cannot see (typically models in their rear arc). This is very strong and a trick I like to employ is to shoot with my first action then charge into a cluster of enemies and Whirlwind Attack to deal massive damage in a single activation. 

Tertiary Skill Tree

The Ranger has Crowd Control as their tertiary skill tree and has a single, but powerful skill in this category.

Pin Down comes at level 6 and is a once per game ability but it can be game winning. In addition to the normal damage done with a Ranged attack the target gains the Pinned affliction, meaning they cannot move at all in their Activation, including rotating in place! As the Ranger will usually have long range on their weapon this means they can potentially freeze an enemy in place anywhere on the board they can see, which is so good. You can prevent a key enemy monster from attacking you in melee or moving into range to use a spell. In PvP this can stop an enemy hero from running off with an objective or freeze their most powerful melee hero in place for a turn.

Ranger Class Feats

Generally the Ranger’s feats are all about being more efficient at dealing damage. You will usually have the choice between ranged and melee options at each juncture. 

At level 2 you can select Sniper to ignore the Disadvantage penalty for firing a ranged weapon at a target further than Medium Range (meaning at long range). As a reminder, Disadvantage means the Action dice have the chance for critical failure. For a turret style Ranger (sit and shoot) this is an obvious choice. For a mobile Ranger that uses range and melee, Hook and Slash may be the better choice as it significantly increases the accuracy of your melee attacks. If you are close to the enemy, the penalty for firing at long range won’t come up that often.

At level 4 you have two extremely good choices. Precise Aim lets you fire into combat without fear of hitting a friendly model. As a reminder, if you fire into melee, meaning models engaged with one another, you do so with Disadvantage and if you miss the target enemy you will hit the nearest friendly model instead! Obviously not worrying about that is a big boost for a ranged weapon specialist. Conversely you can get Run and Gun which lets you move and shoot as a compound action, sort of like Charging, but you do so with Disadvantage. This is amazing for a mobility Ranger build. No other class has the option to do something like this.

At level 6 you can either add +1 Power which increases all damage rolls via Deadeye or take Master Scout which gives you more pre-game movement. The Power boost seems obvious for a DPS oriented class but that pre-game movement is amazing. Bumping up to 5 means you often will be in range to sneak up on game winning objectives before anyone else has even moved!

Finally at level 8 you can either gain Ignore Cover for ranged attacks, which means the only way an opposing model can do anything to defend from your shooting is to be entirely out of line of sight, or you can give your Ranger Weapons the Deep Wounds keyword via Biting Ranger Weapons which increases the damage they deal in melee. Both good choices and again it comes down to how you play your Ranger.

Playing Grey Wolf

Grey Wolf, in addition to being one of the coolest models I have ever seen, is a powerful addition to the core box heroes. He is designed to be able to be played as either a sit and shoot style Ranger or a mobile Ranger that engages in melee as well. It is just up to you as to how you prefer to play him. One note though is for very casual or new gamers in your group, the Ranger is the perfect starting hero. They can hang out away from danger and just take powerful, long ranged shots at monsters making this hero the easiest to pick up and play for a newbie.

Grey Wolf is built to do damage and avoid being hit. He has a very high Evasion stat of 6, meaning models that attack him will frequently miss. However, he has no armor opting instead to take Class Garb which instead of protection gives you an extra Class Skill choice, bringing him up to a very respectable 3 skills to select at level 1. For a Martial hero this is very strong, giving him lots of options.

Grey Wolf has 16 HP and as none of his stat points were allocated to Constitution, he will only be gaining 1 additional HP per odd level. You can give him a Constitution boost point later in the game to get a retroactive boost to HP or additional gear to boost his HP such as the Ring of Health which increases the wearer’s max HP by +2. However, it is usually better to focus on one or the other when it comes to defense, meaning: able to take a hit or being hard to hit. As Grey Wolf already has very high Evasion, taking more upgrades and magical items to continue to double down on avoiding being hit in the first place is typically the better strategy but obviously play him how you want to! 

Grey Wolf has very good offensive stats. With an Accuracy of 4 and the Accurate keyword on his long bow he will rarely miss. With a base weapon damage of 6 (5 from his bow and +1 from the Great Weapon training feat) and Power 3, Grey Wolf will be putting a hurting on anything you want so long as he can see it. In testing we called him the “Rail Cannon” as he so often was just blasting monsters off of the table. 

You want to focus on key enemy monsters that tend to hang back like magic users and support monsters as he can typically tag them when other heroes cannot. He does enough damage though that even targeting high armor Monsters gets solid mileage with him. 

If you use him as a mobile Ranger, you get a lot more potential damage out of him and he can contribute to grabbing objectives, etc. Obviously this comes with more risk as he is exposed to greater danger. If you play him in a sit and shoot style he will rarely get knocked out outside of a Monster slipping past your defensive heroes. If he does get tagged in combat, Ranger Kick is your best bet to get unstuck.

In PvP games, the Ranger is very intimidating to play against. You want to use cover to avoid his powerful shooting and be sure to check if they have the Ranger’s Senses skill card, if not using Smoke Bombs and stealth to sneak up on the Ranger works very well. Once you get a Ranger in melee, typically you can shred them fairly quickly as they typically can only Parry to reduce damage.

As with most Martial characters, Rangers are weak to anything that targets their Will, so Crowd Control works well. Terrify is particularly good as Rangers often camp on a tower or other high position and if they run away they often fall off of whatever they were on taking quite a bit of damage. Blind though is the ultimate debuff for a Ranger. Reducing their Accuracy to 0 just really neuters them as they are so reliant on hitting things to function.

Rangers require very little support from teammates. They are a very self-sufficient class. Toss a game long buff on them turn 1 (called a Blessing) and then the rest of the team can run off while the Ranger basically operates solo. Anything that increases their offense goes a long way such as the Shaman’s Bull’s Strength.

Grey Wolf is a Human, so he has the Destiny Heritage ability. While not as flashy as the Onkin’s Heritage ability, it is really good. After making an Action Roll, once per game you can re-roll any 1 of the dice in the roll. So basically, if you biff an Action Roll you can re-roll one of the offending dice to turn a miss into a hit! Simple but so good.

Overall, Grey Wolf is a powerful, reliable hero that can either be the easiest option for a new player to use or can be played in a dynamic manner making them a hero that has a ton of options and tricks to deal damage at any range.