When any RPG lets me pick a class, I usually have one main question: Which one of these will let me plink away and do badass fantasy archer stuff like Legolas in the 2002 film The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? Going back even further to the elven ranger in Warcraft 2, with his sexy hood and iconic blue face paint, this archetype has been a bit of an obsession of mine. I adore the feeling of taking aim, loosing an arrow, and watching some smug bruiser drop instantly from a critical hit. And while many have tried to deliver on this, Path of Exile 2 has finally perfected it.
It was a long and winding road to get to PoE2's Ranger, with a lot of missteps and lame abilities along the way. My least favorite has always been the nearly ubiquitous, "Shoot a bunch of arrows into the sky that come raining down in an area effect." What is that bullshit? You think Legolas would do that? No! I'm a medieval sniper for fletch sake. The class fantasy demands a focus on extreme single-target damage from range and cool, acrobatic movement abilities. I'm fine with a little bit of magic, but I don't want any buttons that do something silly that wouldn't even make sense with a bow in real life. I want to put a single arrow in a guy over there, and I want it to hurt him very badly.
