As of old there was a lot of debate about the ranger not being a good class, not everyone agreed, but the general impression still remains.

Make a ranger however you want, You can beat this game with ANY party. The difficulty just scales. but never to the impossible point.

Here is a solid Ranger, however for those that care more about performance.

Remember just because it can cast magic does not mean it has too. That is key to this ranger.

Choose Goblin and ignore spellcastng stats and increase might speed and accuracy as much as you can afford wihtout screwing your other characters needs.

Focus your build on axe and chain and armsmaster. All other skills take a back seat to these two skills unless they are needed for party function ( my party usualy needs the ranger for perception and traps, sure it can only expert in traps, but the ranger does work! )

In the later game you will notice that this ranger is doing a buttload of damage with GM axe that also allows your other melee class to do even more damage due to GM axe ability. Very few other classess can match this total damage output!

The ranger is typicaly seen as the "does everything not very well" class This is where it shines :D

I love this game btw.

You see, you kind of prove everyone's point with that build. You could do the exact same thing with a Knight and swords. Dual Swords (or even Spear and Sword) + GM Armsmaster = death, in addition to having GM plate for the damage reduction. The ranger is meant to be a melee class with some magical utility, but since they kind of fail at the latter (not having access to expert magic until second promotion) all that remains is their melee power, which is probably equal to that of a Paladin or Archer.

They're certainly not bad, and in any case I like using non-standard class setups as a way to make the game more challenging, but if we are going from a purely powergaming perspective, they're outclassed by everyone else in terms of overall utility.

However the first promotion is one of the easiest from the second play.

Ranger can be the right choice with certain party compositions.

The standard party includes knight (best melee class), cleric and sorcerer (GM all spells). There are still 3 problems left:

- only one healer, so if the low HP cleric goes down there's no one to cast first aid on him to bring him back
- only basic disarm and expert perception available
- no party member to use chain effectively (knight will focus on plate while cleric and sorcerer can't wear heavier than leather without recovery penalty)

Only rangers can help with all 3 problems:
- they can start with the first aid spell to heal the cleric when he's unconscious.
- they don't even need the first promotion to become disarm experts and perception masters
- they can master chain to eliminate the recovery penalty

Thieves can't heal or wear chain effectively, archers can't heal, monks don't start with healing, need to be promoted for disarm expertise and can't master perception, ...
With axe grandmastery and bow mastery rangers have at least decent fighting skill.

only the ranger can gm axe. Gm axe halves enemy armor increasing everyone's damage. Using a thief for an easier time with chest comes at a heavy price in survivability and damage compared ranger. And I have always found a plus 13 or more disarm ring. Your knight does more damage with a ranger on the party, and if that ranger is a goblin....you have a high strength an speed, and the gm hunter for evil party is also very easy to do. I can not bring myself to do the good party in the mm7 storyline.. LoL but that gets ot =D

After reading this thread a while back, I decided to go with an all-ranger party, and I have to say, wayyyy easier than I thought it would be. The melee power gets you through the first handful of quests much faster, then you're on the mainland and can zip to get magic, and since you survive battles longer (melee) you train quicker and grow in strength and skill quicker. You also kill more enemies, which means more money.

I found it irritating to go without my two favorite spells in the beginning (torch light and wizard eye) but it was refreshing not to have to kill everyone or pay a ton of cash at a temple everytime my only healer died....

Dwarf ranger imo is one of the best for solo challenge. Massive damage, good health, able to heal and buff self, handle traps... I know the paladin is a popular choice just not as much damage or versatility. I prefer goblin rangers on party though. I play a no death game, so having that one super health character to haul dead friends to the temple, does not apply to me. So I like versatile dps groups.

Might and magic has lways been good about its deceptive depth of gameplay. There is allway s more than what appears at first glance, I think this is why homm does so well.