Who Favored My What Now?

A Ranger's Guide to Favored Enemy

By Nuitaran

Favored Enemy is arguably one of the best benefits of the ranger class in Dungeons & Dragons Online, but it can become worthless with the wrong choices. Until the level cap reaches 15, the Favored Enemy choice is made even more important by the fact that you will only be able to choose three different enemy types.

In this guide, I will examine each of the Favored Enemy choices, how they fit into your DDO Build, their versatility, usefulness, as well as the viability of a ranger designed to “hunt” a particular enemy in DDO. I will also examine the Favored Enemy Enhancements and how all of those things fit in with the many types of rangers.

Choosing Your Favored Enemies

When choosing your Favored Enemies, there are many things to consider. First of all, remember that the first Favored Enemy that you choose will begin as a +2 damage bonus against that enemy and rise to a +4 when you choose your second--and rise further to a +6 when you choose your third! The second Favored Enemy you choose will rise to a +4 when you choose your third. Some may find it worthwhile to choose a difficult enemy first, even if that monster is rarely encountered at low levels, simply to maximize their effectiveness against this opponent in higher levels.

The second point to consider is the commonality of the monster type you select in the DDO world. A ranger who chooses Plant as a Favored Enemy will find this ability never comes in handy due to the lack of plants as enemies, whereas one who chooses Giant or Undead will never find a shortage of nemeses throughout their career.

The third point to consider is the level curve of encountering a chosen creature type. A ranger who chooses creature types that are popular throughout the level curve will be much happier with their choices than one whose first chosen enemy becomes valueless after Level four. One example of the choice that starts good only to wane is Goblinoid. While this enemy choice will serve you well for the first few levels, it will become outdated by the time you’ve selected your second enemy. Your Goblinoid bonuses will rise but rarely get used. This will become even more outdated by the time your bonus reaches +6. Selections such as Giant or Elemental will serve you well from Level one all the way to Level ten and beyond.

This all might seem a little overwhelming. Heck, it was overwhelming to form my thoughts on the issue into a readable guide! In the interest of making things a little easier to read, I have included a breakdown of each offered Favored Enemy category, its pros and cons, and a 1-5 rating of its usefulness--1 being the crap of the crop, and 5 being the crème of the crop.

Breaking It Down

Aberration Pen and Paper (PnP) Creature List: Aboleth, Athach, Beholder, Carrion Crawler, Choker, Chull, Cloaker, Delver, Destrachan, Drider, Ethereal Filcher, Ettercap, Gibbering Mouther, Grick, Mimic, Mind Flayer, Nagas, Otyugh, Rust Monster, Skum, Umber Hulk, Will-O’-Wisp DDO Creature List: Drow Scorpion, Rust Monster, Beholder, Mind Flayer Comments: This one’s got some of the toughest and most feared monsters. It favors the higher curve so a Level 10 choice would be best, and level 5 a bit proactive. This is a must have. Rating: 5

Animal PnP Creature List: Animal type creatures without any magical properties, and Dire Animals DDO Creature List: Dog, Wolf Comments: At this stage of the game there are very few animals in DDO. It can be deceiving because many creatures that would appear to be animals may in fact be Magical Beasts, such as many of the wolf types, worgs, winter (frost) wolves etc. A choice of animal basically leaves you with Dogs and not much more unless they add more in Module 3. Rating: 1

Construct PnP Creature List: Animated Objects, Golems, Homunculus, Retriever, Shield Guardian DDO Creature List: Iron Defender, Iron Golem, Flesh Golem, The Guardian of STK, Marut Inevitable Comments: In PnP, rangers are denied the damage bonus portion of their favored enemy to creatures that are immune to critical hits. In DDO it’s all about the damage bonus so Turbine has wisely chosen to bypass this ruling, making this one a viable option. Although constructs are not entirely common, they are some of the tougher opponents in the game, and the list includes at least two formidable boss monsters. This is certainly not the best choice in early levels unless you want a higher bonus later, but I’d say it’s justifiable to take as a level 5 or 10 choice. **BREAKING NEWS** While writing this guide, I have learned that Module 3 considers warforged opponents to be of the Construct family! This has huge implications for many enemies and player-vs-player combat. Rating: 3

Dragon PnP Creature List: Dragons, Dragon Turtle, Half Dragon, Pseudodragon, Wyvern DDO Creature List: Velah, the Ancient Red Dragon Comments: At this time, the infamous Velah is the only Dragon type in the game. Unless Wyverns are added soon, I don’t see this changing for a while. If you want to pick a Favored Enemy just for the dragon raid, that’s your business, but I recommend against it. Rating: 1

Elemental PnP Creature List: Belker, Air Elementals, Invisible Stalker, Earth Elementals, Thoqqua, Fire Elementals, Magmin, Water Elementals DDO Creature List: Anything with Elemental in the name. Quite a few named exist, both as optional and bosses. Comments: These are quite common in adventures level 4 and up, and in the later levels they can be quite powerful. Earth Elementals appear to be most common, but Fire Elementals can be the most dangerous. This covers a great range of the level scale from 4 up. Rating: 4

Giant PnP Creature List:  Ettin, Giant, Ogre, Troll DDO Creature List: Giant, Ogre, Troll Comments:  This is one of my must-haves, even a great Level one choice. When are you not fighting these guys? This one has the best of the level curves, keeping you knee deep in Favored Enemies to fight from the time you sprout up from the ground, until you are old and gray and just LOOK like you have Barkskin on. Commonality of creatures is high, including optional and boss named monsters. With this one you can’t go wrong at all. Rating: 5

Humanoid (Elf, Dwarf, Human, Halfling) PnP Creature List: Humans, Elves, Halflings, Dwarves DDO Creature List: Humans, Elves (Including Drow), Dwarves (Including Duergar), Halflings, Anything with these included in the name belong to its respective category. Comments: Although common as a whole, having to choose only one at each Favored Enemy selection cheapens their usefulness. If you really want one or two of these for PvP reasons, I’d suggest Elf, or Dwarf due to the fact that they cover Drow and Duergar as well. Another good point for these is that you will encounter these types of Humanoids through all of the level curve. Rating: 2

Humanoid (Goblinoid) PnP Creature List:  Bugbear, Gnoll, Hobgoblin, Locanthah, Merfolk, Orc, Sahuagin DDO Creature List: Bugbear, Goblin, Gnoll (in Module 3), Hobgoblin Comments: Very common in the lower end of the level curve, not so much later on. This selection will degrade in its value very quickly after level six or so. It has recently been announced that Gnolls will not fall into this category as they will have their own Favored Enemy choice added with Module 3. Rating: 3

Humanoid (Reptilian) PnP Creature List:  Basilisk, Kobold, Lizardfolk, Troglodyte DDO Creature List: Kobold, Troglodyte Comments: Although common in low levels, their fast drop off and low difficulty even with outrageous CRs makes this one pretty worthless. It might be tempting to take for first level but resist! Rating: 1

Magical Beast PnP Creature List:  Abyssal Dire Rat, Basilisk, Blink Dog, Celestial Lion, Chimera, Cockatrice, Darkmantle, Digester, Displacer Beast, Dragonne, Ethereal Marauder, Frost Worm, Giant Eagle, Giant Owl, Gorgon, Kraken, Krenshar, Lamia, Lammasu, Manticore, Pegasus, Phase Spider, Remorhaz, Roper, Shocker Lizard, Sphinx, Spider Eater, Tarrasque, Unicorn, Winter Wolf, Worg, Yrthak DDO Creature List: Winter (Frost) Wolf, Worg Comments:  There aren’t many of these and the ones there are seem focused on the middle of the level curve. Not such a good choice unless you are hoping that Turbine starts expanding the list towards the rather wide PnP selection. Rating: 1

Monstrous Humanoid PnP Creature List:  Centaur, Grimlock, Hag, Harpy, Kuo-Toa, Medusa, Minotaur, Yuan-ti DDO Creature List: Minotaur, Gargoyle Comments:  It’s not worth it to take this one just for Minotaurs and Gargoyles, however common they are. I would hope that eventually the classic Medusa and Yuan-ti will be added into the game, but who knows when--or more importantly, if--this will happen. Rating: 3

Ooze PnP Creature List:  Black Pudding, Gelatinous Cube, Gray Ooze, Ochre Jelly, DDO Creature List: Black Pudding, Gray Ooze, Ochre Jelly, Violet Slime Comments:  Well, there is certainly no shortage of these guys, but you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it to take something that is so specific. Rating: 3

Outsider (Chaotic, Lawful) PnP Creature List: Chaotic: Chaos Beast, Demons, Ghaele, Half Celestial, Djinni, Howler, Lillend, Slaadi, Titan Lawful: Achaierai, Archon, Azer, Barghest, Couatl, Devil, Formians, Efreeti, Half Fiend, Hell Hound, Rakshasa, Xill DDO Creature List: See Comments Comments:  There is a lot of contention on what belongs to what alignment here. Mephits appear to be tagged as either/or, depending on type. Efreeti and Djinni are coming in Mod 3, and it is unknown how they will be tagged. Renders/Reavers/Flensers seem to take no damage from the Chaos/Law axis weapons. Basically, anything in here is most likely Evil, so that will not only blanket almost every outsider, but anything that would fall under both of these. Take Outsider (Evil) long before you even blink at this one. Rating: 1

Outsider (Evil) PnP Creature List:  Achaierai, Barghes, Demon, Devil, Efreeti, Half-Fiend, Hell Hound, Howler, Night Hag, Nightmare, Rakshasa, Shadow Mastiff, Vargouille, Xill, Yeth Hound DDO Creature List: Flesh Render, Ice Flenser, Fire Reaver, Hell Hound, Thaarak Hound. It is possible that Mephits fall under this category as well, or at least some of them. I am unable to collect sufficient data on this at this time. Comments: Another of my staples. These are toward the high end of the level curve, so even taking it at level 5 would be proactive, but it’s not one to ignore. This group also includes some of the most difficult opponents in the game to date. Renders on Elite?  *SHIVER* Rating: 5

Plant PnP Creature List:  Assassin Vine, Fungus, Phantom Fungus, Shambling Mound, Tendriculos, Treant DDO Creature List: NOTHING! Comments:  That’s as far as I’m taking this one. I don’t even know why it was included in the game. Rating: ZERO

Undead PnP Creature List:  Allip, Bodak, Devourer, Ghast, Ghost, Ghoul, Lich, Mohrg, Mummy, Nightshade, Shadow, Skeleton, Spectre, Vampire, Vampire Spawn, Wight, Wraith, Zombie DDO Creature List: Ghast, Ghoul, Mummy, Skeleton (including Blackbones, Arcanes and plenty others), Spectre, Vampire, Wight (again, several types), Wraith, Zombie (more subtypes here) Comments:  Absolutely a must have. They are everywhere at all levels and likely always will be. Not only that, but they can be hard as all get out! Blackbones have outrageous amounts of hit points, and some of the named undead out there are just nuts. Every bit of extra damage counts against the Vampire Boss of The Church and the Cult. Rating: 5

Vermin PnP Creature List:  Basically any insect, bug, creepy-crawly and such. DDO Creature List: Spiders of all types, Scorpions of all types Comments: These guys are wide spread and you are likely to see them through most of the level curve. The problem comes at higher difficulties when they have a hugely elevated armor class. Unless you are using the Favored Attack enhancement, Fighter Action Boost or other attack bonus enhancing options, you may never get to hit one often enough to notice your extra damage. Rating: 3

Enhancing Your Favored Enemy

Many people believe that Ranger Action Boost does not hold up compared to the version available to fighters or rogues. The Energy Resist is nominal, the Speed Boost can be made up for with items, and the Skill Boost is not as useful without rogue levels. Unless you are using several ability Enhancements or racial enhancements, the Favored Enemy options are a great way to make up for any shortcomings. Also, some gamers believe an extra +1 to damage, to hit, or to armor class is insignificant. While that argument may have some merit, the fact is that as these Enhancements rise, so does their usefulness. Also, if one of your Favored Enemies regularly has spell caster types or powerful abilities that require saves, Favored Resistance can save your life.

My level 8 Ranger uses Ranger's Dexterity III, Energy of the Wild IV, Favored Defense III, and Favored Attack II. These Enhancements can also help in the way they stack. An 8th level dwarf ranger with Favored Enemy: Giant, Giant Dodger, and Favored Defense III will have a whopping +11 to armor class against Giants. These Enhancements are a no-brainer in the case of a full ranger. Multi-classes will have to think a bit harder on the choice of Enhancements. Fighter's Action Boost is certainly more versatile than the Favored Enemy Enhancements, and Rogue's Action Boost is essential to someone with rogue levels who wants to keep up with disabling traps. Spell casters have far superior selections as well. For a multi-class, Favored Defense, and Favored Attack are worth a look.

What About My Build?

All this information is great for someone who plays an all out ranger, but most people seem to use it as a multi-class. How does all this fit in with a rogue/ranger, a fighter/ranger, or even a wizard/ranger? Most importantly, you will have less Favored Enemies, making your choices all the more critical. In this case, it may also be best to focus on a choice that will serve the entire level curve, and the future of higher level caps. Someone who focuses in melee or archery combat may still find the advantages offered by increased damage or attack bonus Enhancements fit in for them. However, spell casters might want to leave these behind and be better served by Favored Defense or Favored Resistance.

The Hunter

A popular choice of ranger type in PnP has always been the "Hunter," someone who focuses on combat with specific types of creatures and their kin. Although this is very possible in DDO, Turbine has made it difficult by mingling creature types sporadically at best. At times there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the veritable menagerie of monsters tossed into a quest or adventure area.

The solution to the weird mix of creatures in DDO is research, research, research! Decide what your favorite quests or adventure areas are and work from there. Pick a Favored Enemy to focus on that you will fight a lot. Your best bet is to go with something that will have a wide level curve. Giant or Undead come to mind. Select that Enemy first, (so it gets your highest bonuses) and then try and branch out to creatures commonly seen in their company for your other choices. Some common pairings that I have seen are Aberration and Outsider, Undead and Vermin, or Goblinoid and Reptilian. Hunting a single creature type probably isn’t as feasible as hunting groups that chum around together.

Things to Remember

Choose wisely. Character re-specs are coming, but it appears from testing that they will be costly. You don’t want to reach Level 10 or 12 and suddenly find that you shouldn’t have taken Goblinoid, Human and Lawful Outsider. Your first chosen enemy will always be the one you will be most effective against. It might be worth it to sacrifice it and choose something that will be more common later on. Someone who picks Evil Outsider at level one will have Flesh Renders running in terror by the time they are level 10. Enhancements have a bad rap. Some of them sound a lot better than they are. It took me weeks to persuade one of my guild mates that there are much better choices than Critical Accuracy. To prove it, I had to explain how the mechanic worked. He dumped it as soon as he understood. The Favored Enemy Enhancements give direct bonuses to Damage, Armor Class, Attacks, and Saves and that is NOT something to shake a wand at. Rangers can kick some proverbial butt, but it’s easy to mess them up. Be smart and you’ll enjoy your ranger for a long time to come.

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