I was so confused to see dark ranger was not survival, so many of the instances of dark rangers in game are melee (dual wield even).
Black arrow could have just been shot from the hand crossbow.
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famous melee hunter, sylvanas windrunner
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They made Dark Rangers to be somewhat like Nathanos aesthetically, and Nathanos is, in part, famous because of his hounds and the fact that he is a Dark Ranger.
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While I agree that the generic, usually unnamed dark ranger npcs do seem to be more Survival, both Nondriel and Anrion have a point-- the named dark rangers seem to be Marksman and Beast Master. Those npcs are the ones most average players are going to associate mentally with the hero talent.
BM got Dark Ranger because they knew it was polarizing, and wanted most of the Hunter player-base to be able to access it. I’m not sure I can be convinced of otherwise at this point. Please correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t know of many people that care for Nathanos or his shadow beasts.
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No they don’t but they do know his name unlike random npc #37 who is also a dark ranger.
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True. It’s funny that he never comes to mind for me as a dark ranger.
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Yeah I’m still hoping for a miracle of getting MM and SV Dark Ranger.
BM will gladly trade dark ranger for Sentinel
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Can we be in charge of Hero talents and make this executive call to swap them?
Yeah I can’t help but feel that was a massive mistake on how they landed, SV makes so much more sense as a dark RANGER. Ranger is one who ranged, not a ranged bow user. Like aragorn is a ranger in lord of the rings.
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no we wont, like Dark Ranger right where it is
I’m going to need a source on “Dark Rangers are typically melee”.
The 3 most notorious Dark Rangers I know are Sylvanas, Nathanos and Deralyrn. All 3 use a Bow.
The model from WC3 is clearly wielding a Bow:
https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Dark_Ranger_(Warcraft_III)
I have never thought of them as melee.
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Aragorn did have and use a bow though.
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In the books Aragorn and all the Dunedain were closer to hunters than warriors. Think Boromir’s brother Faramir- he was much closer to what Aragorn was in the books.
Not only that, but when I think sentinel the first thing that comes to mind are the night elf sentinels. They fight along side their cat mounts and most of them are melee.
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Not really, no. The majority of the Sentinel army were archers, many of who don’t even carry sidearms, while the iconic Moonglaive of their elite fighters was typically used as a ranged weapon. (See the Warcraft III Huntresses.)
While lances were occasionally used, they acted as hit-and-run weapons, not to stand-and-fight in sustained melee. In all other regards, melee combat was almost mostly exclusive to those guarding a particular person or a chokepoint. Unlike older shocktroop tactics, even the Nightsabers were rarely unleashed as truly melee fighters, instead being used for their agility in repositioning their riders as those riders struck from out of their opponent’s range, sight, or notice.
Just going by what I’ve seen in the game. During Siege of Org when Tyrande and her sentinels took the gate they were all melee. The sentinels in Siithus (way back when) all carried warglaives and used them in melee.
It could very well be different in the books and other Warcraft universe games, but my exposure to the sentinels makes me think survival first.
The lore states that they’re typically used to ricochet and return. Avenger’s Shield and similar bounce-and-return attacks weren’t yet a thing in Vanilla, iirc, and every attack ricocheting about in SoO would have contributed to visual bloat. Those are more likely the results of limitations more so than a retcon of lore.
I want Dark ranger and sentinel as BM so I can have both
Most Dark Rangers are both melee and ranged, since they’re based on classic hunters which were both - favoring ranged.
Sylvanas mainly fights in melee because melee clashes are easier to put into stories, but dark rangers are bows first generally.
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