Armageddon - Ultimate Ranger

The entire purpose of this build is to do absolutely ridiculous (and generally unnecessary) amounts of ultimate damage. We’re talking well over 1 million per rocket if you have decent rolls. This is absolutely not the most effective or useful build, but it’s a ton of fun. If you want to see the most possible damage you can do in 2 seconds, this is your build. For a more realistic ultimate build, check out the Balanced Ultimate Ranger Build by Nutmeg

Weapons

Vassa’s Surprise

• This is one of the keys to the build and overall one of the best guns for any Ranger build. This machine pistol has the highest RPM in the game at 1200, which when paired with Badge of Devastation, can refill your ultimate meter in seconds. On top of that, the masterwork perk reloads the magazine every time you melee (and doesn’t even use ammo from your reserves to do it) so you never need to manually reload. Try to find the biggest magazine size possible.

Jarra’s Wrath

• A very helpful gun for stripping shields, particularly on Valykries which will be the bane of your existance. Also serves as a second primer if you need to combo more. I strongly suggest you stack some armor here, if possible, or on your Vassa's. Without Tip of the Spear giving armor back on combo, you will be pretty vulnerable between Ultimates and a higher armor pool helps a lot. Alternatively, if you have a Ralner's Blaze with armor rolls, that is a decent option as well.

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Melee Weapon

Rampager

• Rampager serves as a reliable detonator from close range, and also has a MW perk that increases all damage (including combo and ult) by up to 50% when fully stacked. It also has a small AoE, which not many other Ranger components have. If you want to push for absolute max damage, always make sure you have 5 stacks up before using your ultimate. This should be your main detonator, which helps keep the buff up most of the time.

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Gear

Last Argument

• A great AoE detonator that also gives a ton of ultimate charge for each target hit. A couple of grenades into a large group can completely charge your ultimate if aimed well. Get as many charges as you possibly can on it.

Tactical Onslaught

• Our main primer and an important source of Acid debuffing to ensure you always deal more damage. This gear comes standard with tons of charges which makes it very easy to keep Acid on everything.

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Support Item

Tarsis’ Last Stand

• Little bubble boosts all damage, including ultimate, which is all we care about in this build. Make sure you are in a bubble before using your ultimate (Tip: the damage bonus actually stacks, if you have multiple rangers you can use multiple bubbles)

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Components

Badge of Devastation

• Every 10 hit streak gives 10 ultimate charge. Remember that 1200 RPM? 20 rounds per second + this component = way too many ultimates.

Symbiotic Surge

• This is possibly the best offensive component in the game, thanks to it’s MW perk. It also gives you a large boost to your armor, which comes in handy. The MW perk that gives you 50% damage increase applies to all damage (including ultimate). Because it is a universal component, you would ideally want double Ultimate damage, although a single roll is fine. The only time you MIGHT not use this component is if you have 5 double ultimate components and you don't have a symbiotic with enough to match them. Unlikely to happen though.

Emergency Power

• A very nice 30% ultimate damage and the ever important life saving ultimate recharge on critical armor. Like symbiotic, you will always use this, unless you are drowning in better rolls which I doubt.

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The last three components are going to be whatever you can get with the most ultimate damage, but i will list the ideal options, if you end up in a situation where you have to choose. They will not match my posted build, but that's only because I have double ultimate rolls on everything else.

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Softened Blows

• This is without a doubt the best defensive component in the game, thanks to it’s MW perk. Because the shields on a Ranger are tissue paper thin, despite the large boost to your shields which this component provides, you will really appreciate the 75% damage reduction that should last until your shields start to regenerate themselves.

Thermal Cooling

• Extra Thruster life is always nice, but again, only if you have good rolls

Rapid Hollow Points

• You will be firing Vassa’s Surprise a lot, might as well get a little more damage out of it.

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Overview

As previously stated, this is NOT a build you want to take out regularly. You will struggle at times, and often feel useless between ultimates. Fortunately, “between ultimates” is only like 15 seconds if you have a good target for Vassa’s Surprise or a cluster for Last Argument. Being able to wipe out any non-boss enemy with ease makes the minor struggles well worth it. If you want a more effective and balanced Ultimate focused Ranger, I suggest the Balanced Ultimate Ranger Build instead. The ultimate damage in this build is entirely unnecessary for anything other than showing off, and you will do much better overall if you sacrifice a bit of ultimate damage for better combos.

Setting your personal damage record

If you’re looking to test out what the absolute highest ultimate damage you can achieve is, you will need some help.

First, The Temple of Scar is the place to go. Scelos is by far the best option for hitting huge numbers, because of his easy to target weak points on his legs, and the fact that he is the only boss that is armored (yellow health bar). This means that he takes more damage when Acid primed than any of the others. You can use Scar Enforcers as well, but they have so little health that you may kill them before you hit the weak point.

In order to hit the absolute maximum possible, you will need a full squad dedicated to helping you do it. Two other Rangers and either an Interceptor or Colossus for Slayer’s Furor/Berserkers Cry. You and the other Rangers can stack Tarsis’ Last Stand 3 bubbles deep and you will get a buff from each of them.

Swap out Badge of Devastation for another Universal Component with more Ultimate damage when you enter the boss room. This will make recharging your Ultimate much more difficult, so don’t mess up your first try. You will also have to maintain Rampager at 5 stacks, and make sure you activate Symbiotic Surge right before you use your Ultimate. When targeting the missiles, always try to lock on to a single leg, to make sure that they all hit the weak point and don't hit his body or other legs that still have the armor plating.

Now sit back and watch the fireworks!

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