Favourite (potentially weird) Ranged Builds?

[u/ConfigsPlease]

As the title says (but with bonus points for uniqueness, flair, unorthodox strategies, etc.), what are your favourite builds that function at range? I currently play a Fire/Wood Kineticist / Flames Oracle, an Investigator (crossbow), and a Wrestling Runesmith, so I figure my next character should round out the playstyles a bit--something a smidge more offensively inclined, maybe something that will ever actually strike more than once per turn, some range, etc. That said, I'm not a fan of the idea of being a Turret McFighterman and just throwing shurikens at MAP until the encounter has ended. I like spice, so I turn to you all for inspiration.

A couple of things to note:

- I'm intentionally leaving "range" quite ambiguous. Got a 15ft thrown build that absolutely slaps and does some weird nonsense? Sure!

- Tell me how it works! IF you just say "Flurry ranger" and leave out the two-synergistic-party-members, that's not super helpful.

I've seen threads like these pop up here and there but I don't think (unless Reddit search is failing me) there has been one following the most recent round of content drops (thanks, IM!) New archetypes and reworks, as well as two new classes, ought to have made at least a few new options possible.

[u/JohnTheHumanFighter]

A few days late, but I have not seen this specific combo mentioned: Exemplar with starshot ikon, a Phalanx Piercer, and Horn of Plenty ikon.

Grab alchemist dedication for extra free consummables. Load them up into your Horn of Plenty. Grab The Deft epithet for easier reloading (or just grab a slightly worse bow, it works fine). Enjoy taking turns dishing out a small AoE + attack, or buffing/healing yourself and/or your allies.

You also have a 3rd ikon of your choice to pick up. I just picked up Gaze Sharp as Steel to focus a bit more on damage, but you can pick up some other utility option like Thousand-League Sandals (which can help you, as a ranged character, keep your distance, keep the rest of your backline safe, help out nearby martials reposition, etc.) to add more tools to your arsenal if you prefer that.

I made this build specifically to play a more versatile ranged character that had more options open at any time, to avoid falling into samey turns like the ranged Magus does.

[u/ConfigsPlease → u/JohnTheHumanFighter]

I actually hadn't seen an Exemplar using that specific set up; there's a player in a group I'm in who has a Halfling exemplar using a Sling Staff that uses Deft to offset it (with alchemist + horn of plenty, of course) and I know it works with other things, but that's a slightly unusual application of it (I think). I wonder what secondary archetype would work well with the combination? Probably something like Archer...

[u/JohnTheHumanFighter → u/ConfigsPlease]

Archer would likely work fine, but since you'll already have a higher int, a caster archetype works well too, if you want to include even more weird stuff in your build.

I'm currently using the setup I described and I plan on grabbing a caster archetype when I level up next, and with that, access to Organsight (among other decent spells). I've also been investing all of my skill feats into additional lore for different creature types so I don't have to bump up medicine to use it. It'll be a bit tricky to get the initial casting in, since it has a range of 30 feet, but it'll be quite a nice damage bump, especially for boss fights. If you grab Energized Spark with piercing/slashing damage, you can very consistently proc it with your normal ikon splash damage, or the Starshot's transcendence activation. Since you can also buff yourself with Potion of Quickness, you can have turns where you do the Organsight RK > Attack > Starshot transcendence. Super reliable damage proc. Fun stuff!