How Winter Walker Ranger is ALMOST Amazing! (Unearthed Arcana 2025 Review)
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- Опубліковано 6 лют 2025
- Hey everyone! 🎲❄️ So, Wizards of the Coast just dropped their 2025 Unearthed Arcana Playtest for the NEW Forgotten Realms Player's Guide coming out later this year, and it’s got eight new subclasses-including the Winter Walker Ranger. I’ve been obsessively reading through the PDF, and I’ve got a lot of thoughts about this icy Ranger subclass. It’s got some seriously cool stuff (pun intended), but it also feels like WOTC is so close to fixing some of the Ranger’s biggest problems… and then they didn’t quite stick the landing. Let’s talk about it!
In this video, I’m breaking down the Winter Walker Ranger-what works, what doesn’t, and how I think it could be even better. Here’s what we’re covering:
The Lore: These Rangers are out there surviving the frozen horrors of Icewind Dale, hunting yetis, crag cats, and Underdark invaders. They’re basically the ultimate survivalists, and I’m here for it.
The Abilities: From Frigid Explorer (cold resistance and bonus ice damage) to Frozen Haunt (turning into a ghostly snow monster), the Winter Walker has some awesome features. But why are so many of them tied to Hunter’s Mark? Let’s chat about that.
Hunter’s Mark Drama: Look, I get it-Hunter’s Mark is a Ranger staple. But forcing you to cast it to use your subclass abilities? That feels limiting, especially when Rangers have so many other great concentration spells. I’ve got some ideas for how WOTC could fix this (hint: think Druid’s Wild Shape mechanics).
My Fixes: I’ll walk through how I’d tweak Hunter’s Rime and Frozen Haunt to make them more flexible and fun to use. Spoiler: Let us use those Hunter’s Mark charges without actually casting the spell!
Why This Matters: The Winter Walker Ranger is almost amazing. With a few changes, it could be one of the best Ranger subclasses out there. Let’s make sure WOTC hears our feedback!
Whether you’re a Ranger main, a DM planning an Icewind Dale campaign, or just curious about the latest D&D playtest content, this video is for you. Let’s geek out over this subclass and talk about how to make it even better!
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You bring up a really fantastic point. The pool of hunter's mark should be used for other things.
One thing I'm making sure to tell WotC is to swap out pass without trace and remove curse for hold person and sleet storm. They make way more sense lore wise.
@@KevinVideo I agree! Especially since we already get pass without trace on their normal spell list anyway!
Wotc digging in their heels “you WILL use hunter’s mark, and you will be happy”
I wish they’d listen to the community. Concentration or bonus action, but not both.
^
You could hold Concentration through Trance resting as an Elf to maintain the ghostly form.
I’m so happy I have you guys to discuss this with, I posted this video on Reddit (r/OneDnD) with a description explaining everything and people there hated my post 😂. They were like, “Stop complaining about Hunter’s Mark!”
@ hahahaha
@@comradewarners There's a camp for every crowd.
Indeed, that's such a good idea, i think i'm going to use that on my table. That fixes my biggest gripe with the ranger.
I played a 2024 ranger (horizon walker) for the first time recently and hunter’s mark is literally my last resort resource after all other spell slots and daily casts of other things are spent. Hunter’s Mark is “better than nothing”, and I don’t think that’s good enough to dedicate a whole class to.
I totally agree! Especially with most people nowadays having less encounters per day, I feel like it’s hard to really take advantage of the, “Oh shit I’m out of spell slots! At least I have Hunter’s Mark!” Situations.
I feel like it that’s all they intended it to be, it would be okay. But the problem is as you level up they keep attaching more of your powers to it, so it feels like you really HAVE to use it.
Hear me out, single level ranger dip is meant for monk. Quarterstaff and longbow masteries and free hunter mark lets you save spell slots for absorb elements
So close. I love the concept, it seems like a good core baseline for an elements based ranger subclass.
I mean, snow…desert, oceans, etc…
Biggest problem Is the scaling: WotC seems scared of a bunch of d4 & d6 that scales properly...
I think you're spot on here. The 2024 Ranger focus on Hunter's Mark seems like oldschool immovable thinking WoTC. Unless they errata the 2024 PHB again to fix it, they're left with subclass design. Find a new way to use it, because it absolutely feels both forced and 'meh' at the same time.
I get the idea behind the design; with Hunter's Mark using a Bonus action... and being tied to so many of the later Ranger features, effectively they're just trying to give the capstone this sorta Bonus action transformation that will not conflict with the Ranger's Hunter's Mark.
But... it still runs into the inherent issue of designing the class around Hunter's Mark, which is, you have to use it to use your subclass features and base class features.
The whole design of Ranger revolving around a Concentration spell that's seeing slight modifications throughout your character’s progression based off the base / subclass features really feels like something intended for a Wizard, rather than a Martial Meets Druid character.
Its just a weird way to design the class, because, its also a halfcaster, lol. It being this hyperfixated on a single spell seems crazy.
Now if Hunter's Mark wasn't a spell, and applied on hit, I'd feel a lot better about it, but... that's something the design team couldn't fucking do for the class, so oh well.
Maybe in the next iteration of dnd they’ll get rangers 😂
WOTC, just let the ranger be good! Maybe they'll give a little bump after the UA testing is complete.
@@YawdroGaming I sure hope so!!
Bro did you just fix Ranger? I think you found the Occam’s Razor for it with Hunters Mark charges. I know there are still other serious concerns with the base class but well done! 🎉
Thank you so much! I just feel like they really nailed Druid Subclass design and it just makes so much sense especially with the very obvious backlash Hunter’s Mark has gotten. Imagine all the wildshape abilities or wildshape in general requiring concentration? It would be insane! Lol
After thinking about this subclass for a couple hours, I have some thoughts:
1. First of all, I love the flavor (like others have already said) this is a "cool" inspiration for the ranger. A stalker from a frozen wasteland. I think it fits the theme of making a subclass for the ranger based on a different "biome" (like the fey wanderer for the feywilds or the gloom stalker for the underdark).
2. Mechanically tho, I find some features a bit underwhelming. Let's start with level 3: the resistance to cold is a great bonus, but the 1d4 damage bump is very uninspired. You know what would be a "chilling" idea? How about moving the emmanation ability to level 3? It could do less damage (just 1d4) but at least it wouldn't be the same feature as the fey wanderer but just changing the damage type (kinda lame). You could later then make the AoE scale at level 15, to work like it does now. So not a lot of changes needed.
3: The spell list: half of them are stinkers, considering you also get pass w/o trace in your class spell list already and remove curse... just let the cleric use that! you are here to hunt things. I see that they are nudging you to go melee, given the temp hp you get with hunter's rime so... why not make the spell list geared to buffing you to go full melee and tank some hits while being a frontline badass? I'd like to see Armor of Agathys (Conquest Paladins already got this in 5e) or Invisibilty/Greater Invisibility to go in line with the "stalker" theme. I dunno, I feel like just adding spells with the word "Ice" on them doesn't cut it. There's no synergy here. And rangers get only 5 spells in their subclass list, so why not make them more playstyle defining? (also, don't give them something they already get from their class...).
4. I could say something about the Frightened condition but I can't think of anything insigthful to say. Might be a "cold" take, but I just wanna add that a few subclasses already do this and it's a bit overplayed (I think there's even a ranger sub that already uses fear, no? Can't recall if it was the fey wanderer or the gloom stalker) but the slowing enemies down is a good idea, I always thought that more mechanics like Ray of Frost would be awesome for battlefield control.
Removing concentration from Hunter's Mark is the only way to play in my opinion. Just add a line, like with Find Familiar, where if you cast it again, the previous Hunter's Mark ends.
@@elmsigreen yeah, I 100% agree. Sadly though they didn’t make it that way, so trying to see what subclasses could do to make it a bit better! (If I was the DM though I would 100% allow no concentration Hunter’s Mark)
@@comradewarners Either remove concentration from Hunter's Mark or remove concentration from EVERY other spell on the Ranger's spell list. One of those options is both more balanced and easier.
I think they did a pretty good job for most classes. Poor poor ranger…. Looks like i’ll be home brewing ranger for another 10 years. May as well be a subclass for another class.
Is it fine, Warners, or is WoTC always dropping the ball?
What I'd fix is the very first feature: Hunter's Rime. It says it slows it down and mechanically, not being able to Disengage is that "slow down." Nah. Reduce Speed to 0. Or like, reduce all speeds other than walking speed to 0. Specifically call out grounding flying targets, afloats swimming creatures, dropping climbing creatures, and halting burrowing creatures because the ground freezes whenever it touches it. I'd even go so far as, following the ghostly theme, make incorporeal movement impossible as rime solidifies targets. Teleporting impossible because of the rime halts Teleporting. Heck, make it so casting Spells with Somatic or Material Spell Components are impossible to make. Not "Disengage". They're marked for the hunt.
I do like your fix proposal. Its like putting the capstone front and center. It rides HM's but should be its own thing exactly like you said. The coolest thing, pun intended, is that Hunter's Mark can be upcast to last up to 24 hrs. When you're an Elf, you can Trance-Rest in the ghostly form, holding Concentration through the rest.