What level are you and what is your Wisdom and Charisma? Ideally you want a 16+ Wisdom and 14+ Charisma with Fey Wanderer. Going Fey Wanderer you really want to boost Wisdom and not Dexterity or Strength.
As far as choices did you choose Deft Explorer/Natural Explorer and did you take Pirmal Awareness/Primeval Awareness?
Considering all three pillars a Fey Wanderer is the strongest Ranger with no close competition IMO. In terms of Combat, one you hit 7th level it is in the top 3 along with Swarmkeeper and Gloomstalker. So you should be able to be very relevant with this subclass even if you are a level down.
The Fey Wanderer spell selection is awesome with Charm Person, Misty Step, Dispel Magic and Dimension Door. These are all solid spells to have known, with lots of uses.
A few choice and roleplay tips:
1. you should be the party face. With Satyr you already have proficiency in Performance and Persuaision and should have picked up Deception at level 3. If you have the 16/14 Wisdom/Charisma this will make you the best face in the party. Only a Bard with expertise in that skill can be better without feats. Also your insight is decent even without proficiency which is a problem for most other potential faces.
2. Get the Cause Fear spell to use with Beguiling Twist: Get the cause fear spell. The best way to get this is with Shadow Touched feat at an ASI while also boosting an odd Wisdom. If Wisdom is even you can boost an odd Charisma instead but if they are both even boost wisdom and take another half feat at the next ASI to boost it again. Another option is a sorcerer/warlock multiclass to get the spell, although I like the feat better because I don't want to slow progression to Fey Reinforcements. You shouldn't use magic initiate for this because you want to be able to use Ranger spell slots for it. This is HUGE on a Fey Wanderer. You upcast it the first turn of combat to get more than 1 enemy and then twist it every time someone saves (including the initial casting). Throwing all that fear around stops the enemy from advancing on you do to the frightened condition and should set up the sharpshooter pretty good.
3. Druid Warrior Fighting Style: Since your wisdom will eventually be better than dexterity get drudic warrior and use Shillalagh with a staff or club or magic stone with a sling or both. Also as an option you can get one of these and guidance to boost your skills even more. If you can buy magic items look to pick up a magic staff to go with Shillaleagh. Staff of Striking or Spider Staff are my top choices. Another alternative is to pick up guantlets of Ogre Power or a Girdle of Giant Strength and then you can use strength for your attacks.
4. Summon Fey: This spell is awesome once you hit 9th level. You do not need to concentrate which means you can cast it over and over and have a battlefield full of Fey while also running a concentration spell (like cause fear). Get the mirthful Fey and they can both attack and charm someone every turn. The Charm lasts until they are hit and if they make their save you can twist it into fear on someone else that lasts a minute. You can have multiple Fey on the battlefield doing this. Also casting this does not cut damage very much because the Fey attacks right after you go.
5. Telepathic Feat: If you got Shadow Touched earlier and now have an odd wisdom take Telepathic as the next half feat to boost Wisdom back to even. This gives you telepathy which has all sorts of uses in combat and scouting. Detect Thoughts is awesome when combined with being the party face (like you should be).
Do all these things and you should be the "life of the party". If you took primal Awareness and have Shadow Touched, Telepathic, Fey Reinforcements and the extra Fey Wanderer spells you should have about as many spells known and castings as a full caster does while being able to multiattack with a psychic damage bonus and favored foe or another concentration spell.
Sorry. Quick of topic question. Why is swarmkeeper and fey wanderer considered in the top 3 of damage?
I said combat, not just damage, although damage is part of it
Both Fey Wanderer and Swarmkeeper get/can get extra damage every turn. The Fey Wanderer gets Psychic Damage and can do this more than once a turn if she attacks different enemies. The Swarmkeeper gets piercing damage once a turn. Unlike some other subclasses these do not take a bonus action, so you can combine them with bonus action spells to boost damage even more.
Both of these subclasses get some good combat spells including Faerie Fire, Web and insect plague for the swarm keeper and Misty Step for the Fey Wanderer.
The swarmkeeper also gets other movement effects as an alternative to damage, this gives them a battlefield control or mobility option without giving up an attack.
The Fey Wanderer gets Beguiling twist which is awesome when combined with spells that frighten or charm and even better against enemies that have/try this. A Dragon uses dragon fear on a target and he ends up being frightened because it almost certain that someone in the party will make the save, a Vampire tries to charm someone and now he is frightened and you slaughter him from range with magic stone until he saves. In a large battle, once you get two or three frightened or charmed enemies this lets you use your reaction regularly to move that effect and makes it pretty impossible for all of the enemies to shake it. A guy will save and shake it for one turn but then will get twisted with it again next turn when someone else saves. This is done as a reaction so it is in addition to all the attacks and bonus actions you are doing as a Ranger and spell caster and it also requires no concentration.
Once the Fey Wanderer gets Fey Reinforcements he can add another ally to the battlefield every single turn until he runs out of slots (including 1 free casting) and each of these allies gets an attack, a misty step and a charm (which can be twisted) every single turn. If you spend your first 3 turns summoning Fey by your 4th turn your 3 Fey have already done a combined 12d6+36 damage and tried to charm 6 enemies, you could have twisted up to one of these charms every turn. On your 4th turn if you start swinging your weapon you and your Fey will do another 2weapon+7/8d6+18+2xdex and charm 3 more enemies that turn (one of which you can twist if he saves) and you will do this every turn from here on. This is without using your bonus action, a damage boosting spell or favored foe.
To get the most out of Beguiling twist you need to read the frightened condition and understand the movement restrictions it imposes.
I dunno. I'm loathe to declare a specific Ranger subclass "the best" at x, y, or z.
I'd rather see it as each subclass specializes in something in particular.
Hunter is hands down the best martial at multi-targeting and non-spell AoE damage.
Beast Master is probably the best pet subclass.
Gloom Stalker focuses on alpha striking.
Horizon Walker specializes on teleportation and mobility.
Monster Slayer shuts down spellcasting.
Fey Wanderer is one of the best party faces.
Swarm Keeper specializes on forced movement/battlefield control.
Drake Warden is designed specifically around riding a mount.
They all have their strengths and their weaknesses. We can talk about how well or poorly the subclass accomplishes what it sets out to do, but I feel they all do different enough things that a direct comparison of effectiveness is definitionally going to be very fraught.
I dunno. I'm loathe to declare a specific Ranger subclass "the best" at x, y, or z.
I'd rather see it as each subclass specializes in something in particular.
Hunter is hands down the best martial at multi-targeting and non-spell AoE damage.
Beast Master is probably the best pet subclass.
Gloom Stalker focuses on alpha striking.
Horizon Walker specializes on teleportation and mobility.
Monster Slayer shuts down spellcasting.
Fey Wanderer is one of the best party faces.
Swarm Keeper specializes on forced movement/battlefield control.
Drake Warden is designed specifically around riding a mount.
They all have their strengths and their weaknesses. We can talk about how well or poorly the subclass accomplishes what it sets out to do, but I feel they all do different enough things that a direct comparison of effectiveness is definitionally going to be very fraught.
I dunno. I'm loathe to declare a specific Ranger subclass "the best" at x, y, or z.
I'd rather see it as each subclass specializes in something in particular.
Hunter is hands down the best martial at multi-targeting and non-spell AoE damage.
Beast Master is probably the best pet subclass.
Gloom Stalker focuses on alpha striking.
Horizon Walker specializes on teleportation and mobility.
Monster Slayer shuts down spellcasting.
Fey Wanderer is one of the best party faces.
Swarm Keeper specializes on forced movement/battlefield control.
Drake Warden is designed specifically around riding a mount.
They all have their strengths and their weaknesses. We can talk about how well or poorly the subclass accomplishes what it sets out to do, but I feel they all do different enough things that a direct comparison of effectiveness is definitionally going to be very fraught.
I think it's particularly easy to compare Beast Masters with Drakewardens on a variety of criteria. Hands down riding a mount is one of them - and Beast Masters are better at it. The things a Drakewarden does really well have little to nothing to do with riding their own mount:
Best in show: Resummoning the companion quickly once it dies, meaning the Drake is particularly tanky due to being particularly disposable. The Ranger can always just cast Dragon again.
More along the tanking lines, the Drake has very good AC (16-20 as you level) and dynamic energy immunity, which is potentially tremendous.
And that dynamic immunity gives the Ranger dynamic resistance, which can be good for tanking.
Party support: the companion's infused strikes can be used to buff anyone, not just the ranger, so you can e.g. have it buff the party Barbarian instead, or whatever.
And as a final note on the resistance/immunity: in general, anything you want those two against also has one of the two, which means choosing good tanking means giving up good damage. For example, fire and poison are excellent defensively and terrible offensively, while lightning is excellent offensively and usually terrible defensively. Since Drakewardens are built to be tanky, I would expect most of them to lean defensive when making their energy choice. In fact, probably fire, specifically.
What level are you and what is your Wisdom and Charisma? Ideally you want a 16+ Wisdom and 14+ Charisma with Fey Wanderer. Going Fey Wanderer you really want to boost Wisdom and not Dexterity or Strength.
As far as choices did you choose Deft Explorer/Natural Explorer and did you take Pirmal Awareness/Primeval Awareness?
Considering all three pillars a Fey Wanderer is the strongest Ranger with no close competition IMO. In terms of Combat, one you hit 7th level it is in the top 3 along with Swarmkeeper and Gloomstalker. So you should be able to be very relevant with this subclass even if you are a level down.
The Fey Wanderer spell selection is awesome with Charm Person, Misty Step, Dispel Magic and Dimension Door. These are all solid spells to have known, with lots of uses.
A few choice and roleplay tips:
1. you should be the party face. With Satyr you already have proficiency in Performance and Persuaision and should have picked up Deception at level 3. If you have the 16/14 Wisdom/Charisma this will make you the best face in the party. Only a Bard with expertise in that skill can be better without feats. Also your insight is decent even without proficiency which is a problem for most other potential faces.
2. Get the Cause Fear spell to use with Beguiling Twist: Get the cause fear spell. The best way to get this is with Shadow Touched feat at an ASI while also boosting an odd Wisdom. If Wisdom is even you can boost an odd Charisma instead but if they are both even boost wisdom and take another half feat at the next ASI to boost it again. Another option is a sorcerer/warlock multiclass to get the spell, although I like the feat better because I don't want to slow progression to Fey Reinforcements. You shouldn't use magic initiate for this because you want to be able to use Ranger spell slots for it. This is HUGE on a Fey Wanderer. You upcast it the first turn of combat to get more than 1 enemy and then twist it every time someone saves (including the initial casting). Throwing all that fear around stops the enemy from advancing on you do to the frightened condition and should set up the sharpshooter pretty good.
3. Druid Warrior Fighting Style: Since your wisdom will eventually be better than dexterity get drudic warrior and use Shillalagh with a staff or club or magic stone with a sling or both. Also as an option you can get one of these and guidance to boost your skills even more. If you can buy magic items look to pick up a magic staff to go with Shillaleagh. Staff of Striking or Spider Staff are my top choices. Another alternative is to pick up guantlets of Ogre Power or a Girdle of Giant Strength and then you can use strength for your attacks.
4. Summon Fey: This spell is awesome once you hit 9th level. You do not need to concentrate which means you can cast it over and over and have a battlefield full of Fey while also running a concentration spell (like cause fear). Get the mirthful Fey and they can both attack and charm someone every turn. The Charm lasts until they are hit and if they make their save you can twist it into fear on someone else that lasts a minute. You can have multiple Fey on the battlefield doing this. Also casting this does not cut damage very much because the Fey attacks right after you go.
5. Telepathic Feat: If you got Shadow Touched earlier and now have an odd wisdom take Telepathic as the next half feat to boost Wisdom back to even. This gives you telepathy which has all sorts of uses in combat and scouting. Detect Thoughts is awesome when combined with being the party face (like you should be).
Do all these things and you should be the "life of the party". If you took primal Awareness and have Shadow Touched, Telepathic, Fey Reinforcements and the extra Fey Wanderer spells you should have about as many spells known and castings as a full caster does while being able to multiattack with a psychic damage bonus and favored foe or another concentration spell.
Sorry. Quick of topic question. Why is swarmkeeper and fey wanderer considered in the top 3 of damage?
I said combat, not just damage, although damage is part of it
Both Fey Wanderer and Swarmkeeper get/can get extra damage every turn. The Fey Wanderer gets Psychic Damage and can do this more than once a turn if she attacks different enemies. The Swarmkeeper gets piercing damage once a turn. Unlike some other subclasses these do not take a bonus action, so you can combine them with bonus action spells to boost damage even more.
Both of these subclasses get some good combat spells including Faerie Fire, Web and insect plague for the swarm keeper and Misty Step for the Fey Wanderer.
The swarmkeeper also gets other movement effects as an alternative to damage, this gives them a battlefield control or mobility option without giving up an attack.
The Fey Wanderer gets Beguiling twist which is awesome when combined with spells that frighten or charm and even better against enemies that have/try this. A Dragon uses dragon fear on a target and he ends up being frightened because it almost certain that someone in the party will make the save, a Vampire tries to charm someone and now he is frightened and you slaughter him from range with magic stone until he saves. In a large battle, once you get two or three frightened or charmed enemies this lets you use your reaction regularly to move that effect and makes it pretty impossible for all of the enemies to shake it. A guy will save and shake it for one turn but then will get twisted with it again next turn when someone else saves. This is done as a reaction so it is in addition to all the attacks and bonus actions you are doing as a Ranger and spell caster and it also requires no concentration.
Once the Fey Wanderer gets Fey Reinforcements he can add another ally to the battlefield every single turn until he runs out of slots (including 1 free casting) and each of these allies gets an attack, a misty step and a charm (which can be twisted) every single turn. If you spend your first 3 turns summoning Fey by your 4th turn your 3 Fey have already done a combined 12d6+36 damage and tried to charm 6 enemies, you could have twisted up to one of these charms every turn. On your 4th turn if you start swinging your weapon you and your Fey will do another 2weapon+7/8d6+18+2xdex and charm 3 more enemies that turn (one of which you can twist if he saves) and you will do this every turn from here on. This is without using your bonus action, a damage boosting spell or favored foe.
To get the most out of Beguiling twist you need to read the frightened condition and understand the movement restrictions it imposes.
I dunno. I'm loathe to declare a specific Ranger subclass "the best" at x, y, or z.
I'd rather see it as each subclass specializes in something in particular.
Hunter is hands down the best martial at multi-targeting and non-spell AoE damage.
Beast Master is probably the best pet subclass.
Gloom Stalker focuses on alpha striking.
Horizon Walker specializes on teleportation and mobility.
Monster Slayer shuts down spellcasting.
Fey Wanderer is one of the best party faces.
Swarm Keeper specializes on forced movement/battlefield control.
Drake Warden is designed specifically around riding a mount.
They all have their strengths and their weaknesses. We can talk about how well or poorly the subclass accomplishes what it sets out to do, but I feel they all do different enough things that a direct comparison of effectiveness is definitionally going to be very fraught.
I strongly agree with this.
@Milestogo, how have things panned out?
I think it's particularly easy to compare Beast Masters with Drakewardens on a variety of criteria. Hands down riding a mount is one of them - and Beast Masters are better at it. The things a Drakewarden does really well have little to nothing to do with riding their own mount:
And as a final note on the resistance/immunity: in general, anything you want those two against also has one of the two, which means choosing good tanking means giving up good damage. For example, fire and poison are excellent defensively and terrible offensively, while lightning is excellent offensively and usually terrible defensively. Since Drakewardens are built to be tanky, I would expect most of them to lean defensive when making their energy choice. In fact, probably fire, specifically.