A Gloomstalker ranger from XGtE is amazing at damage, even at lvl. 3. Dread Ambusher gives you two actions first turn plus an extra d8.

yeah but if you really wanna play an ambush type character there are other, arguably better ways to do it like assasin rouge. Great first round shure, but what will you do after that? Hunter conclave is for the most part the better option for more consistent DPS.

Then again playing an assasing rouge/gloom stalker multiclass is probably a lot of fun, getting an bonus to initiative to make shure you have an better chance of gaining the benefits of your assasinate feature and your assasinate feature giving you advantage on attack rolls and garanteeing all attacks you land become critical hits, thus enshuring that your initial barrage at 6th level deals 2d8 + 4d6 + 6d6 + 18 damage if your ranger/rouge is using the two weapon fighting fighting style and has an dexterity score of 16

At 6th level you should have at least 18 Dex. You should start with 15 Dex + at least 1 from your race. And you should use your ability score increase on dex.

you would be right in that an typical 6th level character usually gets an ability score increase at 4th level, but here is the problem: your ability score increase is an class feature, and with three levels in rouge and three levels in ranger you have not yet gained your first ability score increase. Ability score increases are judged by your level in an individual class, not in your total level. This is why rouges and fighters have more ability score increases than other classes and why they are listed in every classes class table every level, because ability score increases are class features. Rouges gain their roguish archetype at 3rd level and rangers their ranger archetype at 3rd level, so it is is physically impossible at 6th level to have both assassin features, gloom stalker features and an dexterity score over 17 (assuming you are using the point buy or standard array systems to generate ability scores, if you generate by rolling for stats it is of course possible for you to get an dexterity score over 17 without any ability score increases)

if you already knew this, i apologise, and i wish you an happy new year, and an happy end of the decade

I knew that, I was assuming a ranger 4/ rogue 3. Happy New year.

Level 11 is the big turning point for consistent (non-nova) damage output for the martial classes (fighters, rangers, paladins, rogues, and barbarians) as that is when fighters get an outright third weapon attack and paladins get improved divine smite. At levels 1 through 10, baseline rangers (using a one handed sword or longbow) deal better consistent damage than baseline fighters, baseline paladins (using a one handed sword or longbow), and baseline rogues (using a short sword or short bow). Both player’s handbook subclasses maintain that higher consistent damage output from levels 1 though 10, and more than keep up at levels 11 through 20 (exceeding them at at many levels). What rangers lack is controlled nova damage (paladin’s divine smite, fighter’s action surge, etc.), more random nova damage (rogue sneak attack critical hit), and the use of heavy strength based weapons (although they can do that with a specific build). Rangers make up for that in combat by having spells (and abilities if you are a hunter) that deal “nova damage” to groups of enemies, which is where rogues and paladins (and to a less or degree, fighters) are severely lacking. Most “white room” damage dealing builds are based on toe-to-toe heavy weapon, feat reliant, strength based builds, dealing damage to a single big target. From and action economy and damage-to-hit point perspective, a rogue, fighter, or paladin is better against single “boss fights”, while a ranger is better against many smaller creatures (minions, small groups, bands of wandering monsters, etc.). Also, using a beast companion for combat that makes sense for combat (wolf, giant poisonous snake, panther, etc.) makes beast masters one of highest consistent damage dealing martial classes from levels 11 through 20. 

If you're spending more than 5 rounds fighting a dragon. You've lost and the dragon is just toying with you. 

For real tho, i've never had a dragon fight last to 5 rounds. Either the group wins or the dragon does before then.

Rangers aren't bad at dps (dpr?) because of hunter's mark. They are a bit limited by depending on a concentration spell to power their dps ability, but that is more an issue of their unique spells being overly attached to concentration without much need. 

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Let's look at Battlemaster vs Hunter level 5 longbow, both having 18 dex and archery fighting style so to hit and damage bonuses are equal.

Fighter:

1st round: Four attacks with action surge, each adding a superiority die. That's 8d8 + 16 damage, 56 avg. damage

2nd and 3rd round: Two attacks, out of superiority die. 2d8 + 8. 17 avg. damage. 

Total after 3 rounds: 90

 

Ranger w/ Hunter's Mark and Colossus Slayer:

1st - 3rd rounds: 3d8 + 2d6 + 8 = 28.5 damage

Total after 3 rounds: 85.5

 

Fighter comes out on top.

 

Hunter's mark not requiring concentration goes a long way, because now adding other spells while keeping damage up is viable.

 

 

The difference being, you will not always have superiority dice to drop.  Ranger will beat it out over a longer fight.

 

And you won't always have concentration available, or spell slots available. And if you are saving your spell slots for Hunter's Mark to make sure your damage keeps up, then you aren't using all the cool ranger spells that make the class special outside of combat.

Your table may vary, but in 5e most combat is fairly short, over in less than 5 rounds. And it's typical to have 2-3 short rests per long rest, with 3-5 combat encounters a day. 

So on most adventuring days, in most parties, at most tables, the ranger will lag behind in combat as written in the PHB, especially in Tier 3+4. It's features are super situational. And while it has some cool spells for out of combat, its half caster spell slots, its very limited spells known, and competition for concentration make it hard to use them often enough to stand out.

This is why the class variants UA that just came out is desperately needed. A limited use no concentration Hunter's Mark frees up spell slots and concentration to use on utility and other cool combat spells while still keeping their damage comparable to other classes. The 1/day uses of nature utility spells also allow you to do some cool, non-gamebreaking stuff and stand out. All of a sudden 'Locate Plants or Animals' is something to consider, when otherwise it would never get chosen. 

 The same thing could be said for paladins and their divine smite. If you're only saving them to smite things, then you're not doing all the other cool stuff your class is capable of.

And I don't know what games you typically are in, but the developers do not expect 3-5 combat encounters per day. There are three pillars to the game: combat, exploration, and interaction. Assuming the 6-8 medium-to-hard encounters per day the DMG recommends, and an even spread between the pillars, you're talking on average 2-3 combats per day with two short rests peppered in there. There's always some wiggle room, but that sounds like a pretty full day of murder-hoboing. There's nothing wrong with that, if that's your bag, but don't claim that's how D&D is meant to be played.

There's much more to the game than just combat and putting up big numbers. And just because some people are bored by the exploration pillar doesn't mean it's irrelevant. Or, at least, it shouldn't be. I don't think the class feature variants were necessary, the base class works well enough as is, but more options are always nice.

Favored Enemy isn’t a combat feature. It should be called Favored Creature. You learn all about the creature type and how to enter at with them. More like a guide than a hunter.