So I have a 2nd level Goliath Ranger, who uses Archery as fighting style, with a 17 dex and 15 wisdom. At third level I will take Gloom Stalker. Interested in oppinions on raising his Dex to 18 and Wisdom to 16 verse Sharp shooter feat at 4th level. If I increase the stats my attack roll goes up, Initiative goes up by 1 for the dex and 1 for the Wisdom(Gloom Stalker). Armor class goes up as well by 1. skill checks get better for almost all my relevant skills. But sharp shooter is super helpful as well. I plan on staying a ranger to 5th level to get the 2nd attack and then going fighter so my next chance at feat or stat bump will be 9th lvl.
Any opinions on which will make me more effective?
I think if you go ahead and build both versions in the Character creator here you may find that you are better off in the long run not taking feats after 3rd level.
I was in a similar situation a few months ago. I decided to go with Gloomstalker at level 3. However, my DM seems to be going out of his way to make sure my Gloomstalker abilities never come in to full play. However, when I hit level 5 I have some uses for Rope Trick. I am a human so Gloomstalker made sense so I could get Dark Vision. However, we have PC's without DV so it is moot.
I am thinking Horizon Walker or Fey Wanderer may have been a better choice. I can make good use of Misty Step
With proper strategy Swarmkeeper could be intense.
Archery already gives you a +2. At a 17 dex your to hit may be +8. The biggest advantage of Sharpshooter is taking a -5 on your roll and getting a plus 10 to your damage. So your to hit will be only +3. Well if you need a 16 to hit you will need to roll at least 13.
However, if you take your Dex to to 19, not only does your AC go up, but you now have a +9 to hit. THEN you wait for level 5 and you get 2 attacks with +9 to hit. If the spell you take is Hunters Mark you get a 1d6 bonus to one of those attacks and your to hit is now +10 so with hunters mark you can do 1d8 + 5 + 1d8 +5 + 1d6 and
My personal approach is to raise the main stats to 20 then work on extra feats
I think if you go ahead and build both versions in the Character creator here you may find that you are better off in the long run not taking feats after 3rd level.
I was in a similar situation a few months ago. I decided to go with Gloomstalker at level 3. However, my DM seems to be going out of his way to make sure my Gloomstalker abilities never come in to full play. However, when I hit level 5 I have some uses for Rope Trick. I am a human so Gloomstalker made sense so I could get Dark Vision. However, we have PC's without DV so it is moot.
I am thinking Horizon Walker or Fey Wanderer may have been a better choice. I can make good use of Misty Step
With proper strategy Swarmkeeper could be intense.
Archery already gives you a +2. At a 17 dex your to hit may be +8. The biggest advantage of Sharpshooter is taking a -5 on your roll and getting a plus 10 to your damage. So your to hit will be only +3. Well if you need a 16 to hit you will need to roll at least 13.
However, if you take your Dex to to 19, not only does your AC go up, but you now have a +9 to hit. THEN you wait for level 5 and you get 2 attacks with +9 to hit. If the spell you take is Hunters Mark you get a 1d6 bonus to one of those attacks and your to hit is now +10 so with hunters mark you can do 1d8 + 5 + 1d8 +5 + 1d6 and
My personal approach is to raise the main stats to 20 then work on extra feats
From my personal experience playing a ranged Ranger, the sharpshooter feat was definitely the way to go.
So many things at that level have terrible AC and it is fairly easy to get advantage on rolls. That extra damage is immensely helpful.