Ranger Revised: TWF or Crossbow Expert?

[jaappleton]

So, here's the conundrum:

Going for a Revised Ranger. Deep Stalker at lv3. Variant Human.

16 Dex and 16 Wisdom.

I'm debating about whether Crossbow Expert or TWF would be best, and I'm trying to weigh the merits of both.

Crossbow Expert obviously takes up the feat for VHuman. Grants a bonus action attack, so its on par with TWF. Can use it in melee range, or long range. Also more accurate with +2 with Archery Style.

TWF uses the same weapon dice (if you don't take the TWF feat), no damage difference. If you DO pick the feat, it's +1 AC and two d8 rapiers, but melee only.

CE lets you nab Sharpshooter later on, if you're so inclined.
TWF lets you... Defensive Duelist? But I could simply carry a dagger with CE.
CE sticks me with a d6, but I only ever need to upgrade one weapon. TWF? Twice the $$$, right?

Am I missing something, or is CE still better than TWF? I understand it costs a Feat. But it lets me go melee OR ranged, and being ranged should help me maintain Hunter's Mark. TWF? Not so much.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Ranged combat is usually better than melee in 5e, yes.

[Specter]

If you plan to go for Sharpshooter, then CE, otherwise DW. You will be annoyed by how often your allies give your enemies cover, and if you've got an ahole DM he may even make your bolts hit them.

[gfishfunk]

It depends mostly on the party make-up, I think. If you have a ranged-heavy party, I would err on the side of close combat.

Ah, its easy to forget that Crossbow Expert allows you to attack in close combat. Personally, I prefer the flavor of TWF, but mechanically, you are probably right. Why wouldn't you use two weapons that can be ranged and work just as well in melee?

Two Weapon Fighting is not as optimal for a Ranger because the main purpose is to change the size of the weapon and allow it to be more beneficial to STR based two-weapon users. As a ranger, you can already do pretty good damage with two weapon fighting, so moving that d6 to a d8 isn't really worth the feat, even with the +1 AC, which feels like too little too late. The only other bonus is action economy, but you will be hard pressed to find a DM that requires additional fiddling to get both weapons out at once.

Crossbow Expert is better: you can have a rapier in one hand and a hand-crossbow in the other, or just two of them.