Sell me Horizon Walker

[Strangways]

I was taking a look at the new Ranger archetypes, and I was stuck with this idea: Why go Horizon Walker over Gloom Stalker (Damage wise)?

The Planar Warrior seems strong on a first glance for me, but I'm not sure the Bonus Action economy works quite well for it. Yes, I'm aware Force is a really good damage type, and that you can use it indefinetly as long as you're at 30 feet of the enemy.

You have to be kitting the enemy really well to use it as an archer, and if you face multiple enemies, you kinda have to choose between Planar Warrior or moving Hunters Mark to another foe after killing the first one.

The added spells are really good, but the other features not so much

Detect Portal is REALLY campaing dependant, and if it doesn't fit on it, you can rarelly use it. Ethereal Step is... OK I guess, but not that great either. Spectral Defense comes REALLY late, but it's good if you do play that far...

Also, I have a bad time thinking in a backstory for it... So, sell me Horizon Walker please

1) Horizon Walker has the best bonus spell list of any of the new ranger subclasses, including Haste, Misty Step and Banishment, three spells that rangers normally wouldn't have access to at all.

2) Force is one of the best damage types in the game - almost nothing resists it, and Planar Warrior converts all your damage to force damage. The 30' range admittedly isn't great, but that's not an issue at all if you're playing a melee ranger, and may not be much of an issue if you're using hand crossbow, which doesn't have very good range anyway.

3) Yes, PW costs a bonus action, but when a marked enemy dies, it just takes an extra round to move the mark, and from then on you can use PW and mark on the same target. You can also use PW every round, no matter how long the combat lasts, whereas Gloom Stalker just gets one extra attack on the first round of combat. In a lengthy combat involving multiple enemies, PW will add far more damage than the equivalent Gloom Stalker ability (dread ambusher).

4) Their level 7 abilities are both situational. The Gloom Stalker proficiency in wisdom saves is good, but only if you're being targeted by spells requiring wisdom saves. Ethereal Step can get you out of anything, any grapple/restraint, any locked room, even out of a pit, since you can move vertically while ethereal. Of course, that doesn't necessarily happen either, so consider which you're more likely to encounter in our campaign.

5) You may be in a party full of humans, halflings, dragonborn or other creatures without darkvision in which case they'll need a light source during combat. In that case you'll never have the total Darkness you need for the Gloom Stalker's Umbral sight to work.

6) Both of their level 11 abilities are very good, though completely different. A chance to reroll a missed attack every round (Gloom Stalker) will improve your damage output quite a bit, whereas the ability to teleport 10' before every attack, every round (Horizon Walker) will make you all but immune to opportunity attacks and a killer in difficult terrain, especially if you're playing melee.

They're both very good subclasses (heck, Monster Slayer looks quite good too).