a) You say hunters dont have Entangle, I don't see how important it is against someone who can quaff return and refresh move at healer?
set a snare in a cursed area. use a talisman to curse. ancestral spirit can curse. maybe you have Outlander insects. lot of scenarios to create.
b) "your next option is a ranger that can dirt/ambush well. so, bedouin or marsh explorers do well with getting the extra tick for dirt kick to land a dirt/flee/ambush"
An extra tick? You mean they can do more in one round than other rangers? Does it have to be on their hometerrain?
explorer marsh/bedouins do well getting the extra tick of dirt kick. yes. if non explorer then i think it can still work but a much much lower chance.
it makes dirt kick 1 hour, so, 2 ticks
c) Do you think animist perform better against other classes (warriors, priests, wizards) than marsh/bedouin explorers?
all have pros and cons against other builds