Ranger: Some Questions

[Konky]

I decided that when I reach 30 I'll either be playing a ranger or a bard. I mainly want to become a Ranger but I've read alot on various forums saying that the price of levelling a ranger is high. What I'd like to know is how expensive is it, and are there any ways I can play the job to a "good" standard without busting out millions of gil?

Next question is, will there be points in the game where I can use a bow instead of a gun or xbow?

Also, I'd like to know how handicapped I'd be as a Taru and what kind of gear I'd need.

Thank you!

[Amele]

I decided that when I reach 30 I'll either be playing a ranger or a bard. I mainly want to become a Ranger but I've read alot on various forums saying that the price of levelling a ranger is high. What I'd like to know is how expensive is it, and are there any ways I can play the job to a "good" standard without busting out millions of gil?

it'll cost a couple million to get to 75 probably, I shoot an average of 1 stack of arrows for every 2k exp (around 10 arrows a mob) if you're interested in making your own cost estimates :)

you can save quite alot by using xbow (status / holy bolts are super cheap compared to arrows especially at higher levels.

another place you can save is by using NQ gear where you can, (as good as leaping boots are for ranger, there's alternatives that are less expensive, etc) the two plays I would not skip HQ gear are racc+ rings, and +1 bows/xbows.


Next question is, will there be points in the game where I can use a bow instead of a gun or xbow?

you can use bow 1-75 ; most rangers prefer crossbow, primarily for acid bolts and the attractive cost/damage of holy bolts.

guns are a nice option for people taking ranger up as a later job, who want to spend extra gil to do big numbers, but are by no means necessary for the job - in fact, you probably shouldn't use them until later levels if it's your first job to take up.

Also, I'd like to know how handicapped I'd be as a Taru and what kind of gear I'd need.

you won't be at all. I'm leveling with a taru ranger (I'm a hume ranger) right now; we parse just about dead even. (she is very slightly more accurate, I do very slightly more damage) you'll want the standard gear, but might consider adding a point or two more strength instead of the last point or two of agi if you have an option in a slot.

the gear for ranger is pretty straightforward: racc / ratt / agi / str / enmity-

if you use holy bolts, +mnd is useful too, and you'll want a light/apollo's staff at 51.

[Omni]

you will need a good consistent source of income thats for sure.

im a taru rng @ 75. you wont be handicapped. trust me.

actually, i'd say the stats you want, in this order is: racc/ratk/str, agi, then w/e else.

[Tokitoki]

While we're on the topic.

Right now my RNG is 40. I was trying to consider what weapon (bow or xbox) to use.

I figured Battle Bow +1 and Scorp Arrows, both beingnew at 40. But Holy Bolt spam is quite entertaining and not weak in any way. THe only thing that is disheartening is the poor selection of Xbows at 40.

Any opinions?

[VZX]

throw an xbox because it's hueg and damaging :P

I prefer crossbow to bow anytime in exp PT.
At lv 40, I think crossbow still have edge of short delay shooting compared to bow
my holy bolt physical damage + light has about the same, or probably slightly lower than my battle bow+1 + scorp arrow

[Tokitoki]

OK.

Vry I'm gonna have to bother you in-game if I have questions! :p

[Omni]

try gun? isnt serpentine gun mid 30s? its a nice gun to use.

bow is also a good choice.

xbow doesnt really start catching up until like you get obow :\
it's always a bit weaker.

[Amele]

throw an xbox because it's hueg and damaging :P
I prefer crossbow to bow anytime in exp PT.
At lv 40, I think crossbow still have edge of short delay shooting compared to bow
my holy bolt physical damage + light has about the same, or probably slightly lower than my battle bow+1 + scorp arrow

what sort of numbers are you putting out?

my marksmanship is lagging horribly at the moment, but I parsed against an xbow only ranger at 32 the other day and I blew him away with my greatbow+1/horn arrows. I don't see it changing much until much later when it's reasonable to buff the holy bolt light effect, honestly.

but since I'm not 40 and can't test against myself, I'm not sure.

[KoukiRyu]

While we're on the topic.

Right now my RNG is 40. I was trying to consider what weapon (bow or xbox) to use.

I figured Battle Bow +1 and Scorp Arrows, both beingnew at 40. But Holy Bolt spam is quite entertaining and not weak in any way. THe only thing that is disheartening is the poor selection of Xbows at 40.

Any opinions?

Uhhh, as far as xbows go, try a Thug's Zamburak? That's what I'm using on THF, I know not he same, but it gives AGI and R.Acc, so I find it to be pretty nice.

[Tokitoki]

try gun? isnt serpentine gun mid 30s? its a nice gun to use.
bow is also a good choice.
xbow doesnt really start catching up until like you get obow :\
it's always a bit weaker.

i used gun before, but it really isnt that great right now.

Thug's Zam. is meh, no r.attk on it like the HQ bows, but I have one from THF.

[Malacite]

you can save quite alot by using xbow (status / holy bolts are super cheap compared to arrows especially at higher levels.

You'll want to keep archer and marksmanship capped, but here's the basic breakdown;

1-16: Bow owns, no question

16-22: Xbow could take the lead her with acid bolts. If nothing else you'll be helping everyone else's damage too.

22-30: Xbow or Gun. Gun is expensive, but will blow everything out of the water with a decent (Pirates is good) gun and bullets in terms of DPS. You also might want to note that whenever a mob uses a defense up move such as cocoon, an acid bolt will not only remove the effect but will also replace it with the defense down (it's about 16% down if I recall)

30-40: Xbow dominates here. Acid Bolts for defense down, and now Holy bolts to utterly destroy bats in garlaige citadel.

40-50: Bows make a come back here with a rather large boost in base damage along with scorpian arrows. Xbow is still a good option, especially if you're fighting crawlers.

50-60: This is where Gun begins it's come back. Now that you can get Silver Bullets, the damage will just soar. Unless you have a E/V Bow, Gun will rock everything.

60-70: Same as above, except by 67 you can get what is generally the best EXP weapon for Ranger; The Othinus' Bow. It's the strongest crossbow in the game and it still has the usual 400-something delay. This thing is crazy in EXP and you will likely use it in every PT unless fighting Colibri or Puks (who are resistant/immune to acid bolts)

70+: It's up to you by now. Generally I'd stick with Othinus' Bow for cost and efficiency, but if you feel like it (or you're camping Colibri or Puks) you can switch to gun or bow for massive per-shot and WS damage. Hellfire/Hellfire+1 with silver bullets will really put the hurt on colibri, puks, imps and flies with Barrage and Sidewinder. Don't be surprised if you hit for over 2000 damage. Bows won't quite hit as hard, but are faster.

The catch is Gun is actually cheaper by end game. Silver Bullets don't come cheap, but Kaburra Arrows are much much worse. As usual, bolts are cheap (like 16k for 12 stacks of acids on my server!) and are very effective.



Side Note: Here's how you more or less operate your Xbow once you gain access to the best ammo. Open with acid bolts and re-apply as needed (the def down lasts 30-90 seconds I believe) and then TP with Holy Bolts to save money (the added light damage is usually very strong anyway). Weaponskill and Barrage with Darksteel Bolts (or Mythril if you can't use darksteel yet)

[Tokitoki]

I think I'm going to merit Archery to level 4 and use Bow. I'm camping S.Bow as we speak, but I think I will get an O.Bow anyway just to have it and try it out for myself.

EDIT: Also, I have Marks capped on my THF @230, so after that I'll have to start leveling it again. I think that covers me until about level 68 or 69?

[Malacite]

RNG has A- in both skills, which means they cap at 269 by 75. Your guess sounds about right to me.

[VZX]

what sort of numbers are you putting out?
my marksmanship is lagging horribly at the moment, but I parsed against an xbow only ranger at 32 the other day and I blew him away with my greatbow+1/horn arrows. I don't see it changing much until much later when it's reasonable to buff the holy bolt light effect, honestly.
but since I'm not 40 and can't test against myself, I'm not sure.
I can't recall memory from 3 years ago :P

I'm pretty sure that my total damage from zamburak+1 + holy bolt (physical + light damage) does the same amount of damage with battle bow +1 and scorpion

at lv 32, no contest, xbow with acid and holy bolt is the beast. no PLD can take hate from me when I was using it

[IfritnoItazura]

at lv 32, no contest, xbow with acid and holy bolt is the beast. no PLD can take hate from me when I was using it

That seems a little odd; isn't the additional effect from holy bolt not counted toward enmity? If doing same amount of damage with bow and crossbow+holy bolt, the crossbow should be giving tanks an easier time hanging on to the target.

Or, was RNG just that broken 3 years ago?

[Amele]

ranger was just that broken three years ago. although to be fair, a ranger who isn't pacing their shots will take hate no matter what pretty much; and yes, added effect damage is not normally applied to your enmity.

and, in retrospect, my test was tainted since I was getting the benefit of acid bolt def down effect as well, despite using arrows.

but! what this means is that if you don't apply your acid bolts, then xbow will lag behind bow in that level range. (and probably most others)

[Malacite]

but! what this means is that if you don't apply your acid bolts, then xbow will lag behind bow in that level range. (and probably most others)

Which is exactly why you don't use Xbow on Puks or Colibri.

[Tokitoki]

What is nice about Puks adn Colibri is the damage bonus for piercing though. So even without the def. down effect you will be doing more damage than normal.

Still better to have the def down effect though yea.

[Konky]

Thanks for all the info. I love reading the little topic derails you guys have. I heard about Holy bolts but I have another question. Is it worth getting Noct gear or Noct+1 gear at around 30 and if so how long does it last?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Its worth getting Noct +1 since you're going to be using some of the Noct set until AF, mainly body and hands. Noct Hat, Feet and legs become replaceable at varying levels until Jaridah armor and AF.

[Omni]

Noct+1 is pretty cheap now. If you can afford it, go for it. If you dont get Noct+1, it wont make you gimp in any which way.

You can also pick up the lv.50 JSE from Pho[tab] Aquaducts. It's a nice piece to replace that ugly doublet looking thing until you get your Hunter's Jerkin.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

The drop rate for the subligar off RNG Formors in Aquaducts and Sacarium is positively horrid, I've spent countless hours trying to obtain it and its never dropped once. I still don't have a Shikaree Aketon :(

I'm going on a swift belt run tomorrow and we'll see if one drops, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Shikaree Aketon is as hard or harder to obtain than the Glamour Jupon.

[IfritnoItazura]

The drop rate for the subligar off RNG Formors in Aquaducts and Sacarium is positively horrid, I've spent countless hours trying to obtain it and its never dropped once. I still don't have a Shikaree Aketon :(

It's not that bad... I mean, it's not very good, but it's nowhere near Duelist's Chapeau kind of bad.

Took a few runs, but we pretty much got everyone at least one subligar s/he wanted.

[Omni]

it really all depends. ive gotten 3 different jse from there. all within a decent time frame. not like 1/2 drop rate sorta thing but within a few hours. actually shikaree dropped a couple times while i was there. my tough one was trying to get gaudy harness. that took forever.

[Amele]

the hardest one to get is the one you want.

on noct: it's worth getting the +1 if you can afford it, but if you'd be faced with choosing between +1 noct or having good gil supply for ammo, get the nq.

the next set after noct that you're looking at is pretty much jaridah / ankiji at 55 and your AF from 52 to 60. so you'll get at least 20 levels out of all the pieces you use.

if you have leaping/bounding bounds or an emp.pin continue to wear those over the noct set in those slots though.

Shikaree Aketon (at 50) is a very nice piece too.

[Tokitoki]

Noct Body +1, Hands +1, and Legs +1 together costs 125k on my server I think... I remember when the body was 30 and the hands and legs were liek 10-15k for HQs <.<

[Amele]

blame cor? (as in, there's another job that wants to use the set now)

or the increase in 50 cap activities.

[Tokitoki]

Yea, I knew I shouldn't have sold those back. I saved the NQ for 30-40 cap events and sold the HQ.