Bows vs Guns? And best sub for a Ranger?

[(Xer0)]

I believe ninja can use guns also. I read that on another thread. Not sure if it's correct, however. It said that the only jobs that can use guns are RNG, THF, and NIN.

[SiC]

I use WAR as my my sub job whenever I use my Ranger. 2 Main reasons:
1. Berzerk ability to increase damage
2. Defender to protect yourself when you have too much hate towards you.

Whenever a rangers uses his WS (Sidewinder or Slugshot) with Berserk nobody is going to be able to take the target from you. There will be too much hate towards you and the monster will attack you till the end. To protect yourself, you'll need an ability like defender to boost up your defense.

About bows, guns, & crossbows.
Over all, bows and guns are about the same damage if you total it all up for 1 battle. The reason is the time it takes to shoot a gun is alot longer than using a bow.
Most Rangers dont use guns until level 55 or so (when you learn SlugShot). I didn't use any guns until level 54 or so. I used a crossbow to increase my shooting skills instead of using a gun since bullets are expensive.

PS I've used THF as my sub a few times but using WAR has been alot better for me.

[l0rdza0n]

Originally posted by Kosh


Actually I would say the whole technology thing started in FF IV, afterall, they have airships, dwarf tanks and fly to the moon in that game LOL :spin:

(one of the) best. game. ever.

[Exsol]

1) okay, from what i understand, Guns are only for High lv Rng due to the fact that you wont have the money (or skill) for them.

2) The best sub for rng is war in the begining, (pt will link it more too) but as Vivid told me, at lv 65+ its good to sub sam cause of the masive amount of tp they get, coupled with the sidewinder ws (perhaps one of the best ws in the game) can yeld quite a lot of damage

3) yes the gun is very strong, but for the love of god save it for lv 60+ the last thing we want is a bunch of lv 6 taru with guns....scary :sweat:

EDIT: btw, you can build you gun skills with a crossbow, so there is no need for a expensive gun early on

[Mila]

Here's my plan based on my understanding of things so far as well as some common sense. I will be a Galka (yea, yea, I know the thing about galka's having low accuracy)Ranger/Red Mage, switching back and forth when I feel like it. I will mainly use Bows and Daggers/1-H Swords, Saving Guns for when I really need it like for boss battles and such. So that brings me to my questions:

1) How are rangers at Melee combat with Daggers/1-h Swords?(give me a ref point like "as strong as theif minus abilities" or "as strong as white mage" ect.)

2) How easy is it to switch from a bow to a gun? For instance: I'm in a battle using the bow until our white mage is in trouble so I want to kill the enemy more quickly. Will I be able to change to a gun in time?

3) I know this is a doesn't pertain very closely to any of the above questions but, how efficient is it to use guilds for ammunition(woodsmithing, alchemy) versus buying them in stores.

Sorry I sound so demanding and I thank you in advance.

[Sirius Black]

Ha!

Originally posted by SiC
Whenever a rangers uses his WS (Sidewinder or Slugshot) with Berserk nobody is going to be able to take the target from you.

You obviously havn't heard of the Samurai's 5 hit lv 250 WS:

Originally posted by Nodachi
"The sword starts to glow and the samurai actually almost seems to jump up and down while striking" again, lands 5 hits just like penta. The main difference is the element attatched to this WS is light.

I agree that Sidewinder is bad ass, but do that same combo with the SAM (Berserk+WS+SAM AF hate+SAM coolness=more hate) at least I think it would. Then again, Sams can take hits way better than RNGs.

[SiC]

Sirius Black, I dont know if you play FFXI or not but you obviously don't know much about the game.
First of all, my post was made during the 65 level cap days when skills were limited to 223-227.
Second there are NO NEW 250 weapon skills for ANY jobs. There is one light element SAM WS which is called Gekkou and it's a 225 WS (1 strike WS).
Third it's rare for a muti-hit weapon skill to successfully make all hits (all 5 hits or 6 hits etc.) on strong enemies. Even if they do make all 5 hits successfully the current WS's are weak (PentaStrike, Rangeki, Rampage, etc.).

Try playing the game before slamming my post and you'll see that the Sidewinder/Slugshot are the most deadliest WS in the game up to level 70.

[Jei]

Mila >> some of my own feeling

1. Rangers are super weak with daggers. because
1.1. most rangers in the game hold an archer knife which is super weak. but it gives +range accuracy bonus.
1.2 ALL rangers in the game wear +range accuracy ring, but that ring -melee accuracy.
That 2 alone make rangers very horrible with their daggers ^^ which is a trade off for their better use of bows/guns.

2. you can manually do it quite easy, you can also make macro for it. but remember that when you switch weapons your TP is reset :D so careful don't ruin your renkei/skillchain with it.

3. most rangers i know make their own arrows. I guess it should be nice to do if you go out and hunt for the resources yourself.

[Mila]

Domo arigato! Thanks for the opinons.

[Exsol]

Re: Ha!

Originally posted by Sirius Black


You obviously havn't heard of the Samurai's 5 hit lv 250 WS:


I agree that Sidewinder is bad ass, but do that same combo with the SAM (Berserk+WS+SAM AF hate+SAM coolness=more hate) at least I think it would. Then again, Sams can take hits way better than RNGs.

Im sorry, but your completely wrong, I havent heard of that WS, even if i did, it could never be as powerfull as you say.
I dont think you understand the godlyness of sidewinder/slug shot.
Im not sure if you even have the game,
--------------
Jei I think your completely right
and to give more answers
1) I hate daggers, so i use a axe or sword in its place,
2)Also, if you even change ammo, it is reset, but a gun wont save the WHM, leave that to the tankers
3)Yes, make your own ammo, i would recomend you build you wood-working and bone-working, befor you get to lv30 and get rng, that way your all set for your ammo

[vagtark]

Re: Re: Ha!

Originally posted by Exsol


Im sorry, but your completely wrong, I havent heard of that WS, even if i did, it could never be as powerfull as you say.
I dont think you understand the godlyness of sidewinder/slug shot.
Im not sure if you even have the game,
--------------
Jei I think your completely right
and to give more answers
1) I hate daggers, so i use a axe or sword in its place,
2)Also, if you even change ammo, it is reset, but a gun wont save the WHM, leave that to the tankers
3)Yes, make your own ammo, i would recomend you build you wood-working and bone-working, befor you get to lv30 and get rng, that way your all set for your ammo

the reason why you haven't heard of that samurais 5 hit WS is because it was a false rumor.:sweat:

[FFXITsukasa]

I am gonna be a Hume male because I dont wanna be a girl Mirtha and I dont like the looks of the Elvaan. I will be a Black Mage and your saying if I sub a theif or summoner. I cannot use Theif or summoner wapons.

[Chip]

2 Questions

1. Would a RNG/PLD with a bow and sword be a good idea or is that just plain stupid?

2. What about RNG/MNK, would you be able to use the grapples if monk was your sub job?

[zsedc]

chip:
1. RNG/PLD is not the best idea, but neither is it plain stupid, there might be a way for it to work, but you won't know until you tried.
2. there are very few grapples that RNG can equip, your sub jobs will not help you equip those equipments that your main job cannot equip. but RNG do not have skill levels for grapples, so you might depend fully on your sub job (not sure about this, not playing ffxi yet ).

[Zurar]

Currently i've been playing my ranger and i like it more and more, though there are a few bugs to be worked out. But far as melee goes, the Ranger's weapon skills are highest in dagger, but the amount you melee with a ranger is so low you don't even have to have a weapon really. I spend all my time back by the mages shooting arrows in for almost as much damage as the mages. Flaming arrow will sometimes double, even tripple my damage even at just 150 TP. I just got Piercing arrow last night so i haven't been able to test that much. And yes Rangers are VERY expensive, even more so than mages. One stack of Wooden arrows with high fame still costs me 297 gil for 99 which i can easily go through in 30 min. Currently i use bone arrows that cost 396 per stack but next lvl i'll be using iron arrows that will cost me 693 gil per stack.

Now, if you ask if it's worth it...if you have a high level character or job to backup the cost, hell yeah! my lvl 12 ranger used 2hr on an incredibly tough check mob and did 158 damage. Rangers also gain 12-14 TP per successful ranged shot compared to a melee's 6-8 per melee hit. Rangers are the highest physical damage dealers in the game so far that i can see.

My character is a Male Hume with warrior sub...why warrior? i get a decent AGI boost (AGI affects ranged accuracy) and also a good STR boost to increase my damage. I currently can hit an incredibly tough mob at lvl 13 about 45-65% of the time.

If anyone has any questions about rangers, feel free to ask and i'll try to answer them.