Quivna's Ranger Spec Guide (Quelle: http://www.critshot.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4461)

Introduction:

One of the most common questions you will ever see about the Ranger class is, “How do I spec my ranger?” This is a very difficult task because we have a 2.0 spec point spread over 5 lines. This makes us very difficult to properly spec, because it seems we don’t have enough points to make everything well rounded.

Spec’ing a ranger is all about optimization, maximum efficiency based on your most probable encounters. In my opinion rangers are quite possibly the best of all the archer classes because of the tools we have at our disposal.

This guide will hopefully let you tie up some loose ends with your spec, and hopefully let some newer players get a good grasp on what is important, and what they should be considering when setting up your template. The main question you have to ask yourself however is, “How do you want to play your ranger?” This will best let you know how you should setup your template to cover your needs as best as possible.

It should be noted that all calculations, and most information found here are the workings of other team-leads, testers, and others that have taken the time to do thorough comparison guides, testing of abilities, and discoveries of advanced calculations to determine how spec affects abilities. While the sources are not citied here, it must be known that I take no credit for personal discovery of any of these facts, as this is merely a collaboration of many others hard work.


Base Race:


This is totally up to the users discretion, but here are my opinions on the base ranger Races:

Elves- I find the 10 starting points into INT a complete waste. 5 less dexterity and quick may not seem like much, but there’s absolutely no reason not to be as powerful as you can possibly be. If your just choosing this class for the looks, then that’s pretty much all your going to get out of it A lurikeen will attack faster, and hit harder, and more often because of the higher dexterity and quickness.

My recommendation is to steer clear of this starting race, unless you HAVE to be Legolas (which you find very early on, is not its all cracked up to be =( )

Lurikeens- Being small, (in fact the female lurikeen short model, is the smallest toon in the game) and using advantages like being able to hide behind grave stones, keep walls, other players, and most undergrowth may seem silly, but you would be surprised how many people have no idea what the /face command is. This also increases your survivability chances.

Personally in RvR or a zerg, I attack the biggest stealther target I can see with my blunt/keen arrows; Celts/Elves stand out like sore thumbs.

Lurikeens will have quite a bit more bow weapon-skill, and will shoot quite a bit faster (.4 faster if the 5 quick to .1 draw time equation is still accurate) than their Celt counterparts.

Lurikeens or Elves with +10 into con will only suffer a +72 hit point difference from Celts, but will perform with their bows much better.

Lurikeens or Elves, should be specialized in pierce because of the base stat favor and fast attacks, and increased chance in evade chance from stats, for favor of the evade stun.

In my opinion, Lurikeens make the best rangers, and by far superior piercing rangers.

I would recommend that Lurikeens/Elves put +10 into Con/Dex/Qui at creation.


Celts- Celts can kick some ass with blades, and pure melee spec because of the higher strength, but will lack the weapon-skill to match a Lurikeen or an Elf in comparison to pierce. Celts will also take the str/con assassin de-buff quite a bit harder than a Lurikeen pierce ranger will, or a pierce Celt for that matter.

Celts are the way to go if you must have blades.

In this case I would recommend 10str/con/qui for a Celt ranger at start. if you are going to be a melee spec.


Resists-

Lurikeens- See a nice +5 bonus to Blunts, and Energy damage. Now, since Leather, and RF armor is WEAK to blunt damage, having a +5 bonus here makes your resists very well rounded. Giving you an effective 21% crush, 26 % thrust/slash. And the 31% energy boost is VERY nice considering Sorcerer mesmerize is energy cast, as is most all of the Rune-Carving spells from a Rune-Master.

Celts- See a 3% slash, 2% crush bonus, with a 5% spirit bonus. This is very good if you plan to be fighting SB's a lot (who most all went bye-bye in 1.62), and slash spec Infiltrators (particularly rare, as they were slash to combat SB's =D). The spirit bonus is VERY nice though tanking most all the Spirit-Master spells, and a LARGE number of Albion casted spells.

Elves- These guys get a very nice 2% slash 3% thrust bonus with spirit as a 5% bonus as well. These resists will help quite a bit against thrust spec'd inf's and everyone else who specs thrust or slash.

Resist websites can be seen here:
Racial - http://daoc.gamescape.com/handler.c...d=RacialResists
Magical - http://daoc.gamescape.com/handler.c...agicResistances
Melee - http://daoc.gamescape.com/handler.c...onEffectiveness

General Statement-

Elves- Outside of the looks the base stats don't help the class at all, and as such I would recommend steering clear of. However their resist table is very appealing.

Celts- Very good in melee when blades are on the table, and have O.K. resists from creation. The will do the worst in performing with the bow than the other 2 races will, but will deal quite a bit more damage through blades weapons if specialized in them.

Lurikeens- These guys will perform better with the bow, and kick some serious ass with piercing weapons. The bonuses to crush damage from creation make the resist table more well rounded, and outside of the visual advantage the class gets, they will also evade a bit more than the other 2 races because of the higher DEX/QUI.



Stealth:


This is tricky, stealth has no abilities in the spec line making it somewhat un-attractive, and however, if you ever plan to solo, or get into stealth squads, it is essential. The popular ranger spec for stealth is currently around 30-36 stealth. 30 stealth is good if you only plan to be at mile gate/keep defense standoffs, and mostly grouping with support classes when you RvR. This will free up some spec points for you, and make you at a acceptable level for the new see hidden changes. Roughly 1300units give or take factoring in possible skill +'s. However if you want to solo often, and want the ability to grow with your spec, the most popular stealth spec for a ranger would be 35, and is my personal recommendation.

RR5 is your 51st level, and is moderately easy to obtain, Realm Rank 5, should be your basis when factoring in what skill +'s you plan to have.

Also with an overall effective stealth rating of 50, with the new see hidden changes inc, you will not only be at the lowest possible detection range for assassins, and normal players, but you will be at the lowest detection range for the see hidden RA, which currently I believe is 900 units.

What about the See Hidden changes?

To Quote Oaklief:
"So my guess is that you are correct... See Hidden vs. 1 stealth = Detect Hidden, against a level 50 assassin. But we need more data points, particularly against assassins of lower level. I've been having problems finding one though with See Hidden.... all the assassins on Pendragon seem to be level 50 or a /level'd character on Pendragon without the realm points to get See Hidden.

So how would this work for an assassin?

Level 50 assassin hunting a 50 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*0 = 250
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*50 = 900
And the maximum of the two is used. (650 difference)

Level 50 assassin hunting a 40 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*10 = 750
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*40 = 1260 (510 difference)
And the maximum of the two is used.

Level 50 assassin hunting a 30 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*20 = 1250
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*30 = 1620
And the maximum of the two is used. (370 difference)

Level 50 assassin hunting a 20 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*30 = 1750
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*20 = 1980
And the maximum of the two is used. (230 difference)

Level 50 assassin hunting a 10 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*40 = 2250
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*10 = 2340
And the maximum of the two is used. (90 difference)

Level 50 assassin hunting a 4 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*46 = 2550
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*4 = 2556
And the maximum of the two is used. (last point SH is higher)

Level 50 assassin hunting a 3 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*47 = 2600
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*3 = 2592
And the maximum of the two is used. (DH is now higher)

Level 50 assassin hunting a 2 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*48 = 2650
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*2 = 2628
And the maximum of the two is used.

Level 50 assassin hunting a 1 spec archer/minstrel,
Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*49 = 2700
See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*1 = 2664
And the maximum of the two is used.

Note that the higher the stealth of the archer/minstrel, the more SH does for the assassin. "

As you can see using the formula you can come up with any stealth spec really to determine what you think is the best bang for your buck against SH.

What's the equation for finding my detection range?

See Hidden range = 2700 - 36*(modified stealth level)

Detect Hidden range = 250 + 50*(50 - modified stealth level)

Will any assassins have it after the patch?

Sure, remember, SB's and Infiltrators don't have the best RA's to be spec'ing, they usually have points left over wondering where they should spend them, and since archers got ALOT of love this patch, I wouldnt be surprised if we are the FOTM again. Which in turn will yield somewhat of a demand for SH again.

What does those numbers mean?

50 overall stealth, if Cammo is down, if your off the beaten path, your probably O.K.

40 Stealth with Cammo down might want to stay closer to the trees.

30 and lower, might as well go to your old hiding spots =) But you wont have to worry AS much, your only 1/2mile detectable now, instead of 1 mile =)


General statement-

Melee and Group only rangers should see stealth as the “extra-point” category.

Your average ranger should see stealth at 30-33.

Solo / Sniper / stealth group rangers should spec stealth to at least 35, or whatever their desired “easy to get” realm rank will be.


Blades or Pierce!?:


Here is my comparison sheet:

Pros Of Pierce:
-ALL the styles in the spec line are based off of Anytime Use.
-You get all the positional styles at 29 spec in pierce
-You get a 4 chain anytime move at 39 Spec
-You get a 5s stun at 25 spec
-Your WS will be about 100pts higher if you spec pierce over blades
-You will not be affected very much by a STR/CON assassin de-buff.
-Scouts, Minstrel, Mercenary, Cleric, Reaver, Shaman, Healer, Skald, Thane, Warrior are all weak to piercing Weapons
-You can get up to 3.6 delay (crafted), and 4.3 delay 100 quality 16.5 DPS weapon drops for your piercing weapons.
-All the styles (except tarantula) in the pierce chain are useable/viable in RvR, and still out-damage all of the blades/CD styles.
-Lots of bleed styles.
-Faster attacks available from very fast crafted/dropped weapons. (2.2 speed and up)
-Can spec up to 25 and get your worth out of it, 34 however being preferable.

Cons Of Pierce:
-Slowest crafted offhand is 3.0, dropped is 3.1. (for shades its 3.5)
-Attack speed de-buff effects are at 3rd move in pierce anytime chain, or in 2nd move from CD evade chain, and is only 15%.
-Infiltrator, Friar, Paladin, Armsmen, Berserker, Hunter, Shadow-blade, Savage Are Strong to Piercing Weapons
-4 move anytime chain somewhat difficult to get off against highly defensive classes.


----------------------------------


Pros Of Blades:
-Very nice 2 chain anytime style.
-Berserker, Hunter, Shadow-blade, Savage, are weak to slash, while the whole of Albion is neutral.
-30% attack speed de-buff off of 2nd in anytime chain.
-Rear attack chain is very powerful.


Cons Of Blades:
-Most of the entire spec line is based around Blocking.
-The last in the rear chain (highest damage in the line) is at 50 blade spec.
-Will take a VERY large hit when a STR/CON de-buff by an assassin is applied
-Shaman, Healer, Skald, Thane, Warrior Are all strong to Blade weapons.
-There are NO Blades weapons past 3.1 speed crafted that are 16.5dps. There are 4.1spd 100 quality 16.5dps dropped weapons however.
-Must obtain a spec level of 39, to get your worth out of the spec.
- 100 or MORE less weapon-skill because of base race stats.


An over-view statement would be:

Pierce can hit harder, Faster, and encounter more vulnerable targets than blades can.
Pierce is better in a de-buffed situation from assassin encounter
All but 1 of the pierce styles are usable to your class.
Evade Stun, and chained after styles that do extreme damage.



Blades will see less resistant targets
Blades can do better damage to assassin type classes
30% attack speed de-buff
several styles unusable due to blocking pre-requisites.
Does worse against assassins in a de-buffed encounter.
No evade styles (use CD styles for evade chain) / stuns.



If you are a Celt, I would say veer towards blades Lurikeen/Elf towards pierce. Pierce across the board works better for the class (since a Celt will have the SAME weapon skill as a Lurikeen or Elf with pierce) The Celt will also see less chance to evade.


And with that in mind, how high do I Spec?

Blades, you MUST spec 39, its almost non-negotiable, that 30% attack speed de-buff is a MUST if you go this path, and is one of the few reasons that the line is viable.

Pierce, you can get away with 25 spec, and 34 specs. 39 is recommended for the 4 move chain.


A good rule of thumb is to plan to have your weapon spec at least 39, 44 if you are hardcore and plan to buff/spec low bow/stealth and high PF.

At a 39 spec you will not encounter too many blocks/parries/evades, and is easily set to 50 with the +11 base from items.

At 44 spec, you will see even less, and will perform much better in a melee encounter than most will expect.

Is the level 44 pierce style worth it?

In my opinion, I like it a lot, but I do not depend on it. It’s a nice ability to have, but I wouldn’t say go for it unless you are a dire hard melee fan like myself.

How do I figure out my damage?

With this equation here:
1+ ((Growth Rate * Weapon Spec) * Effective Speed) / Unstyled Damage Cap = style modifier

{Growth Rates are found here: http://home.nc.rr.com/obsidianguard/wyrd/Hibernia.htm }

Effective Speed = SPD * ( 1 – ( Quickness – 60 ) / 500) ) * ( 1 – Haste%)
{also useful to find out fast you will be swinging}

Toss your different weapon specs in there to pump out the numbers, then compare


Remember that higher weapon-skill will increase your chance to penetrate defense's, and effect your base damage. Your weapon-spec will determine your style damage, and add on any other styles that you might get from spec'ing higher.


For a nice list of style growth's damage multipliers, and effects check this link out:

http://home.nc.rr.com/obsidianguard/wyrd/Hibernia.htm

Some Nifty Comparison documents that might help you decide on your weapon-spec:

http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp...98521&replies=9

http://www.critshot.com/forums/show...=&threadid=4720

http://www.critshot.com/forums/show...=&threadid=4620

http://www.critshot.com/forums/show...=&threadid=4480

a VERY cool site can be found here:
http://www.nukum.com/ra/Calc.html
This site has a weapon-speed calculator in it =) very nice indeed.



General statement-

Blades - should spec at least 39, 44 would be nice for advancement in melee WS

Pierce - spec from 25 is O.K. but should be noted to not rely on your melee for killing someone at this low. Up to 44 spec is viable, and is recommended for the botted/hardcore ranger.

25 spec for the heavy bow spec ranger

34-39 for the moderate/high path finding spec ranger.

39-44 for the buffed / grouped ranger



Celtic Dual:


This is Kaber’s cup of tea more so than it is mine, but without a decent level of CD to match your weapon spec, you are shooting yourself in the foot. (Pun intended)

What’s an acceptable Spec level?

If you are in the high 30's of weapon spec, a CD spec of no less than 21 is recommended. At a spec of 29+15 you will see about high 50-60% in a chance to double hit. This ability allows you to essentially double your melee damage (un-styled) when you double hit. It also allows you to self haste yourself if you double swing with 2 weapons of different speeds, resulting in maximum DPS, at a fraction of the speed (depending on disparity between the weapon speeds).

The level of your CD spec affects the damage output of your CD styles, this is contrary to what mythic has stated, but has been proven by many testers.

Looking at http://home.alltel.net/therankins/rangerspec.html

You can come up with various specs to see how CD and PF factor into your overall DPS.
NOTE: While helpful in figuring out CD/PF specs, this program is outdated and is using old equations, and does not account into weapon-skill/spec determining damage.


Don’t the CD styles blow?

http://home.nc.rr.com/obsidianguard/wyrd/Hibernia.htm

If you look at blinding rain and blizzard its actually quite the opposite, these styles do a hefty amount of damage, and give you a nice 15% attack speed de-buff on your opponent.

What styles should I hot-bar?

Snow Shower, Thunderstorm chain:
Snow Shower now has a 60% snare when you hit a target from the rear with it. It does NOT break on offhand hit, or damage add (may with dot proc though). Using this style you can "spam" it on an opponent who is trying to run away, this will keep them from going anywhere. Since the style breaks on the next attack, if you use SnowShower again, it will just re-apply the snare.

However, if you know the target will turn to fight you, follow up with Thunderstorm, as this will give you a VERY HIGH defense bonus, as well as much more damage per the style + itself.

Squall:
While most of the time, this style will under perform bumblebee sting (because your weapon spec should be higher than your CD spec) this style offers a med def penalty as opposed to a very large def penalty as BBS does. You should hot-bar this style if you plan on facing hard targets that will block/parry/evade a lot, so that you don't run out of end as fast. You can execute about 17 of these before you run out of endurance, as opposed to black widow, which will only yield about 7 before out of endurance.

Blinding Rain:
Heavy Bleed, high damage (almost as much as Diamond Back, depending on spec level), this should follow your pierce stun chain immediately, because the next style has an attack speed de-buff component.

Blizzard:
15% attack speed de-buff, and this style will normally out damage diamond back, completing this evade chain, and giving you some impressive damage output.


If you evade in melee, a Diamond Back, coupled with Dragon Spider (or another diamondback if you are only 39 or less pierce), Blinding Rain, and Blizzard (which are all possible to land during the stun) will have a DEVASTING effect on your opponent, as well as eating up quite a large chunk of his life.

I use this chain in RvR, and once it’s landed, its very rare that the opponent will make it through the encounter alive.

How do I figure out how often I will double hit?
With this calculation here: 25% + .68 * CD spec

A very good document on how CD/DW and LA (used to..) works can be found here:

http://pete.waterman.net/daoc/Dual-Wield.html




General statement -

A low PF / High Melee spec ranger should look at a spec level of 25-30CD.

Your average ranger should be looking at a spec of 19-21.

A low melee spec ranger should be at LEAST 15 CD for the evade/backstab styles.




Bow:


Penetrating Arrow:

30 – 50% damage through casted blade-turn.

40 – 75% damage through casted blade-turn.

50 – 100% damage through casted blade-turn.

NOTE: ALL PA SHOTS WILL BREAK/POP PBT/CASTED BT AS IT GOES THROUGH.

Rapid Fire:

35 – moderate end usage.

45 – low end usage.

Critical-Shot:

27 – Critical-shot draw time at 1.2x of normal draw time.

With the new changes incoming I would recommend a solid spec of 40.
Rapid-fire 2, so far has almost no advantage over Rapid-fire 1. The end usage of RF1 is almost non-noticeable, so spec'ing for Rapid-fire 2 is not recommended. RF2 can get about 5 more shots in over RF1 as far as end usage is concerned.

The 40th spec level also leaves PLENTY of room to grow in the rest of your spec.

Bow at level 50 in my personal opinion is not worth the spec points for the ability, 100% damage through casted blade turn is nice, but leaves very little room to make up the rest of your spec to a well-rounded level. And since PA now pops bubble, this has only a first strike advantage over PA1 and 2

As rangers we have no defense like scouts with shield, or hunter interrupt ability/extra damage with pets. We have to rely on our melee to save us. Neglecting that is a grim oversight.

What about my bow WS? Will that be affected by spec'ing too low?

Yes, your bow weaponskill determines 2 things, 1.) penetration of defenses (blocks/evades)
and 2.) overall damage output (i.e. the ability to cap out on max resists)

A nice document can be found here regarding bow WS:

http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp...9117&replies=26

How do I figure out my draw-time ?

With this calculation here:

(1-(Qui^-60)/500) * (1-haste%) * Spd

For Qui below 250, Qui^ = Qui
For Qui above 250, Qui^ = (Qui-250)/2 + 250 (e.g. 270 Quickness is = 260 Qui^ for the formula)

Haste would be levels of Mastery of Archery, 3% per level of the ability.

And Spd is the weapon speed of your bow.

General statement-

My recommendation for bow is at level 40 spec.

Rangers that care for nothing else but they’re bow should see it to level 45-50.

Melee ONLY rangers should see their bow at level 27-35.




Path Finding:


Here's the ace up the sleeve. However riddled with bugs, and inconsistencies, is still worthwhile to spec. But how high?

Abilities PF offers us:

AF buff
STR Buff
DEX/QUI Buff
Damage Add Buff
Speed Shout


Problems:

AF –

In MP/Epic gear, the AF buff is broken, and does *nothing* for us.
So don’t even bother looking at PF levels to obtain levels of this spell.

STR –

STR buff, while somewhat nice, is very weak, and does not help our bow. it does however help us a small amount in melee.

Do not plan your spec level around this buff.

Dex/Qui –

Dex/Qui Buff, if you are NOT planning on grouping/botting, end your spec on THIS buff. This makes your melee WS go up quite a bit, helps your bow WS even more, and makes your chance to evade go up.

If you do not bot, and only solo, spec around this buff.

Levels are:

6/12/19/29/40/48

Go for at least level 19 if spec'ing around this.

Damage add -

While nice, there are some flaws with it. IF you are being evaded/blocked/parried often in melee this ability is useless. If you can’t land your damage then it serves no purpose.

This ability is broken with range, the farther your enemy is (with your bow) the less damage it will do.


This ability is also literally cut into fractions with Haste, and very high quickness, making it a minor annoyance at best (with yellow haste and 36 pf spec, you will see maybe 15-18 extra damage per hit)

While this ability is no longer appealing to me, it does add up quite a bit if you are landing many blows in melee (high weapon/high CD/high PF spec). If you have low/no stealth/bow, then spec FOR this ability because you will depend on it.

These types of rangers should see a spec level of no less than 36, and most will go for 46.

Levels of DA are at:

5/10/15/21/27/36/46

Be at least 21 spec if you spec around DA.


Speed Shout –

In my opinion, this is the only thing worth spec’ing PF for anymore. The levels of the spell increase with speed and duration. Please check out daoc.catacombs.com to find the spec that best fits your projected needs.

Level 16/25 speed burst is quite nice and you will be moving VERY fast if you are sprinting as well.

Levels of GFS are at:

9/16/25/34/43

I highly recommend spec'ing around this ability alone, if you plan to group/bot.
spec pf at least 16 if you spec around this.

If you are buffed, or plan to be constantly buffed/grouped. Don't spec your PF very high, 27 being the maximum. If you solo a lot, and are NOT buffed, but prefer a higher melee/bow spec for tools accommodating, do not pass 30 spec PF.

Take your PF past 36 if you plan to not utilize higher weapon/cd/bow spec tools and you will not be botting.

Some good Path Finding documents can be found here:

http://www.critshot.com/forums/show...=&threadid=4620

http://www.critshot.com/forums/show...36021#post36021

http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp...&start=50828013




General Statement –

I have found that the BEST bang for your buck in PF is at the 27th-30th spec levels for solo rangers that have an even spec layout. This works VERY well in botted/unbotted environment with high weapon specs.

For the HARDCORE botted/grouped rangers, and want more abilities through higher weapon/stealth/bow specs should look at 16-21PF

Low bow/melee spec rangers (also non botted) should look at 36-46pf no less.


Note: 11DPS DA charges are available through your alchemist and are easily rechargeable.

I keep 4 weapons in my inventory that have no SC on them, but have DA charges on them for when I need it in melee.



So there you have it

Here are some generalized spec’s you can consider:

Solo unbuffed ranger:
35 stealth
39 weapon
40 bow
23 CD
30 PF

Solo Buffed Ranger:
35 stealth
44 weapon
40 bow
24 CD
21 PF

Solo unbuffed Sniper:
35 stealth
25 pierce
45 bow
18 CD
40 PF

Solo Buffed Sniper:
35 stealth
34 pierce
50 bow
16 CD
25 PF

Grouped melee Ranger:
25 stealth
44 weapon
35 bow
35 CD
27 PF


What’s your spec Quiv?

I’m at (per 1.62 and being RR6)

34+16 stealth (50)
44+16 pierce (60)
40+16 bow (56)
29+16 CD (45)
16+5 (hehe) PF.

I also have a 50 nurture buff-bot and utilize 11dps DA charges from empty weapons in my inventory.

I do very well in self-buffed duels, and I SHINE when I’m grouped/botting.


Leveling:


All I can say for this, is auto-train your bow as long as you can, you will love me for suggesting this to you when you hit 50. But leveling will be a pain in the ass till then, and you might as well skip the BG’s. So far this is my only regret.

And with that, here’s how you should spec yourself when leveling:

-Keep your weapon spec to your level
-Keep PF at a decent amount, but nowhere near where you wouldn’t want to have it at if at some point you change your mind.
-Keep your CD around 1/3 ½ your level if possible.
-Don’t spec stealth at all until you absolutely have to.

And remember, if you screw up, you can always respec one skill line at level 20 and level 40. Just make sure you NEVER train your bow, because even if you respec it to 0, you will not get those free points back.

This essentially makes you a BM with no hit-points and lower damage, but that is ok as long as you have the personality to make it into groups, or are good at starting your own.


As for hunting spots, there are other guides for that.




Realm Abilities:

I am in no way an expert here, but I can give you some pretty sound advice.

Is IP worth it? I mean, the timer is long and it costs A LOT of points.

The answer is YES. I have this ability and I ragged on it for the longest time because of those 2 statements above. Now I don’t know if I could live with out it. This ability coupled with First Aid 2, make you a very hard to kill target, and you must remember, he who is alive last, gets the realm points.

Is Purge worth it? 10 points is a lot.

Albion has 3 stealth classes, all that have access to 9 second stuns. 2 of them are anytime use. As well as a very long duration mez. For infiltrators they have a reactionary 9 second stun after an evade (which they do a lot). Purge nullifies these abilities and lets you keep on attacking, or purge those dots out, and speed shout away. Personally This is one of my favorite RA’s. You also can not IP while stunned, so IP and Purge should go hand in hand.

What about True-Sight??

Every archer should have this ability. It’s the great payback that assassin’s PA, and SH does to us. Once you master how/when to use this ability, it will make you a very wealthy realm point wise. And it will get you into groups rather easy.
I would recommend grabbing this ability right off the bat .
I have found more often than not however this ability is more of a "Fun" RA, than a survival RA, abilities like AP2, Purge, or IP will serve you better than this one will, as this RA is PURELY situational.

I hear rangers get avoid pain? Is it any good?

Avoid pain is kind of pricey (13 pts for level 1, 19pts for level 2) and does melee absorption to 10% per level of the ability. The prerequisite is Aug con 3, which as a Lurikeen/Elf is much needed

Avoid pain, coupled with IP will make you a VERY hard target to kill. AP’s timer is 15 minutes, so it will be up usually for every encounter you run into.

I would be hard pressed to think of any encounter (1v1) that you would not walk away from victorious, with AP2/Purge and IP up.

I would highly recommend this RA. We are one of the FEW classes that can get IP/Purge/AP all together, and in the stealther world, only hunters/rangers/minstrels have access to AP and IP at the same time.

Personally I have IP/Purge/TS and I’m getting AP2 next.

Timers? Aren't the 30 minute timers too long?

So far I have had 3 occasions ever that I can name where I was mad my active RA's were not up. Remember that as Hibernia most ALL of our RvR is in E-main. We have to make the long walk out there. Factor in your death, time to scroll through your damage log to see how you did (best game education you can get IMO), getting your group ready, and getting back out there, you will find your abilities are either already ready, or only have a few minutes to go. By this point you are now waiting on the enemy.

Mastery of Archery, Thoughts?

With Rapid Fire and 1.62 this ability is less than appealing. However, it still can serve some purpose. Since it lowers your over-all draw time, it can make your rapid fire time, even faster. I.E. If your draw time without MOA is 4.0s and with rapid fire its 2.0s. If you had enough levels of MOA to make it 3.5s your RF draw time would be 1.75s. It will also lower your Crit-shot time as an added bonus. As a Lurikeen or Elf, I would steer clear of this ability, a Celt might benefit for 1 or 2 levels of it.

Falcons Eye ?

Coupled with Volley and Rapid Fire, its very cool, you will see quite a few more crits at level 2 and 3 of this ability.
Would recommend level 2-3 for your volleyer / RF user, and your non-timed RA ranger.

Dodger ?

Dodger is GREAT for the pierce ranger, level 2 being decently priced at 8 skill points, it makes your evade go up quite a bit and makes landing that evade stun a bit easier. It also increases your defensive abilities making you last a few hits longer in RvR. I would get at least level 2 of this, 3 would be the maximum.

Toughness ?

Every ranger should have 1 point into this. Free 40-50 hit-points.

Aug STR ?

Lurikeens and Elves if they have an extra point to spend, dump it here, you will see your melee weapon skill rise about 10 points.

Mastery of Pain ?

Pretty nice once your at levels 3/4 as most all your melee attacks will crit, however, i would recommend putting points elsewhere, as this ability only half makes up your ranger, your bow makes up the other half. Levels 1/2 of this ability aren't too bad though.

Long Shot/Volley ?

These RA’s will make you VERY realm point wealthy if you are in constant mile gate standoffs, and constant keep defense. I would highly recommend these RA’s to the heavy bow spec ranger, and to any rangers that are subject to the situations above.

Avoidance of Magic ?

Pretty neat ability, gives you a 3% increase to all magical resistances per level. Would recommend only level 1 however.

Tireless ?

While not that great, its not too bad either, regeneration in melee, it may let you land that one more hit you need to finish off the fight if you have run OOE =).
Personally i just carry end pots on my ranger to solve that problem.

Longwind ?

If your sprinting away a lot, might want to dump 1 point here =)

Lifter ?

Carrying a lot of rams? Or siege equipment for your groups? 1 point here is sufficient.

ALL OTHER ABILITIES NOT MENTIONED HERE ARE EITHER BROKEN, OR ARE NOT WORTH THE POINTS THAT CAN BE BETTER SPENT ELSEWHERE.

When starting out, Get TS first. It will help your realm level quickly, and toss a couple passives in as you go along to keep you alive in RvR longer. And to compete with the higher weapon skill higher realm ranked players.

Save your respec’s (you get 2) and get IP and the other timed RA’s when you can afford them (3L3 if you just want IP, or 4L3 if you want IP and Purge/TS)


For a nice list of drops, and nasty little tricks you can pull while out on the battlefield check my book of dirty tricks guide here:

http://www.critshot.com/forums/show...=&threadid=4509

-Quivna

UPDATED PER 06/11/03

_____________________________________________________________

Ranger book of dirty tricks :)

From Quivna's post on the VN boards:

Not all these things are accessable, but never-the-less something to look forward to obtaining.


Weapons:

Fang - For the Peirce Ranger that is looking for some nasty ways at dealing damage, get on the next galla raid and roll for the BroodMother Fang. At 4.3spd, 100 qual 16.5dps this thing hits HARD. It also has a Energy based level 50 DoT Proc that goes off if not once, mutliple times a fight. Its imbue alone is worth 39 points. I have this weapon.

MP angled/Rapier's : I never noticed before, but even if you are not RR5 yet, these will still give you more damage. If you look at a set of 99's you will see your weapon damage is 1603. If you have an MP level 51 item, your damage will be 1620. You can SC these how you see fit, but if you put a Alchemy Dot Proc on this, you now have a level 47 Matter Based DoT Proc. I have both of these.

Oro's Stilleto of Night: 94% qual, 25% bonus, 16.2DPS A pretty aweful weapon, drops off the High Lord Oro in DF. Its made for a BM with its parry +'s, however its level 49 Heat Based Proc is definatly worth picking up in your inventory for a weapon switch. I just picked this up last night.

Nightshade poisons : Toss your weapon to a shade (Fang isnt trade-able since its non-NS) Have them put their lifebane/debuffs on your weapon, hell even get some backup weapons in you inventory and get them all posioned. Your now a shade with a bow, and no CS styles (and no decent stealth/abilities) With these Body based DoT's you can deal out some nice damage and take enemies down a bit faster.


BroodMother Fang - Energy DoT
SC MP Dagger/Rapier - Matter DoT
Oro's Stilleto - Heat DoT
Shade Poisoned Weapons - Body DoT

If you can time it, and land them all just right, you can get 4 consective DoT's going at once on a player, and this will EAT them alive. Its a nasty trick, but non-the-less Do-able.
I do have all the weapon's stated above, and yes, its very nice

Other nifty tricks :
Charges -
Damage Add - Specing PF for JUST the damage add? pfftt... Don't, get an 11DPS (better than the level 46 ranger DA) Charge, and put it on a couple weapons (a main weapon, and a couple inventory backups). Just fire this puppy up when/b4 you get into melee, and you now have some a SICK damage add running. Very effective, and very nice when couple'd with a slow weapon (Gaurded Rapier, 3.6spd, or Fang 4.3 spd) I have this on my MP Gaurded Rapier.

Str/Con Debuff - very cool, place this on your bow, or on a weapon if your looking for something new. Blast that off right b4 the person gets into melee, and you now have the upper hand, this is if you dont have any shade debuff'd weapons on hand. I personally have this on my Main Bow.

LifeDrain - Need a little health? Firing this charge off nukes the player your attackin, and heals you in the process. While a small nuke/heal, it could be just enough to turn the tide in a fight. Personally i have this on my backup (recurve bow)

DoT - Very handy in keeping a stealther from re-stealthing, or for interuption. Place this on a bow, or if your lucky grab an old SC cloak that has one. A free 300-400dmg from a simple dis-charge, and will keep the person your trying to get from sneaking away uncovered.

DD - Pretty nice if you place it on a short recurve bow (My MP Short will have this). Couple this with TS, and you can pop 2 stealther at the same time. Becuase most of the other charges (DoT/Debuff/drain) have a range of only 300 units, you have to be very close. DD's have a range of 1500 units, so you can taget someone, discharge to reveal them, and have a partner go after them, and then take the second person on yourself with your short bow. This will be my TS bow.

AF Buff - Fire this off before you run into a tank, or expect mutliples. it will add about 90 AF to your current AF. ex. My AF is 606 in MP gear right now, with the AF buff, its at 696.
Also, this buff lasts 10 minutes.


-Re-actives:
Ablatives - As rangers the advantages we have over assassins are few, but some of them include 9% more absorbtion, and 45 more AF. Use this point in conjunction with a full suit of ablative procs, and you now are quite a bit tougher to bring down. If you put them on every peice, chances of them firing every single encounter and re-freshing a couple times is very good. I have these currently on my MP set, and i HAD full reactive dots on my 99 suit. So far i would take the ablatives over the dots any day.


Accessories -
Trying to max out your gear on stats/skills/hits/resists ?

-Bracers
Wormskin wraps : the BEST bracers in the game at the moment, 3 varities, heat/cold/energy, thrust/slash/crush, matter/spirit/body. 24 con, and 8% on the 3 resists. and a Charge'd affect. If you can land the melee resist, it has a VERY nice heal regneration charge, for those long downtimes. I personally have 2 of these. They drop off the worm in DF. The other 2 have a damage shield, and end regen charge if i remeber right.


-Warshade bracers : Very high utility, and will compliment most setups very well. Pretty easy to pick up from the epic zone in sheeroie hills

-Ixthar Skin Bracer of Silent Resistance : 2nd best bracer in the game for a ranger, 2 stealth, 12% thrust, 10% spirit, 6 quick. Pretty much count on grabbing this for your gear. Its an VERY easy to do SI quest.

-Mischivous Bracer : This bracer is very nice as well, drops off Skeagshee in Cursed Forest. at 12 dex/quick 7 cold/spirit. It will compliment your setup pretty nicely. You need about 1fg to kill him.

-Necklace : hands down the Paidrean Necklace is the necklace to get for your SC setup. 4 10% resists, and a VERY easy to do quest in SI. Plan on getting this for your gear.

Also look at Rhoiwyns Necklace from the Knotted Vine Belt quest. This necklace has a Heal charge it in that heals for about 130-200 health. Very helpfull for a close fight or down time.

Rings - The 2 rings quest in SI (the Slyvans Pain quest) Any of the 2 rings on this quest will suit your gear more than nicely. Also Verdant ring drops in Galla have insane utility as well (highest in the game as far as I know, for rings.)

Cloak - As far as i know SC cloak are still being sold, and are still the way to go. See if you can find one from someone, however it may set you back several plat.

Grand Summoners Cloak, and Pookha Lord Mantle are some of the best non-sc cloaks you can get however.

Belts -

Knotted vine belt, hands down best belt you can nab for your ranger, the quest is somewhat easy to do if you can nab a group, and the utility is insane.

Stout leather belt, not too bad, drops off fins. If your in fins groups often, you should be able to nab one easy.



Gem -
The aigelan Earring (comes with the Paidrean necklace quest) is one of the best gems you can pick up. Very easy to get, goes in the gem spot.

Evil Eye gem in TS... drops off of balor, but the utility is 66 and it has 75 dex/qui haste charge. better than most gems.


Primal WaterWalkers Quiver - This gem drops in galladoria and is VERY rare. At 71.5% utility it is also the best gem you can find. 5 Bow, 4 stealth, 22 quick, and 6 crush, with a Haste Charge, if you can find one of these babies you are set. However, i have yet to hear of anyone on my server getting one =(. I imagine it drops from the water elemental, or some nearby mobs.

Bows, Going with MP bows instead of 99's helps your damage out quite a bit. Most all 16.2dps bow at 99% qual will have you at 1603dps (maybe lower if i remeber right) while an MP 16.2 dps bow will have you at 1619 (cap damage). The same goes for heavy recurves, 99% qual will have you at 1603 weapondamage, but 100% will have you at 1620 until you hit realm rank 5 and get that damage bonus. Crafted bows still fair better than most drops due to the fact that most dropped bows have very low imbue value, and you cant place charges on them. Where as SC bows you can fit to your design and place Alchemy charge'd effects on them

Verdant Recurve (galla drop), and the Bow of Monstrosities (TS drop) are 2 bows worth looking out for when your on your next raid. Both perform very well.

Extra boost in your ranger power - Buy/level a high nurture buffbot, and go spank some assassins around :P


Probably riddle'd with spelling/gramar errors, but im at school and im bored. :P Hope you enjoy

daoc.warcry.com
camelot.allakhazam.com
www.javamansworld.com/daoc/

for information on the items/quests take a look at the link above.