by Karen Hertzberg on Jan 20, 2007
by CRad
The
Ranger is an offensive fighter that is skilled in melee and ranged
combat. The Ranger can switch from being a damage dealer to fighting
defensively by using her evade and parry abilities. Rangers will also
have utility abilities and have many abilities closely associated with
nature.
Strength, dexterity, and vitality
are the Ranger's primary attributes. Strength helps the Ranger do as
much
damage as possible. Dexterity gives him a greater chance of landing
critical melee hits. Vitality gives the Ranger greater regeneration in
combat so that he can use abilities more often.
Building a good Ranger takes some careful planning at the
character
creation screen and requires you to learn a handful of tactics in the
lower levels.
Rangers of all races start with the same attributes, but the
choice
of race can affect how many points the Ranger automatically gets placed
into its prime attributes.
Starting
attributes:
Each character gets 20 attribute
points
(AP) per level, starting at level 10. 6 of your AP are placed
for you automatically--one per attribute (STR, CON, DEX, VIT, INT,
WIS). 4 points are assigned to attributes based on your race if you are
not a human (humans are kojani, mordebi, qaliathari, and thestran).
You can
place 10 (14 for humans) wherever you want to within soft caps of 5 per
level.
Additionally,
characters get
racial bonuses to their soft caps. These
are called preferred stats and allow characters of a race to flesh out
in a way that reflects the traits of the race. Non-human races get 4
bonus points to soft caps (usually two or three attributes only) while
human
races get 6, 1 for each attribute. Thus, a human can be more balanced,
while a non-human becomes more specialized.
The table below shows the attribute scores at level 50 before
gear
and buffs for
the Ranger based on the race selected. We've highlighted the best
results for each of the primary attributes for you. It is possible to
reach the soft cap for three attributes as a human, but those soft caps
may be lower than those attainable by other races.
src="http://media.tentonhammer.com/vanguard/gallery/albums/album32/RAN.jpg">
Attribute Points:
This is where the real character customization comes into play. Once
you reach level 10 you begin to receive Points every 20% of a level,
which you can then allocate to your different attributes stats. With
stat points you can decide if you want your character (char) to become
a damage machine, a great scout for PvE/PvP or even a better caster
than any other ranger, or maybe somewhere in between. For a great
description of what each individual attribute does please refer to
href="http://vanguard.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=472">Crunching
Numbers.
So lets say you want to be a damage-aholic, if that's the case most
rangers will agree that your two main stats should be Dexterity (Dex)
and Strength (Str). With those two not only increasing your ranged and
melee damage, but also your block and parry chance, and even your
critical chance and chance to hit. Well, it isn't hard to see why most
rangers will agree those are the top two stats for damage. With that
said put the most points you can into those each level. The third
attribute to choose really depends on whom you ask but the majority
will choose between Constitution (Con) and Vitality (Vit). Con
increases your hit points and your resists, while vitality increases
your regeneration in combat and your healing potential. Either are
great choices. And last but not least we come to Intelligence and
Wisdom, if you have to pick one, go with Wisdom. It not only increases
your energy pool but also increases your chance to detect opponents and
perceive what they are doing in combat. With Int you are not going to
need the increased spell damage it gives, so Wis is the logical choice.
As a scout you are either going to want Wis to be one of your main
attributes or your third one, which in this build you are just going to
want more detection which is exactly what Wis gives.
Even though I am not sure why a ranger would want to be a caster, you
would probably want your main attributes to be Wis and Vit, but again
that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
The other important factor to consider when picking the race for your
Ranger is racial abilities. With their short durations and long
recasts,
racial abilities are less important than attributes in the selection
process, but they can be used to pick between races that are otherwise
equal. The racial abilities are listed below.
Thestran: Inspirational
Commands
You will have 3 inspirational commands at your disposal:
Inspirational Presence, Inspirational Wisdom, and Inspirational
Tactics. Each command is a group buff that will add either 2% to
mitigation, a 3% reduction to mana cost of all spells, or a 2% increase
in damage. You may only maintain one command at a time, however you may
have all 3 effects active at the same time. Recast is instant.
Human Ingenuity: + 10 bonus to all weapon skills, and dodge.
Crafting: +10 Ingenuity
Harvesting: +5 Lumberjacking
As a ranger you are one of the best solo classes, especially at higher
levels. So levels 1-10 are great levels for soloing and getting to know
how your character works, and under what circumstances you are great,
and under which ones you aren't so great.
At level one
you start off with the bare minimum, a basic attack, a basic ranged
attack, and your stealth, which is Nature's Guise. Your ranged attack,
Warden's Ranged attack, is the best standard ranged attack in the game,
which is not surprising since you are suppose to be the best at
physical damage. At these early levels stealth is not very useful as
almost everyone and everything is a higher level than you, so we will
chat more about that later.
Level 2
brings two new abilities, Deadly Shot and Ferocity. These are two
abilities like many others that you will want to become familiar with.
Deadly Shot is a ranged shot that not only deals damage but also dazes
the target. This is not a crowd control ability as you might think like
a stun or a sleep, but instead Daze is a status affect that other
classes can take advantage of to do additional damage to a mob.
Ferocity is a self buff that increases your damage for 20
secondsvery useful to buff your opening attacks or if you
get in a bind and need to kill a mob quickly.
With Level 4
comes Blade of Summer (BoS) and Parry. BoS is a melee attack that does
200% damage plus additional damage as well as inflicts the enemy with
the Burning status affect, which again can be taken advantage of in a
group setting. Parry gives you a 100% chance to Parry the next melee
attack, which lasts 60 seconds. Parry is great for retreating or
setting up for a counterattack move.
At Level 6
you receive Stalker's Grace, Windsong, and Shocking Arrow. Stalker's
Grace increases dexterity and constitution by 9, which for a ranger is
pretty great. At higher levels Stalker's Grace not only increases those
attributes by more, but it will also add other benefits like increased
Critical hit chance. Windsong is the first finisher you get; finishers
can only be used after a critical hit. But when you do get to use it, a
flurry of attacks strikes your opponent, dealing melee damage plus 66.
It has a chance to add multiple extra attacks. Shocking Arrow is
another ranged attack that deals 200% plus additional damage.
Level 8
brings with it Ferocity II, Entangling Web, Blade of Winter, Sweeping
Strike, and Rancor. Ferocity II is just like its predecessor except
that is increases your bonus damage during its duration. Entangling Web
is your first snare, meaning that it slows your enemies movement speed
a by 40%. Blade of Winter (BoW) is a melee attack that deals extra
damage and chills your opponent. A chilled effect on an opponent is
another status effect of which group mates can take advantage. Sweeping
Strike is a Cone, or Area of Effect (AoE) attack. It is a melee attack
that deals additional damage in a cone or an arc of enemies in front of
you. Rancor is a chain ability like Windsong, however Rancor is only
available for use after a Parry, doing 150% damage. Hey, I
seem to remember an ability earlier that increased my parry
chance. Hint hint...Parry and then Rancor is a good combo.
Level 10:
see that didn't take so long. With this level you get Thorncloak,
Forage, Cripple, and Critical Shot. Thorncloak is a self-buff that
increases your Armor Class and reflects damage back upon attackers.
Forage is an ability used out of combat to gather resources. These
resources can be used as buffs, food, or even to make arrows/bolts.
Cripple is a melee attack that damage and decreases your enemies damage
for a few attacks. Critical Shot, is arguably the best opener a ranger
has, as a ranged attack it deals 300% damage and is almost guaranteed
to critical, which means you can follow it up with your ranged finisher
(which you will have to wait some levels to receive).
Specific Tactics
Combos:
Combos are great for any class and that is no exception here. Combos
are a sequence of attacks/moves that trigger or make another ability
happen. Make sense? Here is an example: at level 10 you now have access
to use two combos, which can also be found in the general tab for
abilities.
It should be noted that if you happen to crit mid combo so that you can
use Windsong, use it. Finishers, like Windsong do not seem to affect
the combo order.
Stances: As
you have probably noticed by now you have two different forms that your
ranger can activatethe first being Offensive Style, and the
second being Evasion Style While in these forms/styles, you ability at
fighting the enemy grows the longer you are in combat with the enemy.
For instance, the longer you are fighting with Offensive Style on, the
more damage you will do the enemy as time goes on. Evasion
style is the same, but with dodging your enemys attacks. As
you are attacking the enemy you will see what has been described as a
cross hair on the left side of your offensive target's window. Around
this cross hair you will see a bar extending around the bottom of it,
and when the bar fills up a dot appears. With each dot you are more
effective at whichever form you are in. Your level limits the number of
dots so when you first get the ability you will only have one dot, and
level 50 obviously you will have all the dots.
For every stance though there is a drawback; in the damage stance you
lose evasion and in the Evasion stance you lose damage. With this it
becomes necessary to know when and where to use your different stances
so you can be the best that you can be. Another thing to note about
these is that your effectiveness in a stance won't go up unless you are
attacking the enemy. If you stop to cast a heal or a snare, your bar
stops as well.
Foraging:
Forage is, as most rangers will agree, still a work in progress. It is
great because it allows you to make your own arrows/bolts through the
assembly window, granted you have enough ingredients. Besides that you
could also receive food to eat out of combat, as well as other buffs,
to increase your own abilities.
Stealth:
Called Nature's Guise for us Rangers, allows us to be very sneaky and
get past mobs/enemies undetected. Nature's Guise however is only
effective really if you have your Sneak/Hide skills maxed. In order to
do that, you need to find some mobs, usually 1-2 levels below you and
start stealthing around them. Once you see the
???? above their head, it means they think
something might be there. At this point you shouldn't push your luck
and get closer or they might attack. When the question marks are above
their heads though is when you will get your skill ups. In no time you
will be able to sneak around just about anything below or at your
current adventuring level.
Group Dynamics:
The most important thing to remember while in a group is that you are
an offensive fighter. This means groups want you, because you do
damage, and a lot of it :). Another way to put it is that while in a
group you should be concentrating on doing damage, not healing. You get
your heal at a later level, but it is good to talk about anyway. There
is nothing wrong with helping the healer out, but you should not be
spending the majority of your group/dungeon time healing. While you
also make a good off-tank when needed, you are not a substitute for a
real tank.
Besides that though, rangers bring a lot of utility to a group, with
snares, roots (holding an enemy still), heals, and our stances; there
isn't much we really can't do. It is good to embrace that knowledge and
become familiar with when a good time is to stop doing damage and use
some of your other abilities.
Thanks for reading everyone, Hope this helps. If you have any questions
or additional information, please visit the
href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/forumdisplay.php?f=100">ranger
forums!