Ranger - Bow Guide

((picked from the AOC forums at http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=54049))


Even a moron can surmise that the ranger is a “ranged” class. So roughly after 20, the melee skills gained from leveling cut off sharply. The ranger is really a combination of two beta classes, the waylayer and the ranger. You can defiantly see elements of both classes in the feat tree (more on that later).

So what the ranger actually is.

Of the three highest DPS classes; Ranger, Barbarian, and Assassin (funny how they are all in the same archetype), the ranger has the highest hit points, the best damage absorption (medium armor/shields), and the greatest survivability. And ranks as the single highest ranged DPS class by far, and is on equal footing with the Barbarian in raw damage output.

The Ranger might stand as the most powerful pvp class in AoC. Its my opinion, but the way the class is designed with all its survivability, and its sick damage, they are almost impossible to kill if played correctly.

Available to them, they have two snares, one melee, one ranged—both 65%. And an instant, small radius AoE, 10 second root on a one minute cool down. The root is instant and can be cast on the run, has no stamina usage, and is “chance to break on damage” rather then null when damaged.

If this weren’t enough, in the sharpshooter line, they can spec for a talent that causes the target to burs into flames, running around in fear (can later be made to aoe…), giving it yet another oh **** button. It should also be noted, their from stealth attack with a bow is a short duration mezz (about 10 sec), but its buggy as hell with Firestance

*In its current state with the salvo "bug" (God I hope it’s a bug) giving a significant decrease in overall damage, the Ranger is in somewhat disrepair. Shatter Stance nerf also was overkill and so the class as a whole is hurting. Hopefully all will be fixed or at least normalized in the next few days.*

II. Beginning-And all that it implies

For the first 9 levels and that beginning quest, you have about the same dmg output as any other “rogue” in melee at that point. Your bow damage is atrocious. No joke, in the time it takes to line up a shot literally dished out 4x the damage in melee. Your regular bow shots deal only about ¾ of that of a normal swing, and you lack any true damaging ranged shot.
Still, grab the bow from the quests, and use it to pull.

*Note*-If you are new to the game, you need to invest attribute points; this is done in the character & attributes tab. I highly recommend maxing out stealth and putting the rest into climbing and the one that increases your running speed out of combat.

And then it happens…you ding 10. Level 10 marks the unofficial beginning of the ranger career. Two very important things happen at level 10. First you can get a new bow (~20.1 dps bow) from the weapon smith, and you get the godly skill—Salvo.

The Ranger does not come into its own until 17+ and shines at 20+

III. Aiming-The frustratingly useless FPS aspect of AoC

As far as I know, the only way to enter first person is to mouse wheel in. Once done, a reticule will appear on your screen, where the best way to aim is to hold down the right mouse button.

Now that that’s out of the way, why is this skill so damned frustrating? Well, it has two checks; the first is the crosshairs check. Its applied to actually hitting the enemy. ALWAYS AIM FOR THE HEART/CHEST.

The second is the Uper-left, Top, and Uper-right shielding check.

With all of these “checks” you might ask what the hell is gained?

Three things; increased range, increased accuracy (as accurate as long as the target is under the crosshairs), and a 10-15% increase in damage modifier. Its gain is marginal, and you’re more likely to miss then to hit. it could be useful in keep defense situations however, other then that, do not enter into it, it will make you quit the class.


IV. Skill Breakdown

Salvo-What it is, and what it is not.

Salvo is the first 2part chain combo. It “shoots” three times before it begins the salvo induction. The “three times” comes from activating the shot, and then completing the chain, it then fires three .75(ish)drawn shots that seems to deal around 200%-300% extra damage. This shot is extremely potent and is enough to outright kill any mob without upper shielding once the ranger gets a stance

*Salvo has gone numerous changes; currently it appears to be somewhat bugged, from my testing, the damage gained from stances aren’t applying to Salvo*

Heartseeker-This is gained at 40 and is the next big hitter in ranger chain. Although I cycle through all skills, it’s a quick recharge, and hits hard. Not as hard as salvo, but its only a 1-part chain, and has a quick induction time. It complements the other 1-part chains very well in PvE when salvo is on cool down. It also seems to crit much more frequently, but this is unconfirmed.

*This patch has seemed to raise its damage by nearly 25%. Seems unconfirmed though*

These are you’re two big hitters, the rest of the skills are self explanatory.

New
Sulfurous Burst
Now has an animation associated with it, knocking the ranger out of stealth. Be aware now.

“Marked” Talents
These two talents took significant nerfs on 6/2/08 and are nothing more then talent sinkers, as Volley only effects white damage.


V. Feats-The 4-part split personality of the ranger

1. Introduction to the Sharpshooter Tree
As the awkward title hints, and previously mentioned, the ranger is really two classes rolled into one; the Ranger—Bow, and the Waylayer—Crossbow. And each of these has two “specs”. You can ignore the other line for now, as it does not benefit the ranger in any noticeable way in raw damage, and complements stealthers end game. Im going bow, so I have no advice to give on crossbows.

The Sharpshooter=bow. And it’s the one to stick with, bow just seems to outshine crossbow in many important ways, the most prominent being salvo, which can only be preformed with a bow.


2. Stances

There are two lines in each one. Both give “stances”. The Fire side gives Fire Stance, which adds 30.0 DPS to your bow, +20.0 fire dmg (rises as you level slightly) and a fire proc which seems to be about ~20%.

Sniper Stance gives 30.0 DPS +5 damage (rises by .5 per level it seems) and seems to give an overall additional 9.0 DPS to the bow. It also increase accuracy by 2%. That accuracy does not improve.

Both are great, and are about even in PvE. In PvP Firestance will pump out slightly more dps, because it gives a nice elemental damage, and is unaffected by armor rating.

You can mix and match each side, grabbing many feats from each side that will significantly increase the ranger’s potency. One of them has a chance to root an enemy in place on any shot!

Eventually you’re going to want to stick with once stance, even though there is only a 5sec cool down between the stances. And stick with one “ultimate” skill. Volley, or Flame Barrage. Both make your attacks aoe for a short time.

3. Feats, and my recommendations.

These are what I view as the must haves; I will break them down by Tier.

Tier 1- Focused Fire
FF adds BIG damage. About 20.5 DPS to my bow for 15sec at 40 and grows every level, and is on a 1min cooldown. Its amazing and your forced to take it.

Tier 2- Bow Specialization, Eagle Eye.
Bow Spec adds about 6.5 DPS. Take it
Eagle Eye adds 5m to your attacks, take it, but only after Bow Spec.

Tier 3- Rapid Stab, Splintering Puncture, Tendon Rupture, Ricochet
Rapid Stab blows, don’t get it.
Splintering Puncture blows, don’t get it.
Tendon Rupture is great. Allows the Ranger better kiting, by giving +5 sec to Pin Down.
Ricochet is awesome, Adds a small chance to snare the target for 4s by 65%. Aoe is NOW WORKING!

Tier 4- Quick Shots, Silent Shots
Quick Shots a good compliment, and best invested at 33 after the root ability in the tier 5 is maxed. Gives shorter CD’s to your combos.
Silent Shots is more pve, and is required for sniper stance. I don’t like sniper stance, and I don’t like this ability. Imo skip it.

Tier 5- Firestance, Sniper Stance, Knee-capping
Wont go into the stances again.
Knee-capping adds a small chance on ALL hits (salvo is counted technically as one hit…sort of) to root the target for 4-5sec. its imbalanced in pve and pvp, and you’re an idiot to pass it up.

Tier 6- Sulfurous Burst/Blast, Cold Nerves, Deadeye.
Sulfurous Burst/Blast is an aoe stealth detection “flare”, blast makes it a small dmg in the aoe to knock people out of stealth. Its great, but useless for leveling, so at the moment it’s a waste
Cold Nerves add significant stam reduction to all combos. Get it, love it, breath it.
Deadeye adds a straight 9% damage increase to all combos. It’s a sexy 3 point talent. Get it

Tier7+
At this point it comes down to preference. For PvP grab:
Fire Trap It sucks, but it’s a pre-req. grab and max to move down.
Immolation and its follow up. The fear is a nice oh **** escape tool that will be invaluable later on.
Critical Aim has an irritating bug associated with it, and at the moment, does not cause the combos to crit. Apparently this is by design…so skip it, white crit damage is not worth 3 talent points.
Flame Barrage over volley. Flame Barrage is a much harder hitting salvo that fires with out directionals, and causes aoe burn damage. Great skill, defiantly pick it up.

Here is Legatos Feat Guide. Its an excellent resource if you wish a more indepth feat explanation. I only give a recomdendation, but little in the way of explanation, his guide is the direct opposite.

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=51874

VI. PvP
I will later add how to beat certain classes later on in s separate guide unless a mod can add a post below this.

Thanks for reading