How to Ranger

[greenshag1979]

I played a ranger on live for the last 7 years, and have to say it is one of the most versatile classes in EQ.

It is true that Rangers are pretty underpowered until Kunark comes out, but with so much utility I'd have to disagree with the mediocre to low ability for soloing. Dots, nukes, sow, roots snares and harmony for pulls, decent melee ability and tanking... all things that say "solo" to me, but also come in handy in many groups. A ranger can be used as crowd control, tank, dps, and even extra heals (these are mostly for between fights though).

As tanks we often hold agro better than a warrior because of spells like flame lick and snares. You won't be able to tank as effectively as a warrior, or even knights (especially on harder nameds), but you can fill-in for when the main tank goes down and you can snap agro off the cloth classes and healers to help keep them alive.

For dps use dual wield as much as you can, always putting the best ratio weapon in your primary hand (rough ratio = damage divided by delay... dam/delay). Procs also fire more often in the primary, so keep that in mind when equipping. I'd use the best ac shield I can get my hands until you get dual wield at level 17 (shiny brass shield from Orc Trainer makes a good starter shield).

If you are the primary tank for a grind group or something, using 2h is a good way to keep dps high and at the same time reduce your incoming damage. Less swings from 2h weapons means less riposte damage from the mob. So keep 2h skills up to at least near-max for those times where it makes sense to use 2h. If you don't have a good 2h weapon or the skills to use it, you can always go sword and board to reduce damage.

Being a good ranger takes practice, and many of your skills will not even be learned until you're in your late 30's and 40's. Much of your time will be spent using snares and roots for crowd control and pulls, and then dps'ing the rest of the time. But don't give up on it, because they can be one of the more rewarding endeavors in the game.

All my friends love what I bring to a group, because even at low levels I will put everything into using every skill that I have, which is pretty much what you have to do as a ranger to be good.

btw: that video is hilarious... GO RANGER!!!