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!!!

[Hiragawa]

First off... RANGA DOWN!
Second... How to ranger... Take death touches!

But anyhow. Green has a lot of good points. Although if I remember correctly from my tanking days... Best ratio is in your off hand, lowest delay is in your main hand. Unless you 'need' a proc or some such. (But that may have been tanking. I didn't do a melee dps in years.)

Your bow... You're going to use it mostly for pulling, but it can be used in conjunction with Snare/SoW and a wide open area to "Bow Kite" when soloing mobs that hit too hard. Just keep in mind that bow damage didn't really... do much... until AA's (which we won't see here)

The 40% exp penalty is painful, but despite the stigma of rangers, and SOE constantly killing the class over the years, they're really good in the right hands.

[YendorLootmonkey]

Rangers are usually looked down upon because they are the masters of nothing (well maybe except track) in classic, and even in Kunark and beyond, except for slight perks for archery until AA (which won't come into play here). But they can do a little bit of everything, which is where their strength lies. The problem is it takes a skilled and versatile player to tap into all of that potential. Not going to re-hash what greenshag1979 has already said, because he's spot on. Rangers are the MacGyvers of EQ.

Personally, as a ranger... in my groups, I pull in the mobs and protect the group. Between harmony (outdoors), snare, and rootpark... if I don't bring only a single mob back to the group, I failed. In efficient groups with enough DPS, it's actually more effective for you to chain-pull until the healer can't keep up... run out and grab mobs and rootpark them and do the crowd control for your group and when they're down to the last 1-2 mobs, run out and tag some more. If there is competition for spawns, you are going to tag them first with 200+ range on your bow. If the other group still tries to engage after you tag them, you've got Flame Lick and Snare to lock the mob back on you, unless you're up against another ranger or a knight class. Steady stream of XP, plus you can manage on your own if you fizzle/resist a root or two. Or snare kite if needed in a pinch. Or toss heals to your chanter when your cleric is busy keeping the tank alive. With enough room to operate, if your healer goes down, there's no reason you can't snare/rootpark 3-4 blue-to-yellow-con mobs in your group and give your group enough time to escape.