[FAKE STICKY] Ranger FAQFollow

*Once and for all let's answer these questions just one more time and be done with it. Please expand on these and I'll try to update this over time. Believe it or not I DO work so I'll do this a little at a time. If by some miracle some moderator helps us sticky this thread we can celebrate.*

To the regular posters, I'll be cut & pasting some of your information. I'll thank you now for your contribution...you know who you are if you recognize your words here. Plagiary is the highest form of flattery...sometimes you simply say it better then I can. I intend this to be a collective of all our ideas...so feel free to post recommendations and I'll try to update this post where necessary.
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What is best sub for Rangers?

RNG/THF - generally used for farming and improved item drops. You get a nice amount of AGI with it, but not much hit points, and very little combat skills to fall back on.

RNG/WAR - fairly popular combo. This is the big damage one, with the added STR and Berserk you'll be pulling some big numbers. The drawback is you really need some good equipment and a level 31 BRD to hit often.
As odd as this may sound I'd recommend this for more advanced players. I found you really have to be careful to control aggro, it's easy to find yourself being chewed to pieces very quickly if you find your Barrage+Berserk does less damage to the mob than you expect.

RNG/NIN - Probably the most well rounded of the popular subs, and the most widely used. High natural AGI and dual archer/hawker knives will help your hits land very often, though for not as much damage as RNG/WAR. The other big thing with it is Utsusemi/Blink. If you don't know already, this lets you take no damage from 3 attacks. If you pull aggro unexpectedly this can be a lifesaver.

RNG/SAM - I think this one is probably dead by now. It was a popular idea when the game was first released in the US for PC, but realism with the accuracy and hate management set in and it wasn't so impressive anymore. Generally this is used at level 60+ where you can take advantage of the massive TP gaining skills of the SAM sub and unleash multiple Sidewinders.

Most the players on these boards seem to raise more than one sub to be a little more flexible (myself included). My advice is figure out what you want to do, and how you want to play, and then look at your subs. And if you don't know, raise a couple of them and try them out.


What is the best race for a Ranger?

In general, it is agreed that there is NO best race for Ranger that cannot be compensated by good gear.


• Mithra
Highest Accuracy - Mild Strength

• Hume
Decent Accuracy - Decent Strength

• Tarutaru
High Accuracy - Low Strength

• Galka
Mild Accuracy - High Strength

• Evlaan
Low Accuracy - Highest Strength

As you get into higher levels all the traits tend to even out (as long as you keep your equipment upgraded). Race doesn't make much of a difference once you're at a high enough level.


What are the important stats for a Ranger?

It's usually in this order of priority:

R.Acc > R.Attk > AGI > STR > anything else.

The "anything else" part can be divided between VIT or DEF or EVA depending on what you might prefer at the time.

Other important relationships to consider:

• 2 AGI = 1 R.Acc
• 2 STR = 1 R.Attk = 1 Attk
• 1 Attk does NOT have any affect on 1 R.Attk.
• Berserk is reported to to boost Attk only. But all evidence suggests that it is also boosting R.Attk as well.

Back in January there was an interview with a developer from Square-Enix about some of these stats:

Here it is


What gear should I be using as a Ranger?

Short answer -- use the best you can afford to use at the time. This usually requires the purchase of High Quality (+1) items because of the extra stats that will benefit us as RNGs.

Concentrate on your bows and arrows as a priority in making purchases. Then consider the best equipment based in the order of the stat priority mentioned above.

Key common items that are popular with RNGs include the Archer's Knife, Martial Slacks, and all the +1 Bows. Euryto's Bow, Hawker's Knife, & Fransiscas are among the end-game items some RNGs want later on.

Are Leaping Boots or the Hairpin required?

They are helpful & highly desired. BUT it's been somewhat mentioned over and over again here that they are NOT required for a RNG to be considered "good". Everyone will have to make their own decision whether the time and price of these items justifies the need to have them.

Should I level Archery or Marksmenship?

Ideally, level both. Here are the general relationships between the various ranged weapons:

• Bows = Elemental Arrows.
• XBow = Status Effect Bolts.
• Guns = High single impact shots.

Bullets are extremely expensive. So similar to the Leaping Boots and Emporer's Haipin question above, you have to decide for yourself whether the damage gained from them is worth the several times more in cost.

What food items do I use for a Ranger?

Windhurst Salad Agi +5 Vit -1
Wild Onion Agi +4 Vit -6
Meat Chiefkabob Agi +2 Vit -1 Str +5 Attack +22%
Meat Mithkabob Agi +2 Vit -1 Str +5 Attack +21.9%

Most common: Meat Mithkabobs

Note that it's been recently demonstrated by screenshots that STR *does* affect gun damage as well. Until there is some other way to disprove this demonstration, we can only assume this as fact.

What crafts should I work as a Ranger?

There seems to be a lot of competing information on which crafts are good for what purpose. While it may be ideal to master all of these crafts, market price fluctuations can sometimes be cheap enough you should just purchase parts from other crafters rather then make everything yourself from start to finish. My only recommedation is to keep an eye on crafter posts to see what the latest trends may be:

Trade Links

It's suggested you should aim to work on Woodcrafting for arrows, Alchemy & Goldsmithing for bullets.

Do high level Rangers have problems finding groups?

Generally speaking, based on feedback from multiple posts from Rangers over 50+ here, including yours truly...the concensus is "No". Rangers are currently enjoying a pretty good reputation for performance out in the field right now, and most PT leaders recognize the level of commitment it takes to get a Ranger up past 45.

That being said, you'll occasionally have those nights where you will have dead spots with nothing going on...but overall, we have yet to hear from any RNG 50+ say that they have a lot of trouble finding a PT.

Rangers are usually desired to play the role as both damage dealer, and puller.

Arrow Swapping

Perhaps one of the more interesting and fun things about Ranger combat is the ability to switch arrows to meet any given situation. Suppose you needed to swap out your finest Silver lined arrows for your weapon skills... or say your normal arrows are ineffective against a creature but you had some fancy ice arrows at hand? Well... a common practice for RNGs is to set up special macros to handle these swaps for us:

e.g.
/equip ammo "Scorpion Arrow"
/wait 2
/p Using Barrage!! Poor fella...
/ja Barrage <me>

Note:
• swapping arrows DO NOT reset your TP. Swapping *weapons* do. • Make sure you slip at least one or two seconds of wait time in between commands to avoid any commands from being misfired.
• Some players choose to place a second "equip ammo" command at the end of the macro to swap back to your original arrow type. The alternative is to leave just one /equip command at the start of every macro so it just takes care of itself each time. You decide.

What are Quivers? How do I make them?

In whichever city is first in conquest, you will find a Mithra with the travelling circus/minstrels/whatever. This group can be found in Southern San d'Oria across from the Auction House, Windurst Woods near the fountain, or Port Bastok near the Gustaberg gate, depending on which city is first in conquest. The Mithra in question is sitting off to the side instead of actually performing with the group.

You will need 1 carnation for EACH stack of 99 arrows. Carnations can be purchased at the flower shop in Upper Jeuno for around 60 gil a piece, or purchased from Auction House under Materials >> Alchemy. She will only quiver full stacks of 99 arrows.

Simply trade the arrows and the carnations to the mithra at the same time, and she will give you the quivers in return.

You can trade several stacks of arrows and several carnations to her at once so you don't have to do a separate trade for every single quiver. For example, the most slots you can trade to someone at once is 8, so you can trade 7 stacks of Silver Arrows, and 7 carnations (all in one stack) to receive 7 quivers all at once.

Quivers can be stacked, with up to 12 quivers in one stack. This means that you can carry a total of 1188 (12 x 99) arrows in a single inventory slot.

You can not equip a quiver in the ammo slot. Simply "use" a quiver, and it will be broken back down in to the 99 arrows that make up the quiver, which can then be equipped in the ammo slot.

How much arrows would I be using as a Ranger?

There's simply no way to measure this accurately. Simply stated we should be using as many arrows as needed to get the job done. We commonly say you should use just enough arrows to keep at the "hate line". In other words, get a feel for how many arrows you can shoot out before the tank has trouble keeping the MOB's attention away from you.

You'll be using less arrows if your PT is efficient...more arrows if not.

Generally speaking, it's been agreed that a typical Ranger will use on average 2 stacks of arrows per hour. So if you plan for 3 hours of fighting...look to bring at least 6 stacks of arrows with you, and perhaps a couple extra stacks for good luck.

Ranger AFs

In the interest of keeping this FAQ guide reasonably concentrated on the global details, I'll just post a link here to another post. All the best information for this can be found at two places:

• RKenshin's Tips

• Killing Ifrit

How much money do I need to start a RNG?

Not as much as you would expect. Of course, the more money you have the better, but most of us started our Ranger careers with maybe 80K-120K in the bank.

If you do nothing else (i.e., no farming, crafting, fishing, etc), that money should last you till about level 20. Most of your expenses will be for arrows and bows. A lot of pre-20 levels you can recycle the gear you used from your first job as there really isn't any RNG specific gear yet.

Of course, as you level, you'll be selling some of your gear back so your funds can be stretched as you go.

Still, the RNG career is one that demands a constant stream of income. So get in the habit of making money as soon as you can.

Travel

OK, I'm cheating when I include this as a Frequent Question. But I think it's important to mention a commonly overlooked scenario when players are trying to find the "fastest" way to build a RNG.

Being "fast" doesn't necessarily just mean powerleveling your levels as fast as you can, you'll have a much easier time if you can get everywhere faster too. And that's where travel speed comes to play.

Forget just RNGs for a sec, if I had to rebuild any new character from scratch I'd first concentrate on traveling:

-- Airship Pass (get rank 5)
-- Chocobo (get to 18)
-- Outpost ports (do supply quests)
-- Get Flee (lvl THF to 25)
-- Get Warp (lvl BLM to 17)

In almost every MMO, your ability to travel anywhere fast is going to make your game that much more fun.

I don't think you'll regret having any one of those things above...no matter what job you end up sticking to. As a RNG, you'll spend a good deal of time questing, farming and crafting. So traveling quickly is the key to helping you build this character.


Ranger Equipment Guide

Link to original post for color keys and recommendations.

Weapon

Bronze Axe (1) -> Beestinger (7) -> Bone Axe (13) -> Battleaxe (20) -> Archer's Knife (28) -> Hawker's Knife (30) -> Fransisca (63)

Ranged (Bow)

Shortbow +1 (1) -> Longbow +1 (5) -> Royal Archer's Longbow (10) -> Hunter's Longbow (12) -> Power Bow +1 (16) -> Great Bow +1 (30) -> Battle Bow +1 (40) -> War Bow +1 (50) -> Eurytos' Bow (55) -> Sarnga's Bow (59) -> Master Caster's Bow (71)

Ranged (Crossbow)

Light Crossbow +1 (1) -> Legionnaire's Crossbow (10) -> Crossbow +1 (12) -> Power Crossbow (25) -> Zamburak +1 (30) -> Arbalest +1 (50) -> Heavy Crossbow +1 (60) -> Othinus' Bow (67)

Ranged (Gun)

Hakenbuechse (6) -> Bandit's Gun +1 (15) -> Tanegashima +1 (19) -> Arquebus +1 (22) -> Pirate's Gun +1 (27) -> Serpentine Gun (34) -> Musketeer Gun (50) -> Matchlock Gun +1 (56) -> Hellfire +1 (70) -> Culverin +1 (73)

Ammo (Bow)

Stone Arrow (1) -> Bone Arrow (7) -> Iron Arrow (14) -> Fang Arrow (15) -> Beetle Arrow (17) -> Poison Arrow (19) -> Silver Arrow (24) -> Horn Arrow (29) -> Scorpion Arrow (40) -> Ice / Fire / Lightning Arrow (45) -> Demon Arrow (60) -> Patriarch Protector's Arrow (60) -> Kabura Arrow (70)

Ammo (Crossbow)

Bronze Bolt (1) -> Blind Bolt (10) -> Acid Bolt (15) -> Venom Bolt (25) -> Holy Bolt (30) -> Mythril Bolt (40) -> Darksteel Bolt (52) -> Gold Musketeer's Bolt (60)

Ammo (Gun)

Bronze Bullet (1) -> Bullet (22) -> Silver Bullet (50) -> Cannon Shell (73)

Head Armor

Circlet (1) -> Leather Bandana (7) -> Compound Eye Circlet (9) -> Royal Footman's Bandana (10) -> Kingdom Bandana (15) -> Lizard Helm (17) -> Emperor's Hairpin (24) -> Brass Mask (27) -> Centurion's Visor (30) -> Iron Visor (37) -> Corsair's Hat (44) -> Raptor Helm (48) -> Hunter's Beret (54) -> Coeurl Mask (69) -> Optical Hat (70) -> War Beret (70)

Body Armor

Robe (1) -> Leather Vest (7) -> Tunic (8) -> Royal Footman's Tunic (10) -> San d'Orian Tunic (15) -> Lizard Jerkin (17) -> Brass Scale Mail (27) -> Centurion's Scale Mail (30) -> Iron Scale Mail (37) -> Combat Caster's Cloak (43) -> Brigandine Armor (45) -> Royal Knight's Cloak (50) -> Hunter;s Jerkin (58) -> War Aketon (70) -> Kirin's Osode (75)

Earring

Opal Earring (10) -> Shield Earring (20) -> Genin Earring (30) -> Drone Earring (36) -> Fenrir's Earring (70)

Neck

Feather Collar +1 (7) -> Ranger's Necklace (14) -> Peacock Charm (33) -> Jagd Gorget (40) -> Coral Gorget (56) -> Spectacles (59)

Hand Armor

Cuffs (1) -> Leather Gloves (7) -> Royal Footman's Gloves (10) -> San d'Orian Gloves (15) -> Lizard Gloves (17) -> Brass Finger Gauntlets (27) -> Centurion's Finger Gauntlets (30) -> Iron Finger Gauntlets (37) -> Mage's Cuffs (38) -> Hunter's Bracers (52) -> Coeurl Gloves (69) -> War Gloves (70) -> Blood Finger Gauntlets (73) -> Seiryu's Kote (75)

Ring

Windurstian Ring (1) -> Copper Ring (1) -> Brass Ring (7) -> Tourmaline Ring (14) -> Bone Ring (16) -> Beetle Ring (21) -> Horn Ring (35) -> Marksman's Ring (40) -> Carapace Ring (45) -> Scorpion Ring (55) -> Lightning / Fire Ring (65) -> Coral Ring (70) -> Behemoth's Ring (70)

Back

Rabbit Mantle (1) -> Traveler's Mantle (12) -> Lizard Mantle (17) -> Nomad's Mantle (24) -> Midnight Cape (30) -> Bat Cape (46) -> Federal Army Mantle (55) -> Amemit Mantle (61)

Waist

Blood Stone (1) -> Leather Belt (7) -> Lizard Belt (17) -> Mercenary Captain's Belt (30) -> Survival Belt (38) -> Royal Knight's Belt (50)

Leg Armor

Slops (1) -> Leather Trousers (7) -> Scale Cuisses (10) -> Lizard Trousers (17) -> Martial Slacks (24) -> Centurion's Cuisses (30) -> Republic Cuisses (34) -> Iron Cuisses (40) -> Steel Cuisses (50) -> Hunter's Braccae (56) -> War Brais (70) -> Dusk Trousers (72)

Foot Armor

Ash Clogs (1) -> Leather Highboots -> Leaping Boots (7) -> Royal Footman's Boots (10) -> Light Soleas (13) -> Royal Footman's Clogs (20) -> Winged Boots (24) -> Brass Greaves (27) -> Air Solea (28) -> Centurion's Greaves (30) -> Republic Greaves (34) -> Hunter's Socks (60) -> Coeurl Ledelsens (69) -> War Boots (70)

Edited, Thu Aug 5 16:00:03 2004 by Kamena

Post corrected:

Seems pretty solid. You may want to make guild recommendations for Marksmanship(Alchemy and some Woodworking) and Archery(Woodworking). Bolts of course seem spread out over smithing, alchemy, AND woodworking. phew I guess woodworking would be best with either Alchemy or Smithing. ouch

Edited, Mon Apr 26 23:00:03 2004 by DieselEdge

Nice information. Even listed all of the weapon skills and gave a description of them, I like that. This should be a real sticky so (maybe) people will read it first, instead of asking the same questions repeatedly. Wishful thinking I know.

Great post so far guys! Just want to add a bit myself.

How to balance the budget

There's a number of ways to keep up with the costs of being a Ranger with good equipment.

Farming:
Generally the easiest, there's a few ways to approach this.
First is to check out the big sellers in the AH. Early levels Silk Thread (Crawlers) and Beehive Chips (Most bee/wasp mobs) will be good sources of income. Later you may consider harder mobs such as Walking Trees and Forest Tigers in Jugner.
Another way to go is to hunt low level beastmen. They drop gil directly so you can be sure you're not putting in more arrows than your getting back in gil. Also most beastmen have some drops that will sell for decent prices.
You can also look for certain niche markets. Where there's some demand for an item, but not a huge demand. Typically there's less competition over the mobs that drop those items, and they tend to sell a bit faster without having to cut prices drastically.
One thing that will make this much easier is to have a THF of level 15 or higher somewhere in your job description. This will greatly improve the chance of drops and make farming go that much faster.

NM Hunting:
NM's can provide a lot in the way of funding if you're lucky. The best one's are usually camped continuously, however if you're lucky enough to claim the mob, and get the drop you can make enough money to get you through the lower levels in one fell swoop (or one shot as the case may be ^^).

Mining/Harvesting
Once the Mining/Harvesting Points for an area are learned this can be very good source of income. Typically it's worth the investment in Harvesting equipment if you're going to pursue this seriously. The only drawbacks to this are 1) Large inventory space or a mule needed for selling items 2) Competition in the best areas.

Fishing
Similar to Mining/Harvesting in the fact that equipment and knowing the best spots makes a difference. But it's a little different since your fishing skill has to be raised somewhat for this to be most effective.

Crafting
As Kamena said before, Woodworking and Alchemy are the two best crafts for us. They allow us to make not only ammo for ourselves, but once a high enough level is reached, produce a sizeable income. The chief disadvantage to this is it takes a fair amount of time and income initially to become proficient at it enough to turn consistent profits.

Trading/Importing
Prices will vary according to location and sometimes time of day for certain items. By knowing where to buy low and sell high you can turn a profit just as you would in the stock market. Buy low, sell high.

I know this is a little skimpy in some sections, but I figured when we get some better/more detailed suggestions on certain parts of this I can edit this and add them in.

Edited, Fri Apr 23 08:40:42 2004 by Jigensan

I think there's a general Allakhazam forum where I've seen maybe a couple posts from people asking for certain posts to be stickied. I can ask...but I figured we can wait a couple days to see how this thread is received first.

melee weapon skills to keep up to date: Dagger (for archer/hawker knives), MAYBE axe (for francisca).

I knew my crafting links might need adjustment :) I'll add to that later.

Gun toters might want to offer more specific tips if you like and I'll update that. I don't remember seeing any particular gun question that would be considered "frequent"...but if you have some thing particular we should know about post away and I'll add to the bundle ^^

Great post. ^^
Is there a way to get this to be actually stickied?

Rated some posts up due to great content, this should be stickied, at the very least bump'd

:D

yeah, I noticed other jobs argue a lot more on these boards.

Aside from some light arguments here and there, we've been able to avoid that here for some reason.

Great Post - BTT

Yes, I was thinking the AF guide should be stickied too but wanted to step carefully because I'm not sure exactly if where I asked for this is the wrong procedure.

Basically it's in the "Forum Feedback" section of Allakhazam's general game forums. I lurked there for about a week and noticed maybe a couple other posts for stickies there.

Maybe you can add a followup under my same post:

Post

about crafting... I generally agree that Woodworking and Alchemy are the best to get into for a Ranger, but I'm surprised nobody mentions Leathercrafting. Leathercrafting, in particular, is farming dependent and the Ranger is arguably the best farmer job in the game. Granted, Leathercrafting is not for the faint of heart or those who lack gil - I lost a *lot* of money crafting lvl 7-11 - but it pays back in spades. I hope to make good money ram farming by turning all those Ram Skins I get into Ram Leather. ^^

I don't aggree with this fully. I would rank them

R.Acc > AGI > STR > R.Attk > anything else

This is based on how I think STR and R.Attk work which I posted here http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/jobs.html?fjob=7&mid=1085073961793909411&num=17

Is there anyway to remove the [FAKE STICKY] From the Subject and just make it Ranger FAQs, someone just messaged me and ask where the Ranger FAQ was and didn't realize that this was official? I know sounds kind of stupid but there are those people out there.

This is an excellent post. I've been thinking of leveling ranger for a while now, and this post has given me plenty of information.

Thanks for all the information

Great thread! Begin Ranger level 1 tonight and was unsure as to whether I wanted to level it all the way or ninja. Now I am 100% sure I will make my career as a ranger. Still undecided as to sub my thief or warrior. Probably stick with warrior for the solo lower levels and switch to thief when I hit 30 with ranger - Does that sound about right? Also does sneak attack work with ranged weapons?
Thanks
Foofighter
Quezawhatever
Hume - Sandorian (raised by Elvaan just like Aragorn the Dunedain Ranger =O)

Um, I just became a Ranger and read through this. I have a queston: What's a quiver? That section didn't answer the question, just how to get them. So why do I need them? Thanks. Otherwise helpful guide.

Great Thread I have Rng leveled to only 7 right now but have been thinking of going back to it.

Anyway I am also still a little confused on quivers and need more help Sorry Some of this may be wrong so please let me know.

1)I get the items listed to make the quiver (Carnation and Stack of Bone Arrows - qty 99 (As an example.)

2)I have this mithra make me a quiver by giving her the the 99 Bone arrows and the 1 carnation.

4)She then hands me a quiver of 99 bone arrows.

3)I then put the quiver in my inventory.

Now I don't know what to do.

a) I now have a quiver of 99 bone arrows?

b) If i buy 2 more stacks of bone arrows and do Auto Sort will they all group together in one slot labled Quiver 297 bone arrows?

c) Do I equip the quiver in the "Arrow" slot of my equimpent list or do i equip the actually bone arrows in the equipment slot?

d) When I run out of Bone Arrows that were in the quiver does the quiver disappear from my inventory or can I refill it?

e) How do you refill it?

Thats it for now sorry if the questions a-e are confusing and sorry to make the experienced rangers go ARRRGGG these stupid noobs are killing me...lol

Thanks
Theifcat

You're correct, except you can't do it with Bone Arrows, if you read the text when you talk to her she says she won't waste her time with anything but Iron Arrows on up.

But other than that, yes you are correct.

Cos

Can the part about Quivers be updated with information on exactly which arrows CAN be quivered? Wooden/Bone/Scorps can't, what about Beetles? Horns?

I'm thinking of going with marksmanship..

does anyone here knows of a FAQ Guide on that style of Ranger and their weapon Skill(i don't know what each does and such)


Aside from being expensive... It seems that the weapons and bullets GREATLY outdamage an archer.. unless i'm wrong o.O

Just wanted to thank you all for giving your time to post all of this. I'm a begining Ranger (level16) and this has answer SO many questions. Thank You^^

I just started thinking about lvling a Mage as a sub for Rng. I know that Rangers get a abilty like Bind but not for a while and im only lvling it to 40 as a sub for my Sam so would a mage be good for the bind spell, or should i just stick with my war and mnk as subs for it?

One question I don't see answered by this thread (maybe I'm just tired and missed it) is what is RNG's key melee skill? Dagger, axe? I've been using a dagger so far for RNG when meleeing, at the moment equipping a Beestinger, but I can't help but feel another weapon would be more effective.

Since so many Renkei threads are popping up, its an idea to add a Skillchain section to this. ^^