Ranger PvE/PvP Guide

Ranger PvE/PvP Guide

As one of the few rangers out there (since most re-rolled as Gunslingers after 4.0) I have yet to find a pro/endgame ranger to ask for advice. So I turned to our dear old friend, Google, to help me out with manastones, stigma builds, gear and such. There are many guides, many different opinions but I’ve managed to find 2-3 that seemed most helpful and accurate and combined them into a more elaborate one, right here.
I will post links to the original guides at the bottom.

PvE

There aren’t many (good) guides out there strictly on PvE but since here in Regias we care more about PvE than PvP, I will state a few important things which I have discovered in a bit over a year of playing a ranger and also some bits of information I found on the Internet.

I’m going to start with weaving since it’s the fastest way for all classes to grind mobs. I found that weaving with a Ranger is easier than with Templar. Here is a video on how weaving is done by a Ranger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGffZFtfh8U

Basically, it’s all about timing. You have to click your skill as soon as you see the auto-attack being registered in the weaving tab. It took a while to get the hang of it but you know what they say, practice makes perfect. Weaving is most useful in early-game when you lack enough skills to keep the damage coming; later on you will have so many skills, sometimes you won’t have the opportunity to use them all.

Manastones

Now, many people say a Ranger should socket Crit. Strike/Attack. I’ve never socketed Attack stones on either one of my rangers, because I felt there is no point to it. I’ve been doing just fine with Crit. Strike so far and managed to land even 5k of critical damage (with buffs and scrolls). However, if you feel like Attack might be of some use to you, you can go for a Crit. Strike/Attack build but “weaving is the only way to make it viable” (Rudianos). I saw someone recommending Accuracy but I say don’t bother since Aiming increases your accuracy by 200.
The aim would be around 620 Crit. Strike unbuffed. If you reach that number you can socket Attack or even HP for survivability (since we’re very squishy).

Gear

You may have heard me say this more than once: go for coin gear. At least until you reach 50-55. With the XP needed to level up being nerfed after 4.0, you won’t even have time to go through all the sets. Iron and bronze coins are cheap to get on broker (you probably won’t even need to resort to that since almost all side quests now give one coin each). Silver and gold coins are easy to farm: Kerubs in Kuriullu and The Aggressive Undead are both repeatable and you can quickly find a group for them on LFG, plus it’s good experience too. Ingginson has two mithril coin repeatable quests, which can be easily done: For the Scholars and What’s up, Brohum?. At level 60 go for the fabled Kharun set. I know it’s a lot of work and takes time since you can’t buy the symbols like you buy coins but it’s worth it. And if you don’t want to go for the Bloodmarks set at 65, you can upgrade Kharun to eternal (unless you want to aim for that from the very beginning). This may not be the best end-game gear, there are many different opinions on the matter so feel free to post any comments you have regarding this.

Traps

Are very useful in early game because it makes up a bit for the lack of skills and later on for CC. Spike Trap immobilizes the enemy and reduces evasion. I found that the target can remain immobilized even if you hit it unless you use a skill that affects its movement or state (Entangling Shot, Silence Arrow, any skill that stuns, knocks back, blinds and so on). I’m not going to describe all the traps available, there are roughly around 12 of them, maybe even more. Poisoning Trap applies DoT, pretty much like Poison Arrow and so does Sandstorm Trap, reducing the target’s HP. Destruction Trap is an AoE trap so handle it with care. Trap of Clairvoyance reveals enemies in Hide. Skybound and Snare Trap both immobilize enemies in mid-air, with the difference that the first one is AoE. My favorite trap is Sleep Trap. It’s more efficient than Sleep Arrow even though it takes a few seconds to set up and you can’t actually focus on the target you want to sleep. Nonetheless, it saved my wings a couple of times.

Stigmas

The stigma build can be commonly used for PvE as well as PvP. You basically have to choose between two trees: the Lightning Arrow tree or the Agonizing Arrow tree. While for healers and tanks it’s easier to choose which tree to socket (DPS or heal/tank respectively), for rangers it’s a bit tricky. Mainly you have to make up your mind whether you want mobility – offered by the Lightning Arrow tree - or being able to burst an enemy pinned down by the tank – Agonizing Arrow tree. Some people say the Lightning Arrow tree is for PvE and Agonizing Arrow is for PvP but again, I think that depends on play style. I tried the stigmas for Agonizing Arrow build but giving that it cuts down your mobility and I’m the type to hit-and-run, it didn’t work out very well for me. Silence and Sleep arrows can be just as effective against mobs as against other players and whatever stigma slot you have unused can be filled with any other stigma you feel might be useful.

PvP

Time to turn the page to the PvP aspect of rangers, which I’m sure it’s what interests you most about this guide. While searching for manastone and stigma builds for PvP, I came across several guides that seemed pretty good but I liked one in particular because it gave details as of why using these manastones instead of those, why this stigma and not that one and so on. The guy’s name is Rudianos and I will quote him a lot in the following paragraphs because his explanations are much more accurate that any others I could come up with.

Manastone builds

I’ve covered the manastones aspect in the previous section but Rudianos gives a more detailed view on the topic. There are several manastone PvP builds and he accurately explains the use of each one as well as pros and cons. Keep in mind that we are talking about late game/ level 60 here.

Full Magical Accuracy
“Yep, you read right, you should have a full Magical Accuracy set at 60. This will be your most expensive set to make, hands down. This set, however, is not high priority. The purpose of this set is to counter people who socket full Magic Resist. Rangers are sitting ducks if they can't land a CC. With the recent Magical Accuracy buff that Sleep Arrow and Silence arrow received, a full Magical Accuracy will allow you to cut through those full Magic Resist sets. The target amount of Magical Accuracy for this set is 1,900, with food. If by some form of sorcery you achieve this number and actually still have a few empty slots in your gear, put Crit. Strike in.”

As a not-so-much PvPer, I’m not very concerned about reaching 1900 Magical Accuracy so I’ll just skip this one.

Magical Accuracy and Crit Strike
“In my opinion, this should be your standard set for PvP. Obviously, to help with the full Magical Accuracy set, it would be best to socket your bow with only Magical Accuracy stones. The target amount of this set is 600-620 Crit. Strike, unbuffed. That means 720-740 with a Major Crit. Strike Scroll. Any empty sockets go to Magical Accuracy. The reason for the Crit. Strike target is due to the soft caps placed on the Crit. Strike/% critical chance conversion.”

So here you have it. This is why I am currently working on socketing Magical Accuracy. Of course, a full Magical Accuracy set would be more efficient against those who socket Resist Magic but like I said, I’m not an all-time PvPer and I don’t know how many people out there invest in full Resist Magic sets.

Full HP/HP and Crit Strike
“This is another very common Ranger build. In my opinion, it is inferior to the Magical Accuracy and Crit. Strike build for general PvP. However, it does have one use. This set will allow you to bane other Rangers, assuming they aren't wearing the same set. For that reason it is a set I recommend building, but make the Magical Accuracy and Crit. Strike set your priority. I have tested this with a Ranger who was able to beat me 2/3 times while they were wearing this set. However, when pitted against other classes they did not fare as well as I did, especially if the player had Magic Resist slotted somewhere. Again, the target number is 600-620 Crit. Strike, unbuffed”

HP and Crit. Strike hybrid – okay. Full HP – useless in my opinion. I know rangers are very squishy but socketing full HP won’t get you far. As a DPS class, you have to focus on your damage. Let the tank take the hits in group play and just run for your life when going solo.

Full Crit Strike/Attack and Crit Strike
“These are two less seen builds; the full Crit. Strike build is seen more often than Attack and Crit. Strike. I personally considered these two builds unreasonable. Full Crit. Strike simply isn't worth it when Crit. Strike values above 620 require 40 Crit. Strike for another % of Crit. chance. Attack doesn't help on our major skills due to RNG (Random Number Generator) causing the difference in damage to be unnoticeable. That being said, Attack and Crit. Strike CAN be a very viable manastone build. It requires low ping, however, as weaving is the only way to make it viable. The reason for this is because there is very little RNG in our auto attacks, so weaving with an Attack set can create a decent increase in DPS. This set is not required.”

So that’s pretty much all about manastones. Rudianos’ explanations make more sense than any others I’ve read on forums and guides and I can confirm most of what he says. When I used full Crit. Strike on my ranger, it worked pretty well for me back then because I socketed white, lower spec stones and didn’t reach the 620 cap. That was at around level 45-50 so a full Crit. Strike set would be useful at that level range. Later on, however you must combine Ctri. Strike with either Magical Accuracy or HP.

Stigmas

Rudianos made up a list of most useful normal stigmas and it goes as follows (from most useful to least useful):

• Bestial Fury
  
• Silence Arrow
  
• Sleep Arrow
  
• Focused Shots
  
• Bow of Blessing
  
• Skybound/Snare Trap
  
• Nature's Resolve
  
• Call Gryphu II
  

I would also add Holy arrow somewhere between Sleep Arrow and Focused shots. Yes, it does share a cool down with Brightwing Arrow and but it’s more efficient from what I could tell in spite the fact that it has low accuracy (plus it fires three gryphu birds, not just one ). Personally I am not using Focused Shots because, just like Rudianos said, it’s not worth it unless you have a good bow and rangers are squishy enough, no need for the 50% decreased defense.

Nature’s Resolve is good but is rendered useless due to the effect duration/cool down time ratio. Ten seconds of buff duration and five minute cool down is not worth it. As for Call Gryphu – this is the most useless stigma in the game, period. I would put it last in the entire skill list. It summons a bird with 200 HP that slows down enemies. Now, Rudianos does have a point: “the slow which it uses will slow even a Gladiator that has used Strengthen Wings”. Probably very true but unless you have the luck to run into Gladiators all the time or have your own stigma build and by some miracle still have an empty slot left, I wouldn’t advise socketing it.

Greater Stigmas

Here I’m just going to copy-paste what Rudioanos said. No, I’m not lazy but I would end up saying the same things anyway. Basically you have to go with either one of the two greater stigma trees. I’ve never heard of a hybrid build but if you ever came across an effective hybrid build, please feel free to post a reply.

Agonizing Arrow

“This path hurts. Furthermore, the poison from Agonizing Arrow prevents an assassin from running away in stealth (the DoT will kick them back out of stealth). The only downside: this path has much longer cooldowns and none of the greater stigma skills, aside from the buffs, can be used while moving. This means it is very easy for a fast target to get out of your range and start kiting you. It also means that a close range fighter can easily close the distance. This path is good for levels 45-54 to make up for the lack of gear you will have, unless you are twinking. The added damage will supplement your weaker bow and allow you to achieve decent burst. It will also work well in group PvP, where you aren't the primary target and don't have to worry about your lack of mobility”.

I gave this a try when I was around level 45 and I agree, it does hurt. As for the PvP part, now that we encounter geared asmos that fry us in 2.5 seconds, doesn’t really matter if you are the primary target or not. The only solution is to run as fast as you can.

Lightning Arrow

“This path does not hurt as much as Agonizing Arrow. The benefits of this path is its mobility boost, which is significant compared to Agonizing Arrow. Every greater stigma on this greater stigma tree can be used while moving. Heck, aside from Breath of Nature, even the normal stigmas on the path can be used while moving. This includes Trap of Slowing and Blazing Trap. This path is incredibly mobile and it gives you a stun at the end of it. What's more, this stun stacks with physical stuns such as a knock back (the significance of this is because Remove Shock can only remove one stun, so if a stun is stacked then the player will still be stunned after using Remove Shock). If you have a good weapon and like mobility, this is the stigma path for you”.

General Consensus

“Normally I don't care much about the general consensus on builds, everyone has their own play style, but I will state it anyway. The general consensus is that Lightning Arrow, at end-game, is superior to Agonizing Arrow path in every way, be it for PvP or PvE. Again, it is totally up to play style, but most will find that the mobility from Lightning Arrow path is worth the slight drop in burst from changing trees”.

Other important information

• First off, your normal buffs share cooldown: Dodging, Aiming, Strong Shots and Hunter’s Eye. Secondly, out of these four buffs, you can only have 2 of them up in the same time. The last one used replaces the first one. The stigma buffs don’t share cooldowns (except for bestial Fury, which shares cooldown with the four buffs mentioned before) and there is no limit on how many you can have up in the same time, they stack with the normal buffs;
  
• Some of your traps also share cooldown and you can have only two active in the same time. Traps that share cooldown are the ones that share the same amount and type of job supplies (Spike Trap with Poisoning Trap, Explosion Trap with Spike Bite Trap and with Sandstorm Trap, Sleeping Trap with Trap of slowing and so on);
  
• The multicast Arrow Assault skill shares cooldown with Stunning Shot, I barely use it.
  
• Some of the skills are plain useless (or I have yet to find a good use to them):
  
  
  
  • Arrow Flury – you get stunned if you take damage;
    
  • Retreating Slash – it rubberbands at high ping and you also have to be close to the enemy;
    
  • Call Gryphu – Summons a bird with only 200 HP;
    
  • Vaizel’s Arrow – 4000 DP and it’s an AoE skill. Not useful in PvE, maybe useful in PvP;
    
  • Transformation Krall – It is exactly like Mau Form except you turn into a Krall. You can use the stigma slot for something more useful;
    
  
  
  
  
• Some skills are not affected by the Bestial Fury’s range reduction: Stunning Shot, Rupture Arrow, Spread Shot, Arrow Storm and Arrow Deluge;
  
• “Unerring Arrow can never be parried, blocked or evaded. If the target has a skill in effect that guarantees and evade, block or parry, it will be null and void in the face of Unerring Arrow. Not only will the target still suffer normal damage, Unerring Arrow's damage is treated as though the skill activated, so if it has a limited number of activations then one of the activations has been used” (Rudianos).
  
• Silence will prevent the activation of Remove Shock chain buffs/spells.
  
• The root from Shock Arrow cannot be removed with Greater Healing Potions. All Ranger roots have a chance to break when the target is attacked. In order from most likely to break to least likely:
  
  
  
  • Trap of Slowing
    
  • Spike Trap
    
  • Spike Bite Trap
    
  • Shock Arrow
    
  
  
  

This is pretty much all there is to know. If I happened to leave something our or got it wrong or if you have questions regarding rangers the start flooding the thread with posts. I didn’t include the PvP strategies against classes because those can vary based on gear and personal stigma builds. But I will post the links to Rudianos’ guide and another one I found on the internet which both have some tips included.

Rudiano's PvP Ranger Guide
Not Aion Ranger Guide

Great guide, deserved sticky!

Awesome guide, thanks for all the time and effort you put into it.
Some things are out of my league so I'll keep checking on this often

Wow... i cant say my opinion here... cause i LEARNED things that i didnt knew... like full crit strike manstones and silence arrow and shock arrow!.. hmm.. also Unerring Arrow!

nice guide!.. i advice to all rangers follow that!