Thizual's Guide to Rangers
This guide was written for a new player, so for some more experienced readers considering ranger as a later class, you will need to use your knowledge of the game to make accurate and functional changes to this guide to fit your knowledge and playing style.
There are a few critical pieces of information that some people, especially new players, overlook about rangers and those will be addressed before delving further into the potential applications of the class.
The first and one of the key points about the class, is that they are mages. However, rangers can still be versatile enough to act like a fighter class. This will be key in deciding which skills and abilities to practice since their combat cannot be brought to bear until higher levels. Interestingly agility is their primary ability score, not a "casting" ability like sanity, knowledge, or wisdom.
Rangers possess a variety of useful skills including scan, track and forage whilst also getting some of the most helpful rogue skills, which can lead to a dilemma of what to practice! As a player you have available to you a wealth of useful skills and spells, enabling you to travel anywhere at almost anytime, skills to enhance stamina and find food when you are hungry, spells to fry, freeze or slow your enemies encouraging endless possibilities. This guide will hopefully help players make a decision about where to put their precious practices, since there is no way everything can be practiced effectively in the short term.
Class Pros:
Has a wide variety of skills and spells, careful planning can make this class very powerful, and will certainly increase your selection of abilities later. A ranger can work solo or in groups very efficiently (and needs not carry food if you like foraging). This may the most utilitarian first class.
Class Cons:
The wide variety of skills and spells if not carefully planned out can lead to a very trying first-class experience! Lack of skilled playing may result in many deaths.
And how should you plan your spells and skills?
Make sure you use all your current practices at levels 19/59/119, since after those levels the number of practices per 1% skill enhanced will go up. This does not include spear that won't go up until level 59 as a ranger.
There seem to be several paths for a ranger, which will be discussed in detail:
The Battlemage
This version of the ranger decides to specialize in defensive combat and a few select offensive spells. The major advantage to this is that spell power won't be much of a factor at higher levels (like 55+) and the disadvantage is that you will be weaker at lower levels, and must play with skill to overcome a lack of raw offensive power. In order to create a viable ranger with a balance of casting and combat choose two or three spells to max during your journey, and gather a few good enhancement spells, like light/armor/haste and the ever-useful magic unlock. Then choose a few select combative skills (maxing one weapon is recommended, probably sword like the help file advises), then select one or two more weapons and kick as well as parry and dodge, which you will endeavor to master. This next piece of advice might not make any sense, but max your agility and wisdom first. Don't worry too much about vitality, having leveled with anywhere from 5 to 19 and always having got getting 5hps (unless the char had a really high luck score, then about a 40% chance of 6hps).
Pros: Good variety, can hold your own in combat after your sp is drained. Your character is not completely reliant on spell power, and capable of tanking if no one better is available. When second attack becomes available, melee is almost as good as a 30th level barbarian or cavalier, especially considering the defensive options. Spell casting makes a great combat initiation after you sneak into the room and jump in first, haste of course helps all of this.
Cons: Low hp makes combat not the best, you are a caster. Using a smaller variety of spells from focusing on combat skills may hinder your ability to get all the utilitarian spells practiced well - You will have to suffice with functionality or quest a lot. The higher complexity combat abilities aren't brought to bear until level 40 or higher. It will be a slow start.
The Pure Mage
This version of the Ranger selects three or fewer skills, (dodge/one weapon/and one 'elective') and focuses most of his practices on spells. A good spell recommendation is either spark or magic dart, and then adopt another offensive spell at the top of your spell complexity comprehension every 10-15 levels. Use the rest of your practices to enhance stats, or build a large base of support spells like armor/magic unlock/underwater breathing/levitate, etc. As far as your stat enhancements ought to be placed, knowledge and wisdom are strongly recommended (knowledge so you achieve spell points and complexity comprehension, wisdom for practice bonuses). If you end up with extra attributes to raise, pump it into agility - It doesn't hurt to not get hit in fights, and it is your primary attribute.
Pros: Deals nice damage, capable of finishing fights quickly and starting them with crippling magical blows. High spell power later on allows constant casting and combined with meditation results in continual casting during prolonged fights. High complexity comprehension may result in some nice higher-level spells like recharge item (very utilitarian) as well as frost at a lower level than the "battlemage ranger" would achieve. Dodge is a handy melee ability, wizards and psionics will envy you.
Cons: You will be very dependent on spell power during the course of this class. It is likely that not all of your spells will become available to you (like ice storm at 82%). Questing will be a must if you like having all of your spells over 50% (especially the mean ones like haste that may seem to take extra practices per 1%).
Notes: Take advantage of the defensive skills available to you - the ability to continue fighting when spell points run out is definitely nice. If you don't PK a lot, you won't miss the curse/plague/poison/blind QUITE as much.
The Renaissance Man
This version of the ranger selects about three careful spells, create water, and magic unlock One weapon is selected for use, dodge and/or parry as a defense, and then rogue skills like sneak, scan, tracking, detect/disarm traps, and snare. Practice foraging up to 50%, and as your chosen abilities become available practice them up as quickly as you are able. Recommendations would be second attack, dodge, kick, detect traps/disarm traps, and sword. Track should be practiced up until it becomes useful. Whatever else you decide to tackle is up to you, whether through finding marks or questing. You will need to pump up your agility, wisdom, and knowledge, in that order (Maybe a 3 agility 2-3 wisdom then 2 knowledge, finish off the rest with +ability scores on items.)
Pros: You will be able to do anything at higher levels, fight well, track things, sneak through dungeons unimpeded by traps, and cast magical spells to augment your abilities. Foraging will prevent you from going hungry, and create water will suffice to finish off anything that reduces your regeneration. At higher levels you will be capable of close combat when needed and will have no real weak spots in your bag of tricks (especially not with max meditate, fast healing, and enhanced endurance!).
Cons: Another cliché: Jack-of-all-trades, master of none. You will never be the best, during this class, at anything but surviving. Nothing should kill you if you play your cards right, and you will need nothing and no one to survive. Unfortunately you will only be required by others when there is no one around better than you at your skills (which happens often). Once again, lots of questing will be beneficial for your future, at least 200 in your first class is heartily recommended.
The Fighter
While it isn't what this class is designed for, Rangers can become very skilled and surprising fighters, although a serious dose of patience is recommended for anyone wishing to attempt this. Max agility first, just so you get high enough complexities to use all your skills before level 60, don't worry, you will get them all! Pick one weapon to master, and boost the rest to about 40%, then train parry, dodge and second attack (when you get it at about level 55) as high as you can. You will be very hard to hit after level 30, but will require "hasted" beautiful silk scarves to fight well until you either learn the spell, or get second attack (preferably both). You will need to train your hit points somewhat, and learn to take full advantage of the few practices you have to put elsewhere (like spells and non-combat skills). The enhanced endurance skill will mean you can throw almost infinite kicks, and when you do decide to learn a spell, you will have plenty of spell points available for it.
Pros: Totally unorthodox, very unique, and yet the overall enhanced regeneration has definite perks. Proper planning and a larger than life dose of patience can make this very fun, and attest to the usefulness of parry and dodge.
Cons: Rangers are mages. It will take serious skill, patience, and a lot of "power leveling" and "quest leveling" (being taken around by groups and leveling by quest experience, respectively) to make this useful as it was not the original design of the class. You will feel like you have quested forever. Avoiding the variety the spells give you will be a real waste of a mage class character.
Final Results
Where are you at level 60? The hard-core player:
(Note that these stats are for a first class human who rolls all 12's to get started)
| Strength*: | 16/19 +3(items) | Vitality: | 12/19 |
| Knowledge: | 16/19 +3(items) | Luck: | 12/19 |
| Wisdom: | 16/19 +3(items) | Courage: | 12/19 |
| Agility: | 18/21 +3(items) | Sanity*: | 16/19 (+3 items) |
| Personality: | 12/19 | |
(The following will be your approximate abilities at level 60 with those stats, note these are for half-elf)
Spell Complexity Comprehension: 73%
Proficiency Complexity Comprehension:
Wea: 71% Def: 68% Com: 59% Tek: 100% Mys: 100%
(Note that apart from Tek and Mys, they will be about 2/3 this at level 59 - you'll be lucky if your Com goes over 35 before level 60)
* Choose whether you want Strength or Sanity - Perhaps hold off on strength if you decide to go barbarian next, otherwise the sanity can be nice if you are a casting ranger.
Boosting your stats to here will require 1320 practices and assuming you max wisdom first (before leveling, even though it's nearly impossible), you will receive 900 from levels (~15/level*60 levels). Add 9 achievable marks at about 40 practices each for 360, and you'll barely achieve just your stat boosts. Use your questing to work on the skills allocated to your "subclass."
If you aren't so hard-core don't worry too much about your stats (except agility) and simply play through for fun. Take your time and enjoy the class.
Ranger Spells
Ranger Proficiencies
Enhanced endurance is unique to ranger, and herbalism only shared with monk, both are extremely useful. Herbalism starts at 40%, high enough for your garden-variety mortar and pestle to mix cure light herbal mixtures. Enhanced endurance does wonders for combat, you can cast many magic darts and when you run out of sp you can start kicking. By the time you are out of stamina, you've got at least ½ sp back, and when that's out, you're often full stamina again. It can come in handy. Riding is great in giving you the advantage with your accuracy in combat.
Two defenses, two attacks, and the mage attack/defense spells will render your combat almost as good as a paladin when you need it, you'll only be short a bit on hp. There are a very high number of weapon selections available to this mage class and combine throwing with the magic bomb herbal mixture.
Most of the ranger spells are useful, though magic lock/unlock, fireball, lightning bolt, and the plethora of utilitarian pass door and haste type magics should be highlighted. You will find some common wizard spells missing, plague, curse, poison, and slow. While these are very useful, they can be done without.
Ranger can be heartily recommended for someone who wants to get most of their skills practiced in their first class, or plans on spending a larger amount of time than normal getting to know the game or collecting tourmalines in the tower of Riga. There is just no class that can beat the all-round superiority of a skilled ranger player. There are downsides to this class, but to which class are there no downsides?
Recommended Paths
ALWAYS Ranger/Bard - The only alternative to rogue in the thief class. Rogue is not recommended because of the overlap of skills with Ranger.
Ranger/Barbarian/Bard/Priest - Good fighting skills, but you may have trouble with your agility cap when becoming archon (it's already +4, and you'd have to be human for it to NOT pass above 25.) Seems a bit of a waste to go rogue when ranger duplicates many of the same skills. Axe and riding are a good combination.
Ranger/Priest/Bard - Gets you the curse/plague/poison you miss from wizard and slow/weaken/hands of wind etc from bard.
Not Recommended
Ranger/Rogue ß Too much skills overlapping make it redundant.
Ranger/Druid ß Druid although good with paladin, misses out on useful spells like plague/poison/curse, which priest gives.
Finally, good luck!
