[Daymion]

This was written pre-patch, most of the information still holds true, but there are some things that need updating; which I plan on doing in the near future.
Thanks ~ Day


Hello all fellow Rangers,
Like many of you I'm sure, I get tired of seeing the same questions getting posted every couple days or so. Many of these questions could easily be answered by doing a little research, and reading a couple of the threads past page one. This seems to be a little to complicated for some, so I've decided to put together a FAQ thread where hopefully most of these questions will be answered. Keep in mind I'm only 63 RNG/NIN so I have no experience with Ranger past that level, but most of the questions that get asked repeadetly are about the earlier levels anyways ^.^;


1. What's the best subjob for Ranger?

If I see this asked again I might very well vomit on the spot. Basically theres two viable options for Ranger 1-60ish and that's /NIN and /WAR. They perfered choice being /WAR 1-24 and then /NIN 24-75. Later in game I've heard of Rangers subbing Sam so they can be a TP whore, or WHM when fighting HNMS ect..., but so far in my Ranger career I just haven't seen those subs as an option. Lets take a look at what each sub has to offer.

/WAR
1. Beserk.
The best thing about /WAR is probably Berserk. Beserk boots your Ranged Attack by quite a bit, this can be nice if you like to see big numbers roll through your chat log.
2. STR Boost.
/WAR's per shot dmg will probably be slightly higher due to the STR boost given by a WAR sub. (This difference is all realative to gears and what not tho :/)
3. Defender.
This gives you a slight defence boost when you've overdone the damage a little too early in the fight, and your getting pounded in the ground.
4. Save Money.
With /WAR you won't be spending money on sheihi as well as arrows while you level.


/NIN
1. Utsusemi.
I don't think I even have to explain why having 3 shadows is a major benifit to us Rangers.
2. Dual Weild.
Although our main damage doesn't come from our weak little daggers, amazing stats do. Take level 28 for example, you can dual weild 2 Archer's Knives and get +20 Ranged Accuracy from just two slots.
3. Tonko.
This is great when doing missions and such, as it cuts down on the mages having to invis you every min or so.


I'm sure there are other pros to each sub and I didn't list any cons because I think those should be obvious by reading the pros to the opposing sub. I think most Rangers agree that /NIN is almost a neccessity, although there are Rangers that went all the way to 75 with a WAR sub, /NIN is just the safer, less dead Ranger, way to go. I'm not telling anyone what they should and shouldn't sub, you can sub BRD and prelude yourself for all I care. I'm just telling you what most Rangers will tell you if you ask if you need to sub Ninja.


2. What Equips should I be wearing?

These questions come up quite often about various beginning levels....So I'm gonna give a rundown of the "standard must haves" for Ranger from 1-35ish. The things that I have put *** next too are more or less luxury items that are nice to have but not required to be a great Ranger. Any slots not listed should just be filled with common sense equips.

For bows and rings go it is common practice for Ranger's to have the most up to date +1's of these items. The +1 versions of the bows, xbows, and guns all have rediculous added Ranged Attack, Accuracy, or both making them far superior to the normal quality bows. The + Racc rings start and level 16 with bone and you get new ones at levels 21,35,45, and 55.

Levels 1-15
Basic Starting Gear.
Lvl 7 - Feather Collar +1 (Racc +2)
*** Lvl 7 - Leaping Boots (Agi +3)
Lvl 7- Beestinger (Agi +1)
Lvl 10- Royal Footman's Bandana (Agi +2)
Lvl 14- Ranger's Necklace (I will still be wearing this at 75)

Levels 15-35
Lvl 20- Martial Slacks (Agi +3 Eva +3)
*** Lvl 24- Emperor's Hairpin (Agi +3 Eva +10)
Lvl 28- Archer Knife (Racc +10)
*** Lvl 30- Hawkers Knife ( Racc +11 Agi +2)
Lvl 30- All Noct.Gear except feet (check RSE for Agi or Str, Noct boots only give Dex)
*** Lvl 30- All Noct. Gear +1
Lvl 35 Drone Earrings (Agi +3)

Funny thing is, that's basically it till AF as long as you keep up to date with your bows/xbow/guns and ammo. Try to always use the arrows that give + Racc, even if you are taking a little damage cut vs. another arrow. An arrow that hits is worth more than one that misses. ^.^;

If you have further questions about gear, here is a link to a gear thread with a very nice spreadsheet by Defunkt:
Defunkt's Gear Thread

3. Bow, Xbow, or Gun: WTF DO I USE?

Honestly this is a matter of personal taste. Everyone has their favorite weapon You can use any of the three weapons and still pull hate, thus making the "which is better" question, one that can only be answered with an opinion. Just as advice I would say to use bow and xbow both until @ 50ish, (guns aren't really worth it imo until silver bullets), but I do think it's important to keep both Archery and Marksmanship leveled up. You never know when you might want to switch from marksmanship to archery or vice versa.

Basically your weapons work like this:

Guns: Higher Damage, Longer Delay, Greater TP Return
Bow: Less Damage, Shorter Delay, Lower TP Return
Xbow: Lowest Damage, Shortest Delay, Lower TP Return, Option of Status Bolts

In the long run it all evens out, and like I said I've never had a problem pulling hate with any of these weapons if I've gotten too careless, so the choice is up to you.


4. How far will XXX amount of gil take me as Ranger?

There was a recent post made about this and someone responded somewhat harshly but very direct and to the point. These kinds of questions cannont be answered with any kind of validity, theres just too many variables involved in this type of question. One Ranger could get to 75 on 2 or 3 million while it may take the next guy 10+ mil to get to 75. There really is no real answer to these questions. Ranger is an expensive job, and if you don't have a lot of gil to start off with you might want to think about leveling a different job or at least be prepared to find ways to support your Ranger.


5. Which Race makes the best Ranger?

This is another question that is frequently asked but also has no real answer. It's been said a million times, Race doesn't matter. That's the beauty of this game, it's balanced. Each race has it's Pros and Cons for Ranger, or any other job for that matter. With that said here's some of the pros and cons of each race.

Taru: Pros: High AGI, Cute as hell
Cons: Low HP, Low STR

Mithra: Pros: High Agi, Hawt
Cons: Low STR, Getting Hit on by Pervs :/

Elvaan: Pros: High STR, Gangsta style bow animation.
Cons: Low AGI, We look like dhamels :/

Galka: Pros: High STR, High HP
Cons: Low AGI, Galka Racisim :/

Hume: Pros: Average all around.
Cons: Average all around.


6. Which Food should I eat?

Ranger food is divided into 2 different types Ranged Accuracy Food and Ranged Attack Food. Again this choice is up to you, personally I used Attack foods at lower levels where stuff didn't have crazy high evasion, and if hitting became a problem I switched to Accuraccy foods. At my current level (63) I use mainly sushi for accuracy so I can shoot off a Slugshot or Sidewinder at 100% TP and not have to worry about missing. Here are some of the more common Ranger foods.

Ranged Attack Foods:

Yellow Curry
Stacks : No
Duration: 180 min.
HP +20
Strength +5
Agility +2
Intelligence -4
HP Regeneration While Healing +2
MP Regeneration While Healing +1
Resist Stun/Resist Sleep
Attack +20% (Cap: 75@375 Base Attack)
Ranged Attack +32%

Coeurl Sub
Stacks: Yes
Duration: 30 min.
MP +10
Strength +5
Agility +1
Intelligence -2
HP Regeneration While Healing +1
Resist Stun
Attack +20% (Cap: 75@375 Base Attack)
Ranged Attack +32%

Ranged Accuracy Foods:

Squid Sushi
Stacks: Yes
Duration: 30 min.
HP +30
Dexterity +6
Agility +5
Mind -1
Resist Sleep
Ranged Accuracy +15%
Accuracy +15%

Sole Sushi
Stacks: Yes
Duration: 30min.
HP +20
Strength +5
Dexterity +6
Mind -1
Resist Sleep
Accuracy +15%
Ranged Accuracy +15%

There are many other foods we can eat, but these are some of the more common foods we eat. For more food information I suggest checking out http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/food.php, this is an awesome site for food information, and they break it down by accurracy and attack foods for you.

7. WTF is a quiver, and where do I get them?

A quiver is basically just a stack of 99 arrows, but the cool thing about quivers is that they stack up to 12. So you could be carrying 12 stacks of 99 arrows in one inventory slot. Quivers can be obtained by trading a carnation and a stack of arrows to the mithra that is with the traveling circus in the 3 towns. The circus will be in the nation that is currently in control. You can trade her as many 7 stacks of arrows and 7 carnations at once. Only certain arrows/bolts can be quivered, I believe they are Stone, Bone, Iron, Beetle, Horn, Silver, Mythril Bolts, and Darksteel Bolts. Carnations can be obtained from the shop in upper jeuno for a very small price.

8. How hard is Maat for Ranger?

Ok, Now that I have personally beaten Maat at 66, I feel that I can answer this question with a valid opinion. When it comes to Maat, Rangers probably have it the easiest, especially since the introduction of the blink band, and sushi. Every ranger that has beaten Maat has probably done it a little differently, such as different foods, or different equips, but I'm going to try to give a rundown of the safest possible way for you to beat him at 66. Others may suggest attack food over acc, but whichever you prefer is fine.

Things you will need:
Opo-opo necklace
6-8 Sleeping Potions
Blink Band
Sole Sushi
Your 2 hour up

I suggest setting your macros up in this order:
[SS and Barrage] [Slug] [Wing] [Slug] [RA] [EES] [Slug]

For the fight I equiped a Hawkers and Musketeer Gun +1 w/ Silver Bullets.

~The Fight~

After you enter the BC equip opo-opo necklace and start downing the sleeping potions, I personally waited until about 150% tp. Once you have 150% tp don't forget to requip your Ranger Necklace, then run to where you can see Maat, and /bow or /poke him if you feel like it, but stay on the edge of the BC. Eat your Sushi, and activate blink band, then get ready to rock.

This is how my fight went:

Engage~SS and activate Barrage~Slugshot~Icarus Wing~Slugshot~Barrage~EES

He gave up after that but I had over 100% TP when it was over.

The actual fight lasts about 10 seconds, pretty much as fast as you can go down the line of macros. Keep in mind many many Rangers have done this without a blink band, sushi and icarus wing, but this is by far the safest way. Also people have won using a different order of macros than mine also, for example using barrage between the slugshots. ~Good Luck~



~~ Older but Useful KI Threads (Definately Click These) ~~

STR > AGI (by Khaela)
Please visit this thread if you have any questions about STR vs AGI.
ENM60 Solo (by Wang Hung Lo)
This is how you can get a level 61 Deadeye Earring (Rattk +20 for 5 min) and 2k xp as a Solo Ranger. The fight is {Fun} and like a mini-maat.


~~ Well I think that takes care of most of the basic questions I see asked here all the time. I'm sure others will have plenty of stuff to add, as I don't consider myself a Ranger expert by any means. Any comments or changes you think that I should make will be greatly appreciated. I hope that this helps some of you guys that are new to Ranger... most importantly ~~ Have Fun!!

[fumoffuuuuu]

The wonders of Xbow is acid bolt and holy bolts. Holy bolt requires some mnd equipment to make it worthwhile, which makes Elvaan have more advantage since they have both high MND and STR.

Your guide is excellent, although I will still be asking alot of questions and putting in my experiences etc. For example as a ranger that just got Sidewinder (lvl55), I am dualing Viking Axes and still never miss Sidewinder with Sole Sushi. I am a taru though so the extra AGI might have helped, but it proves Archers are not essential to have.

[Daymion]

Yeah I'm an Xbow user myself, gawd I just love the short delay, not to mention I can HQ most of the bolts myself...

Thanks for the compliment, and just to be clear I don't want people to stop asking questions, and posting their experiences. (That's what the forums are for ^^) I'm just trying to take care of some of these repeated posts asking the same questions over and over, then we end up with 40 million threads with 3 responses.

I never thought to try anything but archers/hawkers Bonta, thats cool you are still able to hit your Sidewinder/Slugshots dual weilding Vikings... I'd be curious to know how accurate you still are when you get to Cape Terrigan or the Lab of Onzozo, cause I had trouble there with Sushi and a Hawkers/Archers combo... I could just suck tho :/

[amaya]

4. AGI Boost.
Subbing Ninja gives you a slight AGI Boost which has been said to improve accuracy and also helps WS Damage.

This is just about all I'm going to nitpick (the rest seems alright). There is no difference in AGI between /WAR and /NIN.

[Daymion]

Thanks Amaya... not sure where I heard that, and of course I never really checked that out... It's fixed now Nice Sig btw.

[Meteora]

Here's the best 30 minute ATK food. You can't always eat curry in parties.

Coeurl Sub:
* MP +10
* Strength +5
* Agility +1
* Intelligence -2
* HP Regeneration While Healing +1
* Resist Stun
* Attack +20% (Cap: 75@375 Base Attack)
* Ranged Attack +32%

[Daymion]

Thanks Meteora, that looked better than the Rice Dumpling so I added it. ^^

[Dryhus]

amaya :

4. AGI Boost.
Subbing Ninja gives you a slight AGI Boost which has been said to improve accuracy and also helps WS Damage.

This is just about all I'm going to nitpick (the rest seems alright). There is no difference in AGI between /WAR and /NIN.

An Elvaan 75RNG/37NIN test build had 72 base AGI. An Elvaan 75RNG/37WAR had 71 base AGI. Plus you get another 2 AGI from the Hawker's Knife in your off-hand. XD

[amaya]

Dryhus :
An Elvaan 75RNG/37NIN test build had 72 base AGI. An Elvaan 75RNG/37WAR had 71 base AGI. Plus you get another 2 AGI from the Hawker's Knife in your off-hand. XD

Unfortunately, those stats are inaccurate. If you're going by what Allakhazam's profile stats show, well... they're wrong. By a lot. My guess is they use the low-level stat growth formulae and apply them at the higher levels as well, which would explain why their stats are higher than the real game.

An Elvaan RNG75/NIN37 has 67 base AGI. An Elvaan RNG75/WAR37 has 67 base AGI.

An Elvaan RNG75/NIN37 has 67 base STR. An Elvaan RNG75/WAR37 has 70 base STR.

Sadly, an Elvaan RNG75/NIN37's highest stat is VIT, coming in at 68.

[Dryhus]

I didn't post the stats to serve as gospel, but rather to demonstrate that there is no appreciable increase in AGI when using a NIN subjob. The inflated and distorted stats totaling a difference of 1 AGI only strengthens this point.

Do you have the stats for the other races as RNG/NIN and RNG/WAR at 75? Or at least a link to such stats? Thanks.

[Daymion]

Yeah there is definately no difference in the agi between subs, I'm kinda doubting the 1 agi difference at 75... I tested this out as soon as Amaya pointed it out, at 63 I have no difference in agi when I switch subs. It makes me wonder how that rumor even got started, I know that for a long time I thought I was getting an AGI boost that didn't exsist :/

[Ozoko]

just wondering whats all the other races agil is compeard to a galkas?

i thought 60+16 is high at 56 guess i was wrong

[Dsrtstorm]

Nice guide, very well written out. Congrats on job well done:D

[moosey]

good guide... and will someone stickey this for the love of god... it may actually put an end to people asking the same questions 3x a week

[the god]

4. How far will XXX amount of gil take me as Ranger?

There was a recent post made about this and someone responded somewhat harshly but very direct and to the point. These kinds of questions cannont be answered with any kind of validity, theres just too many variables involved in this type of question. One Ranger could get to 75 on 2 or 3 million while it may take the next guy 10+ mil to get to 75. There really is no real answer to these questions. Ranger is an expensive job, and if you don't have a lot of gil to start off with you might want to think about leveling a different job or at least be prepared to find ways to support your Ranger.


^^ yeah that was me....^^i wasnt that harsh, just to the point.


good guide, great info on what weps to use, rng is pretty cake so food and weapon choice for lvl are the most inportant things.

[Incubus]

very informative... i'm going to be starting rng soon as i get nin to 37, and this answered a lot of the basic questions i had ^^ thanks

[Jackrabbit]

i likey

[defunkt]

I'm going to link to this from here, as it'll get to those who would find it more useful.

http://www.killingifrit.com/forums.php?m=posts&q=52007

This way, that thread can die, but all the info can be available to the newbie RNGs who can actually use it.

[Daymion]

Thanks Jack Rabbit =)

And Defunkt I'll add your spread sheet to the actual FAQ :boing

You guys feel free to add to this, I'll update it as much as possible...

[aramir]

wow, thank you, this is really informative in helping me figure out the ranger job and not having to go through endless threads.