Ranger: Guntecher help?

[Nestahima]

I have a few questions about Guntechers --

How would a Guntecher's damage stack up against a Fortegunner? (Dual Handguns vs. Rifle)

What would be the best race for a Guntecher? (Cast, Human, or Newman?)

What would be the most common weapon set up? (A pair of dual handguns, a handgun and a wand, or a machine gun and wand, etc...)

Help! http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

[ProfessorZ]

I can't answer all your questions but being a Guntecher you will be able to use atgal and defbal

[Nestahima]

True, the buff spells to upgrade the damage done by the dual handguns.

[UltimateCarl]

I haven't actually PLAYED, yet, so all I can do is speculate. But since I'm fighting with myself over which of these two to play, I have gathered some info that could help...

Guntechers don't do as much damage as Fortegunners. In fact, I'd hazard to guess that next to Protransers, Guntechers do the lowest amount of damage in the game. For one thing, their base ATP is lower than a Fortegunner, but they also have proficiencies with weapons that deal less damage. The main purpose of Guntechers is to cause status effects with Bullets, not damage.

The best race is entirely up to you. Don't discount Beasts, either. They can make up for the lack of ATP and general frailty of the class. Sure they'll miss a bit more, but not a ton. Also they have higher MST and TAP than Casts. The general consensus seems to be Newmans, however. I personally disagree, and my character that I'm considering possibly making into a Guntecher will be a Cast. Guntechers lean more towards guns than techs, and as such have naturally rather low TAP and MST. Beyond that, they can only use Canes and not Staves, and only to A, rather than S rank, yet they can raise Techs to level 30. As such, a Guntecher's Techs are mostly used for Healing or Buffing rather than damage, which are much less dependant on TAP and MST. The other major function of a Guntecher is causing status effects, and in this case a Cast's high ATA comes in handy. Some of the Guntecher weapons suck PP dry rather quickly too (Twin Handguns), and a Cast's higher-than-average END can also help with this. But, y'know, that's my opinion. I'm sure plenty of people will happily disagree with me. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif

Probably a few sets of Dual Handguns for status effecting, and then a couple of Crossbow/Cane combos for your healing/buffing as well as multi-hit status effecting. But, once again, I don't play one so I honestly don't know!

Hope I helped some. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif

[Nestahima]

Good information.

However, I'm pretty sure that rifles and dual handguns do roughly the same amout of damage. Handguns seem to drain PP faster, but apply status effects much more. If you grind either of the weapons, they become extremely deadly.

[Itsuki]

Since I'm probably the only english speaking guntecher, I might as well give my answers. I play newman, and I'm a huge supporter of newman rangers. Personally, I think even a newman ranger fortegunner is a good choice. But for guntecher, I think newman is the one race that shines the most as the class.

Personally, I use a lot of setups. The one point where guntecher truly shines is the fact that it is the only class that can truly be considered a jack of all trades. I think the key to guntecher is to use this fact to your advantage. You can melee decently, if you're not cast or beast, then you can cast techs decently, and you're still a ranger at heart.

As for damage:
You have to first keep in mind that guntechers have more ATP than rangers. Infact, all of their stats except def are higher than a rangers. If you're content with your damage as a ranger, you can expect similar damage as a guntecher.

Now, as for your damage compared to a fortegunner. The fortegunner is going to have no noticable difference in damage. Yes the fortegunner's damage will be higher, but its by all of like 7.5%. When you count your gun's atp and stuff in, we're talking like a 5% difference in damage. Its not noticable. Except perhaps with shotguns. But, then again, you're probably not going to focus on shotguns as a guntecher.

As I said, the guntecher's shining point is its versatility. This is emphasized even more by the fact that most of its S-ranks are in 1 handed weapons. This allowed you to be both a ranger, and a hunter/force at the same time. So whats the best setup? Depends on the situation, but its probably going to be two weapons. Atleast 3 of the 6 items on your palette will probably be one handed gun + one handed something else.

The second thing that guntechers excel at is mobility. Since they're mostly using 1 handed weapons, they can move around more than almost any other class while attacking. Use this to your advantage aswell.

Crossbows are pretty good when leveled. You can also use cards (fans), which are also really good, though you can't use s-rank in them. Infact, I find cards more useful than crossbows in many situations. Handguns are never bad, but you'll probably use crossbows or cards over top of them. As for the offhand. Saber, Dagger, wand, whatever. Have a nice mix. Maybe a couple wands and a melee. Duallies are probably better for you than rifles. But you can never truly give up rifles. Rifles will always be a staple in any ranger's life.

Also, even as a newman, your techs aren't going to be able to be a focus. Your TP is pretty bad. You can never be a primary healer. In the 50s, most people have over 1000 hp, as a newman guntecher I don't resta for more than 400. This doesn't mean you can't still support resta. Resta in a pinch, help people out a bit. And regen (reverser in the us version) should also become something you get used to using. In Agata Relics S, one of my main jobs is casting regen on people that get sleep.

As for attack techs, as I said, you can never rely on them. But they can significantly increase your damage in certain areas. For example, in hakura, you will probably deal more damage than most hunters by throwing zonde or gizonde around. The forces will still laugh at you. But its still a lot more than you would deal doing melee in hakura. Also for very high evade monsters such as bugs, you often deal more by just throwing digga at them.

Buff spells aren't online in the jp version, so I can't say they're of any use to a guntecher. Who knows if guntechers will even be able to use them assuming they do become available.

[Nestahima]

Thanks Itsuki. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

[Knight_of_MIA]

Thank you for the precious hints.

This will probably be one of my "threads-of-choice" since I will also start as a Gun-Techer. A female, for the looks http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Knight_of_MIA on 2006-11-03 04:16 ]</font>