One Shot, One Kill (A Comprehensive Ranger Guide/Discussion)

[Charmeleon]

One of the reasons why bio isn't that great of a launcher is that you don't have to (and shouldn't) JA every PA you fire off from a launcher, due to how slow the normal attack is. A non JA'd Cluster/Cosmos/Divine will generally do enough damage to one shot SH trash mobs (First Hit helps) and if not, Bio Spat's potential certainly isn't helping you get there.

I haven't used Flame Bullet in so long that I forgot how it works, so I can't really help you there.

[Hrith]

You're suggesting one should waste 5 SP on a skill that will help kill Lv65 Krahda over taking the time to use JA?

Flame Bullet has some advantages over Cosmos Breaker as a close range mobbing PA, but the main advantage of Cosmos Breaker is that you can fire the projectile, roll out of the animation and ignore it to go take care of something else.
If there's only one group of enemies, Flame Bullet is more likely to kill them all in one PA.
If you're limited in PA slots, pick one, but I use both (on the same launcher slot, too), they are just useful in different situations.

[TaigaUC]

Is Flame Bullet outclassed by Cosmo Breaker in terms of close-range mobbing ability?

Having problems finding a launcher (currently Zieg, was thinking bio until i heard it sounded like a weak cumshot) and think I'm going to settle with Flame Visit but it seems nobody talks about the flamethrower much...thoughts? Should I just keep zieg and keep praying or just get flame visit?

Just feeling impatient since my Zieg Launcher is pretty much outclassed by diffuse shell spamming with my rifle and probably my most "outdated" weapon as I found nice rifles and bows but didn't find a nice launcher.

A while ago, I bought a Flame Visit just to level Gunner on one of my characters.
Close-range launcher is fun for a while, but nothing amazing.
The Ranger tree doesn't really have many skills for that style, either.
I get the impression SEGA hasn't really considered making it a viable playstyle.

Even with Flame Visit, Flame Bullet doesn't feel that strong. Maybe a little weaker than Elysion+Na Barta? I don't remember clearly.
The most annoying thing is Flame Bullet only lasts a short while. If you're still holding the button when it ends, you'll end up doing a second one without the JA bonus.
You have to let go in the short amount of time after the flame stops. You won't be able to rely on the JA circle if the screen is filled with effects.
I ended up having to go by feel and estimate when to stop holding the button. It doesn't feel good to use.

Zero Distance is fun. Feels amazing to bust it out and blow enemies away.
As a Ranger main, being able to WB, then switch to Zero Distance to deal huge damage, and then back to rifle to re-apply WB is nice.
I once made short work of Ragne by breaking a leg, then WBing the core and spamming Zero Distance. Repeat.
Of course, it can't compare to just using Satellite Cannon. It's been a while, but I think a single well-placed WB SatCan still kills Nab2 SH's boosted Ragne.

[Ordy]

I wouldn't call First Hit being a waste of SP, you want the extra % to one hits mobs in TA/TD you can even trigger the skill in XQ MPA if you are front line or on a respawn hit. Besides, there is nothing better to invest your points in considering how useful it can be for TA/TD/SH fields.

Like Hrith said, Cosmos lets you dive roll but also has an AoE stun effect on trash (knock-up) with a longer duration than Divine Launcher, extremely useful in UQ combined with gravity grenade.
Flame Bullet has no CC effect, is a freaking 5sec long PA (full charge), has no invincibility frames, so any single hit can interrupt the PA AND you have to hold your button to deal damage ... all reasons why (I think) the majority of decent RA don't use Flame Bullet at all.

If anyone likes Flame Bullet, wants to use it and can get shit done in a reasonable amount of time, go ahead, grab a Flame Visit and have fun ... but I wouldn't recommend it over the core launcher PA.

[pyxl]

Alright. I've spent some time xping, have gotten into SH and Ranger to level 60. Getting to the final stretch and not wanting to look extremely newbie when I reach cap. Sorry if this sounds like a spoon feed question, but it's about units. (The detail Ordy and you all have given about weapons is so detailed, thank you! <3)

I've mostly been in whatever I have found. I currently have a Tian set at +10 with Shoot3/St.Rappy, and recently found the 11* Magatsu leg unit. I have a 7* Hiei set from running Magatsu as well. I have Zieg's Master passes available to use. A lot of the terminology around units I don't quite understand, so apologies if this turns out into a wall of questions.

For reaching cap, unit-wise: what should I be looking at investing in and using until a Saiki set? This is assuming that I should be aiming to use a Saiki for endgame, so I might be wrong.

1) Investing into my current Tian Set? I'm assuming I should be getting a White Tail for legs (maybe? if it's not relevant anymore, please let me know!), but do I upgrade into the Gwanman pieces or something? I see posts mentioning just 'Tian set' so I'm not sure if that means people are only using Tian, or that 'Tian set' includes using Gwanman, if you can equip it.

2) Investing into a Hiei set? I didn't quite do EP3 stuff until the Christmas Bingo, so I missed getting this right away during Christmas on Ice going on while leveling. I've only obtained my pieces from running Magatsu, so none of it is in an appropriately affixed state.

3) Investing into a Zieg set? I see a lot of mixed talk. I'm not quite sure how the bonuses work out with the various pieces. Should I be getting the R-DEF version, or the T-DEF one for the extra +PP? Will the T-DEF set work with the rifle/launcher? (If the weapon is even a viable option.)

Thanks in advance, this thread has been an amazing resource so far in trying to figure out where to be going with this class!

[illidelph]

1. yes tian 9* two-piece set with either white tail (10pp) or ing plate (100hp) is your best bet until you find the saiki 11* or the new magatsu 11* sets, either of those are better in the long run. if you craft the 9* tian and use uncrafted white tail it might even rival 11* sets in r-atk and pp department

craft 2 tian pieces for r-def special recipe making them give you 10pp each, totalling you at: 90 r-atk and 40pp (10 from set, 20 from tian crafts and 10pp from tail)
over saiki's 60 r-atk 25pp and 150hp(hidden bonus)
what tian doesnt give you are the resists which are strong on the 11* units so you're gonna be more squishy, but at least a crafted tian is pretty much a guaranteed bet and does not require giggles farming if you havent done so when the trigger was around

for gwanman, it will be better than uncrafted tian but worse than crafted tian or saiki so if you have access to it cheaply and dont want to fork out cash for crafting, then gwanman is your bet until 11* endgame units

also folly and gloam sets (10* versions of fegali and blitz) are decent mid-game sets and are usually paired with heiremjees arm piece for extra 10pp. they wont give as much as tian in r-atk (60 instead of 90) but will still suffice nicely and can even be affixed to serve multiple characters using different atk stat. also folly give good dark resist

2. hiei set: not worth it unless you need it for multiple atk bonuses and not just r-atk since it only gives 10pp for set as oppsed to 25pp for its big brother saiki. but if you want a decent back-up set for all your characters while their stuff is getting crafted or whatnot, overall not worth it tho since it will eventually and definitely be replaced.

3. zeig units arent worth it at all imo unless you are absolutely set on using his weapons since it halves the nice set bonus if you dont and once its halved from 100 r-atk to 50 then even the hiei becomes better :/
Zieg rifle is good for ra/br but nothing that you are going to want to use if you find a better rifle and his launcher's potential doesnt up damage in any way so, meh.
(a good rule of thumb: good potentials up the overall damage in some way since its one of the only ways to up your damage by a %, so if a weapon doesnt, its a good bet that it should not be used with the exception of few, but very few. notice how most 12* weps and 13* up your overall damage % with their potential in some way. like yash, astral riser, magatsu launcher, punisher etc all up damage by a % margin, this makes them very good in the end of a long chain of damage multiplier bonuses, netting you crazy numbers)
zieg bow is cool, but its not ranger-equipable so unless you wanna craft it for ra/br then pretty much you are always going to be at half-bonus for the set.

so overall, you can give zieg set and weps a miss since there are cheaper and easier ways to hold you over until you get an endgame 11* set. best bet would be to craft a tian 9* for r-def and 10pp at lv10 and then devote your time farming saiki 11 and magatsu 11

hope this helps
all the set and individual piece bonuses are on cirnopedia and jp wiki
also remember to add all the hidden bonuses(or special craft bonus) from all the pieces when gauging the value of a set

[Dephinix]

I disagree with white tail since you can easily extend any leg unit to lvl 3 with pp boost, get the same pp, overall better defense, and only
lose fire and light resist. Or max extend for another 50 defense points in all three types. If white tail is still as expensive as I remember,
minds well extend something that actually looks cool.

[Waku Waku]

I disagree with white tail since you can easily extend any leg unit to lvl 3 with pp boost, get the same pp, overall better defense, and only
lose fire and light resist. Or max extend for another 50 defense points in all three types. If white tail is still as expensive as I remember,
minds well extend something that actually looks cool.

White Tail is only ~1.7 million, so it's much cheaper than the PP extended units.

[Z-0]

PP extension is less than a million for level 3.

[Waku Waku]

Oh oops I was only looking at the LV 10 cost