Guides - Norvekh's Ranger Guide



Norvekh's Ranger Guide
Introduction
I have decided to create this guide as it seems many people are confused as to what the duties and responsibilities are for Rangers in intense situations. As such, I have taken it upon myself to attempt to correct the issue via a guide. If you find this guide offensive or wrong, that is your opinion, and it shall be ignored. I don't care what you personally think; I am making this based on over 2000 hours of playing as a Ranger. And with over 4000 total hours including observations of other Rangers I believe I am rather well reasoned in my views from these experiences.
Firstly and foremost:
You are a Ranger, not a Hunter, nor a Force. Your job as such is to do what I believe is the duty of all Rangers first and foremost: to attack from range if at all possible and to buy your team as much time as possible by doing so. Meaning, if you are playing in intense situations, specifically the later stages of Episode II, Gal Da Val, Seabeds, and Control Tower, you don't go running in with a twin saber type weapon. You stand back and let the Hunters do that. Your priority is to incapacitate the enemy from range as safely as possible. From here I shall break the guide down into basic categories, including separate sections devoted to Android and Human Rangers.
Firstly: Weaponry
No matter what your ID, once you are in ultimate mode you will need one single weapon to be effective at taking out these difficult stages: The Frozen Shooter. It is an easy drop with little excuse for not getting one. You can very easily trade for one if need be. It is not your job to pull out your mechguns and kill everything before the Hunters have a chance to tag the enemy. You will get angry responses, and more importantly, will eventually cause a general dislike of you during gameplay. Everyone is playing for experience. When you overkill every enemy with mechguns, Hell Lasers, Bringer's Rifles, or Spread Needles, you alienate your team. That is the WORST type of gameplay. Hell series, Demon's Series, and Charge, Spirit, Berzerk are the worst specials to use in a team. You alienate your team members' chances for experience. I admit I overly used the specials as well. However, after spending over so much time as HUnewearl, I can say that I have grown to loathe every time I see a Ranger toting along a weapon with one of these specials. And I can guarantee that I am not the only one that feels that way. Simply put, if you require those specials to damage the enemies of a specific area in a team, then you need to not play that area until you can damage without them. If anything, you anger your Hunter team members into not doing their jobs properly. Into becoming what you force them into: EXP whores. You have turned the table to forcing them to use the same tactics. So, what weapons do I suggest you use' Well, I won't suggest what weapons per se, but I will suggest the types and tactics.
Spread Needle
If you feel it absolutely necessary to use this, use the special, constantly. The Spread Needle has a paralysis special for a reason: to incapacitate large enemy groups very quickly. If you are an android you even receive a bonus here for the effectiveness of the special. So use it! It is amazing how different a song the Hunters will sing when they have less to worry about being overwhelmed because you use just Hard-Hard-Hard combos. Not only that, but, it allows them more of a chance to get their hits in.
Mechguns
Mechgun usage should be avoided, by ALL classes. Hunters are far too strong, Rangers still too strong and far too accurate, and Forces too inaccurate and weak. All classes alienate the team using these weapons in some way or another. With Hunters they kill most everything in a single combo as do Rangers. Rangers however are even worse with the higher accuracy in that they are more likely to complete the combo and thus cause more problems for the team. They are even worse when combined with extended range, such as Rage de Feu, Guld Milla, Yasminkov 9000M, or Mille Marteaux. Not only are these Mechguns in-proportionately strong, their range and accuracy worsen the situation. I cannot recall how many times I became overcome with annoyance, practically enraged, by Rangers who seem to believe it is their duty to ignore their duty to incapacitate the enemies and instead pick off the ones furthest away at such a rate that I could not ever have a chance of making my mark. If anything, Mechguns should be used for two purposes: HP Revival and TP Revival. Other than that, keep those things packed in the bank unless you are doing solo. But in a team, Mechguns are the worst enemy of the team. Be courteous: allow your team to kill the enemies, not you kill the enemies while your team tries to catch up.
Rifles
Use rifles, and use them often! Frozen Shooter falls in here as the perfect weapon for doing just what your duty is: to incapacitate the enemy. You would be surprised at just how much MORE effective your team becomes by simply freezing enemies. Also, freeze the enemies in the order of most dangerous to least. You don't freeze a Bartle before the Hildelt. Also, consider the enemy's special attacks. If the enemy can freeze, megid, shock, or paralyze, consider them the greater threat. Take those enemies out first. Then worry about the weaker. Also consider the enemy attack patterns. Observe which your team has the most trouble taking out, such as Gillchichs. If your team is constantly being downed by Gillchich lasers, hit the source! It should be common logic, but unfortunately, I often see Rangers who don't use logic and use virtually useless weaponry. Using a Launcher in every situation does not make you 'special' or '1337'. It makes you look like someone who doesn't know what weapon to use. That is not to say Launchers are bad however, but that is next.
Launchers
Launchers are useful against, well, bosses and Lilies. As in, multi-partitioned enemies. As such, Launchers are terrific against the worm bosses, Vol Opt, and even the Dragons. But, against most enemies they compromise your speed and the specials are generally not nearly effective enough to do any real status effects against common enemies. A Rifle with the same special is far more effective, not to mention faster and more accurate.
Handguns
Handguns basically use the same strategy as that of rifles, only with lessened range and accuracy. Another note is that they are faster than Rifles. But, you may find the range lacking in certain areas where Rifles win out. Control Tower comes to mind as a key area where this is true.

I'm going to put this next weapon in its own group for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is very rare due to the costs for obtaining it. Secondly, it is easily compensated with another weapon already mentioned. Thirdly, it is made for a specific class of Rangers. Many people don't transcend to the class because of the first two reasons, however, those that do become the most amazing rangers. They become awesome team players. The weapon is the Snow Queen. I know there are many people who refuse to use this weapon, I was one of them, until I met a most extraordinary RAmar by the name of curry-donut. He was a master of this weapon. It is absolutely stunning what you can do with a single shot rifle with this special. You now have the power to do everything that a Launcher can do, and freeze the enemies at the same time. This makes you invaluable to a team. You will be able to do essentially what an android can do with freeze traps, indefinitely at no cost. The problem is that, even with the incredibly high accuracy levels of rangers, you still should use a Frozen Shooter with hit. It is not necessary, however, with only one chance per combo you can use as much help as you can get. The primary concern, and the reason I don't consider this a 'required' component, is the number of Photon Drops to even purchase the Photon Booster, 45 for those interested. However, with the Photon Crystals of Blue Burst, and the Photon Drop based Economy, it will likely be rather easy to get one with hit. At least, easy when in comparison with previous versions. While this is not a 'required' component, I very, highly recommend it.
Shots
Finally, the last weapon grouping is the Shot series. These are a double-edged sword here. Shots are strong, decently accurate, and can easily have great specials. The downside, they are slow, often decrease Evasion by a minor amount, and specials effectiveness is terrible. However, if you can earn an S-Rank, it counterbalances these negatives. However, like the Spread Needle, your team might not like Shots. You can very easily overpower enemies with them and end up EXP whoring. Should you decide to use a shot, at least counterbalance your overpowering with a good special. Avoid Charge, Spirit, Berserk on any shots, and for S-Ranks avoid Demon's and, to an extent, Hell. Should you decide to go for the second cheapest method of experience whoring, next to a King's Needle, a King's Shot, be prepared for some remarks about it. It quickly becomes clear to the rest of the team that you are there for a single reason: To whore as much experience as possible. This is just a warning as to what will likely happen. And, with androids especially, it is considered 'Lower than low' by many player's books. Of course, if that is what you do than you have likely not even finished reading this guide, or even clicked on the link to read it and thus would have no effect on you.
Classes
Finally, I am going to break up the last part into three sections, one for RAcast and RAcaseal, one for RAmar, and one for RAmarl. The reasoning behind this is that RAcast and RAcaseal can easily use the same strategy but RAmar and RAmarl are basically opposites and thus use entirely different strategy, and should rightly do so.
RAcast & RAcaseal
RAcast and RAcaseal have not only the duties as listed above, but must also do two additional tasks: Clear Traps and set Traps. You chose the Android class and as such you should do everything that is an advantage for doing so. If you refuse to use traps then you should not be an Android in the first place. If you refuse to destroy traps, anywhere, including hallways, then you also should consider a career change. Use your traps as much as possible, and learn how to shoot them out of the sky as soon as you set them. This is very important strategy. It allows you to freeze, confuse, or stun large groups of enemies very quickly. Also learn how to 'trap combo' where you set multiple traps, of different types, to detonate in a specific way so that it stuns and confuses/freezes the enemies at the same time. At the same time, always make sure you destroy all traps in a room and notify your team members of the status of the remaining traps. Create shortcuts if necessary.
RAmar
RAmar is a rather tough class to give any additional information. Really, your MST is so horrendous, even at maximum that it serves only purpose as temporary relief until a force or other non-Android can come. Even so, use Resta and Anti as much as needed, while conserving what little TP you may have. Don't waste your time using techniques except for the occasional stun or EXP 'check'. Really though, you should have little or no problem to tag all the enemies without techniques, even when using a rifle. RAmars are not made for being the backbone of a team. They are more like a 'weakened' RAcast at the cost for a weak Resta and Anti. If necessary, use your Shifta and Deband if there is no other class close enough to do so.
RAmarl
Finally, we reach one of the most complicated classes to play: RAmarl. RAmarls are the best and worst of both Rangers and Forces. Their extraordinary MST and ATA are a testament to this. Use these to your advantage, but most importantly, to the advantage of the team. Remember however, you are not the force. It is not your job to be one either. I have had a number of players in games with me who expect me, as a RAmarl, to heal them after they use Berserk or after doing an unnecessary maneuver. One in particular was a RAmar, who refused to use his own Resta claiming I was HIS force. Mind you, he was obviously not very bright in that he was running towards enemies in West Tower and using a double saber type to attack Del Lilies. I believe it is his duty, as the fool he was, to heal his damage that he inflicted upon himself. Including that where in less than five seconds after a successful Photon Blast combo he ran up to, and was killed by, a rather angry Del Lily. When you encounter people like this, as any class, but especially as the 'Ghetto-FO' classes of RAmarl and HUnewearl, it is not your duty to fix their mistakes. That would mean you would have to break from what you absolutely need to do to take care of the team, and what a fool wants you to do to better his own foolish situation. I state this not to be insulting of RAmars that is not my purpose here. It is to show why, you as a Ranger, regardless of type, need to stick with your job.
Conclusion
There are classes in Phantasy Star Online for a reason. That reason is to better the importance and reliance on teams. Now, I am not saying that you should use this scheme everywhere. Far from it, this is mainly for, as I stated earlier, the tougher and more intense areas. In Forest I would see it perfectly acceptable to run around with a Saber and whack things to death. I believe the easier areas are made for things like that. They are designed to let you 'ease up' and 'lay back' to have fun. But, when you are in a team trying to be efficient while at the same time keeping courtesy of your fellow team members, you should consider this guide at the least. Remember, everyone wants to be able to have an approximate equal number of kills and experience. By keeping to your class, and by avoiding 'cheapshots', you can accomplish this. Also, there are situations where this can be modified, or even disregarded, but, for the most part I believe this guide covers most of the difficult areas quite well.

Credit: Norvekh.