Ranger Viability?

[Grump]

I'm a fair newbie to the PSU world, but not MMO's. My main background has always been more of the number-crunching and maximizing crowd. As it stands, I'm trying out the Ranger type whilst playing as a CAST (the description spoke of higher accuracy, which is always a good thing IMO).

Now what I'm noticing is that my damage is sub-par. I have the most expensive Rifle from the merchant, and the most expensive Dual Handguns that I can find as well. The two Rifles are using Plasma and Burn bullets, while the Handguns are using Freeze bullets.

I understand the whole "Keeping safe" thing, but will I always be gimp as far as damage output? I'm only level 13 (2 Ranger), but if the Ranger isn't the way to go, I want to change ASAP.

[RemiusTA]

melee classes are most definitely the path to go for damage. That's just a given, they outdamage everybody on this game.

If you want to increase damage as a ranger, get ready to go through the ridiculous methods of increasing your bullet levels...

[BIG OLAF]

melee classes are most definitely the path to go for damage. That's just a given, they outdamage everybody on this game.

Limit Break Diga would like a word.

[pikachief]

melee classes are most definitely the path to go for damage. That's just a given, they outdamage everybody on this game.

If you want to increase damage as a ranger, get ready to go through the ridiculous methods of increasing your bullet levels...

not that rediculous. Twin handguns and shotguns don't that that long to level up. Other bullets on the other had do :/

Also, enemies are weak against opposite elements. Fire <-> Ice, electric <-> Ground, and light <-> dark. So your plasma bullets will be stronger against ground enemies but it will be weaker against electric enemies.

Also different guns have their place in different situations. Rifles are good for long range and for adding a status effect. At higher levels, a rifle can knock back the enemy and you can stunlock enemies. Twin handguns are long range and not at strong as rifles or as good for inflicting a status effect but give more mobility.

Other good weapons are grenades for enemies with lots of hit spots, lasers for killings lines of enemies, and shotguns when leveled up do the highest damage. Currently on my lvl 180 cast I do about 1400 damage a bullet and my shotgun fires 5 bullets at once.


tl;dr: Use opposite elements and your guns will be much better once you level up the PAs! Also shotguns are really good at higher levels and lvl up fastest.

And ya Fighters and Techers are a little better, and fighters take less work to be decent, techers take more.

[Anna_Wren]

Fortegunners and Gunmasters are very powerful. And A Cast Fortegunner/Gunmaster is pretty broken powerwise. Don't let other people tell you that they aren't cause a full blast of a shotgun (leveled, of course) can kill a lot of things faster than most PAs. The Knockdown power of Rifles are priceless in parties and attacks like Killer Shot are also super powerful.
Just because 1 guy hits 12k in one Sword swing doens't mean he's hitting more than you shooting a guy in the face for 3.5k five times in one press of X.

Once Assault Crush and Tornado break are changed in 360, that might swing more to Fighters, but even still, gunners are very powerful.

[RemiusTA]

Limit Break Diga would like a word.


Limit Break Diga alone wont make you a demigod by itself, Olaf.

As for Rangers, i never cared much for them, but i heard that the higher leveled bullets pretty much make Gunmaster ridiculous in terms of stats effects and elemental damage. But thats pretty far off.

If killing gets slow, just become friendly with a shotgun. : /

[unicorn]

Rifles are bitches to level up, just giving you a heads up. In fact, I purposely play Guntecher for the mere reason of not having to level those up. They aren't good until 31+, and thats a long time from now. Get to it. ;P

Shotguns are your strongest gun. But you need to level them to atleast to 21 before they are useful.

You should also level up your Lasers to 21 as well, since they get HUGE elemental boosts every 10 levels and are incredibly useful for rangers.

Twin Handguns are probably your weakest and worst gun, but very practical. You dont have to really level them outside of missions because they level up quickly and don't get much stat increases.

If you're a Fortegunner, you have access to Grenade Launchers, Machine Guns, and Crossbows. Grenade Launchers are great and separate you from Gunmasters. Plus, they level up incredibly quick. Machine guns are useful for one-target enemies, and can continuously flinch enemies. If you choose to level up Crossbows (which they're great, but they clearly suit GT palettes much better), then you'll have to get them to 21 before they become useful.

Rangers rely a lot on bullet levels and grinds. Similar to forces.

[TheAstarion]

It's a good idea to get all your basic classes to at least level 5 (10 for a forte class) before you choose an advanced class. With, say, Ranger at 10, Force and Hunter at 5, you can be anything apart from Fortefighter, Fighmaster, Fortetecher and Masterforce... and you can always work towards Gunmaster.

For some reason, I hated being a Fortegunner, but love Protranser. The two classes are extremely similar; they both run on shotguns, have lasers and grenades, and some melee options (PT more than FG, maybe that was the deal breaker for me). If you want to be a gunner but don't want to be stuck just gunning, you can always try things like Guntecher (admittedly not great for a CAST, but you need GT to 10 to go Gunmaster anyway) or Protranser (IMO the best type for a CAST due to EX traps and good stat synergy, though you'll be gimp until you hit type level 5 or so).

The shotgun is the best ranged weapon in the game, and is used best at melee range, where all 5 bullets (once you hit lv21) hit the same dude and tear him to shreds. The difference between the strongest shotgun and the weakest is... not very much at all in terms of weapon stats.

The trouble with gunners, that other classes don't appreciate, is that there's not just one all-purpose wonder bullet that's amazing for everything. It's not like Majarra, or Diga, where you can just level one thing up, and use other weapons as just a slice of variety... you need to keep up to your bullets or you'll end up with a lv120 character with lv18 PAs doing pants for damage.

Top class gunners are easier to find than top class fighters and forces. Is it easier to play gunner? No. Does gunner lend itself to pro play better? Perhaps.