Help with guns

[Xiriko]

So I don't know how to start this topic, I'm playing for a few weeks now, got a character pretty much set on its ways but I decided to try making an alt to change from close to ranged gameplay.

With this I decided to play a gunner or ranger, considering the ranger skill tree "seemed to me" like it was very technical and such, I decided i'd prefer to keep the gunner class as main and the ranger one as sub (though this might change after this thread).

Now I thought on a build such as this one (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?06kHb3Ikb3IkbnIkbnIkb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikfdt0 IbIn0000000lb000008ebmqGFfr2ISbnibHn00006dOeFI2qFc KcFI2gAIp0000ib000000lb0000000Ib000008), thing is I'm utterly CLUELESS about the whole class, I have 0 idea on what is useful and what is not. I did read a guide on the gunner class but considering I still have no experience playing gunner, it was like shooting in the dark.

So what I wanted was basically to know I what should do, if I keep something along the lines of this build, if I change it radically, if I hybridize with any other class instead of gunner or ranger...

I heard the usual is Ranger/Hunter to abuse the toggles from the Hunter tree but as I'm playing a Hunter on my main character, I didn't want to resort to that unless there's no better option <_>

Any help is appreciated so yeah...

Thanks in advance :-)

PS: I still got a skill tree reset from last handout so if I have to reset stuff there is no problem, hence why I'm making this topic now.

[Saffran]

Well, your ranger tree is... special.
All the special bullets (mirage, jellen, panic etc) are close to useless in the game, as far as I know.
Also, you main gunner and sub ranger, so you can drop the points in one of the trees for dive roll advance and just reversal (I'd advise to save your points in the gunner tree so you can invest them somewhere else).
Look into other ranger and gunner threads, you will see that nobody has trees like yours. Nobody. That's not really a good sign, is it?

[NexusAZ]

GuRa is great for burst damage and support. The right side of the Ranger tree is kinda... eh. You can play that way if you wish, but you can be more effective going for the left side of the tree. As for Gunner, one thing you should always max out is S Roll JA Bonus. You get a 200% damage boost just for doing an S Roll.... VERY good to have. Chain Trigger isn't really worth maxing out. You can get by just fine with the 5 it takes to move on down the tree. Perfect keeper is great if you tend to keep your health topped off, but you can go into Automate Deadline instead if you want a little more survivability.

The build I would use: Fancy stuff (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?06kHb3Ikb3IkbnIkbnIkb3Ikb3Ikb3Ikfdt0 IbIn0000000lb000008dBJdJ29KcAid0000lb2SHSfbn2QGAgB bp0000ib000000lb0000000Ib000008)

[UnLucky]

Ranger:
The status effect bullets are pretty bad. You can affix one on your weapon to have it all the time on all of your attacks. Jellen Shot really isn't too helpful since enemy attacks are usually inconsequential or would kill you even with the debuff (and completely avoidable).

The best special bullet is Weak Bullet by far. You should really consider maxing that skill for more shots and shorter cooldown.

Bullet PP Save is alright, but if you cut out the other bullets, this skill alone costs too much SP in prereqs for it to be worth it. Standing Snipe gives more damage than the extra PP could make up for, and then Killing Bonus is right there for extra PP gain.

Gunner:
Max SRoll JA. 120% isn't worth doing the flip every time, but 200% totally is.
I don't like Showtime. It's too short for too little.
Stat Up skills aren't very good late game since they don't scale, they're always 50 in a stat. Even low level, a 10% damage boost is likely better.
Look at the skill progression, especially Perfect Keeper lv1 being 110% damage, with lv10 being 120%. Compare it to Attack PP's 110% PP generation at lv1 and 200% at lv10. Considering Twin Mechs regain 4 PP in one burst fire, you really won't notice 4.4 that much.

I notice a lot of choices in your skill tree don't seem to consider the actual gains per point. Like all of your lv5 bullet skills, did you realize that you gain a whole extra shot at lv6? The sensible stopping points are 1, 3, 6, 10. Even worse is your decision to bring Ability Up 2 to lv5 when you already have Ability Up 1 at lv5. Each at lv5 gives you 36 Dex, but one at lv10 is 50. I mean I don't recommend ANY, but if you are going to take the skills, at least try to maximize your gains.

[Xiriko]

Hmm ok, lots of mistakes, like I said though, I'm still fairly new on the game, anyway with that aside, with what ya said I kinda took NexusAZ's build idea along with your intel and thought on this (http://ryuhiroshi.funpic.de/pso2/skillcalc.php?06nHbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkbnIkfdt0 ebIoqnGKsN6JiGA000007b000008ebJdJ29KeAi20000lB2QHS fbn2QGAgBbp0000ib000000lb0000000Ib000008) (pretty much the same as Nexus', yep).

Part of what confuses me is that I read (in a probably old thread) that the shots could have some use, either way the idea was experimenting but I doubt I'll need to now I suppose.

[NexusAZ]

I'd like to say that you don't need to spec into the step skills on both trees. If you have it on one, it will carry over to the other. Also, if you plan to main Gu, you don't really need to have Rare Mastery on your Ranger class.

[Xiriko]

I'd like to say that you don't need to spec into the step skills on both trees. If you have it on one, it will carry over to the other. Also, if you plan to main Gu, you don't really need to have Rare Mastery on your Ranger class.

I did that because I read they both stack, I'm aware it's just milliseconds but I feel more safe with them.

About the Rare Mastery, that's merely temporary as I'm still fairly unsure on which one I will main.