Rangers: What's next?

[s3rial_one]

I'm playing my first ranger since the DC; a class that I've never taken all that seriously, but as of late have come to respect.

Currently, I've got a level 46 RAcast doing heatsword runs in very hard. I'm having quite a difficult time; have to duck in and out of rooms repeatedly to kill anything.

My RAcast is armed with a Crush Bullet +25 with 35% Native, a 5/145/50/0 Diwari mag with maxed IQ/Synchro, and 10 or so power mats. And I know I'm rather low to be doing soloing the heatsword quest, but it just seems awfully difficult, and looking forward, I don't see many weapons to upgrade to. The Meteor Smash is cool and all, but I don't see it being a very useful upgrade; a bit of ATP, but certainly nothing major. The Final Impact looks like a substantial upgrade, but what, after the Final Impact, is the next step in ranger multi-target weaponry? I know some weapons, like the Spread Needle, are classed as rifles but behave as a shotgun. Are there other such weapons?

I feel as though I'll need an upgrade soon... my Justy and Crush Bullet just don't have the punch I need for very hard. Any suggestions?

[Elusive_Llama]

At your current level, your Final Impact will be your mainstay multi-hit weapon. You need more levels, and more ATP, before you can effectively use a Spread Needle. A Spread Needle is basically the best shotgun weapon a Ranger can use, but it requires plenty of ATP to bring out its full potential.

Other useful 'upgrade' weapons you might look out for:

Yasminkov 7000 - plenty of power, auto target, behaves like a rifle.

Yasminkov 3000 - like a Yasminkov 7000, but with longer range and no auto target.

Frozen Shooter - freeze things. 'nuff said.

Snow Queen - freeze lots of things. 'nuff said.

Red Scorpio - good power, hits multiple targets in a line.


Right now, for the short term, I would suggest hunting up a Spread Needle and giving your Ranger as much power-enhancing stuff as you can get. Power mats, /power units and a power mag are all good. Combine a higher ATP with spread needle and you've got a winning combination.


Don't give up on your ranger. They're weak in early levels, but become some of the most powerful characters in the game. Level up some more, get the right guns (good set of mechguns, frozen shooter or snow queen, spread needle), play in harder levels and you will see why guns own Ultimate mode.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Elusive_Llama on 2003-04-30 23:25 ]</font>

[Mag_Launcher]

IMO, the best ranger weapons in the game are Spread Needle, Guld Milla, and Frozen Shooter.

Now, lemme explain here:

Spread Needle: The first needed weapon shall be a crowd control weapon. It deals fair damage, and since it's a rifle, it can keep enemies away and/or get a nip on em so you get some exp. The only problem with this one is it's kinda like a sawed off shotgun, not too long of effective range. But in time, you'll get used to it.

Alternative, Baranz Launcher: This gun is slower than Needle, but it packs more punch, AND has charge ability. It's increased range will help you clean out further targets, but the projectiles move quite slow, and it only shoots 4 of them at a time. Speed or power, your choice.

Frozen Shooter: This will be your future long lange sniping weapon. agreed that it is weaker than other long range rifles, but this one makes up for it's slight weakness by having a damn near flawless special. Obviously, it freezes. And it freezes well. The special equals the power of it's power attack, so you can deal the punches AND keep your target frozen.

Alternative, Snow Queen: This gun is... similar to the frozen shooter, with it's superb freezing ability. This one is more powerful and can hit whole rows of enemies in one shot... But, with this increased abilty comes a price--It only shoots once before "reloading".

Guld Milla: This here's a mechgun.. Mechguns won't be worth a damn to you if you don't have the power to use them efficiently. This is the strongest mechgun in the game. (Well, that DOESN'T use money, at least.) Gives 200 ATP at no grind, and 218 at max. This mech takes 190 ATA to use, but I wouldn't suggest busting out the ATA mags and God/Arms just yet, because you still got a ways to go. Mechguns are one-target heavy hitters, you want the best damage you can deal one a single target, here it is. But, I'd suggest using using a lower mech with the strongest mag you got, it'll work better, trust me. (BTW, this mech can help you with it's HP drain, so thats also a plus.)

Alternative, Yasminkov 9000M: This mech is also a good one to use, decent enough power, it has one-of-a-kind rifle range, and it looks badass on you to boot. but this one has no special... like it used to... but that's not important.

[Maelkith]

the best multi hit weapon you have is your traps. the key to being a great android is to spam your traps as much as possible. used in conjunction with a final impact you will be fine. getting your hands on a frozen shooter or snow queen is difficult. spread needles are fine but lack range and the power they had before.

i would suggest powerleveling your racast by completing very hard offline. then you can use the exp stealing bonus that androids have in ultimate forest. i leveled from 51-97 in 4 hours that way. my last racast before corrupting was leveled from 88-102 in 7 hours. heatsword is fine but ultimate is better. as long as they gave droids the bonus you should abuse it. a final impact and kings or lords special attack weapon can really get you up fast.

[Elusive_Llama]

A Frozen Shooter isn't that hard to get. Pipe in a Hildetorr with a Greennill, and it will drop one about 3/4 of the time. Upgrade with a Photon Booster and you've got a Snow Queen.

Snow Queen is the better freeze gun, in my experience. I have both a snow queen and frozen shooter. SQ may not have a combo, but it retains rifle speed and range. Being able to freeze a whole group of monsters in one shot is priceless. The catch is that you need plenty of ATA, so it is really a weapon for high level rangers with max or near-max ATA.

[Tulathis]

IMO, the best ranger weapons in the game are Spread Needle, Guld Milla, and Frozen Shooter.
I would agree with this all the way. I like the Frozen Shooter better than the Snow Queen because of the abilty to be shot in a combo. I also am a big fan of the Yazminkov 7000V for the raw damage it does. At high levels a Ranger can take an enemy out in one combo with this gun.

[Khaotika]

On 2003-05-01 14:33, Mag_Launcher wrote:

Alternative, Baranz Launcher: This gun is slower than Needle, but it packs more punch, AND has charge ability. It's increased range will help you clean out further targets, but the projectiles move quite slow, and it only shoots 4 of them at a time. Speed or power, your choice.


If you manage to get ahold of this, as well as store up a large cache of...cash... Abuse the special. It's nice to have a shotgun that's capable of delivering hits that take off 1000+HP off an enemy. http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_smile.gif

-Khao

[Elusive_Llama]

Also, get charge vulcans, preferably 50% hit. My ramarl can do 500+ per hit in Ult. Ruins (online mode) with the special, and that's with only shifta 20. With level 30 shifta and level 30 zalure cast, her damage output rises to 1000+ per hit. Her ATA is 303 with the vulcans equipped, so she can do a hard-special-special combo without missing very much.

A good weapon combo is a Snow Queen (or a Frozen Shooter if you're a stubborn traditionalist) and charge vulcans. Freeze your target(s), then blast it/them with the charge vulcans' special attack. They're helpless when frozen, and their EVP drops to 0, making them sitting ducks.