EVERY RANGER SHOULD HAVE SE4 BURN!!!

[imfanboy]

Look.

I've been nice about this, gentle and kind about this, correcting and commenting kindly to my Protranser, Fortegunner, Fortetecher, and Guntecher friends who don't have an SE4 burn that they should make every effort to get one, but this has to get into high gear.

EVERY ranger should have an SE4 burn of some kind.

Why? Oh, let's see...

SETTING FIRE TO THE BIG ENEMIES THAT ARE HARD TO DAMAGE, MAYBE???

Tengoughs. Jarbas. Bil De Vears. Minibosses. All of those and MORE take EASILY 1k of damage a tick; what part of the math of this don't people get?

"But fanboy," you whinge, "those bullet arts are SO HARD to level!!!"

Here's how I went from Bow lv 1 to 21 in a weekend.

Grab yourself some of the weapons (bows or rifles, your choice, but bows do level easier), and go to Sleeping Warriors C, and use the bow/rifle exclusively. Because of the refill cubes, you don't need to worry about running out of ammo; and for some reason they level FAST in that area.

It took me about 10-20 hours all told, not counting the breaks I took to do stuff with high level friends.

But even SE3 BURN IS WORTH IT, DAMMIT!!! SE3 burn CAN affect Jarbas and Tengoughs - only rarely, but still often enough that you can see that pleasant 1k a tick swing past.

There really aren't any other SE4 techs out yet that REALLY make a hardcore difference in how fast you take down enemies - SE4 silence is handy for jarbas, but that's about it.

C'mon, folks, PLEASE start leveling your burn? You'll be amazed at what a difference it makes.

[Sgt_Shligger]

Yo, do burn traps from Protranser/rangers do that 1k damage?

[imfanboy]

Yes they do - however, they're also pricy and you can only carry so many of them. You tend to run out about the 20th spawn of Tenmagoughs.

[Zerrius]

If you are only going to level 1 or 2 rifle bullets, make sure fire is one of them. And start on it early because rifle bullets take FOREVER to level. Bows level about 4x faster than rifles.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Zerrius on 2006-12-26 14:36 ]</font>

[Itsuki]

I actually prefer level 4 dark. The thing about dark is you can infect something, and then just leave it.

The damage on dark is slower, but you can apply it to more things. With fire you have to keep re-applying it. Or it goes away. Heres the comaprison:

Burn 4 -> 5% every 2 seconds for 10 seconds (total: 25% damage)
Infection 4 -> 5% every 4 seconds for 32 seconds (total: 40% damage)

EDIT: Its really a preference thing. Fire is generally the bigger damage dealer. But with infection you can switch out to another weapon or infect more things. With level 4 infection against small monsters you can infect the entire room no problem.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Itsuki-chan on 2006-12-26 14:36 ]</font>

[Golto]

I'm glad I had my fire rifle bullet already to lvl 18 by the time of expert types were released. I agree burn lvl4 is so useful I love seeing the bees burn for 1004 and the two big monsters in Lab S burn for ~1100.

[-dis-]

On 2006-12-26 14:35, Itsuki-chan wrote:
I actually prefer level 4 dark. The thing about dark is you can infect something, and then just leave it.

The damage on dark is slower, but you can apply it to more things. With fire you have to keep re-applying it. Or it goes away. Heres the comaprison:

Burn 4 -> 5% every 2 seconds for 10 seconds (total: 25% damage)
Infection 4 -> 5% every 4 seconds for 32 seconds (total: 40% damage)Around what update in JP did the dark bullets get added?

[JAFO22000]

Hey, you just worry about getting your ice bullets to SE5...so you can freeze the De Ragan. Remember De Ragan?? He's back....in pog form!

[Itsuki]

Around what update in JP did the dark bullets get added?
I assume by that you mean "when should I expect them on the US server." And the answer to that is on the 12th of january. They got added with the 2nd round of PAs. Along with buffs, damu techs, and 2nd skills for melee weapons.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Itsuki-chan on 2006-12-26 16:14 ]</font>

[-dis-]

Grazie.

[ViciousXUSMC]

if there are alot of spawns that will take alot of time to down (3 tengodgs) yeah dark might be better. but if your a good ranger I think you could keep all 3 burning most of the time and even if you only get 2 burns off its still better.

I guess it just depends on how good you are at multi tasking, alot of mobs wont last 40 seconds for dark to work its full effect, so burn is probably better. With dark vs the tengodgs or what ever they are called atleast you wont be using the same element agaisnt them so thats abit more dmg on its own.

I have often got all 3 of them on fire with foi... and its gotta be easier with a rifle/bow than it is with foi. If I had a good ranger around I could toss diga instead for 2x the dmg 350 vs 700+....

[EC_Subbie]

I finally got my burn on rifle to lv21 today so I'm good to go. Freeze is around 20 I think..and the shotgun ones are either at or close to 30. I never took extra time out to level bullets really..it's just a natural result of leveling and playing. I might try out that sleeping warriors idea though.

[etlitch]

You forgot that it takes more than twice amount of exp needed for bow to lv21 when you're lvling rifle to lv21.

[Gen2000]

Well before the Dark Bullet with lv.4 SE is released then ya lv.4 Burn should pretty much be standard if you want to be an effective RA/PT type member of the team.

I'm not even sure if I will bother with lv.'ing Rifle Dark Bullet though, getting lv.21+ Burn and Freeze on it was already a pain the ass. Might just level Bow dark bullet instead even though I'm a big fan of Rifle's firerate for causing SEs..sigh...

By the time the next update comes, me spamming Dark Rifle Bullets for a majority of missions just to make it comparable to lv.4 Burn when I could enjoying the new content instead doesn't seem like much fun.

[panzer_unit]

Using SE3 Fire to (try and) burn large mobs for the first 3 ranks of PT did the trick for me. I got so tired of grinding skills after busting my butt to get Tornado Break and Bogga Danga to level 21.

I've got virus traps, I love that status on a bomb where I've got such limited uses. Now that my proc rate is nice and high with a bow, I'm content to keep up the shorter, more intense DOT from burn.

[Sitka]

On PSO, it was freeze. Frozen Shooters and Snow Queens were essential for Seabeds and Tower Runs.

On PSU, it's all about the burn. The damage is huge, quick and nasty enemies are gone before they can get back to the leader and get a heal. My fire, ice and grav bullets are all 30 and my plasma is getting there. No doubt about it, fire clears a room faster than anything else - even again fire enemies.

Now, I will get the infection bullets on January 12th and level them up to 30 just sos I got it all.

But definitely fire for now.

[Sgt_Shligger]

Wait, so what should I get first? Ice bow or fire/dark bow?

Should I get some other weapon to freeze for me?

[Sitka]

So, you're a guntecher. Do you tend to solo a lot?

I found that fire was more useful in clearing rooms faster than ice for me. I would go fire/dark bow first then get the ice going, but that's just me.

As for weapons, have you tried the 8* cubo dunga crossbow? Leveled up, it's pretty sweet for a left hand weapon with your heal weapon in the other. Some like cards for the SE. Personally, when playing guntecher, I use both rifles and bows for ranged attacks, but find fire more useful, particularly when sniping and wanting to dispatch a tough enemy from a distance.

For dispatching mobs, I prefer the Evil Twins or another high-grinded pair of B-guns.

[imfanboy]

And fer the best lookin' set of twin handguns...

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i225/iamfanboy/steyrface.jpg

Who needs 7*s when you've got ARB HADOCS?

Yeh. I might actually replace the twin burn with twin virus for cutting down mobs quickly; too many mobs are fire-based and I'm tired of seeing reduced damage when trying to burn them.

But for big creatures, I'd much rather have the intensified damage; while virus IS sexy, I can burn creatures quickly enough to keep them on fire.

[Sgt_Shligger]

Yo, should I wait to get my dark bow or just buy the fire?

[Sitka]

January 12th is still a ways off. You can have your fire bow easily maxed by the time the dark bow needs to be leveled.

Do both.

[Hrith]

I have Burning Shot and Burning Hit at Lv30, am I doing good? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[Reginaldo]

I have a question. Being a fighgunner should I go for dark bullets when they are released? At the moment I use fire for my dualies and my crossbow.

[Sitka]

It sounds like most gunners are going to include dark bullets in their arsenal. Taking out mobs, big beasts and bosses will be a lot easier with infect, particularly so against those that are resistant to fire. There are a lot of fire-based enemies on PSU.

So, yes, get the dark bullets for sure.

[Remedy]

*politely mentions that Foie 21+ has Burn 4*

[imfanboy]

*politely mentions that a bow or a rifle shoots twice as fast as foie, and leaves you less vulnerable to enemy attacks due to the shorter lag time both before and after the shot actually goes off*

But yes, you make a good point Remedy - HOWEVER, that doesn't mean that RANGERS should skimp on one of their most important BAs. Plus, burnable mobs don't always come in groups of one - the more people with SE4 burn, the more enemies that can be shot and burned that much faster. The faster enemies go down, the quicker the level goes... and the quicker the level goes, etcetera, etcetera.

And there are some people using fortetechers who don't like offensive technics - I personally find them annoying to aim, vexing to deal with, slow on the dps in most situations, etcetera. Rifles and bows are straightforward and hard to screw up - plus, you can aim them in first-person mode. XD

[BlueFire2k5]

Even so, I've noticed that force spells seem to have a much lower chance of inflicting status effects than ranged weapons. Maybe it's just because of the slower attack rate, I dunno, but I has having a hard time getting the Tengoughs in Omna S on fire while the fortegunner was shooting ice at them (-_-).

[Hrith]

Frozen monsters cannot be burned.

[Remedy]

No, of course not, I never stated that Rangers should skimp on Burn on their Bow or Rifle - I'm just saying that Fortechers can assist in the burnination. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif

And may I politely ask why in the name of the nine circles of hell you're playing a Fortecher and not using offensive technics? That's like playing a Fortefighter and using nothing but handguns.

[imfanboy]

Oh, I'm not playing a fortetecher yet remedy - I'm just toying with the idea of this setup -

Card/wand (resta/reverser)
Rod (4 buffs)
card/wand (resta/reverser)
Rod (3 debuffs/diga)
Card/wand (resta/reverser)
Bow w/ SE4 burn


Pure support - the cards are very handy for inflicting SEs, because I have resta/reverser on all the wands I don't have to worry about lag keeping me from healing a friend, and I have the Diga-ness if something nastily tech-resistant springs up. *shrug*

I just don't like the technics. I got two characters up to Force 10 and towards the end I was just... "OK, I'll just keep my handgun and wand with resta/reverser. You guys kill things and I'll make sure you don't die."

And hunters really liked me for it. Go figure. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wink.gif

Maybe the damu-level techs will change my mind.

But I won't bet on it.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: imfanboy on 2006-12-30 17:24 ]</font>

[BlueFire2k5]

On 2006-12-30 05:05, Hrith wrote:
Frozen monsters cannot be burned.



I know that. However, the Tengough's were not frozen, I don't believe you can even freeze S rank Tengoughs.

[imfanboy]

yes you can freeze them. To my great annoyance.

[Remedy]

Freeze IV can freeze Tengohgs, yes.

Freeze IV can freeze anything that's not a boss. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif

[BlueFire2k5]

Ah, so you can. Either the Fortegunner had horrid luck, or not level 4 freeze. Sorry, my mistake.

[Hrith]

Svaltus is not a boss, yet immune to all the ailments I tried to inflict on it =/

[Itsuki]

Svalatus can be frozen pretty easily. Perhaps you lack the level 4 freeze?

Also, Svalatus are regular enemies in Denes Relics. You see like 20 of them a run.

[Golto]

Are Svalatus immune to burn though? Armored jarabs are immune to freeze lvl4.

[Itsuki]

I do believe that mechanical monsters are immune to burn. Atleast you can't inflict it in a conventional way to Svalatus, Explody mechs, or that like. I do believe infection works though.

EDIT: I could be wrong though, I'm not always right XD I'd really have to do some experimenting. Maybe I'll drag the lowbies on the JP server through denes.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Itsuki-chan on 2006-12-31 11:49 ]</font>

[imfanboy]

I'd be very interested to know if infection works on mechanicals - I'm dreading Grove of Fanatics - what did you call it, Haruka?

And you're saying there's another relics other than the two already available on the US server? Good! We needs more levels XD

[Itsuki]

I call areas by the area they are in rather than by the name of the mission. Grove of the Fanatics is the mission in Hakura Temple. Just like Unsafe Passage and Fight For Food are in the Linear Line area. So I just refer to both as Linear Line.

And yes, infection works like magic agains the mechs there. They have basically no STA, so it sticks in like 3-4 shots max. You can keep the entire room infected like it was nothing. But, if you saw my killer shot video (its in the ranger thread and in the screenshots and movies thread), you'd see that killer shot is the real good bullet there. Killer shot just OWNS them.

[imfanboy]

Well, the main thing is, for my GT I was eyeing the Laser ultimate PA - she could really use some knockdown/knockback for team play...

Plus, I was already planning to get virus for my dualies; just knowing that I can virus the mechs is icing on the cake - it means I don't have to worry about their high HP as much.

Plus, the ultimate PAs don't come out for a while, do they? I'd rather start doing Hakura S asap - I want ortacarbons, and that seems to be the only damned place to find them. >_>

[etlitch]

It's true, some monsters are immune VS certain status effects. Like itsuka posted, robots are immune vs silence, burn, sleep and probaly some other crap.

[Hrith]

On 2006-12-31 11:30, Itsuki-chan wrote:
Perhaps you lack the level 4 freeze?
I do, I find Freeze pretty poor in PSU.

I have Lv3 Freeze, Silence (handgun, launcher) and Lv4 Shock and Burn (rifle, only Lv4 SE weapon for a Fortegunner, anyway). I plan to buy dark bullets for the rifle when they are released, obviously.

I recently learned that light bullets inflict confusion -- I thought they'd inflict sleep, from playing Agata relics -- and that is awesome news to me, I loved Chaos SE on PSO http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I wonder which weapon will get light bullets, though.



On 2006-12-31 13:32, Itsuki-chan wrote:
And yes, infection works like magic agains the mechs there.More awesome news. At the moment, I cannot hope to solo Hakura, even on A Rank difficulty.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Hrith on 2007-01-01 09:13 ]</font>

[AC9breaker]

I think we should make a list on what status effetcs, apply to who. There are a lot of unexpected thing. For example, S rank vandas aren't effected by virus. I haven't virus traps on regular ones but I'm willing to bet they are immune to virus too.

*Not sure if it was virus or confusion, or maybe both.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AC9breaker on 2007-01-01 12:14 ]</font>

[etlitch]

Tried G traps? S-rank stuff seem to be immune to normal traps.

[PJ]

On 2007-01-01 09:12, Hrith wrote:
I loved Chaos SE on PSO http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I wonder which weapon will get light bullets, though.

I thought Kef loved Berserk in PSO http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

Although, I just want to ask (And not add anything to the topic, as I'm not actually a fan of Rangering in PSU), do Ice bullets get more reliable at a higher SE level? Not like, more likely to happen, I mean, last longer?

The freeze effect just seems so unreliable and terrible, as monsters stay frozen for pretty much no time.

[etlitch]

It's actually pretty ok, as long as you or your co-players are'nt attacking the thing that's frozen.

Solo you'll notice that if you freeze something and leave it alone, it's going to stay frozen much longer than if you keep attacking it.

Most ice I've seen sofar breaks after 4-5 hits, we don't know for sure since noone has done any real tests on it.

like:
if different SE lvls breaks in different amount of hits,
if the ice stays whole untill either the freeze time runs out/it get hit the amount of hit needed to break the ice
or if hitting something frozen shortens the freeze time = breaks the ice

[Soukosa]

Tycho gave me a list of the status stuff from the (not so) Perfect Bible. Svaltus should be immune to everything but Infection, Freeze, Jellen, and Zalure and everything listed as mechanical is immune to Burning, Silence, and Sleep. The Vanda Merhas shouldn't be immune to anything according to it, as well.

[etlitch]

On 2007-01-01 14:04, Sounomi wrote:
The VandaHe wrote S-rank in his post. We can assume that he used normal traps, normal traps and S-rank does'nt comply.

[Soukosa]

On 2007-01-01 14:06, etlitch wrote:

On 2007-01-01 14:04, Sounomi wrote:
The VandaHe wrote S-rank in his post. We can assume that he used normal traps, normal traps and S-rank does'nt comply.

"Vanda Merha", the S-rank version of Vandas >.> Two completely different monsters on top of that (as far as the game is concerned).

[Golto]

I use normal traps on pollovra's all the time in lab s. So normal traps do work on sranks just not all traps work on all monsters. Protransers seem to have better chance of successfull traps working.

[Kupi]

On 2007-01-01 13:46, PJ wrote:

On 2007-01-01 09:12, Hrith wrote:
I loved Chaos SE on PSO http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_razz.gif I wonder which weapon will get light bullets, though.

I thought Kef loved Berserk in PSO http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_wacko.gif

Although, I just want to ask (And not add anything to the topic, as I'm not actually a fan of Rangering in PSU), do Ice bullets get more reliable at a higher SE level? Not like, more likely to happen, I mean, last longer?

The freeze effect just seems so unreliable and terrible, as monsters stay frozen for pretty much no time.



Try not to think of Ice as a defensive SE, though it can be used as such. Ice is a mixed offensive/defensive SE, as it interrupts the target's current action and allows other party members to attack it without missing. If you want defense, go with Shock and Silence. If you want offense, go with Burn or Ice-- Burn for the explicit damage, Ice for the "silent" damage of less damage lost to misses.

[AC9breaker]

I use normal traps all the time on S ranks since protransers get chances of it being lvl 3/4 sometimes. I usually reserve my g-traps for sticky situations ie. Massive bee spawns in lab or whatever. Since its not very cost effective to just spam g-traps all the time. Anyway,the problems with normal traps is the very limited range so it could have been that I just missed al the times since they run fast. Or that my traps turned out to be level 1 SE and didn't effect the enemies.

[Itsuki]

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/Akukame/psu20070102_125135_001.jpg
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/Akukame/psu20070102_125227_002.jpg
(neither one of those are SE 4 btw)

Perhaps actual bullets work better?

[AC9breaker]

lol oops! I was actually refering to Go Vahras not Vandas. I always confuse their names.

[Itsuki]

whats this? A Go Vahra infected AND confused at the same time? http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_eek.gif
http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f369/Akukame/psu20070102_170337_002.jpg

The low STA on parum made that picture nice and easy. http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/anime1.gif Unlike the damn Vanda x_o

Oh, and I got GT 9 between the two sets of picture taking. Check out that HP boost http://www.pso-world.com/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif Now I hit the brick wall thats extended class level 10. (actually, it requires the same amount as extended class level 5, horrible horrible level 5....)

[AC9breaker]

Yeah, I was just playing and finally got some traps off on them. Wonder what enemy it was that I noticed traps had no effect on.

[Itsuki]

Not sure, but theres very few things that are just hard to get off. I think theres some combination of enemy buffs that gives full status effect immunity aswell. I want to say its crown+shield. But I'm not entirely sure. I know for a fact you can inflict status effects on just a shield, or just a crown. But I'm pretty sure each give a 50% resistance to status effects. And added together they become completely immune? Or maybe just very very close to immune? I'd have to do more experimenting. But I think I'm done for atleast today.

[Alisha]

imo freeze blows in psu. the main reason i used freeze in pso was to hit evadeless hits. since freeze sucks for that now i think you are better off with shock or silence.

and... WHAT THE FUCK IS SLEEP. i see it mentioned but what the hell is it. is it that effect where stars swirl around your head or are you refering to the stun like from nosudiga. cause the only way ive ever inflicted that star whirl effect was with a weapon that had it as an additional effect. i think it was a 1 handed daggar.

[Itsuki]

Sleep is the one with the stars around your head. Characters don't really ever inflict it (other than a SUV weapons I think?).

And Ice really isn't that great. But the thing is, you're going to have it high level for damage reasons (Onma and De Ragan are both weak to ice and can very easily be killed taking minimum damage with rifle range). Anything that silence would help with, tends to be very hard to silence. Its like a rule, casters don't take status effects well. As for paralysis, it just doesn't work as well on the big monsters, they always have other things they can do. You can freeze one in place, while everyone else kills another group, or freeze the one they're attacking, and they get free non-evadeable hits on the monster and stop it from attacking for a couple seconds.

Its not for every situation, and most situations I'd prefer confuse or paralysis. But every status effect has its place. And if everything else fails, ice always works.

[imfanboy]

I've actually had a lot of luck with Silence on my card, of all things, Itsuki-chan. I can smear it around the LL and also Mizuraki fairly easily even to S-rank.

Remains to be seen if I'll have any success with it in the HIVE, but I can certainly hope so. Wouldn't hurt to try....

[panzer_unit]

I've been told that Virus G traps don't work on boss Jarbas when dropped by ForteGunners, while they're fine for my ProTranser. Good times for my class, since Lab S is the super popular mission at the moment. Just carrying 3 Virus G traps into the last room pays for my spot on the team... clears out those last waves much faster.

[Q_Anon]

Sleep is the one with the stars around your head. Characters don't really ever inflict it (other than a SUV weapons I think?).


There are sleep traps as well, just no one ever uses them since the DoT ones are better.

[AC9breaker]

More like no reason to use unless your in a small party. It sucks that Slept enemies wake up on the first attack. But the duration of keeping enemies still if left untouched is pretty decent.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AC9breaker on 2007-01-02 16:36 ]</font>