Ra/? (Sniper build)

[Gremmy]

Hey everyone, so I was wondering if anyone had a good build for a sniper focused playstyle using the ranger as the main class? I prefer glass cannon max dps over tankier options like hunter subclass.

I need to know what subclass to go as well as what to invest all my skill points into.

[BoomBoy]

Et may be tanky but it is the best sub class for Ranger.

[Gremmy]

Problem with etoil is that I'm just making my character thus i don't have access to etoil. Feelsbadman.

[Kossy]

Hunter is so good for Ranger not just because of the bulk but also the consistent damage and how it generally works well with Ranger.

As a general breakdown of why Ra/Hu is predominant for players that aren't Ra/Et

-Fighter: Heavily Position reliant which doesn't work so well for a class that has to stand still at range for most of their best attacks since outside of some UQs, major enemies can and will be turning around all over the place and you'd lose your damage bonus. Outside of stances, it has nothing to really offer Ra.

-Gunner: Bad in general. The class requires you to be right up in your enemy's face and its bonuses are focused around that making it clash with Ra on a fundamental level. Chain Trigger nerf removed what little viability Gunner once had as a sub for Ra.

-Force: Crappy sub in general. Offers nothing to Ra.

-Techter: Can pair with Ra if you're going all in on being a support slave but if you're doing that you'd be Te/Ra rather than Ra/Te.

-Braver: Can work well with Ra using Weak Stance and abusing headshots and the like... but Hunter is overall going to be stronger and more consistent damage as well as greater defensive benefits so Braver just isn't worth looking at over Hunter.

-Bouncer: Not a very good sub in general. Can't really offer anything of value to Ra.

-Summoner: Very good for single target focus fire and is fairly bulky in its own right. You'll have to make sure to adjust to keeping Point Assist and Weak Bullet up on your targets at all times, however. It also falls behind quickly (compared to hunter) for anything where you have multiple targets or aren't able to keep focus firing due to parts breaking, enemy movement, or the like. It's still easily second best choice from non successor classes, however.

[Gremmy]

So my interest is revolving around standing still from a mile away and 1 shotting most things, according to this reply, my better option would be summoner?

[BB Mouse]

Use subclass braver and precision stance and that looks more like a sniper. get those stun gravity traps for crowd control. Get those ranger left rings too (blight rounds and launcher weak spot 'cause braver has enhance normal attack very good for launcher). Get hunter physique right ring and 4+ guardian shield S augments. Otherwise you would get 1-shot a lot by many mobs endgame XD. Just too squishy~ But that's the theory. It'd be nice to try that in group play and go for critical ring and all offense augments then your dps should be very high in theory. But honestly I wouldn't play the build 'cause it a busy build just too many stuff you need to turn on/off, swap weapon, etc. Very busy comparing to a supposedly sniper just sitting there aim and push one button XD. But yeah your summoner is ok too except you still need those damage reduction form those S augments.

[Mistfox]

Personally, I prefer Ra/Te though that is more off the beaten path due to the ability to use Techniques so you don't end up too dependent on other people's healing. And in a lot of cases, you won't be able to stand still because the designers of the game know this and force you to keep moving or die. It's not a well liked combo but at least it is self sufficient. (This is before Etolie so it's changed a bit but then newcomers won't be able to access the Scion classes that fast).

From experience, I'd actually not recommend using Ranger as a start build, not because it is bad but because it is too easy at the start, you end up with a lot of "bad" habits like kiting instead of blocking or evading to kill your enemies, so when you hit high levels and bosses that simply blast the whole area, your old kiting skills suddenly become useless and you need to start using i-frames..... which you have not learned to used at the start. I have to admit, the sudden need to use i-frames (against the dragon) was a real shock to my system, so I'd actually recommend using something like Hunter, Bouncer or even Gunner to learn evasion/blocking before going to other classes. But if you don't, that isn't wrong too, just know that you have to learn how to i-frame dodge while leveling.

For Arts, Slideburst Zero is a must, you have i-frames during the "spin", this is the skill you'll use i-frames from the most. Steady Shot and Diffusion are your bread and butter (though some will disagree), the 1st acts as a rapid fire rifle while the 2nd is your high damage shotgun you use for close range fleeting targets. Then there is your Satellite Cannon and Positron Blast as your anti-boss weapons if you can get them to stay still, which sometimes is hard to do, their charge time is fairly long for evasive enemies. Homing Volley Zero might look useless at the start but surprisingly I find that I started using it a lot more at higher levels due to the sheer damn evasiveness of the enemies, the Homing rounds help a lot if the enemy starts doing things like jumping around. The fact that they are cheap and fast firing also helps with PP dumping huge amount of Homing rounds onto targets before you need to start displacing to a new location to avoid attacks.

Skillwise, Rangers are fairly easy, Blight Rounds then ALL of the damage boosting skills except Ranged Power Up (percentage damage scales up a lot more than flat damage increases). Tools... it depends. Some players are very, very good with tools. Honesty compels me to admit I'm not one of them, so I tend to end up just ignoring them totally. You have to test it out before figuring out if you are comfortable with tools or terrible with them (I'm on the "terrible" side).

https://somethingaboutlagging.wordpress.com/

This site taught me a lot when I was starting out. You don't have to follow it 100% (like my Ra/Te) but it gives you a very good overview of what you get when you use a skill or an Art.

[Gremmy]

thanks for all the replies everyone :). I'm glad this game has such a great community.

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by Gremmy:

thanks for all the replies everyone :). I'm glad this game has such a great community.

Darn, we can't have that! We got a reputation to uphold! Or was that downhold?

Now we have to insult you, you poopyhead!

[Kossy]

Originally posted by Gremmy:

thanks for all the replies everyone :). I'm glad this game has such a great community.

Uh-oh. Guys they're on to the fact that we're helpful and nice to people who ask questions and are willing to accept the help and advice given without throwing a tantrum.

Quick, bring in the cover-up squad before we lose our reputation!

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by Kossy:

Originally posted by Gremmy:

thanks for all the replies everyone :). I'm glad this game has such a great community.

Uh-oh. Guys they're on to the fact that we're helpful and nice to people who ask questions and are willing to accept the help and advice given without throwing a tantrum.

Quick, bring in the cover-up squad before we lose our reputation!

Sir, the coverup squad reports that they ran out of wallpaper! What should we do?

[Mistfox]

Originally posted by Gremmy:

thanks for all the replies everyone :). I'm glad this game has such a great community.

Oh by the way, if you realize that you screwed up some skill builds, you can get an "extra" skilltree loadout slot by spending 500 AC. You only need 1 extra (per character), then you can spend 200 SG to "move" skilltrees to another class. When you move any skilltree, it resets all the skills so you can rebuild your character to correct mistakes or even "upgrade" it to remove the older skills you don't want any more, so any "oops..." skilltree you have can be reset, the only limit is that every class must have at least 1 skilltree slot (hence the need for at least 1 extra skilltree to plug the "gap").