Hello fellow flyffers, the Rangerguide is soon to become real. Not a guide solely on builds, equipment and skills etc, that has all extendedly been covered. I’ll post links to that info in the guide, to prevent you from searching too much, how does that sound huh?

Those are the 3 main concerns you have as a starting ranger, what to buy, when to add STA, how to level your skills. Building your Ranger is the Key to succes, what are your purposes, do you intend to hunt Giants, PvP, strictly PvM etc etc. there are some guides already written on builds, but ill post my ideas too.
But the one thing we do not have written out is how to actually use your freshly built, skilled and equipped Ranger… thats where the rest of this guide comes in handy.

Further I will discuss the following topics:

- Builds (Pros, Cons, Tips, Consequences, matching Gear you name it)
- Priorities in getting equipment (What set, why, Awakenings?)
- What level to change from Plugs or Demols to Speedo’s or vice versa
- suit Piercings (Attack, Defence & HP) Bow Piercings (Electric, Wind or Land)
- lvl-by-lvl Fighting Guide (including Tips’n'Tricks for Azria)
- Gathering efficiently (how to prevent ‘leavers’ etc.)
- Pets (Cash Shop and Egg-Hatched Pets)
- AoE sequences
- A 1vs1 Ranger section, since people have a right to know… (Soon Expected)
- ??? Anything that might come up during usage/revision of this guide.

There we are, the real guiding can begin, the adding of info that is very important, though not yet adopted in this forums stickies…soon it will change.

The Early Ranger Builds

Yes, at first my guide wasnt going to discuss builds because there are several guides that explain builds already. however some (most) of those guides are outdated, do not take into account the fact that awakenings have pretty much taken over the land of Roika. in this section ill try to give you a detailed idea of what a Rangers build should look like to match different gear and intentions.

Let me start out by telling a story dated out of earlier versions where Block was about as uncommon as players above lvl 100, and where catsreflex was the most neglected buff of all (except for patience.)
when the first Rangers stood up in this game, all they could think about was tanking, try to get good HP, tank high level (!) monsters and try to survive. and so they did, starting builds with amounts of STA that even AoE Knights wouldnt add nowadays, seriously, 150+ STA wasn’t uncommon.
an you all might think now Huh? why?

Well, block wasnt as extendedly researched and experimented with as it is right now, typical meatshield knights relying on block now, and AoE Blades thrive upon their insane natural blockrate. Then the rangers of those days started to wonder why Perfect Block (lvl 45 skill, adding 20% Blockrate when maxed) was such a lifesaver during leveling. block was discovered as a substitute for High DEF/STA Built Rangers…

Therefore Our current rangerbuilds are now based on the 2 Stats that give HP/DEF and Block/Evasion/Bow Damage:
Stamina & Dexterity

Heres a combined definition of the 2 given by several online dictionaries:

Stamina: Physical or moral strength to resist or withstand Illness, Fatigue, or Hardship. synomym: Endurance.

Dexterity: Skilled with one’s hands; Agile; Flexible; able to move Fluidly and Gracefully.

These two stats are the 2 legs upon wich Rangerhood stands. Any serious build will always be a combination of those two stats, DEX always having the Upper hand in any PvM Build.

Here follows an overview of different builds, rated on a few specifications such as:

- Expensiveness, the minimum system requirements, so to speak.
- Leveling Ease, obviously how much trouble should you expect in term of dying in the early levels and later on.
- Leveling Speed, How fast do you get from lvl 60 to lvl 121 HERO? (and possibly beyond?)
- Versatility, Only PvM? or do you want PvP/Gianting too? what are your area(s) of expertise.

The Classic Rangerbuild:

STR: 15
STA: 45
DEX: XXX
INT: 15

Expensiveness: 5/10
Level Ease: 5/10
Leveling Speed: 6/10
Versatility: 7/10

Any Ranger can get by with only a +3 set at first, but with 45 STA its good to aim for +5 at least, preferably pierced 2/2 too, with a piercing of your choice, DEF or Attack, more on that later. This build has enough HP to tank decently, dont expect 50+ mobs in azria at lvl 70 straight away. leveling speed will be cool, since you dex is relatively high for starters, killing OK, and Blocking OK untill you hit lvl 85ish, there it all gets better. even gianting and PvP are an option, although 1vs1 is something I wouldnt recommend for any Ranger to level by.

The High STA Build:

STR: 15
STA: 60
DEX: XXX
INT: 15

Expensiveness: 5/10
Level Ease: 7/10
Leveling Speed: 8/10
Versatility: 6/10

Yes this build has a higher leveling Ease AND Speed, why? early on, STA is your Best friend, STA and DEF, since you dont have enough block to rely on, besides, the chances of you haveing a Grantusset+10+28% Attack at lvl 60 is very, very low… Any NPC set+3 will do, and youll have no trouble to get to lvl 75 and rule your OskaSet. Ease of tanking is what this build is all about, i use it myself too, and i’ve never regretted it for a single second. since the early levels go very fast, youll reach your Oska/Okas set fairly quickly, thus being able to start grinding seriously at an earlier time. versatility is lower, cause your damage starts out a bit lower then the classical Ranger build described above. But remember this, even full DEX is still negligable damage in PvP…

The Full Dex Build:

STR: 15
STA: 15
DEX: XX
INT: 15

Expensiveness: 9/10
Level Ease: 3/10
Leveling Speed: 8/10
Versatility: 9/10

Expen$ive it will be, +8 ~ +10 is what you need. A little while ago I said that Full Dex Rangers dont exist, since everybody tends to make up for the lack of STA by Awakenings/Rings/Piercings of the Bow.
Let me tell you that a Ranger wit 15 STA and XXX DEX and a Helmet of 28 STA will be EXCACTLY as good as a ranger with 43 STA and XXX DEX with a Helmet of 28 DEX. Therefore the Full Dex Build usually is to be able to maximize (1vs1) damage, clearly chosing a DEX awakened helmet over a STA one. Leveling from 60~80 will be tough, since you dont have a whole lotta HP to be safe yet… so start slow, kill close to your level and stick it up till your blockrate starts saving your [I Have a Potty Mouth]. cause when it does, your levelingspeed is superior. Verstatility is also part of this package, since any DEX awakenings can be easily swapped for STA, to AoE more efficiently, but to 1vs1 slap on a cruiserset and get a Bloody Bow+10 and crit away…Ofcourse a +10 Ranerz+28% Attack is pretty much Mandatory…An Ulti-Abow would help too…

Priorities in getting your gear together

I’ll start by saying that buying a cheap Gbow or a +8 set when you have the chance is always good, take those chances and don’t let this guide make you pass up on a cheap Gbow, ok cool ,then we get that straight.

Just to be sure, here is a small chart of how the elements affect eachother:

Wind > Earth
Earth > Electric
Electric > Water
Water > Fire
Fire > Wind

So fighting Captain Cranes (earth) requires a wind element on your suit, and fighting Greemongs (water) requires….exactly: electric.
There you go ^^

Always apply the dont-just-take-this-over rule ^^
Don’t apply it and get yourself killed, and blame me… try it, start slow, figure out what you like best etc…

Little research i did on damage reduction by elementing opposite, wich thanks to V13 is now THE ONLY WAY TO ELEMENT…

Hi guys, due to a topic not so long ago i decided to do some research…
the issue was how elementing affects damage done to you by mobs…

ok here is the situation:
Lvl:103
Job:Ranger
total DEF is around 970 buffed.
attack; irrelevant

We tested this on Mammoths(lvl 109, water type), with a clean suit and elemented up to +5 electric

here are the results, the first numers are blocked hits, the second numers display normal/unblocked hits and the 3rd are criticals.

—————Block———Hit———-Critical
electric +0 : 190~200 … 750~850 … 1300~2000
electric +1 : 160~170 … 550~600 … 1200~1800
electric +2 : 160~170 … 490~500 … 1200~1800
electric +3 : 160~170 … 480~490 … 1200~1800
electric +4 : 160~170 … 460~480 … 1200~1800
electric +5 : 160~170 … 450~460 … 1200~1800

what we see is that no element increases the damge of crits, even +1 decreases it, but +2 doesnt seem to decrease it further.
blocked damage is untouched after +1 element, and the only thing influence mildly is normal damage… where the first 3 are the biggest leaps in damage reduction.
so elementing to +5 is good, it still reduces damage but the biggest difference is in the "No-Spro zone"… so poor rangers rejoice, +3 is enough ^^

A major thanks to Elfhealing for keeping me alive while i was staring at the damage produced by the mammoths, hoping for some crits ^^

So the set should be your first concern, why? Because staying alive is what we rangers are good at, tanking mobs and making it look like were eating a sandwich in between as well ^^ therefore your defense is a must in the early days. So get yourself some plugs too, stamrings or arekrings, depending on what you want/need more

Ok, lvl 60 now what?

Well everybody screams something else, and they should, it keeps you thinking. personally i went with a Grantus set+3+3, no piercings since i was poor. but little secret, its VERY cheap, and very good for the amount of money you spend on it… high value.
another thing, if this Ranger is a 2nd char and you have some mills to spend, try to awaken some parts of the set. Set a goal for example 15 pieces of each part, costs you around 30 mil total, and awaken them, keep the best parts, you should have an pretty OK set. You wont use it very long, so make it +3+3 (maybe+5 and 2/2 if your money loaded)

a second option is the Rorend set, the lvl 50 CW set, wich gives attractive bonusses, mainly focussed on water resistance, an loads of monsters around this level are water, so thats good. This is the main advantage of this set, but trust me its more rare, therfore more expensive, and having a bad awakening on a part is a shame, since reverting is pricy, and getting a new part can be very time consuming.

Next Milestone: lvl 75

Yes! Oska/Okas set ^^ people, everybody is Lyric about this set, because it has 15% HP on it and a DEF Bonus.
Is that it? Yes thats it, nothing more (Well, 15% Hitrate, but dont ever question your hitrate as a DEX-Based Class)

…buzz killer… i know…

Still it rocks, because people Upgrade it like crazy, its relatively easy to find upgraded Oska parts, so thats cool, a HUGE leap in defense and furthermore, almost all upgraded Oska/Okas suits are pierced… And thats the real reason an Oska set is so nice, because of its resell value. Nobody will seriously spend much money on a set they’ll use for 15 levels maximum. But on this baby, they do ^^.

At 105 (Or 95 for the reductionA boys and girls among us)

your Gift from Gala, The Ranerz set (Raze set if you have bO-Obs.) This set bumps up all our important stats up by a whopping 15%, so HP, DEF, Block AND Ranged Block (wich is very hard to get) All+15% gotta love it and the colors make it almost forbidden to cover it up by CS Outfits.
+8 minumum, youll use it forever, its worth it. 4/4 Pierced with 28% attack preferred, but expensive. If you want to know the in’s and outs on piercing then get into that in the "HP vs DEF discussen" a bit futher down this guide.

Then the Bow to use

At level 60 there are 2 options, the Guardian Bow or the NPC bow, both bows will kill the monsters, so don’t break your face over getting a Gbow right away. The Gbow is ok but the +15% HP will not be such a big bonus, since your Base HP wont be HUGE, so if your Full DEX, Chances of it saving you are smaller then when you have 60/70 STA
It shure is helpfull in the beginning, costly, but helpful… the other (and Main) reason to get a Gbow is the attackrate, it has an attackrate of 233~235 and that is higher than any NPC bow at this level, so get it if you can. another Thing, IF, you manage to get your grubby hands on an Ultimate Gbow, then you might even consider to keep it….FOREVER
whut? really? Yes… Angel Bow+8 has a comparable attackrate and only 5% HP more, but NO CRIT, and if you like gianting, PvP etc, then an UltiGbow+5/6 will be your lifes Desire… (unless Vbows get common^^)

Another Tip to avoid draining your funds on a Gbow, is to SPAM awake NPC bows.
on Lawolf a Gbow Clean costs you around 100-120 mill on Lawolf, you can buy approximately 100 NPC bows and awaken them, and still pay less, fat chance you get a nice STA/DEX awakening on one of them, resell the useful rest to other players, and NPC the crappy ones for a 25% refund ^^ i did it once or twice, spending 25 mill, made 200 mill in reselling them (but i was lucky with a +17% attackspeed bow and a DEX+44 Bow…

At lvl 75 get a Hbow. It adds +10 DEX (an Arekring+9) and +4 STA, and ofcourse a nifty Attackrate.
They’re cheap and your 15% HP bonus will be taken over by the Oska Set. So resell the Gbow, use the cash to pimp your Oska, get a Hbow(they’re stronger Anyways.) Gbows are more versatile though and if you happen to get your hands on a Gbow+10+8 Element, swap it to Fire and use it till 90.

and at lvl 90 get an Angel Bow, although i might say that the 20% HP might be Overrated for Block-Based Characters. I’ve never had more then 12K HP in my entire leveling career untill Master, and i did fine. However, if you like safety, and still more Attackrate, then by All means, get this baby. Actually, the ONLY 2 Reasons to skip the Abow is 1: if you have an Ultimate Gbow+3 then the 5% HP difference wont be worth the swap, and the giving up of 20% critrate. youll suffer versatility, and Ulti-weapons are cool ^^
2: if you have a Godly LGB+10 with an intensely high STA/DEX awakening/piercing.
then the 20% HP becomes Unneccesary because the Leap in Attackrate will help you Kill monsters faster, therefore tanking shorter. Pills become an even safer way to stay alive, they’ll heal almost your full HP, and you dont need to use them twice, since your exp-donating Friends’R'deaD.

ON EVERY AND ALL BOWS AN ELEMENTAL UPGRADE OF FIRE IS MANDATORY!

Huh? Even against Water Mobs?

(yes since fire is the only element that adds damage to any AoE skills we have) Power2 tested this a while ago… a long while ago… here is the link to the topic. It shows clearly that fire is the only element that adds any damage to our AoE skills… we haven’t tested with all the other elements yet, maybe thats about time now.

Yes! i got bored one night, just made lvl 130 (Hurray for Crackshooter) and I decided to fully test damage increase on every skill (including the brand-spankin’ new Flashy "Condor Dive ", the lvl 130 Crackshooter AoE skill)
I created a chart, showing the average damage for each skill, asuming Fire Arrow and Ice Arrow have the same Initial Hit, I only included Fire Arrow’s DoT (Damage over Time)

Red marked numbers mean a decrease of damage and green numbers indicate an increase in damage.
very simple.

Full Elemental Damage Research

As you can see, ONLY Fire Arrow is affected by elemental upgrades, and indeed only by Fire or Water upgrades, where fire are beneficial (even against Water Mobs) and Water being Negative (even against Fire Mobs)

Conclusion: The skill Fire Arrow is the only elemented skill Rangers posess, AoE Wise, and its influenced ONLY by water and fire element. The element on the monsters is of influence as to how much damage this skill does. Water mobs indeed are less vulnerable to Fire Arrow then any other monsters and wind monsters are more vulnerable to Fire Arrow.
However, even on water monsters elementing+3 fire Increases damage! And finally, elementing with Water permanently decreases your Fire Arrow DoT, so Stick to Fire people.

So were set I think, remember to always upgrade Armour before Bow, focusing on attack is something that could become fatal since we’re not 1vs1 but we have 15+ mobs bashing away on our helmets so killing all of them instantaneously is not important yet, survive first…this goes for any level, any build…

Small summary of Equipment

Ok, im a bit of a word cannon, i know, you’ll thank me one day. here is a short summary with what to do, dont ask questions, all the info is above ort below this section.

Lvl 60:
Awake a lvl 59 set, make it +3+3 opposite element.
Awake a lvl 55/62 Bow And +3+3 Fire it. or get a Gbow+x+xfire
Jewelry: 2x Plugs+4/9 regardless the build you rock.
Stamrings or Arekrings, are really a preference here. 2x Stam+4 seems to workout quite well relatively cheap.

Lvl 75:
Get an Oska/Okas set +3 (at least) pierced3/3 at least with 21% DEF or 28% DEF
Either upgrade the GBow (if you like HP), or sell it, and get a nice HBow (if you like more damage)
Best is to have Oska/Okas +8+28% DEF.
3rd option: a Lusaka Bow, its fairly cheap, but mind you, its not resellable. so avery failed upgrade, every Gpro used will never refund itself. not a bad option, but dont upgrade the living daylights out of it.
Jewelry: still 2xPlug+4/9, i reccommend getting 9′s since they drop quite good, and they really help.

Lvl 90:
Ditch ANY Bow you have (Unless its a Ulti Gbow+3 or up) and get at least an Angel Bow+8+8 fire (20% HP is Awesome, and attackrate is sweet)
Jewelry: Experiment with some demols+12, swap them when you feel confident, maybe go hybrid (1 plug+9, 1 demol+12)
Rings Should be Areks+6 or up.

Lvl 95:
Dont wait till 105, get reductions, get the BEST SET IN THE GAME (for PvM Rangers)
Ranerz/Raze, make it +8~+10 and 4/4 with either 28% Attack, 28% DEF or 16% Attack, in that order, really. but 16% attack works fine too…
Jewelry: Demols All the Way! damage is what you still lack, so upgrade it, your plugs will be replaced by the 15% DEF bonus on Ranerz/Raze.

This was the Speedy Equipment guide dont expect miracles from this. You dont NEED to get more equipment then this. You can manage to get to HERO this way just fine. every extra + or Pierce is welcome.

Speedos, Demols or Plugs?

This will be a short part of the guide, since the words ‘personal preference’ are vital here, and the earrings are also a bit build-dependant.

Full DEX builds usually go with plugs to add defense, since their lack of that needs compensation (due to no more than 17~18 STA (+3 STA from the +10 set this build seems to require ))

Any build with 50+ STA has the choice totally free.
Want to tank more? Go Plugs (they add defense,)
Want to kill faster? Go Demols (they add damage,)
Want to block more (i.e. tank more) get Speedos,)hey increase blockrate)

In my opinion Speedos have more or less the same effect as Plugs, they increase the amount of mobs you can tank.
but much more efficiently then Pugs do. hence the ridiculous prices for Speedo’s… the main thing why i would be a bit careful with Speedo’s is that they add a value thats very hard to measure/calculate. Defense on the other hand is a value that’s measurable, you see the leap up when you doubleclick that earring, and you see a damage reduction on you, unless your at the DEF cap already (Where more DEF doesn’t decrease damage received.)

My advice to you is, try them all, different combos, but in general goes: lvl 60~75 use plugs, even if you have 60 STA, its safer, then Demols forever..,

Slot Piercings

Piercing your suit with slots is a very, very effective way to increase certain values of your character, usually, the value that your char is most dependent on is the one you pierce with.

for example: a Jester’s pride consists of attacking, critical etc, so piercing your suit with attack is the best way to go, since they have a lot of attack power, increasing it by a certain % give a much greater bonus then adding a % to a small value, such as defence…

let’s say that the jester has 1000 attack and 350 defence, piercing with 28% attack would result in a much greater attack rate, being 1000 x 1.28 = 1280
that would be an increase of 280 points…
and the defence bonus would be 350 x 1.28 = 448
being a bonus of 98 points only… so then attack is the way to go…

Now, for rangers there is a difficult choice to make, since 3 types of piercings are relevant to us. Those 3 are HP, Defence and Attack…

28% extra attack rate is godly and every class (except Rm’s) should use it, but its horribly expensive so for the record id say that attack pierce would be 16% and Def would be 28% and HP could go both (since the volcano card price is fluctuating from 60 mill on Lawolf to 120 mill…)

Recently I started a topic on this forum about how defence and HP battle eachother for the best piercing, but ill post the link to that right here so you can read the responses of other high level rangers ^^ in my opinion Attack is the way to go, i used to incline towards DEF, but since funds are on my side, ill be collecting my Lightnigs as well. DEF is a VERY good way to go, especially from 60-95, then most people switch to attack, since a reduced 105 set boosts up your blockrate to nearly maxed.
the formmula in the discussion shows the line that will last you longest in battle and your Rm will have an easier time healing you… and the Earthquake cards are affordable
(around 35 mill each as opposed to volcanoes, costing a rough 250 mill)

Piercing discussion:

Ok guys ive developed this theory, and tested it a bit too:

Imagine 2 bathtubs (yes bathtubs) they symbolize your HP-pool.

both baths are equally full lets say 4000 litres/HP ok?

now bath A is filled with 28% extra water (HP) the other one is just filled with 4000 litres. now we both pierce holes into the baths (or we pull out the plugs)
Only the bath that didnt get filled (bath B) gets a 28% smaller hole ^^ so it will drain at a slower pace…both baths should lose 100 litres per second except the last one it loses only 72 litres (28% lessthan bath A due to the smaller hole)

now is the question, which bath is emptied first ?

lets strip down to the basics and put them in a formula shall we? maths were never my major so correct me if im wrong please.

Bath A (HP+28%): (4000 x 1.28)=> 5120 – 100t = HP left at time ‘t’
Bath B (DEF +28%): 4000 – 72t = Hp left at time ‘t’

If you draw these two formulas you get 2 lines, and the line of bathtub A is steeper, so drains faster then Bath B (def) this goes for any amount of HP
as long as its equal for both bathtubs.

conclusion:

Def makes use of a slower drain than HP therefore will last you longer in battle…

*EDIT* add heal to it and this difference will only get Bigger.

Bow Piercings

Yes, we know, we only have one extra item to pierce, but fear not, we were ahead of the crowd anyway, we still are, just by a little less.

To a ranger, there are only 3 piercing options that form a beneficial addition to your equipment.
Those 3 are:
- Electric Cards, wich add DEX and critical rate.
Varying form +2 DEX to +7 DEX and 25 critical Rate they give a Nive Boost in your damage and PvP/PvM/1vs1 abilities. do realise that critical rate isnt beneficial for aoE, but it does boost your versatility, and damage output in PvP.

- Land Cards, which add STA, varying form +2 STA up to +7 STA
We all Need STA. no ranger ever want to level unbuffed. Heap-Up is just too good to pass up on, so STA is usefull. for example and Angels Bow with 5/5 Land B’s add 20 STA, together with the HP bonus can add up to 3 K HP and do not forget the DEF it adds. very nice for tanking extra in a specified bow.

- Wind Cards, wich add Runspeed and Attackspeed, varying from +2% Runspeed up to +7% Run Speed and +2% Attackspeed
Yes, running speed. we all see the asal BP’s flying through the arena pressing F1 next to anyone they don’t like, and run out before they can be killed. Sucks, but we can do that too. Really, Wind cards+HeroSkill+normal Range = WIN in the arena

The single most effective way to speed up your leveling is to pierce your bow with 4 or 5 Wind B cards, adding 16% /20% speed. Yes killing faster is nice, if you have demols+20 areks+18 and an AncientBow+9, but not if you managed to get a so-so awakened Oska+4+8% DEF and a STA awakened NPC bow, so then you need to gather monsters faster, kill at the same pace, but have them respawn fast, so you can gather again. ofcourse the piercings will cost money, but adding speed is cheap AND effective.

NOTE: please realise too that adding one WindB in your Bow immediatly resolves any Speedglitch* issues you might have with Maxed Quickstep… so there ya go.

trust me on this one, IF you tank sufficient, Speed is the way to go faster, litteraly

*= Speedglitching occurs when your speed reaches a value where, for some reason, your arrows get ‘ignored’ by the monsters you try to gather. the fact that its discovered means we can investigate and fix it. so we did, and the effect is readable in another section of the guide, under Gathering: The In’s and Out’s.

Level by level fighting guide

There, this is one of the most wanted topics ever, since I see a lot of questions from people asking where and what to AoE.
Here and now i will try to put an end to your misery by describing step by step what to do, and how to do it.

First of all, be lvl 60, get the NPC set to at least +3+3 opposing element, get a bow+3+3fire, some plugs+9 and a Mentalnecklace+20 ( we’ve been over this already, scroll up)

Then, remember that AoEing is a way of fighting that attacks and kills multiple mobs at the same time, or almost the same time… so the number of mobs is very, very important… AoEing 3 mobs is a total waste of your time

Remember this: More mobs goes before higher level mobs…ALWAYS!

I have started a topic a while ago describing level gaps between mobs and players being too big, the exp decreasing and the dying rate and killing time increasing, don’t do it.. read this first, then read on ^^

AoE Level Gaps and Exp:

Hi guys,

Let me introduce myself, im Bazzzzzz the Ranger of the Lawolf server Cluster, my build so far is 55 Sta, rest dex…

Armour:
Oska Helmet: +3 STA, +2 STR
Oska Suit: +3 STA, +1 STR
Oska Gaunts: +3 STA, +2 DEX
Oska Boots: +4 STA

Bow:
Historic Bow +7 +6 Fire
basic bonus +10 DEX and +4 STA

Jewelry:
2x Arekring+6
2x Plug+4′s
MentalNecklace +6

Now, to get to the point of this topic…

Currently im level 78, and the whole AoE thing is in my fingers, it works really well… but recently i was wondering, since AoEing is a huge amount of exp per kill (since when killing one you kill the other 15 too) the only reason to slower levelling is the whole gathering issue…

little example: i was AoE ing at watangkas, noone was there the whole spawn was free, going like crazy for half an hour i went up roughly 20% because killing speed wasnt uber there… then, me and my FS went to mushies for half an hour to level (yes they’re only 1~2 levels above me) and i took the whole spawn there, i leveld up 44% in 35 minutes o.0

it was so weird since every partner i get says: go higher mobs/ go kill higer/ can you do irens? etc, but nobody ever wonders what killingspeed is all about, theyd rather see me go trees and kill 4 trees per 5 minutes or so, then Roshambo the whole mushiespawn (excl. Giant) 3 x per 5 minutes…

Anyone have experience with this? FS’s telling you to go higher mobs threatening not to level with you when you dont. i soemtimes go higher and they only watch theyr exp meter when the group dies…yes then that number is higher… but it only jumps up every 4 to 5 minutes instead or 2 times per minute… (yes this really frustrates me)

I dont get that… now im almost lvl 79 and watas go at a reasonable speed now so ill stay there till level 84~85 orso. the exp goes faster and faster when you kill them faster, make short gatherings and punch their HP down in no more then 5 ~ 7 casts…

It rocks i can advise all rangers to try and do it, at least TRY it and see..

Notes:
You need an empty spawn for this, preferably server 3 when its daytime in asia, then its quiet haha.

read it? really? ok, if you still havent, your loss

So, now we know that going to high mobs isn’t always going to give you better exp, a lot of factors come in, such as gathering speed etc, more on that later…

EDIT: Since the introduction of Coral Island, and mobs being plenty and easy there, staying there from lvl 60 till 65 is a very fast way of getting to where you want to be. since one full day should be enought to get from 60-65 there, mobs give good exp, drop nicely and arent that hardass to fight… remeber the element, remember the amount, start slow and gradually start destroying…

now equipped as described above or better:

Lvl 60~63: fight Elderguards (lvl 63~65)

The spawn is nice and big, lets you experiment the touches of AoEing, gathering goes fairly well and they don’t hit hard at all. Try fighting these by starting with 3 or 4, then slowly take more until you tank about 10 of them without dying. Then stay there one more level, it should be around lvl 63

Lvl 63~67: fight Cranes (lvl 66~68)

Also a big spawn, but usually very busy, switch servers
(you should be an uber-serverswitcher as an AoEer, you’ll be doing this a lot for the rest of your ranger life) and start fighting… make sure to re-element your suit to +3 wind in Flaris, cranes are earth-type.

*Note: don’t fight regular cranes, since they run away when they are almost dead, it’s very frustrating, leave those alone, mages will take care of them.

Lvl 67~69: fight Small Syliacas (lvl 69)
*(Thanks to Popeye)

I explicitly say smalls, because regulars don’t gather well, they spread out and they attack ranged, that sucks…big time. So smalls it is, element your suit with electric, since they are water-type (surprise surprise), but don’t forget, Greemongs (lvl 70~72, water type) are next so electric+5 is not a waste

*Note: These monsters hit a lot harder then Cranes but their exp is very good too ^^ so please be careful not to take 10 at once, do the same thing as with elderguards, and all new mobs you move to, start slow, end with talking all the spawn and Blades and Eles saying: Hey…what… you hax0rzin7ng?

Lvl 69~70: fight Greemongs (lvl 70~72)

Once again the Smalls deserve the preference since they attack at close range, gather up nicely and most important of all, spawn very close together, so one Fastwalker can get them all…almost gather fast, kill fast, use the same outfit as syliacas: electric +5 or so.

*Note: the whole level range from lvl 65~70 can be done at syliacas and mongs, you decide when to switch from one to another. Possibly you want to stay at cranes till level 68 and then go mongs directly, will work fine too, remember your elements and start slowly.

TATATADAAAAA…. May I Have Your Attention Please?!

At this level, you enter the Azria-zone, thats the levelzone in which azria should be the only area where you level. roughly form lvl 70 up untill lvl 110,lvl 115 or lvl 116.

People complaining about the price of azriatickets should listen to _heos as he stated:

"’You can’t afford NOT to be in Azria"

The advantages are AoE-specific, and near endless. go there, and dont come back untill your 110 or 115/116…

if you decide to go to azria, skip the last part of the leveling guide and got directly to the "Rangers in Azria" part.

Thank you.

If you decide not to go to azria, here’s the plan:
Lvl 70~73: fight Carrierbombs (lvl 73~74)

These guys make a great AoE target, they don’t hit very hard, be careful for the giant though, goes for any mob, but the spawn ground of Smalls is flat, so your maxed out piercing arrow can lure it very easy, beware! These give very good exp, I stayed at carriers till level 74 and I was rocking, switched to regulars at lvl 73 though, was a bit tough since they gather hard too, ranged attack etc, but exp is very good, captains aren’t a good idea, they heal themselves…bastards, n00b fooders…

Another option in this period is to go and fight Boos (lvl 72~74) till you become 75. the spawn there is awesome and there is hardly anyone there, ever. So although the mobs are a bit lower level, due to their great number the exp will be fine anyhow
*(Thanks to Despair ^^)

Then the hard days get there…

*Note on the side*

At lvl 73 the Geiler NPC set comes available, its added defense will help you to survive the hoppres and Mushies till you get your Oska/Okas set, so switch to this baby if you can, and +3 it asap.
IF, for example you invested heavily in your grantus/grentio suit, like piercings, +5 etc, keep the suit, and just switch the parts, the gaunts add massive DEF… best is to switch alltogether… sell the grantus set to a fresh ranger and plunge into hoppres and mushies with your new set ^^

back to killing…

Hoppres are the most crappy-to-AoE-ever-in-this-whole-stinking-area-ever-for-sure so don’t level there, grind for a while to get the questies, they sell good, I made ca$h there ^^ then move on to Muspoies…

Lvl 73~79: fight Mushpoie (lvl 78~80)

A terrific place to grind…when its empty or when you’re the first one there, mobs spawn closely, have a crappy hit rate (means you’ll block easier) and they seem to make no haste in hitting you, easy does it. Here you’ll be able to make A LOT OF AoE’s in a very short time. Exploit this to the fullest, cause the gather grounds is only small, so gathering 15+ takes about 30 seconds tops… that’s why I recommend you to stay here till at least lvl 78 because the next mobs, Irens (lvl 81~83, fire-type) are hard to gather, hit hard, fast… sucks… so skip those, keep your suit +5 electric for your next friends ^^

*Note: in this period, you’re likely to hit level 75, where your best set forever (at least till level 105) awaits you, Oska/Okas set, upgrade the living daylights out of it, then from now on you can move up one or 2 levels earlier if you like, but I advise to follow this guide up to level 105.

Lvl 79~84: fight Watangkas (lvl 84~86)

These level regions are the regions where regular built rangers and high STA rangers (30~40 STA rest DEX respectively 50~60 STA rest DEX) will discover what block rate is all about, and you’ll love it, you notice taking more mobs isn’t hardly affecting your HP draining, so you’ll start to be more careless, beware though , crits ignore defence so…stay careful if you want to live…
The spawn allows you to take more mobs than you can handle so once again (I press this too much I know) be careful with new mobs, their hitrate, block attack etc will vary from previous mobs… enjoy watangkas…

Ok, now AoE heaven starts… Antiquerys, a.k.a. Trees ^^

Lvl 84~88: fight Antiquerys (lvl 87~89)

NOTICE: Your blockrate will near its maximum around these levels so start to experiment with matching elements. for example, when you fight Trees, wich are Earth-type, get an Earth+3 upgrade on your suit, and see how it works opposing to a Wind+3 suit. Good Luck! OH WAIT NO, dont match your elements, since V13 Killed it… stick with a high Wind upgrade…

Fight regulars, the centre spawn, just above the old lodelight (another great thing that was taken from us) is the best place to AoE, it has 15+ mobs wobbling around with no clue what they’re doing at all, dumbasses…
Once again slow attackspeed, low hit rate and good exp, take them all, they’re yours (just get there first it’s a crowded spawn so stake your claim to it on time!)
The drop rate here is good, especially when you reach 86~87 they drop like your pointing a gun at them (technically you do ^^) so make some cash here…

Now comes the hard part, the next level gap is HUGE, leaping from lvl 89 to level 96, shuhammas… so be prepared for a hard time or a period in the mines more on that later. Some people try to fill that gap in the mines, the so called Blue-Room or Trillipy room, a space where the normal grinders (1vs1) don’t really go, but the exp is good, so IF you manage to get a lvl 70 FS there, it’s sweet, but in my opinion Trees fit the bill till you go Shus, and the drop rate helps you to make the same decision.

Lvl 88~90: fight Shuhammas (lvl 96~98)

Said to be sweet droppers, they AoE decent and the exp is OK, but there is one great advantage and one great disadvantage there… the gathering area is small and there’s not much more then 8~9 mobs there, and that sucks if you gathered them all and still can tank more.
I stayed there much shorter then I had expected, went further up at lvl 89
See these mobs as the way to make the gap from Trees to Kerns (lvl 99~101, fire-type) A bit smaller, don’t overdo the element of earth on your suit, in my opinion it’s not worth it.

Lvl 90~97: fight Kerns (lvl 99~101)

These creatures are great, the way of AoEing gets good again here, a regular spawn that can literally be crowded as hell, but with mobs too ^^ gather up to 16 mobs here, don’t die please  these mobs let you get good exp for quite a few levels so making your suit+6 or +8 water is not a waste in my opinion, it reduces regular hits by A LOT… you’ll have the cash by now. BEWARE! critical hits ignore defence, and are not reduced further after +1 opposite element.
The more you tank the more efficient your AoEs become, and your FS will always agree with you, as long as you share drops.

NOTE: Another option here is the desert. the level of the monsters hase been adjusted and their range is now 91~106. beware of the rage-modus these monsters have, so during the last 10% of their HP bars is deadly for you. doubler crits up to 8k here, so be careful.

Lvl 97~102: fight Glaphans (lvl 102~104)

Usually a very crowded area, maybe staying at kerns a level or 2 more isn’t that bad of an idea, or just log in on strange hours, find a free spawn and go for it, once you reach this level you should have the drive and the knowledge to accomplish that, Glaphans are known as the best droppers in the game, since the NPC stuff that they leave behind is useful to finance further upgrades on the 105 set (Ranerz/Raze)

Rangers in Azria

Well, here it is at last, the in’s and outs of the land of Azria,
for us DEX-Addicts
A small introduction, for those of you who haven’t heard of it, or been there yet, Azria is a Land that is home to some of the best leveling spawns in the entire game of Flyff. A short list of benefits of this Azria land, previously known as Kebaras island, or Prison.

- More Mobs then you can eat
- Absolutely no aggros whatsoever, no giants either, so perfect for your "Ever-Available Slave Laptop RM"
- A nice 20% experience bonus
- Increased droprate of both sunstones and moonstones
- Closeby, so no endless flying sessions back to glaphans

The list goes on, really, but these are the main advantages that make Azria so nice to grind as any type of player, but AoE characters benefit just a little bit more due to the enormous spawns very close together.

OK, now the leveling guide, be aware that once again any variation experienced by you guys is possible, so don’t hold strictly to level switches, or equipment changes etc, do as you feel fit. It’s a guide, not a law Im not going to Write a level by level guide for Azria, since all the mobs are the same, spawns are huge, no aggros or giants to worry about, and pretty much a lot of space to run free.
There are a few basic rules which rangers should aim for in Azria:

- Go there when you hit 70

Monsters there start at lvl 73, and the 3 levels difference is nice to prevent huge damagereductions or whatever. Depending on your equipment, you can switch there earlier, but dont come cryin’if ye’re dyin’

- Get as many mobs per AoE as you can.

Don’t overdo gathering it’s the most time consuming of your entire AoE, so aim for a spawn that has mobs close together.
Minimize running, maximize killing.

- Fight at one mob, until you reach their level, and then level at those mobs one more level.

For example: you are lvl 102, you level at Ghost of forgotten kings (lvl 103) then the second you reach level 103, you will stay there until you reach lvl 104. The best exp comes if you manage to get a whole spawn, I don’t see you do that at mammoths at that level.

- Always get a little less mobs then you think you can handle, and make use of piercing arrow.

Everybody who says piercing arrow is a [I Have a Potty Mouth] in Azria, is kinda right, but people who say that you shouldn’t use it are wrong. It a powerful, fast castable skill and your damage ouput will be far greater if you use it, rather then not use it. Find a good place, fire in the direction of a hill, not an open field, etc… you should have mastered the use of piercing arrow by now.

- Count mobs.

I’ve had countless deaths in azria, ill tell you that, since the enormous spawns tend to make you wanna fire arrow a whole bunch, and repeat that 10 times, suddenly you find yourself with 80 mammoths on your butt at lvl 104. I can tell you, you wont make it ^^. Keep the rough score of mobs that chase you, and explore your tanking capabilities there. LIVE!

- Use DI.

If you managed to ignore the previous point, don’t be afraid to use Dark Illusion. It will not make your FS the target. So its back to the safe escape it used to be. Thanks galanet…

^^ if you need info about upgrading, where and when, what element, +? Etc, scroll to that section of the guide, I have a lot of info on that.

Gathering, The Ins and Outs

Gathering, this is a skill that will continue to get better and better as you play more, you see certain lines to run through a spawn, angles for your camera to keep a good view, escape routes for giants etc… I’ll say that experience is your best friend in this game, this goes double for gathering…

For example, killing 15 mobs takes just as much time as killing 1 or 2 so the only thing extending our killing time per monster is gathering. If you manage to gather fast, and we ranger can, trust me, then you 0wn the world.

Leavers…

Don’t we hate them , the rude sons of guns that leave in the middle of a…eh…running conversation. Well there’s a simple solution to that, don’t make them want to leave, mobs are lazy as BJ’s, they don’t want to run far, nor run fast, so make sure you don’t do that either. If you’re so cool to take 2 spawns, make sure to get in between the spawns and draw the 2 together, don’t try to lure spawn A into Spawn B’s area, they think it’s too far, they leave… that’s the deal, bunch of diva-mobs… try to take spawn A, make them follow you, cast a Fast Walker and quickly gather spawn B, then run back to the place right in between spawn A and B.
Both groups of mobs will not see this as ‘too far from home’ and let you brutally drain their HP until nothing is left besides a stack of meatsalads, 3 sunstones, a Stated Akan suit, and 7 Yellow-pinkish questie-boxes ^^

The Arrow Glitch

Yes, since a while we rangers are pestered wit this annoying system bug where we have to hit monsters several times in order for them to follow us. its harsh, i know, BUT, there are ways around it, being buffed with maxed Quickstep helps, and by casting Fast Walker (gaining a total of 80% speed bonus) you never glitch, so one arrow, run to the next mob etc etc.
Some guys recently did some research on whsat percentages of speed increase the arrow glitch occurs. try to stay away from those areas by adding a wind card to a pierced bow, saves a lot of trouble…

For fast consult check this chart:

The latest revised chart completed by myself and others, put together by _aria_ into a chart wich shows easily wich speedvalues (with and without maxed Fast Walker) glitch and wich dont.

Note: the 104% glitches for some, and doesnt glitch for others. some more standard research is required.

Pets

Cash Shop Pets

When confronted with the enormous amount of drops and treasures waiting for you after the joy of striking down and annihilating a group of over-pesky arrogant ignorant dumbass mobs, picking up the pieces can be nasty. Getting a pet really helps you to get those sunstones that you missed or jewellery that’s almost invisible, its pricy but I wouldn’t want to level without one, it provides you the cash to buy food, refreshers and pills, (which are costly too ^^)

Buff Pets

As of recently our trusty old pickuppets can be converted into Buff Pets, meaning they hold slots that can contain Beads that inprove the weilder extra power, HP, damage, Stats or Speed, Crit etc… there is a wide variety of beads that pollute your inventory during an average grinding session. A lot of those are useless, but ill sum up the few that actually bring us AoE Rangers something extra.

- Bead of the Winds: Adds +13% Speed, Ideal to resolve Speedglitch issues. (if your with Max QS and Cloack)
- Bead of the Lion: Adds +3 STA, Not a Whopping amount, but it Never hurts!
- Bead of the Rabbit: Adds +3 DEX, Not a Whopping amount, but it Never hurts!
- Bead of the Ardent Defender: Adds +3% Ranged Block, Good for pesky BJ’s in the arena, these might save you.
- Bead of the Steadfast Defender: Adds +3% Melee Block, We Love Block, Cant Get Enough of It Baby!
- Bead of Power: Adds +20 attack, Like a 2nd Bow Mastery.
- Bead of Evasion: Adding +2 Parry: A questionable bonus since 2 parry is hard to translate into a real bonus.

Some Beads that are more usefull in a 1vs1 Perspective:

- Bead of Power: Adds 20 attack, so more damage
- Bead of the Reckless: Adds +3% Critical, so more crits equals more damage
- Bead of the Rabbit: Adds +3 DEX and DEX provides attack, so yes, more damage
- Bead of Accuracy: Adds+3% Accuracy, cause whenever a "miss" can be prevented, we’ll do so.
- Bead of Relentless Power: Adds +50 damage, but as you probably guessed, damage is what we were aiming for.

Most other beads are useless, like INT, DCT, Magic Power etc etc…
If you have the buffslots available, take priority in Block, Ranged Block, and Speed, as they provide the most usefull bonusses, after that add parry, and DEX or STA…. good luck.

- Bead of the Protector: Adds +20 Defense,
Egg Hatched Pets

The pet system introduced eggs dropping, exp raising and abilityraising of pets, more accessories that enhance the players ability, such as an Attack+5 Dragon or a HP+91 Unicorn, but feeding and maintaining those pets is thanks to more recent versions very well doable, so a good option nowadays.
But it’s really more something for the better fortunate players among us if you aim for "perfect" pets (1/3/5/7/9)

Since AFK petraising becomes a thing of even the poorest of players, prices of pets going down, prices of petfeed going up, but nevertheless, its easier to get a good bet, and people even base builds upon the use of a pet…

Ill do tell you, that in my humble opinion, pets are vulnerable bonusses, especially if you are an AoE character. but learning how to, is the key here.

As a ranger, you have the choice to pick any pet in the market, except the tiger, since STR isnt worth the investment if you ask me…
ill list the possible pets and their usefullnes in order of importance, starting with the most important ones…

1. DEX Rabbit
The reason for this pet to be at #1 on my list is that (with the right equipment) one point in dex adds 3~3.5 attack. not only that, but the other important values, such as block, crit, evasion and damage come from this baby. nice tip to consider: DEX added by a rabbit is factored into a attackpiercing, so adding 28% more if your suit is pierced accordingly.

2a. STA Lion
This pet is very nice for Rangers in their early days, adding a usally whopping amount of STA it doesnt only increase HP, but also DEF. HP and DEF are values that cant be maxed, and aren’t capped at any number. (Although DEF’s effect can be capped) Again STA is needed, but only in the lower levels, and again in the higher levels. (from lvl 95-115 you can go fine full DEX, with a Ranerz+10+28% attack)

2b. HP Unicorn
To some its the ‘creme de la creme’ of pets, for AoEers. To me its merely a shift of your ‘i’m dead now’ line… since just adding HP doesnt make you die at a slower pace, but it does last you longer before you reach the point of 0 HP… arguably the most useless bonus, but to low STA rangers it can be a real life saver. One great benefit of the Unicorn is that its Hp Addition is affected by HP piercings, so it can really Amplify your HP bonus when your suit is pierced 28% HP.

imagine a ranerz+10+28% HP giving:
- 15% from 4/4 set
- 20% from +10
- 28% from piercing

adding up to 63% bonus HP.

Especially if your all out on attack, HP is an investment worth it to give yourself 3 extra seconds to kill.
I think that a unicorn is mainly very handy in PvP and at CW, since CW disregards DEF, and so does HoP in PvP, there you just need a lotta numbers in the red bar at the top of your screen.

4. DEF Griffin
This one is at #4 cause Adding DEF is good, but you might as well go with the STA Lion, since it gives DEF as well as HP, (although not as much DEF as you’d get from a Griffin) so doing this in early levels could help you out reducing that damage on syliacas and onwards, since their attack leaps up from that point on. after lvl 90, Do not use a griffin for its DEF, DEF gets less and less important for PvM… its block+evasion you’ll want, so i would advise a rabbit.

5. INT Fox
though INT increases fire arrows damage, the increase is hardly noticable, the MP you’d gather from rocking a Fox is negligable, so the same reason we dont put INT in our base build, is because its pretty much useless, spam MP pots please…give the fox to your RM, he makes HP out of MP (by healing you ^^)

AoE Sequences

Also a much discussed topic on the forums, will try to find a useful link for backup info to post in this guide.

There is a secret to AoE sequences any busstop-like intelligent creature can see, that is DoT…
We rangers are pestered with downgrades, as you all know, but we still have the biggest power of all, the DoT of Fire arrow and Arrow Rain ^^
These 2 skills form the cornerstones of your AoE sequence, because if you manage to cast 3 x Fire Arrow, and an Arrowrain you’ll have 4 skills working on your Mobs…. At The Same Time….

(If your mother only knew…)

Be sure to never ever let a cooled down Arrowrain or Fire Arrow be unused, thats a waste and will increase your potential killing time efficiently.
Then throw in a piercing arrow and the HP of the Mobs is down around 50% of its original value ^^…

So I’m not going to post 6 different AoE sequences with matching refresh-moments or food-moments, fact is you’ll get your own hang of it sooner or later, the best part is written in the Alinea above this one, the (ab)usage of the DoT from Fire Arrow and Arrowrain.

One more very handy tip to Abuse Fire Arrow and Arrow Rain

Whenever you cast a skill that is on cooldown, your screen shows a line of text saying you shoud ‘wait please’
heres a small secret: skill shave animationtimes, and cooldowns, when you try to use a skill that is on cooldown it denies the usage UNLESS: you remaining cooldown is equal to, or shorter then the Animation time.

For exapmle, when you cast Fire Arrow, then Arrow Rain, Fire will be on cooldown, but when you press it again on 75% of the cooldown, the motion will start already, making it hit, excactly when the cooldwown is over,

this way you can use Fire Arrow almost 25% more, making a real difference in killingtime, and when timed right, does not leave any Non-Attacking Time…

*be silent in awe*

I rest my case

That’s it so Far,
I hope to hear your responses, feedback, additions, discovered typo’s etc etc… be my help, I’ll be yours.

Credits: Rbardy, iLuvya, Heos, LordGeoff, LongbowMan, Power (left us), and everyone that pointed out flaws, typo’s andprovided info.

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Credits go to bazzz.