It's Mau Time - What to stack?

It's a long way to the bottom if you don't know what to do.

In my previous post, I said I would talk about the Jumpshot controversy... but I've found some enlightening information tonight that I'd like to share.

Over at Weekly Ranger (which regrettably seems to have stopped updating), there's a great article about the Crit soft cap as well as what Manastones to use. I've done some searching about exactly what stats to look for as a Ranger, and unfortunately have come up short until now.

From what I understand, Crit and Attack is the way to go. Rangers have a base high Accuracy stat already, and throw in the accuracy buff we have, we really don't need to waste any more sockets on the stat. Coming from WoW where reaching the hit cap in end game is crucial may have ruined my perceptions of what stats are important, but at least now I know better.

The general consensus among the Ranger community (based on info that I've found) is that 440 is the "soft cap" for Crit. After 440, you'd need 20 Crit for 1%.

Basically it means that you should be socketing crit until you reach 440. The amount of crit needed to yield 1% crit after reaching the soft cap makes socketing additional crit stones a waste.

You'll also not want to say no to the occasional HP manastone, and Evasion can come in handy too, but generally you're better off going for offensive stats.

It's Mau Time - Ranger self buffs and when to use them

One of the things Rangers are known for are their powerful self-buffs. Three of them have very good PvE uses, and the others are either situational or good in PvP.

Dodging increases your evasion for 200. The first self buff you get at level 13, and great for when a mob is wailing at your face in melee, though its usage is severely diminished once you get the next two.

Aiming increases your accuracy by 200. Great for when you're fighting higher level mobs who have a higher chance of dodging, parrying or blocking (especially in instances) or when fighting Gladiators, Templars, Assassins and other Rangers. For example, in Fire Temple fighting the level 37 elite boss, keep this up throughout the whole fight and your shots will be dodged a lot less.

Strong Shots, the last and best self buff, increases physical attack of your bow by 5%. Keep this up as often as possible!

These three buffs each last for 1 minute, and have a shared cooldown. You can also have all three up at the same time, so having Aiming and Strong Shots while fighting a boss is a really good idea. Unfortunately, there is only one rank of these buffs, despite the misleading tooltip... maybe in an expansion?

Focused Evasion is something you get as a Scout, and has only one rank. It's great for avoiding an unavoidable attack (eg. Kraka's huge AoE), but I mostly save it for when Templars use Inescapable Judgment on me. Knowing when to pop this to avoid an attack requires a bit of good timing, so with a bit of practice you'll get it.

Tactical Retreat lets you run really fast when you get hit. Something I imagine will be really good for kiting in a pinch, but I love it because it lets me run away from melee classes to get range on them. It has kind of a long cooldown (2 minutes) so try and save it for when you're swamped and need to get away.

Next up on It's Mau Time: The Jumpshot Controversy

It's Mau Time - Welcome to Ranger

Two of my co-authors have started pushing their columns lately, and since FB originally started as a Ranger-centric blog, it's about time I posted Ranger-centric stuff.

I'm still learning the class myself along the way, and hopefully the things I found out so far will help some of you. So today, I will begin by addressing some general Ranger concerns that I've found while playing the game.

The best thing about being a Ranger - I get to be a dog in cutscenes.

The auto shoot problem
A problem which has apparently been in the game since its Korean release nearly a year ago, and I personally don't see any hope of them changing it. It's the kind of situation where you get told "if you don't like it, reroll". If you've played a Ranger past level 10, you will know what problem I am talking about.

Whenever we open combat with a special ability, auto shoot will not come back on. There is a simple solution to this - simply put the Attack/Chat button on your hotbars. I know, this kind of defeats the purpose of it being an "auto attack", but with no hope of a fix on the horizon, you're best better off putting that button there and getting used to it.

Traps need reagents
Entry level traps need Tripeed Seeds, and the higher level ones need Tripeed Fruit. As you level up, they start requiring more than one, so your best bet is to keep a stock of more than 1o on you at all times. Traps may not seem very useful at first, but once you get Snare Trap and Aerial Shot at 31, you'll want to keep them seeds handy, especially if you're PvPing. Gladiators, Sorcerors and Assassins also get some kind of aether hold ability around that level as well, so if you run around with any of those classes, be sure to keep Aerial Shot handy.

Tripeed Seeds and Fruit can be bought from most General goods stores, under the Job Supplies tab. I've noticed not all General stores have the Job supplies at 10 to 20, but at 20 and up all the General vendors have them. You can also purchase the Worg souls from this tab.

In that same vein, also please remember to always stock up on ammo.

Mana consumption
You don't have to worry about mana at all from 10 to 25, but once you get Stunning Shot's chain ability, Rupture Arrow, you're gonna start noticing your mana draining. Throw in having to keep your self-buffs up, especially in group areas and instances, and you're gonna have to need mana breaks almost as often as a healer.

This is why you always need to be stocked up on Odella Powder for Mana Treatment. Mana Treatment requires two Odella Powder, so always be sure to buy it in bulk. As with ammo and the Tripeed Seeds, Odella can be bought from any General goods vendor.

That's all I got for you folks today, hope that was vaguely helpful. Unfortunately I don't have a pretty picture to use with the post, as I am posting from Lewin's dinky old laptop.

Next up: Self-buffs and when to use them