For anyone not in the Ranger Discord, I have updated my raiding guide for Rangers. Here are 2 links for the Guide and 1 link for Discord. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ClfuGYBOX7y1harnes0cukbT4BOijgjDpcvrj0uLLWA/edit?usp=sharing How to Ranger *Night of Shadows Edition* (eqfreelance.net) https://discord.gg/mV2bJAHdeT If you are just curious about the additions they are below. Area of Effect Blades - This ability does do more DPS than the Focused line of Blades. As long as you *can* AoE in your setting this will always outperform Focused Blades of the SAME 5 level range. Do NOT use this if you are using Archery. The only time this ability will land during Archery is if you are shooting a mob further away from whatever is in front of you. Note that the range for AOE Blades is the same as Focused Blades. They are not actually interchangeable, the cast range is 50 for both but the AE range is only 30. It will never land on the mob you are actively shooting. *Example: Swarm Commander is being tanked away but the pile of adds is at a closer location. You can continue to shoot the Swarm Commander and use AOE Blades on the pile of mobs in-front of you. Area of Effect Arrows - Focused Arrows is your general spam spell for most events and strategies. There are events that you can benefit from swapping to AoE Arrow spells for decent gains. For starters you need at least 3 mobs that you can reliably hit with your cast. Focused Arrows itself is slightly less DPS when 2 mobs are present but you’ll lose too much DPS to the cast time of the AoE spells which is why you need 3. As of the House of Thule expansion we have 2 options for AoE Arrows. We have the OG Frontal and the newer Free-Target spell. *Frontal Arrows - 20 degree cone with 100 range. *Free-Target Arrows - 30 range splash target with 200 cast range. My personal preference is using the Free-Target Arrows spell. It does slightly more damage and is more reliable and easy to utilize correctly. There is a very large margin for error using the Frontal Arrows. You also have the benefit of putting the Free-Target Arrows in your spell spam. You can continue spamming spells whilst you aim the target so that you aren’t forced to aim during the cast itself. You can also predict mob movements a little better and with higher accuracy than the Frontal Arrows. This is personal preference, some people will likely prefer the Frontal Arrows instead. There is a small DPS difference between them, however use whichever spell you can actually land reliably. SPA 185 Sustainment - Mentioned above in our burn order is splitting of our SPA 185 abilities. In-game these are the abilities that classify as “increase base melee damage by X%. If you look on parsing sites for spell data they’ll say “Increase Hit Damage by X% v185”. This is a non-stacking damage modifier of which there are quite a few abilities with it present in-game, rangers have the most, at least in terms of present and combinable abilities. A few of these abilities will have other components to them but the main component we are looking for is that SPA 185 modifier. Their effectiveness is listed in order below % wise for all abilities that we encounter, including those of other classes. (This list will stay in this order mostly as you get these AA’s on TLP). Guardian of the Forest Outrider’s Accuracy Group Bestial Alignment Hunter’s Fury Intensity of the Resolute Group Guardian of the Forest War March of X *Pureshot Discipline is also a SPA 185 modifier, however it is for a specific skill so it DOES stack with regular base SPA 185 Mods. At least until another Archery specific one gets introduced. With all that said, there is a hefty burden or requirement if you will to actually capitalize on all of these for your sustained damage. Remember, we are not a Burst class so our toolkit is best utilized through micromanagement of these abilities specifically. There’s not a lot I can put into words going through an actual live sequence of events and CD’s. The best advice I can give is to be conscious of your timers and your song window. Some overlap will happen at times and that’s ok. There will also be times where it’s best to hold off for a few seconds to a minute on certain more powerful mods just to ride out your current one. On the fly adjustments will occur a lot that you’ll have to do quick napkin math for. *Example: Hunter’s Fury is on and your Outrider’s Accuracy just repopped. Guardian of the Forest still has 1:41s on CD. You know that Outrider’s will be up for a max of 1:12. So, it’s best to hold off on Outrider’s for that extra 30-36 seconds riding out Hunter’s Fury. Again, this is for sustaining DPS and loses its shine on short burst type events. Raid Tanking - If the circumstance arrives that requires you to help out and tank things or if you can potentially take over a crumbling MTO then here are some things you can do. Firstly, always keep your Burning Cloak buff up whether grouping or raiding. Remember that it does have a damage cap and will normally fade before the strikes or timer are met. *Outrider’s Evasion: Burning Cloak buff made this mostly useless on raids. The Avoidance check may be somewhat helpful now with heroic strikethrough being reduced though. I best use this when my Cloak buff fades to give me a minute to get it back on and continue healing/nuking. *Bulwark of the Brownies: Always pop this whenever I yank agro on things, it does last for 4 minutes. Be careful if you hit this during Weaponshield, if you are below 40% it will fire regardless. *Protection of the Spirit Wolf: Typically I will use this for a giant AOE that might have been set up. In regards to actively tanking I will normally utilize this last. It gets eaten through really fast and has a very long CD for what it is. Very helpful for the round or 2 it lasts though. *Imbued Ferocity: Your best bet is going to be with 2 Vampiric Consumption 1handers that have Heal Target’s Target augs in them. Alternatively, you can use the Vampiric Consumption 2hander which can help cut down on riposte quantity in exchange for slightly less healing. This alone is not always enough to actually keep you alive but most of the time it’s just enough of a bump for healers to keep you going. *Weaponshield Discipline: Everybody knows what this bad boy is. I do try to exhaust everything before I use it as a personal preference. You can do quite a long stretch without it if you focus and have some decent support. *Armor of Experience: Great stopgap ability to utilize in hopes of Sheltering Thunder procs. Can also use it to somewhat count down to the next tank and hopefully live after the swap. Glyph of Dragon Scales: Obviously this works great. If combined with Vampirice duel wield/2hander you can mostly keep yourself alive on your own for its full duration. It’s a little stressful but is attainable through peppering heals and spamming Summer’s for heal procs. Shots Cycling - During our Archery expansions the Called Shots Effect debuff is very potent for us. It’s very important you try to ensure mobs have this on at all times if possible. Playing smart and being ahead of the MA will play into adding more DPS to yourself. You may also have some other rangers with you to help “pick up the slack” when it comes to spreading the debuff efficiently. *Example: Current target is at 30%, Shots comes back up in 3 seconds. Best use it to target the next mob and pop it with shots then return to the current mob before it’s dead. You want to make sure you get your debuff and then also make sure you’re in the running for killing spree procs. Hunting - For maximum sustained DPS you’re going to have to hunt for killing sprees or “snipe” mobs as they drop low. Due to our only “innate” mana recovery being tied fully to the Hunter’s Fury killing spree proc. As a companion you’ll also get your Provoked procs 100% of the time on slaying mobs. For Archery this isn’t helpful but it will at least affect your Blades combat abilities. I cannot stress enough how useful this can be, especially on longer events with lots of adds. This is probably the most neglected portion of raiding on a Ranger that I have seen and is by far the most rewarding. This alone ties into your mana, hit modifiers and crit rate all in 1. Be vigilant of opportunities and take as many as you can. You can also utilize swarm pets and player pets that may populate the extended target window when people get charmed. Alternatively, you can (at the moment) duel people to kill pets off as needed. Be careful what classes you choose though. (I do not personally do or recommend this, but it is something you can take advantage of if you work out the kinks). Bandolier Setups + Explanations: Wrath/Arrow - Velium Endowed Great Mace (Harmonious Phantasmal Luclinite Gem of Devastation) *If you have a good spread of Rangers/Druids you can utilize the Season’s Wrath and/or Elemental Arrow debuffs to your advantage on procs. You’ll have your top Sympathetic damage off this CoV item still if you’re capitalizing on mobs debuffed with either of the 2 abilities. Generally speaking you should be able to always be on a target with Elemental Arrow on it since you can cast it yourself. I try to stay ahead of the MA by a mob or 2 so I can get decent up-time and less swapping of bandolier setups to max out. 2Hander - Spectral Luclinite Spear (Reactive Luclinite Ensanguined Gem of Devastation) *This is your general Archery setup if you’re either being a little lazy or just don’t have debuff coverage on mobs. This is also your go-to melee setup when you have a Bard or Beastlord specifically and are unable to use Archery. Ferocity - Spectral Luclinite Hooked Dagger (Reactive Phantasmal Luclinite Gem of Striking) + Spectral Luclinite Axe (Reactive Luclinite Ensanguined Gem of Striking) *This is for your second lineup of the Imbued Ferocity/Third Spire/Auspice combo. First iteration should ALWAYS happen during Pureshot. Also will typically be slightly better DPS than 2hander if you are lacking a Bard.
