This was a post I put in my alliance forum as a very in depth guide at ranger. I get tired of every 2-3 weeks a new ranger posting on what his spec should be. This should end all that discussion. Enjoy and sorry about the length.

In sticking with Maiurus' idea of putting some guides together to help out new players here is my report on rangers. For some background on why I know a little about this class, I started on Live about 2 months after the game kicked off and played up until a little after the Catacombs expansion came out. During that time all I played was ranger. After many years I stumbled across Uthgard and took off exactly where I left my toon on live (same name, same class, and didnt even auto train bow on purpose since I didnt know any better on live). All told I have between 4-5 years experience playing the ranger, and I still learn new things about the class every night it seems. This report was posted in a earlier conversation asking about rangers but I will adapt and add some more to it. When I am able to hook up my old computer I will also download some different templates people can use. Enjoy

The ranger is the jack of all trades in the stealther community. With his skills and RA's they can be whatever you want them to be. Spec'd with high mele they are essentially a stealthing BM. When spec'd with high path and bow they are to be feared from afar. When you combine the two you lose a lil potency in both areas but are now decent at both range and mele. There is no "right" spec for a ranger. I've heard of countless different spec's and each one works if played properly.

Basics:

Main Weapon Spec: This can be blades or pierce for rangers. Blades are good if you are a celt or shar, but realise that the dmg from blade is based 100% on str and assasins str/con debuff will put a huge damper in ur dmg output. The main advantage of blades is that you will have + to all dmg vs Midgard stealthers, and you will be neutral dmg to ALL Albion players. Pierce is very nice for rangers since you get access to a 5 sec stun off evade w/ diamondback. It is also nice because now when a assasin drops s/c debuff on you you will only have 1/2 the dmg mitigated that a blade ranger would experience, since pierce dmg is based 50% on dex and 50% on str. You will have + dmg to the scout and minstril, - dmg for inf's, sb's, and hunters. Spec'ing higher in these lines will give you a slightly better to hit rate as well as more consistant dmg output. Weaspon skill has been shown on Uthgard to not have as big of an effect as it did on live. Because of this many people will tell you that a person w/ 25 pierce spec will hit for around the same dmg as a person with 35 pierce spec. This is somewhat true. The maximum dmg will be about the same, but the variance in dmg will swing more drastically. For example, hypothetically a 25 pierce ranger may hit from 50-90 dmg whereas the 35 pierce spec will hit from 65-90. ** Those #'s were just made up to give an example.

Bow Spec: For bow, the essentialls really lie at 12 bow for straight mele rangers that did full auto, 35 bow for hybrid and some sniper spec since u get rapid fire 1 and volley 1, and 45 bow for rapid fire 2. I found a dmg chart based on spec what the maximum dmg is for rangers made by a GM, but I'm having a hard time finding it. If I do I will put a copy of it here. Bascially, spec'ing higher then 50-51 composite will not get you much of a difference in dmg. Most of the dmg increase comes from higher dex. **I found the post from Sethor an old GM for Uthgard. He posted the following chart of bow dmg based on several factors. He used a Saracen Scout, but the dmg variences will be the same for all archery classes. As you can see the cap dmg's from spec'ing 50 in bow as opposed to 35 in bow are not great for the amount of points spent. On a crit shot the cap difference is 56 and on a normal shot the cap difference is only 28.

5.5delay bow 16.5dps rr5 saracen scout
50bowspec: critshot-cap = 1070 | regular shot-cap = 535 | WS (using charge) = 1562
45bowspec: critshot-cap = 1052 | regular shot-cap = 526 | WS (using charge) = 1515
40bowspec: critshot-cap = 1034 | regular shot-cap = 517 | WS (using charge) = 1469
35bowspec: critshot-cap = 1014 | regular shot-cap = 507 | WS (using charge) = 1423


Pathfinding Spec: For pathfinding this one is the one that gets moved around ALOT. In pathfinding you get access to a AF buff, a base Strength buff, a Dex/Qui buff, a Damage Add buff, and a Speed shout. At lvl 40 you will get the 2nd best of each of these buffs. Some people believe you should sacrifice points in pathfinding since you can get 2 of the 4 buffs by using charges or buff barrels. Others feel that it is the best way to improve you damage prodution with the higher end dmg add and dex/qui buffs. I would reccomend 36 at a minimum since that at least gets you the yellow dmg add buff which is very useful in all situations. 40 is what I would guess the majority of people run, but I've seen it as high at 48 and as low as upper 20's.

Stealth Spec: This determines a couple of things for the ranger. For starters it gives you your base movement and stealth detection radius. It also comes into play on whether or not you become unstealthed while pulling back on a bow shot. Most people will tell you that it is a must that you have 50 composite stealth, but that is not necessarily true. If you plan on using your bow to open with on stealther or visi's then your composite (stealth skill including +'s from items) will need to be at 50. At a 50 composite spec in stealth you have a base chance of 20% on coming unstealthed on a crit shot and it can never be lower then that. For every level below 50 composite stealth you have you have a 2% chance to come unstealthed on normal and rapid fire shots and that add's to the base 20% on crit shots. So at 50 composite its a 0% chance on normal or rapid fire shots of coming unstealthed and a 20% chanc on crits. At 48 composite spec in stealth you will have a 4% chance on normal and rapid fire shots and a 24% chance on crit shots. If you are a full mele spec ranger composite stealth is not quite as important since you will be opening up with mele rather then bow.

Celtic Duel: This is a spec that has alot of debate on how it works. The formula I have been told is: 25% (this is the base chance of dual wielding w/ 0 spec in CD) + (spec* .68)= % of dual hitting. Now the "spec" in this case is also composite. So if I had a 29 main spec + 14 for items and RR I would have a total of 43 spec. 43x.68= 29.24%+25%= 54.24% chance of hitting with both weapons when swinging. Most people spec alot in cd because the styles in the celtic duel line have much better endurance usage and better growth rates. The 18 lvl side stun and the followup at lvl 29 are both VERY nice to have in any RvR battle. The followup to those 2 styles is Supernova which you get when you spec 50 in celtic duel. Supernova does VERY nasty dmg but with all the things rangers need to spec into the only way you will get a 50 spec in celtic duel is if you sacrifice alot of other skills.

Races: You can be a Shar, Celt, Lurikeen, or Elf. The Shar is mainly used for only mele. The Celt is used for mele or hybrid usually. Lurikeen is the best bet for sniper or hybrid. Elf... well, you should make a lurikeen instead of a elf, but essentially the Elf is like a Luikeen w/out quite as much dex.



Spec Options:


All the Below are figuring on FULL AUTO TRAIN on bow till 48 and is also figuring on RR5 for the +15.
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Mele Spec:

Option 1: Stealth 35, Path 42, Pierce 35, CD 40, Bow Auto (12).

This spec is nice since u will have all yellow buffs from Path line and have the high end AF buff as well. You will have a great chance to be dual hitting alot with your high cd spec and by having 35 Pierce at 5L0 you will have the 50 composite spec to help you hit more often and for more consistant dmg.

Option 2: Stealth 33, Path 40, Pierce 25, 50 CD, and Bow Auto (12).

This spec is very nice if you are really good at getting off the side stun chain. If you can perform this task at will than this is the spec for you. The side chain does uber dmg when you can get all 3 styles off. You can also lower Path down to 36 and raise pierce up more for more consistant dmg and less misses.

Option 3: Strealth 33, Pierce 25, Blade 25, CD 50, Path 31, Bow Auto (12)

I'm not big on this spec because of the low mele weapon skill for both blades and pierce. The nice thing about this is that you can use different weapons against different enemies to get good matchups. Blades vs. Mid stealthers etc... The bad thing about this spec is that you have low Path so you will need to run alot of charges and barrels to be effective and you will see big variences in damage as well as a few more misses.

RA's for Both specs: Master of Steath 3, Physical Defense 3, IP 1 (2 at later RR's), Purge 1, Mastery of Pain and Toughness are the next 2 most important after MoS, PD, IP, and Purge.

Pro's- Easy to play since you dont have to worry about bow. Very simple style, stealth up and open with side stun and try and use brute mele force to win the fight before you take too much damage. Essentially you are a stealthing Blademaster. You are good against most classes and you dont have to worry about pet classes or people with shields as much as hybrid and sniper spec.

Con's- With only having 12 bow you dont have any real ranged damage. Yah, you can do decent dmg with your bow when you use it, but that will almost be never. Heavy tanks will give you alot of trouble since you will have to mele the whole time. Classes that spam AoE effects to pop stealthers (think reaver/BD/SM) will be your bane since you will very seldomly ever be able to sneak up to them to open with side stun.

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Hybrid Spec:

Option 1: Stealth 35, Pierce 32, CD 29, Path 40, Bow 35

Solid all around spec. You have the followup to the side stun with a very low end usage high dmg bleed style, you are still fairly high mele weapon spec for good dmg and minimal misses. You get all yellow buffs from path, and you get great dmg on bow, rapid fire (very useful), and volley.

Option 2: Stealth 35, Pierce 35, CD 31, Path 36, Bow 35

Very similiar spec to the one above, however u will be losing 2 buffs (14 d/q and 7 str) but you will have higher mele dmg with the higher cd and pierce with all the toys from bow. Some people believe less in Path and more in weapons specs like pierce/blade/cd and others prefer the Path. Fact is that you will get similiar damage out of either since the higher weapon spec raises dmg but so does higher Path.

Option 3: Stealth 35, Pierce 35, CD 26, Path 40, Bow 35

My least favorite option but some like it. This is a decent spec, but is more for the person who is not very good at the side stun. You will still have access to the side stun, but you will not have the followup. You still maintin the 40 path for good buffs and in place of the 29 CD for the followup to the side stun you increase your base mele to get a bit more consistant output on dmg and less overall misses.

RA's- In order to be a very good consitant hybrid spec ranger you will need Mastery of Stealth 4, Physical Defense 3, Ignore Pain 1 (2 preferable), and Purge 1. Even with all that you will still lose your fair share of battles when RA's are down, but you can compete pretty well. Once you get IP 2 then put your points in Toughness and Mastery of Pain. MoS 4 will be your most important early on since assasins will be your bread and butter and you need to make sure you see them and are able to get a shot on them before they get out of stealth detection range.

Pro's- All three of the above specs are my favorites. I'm a bit prejudice on them since I play a hybrid spec, but I believe they offer the best overall utility. You can sit back and wreak havoc from afar with your bow or you can roll up your sleeves and get in there for some mele. It allows for alot of fun and alot of freedom for different styles of play. These specs truly offer you the best of both worlds.

Con's- You dont have to always open with bow, but if you dont you will notice that fights are MUCH more difficult. At low RR's it is very tough to win consistantly until you get above 6L0 so you can get the basic RA's required to compete. Classes with shield spec and classes with pets can be a real pain since they can essentially take away your bow ability.

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Sniper:

Option 1: Stealth 35, Pierce 25, CD 22, Path 48, Bow 35

This is my favorite sniper spec. Some would say its not sniper since it is only 35 bow, but 35 bow with +15 will do damn close to as much dmg as 50+15 will do. You get rapid fire, volley, and all the toys you need to suceed and you get the best buffs on everything but the str buff (no need since you will try and avoid mele). I'm a firm believer that even if you want to go all out sniper you need at least 25 pierce and 18 cd for the evade and side stun to run away and kite some more with bow. You will see more dmg increase from higher path then you will from higher bow spec.

Option 2: Stealth 35, Pierce 26, CD 18, Path 46, Bow 40

Decent spec for the player who really wants to have more then 35 bow. Really all you are gaining is penetrating arrow 2 which IF you penetrate BT/Bubble then you will get 75% dmg instead of 50% that you get with penetrating arrow 1. You still maintain the stuns in the pierce and cd lines and with 46 path you the highest dmg add but you will be missing out on the highest end d/q buff.

Option 3: Stealth 35, Pierce 27, CD 19, Path 40, Bow 45

I think this is a better option then the option 2 above for the player that really wants a bow spec higher then 35. You still have your stuns in the CD and Pierce lines, you still have the 2nd best buffs from Pathfinding lines, and with 45 bow you will get access to rapid fire 2 (same as rapid fire 1 but with less end usage), penetrating arrow 2 (kinda useless), and the higher end volley with more arrows instead of just 3.

RA's- Mastery of Stealth 4, Falcons Eye 3, Purge 2 (3 when you get high enough), IP if you can afford it, and at least long wind 2.

Pro's- Can kite most classes to death. Very simple, yet challenging, attack system. Get at a far distance, open up with crit shot and a couple more arrows, turn and run, when you get far enough away turn use rapid fire and pop a few more. Rinse and repeat.

Con's- Classes with shield spec will be almost impossible since they will just engage. Classes with pets will be tough since they will just sick pets on you to prevent you from shooting them. Classes that have fast respawns on insta dd's (minstril, BD, SM...) will be tough since they cant be interupted.

This is in my opinion the toughest type of ranger to play. You have to be very smart about picking your targets and have to be even sharper in battle. You almost HAVE to run with end regen barrels and allthough RA's like physical defense/toughness/mastery of pain arent needed, you will need Falcons Eye, Long wind, and at least purge 2 if not 3 to be succesful. Very hard to do this spec until you get to higher RR's.
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K, after posting all that you can see there are a plethora of viable specs you can use as a ranger. Any one of the previously posted could be tweeked a bit. Mele ranger is the easiest to play at lower RR's due to you not needing Mastery of Stealth 4. Hybrid is the easiest once you get enough points to get all the RA's you need. Sniper is the toughest by far, but could be very fun if you have the RR's to do so and dont mind kiting for a living. If you have ever fought Nag (minstril) you are going to be like him. Attack, run, attack, run, attack, run.... Also, all of the above specs should have Long Wind 1 for chasing down people or running away.


Here is a note about stealth detection that I find VERY important:

One more note on rangers, remember that regardless of how you spec, your Mastery of Stealth bubble is always greater when stationary and less when you are moving around. I always try and explain this to new rangers and they think I am nuts. It is very easy to test tho. Get a buddy (ranger w/ same MoS) and have one of you stand there while the other gets out of stealth detection range. Now have the person out of stealth detection range move into the bubble. The person moving will not see the stationary person as fast as the stationary person will see the person moving if they have the same MoS. The reason for this is that from what I have been told on live the stealth detection bubble is pulsating very quickly kind of like sonar. When you are moving around that bubble is moving with you and because of the natural lag of the game it makes that bubble smaller. Any ranger with MoS 3 or more that has been moving around without camo and almost run's into an assasin before seeing them know's what I'm talking about. When I have camo up I will roam, but if camo is down I find a good spot to sit and wait with my bow drawn. You would be amazed at how many times I pop stealthers right next to me that dont see me since they are moving and I'm not. It comes in VERY handy. Mele rangers dont have this problem so much, but for sniper and hybrid this is very important info.

This is figuring both people have the same stealth detection skills and camo down for both:

Player A (stationary) Player B (moving)= Player A will see Player B first.
Player A (moving) Player B (moving)= both will see each other around the same time (depending on any lag) but will not see each other till they are really close to each other.

Also, once a player is in your stealth detection bubble you will find you can go a lil further back and still detect them.

To illustrate this Drift made an AWESOME post that I will now copy:

Stationary:





Moving:



Here is another link i stumbled across that gives great information on weapon spec's, celtic duel, and pretty much everything related to the formulas that make up DAoC: http://roclar.net/DAoC/info.php#Melee

So how do I spec my ranger?

I ain't readin' all dat!

If you want to learn about the ranger class then you will. Would you rather read 40 posts from 40 different people telling you 40 different ways to spec a ranger or read one long post that breaks it all down for you and lets you decide which is better suited for you? Also, it is broken into sections, so if you know you want a mele ranger then just go to the 3 mele specs. Same goes with hybrid or sniper.

great job m8,but you wasted time. Allways will be found idiot,who make new thread with "how specc ranger"
btw this topic should be pinned,or will be lost in time and new topics.

I would agree with that, except all I really did was copy and paste my post from the alliance forums. When I originally created it it took me about 1-2 hours to type it all out and edit it. Either way, I think its a pretty thourough guide.

_Oglop_ wrote:So how do I spec my ranger?

Social skills are the most important.
Groupfinding : 50
Celtic yell : 50
rest as u want.

speccing ranger:
DELETE
Y-E-S

The post is very interesting and the examples given i'm sure will be very helpful to understand the basics of ranger's functioning.
But to me it seems that the concept behind those shown specs, is based on some axioms, like that stealth must be 50 total, or that high Path is not for melee rangers, or that Bow must either be 35+ or 12.

I simply would like to remind rangers wannabes that since every person is different, everyone of us will have a different play style that should rely on a differently tuned toon.
The spec of a ranger is not only based on the bigger division among melee/hybrid/sniper, but should also be based on:
- your favourite hunting spots (if you play exclusively at gates, 50 stealth is helpful, if you pull a visible enemy in an open field with the bow, every stealth point above 35/40, is a wasted point )
- your probable enemies (mines are everyone, not only assassins and archers)
- if you play solo or grouped.

Stealth must not be 50 total at all costs if you are not a sniper or if for you DAOC is not only Emain amg. Higher Path is an incredible damage boost for melee, much more than some points on CD. When Bow hits 35+ on total spec (inc. bonus), the damage becomes interesting even if you don't have penetrating arrow or rapid fire.

Being melee celt, my possible spec at 5L would be:

Stealth 29, Pierce 32, CD 36, Path 48, Bow 22

On one hand, good melee damage thanks to all the red buffs, improved Af thanks to red buff, last speed shout for chasing speed 5 enemies, decent bow damage. On the other hand, firing arrows to level 50 stealthers is practically impossible and if a fg passes over you, they gonna see you more easily.

My 7L spec is similar to that, modified according to the higher rank bonus (Stealth 27, Pierce 31, CD 39, Path 48, Bow 21).

Other examples, if i were a Squall spammer:

Stealth 30, Pierce 25, CD 41, Path 48, Bow 21

or, if i wasn't interested at all about Bow but wanted to hunt assassins:

Stealth 34, Pierce 26, CD 41, Path 48, Bow 12

I'm not absolutely saying that my speccing taste leads to better specs than the ones in the first post, i'm just illustrating that according to your own personal taste, you can effectively spec your toon differently from the common examples always shown.
Read them, understand them, improve them according to your personality. Don't behave like monkeys: Everybody's doing that? I'll do that too!

Aye, I actually put in there on several occasions that these are not the only spec's but rather a guide to show you the different ways you can go. After going threw all the ones that I came up with I even said that it shows the plethora of options out there and any of the above specs could be tweaked or finetuned to what you play best with. I just get tired of every week seeing a new player post a "How do I spec my ranger" thread and the same 20 people give their own same 20 different responses. This can just give people a place to go, read a broad description of the class, then make their own spec based on that info.

Yep, yep, i just wanted to remember how good the principle of personalizing your own spec is, giving some practical examples!

Hi, how do i spec my ranger plz ?

what about 42 pf and 35 bow for the last af ? (hybrid)

another con for using slash is that s/c debuff will hit you twice as hard.

Aye, I agree with the Slash statement 110%.

As far as 42 path for hybrid is concerned, I know of some that use it and like it for the additional AF buff, but I think the only time you should try for 42 path is when your mele spec. I think as a hybrid you are usually going to be lacking somwhere those points could go toward. If you have 42 path that means you probably have under 29 cd or not quite 51 composite mele weapon spec, and I think both of those are more important then the extra AF from going 42. I do know some that do it tho and enjoy it.

Most viable spec imo

34 stealth
35 bow
40 path
3x CD
3x pierce

You wont win a fight with pure melee or pure bow most of the time, if you dont want to drop all your RAs for one enemy.
Was working with old CD styles and damage add charge stackable but imo melee ranger is way weaker than hybrid nowadays.

With the 75 d/q charge I gonna reroll

33 stealth
35 bow
21 path
50 CD
26 pierce

With good reputation and if you want to 1vs1 only, there is no need for stealth spec imo. You can do quite awesome specs if you neglect stealth ^^

For low RR imo best is to run mos5. Not really popular and the reason behind it is even less popular ^^
With low RR you have really bad odds defeating a mid/high RR assassin. But there are always 1-2 around and you wont have much fun getting 2 hits and die to viper. Hence you want to get rid of them.
The most efficient way is spec mos5 so you see them before they see you and avoid them / crit shot them and hope for some support of others :p

Will try following spec on my Ranger now:

50 Path, 29 CD, 35 Pierce, 35 Stealth

RA:

Though 4, PD 3, IP 1, Purge 1

Just for the lulz. Will report here if it is any good.

WIth Buff charges, next spec will be the same as Sneak