Ranger Preshot Sets

Over the past few months there have been on and off requests for modern sets for Ranger. I'm not 100% behind this, but I do understand the desire and can appreciate that people want to play the job well. With that thought in mind, I've decided to post my sets. I won't say they are 100% BiS, but I have put a great deal of time and thought into building them, and I do feel they are damn good and often pretty close to BiS. Feel free to pick 'em apart!

Installment #1 is Preshot sets. I have included my standard 3 preshot sets (No Flurry, Flurry I, and Flurry II), as well as sets built to be used with Gastraphetes (as the Gastra has 10 snapshot on it. I am not a Yoichi user, so I do not have sets built to compensate for the +5 snapshot on that bow. There are easy conversions from the Gastra sets that can be made to maximize a Yoichi build though, if that's your thing).

No Flurry

Flurry I

Flurry II

-----And now the sets built for use with Gastraphetes and its +10 Snapshot--------

Gastraphetes No Flurry

Gastraphetes Flurry I

Gastraphetes Flurry II



*notes: All Taeon Gear is augmented with Snapshot +10, which requires a +5 snapshot augment from Leaftip Stones and a +5 snapshot augment from a Dusktip Stone. With the introduction of Oshosi Gear, the Oshosi body and its +12 Snapshot can replace the Taeon Tabard in these builds to save some augment hell.

Adhemar Kecks in this usage are Path D to get extra Rapid Shot.

Pursuer's Gaiters are Path A to get the Rapid Shot +10 Augment.

Carmine Finger Gauntlets+1 do not possess a "preshot" related augment, so path D for the MAB to help your Trueflight Build is quite acceptable.

****UPDATE 12/13/2017****
A big thank-you to Capuchin for posting modern Preshot sets. These will save you the hell of augmenting Taeon, or at least as many pieces of Taeon, if you haven't already. It does require some advanced pieces at times, but when weighing the cost of augment stones vs. upgrading pieces, you may come out ahead still.
Link to his sets

Think you made a mistake when entering your Gastra Flurry II set.

You are correct. With Flurry II, Waist can be Yemaya Belt instead of Impulse Belt. Set updated, and thank you for catching that.

You're underselling this point. Really you should include Oshohi Vest as the default option instead of Taeon. It's much easier to obtain and I think the price might actually be cheaper on average (36 dusktip stones +2 cost about as much as Oshohi Vest.)

Looking at the Gast flurry 2 looks like you got 77. If you happen to get a HQ legs you'd be able to drop CFG for Mrigavyadha Gloves if you got them.

This is true. I use my hq kecks for midshot, and thought long and hard about keeping a second pair for preshot augments when I made a batch back in April, butt decided the marginal improvement wasn't worth as much as a Gandiva... and considering I sold a pair for the same gil as all my plates and cinders, I'm ok with that. But your point is correct, a BiS set would use those pieces.

Thanks for sharing this. I have a question you probably already looked into. Is there any use for Mrigavyadha Gloves? They have higher rapid shot than carmine+1 but don't think you can cap snapshot using them (swapping impulse belt or meg feet +2 would still be a loss of rapid shot overall).

They may be just a fodder piece for mid-ranged (especially on birds?) when accuracy is not a concern but doesn't seem to be worth it to give up racc/ratk on adhemar even in that scenario.

Got them in an aeonic run a while ago and trying to figure out if they have a purpose.

Posts right above yours talking about a use...

Derp, guess I should have refreshed the page D: So need HQ adhemar to be able to cap snapshot, got it, thanks

Haverton Ring/+1 is definitely worth a mention too. Snapshot +6/+7 in a slot where there is nothing else that helps preshot.

Now, whether that's worth it to you for RNG over Weatherspoon for Trueflight, or over another ring for another job... that's a different question. But it's certainly not an unreasonable choice for people who play a lot of RNG COR (it's especially good for COR). Aside from Snapshot and high Racc, I also use mine for DW for various 1h jobs in lower haste situations, and even for NIN in ninjutsu macc set.

As it applies to Celebrindal's sets, a couple possibilities that Haverton opens up for immediate improvement include the ability to use Yemaya over Impulse Belt in his no Flurry and Flurry 2 sets, or to use Pursuer's over Meg+2 feet in the Flurry 1 set. Haverton can also help with things like not necessarily needing perfect Taeon Snapshot augments: perhaps you can with lower augments, use something like Amini Gapette +1 (Snap+7) instead, etc.

FWIW, my preshot sets (non-Gastra) below. All use Haverton, and not requiring a single piece of augment hell Taeon.

Flurry 0:
ItemSet 353498
EDIT: As I reviewed this, I actually improved my own Flurry 0 set. Snap+69 so it dropped me slightly under cap, but freed up head slot to use Orion for a massive gain in Rapid Shot. Good trade-off in my eyes. Previously I was using Snapshot head (Amini+1, though a Taeon would work) and Yemaya Belt. Swapped to Orion/Impulse.

Flurry 1:
ItemSet 353499
note that this Flurry 1 set is actually slightly under cap at Snap+69, but I'm kinda OK accepting being 1 under cap in favor of more Rapid Shot in belt slot (could cap with Impulse at the expense of Rapid+5) or could use Adhemar+1 (though I don't have that kind of money to throw around for such a minor gain)

Flurry 2:
ItemSet 353500

The Haverton is a great tool, and deserves mentioning. There are two reasons I avoided it in my sets -

1.I wanted to avoid reward pieces in the builds as they do limit choices for other situations. Since it is possible to do without, I opted to show that route.

2.As a RDM first and foremost, combined with the fact that I've kind of built my reputation as a ranger in large part on the back of Trueflight, I'm a Weatherspoon owner, so from a personal standpoint I just never mathed it out with Haverton.

That being said I'm VERY happy you included sets that use this ring the right way. I contemplated building some example sets using it... this is infinitely better.

Also, every time I actually look at the visual display of these preshot sets, it irks me that neck and ears (and rings, excluding SoA reward) have zero options that provide any snap/rapid shot. Would it have killed them to add a little bit of either one on Meghanada Ring?

Anyway, perhaps one day we'll get a glorious new snap/rapid earring or necklace, and there will be much rejoicing and updating of preshot sets :)

Is there any particular reason AF3+3 Legs are not considered in any of the sets? They have 15 snapshot. (Sorry If i missed it being discussed earlier)

Because Path D augments also add Rapid+10 to Adhemar (though not shown on a quick scan of base stats). Perhaps there's some case where Orion legs allow you to cap snapshot and free up a different slot to drop snapshot for even more rapid (e.g. head), but I'd need to think about that one a bit...

Okay, makes sense. Thanks.

For non flurry sets

If you have Oshohi +1 body, you can use Orion +3 legs and replace Taeon Chappeau with Orion Beret +3. It's more Rapid Shot and you still cap Snapshot. If you add Haverton +1 to the mix, then you can drop Oshohi body/Impulse Belt, keep Taeon Chappeau, and use Amini Caban +1/Yemaya Belt.

I feel like there are much better ring choices than Haverton though so I don't think planning sets around it is very valuable.

I feel like a general assumption is being made right now about the Amimi Caban+1, something most rangers are aware of but people just approaching this topic might not be. The ranger Empyrean body +1 augments our rate of fire independently of snapshot or rapid shot, and if much more powerful than any other option in that slot when snapshot is capped . When used in your pre-shot sets, it reduces delay by 7% if velocity shot is active. This is why sets that can use this piece always do.

Just realized I hadn't mentioned that in the OP but it really needs to be stated in this thread.

I don't find that very realistic. If you can afford Oshosi+1, you can get the same snap/rapid results by using the far cheaper combo of Adhemar Kecks+1/Taeon Chapeau/Yemaya Belt. For rough comparison, current Asura AH prices are 250M+ for Oshosi+1 body, and only ~80-90M for Jinxed Kecks.

Both of the below sets have idenitcal Snap+70, Rapid+29. Aside from being far cheaper, the set 2 (Adhemar+1) is also lot more flexible, since Adhemar legs can be used in a greater variety of preshot sets (i.e. they'd be a staple in any preshot set regardless of Flurry 0/1/2, whereas AF legs would really only show up in Flurry 0 sets).

Set 1: Snap+70/Rapid+29
ItemSet 353502

Set2: Snap+70/Rapid+29
ItemSet 353503

I really haven't been able to come up with a set with Orion+3 legs that's worth doing. Even using Haverton Ring, more realistic is just that Haverton frees you up to squeeze a little more Rapid Shot out of a build by not needing Impulse Belt (or giving some more leeway on Taeon augs if you're using a Snapshot head).


I do have a question though: do we have the math to show how much Rapid Shot is a worthwhile trade for a point of Snapshot? As in, if you look at my previous posts I have a couple of Snap+69 sets where I squeezed in Orion head and/or Yemaya Belt. How much Rapid do you need to add for it to be worth going under cap for Snapshot by a point (or two, etc.)?


The main use case for Haverton is for someone who plays a lot of COR. It's an excellent ring for COR - preshot, racc, and even DW for melee (as is often useful for CORs). No other SOA reward ring options that provide anything near as much help for COR, since that job gains nothing from Weatherspoon.

If you're ONLY considering RNG, Weatherspoon's impact on Trueflight is probably a more compelling choice. But if you do happen to have a Haverton, it certainly has its uses for RNG - one of which is obviously adding snapshot to a slot with zero other preshot options.

That's not a valid comparison because Oshohi Vest +1 is much more than a preshot piece. It's also the best midshot piece for most situations. Adhemar preshot requires that you augment it for preshot. The entire cost of the piece is devoted to just one purpose.

Fair enough, I guess for the extremely small number of people who have an Oshosi+1 body, that's a consideration. I'd assume that people dropping 250M+ on that body are the kind of people who might already have Adhemar+1 though, so I'd be surprised if it really applies to more than an extremely small handful of players.

Your average well geared endgame RNG probably has neither the HQ body or Adhemar+1 legs though, with a smaller number who have legs but no body... either of those groups wouldn't make use of Orion+3 legs

I feel like anybody who owns Oshohi Vest +1 might find that use case applicable though as the rest of the set isn't that outlandish to obtain. The bulk of the pieces are common for preshot and all of the AF+3 has uses outside of preshot. I have the HQ legs although I wouldn't consider augmenting them for preshot as they would lose value in midshot. I would need to buy a new pair. This is not particularly appealing to me as Rapid Shot has diminishing marginal returns. Squeezing out those few extra points isn't going to benefit you that much. Rapid Shot is not like Snapshot/Velocity Shot/Haste.

loldroprate and all but shouldn't Nisroch Jerkin be better when double shot down?

Any and all talk of Nirosch Jerkin shall be punishable via death by Barragesquad. Taking volunteers for the Rangers who wanna shoot the *** talking about it.

1/12 killing it with rng automatons :P

Yes. So is Orion+3, and probably Meghanada+2 (if crit damage is more important to you than STP). Personally, I go for AF body for TP building, and Meg+2 when I'm using Empy AM3 up crit set.

Also, Oshosi has no Ratk and the other "big 3" all have a significant amount (Ratk+41~46)... Quite relevant if buffs/target mean you aren't capping attack.


Despite all of our current gear, I still managed to whiff a first shot on Barrage the other day and feel ultimate disappointment. So, carry on talking about Nisroch with some confidence that you'll survive if I'm in the Barragesquad... :P

Cel,
When you mention MAB for Trueflight enhancement with the Carmine FG, I am equipping the MAB equipment in Mid-shot set (not pre-shot). What value does this give in pre-shot?

That question is a tad confusion. Are you asking is it good as a preshot piece independent of it's MAB for trueflight because yeah it's BiS outside of a really niche circumstance.

Also why are you equipping mab mishot instead of a well midshot set?

I have a separate mid-shot set used for Trueflight which focusses on MAB. I was curious as to whether I was equipping the MAB gear at the right point. Secondly, you are right, Carmine FG are BiS anyway.

I think there's some confusion here because of the nomenclature.

precast - gear equipped before an action, ability, or WS
midcast - gear equipped immediately after an action, ability, or WS has been started
preshot - not an actual gearswap variable name. a precast RA set (snapshot/velocity shot/rapid shot gear)

For spells and ranged attacks, you can have a precast set that is different than the midcast set. For weaponskills, a midcast set would be equipped after the weaponskill has completed as there is no time between starting the WS and ending it. You should use a precast set instead.

Did a new post in the main topic on preshot sets, current as of December 2017 and did some slight tweaks to the above sets. Gonna just link to that post here.

http://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/38352/power-rangers-a-guide-to-pewing/113/#3311923