Ranger Utility Sets

Now, before I even start, let's just get this out of the way. I'm saving midshot sets for the final installment...they're going to be the most argued over, and the most personalized. So don't panic y'all.

This installment is for a few random utility sets that we all need now and then, and their proper usage. They aren't exhaustive, and in many cases you'll be best served by taking bits and pieces along with the overall theme of the set and then making a set of your own that suits your needs/gear options/budget.

Barrage:
ItemSet 353541
First a quick word on Barrage, so its in the same location as the set. Once a single shot of Barrage misses, damage stops. So Ranged Accuracy is paramount in your Barrage Set. This set takes advantage of the set bonus of ranged accuracy that the AF+2/+3 set grants. It also makes use of an incredible toy that was added with the upgrades to AF- the Orion Bracers +3. They grant an additional 3 shots to Barrage as well as a unique "Barrage Accuracy +32" stat on them, making them invaluable for your Barrage Sets.

I keep the Adhemar Kecks+1 in my set over going a full 5/5 AF+3 for 2 reasons: first, I never spend the gil to upgrade to +3 AF legs because I haven't found a use for them in my sets (see the preshot sets thread for possible uses for them), and I still prefer the wealth of stats that a midshot augmented pair of Kecks+1 give.

Kwahu Kachina Belt gives more racc than Yeyama in addition to the crit rate%+.

Belenus's Cape augments- you can use your standard TP cape of AGI+30,racc/ratk+20,Store TP+10 for Barrage.

And...be a boss and make a Gastraphetes for "Barrage Accuracy V" and Quelling Bolts to give you ANOTHER shot to Barrage! ^^

Camouflage
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Ahh Camouflage. Once you have 20/20 upgrades in your Job Points to the Camouflage Category, Camo now has a +20% critical hit rate trait added to it (1% per upgrade). Now, remembering that Camouflage will drop the instant you weaponskill, depending on your weapon choice simply shooting during the entire Camouflage duration rather than weaponskilling can yield better results with the proper gearset.

Use the Meghanada Visor+2 over even an Adhemar Bonnet+1. Dead Aim+12 is that powerful- its an additional 12% damage to your critical hits. We just don't use it in weaponskill sets because Dead Aim cannot proc on a weaponskill.

Meghanada Cuirie+2 and Darraigner's Brais for the same reason- to boost the damage of the critical hits. Since you are starting from such a high base point in critical hit rate, we can focus more on critical hit damage+ gear over critical hit rate%+ gear in this set versus striking the balance like we did in the Jishnu's Radiance set.

We do want SOME crit rate gear though. And the Oshosi Leggings are a great fit for this set with their +8% crit rate.

Belenus's Cape augments: I use my Jishnu's Radiance Cape in my Camouflage Sets- DEX+30,racc/ratk+20,critical hit rate +10%. Ideally there would be a new cape with AGI+30,racc/ratk+20,critical hit rate +10%, but let's not go crazy here... ;)

Again the Begrudging Ring makes an appearance, and I use Ilabrat over other options to get some more store TP while holding on to that high AGI and DEX.

PDT
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Since you can configure your lua to allow you to fire weaponskills while not engaged, and all your gear will still swap, we have the luxury of being able to idle in a very hefty PDT set while still dps'ing in our full capacity. This set reaches a total of 50% damage reduction, focusing on physical damage taken with a few general "damage taken" pieces. It also benefits from the set bonus of the Meghanada+2 set, giving you a decent sized Regen while idling. In addition, you keep +movement speed of 18% in this set WHILE having max PDT. If you want more regen and are willing to sacrifice a few tics of PDT, you can swap the Patricius Ring for a Meghanada Ring.

MDT
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Ahh MDT...not our strongest suit by any stretch of the imagination. This set also uses several "damage taken" pieces, including adding some mummu+1 to the leg slot. Dampening Tam and Floral Gauntlets are assumed to have their "magic damage taken" stat capped.

Orion+3 body is in the set because we simply do not have many good -magic damage body pieces easily obtainable, and at least the Orion+3 body has a solid Magic Defense Bonus+7 and Magic Evasion+84 on it.

I also opt for Jute Boots+1 as my movement speed piece in this setup because it allows the usage of Mummu Kecks+1 in the leg slot, and they also come with solid Magic Defense Bonus+5 and Magic Evasion+107, very respectable for a foot slot while still letting me run at 18%. Orion Socks+3 and their MDB+6/Magic Evasion+89 are also quite acceptable as a +movement speed piece in this set.

This set has never felt "good enough" in my book, but it does assist greatly in keeping you alive at least for a quick curebomb in most HELM/Omen boss situations. Especially because if you JUST build a PDT set out of Meghanada+2, you are incredibly susceptible to magic attack in that set with its staggeringly low magic defense numbers..some pieces lacking ANY MDB or Magic Evasion, let along actual magic damage taken-.

Precast
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Standard Precast set. Some alternatives include Voltsurge Torque for the neck (nice thing with Baetyl is the double usage for your Trueflight Build..one less inventory), and Taeon Tabard for the Dread Jupon. Taeon comes with 4% fast cast and can be augmented with up to 5% additional if you feel the need. Otherwise, your preshot Taeon Tabard (if you went that route) can double here.

Now, when casting Utsusemi, aim to swap the following two pieces.

Neck: Swap Baetyl Pendant for Magoraga Bead Necklace.
Body: Swap Dread Jupon for Passion Jacket.

Both of the above pieces possess "Utsusemi Casting Time-" stat on them, which goes above and beyond the Fast Cast cap. It won't affect your recast timers, but it will let you get that Ichi off super fast.

Making a mythic weapon for a barrage set is so ridiculous I might do it !

If only they would lessen all the tedious *** and get right to the farming Alex...this is just me venting how the work to reward effort for mythic. Compared to other weapons is *** mostly !

AG Gastraphetes is a dream to have and play with - especially with all the correct builds. If you're a dedicated RNG (regardless of its use) you'll have a ton of fun with it.

I'm very pleased I made mine.

Glad someone caught that^^ And as a Gastra owner, being able to unleash the most devastating Light-based attack in the game is quite fun. Screw you Carbuncle!

I'm considering biting the bullet and making it. Estimated completion date right before servers go offline. Enough time to get one barrage off.

But kudos for all the great ranger sets it helps me a lot.

Are you actively playing the game? There are some nice accessories from Omen that you will want for your RNG (if you don't already have them). Dingir Ring in particular is great for Trueflight.

You should add a fast cast set (I can upload mine later when I get home.) You'll find yourself using RNG/NIN a lot, so it is pretty useful to have for Utsusemi. I even tanked Kei once this way.

I'll post mine- I definitely use one and we get some great tools especially for Utsu casting.

edit: precast set posted, along with changes to make for specific utsusemi casting.

Wait, what? how? ( ̵˃﹏˂̵ )

I feel like I've been missing out

First and foremost, if you are using gearswap in any capacity, you can use a macro'ed weaponskill without being engaged no worries. Selecting one from the menu can be a little trickier, because some luas actually default to NOT allow this feature...put yourself in melee mindset for a moment, and you can see the benefit of preventing weaponskills unless engaged to avoid the dreaded "Too Far" message followed by complete TP loss.

If your current lua is preventing the usage of weaponskills while not engaged, you likely have a line of code in it that resembles this:

if player.status ~= 'Engaged' then
cancel_spell()
add_to_chat(123,'Unable To Use WeaponSkill: [Disengaged]')

and it will be nested somewhere in your "function,precast" section of your lua.

I've never understood the whole racc argument on barrage.

If you aren't capping barrage acc with your normal midshot set + orion hands +3 that add ungodly amounts of racc then your normal midshot set is basically already floored hit rate. Like if you add in set bonus + regular bonus barrage bonus is 95 racc and 27 agi. Let's say your normal mid shot hands is ahdemar +1 (pretty high racc and store tp so a good choice normally) at 52 racc 19 agi would have 23.5% lower hit rate

Nice job, Celebrindal :)

Just a couple minor comments from me.


Minor addition, as we discussed in the preshot sets topic, Haverton/+1 Ring is relevant here too as the best Racc ring in the game, in case a RNG has it. I completely understand that it's perhaps not the best SOA reward choice from a RNG-only perspective though, so I totally get leaving it out of standard set suggestions - but it's ideal if you do happen to have it (most notably, for those who play a lot of COR).


FWIW, the set you posted is also a great general crit focused set: most notably, excellent for shooting when Empy AM3 (Arma or Gandiva) is up, under Camouflage or not. The set you posted is actually my exact Arma AM-up TP/crit set.

And for frequent Gandiva/Armageddon users, it really is worth making the AGI+30 crit cape! Though as you mentioned, if you have DEX/crit rate for a JR cape, that's definitely a solid alternative that might put an AGI cape lower on your priority list.

Minor quibble, I'd use either Eabani or Sanare Earrings over Static here.

Oshosi is also very relevant for magical defense oriented sets. 5/5 pieces (even NQ) are reasonable choices. Very high Meva (I'd have to check more closely to confirm, but maybe BiS for all five slots), along with strong MDB/HP/Def. Especially useful if for whatever reason you're trying to resist magical effects (perhaps along with a GEO's Vex/Attune).

Honestly, I tend not to really use magic defense sets much on RNG and just idle in my general DT- set (as much DT- as I can get, then cap PDT and toss in Meva/MDB in the spots where I have any extra room). But if you're looking to optimize things to protect against magical threats, I'd strongly consider looking at an Oshosi-based Meva set.

In my lua I maintain 3 barrage sets of varying accuracy. They pair up with my 3 levels of standard TP accuracy, and as I swap from one accuracy mode to the next, the barrage set follows suit.

LowACC set is essentially my TP set plus Orion Gloves+3, Enervating Earring to replace Dedition, and Regal Ring for my standard TP ring. I feel I can give up some STP, but this maintains most of my standard midshot build.

MidACC takes the above changes and adds in Orion Socks+3 and Cacoethic Ring+1.

HighACC is the set you see posted.

As I stated at the top of these sets in particular, most will be best served by taking from these sets the "general theme" and then making their own with pieces from these sets as needed, and as gear options/budget allow.

btw Capuchin- I'll definitely be covering AM3 sets in the midshot thread...my Gandiva benefited a ton from your Arma knowledge.

Good call on Eabani in particular, being a free reward from Escha-Zi'Tah Dragon. I just happen to have the static for my BLM Death set...but I do believe Eabani is a better move.

And thank you for being the voice of Haverton owners!

I understand need for different levels of racc and I wasn't really talking about specific sets.

I was only referring implication in here and what I see often stated that racc is more important in barrage set when in reality it's just as important in tp/physical ws and arguably actually need less in the rest of the barrage set with af+3 hands. You don't know how many times I've seen raccs quote the whole miss thing and use that to justify using full max racc sets on things they have capped hit rates with just their weapon lol. When really if swapping hands isn't enough then you need a different tp set

It is true...and hard to remember at the same time that capped hit rate for ranged attacks is 95%...only main-handed 1 hand weapons get that 99% cap hit rate potential. And the first shot of Barrage has the same odds of missing as the last,and every shot is computed individually-the previous hit has NOTHING to do with the next shot.

So, there is a very valid argument behind approaching Barrage with the mindset of just reaching that 95% threshold, and then gearing for damage beyond that to at least maximize the shots that do land.

Fair point - if you're capped Racc, you're capped and stacking more isn't gonna help. And you should be trying to get pretty close to capped in a normal midshot set anyway...

That being said, I do err more on the side of Racc in my default Barrage set for slots like Dedition Earring, even though I'm sure I could prob still maintain capped Racc with Dedition on a lot of targets and generate more Barrage TP. For me though, that's more about a conscious decision to reduce the amount of sets I have to think about and draw a line about what's "good enough" for me in terms of # of set options.

I do joke all the time about LOL BARRAGE MISS... but I get that the 95% Racc ceiling is something that's just going to bite you now and then, whether on first Barrage shot or some other shot of the volley. While I think that's something most of us here get, it never hurts to give the reminder.

Do you guys not have varying racc midshots? If you have that then just subbing in the hands will be more than enough without having to have a barrage "set". Though if midshotting in relic head might want to swap that out too since about 99% sure it can only proc once per /ratt.

Super aside note on barrage talk. Actually did some math on shots/odds out of curiosity and made myself sad. Odds to land 12 shots (with fully jpd, mythic bolt, orion hands) with capped racc is only about 54% but if they bumped us up to 99% cap it would be 88.6%.

But the real travesty is stupid way it stops. Like some quick math shows that +3 only adding like 1.7-2 on average with 95% acc. Cmon SE cmon do it like ws. Still super duper BiS though

everyone used to say the same thing about asuran. what if asuran fists worked the same way back in 2008? :thinking:

My Fast Cast set for RNG

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It's 69 fast cast. Better herculean legs (only 5/6), enchanter's earring, and weatherspoon +1 would put me at 72.

For barrage, I only substitute in the barrage hands because I don't see the point in swapping out store TP for accuracy I don't need (although enmity - might be a good choice.)

Cele, how often do you play around with Gandiva? Was it worth making? I'm tempted to give it a go in the near future.

what about doubleshot sets?

On the Gandiva question - I use it whenever I am playing with mostly melees versus a ranged attack setup where I'd ride last stand. I benefit from a whm giving boost dex to the traditional melees, which simplifies things.

I Will say that Gandiva needs heavy level support. 4 song bard with a crap ton of minuets, geo, and corsair. Since you're riding white damage moreso than other weapon options for a ranger, things like capped attack become much more important.

For doublesbot, gather oshosi gear as you can afford - I'd recommend shooting for head and feet first, as head increases the base damage of doublesbot, and feet have an incredible crit rate on them. We have great body options for tp sets (AF+3,Nirosch, and Mummu+2 all incredible choices) I find the body to be the least important choice unless you also use it as part of preshot. Hands and legs are pretty even in terms of what to grab next. Since the oshosi set has such great ranged accuracy, you really can just plug in the pieces you get into your current tp sets. So if you tp in hq adhemar legs or hands, get the oshosi piece that matches your nq pieces first, keeping the "more valuable" tp set pieces in for doublesbot.

My entire linkshell is filled with rangers. We have 2 Gandiva me and friend. Yes it's worth it.

I'm not sure why you'd need higher attack buffs with Gandiva, given that neither weapon (gun or bow) has a usable WS with an attack bonus or penalty and Archery caps attack sooner than every other weapon type in the game.

What do yall think of this as a EES set?
The cape has AGI 30, RACC/RATT 20, Crit Rate 10.

ItemSet 358513

I might swap Mummu hands+2 in for Relic+3 for the increased crit rate, and that'll give you set bonus with the ring for more AGI.