Ranger:Guide by Lambtor

=Preparations before leveling=

If you are completely new to Final Fantasy XI, and want to know how to unlock Ranger, you may want to search through another guide or ask someone in game. This guide is focused on how to maximize the effectiveness of your play within the job. If you have unlocked the job, you therefore have a basic job at Lv 30 already. If that Lv 30+ job is one that can use a ranged weapon, and has an ability to build that skill, you may want to spend some time getting that skill to a moderate level. A good idea would be to bring it to that of a Lv 20 ranger, or 60-65 skill, which as a Lv 30 you should be able to do solo without too much difficulty. The jobs that should be able to do this are:


 * THF (C+ Marksmanship, C- Archery)
 * RDM (D Archery)
 * WAR (D Marksmanship, D Archery)
 * SAM (C+ Archery)
 * DRK (E Marksmanship)
 * NIN (C Marksmanship, E Archery)
 * COR (B Marksmanship)

If you have a job at Lv 75 and want to be a more potent ranger, meriting is an option available to you for additional preparations. Recommended merit categories (where possible) before starting the job are:
 * 1) Combat skill - (marksmanship or archery; see "selecting a ranged weapon type" below)
 * 2) Enmity decrease - (higher hate threshold allows you to put down more damage before getting killed or having mages use mp on you)
 * 3) Critical Hit Rate %+
 * 4) STR+

Ranged Attack Damage Modifiers
ALL RANGED ATTACKS AND RANGED WEAPON SKILL DAMAGE IS BASED ON YOUR RATK VS TARGET DEF FIRST When trying to increase ranged Weapon skill damage, many people tend to think that loading up on AGI+ will benefit you more for marksmanship, and STR+ will help Archery best. The single biggest factor in how much damage ranged weapon skills do is your weapon & ammo base dmg, and after that, it is Ranged Attack (RATK). It is true that Archery weapon skills also have a STR based modifier, and marksmanship has no such secondary STR modifier. However, when you have a choice between RATK+ vs. STR+ or AGI+ and want to increase any ranged Weapon skill dmg, get RATK first, then STR or AGI (assuming you have enough Ranged Accuracy to land ranged weapon skills). Do NOT, however, stack up on AGI for normal Ranged Attack dmg with marksmanship OR archery. RATK and STR still increase normal shot dmg, and AGI does not increase it. You can test this out yourself anytime; go and pick targets with similar levels and swap out pieces of gear. Ranged Attack+ often has a larger impact than STR+ or AGI+.

If you have enough Ranged Accuracy (RACC) to land weapon skills and barrage consistently, the priorities on stats for increasing Weapon Skill damage are: For normal shots, it is:
 * RATK > STR / AGI
 * RATK > STR > AGI

Double Weakness Status
=Ability, Equipment, Subjob and Food Notes=