Ranger Merits

[Po]

Hey all, really I am not a new player, I've played the game for 3 years, but just finally reached 75.
I am a Taru, my gear is as follows:
Francisca, Hawkers (sold my Trailers recently because I didn't need the RACC, and wanted the additional AGI+)
Rank 8 Windy Bow (forget name), OBow, Hellfire
Shikaree Aketon, Crimson Gloves, Amemet Mantle, Garrulous Ring, Coral Ring, Minuet Earring, Drone Earring, War Boots (soon to buy Creek Clomps), RK Belt +2

I think that is everything. Anyway, I recently used my first merit to bump up my archery one level. I like archery a whole lot more than marksmanship so I am not looking on much advice between those 2 attributes, but other than that I would like to know what is most important and the best to merit. Also, what order to do it in; do all my combat stuff first and then go to the tier 2? Or is there a really good tier 2 merit I should do right away like Snapshot I heard?

Looking for some in depth advice, thanks a lot guys.

[Vertabreaker]

Hey all, really I am not a new player, I've played the game for 3 years, but just finally reached 75.
I am a Taru, my gear is as follows:
Francisca, Hawkers (sold my Trailers recently because I didn't need the RACC, and wanted the additional AGI+)
Rank 8 Windy Bow (forget name), OBow, Hellfire
Shikaree Aketon, Crimson Gloves, Amemet Mantle, Garrulous Ring, Coral Ring, Minuet Earring, Drone Earring, War Boots (soon to buy Creek Clomps), RK Belt +2

I think that is everything. Anyway, I recently used my first merit to bump up my archery one level. I like archery a whole lot more than marksmanship so I am not looking on much advice between those 2 attributes, but other than that I would like to know what is most important and the best to merit. Also, what order to do it in; do all my combat stuff first and then go to the tier 2? Or is there a really good tier 2 merit I should do right away like Snapshot I heard?

Looking for some in depth advice, thanks a lot guys.

As soon as my archery was 8/8 I went straight for rapidshot and snapshot. Flashy shot and sharpshot after that.

If you TP in AF2 body + AF1 hat, with full merits in rapid/snap, you'll see a pretty nice difference in how fast you fire.

[Pyrena]

Yep, capped archery, then rapid shot, put 1 in Flashy (anxious to use it) and now working on snapshot. I don't merit much and traded off doing stuff for BST & RNG, but that's my plan

[Po]

That's cool. It would definitely be nice to bring down my Ranged Attack delay.

Is it ok to go 8/8 archery, and leave Marksmanship @ 269? Or should I spread it out like 4/4 and 4/4?

[Sylphet]

viewtopic.php?f=31&t=18056

[Po]

Thanks a lot, sorry didn't see it.

[Shuemue]

You should be able to do 8/8 on both Archery and Marksmanship now if you want to.

[Ceiyne]

I got 3/3 Snapshot, but recently a very good Ranger on my server said that he didn't think Snapshot much for you in merit parties. His reasoning was that the 6% haste wouldn't get you an extra attack in unless you fired 16-17 back-to-back shots, and merit mobs would die well before you got that far. So in terms of true benefit, the most gain you'd see is that sometimes the mob would die about 1 second earlier than it would have if you didn't have Snapshot maxxed.

Is there a flaw in this logic that I'm missing?

[tyven]

I got 3/3 Snapshot, but recently a very good Ranger on my server said that he didn't think Snapshot much for you in merit parties. His reasoning was that the 6% haste wouldn't get you an extra attack in unless you fired 16-17 back-to-back shots, and merit mobs would die well before you got that far. So in terms of true benefit, the most gain you'd see is that sometimes the mob would die about 1 second earlier than it would have if you didn't have Snapshot maxxed.

Is there a flaw in this logic that I'm missing?

using merits in order to be better in merit parties is never a good idea, unless the ONLY time you use that job is for meriting and you take another job to events. you have to take into consideration how useful the merits will be in dynamis, limbus, gods, HNM, all that shit.

[Loren]

Is there a flaw in this logic that I'm missing?

You may need 16-17 for a guaranteed extra shot, but even -1 Delay can result in an additional shot depending on when the mob dies. Same reason 1% Haste can result in an extra melee hit even if the fight lasts 5 seconds.

[VZX]

Is there a flaw in this logic that I'm missing?

You may need 16-17 for a guaranteed extra shot, but even -1 Delay can result in an additional shot depending on when the mob dies. Same reason 1% Haste can result in an extra melee hit even if the fight lasts 5 seconds.

Except ranged attack is very low resolution (i.e. high delay, normally), making haste act less effectively compared to low to mid-low delay weapon like dagger/katana/sword/axe

[maddadon]

first things first--- merit either archery or marksmanship to 8

Then-- its highly dependant on how you play.

From my point of view- anything that will give you + haste is a good thing. Consider if they made that available to say- warrior--- you bet your ass that there'd be wars out the yingyang meriting that shit like now. So- while I have read the data on what someone above posted re: meritpo and dead mobs = not taking full advantage of shit-- I disagree. Particuarly because of the post after that-- re: don't merit a job just for meripos. Furthermore-what else u gonna merit in that group?!

Anyway- Rapid Shot, and Snapshot make a lotta sense to me--and I would max them out.

From there- again- its highly dependant on how u play.

I still sub nin, and I go for a + str + rngatt set up. So- I really like Sharpshot recast- cause it gives me more time w/ + rng acc from something other than food or equipment. There is, however, really good arguements against this tho that I won't get into here- again- its highly dependant on how u play, what u sub, what equip you got etc...

I am also a big fan of Flashyshot--simply cause it kicks ass.

BUT-I will whole heartedly admit that what I've mentioned above does NOT lend itself to the longer hnm marathon type of fights where hate control is essential. The majority of what I do as a ranger is zerg-so it works out nicely for me. If you do more hnm type things where hate control is needed- you may really want to consider Sharpshot--cause honestly- fully merited- that sucka is nice (i've only seen it- i dont' have it)- but anyway.. i kinda digress...

To get back on track- You need to consider what it is that you do (how you play, what you kill, what you are planning to kill) and then merit accordingly-- AFTER you get archery and/or marksmanship to 8.

[Duwie]

I built my rng for hnms mostly since i got better jobs/gear for merit pts.

Category 1: 5/5 Rapid Shot and 5/5 Unlimited Shot

Rapid shot is pretty straight foward, faster tp gain = good. I did unlimited shot to increase the amount of ppas i can shoot during a fight, as well as not wanting to have separate timers for sharpshot/barrage. I love the recast on US with merits, on a moderately long fight those 30 seconds boost your avg ws numbers and accuracy by quite a bit.

Category 2: 3/3 Stealth Shot, 1/3 Flashy Shot, and 2/3 Snapshot

Even fully merited, the Flashy Shot timer is still too long to use more than 1/2 times per fight, so I only got it unlocked for those moments @5% hp when you go into zerg mode with ws > barrage > ws > ees for a little extra dmg since you're going to get hate and/or kill it anyways, the extra enmity doesnt matter. Stealth shot for long fights just seemed too good to pass up, -30emity in 1/X (x varies by how fast you hit the /ra macro which for me is usually 2 or 3) really kicks ass! can even get started with a Stealth Shot sidewinder at the top of a fight right after first voke and usually go unharmed. Snap shot, same as rapid shot - Faster tp = good. Its a toss up between doing 3rd upgrade for stealth or for snapshot, I just felt the 10 enmity boost outweighed the 2% haste on snapshot. Recycle didnt apeal to me so much because its just for saving money and not directly affecting performance.

[loqiel]

Cap out either Marksmanship or Archery, not both.

Really imo there's no reason to merit Archery at all unless you play SAM/RNG. With how ranged delay works, Obow and Dsteel bolts out DoTs Ebow and Kaburas in a situation which holy bolts are not feasible.

I too went for an HNMish build for merits. Note: We tank a ton of things with PLD; thus, hate normally isn't an issue, so I didn't touch Stealth Shot. Here's my order:

8/8 Marksmanship (292 Marks now with Faith Torque)
1 Flashy Shot
5 Rapid Shot
5 Unlimited Shot
3 Snapshot
2 Flashy Shot (upgrading timer)