Table of Contents
Introduction
The Ranger wields a bow, has high mobility, and the ability to quickly dodge attacks.
The following article will break down the Pros and Cons of the Ranger class, explain why this class is recommended for newcomers to Black Desert Mobile, and break down the ideal skill builds, gear, accessories, and crystals to be used with the Ranger class to maximize your success in the game.
Pros
The Ranger class is by far the most relaxed class to level in the game, and this is why we recommend it as the first class to be played by newcomers to Black Desert Mobile.
The Ranger class is so simple to level, in part, because it has a perfect kit when leveling, but also because the Ranger is a kiting master since she can attack while moving. The ranger class is one of the best field farmers if you have the right skill set up. However, with the wrong skill set up, the Ranger can prove problematic.
Cons
The Ranger is vulnerable to the Melee class that stacks CC. The Ranger can dodge attacks, but if a melee class gets on top of your Ranger and chain CC’s you, you’re not a tank, and every type of CC available will hit you. They will stun you and CC you into the ground. There’s the potential that they could get even one shot you if they have enough CC.
In addition to the vulnerability to the melee class, the Ranger’s mobility skills can push you out of the best farming areas. The mobility skills you use to use fewer potions will move you to the side, so you may find yourself fighting only one to three mobs instead of standing in the middle and fighting ten to twenty mobs. As you will see below, some skills can be used to counter this.
The third con of the ranger class is that the primary weapon doesn’t share with any other class, making this class not alt friendly.
Abilities
Let’s talk about the ideal skill build when playing the Ranger class. The objective of this build is to pull groups of mobs together as fast as possible. The goal is being able to do this so quickly that even if you’re standing next to somebody else, you’ll be tagging the mob first.
True Shot
The build starts with True Shot, which will quickly become your bread and butter. True Shot is an AOE-cone ability that does a lot of damage to a wide area of effect.
Blasting Gust
Blasting Gust is one of the two defensives recommended in this build; it jumps your character back and simultaneously, knocks down your enemies.
This is one of the two alternative skills included in this build recommendation that can be switched out depending on the circumstances you find yourself in. Blasting Gust should be incorporated in areas with tightly packed mobs.
Will of the Wind
Will of the Wind, like True Shot, covers a wide area of effect. It has a lot of charges and does substantial damage, so you’re going to want to use this quite frequently. It also jumps towards the mob, keeping you centered.
Spin Blade
Spin Blade is the other alternative skill we have in the build. Again, this skill should be switched out depending on the circumstances you find yourself in.
The reason this was chosen, is that like Will of the Wind, it brings you in closer, but it also hits in a circle around you and stuns those it touches. It can be used quite effectively with another vast AOE skill to wipe out thick mobs.
Spinning Shot
Spinning Shot pierces six enemies and does a nice amount of damage. It has three charges and a swift animation. This is another one of your bread and butter skills that you’re going to be using very frequently on this build.
Call of the Earth
Call of the Earth will raise your defense and heal you.
Flurry of Arrows
A flurry of Arrows will push you back a bit, and because of this can sometimes take you out of your farming area. That being said, Flurry of Arrows hits a lot of enemies, does decent damage, and has a lot of charges. Because of this, it is another one of your bread and butter abilities.
Descending Current
Descending Current is to be used when there are a lot of mobs around you. It deals with very considerable damage and will generally kill any mobs that it hits with one shot. Despite the more extended cool-down, Descending Current is so powerful that it is worth including in your skill build.
Piercing Arrow
Piercing Arrow is a skill that a lot of people like to use because it does a hefty amount of damage and knocks your opponent down. The problem with Piercing Arrow is its animation time. While you’re casting the ability and waiting for it to go off, you’ll have many enemies at your back, causing you damage. Because of this, Piercing Arrow is not generally recommended.
Stats
Before getting into the prioritization of stats, it might be useful to look at how each of your primary stats is calculated. Attack Power is essentially the power of your weapons. The defensive ability is the power of your armor.
Your Character Base is the sum of your Attack Power and your Defensive Power. Family Base is the power of your Black Spirit as well as things like your Knowledge and your Amity. Your Family Base and your Character Base together equal your Combat Power.
Secondary Stats
Crit Chance, Critical Damage, Attack Speed, and Move Speed are the secondary stats you should be paying attention to. Yes, HP and MP (mana) can be considered secondary stats, but they’re not as relevant and shouldn’t be the focus of your build.
Your main priority on secondary stats is your Attack Speed because it speeds up your animation and your skills and is viable on all classes. It should be maximized as quickly as possible.
The next priority is your Crit Chance. Maximize this as quickly as you can, but avoid going over the maximum.
Your third priority for secondary stats is your Critical Damage. The reason this is prioritized after Crit Chance is because Critical Damage is much more challenging to obtain. It is something to grab when you can, but Crit Chance is going to be simpler to acquire and, therefore, more comfortable to build a strategy around.
Movement Speed you can have if you truly want it, but because the other stats are so valuable, this should not be your primary focus.
Branch Damage
Before breaking down the priorities for this build, let’s examine what each of the Branch Damage options does. Increase skill damage on Aal works out to about a +10% damage increase on the abilities it is applied to. Serrett makes your abilities hit more enemies. Ahib increased the Chance of Extra Damage, so there’s a +10% chance of doing +70% extra damage. Please note that this does not multiply with the Crit, so you can’t Crit and then do +70% additional damage. It doesn’t work like that. Labreve gives you an additional +10% Crit rate.
For this build, you’re going to want your focus to be on Aal as much as you possibly can. Try to max it out. Your second priority is going to be Labreve.
Gear
When looking at weapons and armor, you want to be aware of which items have two crystal sockets and which items have only one. The foremost goal should be getting two crystals onto your gear.
Your secondary aim should be the Base Attack Power of the item. The Base AP is what is used to scale from when you upgrade your weapon. This adds up quickly as you enhance, and even a small difference like 9 Attack Power between two items can result in a variation of 30-50 CP when the thing is leveled.
Your third priority when choosing gear is the stat line. Some items give bonuses while others give negatives, for example, the Ultimate Bares Longbow gives you -2% Attack Speed. You don’t want negative rewards.
The Ultimate Liverto Longbow is clearly one of the best choices given the above information. This being said, the Ultimate Elisha Longbow is a reliable alternative.
As a Sub Weapon, the Rosar Dagger is ideal, again, because of the dual gem slots. The Ultimate Elisha Dagger can be useful if Crit Chance is not yet maxed out. Or the Ultimate Talis Dagger if Crit Chance is near max.
When it comes to armor, the Grunil pieces are the most ideal, again, because of the dual gem slots.
Crystals
So early on in your gameplay, let’s say for the first month, it’s going to be incredibly challenging to obtain yellow and orange tier crystals with your correct stats. The solution to this is to focus on purple tier crystals.
In particular, you are going to want the maximum attack bonus you can get with a crystal that increases Aal Damage (Not Ahib, Labreve, or Serrett). This being said, it is recommended to hold onto all the gems you obtain because they can become useful when working on other builds later in the game.
Obtaining Branch Damage
Branch Damage applies to the abilities you have equipped. For example, Aal Damage and Labreve Damage can be used to True Shot.
Lightstone
To obtain Branch Damage, go into Black Spirit –> Equip Lightstone. As a side note, we know that the higher the tier of the Lightstone, the more stats.
For example, a purple tier Lightstone has one primary ability and one sub-stats, whereas a yellow tier Lightstone will have one main ability and two sub-stats. When selecting or pursuing Lightstones, your main priority will be Crit Damage, because it is so hard to obtain, followed by Aal Damage.
Accessories
Accessories can also increase your Branch Damage. If you look into Accessory Resonance, you will see that when you have leveled all of your jewelry up to, for example, +3 or above, you will have reached the first Resonance level and all Branches Damage is increased by +1%.
It is recommended with your jewelry to upgrade to a series of +8 blue tier accessories because this allows you to reach the sixth level of Resonance and give all Branch Damage +6%.
This covers everything you need to hit the ground running when playing the Ranger class in Black Desert Mobile.