Am I getting the Most out of my Ranger??

[Karnacc]

<DIV>I need a little advice from the ranger community:</DIV> <DIV>I am a level 70 Ranger. I'm in a very very small, very casual guild so I dont have uber gear, as we dont raid. I have mostly legendary gear with 2 pieces of relic. Both my rings are mastercrafted. All my gear comes from pickup raids and groups.</DIV> <DIV>All my CAs are adept 3 or  masters (about 5 ). I have 28 Aa points with the agi line completed and 2 lvl into the str line.</DIV> <DIV>Now, on pickup raids and occasionally in groups I feel like im not getting all I should be getting out of my ranger. Im usually midways on the parse list and ocassionally 2 or 3, depending on the raid encounter.</DIV> <DIV>I've tried many different combos, and openings and such to maximize my dps but still i feel like im not consistantly getting up there where i should be.</DIV> <DIV>What works best when it comes to maximizing your dps?</DIV> <DIV>What is the best poison(s) combos to use?</DIV> <DIV>What openings and order of CAs do you use?</DIV> <DIV>How /when do you use focus/ killing instinct?</DIV> <DIV>what are the most important CAs, and which ones are a waste of time to use on raids?</DIV> <DIV>What about totems and potions? (i dont use these)?</DIV> <DIV>Any other tips or advice??</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I know this is very subjective and it's hard to say for certain without knowing my stats, gear, ect. I also know debuffs, buffs, the mobs and such all factor into dps. Still, i dont like being out dps'd by rangers in similar gear or other classes that shouldnt be out dpsing me .  Can  someone please provide any pointers you may have??</DIV> <DIV>I've read many , many DPS posts but i wanted to get some more recent opinions and see what fellow rangers are doing these days.</DIV> <DIV>I know gear and AAs will make me better but i want to make sure that im doing ALL that I should be doing as i am now.</DIV> <DIV>Thanks in advance</DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[brun]

<div></div>Well, since no one else has responded I thought I'd be the first.For one, it's been a -long- time since any rangers have felt like they are getting the "most" out of their class. Just read the hundreds of other posts about our dps and you'll know what I mean.  Sadly, being a good ranger leaves no room for slack. Personally, I stay extremely busy when fighting encounters as a ranger. Let's face it, to be "decent" dps, it's hard work and even then it may still not be enough for the parser.Poisons, lots of debates as to which ones are best - I use Caustic and Ignorant Bliss. If it's a tough encounter and debuffing is critical, then I'll throw the 3rd poison up as Gracelessness or Warding Ebb. Most trash go down so quickly anyways I don't see the point of spending more money on poisons to debuff them... Again though, if it's a named or any really tough encounter, I'll use a debuff poison. During long power intensive fights, or in any situation where maintaining constant power is key, I will swap out for Mental Breach. As rare as those times are, there will be times when you'll need the extra power. Many rangers use ignorant bliss, many other rangers perfer another type of utlity poison. I think it's really a personal perefence here. I don't like to pull aggro, so ignorant bliss works well for me. Now some people will say "If you're MT is doing their job you shouldn't be getting aggro OR if you're attacking to early or use sniper's in the first 10 seconds etc etc.. That's fine and some have points.. But I think it's a personal choice.. personally I like the added security of using ignorant bliss, then I don't worry about it.Every ranger will have their own play style and how they open a fight. Personally, I stack off with Cover Fire (Debuff) - it's probably a waste, but I start with it for a few reasons. Mainly It lets me judge my ae range. Most, not all, but MOST ae's won't hit me if I am at max distance to cast cover fire (25 meters) Some mobs require I step further back into the 26-30 meter range, but still Cover Fire is a nice judge in distance for me. I think I use it more to find my max range, then I do for the actual debuff... In any case, it's always the first thing I open with. After cover fire I follow up with Debilitating Arrow (I'm a horrible speller - so forgive me if that's not the correct spelling). After debilitating, depending on how quick I found range or how fast the mob is dropping I do 1 of 2 things. 1 I start immediately with my big shots.. Focus Aim > Triple Arrow > Surveil > Veiled Fire > Culling of the Weak. OR If it's an AE fight I'll Focus + Rain  > Surveil > Selection... then continue with Triple etc etc..  Now my order could be completely wrong, but it's what I do and it's what has worked for me. Perhaps it's mostly a habit now.  I usually get a 4th CA under Focus but not always and yes I have Poise. Sometimes lag - positioning, etc can interfere and I may not land the 4th CA in time. Lag lately has been terrible for timing =( As far as what I cast next, it really depends. From my experience CA's that are a waste of time, Sniper's Shot. very very rarely do I find much use for it. The cast time on it just really hurts us.. But if I'm bored I will throw it out. And really that's when I mainly use it.. Is when I'm bored. Some of you may disagree, and that's fine.. Everything is situational and if you can find good use for it, Great =) I just haven't found very many times where it's made any difference at all.. Other then perhaps maintaining dps when all my abilitties are down, but even then, that doesn't always seem true either.  Personally I don't really care for Precise Shot or Snaring Shot.. I use them just well cause it's buttons to click!! hehe.. But seriously, our auto attack does way more damage than either of these.  Most of the time I'll use them in between auto attacks in succession just to keep some dps going. I think the way it generally goes, you can land about 2 or 3 CA"s in-between auto attacks. Then again, I've heard others say CA's reset our auto attacks.. I haven't noticed it making that much a difference either way to be honest.I try to always use Vines before casting heat based attacks, doesn't always work out that way, sometimes I'm lazy and don't care.. Other times I would lose more dps by trying to debuff than I'd actually gain from the debuff... It's all situational.. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't... Really depends on the encounter duration or length. and well if I feel like it =)I don't ever hear to much about the melee (Close range) CA's that rangers use, but I'll post the ones I use when I joust. Mortal Reminder I try to get it in as often as I can.. I'm not sure why but it's one of my few masters and well, if it's a long fight, eh it's a dot that helps add up. Sometimes I will even throw it up right after Cover Fire.. (Sometimes) Really depends on the mob.. I dont "always" use it, but I use it enough to be considered a viable CA in my arsenol. (Did I mention I can't spell?) In any case, when I am in the situation where I'm using it, I'm hitting it every time it comes up. Ok back to jousting, I'll usually run in and throw my biggest ones out there. Longblade > Rangers Blade .. The a Strike if I'm lucky and it's one of my available sinister strikes.. Since I worry about aggro, don't know why but I just do, immediately after throwing out that combo I'll evade. cover fire again, mortal reminder, vines, longblade > emberstrike. Then by that time I have plenty of ranged ca's back up. Now, I'm not always able to do that and it's doesn't always go in that order. Some ae encounters you won't catch me in there that close for that long.. In those situations, I am stuck resorting to Stream of Arrows or just ranged autoattacking. Now so many people hate SoA but well, I'd rather be shooting something every 2 seconds than standing there waiting for auto attack to go off. I'm sorry not all of us can be 100% haste all the time =) and SoA has maintained somewhat of dps for me, so while not a spell I like, I must tolerate it none the less. But, I try to avoid using it as much as I can... I don't slack and every fight is situational.. I've been on top of the parse before, and I've been barely in the top 10 too...  I usually have to really fight for top 5, much less top 3.. Though In some zones, I can parse much higher and maintain top 2 or 3 80% or more of the time, throughout the zone. Then again, some encounters I fall even lower.. Anyhow, that's my 2cp worth.. Hope it helps.<div></div><p>Message Edited by brunox on <span class=date_text>07-29-2006</span> <span class=time_text>12:04 AM</span>

[Jayad]

<DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr> <DIV><EM>What works best when it comes to maximizing your dps?</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM>What is the best poison(s) combos to use?</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM>What openings and order of CAs do you use?</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM>How /when do you use focus/ killing instinct?</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM>what are the most important CAs, and which ones are a waste of time to use on raids?</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM>What about totems and potions? (i dont use these)?</EM></DIV> <DIV><EM>Any other tips or advice??</EM></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV>Hmm some tough questions.  Brunox posted some pretty good information.  I'll try to offer a bit more as well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First and most importantly, you have to be aware of your hate situation.  It can range from bad to excellent.  I've been in raids (pickups) where if I go over 50% of my capability, then I'll peel.  And there's been raids where no matter what I tried, critting snipe off the start, AE like crazy, nothing peels.  There's no simple way to tell, but the better the guild the better their hate management will be.  With experience you can kind of tell, when the dirge is the MT group, they have a coercer, etc., but there's no method which always works.  Many raiders don't upgrade their hate management, god knows why, but there you go. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The better the hate management is, the less I worry about things like Ignorant Bliss and I just try to do as much damage as is possible in the least amount of time.  This means I start off with my big hitters even from the beginning.  If the fight lasts long enough, I can use them again.  If it doesn't, then they're sure to be available the next fight.  It means not worrying about "saving" Sniper Shot but to use it as often as I can.  Most DPS possible.  That is with a very good hate setup.  I have found that using all your skills in the right order is the most important for maximizing.  If you have brigands, then you need to time your big hits with their debuff (if possible). </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I can honstly say that every skill that can do damage, I use on every raid.  (Even the darn hawk, just because it's a little extra)  Every skill that does damage is worth upgrading, and I also upgrade the debuffs. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>With that being said, the rest of what I"m saying is going to assume that hate management is not a problem, and you are just trying to maximize your dps. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>First, you want to try and get in the right group, if it's an option.  Try to find a "melee dps" group with the appropriate procs, such as with a dirge.  You can also pick up DPS buffs from most of the evil buffer types like coercer, inquisitor, etc.  We self-buff haste but not DPS.  Improving your auto-attack DPS will help a lot, as well the automatic procs.  I won't go into detail here, but suffice it to say that it can add a few hundred dps.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I usually start out with a big damage cycle with Focus.  Knowing that it's hard to get focus in and then have to invis, I will usually invis myself before the fight, cast Focus, and then cast either Veiled Fire or Selection, depending on if it's a group or single mob.  Then I hit all the big CAs in order - Rain of Arrows, Culling the Weak, Triple Fire, Devitalizing Arrow, etc.  Rain is a huge damage CA even on singles - always use it.  I'll get in 4-5 CAs total under Focus.  The reason you start stealthed and then Focus it is because you can use Focus without breaking stealth only when you're not in combat mode.  You essentially gain back the time you would need to stealth yourself for those arts later.  (And it can be resisted whereas invissing yourself always works) </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>If you're not dead by this point from a peel then the hate management has worked pretty well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I cast all my debuffs then, Cover Fire, Vines, then Mortal Reminder for DOT.  Then I cast all remaining ranged CA s which do damage.  After all ranged CAs are used up, then I close for all the melee skills, stealthing as needed.  If you have Poise, you probably have a bit of time here before some things refresh.  If it's a long fight, I might use some power regen items like Manastone or other such things and move back to ranged.  Then I might sit at ranged using skills as they refresh while under Killing Instinct to increase auto-attacks.  (Killing Instinct also increase your DPS for melee - just no bonus to melee skills as you get a bonus to Ranged)  If Snipe is up, I'll use it then.  After that, it's just using skills as they refresh. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Using these tactics I can usually do about 1000-1100 dps self-buffed on average with Grizzie's bow. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>For poisons, I usually use Grandmaster Caustic but I'll switch to Adeste's for tough fights.  I usually debuff the attack speed rather than using Ingnorant Bliss but that's just my preference in good hate fights.  I'll sometimes use Mental Breach if the fight is a known long fight, but I do hate losing the poison damage. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The more hate management gets worse, the longer I'll wait to do the Focus set of CAs and use Elude and Surveil more. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV></DIV>

[Prandtl]

<P>Some very good responses!</P> <P>A favorite starting attack for me is to start with cover fire and follow with confusion arrow, then go into sequences outlined above.  I have no proof, but giving the MT a little bit more hate early in the fight seems to help out everyone as the fight progresses.</P>

[Karnacc]

<DIV>Thanks for the responses guys..sounds mostly like what i've been doing.</DIV> <DIV>i guess we rangers just have to wait till we are the flavor of the month again to really enjoy our dps.</DIV>

[LoreLady]

Generally, the most you will cap out with dps is 1.5k dps with the best bow/buffs out there.