Comprehensive Ranger Guide
About the Guide
This guide is maintained by Kithus but brought to you by members of the GS community from discussions via various forums, Discord chats and direct player input on gswiki. It is ALWAYS open for contributions from the community.
Last Upate: 2/8/2018
Race and Stat Considerations
| Race | Strength | Constitution | Dexterity | Agility | Discipline | Aura | Logic | Intuition | Wisdom | Influence | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aelotoi | -5 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | -5 | +20 |
| Burghal gnome | -15 | 10 | 10 | 10 | -5 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | -5 | +25 |
| Dark elf | 0 | -5 | 10 | 5 | -10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 5 | -5 | +15 |
| Dwarf | 10 | 15 | 0 | -5 | 10 | -10 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -10 | +15 |
| Elf | 0 | 0 | 5 | 15 | -15 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +20 |
| Erithian | -5 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +25 |
| Forest gnome | -10 | 10 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | -5 | +25 |
| Giantman | 15 | 10 | -5 | -5 | 0 | -5 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +10 |
| Half elf | 0 | 0 | 5 | 10 | -5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | +15 |
| Half krolvin | 10 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | -10 | 0 | -5 | -5 | +5 |
| Halfling | -15 | 10 | 15 | 10 | -5 | -5 | 5 | 10 | 0 | -5 | +20 |
| Human | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | +15 |
| Sylvankind | 0 | 0 | 10 | 5 | -5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +15 |
AgiDex
Roundtime is quite simple. Strength and encumbrance can be a factor but that can be managed by carefully managing inventory. The most important factor is AgiDex, or the sum of the bonuses of a character's Dexterity and Agility. This combined total helps reduce the Roundtime of a physical attack by a specified amount:
| Agility + Dexterity |
Roundtime reduction |
|---|---|
| 8 - 22 | 1 |
| 23 - 37 | 2 |
| 38 - 52 | 3 |
| 53 - 67 | 4 |
| 68 - 82 | 5 |
| 83 - 97 | 6 |
| 98 - 112 | 7 |
| 113+ | 8 |
| Roundtime reductions above 5 are not achievable without enhancive items. | |
Pairing that table with the stat table above we can break it down to see each races theoretical maximum AgiDex, before enhancives:
| 5 RT Reduction | 4 RT Reduction | 3 RT Reduction |
|---|---|---|
| Halfling | Aelotoi | Erithian |
| Burghal gnome | Dark elf | Human |
| Elf | Forest gnome | Dwarf |
| Half-elf | Giantman | |
| Sylvankind | ||
| Half-Krolvin |
This is important because weapons have a minimum RT, and a base RT. By taking the base RT and subtracting the bard's AgiDex we can find that ranger's unencumbered swing RT.
Dexterity is also important as the AS stat for the Archer Ranger.
Strength
Strength bonus adds directly to melee AS. Any melee ranger is going to want a decent Strength stat and will want to pair that with a decent AgiDex possibility. The table below shows the Strength stats of races compared to their AgiDex capability:
| 5 RT Reduction | STR Mod | 4 RT Reduction | STR Mod | 3 RT Reduction | STR Mod | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Halfling | -15 | Aelotoi | -5 | Erithian | -5 | ||
| Burghal gnome | -15 | Dark elf | 0 | Human | 5 | ||
| Elf | 0 | Forest gnome | -10 | Dwarf | 10 | ||
| Half-elf | 0 | Giantman | 15 | ||||
| Sylvankind | 0 | ||||||
| Half-krolvin | 10 |
While Strength is an important AS stat for melee rangers, it is the RT stat of Archers. Every 10 STR Bonus will reduce archery RT by 1 second. Unlike melee attacks, the additional RT for AIMing a ranged attack can be reduced as well. That makes Strength extremely important to an Archer ranger. This typically should be paired with a good Dexterity bonus for AS purposes. The table below shows a comparison of all races according to their Strength, alongside their Dexterity:
| Race | STR Mod | DEX Mod |
|---|---|---|
| Giantman | 15 | -5 |
| Half-Krolvin | 10 | 0 |
| Dwarf | 10 | 0 |
| Human | 5 | 0 |
| Sylvan | 0 | 10 |
| Dark Elf | 0 | 10 |
| Elf | 0 | 5 |
| Half-Elf | 0 | 5 |
| Aelotoi | -5 | 5 |
| Erithian | -5 | 0 |
| Forest Gnome | -10 | 5 |
| Burghal Gnome | -15 | 10 |
| Halfling | -15 | 15 |
There is a very obvious correlation between Strength and Dexterity. Almost invariably as one goes up, the other goes down. This makes the choice of races for an archer a tricky balancing act.
Skills
Physical Skills
- Armor Use Reduces RT associated with heavier armor, Combat maneuver penalties, and spell hindrance from wearing armor
- Shield Use Generates DS when using a shield.
- Weapon Use Raises AS with a particular Weapon.
- Two Weapon Combat Allows the use of two one-handed weapons.
- Combat Maneuvers +.5 Melee AS per rank and access to combat maneuvers.
- Multi-Opponent Combat Reduces penalties from force-on-force and allows for mstrike.
- Ambush Assists in aiming physical attacks.
- Physical Fitness Core training, HP growth, Maneuver defense
- Dodge Generates evasion DS.
Magical Skills
- Arcane Symbols Allows the use of and improves durations from scrolls.
- Magic Item Use Allows the use of and improves the durations from magic items.
- Harness Power 3 mana per training up to your level, 1 per after that.
- Spell Aiming Weapon training for bolts, which rangers do not use.
- Mana Control Allows the sharing of mana and improves your own mana regen. Rangers have easy access to Spiritual Mana Control.
- Spell Research Learn spells and make those you already know better.
- Lores Incremental improvements to specific spells related to that lore.
General Overview of Ranger Spells
Buffing Spells
- Natural Colors (601) DS and hiding increase
- Resist Elements (602) Bolt DS and elemental resistance
- Foraging (603) Assists with foraging
- Skinning (604) Assists with skinning
- Phoen's Strength (606) +10 Strength
- Mass Colors (611) Mass version of 601, does not stack with 601
- Self Control (613) DS, TD, Resist Sheer Fear, and assists AIMing
- Sneaking (617) Hiding bonus
- Mobility (618) Bonus to Dodge ranks
- Nature's Touch (625) TD, Allows casting of ranger spells indoors
- Wall of Thorns (640) DS and chance to BLOCK attacks
- Assume Aspect (650) Various bonuses to stats, skills, defenses, health, etc.
Attack Spells
- Sounds (607) Reduces target's DS and possibly interrupts casting
- Camouflage (608) Puts the ranger into hiding and provides a +30 AS boost on attacks as long as they remain hidden
- Tangle Weed (610) Knocks down, damages and attempts to ensnare targets
- Call Swarm (615) Insects pester, knock down, cause RT, poison, etc target
- Spike Thorn (616) Maneuver based attack spell with multiple damage cycles
- Mass Calm (619) Calm all enemies, preventing them from taking hostile actions until provoked
- Nature's Fury (635) Extremely powerful area effect warding attack
Miscellaneous Spells
- Whispering Willow (605) Allows communication with someone over a distance
- Breeze (612) Gentle breeze that blows away harmful clouds
- Imbue (614) Makes imbeddable wands/rods from sticks
- Resist Nature (620) Provide temporary elemental resistances to non-metal armor
- Animal Companion (630) Summons a permanent animal partner that grows with the ranger
Lores
Rangers are spiritual casters and can make use of two of the three Spiritual Lores. Spiritual Lore, Blessing typically provides a wide variety of small, incremental bonuses to the ranger, while Spiritual Lore, Summoning offers some strong offensive magic boosts and powerful improvements at specific breakpoints. Both are quite useful depending on the focus of the ranger.
Blessing Lore
- Disease Resist (104) Provides a bonus on a Seed 1 summation to the secondary warding roll against disease.
- Poison Resist (105) Provides a bonus on a Seed 1 summation to the secondary warding roll against poison
- Spirit Warding II (107) Provides a Seed 10 summation percentage chance to boost TD by +25 against any warding spell.
- Fasthr's Reward (115) Increases the percentage chance for the spell to activate on a Seed 1 summation.
- Spirit Strike (117) Provides a percentage chance equal to 3 * Seed 5 summation to gain an additional swing with the bonus.
- Lesser Shroud (120) 60 ranks unlocks the ability to cast on others for 2 minutes.
- Natural Colors (601) / [[Mass Colors (611) Increases DS at Seed 5 summation and Hiding bonus at Seed 1 summation.
- Resist Elements (602) Boosts bolt DS at Seed 5 summation.
- Foraging (603) Each rank, up to 30 total, provides the equivalent of 3 ranks of survival in foraging bonus
- Skinning (604) Improves the value of skins by a percentage equal to Seed 5 summation.
- Self Control (613) Increases spiritual TD by a Seed 5 summation.
- Sneaking (617) Improves the ability to walk in icy conditions without slipping
- Resist Nature (620) Increases the resistance provided by one half of the total ranks, rounded down
- Assume Aspect (650) Improves multiple bonuses available through various aspects.
Understanding the Bonuses behind Spiritual Lore, Blessing
None of the Blessing lore bonuses taken alone are very impressive. The power of the lore is the sheer amount of benefits that a ranger can receive. This one lore will provide moderate bonuses to DS, TD, Hiding, Bolt DS, Skinning, Foraging, and some tertiary abilities. While there is no big wow ability or bonus all the little things add up quickly to become very useful to some rangers.
Summoning Lore
Summoning lore provides less total useful benefits than Blessing lore but some of them have the wow factor that the other lore is missing. This is the go to lore for rangers that want to be deadly with their attack spells.
- Spirit Fog (106) 40 ranks unlocks the ability to auto hide the caster for 30 seconds, something a ranger should not need.
- Unbalance (110) Increases the effectiveness but a ranger typically has a hard time warding things with Minor Spiritual spells.
- Fire Spirit (111) Increases the DF but rangers do not bolt.
- Locate Person (116) Allows the locating of targets in adjacent, near-adjacent, or even far away realms. Also enables a locate-back functionality.
- Web (118) The bolt EVOKE version unlocked with this lore is of no interest to a ranger but the improvements to the area web could be.
- Call Lighting (125) Reduces the time to gather the storm by 1 second per 10 ranks, up to 70 ranks. At 80 ranks, or 40 with 625 active, the spell can be used indoors.
- Spirit Guide (130) Reduces the randomness of landing locations.
- Whispering Willow (605) Allows whispering over longer distances, with hidden or invisible targets.
- Sounds (607) Increases the spell hindrance ability by a percentage equal to a Seed 1 summation
- Tangle Weed (610) Gives a Skill Bonus/2 chance to inflict strength draining poison.
- Breeze (612) Provides a Skill Bonus/2 chance for the winds to hinder the movements of creatures in the area.
- Imbue (614) Adds a Seed 1 summation bonus to the total mana the wands/rods are able to store.
- Call Swarm (615) Increases the effectiveness on a Seed 5 summation.
- Spike Thorn (616) Has a percentage chance of an extra damage cycle equal to Skill Bonus/2 - 30%.
- Nature's Fury (635) Extra damage cycles, the second having a percentage chance equal to skill bonus, the third equal to skill bonus - 100.
- Assume Aspect (650) Improves multiple bonuses available through various aspects.
Understanding the Bonuses behind Spiritual Lore, Summoning
Obviously there are quite a few benefits of Summoning lore that do not apply to any ranger. The trade off is that the ones that do tend to be amazing. Many a high-level ranger has become a "weed mage" with enough ranger spell ranks and summoning lore. Essentially they kill primarily or wholly with spells like Spike Thorn and Nature's Fury. The bonuses from Summoning lore make this viable.