Ranger Guide

The ranger is a very easy class to learn, with a reliable build and quick clear time. With a range of 7 the ranger can easily match or outrange most enemies, and can kite everything to death. They have all the talents required to strafe dodge effectively. A ranger's weakness is the lack of burst AOE, but a well placed tunnel shot will clear mobs efficiently.

Due to only requiring range and fortitude a ranger's build is very fast to complete. It is safe, as you invest in fortitude early. All of this combined makes it a great first class to learn the game with.

As long as you get a few enchantments on your short bow the ranger is not effected by the RNG. If you don't get any enchantments the ranger can still win, but it will take more time to safely clear out the enemies.

To fully utilize a ranger's strengths please read the How to Strafe Dodge guide.

## The Fortitude Build

### Skill Points

* 10 Fortitude
* 10 Range
* Stealth (Or focus if required)

### Talents

* Range Mastery - Bow base damage of 5 at level 2.
* Tunnel Shot - AOE and a second attacking skill reduces the amount of time spent kiting.
* Sprint - Great life saving skill.
* Strafe Attack - Able to kite more effectively, and re-position in fights. If used correctly, can shoot an enemy while running away at the same time.
* Evasive 1/2 - Evasion is very powerful and combos with strafe.

 The order you get these talents can vary to fit your situation and play style. I get them in the order they are listed here.

* Without tomes next is: Range Mastery 2, Tunnel Shot 2/3, Evasion 3, Power Shot 2
* Get perfect aim if you find it useful.

After level 10 any of the ranger's talents are good, upgrade in the order that suits your play style.

List of talents that are useful:

* Head Shot - As the ranger naturally gets stealth with dexterity this ability is amazing. With a range of 7 you do not have to sneak up on enemies, and can easily catch them unaware.
* Swiftness/Ice Armor - With a few MP pots it is quite easy to get 6 MP.
* Fortitude - A very good use of talent points.
* Evade - Always a nice skill to have. As a side effect of high dexterity the ranger can be pretty stealthy as well.
* If you don't get swiftness or ice armor, a spell like Charm or Summon Skeleton is good way to use your MP. Confusion works as well, but requires more talent points to be useful.
* Dead Eye- very situational but might be useful in boss fights

### Equipment

* A +3 short bow is your first priority. This is enough to carry you through the whole game, however it is even better if you wish for a +4 or more long bow.
* As a ranger you can wear both leather armor and metal armor without incurring too much of a damage penalty, but keep in mind your stealth is reduced which might reduce crit damage
* Confusion is the best charm. Shock would be the second choice.

* Any item with -% HP is not worth it.
* A sling allows you to use a shield.
* Keep a good melee weapon to strafe attack crystal golems to death. Not necessary, but it speeds up the process.

If you get a long bow you should win easily, and with a fast time. This strategy does not include getting a long bow, as that relies on the RNG.

### Merchant

* Keep your highest piece of useless enchanted gear for a transference table.
* Food, scrolls and potions are good items to buy.

### Altar

Wealth or archery, whichever you see first. Archery gives projectiles ~1/500 turns. Wealth gives 100-200g.

### Potions

* HP: Save 1 HP pot, drink the rest to increase your stats. Buy HP pots from the merchant to drink for the stats.
* MP: If you have swiftness or ice armor buy MP pots from the merchant until 6 MP. MP pots reset your cooldowns, which can be useful in an emergency.
* Resistance: If you get a resistance pot drink all your HP pots.
* Power: Can be used to help clear the final floor.

### Enchantment

Enchant your bow over anything else. Do not hold on to enchantment scrolls as each level of enchantment will greatly increase your power. After +3 ,which happens to be a short bow's natural limit, you can enchant other items. I like to get a +5 item ready for a transference table, to get a +5 bow.

### Side Dungeons

Always try the side dungeons, even if to just poke your head in and see what's near the entrance. You might get gold / enchant tables / transfer tables / wishing wells.

#### Sewers:

* Kite enemies into water to deal critical hits.
* Strafe the giant leaches.
* Use tunnel shot to clear the maggots.
* Use power shot to knock away hidden enemies. The ranger's skills can also hit enemies while hidden.
* For rotting corpses use power shot followed by tunnel shot to try and finish them. If you can't, position yourself so all maggots move into water to reach you, so you can one shot them.

#### Arcane Tower:

* The ranger can reliably and safely clear the arcane tower.
* Ensure your cool downs have all reset before teleporting to a new room.
* Sprint is great for escaping from rooms.
* You outrange the imps 7 to 5, use this to your advantage.
* Strafe dodging is powerful, it allows you to practically ignore the melee enemies.
* Prioritize the storm imps, as you can easily dodge the abilities of the fire/ice imps.
* When clearing the teleportation version of the final floor, pick a side without towers, turrets and the least storm imps. Move in that direction using your abilities to clear an area. Strafe dodge and use your range to eliminate the other enemies.
* In the final room with lava try and move in one of the diagonal directions as it will only require two turns in lava, then sprint to the pillars for cover.

#### Ice Caves:

* If you cleared the sewers or the arcane tower usually you don't need to do the ice caves.
* Tunnel shot the wolves, power shot the penguins and kite the polar bears.
* Ice is unstable terrain even for large creatures like polar bears.
* There are two fires per level, if you haven't found one by 7 cold I backtrack to previous floor, earlier if it is far from the entrance.

#### Core:

* If you cleared the sewers or the arcane tower usually you don't need to do the core.
* Prioritize killing the fire elementals with power shot.
* Strafe dodging is very effective on all enemies.
* Tunnel shot bat swarms to clear them out quicker, but do not panic if swarmed, just strafe dodge.
* Play it carefully, slowly clear around you.
* If you're taking too much damage just leave.

A tip for side dungeons: If you are at the lowest floor it counts as 4 floors deeper then where you are in the main dungeon. This is a great time to use your acquirement scrolls as the deeper you are the higher the enchant levels.

### General Tips

Unstable ground is your friend, particularly with a weak bow. Learn to always kite enemies to unstable ground.

Projectiles are useful. They can be used with both power shot and tunnel shot, or even just thrown normally. Use them to quickly clear out priority enemies or make a safe path to retreat to.

Tunnel shot can be aimed at enemies that it will not hit, which can lead to wasted shots. Use a normal attack to target enemies first to see if tunnel shot can hit. Learn what angles to aim at to hit the most enemies. On diagonals you can often hit more then you think.

Sprint is a great way to re-position to use tunnel shot better. Be careful when using it aggressively, as it is also your main escape tool.

Crystal Golems are not a problem for a ranger. Unequip your bow, select a melee weapon if you have one, and strafe dodge/attack them to death. Do be careful of a reflected tunnel shot, it can easily 1 shot you. Alternatively, just try and throw bombs at them, kite them into fire shrooms or run around them. It is also ideal if Vault of Yendor 16 has a lava lake as you can just run around it while the golem takes damage.

Use Power Shot and Tunnel Shot all the time, and use Power Shot to quickly take out ranged enemies/mages that will be a problem. The cooldowns will easily reset before you reach the next fight.

If you skip side dungeons, wish for scrolls and head straight for Yendor when you have enough gear this strategy reliably wins in 10-20min.

This strategy is aimed at win streaking. After you learn the class this strategy should easily achieve an average time of 30min while playing it safe. If you have any suggestions about playing ranger, or any tips or idea about the game either add it to the wiki or come join us on the discord. Random595