A guide To Helping You Level Your SAR.

[AzNRuthLess]

Scout/Archer/Ranger

I am bored…very bored…and SO!!!...I decided to write a guide for Scouts/Archers/Rangers!

This guide will be aimed at helping you level and to clarify some questions which I’ve heard of and have been asked. And, mainly giving newer and also existing players who needs help leveling their SAR some information to feed off of.

LEVELING:

This is a very broad topic to speak about. There is just endless ways in which you can level as a SAR. I’ll kind of give my thoughts and opinions on how and where to level your SAR. Again, these are just my thoughts, and I’ve played this class since the beginning, so not to boast about myself, but just to give advice to the newer players or existing players who have problems leveling or just need that advice to gain that extra % to get to the next level.

Solo:

This is one of the most basic ways to level. SAR’s can easily solo their levels without the need of a healer or party all the time. Our class has this advantage, so make good use of it. With enough practice and good KIT (killing in transit = killing while staying a distance away so that the monster/opponent will not be able to hit you) skills, you can really perfect this class which will save you lots of time, kron, pots, exp, etc. Learning to properly KIT and to Control the mob is what you must aim for. By controlling the situation and the mob/opponent, anything is possible. I will break this section down into three parts; controlling the mob/opponent, dancing around the mob, and proper KITing in 1 direction.

I. Controlling the Mob/Opponent.
Controlling the situation and or fight is what you must do to be able to get an advantage/edge, and the overall goal, to win/kill the opponent/mob. I use what I call, “dancing around the mob” to do this. It might seem like a silly term, but it’s what I call it. How do you “dance” around the mob? Well, to put it short and simple, DON’T stand still. As you spam your windblows, ankles, snake shots, etc, running around it will save you from getting agro, etc. Well, some people may say it’s hard when you can’t spam your pots quickly enough to keep on moving around. That will be answered in another section where I’ll give advice on how hotkeys should be set up for the most benefit in grinding and in pvp.

Controlling the mob and or mobs consist of learning to use all the skills we acquire as we level to its full potential. One of the harder things to learn is to try and unconsciously remember your cool down times for your skills. I don’t remember them exactly to the seconds, but trying to remember how much time it usually takes for the skill to cool down, or even to just take a quick glance over the right of the screen will help, especially when you have more then 3+ mobs going after you. The skills that you will you acquire to help with controlling the mob as you level from scout, are as follows:

Ankle bind
Brambleway
Snakeshot (for this skill in particular, you have to hit it a 2nd time, regular or windblow, to make it run)
Stone Edge

I’ll give you some example scenarios just to give you an idea of how to control mobs.

- 1 mob: ankle and windblow, then repeat as necessary.

- 2 mobs: various ways to do this. First is to ankle mob A, and to stone or snake shot mob B. If those skills are not yet acquired, you can bramble and ankle mob A to slow it down more so then mob B. From there, you should put your attention to mob B, because it will be moving faster then mob A. As soon, as ankle is done with cool down, ankle mob B, and then put your attention back on mob A. This is like going back and forth between mob A and B to reduce the chances of getting hit by either.

- 3 or more mobs: follow the guideline for 2 mobs, and watch your bramble cool down, since for sure, the mobs will most likely not be dead yet, and a second bramble might be required to help in the process.

II. Dancing around the mob/opponent
Dancing around the mob/opponent is a very important thing to remember when soloing. You won’t have a healer to heal you, nor will you have a party member to get another incoming agro, etc. You’re on your own! Moving around the mob is very important to try and stay alive while soloing as a SAR. We don’t have much def, and we don’t have much HP either (unless you use sc buffs of course). Now when I say dance around the mob, what I mean is to keep moving around, to a clear area. While you are shooting away at the mob with windblow or whatever you may, move around to clean, un-mobbed areas. Keep an eye on your mini-map to see that there are no red dots, in the direction that you’re kiting to. If there is, switch your direction and move towards a different direction. This is a simple technique to avoid getting agro as you grind, but a hard one to remember. Learn to look at all your surroundings to see if there are other mobs around as well. If you should happen to come across another agro as you are dancing around the mob, get it before it gets you. Take that second to ankle/stone/bramble/snakeshot that other mob before it gets to you and deal you some damage.

III. KIT in 1 Direction
This goes along with dancing around the mob kind of. But, I’ll explain it in a separate section here. Learning to KIT in one direction is a very strong recommendation to any SAR out there. Randomly running around the map to different areas will draw more attention from mobs and surely up the chances of getting an agro. KIT in one direction, and you should be safe. What I mean by that is, if you are killing and working your way towards the east of the map, keep it going in that direction. If you manage to find that there are no mobs left in that direction, then switch direction and go another way. This way, you avoid going off track and running to other bigger amounts of mobs, which can be all agro, and that won’t be good. The ONLY exception I would recommend for you to switch directions is to kill something that spawns behind you. What I mean by that is, you should always make sure your path to run away is always clear. If you are working your way east, make sure the path to run going west, is clear. That way, if for any reason things get too heated, you have a clear path to escape. If you’re just doing your thing and you see that a mob has respawned in your escape route, kill it first before moving on. This saves you lots of HP pots and time, because the mob can be an agro.

Duo:

I. Healer
A healer will be the most basic class to duo with as a SAR. You’re main goal when in a duo with a healer: KEEP THE HEALER ALIVE, AND HE/SHE KEEPS YOU ALIVE. I say that in caps, because from time to time I run into SAR’s who ditches their healers to fend for themselves. This is a big No No. If you can keep your healer alive, he/she will keep you alive, plain and simple. If you see you’re healer getting agro, don’t try to finish off you’re mob, or try to get in another shot before u help. Let go of that mob, and help him/her out. There are some healers out there who can fend for themselves, but most of the time, they will be healing, buffing, or even killing mobs with you. So if they are pre-occupied doing any of those things, get the agro off of the healer. You can always go back for the old mob afterwards. Remember a good SAR will put their healer’s safety before moving on to kill off other mobs.

II. Neo/Squire/Disciple
These are more of a tanking class. The main goal when in a duo with one of these classes is to get the agro work towards you. This way, the tank can help you kill, while not taking so much damage or any damage. Sometimes it doesn’t always work, because the mob will hit the tank regardless. But, if you manage to get the mob’s full attention, you can KIT it, while the tank is helping you kill it and not taking any damage at all. To get this to work, what I’ve seen and from my own experiences, make sure to land a few attacks on it first, before the tank even gets to it. Do not stand or dance away too far, because the mob will lose interest. Try and stay about halfway between the farthest you can go, and being right in front of the mob.

III. Scout/Apprentice
These are KIT classes character just as we are. Main goal is to combine your slow down skills together to slow the mob down as much as possible. Ankle + Ice almost equals same slowness as ankle + bramble. So work together and get the job done. If you are in a party with another SAR, whoever has the higher level ankle bind, should be the one doing the ankling. The higher the ankle bind, the slower the mob becomes. If you have a lower level ankle bind, and you ankle it after a higher level anklebind has already been casted, your ankle will override the previous one. So, be conscious of that when teaming together with another SAR. Like I said before, main goal here is to not get hit at all, since both have KIT skills.

Aoe:

I. Solo/Duo/Party Aoe (you are the tank)
To aoe, is just like any other way to aoe with any other class. The tricky part about this class though, is our aoe skill consists of having to click on the ground to use. In some cases, this can cause lots of issues. To put it simply, if you don’t want to waste too many HP pots, after you gather enough mobs, you can bramble, run away to a safe distance, and reticle or arrow rampage (lvl 111) until bramble wears off. From here, it is your choice, you can try to outrun the mobs just enough so they don’t hit you, and you can use bramble again, OR, you can just tank them again until you can use bramble, and then repeat. If you decide to not tank again, keep a distance by running around until cool down of bramble is done, then bramble again, reticle/rampage, and repeat till mobs are killed. Simple…right? You just have to make sure the area where you are killing is free of other lingering mobs so you don’t get extra agro mobs.

II. Assist Aoe
To assist Aoe with our class, it is not that difficult, yet not so easy. The way we have to use our Aoe skill by having to click on the ground, gives us a high chance of mis-clicking and that can cause us to run into the mob, or just cancel out our skill. I’m not sure how many SARs get this issue, but sometimes when I move my mouse close enough to a good spot on the ground so my aoe will hit the mob, my mouse automatically moves onto a mob. This can cause your aoe skill to cancel, and if you don’t pay very close attention, clicking it a second time can just end up in you shooting regular attacks at the mob. Or, by chance, if you don’t click the mob the 2nd time around, and u end up hitting the ground, that makes your character run right into the mobs…and most of the time, you will have already gotten the mobs attention with bramble, so they will agro you as soon as you get in close enough. In some cases, this = death. D:

My trick to try and avoid any of the mis-clicking is pretty simple, but not easily possible all the time. Sometimes you won’t get this kind of chance, depending on where you are placed, and where the tank is placed. But, if you manage to place yourself in the correct spot, a way I’ve found to help me with this issue of mis-clicking is to click right underneath the tank’s feet. This doesn’t necessarily have to be the tank, it can be the healer as well. As long is it is in range for your aoe to hit the mobs, and doesn’t drag your mouse all over the place, this is a good spot to aim your aoe at.

[AzNRuthLess]

WHERE AND HOW TO LEVEL FAST

I hear this question over and over all of the time, and I’ve probably answered this question more times than I can think of right now. There are lots of other threads which many other nice people have either posted, or responded as to where you should train/grind for a certain level. So I won’t spam too much under this topic.

I. Where
Where do I grind? I’m a XX scout, where should I grind for the fastest exp.? These questions can be simply answered by a few simple answers. You’re damage, and whether you’re a sparkcash player or free player also comes into play when trying to figure out where is the best place to grind. The correct answer to this question and only answer that I know that is fact is...where you feel most comfortable. Where you feel most comfortable, will be a big part in gaining those levels, mainly because when you’re comfortable where you are grinding, you will tend to grind more without having other things distract you. But, just for this thread’s sake, I will give a few pieces of advice on where the “comfortable” places should kind of be.

1. If you are a beginner, stay in maps that the mobs are white to you. They will drop more loot, because they are the same level mobs. This way you can sell the loot and make some kron for re-potting or any other things you need. Mobs with white names also give you pretty good exp while you are in your scout stage.

2. If you don’t want to stay in those maps that the mobs names are white, and you want more of a challenge, what I would recommend, is to grind somewhere where you can kill the mob with 1 ankle bind. By this I mean, you can kill the mob without having to recast anklebind again a second time. Having to cast it a second time usually wastes time, wastes ankles *reason I say waste, is because there may be other uses, such as slowing down another agro, or helping a party member out of a tough situation, and because it’s just a waste of MP* and slows you down, because you may need to wait for another cool down before pulling another mob.

3. Anything other than the first two I have stated above, it’s totally up to you.

II. How
Well, in this section I will briefly go over some basics in pulling, to avoid too many mobs coming at you. When you start grinding, you usually want to ankle the mob first. Which is totally fine, and should be the safest way to do it, but what if there is a group of mobs together? What do you do? Well, what you can do is “pull” a mob. When you use this technique, it saves you from being potentially agro by other mobs. This is a good thing to practice, and I would recommend every starting SAR to do this from an early stage, so it becomes second nature as you progress to higher levels. If there should be 2 or more mobs, kind of in a group or close together, your first thought might be to run up, ankle one and start shooting away. But wait, what if the other 2 are agro? Your only bet then is to run, and that wastes time and potential agro from other mobs as you run. To try and avoid this situation, from my personal second nature type of grinding, is I try to get as close as I can to them, until I get to a safe distance from them, but not so I can get hit by them. This way, if any of those mobs should be agro, it will be the only one chasing me. If all of them are agro, I can bramble them and shoot away. This saves time, and is safer then to risk having to run away from exp! By doing this, you can attract the mob, and it will come after you, and you will know which one to ankle. On the other hand, if you don’t that, you can also pull one of the mobs. Get to a safe shooting distance, and shoot one of them. Get their attention and start running so it follows you. This pulls them away from the group and potential agro situation you might get yourself into.

EQUIPMENT

For our class, equipment is sometimes hard to find, and sometimes the market can be flooded with them. There isn’t really any “how to” or “how not to” about equips for us. I can put emphasis on our most important equip though, which is our Bow. As a SAR, if you’re going to spend tons of currency *I use the term currency, because it can be so many things as the market has just been flooded with so many things* on equips, I would recommend that you spend it on a very good bow, instead of armor. The reason why I say this is because the way our class is produced, we do not really need every gear to be +5/6ap and up. Sure it is nice to have, and I would recommend you get some, if you can afford it. But this thread is aimed at the newer players or existing players who might not have so much currency or so much to spend right away.

Our Bow is the most important part in our equipment. Without a good bow, no matter how awesome your gears are, it won’t help much when grinding. Investing in a good bow will only make leveling faster and produce greater results in most if not all of the things our class is capable of. As a KIT class, we don’t tank, so we have no reason to try and get hit, unless it’s an agro. So, there really isn’t any need for “uber” equips. But as I said, if you can afford it, go for it. I would recommend you start investing in a really good Bow as soon as you hit Archer, anything below Archer can be somewhat more easily achieved even with a decent bow.

NO SPARKCASH

Whether you can afford sparkcash or not, is not anyone else’s business, and or, maybe you might just want to take that leap and try to fend off of what the true “free game” feature SoS has to offer is really about. Regardless of your choice, being a non-sparkcash SAR is not that difficult as it seems. It just takes a whole lot more time and dedication in leveling to reach your goals. It takes lots of time to find things you can sell for any type of currency, or to even try and acquire your own gears to use. Being a scless SAR is not that hard to be honest. We have an advantage in almost every area that our class’s role is supposed to be played as. Getting levels won’t be too hard. It’s just the same as a sparkcash user…only difference is that you will be spending a lot more time grinding for that last %, or not being able to go and grind efficiently in higher maps as sparkcash SARs can. But if you are a free player who does not use sparkcash, I recommend using techniques 1 and 2, under the when/how grinding thread to get the best out of your grinding experience. If not, the other best thing would be to get into a party all the time.

FAQ's & OTHER THINGS

GETTING STARTED AS A SAR
I know of Trente’s guide and so I will have people refer to that guide as well. The link to that guide is here: http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=56571



BUILDS
I also made a thread on builds which will kind of help with people who aren’t too sure of which builds to go with. Here, you can kind of see the differences in builds, how each one has its own advantages and disadvantages. The guide is not as up to date as I feel it should be. So I at some point might do a revision of the thread. Here is the link: http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=78061

SAR SKILLS
Another link I would refer you to about all of the SAR skills would be here (thx Teiji): http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128297

LEVEL UP LIST
Here is a link to a list of all the skills, equips, weapons you get as you progress through your levels: http://www.outspark.com/forums/showthread.php?t=72578

Okay, so most, if not all of the information you may need to know about SAR’s is located in the four links at the top there.

As questions arise ingame or on forums, I will do my best to answer them to the best of my understanding.

FAQ's

none atm

[AzNRuthLess]

PVP GUIDE

BASICS OF PVP

Not much to talk about here, everyone (most) knows what PVP is. For those who don’t know, it’s the arena where you can go and test out your skills against other players. That’s right; you can shoot them with your arrows, cut them with your sword, and beat them to death with your club or what not.

PVP HOTKEY SETUP

Please refer to my post on the hotkey bar setup.

STATUS POTS

These are very crucial to use especially for us. We do not have tons of HP, and our defense is not top notch. So I would recommend you having a few of each kind of status pot with you at all times when going into PVP. I won’t be repetitive and say what has already been spoken, so I’m going to quote another post I saw about PVP and what the status pots do. It’s also a very good guide.

Curse Healing Elixir, Magic Healing Elixir and Poison Antidote:

This is what status effect from the skill is healed by each elixir/tonic.

Magic Healing Elixirs:

-Mage:
-Magic Ice
-Ice Ball
-Magic Flame
-Fire Ball

-Archer:
-Stone Edge

Poison Antidotes:

-Rogue:
-Blindside
-Poison Blow
-Cruel Blow

-Archer:
-Siphon
-Poison Arrow

-Mage
-Magic Poison

Curse Healing Elixirs

-Healer
-Oblivion
-Howling
-Ghost Steal

-Rouge
-Breeze Dagger

Now to the good stuff…the actual tactics and different ways about taking care of business in PVP.

1 ON 1

Squire/Knight/Warrior/Warlord

From my own experience, I haven’t actually got to PVP with a Warlord yet, so I’m not sure how if it will make a difference in PVP against a Warlord. But here are the basics to going against this class.

Try to use this combination as much as possible, and keep in mind, this class can easily outpot us, so be aware of how much you are spamming against how many HP pots they might be holding. Try to keep this combination going as much as possible…if you find yourself running low on MP pots, try to keep it to a minimum of only DoTs and ankle.

Pattern to use:

Ankle; Bramble; Poison Arrow/Phantom Arrow/Siphion (your choice of order) Windblow; repeat

Keeping Ankle and Bramble stacked will deprive them of movement. This is what you must do against this class. While depriving them of their movement, keep on those DoTs and make sure to run their HP down with as many DoTs as you can before spamming Windblow while waiting for cool down times.

To me personally, there is no enjoyment in PVP against this class really, we can hit them with ankle and bramble and sit there all day, while they try to run for us, so I don’t really take pride when going up against this class in PVP. Our advantages just outnumber theirs in almost every way.

Disciple/Templar/Holy Avenger

This will be one of the two classes in PVP which will make you to act quickly and swiftly, and making one mistake can cost you the fight. With their AG (auto genesis @level 111) and BH (burning hands) control, they have the upper hand against those who underestimate them. With BH control, AG, AH (assist heal), GS (Great Sphere) and def almost as high as a Squire class, they are a self healing, tank who wont lose any HP if your hits are too weak. The time you get to hit them before they get the chance to BH you again is very short, so as much as possible, try to avoid that situation.

BH is very annoying when you are up against it, but the best skill ever in a 1 on 1 if you are the one using it :D. My best advise for us as a SAR to avoid this BH control, is to take advantage of what we are, a ranged class. It might sound stupid but yes, that’s our advantage, along with our DoT skills. Again, this is a complicated class to fight 1 on 1 in PVP. Especially, if your damage is so low, that it doesn’t even keep up with AH/GS or even AG. That’s when DoTs become your best friends against this class.

Techniques to use:

These are very simple, yet complicated techniques to use against this class. Practice them all and get used to them. That’s the only way to get comfortable about fighting this class without getting stuck in BH every 5 seconds.

Run and Shoot:

This technique consists of binding the DTH (short for Disciple/Templar/Holy Avenger) and prevents it from moving around. As with other tank classes that are not ranged, try to hit them with both Bramble and Ankle to stop their movement. After this has been accomplished, run so that they are off your screen, and come in from different directions than you ran. This prevents the opponent to keep their marker marked on your SAR. This way it is harder for them to click on you again to use either BH or another skill.

Basically you want to come in from different directions and hit them with a DoT, just ONE! and run away and repeat the technique with bramble and ankle. This keeps them situated where they are, and prevents them from just hitting their BH key. They would have to find you, where you are coming from, then try to click on you, than use their skill. Try to keep other skills such as Snake shot on the hotkey bar so you can use that stun as well, to get away from a bad position.

Stone Edge/Amp:

This technique…I wouldn’t really recommend at all, unless you do enough damage that they wont be able to heal sufficiently. This is a basic stone and amp technique. Just stone the DTH, amp, than hit them with Snake Shot as soon as they come out of Stone. This will prevent them from making any type of movement for a second or two, hit them with Phantom Arrow afterwards to drain them of their HP, and spam your windblows. If you do enough damage, this technique might kill them the first time. Also depends on how much HP they have as well.

The key skills against this class are your DoT’s and binds. Spamming Windblow wont matter much as they can self heal, and they might have stat pots for our DoT’s, but you can run them out, by separately using your DoT’s. Use one DoT, have them heal it, than use another DoT. This makes them waste their pots constantly and will drain them of their pots in the long run.

Neo/Rogue/Assassin/Shadow Master

This class is our biggest competition as of now. Their UBER dodge is very hax, and very hard for our class or anyone other class to land a hit. I have yet to go up against a Shadow Master on my Ranger, but I can tell you all that the type of build you have for your SAR will come into play when going up against this class.

For this class, I recommend having a 30%/40%/30% in pow/agi/men respective order. I found this build to be the best, compared to the other builds I’ve had in the past going up 1 on 1 with this class. With my regular grinding build, I do a lot more damage, but miss a whole lot more. With this build, I do a little less damage, but hit a lot more. So in comparison, for the long term of the fight:

Less damage, more hits > More damage, less hits

It is only logical for the long term of the fight that if you are missing all the time, but doing high damage, nothing is really going to come out of it. If you do less damage, but end up hitting a lot of the time, that equals more damage overall and is a better build.

Techniques to use:

There is really no technique here to speak about. The big factor in a 1 on 1 fight against this class for us is our build as I have stated already. The other factors that might come into play is the main skill we are using.

Marked Point vs. Windblow

From my experience against this class, Marked Point hits A LOT more, as well as it has a chance to stun. Windblow is a faster skill to spam, but it does not hit as well. They do roughly almost the same damage; Marked Point does do slightly a little less damage, but nothing too noticeable.

What you want to do with this class is to be on the move at all times, and keep them binded as much as possible. Try at all cost to never be face to face with this class; Dust Blade and Blindside will = quick death if you get caught. Try never to let this class catch you, use your best KIT skills and keep away. Another tip is to have Poison Antidotes on your hotkey bar at all times. ALL TIMES! I say this because it can cure Blindside, and release you of Blindsides stun. As well with all of their other poison skills, keep plenty of antidotes handy.

An Example Pattern to use is as follows:

Ankle, Bramble, Phantom Arrow, WB/MP, another DoT, Ankle…and so on, but keep ankle on at all times. Even if it has not run out, as soon as you see your Ankle cooldown done, use it again. We miss a lot, so having it spammed consecutively after each cooldown, will be safer for us. Same goes with Bramble, keep a close eye on these two skills to make sure to spam them right after each cooldown.

Acolyte/Cleric/Priest/Paladin:

I have yet to go up against this class in a 1 on 1 regular duel. I have although, been in no-pot duels with this class, and my record is about 10W-100L, LOL! Anyways, they have low defense, and their main skills can be cured with Curse Healing pots. Carry many of these with you. If you have enough of them handy, it will be somewhat of an easier fight.

Use your DoTs to their full extent and spam your Windblow as much as possible. Also, remember to keep the Curse Healing pot on your hotkey bar at all times. Remember this class is also ranged, so you don’t need to use Ankle or Bramble, unless you feel you want to. :3

Apprentice/Mage/Wizard/Archmage:

This is another tough class to go up against. As you progress and go up against higher level Wizards or Archmages, it becomes a real challenge. A few things to remember when going up against this class are:

-always make sure to bring lots of magic healing elixirs (refer to the top of the post on which status ailments it can cure against this class
-Be aware of magic shield, with it and high level gears, they have just about the same defense as a squire class would. React quickly and try to break it as soon as you can and do not let it drag on too long.

Techniques to use:

This is a ranged class just like us. When going up against this class, the main thing you want to concentrate on is to break their shield as quickly as possible. If not breaking their shield, try to keep the damage going so it runs out their MP pots. This is their weakness when going up against us. With our speed and damage, we will drain their MP very quickly, as they are using MP for their skills and as their HP with shield activated.

Save your DoTs for casual use. The main thing you want to do here is spit out as much damage as you can, as quickly as you can. Quick reaction time and speed will help you against this class. Remember they are a ranged class, so KIT skills won’t be useful going up against them. Keep Ankle and Bramble to a minimum, as you won’t need it much.

The pattern to use is simple, just spam windblow and throw in the casual phantom arrow or other DoTs every now and then. If you have it, remember to throw in the usual Snake Shot as soon as cooldown is up for the skill. Keep it repetitive and don’t let the skill go wasted. We have the skill for a reason, USE IT!

SAR:

Nothing much to say here. Experience over anything will come into play. Reaction timing, skill usage, etc. all come into play. May the best player win! :3

[AzNRuthLess]

HOTKEY BAR SETUP

Okay, whether you use different setups than the ones I’ll be mentioning here is totally up to you. Being comfortable with your hotkey bar is one of the major things that come into play in any situation, whether assist aoeing, grinding, or even in PvP. There are just countless ways to set up your hotkey bar to your liking and to which you’re comfortable with. And again, this may all seem simple to those with experience, but this guide along with the rest of the guides in this thread are aimed at helping new players who have no experience with SARs, so bare with me.

Note-
*Memorization* Being able to memorize all of your hotkeys and pushing the right keys without looking down at your keyboard is a BIG PLUS! When you can unconsciously hit the keys you want to without even having to think about it, that’s when you have become very comfortable with your setup, and that’s one of the main goals to work towards and acquire playing this class. Reaction time is a huge factor in the game when playing a SAR.

BASICS

There are 3 hotkeys you can work with in this game. Meaning you can have 3 different styles of hotkeys at any given time. By being able to switch hotkeys based on a situation change, is a life saver. You can either click on the up/down arrows on the far left side of the hotkey bar. You will notice the hotkey bar will be numbered 1, 2 or 3. This usually takes a lot of time, and it deprives you of your control over your mouse to move your character safely if being mobbed or getting an agro. What I like to do and what many other experienced players do is hit the ALT+1, 2 or 3. This will automatically switch your hotkey to that specified number. Being able to do this quickly can help sometimes, especially when using different setups for just 1 situation, eg. assist aoe.

Now for the purpose of this post, I will be numbering the fingers, mainly just the left hand. Number’s are as follows:

Left pinky: 1
Left ring finger: 2
Left middle finger: 3
Left index finger: 4
Left thumb: 5

You will mostly be working with number 1-4, because there isn’t really much use for the thumb when working with the hotkeys. The only time you will use the thumb is to switch hotkeys. Hitting the ALT button with your thumb, will give you control to hit 1, 2 or 3 with your 1-4 fingers to switch the bar quickly. I use this technique a lot, especially when I am assisting in Aoe. eg. grind bar on hotkey bar 1, aoe bar on hotkey bar 2

GRINDING BAR

This is the bar you will use, pretty much in most if not everything you do in the game. My particular setup is set up in a way that everything is easily accessible at anytime, especially the things you use most often.

MY SETUP
Image coming soon.

For my personal preference, I like to keep everything that I “NEED” the most as closely as I can next to each other. And at early stages, all of these skills might not be available until you reach a higher level. But, the main ones from F1-F5 are most important.

F1= Windblow
F2= Anklebind
F3= Brambleway
F4= MP pot
F5= HP pot
F6= Snake Shot
F7= Stone Edge
F8= Falcon Eye
F9= Spiritual
F10= Status pot, and or another random skill.

This particular setup is very easy to use, and easily accessible to the skills/pots you need the most. I like this setup due to the fact that I do not lose any control over my character while doing what I need to do to stay alive. This keeps my right hand free from having to do anything else, so I can keep my hand on my mouse at all times. It also helps because everything that you need is accessible just from stretching your fingers a bit if needed to. I know some players who use the mouse to click on the pots as they are spamming their windblow, and that’s good so you don’t have to delay any of your windblows. This is mainly because if you hit the pot key while holding down the windblow key, it will interrupt windblow and make your character stop casting windblow. This can simply be fixed by releasing windblow for that split second that you are hitting the pot key.

For this hotkey setup to be best worked with, I’ll go over hand placement on the F keys so that you can practice getting used to it.

Hotkey Finger
F1 2
F2 3
F3 3
F4+ 4

By keeping finger 2 on windblow at all times, your hand will be situated in place for the rest of the grind. Holding onto F1 with your ring finger and spamming windblow from there, will give your other fingers easier access and better control over the other keys. Alternate the middle finger between ankle/bramble with the middle finger. And, always keep your index finger on top of F4 so you can use those pots as necessary. By doing this, you can just reach over to F5 for HP if you get hit from a mob. Also, this will be easier access to other stun skills, such as Snake Shot and Stone Edge. Just easily reaching over with your index finger, while having your hand still in position will help get right back into the groove after reaching over a bit.

Some people may ask why Falcon Eye and Spiritual are so far away from the rest of the keys. I set them there only because these skills are only used once in a while, and are not a “must” as the other skills. It’s also easy for you to get to it without having to look down as well. For beginners, I set this here just so they can get used to the gap between F8 and F9. Just by reaching over without taking your eyes off the screen, that gap between F8 and F9 will automatically let you know that those two keys are Falcon Eye and Spiritual. F10, for those who grind on maps with status effect mobs, this is the place to put your status pots on. It’s out of the way, and is rarely used. Anything else can go here as well, but there are really no other things to put on here that would really benefit in your grinding.

AOE BAR

MY SETUP
Image coming soon.

There really isn’t much to talk about here. The only thing I would recommend is that F1-5 stays the same. And a few changes from F6+ would be good.

F1-5= same as grind bar
F6= Reticle Trap
F7-10= to your liking, with the stuns, etc.

Alternating between the Grind Bar and AOE bar is very complicated when you first start. For those who are just starting this, it might come complicated and you do forget sometimes to switch to the correct bar to use.

Some argue that the AOE bar is all they need when doing assist Aoe with a tank. But that’s not good practice. Whenever we are assisting in Aoe, we should always side kill while the tank is mobbing. I’ve seen some SAR’s who just stand around while the tank is grabbing mobs for a good 2-3minutes. This isn’t a good practice to learn. Standing around while the tank is grabbing mobs is something that you need to learn not to do. We are power hitters, so we have to keep on killing, even if the tank is mobbing. Picking off a few mobs here and there while the tank is gathering will only bring in more exp in the long run.

This brings us to the point in which I would try to make when assisting in Aoe. Learn to switch between the grind bar and Aoe bar, while side killing, then while assisting the kill. This can come in very handy and it can be easily done with using the technique I spoke of earlier with switching hotkeys with ALT+ 1, 2 or 3.

PVP BAR

MY SETUP
Image coming soon.

This is a broad topic, and builds can play a big role in how your bar will be set up. Depending on your build, you may want to switch it up with either Marked Point, or Windblow for F1. Other then that, I find that this bar is almost the same as the grind bar.

F1-7= same as grind bar
F8-10= Poison Arrow, Phantom Arrow, Siphion, Status pots (your preference on which key you are comfortable with putting it on.)

PVP is a broader topic and techniques against certain classes will take a little more to explain. So therefore, I will leave this here, and make another post on PVP and tactics/techniques to use in PVP. What I can say is that our DoT’s are our main skills here in PVP, even if they have status pots, they cannot cure things such as phantom arrow, so keep that in mind when using these skills. Stacking all 3 of our DoT’s together = quick win. Also a note, Stone Edge heals your opponent, so use it cautiously and only when you really need to. Although it can be cured with status pots as well, use it in emergency situations to get out of a bad position. Plus, it has a chance to slow the opponent down, and that can be used as a technique when facing off against tanks.

[TRXSTA]

I’m not sure how many SARs get this issue, but sometimes when I move my mouse close enough to a good spot on the ground so my aoe will hit the mob, my mouse automatically moves onto a mob.
Turn off 'Allow Snap'? Or whatever it's called.

[bobalitos]

one rule of thumb that i use is that i grind in maps where my next bow is supposed to drop :)



To tackle a big mob while soloing, do the LURE.

if you see a big mob, approach it closely. Wait for any aggressive monsters within the mob. If none of them comes at you automatically, wind blow one of them to make it follow you. Run to safety -usually backwards- whilst keeping the mob's attention on you. After you have lead the monster away from the group, hit ankle bind and then finish off the monster. After killing the monster, repeat procedure with another monster in the mob. This way, you can easily kill the whole mob one by one (^.~)



just a common sense tip that you may or may not know xP

[link_8]

AHHHHHHHHHHHH THIS IS AN AMAZING GUIDE, IVE BEEN A SCOUT SINCE LATE JANUARY IN MARIAN (ONLY 70 NOW, IMA SLACKER :o ), HAHA I WISH THIS GUIDE WAS HERE BACK WHEN I STARTED OUT, WOULDVE HELPED ME MUCHO, I WAS DEFINITELY A HAZARD TO MYSELF AND WHOEVER MY DUO MATE WAS IN THOSE 1ST LVLs OF SCOUT. NOW WHAT I NEED IS A PVP GUIDE..... FOR KILLING ROGUES, UGH!, HAHA

[AzNRuthLess]

I am at the moment working on pictures and screen shots in photoshop to help give newcomers a mental picture of what I am talking about. I am hoping that the screenshots and diagrams will help. I'll make circles and pinpoint key locations on your screen you should look at whenever you're grinding to help get the best out of grinding.

And by request, I'll probably try and help out with some pvp tactics. I'm not that great of a pvper, since I don't do it much...(I delete newbies with 1 shot, so no one usually wants to play with me in pvp T_T). Anyways, updates will come soon, and I will also update with hotkey information soon. Thanks for checking this out!

[bloodly-chan]

xDD

Great guide Daddy! x3 [and you should think about your pvp tactics. they really hurt.]

[sedfvgt]

Its more of a appy skill than a SAR's since appy has slower animations, but you can around in a circle throwing a slow everytime your movement pattern makes a right angle. I used this killing mobs when i ony had limited amount of space. I was hardly hit at all, but i was more cautious than the most cautious player out there.

[Drelovely]

wow. very good guide. i dunno why the fighters don't have something like this ya kno? the higher ups trying to help their class out. *sighs* good guide tho. will refer to it again once i make my archer. :-p

[AzNRuthLess]

wow. very good guide. i dunno why the fighters don't have something like this ya kno? the higher ups trying to help their class out. *sighs* good guide tho. will refer to it again once i make my archer. :-p

I don't see why I need to hide anything. For some higher levels in the game, I'm sure that some builds, places to train, and things like that, would be kind of secrative due to the competition they will probably get after revealing so much.

As for me though, I have no reason to hide anything. The only thing that I keep hidden is MY own personal build for my Ranger. I have several builds I like, some more then others, some for certain ways I'm playing, so on and so forth. I will reveal though, that I love the Pow/Agi/Men build alot, but I won't go into actual numbers as to how I've dispursed my points. That's something for everyone to learn and choose on their own.

To me, it only makes sense that since I have a bit more experience with this class, why not share what I know and the knowledge I have? It doesn't hurt, the competition will always be there. But, helping newbies and people who are new to the game or class is a good deed i suppose.

I will try and keep on putting in things to update the thread, but my photoshop is acting stupid right now. So I can't draw diagrams on screenies I have taken in maps to help put a picture in new player's minds. I think that will help ALOT more then just reading paragraph after paragraph of words and having no visuals. And I am almost finished with the hotkey bar set up help section. Will be posting soon! Look out for it!

[Drelovely]

I don't see why I need to hide anything. For some higher levels in the game, I'm sure that some builds, places to train, and things like that, would be kind of secrative due to the competition they will probably get after revealing so much.

As for me though, I have no reason to hide anything. The only thing that I keep hidden is MY own personal build for my Ranger. I have several builds I like, some more then others, some for certain ways I'm playing, so on and so forth. I will reveal though, that I love the Pow/Agi/Men build alot, but I won't go into actual numbers as to how I've dispursed my points. That's something for everyone to learn and choose on their own.

To me, it only makes sense that since I have a bit more experience with this class, why not share what I know and the knowledge I have? It doesn't hurt, the competition will always be there. But, helping newbies and people who are new to the game or class is a good deed i suppose.

I will try and keep on putting in things to update the thread, but my photoshop is acting stupid right now. So I can't draw diagrams on screenies I have taken in maps to help put a picture in new player's minds. I think that will help ALOT more then just reading paragraph after paragraph of words and having no visuals. And I am almost finished with the hotkey bar set up help section. Will be posting soon! Look out for it!

i agree with u 100%. of course their should be things that you don't reveal to every1 else. but it doesn't hurt to help other members of ya class out.

and i think a lot of ppl will be looking forward to those pics. XD

[AzNRuthLess]

Hotkey Bar setup is now posted. Will be adding images soon to all posts!!!

[Leerteer]

Could you also extend the assist aoe part of your guide?
I'm not completetly sure, even though I'm an archer, about the number times we should reticle after we bramble, since I've seen some do it waaaayyy many more times than I do (2x) >_>;

And when there's more than 1 binder, I'm not always sure if we should alternate bind to keep a constant flow of reticles/rampage/volcano etc, since in some of the aoe parties I've been in aoe parties before and the tank sometimes sits there for a couple seconds before actually spamming their aoe skill...And the whole mob moves towards the binder >.<

Thanks

[TRXSTA]

The first part, you can find out yourself. Go to a nub map, Bramble a monster and Reticle Trap until Bramble wears off. Find out how many you're comfortable with and it can help you get the timing right so you can get in as many as possible as well.

As both a tanker and an archer, I've preferred if it was done together to lock the mobs in place since doing it one after another can potentially make a mess of the mobs and drag them away from the tanker. If your party chooses to do it one after another, you have to do it twice or three times, then stop so the mobs can gather back tightly around the mobber.

Just my opinion.

[bobalitos]

The first part, you can find out yourself. Go to a nub map, Bramble a monster and Reticle Trap until Bramble wears off. Find out how many you're comfortable with and it can help you get the timing right so you can get in as many as possible as well.

As both a tanker and an archer, I've preferred if it was done together to lock the mobs in place since doing it one after another can potentially make a mess of the mobs and drag them away from the tanker. If your party chooses to do it one after another, you have to do it twice or three times, then stop so the mobs can gather back tightly around the mobber.

Just my opinion.


Doing it on a noob monster is not the same because they will run away >.< Just do it on high level monsters after you just leveled. It feels very different when a blood red mob comes after you XD

My observation though, is that the number of times you reticle/rampage after bramble depends on the monsters in the map. Personally for me, i've casted anywhere between 1-5 reticles per bramble. The tank advised me to only cast once because anytime after that, the mobs would be too scattered that i would only be really hitting part of the mob, not everything. This presents a problem when half of the mobs die (causing respawns->causing archer death).

Whenever i do get the chance of helping aoe, my mentality is to actually take the mob's attention to me and away from the tanker so that he can use his aoe skill and not get moblocked. I know my aoe sucks so I don't really see myself as a big damage dealer in aoe. >.< But oh well, I have to live with my class' shortcomings.

[AzNRuthLess]

Could you also extend the assist aoe part of your guide?
I'm not completetly sure, even though I'm an archer, about the number times we should reticle after we bramble, since I've seen some do it waaaayyy many more times than I do (2x) >_>;

The number of times you should use reticle is totally up to the speed in which you can spam it. For those who are a little more experienced can get in atleast 4+ reticles in before bramble runs out. The thing that I recommend after brambling, is to always look at your bramble timer. If you look at the icon and the timer as a clock, right inbetween 6-9 o'clock, is when you should get on out of sight. Bramble wears off at 9 o'clock. So to be safe, right when it hits 6 o'clock, start running...if you feel confident, you can pull another reticle off before running.

Also, since bramble cannot hold the mobs well, you should move around so the mobs won't come at you. After you put in about 2 reticles, the mobs are very close to a striking distance to you if you are by yourself, or if you are standing in one spot. To prevent this, make yourself a route to follow as you are using reticle. Start from the left side and after 2 reticles or so, move to the left, and so on, depeding on which way you are most comfortable. This way, it draws the mobs to different directions and it will cause it not to come out as much.

And when there's more than 1 binder, I'm not always sure if we should alternate bind to keep a constant flow of reticles/rampage/volcano etc, since in some of the aoe parties I've been in aoe parties before and the tank sometimes sits there for a couple seconds before actually spamming their aoe skill...And the whole mob moves towards the binder >.<

Thanks

The tank probably sits there for a couple of reasons. One, he might be kind of locked and cant pull off an aoe attack quick enough, or two, he is just lazy and waiting for everyone to bind. In some cases, the tank will usually give a sign as to how and when the binders should start binding. Example, for warriors, they usually stop, and self buff with sharp weapon and patience and then pull off Fire Swing to start things off. Same with Templars and Sins, they usually stop and buff themselves before starting the kill. Keep a close eye because every tank has their own way of starting a kill. Learn to read the signs the tanks have as to when you should start binding.

If there was only one mage/wiz and one archer/ranger in the party, I would suggest you both use your binds at the same time. This way, the wiz can pull off more volcanoes, and you can pull off more reticles. The mobs will be slowed down enough to the point where they wont be able to move. If you guys alternate, this causes the Frost not to be as effective, or Bramble to not be as effective and this can cause a messy mob, or even the mobs coming out too much where the tank cannot hit it with his/her aoe skill. Prevent this at all cost.

Now if there is just archers/rangers in the pt as binders, split the distance between them. One archer/ranger on the left, one on the right, and so on and alternate your bramble. This minimizes the movement of the mobs. First bramble they might right left, second they might run right, and that keeps them situated in place.

Hope this helps.

[ggBuRNe]

Awesome guide.. Damn i noticed you warrior is now 96+.. You have no life LOL xD or rather, consistent grinding as always. Good job mate. Don't forget me when i come back in june or july. Assist aoe for your warlord perhaps LMAO.. haha jk :D

I haven't log on for a while and I never thought that I was able to pull away and no longer thinking about leveling and anything inside the game. kinda surprised me with my progress so far.. hmm almost a month haha xD

You will be one of the very few that I would pm if i ever logged on to the game xDD Take care and good job !

[AzNRuthLess]

Awesome guide.. Damn i noticed you warrior is now 96+.. You have no life LOL xD or rather, consistent grinding as always. Good job mate. Don't forget me when i come back in june or july. Assist aoe for your warlord perhaps LMAO.. haha jk :D

I haven't log on for a while and I never thought that I was able to pull away and no longer thinking about leveling and anything inside the game. kinda surprised me with my progress so far.. hmm almost a month haha xD

You will be one of the very few that I would pm if i ever logged on to the game xDD Take care and good job !

HAHAHA! No life, yea kinda...in a way...but naw. I can't concentrate on just the game, I have a full time job, errands to run, family to take care of, things to do as well. So, leveling quickly all depends on whether you use your time wisely or not. The time I get to grind isn't as much as I would like to. I can only grind about 4-5 hours a day on the weekday cuz of work and thats only if I have no errands to run, and weekends are the only times I get to actually get hardcore, and as well, that's only if I have nothing else I need to take care of.

Time management and using the time you have to grind to its fullest is the only way to reach higher levels quickly. But glad to see you're coming back. Hopefully I will be close to Warlord by then, I doubt I will be, but I'm shooting for another 2-3 months to hit 131. :D

[AzNRuthLess]

PvP guide is now posted. If there are any questions or anything anyone needs me to elaborate on, please feel free to post and I will answer them when I get the chance! Good Luck!

[abscdr]

Dude does marked point have cooldown?

[bobalitos]

no but its spam speed is slower compared to windblow