Quinton's Ultimate Bowman/Hunter/Ranger Guide #3

Now you're at the final stages of the Ranger. Silver Hawk, Inferno,
and Thrust are your last three available skills. Inferno is the next
skill you will be getting. Its multiplier versus fire enemies is well
worth 21 SP. At level 21 it takes 30 MP and is 130% damage with
the fire element. Maxed it is only 20% more attack and will not be
such a significant difference that you should sacrifice 9 points on
your Silver Hawk.

Silver Hawk is essential. At level 30 it attacks 70 times in 3
minutes, stunning 99% of the time. It is truly a life saver. It helps
you get into parties at Death Teddies and Squids and is also great
for solo. Why am I telling you to get 21 Inferno before Silver Hawk?
The reason is you will probably want to start training at Gobies
when you get into level 100. They are fire-weak and Inferno is
excellent on them.

"So what's the deal? Silver Hawk at level 21 is 71 MP, attacks 61
times in 162 seconds, and has a 95% success rate. Why would
you need to max it?"

You'll be amazed at how much the difference is of that percentage
to 99%. This is a second attacker, and you need all the power
you can get while training. There are a decent amount of fire-weak
enemies, but Silver Hawk is more of a priority than Inferno. Also,
do not get Silver Hawk 29/30. Some people figure it's just one
attack more and not needed. What the hell are you going to use
that one extra skill point on? Two extra speed from thrust? Two
more percent added to Inferno's damage? Get it 30/30.

Thrust? Well... You should be fine on speed equip-wise. You should
definitely have a 10 speed bow, Icarus Cape (2), and be using
a speed pill. That is 130% speed right there. As for jump, your
snowshoe should have at least 10-23 jump on it. For the people who
don't necessarily know, the max speed is 140% and the max jump is
123%. Yes, it will be annoying when thieves come dancing
around with their Haste and Flash Jump, but Thrust is really an
optional skill.

In another view, you could go 30 Silver Hawk, 20 Thrust, and 1 Inferno.
This is a huge variation to the build and is risky. If you ever
plan to train at Gobies, which are fire-weak, your Inferno won't do
much. This, however, this would allow you to only need a 10 speed
bow to keep your speed at a maximum of 140%, considering max
Thrust gives you 30% speed. This opens up your equips to items
other than Bone Helm and Icarus Cape (2) and allows you to drop
speed pills completely, but again, is very risky.

"Well, I've heard a lot of talk on the fourth job and there is another
summoning called Phoenix. It doesn't even require a summoning rock.
Won't that just replace Silver Hawk and you'll be wasting a 21/30 SP
Inferno?"

Not necessarily. You probably won't be getting Phoenix until late
fourth job, and it can't critical or stun. Silver Hawk is going to be a
skill you will use a lot, even past level 120, and summoning rocks
aren't that hard to obtain. Finish both of Alcaster's quests in El
Nath and you can purchase them for 5000 mesos each. Cheap
compared to the Free Market's usual 6000 mesos each.

Why go Strafe first, then Mortal Blow, then Arrow Rain then Puppet,
then Inferno, then Silver Hawk in such a fashion? Some say it is
pointless to max out a skill, then use a skill later that will
just replace it.

Tell me, why would I replace an early maxed Strafe? Why would
you rather want max Inferno over maxed Mortal Blow if MB is
going to help you so much more in the fourth job? Look: After
Strafe is maxed bright and early at level 80 you will never
stop using it as your main attack until you acquire a good
level of Hurricane later on in the game. Why MB? The instant
kill rarely happens. It is used MAINLY to control up-close
encounters and act where your reactions could fail. The higher
MB is, the better.

Why am I maxing it so early? You want to start to get a feel
for it early, and this skill works in great combination with
Strafe in your training areas. You shouldn't have to be
using AR on mobs where you couldn't use Arrow Bomb in place
for the time being. You aren't going to want to use AR
constantly on Death Teddies when you could be getting the
power of Strafe. Arrow Rain is not needed in my listed
training grounds until you near level 90. It is then useful
on Lucidias, Ghost Pirates, Dual Ghost Pirates, and many
more groups of enemies. You will not need it on Zombies,
seeing as how Arrow Bomb's stun should be useful enough
there.

And about the opinion, "Maxing a skill one by one will
replace the next":

Are you going to stop using Soul Arrow after you get it
maxed? Bow Booster? Focus? Strafe? Silver Hawk?

It all applies to the same thing: Every skill is good to use
at a different time. You are always going to want to be using
Bow Booster for faster attack speed, Soul Arrow to not have
to buy arrows (except if you are deliberately using attack
arrows), and Focus for the extra avoid/accuracy.

If you are killing Gobies, you will want to lure them with
Inferno, then use Arrow Rain to kill the mass. Both come into
play. If you are killing fire-weak enemies, you will use
Inferno for the extra damage. If you are killing a regular
mob, you will use Arrow Rain because it is, overall, stronger
than Inferno and works well in tight places. If you are
close to monsters in a situation, you will have a good
chance Mortal Blow will activate to give you some space.
At Squids you definitely will want a Puppet to lure their
attack and Silver Hawk for the stun.

NONE of these skills will be replaced by the other. So, by
explaining this concept I, again, will state: Maxing one
skill, one at a time, maximizes the effectiveness of the
skill earlier. If you follow my training locations you
should not need a skill earlier than I have listed in the
build.

XII. Training Locations

Two things about training. The smaller the map, the faster you
can go around and kill the spawn. You do not always want the
whole map to yourself because you will have to go around and
generate the spawn yourself. Sometimes, though, you want the
whole area so you can get a good training session in.

Secondly, it is best to train on things than you can kill in 1-2,
sometimes 3 hits. Killing enemies that take you more than this
just because they give better experience is not a good idea.

Level 1-10 Maple Island.
Kill Snails, Blue Snails, and Red Snails.

Level 10-15 Henesys Hunting Ground I.
Mostly kill Snails, Blue Snails, and Red Snails. You can attack
some Slimes and Orange Mushrooms if you want a change. Why
the same enemies again? They spawn fast on the bottom level and
you can probably KO them in 1 hit, sometimes 2, with your
arrows now, especially with Arrow Blow. Quantity over quality
at this stage.

Level 15-20 Henesys Hunting Ground I.
Slimes, Orange Mushrooms, and Stumps on the upper levels.
Do not bother with the Green Mushrooms at the very top. You'll just
waste time and money.

Level 20-25 Pig Beach.
Killing Pigs is a great way to get the best of your newly maxed
Critical Shot. You'll also start to get your use of Double Shot
on them. Pigs and Ribbon Pigs are great experience for these
levels.

Level 25-30 Ant Tunnel I.
Kill Horny Mushrooms in the first part of the area. Near level 30 you
can try killing some Zombie Mushrooms. There tend to be a lot
of mages in this area that enjoy KSing with Magic Claw, so
just keep trying at it.

Alternative
Level 21-30 Kerning Party Quest.
At level 21 the Kerning PQ becomes available. This is a great way to
earn fast experience and gain good items at the end. However,
you can't always get into one. If you have a lot of friends and want to
take a break from training, you may Kerning PQ for these
levels and get some rewards as well. You could also do a
combination, some PQ, some training.

Level 30-35 Ant Tunnel I. Ant Tunnel Park.
Start using that Arrow Bomb on more Horny Mushrooms and Zombie
Mushrooms. Near Ant Tunnel Park there is a shop that can
supply you with potions and arrows while you can kill some of
the Evil Eyes as well.

Level 35-40 Terrace Hall. The Burnt Land I.
Teddies are good experience and can be easy to kill in Terrace Hall
from sniping positions. By this I mean areas on the maps, like
standing on the toy blocks, that you can easily attack from without
being able to get hurt very often. Fire boars, on the other hand,
are good if you want to stay in Victoria Island and maybe find
that Glass Shoe.

Level 40-45 Purple Plains I.
Sakura Cellions are perhaps one of the best enemies to train on
to start raking in some money. The experience they give, 65, is
just as good. They drop a good amount of money and their tails
can either be sold or used for the Orbis Exchange Quest.

Level 45-50 Mateon Field. The Path of Time <1>. Purple Plains I.
Mateon and Platoon Chronus are a nice, constant 99 experience
and can drop Glove Attack 60% Scrolls. Also, while training on the
Mateons you can get the quest "The Antidote" completed. The
last choice is continuing to train on Sakura Cellions. You should only
do this if you are low on money and don't mind killing lower experience
enemies.

Alternative
Level 35-50 Ludibrum Party Quest.
This party quest is very good experience and the rewards are awesome.
Sounds good, except for the fact that there are a lot of people trying
to get in all the time. Again, you can do a combination of training and
PQing, depending whether or not you can get in the PQ a decent
amount of times.

Level 50-55 Dangerous Valley I. Cloud Park V.
Copper Drakes are probably your best choice here. They drop occasional
Claw for Attack Scrolls 10% and give a good 105 experience each. At
Cloud Park V, however, Lunar and Luster Pixies can be good experience
when you start nearing level 55. The only hard part with them is
dealing with their magic attack.

Level 55-60 The Entrance of Golem's Temple. Golem's Temple I.
Watch Out for Icy Path I.
Yes, you can hit dark and mixed. You want to kill only stone right now,
though, because they give enough experience and have less HP than
the other two. They are slow which makes good use of your range. If you
don't want to kill golems for that long you can try Jr. Yetis.
These monsters, in the first area, barely transform into Yetis, a much
harder enemy. The fact is that they have good scroll drops and
may be easier to tackle than Stone Golems.

Level 60-65 Stairway to the Sky I. Cold Field I.
Grupins, Cellions, Lioners, and Hectors are your best bet for these
levels. You will start to see that the higher level enemies, most of
them anyhow, have magic attack. You are going to want your level
required earring for higher magic defense.

Grupins, Cellions, and Lioners are spread out a bit in the Garden
and can drop good equips, which will make for good profit. Hectors
are great with their Cape for DEX 60% drop. A trick, for Hectors,
is to attack one, back up ever so slightly, and re-attack. Their
magic attack is low ranged, so take advantage of it.

Level 65-70 Cold Field I. Dangerous Valley II.
Continue killing Hectors. Another enemy to train on that you can try
when you hit this level are Fire Drakes. They drop Steelies and
nice scrolls, so you may want to consider them.

Alternative
Level 51-71 Orbis Party Quest.
This PQ has three different types: Boss, Rush, and Glitch. I will not
have any say in which one you should or shouldn't do. Boss PQ
is better saved until you near level 70. If you complete a Boss PQ
Papa Pixie, the boss, curses you at the end. This decreases the
amount of experience you get from any stage in Orbis PQ. The
prizes at the end, however, are definitely worth it. The second type
is Rush. This is a fast way to go in, do three stages, and exit quickly
to get back in and do it again. The last type is Glitch PQ. This PQ is
considered against the Terms of Service to Maple Story and there has
been people banned from doing it. You do two stages and exit. The
glitch is that you get a multiplier of experience per run. All three
give good experience. You can choose to do any of the three types,
just be smart about it.

Level 70-75 Forest of Dead Trees III.
Third Job, weakened Strafe. What to do? Do not go to Forest of Golem.
You do not need an early, weak Arrow Rain just to get knocked around
by huge spawns of golems and slowly gain experience. Coolie Zombies
at Forest of Dead Trees III, otherwise known as Z3, are the best way to
go. They give 190 experience per kill, which is not much less than
FOG's 200-210 experience per kill.

This is #3 look at #4