Ranger Class Guide: Playing the Bow in Wanderer's Tale

The Ranger fights from a distance and wins by making the other side walk. If you like picking your shots, controlling the space between you and the enemy, and watching things die before they reach you, this is your class.

It is one of the four free classes in Wanderer's Tale, a free browser text RPG. You can start as a Ranger in under a minute, no signup needed.

At a glance

• Starting health: 72 base, plus 6 for every point of Constitution above 10, set when you create the character
• Starting Focus (your ability resource): 25 base, plus 2 for every point of Intelligence above 10, set when you create the character
• Starting bonuses: +3 Dexterity, +1 Constitution
• Starting skills: Survival and Stealth
• Each level gives: +10 max health, +5 max Focus, +2 Dexterity, +2 Constitution, +1 Strength
• Starts with: a Short Bow, a Short Sword, Leather Armor and two Small Health Potions

How the Ranger actually plays

Fights in Wanderer's Tale happen across a distance, not toe to toe. Most of them begin with the enemy several squares away, typically somewhere around 4 to 8, and it closes in a little each round. A melee weapon only works when the enemy is next to you. A bow works from far away: the Short Bow reaches 12.

That gap is your whole advantage. An enemy with no ranged attack that starts far from you spends its turns walking toward you instead of hitting you, and every one of those turns is a free shot. When it gets close, you can Retreat to open the gap again. Your Dexterity sets how far you move: you cover 3 plus half of your Dexterity above 8, rounded down, each time you Advance or Retreat. More Dexterity means a bigger gap per move.

Two things to know about enemies that ignore this plan:

• Some enemies have ranged attacks of their own, so they can hit you from where they stand. Against those, distance matters less and burst damage matters more.
• Fast enemies close the gap quickly, and the field is only so wide (15 at most), so you cannot back away forever. Use the gap to land your strong shots, then reassess.

Why Dexterity is everything

Bows scale off Dexterity, not Strength. Every 2 points of Dexterity above 8 add 1 to your damage rolls, and Dexterity also drives your critical hit chance: 5%, plus 1% for every point of Dexterity above 10, capped at 35%. A critical hit deals double damage. The Brutal Critical perk (2 perk points) makes it triple, which is a very good deal for a class built around crits.

If you roll your own stats at character creation, put your best roll into Dexterity and your second best into Constitution. Constitution sets your starting health, and a Ranger who gets caught needs the buffer. After creation your health grows by a fixed 10 every level, so the starting number is the one to get right.

Abilities

Every Ranger ability spends Focus. You unlock them as you level.

Early game (levels 1 to 9). Open with Aimed Shot against anything armored, since it ignores most of the armor, and use plain Shoot when Focus is low. Multishot is your first real burst. Crippling Shot is the quiet star: a slowed enemy covers less ground per round, which means more free shots.

Midgame. Eagle Eye turns a normal shot into a guaranteed critical, so save it for when the enemy is worth the Focus. Volley spreads damage over five shots, which suits enemies that are hard to hit hard but easy to wear down.

Late game. Marked Prey is the setup move: spend 20 Focus and your next three attacks hit harder and cut through armor. Killshot is the finisher. It costs 55 Focus, so plan your fights around having it ready.

Gear by level

Bows are Ranger-only.

• Studded Leather (level 4, 55 gold) is the first real armor upgrade: 7 armor and +2 Dexterity.
• Focus Tonic (15 gold) restores 25 Focus and Focus Draught (40 gold, level 4) restores 60. Both are Ranger-only, and worth carrying into any long fight.
• The Heirloom Weapon perk (2 points at character creation) gives you the Ranger's Recurve at the start: 6 to 13 damage, +3 Dexterity, reach 13, which is a strong early bow.

Note the reach on the Longbow: 15 is the farthest in this list, so it is the better choice if you lean on distance. The Composite Bow trades 1 reach for more damage and Dexterity.

Perks worth a look

If you use Customize at character creation instead of Quick Start, you get perk points to spend:

• Brutal Critical (2 points): critical hits do triple damage.
• Weapon Expertise (1 point): +1 to both ends of every damage roll. Bows start with small damage numbers, so this is a bigger percentage than it sounds.
• Battle Hardened (1 point): +15 max health, a cheap fix for a class that starts with a thinner health pool than a Warrior.

Common mistakes

• Walking into melee. The Short Sword is a backup, not a plan. If an enemy is next to you and you can Retreat, think about it before swinging.
• Spending Focus on easy fights. Plain shots cost nothing. Save abilities for enemies that actually threaten you.
• Starting fragile. A Ranger who puts everything into Dexterity at creation hits hard and starts with very little health, and that gap never closes. Armor and potions keep you alive from there.

Start playing

Wanderer's Tale is free, runs in your browser, and does not need a signup to start. Pick Ranger, name your character, and the first quest begins at the gates of Thornhaven.

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See also: Ranger in the Codex, Longbow, Studded Leather