Editing How to Ranger Basically (section)

== Other Weapon Considerations==

=== TECHNICS===

====Choice of TECHNIC weapon====
Investing into all 3 TECHNIC weapons costs a bit too much, so we gotta pick one and stick to it till we get more type points to waste on inconsequential weapons.

Things to look for on a TECHNIC weapon:

* A Ranger isn't gonna be breaking on a TECHNIC anyway, so the TEC score is more-or-less iirelevant.
**In the same vein, the PA multiplier on the weapon is also more-or-less iirelevant.
**Chaining is the primary use of offensive TECHNICs for a Ranger, so make sure the TEC score allows at least 1 damage so it can actually provide chains.
** A support TECHNIC doesn't care about either PA multiplier or TEC score at all.
*Since Rangers can have issues with PP from time to time, it would be best to find a weapon with low PP consumption to use.
* A Ranger doesn't necessarily need all that many TECHNICs, so only use as many TECHNIC slots as you actually need.

So quick rundown:

*[[Wands]] have 2 slots, and is on the right-hand, which allows it to share palettes with left-hand ranged weapons. However, the choices for a low pp consumption wand is limited, but thankfully two of them are [[Downloadable content]] and thus very easily accessible.

*[[Tech-Mags]] have 2 slots, and is on the left-hand, which allows it to share palettes with any striking weapons on right-hand. T-mags casts the fastest, and there are many choices for low pp consumption T-mags, some of them even going as low as 60% in particular situations. However, T-mags has the lowest [[Resta]] recovery out of the three weapons, and has a low enough TEC score that offensive TECHNICs may wind up dealing 0 damage.
*[[Rods]] has 4 slots, and takes up both-hands. It has the highest [[Resta]] recovery amount, and gives access to the [[Mr. ecoeco Stick]], which is an easily accessible rod with 70% pp consumption. Use if you've got excess weapon slots.

====[[Photon Arts#Shifta |Shifta]] / [[Photon Arts#Deband | Deband]] / [[Photon Arts#Anti | Anti]] / [[Photon Arts#Resta | Resta]]====
It doesn't really matter what game it is, stacking buffs is stacking buffs!
Since Ranger only has access to Lv15 TECHNICs, they only have access to Tier 2 [[Shifta]]/[[Deband]]. [[Consumables#Shiftaride|Shiftarides]] and [[Consumables#Debandride|Debandrides]] provides the same effects as the Shifta/Deband Rangers have access to, and can be used instead to save pp usage, casting time, and potentially a weapon slot. Although, a player can only carry 10 Shiftarides and Debandrides at a time, which lasts for a total of 15 minutes each. 15 minutes is enough for shorter missions, but not enough for longer Open Missions or Tactical Missions. While it's possible to get Shiftarides and Debandrides from item boxes, but is less common than mates and unreliable for resupplying.

It's also a consideration to bring Force [[Partner Characters]], such as [[Lumia Waber|Lumia]], as they have access to Lv30 TECHNICs for a more powerful buff, but the AI does not apply more than one buff at a time, thus the player should still bring a way to buff themselves to account for the other buff.

[[Photon Arts#Anti | Anti]] doesn't come up super often in single player, as it's only good for removing [[Status Effects |Burn, Poison, or Virus]] from the player. Zalure and Jellen statuses can be overwritten by casting Shifta and Deband. Anti is a bit more valuable during Multiplayer play as it can recover allies out of Stun and Sleep.

[[Photon Arts#Resta |Resta]] can be replaced with Mates or Handgun CS2 for Open Missions and some tactical missions, since there are a lot of item boxes that can replenish the player's mate supply. In longer or more difficult missions, bringing Resta would be more preferable.

====[[Photon Arts#Foverse |Foverse]]====
Foverse, after cast, passively deals damage to any enemy within melee-distance for a fixed period of time.
While Rangers generally hang around mid to long distance, Foverse can still be quite useful, as it's one of the only tools that allows the player to Chain while Charging a Charge Shot, and combos well with Weapons that needs to be close for maximum effect, such as [[Crossbows]] CS2 or [[Laser Cannons]] CS1.

==== [[Photon Arts#Zalure |Zalure]]====
Lowers enemy defense, so effectively free damage boost. Works from medium range too. Not really any reason not to bring one.
Note that since Zalure doesn't do any damage, it would work from any weapon regardless of TEC score.

====[[Photon Arts#Sazonde |Sazonde]] / [[Photon Arts#Sabarta |Sabarta]]====
Deals a total of 5 hits to up to 3 enemies from medium range, and can be stacked 3 times for a total of 15 hits. Sazonde and Sabarta are some of the most effective chaining tools in the game, and stacks with [[Twin Handguns]] for even faster chain building. Sazonde and Sabarta have their own quirks. 

[[Sazonde]] repeatedly launches the enemies it hits, for a total of 5 hits, which can stun the enemies for quite a while. Chaining multiple sazondes can stunlock an enemy indefinitely, which allows many enemies to be dealt with rather safely. However, Sazonde has a fairly steep PP cost, and Ranger has trouble dealing a lot of damage with it due to having less TEC. Launching enemies can also be an issue sometimes, as enemies can be moved out of some weapon, such as [[Shotguns]]' effective height. As such, timing is very important for maximizing Sazonde's effects.

[[Sabarta]] repeatedly deals damage to the enemies within a fan area from the casting location, for a total of 5 hits. Sabarta has a less PP cost than sazonde, but does not launch the enemies. This allows better compatibility with some weapons, but does not provide the safety of stunlocking from Sazonde. And compared to Sazonde, Sabarta's hitbox is more reliable, and is more effective than particular enemies ([[Dal Falz Final]], for example).

Pick from either Sazonde or Sabarta based on the playstyle and the enemies encountered.

====[[Nagrants]]====
Deals 3 hits, but pierces (i.e. hit every enemy it comes into contact with), and has an incredibly long range (almost as long as [[Rifles]]). However, [[Nagrants]] have a slightly long casting time, and its attack path is a bit weird: it flies towards to direction the player is facing, when the shot actually appears. If the player turns while casting Nagrants, Nagrants shots can go at different directions, and wasting chains. Compared to [[Sazonde]] and [[Sabarta]], Nagrants deals less chains, but is usable from a much wider variety of ranges. Nagrants can also be freely spammed, unlike Sazonde and Sabarta which seems to have a hard limit of three at once (not that you should be spamming it that often). 

You should try using Nagrants if you prefer a further away playstyle.

===Axe/Twin Claws===
''Read More: [[Axes]], [[Twin Claws]]''

Against particularly annoying enemies with Ranged Resistance, it's not unwise to bring Melee weapon to bypass the damage resistances. While any melee weapon can perform, quick shoutout to Axes and Twin Claws, as their high ATK compensates for Ranger's relatively lack of ATK, and Ranger's inherent ACC compensates for the weapon's lack of ACC.

===Slicers===
''Read More: [[Slicers]]'' 

Slicers are long-range melee weapons, which makes it a very convenient PP recovery option for Rangers. It swings pretty quickly, it pierces for more effectiveness on groups of enemies, and the player can chain on low pp without having to run up to enemies.

Although, slicers don't chain particularly fast compared to other options, so it's less useful when the player does have enough PP to dip into.

===Daggers===
''Read More: [[Daggers]]''

Daggers attacks fairly quickly, which makes it a decent PP recovery option. It also provides ACC for its category bonus, which boosts the damage of any left-hand ranged weapons, and provides access to [[Shisoku Tenkai-zan]], a PA with a very long movement that can be used to travel faster than normal. 

Daggers themselves don't do much damage, though, and its chain count is a bit lacking compared to other options.

===R-Mags===
''Read More: [[R-Mags]]''

R-mags are equipped in left-hand, and is used to improve the player's right hand options. It adds free chains, provides additional ATK via its category bonus, which helps compensate for the low chain count or low damage that can be present on right-hand melee weapons. 

However, note that since R-mags use TEC, its damage may not be high enough to actually deal any damage, thus not adding any chain count.

=== Traps===
Traps can be used to cheese just about any early-game bosses, since they deal fixed amount of damage without requiring any setup or build from the player. This is made especially easier for Rangers, who has the second highest amount of traps in the game, at 34. Although, since traps don't add to chain, and their damage doesn't scale to enemy health very well, they become yet another option for Rangers while recharging PP.

Special mentions to Burn Traps and Burn Trap EXs, which allows inflicting Burn on specific enemies fairly easily, which adds passive percentage-based damage, thus can be a great help against particularly annoying enemies. [[Boss Creatures]] ignore [[Status Effects]], unfortunately. 

Note that since Traps don't commonly drop, the amount of Traps per mission is essentially limited, and should be saved for especially troublesome enemies.