Introduction

The Ranger is a ranged, bow and arrow shooting class with great shutdown potential, decent damage output and a straight-forward playstyle.

If you’re a player who likes ranged damage, or perhaps you had a strong interest in the hunter class in World of Warcraft, then the Ranger in Arena of Kings might be for you.

Before diving into our Ranger Class Guide, you can also check out our updated Aok Tier List here to see how the Ranger does against other classes.

Pros

• Can have alot of interrupts
• Versatile in team compositions
• Great kiting
• Great survivability

Cons

• Currently slightly lower damage output than most other DPS classes (As of patch v1.3.1.0)
• No gapclosers, so can be easily kited
• Very reliant on good positioning

Notable Spells

Rain of Arrows

An AoE damage ability with a 1 second casttime. High energy cost.

This ability is excellent for following up on stuns or other CC done by you or a teammate. It’s a flat damage ability but try to use it with every CC setup you have. This could be done with your Quicksand or Elemental Arrow ability

Elemental Arrow

A hard-hitting arrow that applies Chill, freeze and burning at the same time.

This ability should always be in your build, as it’s both great for CC and damage. Usually you want to do it on the main target, but it can also be used to keep enemies off your teammates or yourself should you need to run away

Vigor

A 1 second immunity to everything when pressed. 20 second cooldown.

Important defensive CD that should always be in your build.

You can find the most value with this ability when using it to avoid big damage abilities such as Lingering Demise, Meteor, Nether Bolt etc. Try to be careful with your timing and not be greedy using this ability. Good enemies will see you using it and usually try to swap to you as you come out of the Vigor effect.

Twisting Shot

Solid damage ability that lets you do small bursts every 4 seconds. Follow up with an auto-attack quickly for added damage and to use the Pierce effect

Great option for any build as it’s on such a short CD that you can significantly improve your damage

Aether Shot

Aether Shot is a mana-draining ability. This ability can be used in comps where your main objective is to make one of the enemy casters or healer out of mana. Usually best suited for longer games, and only really viable if you’re playing with another class that has a mana-draining spell. This could be a Nihilist (Siphon Mana) and a Mystic (Mana Tap).

Auto-Attack

Putting this one here as this one is extra important as a ranger. You want to be firing auto-attacks between every global or to regain energy.

Think of it like this

When you aren’t firing abilities, press auto-attack. It doesn’t have to be on the main target if you can’t reach, but then at least hit whoever you can as you make your way over. In the games current state, Rangers need any extra damage they can get to create pressure.

Ranger Builds

One variation of a Ranger build. With this you get a mix of CC, burst and solid utility:

• Headshot
• Elemental arrow
• Poisonous shot
• Twisting arrow
• Lightning arrow
• Nightmare shot (Can be swapped out for Silencing Shot or Rain of Arrows)
• Vigor
• Quicksand (Can be swapped out for Aether Shot or Rain of Arrows)

Some rangers like to use Rain of Arrows instead of Headshot or Nightmare Shot.

Vigor and Quicksand are your utility spells. Quicksand is especially good if you’re playing versus a double melee team where you have to be kiting alot, but this one can also be replaced for Silencing Shot or Rain of Arrows if you find yourself only facing the standard ranged/melee/healer comps

Rotation

Every situation is different, but you could open with:

Twisting Shot > Poisonous Shot > Elemental Arrow > Headshot

or

Elemental Arrow > Auto > Poisonous Shot > Twisting Shot > Auto

Both Elemental Arrow and Poisonous Shot are on longer cooldowns than Twisting Shot, so you can prioritize those.

Spam Twisting Shot > Auto on CD, and aim to get as many Autos in as possible between globals.

If your teammate snares or stuns in the beginning, start by using Rain of Arrows, otherwise save it. If you use Rain of Arrows on moving targets you’re just wasting globals.

Look to set up Headshot/Rain of Arrows with your teams burst or CC

Ranger Team Compositions

Ranger / Wizard / Any healer

This comp plays great into double melee compositions or any comp where you might find that you have to kite alot. Both Ranger and Wizard have snares, slows and stuns they can use to setup big bursts quite often.

Ranger / Champion / Elder

Follow the lead of the Champion and stick to the same target. Help him connect to the main target with your slows and interrupts. Try to chain interrupts on the main target.

None of you are mana reliant except healer, and with an Elder, you can usually sustain for a long time. Aim to play longer games if possible as the enemy team will usually have atleast 2 mana users.

Create space for your Elder so he can meditate. This is usually done by playing near objects that are placed around the middle of a map.

Ranger / DPS Paladin / Any healer

DPS Paladins biggest weakness is how easy he can get kited since he has no gapclosers. As a ranger you make up for that, helping him connect to targets. With a Paladin you also get a big defensive CD (Bubble) to help out your entire team.

This comp is good for sustained damage.

Stat Priority

Power > Agility > Crit chance > Magic Resist

Power adds raw damage to your Autos and abilities. Since Rangers have high uptime on their damage, you want to stack as much as you can

Agility provides power. Agility also gives you armor and crit, which are two other important stats to have

Crit is great for a Ranger, as most of your spells can crit. More crit means more pressure.

Magic Resist can also be useful. As a Ranger you’ll be trading with alot of casters, and having Magic Resist for those trades can be an advantage for you and your healer; resulting in less mana used for your healer, and less damage on you when you’re standing in the open trying to hit someone.

General Gameplay Tips and Tricks

• Rangers have CC for any class type in the game, either melee, ranged or healers. You want to think about what classes you’re facing, and where to position yourself to get the most out of your CC. Silencing Shot can only be fired up close, and Nightmare Shot is on a fairly long CD.
• When firing, try to stand near objects to always have a LoS option. Rangers are vulnerable after using Vigor, so never try to use it to engage.
• Poisonous Shot, Lightning Arrow and Elemental Arrow can have very situational value. Poisonous Shot has healing reduction, so to get the most value on this, only use it before the enemy healer is throwing out heals. This might mean that you’ll wait a few seconds before shooting, if the enemy healer is just coming out of a CC chain. Same goes for Lightning Arrow; this ability empowers your damage by 12%, so if you can, look or coordinate with your teams burst (e.g wizard frostbolts or meteor)