Ranger (especially since you maxed out Steady Aim as everybody should) has better potential when going with Cannoneer. I am a QS 3 > Sapper 2 > Musketeer and definitely having Deploy Pavise with Broom Trap and Covering Fire is good for AOE because you are both protected by the Pavise and kill most of low rank mobs in a few seconds. At higher lvls Broom Trap lvl 5 gets kind of useless, especially against mini-bosses (high rank mobs). My Musketeer is made for both single target and multi-target, but it’s kind of cheating and Sapper c2 doesn’t scale well at higher lvls. Also, Running Shot with a Rifle for ground mobs and with a DoubleHand Bow for flying monsters is still the best skill. It also works well with my Pavise and Scatter Caltrops.
Ranger with Falconer and Cannoneer make a better pair than with Musketeer. Never tried Falconer myself, but from what I saw on tosbase, it probably wouldn’t fit my game style. As for Rogue, I think it’s not worth going only c1, either c3 Rogue or go home (I’m not trying to be a jerk). Something like Archer c3 > Scout c1 > Rogue c3 > Hackapell.
If I were to get to chose to remake my character, I would go Archer c1 > QS c3 > Archer c3 > Musketeer, because I find myself using Swift Step lvl 5 with Running Shot lvl 5 quite often, so having a lot of criticals from Swift Step would help me a lot. Combine that with Pavise, Kneeling Shot and Rifle I would be a Machine Gun.
My rogue c1 doesn’t deal that many criticals if it’s not hitting from behind, so for me Sneak Hit is useless, except for Siulai and even then, I messed up that char quite bad thinking that STR would be sufficient, since I’ll get all the crits from the 70% of Sneak Hit. Bad move. Also, I maxed out the worst Archer skills possible. Can’t wait to reset that char, I’ll go with either Ranger c3 > Archer c2 > Swartzer Reiter or Archer c3 > Scout > SR.
As far as I studied this game:
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Fletcher only makes sense if it’s maxed out and go Mergen, Fletcher c1 doesn’t scale well at higher lvls.
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Not sure what’s the deal about Wugushi, it has a nice c3 skill that makes dead mobs into insects, but never seen it in action and it’s kind of pointless, as his skill also don’t seem to scale well at higher lvls as far as I can tell.
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No comment about Sapper c3, but c2 isn’t that good at higher lvls. Many people say it makes sense to get Sapper c2 > Rogue and capture your own Broom Trap for double use, but I feel like that’s waste, as Sapper c3 gets a boost for Broom Trap.
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Many people say Hunter has bad mechanics and the pet is not that good, as it gets a lot of times stunned, stuck, bugged or knocked out. Never tried it.
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Scout c3 is kind of pointless and again it’s a waste for better class opportunities. I made a Scout c3 just for maxing out Flare Shot which isn’t bad, but it’s small range isn’t that good. At least against close range Phy dmg mobs, shooting Flare Shot and putting the barrel on your head makes them pretty easy kills, but against magic attacks and archer mobs, they are useless. Could I have been even more of a newb?
Bonus: I cannot believe how well low rank classes skills scale at higher lvls !! Running Shot, Deploy Pavise & Scatter Caltrops / Multi Shot, Kneeling Shot & Swift Step / Steady Aim & Spiral Arrow are all still useful at higher lvls (at least until 252 they still are). And I cannot think of a better way than combine Deploy Pavise, Swift Step, Running Shot and Kneeling Shot with a Musket (and Penetration Shot lvl 1, as it can be used while in Kneeling Shot when Musketeer c2 is reached).
It’s only a matter if you want auto-attack (running shot + kneeling shot) or if you want bigger skill attack (steady aim). Steady Aim works very well with Cannoneer and Falconer.
Wow, that’s a big rant.