Right now i am bored, so i will try to divulge everything that i have learned about being a ranger and leveling a ranger, at least until 38...

currently i am lvl 38 with ivy etched/ry'gorr/spider fur and other nice armor. i am dual wielding either a wurmy/lammy combo or lammy/green jade broadsword. i don't like centis ;p

in the beginning:
i made a half elf ranger. i can't even remember why and what i put my stat points into, but there is plenty of discussions elsewhere as to that. i chose my starting location at qeynos for a couple of reasons. qeynos, qeynos hills, and surefall glade are much easier newbie areas than kelethin and much more interesting imho.

to start with, 2HS is the way to go, especially soloing. if you are going to twink a ranger with a 2 hander, the silver swiftblade is super nice, and so are the runic carver and the sword i was lucky enough to use through my young life, the tower guards blade. if you are in a group, by all means keep up your 1H skills for when we get dual wield, but 2hs will get you through the low levels fast.

rangers of course have the advantage of tracking right off the bat so it makes it easy to find what you want to kill out in QH and you will have your choice of a lot since it is never very crowded. the only things you need to worry about as a newb are the undeaed ruins where the dread corpses will rape you, and if you decide to ill wolves and bears, the two rangers that are patrolling the area.

whenever you decide you have outgrown QH, there are two options. the good hunting grounds of wide open west karana, or a favorite for lvl 5-18 or so, blackburrow. it is normally very easy to get a group in bb and a lot of fun. there is of course the danger of trains, but dying at low levels is no big deal really. in bb the pulls keep coming and you can really start to learn how to play your new ranger. in the begining you will pull scrawnies, patrollers and normal gnolls with the ocasional guard to the first little room at the bottom of the ramp. eventually you can work your way up to killing elites on the ledge, green room and commander or clover room.

around level 16 when i got bored of bb, i discovered another great place to level. permafrost. while this is often considered a high level dungeon, great exp can be gotten by pulling the entrance. a decent group of 16 or so can handle the entrance and a decent way in pretty easily, and at 20 a group can handle the flag room nicely. the only problem with this area is getting the group together.

also around 20 there is the aviaks in SK. personally i hated that area, but there are always groups there. make sure yuou have a sow'er in the group in case you get jumped by an avocet. as soon as you can though, start getting in the spires group. it is great exp, loot, and very safe. at level 30 i was easily soloing a spire for great exp and it took me up to 35.

also around this time, be looking to go into paw. take a look at the strategy section for paw, there are some great posts. i have soloed there from 34-38 and still will i think. play smart and it is quite safe despite what others say.

as a side note, if paw is full, at night the dawnsbane serpents in ek are an easy blue kill that give decent exp and you can pretty much continuously track them down and take them out.

of course there are many places to go at the mid to upper-mid levels and it is all personal prefference, but these strategies have worked for me.

now for some money making tips i have learned as a ranger:
1)PELTS. even from low levels you can track and kill just about anything that drops a pelt that tailors need and they are stackable. get a bag or two full of random pelts in an hour or so and hit up EC.
2)GEM INLAID GAUNTLETS. once you hit 25 and start grouping at SK spires look this quest up. i have sold 6 pairs for an average of 200p.
3)MONK PURPLE HEADBAND. growing up in qh -> bb -> sk this is perfect for getting everything up to the red heradband, the hardest part of which is tracking the named gnolls in sk. uh, rangers are good trackers :p take a look at this quest. i have done it twice now and you can get good money for it.
4)other than that, be frugal and find the good deals.

some last tips i can give you:
1)a ranger is as good as his weapon/s and ac is king.
2)when you get the spell dance of fireflies max out your conjuration skill. it is the only one with that sill and you want to be able to use stinging swarm when you get it at 30.
3)don't forget when you are able to get skills like kick. max them out as soon as possible and at every level.
4)don't limit yourself to 1 weapon skill. there are lots of cool weapons you can get later on. practice new skills in a group but stic to your strength when soloing.
5)root and snare rock. so does flamelick.
6)get to 30 as soon as possible because sow is priceless.
7)don't neglect archery and fletching. these are the main reasons i became a ranger in ther first place. you can do major damage at higher levels.


Other than that i hope i helped out someone a little at least. if you are on The rathe server feel free to give a hollar. i am pretty friendly.

Brinkerhoff Vonmuerta <Mirth and Mayhem>
38 ranger of The Rathe