Ranger Melee Builds

I'm bored. So gonna start this conversation in hopes of some action. Post your melee sets for ranger, why and how you use them, or maybe you 100% disagree with rangers meleeing? Daggers? Axes?.... sword? Let it fly!

When I get home from work I'll post mine as well.

i haven't played RNG in years but YES some action please!
save me from boredum at work!

Here's what I use. Note that I don't have the su1 gift yet, so I am not able to use Blurred Knife +1. I probably wouldn't use it anyways, since the agi/acc/ta stats on ternion are so amazing.

ItemSet 360100

Probably needs work.
Ilabrat can be swapped with Petrov.
Telos can be swapped to Dedition (which I don't use cuz I prefer the DA)
There's probably a better neck; Lissome or Combatant is fine. I have both and swap them in for acc when needed
Reiki Yotai/Cape augs depends on sub/buffs. Windbuffet +1 also works as a swap.

If you are unity #1, the daggers are pretty solid for any ranged ws, so it get's the job done when you're multi-purposing.

Ternion is generally a better offhand than blurred anyways.

The big reason blurred+1 was so big on cor was in part to do with cor not being on Ternion.

I agree. I was just including that note in case someone said something about blurred offhand instead. I love ternion x2

RNG isn't on Reiki Yotai, so you'd likely want to use Windbuffet +1 and drop Telos for Suppanomimi, or use Patentia Sash in the waist instead.

This is what I'm using for CPing as we speak. It's all basically recycled Cor gear. Eminent Dagger just because I'm lazy

ItemSet 360101

Melee RNG is fun!

Optimized armor sets probably won't look too different from what we use on COR.

Why not use that +1000 TP gun and Mistral Axe?

It's similar to savage blade spam yes?

EDIT: Meh, they didn't include Rng in the SU2 axe.

Thanks for that. You can tell I repurposed my COR tp set and made just a few swaps. Suppa is the alternate earring for DW.

Very unlikely that I go out and buy Patentia for a hardly-used-set anyways. I never noticed RNG was on it and it rivals Yotai anyways. Good find. Interestingly, the price jumped a bit on Asura... I'll probably just swap to Suppa for DW and make due with that, maybe farm one later. Thanks for the suggestion.

Here is my current capped haste (/NIN) melee build:
ItemSet 360104

augments: Herculean Vest- acc+31, atk+24, TA+4, AGI+2
Herculean Boots-acc+12,atk+12,macc+19,MAB+19,crit rate+3%, QA+2, DEX+9 (dark matter)
Belenus's Cape- acc+20,atk+20,STP+10,DEX+30
Carmine Cuisses+1- Path D(acc+20,atk+12,DW+6)
Floral Gauntlets- Capped(acc+15,macc+15,TA+3,mdmg-4%)

a few notes: no HQ adhemar body which necessitates the usage of floral gauntlets to cap dual wield (with carmine+1 legs path D). Considering I only have 1 pair of HQ adhemar hands and they are path C(ranged), I opt for these hands with some TA on them plus brutal earring's DA versus a setup of NQ adhemar hands path A plus suppa, which really only gives us DW. I love my herc body, wish the AGI was something better for melee, but not giving up 4TA with that level of acc/atk.

I do mess around offhanding blurred+1 on RNG when I can't count on Haste- the TA of ternion+1 stacked with the rest of the TA definitely is better if I'm properly buffed. I opt to mainhand a kustawi+1 over a more purely melee weapon choice because even when meleeing, I'll still pop a doubleshot now and then, plus I'm using exclusively ranged weaponskills outside of Aeolian Edge if there's a crowd.

If I'm meleeing, its almost always the gastra. I do love using fomalhaut's STP as an added bonus for a melee build, and its quite powerful, but since I'm a single boxer I don't run with a pocket COR or GEO, and Trueflight is just too damn powerful even when unbuffed/buffed for melee by trusts, whereas Last Stand tends to lag behind until you get serious buffs from actual characters.

Lastly, if you're able to melee it, its also a great time to mess around with Hot Shot. I've found the mythical stories about this weaponskill do seem to come true up until around CP level mobs, then taper off pretty quickly in terms of misses/resists, and just lower dmg.

If you're still using Trueflight, then you still benefit a good bit from using Ternion/HQ due to the AGI modifiers. If you're meleeing, the likelihood of shooting is low, since dps loss, unless using Barrage. Ternion still helps with that a little bit.

I have the low-haste DW swap gear, but whenever i find myself in that scenario, honestly, it's faster to just shoot with Double Shot up. Then swap back. I haven't melee'd for much on RNG that is considered higher content, because in that case, I'd just come COR instead. It's really such a niche set that it saddens me the most times I use it is for Omen Kei (fodder floors) and CP party. There's not many scenarios where a party would let me come melee rng and give me dd songs/rolls where the setup wasn't entirely ranger based to begin with. Which is a shame, because with all that TA on the daggers, it's just for funs.

very valid point on the daggers. the rapidshot/racc isn't doing jack for Trueflight usage. I'll mess around w/ mixing up things and see what I like. But I freakin hate that scorp. Feel horrible asking ppl for help and it always feels like its either wipe the floor with him or poison its over- just annoying.

iirc he's a pushover if you use 3 whm trusts who will poisona. Might even die to a 4-6 step skillchain alone, or just BLU/Occulation. I don't recall dying to that thing once. I may have used August for the initial voke but it's certainly not needed.