Does anyone find Rangers useful?

[LordZon]

And if so where? They seem to cost too much energy and don't reall do enough damage. Perhaps I'm using them wrong but one sniper rifle isn't that wonderful.

Has anyone else had more luck or am I wasting my time with them?

[Dreavus]

I haven't really incorporated them into my play style yet, (I mostly play teams) but it's my understanding that a lot of players use them for their instant suppression ability. I would imagine that suppress + grenade would be pretty powerful.

[Pellucid]

Rangers rock against sluggaz; one shot, one kill, and slugga squad sizes aren't as huge as Tyranid ones.

Rangers also seem to do respectable damage against Tyranid warriors, although I don't think they do enough to justify the cost.

Really, rangers are an attrition unit. Plop them in a building near your force, then dance around a lot and your opponent will have to weigh the costs of chasing you all over the place while losing a man every six seconds or so.

[Akranadas]

It's fun to spam them. With 8 squads you can pretty much take out every unit in the game with one volley.

Moving to Eldar.

[Darktau]

In late close 3V3 games when the T3 unit spam starts with no one haveing detectors I use rangers with infiltrate to decap/cap VP's then kill the squad my opponets send to retake the VP's, works fairly well as my opponets have to start useing pop cap just to detect them or use Zeal powers in a vane attempt to kill them Only power that is a guarenteed kill is orbital strike and I would rather lose one unit of ranger then have that thing hit my teams T3 heavy hitters.

Other wise if my opponets are trying infiltrated Scout shotgun tactics I bring a Ranger unit just to detect them.

I have not played with Rangers enough to find a constant tactical use for them. When I have tried them for anything other then listed above I get mixed results. Some times I get lucky and I can greif a squad reinforceing at a Techmarine orbital relay, lets them shoot out a garrisoned structure, other times my opponet slaughters them.

[Kendallv2000]

They are great at suppression units. There like mobile platforms that are useful

[ichangedmyname]

They just cost too much power too be worrying about considering how little damage they do. Upgrading Guardians seems to do a lot more for me than Rangers ever have.

[Incarnum]

As said above, their beautiful suppression is fantastic in a purely combat role.

In a harassing role, especially used as another poster pointed out (taking req. nodes and whatnot) they're great, IMO.

I use them a lot when I play Eldar.

[Compeador]

They one-shot scouts, sluggas/shootas, eldar platform members, guardians, and all of the low-hp swarm units.

They insta-suppress in a smaller radius than shuriplats but with longer range and more mobility.

In t2 they can cloak an area granting cover bonuses and just plain cool factor.

Only thing they're supposed to do that they're not really good at is their main role.... shooting. If I were to change anything about them I'd make them fire faster.

[Brenil]

For their price they should also have more than one longrifle too. For Christ's sake they're all Rangers, why does only one carry the longrifle? They aren't Scouts by any means, they're expensive as hell and twice as fragile.

Rangers are good, but not as good as they should be; which seems to be the mantra of the Eldar race at the moment.

[SteinerNein]

Rangers are deadly for their cost. Arguments can go both ways.

Keep in mind that they own platforms with their holofield buying you time to melee them.

=P

[Brenil]

Hmm...

I need to start using them more. I've used them a few times lately and they've been pretty good. I suppose I just cannot wrap my ahead around the idea that everytime I buy them, I feel like I already wasted the resources and will soon see them dead.

I'm certainly having little luck with platforms, so perhaps they're a better alternative.

[frankenstein]

It's fun to snipe Devastator squads while cloaked from cover. They can't really do anything about it.

Also being able to cloak their buddies is great. The key phrase is "support role."

[SteinerNein]

@ Brenil

You just need to accept the losses and work on improving your usage with the various units such as rangers/platforms. Ladder is fairly meaningless imo and self-improvement is a better goal even if it does mean taking losses. In the end, it's not ladder that will get you $$$ =P

[Jester Desu]

I tried using rangers as mobile platforms when i first noticed the supression fire ability, but they really aren't capable of that. They don't do anywhere near as much damage either. Plus the fact that the 25 power cost kind of rules them out of tier 1 usuage... unless you want to swap your grenades for a squad, or delay the tier 2 rush and vehicle that comes with it.

Just this weekend I've gone back to using 1 platform (it's the first unit I build) and it's working well actually, so don't let my previous whinges put you totally off using them Brenil! I use it like a trap, always having something else infront of it for the enemy to attack.

[Warfare12]

I use them to harass the T1 squads.


The only thing I can not grasp is how to see farther with them.. They seem to uncover less FOW that gaurd's.

[Jester Desu]

I'm interested in a reply to the above too... is there something I'm missing with making rangers see a long distance away?

How many shots is it to kill a single tactical marine model anyway? I hate tacticals.

[SteinerNein]

The purpose of rangers is fairly obvious at this current stage.

1) Separation
2) Killing squads where you would take heavy losses otherwise (aka garrisoned buildings or heavily guarded points).
3) Possible crowd control using the holofield.

[Jester Desu]

so, tactical marines. haw much ranger pew pew until 1 drops?

[Mekztra]

Two shots, I think?

[Jester Desu]

wow... im getting some. that's expensive reinforcements for the sm

[Gen_Khan]

Rangers are awesome. Before the 0day patch you could run around with 3-4 squads and pretty much own all infantry.
These days I produce Platform, Guardian, Ranger T2.
Ranger is set on supression ASAP. I haven't tried they holofield in T2. What is this I hear with it being able to nullify enemy supression teams?
The best kick I get is when a ASM squad jumps my shiruken plat. The Ranger behind begins supression ASAP (I think the speed at which units are supressed actually increases as you get to T2). Basically they get a few hits off and get supressed, the guardians then move in with granades (at least that how it is supposed to wrok, most of the time the ASM's retreat). One time I'm pretty sure I got 2-3 units down before he retreated....

[Gungalley]

I think they are situation specific. recent game I had, mirror eldar match on green tooth gorge. My opponent tried to lock off one side of the map by garrisoning all the buildings with guardians, and spamming platforms to take over and block off the rest of the map. The hard counter to taht would be the ranger. He managed to destroy 2 platform squads and 2 guardian squads before my opponent realised that he had been countered.

[TheJon]

They just cost too much power too be worrying about considering how little damage they do. Upgrading Guardians seems to do a lot more for me than Rangers ever have.

I'm with you on that dude. I usually just make 3 guardians off the bat in the beginning. If it gets too hairy for my guardians and i can't kite the enemy soldiers...i just fall back and regroup.

once you get the warlock leaders in the squads, they are definetly a powerful force.

mix in a squad of banshees with ur hero and let ur guardians rape at range.
throw in a walker or 2 with brightlance and possibly avatar later if you have enough pop cap.

that's pretty much my eldar strat.

[Sin Fang Bous]

Spam your basic infantry.

Sad that it's actually one of the few effective Eldar strategies...

[W1r3d]

I find rangers massively important in 3vs3 games. They can be of great support to the other peeps armies. However in 1vs1 i fint that plats is vastly superior. More then often you will be able to lure your enemy into an ambush. Then just let the shuricannon do it's work. Either way they are both countered by scouts in the end. Unless you put them in buildings.

But then your enemy will popp nades in there or go at it with flamers.

Although i must agree that they are great from preventing pesky scouts from capping a point(or they would be. Had their rate of fire been slightly higher). They are to some extent great @ supression. However not worth their price IMO. But great suppliment to your arsenal if you can afford it.

[Overcow]

I think they are awesome in 1v1 and 3v3. They can sneak around, the suppress is really useful and a lot of players ignore and underestimate them.

[testthewest]

I think they are somewhat missplaced in T1.
They cost too much energy, won't really help in the capping race, and they gain their most important ability in T2. I honestly never build them in T1 ever.
They should place them in T2, give stealth build in, and move brightlances to T1.

[hellic]

Why would Brightlances be in T1? No other AV weapon is in T1.

[Brenil]

Brightlances in Tier 1 would be imbalanced because you can demolish enemy structures unlike any other race. Brightlance range is great and the power against vehicles and structures is superb. If Eldar had Brightlances in Tier 1, your odds to negate your opponents power would go through the roof.

There's nothing wrong with Rangers as they are, they're very effective when you know how to use them and can make up their cost in Tier 1 through the units they assist in killing (through suppression) and those they kill outright (like HWTs). Used effectively, they're more reliable than Platforms can ever hope to be.

[dougan25]

i swear by immolate on my lock, and a well-placed immolate knocks off juuust enough health for rangers to pick off individual sm's with 1 shot. huzzah @ expensive enemy reinforcements.

plus their ability to fill the role of mobile suppression lowers the necessity to produce shuriplats. and anyone who plays eldar knows, the less shuriplats you need to produce, the better.

[testthewest]

Brightlances in T1 would make T2 rushing less nessessary. If you are T1 and see a vehicle, you are toast.
Power is already negated throu grenades, which are much better suited for harassing then the slow bright lance, that is quite vulnerable to boot.

[tw.ed.uk]

I use one squad of Rangers late game as spotters, assuming I think I can spare the req. By that time, most opponents no longer have detector units.

I inflitrate them and move them to enemy territory, at a place where the enemy is unlikely to put one of his own squads. As long as they remain stationary you can get a couple of minutes of recon out of them. I don't really use them offensively.

With rangers acting as spotters for long range weapons like D-Cannons and Fire Prisms you can demolish enemy squads and vehicles easily. They don't even see what's hitting them.

[Aokin]

will Immolate sufficiently drop the health of Space Marine units ? Excluding Scouts I have found one of the more pressing elements of this match is the ease with which the Space Marine can exchange damage but not models.

[dougan25]

not fully up'd tacs, but for instance, both kinds of devestators, if he doesn't notice the immolate, it will take off most of their health. even if he does notice, by the time they pack up and move out of the aoe, their health will be surprisingly low. i.e. low enough for a ranger to finish at least 1 unit off.

generally when i'm involved with a skirmish against sm's, i abandon whatever capturable i'm guarding, and instead focus on just killing as many of the bastards as i can. once they're dead or retreated i'll make sure i have the nodes and vp's i need. i find my tactics change when i'm more focused on killing than guarding a point and IN GENERAL, sm players take longer to mount a counter attack after a loss. (that, or their pop cap is too high to bring any more units out :P)

[Sin Fang Bous]

Hey, if you toss the holofield on a bolter or something of the sort, will it render them useless? This could solve a lot of problems for me.

[dougan25]

infiltrated squads can still shoot, they just become revealed temporarily while doing so. so while it won't render them useless, shooting will negate the stealth benefits of the holofield. is that what you meant?

[Sin Fang Bous]

I'm sorry, I worded that poorly. I've heard you can throw Holofields on enemy squads and supposedly block their line of sight and effectively shut them down and I was just wondering if this worked on everything and not just platforms.

[dougan25]

ah, sorry. that i don't know. although i am curious about it as well.

[Malecite]

Anyone ever tried Guiding a Ranger squad with a FS? Does it improve their damage much?

[Alegis]

It will improve their damage by 30%. UNLESS you're shooting weak units like slugga's which are one-hit kill, won't matter then I figure unless the sergeant is targetted and the damage spread.


Not outstanding, unless your other units aren't shooting and you're sniping units like heavy bolters.

[SteinerNein]

Brightlances in Tier 1 would be imbalanced because you can demolish enemy structures unlike any other race


WAT? (You make no sense here Brenil).

Also @ Everyone else

Ranger not for DPS! Ranger for CC! ;(

Clarification on holofield (sorta): It'll undeploy all weapon teams or it use to, but regardless the stealth forces them to stop firing and the player has to manually target an enemy so that buys you some time. I think that all units within the field initially cease firing.

A ViS tip: Rangers can put a stop to SM.

[Brenil]

WAT? (You make no sense here Brenil).

How so? If I had a Brightlance platform in Tier 1 I could effectively negate the enemy's power generators by sneaking a Brightlance and Farseer behind the line and popping off generators in two shots each. Let us not even mention the fact that you'll have effective AV before vehicles are even fielded either.

[Dux]

Brenil, you can pop a generator instantly with two grenades. Alternatively, you can just use a Shuri-plat, which actually has about the same building DPS as a Brightlance. I think it's actually higher at close range. Every side has at least one strong anti-building weapon in Tier 1.

On the other hand, you're right in general. All true AV has to wait until Tier 2, otherwise it becomes too easy to counter vehicles.

And yes, Rangers are exceptionally effective against most SM schemes.

[Jester Desu]

All true AV waits until tier 2. Funnily enough, so do all vehicles :p

I don't build Rangers until tier 2 at the moment, but I'm using them more and more lately. Mainly as just spotter units, but they're great for guarding a single VP if you put them just far back enough so that they can fire at maximum sight. Don't need to keep quite as close an eye on them then either.

[SteinerNein]

@ Brenil

Uh.. Shuriplats work faster. =p

[Brenil]

I'm aware Guardian grenades and Shuriken Platforms can kill generators efficently, but that has little if anything to do with my point. When it comes to killing generators, Shuriken Platforms must be up close to do effective damage to any structure, whereas the Brightlance can literally snipe generators from a long distance. Same goes for Guardians, where you need two Guardians to be up close and use their grenades (instead of saving them for enemy infantry) you'll only need one 300 requsition Brightlance parked off on the flank and a Farseer scouting + guiding to completely annihilate the enemy's generator resources in a matter of seconds.

Then of course, like I mentioned already, the early AV portion of the arguement.

[SteinerNein]

Well, even then the trade off is poor because a bright lance is pretty crappy versus infantry even with its silly scorch =(

Even if you moved it down to tier 1 it would be nasty in one aspect but would horribly gimp your army and be a liability.

I still don't see why anyone would buy it at tier 1 if it were available.

[Sithdemon]

With the enchantress I use the rangers to deal with any enemy defensive units, peg of the first one with the first shot, if I got doom, otherwise still alot of damage, and sometimes they'll just start packing up their gun to run back to their base. The second shot usually has them to half health. And if you can keep them alive and let them level up they shine even more, but still be brittle.

The rangers are a massive trade off unit, the shots are very damaging, but the reload times means the actual DPS, is lacking. But the firing range makes up for that, if you have units in front revealing targets for them, then you just sit on the periphery peg off a couple units, see if they retreat them or attack you, and go from there. But you will be the one initating, forcing their hand, and thats what a sniping unit is for, and plays a almost psychological level in making so the enemy feels always on the defensive of a attack you initiated . With their AOE cloak on top of that, they are the ultimate harassers. But again a massive trade off, for being a very glass canon.

I've found a pair of brightlances can work wonders with the enchantress, especially the increased range, and doom. I've pegged off alot of the first waves of enemy vehicles with this set up. Yes they are delicate, but much like the rangers with the enchantress that damage and range, is all you can rely on, but it CAN work.

[Brenil]

I still don't see why anyone would buy it at tier 1 if it were available.


... you'll only need one 300 requsition Brightlance parked off on the flank and a Farseer scouting + guiding to completely annihilate the enemy's generator resources in a matter of seconds.

Maybe? The one thing it would be nasty at would be in crippling your enemy's ecomony with very little risk to yourself.

For that reason alone it should stay in Tier 2. Add in the fact you can rarely be surprised by vehicles sort of makes using vehicles against Eldar pointless in that situation.

[Aokin]

speaking of the Brightlance platform I really must use the Scorch Beam more regularly, and at that find out the hotkey.