Black Desert Online Ranger Rush To Level 55 Guide

Black Desert Online Ranger Rush To Level 55 Guide by Jean Bernard

Updated the guide for Mediah, lvl 55 and EES nerf. For newbies, check end of the post to reach lvl 50. I started with lvl 55 as most people are level 50.

For me, all the following things are the best things to do/get/build for max xp/hour. Some people will disagree (i could be wrong on some points though) and there is a lot of post here and there talking about many things. But this is my vision. Also this guide is to rush lvl 55. So, yes get ready to use food, mana pots etc. If you don’t want to play this way, feel free to read it for some nice tips, but otherwise, just spam Q on red nose and leave this post alone.

50-55

Mandatory skills for grinding :

-Bow mastery 7-10 (depending of your SP)

-Ultimate Charging Wind (aka shotgun)

-Ultimate evasive shot

-EES r3

-Blasting gust (Q) r3

-Will of the wind (wotw) r5

Very optional : Spirit heal. With spirit healing 8 atm, my EES gives me back 200 mana per cast. (including cost). Up to you.

Gear :

-Yuria/liverto/kzarka weapons +15

-Steel dagger +15

-Any armor with 2 socket slots on gloves, it’s pve so it doesnt matter much (but best is full grunil)

-Full AP accessories or AP/acc. You’ll need 100 AP to be really efficient (it’s better with 120 AP)

Crystals :

-1 magic crystal of infinity – extraction  (mp regen on hit) on weapon. 2 if you really want, but not really needed

-crit/as crystal on gloves depending of your weapon (crit > as but get at least 3 AS)

Buffs :

-Serendia special, mainly for accuracy. Still some extra damage for only 40k per 1.5hour.

-Milk tea for xp boost

Optional : knight combat rations for extra damage for only 45K per 1.5 hour. Xp elixir if you really want to rush (heavily recommended) Xp costume.

If you plan running 3 food buffs, always use them when you log on. Even if you don’t grind atm. First, it lvl up your health skill (even if there is a cheaper way), then you’ll be sure to always get all 3 when grinding/killing bosses.

Dps rotation

All damage come mostly from shotgun. It’s your main skill. You were bored spamming EES before lvl 50? Have fun with shotgun, you’ll keep your space bar key pressed 90% of your time.

Ranger, however, is the best grinding class not only because of his damage but the combination of mobility, CC and damage. You need all of them. All your skills give either high damage + CC or mobility + CC. Also, all your skills are down attack skill, so you get a multiplier damage when mobs are KB/KD.

I won’t explain how to do skill combos as you should know how to use them, if you don’t know it, then practice for some hours on Heidel’s dummies to know how to use them. http://guidescroll.com/2016/04/black-desert-online-ranger-skill-combos-guide/ For all ranger combos.

Wotw : It’s a high damage skill with a DP debuff. Because you cancel it with evasive shot, you can chain it with a shotgun skill. It will KD mobs most of the time. Low stamina cost because of evasive shot but high mana cost (100). I only use it as an opener for the DP debuff and when it’s not on cooldown. Even if it’s doing more damage than Q/EES, it will KB less often than them. (mostly because of range) And CCs add more damage than pure damage.

Shotgun : Your main damage skill, always use it after an evasive shot. High mp cost. To cancel recoil, use evasive shot. If you need to spam shotgun on same targets, you will press W (forward) + A/D (left/right), so you will stay at same range. If you need mobility, you will only press A/D (to get closer to next pack, losing less time). It will KB mobs most of the time. Low stamina cost because of evasive shot.

Spam it for damage. Focus mobs KDed first with this. It’s a really wide aoe and medium range, so you don’t need to stay at close range (mobility = more xp)

EES : your main mobility skill during combat, best skill to KB mobs (with Q) and your best way to regen stamina, as you’ll be spamming shotgun 90% of your time, which cost a bit stamina and because you never stop shooting, you can never regen it. You don’t regen stamina when using umbrella. Decent damage on mobs who are KDed. (2-3 shotting the normal soldier on sausan). Low mana cost. (you’ll get more mana because of mp regen hit crystal/spirit healing)

Q : Decent damage at the cost of medium mana and medium stamina. Your mobility skill to move between packs. One Q on a pack of 7 mobs will give you 50% of your mana bar back. Because you cancel it with evasive shot, you can chain it with a shotgun skill. This skill will always KB mobs but because it’s a point blank area of effect skill, it kb mobs in all direction. (doesnt matter much in fact) Because you need stamina for evasive shot to do a shotgun, only use this skill when you have more than 50% stamina or moving between packs.

Dps rotation skill :

Wotw off cd > shotgun. Then shotgun spam. Use EES when low stamina and for more mobility. Q when above 50% sta ( Q > shotgun, not Q spam) or to move between packs. (with cam button)

Pretty simple to play ranger, right?

Ok, now the key of the class :

Using both CC/mobility/damage. You can only pull 7 mobs in this game. But if you KD mobs, you can kill them before they recover from the CC. It’s the reason you should always focus KDed mobs, you are also doing more damage on them. (1shot everything basically, except tough soldier that cannot be KDed). So, it’s better to do 1-2 EES/Q to KD all mobs in a big packs, allowing your next shotgun to clean the entire packs in 2-3 hits. It’s not pointless to spam shotgun, but if mobs are not CCed (if more than 7), then you wont do the max damage.

Shotgun is a medium range skill, so you don’t need to be at melee range all of the time. So start asap moving to the next pack while shotgunning mobs. Tough soldiers will come to you on the next packs and other mobs will die before you moved. When low stamina, always use EES for mobility. You’ll KD mobs, do decent damage and you can even regen mana (if you have spirit healing) but it’s mainly a CC/mobility skill.

Q > shotgun is more damage than evasive shot > shotgun and it gives back mana + it CC mobs. So always use it when above 50% stamina, except when mobs are almost dead. (to save stamina) Try using Q spam to move to next pack instead of sprinting. It’s  same stamina cost but it’s some extra damage and it’s faster (also it looks cool) Move your cam to do so. (middle button by default, which you should change imo)

When you know all this, then it’s just some experience to manage stamina (and sometimes mana but not much) as it will be the only thing slowing you down.

Now, how to optimize xp/hour.

-Get the best route possible. It gives you more xp than killing one pack a bit faster. What is the best route? Trying to get xp every second. So, you should never run between packs. As soon as your pack of mobs is dead, you should already be on the next one. I didn’t test all spots, but sausan is the best xp spot as the density is really insane. Don’t bother doing small packs of mobs when you can pull big packs.

-Only sprint between packs without going below 50% sta. As you need stamina = less EES = more shotgun = better clearing speed. Always draw your weapon between packs if you really need to run.

-Don’t bother finishing the last mobs with 30% hp if he is too far. Just move on the next packs. Or use your 100% black rage shitty skill. It’s a long range wide aoe, good to finish lot of mobs low hp. (don’t get used to though)

-Try killing weaker mobs first, as you can only hit 7 targets max at the same time. In fact, mobs keep resetting, not losing any hp if you hit them except if you CC them. That’s why EES/Q are the best way to cc mobs. Allowing your next shotgun to hits 10-15 mobs on big packs.

-Use your mobility. That’s why no one can really compete with ranger. Because you keep dealing insane amount of damage while moving. Mobilty = best way to increase xp/Hour when everyone can 2-3 shots mobs. After 5 or 10 mins, you’ll know when mobs are going to respawn, where are the mobs exactly. You’ll be able to shotgun > A/D (without forward) into the next pack behind you. Or EES (KD) into the next pack without looking at them, 1-2 shotting them with shotgun.

-It’s pointless to try engaging a pack when the first pack is already respawned. Try doing a route with the biggest packs possible with the less running time. Also, it’s the best way to prevent getting your spot stolen/leeched or you getting PKed. Because, if you are doing it good. There should never be a pack mobs up except the one you are engaging. So people will just move away.

-Always spam your mp pot. Shotgun is 2-3 shotting mobs. Q cancel isnt. End of story. Less dps, less clearing speed. Less xp/hour. You are here to rush lvl 55. So you don’t care about money. Also sausan gives almost no money. If you want to make money, just farm calpheon shrine which gives 2-2.5 million per hour or try getting high priced items like mark of shadow/tree spirit belt. You are here for xp, not money. Also, if you are alone … i’m sorry but you won’t be able to loot all mobs.

-Spend less time possible going to town, getting pots. Try putting your cart the closest possible. Remove everything useless from your inventory. Only downside sadly to the shotgun spam … is that you need to repair your weapons (main + secondary weapons) every 30-45 mins. (yes i got 100 dura on both of them) Stupid mechanic.

-Never talk to people. You’ll see most of the time people threatening you, saying bs or asking for invite. Don’t bother answering. It’s still some xp loss. If you are afraid of PK (well you play ranger so ez pz cheesy), just move elsewhere. You’ll be able to talk on channel chat later. Or except if you see me there saying bullshit. Because i need friends bruh.

Have fun ! The xp is really insane if you try following all my advices.

Have a good route on sausan and then it’s 50 > 51 : 2 hours. 51 > 52 : 3 hours, 52 > 53 : 4 hours 53 > 54 : 5 hours. 54 > 55 : 8 hours. When there is no one ofc, because fu pvp ! Or even in group … A group is only there to CC mobs for you/loot mobs. Except if you find 4 real good dps then you can have an even better route (quite rare) But it’s always better to get a group for loot.

1-50

Build for leveling  :

Evasive Shot until level 8 (A/D + LMB). Then max Bow mastery. (it increases EES combo damage)

Evasive Explosion Shot (EES) lvl 1 at level 21, then you never touch it again. It increases the mana cost of the skill, while only increasing the damage when the skill is not on cooldown and not increasing the combo damage. A/S/D + RMB, then LMB in mid air to use combo (damage will only come from the combo during leveling)

Keep some points for Razor Wind (RW) .You need to talk to trainer in Heidel to unlock it via a black spirit ranger only quest. It becomes really powerful at r3 (4 to 7 shots, from r2 to r3) for mounted combat.

Try maxing Spirit Healing (SH) to get your mana back on your EES.

So during leveling, you just need to level up Bow mastery, Spirit Healing and Razor wind r3. Dont take any other skills so you save your skill points after 41. (you will need a lot of them) Except if you want to test your skills (they wont do any damage because they’ll be low level)

SH is not mandatory, but you got nothing else to take during leveling. It allows you to save mana pots, because you got nothing else to take during leveling, why not saving money and lot of weight. Also time is money, so less time you spend going back for pots = more xp.

Rushing 21 for EES :

Do all the basic tutorial quests until you learn skills from instructor (you’ll be level 5), use evasive shot (low damage).  Grind mobs while moving to next town. At lvl 13, do a quest (http://bddatabase.net/us/quest/1013/1/) in Western Guard Camp to unblock enchanting via Black Spirit. Move towards Velia after while still grinding mobs. You need to reach 25k silver before you enter Velia. (goblins are the best way to make money) Then buy a horse (15k silver) and a stirrup (10k silver) for horse combat. Don’t forget to buy carrots to regen stamina.

At this point, you’ll be running with your mount, maintening LMB while doing aoe damage on all mobs you see. Most mobs will die before you can pack them. You shouldn’t get hit, you can either stay immobile then sprinting (it automatically moves you forward), doing circle runs or even moving backward. (you can also maintain space bar while shooting, if you want to be a bad boy)

General tips now you got EES and you want to rush level 50 :

At 21, you will only spam EES. Even for single target. Until you reach lvl 46 (for shotgun), this will outdps any other skills you have. Even Q cancel at 41, so really get used to spam only EES until level 50. (you can still test other skills if you desire, but i’m talking about rushing to level 50). I know most people complain this skill is not doing enough damage. So don’t forget to MAX Bow mastery. This is the only way to incrase your EES combo damage. Also, don’t forget to combo EES while doing LMB in mid air. Otherwise, it just means your gear sucks (get agerian armor + attack speed crystal on gloves + bronze dagger) or the mobs you are fighting are too strong.

You won’t use a lot of mana pots because EES will stay lvl 1 (low mana cost) and you got SH, but you should always get some mana pots. In case you failed to manage your mana, or you really needed to spam it even for low density packs. One pack of mobs are giving more money than the cost of a single pot. Don’t forget also HP pots. You don’t need much, but try to never die. You’ll lose a lot of time. Don’t forget also that you got your emercengy skill (V key). Or even escape (i won’t say much about this).

-Added. Because of the small EES nerf, i recommend using horse until lvl 25. After EES, on all the spots listed, you’ll do more xp/hour using EES. It will just cost some mana pots.

Try upgrading your weapon to +7 as fast as you can. You’ll get your stone back. It’s an insane damage boost. Worth spending all your money on it. If  you can, try getting a mp regen on hit crystal on it.

-Mostly press S (backward) when using EES, especially when mobs are low hp, so you will be able to move to the next packs. Mobility = less time reaching next pack of mobs = more xp/hour. Also you can EES backward to do back attack on mobs (you will get behind them) If you know really well your route, you can just do it without looking at the mobs, you know you’ll end on the mobs.

-Try to manage as soon as you can the aoe radius of your EES. So you will always hit as many mobs as you can.

-If you can’t reach the next pack just with EES, always press tab to remove your weapon (you move faster) then sprint, even for 2 seconds. Ranger got the best movement speed. You should never use your stamina for anything else than sprinting. Speed = more xp. So don’t even try to do evasive shot, this skill is useless before 41. (yes you will see a lot of ranger doing it but who cares)

-Depending of your weapon (take Yuria weapon as soon as you got 90k silver in Calpheon), you should always fight mobs you 2-3 shots max. You don’t care other classes, or other rangers with +15 Yuria are faster than you (you’ll see a lot of people with wizzard/ranger twink if you are a new player, most big guilds ask their members to reroll those classes for gvg). It’s better to kill more mobs than attacking stronger mobs. Also in this game, stronger mobs don’t mean it gives more xp. Each mobs got their own xp reward. That’s why sometimes, you’ll stay on the same spot for 5 levels, because even stronger mobs don’t give as much xp/hour than actual spot. So don’t forget, it doesnt matter that someone else is killing stronger mobs faster than you, because they can’t spam one aoe skill as fast as you. Your class is made to kill weak mobs and to use your mobility to optimize xp/hour (even if your damage is not weak at all, only my wizzard team mate could outdps me when fighting strong mobs in a 5 man party)

-Always use Moving Shot to pull mobs (A/Z/D + LMB, you need to click it really fast otherwise you’ll shoot 2 arrows, immobilizing you instead of moving). You can body pull if it saves you time trying to reach mobs far away. Avoid pulling mobs that are slow or are doing weird animations before moving toward you, it’s better to EES them. The time they are doing their weird animation = you don’t do any damage, less xp/hour etc. (you need to apply same rules than a HnS)

-You can only pull 7 mobs at a time in this game. Then even if you attack them, they won’t move or do anything. Try to manage really fast how far you can pull some mobs before they reset. (you can in fact kill more than 7 mobs, but you need to perma CC them so they can’t reset, not worth explaining it for leveling purpose)

–You need to know the exact respawn timer of the mobs you are killing. You need to pull/kill mobs when they are respawning (even if the entire pack didnt respawn). This is the key to get the best xp/hour. There is no point killing more mobs, when the first pack you killed already respawn (even if it’s only 1/2 secs, it’s already 1 sec lost), it’s not because you are killing more packs that it means you are doing more xp, you need to get back to the first pack before it respawns. Especially during prime time. If people see that mobs are there (or red points on the map) they will try to leech you. If you kill them as soon as they respawn, most people won’t even notice it, they will wait thinking the mobs are going to respawn, trust me it’s working like this. You need to show people ranger is the master class and no one can leech you. (even wizzard) Don’t try to be greedy and to kill more packs than you can. It’s better to secure less packs and to be sure you’ll be the only one hitting them. If you got some time left, try to loot mobs your pets didnt loot.

-You can try optimizing your route if you are alone, otherwise on prime time don’t bother doing it. You need to adapt on the mob respawn timer.(it doesnt matter if you are going left then right etc, you don’t have any other choices) You need also to know when they are respawning, so you need to stay and look if someone are killing them (the first time you are coming on a busy spot). If the spot is crowded, don’t hesitate to follow people. As soon as you know when mobs are going to respawn, you’ll be the first one on the packs, 2 shotting mobs before anyone will be hitting them once. Then the spot will be your and you’ll be free to set up your route. (people don’t stay more than 5 minutes if they see they can’t kill more than 2-3 mobs)

-You should always try to avoid that different packs die at the same time. They will respawn at the same time (respawn timer are always regular, if you dont see the whole pack respawning at the same time, it just means you killed some mobs faster than others or you forgot you were busy doing something else like looting etc) so you won’t be able to kill them both at the same time.

-You need to discourage people trying to leech your spot. Don’t bother talking to them, waste of time. Just be smarter than them and start shooting mobs before anyone else, reason why respawn timer are the key of fast xp (the reason also you need to fight mobs that die in 2 hits)

-During prime time, avoid pulling mobs really far away, it’s better to EES them. The time you are pulling mobs, you are not doing any damage and people will leech you. (xp is calculated on the damage dealt)

-Spend less time possible in towns. Find the general goods vendor to get pots, then leave asap. Don’t bother selling anything to AH, the 35% tax just makes you wasting your time (time = money). Keep your black stone (it’s better using them when you got your Yuria bow, it’s making a HUGE difference). You can also store pots/heavy items in your horse. When moving back to town, it doesnt matter if your char is slowed, it doesnt change your mount speed.

Grinding spots (15-50) :

So, I left you at 13-15 (the time you get 25K silver for your mount) if you followed the guide.

15-18 : Scarecrows just south of Hidel. Melee mobs, they hit hard but you should not get hit. They don’t drop anything good but you won’t stay long here.

18-24 : Human rebels just after Eastern Gateway (on east). Best spots are inside the castle. If it’s crowded, you can go outside, because you are fighting with your mounts, you got a nice speed. Just be wary of towers/archer/wizzards, just keep moving and try to stay at medium range otherwise they’ll hit you even if moving.

24-26 : Monastery south of Glish. Insane spot in the courtyard. If it’s busy, i’ll just farm outside in the forest, it’s as good as inside. But otherwise just leech people. Ranger ez pz.

26-32 : Rhutum orc south of Delphe knights. From here, you should only use EES. Those mobs give really high amount of xp. And decent money.

32-34 : Bandits, north of orcs (you can go on masked owls before, it depends of your gear). Less xp/mobs than orcs but higher density. And even more money.

34-40 : Masked Owls (same than above, you can go to chimera at 38 if you have decent gear). Insane density. North of Florin. And decent money (no cash money but lot of items)

40-45 : Chimeras, south of Keplan. Squishy mobs that you should 2-3 shots. Never go top of mountain. Bottom and mid lvl are the best route. Decent money via collection items.

45-50 : Catfish. South of Calpheon. High density mobs with decent money. You can buy pots nearby.

I’m sure I forgot lot of things, because I didnt plan to do it. So feel free to ask questions or to add some nice tips.