Anthem Ranger build and abilities - the best Ranger builds

The Ranger class is, on the surface, an all-rounder - but actually it's much more focussed than it looks. The Ranger is actually about very high single-target damage, mixed with good versatility in weapon choices and mobility.

Ranger gear slot 1 options - Grenade Gear

• Seeker Grenades: a grenade that splits into multiple enemy-seeking missiles dealing Blast damage.
• Inferno Grenade: Primer, setting your enemies on fire for both up-front Fire damage and damage over time.
• Frost Grenade: Primer, freezes your opponents in place.
• Sticky Grenade: Detonator grenade that sticks to enemies and deals heavy Blast damage.
• Frag Grenade: Detonator that does large AoE blast damage.

Ranger gear slot 2 options - Assault Launcher Gear

• Spark Beam: beam of energy dealing continuous Impact damage to anything hit.
• Blast Missile: deals Blast damage in a very large area.
• Venom Darts: Primer inflicting the Acid status.
• Seeking Missile: Detonator homing projectile that seeks a single target and deals AoE Impact damage in small area.
• Pulse Blast: Detonator that hits a single target with a massive burst of Blast energy.

Ranger Melee

• Shock Mace: Detonator, dealing Lightning damage.

Ranger Support options

• Bulwark Point - a bubble shiled protecting you and allies from projectiles.
• Muster Point - a bubble that increases you and your allies' damage output when stood inside it.

Ranger Ultimate

• Multi-target Missile Battery: Detonator dealing Blast damage to all enemies hit by the various rockets. Hold it down for longer before firing to get the maximum amount of missiles ready to fire.

Ranger Combo Effect

• Critical Target Damage - deals a larger burst of damage to the single target you've detonated.

Ranger build ideas and advice

• The Ranger's all about single-target damage - which is a good job, as it has pretty terrible waveclear compared to the other three classes out there.
• We played some endgame Anthem with a level 30 Ranger, and did a bit of tinkering: our choice for that was the Inferno Grenade as a primer, which was great for those enemies with big physical shields too, and then the Seeking Missile as a detonator - particularly because there's a late-game componont that instantly refreshes your Seeking Missile cooldown if you kill an enemy with it, allowing you to chain it twice in quick succession.
• Alternatively though, the Frost Grenade is great for coupling with the Pulse Blast, because it freezes targets perfectly still and allows you to poin the free-aim Pulse Blast at a specific weak point of theirs to do some heavy single-target damage.
• It's worth noting that the Seeking Missile does do some AoE damage, however, so if you want to self-combo but also get some ever so slightly better waveclear in, whilst still being a single-target beast, that might be your better option for a Detonator.

Ranger playstyle and strategies

• The Spark Beam is a great alternative for the Ranger if you're keen on bursting down shields quickly - it absolutely melts them - but the problem is that with the Ranger at higher difficulties, abilities that proc Combos are just too slow in the chaos of a four-player, high-difficulty squad. Frequently it's not possible to actually proc the Combo yourself for extra damage, and likewise some players on reddit have tested the Ranger's Combo damage bonus, which is supposed to be about 4x that of the others, and found it much closer to about 2x the damge, which just doesn't make up for a pretty lacklustre kit - even Masterwork bonuses for Ranger abilities seem to undermine it, giving unique bonuses to melee attacks, which are rarely useful at high-level activities.
• With that in mind we actually advise against using the Ranger at high-difficulty activities, at least just for now in the short term. If you do, then we recommend you build around weapon and blast damage and don't worry about Combos at all, instead focusing on just high-damage abilities and inscriptions and Components that emphasise them. Use cover and your dodge wisely (and often), and you can still deal some decent damage!

Cycle back to our Anthem Javelin and classes guide hub for more like this!

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